“I...I was all by myself when that happened,” Silvian stammered. “How could anyone possibly know that?”

My mind was reeling. How the hell was I going to get out of this one? I took a deep breath. I had bullshitted my way into this mess so God be damned if I wasn’t going to try my best to bullshit my way out.

“I’m a powerful psychic,” I said as matter of factly as I could.

“That’s not possible,” Silvian sneared, crossing his arms. “I’ve taken divination. There’s no way someone would be powerful enough to see into another person’s memories without the use of a scrying pool or some kind of ritual.”

“Try me,” I said slowly. “I promise you I’m more powerful than I look. I can see into your mind and tell you all sorts of things about your past.” Well, at least as much as I had read about in the books.

“I don’t believe you.”

“I said try me bitch! Give me your head!” For a moment Silvian looked like he was going to protest but I gave him a glare so cold that he simply furrowed his brow before reluctantly taking a small step forward. I shut my eyes, trying to make myself come off as powerful as possible. Slowly I reached out and traced a circle on his forehead with my thumb before leaving one finger at the center of his temple. This was a technique the divination professors Sleemage used in book four. She also had her other hand in a scrying pool at the time but, eh, I figured this was probably convincing enough. I waited a moment, as if I truly was scanning through his thoughts.

“Okay,” I said slowly, speaking in a breathy voice to try and sound even more mystical. “Let’s see. You grew up in a pure elvish bloodline, that’s always put you at odds with humans since your family considers elves the superior beings. Your first year at school Owen Thorn put you in your place when he dueled you and you lost. You felt like it was a disgrace to your race and hated him ever since, promising to destroy him. You know he breaks the school rules and you’ve tried to spy on him but he’s always one step ahead of you. You hate him because deep down you feel like you’ll never be as good as him-” Silvian abruptly pulled back, his breathing fast.

“T-That’s enough,” he stammered. “I think that’s quite enough.”

I smirked at him. “So, do you believe me?”

Silvian nodded frantically. “Yes, yes of course I believe you.” He frowned. “Though the way you were saying everything made me sound like some sort of villain.”

It’s because you are one you thick headed asshole.

I smothered what I really wanted to say by simply arching a brow. “I was just saying what I saw.”

Something flickered across Silvian’s gaze. “So, you’re strong in the second sight, more so than anyone I’ve ever met.” He smiled thinly. “I would say in this one regard you’re more powerful than even Owen Thorn.”

My cheeks grew warm. “Oh no, no, no I’m nothing compared to him-”

“But his strengths lie in offensive magic. His overwhelming power doesn’t carry over to the mental arts!”

There were three main types of magic in the Owen Thorn series. First there was offensive magic which consists of casting a spell on something directly to cause a direct reaction. For example an offensive spell could range from simply making a slice of cake three times bigger to straight up blowing someone up. It’s the most commonly used magic due to the fact that most spells fall into this category.

Second is alchemic magic. This is much more based in science and involves things like potions and elixirs. Necromancy falls into this category as well. Although certain spells in the category are performed by only the most gifted and trained alchemic wizards, the act of attempting to raise a being from the dead is punishable by having your magic stripped away and being exiled from the wizarding world.

Finally there is the mental arts. The mental arts are focused on things like fortune telling, seeing into the future or past, and communing with the dead. The most powerful wizards in the mental arts are able to manipulate people with mind games and sometimes even use mind control.

For the most part wizards can cast in all three categories but they have a significant strength in one. At the beginning of their first year each student is sorted into one of the three classes of magic by the seeing pool which detects which magical art they should specialize in. Once this occurs they are given a uniform in the colors of their magical class (purple for alchemic, black for mental and blue for offensive.) The students have most classes together but depending on the magical class they’re sorted into they will take extra classes to specialize in either offensive, alchemic or mental magic.

Silvian seemed to now think I had a very specific strength in the mental arts which I most certainly did not. He was looking at me now with something in his gaze which made me squirm. For some reason I felt this lie might have gotten me into something very, very bad.

“You know,” he said slowly, “my strength is in the alchemic arts. It’s said that the mental arts and the alchemic arts combined can create some of the strongest magics known to man.” He smirked, extending a hand. “Despite the fact that you’re a human I would like to offer you the exclusive chance to be my friend.”

My eyes narrowed. “I think I’ll pass,” I said monotony.

Silvian frowned. “Don’t be daft,” he scoffed. “This is an extremely rare opportunity for you. You would be a fool to turn it down. Besides, you don’t know anyone else.”

I frowned, he did have a point in that one regard. On top of that I didn’t always have the best luck meeting new people. Case in point the fact that I had literally no friends in the real world. On the other hand however, I couldn’t think of anything worse than being friends with Silvian Greygate. From the look on his face he was definitely up to something. There was no way he would befriend a human without an ulterior motive and he especially seemed a little too interested in my ‘abilities’. I thought for a moment, the gears in my head turning as a saying popped into my head, ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer’. If this truly was the beginning of the seventh book this would be the year that Silvian would be seduced by the Dark One and eventually merge with him. If I befriended him maybe I could change things and keep him from killing Owen Thorn.

I took a deep breath, swallowing my pride and shook his extended hand.

“Alright,” I said slowly. “I’ll be your friend.”

Silvian smiled at me the way a snake might smile at a mouse they were about to eat.

“Brilliant!” He said, giving my hand yet another shake. “I look forward to our friendship!”

I grimaced. “It’s a friendship, not a business deal. You don’t need to phrase it like that. God, and you say I’m the weirdo.”

“I look forward to getting to know you better…err…”

“God! You didn’t even ask my name!”

Silvian arched a brow. “Well, are you going to tell me now?”

“It’s Chester Price you asshat!”

Silvian chuckled. “Oh! We’re using nicknames with each other! How fun!”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s not a nickname, I’m insulting you-”

“Haha! We’re already close enough to joke insult each other! This friendship really is moving fast! I find your jest very entertaining Chester Price. I look forward to our friendship!”

There he was talking like this was a business deal again. What could he be planning? There was no doubting it, Silvian Greygate wanted something from me and my nonexistence mental magic and I was determined to get to the bottom of it.