^ (CAN I JUST SAY, THAT PHOTO REMINDS ME OF #SKYSON AND IDK WHY) ^

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T h e H o l l o w s   O f
H I R A E    T    H
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"So you want answers?" Saph lugged another heavy book up from the shelf and dropped it onto the table I had found in a small—kind of cosy—corner of the Academy's library. The table jolted and a loud thud echoed around the walls and I felt grateful that I had chosen the corner. Although I had been thinking about protecting my curious intentions from prying eyes, it doesn't hurt to avoid being told off by nagging librarians either.

"Yes, to my questions." I continued as I filed through the books she was handing me.

"Well, that's the definition of an answer by Sky Forest right there," Saph retorted with a short laugh, however, when I narrowed my eyes at her, she dropped the laugh—and another book.

"So, your interested in finding out why you're here?" She continued the conversation as she slipped into a chair next to me. I nodded, and then Saph sighed.

"Look, I've been here for a while–"

"And you know nothing, I know." I finished for her and pushed a book towards her side of the table for her to read and scan for answers.

"Wait, how'd you know?" The shock in her voice was just as evident on her face when I looked up.

"I asked Jameson my questions, he said he didn't know either." I sighed and pushed my hair out of my face.

Saph raised her eyebrows, "He doesn't know?" Saph spoke to herself instead of me yet the shock was still audible.

"Just read." I ordered and found my place in the book I had been reading before the disruption.

"Read what?" Saph asked and I looked up at her to raise my eyebrows at her. "I mean, what am I looking for?" She reiterated as she rolled her eyes at my unspoken response.

I smiled, glad that my friend had some sanity. "Look for anything that relates to the whole guarding 'Special One' thing." I explained and she nodded, ducking her head to begin reading.

We were about ten minutes into our reading and nothing had come up. I had gone through three books, somehow, one containing pictures of some well-known guardians that I couldn't be bothered to look through. Saph was on her second but was slowly losing concentration, and then she lost all of it when a hot boy sat at our table.

"That looks like some hardcore revision." He retorted as he gestured to all our books in a mess on the table. He definitely struck me as the bad boy player type and that instantly threw me off.

"I'm new here, I wanted to catch up on what has been taught." I told him more sourly than I had intended to. The boy's eyes widened slightly at my retort as if he was shocked that I would respond with such attitude. To be honest, I was kind of surprised I had done that too.

He easily fell back into his bad boy demeanour, though. "And," he picked up one of our books. "'The Most Successful Guardians to Grace the Earth' was on the curriculum?" His question was more directed at Saph than at me since she would know the curriculum.

However, I didn't hear a witty response from her. I frowned at the silence, Saph would always have a quipped retort on the tip of her tongue no matter what the circumstances were. I looked over to her to see her in a daze and practically drooling over the boy.

I rolled my eyes and threw a book at her. She snapped her head in my attention and her eyes narrowed.

"What the hell?" She hissed at me and I bit my tongue to hold back my laugh. A snigger from the seat next to me had me turning my attention back to the boy who seemed quite amused by our small brawl.

Turning to me, he spoke up, "All the new ones are always curious about this kind of stuff. I know because I was once curious." I then started to pay attention to the random hot boy sitting at our table, intrigued by how he had gone about answering his questions.

"I've read all these books, you know, there's nothing in them that answers the questions we all want to know." He told me and I looked down at the books that surrounded us.

Whether his information is correct or not, I myself am pretty sure I will never find anything here. If the information really is scarce and confidential, it won't be in a school library. So with a sigh, I began to collect and put away the books.

"But I may have some resources we could go over."  The offer was to me, and me only, but I saw as Saph leaned in. I turned to look at her—I could tell that she was half broken out of her daze but I that she was obviously eager to spend more time with him, and she also looked slightly interested.

Well, you know what they say—if you can't interest your best friend, get a hot boy to do it.

"Why are you offering? You don't even know me." I pointed out and the boy displayed a lazy smirk.

"I know your name; Sky." He leaned in and I leaned back in surprise. This guy really is a pervert.

"Pretty much everyone does, you're the first 'Special One' in a few years. The last special one to arrive was last year and he was exiled to Poland." My eyes widened at the information.

"Why was he exiled?" I asked him, curious about the details.

The boy smirked at my response; he knew that he had successfully baited me. "He was found to be not a special one, and he didn't like anything the Special One offered, but he knew too much about the organisation, so out he went." The information was intriguing to me. I had thought that everyone who wasn't a 'Special One' stayed on at the Academy, whether they liked it or not because they knew too much. But I guess it makes sense that you're exiled if you don't want to stay, though it does sound like a lonely fate.

"Anyway, back to you," The boy continued on. "I'm offering because I'd like to get to know Sky Forest, the enticing new 'Special One'." The boy outstretched his arms as he spoke about me. I frowned—well, I wouldn't say I'm 'enticing'.

I pondered his offer for a while before I slapped myself mentally. Hot boy and answers, do you even need to think about this, Sky?

Sighing, I replied with, "Okay, we can use the resources." My response was simple but the boy got the gist of it—I had agreed to his offer.

He smiled, his dazzling white teeth catching the light. "Okay, meet me tomorrow in the lunch hall at one. From there I'll take you to a more secretive place than this, and we'll use my resources." The boy stood up and slung his bag on his shoulder. I thought a while about his response—on a scale of one to creepy, how possible is it that this boy will abduct me?

I didn't even get a chance to respond because the boy held his hand out to me. "I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Toby. Toby Espan." The name sent warning bells going off in my head but I couldn't figure out how I would know this guy. Dismissing the thoughts, I nodded and shook his hand.

Toby walked off but stopped when he was about a metre away, "I'll see you there!" He shouted over his shoulder with a slight smirk on his face, and then I thought I saw him wink at me. But maybe not.

When he was out of sight I started clear up our mess by putting the books away, still thinking about those alarm bells in my head when he had told me his name. Where had I heard it before?

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RINGING BELLS

JINGLE BELLS

WHO IS TOBY

okay, before anger, I promise you that you know who he is.

LOOK DEEP INTO YOUR BRAIN HUMANS

Why is this hoe updating early? BECAUSE ITS 'THE HOLLOWS OF HIRAETH' THREE MONTH ANNIVERSARY.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY.

The Three Month Tally (before posting this):
734 Reads
119 Votes
71 Comments
28 Parts

Boom.
(Literally typed broom #cinderella where you at)

Bye Cinderella's (yeah I went there)

Love from, GusGus.

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Next update: Wednesday–Friday
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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE SPOILER:

Saph tells Sky who Toby is.

THEN

SQUAD
AND
PIZZA.

the end.