The Arch Stone: Foxway Academy: Book 1

by Adam Faulkner

  “Shit…” I looked around to try and find the faint shimmering that showed where she was. I formed a blade out of my ice. I felt someone ramming their elbow into my back, sending me flying into the gate. Hitting the field around the gate felt weird, like I was hitting a wall of water but not going through it. I picked myself up off the ground and stretched my back. The impact hadn’t done too much actual damage. It was going to bruise like hell, but nothing was broken. I shook it off and looked for Polly. She was standing in the middle of the area, which gave her a huge advantage against me. I needed to try and throw her off.

  “Why are you doing this! Surely there’s an easier way to solve this!”

  “You’ve made your intentions very clear. If I’m going to take the stone, it’s going to have to be by force!” Polly lunged for me again. I saw a glint of metal.

  “A fucking knife?! You’ve got to be kidding me…” I brought my ice up again to block the weapon and pushed her back. She managed to keep a grip on the knife, but I put enough distance between us to scramble away again.

  I bit my lip as I tried to remember the spell Polly had cast before, bending my hand up at a right angle. I pushed my hands into the cup shape and the bolt shot out, grazing Polly’s shoulder. She kept a grip on the knife and lunged at me again, catching the side of my arm. I bit my lip as I gripped my arm. It wasn’t deep, but it still left a noticeable line of red on my hand.

  You’re bleeding…

  “Really? I hadn’t noticed…” I hissed at the voice in my head as I tried to work out how far the damage went. I let my arm go and tried to lift it. It stung a little, but it wasn’t going to stop me from casting. I pulled an Ice-blade out again and moved in to attack. I swung my leg at Polly, letting it just barely miss her face. She stepped back, clearly shocked. I smiled as I ran forward and slammed my ice-covered arm into her hand. She grunted from the pain and dropped the knife, which I kicked away across the courtyard. I saw her fingers move, and before I could even react she’d disappeared again. I dived for the knife and looked around the area.

  “Pretty sneaky move… How about you stop darting around with your invisibility and face me like an adult!”

  Polly appeared again, and slowly walked towards me.

  “Like an adult? Like an equal?” Polly laughed. “I don’t believe you know your place…” She shot forward and sent her knee into my chest. I stumbled back, but managed to stay on my feet. I grunted as I straightened myself.

  “Okay, enough of this…”

  I pressed my fingertips together and brought them in… I extended them again, bent the ring ringer the other way… bent the middle and index fingers into the same position… Extended them all again… After the light formed inside my fingers, I closed my fist, trying to concentrate on keeping the spark of light in the palm of my hand. I placed the palm of my left hand on the side of the fist, rotated it ninety degrees, bent my right hand upwards, placed the left hand flat on the back of my right. Forty-five-degree turn, so the palms were diagonal. Finally, I pushed my hand forward. A beam of light shot out of my hands, hitting the ground where Polly was standing. Dust flew up from the ground as the head girl was sent flying by my attack, landing in a pile on the floor. I dragged myself over to Polly, standing above her.

  “So… This is what an Arch Stone does…”

  “No.” I looked at the stone, sitting inertly at my chest. I hadn’t felt it doing anything in the fight, other than when I was using my ice. “That was all me,” I corrected her. “I might be younger than you, but that doesn’t mean I’m less than you.”

  “I… Seem to have underestimated you…” Polly decided. “I’ll have to reconsider my modus operandi…”

  I turned and started to walk away.

  “I’ve got more important things to worry about than you, Polly Evergreen. Stay out of my way…” I threatened as I walked through the now-unblocked gate, leaving Polly stunned.

  The second I was out of view from Polly I tensed up. I felt my chest. My heart felt like it was about to explode. The whole thing had really shaken me… She’d done more damage than I'd thought. A couple of her attacks had probably cracked a couple of ribs, my back felt like it had had a knife in it, and my arm actually had. I gripped my arm again to try and stop the bleeding. It wasn’t gushing out, but any blood was more blood than I wanted outside of my body.

  “Guess I’m heading to the infirmary then…”

  *

  “What the hell happened to you?” Dr Birchwood asked as I dragged my bleeding, beaten self into the infirmary.

  “I fell over…” I grunted as I sat down on the bed.

  “Is this something I’m going to have to get the headmaster for?”

  “That might be a good idea…” I agreed. “But can we at least put my arm back together first?”

  *

  “Gah…” I winced as Birchwood tried to stitch my arm up. It didn’t look quite as bad once the blood had been cleared away, but it was definitely going to take a while to heal. Luckily it hadn’t hit any important nerves or ligaments, but the downside to that was that it wasn’t really worth using magic to fix it. The thread felt weird under my skin, but I knew it was better than the alternative.

  “So, do you want to tell me what actually happened?” Birchwood asked. “Did you get into a fight or something?”

  “Pretty much…” I admitted. “It wasn’t my fault though…”

  “Anyone I know?”

  “The head girl…” I confessed. The doctor laughed.

  “Wow, you don’t go for the small-fry, do you?”

  “I try.” I laughed.

  A few minutes later, Professor Greyford was standing in the infirmary, as Birchwood finished dressing my arm.

  “So, she just attacked you out of nowhere?”

  I nodded.

  “When I got into school, she cornered me at the gate; put up a barrier around the gate, while her little clique guarded the exit. She attacked first, I got the shit beaten out of me. Managed to get the upper hand in the end though.”

  “Very impressive,” Greyford replied. “I haven’t heard anything from her this morning, though. I imagine she’s probably busy tending to her bruised ego… I admit, I am surprised that she went so far. I knew she was difficult, but this is… something else…” He sighed. “I’m sorry it went this far, Emilie. This is my fault, really.”

  “Hey, you didn’t make Evergreen a psycho… Besides, I’m fine. More or less.” I assured him. “Anyway, I think it’s over now… I think I managed to scare her off…”

  “I wouldn’t get complacent too soon, but it does sound like you managed to hold your own rather well.” Greyford praised. “Is there anything you want me to do about it?”

  “I… I don’t know… I mean, I think I managed to stop her from doing anything else… But…”

  “You think she’s going to try again?”

  “I mean, I never thought she would go as far as she did today… I just… I wouldn’t be surprised if this wasn’t the end of it.”

  Greyford sighed.

  “No, I wouldn’t either… I’ll see if I can find some time to talk to her. It might not make much of a difference, but I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Thanks, professor…” I stood up and put my jacket back on. The sleeve was still lightly soaked in blood. “This better not stain…”

  41

  Once Dr Birchwood was sure there wasn’t any serious damage, I headed straight for class. I made a point not to make a big deal about it when I walked into Miss Artemis’ room, but it didn’t stop people staring at me as I walked in and sat down. To be fair, I was a total mess; my jacket sleeve was ripped, with the area around the rip tinted with blood, there was dust all over me, and the ground had left my face with a couple of decent scrapes. Matt and August both tensed up when they saw me, clearly realising what had happened.

  “Is everything alright, Miss George?” Artemis asked. She was trying to stay calm, and doing a pretty good job at it,
but I’d clearly caught her off-guard just as much as everyone else.

  “Yeah, I got into a bit of an… accident on the way to school. I’m fine.”

  “Is that blood on your sleeve?”

  “It’s mine. No big deal.” I took my jacket off and tightened the dressing on my arm. “What did I miss?”

  *

  Matt and August ran straight too me when the bell went.

  “Are you alright?” August asked. “What the hell happened?”

  “You should have seen the other guy…”

  “Evergreen?” Matt deduced. I nodded.

  “She cornered me on the way into school. I’m pretty sure she was trying to kill me. I’m fine though. My arm’s the only big injury…” I assured them. “I’m gonna be bruised like an apple tomorrow though…”

  “You managed to win?” August questioned.

  “I mean, to be honest, she had me for pretty much the whole thing… I only caught her out with a couple of attacks.” I looked down at my hands. “Luxomancy’s got some serious power though… I didn’t even put that much into it and it sent her flying…”

  “So, what’s going to happen next?” Matt asked.

  “I think Greyford’s going to give her hell. Hopefully I managed to scare her enough to stay away anyway, but it can’t hurt…”

  “So, this is over, then?” August asked

  “Maybe… I mean, she’ll be leaving in a couple of months anyway, so she wouldn’t be a problem anyway.” I shrugged. “As long as she stays away for the rest of the year, I don’t really care if she gets into trouble for it.”

  “Is that the point?” Matt asked as I packed away my notes. “She can’t get away with something like that!”

  “I left her in a pile on the floor. I don’t think she’s gotten away with anything…” I decided. “Seriously, guys, chill. It’s all done now. There’s nothing to worry about…”

  “Okay…” August sighed. I don’t think either of them were convinced.

  *

  There was a distinct difference between how my friends reacted to my injuries. Where Matt and August were worrying about my personal safety, Mary just laughed.

  “Wow, you really got yourself into some fun shit this time, didn’t you?”

  “That’s… one way to put it… I guess…”

  “So, come on, what happened?”

  “The head girl’s a psychopath.”

  Mary’s eyes widened.

  “Wow, you actually got into a fight with Polly Evergreen? I’m impressed… You kick her arse?”

  “Not really… She had the upper hand pretty much the whole time. I managed to get her in the end though. Training pays off, I guess.”

  “Looks like it…” Mary agreed. “Seriously though, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” I assured her. “My arm’s going to take a few weeks to properly heal, but that’s as bad as it gets.”

  “Alright…” Mary sighed. “Any more luck with the whole revision thing?”

  “I tried to get a little done last night, but I haven’t really been in a position to study today…”

  “I guess… Do you want me to do something about that?” She pointed at the rip in my jacket.

  “You know how?”

  Mary nodded.

  “My parents were always crazy busy at work, growing up. I’m the oldest of four, so I had to learn to do things like that,” she explained. “Just pass it here.”

  I picked my jacket up off the bed and tossed it to Mary.

  “I should have some thread around here…” She started shifting around in one of the drawers in her desk and pulled out a small sewing kit. “Aha!”

  A few minutes later, Mary threw the jacket back to me.

  “It’s not perfect, but it should hold.” I looked at the sleeve. The thread was a slightly lighter blue than the rest of the jacket, but it wasn’t too noticeable.

  “No, it’s totally fine. Thanks so much.” I smiled. I put the jacket down as the door opened and Raven walked in. She flinched when she saw me.

  “I’m fine,” I assured her before she could say anything. “Polly Evergreen gave me a bit of trouble before school, but I handled it.” Raven relaxed a little.

  “Thank goodness… I thought…”

  “Trust me, if that happened, you’d have been the first person I would have told.”

  “Okay…” Raven nodded. “So, you fought the head girl?”

  “Apparently…” I replied. “Got half a dozen stitches in my arm, but it could be worse.”

  “Have you told Lucy?” Raven asked. I shook my head.

  “She’s at work. If I tell her know she’ll just be worrying about me all day. I’ll tell her at home.”

  Raven sighed. I don’t think she agreed with me.

  “Okay… As long as you’re sure…”

  “It’s really not something to make a big deal about. I’m fine, I’m pretty sure she’s not going to attack me again. It’s not a big issue.”

  “That seems a little… reckless…”

  “To be fair, you do seem a little too calm about all of this…” Mary admitted.

  “I’ve dealt with a lot of shit this year, and Polly’s hardly Elijah…” I reasoned. “Exams are what I’m really scared of.”

  “I’ll second that,” Mary agreed. “My Illusion magic instructor’s getting way too serious about us doing well…”

  “What’s the exam like?” I asked.

  “Sixty percent practical,” Mary groaned. “I’ve got to create three small-scale illusions, and two medium-scale, which is all fine, but I still haven’t been able to crack the large-scale construction…”

  “Isn’t that Third-year work?” Raven asked. Mary nodded.

  “Anderson wants us to have a ‘head start’, whatever use that is…”

  “Anderson?” I questioned. “Finally, someone here with a normal name…”

  “There are more than you think.” Mary replied. “There’s a lot of people with stories like you, where they’ve known Magicals who released their source.”

  “Fair enough.” I shrugged. “So, how does illusion magic work then?”

  Mary held out her hands and crossed her middle fingers over her ring fingers. She touched her index fingers and her thumbs together so that they made a diamond from her hands. She then moved her fingers around so that her fingers were touching each other, with the middle and ring fingers still crossed. The air in the middle of the room shimmered, and a grey cat appeared. Mary let her hands drop but kept the fingers on her left hand crossed. I clapped.

  “That’s awesome!”

  “It’s nothing that impressive. That was a small-scale illusion. There’s so much more I can do with it. Animated illusions are always fun, but I can only do them with small-scale illusions.” She held out her right hand and bent the hand down at a right-angle. She turned the hand in and moved the ring and little fingers into her palm. Finally, she crossed her index and middle fingers. She made a few little movements with the hand and the cat walked towards me. I tried to touch it, but it disappeared.

  “Illusion magic, remember?” Mary laughed.

  “That’s so cool…” I looked into the empty space where the cat had appeared.

  “It’s a fun Speciality, but the large-scale illusions are killing me…”

  “You’ll work it out,” Raven assured her. “You just need to keep practicing.”

  “And you’ll have the theory portion perfect, I’m sure,” I added. “That’ll give you a good boost in your final grade.”

  “I’ll be fine, long as I put the work in,” Mary sighed. “School sucks, huh… It’s all exams and dances and relationships…”

  “Something wrong with you and Hannah?” I asked.

  Mary pushed her hair back.

  “I don’t know… Something’s just… not there…” she sighed. “Maybe it’s a problem, or maybe I’m just stressed with exams and everything…”

  “You should talk to her about it,”
Raven suggested. “Whatever happens, it’s better than keeping everything in.”

  “Yeah, I guess…” Mary hesitantly agreed. “I just need to focus on exams for a couple more weeks… Then I’ll find some time to talk things through with her…”

  I looked at Raven. We both knew it would be better for her to talk to Hannah soon, but we knew we couldn’t force her to do anything. We just changed the subject and didn’t mention it again.

  *

  Training went ahead as normal, despite what had happened earlier. Matt and August were back to sparring again, and Raven was still trying to perfect the spell she’d been working on for the last few days. As for myself, I’d decided to spend a study lesson looking through a book I’d found on Combat Magic. It was a more basic type of magic which didn’t fall under any kind of Speciality, and I figured it could be a pretty useful thing to learn in case of emergencies. The energy bolt spell that Polly had fired at me, and that I had just about managed to copy when we fought, was the first thing I tried to focus on.

  I held out my hands, placed my right hand on top of the left. I bent the right hand up at a right angle and span it around, so it was below the other hand, then pushed the hands back together so my palms were touching and opened my hands like a book. I twisted my arms around so that my left hand was in front of my right, with both thumbs pointing up. I touched the thumbs, then my index fingers, and pivoted my hands around so that the little fingers were touching each other. I spread my fingers out into a cup and a small bolt of plasma fired from the gap, making a little explosion as it hit the wall of the sparring hall. Greyford walked over as I cast the spell again.

  “Could I perhaps encourage you to use actual targets for your target practice?” he asked. “If the maintenance staff see the walls peppered with craters I’ll never hear the end of it…”

  “Sure, Professor.” I nodded, laughing a little. “They’re in the supply cupboard, right?” I called back as I walked towards the double-doors in the side of the room.