Spark (Legends of the Shifters)

by J. B. North

  I scowled, but followed him. Only when we departed from the dorm did I worry about my appearance. My clothes were wrinkled and my hair was probably a mess. I made an effort to straighten everything, although I don’t know why. Who was I trying to impress? I didn’t really care what the headmaster thought.

  We entered the boys’ dorm, which was directly in front of the girls’. We climbed up the crumbling marble steps and went through the corridor and into the office.

  “That'll be all, Gibble. You can leave now.”

  The old man nodded several times as he backed out of the room, muttering unintelligibly.

  I watched him leave before turning to the headmaster.

  “So what do you want?” I asked.

  “Oh, no, my dear. This is not about want I want. This is mainly about what you want.”

  I narrowed my eyes. That wasn’t what it sounded like.

  He continued. “For instance, you want to graduate as soon as possible. And I can help you accomplish that…after your arm heals, of course.”

  “How?” I interrupted.

  He held up a hand. “Let me finish. I have never done this before, but because you show promise, I’m thinking about sending you on a quest.”

  “A quest? A quest for what?”

  “There is a plant, rumored to exist on the Isle of Ginsey. Its leaves are bright green, its flowers small and golden. But the elixir...the elixir is said to come from the stem, which is dark purple. It is said to heal any wound, and perhaps even grant eternal life.”

  “Ginsey? Isn’t that all the way across—”

  “Yes, it’s about a thousand miles away. But with your flight, I think that you could get there in a matter of weeks, perhaps. Once you have fully recovered.”

  “If I went on this quest for you...would I be able to graduate as soon as I got back?”

  Headmaster Drake waved his hand before answering, “Sure, as long as you are successful.”

  “Then, I’ll go,” I said. It wasn't freedom that he was granting me, but it was very close. I wasn’t about to turn it down.

  He smiled. “Good. When it is time for you to leave, I’ll give you more information on its whereabouts.”

  I nodded and stood up to leave.

  “And also, I want to congratulate you on your performance in the challenge. You did quite well considering the skill level of your two opponents. I’ve decided that because of your accomplishments and good behavior, and the fact that Kurt beat Niko in front of the crowds, I’m going to appoint Kurt as your trainer once again.”

  I clenched my teeth. After what happened in the challenge cage, I wasn't sure who was worse.

  “What? I thought you’d be happy,” the headmaster said, seeing my obvious discomfort.

  I forced a smile. “Oh, of course I am. Just surprised is all.”

  He didn't look convinced, but he said, “Good. You may leave now.”

  As soon as my back was turned, the smile disappeared from my face. I would have to deal with my brother every day now. I wondered if he had already known that I was his sister when he threw me to the ground and broke my arm.

  I went off to my dorm, ready to lie down for another nap, but was intercepted by Kuris. Figures.

  “Hey, where do you think you’re going?” he said, heading straight toward me.

  “To my dorm,” I said.

  “No you’re not. You’re going to follow me.”

  “I'd rather not,” I said, not slowing my pace.

  He grabbed my good arm and dragged me in a different direction. I stumbled over my feet. “Hey! Let me go!”

  He didn’t reply but brought me to a tent that sat among a series of tents behind the boys’ dorms. These were for the male trainers, just like the ones behind our dorm were for the female trainers.

  Inside, it was plain. Just a bed, a desk, a dresser and a wood-stove that had a pipe going out of the roof. Scattered on the desk were a few papers, although I didn’t know what paperwork he needed to be dealing with. He offered me the chair at the desk, and I took it unenthusiastically. He sat down on the bed across from me.

  “I want you to understand something,” Kuris said. “I know you think I’m your brother—”

  “Aren’t you?” I asked.

  “Here, I’m not,” he answered. “You can’t tell anyone. We need to make sure that the headmaster never finds out about this, because he’ll only use it to his advantage.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “There are a lot of things you don’t understand. Just remember not to give the headmaster too much information about yourself. He will definitely use it against you.”

  “I already know that!” I exclaimed, exasperated.

  “Do you? Because you have expressed fully your want to leave the school, and he’s already given you a quest to accomplish. I told you once that my student died, and do you want to know how?”

  “How?” I answered hesitantly.

  “The headmaster sent her on a quest. The same one that he’s sending you on. She never came back.... Anyway, there are tales of natives that live on the island who guard the plant. It will be very hard for you to find it, and dangerous, too.”

  “What should I do?” I asked. “He said that he would graduate me if I went.” He had also said that this was the first time he had ever done something like this, which according to Kurt, was a lie.

  “You have to refuse him. When he brings you back to talk to him, which he will, you need to tell him that you won’t go.”

  I didn’t say anything for a while. Finally, I answered, “I will do as you say…but only if he’ll agree to graduate me a different way.”

  Kuris put his head in his hands and rubbed his eyes wearily. “Fine… Do whatever you want.” With that, he stood, flipped open the tent flap, and angrily walked out.

  I followed. “Did I say something wrong?” I asked.

  “It’s your choice whether to go or stay. I don’t know why I got involved,” he replied. He quickened his pace to signal that he was finished talking with me.

  I stopped walking toward him and scowled before turning around, and resuming my former trek to my room. If what he said was true, the quest would be harder than what the headmaster said...but it was still far superior to staying here at the school.

  To me, it was better to go, even if there was some unknown dangers that have been known to make people disappear.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  A month and a half passed by too slowly. My training was proving to be more difficult than ever. I couldn’t do anything with my useless left arm. Instead, my right arm was getting immensely stronger than the other, making me feel unbalanced. I was also forbidden to change forms, as that would make my splint disappear. I wouldn’t be able to fly anyway, which made survival tests much harder.

  Kuris got mad every time I called him Kuris, so I went back to calling him Kurt. We trained every day like normal, and I learned how to do many things with only one arm. The only things that I found impossible were the bow and arrow and the double-sword. You truly needed two strong, healthy arms for those weapons.

  About once a week, the headmaster took me into his office to explain some things about my upcoming journey, but not once did I tell him that I wouldn’t go, like Kurt had told me to say. I wanted to go. He told me that the island was much like tent number 44, and although I had yet to get that number, he'd described it as a very humid place with lots of fog.

  When the time came to remove my splint, I was overjoyed. I hurried to the infirmary, but had to wait almost thirty minutes until the nurse could see me.

  Once it was off, she washed my arm with soap and a sponge. The sight made me laugh, not only out of relief, but also because my left arm was so pale it was almost blue and comically skinnier than the other.

  The nurse said that the bone had healed up nicely, but that I might still want to take it easy for a while. I nodded, but I wasn’t really listening. As soon as I was done in her tent, I went off to fi
nd Roland.

  He was training with Natalia, and when I walked up, we talked together for a while. I wasn't sure, but it seemed like Natalia was grateful for the break.

  I rolled the sleeve away from my arm to show them, and they both laughed at its pitiful state.

  “It looks like they replaced your left arm with my grandmother Gertrude’s,” Roland said. “You’ll have to build it up before you go on your quest.”

  I had told him about my future endeavor, as well as Liana, Natalia, and Grix. It was surprising how well Grix and I got on, considering how we started.

  I went searching for him then, to show him my healed arm. I found him, but what I saw shocked me. Somehow he had evaded his trainer and was hounding on a new student. I narrowed my eyes and walked toward them disbelievingly.

  The new girl looked at me, her eyes as big as saucers.

  I pushed Grix aside. He stumbled backward, taken by surprise. “Grix, what do you think you’re doing?” I asked in a low and threatening voice.

  He narrowed his eyes. “What I do to every new student. I’m welcoming them in.”

  “By bullying them?” I hissed.

  He was silent. The girl hurried toward the training arena.

  I pursed my lips. Before I walked away, I said, “Just to let you know, I have no respect for bullies.”

  He looked at his feet as I left.

  I wouldn’t be talking to him for a while, but I had hoped that I had had some sort of impact on him. I don’t know what compelled him to victimize people, but it had just caused us to become enemies again.

  Kurt found me near the bow and arrow tent, where I had gone to release the anger that Grix had caused. It proved not to be very successful. “I was wondering where you had gone off to,” he said.

  I didn’t reply, but instead concentrated on my target, and let loose the arrow. It fell just short of the mark, like all the others I’d shot before it.

  You’re going to have to build up your other arm before you try that,” he said.

  I sighed. “I know. That’s what Roland said.”

  An annoyed expression showed on his face. “Are you still training with him?” Kurt interrogated.

  “No. I talk to him sometimes, though. I’m allowed to have friends, right?” I asked.

  He raised an eyebrow. “As long as they’re the right kind.”

  I stopped fiddling with my bow and arrow. “You don’t seriously think that I—”

  “Perhaps not you,” he interrupted. “but Roland might.”

  I shook my head. “That’s ridiculous,” I muttered.

  Kurt shrugged. “Well, anyway, now’s not the time in your life to be thinking about things like that.”

  “I’m not!” I said in fake repulsion. I truly didn’t know how I felt about it.

  He smiled, knowing that he was making me squirm. “Good. Let’s hope it stays that way.”

  I turned away and carried the bow and quiver back to the table. “How do you suggest I build up my left arm?” I asked Kurt, knowing that he was following me.

  “I have a few exercises in mind,” he answered.

  “Like what?” I pressed.

  “You’ll see.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  It turned out that I would be lifting a five pound sack of flour above my head, lowering it to the ground, and then picking it back up. My arm was aching and sore, especially where I had broken it. I hoped that I wasn’t pushing myself too hard.

  At break time, I found myself looking over at Roland, worrying over what Kurt had said.

  He looked at me once and smiled. I smiled back and looked away, hoping that he couldn’t read my mind.

  We trained for four more hours, but this time Kurt replaced the other sack of flour with one twice its size.

  By the time training was over, the muscles in my arm were burning. When I walked out of the arena, the first thing that I saw was Headmaster Drake looking for someone. I knew he had to be looking for me, so I tried to hide in the crowd. It didn’t work. He saw me.

  “Ivy! Come over here!” he shouted across the sea of students.

  I exhaled deeply, but went over to him.

  “I’ve been told that your arm is better. I would like to talk to you in my office.” He pulled me away from the students, past a few boys headed toward the dorms, exhausted from their day. We went past Gibble, who was poring over paperwork. He barely acknowledged us as we passed.

  I sat in the same seat I always did, and the headmaster sat in front of me.

  “I'm going away for a few weeks because of some business that I have to attend to. I thought it would be a good time for you to start your quest.”

  “When are you leaving?” I asked.

  “Tomorrow,” he answered. “Before anyone is up.”

  Fear struck my heart for the first time. I was reminded about what Kurt said. His first apprentice had died on this quest.

  “I won’t go,” I said suddenly.

  “What?” the headmaster said surprised.

  “I said, I won’t go,” I repeated.

  Headmaster Drake narrowed his eyes. “Yes, you will.... If you don’t, I’ll make sure you don’t graduate for another two years.”

  I swallowed hard. Two years was a long time. I had only been here for five months and a half, and it already seemed longer than that.

  I was quiet.

  “And, if you don’t go, I’ll be your trainer for the remainder of your stay. So I don’t recommend getting cold feet.”

  I thought about it for a few minutes. “Fine,” I said. “But I’ll only go if someone else goes with me.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Such as?”

  I thought about it for a while. Who was someone that I knew wouldn’t slow me down, but instead, spur me on? There was Kurt, but I knew that I wouldn't get along with him. I could probably trust him, but just the thought of having him with me rather than someone else made me feel...unsettled.

  Liana was another option, but she was my best friend here. I wasn’t sure I wanted to put her in danger. Natalia seemed a much better choice. She was talented and brave, and I believed she wouldn’t slow me down a bit, despite the fact that she couldn’t fly. She could swim, and we were about to cover a lot of ocean.

  I opened my mouth with the intention to say her name, but instead, I blurted out, “Roland.”

  I surprised myself. He must have been lurking in my subconscious.

  “Roland?” the headmaster asked, clearly taken aback. He hadn't expected it either.

  “I won’t go unless he comes with me,” I confirmed, not wanting to lose the argument.

  The headmaster tapped his fingers on his desk as he thought. His face was screwed into a sour expression.

  Finally, he sighed and sat back in his chair. “I don’t normally have people go on quests together, but if it’s the only way you’ll go, then fine. I’ll tell Roland to be ready in the morning.”

  I'd won. I held back a victorious smile, and nodded sharply.

  “You may go now,” he said.

  I stood up and left, closing the door a little too hard on my way out. Gibble winced and frowned in my direction, the ink splotching onto his paper as he looked up.

  I went past him and continued down the steps, wrapped deep in my thoughts. I was so absorbed that I ran right into Roland before I was even out of the building. Roland! I hadn't even asked him whether or not he wanted to go.

  I looked up at him, stunned for a moment. “What are you doing in here?” I asked. Roland didn’t have a boy apprentice and he didn’t live in these dorms. He lived in the tents like Kurt did. The only reason he could have is a meeting with the headmaster, but he had been headed out of the building.

  Roland glanced around the foyer. “I’m just…looking at my old dorm. Haven’t been in here for a while.”

  His excuse sounded a little off.

  “You don’t sound very sure about that,” I said.

  He looked away.

  I furrowed my
eyebrows. “What are you really doing in here?”

  He sighed and pulled me out the door. I followed, but at a distance. We went to the side of the building, where people rarely went.

  “I’m going to tell the truth, but you can’t be mad at me,” Roland said.

  I waited for him to begin.

  “I was spying on your conversation through a vent in the wall. Gibble allows people to do this if we pay him good money.”

  I was speechless for a few seconds. “Why would you do that?”

  “Well, it’s a good thing I did. If I hadn’t made you say my name—”

  “Wait,” I said, holding my hand up. “You made me say your name? ...Why?”

  He sighed deeply. “Because I knew that I could help you. I’ve gone on plenty of quests before, and I can be more of an asset than any of your other friends could. They haven’t been on any quests, but I have.”

  “And what if I was going to say that I wanted Kurt to come with me?” I asked.

  “The headmaster wouldn’t have let him. He values Kurt more than Niko.”

  I nodded. “I guess. To tell you the truth, I’m not completely angry. It makes sense for you to come with me…But there is one thing that we haven’t considered. What is your second form?”

  He smiled, relieved. “You don’t have to worry about that,” he replied. “I’m one of the fastest creatures out there.”

  I raised an eyebrow.

  “I’m a sea serpent… And although we may have to take an indirect route, it’ll only slow us down by about two days.”

  “Let's hope it's only two days,” I said. I started to back away. “I guess I'll see you early in the morning...”

  He shook his head. “I think it is unwise of the headmaster to send you out so soon after having your cast taken off.”

  “To tell the truth, I'm not very thrilled about it either.”

  “We'll have to be careful for the first few days,” he said.

  “I know.” I glanced around, but it seemed that Roland and I were still undiscovered. “I'd better go,” I said.

  He nodded. “Me too.”

  I gave him a half-smile before we parted ways, me going to the front of the building, and Roland headed around the back. I looked around the side of the building first to make sure that no one was watching, and then continued to the training arena, feeling the need to train some more before leaving in the morning. The new girl that I had seen Grix picking on earlier was still being made to train even though it was free time. I felt sorry for her, remembering how hard it had been for me on my first day.