Cave of Nightmares

by V. St. Clair

  Of course he was still most comfortable in Prisms, and Master Asher continued to push them heavily on theory, making them draw intricate diagrams of major and minor alignments that made his classmates grumble about spending hours on homework every night. Hayden didn’t tell them that it never took him more than forty-five minutes.

  He had to replenish his spent prisms, as their next team challenge was in a few days and his first two had been entirely consumed in the lake. He had been saving the unpleasant visit to Pounds of Prisms until the last minute since he dreaded facing the owner of the shop. As expected, the man was as cold and unpleasant as he’d been the first time, perhaps even more so, now that he’d heard of what Hayden could do with level-one prisms.

  All in all though he was enjoying school and was eager to learn all that he could, if only to spite the people who wanted to see him fail. He was sitting up in bed on the morning of Serin, reading his Prisms textbook, when Zane came in and shut the door behind him.

  “Where have you been?” Hayden greeted his friend, glancing around at all the empty beds. “I haven’t seen you or the others since I woke up.”

  Zane gave him a strange look.

  “It’s the first of the month.”

  “So?” Hayden raised an eyebrow. “Are we supposed to be doing something on the first that no one told me about?”

  Zane looked slightly uncomfortable when he answered.

  “No, it’s just…the first is always family day. We’re gone for so much of the year that we’re allowed visitors at the beginning of each month. I saw Kayce’s mother eating breakfast with him earlier, and Conner’s parents probably came to see him too.”

  “Oh,” Hayden said softly, his stomach fluttering unpleasantly. He now knew why his friend looked so uncomfortable.

  I have no family. No one came to see me.

  “I just came up to get Felix because my sister wants to play with him,” Zane continued awkwardly, leaning over his bed and jostling the fox until it woke up.

  “You have a sister?” He had known Zane for over a month now and the subject of his family had somehow never come up before.

  “Five of them, unfortunately.” He made a face. “I’m the baby of the family, and only my oldest sister has any magical abilities like me. She and the next youngest, Maybelle, came to see me. They take it in turns, you see, because there’s no sense in all five of them coming at once, and my parents have jobs that don’t often let them away…” he seemed to realize he was rambling and cut himself off abruptly.

  “Oh, well have fun with your sisters then.” Hayden hitched a smile on his face that he didn’t feel, trying to look unaffected. “I’ll see you later tonight.”

  “Yeah, sure thing.” Zane looked relieved to be let off the hook. “Don’t get me wrong, I want you to meet them and everything…I just think I’d better give them some time to get used to the idea of you and ask questions first, you know…to avoid any awkwardness later.”

  Hayden nodded, wishing (for the millionth time) that he was the son of anyone in the Nine Lands other than Aleric Frost.

  “Sure, I get it,” he tried to sound nonchalant. “I’d better get back to my reading. Have fun.” He held up the textbook and focused his eyes on the page, though he didn’t take in a word of the paragraph in front of him.

  Zane collected Felix and left the dormitory, shutting the door gently behind him. Hayden sighed and set the book down in his lap, losing his enthusiasm for reading about prisms quite abruptly.

  He had been an orphan for two years now, and a pariah, but sometimes the overwhelming sense of loneliness hit him like a ton of bricks when he wasn’t expecting it no matter how much time passed. The knowledge that everyone else in Mizzenwald was enjoying the day with their families—who had traveled who-knows-how-far just to see them for one day—was heartbreaking, because there was no one who would ever come for him.

  Anna might have, if the orphanage gave her any time off.

  No, he remembered that the nice young caretaker was hoping to be married soon and had been funneling all of her free time into organizing her wedding. She would be too busy for him even if she wasn’t working.

  She’s probably already forgotten all about me.

  He tried to read for a while longer but eventually gave up on the wasted effort and climbed out of bed, changing into a long-sleeved shirt that would cover his Focus-correctors, which he was supposed to wear at all times when he wasn’t sleeping. He left his belt in the dormitory, not wanting to draw attention to himself by carrying prisms around.

  He examined his reflection in the mirror. The person staring back at him looked unremarkable: the same brown hair as anyone else, with light green eyes. He’d always received mixed reviews on whether or not he resembled his father in appearance, but never having seen the man, there was little he could do to gauge the accuracy of the claims or do anything to lessen the effect.

  His stomach grumbled loudly, stirring Bonk from his slumber.

  “Do you want to go outside? I’m going to get something to eat and then walk around the grounds for a bit,” Hayden informed him, and the dragon beat his wings and flew over to him, occupying his preferred perch on Hayden’s shoulder.

  “I’ll take that as a yes.” He entered the hallway and tread the familiar path back to the main stairwell that led downstairs, avoiding the common area because it was full of his classmates and their visitors.

  He could hear the increased level of noise on the ground floor while he descended the stairs, passing by clusters of families who seemed to be touring the school with their children. They ignored Hayden as he went by, which he preferred to the alternative, though a girl no older than five pointed at his retreating figure and said, “Look Mama, that boy has a dragon on his shoulder!”

  Hayden smiled at her excited tone, noting that Bonk was being unusually still and poised right now, as though aware of the attention and determined to impress.

  The dining hall was unusually full this morning, with classmates and their families packed around the tables of food. Hayden saw Tamon trying to persuade his boa constrictor to release his little brother, who was punching the snake’s coiled body where it wrapped around his middle.

  Since there was no room to sit by himself and he didn’t want to impose his presence on other people’s families, Hayden grabbed a couple pieces of buttered toast and turned back around to go outside.

  He had hoped that the grounds would be mostly empty, thinking it would be a nice day to play ‘fetch’ with Bonk (though he still had to throw the red rubber mouse by hand), but that was a serious miscalculation on his part. Hundreds of people were outside, picnicking on the lawns with their visiting loved ones or simply enjoying the fresh air. A group of first-years were trying to get their familiars to go through the obstacle courses to show off for their families. One girl’s cat refused to come down from the top of the climbing wall.

  For a minute Hayden stood in the courtyard like an idiot, looking around at them all, searching for anyone he knew while he tried to think of where to go next.

  He didn’t see Zane or Conner, but Oliver and Lorn Trout were showing off their magical abilities to a woman that he vaguely recognized. It took him a moment to realize that it was their mother, and that he had met her before, during his trial. She was dressed casually right now instead of wearing her golden robes, and looked much less imposing than usual.

  Not keen on being seen by anyone in the Trout family right now, Hayden turned his gaze away and continued looking around, becoming aware of the nearby groups pointing and whispering about him.

  I should start charging money to let people gawk at me; I’d be rich.

  Frowning, he turned to the right and began walking without a clear destination in mind, just to get away from the prying eyes of others. He wasn’t paying attention to where he was going and nearly collided with a stout man with shoulder-length blond hair who looked instantly familiar, though he was sure he’d never met the man before.

>   “Oh, sorry, wasn’t watching where I was—” the man took a more careful look at his features, and all the kindness vanished from his face. “Are you his boy?”

  No need to ask who “he” was. There was only one person that people talked about with that kind of loathing.

  “I’m Hayden Frost,” he admitted, wondering what kind of trouble he was about to get into with someone he had never met before. It didn’t help that the man was built like a blacksmith and could probably crush his skull with one hand.

  The man’s face colored angrily, splotches of red appearing on his cheeks and making him appear feverish.

  “You stay away from my daughter or I’ll hunt you down like a dog in the street,” he snapped unpleasantly, and Hayden took a step backwards, confused and alarmed.

  “I don’t even know who your daughter is,” he insisted, wondering if anyone would come to his aid if this man decided to attack him on the front lawns of Mizzenwald.

  “I don’t know what you meant by picking her for your challenge group, but if you dare give her so much as an unkind look, I’ll—”

  “Dad, stop it!” Tess came hurrying up to them, her face blanched with horror.

  This is Tess’s father? Hayden could suddenly see the resemblance, which explained why her father looked vaguely familiar at first sight.

  “He hasn’t done anything wrong….I told you how he wouldn’t leave me behind during our first challenge,” she pleaded with him, tugging at her father’s sleeve in an effort to pull him away, but for all the good it did she might as well have been trying to pull the castle itself.

  “I know what blood runs in your veins, boy; don’t you ever forget that.” He clenched his fists, looking very close to attacking Hayden.

  “I’m not my father,” Hayden insisted.

  “I see him in your eyes, that same stubbornness and arrogance.” The man spat at the ground near his feet. “If you think I’m going to let my daughter go the same way as her poor mother…like father like son, eh, Frost?”

  Hayden felt sick to his stomach. He had no idea that Tess’s mother had a bad encounter with his father, and wondered if Tess secretly hated him for it and had simply been afraid of telling him all this time.

  “I don’t know anything about that…” Hayden said truthfully, taking another measured step backwards. Bonk shifted slightly on his shoulder, narrowing his eyes at the older man and flattening his ears as though preparing for a fight.

  “Dad, please, can we just go inside?” Tess was begging now, tears running down her cheeks. Other families were watching the display with unpleasant interest, probably eager for fresh gossip to spread about the horrible son of Aleric Frost.

  Fortunately Tess’s tears seemed to draw her father’s attention, or else Bonk had managed to look sufficiently frightening, because he gave Hayden another distrustful glare and then stalked past him with Tess on his heels.

  Hayden wished he’d never thought to come outside, or perhaps that he had never been born at all. If only his mother had lived he would never know who his father was, nor would the rest of the Nine Lands. He would be at home with his friends, in a normal school, training to be a butcher or a carpenter, not knowing anything about Mizzenwald or magic or the sheer number of complete strangers who absolutely hated him.

  Feeling miserable, he continued walking around the eastern side of the castle, thinking only of escape from the watchful eyes of others: others who had families that loved them and came to visit, others who had care-packages sent from home with hand-knitted blankets for their beds and paintings to hang up on the walls…

  He was nearly to Torin’s cabin when he realized where he was walking, and stopped abruptly when he saw the man sitting with Master Asher on the grass out front, watching the latter’s purple dragon and brown hawk fly around overhead. Once again Asher wasn’t wearing his Master’s robes, his normal clothes having the effect of making him look like a student.

  Before Hayden could turn around and walk back the way he came, Torin caught sight of him and hailed him with a wave.

  Of course, it’s family day…they would be spending time together.

  At least the two of them could look at Hayden without getting violently angry or wincing, which was the best he could hope for at a time like this. He approached them slowly, trying to swallow a lump of emotion in his throat at seeing the two of them there, father and son, enjoying the sunny day together.

  I wonder what it would be like if I had a father…a real one. Would we be like this, sitting in the grass, having a heart-to-heart?

  He didn’t even know what boys talked about with their fathers, and likely never would.

  “Hello there, Hayden, what brings you out to see us today?” Torin asked kindly, stretching his legs out in front of him to straighten his knees.

  “I thought to play ‘fetch’ with Bonk for a while…” Hayden began, “but I didn’t expect so many people outside, so I came this way to get away from the crowds.”

  Neither of them asked why he hadn’t been expecting hordes of people on family day, or why no one had come to see him.

  “Well, why don’t you sit down with us for a bit?” Torin patted the ground on his other side. “Let Bonk fly around with Cinder and Horace for a while.”

  Hayden did as he was told and sat down in the damp grass beside Torin, telling Bonk to play with the other familiars. He felt a moment of pressure on his arm as the mottled-brown dragon took flight and soared through the air to catch up with the others.

  “Well, you’ve officially survived your first month at Mizzenwald,” Torin smiled at him. “How do you like it so far?”

  “Pretty well, except for Powders,” Hayden said truthfully.

  “Is this boy of mine teaching you everything he knows about prisms?”

  Asher gave him a mock-grimace. “Good heavens, no, it would take a decade for me to teach him everything I know. I’m extremely intelligent.” He smiled pleasantly, and Torin rolled his eyes.

  “I do enjoy Prisms class,” Hayden added sincerely. “It’s the easiest subject for me to understand, and I like learning about all the different light arrays and configurations.”

  Torin snorted in amusement. “You and Ash are the only people I know who would ever claim that Prisms was your easiest subject.” He gave his son a sideways glance. “I always thought you were full of it until you blew up the dining hall.”

  Hayden’s eyes widened dramatically as he looked at the Prism Master. “You blew up the dining hall?”

  Asher grinned wickedly. “In my fifth year, and not on purpose, though no one seems to believe me when I say that.” He shrugged. “The cooks had served tuna fish sandwiches for four days in a row, and I absolutely hate tuna.” He scowled at the memory. “I told my best friend that if I saw one more tuna sandwich that week I was going to explode, and of course…”

  “You blew up the dining hall over a tuna fish sandwich?” Hayden raised an eyebrow, impressed. He was beginning to understand why Master Asher didn’t scold him for punching Lorn in the face.

  “I didn’t mean to,” he sighed. “I may have accidentally gotten on the bad side of the cooks a few weeks prior and they were deliberately trying to make me unhappy, hence all the tuna. Anyway, I saw that accursed sandwich for the fifth day in a row and something in me just snapped. Next thing I know, most of the walls are gone and everyone was trying to pull themselves out of the rubble.”

  Hayden was willing to bet that that was the last time anyone tried to feed Asher a tuna sandwich.

  “So, how is your day going?” the Prism Master changed the subject, watching Hayden with interest.

  “Um, fine,” he lied.

  Asher didn’t look like he believed that one bit. “Really? I would have thought it was dreadful, given all the extra people here who want to stare at you rudely.”

  Surprised, Hayden gulped and nodded. Asher and Torin both frowned at this confirmation, and the latter suddenly stood up.

  “I’ve just reme
mbered something I need to do inside. You two carry on without me and I’ll be back in a minute.” He turned away and walked into his log cabin, shutting the door securely behind him.

  Hayden was surprised by the abrupt departure and suspected that there was some other motive for it that he didn’t understand, but Asher didn’t look bothered by it, staring out at the empty space in front of him.

  “Family day must be an unpleasant experience for you,” the Prism Master said after a long minute of silence.

  “It’s…not fun,” Hayden admitted, swallowing another lump of emotion.

  “I wish I could tell you it will get better with time, but it likely won’t,” Asher sighed, still not looking at him.

  “It wouldn’t be so bad if people didn’t keep blaming me for things my father did,” Hayden mumbled, bringing his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. “Complete strangers hate me for no reason, and it’s no use telling them that I didn’t do anything wrong because they’re all convinced I’m going to be just like him.”

  Master Asher spared him a brief glance. “Have you encountered any unpleasantness today in that regard?”

  Hayden frowned at the memory.

  “Just before I came here…Tess’s father,” he mumbled into his knees, almost too softly to hear. “He threatened to hunt me down like a dog, saying I can’t have Tess in my challenge group and that I need to stay away from her.”

  Asher frowned.

  “It is disappointing that some people can’t see past their own prejudices, and will take out their anger on a blameless child.” He frowned, moving a hand through his shaggy brown hair. “If it is of any consolation, no one has the power to remove someone from your challenge group except for me and my peers, no matter how much Tess’s father bleats on about it.”