by Jillian Neal
Adeline nodded with a hushed, “Yes, sir,” before she turned her pleading gaze on Logan. She wanted him to get her out of the conversation. As Governor Haydenshire was one of the Realm Governors who worked closely with the Crown Governor, he certainly wasn’t accustomed to being told ’no’, and his irritation was evident.
“Dad,” Logan started as his father drew a deep breath. The Governor shook his head as he moved from the table, kissed his wife, and waved to everyone before leaving for work.
Rainer held Emily’s hand as they followed Logan and Adeline into the Summation stadium, in the back west corner of The Academy grounds. The Order’s flags were being unfurled around the stands as the seniors assembled in the middle of the field. They were lining up with each of their Orders to receive the appropriately- colored cap and gown. Rainer walked Emily to her friends in Auxiliary Order. He waited as Logan escorted Adeline to Valetudo, and they proceeded on to Ioses.
Isaiah Donaldson and Aaron Fitzpatrick offered Logan and Rainer high fives as they entered the line. Everyone tittered excitedly; they were thrilled to be where they were.
Sawyer Morris rumbled out the first notes of the Ioses’ song, and was joined quickly by the other members of Ioses Order. They chanted their song to all of the other Orders. Rainer saw Emily laugh as he winked at her while he drawled, “We’ll be your safe harbor, to fight the battle ever won, ever protect, ever respect, Ioses won’t be outdone.”
Logan and Rainer had been thrilled when their Predilects had been read at sub-freshman orientation. Though they’d always known that they were Ioses Predilects, they were excited to begin their Gifted training. Rainer’s father had also been head of Ioses when he’d been in school. His mother and Mrs. Haydenshire were both in Occamy Order and Governor Haydenshire was in Adminis. Mrs. Haydenshire was actually a double Predilect; it was a pretty rare gift. She was not only an Occamist, but she also summoned for Auxiliary, which made her a Receiver, just like Emily.
Rainer watched as Emily glowed when Mentor Sweden handed her the gold collar to add to her gown, for being named head of Auxiliary Order. She was beautiful, and she was his. Rainer’s breath caught. He was unable to believe his luck.
“Mr. Lawson,” he heard from someone in front of him. He snapped his attention back to what he was supposed to be doing.
“Oh, uh, thanks,” Rainer stammered as Mentor Sullivan handed him the hunter-green cap and gown and his own gold collar for being head of Ioses.
They spent the next several hours practicing marching, standing, and then stating, “To protect,” after Chancellor Wilshire called out Ioses. Logan and Rainer rolled their eyes repeatedly and made fairly off-color jokes about the Mentors while they were shouting instructions at them.
Mitchell O’Ryan glared as Logan and Rainer made their way past him.
“So, Lawson,” Mitchell huffed, “is Miss Haydenshire gonna finally make you a man after you graduate? Let me know if you need any help.”
Rainer’s jaw clenched. He knew that Mitchell had no idea that any of what he’d said was even remotely true, in the crudest sense of course, but just hearing his voice made Rainer’s skin crawl.
Logan scowled as he huffed.
“Yeah, Mitch, unfortunately for you, my sister’s only into guys with something in their sac,” he sneered as he glared at O’Ryan.
Mitchell laughed derisively, “And how would you know, Haydenshire? You hitting that on the side? Guess that’s better than the gutter trash you’re hooking. At least she has a last name.”
Logan drew back his fist, but Rainer caught him quickly. Rainer flipped Mitchell off as he shoved Logan back to the Ioses’ seats.
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t see that,” Mentor Sullivan chuckled.
“Sorry, sir,” Rainer offered with a grimace. Logan was still scowling in Mitchell’s direction. Mentor Sullivan slapped Rainer on the shoulder, and gave him a grin. The smile suddenly made his wise, aged face look several years younger.
“Don’t let him get to you, Rainer. He comes from a long line of extremely useless individuals.” Rainer and Logan laughed as Mentor Sullivan, Rainer’s favorite Mentor and the head of Ioses order, made his way past them.
Tangled Coulomb’s Web
At one o’clock, the seniors were released and Emily made her way to Rainer.
“Let’s go eat. I’m starved,” she urged. Rainer grinned and took her hand.
“And what would the lady like to eat?” He reveled in her smile. Logan and Adeline meandered their way. Since they’d all ridden together, they began discussing where to get lunch.
“I don’t have any money,” Adeline hushed.
“Baby, I think I can take you out to lunch. You’re my girlfriend,” Logan soothed.
“I know, but you always pay...”
“And I always will.”
Emily gave Adeline a forced smile. “You know those Ioses boys...always so protective.” She shot Logan a glare as she clenched her jaw and uttered, “Sometimes overly so.” Logan rolled his eyes, took Adeline’s hand, and pulled her towards Rainer’s car.
Garrett and Levi came by for some of Mrs. Haydenshire’s lasagna before Emily’s final challenge of her Academy career. Emily was the Lead Receiver for the Venton Vixens. They’d had a shaky season, and this was their final challenge. Mrs. Haydenshire wished Emily luck, as she kissed everyone who was headed back to Venton for the challenge, good-bye. The Governor was attending, but she was staying home with the twins. Garrett and Levi were coming along with Rainer, Logan, and Adeline. They piled into their cars and headed back to the Academy.
“We haven’t practiced all week, because of exams,” Emily fussed as Rainer moved on to the interstate.
“You’ll be great, baby. You always are,” Rainer soothed.
Emily sighed as she leaned her head back against the leather seats of the Mustang.
“I feel like I should be sad that this is my last challenge for Venton, but I want to graduate and play for the Angels so bad. I’m kind of glad this is my last challenge,” she admitted as she bit her lip.
“Yeah, I know. I’m ready to really start life, too,” Rainer assured her.
They returned to the stadium that evening to find it vastly different than it had looked that morning. The scoreboards were lit with “Venton Vixens v. Venton Waves.” The large metal energy shields were raised from the field, that blocked the course from prying eyes or energy. Student-made banners were hung from the concrete walls around the stands. “Ioses for Vixens” was scrawled across a large white sheet that hung near the locker room entrance. “Rainer and Emily forever!” was on another, made by Auxiliary Order. Rainer chuckled as he kissed Emily’s cheek.
Mentors walked the track around the field to make certain that no one brought libations to the Academy stadium. Emily smiled at Mentor Bryant as she scooted by them and wished Emily good luck.
“Thanks!” Emily called. Her brow furrowed as Mentor Bryant passed.
“What?” Rainer quizzed. Emily shrugged as she studied their Creative Writing Mentor.
“Her energy is kind of weird, I guess.”
Rainer knew there was more. Emily was an exceptionally Gifted Receiver. She could pick up on emotional energy of all kinds from Gifted people around her. So, this certainly wasn’t the first conversation they’d had about what other people were feeling.
“Weird, how?” Rainer quizzed.
“Sort of happy, and deceptive and, well, uh, kind of passionate, I guess,” Emily confessed as her cheeks colored rapidly. Rainer glanced back around the stadium again.
“Well, there’s her husband and their kids. Maybe they made use of her office while her kids got popcorn or something?” Emily giggled.
Rachel Carson, the Vixens Junior Receiver, rushed towards Rainer and Emily.
“I’m going to cry when this is over. You’re leaving me.” Emily embraced Rachel sweetly.
“Don’t cry. After tomorrow, you’re the Vixens lead.” Rachel was a sophomore and had be
en lamenting Emily’s graduation for well over a week now.
“All right, let’s go get ready,” Emily urged.
Rainer offered her another good-luck kiss, and then he moved to the stands to take the seat Logan had saved for him.
Connor scooted in just before the teams were called onto the field.
“Hey, man,” he greeted a friend of his from Visium Order who had graduated with him the year before.
“So, has Em been crying all day about this?” he quizzed Rainer with a slight smirk. Emily’s brothers weren’t often sympathetic to her occasionally emotional reactions to situations.
“Nah,” Rainer offered wryly as Connor’s brow furrowed. “She’s pretty jazzed about trying out for the Angels.”
“You think she’ll make it?” Connor quizzed.
“Yeah, definitely; I mean, she’s amazing.”
Connor rolled his eyes and turned his attention to the field. Rainer studied the field as well. He wondered what the course for today’s challenge might be.
Summation had been played by Gifted people for generations. The first professional teams were begun in the late 1800s. Women weren’t allowed to challenge, until the Arlington Angels inception in the 1930s.
The Angels had changed the face and fabric of Gifted Summation. They had led the charge in Summation teams doing service projects all over the world, in every available capacity.
Emily was overjoyed to have been asked to try out, and Rainer was certain that, with her exceptional skill, she would see her dreams come true.
Rainer gave a loud wolf-whistle as the Vixens raced onto the field first. The Waves entered to polite applause from the crowds.
The energy field aegis was projected from the poles that had been raised out of the field. The aegis prevented energy from outside of the field, or arena, to enter the challenge. The Vixens joule meter armbands were filled until they all glowed green and read full. The meters would monitor the players’ energy levels. Once it reached zero, the player was out and had to move off of the playing field.
After taking their places on the left side of the field, the Vixens waved to their fans.
“Come on, Em, let’s do this!” Garrett chanted as Emily waved to Rainer and her brothers. After the Waves’ joule meters were full, they raced to the right side of the field to cheers and applause from their fans.
Chancellor Wilshire moved to the center of the field. He summoned a purple orb of sound energy to project his voice.
“Welcome, students and faculty, to our last Summation Challenge at Venton this year. We wish all of our players the best of luck, and may the best team win.”
As he moved off of the field, he summoned again. Rainer watched as four additional metallic poles rose from the ground on each side of the field.
“Oh, no,” Rainer sighed.
Logan’s face fell rapidly.
“Ah geez! Again?”
It was a Coulomb’s web challenge course. They were fairly popular, especially in Academy Challenges. Professional challenges were much more complicated, with vastly more energy changes required from each professional team. Coulomb’s webs were cheap to construct, difficult to execute, and Emily despised them.
Summation challenges could come in any shape or form. They generally required that energy be transformed or manipulated in a series of steps necessary to release an iode, a large glass tube containing potential energy.
Once it was released, the energy would shift and produce a reaction such as confetti spraying forth, a loud trumpeting noise, or a fireworks display, which announced the winner. As soon as one team’s iode was released, the challenge was over, and the aegis would release from the field.
Emily looked morose. The Coulomb’s web challenge was introduced into Summation decades ago. This particular challenge made use of the team as a whole, with every player on the field at once. The Captain, always an Adminis Predilect, would arrange the players around the four magnetized energy poles. The players would harness the magnetic energy, and then pass it to their closest teammate. Emily and Rachel would be strategically placed where they could not only receive the magnetic energy, but convert it to electricity as well. They would use the electricity to light the lantern that held the iode. Once the lantern contained enough electricity to light, the iode would be released.
Coulomb’s law dealt with the energy levels contained between two sources and the rate of drop off that occurred when the sources were further from one another. The challengers would need to be placed very strategically in a web-shaped pattern in order to pass all of the magnetic energy to one another without much drop off. This way the last player, typically one of the team Receivers, could transform it into electricity and light the lantern.
An Ioses Predilect, a shield, was typically stationed directly beside the last Receiver. They would be able to surround the energy stream with their shield cast, to make certain that as much energy as the Receiver could pass got to the lantern without a great deal of waste.
Two additional poles moved up from the field. They were energy drains. If a player or their cast got too close, the drain would syphon their energy and cause the joule meter to dip too quickly. In professional summation challenges, there were typically four drains to accompany the four magnets.
“Come on, Em, you can do this!” Rainer called loudly as he watched a grin form on Emily’s sweet face. Governor Haydenshire chuckled and shook his head.
“Teams to your therms!” Chancellor Wilshire called. The Vixens and the Waves moved to their lines on the field.
“Summon!” Wilshire cried.
Amanda Cenders, the Vixens captain, moved onto the field with Ina Judson, their Duco Predilect. They quickly studied the field and came up with how they wanted to position the players. With a nod, they began arranging the Vixens.
Amanda seemed to decide to position Rachel in the center of the web to begin the conversion to electricity. Emily was placed nearest the iode beside Laura Gibson, who would serve to shield the energy she was provided until Emily released the iode. The other eight players were positioned around the magnetic poles.
Alicia Phelps moved up and down the sidelines. She was the Vixens Valeduto Predilect, their Medio, or healer as it were.
Valeduto Predilects, like Adeline, were Gifted with copious amounts of extra energy. They were remarkably calm individuals. The extra energy was made to be given to others for the purposes of healing. Alicia could refill two of the Vixens joule meters during the challenge.
If, however, the Vixens chose to have a player refilled, then a minute would be added to their time. There was a great deal of strategy involved.
Amanda nodded to Sophia Hebert, the Vixens enforcer. She pulled a massive amount of magnetic energy from the first pole and then turned and sent it in a solid stream to Evelyn, who turned and moved it to the next Vixen. Unfortunately, Amanda had miscalculated, and Evelyn wasn’t able to keep the stream steady because of the rate of drop off between her and Hannah Decker.
Rainer’s head shot to the right to watch the Waves. Andrew Westerfield, their captain, had positioned everyone an equal distance apart. He wagered that all of his players were of equal ability and would be able to pass the stream. Rainer doubted that the Waves would be able to accomplish the web under that premise. He moved his intent gaze back to the Vixens.
Rachel had the stream, and closed her eyes in deep concentration as she made the first conversions to electricity.
The electricity was much easier to pass, but the loss of energy when passing electricity was greater.
Sophia’s joule meter began to flash red, and Amanda ordered her meter filled. An additional minute was added to the Vixens’ time. Rainer grimaced and clenched his teeth. Laura shot her shield over the electricity, and then Leah Morgan pushed the electricity to Emily.
“Come on, Em,” Rainer joined in with Logan and Connor as they cheered their little sister on.
“Come on, baby girl! You got this!” Governor Haydenshire cried.
The stream was too weak. The loss between Evelyn and Hannah had been too significant.
“Come on, Emily. Rainer will fill your tank when you get home!” encouraged some rather crude Ioses juniors seated a few rows ahead of Rainer and Emily’s family. The Governor scowled, and Rainer pretended not to notice. Logan leaned forward and popped Ethan Hannigan on the back of the head. He turned to Logan, glared, and rubbed his head.
“That’s my little sister, you creep.” As Logan also held office in Ioses order, Ethan’s reply was no more than an eye-roll. Most of the school knew that Rainer and Emily were an item, and lived together on Haydenshire farm. Rainer doubted that the quip about the energy exchange that happened when Gifted people had sex, was meant to be derisive. Ethan probably assumed that Rainer would, in fact, restore Emily’s waning energies with his own after the challenge.
Rainer didn’t want to give that too much thought, as he was currently seated near Governor Haydenshire, so he concentrated on Emily.
The Vixens’ fans were going wild. As Emily gave everything she had, she leaned towards the iode and closed her eyes as she forced all of the remaining magnetic energy from the stream and converted it all to electricity. Her meter flashed red and showed only one bar.
Ben Cobson, the junior shield for the Waves, was casting the electricity, but their Receiver was struggling. All of the Haydenshires, Rainer, and most of Auxiliary Order were on their feet, screaming. Emily gave one final push with both of her hands joined. The waves of electricity lit the iode and it shattered.
Confetti showered over the Vixens as they all came together, screaming and jumping up and down on the field. The Waves had refilled two of their players’ Joule meters and were already a full minute behind.
It was the first time the Vixens had won a Coulomb’s Web Challenge since the season started. Emily was overjoyed. Rainer grinned broadly as he raced to meet her at the gates to the field. She flew into his arms, and he lifted her up in the exuberance of his embrace.
