The Haven High Book Series (Wattys2017)

Chapter 20

This chapter is dedicate to @Voidstarfire thanks  for your help pointing out my grammatical errors.  

Zach wandered the narrow hallways trying to find his way to Transmogrification. Lauren had said she'd meet him there. She'd actually offered to go with him when Principal Tuma had come for him, but Tuma had kyboshed that idea, saying, "Thank you Lauren, but I prefer to talk to Zachary in private. "

Those words had made Zach gulp and feel like he swallowed his tongue.

Earlier, he'd followed Tuma through a maze of halls trying to note the subtle differences, so that he could find his way back, but in the end, by the time they'd made it to his office on this side of the magical wing, he was hopelessly lost.

Tuma's reticent behavior was uncharacteristic for the normally boisterous principal. He hadn't spoken a single word during their travels and true to form; he even opened the door of his office, and silently gestured for him to enter first.

Zach was beyond nervous by the time he took a seat in one of the Oxford Leather wingback chairs that sat in front of a monstrosity of a desk. The old Victorian oak would have dwarfed Tuma's human office but not here, here it fit right in to the manor like study--lined wall to wall with leather bound books. There was even a small fireplace tucked into the corner. Its mantle was carved with magical creatures of every description. Whole pantheons made their home there, and in the hearth a small fire burned.

Zach garnered some comfort from the warmth of the flames.

The magic wing was a strange place. There were no windows to speak of, and the halls, and classes always felt slightly dank and musty. Every room on this side of the barrier looked imposing like it had been constructed in the late 18th or early 19th century and Tuma's office was no exception.

When Tuma cleared his throat Zach jumped reflexively and turned his attention away from the fireplace to his principal. The nervous teen had to suppress a shudder as he watched the flames of the fire dance in Tuma's big black eyes.

Tuma's pupils behind his glasses were bigger than normal. The blacks of his eyes had taken over his entire eye and the flames reflected off of them. Zach nearly fell backward out of his chair when out from Tuma's sides four more arms grew and he started to shuffle the papers around on his desk, and to remove his glasses.

Tuma normally looked like an average thirty something African American male. If being perfectly fit and stunningly attractive could be considered average. His shaved head gleamed in the warm glow of the lamp light.

Nonchalantly, he announced, "I hope you don't mind if I get some work done while we talk?" as he proceeded to sort papers and sign documents with various hands.

"W-w -ho are you?" Zach stammered-- forgetting himself.

Lauren had explained to him earlier this week the importance of not asking questions like that to ancient magical beings. She'd explained that names have power, and to possess someone's true identity can be dangerous for both the barer of the name and the inquirer--Unless it is freely given, never pry, she had warned.

The Principal's six arms stopped moving all at once, and he fixed Zach in his jet black stare before resuming his work and saying with a sigh, "That is why I wanted to speak to you Zachary. I know you are new to our world, but there are just some things you must not do. Take for example today. You interfered in a ritual and there could have been dire consequences for your actions."

Zach had to rack his brain to figure out what Tuma was referring to. In the end nothing shook loose. What ritual was he talking about?

The Principle sighed with annoyance before saying, "Papa Legba is an easy go lucky entity, if it had been anyone else that you had confronted, it would have been an entirely different story. They would have looked on your actions as an affront or as a challenge that they would have gladly accepted."

Zach suddenly recalled jumping up to get in front of Lauren in a feeble attempt to protect her and he flushed with shame at his behavior. He hadn't realized that his actions could have been misconstrued in anyway, yet here he was being reprimanded by his normally easygoing principal. A principal, who at this moment was giving him a look as cold as the grave, which left him in no doubt, that he had really stepped in it.

Zach cleared his throat nervously, and opened and closed his mouth repeated, but he couldn't think of anything to say, so in the end he remained silent.

The principal -- recognize his discomfiture-- relaxed his posture in his leather seat and gave him a wan smile before saying, "Look I understand being young and wanting to protect ones paramour, but it is not advisable that one play the knight in shining armor by throwing oneself between their lover and the dragon when one is ill equip to slay said dragon."

It took Zach a minute or two to decipher what the principal was saying, but once he decoded the old speak, he quickly corrected his mistake, "Uh . . . Um . . . Lauren and I aren't a thing. . . I mean we're friends . . . but we're not like . . . together . . . together," he sputtered.

When a clearly frustrated Tuma started drumming all forty fingers on the hard surface of his desk, Zach came to the sudden realization that that was probably not the part of the conversation he was supposed to have grasped and he quickly added, "Of course, I know now that what I did was stupid, "he rushed to add, "and I'll let the teacher handle it from now on. Nope," he gulped nervously, "no more interference from me," he finished in a sing song voice.

Tuma continued to stare, but finally he seemed satisfied with his response, because his face lit up in his usual warm smile.

"Well then now that that is settled let me introduce myself." He stretched one of his eight arms across the expanse of his desk and announced, "I am Kwaku my father is Nikituma, the Halfblood son of Anansi, I am the great grandson of Nyame the sky God."

Zach wiped his sweaty palm across his denim jeans before taking Tuma's very human looking hand in his and giving it a firm shake and asking, "Anansi? You mean like the West African Spider God, Anansi?"

"Precisely," he chuckled.

Zach began to tremble and he stammered, "Y-y-ou d-don't turn into a spider, d-do you?"

Mr Tuma chose that moment to stand and leer down at him before saying –jokingly or not, "Only when students feel it necessary to interfere in rituals."

When thick black hairs started to grow all over Tuma's face and black fangs descended from his upper jaw Zach leapt from his chair, knocking it over in his haste to get out of the office.

"W...E...L...L . . . I'll be going to class now. Good talk." Zach spat out while he backed into the door and frantically searched for the knob at his back not wanting to turn his back on the school's arachnid administrator.

When Tuma chuckled and it sounded more like a hiss Zach decided to put as much distance between him and the creature – screw trying to be polite. Arachnophobia and Zach were old bedfellows.

It was almost the end of the period before Zach found Transmogrification and that was only because he had heard the growls, snarls, howls and roars from down the hall. It sounded like all hell was breaking loose.

When Zach thought about Lauren in the middle of a nest of shifters who frankly did not sound like they were on their best behavior he sprinted for the door.

Apparently, he hadn't learned a thing from his conversation with Tuma because he fully intended to throw himself in the fray again.

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I want to start recommending great books that I've found that haven't got a lot of reads yet and truly deserve it. So here it goes:

Bojinia by salma9700

Vaenalo  by @BlondeBomb365

The New Girl by @queenofheartsxo