The Djinn and The Vartija: Cafeteria

   Emrri

I sat down and placed my lunch on the table. Picking up my sandwich, I focused my senses on the room. A mild vanilla scent rose from the other students in the cafeteria, along with a tranquil warmth that made me feel at ease. Taking a bite from my sandwich, I tried to ignore the human aura and search for anything out of place.

The back of my neck tingled as a slight licorice scent tickled my nose. I turned around, in time to see the gum bubble Nathan had made pop.
“No lunch today?” I asked as he sat down.
“It's Thursday.” He replied with a shrug. I nodded and took another bite. The cafeteria served salad on Thursday, which was not a something my meat-loving friend willingly ate. Being a sack lunch person, I didn't normally pay attention to the cafeteria food schedule.
While eating my sandwich, I watched him flip through a book on mythology. I had met Nathan shortly after my mother and I moved here. Since that time, he had grown to be my best friend. Due to his fascination with mythology, I had often come to him for help identifying critters. He was always willing to answer my questions, happy to share his knowledge.
“Do you need something?” Nathan asked, looking up from his book and pushing back the light blond bangs that were beginning to hang over his eyes. Those eyes were what had first drawn my attention all those years ago. The left eye was pale gray, while the right was bright green. Even now, I enjoyed watching his eyes.
“Not unless you can make the last two periods disappear.” I said, faking a yawn. “Today has been so slow.” He looked around the cafeteria, then smiled mischievously.
“The day does pass slower when Alicia isn't around.”
I nodded. “If she wasn't home sick, then you two would be debating about food again.”
Nathan and Alicia were polar opposites when it came to food. Nathan was a carnivore with a sweet tooth, while Alicia was a vegetarian who wouldn't touch a piece of candy with a ten-foot pole. Lunch was normally a battlefield where they tried to convince the other to change sides. Their debates could be quite entertaining, though I doubted that it would have made this school day move any faster.
I wanted to get home. What critters had been drawn there because of my aura? Was Muritage still suffering from my aura? I had watched him stumble across the lawn and into the tree-house. That brief show of weakness from the djinn had worried me more then the knowledge that I had lit a beacon pointing to where I lived. So far as I knew, his species were not ones to reveal weakness. Without knowing what exactly he had stolen from me, I couldn't rely on the abilities I knew when the next battle arrived.
What if he took my ability to bind critters?
The thought made my heart pound. If I couldn't bind and send away, what would I do to end the next attack?
I finished my sandwich, and the bell rang.
“Back to class.” Nathan sighed.
The school day is almost done. I'll be home soon.