It’s done!
My Covid project, The Lady of the Valley is finally done and posted wholly over on Wattpad. You can read it here. I will be releasing it ebook form at some point. First chapter below.
1.
The cemetery stood as an oasis of calm in the middle of madness. Fifty yards beyond, two massive yews stood guard at the path to the little refuge. Beyond those the blend of humanity representing Mystic Valley University mingled, rushed, loafed about, and generally lived their mundane lives. Derek felt quite irritated at himself for feeling intimidated by it.
“Hello, friend.”
The voice startled him. He spun around as a woman inched closer. She had a careful demeanor, but as she leaned forward her thick braid fell over her neck and her backpack tried to slide off her shoulder. She reached out an arm, strung with multiple bracelets, and carefully spread a handful of shredded chicken nuggets on the marble table top a foot from him. Then she backed away again and sat down at the base of a tree with the rest of her lunch. Somehow he hadn’t even noticed her. Which bothered him.
“I like to people watch too,” she continued. “And this is a good spot to people watch. They’ve learned to ignore this place, so they don’t even think about anyone being back here.”
He considered her for a moment. Cocking his dark head at her. Then he picked at the nuggets, though he wasn’t really hungry. He’d never been offered food like this before.
Honestly, he’d never had anyone talk to him while in animal form before. Not directly, and certainly not gently, like this woman. And he wasn’t the only one. Nearby two feral cats sat working on their own nuggets, and while he watched, the woman dumped half a container of fries out for the birds and the squirrel in the tree behind her. They were waiting on her.
He cocked his head again. She was a touch taller than the average woman, on the plump side of curvy, with bright blue-gray eyes and a brighter smile. She moved slowly, so as not to startle the wild-ish life gathered around her. One hand played with her odd colored hair. It was too dark to be blonde, too light to be tow headed, with a definite sheen of red. Amused, he realized if she was a cat, like the ones which gathered at her feet, she’d be a calico.
“Sometimes,” she continued, possibly addressing him, or maybe the cats kissing up for more chicken. “I don’t want to go back into all that chaos. But then, I realize, while I like my peace, I like a challenge too.”
She shot him a grin, tossed out three more nuggets and gathered her trash and back pack. Then she shrugged. “So back into the craziness.”
He watched her walk out past the yew sentinels. Then looked down at the bits of chicken at his feet. Back into the craziness indeed.
Then Derek shook out his feathers and took flight for where he’d left his own bag, hoping he was ready for a little chaos.
* * *
“Welcome to Campus Culture,” the man at the front of the classroom said. He clicked the tiny remote in his hand and the next slide moved forward, turning his presentation into colored text. “Or as I like to call it, Humaning 101.”
Derek snorted. Much of the class tittered along.
“The administration has lost faith in much of the parenting capabilities of the world, so in this class, which is the only one that every student on campus is required to take, we will cover a number of basic life skills. You might be bored. You might learn something new. But this is a pass/fail class and the only test is whether you show up or not. So enjoy the easy A while you can.”
The instructor smiled at the full room. Click. A photo of the instructor wearing a super hero costume along with four other familiar heroes popped up. “In my normal life, here on campus, I teach in the art department. So I’ve tried to make this class entertaining, at least.”
The door opened and the woman from before entered. Derek straightened in his seat. The instructor gestured immediately to her. “Great timing. This is Astrid, my T.A. If you email me, you will probably be talking to her because she is much more organized than I am and she actually likes computers.”
Derek’s eyes followed Astrid instead of the lecture. The bounce of her teal backpack against her back, the way her braid fell over her shoulder when she leaned over to put the bag on the floor, and especially the way the muscles and veins moved beneath her skin held his attention far more than he was prepared for. He didn’t need a new obsession. He had plenty of trouble as it was.
Gods, he thought, please don’t let Mystic Valley be as interesting as the rest of his life.
* * *
Astrid studied the new crop of students while pretending to draw in her sketchbook. The first class was always about the history of Mystic Valley and MVU. The parts the administration was okay with talking about, anyway. Distinguished past. One of the first integrated universities in Kentucky. Yada yada. It seemed like they should be past patting themselves on the back for letting minorities and the womens learn, but MVU was a special place. It was right there in the school’s mission statement. Twice.
Mystic Valley was a special place. It drew a certain kind of person into its tentacles.
Two of the people in the class she recognized. They were the younger siblings of people she grew up with. Most of the others drew no more than a cursory glance. Mostly harmless, she told herself with an inner smile. Thank you, Mr. Adams.
Not too far away sat a peculiar guy who she caught looking at her. His short, dark hair feathered disobediently around a paler than average face. He was handsome, in a bold featured kind of way, the way of movie stars and male models who always ended up as the center of attention. Oh yes, he would definitely draw people to him. Especially with those shocking blue eyes. No man had any business having that combination of perfect skin, glossy hair, and thick fringe of eyelashes over actually blue eyes. His glance and the small twist of his lips offered a suggestion of wickedness that no doubt he wouldn’t live up to.
Because real people came with real flaws and led to real disappointment before they left for some better deal with a blonder woman with fewer opinions and fewer inches on her waist. Astrid had bigger things to do with her life than to skip from one ‘I know I’m handsome’ fuck boi to another. So she forced her attention down, to her page, where a map of the city was taking shape in pencil strokes.