Legacies

by Bebe Lightsmith

  “Let’s see,” Her eyes skimmed over the paper. “Oh, F.A. Track, that’s cool, me too!” She grinned. MBIA had four tracks in which a student could choose to test into. There was the engineering track, research and development, analysis, and finally, field agent. “Wow, you’re in class A with Agent Rogers?” She then gasped. I had no idea what any of that meant.

  “You scored one of the highest in the class, not to mention, do you know how rare it is for women to make it there? And you’re just a witch at that!” I still had no idea what she was so excited about. “Let’s see, your first class is analyzation, that’s in the west wing, where all of your classes will probably be.” She then showed me where that was on the map.

  “So, are you not in the west wing?” I asked.

  “Oh goodness no, I’m in the north wing with all the other rejects.” She rolled her eyes. “But there is always an opportunity to rank up.” She seemed to be reminding herself more than saying it to me. The first bell rang, and suddenly, the room was filled with activity as students gathered their things and raced to their first class.

  I followed Natalie’s instructions and found my first class rather easily. It was a small classroom with ten round tables with three or four chairs around them. A large man greeted me at the head of the room. He kind of looked like Dwayne Johnson, similar in ethnicity, stature, and brawn.

  “Hello, I’m Agent Rogers, you must be Ivy.” He gave me a small smile. He wore fine, rim-less reading glasses on the tip of his nose, which was an odd selection from such a big man. He reminded me of Hank McCoy from the X-Men. This big, hulking, muscly man was actually just a quiet, thoughtful scholar, and that was apparent through his choice of glasses. I shook his hand and exchanged the greeting.

  “Sit at the table with your name on it. The class is a little empty right now because the Knights are gone.” He explained. I didn’t know what that meant, so I nodded and moved on. I found my table in the back. There were two other names printed on small cards that were taped to the surface. One was Owen Emrys, and the other was Ryker Pendragon. I felt my eyes widen. Those are two serious legacy names, but I guess it fits. It was odd to think I also had a serious legacy name.

  “Sup, new kid.” Owen, from the cafeteria, sat across from me. I let out a little chuckle.

  “I see now why you were investigating me.” I smiled, gesturing to my name.

  “Yeah, they taped that there a couple of weeks ago.” He shrugged. That long ago? I then found myself staring at the Ryker Pendragon name card.

  “Do you know our third?” I asked, gesturing to his name card.

  “Some, he’s one of the Knights that are away right now,” Owen explained, leaning back in his chair. He seemed to fill the space, his broad shoulders and long arms taking up most of the area on the table, his chair completely disappearing behind him.

  The bell rang, and the class started to settle.

  “Alright, listen up.” Agent Rogers started. “We’re still in the protocol, policy, and procedure section. Since the Knights aren’t here, we’re working inside for the duration of their absence.” The room groaned. “I know,” Agent Rogers put his hands up, “But it is policy, which you are about to read about.” A wide grin spread over his face at his own joke. Something told me this man was the master of the dad joke. “Get out your tablets and start on section 3.1, do the simulation and try not to kill the populace, alright?” The class let out a chuckle as the scuffling of movement started. Owen stood and went to a large cabinet where stacks and stacks of tablets were in individual slots. Owen unplugged two, and then returned, handing one to me.

  “Cadet Emrys, I trust that I can rely on you to catch up Cadet Le Fay?” Agent Rogers then asked, approaching our table.

  “No problem, sir.” Owen smiled widely up at him. He always had a mischievous glint to his face, like you never knew if he was serious or not.

  “If you have any questions or problems, please don’t hesitate to approach me.” Agent Rogers then said to me and moved on.

  “Alright new kid, let’s give you the run-down on how all this shit works.” Owen started. He set our tablets side by side as he powered them up and logged them in. “We were divided into teams our first day, they match somehow, either historically with our legacies, or for power equality.” I was confused but didn’t say anything. I found it better to ask questions once everything was said. “Pendragon, Emrys, and Le Fay makes a lot of sense, right? I mean decedents of the big three of Camelot ought to work well together, you know?” I nodded, understanding that part. My Grams had warned me that I would probably be teamed with them.

  “There are ten teams in Class A right now, by the end of the semester they project that it will be cut by half. People will either quit or get demoted down. At the beginning of the next semester, other teams will move up accordingly to move the number back to ten. Everything good?” He asked. I nodded. It was a lot of information, but I made it a policy to never complain about receiving knowledge.

  “The important ones, that we need to keep an eye out for,” Owen then turned and hiked his thumb towards the table nearest to us. “That’s Team Lake” Three students sat at the table, one of them was a fairy, but the other two I couldn’t tell. “The fairy is of Legacy Nimueh” Where had I heard that name before? “You know, the Lady of the Lake,” Owen explained. I gasped, turning to look at the petite girl with bright pink streaks through her straight black hair. “The other two are Nymphs, servers of the water, and all that. They have a fourth, the Legacy of Lancelot, but obviously, he’s a Knight, and away.” I nodded, keeping up. That was a powerful team as well. Owen then pointed out a table across the room from us. It looked to be inhabited by four very large Vikings.

  “That’s Team Northman,” Owen started, “The big blond one is the Legacy of Thor, the Red-Head is of Legacy Orik the Red, the one with his head shaved is of Legacy Ragnar, and the big one with long brown hair, he is of Legacy Rollo.” My eyes widened as I stared back at the table. They were exactly how I thought they’d be, loud and boisterous.

  “And they are technically Knights?” I clarified.

  “Exactly.” Owen nodded, giving me a smile.

  “Why are they not with the other Knights?” I asked.

  “Only select Knights were taken on this field trip,” Owen replied, but I could tell that wasn’t the whole story. That mischief glittered in his light blue eyes, and I found myself smiling. There was something about being with Owen that just clicked.

  “The last table we need to watch out for is that one in the front, nearest to the door.” Owen gestured with his head. I peered over, spotting a pair of girls at the table. “So, their Knight isn’t here, he’s the Legacy of Achilles. The girl with the blonde hair is of Legacy Troy, and the raven-head is of Legacy Medusa.”

  “Whoa.” I felt my eyes widen. That was a strong team as well. Medusa and Helen of Troy were both powerful sorceresses, and then to have the Achilles Legacy as their muscle, that wasn’t a bad team at all.

  “What’s their team name?” I asked.

  “Team Trojan.” Owen winked.

  “And ours?” I thought to ask.

  “Camelot.” He gave me a wide grin.

  “Of course, I should have known.” I laughed.

  After that, Owen and I decided that we should probably do the simulation. The simulation achieved its goal in that it taught us the important policy, procedures, and protocols to navigate through different scenarios. Mostly, it was boring, but Owen kept me laughing. He had these great one-liners that were the perfect mix of making fun of the content while also respecting the importance of it. By the end of the class, Owen and I had established a steady conversation. He seemed friendly, a little rowdy and mischievous, and utterly hilarious.

  “Alright New Kid, what’s your next class?” He asked when the bell rang. I pulled out my schedule.

  “Mythos Sciences.” I read.

  “Oh cool, me too, in L 505?” He clarified. I nodded. I followed him down t
he three flights of stairs and into a large lab classroom on the bottom floor. Owen and I took a table in the back, the third stool left empty. A woman entered the class just as the bell rang with two grown male lions following her. I felt a rise in panic, but as no one else was freaking out, I held it in.

  “Good morning everyone.” She smiled at the class. Her light brown hair was pulled into a tight bun, her glimmering blue eyes skimmed across the room as they landed on me. “Oh, I see our new student has arrived.” She gestured to me. I stood.

  “Hello, I’m Ivy Le Fay,” I muttered.

  “Agent Circe, lovely of you to join us.” She smiled. “I trust your team partners can catch you up.” Owen responded with a lazy wave. With that, Agent Circe turned and started to explain the biological differences between humans and trolls. Quickly, I grabbed a notebook and a pen from my bag and began to take notes. Owen leaned back in his stool, balancing on two legs, as he twirled his pen between his fingers. The lions lay in the corner at the front of the room, looking utterly bored.

  “Trolls have four hearts, meaning that to kill one you have to incapacitate each of the four. A troll can live on just one heart if they need to.” Agent Circe explained. “Can anyone tell me how they shapeshift?” I thought the obvious answer was magic.

  “They have magical receptors in their skin that can draw in the DNA of any person they touch, giving them the ability to change their form into any person they have touched.” A person at the front answered.

  “Very good.” Agent Circe nodded. “Does the troll just need to be exposed to DNA or does the exchange have to happen in physical person?”

  “DNA is DNA,” Owen answered, without raising his hand.

  “Thank you, Cadet Emrys, remember to raise your hand.” Agent Circe smiled at him. She was a much more nurturing instructor than Agent Rogers. That could be because she was a woman, but also she seemed to genuinely enjoy her job and her students.

  At the end of the class, Agent Circe assigned for us to read the policy and procedures of troll disguises and to prepare for a quiz on the material. I should have done homework the night before. There was no way I was going to catch up.

  “Cadet Le Fay, may I see you for a moment?” Agent Circe asked as I was going to leave. The next period was lunch, so I told Owen I’d meet him in the cafeteria.

  “Did you receive the homework?” Agent Circe asked. I nodded my head. “Alright, if you have any questions or need some help catching up, don’t hesitate to ask. We can set up morning or evening sessions, whatever you need.” She offered.

  “Thank you, Agent Circe, I’ll let you know if I need help.” I gave her a smile and then glanced down at the lions a few feet from me.

  “They’re not men.” She said. I didn’t understand what she meant as I looked back at her. She was smiling, like I had missed a joke.

  “That’s the legend about my family. The original Circe lived in ancient Greece and was known for turning men into lions.” She explained.

  “Oh!” I nodded, having no idea what her legacy was. “Do you have magic that controls them?” I then thought to ask.

  “I have the magic to domesticate any animal, not necessarily control them,” she explained. That made sense. “Lots of students are curious about them, you may pet them if you want.” She then turned and started to shuffle papers from one place to another. I stared at the lions for a long moment. On the one hand, my instinct was screaming that these were highly dangerous creatures, but on the other hand, they were magically domesticated and was I really going to turn down the chance to pet a freaking lion? I think not!

  Holding out my hands, I let the lion sniff my fingers. I read that it was the best way to approach animals. The lion let out a low deep purr and then rubbed his head against my outstretched hand. I smiled, letting out a little giggle of delight, and crouched down to get closer to them.

  “The big one is Brutus, and the one with the scar is Antony.” Agent Circe told me from her seat at her desk. Antony had a huge scar running from the top left side of his forehead, down over his eye, and ending at the tip of his nose. Brutus was much larger and rubbed his body against mine. I had to fight to keep my body upright. In truth, they were just gigantic cats. They acted no different than a domesticated house cat. They liked their ears and under their chin scratched, and they also purred and rubbed their heads on me. I loved them instantly.

  “Thank you, Agent Circe,” I said as I stood to leave a few minutes later.

  “No problem Ivy, have a nice day.” She smiled and then I walked out.

  Throughout the rest of the day, I hung with Owen as he helped me navigate through the rest of the classes. Though our morning classes rotated with the days, every afternoon we had field training and physical education. Our instructor for field training was an interesting man. Agent Gecko taught us basic survival skills and stealth training. That day, we focused on trying to build a fire without matches or lighters. Not as easy as it looks in the movies. Then, I ended my day at physical education under Major Johnson. He was a large man of African descent who wore a crisp Marine uniform, complete with the wide-brimmed hat that strapped under his chin. He was loud, yelled a lot, and always made you do one more rep. I could see how he cared for his students, though, even as he razzed us. Since I had no combat training, as my physical education consisted of cheerleading and gymnastics, Major Johnson gave me Krav Maga DVDs with the instructions to learn all the ketos to start the process to earning my black belt. He handed me a crisp white belt, noting that I was starting at the very bottom.

  I knew I had a lot of catching up to do, and my mountain of homework would keep me busy all night, but I didn’t give up easily. In fact, I knew this was right. I just had to work for it.

  Chapter Two:

  Owen:

  “Eh, this song is old and offensive.” Bethany bitched as she reached forward to turn down the radio. This was my f-ing car, and she thought that she could just touch my music? I pushed her hand away, and she glared at me.

  “Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts her cakehole.” I snapped.

  She rolled her big brown eyes. The thick scent of her sugar vanilla lotion made my stomach churn. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Beth; I’d known her for most of my life. I just hated, I mean loathed, her and Ryker together. They weren’t right for one another. He brought out the bitchy in her, and she brought out the arrogant ass in him. I thought by now they would have broken up, but no, it has been over a year of hell with those two.

  I pulled into the loading lane of the crowded airport. Ryker’s plane was scheduled to have already landed, so he should be out any minute. Bethany pulled out her pink makeup bag and flipped down the visor for the mirror. She was one of those girls who loved makeup, you know, with the ridiculous eyeliner and contouring and all that. By this point, I think I’d forgotten what her actual face looked like.

  “So, that new girl is pretty weird.” Bethany started.

  I squeezed the steering wheel for patience. It had been a week since Ivy Le Fay had graced us with her presence. She was odd, for sure, but something was intriguing about her. She was witty and smart. A lot was happening under the surface, as was apparent by the shadowing in her emerald green eyes. I was enjoying a lovely breakfast with her that morning, while we discussed, in depth, the inner workings of the universe. She was a great theoretical thinker, which I appreciated, as the average mind can be so . . . Shallow. Bethany had ruined our lively conversation with her own shallow mind.

  “I think she is a great addition to our team,” I said diplomatically.

  I actually picked that up from Ivy. Usually, I would be yelling at Beth right now, about how stupid she was, which aggravates me every time I’m around her. But Ivy had a different approach. Instead, she studied them. I noticed it this morning with Beth. Ivy sat patiently as Bethany all but insulted her. Instead of growing angry, or even offended, she stared at her across the table, with that quizzical look on her face, asking her the same question over
and over again but with different phrasing. Beth didn’t even catch on.

  “I don’t like her.” Beth snapped back.

  “Well, good thing you’re not apart of our team.” I grappled for patience. Beth was not a part of our team, in fact, she was not part of any team, as she was human! The idea that the descendant of Arthur, King of Knights, could end up with a derpy, shallow human really bothered me. I know it wasn’t my business who my best friend of eighteen years dated, but I was a meddler at heart.

  “Oh! There he is!” Beth flew out of the car and tackled Ryker as he walked up. I rolled my eyes. Ryker threw his luggage into the back of my SUV and then sat in the front, Beth climbing into the back.

  “Welcome home, man.” I smiled, giving his shoulder a good shove. Ryker let out a laugh and shoved me back.

  “Where did you go this time, or can you not tell us?” Beth asked, leaning forward so she could be mostly between us.

  “I can’t tell you.” Ryker shook his head. What a stupid question. Of course, he couldn’t tell us where he was. He was on a secret special ops mission. All the knights trained that way. They were observers at first and then slowly, they took more and more responsibility for each mission.

  “So, what did I miss this week?” Ryker asked to fill the awkward silence.

  “Well, homecoming is coming up quickly, and you will not believe the stupid theme they picked for the dance.” Bethany started. I wanted to hurl. She didn’t even go to our school, she went to a human school because she was human.

  “Ivy finally showed up,” I said over Bethany as she went on about carnations and mums.

  “Oh yeah? Who is she?” Ryker asked.

  “Weird,” Bethany said in that super bitchy voice she was so good at.

  “She’s of Legacy Le Fay,” I said. Ryker gave me a long look. The card that her name was written on, on the table, had her father’s name, Hudson.