by A. L. Knorr
I got to my feet and moved toward her. “April.”
She turned tear-filled eyes to me and her expression widened with a new level of torment.
“No,” she coughed. “Leave me be.” With a husky sob, she ran from the room.
Kendall muttered, “Unbelievable,” and stalked out leaving the manual on the floor. He turned into the corridor going the opposite way from April.
Heavy silence descended over the lounge. I turned to look at Dar and Tomio. They were like wooden puppets some master had set in poses of shock.
Dar broke the silence with a croak. “What just happened?”
“Exactly what I said would happen,” I replied. “Now do you believe that Ryan baited me? That he’s had it in for April all along?”
The boys shared a look of dismay.
“What did she ever do to him?” Tomio wondered.
I rolled my eyes. “She didn’t do anything to him. It’s been his plan to eliminate her from the top marks competition this whole time, and ultimately to banish her from the academy. Whatever happened while they were practicing, I promise you it was instigated by Ryan so that April would lose control, leaving the way open for him to dump her for Jade. Oh, he could have done it in private, but that wouldn’t have been bad enough. He did it publicly but made sure to send his precious twin out of the room first so Gage wouldn’t witness his cruelty. Can you finally see it? Do you finally get it?”
Dar and Tomio’s expressions shifted into shocked realization as I laid the situation bare. Their confounded horror only made me more upset.
“Honestly, you are all so blind. No one wanted to listen when Ryan attacked me, no one thought I might be telling the truth. Everyone took his side. Everyone loves Ryan. You fell all over him like he’s some celebrity—”
“I didn’t.” Tomio looked hurt. “Don’t lump me in with everyone else.”
“You weren’t as mean as the rest, but you didn’t really take my side,” I replied, anger licking up my insides.
The wrinkle in Tomio’s brow deepened as he considered the truth spelled out explicitly for him to taste. “You are right, Saxony. I am sorry.”
His words snuffed my ire like a birthday candle. I almost cried at the relief that hearing an apology wrought. My mind railed against Ryan’s forethought to lure Gage out of the room. If only he’d been here and seen what happened for himself, maybe he too would be apologizing to me.
Dar still looked as though he’d been struck by lightning. He sank into a chair like a weary old man. “I’m sorry too, Saxony. I never saw that side of Ryan before. That’s the cruelest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“What’s she going to do now?” Tomio shook his head. “She’ll flunk for sure. Kendall might manage the rest of the tasks okay, but if she fails foreign fire, he will too.”
Dar rubbed his temples. “What a mess.”
“What’s a mess?” Gage walked into the lounge, looking around at the empty couches. “Where is everyone?”
“Dude, your brother.” Tomio shook his head.
Gage went still. “What do you mean?”
“What did your dad have to say?” I asked, my voice cool.
“Nothing. It was a misunderstanding.” Gage waved a hand. “Will someone please tell me what happened in here?”
I turned to Tomio and Dar in disgust. “You fill him in. I’ll go look in on April.” I headed for the door and looked Gage full in the face. “I have to make sure she hasn’t slit her wrists.”
Thirty-One
Picking up pieces
As I left I heard Gage say, “What’s she talking about?”
The boys’ voices fell away as I headed for the girl’s corridor. I paused outside of April’s door where the sound of weeping could be heard. Rapping on the wood with a knuckle, I called her name.
“Go away,” came the muffled reply, followed by a fresh wave of sobs.
I closed my eyes and asked for strength as I tested the doorknob. If it didn’t turn I would probably melt it instead. But it did turn, so I pushed my way inside and closed the door behind me.
April was a heap of skinny limbs, her head literally underneath her pillow. Her ribs heaved as she cried.
“I’m not going away,” I said quietly as I approached her bed, then sat beside her.
The only response was a fresh wail from under the pillow.
“Have a good cry, and when you’re done, we’ll get to work.”
She gave a sniff and a hiccup and, several seconds later, partly moved the pillow from off her head. A red eye peered out at me. “What?”
“You heard me.” I plucked a tissue from the box beside her bed and handed it to her.
She took the tissue and pushed herself up to sitting. Blowing her nose, she mopped her face and squinted at me through puffy eyes.
“You tried to warn me.” She put her face in her hands and gave a fresh sob. “I was so stupid. You were right all along. Will you ever forgive me?”
Her earnest words melted any remaining self-righteousness away. “Of course I do. And you know what they say makes the best revenge?”
She took her hands away from her face and shook her head.
“Success.”
April honked into another tissue, letting the word sink in. “I don’t see how I can be successful now. Even if you become my partner.”
“I can’t be your partner, April. I’m not registered to take your exam, plus it would leave Kendall without anybody. Poor guy got shafted as much as you did. But let’s see if he’s willing to give it a go with you. He wants to pass, too.”
But April was shaking her head. “You don’t understand. Ryan wasn’t just an exam partner who abandoned me. He was a boyfriend who dumped me.” She hiccupped and stifled a sob. “He’s broken my heart into little, tiny pieces. How can I care about the exam when I don’t have him?”
My heart sank. “You can’t just give up, April. Don’t give Ryan that kind of power over your future.”
She grew still and closed her eyes, her wet eyelashes laying against her cheeks. Her lips wobbled. “He’s the one, though. He can’t have meant it. We are going away for a romantic night, just the two of us, to celebrate the end of exams. I have it all arranged.”
I suppressed a shudder. I had no doubt about what April had been hoping would happen on this supposed romantic evening away, and I had no doubt who had paid for the whole thing.
“Love would not do what he did to you, April. He doesn’t deserve you, and he doesn’t deserve to get away with what he’s done.”
“You say that like I have some power over the situation.”
“You do.”
She shook her head. “I don’t! My fire is weak, I’m weak. I won’t be able to do it. I already know it. I can’t even feel my fire right now, as we speak. It’s hiding under a bed somewhere, shaking with fright.”
“I know your heart is broken, but you only have to keep yourself together for another day. Don’t give Ryan the satisfaction of knowing how much he’s hurt you. Your passing the exam will be the greatest revenge you could ever ask for. Don’t you see? After that, you can fall apart in the privacy of your own home, with your family around you.”
April wrapped her arms around her shins. Resting her chin on her knees, she focused far away as tears dripped down her cheeks. Finally, she nodded. It was slight but it was there.
Relief flooded my limbs. “I’ll help you. It’s after lights out and I need a good night’s sleep because I have my practical first thing in the morning while you’re doing your written exam. I’ll meet you at the fire-gym for your practical. I’ll be there the whole time, cheering you on. Okay?”
She didn’t look up, but nodded and gave a pitiful sniff.
“Afterwards, I can fall apart,” she echoed, lying down on her side and facing the wall.
I stalked into the fire-gym at nine o’clock the next morning wearing a fireproof jumpsuit and sneakers. My hair was up and back in the tightest bun I could wrangle my curls int
o. Flames jumped and crackled like an excited police dog at the insides of my ribcage. I had needed a good sleep; and I’d had that up until four, when I was awoken by a bad dream.
I’d been chasing the intruder through the corridors of the academy. All the windows were locked down with metal shutters. Every time I got close to the thief, I would hit a thick wall of air that slowed me down. It was like trying to run through gelatin. He’d get further and further away from me as I struggled to get through the goo. Then I’d explode out the other side and catch up. The hall we ran down was never-ending, a limitless parade of closed doors. When I finally caught up and reached out to grab the intruder by the shoulder, he made a great leap forward and twisted backward to face me. Hands came up blazing, ready to shoot caustic flames, his eyes glowing with red light. As his mouth opened in a feral snarl I saw that he was Ryan, not the intruder. But as poisonous fire shot from his fingers, his face softened and changed from vengeful and angry to fearful, even terrified. Ryan became Gage, who looked down at his hands as they exploded with fire as though he wanted to stop what he was doing but couldn’t.
I’d bolted awake and upright, the hair at my brow damp with sweat. My hands were glowing and my eyes cast two beams of light across my room as I looked around, disoriented and anxious. I lifted my hands off the coverlet as the smell of smoke curled into my nostrils. Sending a mental command at the sheets to snuff any danger of them catching fire, I gulped in air.
When my breathing was back to normal, I guzzled an entire liter of water and lay back down, feeling feverish. But sleep had eluded me.
I got stuck in a cycle replaying Ryan’s performance in the lounge the night before. How Jade had coolly played her part, throwing Kendall under the bus. How April had crumpled to bits before everyone in the room. How Ryan had had the foresight to trick Gage into leaving the room so his good-hearted twin wouldn’t witness his shameful behavior.
Anger gathered like thunderclouds as they rolled across a prairie with nothing to temper it. By the time I went down for breakfast, my hands were shaking with the effort it was taking not to break down Ryan’s door and squeeze his throat until his eyes popped out.
Without a word or a look to anyone in the cafeteria, I swallowed a smoothie that I couldn’t taste and did a shot of espresso, half wondering if a shot of whiskey or vodka would have helped or hindered. Magi didn’t drink alcohol unless they felt like risking spontaneous combustion. I’d read that some Burned magi could drink without enraging their fire, but even if they could, they’d have a three day hangover. I was so upset by what Ryan had done that I might have tried it and be damned the consequences.
Ignoring everyone I passed and keeping my gaze on the floor because my eyes were lit up with wrath, I made my way to the gym for my practical. I had no anxiety whatsoever about my exam, all I wanted to do was to get it over with so I could focus on helping April get through hers.
“Lock the door behind you please, Saxony,” Alfred called from across the gym.
Without looking up, I turned to the security panel and switched on the auto-lock. As the bolts slid home, I crossed to where Basil and Alfred waited inside the circuit that had been erected for my tests.
“I hope you had a good sleep.” Basil rubbed his hands together. “Alfred and I are—”
We made eye contact and he immediately stopped talking.
He took off his glasses. “What’s wrong?”
Alfred, who’d been fiddling with the dashboard of the climbing wall looked up at the sound of Basil’s voice, brow creasing.
“Bad dreams.” I stripped off my Arcturus zip-up and carried it over to the hooks where their jackets hung.
I didn’t miss the look they exchanged.
“Must have been one hell of a dream,” Alfred murmured.
“Do you need a minute?” Basil looked at his wristwatch. “We have time.”
I shook my head, the stems of my eyes stiff with heat. The tips of my fingers were pink with fire and light poured out of my mouth as I spoke. “Let’s do this.”
Walking to the space in the center of my testing circuit, I rolled my head to loosen the stiffness in my neck. My fire had grown to a tumbling, roiling mass, licking through my limbs. I faced the professors.
Alfred stood behind the dashboard, hands poised like a DJ. Basil stood to the right of him with a handheld remote. Their expressions neutral, back to business.
“Conceal your fire please, Ms. Cagney,” Headmaster Chaplin commanded.
I snuffed the light from my eyes and hands, dropping a veil between my fire and the outside world. It obeyed like a well-trained pet. It crouched, tense, waiting for the leash to be unsnapped.
“I’ll begin recording on your nod.” Alfred’s hands hovered over the control board. “Basil will give a brief statement for the record, then we’ll begin. Understand?”
“Yes.” I took a deep breath and let it out, then gave him the go ahead.
Alfred flicked a switch on the dashboard. There was no visible result, but I knew multiple cameras were now recording my every move from several vantage points.
“Saxony Cagney,” Basil announced. “Canadian citizen. Born 20 September, 2000. Received the fire by plenary endowment from Isaia Baseggio in Venice, Italy on 16 July, 2017 at the age of sixteen. Survived Burning on 9 August, 2017. This is Ms. Cagney’s inaugural skills challenge. Commencing,” he lifted his wrist to check his watch, “at 9:06 on the morning of Tuesday, 19 December, 2017.”
He cleared his throat and addressed me directly. “Proceed when ready in the order of your choice. Be sure to call the skill before you execute it to give Alfred a chance to set things up, to establish your full command over the terminology, and to demonstrate your level of mastery over the fire. Understand?”
“I understand.”
“You may begin.” Basil gave a nod.
“Ignition,” I said, and unsnapped the leash.
Thirty-Two
Unsnapping the leash
With a sound like hundreds of blow-torches going off at once, my entire body burst into flame.
Alfred and Basil’s faces made identical expressions of surprise and Basil even took a step backward. Their eyes reflected the fire-light of my body as my form was consumed by twisting, writhing flames. I could see each man’s skull, the dark shadows beneath their orbital bones, the fine lines between their teeth through the flesh of their lips, and the crescent-moon shadows beneath their cheekbones. I could make out the vertebral bones in their necks and their jawbones as they dropped open with surprise. Two small spots of solid white, much brighter than bone, gleamed from Alfred’s upper palate.
“X-ray vision,” I announced and pointed at Alfred’s mouth. “Right side, a bridge links the first bicuspid, second bicuspid and first molar.”
I thought I heard Basil curse under his breath but the fire in my ears drowned out the clarity. I was making a best guess at where exactly Alfred’s bridge had been installed, but I had to be at worst only one tooth away.
The unwelcome memory of the look on Jade’s face as Ryan announced he was dropping April bloomed in my mind. I’d never perform at my best if last night’s events interrupted my thoughts. I pulled myself back to the present with effort.
“Throwing.” I doused the majority of my external fire, bringing it all to concentrate in my hands. The fire within coiled like a powerful spring as I lifted my hands. My x-ray vision faded as I transitioned.
Alfred, looking flustered, scanned the dashboard and input a command. The faint sound of suction began, like a large fan whirring beneath the floor.
To my left appeared the hologram of a ring. Cocking back an arm, I fired a ball of flame. As it passed through the middle of the ring, a second one appeared, much higher than the first. As a vacuum in the floor swallowed up my first projectile, I fired another. It sailed through the second ring as a third ring appeared, low and to the left. And so the exercise continued until I’d thrown two-dozen fireballs, going wide with only two. When no new ri
ng appeared, I knew the exercise had been completed.
I faced Professor Knight. “Pitch.”
Alfred nodded and gave the dashboard a command. The sound of the vacuum that had been dousing my fireballs turned off and a new whirring sound drew my focus to the right, where a metallic node slid from a panel of lockers. It was already aglow with heat. I strode over and grasped it with my right hand.
“2013 degrees Fahrenheit.” The moment I’d finished speaking, the node changed temperature. When it stopped fluctuating, I called it: “600 Fahrenheit.”
The heat fluctuated twelve more times and whenever it stopped, I called the pitch and waited while it changed again. When it cooled down to ninety-eight—body temperature—I knew the test was complete.
Facing the professors, I called the next skill. “Slow-burn and concealed detonation.”
Approaching the climbing wall, I toed off my sneakers as a pulley lowered the harness above the brick façade to eye level. Ignoring the harness, I sprang for the wall, firing in all of my joints and along every muscle fiber. Latching on halfway up, I hooked iron-like fingers and toes in the narrow crevices between the bricks. Heat and power stretched and oozed in my joints like hot taffy, hardening my grip as I ascended the face of the wall like a spider. I focused on keeping my movements as efficient and smooth as I could. I didn’t even have to think about concealing the glow, that was now second nature.
When I reached the top, I climbed up and over, coming to stand on the thin ledge for a moment, then I jumped. My stomach lurched as I dropped four stories to the mats. Fire loosed power in my joints to cushion me as I landed in a crouch on the floor. Straightening, I found Alfred and Basil’s faces.
“Should I go again, or is once enough?”
Basil cleared his throat. “That’s quite alright, Ms. Cagney. What we have will be sufficient. You may demonstrate explosive detonation now, if you wish.”
