“Yes!” I said in nearly a laugh while he grinned in a way I never wanted to forget.
Chapter 21
“The Test(s)”
The moment I told Alissa about Keten asking me to the end of term formal that was only three weeks away, it made her gasp. After a moment she said she had been waiting for him to ask for weeks now.
I had asked her how early girls were asked to go and Alissa laughed and said that girls could be asked a year in advance if the boy wanted. I was shocked to find that out, but not as shocked as I was to find out that Alissa had already been asked by the boy she had barely breathed in front of at the beginning of the week. Apparently, after nearly fainting over him in Mr. Sheplar’s class later that day he found her again while she was going to another class and asked if she wanted to go with him.
I was sure she had been very close to fainting then too. Just imagining it made me smile.
Letting a sigh escape my lips Alissa coughed softly.
“Your move.” She said and suddenly I was awake from my thoughts.
“Oh right, sorry.” I said and moved forward to the little wall and placed a peg.
“So, what are you going to wear?” Alissa asked titling her head with excitement in her eyes.
I could tell Zac was utterly appalled by our topic as he slouched in his chair watching another fencing match on his glass waiting for his turn as I considered my choices for the ball. I had one, if you could consider a dark grey shirt that hung long a dress.
“I, well...” I put my peg in a spot that was absolutely stupid as I let out a breath and turned it to Zac who took his turn quickly.
“You don’t have a dress?” Alissa asked, titling her head and she too seemed to put a peg in the wall without really caring where it went.
Alissa nodded as if she had just accepted a mission as I finished taking my turn and moved the wall to Zac.
“We will find you a dress when the shop in the market room opens next week.” She said and before I could ask her what shop had dresses after visiting almost all of them in the last few months Zac rolled his eyes as I turned it to him.
“What is the big deal about formals or whatever you want to call them. They’re just a night around the same people you always are except you ask your friends on dates.” Zac said annoyed.
Alissa gasped as I looked to him and considered if Keten was really just a friend.
“Zac, didn’t you ask that girl Millie out for a date last year at our towns festival because you thought she was cute?” She asked with a skeptical shake of her head.
Alissa had told me about the festivals they had in their small town outside of Zeppelin called Nomash, where people dressed up and the whole square was filled and the lights and music made it feel like a large parade with streamers that were hung and formed into shapes for the spectator mages. It sounded utterly magical and I decided I would one day see it for myself.
Zac seemed undisturbed by her comment as he put his peg in and blocked Alissa with one smooth move before turning it back to her.
“I did, but that was because it was a festival where you need to have a partner to dance with, and everyone knows I’m a hot commodity.” He said with a deviant smile that was shot straight at Alissa.
She caught it and seemed to smother it as she shook her head and put down her peg from playing as she could no longer keep going.
“You think just because you’re cool enough that a girl will just sweep you off your feet, don’t you?” She asked and for once I sensed a kind of temper to her words that was unlike her.
Zac sat forward and his expression changed as he heard the way her voice threatened. Suddenly, I felt raw between the two of them, Lucy came walking into the game room and zeroed in on me.
“You know Alissa…”
“Uh guys.” I said and they both looked to me and then saw Lucy start a death march my way as if nothing including the pool table she skirted around was more than dust before her high style silver sandals.
Trying to stay calm, I sat back slowly though my body held firm as Lucy approached and stopped with her hands clenched at her sides.
“You little shark.” Lucy said with a growl towards me as she acted as if no one else was around.
“Lucy, leave.” Alissa said looking over to her, her temper still hot.
Lucy glared over at Alissa and for once I saw Alissa suddenly see the way she looked at me almost all the time.
“I am here to talk with that little shark,” Lucy pointed at me and then glared back at Zac and Alissa. “So get out of here before you both get on my bad list like her,” She said with a cold ring to her words.
Zac and Alissa suddenly became united with me as they both stood up at the same time.
“We’re not leaving.” They said, glancing aside.
Lucy only seemed to fume as her nose crinkled in a most unbecoming way that was beyond even her worst days.
Alissa folded her arms and glanced at me as I stood up.
“What’s your problem with Quil now?” she asked defiantly.
Lucy still glared at me over the little wall with pegs that now felt much more inviting then her glare, which I thoroughly received.
“You stole Keten from me for the formal you little brat.” Her finger pointed at me like a knife and with such force I suddenly felt a burning on my neck.
Putting my hand to my neck, I suddenly realized a nearly invisible flame held on my skin when Zac stepped around the table and cut off her view.
“Knock it off, Lucy!” Zac said and glared at her while Alissa glanced over to me.
I had already made my own magic cool down the spot on my neck as she backed away from him.
Lucy leaned around his shoulder and glared at me before she turned, stalling a moment as Alissa came close to my side.
“You’re not safe anymore, Deshion.” Her words were clear and dug right into my skull as I rubbed the burn on my neck, both were warnings of a very unsafe future.
***
Trying to go to sleep for the next few nights was like torture. I now understood why Lucy hated me so incredibly much and not that I felt guilty about going with Keten, but her threat felt as drastic and somberly real as the idea of facing my final exams for the end of term.
My chest still felt tight and the burn on my neck was now only tough skin. I laid in my comforter hammock bed with the soft light of my lamp below, giving only a minimal permeation to the darkness of the tight space I felt restless within.
Sighing and turning over again for the eight hundredth time, I knew I was not afraid of the height as I had been feeling more at ease for the past week, yet my trouble grew almost as fast as my good news came.
Why did Lucy have to treat me like such a worthless nothing? I still had a hard time seeing why she would go after Keten. He was charming and handsome but not in a movie star way and he acted nothing like her snobby attitude.
Sitting up, I glanced at the wall below and to the side, unbelieving the fact that I was easily a thin wall away from a girl that had burned my neck with magic and threatened me point blank. I felt if she knew I was a SkyJump it would concern me more. At the moment I felt tired, restless and just wanted to wake up and do the best I could on my test in the morning.
Glancing to the door, my stomach slightly held as my mind wandered and my mouth parted in a smile as I thought of going to glance at the atrium.
The smile faded as suddenly the red eyed figure in shadow clotted my mind like mud on a window.
Shivering, I glanced around my room and fell back into my covers swaying. Wanting to hide from the nameless being that still haunted me in the night and in my dreams as if a real specter of my own design.
For one moment, I considered the idea that Lucy was the figure. But beyond the fact that no student’s were allowed into it until the tests were taken and the outcome of the grade given, I felt assured that even she would have jumped at me before I could have taken a picture.
The very thought of m
y feelings for the shadow with red eyes, that threatened without words, made me wonder if I should tell the principal.
Trying to find a comfortable laying position, I knew I couldn’t do that. For now, I just needed to focus on acing my test tomorrow and then on to the formal!
“If one hopes for an end It can only be found with time.” My father’s words made me smile but even as I drifted, I still wondered where and when I would receive his next letter.
***
When the clock in my room chimed I felt as if I had never slept. Jumping down the last few nails to the floor I realized the pressure and hold in my chest was for all of the tests I faced today.
Looking in the mirror as I got ready, I looked myself in the eyes and felt quite literally a mess.
My hair was down in a crazed fashion, my eyes looked like I slept as little as I felt and my mind was so avidly consumed with facts that I felt there was nothing within my head but noise.
“You must practice calming your mind, Quil.” My father’s voice echoed out of the seemingly far reaching caves of my mind’s memories.
He had spoken those words when I was young, when I could not turn into a SkyJump creature because I could not clear my mind.
Looking in the mirror I realized with months gone, I felt different than I had before. Compared to the girl who looked at this place like a prison. It still had its moments that felt like a cage, but I realized as I held my sink’s edge that not being able to turn into my SkyJump beast form, I had started to slip from keeping my mind able to meditate and clear itself.
Clasping my eyes shut, I took a deep breath in and heard the voices in my mind scoff for the fact I was scared to death I would fail every one of the tests I faced.
“I am Equila Deshion De Skyjump,” my words started low and rose to a strong reverb as my mind quieted, “I will not fail. Not today.” I said and my eyes opened.
The girl looking back had a gleam in her eyes and looked less beaten and ready for what was to come.
Packing my things and keeping my pep talk going, I put my fingers to the picture of my father for good luck before I left. And for safe measure, I kissed my finger and touched it to Keten’s picture on my board as I leaned over my bed that was ever becoming a nuisance.
Right as I was about to leave, my guitar caught my eyes. Nodding to it as if a person, I gripped my bag with my hair back and smiled as I felt comfort from the SkyJump bracelet holding to my wrist.
“Don’t worry, I’m going to ace this test and we will be together again soon.” After my words to my guitar, I giggled as I opened my door by thought as my crystal glowed under my shirt.
Oh good, I was starting out my day by kissing pictures and talking to inanimate objects, this was sure to bring me luck.
Smiling, I went to Mr. Deplen’s class and took my seat pulling out my notebook and quill as my mind was clouded with thought.
“Hum..” I said to myself as I looked at my notebook with hope for doing well.
“Humming, are we?” The voice was kind as someone stepped up beside my desk.
Looking up, I found Keten with a sweet smile on his lips as he stood beside my desk.
“Keten?” I asked with a wide smile, I was completely taken back by the fact he was here.
He seemed to enjoy my reaction because he crouched down to be at eye level with me and smiled not only with his lips but his eyes and that dimple of his.
“I wanted to come and wish you luck before all the test’s started. I know you’ll do great.” He said nodding as the rest of the class filed in seeming late for once and tired from studying.
“So, you’re my good luck charm?” I asked hoping he would answer yes as I felt much calmer about the whole day, not just the tests.
“No, but...” he took my hand as I tilted my head and smiled. “This might.” With a brush of his lips they pressed to my hand as if wind through a glade.
I watched him move back from my hand yet my eyes held riveted where his lips had sweetly met my skin. I was absolutely sure in my mind it sounded as strange as I thought it but in the moment, I did not care one penny or dime.
“I’ll see you later, Quil.” Keten said kindly with a soft chuckle at my reaction.
Before I had much time to think, I was calling good luck to him and not caring that most of the class glanced back at me.
Keten smiled back at me, his dimple was in plain view.
For the next hour, I was on cloud nine as I checked and went through questions about the habitat of tree frogs and the signal of skunk’s agitation as if they were trivial matters.
About half way through the test I realized Lucy glared at me sporadically as if she was nothing more than a robot. A dark side of me was happy Keten had kissed my hand in her view, though I came back to the present as the bell rang.
Getting in the single file line I made my way to the front and handed Mr. Deplen my test as he nodded.
“Good luck with the rest of your tests Deshion.” He said, scanning over my work as I started out the door saying thanks as I went.
With half my head in the clouds, I made my way to Mr. Jacobsen’s class. Working my way through students, they seemed incredibly loud and much more deliberate in where they were going then they seemed most days.
Coming into Mr. Jacobsen’s class I slid down next to Alissa and Zac with barely a few minutes to spare as I smiled beside the fact I was starting to get butterflies in my stomach over Mr. Deplen’s test.
“Nervous?” Alissa asked as I brought out my quill pen.
Smiling, I shook my head.
“No, not really.” I said and Alissa and Zac glanced at each other.
“Yeah right.” Zac said and Alissa nodded not contradicting him for once as she looked me over.
“He’s right. Which doesn’t happen often.” She grinned slyly as Zac frowned before she added, “What happened to make you so calm? I’m three seconds from having a nervous breakdown with these tests!” She said flailing her hands, making a slight glimmering shine from her silver nail polish.
I laughed lightly while I looked to my paper and played with my quill glancing at my hand.
“Keten stopped by and wished me luck is all.” I said without thinking about it.
“Oooh.” Alissa said and Zac echoed childishly as I looked up to them and felt my cheeks redden.
“Now I see.” Alissa said with smile and she opened her mouth when Mr. Jacobsen quieted the class which, for once I was grateful for.
“Today your test will be one slightly different from others,” he said and nodded to the class, “Many have wondered what will be on it considering I have not mentioned it until today.” Motioning with his hands a blob suddenly appeared before each student.
I looked at the thing before me with awe and for one moment, as my emotions got the better of me it started to glimmer as did the warmth under my shirt. Shushing my magic I was relieved to see that only Alissa may have caught the light but after a shrug to her she nodded in an unconcerned way.
“Today you will use these blobs to have a taste of magic by answering questions that appear in the blob before you which will be on everything we have been studying,” he nodded and stepped back to lean on his desk, “I wish you luck.” And with that, the test began.
For the first few questions it was new to watch the blob reenact things or play a slightly blurry picture or ask a question but we all started to get the hang of it.
“What is the exact transfer of a Mages power called?” One question asked, nodding I choose my answer: diffusion.
I felt this test was going much better than I thought it would.
As I got through more and more questions, another came up that was about Earthen Brethren’s powers and how they can mirror someone’s image. Glancing to Mr. Jacobsen as I finished the test and the bell was about to ring with some students rushing to put in answers I wondered why he had such a habit of talking about Earthen Brethren? Could we not have talked even a second more on SkyJump’s an
d their powers and history?
The bell chimed and Mr. Jacobsen dismissed us from class with a general good luck for the day.
Walking down the halls Alissa let out a large huff and I smiled and knocked her shoulder.
“Worn out already?” I asked and she glared over at me before a smile caught her lips.
“Compared to you, maybe.” She said with a wispy laugh and shook her head at me, “Did we trade personalities for the day or something?” She asked with a yawn.
I laughed as Zac finally interrupted our conversation.
“If you did, you would be afraid of heights Lissa.” Zac teased with a side glance.
Alissa’s eyes widened and she put her hands to her head.
“He’s right, what if I am?” She asked and before any of us could speak we stopped walking, looking to Alissa.
Smirks spread on our faces and we all were laughing by the time we reached Mr. Sheplar’s door. Zac was about to just keep walking when Alissa grabbed his arm,
“Hey, aren’t you supposed to wish us good luck or at least goodbye?” She asked him.
He tilted his head to her.
“We are going to see each other in an hour, why would I say goodbye?” He asked.
Alissa seemed on the verge of hitting him as I stood silently by trying to hold in another giggle.
“Well, what about luck?” Alissa finally got out in an angry huff.
With a nod, Zac looked into Mr. Sheplar’s room and nodded as he started away.
“You’re going to need it.” He said with a laugh and was gone before Alissa could slug him as she shook a fist after him.
“Good luck Zac!” I called after him as she steamed as he nodded back to me with a brotherly wink.
Alissa glared after him as I smiled watching her, you would almost think they cared about each other the way she acted.
“That boy...” Alissa said and with a giggle I nodded.
“Yes and until lunch you can think about hitting him,” I motioned to the doors as the bell rang, “But now we need to go!” I said and before she could reply I grabbed her arm and we were rushing into a sea of moving bodies.
Sky Jump Page 26
