by Bob Dattolo
“And?”
“And? And what the fuck are you?” Samantha began pacing. “What affinity are you?”
“I have no idea. I’ve said it before. I have no idea. I don’t know for sure why I didn’t die from the fire.” I showed them the blisters across my arms. “I’m burned, just not too badly. No idea what’s up with the ice.”
Parece interrupted, “Just heal, already.” She didn’t smile at my look, although it’s clear she wanted to. “This isn’t a stupid group. Some know for sure. Paige, Riley, and Samantha have talked about it. A lot of the school has talked about it. You heal like a beast. So stop holding off. You have cuts all up your front. Heal them, even if only enough so that you don’t have to keep pretending like they hurt all that much.”
Samantha nodded at my look, “We’re not idiots.”
“Fine.” Magic pulsed, this time I let my hair light up more than normal, and I hissed as it kicked in and everything started healing. Over the next minute, that left me with a massive swath of dried blood across most of my body and no evidence of what did it.
“That’s so fucked up.” Riley doesn’t seem to know where to look, “I’ve never even heard of anyone that can heal like that.”
“Now you have. What does that gain me? Three of you poking and prodding and aiming for a challenge fight.”
Samantha kicked her feet forward, “Honestly? I don’t know that they’ll try to challenge you. Not any time soon.”
“Why? Because of the 30-day thing?”
“Nope. Because they’ll want to really understand just what the fuck they’re seeing.”
Parece took over, “That’s not wrong. Look at it from our side. From any of our sides. You’re a known unknown. A stricken with magic. You’re someone we’ve been taught to fear and hate, yet you’re here. Not only that, but you just survived two challenges. You just healed something none of us could heal that quickly. Like it was nothing. Yet you don’t show any magic in classes? That means you’re doing it on purpose.”
“Which means what the fuck else are you hiding?” Samantha again. “You called me out and offered me a free challenge. Right up until that point, I was 99 percent certain I could kill you without really trying. The one percent would have been due to dumb luck, basically. Yet you left me a wide fucking open door to challenge you. In my world? In our world?” She waved to the others, “No one does that unless they’re sure they can win. Or they’re insane. I can see Alison doing that. You? You don’t come across as insane. Then the rest of it. You were in a ball of fire for so fucking long. Your clothes were burned away. Not even remnants remaining. Only a fire mage or dragon could have survived in there for that long. Your hair should have been burned off. You should have died from having your lungs boiled. You should have been blind. Yet you grabbed a dragon’s neck in the middle of that hell on earth and held on through her ramming her head into the ground so hard it broke her own neck and killed her? That’s either levels of luck that I can’t understand? Or it’s someone hiding so fucking much that I can’t even start to understand. I don’t know which it is, but self-preservation tells me to step the fuck back, because if you’re hiding that much?”
Riley pointed at me, “Not to quibble here, but you’re hiding a fucking ton. Do you know how hard it is to break a spell like you did?”
“I can honestly say that I don’t have a clue.”
“Hard. Very hard. You didn’t even seem to pull magic to do it. I have no idea how you’d do that.”
Nothing to respond to on that.
“Sooo, yeah, that means you guys follow me back here?”
Samantha’s pacing stopped, “I’m not going to challenge you.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“I’m not going to challenge you. I don’t understand what I’m seeing, and that makes me afraid. A scared dragon wants to attack. I won’t stop the comments and things, too many people expect it. If they don’t see it, then they’ll think something’s up.”
“Like you’ve gone to the dark side?”
“Pretty much exactly.”
“What if I make cookies?”
Her look stopped my smile, “Maddie? I don’t get what you have hidden. I just don’t. Everything in me tells me that you’re easy prey to take apart and drain dry. I was raised to do just that. Most of us here were, even those that aren’t dragons. Except you keep doing shit that…doesn’t make sense. So until I have a better idea what the fuck is happening, I’m done.
Parece heard me masturbating again that night and laughed when I was done, saying softly, “You’re too much.” Maybe I am. I just don’t know how to be less.
Chapter 26
School moved into a bizarre sort of fast forward that I’ve never experienced before. I got to spend more and more time with my allies, although always apart. Kaylee wouldn’t meet with them, and the same from their side. In their cases, a friend of a friend is definitely not a friend.
I really like them all, and I wish there weren’t this weird feeling of impending tragedy hovering over everything.
The comments from others took on a strange feeling as well. I’ve overheard I don’t even know how many discussions talking about me and what they’ve seen. People have started putting things together, but no one seems to have all of the pieces or any corroborating facts.
My allies have been hit time and time again for information, but they’ve sworn that they haven’t told anyone.
Levi and his little crew of douches continue to harangue me. Calling me names. Trying to spread crap everywhere I go. The only time I’m remotely safe from them annoying me is early in the morning before they’re up. Otherwise, if I’m awake and out of my room, then odds are at least one of them is there.
Samantha and her crew have continued the comments, just like she said. They’re not anywhere near as aggressive as they had been. They’re not anywhere near as pointed. Honestly, it’s like they’re going through the motions.
I’m okay with that. So far.
Kaylee has gotten so much better with her magic work than she had been. She’s stronger. More confident. Not nearly as scared. If I can judge it, which I’m not sure that I can, she’s at least above halfway when it comes to power. She has more control than most that I’ve seen in magics class. Not that she’s showed her improved skills to anyone so far. She’s quicker to cast spells in class but doesn’t try to overdo it. Outside of class? She’s much, much faster than before. Her output level is through the roof.
Classes have continued, as you’d think for a school.
We’ve moved on in basic magic and have been talking about ways that you can adjust the limitation on spells. That’s an interesting topic I haven’t really been a part of before.
English, history, and social studies? The less said about that, the better. I’m even more certain it’s a place filler and something that was thrown in to appease the humans. Turns out we don’t have tests in the class at all. Minimal quizzes. We had one paper due for it, and it was a joke. I haven’t heard of anyone that didn’t get at least an A minus.
Practical application? Mr. Bailey took a step back and stopped trying to force me. Every time I get near him, he smells a little like fear to me, although it’s gotten better as the weeks have gone by. Still not gone, though.
He has me trying to cast light and has basically given up trying to force me in any way. The others have branched out into other basic spells and are working to get them under their belts, but me? He won’t let me move on until I can demonstrate light for him.
I’m so tempted to just do it and move on, except it’s really too much fun making him think I’m a complete idiot while also being strong enough to kill a dragon and weird enough to brush off ice and fire.
Affinity focus has been decent. I’m still alone there, too, but that’s really to be expected. Still no idea what my affinity is other than all of them. Which I’m not about to try and explain to someone. I’ve done some basic searches in the library for a diamond af
finity and turned up nothing at all. I have a feeling that was just his name, possibly, for what I might be. I may keep it if there isn’t an official name for me.
Gym? Things have changed under Coach McMasters. He’s a fire mage, and he’s much more balanced than Coach Walters was. He’s also on edge around me, probably because I killed his predecessor. Or was involved in it. He had tried intimidating me originally, but it didn’t work. That threw him, and he’s been weird since then. No pain when I don’t perform, for me or anyone else. I’m still sandbagging everything. Still exercising in the morning when I can. I haven’t lost anything as far as I can tell, which is good.
I actually stopped sending things to Alison, mainly because I ran out of ideas that sounded funny to me and didn’t want to waste money otherwise. It didn’t seem worthwhile if I’m not at least getting some laughs out of it. No signs of her, except I’m pretty sure some kids are watching me for her and giving her information. I could be wrong about that, yet I’ve heard some whispered comments from kids at times that make me think I’m right.
It’s now early June, and weeks have passed since I fought Daniela. The end of May had a big dance for each class level. Not that I bothered to go. Why would I? It’s not like someone would dance with me. Most kids treat me like an insane leper, at least when they’re not already trying to hide everything away. I could have gone and pestered Levi for a dance, except that would lose its fun after a bit. I could go for a bit of time with Kynal, yet even that? He’s gorgeous, but that shop is closed right now. I may act like I’m fine, but I have some mental baggage being hauled behind me that I need to delve into at some point. I may be able to touch myself without much of a problem, but the idea of voluntarily going beyond that is more than I can stomach.
Kaylee joins me, carrying an ice cream cone. “Hey. There you are. How’s your Wednesday night going?”
She still looks everywhere possible, but she’s more casual about it than before. “I’m good.” She sat, looking out at the trees with me. “Why’re you outside?”
“Just getting some fresh air.”
“You know we’re in Montana, right?”
“Yup. I’m enjoying the chill.”
“Riiight. I bet you are.” Magic rolled out of her, and I felt what she was doing. She just created a bunch of layers of air around her, with the inside one constantly moving around her, touching her, which is making her a little warmer. The other layers are for insulation. That’s very cool.
“You said you wanted to talk?”
Her face closed up a little as she licked her cone. “Yeah. If you don’t mind?”
“We’re allies. Of course I don’t mind. What’s wrong?” I’ve been expecting her to not want to be allies for at least a week now. She’s been acting just weird enough to think that she may have found a group to accept her.
“Umm, I don’t know what to say.”
“Just spit it out? Unless you’re gonna challenge me, we’ll get through everything else.”
She licked her cone again, “Yeah, right. Challenge you. You’re funny. I may be way more powerful than I thought I was, but I’m not up to challenging a girl that kills a dragon with her bare hands.”
“In my defense, she hit the ground. Hard. Twice.”
“Either way.”
I hit her arm, “C’mon, spill. It sounded kinda important.”
“Umm, maybe it is? I can’t really tell for sure. I just…I keep hearing rumors.”
“From who? About what?”
She turned to me, “I don’t think you can trust them.”
“Umm…who? You have to be a bit more specific than that.”
“Any of them. All of them.”
“Mooore specific?”
She closed her eyes as her cone went down, “I have a bad feeling about things. Something isn’t right. With Parece and Samantha and them. Or with Angelica, Gage, or Kynal.”
Oookay? “Like what kind of feelings? You said rumors? What kind of rumors?”
She smells agitated, but not like she’s lying. “That you’re being set up. Something’s gonna happen. I don’t know what. I don’t know when. But…I think you’re being set up to be attacked. Killed.”
“I can see Samantha possibly doing that. But Angelica?”
“Please be careful. You’re my only ally still, and…I just feel like something bad is happening. That we can’t see. Like there are moving parts behind the scenes in some way.”
Huh, “Like they’re working together but hiding it?”
“Maybe? I don’t know. That might make sense.”
That’s a sick sort of possible. “I’ll try to keep my eyes and ears open. You haven’t heard any specifics?”
“No. Just that stuff may start to happen soon. To try to get you off balance somehow.”
“Right before Alison’s supposed to come back?”
“Yeah. Not good timing.”
“No, it’s not. Not really.” Fuck, okay, this could suck. I thought I had a good relationship with Gage, Kynal, and Angelica. Even a good one with Parece. I thought we had sort of come to a somewhat truce with the other three. “You hear anything about Levi, Shane, Ryan, or Wes?”
“Nothing from them. More rumors of people wanting to challenge you. Saying you lucked into your wins.”
Yeah, I’d been hearing the same thing. “Okay, I’ll watch everything. Now, let’s talk movies. You said you wanted to watch something?”
That started a conversation about streaming a movie. We’d talked about it, and I was kinda hoping she’d want to do it tonight. I haven’t watched a ton of movies in my life, at least that I remember, so that leaves me as the odd one out when people talk pop culture. It makes me feel like more of a misfit.
It’s just hard to concentrate on the discussion when my mind keeps going back to what she said. Could they be working together to set me up? Could they? I guess they could, even if I’ve never seen it before. I’ll be looking for it now. Are they planning on coming for me? Trying to get me in a challenge and kill me? Or kill me outside of a challenge? It’s not like those aren’t still possible.
What the hell, man. This is messed up.
That thought was still roaming through my head when I woke the next morning. I couldn’t help being somewhat distant to Parece last night, and it stuck with me. Everything she did, everything the others said, was questioned in my head. Even if I didn’t do anything outright, or at least I don’t think I did. No one said anything bad. No one said anything that, on the surface, deserved to be questioned. Yet I still did it. Every comment raised a question in my head. If they asked questions, it made me wonder if they were doing that to throw me off their scent.
So waking in the morning, it was obvious for me to look over at Parece and wonder just what the hell is going on. She’s asleep. She looks like she normally does. Restful. Calm. Peaceful. Yet…are the sheets wrapped around her legs a little more than normal? Did she get out of bed at some point and stand over me, wondering if she could kill me before I woke?
Did she destroy everything on my desk?
Everything I left out on my desk last night is wrecked. Including my laptop.
What the fuck?
I got out of bed and tried to feel around with magic. I can’t pick anything up. I’m not sure who would be able to. If it’s even possible.
Yet everything’s fucked. Pens and pencils. My notebook. Two of my textbooks. My laptop. The laptop is basically crushed and bent in half. I’m not even sure what could do that. A dragon, maybe? Is anything in the drawers messed up?
Ummm…no. But now that I’m looking, my shoes over by the closet are destroyed. I liked those, too. Opening my closet door, I was relieved to see that the spells on the door protected everything, because it’s all looking good to me. That gets the door closed as I turn back to the dresser. Fuck. Are my clothes okay? I may not have a ton in there, but I do have some.
It’s fucking confetti. Everything I had left in there; including the shirt and shorts
I took off last night and put in so I didn’t have to find a hanger for them. Torn to pieces.
“What the fuck. Who did this?” My voice was pitched low. I don’t want her to hear and wake up. Was it her?
The open door to the bathroom means it could have been Paige or Riley.
Could it have been someone else? I guess they don’t have to be in the room to do that. Samantha? She’s been quiet and decent lately, but…yeah, it could have been her. Or…I hate to say it, what about Angelica, Kynal, or Gage? They were here late last night after I got back from ice cream. We talked for a bit. Did anyone look at my stuff more than normal? There were some questions and things, but were any feeling me out for something like this to happen?
If it was them, will they admit it? Do I confront them? I don’t have any grounds to think it’s any of them other than it could have been them. I can’t connect them to it magically. I didn’t see them doing it. Hell, it was okay when I went to sleep five hours ago, and now it’s fucked.
Everything from my desk fit into my dresser drawer, so I shoved it in. My torn-up shoes joined them before I closed it, leaving a completely bare desk staring at me. It’s conspicuous as all hell that it’s like that. It’s never been like that. I just don’t…I don’t know what to do.
My confusion lasted through to the caf and getting food. One of the corners was open, so I sat, studying the four others in here this morning. Could they have done it? Maybe. I can’t really cross them off the list, can I? Everyone’s a suspect in this madhouse.
Kaylee arrived about five minutes into staring at my food and joined me, watching everyone as she sat. “Hey, you okay? You look like shit.”
“Uhh…” I looked up, still feeling lost, “I’m okay. I guess. I’m just…”
“You’re just what? Did someone try something?”
My voice dipped, “I don’t know! I don’t…I don’t know what the fuck happened.”
She looked around again, then scooted closer, “Someone tried something?”
“I don’t know! I woke up, and…someone tore apart everything on my desk. In my dresser drawers. My shoes.”
