by Megan Linski
I was late again (a bad habit that I was developing, but fine with), and most of the class was already here. I saw that Haley and her morons were in this class, too. But my attention only lingered on them for a moment, because my eyes went directly to Sophia.
There was a tiny animal sitting on Sophia’s shoulder. It was white and looked like nothing but a big fur ball rolling around her torso. Sophia giggled as she played with it, and the little puffer let out tiny mews as she tickled it.
It made her happy. Which made me happy, I guess.
“You’ve bonded!” I said as I walked up to her. She saw me coming and grinned. My heart skipped a beat, but I ignored it. Feelings were for losers.
“Yep.” Sophia was stroking the little critter on her shoulder, who had calmed as I’d approached. “Isn’t he just so cute and fluffy?”
He was, even though I didn’t know what he was. “What’s his name?”
“Esis,” she responded cheerfully. “I just got him yesterday. I found him in the woods.”
Like I’d found Nashoma. “Is that a ball of lint?” I asked, smirking.
“Stop it!” She recoiled away from me, holding Esis. “Don’t pick on him!”
“I’m just teasing. He’s cute.” I reached out to scratch Esis under the chin. His eyes rolled back and he grinned, thumping his foot.
I looked at Sophia. “How did Fire class go yesterday?” I didn’t even know why I was asking.
Her smile fell. “Terrible, actually. Everyone else can make fire snap from their fingers. I tried, but it didn’t happen.”
“You can’t even make a flame?” I asked, surprised.
Sophia looked down in shame. “No. I can’t even light a candle.”
Hoo boy. She was gonna have one hell of a time during the tournament with Esis. His survival skills seemed nonexistent. She’d better hurry up and master Fire quick, before she became one of the casualties.
Thinking of Sophia dying made me really sad. So I didn’t. I was just glad I wasn’t required to join the tournament because I’d lost Nashoma. Competing against Sophia wouldn’t be fun, but being on a team with her would be a nightmare.
“Don’t worry. This class will be easier,” I told her. I was reassuring her. Why, I didn’t know.
“Liam!” someone said behind me. I turned to see Jonah next to me, his hippogriff Familiar following behind him.
Jonah was huge. And I mean huge. He was easily six-foot-five, and towered over everyone else at Orenda. His brown hair was up in a man-bun, and a thick beard grew halfway down his chest. He wore a red plaid shirt with loose dark-wash jeans, and boots I’m pretty sure a dragon could fit into. His arms were as big around as tree trunks, for crying out fricken loud.
Jonah had bonded over the summer. Jonah’s hippogriff, Squeaks, was dancing around and knocking stuff over behind him. I’m pretty sure she had ADHD, because no matter what the class was Squeaks couldn’t stand still. She was as big as a draft horse and brown in color, with ginger feathers that gleamed in the light. Her eyes were yellow, her beak pitch-black. I had to step out of the way to avoid getting my foot stomped as she continued her frantic dance, hooves tapping a beat.
Jonah and I hadn’t really talked since what had happened with Nashoma, though he and Squeaks had come to the funeral a few weeks later. I shook his hand and bumped my shoulder against his.
“Hey, man. What’s up with you?” Jonah asked.
“Not much.” I shrugged. “Same old shit.”
“I was worried you wouldn’t come back this year,” Jonah said. “I’m glad to see you didn’t give it up.”
Sophia was eyeing me curiously. I forced a laugh and said, “I stayed to annoy you.”
“Always, buddy.” Jonah’s eyes followed Renar (a tall, thin guy who I always thought had a face that looked like a rat’s) as he entered the classroom and sat at one of the desks in the front row.
“You preoccupied? Because, you know, I can always leave you two alone,” I poked.
Jonah’s attention was still on Renar. “Yeah, yeah, you’re hilarious. Hang out later?”
He didn’t wait for me to answer before he crossed the room and slid into the seat beside Renar, talking lowly and nudging him with his shoulder. Squeaks muscled her way in beside him and sat down next to the desk.
I rolled my eyes. That was Jonah. He was always after the D.
“I thought people from different Houses couldn’t be friends?” Sophia asked me in a low tone, a small smile on her face.
“Shut up,” I mumbled to her as the professor entered. Sophia didn’t get it. A Toaqua guy being friends with a Yapluma dude was no big deal. Not like Sophia’s and my friendship would be. Water and Air could mix. Water and Fire… no go.
“Gather ‘round, everyone!” Professor Costas said, and eventually, the chatter quieted down.
I focused on Costas. I’d had her before. She wore a long white coat, with a stethoscope hanging around her neck. She was short and looked cute, but she’d seen her fair share of blood and gore.
“Welcome to my class,” Costas started. “Now, I know many of you are wondering why this class is necessary, as for most of you, you will be staying within the ranks of the Elementai, and will be near enough to emergency medical care.”
Professor Costas paused to gaze around the class. “However, some of you will be taking positions within the tribe that will require you to be away from home and away from other Elementai. When you’re out in the field, you won’t be able to get to medical care quickly. In a majority of cases, you will be alone and must rely on yourself to save your Familiar’s life. Which is why the majority of this class will be held outside, away from the equipment you undoubtedly won’t have while exploring the wild. Follow me!”
Professor Costas led us outside, to where a collection of really creepy life size Familiar dolls were lying around. They were in various shapes and sizes of animals, and were meant to practice on.
I was feeling a little glum. Maybe if I had taken this class last year, I could’ve saved Nashoma.
Also waiting outside was Costas’ Familiar, Hera. She was a hydra, a large reptile with nine heads, green in color and very intimidating. She walked on four legs with large, rounded claws, and was about as big as a small house. Venomous fangs protruded from the mouth of each head, along with a collection of poisonous spines along the creature’s back all the way down to her long, whip-like tail. From what I’d heard from other people, Hera was a real sweetheart.
I’d believe that after I’d spend enough time with her to know one of her nine heads wasn’t going to eat me.
“Pair up, everyone!” Costas yelled loudly. “For this, I’ll need you to work in teams!”
The best people were gone in seconds. Jonah immediately paired up with Renar, which I saw coming. Everyone else already had a partner, which meant I was stuck with Sophia.
She immediately gravitated toward me, and of course, I took in the sorry orphan, because I was a sorry orphan too. We sat next to a doll that looked like a tiger, and Costas held up a bandage with splints.
“Listen up, and pay close attention. I will be instructing you on how to create a splint for broken bones,” Costas started. She demonstrated on Hera, and I tried to watch. but I noticed Sophia was nodding off, her eyes following Hera around the gardens instead of listening to Costas’ instruction.
Learning to set bones was useful, but it was tough work for the first day of class. Sophia couldn’t wrap the bindings tight enough, and I think she ended up breaking the doll’s leg worse than what it originally was. I face-palmed at least five times.
Esis didn’t make things any easier. He kept on running around over the doll, squeaking and tumbling like he didn’t see the point in wrapping up a broken limb. At one point he sank his little teeth into the wrappings and started tugging at it, trying to play. Sophia laughed, but it wasn’t funny to me.
At least we weren’t the only ones struggling. Haley got frustrated and ended up throwing her doll, whic
h made me chuckle under my breath. Jonah was sitting around and letting Renar do all the work. While Renar was binding up the doll’s leg, I caught Jonah looking at his ass. I got Jonah’s attention, pointed to Renar when his back was turned, and made humping movements with my hips.
Jonah went red and flipped me off. I laughed.
“What’s with you guys?” Sophia questioned, raising an eyebrow.
“Jonah’s been crushing on Renar forever, but he hasn’t made a move,” I explained.
“Hm.” Sophia nodded, then went back to wrapping the mangled doll’s leg. Esis stared at me, his eyes getting bigger… and bigger… and bigger.
By the time I ripped my gaze away, I’m pretty sure his giant pupils were covering the rest of his face. That thing was an alien or something.
By the end of the class, bandages were everywhere. A couple of girls were crying in frustration, and Haley was bitching. Most everyone had given up.
Costas’ face was thin and brittle. She obviously wasn’t impressed. “The majority of you will need to study up. This is not an easy class. If you perform like you have today, you are going to fail. Tomorrow, we’ll be learning how to perform CPR on your Familiar, and next week we’ll get into poisons. Class dismissed.”
People scattered out of there. Professor Costas was a hard-ass, but at least she was fair. She was far from Madame Doya. I looked down at our doll. We’d managed to fix the leg back to normal, and the bandages were wrapped tightly now, but I’m pretty sure if it had been a real tiger Sophia and I would’ve killed it.
Sophia looked happy, though. “We actually make a pretty good team, don’t we?”
Esis let out a mew, and I told Sophia, “Don’t get your hopes up.”
We stood up to leave. We didn’t mean to walk together, that’s just what happened.
Near the entry to the gardens, Haley was taking out her frustration on another Koigni First Year. “You know Costas was talking about you, Taylor,” she said. “You’re never going to pass.”
Taylor was in tears. I think she was Levi’s little sister, which would make sense— Haley and Levi dated over the summer before he realized what a bitch she was and thankfully dumped her. But that meant his little sis had to spend a whole semester of enduring Haley’s torments. Poor girl.
“Leave her alone, Haley,” Jonah bit at her, laying a hand on Taylor’s shoulder. “Yours looked worse.”
Haley’s eyes narrowed, and she sneered. “Aren’t people from Yapluma supposed to be thin and small? How do you expect your hippogriff to lift your fat ass, Goliath?” Haley goaded, and her friends roared at the insult.
“He’s another abomination, like Sophia,” Kelsey, Haley’s second-in-command, added. “His mom probably slept around with some Nivita guy. This is why Houses shouldn’t mix. You get all these freaks running around.”
“Right? Sophia’s so inbred she can’t even light a candle. Her magic’s useless, just like her stupid Familiar,” Haley said, shooting Sophia a nasty grin.
Haley and her friends roared. Esis puffed up into a little ball of fury, hopping up and down on Sophia’s shoulder and stomping his tiny feet. Sophia tried to comfort him— his tiny cheeks swelled up as he made a quick whoosh sound. Sophia looked troubled, like she didn’t know what to do.
Jonah moved closer to Taylor and whispered, “Are you okay?”
Taylor slapped his hand away. She backed up, wiping away more tears. “Stay away from me.” She took off as fast as she could, and Haley grinned. She knew she’d won.
Haley then looked at me. She dug around in her bag for something, and then threw it at me. “Here. I thought you might need this, Liam. Finish the job, since you’re no good to the tribe anymore.”
It hit me. My insides cringed as my hands caught what she’d tossed. A rope.
Sophia’s face was red with rage. Sophia didn’t understand what Haley’s comment meant, not really, but it still pissed her off. She opened her mouth to say something.
But I wasn’t dealing with this. Haley’s actions didn’t deserve a reaction. I stuffed the rope inside my pocket, then grabbed Sophia’s wrist to pull her away before a bigger scene was made. Jonah turned his back on Haley to look for Renar, but he was already gone.
“I’m getting really tired of people picking on me,” Sophia grumbled as we walked away. There was a large stone fountain with a statue of a thunderbird taking flight on top of it. Nobody was around, and Sophia paused to catch her breath. She was furious.
“So then do something about it,” I told her. “Fight back.”
“Fight back?” She gave me a condescending look. “You just dragged me away before I could say anything.”
“Because you’ve got to fight in the right way. You can’t just say whatever you want. Haley’s mean, but she’s also super smart,” I told her. “Not to mention she’ll go running to Madame Doya the minute you open your mouth. You’ve got to fight with actions, not words.”
Sophia sighed. “I guess you’re right.”
She sat on the edge of the fountain. “This sucks. I was so happy when I found Esis. It was like everything was going to be okay,” she started.
I nodded. I knew the feeling. “And?”
“And... then Madam Doya ruined it.” She made a face.
“Typical of her.”
“I’m supposed to be some prophesied child, but I can’t even make a tiny flame. Everyone talks about unity, but it's just crap. No one wants to help me. And now there’s this tournament, and…”
She sighed in defeat. “I don’t know, Liam. I don’t know how to do this.”
The thought crossed my mind to help her. I wasn’t supposed to be teaching a Koigni how to use a flame. I didn’t even know how to do it myself. But the thought of Madame Doya’s bitchy face as she gazed down in Sophia in disappointment was enough to make me act. “You’ll show her. Come on, follow me.”
I started walking toward the forest, where we wouldn’t be seen. She followed. When we were deep enough into the trees, I motioned for her to put down Esis. She put him up on a tree branch. He looked down at us in interest, large ears forward.
“If you want to beat Haley, you have to show her you’re better than her at magic,” I started. “Nothing she could say will trump that. It’ll eat away at her.”
“How? She’s the best in my class, and I’m the worst.” Sophia’s shoulders slumped. “She’s had years of practice.”
“You need someone willing to teach you. Not just yell at you,” I started, before I paused. “And I guess that sad sack is me.”
“You?” She raised an eyebrow. “But you’re Toaqua. How do you know how to conjure fire?”
“I don’t. I’m just guessing. But it’s all elemental magic, right? Can’t be too difficult.”
I showed her. I hovered my hand over the ground, and dew droplets rose from the dirt, leaves and grass to form a ball of water in my hand. I moved it back and forth, weaving my hands like a wave as the water swished in the air from this side to that.
“Let your magic flow through you. It's an extension of your body. You are connected to the earth and everyone in it. Everything is a living thing, and is willing to help you. Use that connection to summon your power.”
Sophia tried. She raised her hands and tried to conjure magic, but all that resulted was a look that made her seem like she had to shit.
“I don't get it,” she said. “Can you explain another way?”
I thought for a moment. Harnessing water was all about self-control. You had to let peace and harmony flow through you steadily before you gathered it into a powerful force. Water sustained life, but it could also take it.
Fire was different. Fire was raging and angry and was fueled by strong emotions unbound by any force. Koigni were strong and ill-tempered. They burned off of pride. It was one of the reasons Haley was so good.
No wonder Sophia couldn’t create a flame. She was too meek, too gentle. She had to get pissed. I literally was going to have to light a fire under h
er ass.
“Think about Madame Doya. How she humiliated you in front of everyone, and how badly you want to prove her wrong,” I said. “Meditate on how that feels.”
Sophia scrunched up her face. Moments passed, and became minutes. I wondered if we’d be out here for hours.
Suddenly, a ball of flame appeared brightly in her palm. She opened her eyes, mouth falling open in delight, but the flame only lasted a few seconds before vanishing.
“Did you see that?” she screeched happily, bouncing. “I did it!”
“You did. You see? It’s not that hard.” I shrugged. “Madame Doya’s just a terrible teacher.”
“Yeah.” She grinned and looked up at me. “Thanks, Liam. I just hope I can do it again in Madame Doya’s class.”
“You’ve got it,” I encouraged. “Just trust in yourself, and the ancestors will guide you.”
“Ancestors? I don’t believe in anything like that,” Sophia said. “All that spiritual stuff is really silly. My parents didn’t raise me like that. Believing in the afterlife is for people who can’t stand on their own.”
Esis looked at his Elementai like he couldn’t believe what she’d just said, ears back and little lips trembling. I went to bite back something sharp before I held my tongue. Here I was helping this girl, and she was blatantly disrespecting our religion, our culture. She just didn’t understand what it meant to be part of the Hawkei.
No good deed goes unpunished, I suppose. Now she was acting like a superior Koigni. Great fricking timing. This was why the Elders didn’t allow outsiders.
Esis came down from the trees. But instead of going to Sophia, the squirrel reject went for me. He landed on top of my head and screamed in what seemed like a victory as he perched on top of my skull.
“Dude, get down.” I tried yanking him off, but it didn't work. Esis was set on riding on top of my head. He’d made a nest in my hair and was clinging onto the strands to hold on, making loud cooing noises like he was the captain of this ship.
“He likes you.” Sophia grinned.
“Yeah, well, I don't like him.” I gave up and let him sit there. It wasn't like he weighed anything. We started back to the castle, where hopefully I would find a vice grip to pry the little bugger off.