Chapter 6

Even though she knew she wouldn’t start classes again until the spring, Kayla enjoyed hanging around the college campus of Florida Heritage University, waiting on Kalinda to finish her classes. They’d enjoy lunch together, and while Kalinda was in class, Kayla would wander around, getting herself familiar with the campus once again, visiting the library or just sitting out in the November breeze. She did that now, leaning back on a small oak in the middle of the courtyard, a book on spirit guides in her lap as she stared around at the other students making use of the clear Florida afternoon. A small group over to her left sat around discussing the new professor in the psychology wing, a couple stretched out on a blanket, munching chips and giggling at each other’s jokes, and a lone girl sat, cross-legged, off to the side, studying something on her laptop. Off in the distance a couple of guys played Frisbee, and another cluster of students sat around a dark-haired man who seemed to lecture them on what Kayla had no idea. Campus life. She had to admit, she had missed it.

“In the beginning, there was only Chaos, the dark mystery of all creation. The very first of everything, the origin of all, Chaos was the empty, unfathomable space at the beginning of time,” Kayla heard the dark-haired man off to the side say to the eager students in front of him. At the sound of the word Chaos, Kayla spun, eyes narrowed as she zeroed in on the rest of what he told the others. “Chaos is where it all began. However, it wasn’t just a gaping void, fathomless and comprising all this goobly gook people say existed in the beginning. Personified as a female, Chaos was the primal feature of the universe, a shadowy realm of mass and energy from which much of what is powerful, as well as mostly negative and dark, in the world would spring forth in later mythologies.” He glanced over, noticing Kayla listening to him. He smiled as he dipped his head slightly before turning back to his students. “From Chaos, the first five primordial gods were born: Gaea, who we call Earth, Tartarus, the Underworld, and Eros, which we all know as love and desire. Chaos also gave birth to Erebus, which is the Darkness, and Nyx, who we call Night. However, before them all, there was Chaos. Out of Chaos came day and night, love, passion, heaven and hell. Once we reach that level of Chaos, we can then find our way to everything else. We’ve forgotten the importance of just letting things go and enjoying the abyss.”

Kayla felt her brows furrow, trying to understand what he implied. She remembered Damien saying something similar at the dorm party several days ago. Chaos is where it all began, and out of it came Night, and then Love. The Chaos Magicians merely want to restore the world to its roots, to help the world find that love once again. You have to admit, we need it. She wondered if the professor referred to the same thing. She also wondered if the man had the same goals as Damien when it came to the college students. When you want to cause chaos, college is the best place to do it. These kids will believe anything if it goes against the status quo. They’re all looking to rebel without caring why they’re rebelling. They don’t want to think; they just want someone to give them a cause and then tell them to fight for it. Susceptible. Vulnerable. Pliable. Imbeciles, really. It’s fun to fuck with them. Was the professor the one guiding these kids? If so, which direction did he lead them? Kayla couldn’t help but wonder about the coincidence of hearing Chaos referred to so much lately. Yet, she had seen nothing except the pranks the Chaos Magicians pulled in the science building, pranks that seemed more annoying than harmful. The question was, would they do more elaborate pranks?

The professor glanced back at Kayla, his gaze almost mocking, as he studied her with his dark green eyes.

Kayla squirmed under the man’s snickering scrutiny, finally deciding she had enough, pushing herself to her feet. She would meet Kalinda outside of her classroom. Something wasn’t right about that professor, and Kayla just wanted to get away from him. The other kids, however, hung on every word he uttered, trapped by his mesmerizing tone. There wasn’t really anything bad about what he said. It was just a humanities lesson, after all, she thought. Still, there was too much discussion about Chaos lately for her comfort level.

Wrapping her arms around her chest as she walked, she reached the edge of the courtyard and stopped, the hairs on the nape of her neck raised. Turning, she noticed the professor staring at her, his expression blank. One of his students asked a question, but the teacher ignored him, his attention fixed on Kayla.

She sucked in a breath, her body visibly shuddering as she forced herself to turn and walk away. Yeah, definitely creepy.