Indigo

“Where are we going? He said there are no amaranthas in school!”
Georgina huffed as she tried to keep up Amarantha’s pace.
“He lied. I saw a…memory of it. He gave one to the nurse.”
There was a rapid intake of breath.
“You can get inside people’s memories?”
Anne asked, completely amazed.
“That is one of the most envied abilities! You have psychic abilities!”
“Guess so…let’s just find the infirmary center, okay?”
Amarantha said agitatedly.
“They haven’t found theirs yet…”
Georgina announced as their feet continued to drag them through the corridors, nearer and nearer to the infirmary center.
“Good.”
Bert and Amarantha said instantly. The infirmary center rushed into view and Anne walked up to the nurse and convinced her of giving her the flower. She also asked for the quickest way to the gym which was, quite conveniently, down the next flight of stairs. The group rushed down them, grins plastered in their faces and foreheads covered in sweat. They pushed open the oak doors to find that the rest of their class was already there.
“You’re late.”
Professor Damaris said disapprovingly.
“But…”
Amarantha whispered to Georgina, confused. Georgina furrowed her brow and shook her head mumbling a weak,
“They didn’t find it.”
“You mean everyone found their items before us?”
Professor Damaris looked towards Bert who was the one that had spoken.
“You…you found your item?”
The four heads nodded furiously, and Anne extended her hand which had the amarantha. She cleared her throat before explaining,
“In between the dull there’s one that shines above all,
Its intense lavender is rooted inside the four of you.
Those are the lines you told us. Well, Amarantha is the name of a purple flower. The name Amarantha means unfading. The words roots, purple, unfading and amarantha lead us to the flower. Amarantha was the one who came up where to find it, Bert signaled the way and Georgina kept our hopes up by telling us whether or nor the other groups had gotten their items first.”
The professor looked impressed. She thought for a second before continuing.
“Each of you was assigned an ‘impossible task’ for your level, but these four kids did their absolute best and they need a reward for it. I’m not sure what it’ll be…I’ll talk to the headmasters about it.”
She nodded at them in a somewhat praising way, causing the rest of the classroom to look at them evilly.
“Well, I think we just gained twenty four ‘Fuck you’s…”
Bert commented.

* * *
His face was against the wooden desk, he had been sleeping for the entire class and only two minutes before the bell rang did Mr. Helmut finally realized he had been asleep.
“Mr. Tyrell, school is not for sleeping!”
“I really don’t care much about Religion, Mr. H. I couldn’t care less, actually…”
Mr. Helmut huffed; it reminded Tyrell of a bird shuffling its feathers.
“I loose Amarantha from my class and now you’re taking up her place? I won’t-“
Tyrell never knew what Mr. Helmust wouldn’t do because in that precise moment the bell resonated through the walls and Tyrell rushed in between his classmates and away from that name that followed him everywhere.
He walked around the front of the school, hand on pockets and head low. He was nearing the soccer field and he heard voices, very loud voices in fact, but they didn’t get to him. It was like he had earphones plugged in his ears and he was aware of the outside voices but the music pouring from the earphones didn’t let him understand it. Except there wasn’t music, they were just pessimistic thoughts.
“Duck.”
Something told him in his head. He was about to question himself when something hit his head hard, sending him backwards. Then came hurried footsteps towards him. A conglomeration of people circled him asking him if he was okay.
“What in the world…?”
He asked, looking around. The soccer ball looked at him innocently by his side. He groaned as someone from the soccer team helped him up. He nodded signaling he was okay and got out of their way as soon as possible. Tyrell shook the feeling of being watched away.
I didn’t have any breakfast. That’s it. Let’s go get some food, tummy.

* * *
“Hey, how come you’re not in my bedroom if you’re Annie’s little sister?”
Amarantha asked Anne as they exited the gym showers.
“We’re half sisters. I have my mom’s last name and Annie’s got my dad’s.”
She explained awkwardly as they pushed the doors open. There was a figure waiting some paces away.
“Thought we could go to dinner together…and then to the library…”
Bert said with a grin on his face as Amarantha and Anne neared him.
“Sure.”
“I’m…going to go find Georgina and Natalie. See you guys later.”
Amarantha waved goodbye.
“She’s not that bad…”
Amarantha thought aloud.
“Yeah…but there’s still something odd, isn’t there?”
Amarantha nodded as she tried to consider what was odd, exactly. She knew he was right but, what was it? She decided to put it aside as they walked over to dinner.
Dinner passed smoothly except from some slight murmuring and pointing of their classmates towards Amarantha and Bert. Amarantha also felt a pair of eyes burning on them from the opposite table. They ignored them and continued their meal happily, chatting about what they’d be eating if they were at home rather than in the Akilah Academy.
As soon as dinner was over they stood up and walked over to the library.
“I wonder what the special prize will be, don’t you?”
Bert asked as they pushed the doors which this time opened easily.
“Yeah…”
The library was easily organized; right in front of them were about ten wood tables. On either side of the tables were shelves from the floor to the roof full of books. At the end of every corridor was a puffy sofa. They neared the fat lady with a toad-like face that sat behind a great desk with pile upon pile of neatly organized forms that was placed behind the wood tables in the entrance.
“We are searching for books on name meanings…”
“Give me your library card.”
Bert looked at Amarantha, raising his eyebrows. She shook her head.
“We don’t have one. How can we get it?”
The librarian furrowed her brow, as if they were wasting her precious time. She took two forms off the nearest pile and two pens. Amarantha filled the form reluctantly and handed it in, so did Bert. The librarian handed them two plastic cards with their personal information and picture.
“These are your student Ids, and they’re also called library cards. Take care of them. Loose it and you pay for whatever book you had taken out and you can never set foot on my library again. Understood?”
They nodded at her and she stepped down from the chair she was sitting them and started walking towards the books on the left. They followed her as she searched for the cue word ‘names’. She pointed the exact shelve where books related to names were located. Bert and Amarantha thanked her and then looked at each other: the pile of books was gigantic.
“Do you reckon there’s one that’s called ‘wood meanings’?”
Bert asked doubtfully. Amarantha shook her head.
“Let’s take several of them each…”
As they started reading the spines of the books searching for one that might give light to what they were looking they heard some footsteps at first and then more and more. By the time they had seized about five books each and walked to the tables they found they were all full of eleventh years.
“Bummer…”
Bert mumbled. They neared the librarian again and asked if they could take the books out. She nodded and made them sign yet another form. Despise the great amount of students in the library there was not a sound. Amarantha tried to make her way out of there as soon as possible. The total lack of sound made her feel uneasy: as if she was suddenly deaf. They were exiting the library when there was a sudden tap on her shoulder. Kier gave him one of his sly smiles as he took her books and accompanied them outside.
“You found that flower you were looking for?”
He asked her. She stared at him, he sure had nerve.
“Yes, the one you were so unwilling to help me with. Was it really so hard to tell me you had given it to the nurse?”
“I’ll…I’ll see you later Amarantha. Goodnight.”
Bert uttered, Amarantha barely nodded at him, her ancient eyes locked on Kier’s ice ones.
“I don’t owe you explanations, Amarantha.”
He retorted softly as they walked towards her dorm. This took her by surprise. She pondered his answer for a second and then murmured,
“You’re right. Thanks but I can take it from here.”
She whispered hastily, taking her books from his hands and running all the way to the Sun dorm.
Kier raised his chin and gaped intensely where she had been. He scratched the back of his neck annoyingly and then went back to the library.
In the other side of the Academy Professor Damaris had just finished explaining to the Headmasters what had happened during her fourth-year physical education class.
Headmaster Adlaw was scratching his chin, lost in thought. Headmistress Mayari was smiling in a knowing way,
“We’ll think about the prize, Damaris. Thank you for filling us in.”