Tompkin's School (For The Extraordinarily Talented Book 1)

by Slick, Tabi

  “Kain!” I shouted once I spotted him.

  He turned his head and saw me trying to get his attention.

  “What’s up?" He asked.

  “Let’s walk to lunch,” I suggested, “I’ve got something to show you.”

  “Okay…” he said, skeptically raising an eyebrow.

  “Come on,” I said.

  We walked outside and headed the back way to the cafeteria.

  “So,” I began, “you know how I was able to communicate with you just before the full moon?”

  “Yeah,” he replied.

  “Well, I was thinking,” I said, “that it would be a good idea to try to practice controlling my powers now. Especially since Chuck sent me that note about the social.”

  “Wait, what?" He stopped, “what note?”

  “Oh, I guess I forgot that bit,” I stopped, “but one more thing, you didn’t tell me you were in the Honor’s Society!”

  “Yeah,” he shrugged, “it’s no big deal.”

  “Ha!” I laughed, “Sure.”

  “Anyways,” he replied, “don’t change the subject! You’re going to that social?”

  “Yeah, Lee asked me,” I said.

  “And what does Chuck have to do with this?" He asked.

  “Well,” I began, “after Lee asked me I went back to my room and this letter was slipped under the door to my room.”

  I pulled out the note from my bag and handed it to him.

  “Is this some kind of joke?" He asked, after reading it.

  “I have no clue,” I said, “but it’s at his Uncle’s house and he’s going to be there. So, we have to have a way to protect ourselves.”

  “So, what were you going to show me?" He asked.

  I looked around as we walked around the back of the cafeteria. We were now out of site and so I looked around for something to show Kain what I had done this morning. I decided to grab a pen out of my bag and use that.

  “Watch,” I said.

  I set the pen in my left palm and directed my entire focus to it. I raised my right hand and moved it over the pen. Suddenly, the pen was no longer lying on its side and stood upright. I heard Kain gasp as I waived my hand and the pen began to float in the air on its own.

  “How?” Kain asked.

  The pen fell to the ground as my focus was redirected to Kain.

  “I just basically zone out on that one thing I want to do,” I said, “you need to get a grasp on this, too. We will be sitting ducks at that social if we don’t have a way to protect ourselves.”

  “I doubt it’s going to be that simple,” Kain replied, “for some reason Chuck wants you there and I don’t have the slightest clue as to why.”

  “Did you find anything by following Theodore?” I asked.

  “I didn’t find the journal,” he answered, “but I’ve confirmed it has to be in his mansion.

  “How do you figure?” I asked.

  “Someone visited him,” he began, “looked like a reporter. Must have made him nervous or something because after the guy left, Theodore went straight home and I saw him go through a secret passageway behind this giant portrait in his gallery.”

  “Are you sure he didn’t see you?” I asked.

  “I’m pretty sure,” he shrugged, “anyways, now we just need to get to that hidden door because I bet you anything it’s in there.”

  “Yeah, along with whatever else he’s hiding,,” I commented, “he sure must love secrets.”

  “I’ll say,” he agreed, “come on, let’s get some food, witch.”

  “Hey, don’t call me that!” I scolded.

  “Well, what else could you be?" He asked.

  “Ha ha,” I rolled my eyes, “a witch isn’t as cool as what I am.”

  “Oh really?” Kain laughed.

  “Or what we are, rather,” I added, “come on, you’ve got to try to do something.”

  “Like what?" He asked.

  “Try picking up the pen,” I suggested, “without touching it.”

  “Fine,” he caved, “but only if we go straight to the cafeteria after I try this. I’m starving.”

  “Sure,” I agreed.

  He sighed and then focused his attention on the pen. He stretched his hand over the pen as he stared straight at the pen.

  “See?" He said, “now let’s eat.”

  “No, that should’ve worked!” I said.

  “Maybe this is just your power,” he shrugged.

  “But we both have the ability to do magic with our hands,” I said, “we already experienced it when we transitioned the first time.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you,” Kain commented, “can we go?”

  “Fine,” I sighed, still frustrated that that didn’t work.

  I bet he wasn’t focusing enough. We headed to the back entrance to the cafeteria and as Kain reached for the door handle we heard a terrible crunch sound. It was the sound of metal breaking. We both stopped.

  “What was that?” I asked.

  Kain let go of the handle and as he did so a handful of metal came with him.

  “Whoa,” I gasped.

  “Uh, something must’ve been wrong with the handle,” Kain said.

  “I don’t think so,” I grinned.

  “Don’t say anything,” he scolded, “let’s just go eat.”

  “I’ll get this one,” I laughed as I opened the other door.

  We entered the cafeteria that was filling up with students. I didn’t see any of our friends yet, so we sat our stuff on the nearest table.

  “So, I heard you’re taking Kia to the social,” I said, “are you two a thing again?”

  “We were never a thing,” Kain replied, “and yeah we’re going together.”

  “What’s that all about?” I asked as we headed to the food line.

  “I didn’t know who else to ask,” Kain shrugged, “and she was already going. Nosy much?”

  “Just trying to make conversation,” I said, “on another note, aren’t you excited about that power?”

  “Izzy!” Kain hissed, “not here!”

  “No one’s listening,” I whispered, sarcastically.

  “Still,” Kain replied, “no need raising any suspicion. Definitely not with Chuck watching our every move.”

  “Fine,” I shrugged, “but we definitely have to find a time to practice.”

  “Don’t know how that’s going to happen,” Kain said.

  “Come on! We have to get a grip on all of our power before the social,” I reminded.

  “I didn’t say we weren’t going to try,” Kain added, “calm down.”

  I rolled my eyes and focused on getting my food. It was Indian food day. Great, now my breath was going to smell like curry. I opted for a salad, a side of rice, and called it a day. I spotted Kia back in the line waiting to get her tray and waived.

  “Kia!” I called.

  When she looked up I motioned to our table before taking my seat. As I got comfortable I felt someone brush past me. I looked up and gasped as I felt a stabbing pain explode in my head. I saw the curly brown hair and instantly knew who it was.

  “Amadeus,” I whispered.

  “Yes,” he said.

  “What do you want?” I demanded.

  “I know what you did,” he replied.

  “You now what?” I asked.

  “I saw what you can do,” Amadeus clarified.

  “So, that was you this morning,” I sighed, “and?”

  “And I wanted to let you know,” he chuckled, “that I think we’ll just keep this between you and me...for now.”

  “Is this some sort of threat?” I growled.

  “Call it a mutual understanding,” he replied, “let’s just say you’ll owe me one, Izara.”

  I heard chairs move and I felt the stabbing pain lift. I slowly opened my eyes and saw that Kia and Leslie taking a seat at our table.

  “Oh, hey Amadeus!” Kia said, “are you joining us?”

  “Yeah,” I heard him say.


  His voice was like listening to nails on a chalkboard, sending painful shivers throughout my body.

  “I’ll go get my food,” he said, as I heard him stand up to leave.

  I really wished he’d find another table to torture. Kain finally came over to the table, taking the seat that Amadeus was just sitting in, and the table soon filled with random conversations as we ate our food.

  “We have a problem,” I whispered to Kain.

  “Does this have something to do with that Amadeus guy?" He asked.

  “Yeah,” I replied, “he saw me use magic this morning.”

  “What?" He hissed.

  “Yup,” I said.

  “How could you be that careless?" He demanded.

  “I thought I was alone!” I replied.

  “Well, you weren’t,” he said, shaking his head.

  “Thanks, captain obvious,” I said, sarcastically.

  “So, what did he want?” Kain asked.

  “Nothing,” I shrugged, “yet.”

  “Great,” Kain chuckled, “now in addition to some psycho wanting to kill us we have Amadeus threatening to expose us.”

  “Yeah, I know it’s bad,” I said.

  “If Theodore or Chuck get word of this…” Kain didn’t even have to finish that sentence. We both knew the consequences of that.

  We both sat there in silence. Not wanting to verbalize the obvious. We were screwed and in more ways than one. But I kept thinking about our developing power. I mean the potential power I felt when in transition seemed limitless. If we could muster even half of it by the social we could be unstoppable. We just had to focus on that instead of whatever Amadeus wanted from us. He wasn’t exactly an immediate problem, it seemed. We couldn’t lose focus on what needed to be done first which was getting our power under control.

  “Want to meet someplace to practice this weekend?” I asked.

  “Sure,” Kain shrugged, “not sure what use it is. Seems like it’s all random.”

  “Well, we have to make it not random,” I replied, “I think I know the perfect place.”

  We agreed to meet early Saturday morning where the paths to the two dorms met. It would either be successful or a complete fail. Either way we had to try. I suddenly realized that we hadn’t been keeping up with any conversations with our friends and tried to catch up.

  “It’s leg day at the gym for me today,” Duran was saying.

  “I thought that was yesterday,” Laurent laughed.

  “Don’t you have basketball practice after this?” I asked.

  “Now that the season’s over it’s just basically PE,” Kain commented.

  “Huh, well cool,” I smiled.

  “Not really,” Lee laughed, “coach mostly has us lifting weights, but we don’t get to even practice shooting hoops.”

  “But you get to work out those sexy arms,” Kia winked.

  The table laughed and continued eating and making conversation.

  I glanced around the cafeteria and spotted Chuck seated not too far. He seemed so normal from this distance, not like a dangerous man at all. But he was the perfect example of how looks deceive. The true dangerous one is the one that looks perfect on the outside. The one who has the most to hide tries the most to fit in. But what did that mean for Kain and I? We did have something to hide. How long would it be until everyone knew that we were the ones responsible for that murder in the city?

  “Izzy!” Kia suddenly called, interrupting my thoughts.

  “What?” I asked.

  “What do you think about going to the concert?" She replied, “Amadeus has several extra tickets.”

  “Cool, who’s playing?” I asked.

  “Katy Perry, of course!” Kia said, “It’s going to be amazing.”

  “Really?” I replied, “That’s awesome! Yes, I’m in.”

  Even if it was Amadeus who was providing the tickets, I wasn’t going to miss this! I had no idea that someone like Katy Perry would come to a deserted place like this. Although it was probably in the city, but still.

  “What do you think, Kain?” Kia asked.

  “Ha,” he smirked, “no thanks.”

  I saw the brief reaction Kia had to Kain’s response and I felt bad. She really did like him and this would be a chance for them to hangout.

  “When is the concert?” I asked.

  “It’s in January,” Amadeus replied, causing a shiver of pain to roll down my spine.

  “I know it’s not until after the break,” Kia said, “but it’s a huge event, planning should be done early.”

  “Come on, Kain,” I urged, “don’t be a downer.”

  “We’ll see,” he shrugged.

  “Oh, we’re going to be late!” Kia commented, “Let’s go.”

  “I thought drama didn’t start until 1:20,” I said.

  “Yeah, but we’re going to Norman to see a play,” Kia said, “remember?”

  Not really, but I just shrugged and followed Kia’s lead in standing up and as I did so Lee grabbed my arm before I could go return my tray.

  “Wait a minute,” Lee smiled, “I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye.”

  “I’ll be back,” I laughed.

  Lee reached his hand towards my cheek and the butterflies returned, making me nervous. I hoped he wasn’t about to do what I thought he was going to do. I didn’t want our first kiss to be in the middle of the cafeteria in front of everyone! He leaned forward and instead of a kiss he gave me a hug and my heart raced. I was surprised that this made me feel both relieved and disappointed. But it was definitely not the time or place for that so I would take the hug.

  “See you later,” he whispered.

  “Bye,” I smiled.

  “Come on, Iz,” Kia chuckled, “no pda.”

  I just laughed and followed her to return our trays and headed out towards where the buses usually picked us up.

  “Looks like Ms. Morgan is back,” Kia pointed out.

  “Hey, so I saw what happened in there,” I said.

  “What are you talking about?” Kia replied.

  “Come on,” I said, raising an eyebrow, “when Kain shut down the concert idea? What was that?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kia shook her head as we climbed into the first available bus.

  “Seriously?” I replied, “your face was so obvious! I know you were disappointed that Kain didn’t seem excited about the concert.”

  “Ugh, whatever,” Kia sighed, “I just don’t know what we’re doing? He asks me out to the social and as soon as I ask him to go to a concert he just shuts it down?”

  “There it is,” I said.

  “I’m just confused, Iz,” Kia said, “can you talk to him? Maybe find out subtly how he feels about me?”

  “Look,” I began, “I’m totally not known for my subtly, but we’ll figure this out. If it’s meant to be it’ll happen.”

  “Yeah, we’ll see,” Kia said, “I just don’t know how many times I have to apologize for him to forgive me.”

  “I know my brother, okay?” I said, “I’m sure he’s not still hung up about what happened at the party. If anything he has more of a problem with Katy Perry than anything else.”

  “I hope that’s all,” Kia commented.

  “He’ll go, okay?” I replied, “even if I have to drag him there. I know he likes you. Otherwise he’d go to the social by himself.”

  Kia just shrugged and we road the rest of the way in silence. I couldn’t worry about her too much right now, not with all the other people threatening us right now. I had to focus on exploring the depth of my power. I knew I could do more than just move things, but conjure things as well and probably so much more. And Kain could do the same if not more than I could. He just had to put his mind to it and then we would be ready for the social.

  Chapter 11: Fabulist Swing

  Finals were soon over and the only thing left before winter break was the social. Kain and I had been working hard to tap into our full
moon power and we had finally gotten a few tricks up our sleeve. While others worried about what they were going to wear and how to dance to impress, Kain and I were scheming to retrieve the journal. Kain’s scouting had determined that the journal was indeed in that mansion, but not in the most obvious hiding places. We had to be careful as to not draw anyone's attention, especially not to our dates. But the plan seemed to be unfolding perfectly. We would arrive, dressed in our finest, and ensure that the punch was thoroughly spiked so that everyone was distracted. This would allow us to spend the rest of the time looking for any clues for a basement or secret hiding spot. Granted, it wasn’t the best plan in the world, but it was the only one we could muster. In addition, I would be able to move things with a wave of my hand and conjure small simple things like a key if necessary. This could get us into any safe and if someone came after us? Kain could beat them to a swift and silent pulp.

  “Oh my word!” Kia exclaimed, interrupting my attempts at applying mascara.

  “I am so excited about this party tonight,” she continued.

  “I know,” replied, “I can’t wait either.”

  “I still think you should have gone with that mint colored ball gown,” Kia commented.

  “I know,” I shrugged, “but I’ve got something just as amazing as that one.”

  “Eek, I can’t wait!” Kia jumped with joy, even though we still had a full day of classes ahead of us.

  “Kia, we still got classes to go to,” I reminded.

  “I know,” Kia smiled, “but then we have the most amazing start to winter break to look forward to! Come on, you can’t tell me you’re not excited about this social? It’s at the president's house!”