Tenth practice from the Finding Your Voice class I bought from Holly Lisle. This is not an affiliate link, although if you decide you want to buy a class from her, you can contact me, and I’ll set one up so we both benefit. *smile*
Boarding school looms before me, and with it the dread of returning to the classmates who despise me. As soon as they caught a whiff of my presence, they’d be circling like gulls, swooping and pecking at anything that might sting me.
When I reach the front gate, my steps slow and drag. I’m left with a dilemma. Turn left to the dorms and the myriad of torments waiting there, or right into the cool depths of the library?
There is no choice, no really. No one is at the front desk when I push the giant doors open, swinging easily on silent hinges. I take a deep breath of vanilla scented air, the distinct musk of old books.
By rights I should find the librarian and sign in, but I find myself walking deeper into the shadows of the shelves. I skim titles as I pass, the words leaping into focus and then drifting free from my thoughts a bare moment later. My footsteps are muffled in the stiff pile of the carpet, and it seems I’m alone here in this peaceful sanctuary.
Or at least I think so until I catch a glimpse of movement. Beyond the doors, the morning bells toll, but instead of leaving like I should, I find myself following half seen movements, a shine here, a sparkle there.
Was there more than a creation of my imagination? Hard to tell, but it leads me deeper and deeper into the depths of the rooms until I surely should run out of space to explore.
A slight frisson of fear draws my shoulders tight. I should turn around but an unknown danger, half suspected, is far better than a known danger lurking and lying in wait for me in the dorms. Should I continue?
No. But I do.