School is relatively uneventful. I walk through my classes in a daze, avoid Arthur, but still manage to keep an eye on Freya. I soon find that she seems to be doing the same to me. I wonder if she can sense my magic, I've heard of druids that can. I brush the thoughts from my mind. More likely than not, she is just watching me because I'm the new kid from the poor side of town. It isn't exactly kept down low; news, as I have found, has a tendency to spread through Camelot like wild fire. They all seem to know my life story even if I haven't said one word to them. I remain close to my friends and keep my head down. When the bell rings for the students to be released from school for the day I wait patiently with Morgana at the assigned meeting spot. She normally would walk home with the others but she felt best if she could watch the situation. Arthur chose somewhere on the completely opposite side of campus where no classes were being held and even then, only showed when all the students had left the grounds.

"Morgana, Merlin." He greets coldly.

"Pleasure to see you too." I mutter back. It's quite obvious that neither of us wants to be there but we start walking anyways. For the majority of the hike towards the house we remain silent, allowing Morgana to keep up a one sided conversation. Slowly we come to a stop in front of a hotel. Or at least I think it's a hotel. It takes me a few seconds and then it hits me, this is their house. It's a giant, white mansion with two dark wood doors and a moat. Yes, they have a moat. I attempt to hide my awe and continue to follow my friend and my enemy into the house/castle thing.

Still in complete silence we walk through a series of rooms each more extravagant than the last. We finally reach something that resembles a large living room and Arthurs drops his backpack. Morgana steps close to me and whispers in my ear "Try not to provoke him."

"Well, I'll be in the next room over if you need me! Have fun boys!" She calls cheerily as she opens another door. We are engulfed in silence once more.

"Let's set some ground rules. You will not speak of this to anyone. This does not give you permission to talk to me at school. You are not allowed to tell your closest friend or your pet pig or whatever you bumpkins own. If you break any of these rules you will be spending a while longer than one night in the janitor's closet. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes your Majesty."

"I didn't say you were allowed to be funny. Just teach me some math so this can end as soon as possible."

"Right, what are you having trouble with?" I ignore the impulse to punch him in the face.

"Everything."

"That doesn't help a whole lot…"

"Just start with the basics."

With a sigh I pull out my binder and attempt to explain how to solve an equation. It takes about an hour for Arthur to grasp the idea of basic algebra. He isn't dumb, just not motivated. When my stomach growls I decide it's time to leave. Both of us are at the end of our patience with the other. He escorts me to the door and promptly slams it shut the second both of my feet touch the ground.

I make it home in a couple of minutes and gladly stuff my face with any food in sight. When I'm satisfied I reach my bedroom and finish my homework. I take another look at the chest and the runes are still there. Maybe they had been there the whole time and I just hadn't noticed. It's always a possibility. When my eyes begin to droop I drag myself into bed and have a dreamless sleep.

Gaius promptly pounds on the door at seven thirty. It gives me enough time to eat breakfast and get a quick shower. I slowly stumble downstairs and nibble on a bagel before grabbing clean clothes turning on the shower. The water is cold but I ignore it. If anything it wakes me up.

Still, I somehow manage to lose track of time and find myself running late for class.

After haphazardly tossing items that look they might pertain to school in my back pack I thank Gaius and rush out the door. Someday I will be on time but today is not that day. Right before I reach the gate, I notice Freya strolling towards the crosswalk, earphones in and her nose in a book. I can't help but grin to myself slightly knowing that I'm likely to do the same. However, my grin falters as she fails to stop at the crosswalk. She isn't slowing down nor is she looking up.

"Freya!" I shout, "Freya, watch out!" However, my cries are useless, her music is too loud and she's lost in her book. Instinctively I reach for my magic but then I see everyone watching in horror, there's no way I could use it without being seen. Still everyone else is too far away; I'm the only one who can warn her.

I attempt to push the wooden gate open but the damn lock is rusted and won't budge. I fiddle with it some more but I'm losing time that I already can't afford. I continue to scream Freya's name and hop the fence, sprinting as fast as my legs can carry me.

She's stepped into the street now and a red Volkswagen is headed straight for her. Her hair flows gently in the breeze and there's a slight smile on her lips. It's sickening to see in this situation. I try to make eye contact with the driver but they're oblivious. It appears the driver is searching through their purse while music blasts loudly from the radio. They're only feet apart now. I take a flying leap, twisting my arms around Freya's waist and dive onto the median. I feel pain erupt throughout my back and shoulder but I still let out a sigh of relief. I look up just in time to see the book Freya was reading get run over in the street. I cringe slightly knowing that if I had been seconds later there wouldn't just be a book laying there.

Freya untangles her limbs from mine while she catches her breath. Both of us are still too stunned to speak. I do however, take the liberty of retrieving her book before it becomes even more damaged. I make sure the traffic is clear and while my heart is still beating very fast I put on a calm face.

There are a few remains of a paper bag book cover but most of it had been torn by the tires. The real cover looked to be ancient and instead of words were small symbols, much like the ones I had seen on the chest. Impossible! I attempted to mask my surprise and jogged back over to the still recovering Freya.

"I believe this belongs to you…" I say with a smile.

"Uh, yes, wow thanks, I was just so into the book I didn't even notice what was happening around me. Are you okay? You took the brunt of the fall."

"Trust me, I've had worse. Are you okay? And how's your book? It seems pretty old and delicate." I try to imply that I understand what she was reading up on. Her head lifts up sharply and she looks into my eyes as if she were looking into my soul.

"Don't worry, I won't say anything. I was just wondering if you…"

"Look, this isn't the place to talk about it, and we're already late to class. Give me your arm."

I complied and stuck out my left hand. She uncapped a black pen and began to write on my arm.

"Meet me at this address someday after school and I promise I can explain everything, just not right now. It's not safe here."

I nod and stand up, brushing the dirt off of my pants. I then extend my hand to Freya which she takes with a smile. With that we make our way to the tardy desk and prepare to face the rest of the day.

A/N Hey y'all sorry it's been so long but I actually thought this chapter had been deleted when I first wrote it some months back. I was so furious that I had lost it and several other versions I had written I just said forget it. I'll rewrite it eventually. As it turns out I had saved it on my external hard drive (well most of it) I added a good 500 words tonight but it was a great motivator.

Reviews are appreciated just to let me know how I'm doing, if people are even still interested in the story after all this time or if it's just plain crappy. Either way it's all welcome.

Love,

Hain