by Mark Lingane
“Yes, sir.”
“Okay, tubby, this is Les, who must be all of seven. Hit him with your stick, but wait until I say so.”
She swung wildly at the boy with a flurry of clacks and wallops. Bernhardt rumbled over and lifted her up off her back and out of the mud.
“Like to try again?” Thrown said.
She narrowed her eyes, screamed in rage, and charged at the boy.
Bernhardt lifted her out of the mud again.
“Would you like to know how to actually use the pole? I’ll take your silence as a yes. Bernhardt, lead her through the basics.” Thrown turned and walked back to his office.
“I’ll be taking you through your weapons training,” said Bernhardt. “Then we’ll see if you can learn to channel your anger through your training.”
He parried the blow coming in from her.
20
THE MONTHS ROLLED by as Melanie’s and Sebastian’s training continued, each growing stronger in their own way.
A staff hit Melanie in the stomach and she tumbled backward, falling over in the mud. With a determined look on her face she got up and attacked …
She parried the staff, twisted it around, and struck back. Bernhardt parried and swung the other end of the staff, knocking Melanie’s out of her hands. The staff hit her in the stomach and she tumbled backward, falling over in the mud.
With a determined look on her face, she got up, retrieved the staff, and attacked …
She deftly parried the staff, twisted it around and struck back. The two attackers reeled backward under the onslaught. One stumbled and fell; the other had his staff knocked out of his hands. She brought the end of her staff around, which was intercepted by a sword. The staff broke in two. The attacker hit her in the stomach and she stumbled backward, slipping over in the mud.
Bernhardt wandered over, lifted her out of the mud and handed her a sword …
He and Thrown were watching her fight against the new set of attackers. One was already on the ground, unconscious. And she never missed one day.
“She’s pretty good,” said Bernhardt. “She can’t do the brute-force stuff, obviously, but look at her go. She’s a dancing, twirling death machine.”
Melanie had both her blades out. Two men were attacking her from opposing sides. She was twirling between them while simultaneously parrying their blows. She brought both swords around and caught the sword of one of the men. She twisted and speared it into the ground.
She kicked the other man, who staggered away. She raised both swords, threw one of her own blades into the ground and leveled her remaining one at the throat of the closer man. She stretched out her other arm, releasing a catch and delivering a small pistol down her sleeve into her palm. She aimed it at the second man and pulled the trigger. It clicked harmlessly.
“How many weapons has she actually got on her?” Bernhardt asked.
“Nine. Including her mouth, ten,” Thrown replied. He applauded her as the two conscious attacking men scuttled away. “Good session, fatso. Now finish it off with a quick fifty chin-ups.”
She ran and leaped up to the bar, flying through the repetitions. After the fifty, she dropped and waved at Thrown to have his go.
He smiled at her. “Not today. I forfeit.”
“Are you saying I’m not fat?”
“From now on, I believe it would take a braver man than I. You are the Armed Venus incarnate, Thalestris herself. But your weapons training is still crap. You need to focus more.”
“My weapons training is brilliant.”
“Really?” He was standing in front of her with his hands in his pockets, daring her, certainly tempting her.
She brought both swords together in a blindingly fast flurry, only to find he was no longer standing where she was expecting him to be. She lost her balance and tripped, falling forward. She spun on her heel to recover, then crouched and went in low.
Then she found herself in the air. Her arms flailed wildly as she tumbled toward the familiar barrel. The last thing she heard, before landing head first in the fetid pile of mud, was a mumbled, “Still crap.”
“What happened to you?” Sebastian said. He was waiting out the front of the tesla school for the other boys to return from a morning away.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” She hobbled up the street, stiff-legged, hair matted, face smeared with what Sebastian hoped was mud, but if it wasn’t he would laugh very hard and long.
“It looks like you’ve been dumped in a barrel of mud.”
“I said, I didn’t want to talk about it. Training’s very hard. And muddy.”
“And you smell like it, too.” He pretended to gag.
She narrowed her eyes at him and raised her fist. Her eyes drifted up over the huge stone building next to them. “Is this the famous tesla school?”
“It’s a tesla school. Mine is better.”
“The one that consists of you and the mad scientist?”
“Yup.”
She lowered her fist. “Do you know what school means? Aren’t you going to show me around?”
“Really?” He shrugged. “If you want. It’s not very exciting.”
He led her into the lower level that housed the boys at night. Melanie slowly climbed the stairs with shaking legs one step at a time, holding onto the handrail for support. Sebastian led her between the beds, telling her who slept where, and who had the worst farts and most disgusting habits.
“And this is where you sleep?” She had a look of disgust on her face. She wrinkled her nose. “It smells a bit.”
“I know.”
“Is this neat one yours?” She indicated the only bed that had been made.
“Yes.”
“I have thoughts about boys with neat beds.”
“What?”
“It’s not natural. And there’s something not natural about this smell. We’d better get out of here before I’m sick everywhere. But looking around I can’t see how that would make the place worse.”
“I’ll take you up to the classroom. At least it has windows that open, even if the minds don’t.”
“Eww, listen to you, Mr. Inner Peace and at One with the Universe. A couple of months away and he thinks he’s all high and mighty.”
“You haven’t met them.”
They went up the stairs past the dining hall and into the main teaching area.
Sebastian spread his arms in presentation. “Ta da.”
“I’ve seen worse. And it’s better than a barrel of mud.”
They wandered between the benches to the large board at the end of the room. Melanie wet her finger and traced a smiley face on the board, and then followed it with NO BEARING SUX.
She sat on the teacher’s stool, waggled her finger and put on the tone of an upset and ancient teacher. “If you don’t do what you’re told, you’ll all be in detention. It’s your own time you’re wasting. Take out your dictionaries and color in all the o’s.”
She saw a boy at the end of the room. He’d been about to enter, but had been distracted by someone else out of sight who seemed to be discussing something that involved a lot of arm swinging. Melanie focused on the boy. He stood tall and proud. His complexion was pale, and his face, from the side, was gaunt, making him appear elfish.
“Who’s that?”
Sebastian peered to the end of the classroom. “Gavin. He of the whooshy hair.”
“That’s Gavin?” She sat with her mouth open.
“You should ask him if he sings.”
“You never said he looked like that.”
Sebastian took a closer look. “Yes, I did.”
“But he looks amazing.”
Gavin turned and Melanie squeaked as she saw his face. “Ohmygodohmygodohmygod.”
Sebastian sighed. He knew what that meant.
“He can’t see me like this. Hide me.”
“What?”
“You have to hide me; I need to prepare.”
“He’s just a guy.”
She g
rabbed Sebastian by his collar and dragged him closer. “He’s not just a guy.”
He pushed her away. “All right. Don’t go all No Bearing on me.” Sebastian pointed to a side door. “Get in there. I’ll distract him.”
She slipped into the storage cupboard and pulled the door to, leaving it slightly ajar so she could watch what was going on.
“You’re that kid,” Gavin said, lazily pointing at Sebastian.
Sebastian gave him a casual nod. “Yeah. Hey, you’re that kid.”
“Yeah, totally.”
“Hey, how’s the sensory stuff going?” Sebastian said. “Feeling lucky?”
“What was your name again?” The older boy gave him a condescending look.
“Sebastian.”
“Yeah, right. Did you see a girl here just now? She was thin and really pretty.”
Sebastian frowned. “I don’t recall any pretty girls.” The cupboard squeaked.
“What was that?” Gavin asked.
“It’d be rats.”
“Yeah, if you, like, see her around, er …”
“Sebastian.”
“Yeah, right. If you see her around say, like, something cool from me.”
Sebastian watched Gavin drift out of the room on some kind of power generated by self-importance. “Okay, he’s gone.”
Melanie emerged from the store cupboard covered in chalk dust. “He noticed me,” she gasped.
“I guess. If you want him to notice you. Look, if you talk to him you’ll soon change your mind.”
“He noticed me. I need to get cleaned up. Where can I get my hair done? Most importantly, where’s a shoe shop?”
Two weeks later, Sebastian’s head hadn’t stopped spinning and Melanie’s muscles hadn’t stopped aching. Sebastian had been called into Nikola’s office, where he arrived full of nervous trepidation. Even though the classwork had been difficult, he had been enjoying it and hoped he wouldn’t be kicked out. Several books were open on Nikola’s desk. Most were unreadable from Sebastian’s position, but two had their spines facing him. One was A General Practitioner’s Guide to the Human Body, and the other had an unrecognizable word on it.
“What’s chemotherapy?” he asked Nikola.
“It’s a medical treatment that sometimes can make sick people better, but you don’t need to worry about it at the moment. We have other things to discuss. Have a seat.”
Sebastian sat in the oversized armchair. The leather was heavily worn but soft. He sank his fingers into the deep recesses where the buttons were.
“Tell me about your progress with Albert. What have you learned?”
“Do you have anything small and metallic?”
Nikola searched under various pieces of paper on his desk until he came up with a small screw. He handed it to Sebastian, who placed it between his hands. He focused and the screw slid across the tabletop from his right to his left, then back again until it came to rest between his hands. It then levitated several inches off the table and rotated in the air.
“Hmm, it will hardly defeat an army of attacking cyborgs,” Nikola said, “but it’s interesting nonetheless. Still, you’re ahead of Gavin. I’m glad Albert’s efforts are paying off.”
“I can do more.” Sebastian was eager for Nikola’s approval.
“I’m certain of it, but right now we need to discuss Melanie,” Nikola said.
Sebastian lost his focus and the screw fell onto the top of the desk.
“How’s she doing?”
“Uh, she’s a bit … you know,” Sebastian said.
“Yes, I know. I’m thinking we don’t need a wild child around here disturbing the p—”
“You can’t kick her out.”
Please,” Nikola said as he raised a hand, “we know that. I’ve noticed she’s calm when you’re present, so I’ll suggest you spend more time with her. As a favor to me. If she’s calm, it’ll help everyone.”
“We’re not getting married.”
“Lord, I should hope not. This is merely to help keep our city peaceful. Think of it as a civic duty.”
“But she met Gavin.”
“He’s not in hospital, is he?”
“No. She liked him! I don’t get it. And she’s gone all emotional. Well, not all emotional, because most of the time she’s shouting and punching people. But the rest of the time she sits staring at flowers and is talking to some of the girls. Except when she runs into one of the ‘traditional ladies.’ Well, you know what happened last time.”
“Yes. It made the papers.”
“Why has she gone all weird?”
“Not that I’m an expert, but love affects us in different ways.”
“But she’s losing herself, her identity.”
“You need to support her choice. You don’t get the right to say who she has to be. You owe her your respect.”
“But I miss the old Melanie.”
“You miss her being sick and unhappy?”
“I guess not. You knew where you were with her. Usually a private world of pain. We’ll be going to the end-of-semester ball. Is that good? I thought she might like a night out. Girls like that kind of thing, don’t they? My mother often looked forward to those. She’d get one of her fancy dresses out and go into the bathroom for about a week, and when my dad had finished decorating the kitchen, she’d come out looking like a queen. Then Dad would get this faraway look in his eyes, a lot like you look now.”
Nikola blinked, but the melancholy expression lingered on his face before being replaced by a look of concentration.
“Ah, capital. A good idea and make no mistake. I’ll organize it so you’re at my table.”
21
ISAAC SHOUTED AND shook his shirt. “It’s too big. It nearly goes around me twice. And the sleeves hang down to my knees.”
“But it’s what all the other guys are wearing,” replied Sebastian. He was watching the other boy struggle with his clothes. It was the night of the ball and nerves were beyond the straining point.
Isaac sighed. Only two boys had outfits that fit adequately, Gavin and Sebastian. Gavin, because Oliver had bought him one out of his very own pocket—out of the school’s very own pocket. And Sebastian had one, but he would be the first to admit it was pretty special.
“Don’t panic,” Sebastian said. “Did you find a guest to bring?”
Isaac mumbled something.
“Sorry?”
“I asked Stacey.”
Sebastian racked his brain to remember who that could be. “I can’t remember her.”
Isaac mumbled something as he fiddled with his buttons. He sighed as Sebastian prodded him into volume. “She’s Mrs. Wasp’s daughter.”
“Ah. Well, if you don’t like the food, at least you’ll have someone who can dispose of it for you.”
“She’s a nice person, you know. She can’t help it if her metabolism is slow.”
“But I’ve seen her passing the cake shop … well, when I say passing I mean standing out front, clawing at the window.”
“Say what you like, she’s funny and has a good heart. Not like the others I asked, who only laughed.”
“Who else did you ask?”
“Britney, Tiffany, Kerry, and Tracy. And Mandy, Madison, and Molly.”
“I have no idea who any of those girls are. Where did you meet them?”
“I joined a sewing circle.” Isaac examined an errant thread on the cuff as he waited for Sebastian to stop laughing. “I’ll have you know sewing’s a lot like metalwork. And those pins really hurt your fingers.”
Sebastian couldn’t begrudge Isaac anything. He’d had the courage to go out and ask a bunch of total strangers if they’d like to get to know him a bit better. They’d all said no, but Isaac had persevered, and was the better and braver for it. Sebastian’s mother had often said that sometimes you had to search for something worth looking for.
“If it makes you feel any better, at least yours isn’t way older than you and interested in someone else who’
s going to be there,” Sebastian said.
“Tell me more. Is this the girl you arrived with who lost all the weight?”
“Yeah, Melanie. She’s gone No Bearing over Gavin.”
“Gavin!”
“I know. He’s all she talks about, other than how much her legs ache. His face. And his body. And his face. And his hair.”
“It’s sad that she’s chosen him. Of all people. There must be some famous saying about it. And what is it with the hair?”
“Always with the hair. Speaking of hair, are you going to brush yours?”
“You bet. Girls love whooshy hair. How about you?”
“I prefer the ones who don’t. Anyway, it’s a night out for us, our first one. It should be a lot of fun. And we’ll get some great food. You’re always saying how bad the food is here.”
“I don’t know if I like balls.”
“Have you ever been to one?”
“No. But my parents go to one every year, something about bachelors and spinsters. They always spend the next day looking really sick. Dad once spent two days in bed after one of them. Then when he did get up he said he had to have bacon or he’d die. I don’t want to be sick for two days then have bacon or die.” Isaac’s lip began to tremble. “And I can’t do up the stupid sleeves.” He shook them aimlessly, and the extra material flapped until it hit him in the eye.
“Calm down. I thought you were a man of the city,” Sebastian said. He took some deep breaths as an example. “Okay, come here and let me do up your buttons.”
“But it’s got girls, and they’re not natural.” Isaac looked forlorn.
Sebastian, with a concentrated expression, worked his way around the sleeves and tightened up the collar. He stood back to admire his handiwork. The shirt seemed to be longer on one side than the other, and the collar was bunched up, due to its excessive size, but it was better than his usual appearance.
“Are you ready?” he said.
“No. Are you?”
“No. Okay, let’s do this.”
They turned in unison and headed out into the uncertain world of awkward relationships.
The boys were assembled in the antechamber in front of the banquet hall. It was a magnificent building full of polished brass and plush carpets. The high-domed roof was inlaid with fine white filigree carvings, which offset the deep purples and blues that lined the ceiling. The boys milled about uncertainly, awaiting the instructions that would never be delivered on how to deal with the fairer sex. It was worse than algebra. Some of the boys with sisters joked and cajoled the others, but Isaac was sure they were just as terrified. This was different than punching your sister, then blaming it on the goat. Nikola and Albert entered the hall, deep in conversation.