by Dylan Steel
“Ma’am! Ma’am?” An expression of mock hurt crossed her face. “How old do you think I am? No, don’t answer that. Just call me Serefina. No more of this ‘ma’am’ business.”
“Yes, m—of course, Serefina.” Cal dropped his eyes.
“So, two more years before you’re up for graduation. Pity.” She paused, her eyes lingering on him for a moment. “Well, perhaps I can put a good word in for you in the meantime.”
Cal’s cheeks lost a shade of their rosiness. “Oh, no, you don’t have to do that. I mean—I wouldn’t want you to go to any trouble.”
“Oh, of course not, it’s no trouble at all.”
He didn’t protest again. In fact, he got a lot quieter on the rest of the walk, allowing Serefina to do most all of the talking.
The benefactor stopped at the edge of a row and faced all four students for the first time since she’d noticed Cal. “This is our section. Feel free to fill your little bellies with however many fresh berries you please. Don’t wander too far that way, and…” her nose twitched as she gave as sideways glance at Gabby, “just… don’t spill any juices on me or touch me with sticky fingers.”
They didn’t need a second invitation. Sage sped down the row and stooped down at the first sign of red below the leaves.
The flavor was explosive, awakening senses long dulled by her time at the Institution. A rush of memories flooded in. This was her favorite food from years before.
“Your dress is pretty,” Gabby said, eyes wide.
“Isn’t it simply delicious?” she squealed, squeezing Gabby’s shoulder between two fingers, making her wince. “I mean, it’s a bit less auspicious than I usually prefer, but I knew you all were coming today, so I didn’t want to wear something impractical. And it’s simply so chic. I couldn’t resist pulling it out for the occasion.”
Sage quickly turned to pick another strawberry, hiding her eye roll. Nothing about that outfit was practical. She looked up and caught Inette smirking slightly, also picking a berry in an attempt to mask her incredulity.
Benefactor Chartreaux prattled on about the beauty of the estate, pausing only occasionally to ask Cal more questions about himself. She was so enamored with her own voice that she almost didn’t notice when Ms. Trynn made her way over to them.
“Hello, Serefina. Are they behaving themselves?”
“Meira, hello! Yes, of course! I’ve been having the most wonderful time with these children.”
“That’s good to hear.” Ms. Trynn smiled. “I just thought you should know… We’re about halfway through our time already for this visit. If you wanted the students to see any more of the estate, we should probably go ahead and transition.”
“Of course! You all simply must tour my home.” A smile parted her lips as she winked at Cal. “Especially my quarters. They’re divine. I’m quite sure you’ll love it.”
Cal returned a weak smile. Sage turned around and popped another strawberry in her mouth, hoping it would help push down the sensation of rising bile in her throat.
5. UNDECIDED
Sage’s eyes flew open. She found herself staring at the ceiling, chest heaving as she gulped for air. A sharp pain in her arm demanded her full attention. She was only half-aware that her free hand was smacking the mat repeatedly in hopes of relief from the agony she was in.
Carnabel towered over her, sneering. After she was satisfied that her opponent had suffered enough—but not so much that she would risk Ms. Bax’s ire for bad sportsmanship—she released her hand and stepped off her shoulder in one swift motion.
As her arm fell to the ground, Sage grabbed her shoulder in an attempt to quell the throbbing. Kicking off the mat, she got her feet under her and took a few steps backward, glaring at Carnabel.
“You knew I was tapping out,” she growled.
“Took me a second to realize what you were doing.” Carnabel shrugged.
“Right.” Sage scoffed, shooting her an icy look. Her shoulder was still throbbing—it was the same one she’d dislocated before—but she dropped her hands to her side. She didn’t want to appear weak by still nursing the injury.
With a smirk on her face, Carnabel took a step closer and opened her mouth.
“Good job, everyone! Class dismissed!” Ms. Bax’s voice rang out, interrupting Carnabel’s inevitable insult.
Carnabel’s lips contorted into a sort of manic grin. “Lucky you, Indarra. You get a break. Guess we’ll see who wins next time.” She raised an eyebrow and snorted. “Not that it’ll be a big surprise.” She flipped her hair and turned around to head in the direction of the changing room.
Sage stared after her, seething. She didn’t move at first, and she was so focused on glaring daggers at Carnabel that she didn’t notice when Penelope approach her from behind.
“You ok?”
She jumped and then breathed a sigh of relief when she saw who it was. “Fine. My shoulder just hurts.”
“Yeah, I saw.” Penelope pursed her lips.
“Too bad Ms. Bax didn’t,” Sage said grimly as they entered the changing room.
“It’s not dislocated again, is it?”
Sage shook her head. “Pretty sure it’s not.” She threw a glance toward Carnabel at the opposite end of the room as she pulled on a fresh pair of pants.
“It’ll be fine,” she said half-heartedly. “Besides, it’s good to build up my pain threshold before the tournament.”
The two girls dropped their sweaty uniforms in a bin on the wall and were the first ones out the door.
“You seem like you’re really starting to hold your own though,” Sage said encouragingly. “I saw how you did against Everett.”
Penelope raised an eyebrow. “Dunno about that. I think he was going easy on me,” she huffed.
“Really? That’s weird.” Sage frowned. “I doubt it—it’s not like it’s in his best interest to do that.”
Silence fell over them as they headed down the hallway past the rows of classroom doors.
Sage felt a hand clamp around her elbow, stopping her in her tracks.
“May I have a word, please?” A man’s voice pierced the quiet.
When she turned around, she saw Mr. Walsh looking back at her. She dropped her eyes to the ground, fidgeting. She’d been doing a good job of avoiding him. And it had actually been pretty easy since he wasn’t one of their level’s instructors and she wasn’t in his Interest Society anymore.
“Um, well… I really should be getting to—”
“I only need a moment,” he said quickly.
She sighed in resignation and shot Penelope an apologetic look. “I’ll catch up in a minute.”
Penelope looked back and forth between the two of them for a moment before shrugging and heading back down the hallway.
Mr. Walsh waited until she turned the corner and then guided Sage inside the nearest classroom. She looked around in surprise. They weren’t standing in a typical classroom—this was a tech room. She wrinkled her brow in an unspoken question, but he didn’t seem to notice. Or maybe he just didn’t want to respond.
“How’s Naturagre?” His face was expressionless as he leaned back against the center table and crossed his arms.
“Um, fine, I guess.” Sage shifted her weight uncomfortably.
“And you’ve visited a couple estates?”
She hesitated. “Technically. The third trip’s tomorrow.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, that sounds right. And it is?”
“Wind energy collection.”
“That’s right, that’s right.” He continued nodding, appearing lost in thought as he rubbed his bracelet. His eyes suddenly focused on her, unblinking. “Sage, we can speak freely for a few minutes. Have you given any more thought to my proposal?”
She was taken aback at the abruptness of the question.
“Um, yeah… Some.”
“And?”
Her stomach lurched. Part of her wanted to say that she was all in, that she would do whatever she c
ould to help take down Eprah, but another part of her was terrified of what would happen to her if she did.
“I—I’m still not sure.” She bit her lip.
Mr. Walsh closed his eyes. “I see.”
His eyes fluttered open again. “Is there anything else you need from me to help you make your decision?”
She hesitated. “Just… more time, I guess.”
He pressed his lips together and gave a slight nod. “Alright. But you know I can’t wait much longer for your answer.” He paused. “It’s risky to contact you too often when you’re not one of my students.”
“I know.” She swallowed. “I’m sorry.”
“Have you told anyone? About what I told you?”
She shook her head forcefully. “No, never.”
The corners of his mouth twitched. “Good. Thank you, Sage. Please keep it that way.”
Sage gaped at him. “Of course, Mr. Walsh. I wouldn’t—” her brow furrowed, “—I still hate this place.”
He tilted his head slightly, searching her face.
“I believe you, Sage.”
Pushing himself up from the desk, he spoke softly. “I’m sorry to be cryptic, but it’s the only way. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to contact you again, but I’ll need a definite answer next time. Don’t seek me out. It’s much too dangerous to meet without having a good reason to offset the risk.”
He gestured toward the door. “It’s time you rejoined your classmates before they wonder about your absence.”
Sage turned to leave and looked back over her shoulder before she let go of the door. Her gut clenched when she saw the look on Mr. Walsh’s face. A mixture of sadness and concern.
Her indecision was putting both of them in danger.
6. HELP NEEDED
The light from the databook screen shone on Sage’s face while she sat unmoving. Numbers blurred in front of her as she stared dully at the questions. She may as well have been reading another language. She’d zoned out in class too, so she had no clue how to do today’s assignment.
Not that she would have been able to work on it even if she knew how. She was completely oblivious to everything going on around her, her mind drifting miles away as she contemplated Mr. Walsh’s question for the thousandth time.
It had been weeks since they’d spoken. She felt no closer to an answer. She couldn’t say yes without reservation, and that hesitancy felt like a betrayal of Rosalind and Lita—and her parents.
Every time she turned a corner in a hallway, every time she found herself more or less alone, she realized she was bracing herself for the conversation she still wasn’t ready to have. It should have been an easy choice. She hated Eprah and what it had taken from her. But she was scared to give it another reason to take more.
She let out a sigh.
“Need some help?” Penelope misread the reason for her frustration. Not waiting for an answer, she twisted in her chair. “Nic?” she called. “Or Everett? Is one of you free? Sage is having some trouble with the problem set.”
“No, I’m fi—” Sage began to protest but then looked back down at her databook. Truthfully, she could use some help. Her mind had been somewhere else during class, and math wasn’t her strongest subject on a good day.
“Sure, I’ll help.” Everett said quickly. He grabbed his databook and made his way over, sinking into the seat beside Sage.
She hesitated. If she had to have help, she’d much rather get it from Nic. Something about Everett still rubbed her the wrong way.
He seemed to sense her disappointment. “I’m sure Nic would, but…” he glanced back at Nic, who was being stared down by Carnabel, “…now might not be a great time.”
Sage followed his gaze to Carnabel and frowned. “You’re probably right.” She swallowed and forced a slight smile. “So you get pretty much all this stuff, huh?”
He shrugged. “Different things make more sense to different people.” He glanced at her screen to see what she was working on so that he could pull it up on his own databook.
As he started walking her through the different steps to solve the problem, guilt began to eat at her. He was actually being really nice, and she wasn’t doing a good job of hiding the fact that she’d prefer a different tutor. All the same, she couldn’t force herself to like him.
But all that was beside the point. She was distracted and falling behind in classes, and they were only a couple months into the new level. She had to catch up. And fast.
7. QUESTIONABLE BEHAVIOR
“Are you alright?” Concern was etched on Inette’s face as she whispered over her shoulder.
Sage stared back at her blankly for a moment before realizing she had spoken. “I… I must not have been paying enough attention at the estate.” Her face grew hot. She looked down at the questions in front of her, still unsure of the right answers.
In the time since she’d talked to Mr. Walsh, she’d been on edge. Everything seemed hazy, and all she could think about was the decision she’d have to make the next time she saw her old instructor. It was sure to be soon. More than a month had gone by already. A knot formed in the pit of her stomach at the thought.
“Relax.” Inette winked. “Here.” Shifting sideways in her seat, she moved her databook to the side and tilted it at an angle Sage could see.
At first, Sage refused to look down. But she felt conflicted. She knew it was cheating, but she also knew she didn’t want to find out what would happen to her if she failed the quiz. And Eprah punishing her again—Eprah having the ability to punish her in the first place—was wrong too, she reasoned.
She bit her lip and peered over Inette’s shoulder. She hurriedly copied the answers on her own databook, hoping that Ms. Trynn wouldn’t look up from whatever she was reading and that what she’d done wasn’t obvious on any of the Institution’s monitoring systems.
“Thanks,” she breathed.
Inette smiled. “No problem,” she whispered back.
Sage sighed and sank back into her chair, looking over her—or rather, Inette’s—answers. Her brow furrowed as she felt someone’s eyes boring into her skull. She turned slightly and saw Cal frowning at her. It was rather uncharacteristic of his usual carefree demeanor, and she was becoming uncomfortable under his stare.
“Knock it off, Cal,” Inette hissed under her breath.
Sage hadn’t realized Inette had seen his disapproving look too. She nearly jumped out of her seat when Ms. Trynn’s voice rang out across the classroom.
“Alright, everyone seems to be done with their quizzes. You may put your desks together now and begin going over the next unit.”
The noise from chairs scraping across the room gave Cal enough cover to grumble under his breath.
“You’ll let her do it but not me.”
Inette glared at him. “One time, Cal. Not every week. Besides, you passed anyways.”
“Barely,” he muttered.
She rolled her eyes. “Big baby.”
Chairs and desks were still settling into place, providing a few more noisy moments of cover for their conversation.
Sage placed her hand lightly on Inette’s arm. “Why did you do that?”
“You mean for you and not for him?”
She nodded.
Inette shrugged. “Isn’t it obvious? I like you better than him,” she said jokingly, then grew a bit more serious. “Or you’re usually really attentive, which I appreciate. Plus, you didn’t ask me to.” She cocked her head. “Anyways, you just seem to have something on your mind lately, so I figured I’d help.”
Sage threw her a look of gratitude as the scraping of desks settled down.
“Well, who wants to go first this time?” Inette quickly changed the subject, flashing a warm smile at Gabby so she didn’t feel left out. “What are you most looking forward to at the…” she looked down at her databook and raised an eyebrow as she raised her head back up, “…chicken farm?”
8. MISCHIEF
Thump.
Cal hopped up on the instructor’s desk, an impish grin spreading across his face.
“Cal, what are you doing? Get down.” Inette sounded exasperated.
“Well, duh, I’m an instructor. You get down.” He straightened quite deliberately, extending his height as much as he could muster. “Back to your seat, underling!”
Sage rolled her eyes. It was lucky for him that Ms. Trynn hadn’t gotten to the classroom early. She was sure this stunt wouldn’t go over well.
He stomped his foot, the desk squeaking and groaning under his unwelcome weight as he shouted and pointed at his fellow students. “Listen up, youngsters! I’m going to tell you what Eprah has in store for you for the rest of your miserable little existences! But first, you have to do everything I say so tha—”
“What do you think you’re doing?” Ms. Trynn’s voice echoed loudly across the room, interrupting the speech.
Cal’s eyes grew wide. He quickly clambered off the desk.
“I know you think you’re funny, but if you keep this behavior up, you’ll find yourself shunned.” She kept her tone even, but her eyes blazed with anger. “I am a duly-appointed instructor at the Institution, and this is my classroom, and you will show both of us the respect we deserve.”
Cal snapped his mouth closed, but a smile still played at his lips despite the instructor’s warning. He shrugged. “Just a joke.”
Sage and Penelope exchanged a glance tinged with worry. They weren’t used to seeing someone so laid back after being threatened with a shunning.
His lackadaisical response seemed only to infuriate Ms. Trynn.
“Then go,” she snapped. “Go see the headmaster immediately and explain to him what I just walked in on. See if he thinks it’s just a joke or if it merits further action.”
His ordinarily carefree eyes darkened. “Really? I just—” he clenched his jaw, nostrils flaring. “I’m sorry, Ms. Trynn. It won’t happen again.” The words seemed to leave his mouth with great pain.
“See that it doesn’t.”
He hesitated for a moment, a concerned look on his face. “Do I still need to see the headmaster?”
