《The 14th Zodiac》Chapter Eight
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Evans seemed more energetic than ever. He was back to his happy and sarcastic mood.
"So for the most part, you all know your elements and each other's signs. This class will continue off of that with a bit of extra research. Some of the classes will weave in and out of each other quite easily, you'll see. Especially when we start covering compatibility with each others' signs," Evans said as he gave everyone a smirk. Most of the class began to giggle. Vincent had always heard of horoscopes and such that were in newspapers, but he never realized that they might have some relevance to him now that being Signed was possible.
Vincent was still learning all the basics through his classes. There was so much he had to catch up on compared to the other students who were aware of their Signed powers. It didn't make it easier when his Sign wasn't part of the curriculum out of Evans' classroom.
The first couple of classes zoomed by. Will and Vincent did their best to check out the entrance to the observatory between classes. For the most part, only a few teachers would come out of the research facility. There didn't seem to be any specific schedule on when teachers left. As far as Vincent could tell, the entrance was ordinary and could probably be accessed easily.
"Well at least this might be easier to do when they are all gone," Will told Vincent.
"I agree. I just hope a teacher or two don't decide to skip the celebration."
Will nodded. "That could cause some problems. The longer we wait, the more they might try to cover up what has been done. We should check in on what Theresa has as soon as possible."
"Well we do have combat training soon. Let's train with her there so we can all talk. I'm sure the noise of weapons and element-based abilities might help cover up our conversation," Vincent explained.
"Though we still have Cole and Mr. Argo to deal with."
Vincent didn't need the reminder. He felt ever since yesterday, combat training was going to be a lot different. Cole probably wasn't going to let him live it down, and Lloyd could easily not want a new star to shine over his fellow Signed Ophiuchus.
The two boys headed out of the main building to the combat training class. "The strange thing I find out about Mr. Argo is the lack of information on him," Will decided to say as they walked.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it's easy to find information on just about any head teacher ever, unless they are still new, like Mr. Litwin and Miss Congreve, the Cancer head teacher. Especially young ones like Mr. Litwin. But Mr. Argo has been the Ophiuchus head for quite some time."
"Really? So you don't know a lot about Evans? Or even your own head teacher?"
Will shook his head. "*Evans* Litwin is a familiar name, but I'm not quite sure where I've read it. I probably read one of his research papers growing up I'm sure. As for Alex Congreve, she seems to keep to herself as much as possible. She's not a scholar, so there aren't many papers by her or about her."
"Shame we have to miss the celebration then, huh?" Vincent gave his friend a half-smile. A part of him knew that knowledge was extremely important to Will. Knowing his head teacher a bit more would probably be something he really wanted, and Vincent felt bad for trying to take him away from it.
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Will shrugged. "There's always future events I'm sure. Or even next years' new year celebration. I'm more interested in what the observatory has to offer."
"After seeing your prowess in the combat training yesterday, I'm surprised you don't want to be a hunter."
"I thought I was going to be. My parents used to be hunters. They are the ones who trained me before I got here. Eventually they settled down and I got more time to myself and books. Zodiacs, Aspected, Signed. It was all so enthralling to learn about. I think the biggest part of it is that it's such an unknown thing. The majority of the world has no idea we exist."
Vincent never thought about it like that before. It was a strange feeling only know that a specific group of people knew of such power and wonder that the stars brought.
Upon entering the combat training class, everyone was already near the dummy and sparring area. Vincent was glad that Cole wasn't showing off more.
It didn't take too long for the bell to ring and signal that class had begun. Vincent looked around and didn't see Theresa anywhere.
"I wonder where she is..." he muttered to Will. Will looked around.
"We still have Mr. Litwin's class tomorrow, and Friday morning, plus the next two combat trainings. She's probably sick. I read that it happens a lot with new students. Something about all the new people together in classes and new area, if you're not from this part of the States."
Vincent nodded, but he felt as if something else had happened to her. His eyes immediately went over to Cole, who seemed to be having a great time as he trained by himself. He decided to try and text Theresa. After a few minutes of no replying, he let out a sigh. "Maybe we can swing by the nurses' office to see if she came by?" Vincent asked.
"Couldn't hurt."
The two went about the rest of the training working on their skills. Will was already more advanced than Vincent, but Vincent felt he should try to see what his celestial powers could do. The class went by fast.
The nurses' office was more out of their way than their next class, so they decided they would go after classes ended for the day. Classes were over before they both even realized.
One of the nurses' offices was on the second floor and another was closer to the top floor dorms. Vincent and Will decided to go to both just in case.
"No I don't think we've had a Theresa today," the first nurse told them. The two boys then headed to the second nurses' office.
There, they were greeted by several sick students waiting in seats near the office and inside the office. "I guess you were right, Will."
"Yeah, I'd say we were lucky."
Vincent nodded and moved through the students. They all gave him strange glances. Vincent tried to explain himself, but then one nurse spoke out. "You have to wait your turn boy."
Vincent shook his head. "I'm not here to take your time. My friend and I were just seeing if our other friend was here."
"Name?" the nurse asked.
"Theresa Bremer."
"She came by earlier today. I told her to rest and take some of the cold medicine I gave her."
Vincent gave Will a smile. "Well I guess you were right."
The two headed back upstairs to see if they could get anymore information on the observatory. Vincent decided to take his satchel back to his room before they continued in their investigation. In his room, he discovered a floating letter in front of his bed.
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"Well that's new," Vincent couldn't help but say out loud.
He tossed his satchel onto the bed and picked up the letter. In his hands it still felt extremely light. He looked it over to see if there was anything special about it. To him, it glistened slightly and images of the Libra constellation faded in and out. "Theresa?"
Vincent opened the letter. The contents inside were explaining how someone was onto her so she had to fake sick to avoid too much suspicion. His mind raced with all the people who could be on to their idea. It could be any one of the teachers, heads, or students like Cole. The letter continued to explain that she was learning more and more about aether and air and that's how she managed to get the letter to go from her room to his. He was continuing to be amazed by the powers of Signed.
The note in hand, Vincent took the letter to Will in the commons area. Will was writing some ideas down when Vincent sat at the table.
"What do you have there?" Will asked without looking up from his paper.
"A letter from Theresa, apparently."
Will looked up and stopped writing. "Really now? Why'd she write a letter and not just text one of us?"
"Says here that she didn't want whoever was on to her to know that we were still talking to her." Vincent offered the letter to Will. The Cancer Signed read over it quickly.
"Interesting. That Libra girl continues to surprise me. I had never heard of a Libra doing such things."
"Well I wasn't sure if it was common or not," Vincent admitted. "So hard to tell nowadays."
Will gave Vincent a sincere smile. "You'll get there. It is a lot to take in, and even now we are learning new things about certain Signed like you and Theresa."
"I sure hope so. I feel this year is going to be crazy ever since Evans found me."
"Well now especially. I'm sure whatever we find in that observatory will lead us in the direction of that crazy ride."
Vincent nodded. He leaned back in his chair. "Do you have any idea who might be on to our plan?"
Will chuckled a bit. "Do you even have to ask? It has to be Mr. Argo. Only a teacher like him would be interested in keeping things how they are."
Vincent couldn't deny that. Lloyd did seem like he was content in keeping the status quo. It helped him and Cole keep their limelight with their skill. It would continue to keep Vincent's powers in small circles.
"Do you know a lot about when Ophiuchus got discovered?" Vincent asked.
Will nodded and continued to write notes. "Yeah it was really big news when a new dorm got added. There was a big party and everything. The entire Signed population was excited to embrace a new Zodiac."
Vincent frowned. "Not that I'm one who would enjoy that kind of attention, but I wonder why they didn't make a huge deal over Celestic. I almost feel like they brought me in under the radar. Though it would have been nice to meet a bunch of people. I've never been really great at making friends."
"It would have been nice. When I heard there was a 14th Zodiac, I was quite surprised and excited that it was in my lifetime. That's why I was so eager to meet you. I'm sure there are others out there who feel the same. It's a big school. Even with your Zodiac colors, it would be hard for *everyone* to be able to see you, let alone be willing to approach you."
"I can understand that. I can't imagine trying to approach someone first. It's so hard meeting new people for me."
"Well I'll always be willing to help you meet new friends if you'd like. I've always been pretty open and eager to talk to people first."
Vincent thanked Will. It felt nice finally having a friend like him. It was hard to keep friends when he had moved so much before now. Even with phones and social media only kept people together for so long.
"I'll be sure to discuss this with you in the morning. Just finalizing some ideas on what we need to look for and where it would be in the observatory, based on my knowledge of non-Signed ones," Will explained.
"I understand."
The rest of their evening was spent keeping to themselves for the most part. They decided it was best to keep eyes and ears out for who might be to blame for Theresa feeling paranoid. The night went on without any indication.
Thursday was just another day. This time Theresa was able to join up with them before Evans' class. "I'm not sure who it was, but I swear that someone knows," was the first thing she said to them.
"We believe you, but it's almost impossible to figure out who," Will replied.
"I think it might be easier to try to get what we need and fast, without having to worry about anyone knowing. Even if they do truly know, will they stop us?" Vincent asked.
They all sat in thought. "Perhaps not," Will said first.
"They might not stop us themselves, but it could be them who lets others know," Theresa muttered.
"We can't be too paranoid. If we start thinking everyone is out to stop us, this will never get done," Vincent explained. "We need to find out more about the Aspected and the Zodiacs."
The other two agreed with Vincent. They decided to continue as planned, regardless of the obstacles in the path. Will discussed what he had come up with based on his other observatory knowledge.
"More than likely, the core of information will either be on documents in the back of the observatory, or on a computer in the same location. That will probably be our highest priority. The telescopes will be our next. Obviously the biggest one out of them all will be the best to look through to see what they are studying, but they will have minor ones all over the space. They could be pointed at constellations or even wherever the Aspected are focused."
Vincent thought the plan was brilliant. Having a focused idea on what to go in looking for made it a lot easier than going in blind. They decided that they would decide which of Theresa or Will would be a look out once they got there.
The rest of the day passed quickly. Vincent could feel excitement and nervousness. Even with his little time here, he felt he could change the world. He just needed to know what was in that observatory.
Finally Friday came. The three were all nervous as time seemed to slowly tick by. The celebration was right after classes and included dinner and festivals that were also outside the school around the grounds. There would be enough students walking around everywhere to get the three of them unnoticed to the observatory.
The classes dragged by, and the combat training was even slower. Everyone seemed excited about the celebration, as most of the students in the classes were new. Rumors spread on what exactly the celebration had to offer. Vincent did recall Evans mentioning a village that could be visited. He assumed the village was passed the combat training class building, because the path kept going.
Eventually, the last class came to an end. The students all began to rush towards their rooms to drop off textbooks and began to socialize over the entire building. It was finally time for the three to head up to the observatory.
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