While she was giving her instructions Conryu spotted a flash of red and was surprised to see Ms. Light standing a little ways off by herself, watching the proceedings. He wouldn’t have guessed the shy fire wizard was into golem fights. He waved and she wiggled her fingers before rushing away.
“You know her?” Dean Blane asked.
“Yeah, we met a while back walking toward the lake, though I haven’t seen her since.”
“Stay away from her.”
The hard tone in the dean’s voice surprised him. “Why?”
“She’s the First Sister of the Le Fay Sorority and most likely the one behind the attack on you. That woman’s dangerous.”
All wizards were dangerous, but the bashful fire wizard seemed about the farthest thing from a threat imaginable. “Really?”
“Really.” She turned to Sonja. “Let’s go talk to your prisoner.”
Conryu and Maria exchanged a look. Sonja and Crystal led the way back toward the woods. The path made for easy walking, though after the fight Conryu’s legs felt like limp noodles. Mrs. Umbra wasn’t in any better shape, but when he offered her a hand she waved him off.
It took ten minutes at Mrs. Umbra’s exhausted pace to reach the cliff. Sonja walked right to the edge and looked over. “What the hell?”
The rest of the group joined her. Halfway down the cliff was the stone fist and inside it was a dead… something. It hung limp, gray, and unmoving between the rock fingers.
The dean hopped over the edge and flew down for a closer look. It didn’t take long for her to return. “He’s dead. Damn it! I’d hoped we could extract some information.”
Conryu shivered at the way she said “extract.” He’d never heard the generally happy-go-lucky dean speak in such a harsh tone.
“It was a Red Path Fanatic.” Mrs. Umbra leaned on her stick, looking far older than her seventy years. “I fought them on the border. If one is captured it has the ability to stop its heart to avoid questioning. When it realized there was no chance of escape…”
She shrugged. That about summed it up. They’d probably never know what had prompted the insane creature to do what it did.
10
Midterm
After fighting a giant demon snake Conryu felt a good deal less anxious about the midterm tomorrow. He lay back on his bed and sighed as the pixie sent a cool breeze swirling around him. Good as it felt now he couldn’t wait until warm weather to really enjoy it. He wanted to learn the language of wind so he could ask her name and thank her properly, but they didn’t study languages outside their aligned element until second year. He just had to make do with thanking her in English since he knew she understood.
Sitting on the bed beside him was his homework, bonus homework in fact, from Mrs. Umbra. The black book contained the names and powers of over a hundred different demons, though not the snake that attacked the Grand Brawl. She wanted him to study and memorize as many of them as possible. If one of them should appear it would be useful for him to know their names so he could better assist in the banishing spell.
Conryu had managed ten listings before his eyes started to droop. It wasn’t as bad as the big book of boring magic he’d had to read before coming to school, but it wasn’t exciting by a fair bit either. Maria was intent on making one last effort at improving her warded box before the test tomorrow so he was on his own for entertainment.
When someone knocked on his door five minutes later it was with considerable relief and no little curiosity that he jumped up and went over to answer it. Standing outside his door was the pale girl that had blown him off on the day of The Awakening. She was staring at the floor and clasping her hands in front of her.
“Did you need something?”
She finally looked up at him, her pale-blue eyes damp from crying. “I’m going to fail the midterm. I’m the weakest one in our class and I’m going to fail. I just know it.”
“Have you been practicing?”
“Every day, but I can’t even make the light go out on the training block Mrs. Lenore gave us. How can you disintegrate a cube without even trying and I can’t even dim the light?”
Conryu chewed his lip and tried to think of something. “Do you want to come in? It’s kind of awkward talking out in the hall.”
She scurried past Conryu and stood in the middle of the room looking anywhere but at him. He couldn’t tell anything about her beyond her face and hands. It looked like they’d given her a robe one size too big.
“Why don’t you sit at the desk and try your spell? Maybe I’ll see something.”
She sat and took her light cube out along with a pre-drawn breaking circle. Looked like she’d been counting on his offering to help.
When the cube was in the circle she looked to him and said, “Why would you notice something now when you didn’t during class?”
Conryu didn’t want to say that he hadn’t been paying her casting the least attention in class so he changed the subject. “Look… Say, what’s your name anyway?”
“Kelsie. I’m from Central. My mom’s a wizard and so is my grandma. If I fail the midterm I’ll be an embarrassment to the whole family. You don’t know what the pressure’s like. They’re watching everything I do, ready to criticize any little mistake. Sometimes I want to scream or rip my hair out.” She was panting and her pale cheeks had turned bright red.
And he thought Maria took this shit too seriously. Yikes. “First thing is you need to get all that crap out of your head. When you’re getting ready to cast your breaking, all you should focus on is ending the spell in front of you. Any errant thought will weaken the magic. It’s all about mental discipline. Didn’t Mrs. Grundy cover this stuff in your self-defense class?”
He didn’t think Mrs. Grundy actually talked about discipline as it related to magic, but he didn’t want to let on that Mrs. Umbra had shared the secret with him, just in case it really was a secret.
“She might have. I didn’t pay much attention.”
“Okay, forget the spell. We need to declutter your head first.” Conryu dropped to the floor and sat in the lotus position. “Have a seat. Face me.”
Kelsie stared down at him from the chair at the desk. “I don’t see how this is going to help.”
“How long have you been practicing your way?”
“Five weeks.”
“How much success have you had?”
“None.”
“When’s the test?”
“Tomorrow.”
He raised an eyebrow. She sighed, left the desk, and sat on the floor facing him.
“Good. Now count backwards from a hundred, taking a breath with each number. If you lose your place you have to start over.”
“This is stupid.”
Conryu just stared at her.
“Fine.”
Two hours later Kelsie finally breathed out a “one.” That wasn’t actually terrible for a first effort. When his father had taught him that trick it had taken him days to make it to zero. Of course, he’d been five at the time.
“Good. Now go cast the spell. Don’t think about anything but the light going out.”
She scrambled to her feet and made her way over to his desk. Her hands went on either side of the circle. “Break!”
The light flickered and died, leaving the block as nothing more than an ordinary kid’s toy. Kelsie whirled around, her eyes wide. “I did it. I did it!” She jumped up and down and danced around.
Conryu got to his feet. “Congratulations. Remember how that felt tomorrow and you’ll be fine.”
She stopped dancing and looked at him, maybe for the first time. “Thank you. I know I was kind of bitchy that first day, but maybe we can start fresh.”
“Sure, after all, everyone was bitchy to me that first day. You didn’t throw tomatoes or try to kill me so that moves you off the top of my avoid list.”
She smiled and held out her hand. “To new beginnings.”
Conryu shook her hand. “New beginnings.”
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A long table had been set up in a conference room that the teachers used when they needed to discuss something affecting the whole dorm. There were thirteen seats, one for each of the dark magic students. The first-year light magic class numbered over fifty so they’d have to stand.
A line of windows covered one wall and let the bright morning light stream through. They’d gotten two inches of fresh snow during the night and the reflection made it almost blinding. Had the light students set the room up so the dark class would have to face the windows, making it harder to concentrate, or was it just a coincidence?
Conryu laughed at himself. After everything that had happened he was starting to see conspiracies everywhere. If he didn’t take care he’d end up as batty as Angus.
He leaned against the wall and yawned. He’d arrived a little early so there was only him and two other girls from his class in the room. They chatted about how difficult the test would be while making a conspicuous effort to ignore him. He’d gotten used to it at this point and didn’t care enough to take offense.
A few minutes later Mrs. Lenore entered along with three more girls from his class. The girls went to join their friends, but Mrs. Lenore walked straight to Conryu.
“I’d like to ask a favor,” she said.
“What sort of favor?”
“When your turn comes I’m going to have you break all the boxes that survive at the same time. I don’t want you to hold back when you cast the spell. Give it all you’ve got.”
Conryu frowned. She’d been telling him nothing but hold back, hold back, since they started studying breaking. “Why the sudden change of heart?”
Mrs. Lenore motioned him to follow her and went to the corner of the room, well away from the girls. “Do you know the light magic teacher, Mrs. Alustrial?”
Conryu shook his head. He hadn’t spoken to the woman and Maria hardly mentioned her.
“We started teaching the same year and every year she has at least one student whose wards we can’t break. Every damn year!” Her voice rose and she glanced over to make sure the others hadn’t noticed. “And every year she rubs my nose in it.”
“And this year you want to return the favor.”
“Yes. This midterm is nothing but a formality for you, that’s clear to everyone. But it will be a good way to test just how strong you are.”
“If it happens to embarrass your rival that’s a nice bonus, right?”
Mrs. Lenore shrugged. “I’m only human after all. And the snooty bitch needs to be taken down a peg.”
“If you can find some curtains for those windows it’s a deal.”
She glanced at the windows as if noticing them for the first time and bared her teeth. “Another of her dirty tricks. I’ll take care of it, never fear.”
Mrs. Lenore bustled out of the conference room. Where she would find curtains in the half hour before the test began he had no idea. It wasn’t his problem. The glare was annoying, but it didn’t actually affect the power of their spells.
A little while later all the students but Kelsie had arrived along with Mrs. Lenore who’d found a roll of thick cloth. She shanghaied a pair of girls into helping her hang it over the windows.
They’d barely finished with the makeshift curtains when what sounded like an approaching army stopped outside the door. It opened and a tall, slim platinum blond with gleaming white robes glided into the room. She had the lean, graceful figure of a ballet dancer. Behind her, in perfect lock step, marched the fifty-three members of the light magic class, including Maria, who didn’t even look at him.
That was weird. He thought he’d at least get a smile. She must be focused on the test.
Each of the girls carried a wooden box carved with interlocking runes. He wasn’t allowed to study them before the test began, but if the other girls had put in as much work as Maria they would all be well protected.
The door hadn’t quite closed when it burst open and Kelsie rushed in. “Sorry, sorry.”
She looked a mess. Her eyes were red with dark rings under them. Her hair went every which way. It didn’t look like she’d gotten a wink of sleep last night. He thought he’d gotten her calmed down yesterday, but apparently not.
“You look like hell.” Conryu moved closer and it was clear she was shaking. “What happened?”
“My mom called yesterday, a couple hours after we finished practicing. She warned me not to embarrass her, and said if I failed the test I couldn’t come home for Christmas. I’ve been throwing up all morning.”
Conryu moved behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. Everyone in the room was staring at him, but he ignored them. If he didn’t calm Kelsie down she really would fail.
“Take a deep breath.” He rubbed her slender but well-muscled shoulders. “Do the count. Your mom’s not here. Put her out of your mind. Come on, breathe.”
Over the next minute and a half the tension gradually left her. The racing pulse in her neck calmed. She’d be okay now.
“Better?”
“Thank you.” She squeezed his hand and took her place at the second to last seat on the left.
Despite her claims, Kelsie wasn’t actually the weakest girl in their class, just the least focused. Conryu sat at the last spot on the right. They’d funnel everything from weakest to strongest, with him getting anything that made it through to the end.
He worked a crick out of his neck and sighed. Part of him wanted Maria to do really well and make it all the way to the end, but another part didn’t want to be the one that broke her wards. Conryu didn’t think she’d be too pissed as long as she passed, but there was no guarantee.
Mrs. Lenore and Mrs. Alustrial stepped to the center of the room and all gazes followed them. It looked like a crow had landed beside a swan. The look Mrs. Alustrial gave his teacher, with just a hint of a sneer, finished making up his mind. Conryu was going to annihilate whatever they put in front of him. Mrs. Lenore was entirely too sweet to be treated that way.
“Alright,” Mrs. Alustrial said. “Just to be clear, my girls will hand their cases to the first person in line who will attempt to break it. If she fails it will move down the line until someone succeeds or everyone has failed. Questions?”
They’d gone over all this earlier in the week so everyone was already clear on the procedure. For some reason teachers liked to treat students like idiots at times like this.
Mrs. Alustrial turned to her counterpart. “All yours, Leena.”
Mrs. Lenore glared at the light magic teacher before focusing on her class. “Everyone take out your paper and pen and draw a breaking circle.”
Five minutes later they’d all completed their circles. The first light magic student handed her box to the first dark magic student and the midterm was underway.
Their weakest member managed to break the tenth ward she attempted thus assuring her a passing grade and the girl she defeated a failing one. Halfway through the test Kelsie broke a ward, leapt to her feet, and thrust a fist in the air.
Every light magic user in the room, including their teacher, stared at her until she sat back down. Conryu couldn’t stop grinning.
Maria’s turn came and she made it all the way to him where her box was added to a pile of three sitting before him. She glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. He wasn’t allowed to say anything during the test so he just shrugged. His turn would come soon enough.
Maria hated ignoring Conryu when they entered the testing room, but Mrs. Alustrial’s instructions were explicit. For the duration of the midterm the dark magic students were to be regarded as the enemy and treated as such. She didn’t know how to begin thinking about Conryu as her enemy, then he started rubbing Kelsie Kincade’s shoulders and it got a little easier.
To be fair it looked like the girl was on the verge of a heart attack or psychotic break. Maria knew as well as anyone Conryu’s shoulder rubs did wonders to calm a person down. And was he giving her meditation lessons? When had they gotten so friendly?
The last time she talked to him he claimed none of the girls in his class would so much as speak to him. Now he was getting touchy-feely with one of them. Maybe she hadn’t been paying enough attention to him.
Once the instructions were given the test began. It went smoothly until Corrie’s wards were broken by the first girl to attempt them. It was a shame, but Maria wasn’t too surprised. Corrie had only pulled a four hundred on her test so she was at the very bottom of the scale when it came to wizards. It was unlikely she’d ever move past the most basic spells.
When Kelsie leapt up and celebrated finally breaking a ward Maria had been more interested in Conryu’s reaction. He offered the satisfied grin she’d seen so often when something went his way. More importantly, why were there two boxes in front of him? He shouldn’t be letting them accumulate like that. What was he playing at?
Maria’s stomach tightened when her turn came up. Her nerves lessened with each attempt until her container reached Conryu. He took it and added it to the others. She caught his eye and raised an eyebrow, but he just shrugged. It wasn’t like they could talk in the middle of the test, but she really wanted to know what he was up to. Judging from the look on Mrs. Alustrial’s face she did too.
When the last light magic student had completed her midterm Mrs. Lenore said, “Well done, everyone. Now we have something special in store. For the first time since this test began one of my students will attempt to break multiple wards in one go. Conryu.”
So that was it. She sort of understood. As powerful as he was asking Conryu to break any of their wards was like asking him to crack an egg. But six at once? If he didn’t break them all did that mean he failed the midterm, or did he pass as long as one broke?
Conryu didn’t look especially concerned either way as he stacked boxes inside his circle. When the last one was in position he placed his hands on either side of the circle.
“Break!”
The Awakening Page 14