For one moment the red eyes of the photo priced my mind and my head immediately looked to the drawer, the picture was hidden in. That was definitely something else I was not going to talk about and it was the main reason I had not been out exploring. And why my sleep was less than four hours on average.
“…and I’m having a great time with my friends and plan on checking out some more of the school.”
I smiled, knowing I had skirted who the, “friends,” were quite smoothly as I signed, “Quil” with a feather at the end of my name then folded the letter feeling a slight unease again about the small lie I had written by leaving out Keten.
Placing the letter in an envelope I added a picture of the hall outside my room as it was the farthest I had dared go with my camera and knew that it was better than the picture of my room I had sent my father a week before.
Turning, I opened a drawer and took out some matches. I stopped as my hands brought them out and glanced at the wax stick. Pursing my lips I put the matches aside and moved the blue wax I had just bought to my finger and asked flame to spark when I touched the wick. Watching my finger, it started to have a haze before it burst into a small flame billowing just above my finger nail.
The little flame took to the wick and the wax started to bubble and dribble onto the letter. I waited with the SkyJump seal poised and pounded it down when the moment was just right as the magic flame on my finger dimmed and died out as my thoughts moved on to other things.
Blowing out the wick of the wax and pulling the stamp from the letter, turning it over I slightly tilted my words as my tired eyes had me finish writing the new address for my father.
I smiled, secretly loving I had started to hone my skill of magic ever so slightly as I practiced late at night in my room. Letting a flame ignite on my palm and soon found I could have it on each individual finger in my spare time awake for hours on end.
Once finished with a soft smile I turned out the lamp and groggily walked over to my bed, for the first time in weeks I felt calmer.
Curling up in my plush comforter and sheets, I glanced to the ceiling as I lay close to the back of my bed where I had found fewer cruel springs ate at my side. With my eyes wandering the room the last thought I had was of how for the second time the banner above my bed reminded me of the tunnel in Mr. Sheplar’s class and with a smile for the first night in weeks found sleep only lit by my imaginings of finally acing the test with the whole class watching.
The morning was much like most mornings, though I was awoken from a dream I did not completely recall, I may have kissed Keten as a slight smile held on my lips. The dreams faded as fast as the cold water slipped from my cheeks while I got ready for the day.
After putting my hair in the accustomed, almost dress code pony tail I grabbed my bag and papers. I almost picked up my camera when I paused before it. Did I want it with me? Keten would be there and I knew he would keep me safe so I took the camera as the bell sounded outside my door.
Skidding down the halls that were ever becoming bare as the other students became more punctual and I somehow became the abstract, waking later instead of earlier.
I skidded into Mr. Deplen’s class and thankfully I had started to become friends with him so he let my slightly late appearance slide.
Putting my bag to the ground I heaved out breaths trying to keep them quiet as I grabbed my notebook and quill pen and brought it before me but an odd watching sensation hit me again though it felt far less piercing then the night Alissa, Zac and I had been out walking past the atrium.
My mouth slightly froze as I realized I had had that piercing watching feeling by the atrium before I went on my night escapade. The red eyes filled within my mind like nothing else could possibly come in.
What if it hadn’t been the shadow but the thing within the atrium all this time?
I was ever becoming leery of the magical atrium I had once thought would be my only Eden in a box of cement like La’ket.
“Good morning and please get ready to take some notes.” Mr. Deplen stated and started into facts about a rare kind of tiger called a golden tabby tiger and brought a picture onto the screen of the large golden striped cat.
My mind caught on the realization I had felt someone watching and again noticed Lucy shooting glares my way, she even signaled a cutting motion across her neck and before I could have pretended I couldn’t see her Mr. Deplen asked her what her question was.
I tried to control my snicker as she fumbled for words as his glare deepened in her direction.
By the time he slowed down in his lecture about rare animals of the world I still held a smile as Lucy could not even glance my way, her lips held in a pout and even her two friends had seemed amused by what had happened.
“Now, I must tell you the requirements for some of what will be on the test in a week that will decide if you stay in my extracurricular class.” He said, his voice still whiny but I could look past it for the nice teacher he was under it all.
I listened closely as he spoke. It felt strange to be gearing up for such a huge test so early in the semester but it seemed the way of La’ket’s style of schooling.
Mr. Deplen motioned to us,
“This test will have both things we have currently studied and also a portion for you to show how much knowledge you have beyond this classroom about animals.” He said and I could feel the tension rise in the room.
Writing down what I would need to study, a smile crossed my lips and cooled my worry of the test as I knew I could wrangle Keten into helping me study.
I hardly noticed when Mr. Deplen dismissed the class but easily followed the crowd, for once Lucy held back from coming after me, though I knew that would be eternally short lived.
Coming down the hall someone linked arms with me and I turned surprised to find Alissa and Zac not linking his arm but walking by her side.
“So how was class, Quil?” She asked with a smile.
I smiled broadly,
“I’ll have to tell you what happened to Lucy in class at lunch.” I said and both Zac and Alissa smiled mischievously as we entered Mr. Jacobsen’s room.
Getting to our seats, Jack had knocked into my shoulder and I shook my head at him as he glared at me with a dark snarl of a smile on his lips.
“There is something wrong with that boy.” Alissa said conspiratorially.
I watched him take his seat and lean back putting his hands behind his silver mohawk.
“You have got that right.” I said as Zac leaned over to us.
“Most people say he is just here because of his grandparents and that his parents are jerks.” Zac said.
I nodded my head as Mr. Jacobsen walked into the room.
“Shocker.” I mocked and Zac grinned slightly as we all three turned our attention to Mr. Jacobsen as he quieted the class.
“Today we are going to study another element of both Mage and some old-world findings about some of the powers the Earthen Brethren used.” He said and putting his hands out he dimmed the blobs light and made them come to the front of the class instead of floating in the air aimlessly.
Putting my note book before me a twinge of unease still held within me about Mr. Jacobsen at the fact that he had brought up many things about Mages and Earthen Brethren but very little about SkyJump’s. Again, as he was about to speak I wondered if I was just being too much like my father.
“Among many of the Mage abilities, water to most is a very dull ability compared to fire,” he said holding a blob of water in one hand and igniting a flame in the palm of his other to which the class immediately became more interested as if the fire’s glow captivated them.
Mr. Jacobsen nodded to the class,
“See, you all became interested the moment fire got involved,” he said with a chuckle and then as if on cue he snapped and the blob in one palm distinguished the fire in the other in a plume of mist, “but you mustn’t forget water has some of the most defining elements with far more uses than fire.” He
said confidently as he always did eyeing his class as if a magician on a stage.
I jotted down notes but as I wrote I felt he was wrong. Fire was so destructive, how could it not have been better than water?
Leaning on his desk Mr. Jacobsen folded his arms and nodded to the class with a gleam in his eye.
“So, any of you like to dispute my claim or tell why it is correct before I continue?” He asked and immediately Zac and a number of other students in the class raised their hands.
Mr. Jacobsen nodded to a girl on the back row across from me and Zac,
“You first, Miss Clane,” He said nodding.
The girl with her lips an audacious silver and too much dark eye shadow started to speak.
“Fire can devastate, where water only helps things grow.” She said and the moment the words left her lips my mind rethought about what I said as hearing it sounded wrong.
“Aright, one against, how about you Mr. Lepton?” He tilted his head waiting for Zac to reply.
Zac in his quite normal way nodded and though not all knowing we did know much more then he let people mistake for his slightly zen façade.
“Water is a jack of all trades element and can both do good and bad,” he said glancing to the girl who seemed to wait for the rest as much as we all did, “It can water crops and keep a community thriving or it can flood and create mudslides and shape mountains to its will,” he said and the class collectively glanced to Mr. Jacobsen though a few girls looked at Zac as he sat back confidently.
For once I noticed how Alissa rolled her eyes though the look she gave felt as if the other girls looking to him was something she did not want.
“Mr. Lepton is exactly on point. Though water may seem simple compared to fire. When fire faces stone, it blackens. But when water faces stone, it carves,” he said nodding to the class and motioning to the screen as it showed a mountain turning into a waterway for a river.
As the lesson continued he showed how water was used for burns before medicine had been perfected and still if a Mage was burned in the wild you could create a cast of water around the burned skin. Beyond that, he spoke of how water was used to help shape tools in the early days and how now some Mages used water to sculpt rock into amazing things. One of my personal favorites he showed us was of a Skyjump done out of granite that was rearing in beast form.
I wished I could have the beautiful sculpture or created it but artistic ability was not one of my talents. I could not draw a rock to save my life let alone the beautiful sculpture of a SkyJump out of rock.
Finally, as class was coming to an end Mr. Jacobsen came to the part about Earthen Brethren he had before mentioned.
“And now you may wonder why at the beginning of class I spoke about Earthen Brethren along these lines.” he said, back to leaning on his desk, “You see, as we speak of water it is also something Earthen Brethren combine with soil to create a special pigment called lizard flesh,” he said, there was something disturbing talking about the Earthen Brethren to me.
I had grown knowing about them as most other children thought of the bogeyman, though I was told how real and vicious they could and would be to me.
I shifted slightly in my seat and bit the inside of my cheek as I rubbed my bracelet. Alissa glanced at me and noticed my unease. Realizing it was slightly a bad habit I stopped fussing with my bracelet and tried to act casual as he continued.
“Lizard flesh was one thing written by the Earthen Brethren before they became extinct that older texts say was used to make themselves lizards of earth in spite of the SkyJumps and…” I may have been the only one squirming but oddly Jack was firm as a board as I caught sight of him before glancing back to the teacher, “…It was a means by where their ability to make a substance that was infused with their power of earthen elements to combine water and dirt and putting the paste on their bodies they could become whomever they wanted for a period of time before the mud hardened and they would start to have a hard time moving their features,” he said and nodded as a girl farther up raised her hand as her bracelets jingled loudly.
Mr. Jacobsen nodded to her as my mind ran with how completely and utterly terrifying this idea was, it was as if the bogeyman idea was now truth and he was a murderer who really could hide under my bed and fool me.
“Would people touch them and feel they were covered in mud?” She asked and the teacher seemed ready for her question.
“They would not feel any different, simply dry skin I would suppose,” he said nodding to the girl and on cue the bell rang.
I looked to the door as he thanked us all and surprisingly did not bother telling us what the test would be on in a week.
“Come on, let’s get going or we will be late for class and I know you want to go!” Alissa said at my side standing as I realized my notebook was still out and my mind had been wandering as it often did.
“Sorry, I was thinking.” I said as I grabbed my things and I caught a slight glance pass between Alissa and Zac that made my heart flop from one side of my rib cage to the other.
Walking out of the class I felt conflicted and for once Jack did not seem to glare at me before he left, though his shoulders were hunched as we followed the crowd of students out into the hall.
I glanced back at Mr. Jacobsen. I was glad to be out of his class though a lingering question was beginning to eat away within my mind. How did he know so much about the earthen brethren if he was so clear they were, as he said, extinct?
Chapter 19
“The tunnel was all she wrote, yet he said it was not to dampen her day.”
Making our way to Mr. Sheplar’s class, I felt my heart returned to its normal place as my friends joked about wishing to have seen Lucy’s face in class.
By the time we reached the room the bell sounded and we bid Zac goodbye and luck in a competition he was having which if won we would be sitting on the sidelines tomorrow rooting him on as he fought for the first official match of the year at La’ket.
Entering the class felt like swimming in a river of fish that had all decided to swim upstream as we piled into Mr. Sheplar’s class room.
My heart raced knowing I could finally work on jumping to the trapeze bar.
“Welcome in, my late students.” Mr. Sheplar said with a notch of annoyance edging in his voice as his bald head glistened.
I needed to get better at getting to my classes on time if I was to try and keep up a good standing for the rest of the year.
“Today we will be working differently from how the past weeks have been.” He said nodding to us.
Glancing aside at Alissa, she shrugged her shoulders as her lips curved into a confused shake of the head.
Turning back, Mr. Sheplar had already started talking again.
“We will have groups going today and you can only start up once another person has made it to the tunnel to control the flow. Please, everyone get in a line,” he motioned and everyone started lining up, me and Alissa were five from the start.
“And you will be jumping to the ropes, not falling and catching them.” Delphine added, nodding to the class as she motioned for everyone to continue lining up.
Mr. Sheplar nodded and yelled,
“You four start!”
The first four students started up and I was suddenly moving to the front in seconds that I thought would take forever. A slight knot wound in my chest that was only matched by the fire that raged in my heart.
Watching, I noticed one student had a hard time with the wall, I had seen him before in my many weeks watching the others while I could not find a way up the last box.
He was not very good at the Skyjumping wall and was known to take a long time. Three others started up the wall passing quite smoothly, but once reaching the tunnel slowed as two lost their arm and hand placement. The same boy who had beaten me the first day seemed to be excelling in class.
He was across in no time, jumping like a pro now and landing on his feet. The class cheered and I knew I had to
prove I could make it today!
“GO!” Mr. Sheplar called and suddenly I realized I needed to get moving.
Racing to the wall I started up and without thinking my instincts took me almost half way up before I stopped letting my mind do what it wanted and deliberately slowed down. I wanted to be good at the test just not this part, knowing I was already capable.
Reaching and going in a new path that made my climb slower, I realized Alissa started up as I glanced back before I reached for the tunnel net. As my hand went to grab hold my mind brought me looking to the ground as my vision blurred.
What was happening? I questioned and my heart pumped faster as I moved my body into the tunnel quite stupidly at such a strange feeling.
My hand unwittingly slipped through a hole in the rope in my absent-minded movment. Suddenly, unlike anything I had ever felt before, my arm was tangled and the net shifting.
The rock of a feeling that tumbled in my stomach and the way the ground below me swayed and glittered made me feel stone cold, yet I knew sweat held along my cheeks.
Racing to get up I started to get more tangled when a hand grabbed my shoulder and helped me up.
“Quil, what happened?” Alissa asked as I sat up and my arms shook as my breathing felt compressed.
I looked to the ceiling and shook my head,
“Thanks, Alis. I’m fine, keep going I just...” I could not even think, I had no idea what had happened but my mind felt as if my chest pounding was hard enough to make my brain seize up.
Alissa glanced at me and was about to wait when Mr. Sheplar yelled for no chatting or we would be disqualified. With a reluctant glance she started off whispering, “Kay..” as she went and then jumped from the rope as other students came into the tunnel.
It swayed and made my stomach turn and convulse as I had never felt.
What in heavens name was wrong? I questioned though my mind made me flinch as students passed me as I looked to the ceiling feeling easily as close to fainting. Glancing down just once, my vision again swayed and I figured I had to be sick somehow.
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