A Student's Dream (Twisted Cogs Book 1) Read Free Page B

studio antechamber was like entering a god’s private world, which, Elena reasoned, it almost was. Two girls and two boys sat on the long marble benches that lined two walls. On the third wall was a single doorway and a large clock. The slow-turning cogs showed that it was half-past twelve stroke, a little after midday.
    “ Your appointment isn’t until thirteen stroke,” Joanna said briskly, her voice breaking the antechamber’s peaceful silence. “You wait here, and I’m going to go collect from that cart-driver’s master the money that he owes us.”
    “ Mother he doesn’t owe us any-” Elena began, but her mother had already left. She sat on the very edge of one of the marble benches, casting a sidelong glance at the other four in the room. They were all roughly her age, though they seemed much more comfortable in their city clothing. On the other end of her bench, a very tan young man with short dark hair leaned back against the wall, his eyes closed. A little closer to Elena, a girl with similarly black hair tied up in a ponytail fidgeted, her leg bouncing up and down restlessly.
    The boy on the other bench wasn’t paying attention to anything around him, his head bowed over a sketch he was drawing with a nub of charcoal. Next to him sat a young woman with long blonde locks and a paintbrush stuck behind one ear, who was fixing Elena with a look of such frank and open curiosity that it made her smile.
    “ Hello,” Elena said. The word seemed to bounce off of the walls of the quiet room, and suddenly she had the attention of everyone present. Even the boy who leaned against the wall opened his eyes and fixed them on her. Elena felt very aware of herself again, and wished she hadn’t said anything.
    “ Hello!” the girl with the paintbrush said, smiling so warmly that Elena felt emboldened.
    “ My name is Elena. Are you here to petition Master De Luca as well?” Elena asked.
    “ Oh no, I’m just here with him,” the girl with the paintbrush gestured towards the boy who had returned to his sketch. “All three of us are with him actually, a bit of moral support on an important day. He’s more confident when he has other people around; it forces him to pretend he’s not terrified.”
    “ I don’t need to pretend,” the sketching boy muttered, “you three are the only ones who seem to think I won’t get in.”
    “ I’m Arta, by the way,” paintbrush girl ignored her friend, “it’s a pleasure to meet you, Elena. And what’s your name?”
    “ Um...Elena,” Elena repeated, “you just said it.”
    “ Oh, no, I heard you,” Arta laughed, “I was asking him.” She pointed next to Elena’s bench, where Ele stood with wide eyes.

Chapter III
Speaking to Echoes
    Elena’s heart raced as if she had been running. She sat frozen on the cool marble bench, trying to fit Arta’s statement into a context that made sense. In all the years Ele had been her companion, no one in the village had been able to hear or see him. When she was a little girl her neighbors and family would humor her, but the older she got the less endearing they found it.
    “ My name is Ele. I’m Elena’s friend,” Ele said slowly, searching Arta’s face.
    “ It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Ele,” Arta smiled, and Elena shook her head once as if she could snap herself out of a dream. How many dozens of people in Carpi had treated her with scorn until she had learned to pretend she couldn’t see him? How many inventive and effective punishments had her mother devised before the lesson had sunk in?
    Elena rubbed her wrist; now that she was thinking about it the dull pain from earlier in the day had returned. The restless girl, the sleeping boy, and the boy who sketched with charcoal were all treating the conversation as if it were small talk, like they were discussing the weather.
    “ Can...can everyone in the city see him?” Elena ventured a guess.
    “ Everyone?” The restless girl at the end of her bench had