I thought about it for a moment.
“I… I guess you’re right…”
“So, do you know what you’re going to do?”
“No. Not yet, at least. But I’ll think about it.”
“That’s all I can ask.” Artemis smiled. “Well, I think we’re done for today, then?”
“Yeah.” I stood up. “Thanks, Miss Artemis.”
“Your very welcome, Emilie. I’ll see you in class tomorrow?”
“Yeah.” I breathed as I picked up my bag and walked out of the door. I was worried that I’d seemed standoffish in how I’d said that, to be honest. But I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
*
I turned the Arch Stone around in my fingers as I lied on Raven’s bed.
“So, what do you think?” I asked her.
“I certainly wasn’t planning to stop fighting. But my situation is… different to everyone else.”
“Yeah, I guess…” I figured. “I just… I don’t want to put them in any more danger… But I know I can’t fight the Syndicate alone… Or even just the two of us… I just wish I knew what to do…”
“Have you talked to Professor Greyford about it?” Mary walked in from the kitchen and lowered three mugs onto the table.
“Not yet… I’ve only talked to him once since I’ve been back… I know what he’s going to say though…”
“I don’t think he’d make you guys fight if you didn’t want to.”
“That’s not even the problem… I know I have to fight… I wish I didn’t, but I do… But I don’t want to make Matt and August fight… This isn’t their problem. I shouldn’t have gotten them caught up in all of this in the first place…”
“We knew that it was going to be dangerous when this all started,” Raven reminded me.
“I know… But… No one said anyone was going to die… Leigh… I promised her that we’d all be alright, and…” I trailed off “I don’t want to go through that again… I can’t lose anyone else…”
“I get it.” Raven put her hand on my shoulder. “I’ve lost enough people in my life to know how you’re feeling… But the truth is… Me, Matt, August… Leigh… We were there because we chose to be.” She sighed. “I’m going to stand with you no matter what. And I think that Matt and August… I’m sure they feel the same…”
“But I don’t want to-”
“I’m not telling you to force anyone to do anything. But I do think you should talk to them about it. Just talk to them.”
I thought for a moment.
“I guess… I guess you’re right…” I sighed. “I… I’ll try and talk to them…”
“Okay. That’s all I can ask.” Raven smiled. Silence hung in the room for the next couple of seconds, until Mary decided to speak up.
“So, did you hear about what happened over in Emerald?” she asked. I shook my head. “Well, you see, this guy…”
*
You can’t talk to them… They’re not going to want to help you anyway…
I couldn’t remember the last time I hadn’t felt the need to get into an argument with the voices. I couldn’t think of any good reason why Matt and August would want to fight with me again. To be honest, after what had happened to Leigh, I wouldn’t have blamed them either. And yet I still found myself sitting in Matt’s dorm, sitting on Leigh’s old bed, looking at the two of them.
“So, what’s up?” Matt asked.
“I… I know it still hasn’t been long… I doubt things will go back to normal any time soon, anyway… But the thing is… Miss Artemis… She said that Professor Greyford needs to know whether… Whether or not we’re still going to be fighting against the Syndicate…”
I don’t think I’d ever been so nervous. I had no idea how they were going to take what I was saying, and I didn’t think I really wanted to. Matt sighed. “I know, I know.” I tried to stop him before he started speaking. “I don’t expect you to help me. After everything that’s happened, I don’t want you to have to keep putting yourself at risk for me…”
“Are you kidding me?” Matt interrupted me.
“What?” I choked. Matt was clenching his fist.
“Do you really think that was what I was going to say? The Syndicate… After all they’ve taken from us… Why the hell wouldn’t I fight!”
“But… I already got you guys wrapped up in this… I don’t want anyone else to get hurt…”
“That’s not your problem, Emilie,” August replied. “The Syndicate attacked our school… Attacked our home! We knew what we were doing, and we knew the risks.”
“We all did. Even Leigh…” Matt seemed to drift away for a second, until August grasped his hand. I smiled a little at that. Despite how weird it still felt for me, I had to admit they were good together, at least from the little I’d seen so far.
“What we’re trying to say is… As long as we have to, we’re going to fight. The Syndicate attacked our home… our family… They’re going to pay,” August assured me. “You already trusted us once. We’re not going to let you down. No matter what happens.
“We’re with you, Emilie. Until the end,” Matt added.
August stared at me.
“What?”
“You’re crying…”
I touched my face. It was wet.
“I didn’t even notice…” I said. “Weird…” I stood up slowly. “Thank you…” I could feel the tears now. I clenched my fist and wiped them away. “I’m not going to let you down either. I know what happened last time… But next time the Syndicate attack, we’re going to be ready. I promise.”
Matt and August stood up as well.
“Guess you were wrong…” I muttered under my breath.
“What’s that?” Matt asked.
“Nothing,” I brushed it off. I moved towards the door. “In that case, I think we need to have a conversation with the professor...”
*
“I was wondering when I was going to see the four of you,” Greyford admitted as me, Raven, Matt and Leigh walked through the door of his office. “I assume you’ve made a decision about your future then?”
“The Syndicate are going to come back, whether we fight or not,” I replied. “We want to help stop them.”
Greyford nodded.
“Just as I hoped. In that case, I believe it’s about time that we continued your training,” he decided. “We don’t know when the Syndicate are going to attack again, so time is of the essence. We’re going to have to push you much harder. Are you happy with that?”
“We’re not going to let the Syndicate get away with hurting anyone else. We’ll do whatever we need to,” August answered.
Greyford stood up.
“Then I think it’s about time we began.”
35
Getting back into training felt way more natural than I was expecting. None of us could really believe we were back there, not after everything that had happened, but it didn’t take long for things to feel a little more normal. Not that it would ever feel completely normal. Not with one of us missing. I felt Leigh’s absence now more than ever. I was sure that the others felt the same way. There was just an atmosphere in the room. None of us were completely focused. But we pushed on anyway.
It quickly became clear that we’d all changed a little in how we used our magic since the attack. August had started to focus more on Electromancy since the attack, rather than channelling it into her cards, and it was definitely working for her. Matt was still training with Geomancy, but his casting-speed had really skyrocketed. I wasn’t sure what had changed, but I think he was just more motivated now. Raven had apparently been looking into how she could use Arts Magic to boost her source, which did surprise me. It was early days, and it must have been a struggle to break the habit, but Rave was naturally handling it brilliantly.
As for myself, my developments were more obvious. Ever since the attack, I’d been able to cast spells just by thinking of them. No spoken spells, no constructions,
nothing at all. I figured it must have been to do with the Arch Stone, but I was curious as to what had started it. It had its limits, of course. It wasn’t as if I could cast anything without effort. I’d tried to use my transportation spell, for example, but that did nothing without casting it like normal. But it came in handy for my Ice Magic, at least.
“Shit…” I grunted as August put up a shield of electricity to block the volley of sharpened ice I’d thrown at her.
“You’re gonna need to try harder than that!” August shouted as the air around her crackled with electricity. She tensed her fingers and crossed her arms over. She straightened her arms, extending them out at her sides, and then brought her hands together. When she pulled them apart, electricity filled the gap. She twisted her hands around, forming the crackling energy into a ball, and pushed it forward, shooting it towards me. I struggled to right myself as I slid out of the way of the blast, but I managed to catch my footing.
I looked over at the other side of the room, where a blast of fire was being blocked by a hastily-made wall. Raven and Matt were probably the most objectively talented fighters in the group, when it came to hand-to-hand combat, so they were pretty fun to watch. Not that August gave me much of a chance to watch them before she charged at me, throwing an electrified fist straight at my stomach. I just barely managed to pull up my ice to block it, and the force almost knocked me off my feet, but I managed to stumble back to my feet in time to counter August’s next attack. I put some distance between the two of us, baiting her into following me. She charged towards me with another punch, but I sent a sheet of ice flowing across the floor. Before she had a chance to react, she’d slipped on the ice and lost her footing completely, eventually coming to a stop just before my feet.
I laughed as I extended my hand to help her up. Big mistake. Turns out that much electricity doesn’t just disappear instantly. I jumped back as the shock moved through my body. It wasn’t anything dangerous, of course. But it was enough to leave me as the one lying on the floor.
“Cheat…” I muttered as I clambered to my feet.
“You won’t be saying that when there’s a Syndicate thug in your place…”
“True.” I dusted myself off and untied my hair. I noticed August looking over at the other side of the room. “They still at it?”
“Yep.”
“By the way, I never said, but I’m sorry about how I reacted to you and Matt. It took me off guard, that’s all. It makes total sense, to be honest.”
“You think?”
“I do. You’re both talented magicians, you’re both pretty standoffish, and you’re both way to stubborn… You’re actually pretty similar, when you think about it.”
“Well, it’s good to know you approve…” August joked. “Also, I prefer sorceress. Just saying.”
“Fair enough.” I shrugged. “I’ve never really thought of names that much, to be honest.”
“It’s just about finding what suits you, I guess. It’s not that important in the long run.”
“Yeah, I suppose so. I’ll work it out when I have to. I think I’m happy just being Emilie, to be honest. At least for now.”
“I guess we’ve got more important things to worry about…”
“So why Sorceress?” I asked. “Just out of curiosity.”
“I don’t really know. I guess I just thought it fit, if you get what I mean.”
“Yeah, I get it. It does suit you.”
“I definitely think so.” August looked down at her watch. “One more go?” she suggested. “If you think you can handle it?”
“As long as you don’t mind me going all out?” I challenged.
August moved back and straightened herself to fight.
“Bring it!”
*
“Emilie, may I talk to you for a second?” Greyford asked as we all started walking out of the sparring room. I stopped and turned around as the others left the room.
“I’ll be out in a second!” I called out to the others. I turned back around and walked up to Greyford. “Yes, professor?”
“I was wondering if you’d spent any more time practicing you Reality Magic?”
I shook my head.
“I haven’t been able to focus properly ever since… ever since the attack. I can just about manage to transport myself, but it takes a lot.”
“That’s understandable. Reality magic is difficult when you haven’t gone through what you have. But that is actually what I wanted to talk to you about. Do you know what kind of magic Elijah Blake uses?”
I flinched when I heard Elijah’s name, but I managed to control myself.
“It’s… Skiomancy, right? Controlling shadows…” I choked as the memories of Leigh’s death flooded back into my mind. I stumbled back a little.
“Are you alright?” Greyford sounded genuinely concerned.
“Yeah, just… Bad memories, you know…”
“Yes, I understand…” he agreed. “We can talk about this another time, if you’re not ready?”
“No, it’s fine. You were saying?”
“There are forms of magic which directly oppose each other; that are… twinned… Skiomancy is one such form.”
“So, what’s the opposite?”
“Luxomancy. Light magic,” Greyford replied. “And I want you to learn it.”
“What?” I questioned. “Just learn a new type of magic from scratch?”
“It might be the only thing that can give you an advantage against Elijah Blake. Even now, he’s more powerful than you are. Reality magic is powerful, but it isn’t well optimized as offensive magic. But this could give you a fighting chance.”
“I… I…” I stuttered.
“I don’t want to force you to do anything. But I do think it’s something you should think about.” He walked past me and headed towards the door. “Good evening, Emilie,” he called back as he disappeared into the corridors, leaving me on my own again.
“I hate it when he does that…” I grunted as I picked up my bag and walked out of the sparring hall.
*
“Luxomancy… Light… Energy…” I skimmed through the beginning of a book on the strange Light magic that Greyford told me about as I sat in the balcony of the library. It felt strange being back there, and I was doing everything I could to push what had happened out of my head; I almost threw up the first time I tried to walk through the door when I first got back to the school. But I was managing. It felt like that was all I was ever doing at the moment, to be honest.
Either way, I’d decided it would be best to at least do some reading up on Luxomancy before I made any decisions about what Greyford had asked me. I’d spent a lot of time working on my Reality Magic, and I didn’t want to just throw all of that work away, but it seemed like it really might have been one of the only useful counter-strategies against Elijah’s Skiomancy. I closed the book and laid back on the floor. I sighed.
“Some things never change, I suppose.” Raven’s head appeared over me. I sat up
“Hey.” I pushed myself up, stiff from sitting down for so long.
“I’m surprised you could come back here, you know.”
“Yeah, me too…” I agreed. “But it’s not like I could exactly stay away from the only place to get any useful information in this place…”
“Are you okay?”
“No, not really,” I admitted. “But I will be. Eventually. We all will.” I sighed. “It’s just… this is where all of it happened. After seeing it like that-”
I looked out at the rest of the library. You couldn’t see the area where we’d fought Elijah from the balcony, but that wasn’t what was hitting me. I was the normalness of everything. People walking in and out of the library, having normal conversations. It was like nothing had happened.
“Life goes on, I guess…”
“I suppose it does…” Raven agreed. “What did Professor Greyford talk to you about? After training?” I picked up the book and handed it to her. �
��Luxomancy?” she questioned, before the realisation set in. “To fight Elijah…”
“He wants me to learn it.” I explained. “I’m not so sure though…”
“I think you should, personally,” Raven decided. “I trust the Professor. If he wants you to do something, it’s probably because it’s best.”
“I wish I could have that much faith in him… But the truth is… I know there are things he’s hiding from us… I don’t know what, but there’s just something that doesn’t seem to fit…” I leaned on the railing and looked out over the library. “I don’t know… Maybe I’m just being paranoid…”
“There’s a lot going on right now. I don’t think you should just ignore a feeling like that, but try not to let yourself get caught up in what you don’t know. There’s a lot that I’m sure even the Professor doesn’t know. We just… We just have to keep fighting.”
“Yeah, I guess…”
“Do you… Do you ever regret getting mixed up in all of this?”
“I… I don’t know… I mean, I don’t regret coming to Foxway, and I definitely don’t regret meeting you… But… I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about what would have happened if I hadn’t found the Arch Stone…”
“And?”
“I wouldn’t change it. I don’t think so, at least. I regret some of the things that have happened. There’s so much I wish I could have stopped, but the truth is I’m doing something that matters. It’s hard, and it’s dangerous, but it matters… So, I don’t regret it, no,” I decided. “What about you?”
“I mean, for me it’s not about the Arch Stones or Foxway… It’s a family thing… It’s about Elijah… It’s about my mother… I’ve always been a part of this, I suppose.”
“I guess… It’s weird, isn’t it? How everything just kind of happens, and we just surrender… I don’t think we really have any control over anything, do we?”
“I quite like that idea, actually,” Raven replied. “I like the idea that no matter what we do, we can’t predict anything. Yes, it can make things dangerous sometimes. Yes, sometimes these things don’t go way, but things happen because they happen. Sometimes, bad things happen. But sometimes amazing things happen as well.” Raven looked at me and smiled. “And it brought us together.”
The Arch Stone: Foxway Academy: Book 1 Page 24
