by Bob Dattolo
I listened intently for anyone approaching as I hit everything I could think of, working myself ragged, and feeling the burn and loving it. I spent a ton of time working out at Reggie’s and hiding it and what I could do, so this almost feels like the norm for me. It’s just that I can work out quicker here since there are weights that I can use.
And hell, I’m way stronger than I even though I was. That’s good, because I have a feeling I’m gonna need it, but it’s…no, you know what? It’s not bad at all. So I have to hide it. That’s not a bad thing. Better to have and not use on purpose than to desperately need and not have it. Lord knows I’ve had too much of that in my life.
Then nothing much happened. I got to practice my magic for a bit in my room when Parece wasn’t there. Got into more arguments with Levi, Wes, and Samantha. Didn’t get to see Angelica, Kynal, Gage, or Kaylee more than a handful of minutes as we sort of passed each other without talking. Then headed for bed to make sure I was rested for my first day of the first full week of the academy.
I hope every week isn’t like what I just went through. Which wasn’t even a week.
Monday dawned just like Friday did, with me sliding out of bed before 5am. Parece is asleep, with most of her body hanging out from under her covers. She went with minimal in terms of PJs last night and has on a sleep shirt and underwear, so I’m seeing most of her. Honestly, she looks comfortable as hell and it almost makes me want to crawl back into bed.
That thought sends a shiver of fear up my spine. I know Reggie’s dead, but his directions still have a hold on me. Damn, that’s messed up.
You know what? I make it out of this travesty of an academy, and I promise myself that I will sleep in late at least once. How’s that for a goal? Probably kinda crappy, yet I still want to do it. It’s a lame bucket list item, but since the top nine of ten rows are stay alive, you have a better idea of where my priorities are right now.
I was in the caf for maybe ten minutes before Angelica arrived. She’s decked out in workout clothes again and looks exhausted. Her hair’s pulled back in a ponytail, rather matching mine. I’m not sure why, but I’m shocked when she sees me and smiles. She joined me without delay once she had some food.
“Good morning.”
“Hey, good morning. You sure you want to sit with me? You guys were kinda scarce after the challenge. I kinda thought you were rethinking the allies thing.”
Her fork slowed as she blinked at me, “Wow. Okay. You just throw it out there, don’t you.”
“Umm, yeah? Should I not? Don’t get me wrong, I understand rethinking it, I just wasn’t sure if you had come to a decision or not. Or, since the guys aren’t here, maybe you did and you’re the one that has to tell me to go piss up a rope?”
Her fork moved back into motion, “No rope pissing is needed. Unless that’s your thing? If so, then have at it. I won’t try to shut down things you enjoy.”
“Having never tried it, I can’t say. I might enjoy it, then again, I’m not sure how I’d ever learn that. I’m pretty sure I can live a long happy life never knowing if that’s something fun to do.”
She laughed first, so I joined her. “Yeah, I can see that. Back to what you said? The guys should be here at some point unless they’re skipping working out this morning. I guess we’ll see. As for allies? No. We did talk about it a bunch.” She sighed, “I just…I don’t get it. You talk so big. I can smell you, and you’re not scared most of the time.” She sniffed again, “I smell it from pretty much everyone here at some point in a day. Usually. Even Levi and Samantha. They’re both powerful as hell, and they’re both afraid maybe…20 percent of the time. Possibly more. It’s worse with other kids.”
That’s what I’ve been picking up too.
“You? Nothing. You mouthed off to her, and I have to give you credit for not just getting under her skin. You got into her head in no time flat. You’re right, it’s like a gift. You weren’t afraid at all. But I also saw you and smelled you with your fight against Colin. You were so afraid. It’s such…I can’t figure you out!”
“Is that needed? I’m an unknown affinity mage or possibly a dragon that’s new to magic and has minimal to almost zero training in it. You heard about me in gym.”
She nodded, “All of that is true. It’s very true. Yet everyone else would be at least upset and scared about being challenged. Even she, with all of her confidence, had a chance of dying. She wouldn’t have believed it, but he could have pulled something out of his ass and won.”
“She woulda worked through that before coming. She’d never want anyone to figure out that she’s not really as confident as she seems.”
Solemn nod and knowing eyes are my reward. “You’re something else. Seriously. You sure you’re not a dragon?”
“I guess it’s possible, although I can’t seem to shift? Not that I’ve really tried a ton on my own.”
“You should try it at some point. If you can, it’s the coolest thing. You picked up on something from her that I think most people have missed. She’s so powerful and, as you said, psychotic, that people overlook a ton from her. She’s not nearly as confident in her strength as she seems.”
“Right. It’s a façade. She’s strong and all of that, but the front that she has out there for people to see? It’s her mask.”
“Exactly! I’m shocked as hell that you got that.”
“I can’t say I did anything all that special but thank you.”
“Back to what I was saying? You talk a great game. A fantastic one. Yet your challenge was fucking pathetic. You won, but damn, what a mess.”
“I still won, though.”
“You did, but it just doesn’t mesh with what’s I’m seeing!” She took a deep breath, “You antagonize like a prize fucking fighter trash talking her enemies. Yet you’ve got nothing on the follow through. Your ability to use your magic is a joke. Your physical strength and coordination is garbage. Yet you’re not afraid! You should be, but you’re not!” She shook her head yet again. I get that a lot from people here. “We talked about you so much the past two days. None of us can figure you out. We’re honestly not sure if allying with you is a good thing or a bad thing or if it’ll even last much longer.”
“Because she’s coming back for me?”
“Because she’s coming back for you. Given what I saw from you and knowing what I know about Mark, I would have put better odds on him winning against her than you. He wasn’t all that strong with magic at all, but at least he could cast spells. He could keep up in the runs and other things. Yet I keep going back to you not being afraid. In the slightest.”
“I’m just taking it one day at a time right now. I guess we’ll see if she really does come after me.”
“Oh, she will. She’s mental with a side of crazy. She’ll be here with fucking bells on.”
“You think if I had bells shipped to her, she’d wear them?”
She gaped at me, “What?”
“If I ordered them? I’m having stuff shipped to her. She’ll be getting something every day this week. Boxes of tissues one day. Popcorn kernels another day. Seasoning stuff for popcorn. A book called Crying alone in the Dark. I also managed to locate her parents and I have them getting a book delivered called Why Don’t You Love Me? I’m hoping they give her a call about it.”
She sputtered enough that I had to wait to see where she was going with it. It turned into a half-aborted laugh that had her putting her fork down, “Please tell me you’re just joking. You’re not doing any of that, are you?”
“Yup. All of it. I have some other ideas I’m checking into, but I may not do those.”
“You seriously…death wish. That should be your nickname.” She hit the table, “You’re not scared at all! She could flip and come over here and just murder you, and you don’t care!”
“I told you. If I’m dead, then I don’t care any longer. I’m not afraid to die. In the slightest. It’s rather liberating. I don’t want to die, but if I do? Meh. I’ve had a
remarkably shitty life for most of a decade, so ending it before I have to deal with the travesty of the trials and friends murdering friends? I consider that a win. That being said? I won’t let her kill me. I’ll fight her with everything I have.”
“But you don’t have anything!”
Neither of us seemed to catch it, but Kynal and Gage arrived at some point, both of them sitting and interrupting us.
“What’s up? We questioning Maddie on why she likes to poke the bears and then douse herself in blood?” Gage popped a forkful of fluffy egg in his mouth.
Angelica rubbed her face, “I was. We are.”
“Good morning, guys.”
“Good morning.”
“Good morning.” Kynal smiled at me. Damn, he’s good looking. “I can’t believe what you did with her. What a mess.”
“I can’t say I set out to do it, that’s for sure. She just rubbed me the wrong way.”
“Like Angelica said? You seem to be rubbed the wrong way by powerful people. If she didn’t put out the ultimatum, I think Samantha or Levi would have tried to challenge you in the next week or two.”
“I wouldn’t have been surprised to have that happen.”
Angelica put her fork down, “And that doesn’t seem to bother you!”
“I know my thinking isn’t normal.” Will she let it go at that? “As for being allies? I’m still game if you guys are. What do we need to do? I’ve never been allies with anyone other than Kaylee, and I still don’t really know what it all means.”
They exchanged looks before Kynal responded, “Let’s meet up after school and do a getting to know you thing. We can try to teach you some magic, that sort of thing.”
“Huh, okay. That sounds good.”
He flared his shirt, “You want to work out with us this morning?”
“Umm, no. I don’t want to hold you guys up. I did work out yesterday morning and I’m sore. I’m hoping I can do better in gym today.”
“You’re gonna need a whole hell of a lot more than one day to start to catch up.” Gage didn’t pull any punches. I can see that, though. Given what they know of me? Yeah, I really, really would.
Mr. Briggs didn’t hit anything all that special in basic magic. He continued to talk about affinities and the percentage breakdown, which is pretty close to even, or so it seems. He wasn’t sure if there’s something driving that or just that the traits are passed down to kids without much of an issue.
The combined general class of English, history, and social studies? I still don’t get that. I took notes, but again, it was nothing all that special.
Practical application with Mr. Bailey started with him clapping as soon as I entered the room. “Welcome back, Miss Stricken. I have to say, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a more pathetic challenge win in my entire life.” Okay, I’m thinking he’s not really a fan? Wes, Shane, Ryan, and Levi laughed like crazy. Parece smiled but didn’t laugh. Paige and Riley did, though.
“I know, right? You should have seen the other guy at the end.”
Levi’s smile ended, “You fucking bitch, you killed Colin!”
I snapped my fingers and pointed at him, “Oooh, that was his name! That’s right. I forgot. What with only being here less than a day when he decided to hit me. Now he’s dead. Shame, that.”
“Miss Stricken, you’re writing checks you can’t hope to cash. How about you sit down and pretend to be a mage, while the rest of us get on with our studies?”
My smile stretched a little wider, “Okay, I can do that while you pretend to be a teacher.”
He stepped away from his desk, “I would watch myself if I were you. You’re in a very dangerous school in a very, very precarious position.”
My smile dipped and I knew the happy glint in my eyes faded, “Are you threatening me, Mr. Bailey?”
“I don’t need to threaten. You’re a student. I’m the teacher. I’ve forgotten more about magic in my long life than you’ve even seen.”
“I wasn’t asking about memory problems; I was asking if you’re threatening me.”
His eyes narrowed, “I’ll ignore your tone, young lady. As it is? Your performance in the challenge was below even my meager expectations for you. Do your best to catch up with the rest of the class. If you fail to? Then I won’t need to bother being your teacher any longer. Someone here will kill you soon enough.”
Levi laughed, “Alison Levy has it out for her. She’s gonna be back here on Friday to challenge her somehow.”
Our teacher started laughing and moved back to his desk, “Wonderful. I’ll make a point to stay after Friday, then. That should be entertaining. A vicious and talented young woman against…you.” He smiled at me.
“It’s nice to see people embracing their inner psycho. You do that. You stay late. I’ll make sure to wave to you.”
“It’s like listening to the blithering of a complete idiot.” He pushed away from his desk again, “No matter, the bell has rung, you’re all on my time.” The rest of the class started paying more attention to him, “We were working on light last week. Some of you had strong results. Some of you had weaker results.” Side eye to me, “One of you had no results. Let’s hit our desks again. For those of you that were successful and passed through all of the variations that we talked about? I want you to try two lights.” Groans from everyone. “I know, I know. Try to do it, though. Who knows, maybe one of you can do it. Stranger things have happened.”
We broke up and headed to the workstations again. Parece kept watching me as I settled myself at the station and began weakly flaring light through my hair. All the while, actually pulling a ton and hiding it. I could actually hide it more, but I wanted to show a tiny bit of improvement from last week.
Parece’s soft, “You’re something else,” didn’t seem to catch anyone’s attention. I didn’t respond as I secretly watched everyone else.
Feeling their power flare, it’s evident to me who is moving a ton of power. Hmm, Levi is moving a giant load, although he’s not getting two lights to form. One will show up, but the second one keeps eluding him.
Angelica, on the other hand? It’s interesting. I can feel her pulling a massive amount of power, but then it drops, and she only creates a single one. Something is up there; I just don’t know what.
Kaylee struggled to get more than a weak light to appear, and even that looked like solid work for her. It pains me to watch her struggle. I wonder if I can teach her some of what I learned? Maybe it’s a focus thing with her? I have to think about that. I doubt she’d listen to advice from me, what with my poor performance and all.
Class ended without me creating a light. I still had a decent workout, though, and had a nice sheen of sweat showing that everyone assumed was me working my ass off to get the most basic spell to trigger.
One day they’ll know. Or I’ll be dead. Again, in which case it won’t really matter at all, will it?
Lunch started with me sitting by myself. Kaylee joined me a few minutes later. She’s still watching everything and everyone like a hawk.
“You okay? You didn’t seem to want to talk much over the weekend.”
She blushed at my question, “I’m sorry. I…you…Alison is gonna come hunting for you.”
“Yeah, I got that.”
“Why would you do that!” She looks so upset and hurt that I just want to hug her and tell her it’ll be all better. Not that I’m going to do that.
Maybe.
“I didn’t really do it on purpose. I just…I can’t seem to let crap like that go, you know?”
“No, I don’t know! I’ve been hiding my ass off since coming here! Living in the cracks! Trying to disappear into the shadows whenever I can so that people don’t just…I don’t know, squash me without even trying! Why would you go out and be like that? I know more magic than you do!”
“You’ve been doing it longer, so probably? Either way, though, it’s done. Alison will show up. If she doesn’t, Levi will go for me. Or Samantha. Or someone el
se in our class that I don’t even really know yet.”
Speak of the devil, Samantha took the next table over and smirked my way. Paige, Riley, and Parece aren’t there yet. “Well, look who the cat dragged in! You sure you’re allowed out from under your rock, stricken?”
“I thought I was, but if you’re here, it seems I’m still under one?”
She scowled, “You just don’t know when to stop, do you?”
“Oh please, you rag on me every time you see me. If you’re talking about when to stop, how about you take some of your own advice?”
“That’s the funny thing, I don’t need to take advice. Certainly not from someone like you.”
The other three put their trays down. Paige looked disgusted as she looked over at us, “Do we have to sit here? The stink of loser upsets my stomach.”
“You could always sit with me if you want to get away from Samantha that badly.”
That got reactions from some other kids that were listening.
Including Levi as he sat in the next table. Wes and Shane sat at the same time. “It’s Monday, Alison comes for you this Friday. You trying to live it up before you die?”
“Aren’t we all, Levi? We’re all just specks of dust floating through the cosmos, waiting for our chance to pass on to become another collection of dust that’ll eventually collapse into a black hole and start the cycle all over again. We’re all just star dust, reimaged as humans for our very, very short lives.”
Shane didn’t seem to know how to react, “What…what the fuck does any of that mean?”
Wes put his drink down, “Seriously, why are you bothering to listen to her? I’ve had more intelligent conversations with NPCs in video games.”
Angelica caught my eye from across the room, and she eyed up the two tables facing me. I wasn’t at all shocked that she took a table pretty much as far away as possible. Gage and Kynal joined her.
