The Arch Stone: Foxway Academy: Book 1

by Adam Faulkner

  I looked ahead. Matt had kept walking. I almost got angry at the fact that he hadn’t even noticed us stopping, but he probably knew exactly what was going on.

  I put my hand on Leigh’s shoulder and sat her down on the floor.

  “You’re not useless. Your Magic already helped me once.”

  “How much help was I really? You still don’t actually know where Raven is.”

  “I know why she left. And it’s not much, but I know that she didn’t just leave me. That means a lot.”

  “It’s just… What Professor Greyford was saying… About risking our lives to protect you… And the school… And if the Syndicate attack, there’s not going to be anything I can do…” She wasn’t crying, but there were definitely tears in her eyes.

  “The Syndicate could attack at any time… We have absolutely no idea what they’re planning, or how they’re planning to do it. And none of us have any idea how to stop them. And honestly, much as I hate to say it, but we might not. Without bring pessimistic, there’s a very real chance that we’re not going to be ready for whatever they end up throwing at us.”

  “Thanks, that’s really reassuring…” Leigh laughed.

  “Isn’t it…” I joked. “But it’s the truth. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. I’m not going to give up. We’re not going to give up. Okay?”

  Leigh nodded slowly. “I’m serious. This stone… It’s important… And they might not know it, but people are relying on us. If the Syndicate beat us…”

  “We’re just kids… The Syndicate… They kill people… Everyone knows that…” Leigh mumbled. Everything was starting to make sense now. I put my arm around her shoulder.

  “Nothing’s going to happen to you. You won’t be going into anything without any training at all, and you’re not the only one who’s going to be fighting. Me, Matt, August. We’ll protect each other. We’ll protect you. I promise.”

  I stood up and held out my hand to help Leigh up.

  “Thanks, Emilie…”

  “Hey, if you can’t rely on your friends, who can you?” I shrugged. “Anyway, we should go and find Matt… He’ll be wondering where we’ve gone.”

  19

  The next couple of months flew by before I had even realised it. It was the middle of February when I started at Foxway, and somehow it was already the end of July. In a normal school, that would mean I’d be a couple of days into the summer holiday, but, naturally, Foxway was the exception.

  The school year at Foxway followed the calendar year, which honestly made more sense to me than the way that normal schools start, halfway through the year. So, with that, July was no different to the rest of the year. By now, I’d got into a worryingly comfortable rhythm with everything that was going on. I say worryingly, because I really don’t think that anyone’s normal routine should involve being trained to fight a group of maniacs who want to take over the world.

  Training was going fairly well. The focus had mostly been the hand-to-hand training, which mostly consisted of both basic martial arts, and more recently by combining it with Magic, in various different ways. August had started to use the flaming cards almost like knives. Matt was focusing on fighting with a quarterstaff mostly, as that was basically the only weapon he could make using his Geomancy, as well as a lot of air manipulation. I had mostly been putting a lot of effort into practising my Ice Magic. Despite August’s comments about Source Magic, I wasn’t anywhere near clear enough in the head to be able to use my Reality Magic, and I was getting really good with Ice-blades (Literally just blades of ice, but I thought the name was cool).

  Leigh was still struggling with all of it, though. She had taken to the basic combat stuff pretty well, but she was still behind the rest of us on the grounds of not being able to use her magic to fight, and it was really hitting her hard.

  Things had definitely become less awkward between me and Matt. It took a while, but things had more or less gotten back to normal. At least, they did outwardly. I was definitely still thinking about it, mostly thanks to my little friends in my brain. I was still trying to keep them under control, but although I was definitely making steps towards getting used to them, they were still there, even if just in the background, whispering away.

  The one thing that was more distracting than even the voices, though, was the fact that I still had no idea where Raven was. I was constantly looking around, looking for something that would tell me that she was there. I knew she wasn’t, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I wanted to look for her, to try and find something that would tell me that she was safe. But there was nothing there. She knew how to cover her tracks and she definitely wasn’t going to be found unless she wanted to.

  By this point, I had decreased the amounts of therapy sessions I was having; since I’d started to get a bit better, I was now dividing those lessons between therapy and restarted my Reality Magic sessions with Greyford. Since I’d started to get used to the voices, I was starting to be able to practice again. Teleportation spells were difficult, but I was just about starting to get the hang of transporting objects to me, as opposed to moving myself away from them. That part was still tricky. I could move things fine, but I didn’t really have any control over where I was moving them to. I knew that the basic telekinesis spell basically did the same thing, but it was a lot quicker, and the lack of physical movement for the objects definitely reduced the amount of spilt tea on the floor. On a completely unrelated note, I had basically become dependent on tea.

  “So, how have you been feeling recently, Emilie?” Artemis asked me as I sat down on the sofa.

  “Nothing new, really.”

  “Anything on your mind?”

  I shrugged.

  “You’ve got to give me something. I can tell that something’s wrong, and I can’t help you if you don’t tell me,” Artemis pushed.

  “As I said, nothing new… I’ve been thinking about Raven a bit more, I suppose.”

  “Do you think there’s a particular reason?”

  “I think… I think it’s actually because everything else is kind of going well. I mean, I know the Syndicate could arrive at any time, but, as it is, everything feels normal. I’m coming here, I’m training, I’m going home. That’s it. So, I guess there’s less to think about… Something like that…”

  “Yes, I think that makes sense,” Artemis agreed. “Honestly, you’ve made so much progress since we started these sessions. You’ve been dealing with your issues incredibly well over the past couple of months. You shouldn’t get stressed out over it. You’re allowed to be worried about your sister.”

  “Yeah, I guess…”

  “So, how are things going with Mr Silvemist?” she asked after a few seconds, smiling teasingly.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about…” I replied unconvincingly. At least, Artemis didn’t seem convinced.

  The session lasted about twenty minutes in the end. There wasn’t really anything took complicated, or new. Talking about Raven, mostly. There wasn’t really anything that either of us could do about it, so we kind of gave up. I knew I’d find out where she was at some point, so all I could really do was get on with everything.

  Leigh was waiting for me when I walked out of Artemis’ room.

  “No Matt?”

  “Geomancy class.”

  “Oh, right…”

  “How was the session?” Leigh asked. I shrugged. “That bad, huh.”

  “Not bad, just… Not that useful. It’s not Artemis’ fault. There’s just not much that anyone can help with. The hallucinations aren’t going anywhere any time soon, and there’s nothing anyone can do to find Raven…” I explained. “I’m just not sure if it’s worth it anymore.”

  “It’s making a difference, I promise. You definitely seem happier. Even if you’re just emptying your feelings out on Artemis, I think it’s worth it.”

  “I guess you’re right…”

  I’d actually become really close to Leigh over the last cou
ple of months. I mean, it made sense. Things were still awkward with Matt, despite what we both said. Raven was still gone. And I could probably get away with spending time with August, but her friends were… Well, they were the sort of people I never got on with at school. So, that left Leigh and Mary as the only people I could properly spend time with. Mary was great; she reminded me a lot of my friends from my old school; she was great for talking to about the normal stuff, about what was on TV, what ___ had said to ___, that kind of thing. But Leigh was different. I could talk to her about real stuff, about Raven, about how everything that was going on was just screwing me up more and more. She knew what was going on in my life. She knew how training for a fight like ours was. She knew what at stake. And it all meant that she was a good friend, the sort I just hadn’t really had before. Someone I could really trust.

  *

  I smirked as I threw my ice-covered hand towards Matt. He slid out of the way and placed his hand on the ground. He quickly slammed his other hand on the ground, and a wall shot out from the wooden floor. Missing the punch had thrown off my balance, but I managed to regain my footing in time to block a swing from Matt’s quarterstaff with my arm.

  “Almost had me there…” I grunted as I pushed him away. Matt charged in for another attack. I made a fist with my right hand and rolled it across my left palm. I rotated the fist around and pushed into the hand and spread out the fingers of my left hand. I held my hands out at my sides and closed my eyes. Finally, I quickly crossed my arms over. I felt a fuzzy sensation as I disappeared, instantly reappearing on the other side of the room. And, much to my dismay, in the air. I fell to the ground, met by Matt swinging his staff into my stomach. Dropped down on the floor, exhausted.

  Greyford clapped.

  “You really need to focus more on your Y-axis, Emilie. Teleportation is a three-dimensional thing. You’re lucky you didn’t end up buried in the floor.”

  “I know… I’ll get it eventually.”

  “You need to make sure you can do it in a controlled environment before you use it in anything like this.”

  “I know, I know. I won’t do it again.”

  “Other than that, that was a very impressive match. You two are both learning very quickly,” Greyford complimented. “Where is Miss Flamel?”

  I looked around. I hadn’t realised she’d left.

  “She was here at the start…”

  “I didn’t see her leave…” Leigh told us. “Should someone go and look for her?”

  “I’ll go.” I quickly walked out of the room.

  It took me about five minutes to find August. She was sitting on the step outside of the main building, doing nothing.

  “Hey, where did you go?”

  “I just needed some fresh air.”

  “You feeling alright? You look pale.”

  “Honestly, I haven’t been getting anywhere near enough sleep recently.”

  “Like, you can’t sleep, or you haven’t been trying?”

  “I’ve been spending almost all of my time practising Magic… I’ve never learned things easily. I’ve been learning Card Magic for almost five years. It took me two just to be able to manipulate the energy,” she explained. “I’m worried if I don’t keep improving I’m not going to be any use.”

  “You’re not alone there…” I admitted. “I honestly think that we all feel a little useless. I just teleported myself into the air because I couldn’t concentrate enough, half of Matt’s Geomancy creations disintegrate within three seconds, Leigh’s Magic can’t do anything in a fight… We’re all struggling here. But we’re all here. If you need help, then all you have to do is ask.” I climbed up to my feet. “Go back to the dorms, get some sleep. Actual sleep. You’re going to be useless if you’re asleep for half of a battle.” I looked down and laughed. She actually had fallen asleep.

  “Seriously…” I muttered. “Well, what the hell am I supposed to do now?”

  I managed to rouse August so that she was half awake and helped her back to Maidenheart dorm. The overwhelmingly pink décor still made me shiver as I walked up the stairs to August’s floor. The door was locked. “Shit…” I muttered as I searched through her bag for the key. I opened the door and dragged August inside. She didn’t have a room-mate, so the room was empty. “You… Don’t get up for at least two hours, got it? Get some food and go back to sleep. Promise?”

  “Yeah…” August drowsily replied.

  “Alright. See you tomorrow.” I walked out of the room, quietly closing the door behind me.

  She’s ignored you… You haven’t made any difference…

  The voices helpfully whispered. “Ssh.” I snapped as I walked down the corridor.

  *

  “Hey, Em!” Mum called out as I walked through the door.

  “Mum? You’re back early?”

  “They needed someone to cover the late-night shift, so they let me skip my evening shift,” she explained. “How was your day?”

  “You know, same as always. Magic, martial arts, crazy pink dormitory,” I replied, with no hint of joking in my voice. “That should sound weird, shouldn’t it?”

  Mum laughed.

  “Don’t worry, you sound completely insane to me.”

  “Oh, I’m definitely insane. Unless you hear the voices as well.” I laughed.

  “That doesn’t make you insane, Emilie. You know that,” Mum reminded me, quickly switching to serious-parent mode.

  “Don’t worry, I’m just kidding,” I admitted. “Still, I do feel like it should be worrying that I’m getting used to all of this.”

  “You’ve been at the school for a long time now. Anything could start to feel normal after that long.” Mum shrugged.

  “I know, but this is Magic we’re talking about. I don’t feel like it should feel so… Real…”

  “I get what you mean. It’s weird being one of the only people who knows about it… It’s like you’re part of this weird world, but everyone else I know has no idea about it, and I’m stuck between the two,” Mum explained. “It’s not that I’m jealous, or anything. I don’t particularly want to be able to use magic. It’s just an interesting perspective, that’s all.”

  I dropped down onto the sofa. “You alright?” mum asked.

  “This Martial Arts club I’ve been going to is seriously tough…” I grunted. I hadn’t told my mum about the Arch Stone, or the Circle, and especially not the Syndicate. I knew it would worry her too much, and although I didn’t think that she’d try and stop me, the last thing I wanted was for her to worry about me.

  “Do you want to stop?”

  “Nah, it’s fun. Just tiring, that’s all.”

  “Maybe that’s because you’ve never done any proper exercise in your life!”

  “Well, who’s fault is that, mother?!” I joked. We both burst out laughing, and carried on a good minute before we stopped.

  “Alright, since I’m here, we should eat together,” mum decided. “I could cook?”

  “You could, if you knew how…”

  I was always the one who did the cooking. Mum could do the basics, but anything with a little more complexity, I was left with the job.

  “Rude!” Mum mockingly protested. “Fine. How about we order then? Chinese?”

  20

  I walked at the side of the lake, alone. At least, as alone as I could be.

  Oh, look, it’s the lake… Why don’t you go for a swim? It’s not dangerous or anything…

  I rolled my eyes and sat down on the bench.

  “It’s strange, isn’t it… This bench was where it all started…” I quietly said to myself.

  “The universe has a strange way of making things work…” another voice said from behind me.

  I froze, not even being able to bring myself to turn around. I knew that voice. I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn’t say anything. Eventually, I managed to turn around. I was almost sent into shock by what I saw. Because standing there was my sister.

  �
�Raven…” I croaked.

  You’re hallucinating… She’s not there… She’s gone…

  “No!” I shouted.

  “What’s wrong?” Raven asked.

  I shook my head.

  “Why are you here?” I asked. “Do you know what’s it’s been like the last few months. Not knowing where you were, what you were doing. Not knowing if you were even alive?”

  “I… I…” Raven stuttered. “I’m sorry…”

  “You should be! You just took off, without saying anything! I’m your sister, Raven. You should have told me if you were leaving.”

  “You would have tried to stop me.”

  “You bet your arse I would have tried to stop you! What were you thinking?”

  “I needed to find Elijah. I needed to stop him… Before he hurt you… What happened to you… It was my fault… I couldn’t let it happen again…” she whispered as tears ran down her face.

  I stared at Raven for a moment. I wasn’t sure how to feel. I wanted to be angry at her. I felt like I should be angry at her. But I wasn’t feeling any of that. And I just kind of broke down. I threw my arms around Raven.

  “I… I missed you so much…” I sobbed.

  You sound like an idiot… She didn’t miss you… The voices whispered. I ignored them.

  “I… I missed you too, Emilie…” Raven smiled. We stood still for a few seconds, taking in what was happening. I slid across on the bench and gestured for Raven to sit down. She stared at the bench for a moment and sat down on the arm.

  “So…” I said. “What are you doing back here?” I asked. “Did you find Elijah?”

  Raven shook her head.

  “He… He found me…”

  “Did he hurt you?!” I instantly interrogated, jumping off the bench. Raven lifted her shirt. I gasped as I saw a large, red scar on her side. “How did he do this?”

  “He… He tried to get me to join him again…” Raven explained. “This was how he repaid me for refusing…”