by Lena Lockett
Smoke and Mirrors
World Walker Academy
Lena Lockett
Copyright@LenaLockett 2019. No part of this work can be copied in any way without the permission of the author.
One
I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling above me. This was it, the day that would change everything, or so I was hoping. I rolled over and watched my alarm clock tick through the minutes. I waited for the annoying alarm to go off, but secretly hoped it would move faster. I know, mixed feelings and all that about this new school thing, I mean, a part of me wanted to learn how to cast spells that turned people who annoyed me to toads. But the other part was worried about fitting in and all that goes with being a Stone. I sighed at the thought.
My family was big in the magic world. My father ran the Interdimensional Task Force or ITF for short. He was powerful and fierce and never home.
My alarm buzzed taking me out of my thoughts. I reached over and pushed the red button on the top and threw the plush light blue blankets off my body. I laid there with my arms stretched smelling the pancakes my mom was undoubtedly making for my first day. I groaned and stared at the matching light blue curtains blowing in the wind of the open window across from my bed.
I’m not ready for this.
My mother’s humming traveled up the stairs and I couldn’t help but smile. She was happy, and it was weird. I pulled myself out of bed and changed into at least four different outfits before I finally settled on a pair of nice blue jeans and a purple satin top. I pulled my long blonde hair into a ponytail and sighed. This was it, my life was about to change for real.
I made my way down the stairs and around the corner into the kitchen where the smell of chocolate mingled with the pancakes. It made me smile but was a little bittersweet. I wouldn’t be here after today to see my mom with her odd pink apron and humming of songs I didn’t know. She was always happy, but today there was a tinge of sadness even behind her smile.
“I hope you’re hungry,” she said. Her dark hair was pulled into a bun at the back of her head with a few strands of hair poking out and falling around her round face. Her blue eyes met mine and a smile crossed her lips. She sat a full plate of pancakes in front of me and turned back to add more.
“I don’t know why you don’t use magic for that. You’d be done so much faster,” I said.
“Maybe, but they wouldn’t taste near as good,” she answered.
I shrugged. “I think they would be fine.”
“Not all of your problems can be solved by magic,” she said.
“That’s easy for you to say. You have it in spades.”
“You will too. Late bloomers tend to be stronger. That’s why you’re headed to Drakes,” she said.
Drakes Academy of Gifted Children, that’s what it was really called, but I called it World Walker Academy because all the students there had talents they would need.
The academy was more like a place for people like me to go before taking up a post at my dad’s task force. They protect those without magic, be it shifters, Half Breeds or Humans. They even protected the stray Vampire from time to time. People like me were the first line of defense. I smiled at the thought. Now if my stupid magic would just show up.
“Your dad ordered you a driver for your first day,” my mom said. Her back was still to me. She flipped a pancake.
“Ugh, I just wanted to be like the other kids,” I almost whined. She gave me a look. You know, that look mom’s give you when they want you to stop being a baby. Yeah, that’s the one.
“Your father works hard to get you the kind of life you deserve. You should be more grateful.”
“I am grateful, mom.” I paused. “I just didn’t want to start school just being known as Larisa Stone, daughter of the Captain of the ITF, James Stone,” I said in my best manly voice. I was happy my father had done so well, but I sure hated the recognition my name got and the dirty looks.
You see, he didn’t always do the right thing. He hurt a lot of people on his way to the top and they weren’t so keen to let the grudge die easily. I just hoped I could find a way to get passed it at least while I was at school. That was the plan, keep my head down and just get through school and see what happened after.
“Your ride’s here,” my mom said as she glanced through the window above the sink. “You have everything?”
“Yeah, I just need make sure the boxes got put in the right place.”
“They did,” she turned to me. “I know what I’m doing.” She smiled. “I’ll send your boxes when you get settled.”
“I’m going to miss you,” I said tears filling my eyes. I didn’t want to be this emotional, but this was the last time I’d see my mom for a while.
“You’re going to be okay. I promise, this will be some of the best years of your life. You’ll learns some great things and make friends you’ll have forever.”
I hugged my mom tighter.
“I’ll come to see you every time I can. You’re not that far,” mom said before giving me a tight squeeze and letting me go. “Now, go on and show that school who you are.” She smiled. “You’re not just a Stone. You’re Larisa, an amazing and wonderful girl.”
I smiled back before turning to the door and putting my hand on the knob. I turned back. “I love you,” I said before taking a deep breath and opening the door.
***
I turned back to Link and gave him my best forced smile. He walked towards me and held his hand out to me. I shook it and opened my mouth to say something but couldn’t find the words. I’m killing it already.
“I’m Link as I’m sure Headmaster Greyson already told you,” he said before letting my hand go. “I’m here to help new students see the school and find their rooms.” He glanced at me and I dropped my hand as we started walking. “You’re lucky, you got a single room.”
I didn’t say anything.
We walked through the large glass doors that separated the outside of the school where the students were still getting out of their cars and wondering around to the largest room I’d ever seen. The walls were lines with banners of Purple and Orange with years and names I didn’t recognize. I slide my gaze over them and stopped at my father’s name. It was engraved on the banner in gold letters and the date of his graduation, 1999. I knew he was some big shot at school but didn’t realize he had been so important. No wonder it was weird for me here. I was expected to uphold the legacy. One I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a part of.
“This is the great hall,” Link said bringing me out of my thoughts. “This is the largest room in the building and is where you will meet with other schools when we hold our annual meetings.”
“We meet with the other schools?” I said it before I thought anything about it.
“Yes, we host the annual ball once every four years. You won’t have to worry about it being here until next year. This year is Myst Academy’s turn.”
The Fae school. That would be an interesting trip. I wondered if underclassmen were allowed to go to this ball. My father would probably make some kind of weird rule making me go even if I didn’t want to. A part of me wondered what it was like there. So many stories had populated the Magical community about the Fae and their secret ways. They weren’t like any of the other schools. They wanted to stay to themselves and we welcomed it.
He opened a large wood door to the left and motioned for me to go through. I walked into a long hallway that had doors lining each wall. The doors were closed, but above them were gold plaques with the name of each class on them. The first one I noticed was rather lame, English. Students were pushing passed as they carried their belongings down the halls towards their rooms. Some were chatting with other groups and some were just intent on getting themselve
s to where they needed to go.
“These are the lower classman classes. You will spend a lot of time here on this floor.” Link pointed to a couple rooms as he spoke.
We made our way down the hallway and through another set of doors to a second hallway. It looked almost the same but seemed to be a little more out of the way.
“Your room is at the end of the hallway,” Link said as we walked. “This is the Dormitory for our first-year students.” He laughed slightly. “You must have a great family to get you this kind of thing. Most of our students bunk two to a room.”
Oh, here we go.
He stopped at the door of my room and opened the door. “Here you are. Let me know if you need anything. I’m here to help.”
“Thanks, but I’m sure I’ll be okay.” I smiled as I spoke and stepped into my room, closing the door behind me. I sighed and plopped on the bare bead laying down on the cold mattress. I was finally alone.
Two
I opened my eyes and pulled the covers over my head. The room was different, and it took a moment before I realized I was not at home, but at the school I’d been thinking about for years. I pulled myself together and grabbed the books that had shown up on my nightstand the night before. It was interesting how the magic worked here.
I stared at the boxes that had also just shown up and thought about my mom. She wouldn’t tell me if she was missing me, but I was sure missing her. I grabbed my phone and pulled up my mom’s number. I hit the green button to call her and took a breath.
“Hi, baby. How are you doing?” Her voice made me smile.
“I’m good. I haven’t started classes yet, but I got everything.”
“You got your boxes?” She asked.
“Yes, I got them last night. I sons know how you even knew what room I had,” I said.
“I have my ways,” she said. “What’s your first class?”
“Simple stuff, English,” I said.
“It’s good to start with the simple. Makes the rest that much more exciting.”
“How come you never came to the school?” I hadn’t asked her before, but it felt like something I needed to know.
“I was homeschooled, you know that.” She said. “We had our reasons.”
“Then why send me here?” I felt a pain in my chest, a heaviness. I wanted to make my family proud, but I felt like this might be the last place I should be.
“Your father wanted it. He loved it there and I figured there was no reason not to send you there. It’s safe and it will help you with your magic.”
“If it ever shows up,” I said.
She laughed. “You’ll be fine. You should get ready for class.”
“Okay, mom,” I said. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
I hung up and took a deep breath before opening my door and grabbing my books. The once bare hallway was full of students coming and going. They were laughing and holding books for classes I wasn’t taking. Some of them looked to be a bit older and I wondered why they were here in the first place considering this was the first year’s floor.
I pushed through the crowd to my first class and took a seat in the back. The last thing I wanted was to be a big deal in this class. I pushed my books to one side of the desk and glanced around the room. There were several other students sitting at various desks around me. The teacher was sitting at her desk in the front of the class reading something. I watched her for a moment. Her dark hair was streaked with grey and her face carried some wrinkles from undoubtedly many years of teaching.
“This is a lame class to start with,” a girl with light brown hair said as she sat next to me. She swung her head and glanced at me with a smile on her long face. Her blue eyes met mine and she held out her hand. “I’m Brandi.”
“Larisa,” I answered taking her hand and giving it a shake. A little odd for a fourteen-year-old, but I let it go.
“First year too?”
“Yeah, I don’t really know what to expect,” I said honestly.
She raised her eyebrows. “My brother is a third year and he says this is the hardest one. Once you figure out who the it girls and guys are, you know who to stay away from.”
I let a laugh escape my mouth. She was interesting, and I already liked her. The door closed, and the teacher stood in front of the class. She started talking about how the class would go and how we would be getting started with something simple since this is new for most of us.
“What’s your magic?” Brandi whispered at the teacher spoke.
“I… I don’t have any yet,” I stuttered. I dropped my gaze and played with my fingers.
“I don’t either. Not really. I did help heal a cat once, but that was it,” she said. “My mom said it will get stronger as I grow so I’m not worried.”
“That’s what my mom said too,” I said. “I haven’t done anything with magic yet, though.”
“Oh, you will. My brother says by the time you’ve been here a few weeks, you start to create magic.”
“I hope that’s true,” I said. I glanced at the teacher and then back to Brandi. She was smiling and sighed as she opened her book. This was going to be a long class.
After class, I hurried out of the room with Brandi. It was nice to have a friend in this new place.
“Come on, there is a great place out back we can sit and talk.”
My next class was going to get a little harder considering it was about magic and herbs that go with it. Lunch was fun with Brandi and some of her other friends.
“I’m in second year,” a blond girl with perky pigtails said across from me. We were all sitting on the edge of the lawn in the middle of the courtyard. There were several big trees on each side of us. It was a nice change from the inside of the school. I felt more at home here in this space.
“My magic is nature based,” she continued.
“What does that mean?” I said. I was trying to hide my curiosity, but it was interesting to hear about what others could do since coming here. It gave me hope I wouldn’t be without my own abilities soon.
“Oh, my mom was part Fae. I didn’t know until I got my gifts.”
“Did you get accepted to the Myst Academy as well?” Anyone with Fae blood was looked at by them, but they were very hard to get into. Even the best Fae don’t always get in.
“No, I was better suited for here.” She smiled, but her eyes were a bit sad. Something told me she wanted to get in there but couldn’t for one reason or another.
“Well, this is the best school for Witches and magic,” Brandi said.
“This is the only school for magic,” I said. I meant for it to be under my breath, but it just echoed in our small circle.
“We should all be happy we got in here. This was the place to be if you want to practice magic and get someplace,” Brandi said. She was right. This was the school that funneled students into every branch of magic and security.
“It will be good,” I said with a smile.
“Yeah, for you. You’re a Stone. Nothing is going to go wrong for you,” she said.
“That’s rude, Ali.” Brandi shook her head as she spoke.
“It’s the truth,” she countered.
I dropped my gaze and picked up my things. “I’ve got to go. Class starts soon.” I didn’t look at any of them but hurried away. They were right. My name would get me anything I wanted in life, but it also came with all the contentment you would expect.
I held my books close to my chest as I walked through the hallway. My class was at the further end of the hall and just around the corner. It was where the magic classes were held, even if it was for the first years. I walked through the door and glanced at the seating. There wasn’t much left, so I took a seat in the front left corner, near the window. I watched the trees move in the wind. The soft movement was nice after everything and I wanted nothing more than to just walk out of this class and sit under that softly swaying tree branch.
“Larisa, did you hear what I said?
” I heard the teacher say as I swung my head back to look at her. I bit my lip and shook my head.
“No, I’m sorry.”
“We each have an upper-class student that will help you learn the magic in this class. They will be your mentor. Yours is currently at the Headmaster’s office so you will meet him the next class.”
Him?
I smiled and nodded, but a part of me was anxious. I didn’t want to deal with someone I didn’t know and on my first day no less.
“You’re all given a partner because we realize not all of you have magic just yet. The ones that do will simply have a jump start in their studies.” She smiled as she spoke. “Those that have any questions can report to me and I will do my very best to answer what I can.”
I signed as the bell sounded the end of classes. I had some time before Dinner, but I didn’t really want to talk to anyone. As much as I liked Brandi, the rest of her group were not my favorite people.
“Hey,” Brandi’s voice said behind me. I sighed and turned around.
“Hey,” I said, holding my books to my chest.
“I’m sorry about Ali. She doesn’t know how to keep her mouth shut sometimes.”
“It’s okay,” I lied. There was no point in being a jerk to Brandi. She didn’t do anything, and I did like her.
“Look, we can just hang out without them if you want. I don’t want to go back to my room and maybe we could look at my mom’s spell book.”
“Neither of us have any magic,” I said.
“Yeah, but we will one day. Why not know some stuff so we are ahead of the game,” Brandi said with a smile?
“Okay,” I hesitated, but a part of me didn’t want to go anywhere but back to my room and crack a good book. At least that would be something interesting.
“Great. There is this spot behind the school no one really goes too.”
“Why?” I asked. Now I was interested.
“It was where the original Temple was.”
“Original Temple?”