Breaking Barriers

by Bob Dattolo

  The tingling hit me low in the stomach and I ignored it at first as possibly being the weirdness that is me, but when it grew stronger and felt like an urge to throw up, which I’ve literally never done, I finally realized it wasn’t something internal, as opposed to a freaking spell.

  Someone at one of the tables was trying to put a spell on me!

  Finishing the last bit of food on my tray, I turned to look at the other tables, since they’re mostly behind me. It took nearly a minute to narrow down the table, finding that it’s coming from the one with the youngest looking people here. A minute after that, I narrowed down the culprit. Can I explain how? No, not really, just like I can’t really tell how I can tell it’s a spell on me instead of, I don’t know, food poisoning.

  “Question for you guys.” My voice stopped the various conversations at our table instantly. “What should I do if someone’s trying to put a spell on me?”

  Conversation at the other tables petered off quickly at that.

  Armand laughed. “It depends on what it is?”

  “She’s trying to make me throw up, I think.”

  He must have looked over at the table of whispering freshman and caught the girl with the red face. “Oh, Renee hitting you with that?”

  “I don’t know if that’s her name. But the girl that looks crazy embarrassed right now. Not that she’s stopping the spell.”

  My table laughed. “She seems to be our freshman practical joker. There’s always at least one per dozenal, and she seems to be it for the new kids this year.”

  I could now overhear some of the kids at her table telling her to stop the spell. Unfortunately for her, whatever it is inside of me didn’t want it to stop and latched onto it and began pulling from her. I laughed, because I knew she didn’t realize that yet.

  “What’s so funny?” Tom asked.

  “The other kids are telling her to stop, but she hasn’t. She doesn’t know that she can’t stop it yet.” As you can imagine, that got a number of shocked looks coming my way from her table, along with a look of pure panic on her face when she finally tried to cut the flow of energy.

  “Look, just stop it!” One of the larger kids yelled and partially stood.

  The combination of the yelling and losing control of her spell set her over the edge and she began crying. “I can’t! I’m not doing it anymore!”

  “Bullshit!” One of the other kids yelled. “I can feel it!” He had his hands up, as if feeling heat coming off of the stream of energy flowing my way.

  For lack of a better word, it’s delicious.

  “I’m not doing it! I’m not!” She began crying harder, which made me upset to see. If she’s really just trying for a practical joke, then I should stop it. Now that I identified it and dealt with it, it doesn’t make sense to let whatever it is inside of me suck everything down. No idea what siphoning energy from a mage would do. I know with a shifter it stops their shifts, but could it kill a mage? No idea.

  “I can feel that you’re doing it!” The kid looked pissed as I stood up. She’s the only one at their table that caught me approaching, and she looked even more horrified as I reached them.

  “You done now?” I waved at my stomach. “Armand said you like practical jokes, right? This was supposed to be a joke?”

  She nodded quickly and a blind person could have felt the sincerity coming off of her.

  The large kid that first yelled at her stood, bristling with anger. “What are you doing to her?!”

  “I’m not talking to you; I’m talking to her.”

  “Look, bitch, you’re talking to me now!”

  “As a matter of fact, I’m not. I’m talking to Renee.” I gave her a second. “You really done?” Another quick head nod and more tears than I would have expected. Thankfully, whatever it is inside of me that sucks everything up decided to agree with me and the flow of power cut off, leaving her gasping. “Good, then I’m done, too.”

  She cradled herself, still crying, as she stared at me. “I’m sorry!” I almost didn’t catch it through the crying.

  I nodded back at her. “It’s all right. Just remember, I don’t have a clue what the hell is going on around here. I’m not always in control of my reaction, and I sort of have to default to everything being an outright attack right now since I don’t know squat about anything.”

  “I’m so sorry!” More tears.

  “Like I said, it’s all right. No harm no foul.” I moved to step back, but the huge kid, easily 6 feet tall to my 5’2”, grabbed my arm, making me look down.

  “What did you do to her!”

  Images in my mind of how to react to my grabber ran the gamut from talking to feasting on his organs. Far too many of them resulted in me consuming parts of him. I went with talking. For now. “I stopped her from making me throw up.”

  His grip tightened on my arm. “Don’t give me that shit! She’s crying! What did you do to her?!”

  I looked down again. “Well, for starters, I didn’t grab her arm. I appreciate what you’re trying to do. So far, it doesn’t seem like a ton of kids stand up for others here, although it’s not quite as bad as the administration led me to believe. Then again, you’re standing up for the aggressor. She’s the one that cast a spell on me. From where I stand, if you start the ball rolling, you have to be prepared for them to kick it back far harder than you imagined.”

  His eyes shifted to a pretty golden color as he growled. “Don’t give me that shit! You did something to her!”

  That made me sigh, because my window of talking was closing quickly. “Look, seriously, she cast a spell on me. I stopped it. She rather freaked out because of how I stopped it. Now you’re escalating something that’s done as far as I’m concerned. Hopefully, as far as she’s concerned, as well.”

  His growl was pretty much bestial. “I heard about you yesterday. You think you’re some queen shit here or something! I…”

  I laughed. I didn’t mean to, but I did. “I’m sorry, I think I’m queen shit? Is that what you said? I never once said that yesterday. To anyone. What I did, was stop someone from being forced to have sex with Corey. Then when he threatened me with rape, I stopped him. I also stopped him when he threatened to murder me. Then I was attacked by Connor and Lacie and I stopped them as well. Maybe you missed it, but I’m new to all of this. A few days ago I didn’t even know I was supposed to be a mage of some sort. Every bit of this entire mess is new to me. You guys want to fight over who’s in charge? Knock yourself out but keep me out of it. I’m not interested in the slightest. I don’t care who’s in charge. I don’t care who’s in last place. In fact, put me in last place. But guess what? Being in last place doesn’t mean I have to take everything you decide to dish out.” I nodded at Renee. “She decides to play a prank on the new girl. I get it. I can even appreciate that it’s kind of funny. The issue is that I don’t have a clue what’s going on, so I have to pretty much assume everyone is out to hurt me.” I stared down at his hand on my arm. “Sort of like you grabbing me. Is that what this is? Are you planning to hurt me?”

  His table broke out into muttered curses as people told him to let go of my arm. The combination of responses made him back off a little and look around.

  Unfortunately, he didn’t listen.

  I’m not sure what I expected, but a punch from his free hand was not one of them. Nor was the fact that he kept his grip on my arm and yanked me back in, where he proceeded to hit me four or five more times. Each punch fractured bones in my face, but the pain was fleeting at best. Just like with before, I recognized the pain, but then it was immaterial.

  Far more immaterial than the fact that he was still hitting me. I can’t allow that.

  More importantly, the thing inside of me can’t allow that.

  He pulled back for another hit and my slap rang out like a gunshot, as did the shattering of his jaw. The impact threw his head to the side, spraying blood across the floor and almost driving him from his feet. His grip on my arm kept him upri
ght.

  He really should have let go.

  He let go when I broke his shoulder on that side. His cries were cut short as I lifted him up and slammed him down onto the table, feeling the wood crack beneath him. His flailing limbs annoyed me, so I stilled them.

  How?

  I rammed the random pieces of silverware left on the table through him and into the tabletop.

  No idea how I did it, but I managed to get four knives, six forks, and three spoons through him and then bend the tops. He could either tear them through or remain there for someone to remove them.

  When I ran out of cutlery, I found myself crouched over him on the table, staring down into his fear-filled eyes as I licked his blood from my hand. My face had healed already.

  “Like I said, I appreciate what you were trying to do by standing up for someone, but I won’t allow you to hurt me. I have nothing to lose.” I looked around at the other kids in the room. Most of them watched as if I’d attack them. “Let me be clear to everyone here. A few days ago I tried to kill myself when a vampire stopped me. I don’t know why he did it, but he did. That led to the crapfest that is my life right now. When I say I have nothing to lose, I mean that, I have nothing to lose. My entire family is gone. My life is gone. Everything I own was bought by the FBI and sits in my dorm room. Everything. So, feel free to come at me, but I have no reason not to fight back with everything that I can. I don’t even know what all that is, so we get to experience it together. You guys think you’re fighting for position in the school that I don’t remotely care about, but to me it’s my life. I’m kind of on the ragged edge right now, and I’m more than willing to throw people off ahead of me.” I nodded at Renee. “What happened with Renee is done. It was an attempt at a practical joke. I get it. Armand explained it. It’s done and over with. I don’t plan to retaliate or get back at her. Nothing.” I licked more blood from my arm. “Except you had to push it. Push me. I don’t even know your name…”

  “Dawson.” Someone supplied from the room.

  “Huh, okay, Dawson.” I ran out of blood to lick. “You decided to push things and here we are. Had you not hit me, I would have walked away. You set that ball rolling, confident that you were playing a game.” He tried to push his way through the table when I leaned in suddenly. “This is my life! This isn’t a game for you to try to Lord it over me. Play your dominance games with the others, I don’t care. Pull me in again, and I won’t stop. Do you understand?”

  He didn’t respond, just stared up at me, eyes riveted on my hand as I wiped at the pooling blood on the table, then licked my hand clean.

  “Do you understand?”

  “Yes!” He tried for a yell but didn’t quite make it. Maybe it’s the spoon I lodged through his stomach? No idea.

  I nodded at him. “Good. Just so you know, you owe me clothes if any of these are ruined. It’s bad enough Jacie and Connor wrecked my shirt and bra yesterday.”

  No one moved as I stepped down from the table to find Headmaster Barnes watching from the side.

  “Good morning, Headmaster Barnes!” Did I expect him to respond? No, not really. I wasn’t disappointed.

  In fact, no one responded as I emptied my tray, not even my dozenal as they followed me out of the caf. We were more than halfway back to the dorms before I spoke up. “Okay, why are you guys freaked out?”

  That got some snickers, but they were still weirded out sounding.

  “Seriously, Ceri, that was fucked up.” Tom took the lead. “I thought you were going to kill him.”

  That made me shrug. “I’ll be honest, I have no idea how or why I can do any of these things, but most of the options I saw in my head would have killed him. Her, too. I tried to keep it low-key enough that he’d be able to heal from it. Unlike the eyes yesterday.”

  “The eyes?” Christine asked.

  I poked my hand forward. “What I did to Corey and the teacher? I didn’t know they could be healed from that. I was planning on them being blind for life.”

  “Jesus Christ, that’s fucking terrifying!” She did sound horrified.

  “You know? That’s pretty much what Ms. Darvel said when I told her that.”

  They followed me back to my room, where I changed out of the blood splattered shirt and pants. They even let me soak them in cold water before urging me to grab my books and head to class. No one really said anything to me directly on the way there, probably afraid to set me off or something.

  Chapter 11

  I have to say that classes were better than I expected. My dozenal treated me better by the time we got to our first class, and I learned that we had Ms. Darvel and math to start the day. I was beyond shocked to find out that I pretty much tested out of math, at least for the most part. That means that I can tutor if I want, which is nice, but I still have to do the homework and take the tests. It’s just that I’ve surpassed what they intended for us to learn in the class. True to what she indicated; I didn’t learn anything new as she taught through the day’s lesson.

  English was next, with Mr. Mitchum. I got an additional shock to find out that I passed that test with flying colors as well. Just like with math, that doesn’t buy me much in the way of missed assignments. I still have to do them and pass everything, but they expect more from me now.

  My shock continued through science and social studies. Science is with a thin woman by the name of Mrs. Yarnovsky. She’s funny as can be and loves the subject, so that’s good. Unfortunately, she’s teaching stuff I learned two years ago. So that part stinks. Social Studies is with Mr. Abbington, and I did the same there as well. He’s sort of a forgettable teacher, but not too bad.

  In all, I have to wonder why my murderous parents bothered to teach us to the point that I tested out of the four main subjects for a prestigious school. What’s up with that? Do they somehow siphon off our brains as well?

  You know what? I don’t want to know that.

  Lunch was, thankfully, less eventful than the day before. Or even of breakfast or dinner. None of the other kids really talked to me still, but I was okay with that. For now. Corey and Connor continued to watch me and talk quietly, but they never approached or said anything loud enough for me to hear them. Lacie still hadn’t shown up, and no one mentioned her to me.

  “Okay, what did you think about classes?” Paul was the first to corral me on them.

  “They were pretty good.” Man, this food is amazing.

  “Did you really basically test out of them?” Sarah asked.

  “Yeah? Apparently? Who knew home schooling would be good that way.”

  Leticia laughed. “That’s crazy. Looks like you get to be our tutor if you’re interested?”

  “Does that mean I have to trade lessons for sex like someone mentioned yesterday? Or can I trade for the classes I don’t have a dang clue about?”

  The table laughed. “No, you can do it for free if you want, but most people will charge at least something.” Paul answered. “Sex is always popular, but tutoring sessions in the stuff you don’t know would probably work, depending on who you can sit with. Where do you need the help?”

  I finished my latest huge mouthful of food. “Defense and magical species at a minimum. No idea about magic. I’m not sure where they’ll place me there.”

  My response got a few laughs from other tables. “Corey’s the current reigning tutor for defense, so I’m not sure you’re gonna get lessons from him.” A young girl I hadn’t heard speak from another table got my attention.

  I looked back at Corey as he glared at me, then at the girl. “No, you’re probably right.” More laughter. “What about magical species?” I asked that in general.

  “Corey again, but this time Mitch is also a tutor.” The same girl answered. I followed her gaze to find a handsome black kid smiling my way. He nodded and gave me a jaunty salute, which I returned.

  “All right. Then the afternoon should be fun.” I ate a few more bites. “I couldn’t even finish the first two tests, so it’ll be
interesting to see how basic things can get for me. Maybe flash cards or something like that?” More laughter.

  “What about magics? How did you do on that test?” The same girl asked.

  “No clue. I broke it and the room was demolished when I was done, but I have no idea what that means.”

  Too much of the room was silent at that point. I didn’t take that as a good sign.

  Then again, no one attacked me somehow, so maybe it’s a good sign? I can hope.

  After lunch, I followed everyone to the defense class with Ms. Darvel. I can’t help thinking about it as defense against the dark arts, or whatever that class was called in Harry Potter, but the others are pretty adamant that it’s not the same. At all. For one thing, it’s defense against pretty much everything.

  “Seriously, I don’t get it,” I followed them into the huge room, with thick pads on the floor, “why are we learning defense like this? I mean…why is it a class?”

  Ms. Darvel was at the front of the space. She had a big white board behind her and was sporting…pretty much nothing. She was naked as the day she was born. No one else reacted like it was anything strange. “Come in everyone. You know where your seats are.”

  The others moved to their seats and I waited to figure out where they all sat before sitting in an open spot. So, why exactly is she naked?

  “All right! Then welcome to defense!” She looked inordinately pleased to say that. “Ceri, I’ll answer your question even though it wasn’t really meant for me.” That’s good, right? “We teach defense here because it’s simply too dangerous for most supernaturals to not have at least some idea how to defend themselves.” She began pacing. “You’ve been here a bit over a day at this point and have been in three different altercations that I know of.”

  “Are you counting the fight at breakfast?” Steph had a huge smile on her face as she asked that.

  That brought the pacing to a stop. “Oh…no? I was thinking of the fights with Corey, Connor, and Lacie. What did I miss?”