by Vance Huxley
After beating it around a little, topping up the bits of lead every week wouldn’t be a big chore, even when some rough calculation came up with thirty-eight trainees who would be needing them. That didn’t include the seven scattered around the country, but a bit more discussion came up with a solution. Those would be advised to spend a few hours a week draining dregs of magic from a hedgerow or immature trees into a lead bar. The concentrated magic would allow them extra glyph casting sessions. Teaching the plant draining glyphs went into the starter procedure for any new trainees.
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During the week before the new term started their GCSE results arrived. With huge relief Abel found he’d got A grades in IT and Graphic Art, with B or C in four others including English and what had to be a barely scraped C in maths. Theoretically, no grades were passes or failures, but everyone knew employers wanted a C grade or better. With gritted teeth Abel agreed with Kelis and Rob, they’d all take biology as an additional subject the next two years to help with their healing.
Kelis had managed six A grades, with C grades in French and science. Kelis and Abel seriously wondered if they could fit in extra science lessons, to help with the earth glyph. Rob’s surprise turned out to be an A in science; he’d apparently learned more than he thought. That might explain why he seemed to be progressing faster than the other two in turning earth into rock.
Though when Abel suggested that, Rob gave Graphic Art the credit. He treated the individual grains like pixels in a picture, which could be moved or mixed to give any colour or shape he wanted. At least he thought they would when he perfected recognising the pixels, though he could already sort the softer bits out of a handful of dirt. The other two tried that but hadn’t Rob’s belief or skill. For once even Kelis had to give him best, though she promised to catch up.
Ferryl/Claris went to Stourton with her mum, without Abel, because the school wanted to interview her. Whatever Mrs. Ellsworth had said or done, the school were seriously considering letting Claris resit the whole year. Ferryl/Claris dressed to emphasise that she still hadn’t recovered physically and promised not to command anyone. By evening the three in Brinsford started to wonder if Mrs. Ellsworth had tried kidnapping though a text saying “mum persistent. Will be late,” reassured them.
Ferryl/Claris finally came back to Brinsford after dark, delivered by a resigned Mrs. Ellsworth. She’d tried persuasion and bribery, but had no answer to her daughter’s obvious fear of living in town. Though once her mum finished nattering to Kelis’ mum and left, Ferryl/Claris sounded triumphant. Abel hadn’t forbidden mazzlement, so with whatever Mrs. Ellsworth had said and done beforehand the panel would be strongly recommending Claris got another chance.
This time, Ferryl/Claris knew Claris really would be a model student and definitely get superb grades. When Ferryl finally found a long-term host acceptable to Abel, Kelis and Rob, Claris Ellsworth would remember all her lessons and could get a decent job.
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Abel soon had another problem. The mystery calls to Claris’ phone increased, then his own rang with a withheld number. “Do you still want the key? If not, release the youngling.”
“I want the key, but the host is still weak. I want her fully fit, so I can buy her back at the meeting.” The first Leech had believed Abel could buy back Rob, so it had to be worth trying on the Firstseed.
“Let me speak to the youngling. It will be able to tell if she is strong enough.”
“Nope. You don’t get to talk to that thing and plot. You talk to me, I talk to the Leech, and we fix up a date. Then I come to your place, and we negotiate.” Abel hoped it would accept a bucket full of magic gold for the key.
The woman’s voice didn’t sound as if it heard no very often. “No? I have what you want, so I set the terms.”
“You don’t want your leechy-baby back? Because if we don’t deal, it’s history.”
“You will kill the host, a fellow pupil at your school?” Definitely not used to being crossed up, Abel thought.
“A girl who hated me, and I hated her. Now I’ve got her hidden away, tied up. What do you think?” Abel did his best to channel Pendragon, some sort of arrogant sorcerer.
“Is that why you wish to buy her, to make her suffer even more?” The woman laughed. “You might find that difficult. Very well, I will give you a number. Call me when you tire of playing with the host, and we will arrange for her to bring you here.”
“What if the Leech won’t tell me where to go?” Abel didn’t think the Leech in the toad would be very helpful, so he had to try and get an address.
“If you say you are coming to meet me, it will be very keen. The youngling will be missing the nest. Do you have a pen?” She reeled off a number and Abel repeated it. “Do not take too long or I may seed another schoolgirl. One you care about.” She rang off.
When Abel told her, Ferryl promised to spend more time sifting through Claris’ patchy memories. To find any clues she had to relive a speeded up version of Claris’ life after being taken, ugly and painful memories. Abel didn’t push for details, just asked how far Ferryl had got. Ferryl had found memories of Claris in a night club, then feeling strange and passing out. She woke up completely controlled by the adult Leech that she eventually passed to Henry. After that she’d blacked out again. Claris woke up chained to a wall with the seed awake inside her. Ferryl refused to give details of what happened then.
Claris remembered the pain as the seed grew until it took control of her, eventually turning her into a puppet. Her chains were removed and the Leech moved her to a room with a window, on perhaps the third floor. In among the memories of pain and disgust, Ferryl had seen glimpses of a building Abel thought sounded like a cinema, with a big red sign outside. So far none of the memories came through clear enough to tell which building Claris had been held in before coming to Brinsford.
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Another meeting with Mr. Forester two days before school started led to a final revision in the Bonny’s Tavern rules. The game would also be available in German, because Laurence’s cousins had sent a message. They would translate the whole thing if Kelis sent them the final English version.
When Jenny’s dad mentioned her sudden urge to take extra lessons in biology and possibly science, the three mums pointed out it must be something to do with the game. Ferryl/Claris, at the meeting because she lived there now, already took biology and told them that understanding things like how muscles worked helped to make the monsters more realistic. The same applied to science, so a rock or metal shield in the game would react correctly to an intense point of heat. At least the parents found that funny, a game that encouraged the designers to study harder.
Jenny came over the last day of the holidays to collect her Abel-ex trophy, a sixteen millimetre diamond. She immediately took it into the garden and filled it with magic, producing an elasticated bracelet once her giggling settled down. That held the diamond against a glyph drawn on her skin, uncomfortable but then she could use it to top up during practice. Abel didn’t tell her about glyphs under the skin because Jenny kept pushing to catch up. His last attempt, with Zephyr helping, had left his skin itching. Kelis and Rob were hoping he’d figure it out with Zephyr’s help, so they didn’t have to work through the same problems.
The practice to date had used huge amounts of tree magic, impossible without the Dead Wood, so it would be unfair to even tell the other trainees. Jenny didn’t push for extra practice when she visited, but usually ended up getting some tuition. This time she had half an hour of concentrated glyph-throwing before filling up again, and managed a passable raincloud. She also dissolved in giggles again while hugging the tree afterwards.
Jenny seemed torn about Ferryl/Claris getting a letter accepting her back at school. They’d be in some of the same classes, which would seem strange. So would being friends with a previously bitter rival, especially as most of the school had no idea about magic or leeches. Though this year there’d be new captains for the
Acro dancers, because Ferryl/Claris would retire due to her health.
As Jenny left, the remaining four inspected the door of Castle House and once more wondered what lay behind it. Ferryl still hadn’t found a memory giving a view of the exterior of Claris’ prison so maybe they would never know. The first day back at school, now only tomorrow, soon dragged their discussion back to what would happen then.
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When the bus pulled up outside the school, a small crowd waited. The Tavern had decided on a show of solidarity, though from some looks it still wasn’t for Claris. The first reaction when Ferryl/Claris walked into school among a mixed group including both geeks and ex-seraphim wasn’t aimed at her. The canteen looked entirely wrong - chaotic. Taverners of different ages and taking different courses were sitting together, some with their non-Taverner friends. The segregation into strict social and age groups had gone, leaving an entirely different mix.
Many of the older athletes and the more affluent still sat as a group near the door, but now there weren’t the same sarcastic comments as others came past. One of the sixth form rugby players even had his eleven-year-old sister and her friend, both starting their first day, sat with him. The previous segregation hadn’t been hard and fast, but now it had shattered. Not just because of the Tavern, some of the previous elite who didn’t play had joined tables with the sort of teenagers Seraph would never have allowed them to talk to. The extent to which Seraph had used the magical imperative in her voice to stamp her own views on the older students really showed now, even if most would never realise it.
Though as the group around Abel and Claris headed for their usual table, the babble faltered. The tight group were conspicuous so people looked, then began to realise who they were. Abel had argued against the hand-holding in school, but half-heartedly because he’d got used to his alleged girlfriend. Kelis, Jenny and Rob were adamant. He would have to hold Ferryl/Claris’ hand now and then to get answers that only Ferryl Shayde had, so he may as well start off that way. If Abel only did it to answer difficult questions some bright spark might realise and nobody could even suspect that Ferryl Shayde had possessed the young woman.
“I was joking before. Now I really am buying a tent and moving into the countryside.” The lad who’d made the comment about Jenny and Abel must have been lower sixth because he’d come back this year. “What I can’t understand is the other two are walking along with him, and there’s not one sign of scratch-marks.” A ripple of laughter also led to some really curious looks at Jenny and Kelis.
Jenny put a hand out to ruffle Abel’s hair. “He’s quite sweet really, and a real gentleman. Just what a girl needs to practice holding hands. A few of the other possibilities seemed too keen on helping me practice Acro dancing in my leotard.” Kelis kept quiet for once, though she nodded and smiled quietly as Jenny continued. “Rob might have been a candidate but he’s already taken. He’s got his own fan club.” Since seven or eight younger pupils had called or waved to Rob when he came in, and at least half were female, that diverted everyone for a while. His Taverner fans laughed along with the others and waved again.
Despite the curious looks from non-Taverners when Claris sat with Abel and held his hand, most were more interested in why she’d come to school at all. When the questions started again at lunch, Ferryl/Claris stood up and raised her hands. “You’ve all got questions, and I won’t answer all of them. I’m having to take the year again because I messed up, big-time, and missed the exams. That isn’t the worst part, by a long way. I’ll just say don’t accept an invite to get you into a club, even from three other girls, and definitely don’t trade sips of drinks. I’m pretty sure none of them drank any of what I swigged. I woke up in a nightmare and totally hooked.”
A storm of muttering and exclamations went around the room, with some very loud comments about just saying no. Ferryl/Claris looked down and took Rob’s and Abel’s hands, holding them up in view. “Luckily I found friends in very unexpected places, really good friends.” She nodded towards Jenny and Kelis, then to a few Taverners. “I’m still not right, that sort of thing leaves a lot of scars. I’m very nervous in public but Jenny recommended a sweet guy, a real gentleman, who might help me through that.” She held Abel’s hand up a little higher. “I didn’t fancy the opposition if I’d asked Rob.”
The serious faces began to break into smiles as Rob’s fan club cheered. A few students, male and female, asked Claris to tell them when she felt better because they wouldn’t mind some sweet hand-holding. Most of the students became serious again very quickly though nobody pushed Ferryl/Claris about what had actually happened, or the hand-holding. Abel would bet those were the subject of the little conversations starting up all over the room.
The looks, quiet asides and occasional remarks of “sweet” when someone walked past Abel died away by Friday. The senior students, from year eleven up, were busy trying to get grips with their new curriculum. That included GCSE biology and science, both of which had a surge of new students. Mrs. Svengy, the biology teacher, looked completely baffled by the wide range of pupils who’d never shown any previous interest.
Within a fortnight everyone seemed to be used to Claris, even the teachers. Mr. Sanders made a point of waiting to take the register the first time Abel had a morning Graphic Art lesson, glancing at the door and then Abel with an enquiring look. He let the sniggers from the class build a little before asking for silence and getting on with checking them in. Jenny began practice with the Acro dancers, not only keeping her place but Mr. Beresford asked her to be one of the joint captains. According to Jenny, when she came over at the weekend to get her diamond topped up, magic training had helped keep her fit for Acro dancing. Ferryl/Claris refused to rejoin even when the sports master asked her, claiming she still wasn’t properly fit.
Mrs. Svengy began to get really enthusiastic when it became clear the new biology students weren’t just keen, they were carrying out voluntary extra studies out of school. She readily guided them to where they could learn more about human biology, claiming that knowing their own body benefitted anyone. Mrs. Svengy had no idea how much most of her new students agreed with that. Everything seemed to settle down, which should have been a great big warning sign!
Creature Rampage!
As the term progressed, more students began to greet Abel, Rob and Kelis as they passed by. Occasional comments led to the trio realising most were new recruits to Bonny’s tavern, beta players who didn’t know about magic. Even as the game continued to spread without any sort of organisation, the feedback ironed out any small discrepancies in the rules and gameplay. The spread of the game to younger players had an entirely unexpected result.
Since the weather had brightened up, Abel and his friends were hanging about in the doorway waiting for Jenny to join them on the playing field for lunch. “Hello Rob. Could you and your friends come to look at a problem please? Rachel said you should.” Despite her attempt at innocence Diane, Jenny’s younger sister, couldn’t hide her excitement. “Do you know where Jenny is?”
“Jenny went to see Mr. Beresford. Something to do with the Acro dancers but she should be here in a minute or two. Don’t worry, we’ll bring her.” As Diane turned away Abel sent Zephyr to ask Ferryl/Jenny to hurry. Heads turned as the magically aware Taverners saw the spooky-phone and a few began to drift over to see what was going on.
Diane paused before turning the corner leading to the back of the boiler rooms, the yard where the big waste skips were kept. Students didn’t usually come here, but Abel could hear voices even over the sound of Jenny running to catch up. The usually cheerful Diane looked serious now. “We might not need you, but Rachel wanted to have backup just in case.” She pointed ahead. “Round there David, one of the boys in our year, is being told he’s got to hand over half his lunch money.” Her face hardened. “Well not today. The Tavern have found a new mission.”
“What mission?” Abel started forward, but Diane got in the way so he stopped. “
Zephyr, what’s happening? Let the other three know.” Invisible to Diane, the sprite flew around the corner.
“Three big boys are telling a smaller boy something. He is frightened but saying no, because seven others are behind him, encouraging him. Rachel has a glyph in her hand, ready to cast.”
“Bullying!” Diane had to move or Kelis might have just run her down. Abel and the rest followed, then paused.
The obvious leader of the three larger boys had his hand out to the smaller one, sneering. “Your pathetic friends aren’t going to actually do anything. Most of them are girls. Now hand it over or you know what comes next.” Abel and his friends were more or less behind the three larger boys, so they hadn’t been seen yet.
Rachel, just behind the smaller boy, sneered right back. “You might get a shock, Davy. If he tries to hit you, William, punch him in the face.”
Abel winced because he remembered how that hurt his hands when he did it, but when he opened his mouth to say so Jenny whispered, “Hush.”
“You’ll break your fingers if you try, idiot. I’m going to punch you in the guts, because I’m smart enough not to leave marks. Do we get our money?” Davy raised a fist. He glanced at the boys to either side. “If any of those start, do the same. That includes any girls stupid enough to interfere.”
William, the smaller boy, clenched his fists and braced himself. “No more money. Never.”
Davy moved forward, one arm raised to block any punch and a fist drawn back to complete his threat. Rachel’s glyphs, two of them, flew out to nestle round William’s fist and it shot forward. Abel knew how that felt, because Ferryl had used his hand to punch with when they first met. The difference this time was obvious. William looked surprised as Davy staggered back and went down, but he wasn’t clutching his hand in pain.