Second Chance Fate

by Ella J. Smyth

  “That is cool.”

  I couldn’t hide the huge grin spreading across my face. Beth laughed. “Congratulations, you just did your first bit of magic.”

  “No, her first bit of magic was killing innocent people.”

  My face dropped at Sharon’s voice. She was right. The constant ache I’d managed to ignore most of the time rose back into my throat. I had taken human lives. The thought ran around my mind like a poisonous mantra.

  Sitting back down on my bed, I tried my best to shrink into myself. I didn’t know what to do with that knowledge, other than punish myself. But I hadn’t meant it. It had happened without my intention, without my knowledge.

  “Sharon, you’re such a bitch. I’ll complain to admin if you don’t stop bullying her.”

  Beth threw a dirty look at her before sitting down next to me. She put her arm around my shoulder as I struggled for composure.

  Sharon’s voice sounded again. “It’s the truth. If she can’t handle it, maybe she shouldn’t have—”

  A rough yowl cut her off. We all turned towards the door as the messenger girl put down a big wicker pet carrier. My eyes grew wide as I recognized the large shape behind the metal grate. The cat. The one I’d rescued. He was here.

  “No way are you bringing an animal into this dorm.”

  Sharon stood in front of the girl, her arms crossed, and her voice sharp. Nobody paid any attention to her. I was already across the room, lifting the latch on the basket and opening the carrier. The cat leaped right into my arms, nearly bringing me to the ground with his bulk.

  Somebody had washed him. He smelled, not exactly pleasant, but bearable. I buried my face in his neck, trying not to inhale too deeply. He tolerated my caress for all of three seconds before lifting his head and hissing at Sharon.

  I didn’t speak cat, but to me it sounded like, “Stay away from me, or I’ll cut you.”

  Sharon was smart enough to take a step back. “You can’t have this monster in the room. You can’t.”

  Beth glared at her. “Shut up, Sharon. You know as well as I do we’re allowed to keep familiars in the rooms.”

  Sharon wasn’t giving up. “This isn’t a familiar. It’s an alley cat.”

  I held him tighter. He wriggled but didn’t try to escape. No way was anyone taking my furry friend away from me. “He’s mine. Ms. Farkas obviously wants me to have him, or she wouldn’t have sent him.”

  Beth thanked the girl, who’d hung around and watched the drama with glee. Then she closed the door into her face before turning to me. “What’s his name?”

  I hesitated long enough for Sharon to shriek, “He doesn’t even have a name?”

  I answered quickly, “Of course he does. His name is…” I stared into the animal’s face. He returned my gaze with eyes that seemed far too intelligent for an animal. As I watched, he lazily blinked, once, twice, and then closed his eyes and began to snore lightly.

  Seriously? Could cats suffer from narcolepsy? He seemed a little sluggish at times. Wait, that was it.

  “His name is Slug.”

  While both girls stared at me with their mouths open, Slug lifted his head and opened one eye. If looks could kill… Beth burst out laughing, and I grinned at the look of outrage on Sharon’s face.

  Slug struggled off my arm and stalked to my bed. More elegantly than his bulk suggested, he crouched before jumping onto my cover. One last death glare, and he closed both eyes to go back to sleep.

  I turned to Beth. “I suppose if he’s staying, I need to make sure he sees a vet. Buy food and toys and—” I faltered. “Shit, I never even had a pet before.”

  Beth nodded. “I have. Leave him here for now. If Ms. Farkas sent him, she’ll have allocated a minder for the first few weeks until he’s settled in. The academy covers all costs for familiars. Since they’re not regular pets, we can’t just take them to normal vets.”

  I nodded while grabbing my clothes and a towel.

  “Come on, I’ll show you where all the classes are.”

  “And you’re sure it’ll be okay to leave him here?”

  “Absolutely. Hurry up, we don’t want to be late on your first proper school day.”

  I wasn’t really hungry after last night’s late dinner. After nibbling one of Beth’s cereal bars, I took a quick shower, and we left the dorm with just enough time to make it to class.

  I followed Beth into the classroom, looking around for two seats next to each other. One was next to a gorgeous redheaded girl who waved frantically at Beth. My roommate grimaced apologetically before walking to the other side of the classroom and sitting down next to her friend.

  The only other free seat was next to a guy with reddish-blond hair. As I walked closer, my stomach sank. He was the guy I’d run away from yesterday. Awkward. What was his name? Kieran? Kiernan? Yeah, that was it. I checked again, but there was no other free space. I avoided his gaze and pulled out some paper and a pen.

  “Hey, you feeling better?” he whispered.

  I nodded. “Sorry about running off. I—”

  “Amber? Amber Whitman?”

  I looked up at a man in his sixties as the class broke into snickers. Dark eyes twinkled with amusement in a tanned face topped with a mop of white hair.

  “Would you like to come up here and introduce yourself?”

  Yeah, my favorite thing about being new. Not. Taking a deep breath, I got up.

  Kiernan smiled and said, “You’ll be fine. We’re all new here.”

  I nodded gratefully and held my head high as I faced the class for the first time. For the next one and a half hours, I listened to the teacher, Mr. Odwell, go on and on about theoretical concepts of magic. He might as well have been speaking a foreign language. I didn’t have any idea what he was talking about.

  By the end of the class, my head was swimming. Nothing of what I’d learned in high school was of any use to me here. I felt like a small child on their first school day. Everything was new and weird.

  After class had been dismissed, I followed Beth outside. Beth dropped her bag and rummaged through her folders, muttering under her breath. Then she looked up and said, “Hey, I need to ask the history teacher about an assignment. Your next lesson is in the third cabin. You can’t miss it. See you at lunch.”

  My roommate waved cheerfully as she left me standing outside the log cabins. You can’t miss it. Famous last words.

  It took me ten minutes to try different variations of “third cabin.” After knocking on the door of the third cabin on the right and then the third cabin at the back, I finally found the correct one. How did I know? The giveaway might have been the explosion flinging a metal projectile right at my head as I opened the door.

  10

  You know when something unexpected happens, and time seems to slow down? You’d think you’d be able to get out of the way, but you move like through molasses.

  I registered everything—the students’ incredulous faces, the teacher throwing up his hand to ward off the inevitable, a sharp chunk of metal making its way towards my face. Unstoppable. Fatal.

  I closed my eyes, bracing myself for the impact, for the pain when the shrapnel would bury itself in my brain. It didn’t come. Instead, I heard, “Get out of the way. Quickly, girl.”

  The teacher’s strained voice cut through my paralysis. My eyelids flew open. In front of me was a small bubble, shimmering like soapsuds, enclosing the deadly projectile.

  “Come on, I don’t know how long the encasement will hold.”

  Before I could react, somebody tackled me at waist height and yanked me to the side. We landed hard on the wooden floor. At the same time my elbow connected with the boy’s stomach, the bubble burst, and the shrapnel continued its way through the space my head had occupied only an instant earlier.

  Nobody moved or said a word. At the far wall of the cabin, Mr. Strickland stared at the two of us, his relief plain on his face. The first to speak was my reluctant cushion.

  “You can get up
any time.”

  Embarrassed, I rolled off him onto my knees and elbows. He scrambled to his feet like a cat despite his height. Then he reached down and pulled me to my feet as if I weighed nothing.

  “Hey, cool way to make an entrance.”

  I stared at Emo Boy. Julian. Without his intervention, I likely wouldn’t have been here.

  “You saved my life.”

  He shrugged. “Nah. Right place, right time. Or wrong place, wrong time in your case.”

  Grinning widely, he brushed my shoulders clean with wide, sweeping motions. Then his hands moved towards my butt.

  “That’s quite enough, Julian. I’m sure Amber can clean herself up. Please take your seats. And you”—Mr. Strickland turned towards a girl who looked so shocked she might faint—“you obviously didn’t read the instructions in your manual. Your carelessness could have cost Amber’s life. What were you thinking?”

  The girl grew even paler. Before she could stammer an excuse, the teacher continued, “Sit down. Another misstep like that, and I’m recommending you for a remedial course over the fall break.”

  She found her seat, but not before throwing a glare my way. As if it had been my fault she’d screwed up and nearly killed me. Great. Another girl who can’t stand me at first sight. Wonderful.

  I hated being the center of attention. All eyes were still on me. Some students seemed mildly concerned, others were snickering at my discomfort. All I wanted was to find a seat and lie low until things returned to normal.

  In the meantime, Mr. Strickland picked up a metal flask from his desk. The bottle had cracked straight down the middle with a dime-sized chunk missing right from the center. I stared at it, imagining the piece hurtling at me at top speed. I’d been very lucky.

  The teacher carefully placed the bottle into a wastebasket, avoiding the green liquid lazily dripping from the bottom of the container. Then he heaped a layer of paper towels on top before instructing one of the students to take it outside the door.

  Mr. Strickland waited until the boy had sat down again, and the class had grown quiet. Then he said, “Let’s all welcome Amber Whitman. Amber is new to the school, and this is her first day. Julian, since you and Amber already met, would you like to be her mentor for the rest of the semester?”

  “Sure.” Julian must have noticed how much my knees were still shaking because he took hold of my elbow and casually guided me towards the empty seat next to his.

  As I sat down, he whispered, “How about a coffee later? To welcome you properly?”

  I nodded. It would be nice to make more friends at the academy. Right now, I seemed to accumulate just as many enemies.

  “Great,” Mr. Strickland said. “Now that we’ve all settled down, please open your textbooks on page five. Julian, if you wouldn’t mind sharing with Amber until she has her own?”

  For the next hour, Mr. Strickland laid out his lesson plan. Practical Application of Magic for Beginners seemed to be an add-on class for the more theoretical teachings. When my notes spilled onto the third page, I got worried. Would I ever be able to master all these new concepts? Like what the hell was Ambient Magic? Or the Dualistic Theory of Magic? I bit my lip, fighting back the urge to give up before I’d even started. I’m a good student, dammit. I’m smart. The only reason my grades were bad in high school was because I was bored stiff. That’s not going to be a problem here.

  “Please remember that your final project will be worth two-thirds of your grade.”

  Mr. Strickland gestured at me to stay behind before dismissing the class. “Amber, I have to apologize to you. I wasn’t fully briefed on your situation. Please come see me if you have any more issues.”

  I smiled and thanked him, but something didn’t add up. He’d been there when I’d woken up. Surely he’d known what I’d arrived with? But he seemed sincere in his concern.

  I’m probably overreacting.

  Julian interrupted my thoughts. “Hey, it’s lunchtime. Wanna grab some grub?”

  I hesitated. “My roommate is waiting for me—”

  “Beth won’t mind if I tag along. Come on, I’ll show you where the cafeteria is.”

  He grabbed my hand before I could protest and walked towards the main building. It didn’t seem worth explaining I already knew where it was. My fingers, my whole hand, tingled where he touched it.

  To cover my reaction, I asked, “So what are you in for?”

  “I was one of the first kids who manifested powers after the Super-CEMP. The authorities picked me up and dropped me off outside the gate. This is the first year I’m able to attend classes, though.”

  “What about your parents?”

  Maybe I imagined it, but a shadow of utter desolation crossed Julian’s face for a split-second before he smiled even brighter than before. There was a brittleness to his expression that made me think I hadn’t imagined it. While I was busy psychoanalyzing him, Julian continued.

  “Farkas Academy is the premier magical facility in the country. I’m lucky to be able to study here.”

  “So what are your powers?” Oops, was it rude to ask straight out? “I’m sorry, I—”

  “No, don’t apologize. It’s fine. My strongest element is water. Sometimes, when I concentrate really hard, I can bend rain so I don’t get wet. But it never works for long. We haven’t figured out why yet.”

  “Do you think you’ll figure it out?”

  He grinned. “Yeah. I’ve only just started training, so who knows, next year might be different.”

  He let go of my hand as we approached the cafeteria entrance. Julian walked ahead and held the door open for me like a proper gentleman.

  The place was once again teeming with students. The line for the food counters was long, and the noise level high enough to make my ears ring. I looked around but couldn’t see Beth anywhere. As we moved forward step by step, the conversation with Julian flowed effortlessly.

  Behind me, two girls were talking about the teachers and their subjects. I tuned them out while listening to something Julian had said until a word I’d heard yesterday grabbed my attention.

  Shunt.

  I moved a little closer to Julian. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “What does ‘shunt’ mean?”

  Julian pulled back in surprise. “Where did you hear that?”

  “Just now behind us. And this morning. My roommate called me a shunt.”

  Julian’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Beth did?”

  “No, my other roommate, Sharon.”

  His eyes narrowed. “It’s a really horrible word for people who aren’t magic-born but were exposed to the magical fallout. It means you’re a conductor for magic rather than inherently magic. It actually makes no difference. Some fallout-affected people are more powerful than magic-borns.”

  “So why is shunt a bad word?”

  “It isn’t by itself. But it’s being used by bigots as an insult, to make magic-turned people seem inferior to magic-born.”

  I nodded in understanding. I knew Sharon didn’t like me, so this didn’t come as a great surprise. Another question occurred to me.

  “Beth said something about my pet cat being a familiar.”

  Julian’s eyes lit up. “That’s awesome. A familiar is an animal spirit that looks like a pet but is far smarter. They help protect you against foul magic.”

  “Foul magic?”

  “When something goes wrong. A familiar can prevent unintended consequences and enhance your own power. They’re super-rare. You’re one of the few students here at the academy who has one. Some of the teachers do as well.”

  I was pretty sure Slug was no familiar. But if it meant I could keep him here at the academy, I was okay with pretending he was.

  The cafeteria lady nodded approvingly when it was my turn. The moment she’d placed a slice of onion bread and a bowl full of what looked and smelled like pea soup on my tray, my token turned purple. After we’d gotten drinks, Julian be
elined to two free seats farther down the hall.

  Talking to him was easy. Despite his dark clothes, black lipstick, and eyeliner, he was quick to smile, smart, and friendly. I wasn’t sure if he was flirting with me, but it didn’t matter. I would take his friendship if that was all that was on offer.

  Sitting opposite him, I was nearly able to ignore the whispers of “freak” and “shunt” that came from tables near us. Nearly. The same two girls who’d been in the line behind us snickered whenever they looked my way. I didn’t know how long I could tolerate this without losing my cool.

  “Don’t listen to them.” Julian’s eyes were full of sympathy. “They’ll stop once they find something else to gossip about.”

  We ate quietly for a few moments. The soup was surprisingly tasty. Chunks of bacon and croutons turned the simple dish into a substantial meal. I spread some butter on the bread and took a big bite. Delicious.

  Speaking quietly to make sure we weren’t overheard, I asked, “Are you allowed to come and go? The guard you saw me with, Lawson. He said it wasn’t safe to leave. That I was an aberration, and people on the outside would tag me and bring me down. Is that true?”

  Julian stared at me. “Lawson is an ass. He’s just trying to scare you. I’d have to arrange transport to the next town, but I’m sure we could leave anytime.”

  I wondered if it was a good idea to tell him about my experience in the forest. Would he look at me differently? But I needed somebody who would listen and maybe give me some advice. I took a deep breath and told him what had happened near the fence.

  When I was finished, he stared at me with his mouth open. His expression was a mix of shock and alarm. “That sounds very much like the perimeter is keyed to your personal magical signature. I’ve seen the fence and even touched it.”

  My eyes welled up at his words. How many times did I have to hear it? I was different. I was a freak and the only one who couldn’t run away. If I tried, I might die in the process. I’d never felt that miserable in my life.