“Don’t you think I know that…” she whispered.
“If you know it, then do something about it!”
“What am I supposed to do about it?” she asked.
I tried to think what someone who actually knew what they were talking about would say.
“Honestly, you’re right,” August confessed. “Cliché as it sounds, I’ve always been the one who got everything she wanted. Because of how influential my family are, especially when it comes to Foxway, I’ve always been treated differently. But that doesn’t mean everything’s perfect, you know. People want to be my friend because of my money. Not everyone, of course. But there aren’t many people who really care about me. Certainly no one here. I’ve never really had that many friends, and there isn’t anyone at all here that I can say that I trust. I guess that’s… Why I act the way I do. I figured if everyone was going to treat me like some kind of princess, I might as well act the part. That’s not me… But it’s been so long, I’m not sure what that even means anymore...”
“I guess I can see where you’re coming from…”
She clenched her fist. Tears were welling up in her eyes again. Deciding that this was a good point to make my exit, I stood up and started to walk away.
“Hey!” she called after me. “I’m… I’m sorry… About everything… Your sister, the fight…”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it,” I calmly replied. Inside I was 50% ‘Well that’s good’ and 50% ‘What the hell you can’t just turn around and say that now’, but I neither of those were going to help the situation stay calm.
August opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated for a moment.
“What?” I asked.
“Are we cool? I don’t really like making enemies.” she admitted. I guess it was my turn to be sent speechless. I smiled.
“Me neither.”
“So, friends?”
I held my hand out to help her up.
“Sure.”
10
When me and August walked back into the classroom, everything fell silent. By this point, everything had been put back together, and even Artemis’ desk, which I had been thrown into, had been fixed. Neither of us said anything as we walked back to our seats. As I walked across the room, I noticed Matt mouthing ‘What the hell?’. I shrugged and sat down. There wasn’t much left of the lesson, only about 10 minutes. No one said a word for the whole time, other than Artemis. When the bell went, I stood up and waited outside for Matt and Leigh.
“What happened?” Matt quickly started interrogating me. “Did you get into another fight?”
I ignored him as we started walking away.
“Hey, Emilie!” someone shouted over the crowd. I turned around. “You want to eat with us at lunch?” August asked.
I smiled and shook my head.
“Sorry, I’ve got plans with Raven!” I called back. “Another day, though!”
August smiled and nodded as she turned and walked in the other direction.
“Since when are you so friendly with August Flamel?” Leigh asked in disbelief.
“We talked things out after we both left the room. We’re good now.” I explained.
“Seriously, that’s all you’re giving us?!” Matt asked. I laughed, refusing to answer. “Come on!”
*
After enduring another hour of ‘Applied Magical Physics’, I met up with Raven to eat lunch. Normally we’d eat lunch in the dorm, but Mary had made plans with her girlfriend, so we decided to give her some space. Especially after last time. So, we ended up eating on a bench next to the lake. Which, I will add, I didn’t know that we even had until that day. The Foxway campus was so big, I honestly wouldn’t have been surprised if there was an ice rink, or a carnival, or, even another school hiding somewhere.
“What have you got this afternoon?” I asked Raven.
“I’m starting a two-week course on specialities.” she replied. “I thought about what you said, and… You’re right… I shouldn’t restrict myself for my mother’s sake. That’s not what she was like…” she admitted. “But, I don’t really know what sort of magic would work for me, so I’m doing this to learn about a few different forms before I settle,” she explained.
Her words hung in the air for a moment. There wasn’t even anything that weird about the idea, I just couldn’t think of anything else to add.
“Well, I’ve got my first Reality Magic lesson with Professor Greyford…” I eventually changed the subject.
“Are you nervous?”
“Kind of… Well, not worried, exactly, but…”
“I get what you mean. You’ll do fine, I’m sure.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you’re right.” I agreed. “I had a fight with August Flamel.” I quietly informed Raven.
“Oh, really?” Raven replied monotonously. “Who won?”
“Her, technically. But… I ended up talking to her… We… I think we’re friends now…” I explained. Raven nodded slowly. “I think I got her off your back as well.”
“I didn’t ask you to do that. I said I don’t care what people think of me…”
“I know. But I couldn’t just let people keep calling you a murderer. It’s not fair…”
“I am. That’s the thing. I am a murderer.”
“That’s not true… You know it’s not true. You were manipulated, controlled. It wasn’t your fault.”
“But it was. Yes, I was lied to. And I want nothing more than to find the people who did that to me and make them pay… But that doesn’t mean that I wasn’t in control of my own actions. I wasn’t being blackmailed. I wasn’t being forced. I killed him. Me.”
“Raven…” I gripped Raven’s hand.
“No, Emilie. Stop.” She stood up and pulled her arm away. “You don’t get it. Not that you should. And I hope you never do. But you don’t know what it’s like. I may have killed that man for the Syndicate, but that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t me.”
“But it…”
“Stop!” Raven shouted. “Just stop. I know what you’re trying to do. And I appreciate it, I really do. I’m so glad that you don’t think of me like that. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not true…”
I opened my mouth to keep arguing, but I figured it wouldn’t do any good.
“I killed him. Nothing you can say is going to make me feel any better about that...”
I stood up and looked out at the lake.
“I know I don’t know a lot about magic. But…” I trailed off as I noticed something in the distance. A faint glowing. I rolled up my sleeve. My Arch Stone was glowing as well. Raven gasped as she saw the jewel around my wrist.
“Where did you get that?” she asked. Her eyes were just as scared as August’s were when she first saw the jewel, before I even knew what it was myself. She looked out at the other light, from over on the other side of the lake. “They’re reacting…” she muttered. “And it’s red…”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means that I know who that is.” Raven ran to the edge of the lake. “Archaeus, Invoco, Elementum, Ignis!” She sent a massive blast of fire over to the other side of the lake. The figure standing on the other side of the lake held their hand. The flames dissipated instantly. Raven started to sprint around the lake.
“Raven! Where are you going?!” I shouted after her.
“Him… I’m going to kill him!” she screamed.
My eyes widened in horror at what was happening. Raven was too fast for me to catch up with her. She ignited her arm again and fired another blast at the man. Again, he obliterated the fire with one hand. When Raven caught up to him, on the other side of the lake, she threw a fiery punch, which the man caught with one hand. He grabbed hold of Raven’s wrist, and pulled her closer to him. I saw him whisper something in her ear, before he picked her up and flung her into the lake.
“No!” I shouted. I used all the power I could find to run around to a point where I would be able to jump in and help her.
I looked at the man who had attacked her. A smile slid across his face. I pushed the image out of my head and dived into the lake. It was cold. From the second I hit the water, I felt my hands go numb. I frantically searched around for Raven. Eventually, I saw her, with her eyes closed, sinking down. Before I had a chance to think, I clenched one fist and placed it in the palm of my other hand. I opened the clenched fist and touched my thumbs together. I pivoted my hands around so that they made a ‘z’ shape. I released them and held them out towards Raven. I didn’t think it was going to do anything. It was a Reality Magic spell I’d read about, but there was no way that I could have actually cast it properly. It was like I was moving without thinking, like something else was controlling my movements. The air around Raven went fuzzy as she disappeared. I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t even have time to recognise that I was breathing in water, or that my eyes were slowly closing as I lost consciousness.
*
My eyes snapped open as I felt air being forced into my lungs. I turned over and coughed up water.
“Shit…” I grunted as I spat out the last traces of the water. I started to recollect what had happened. “Raven!” I tried to stand up, with little success.
I looked around. Greyford, Artemis and Matt were stood around me. Behind them I saw August and Leigh, both looking worried. Artemis helped me up.
“Where’s Raven?” I shouted at everyone else there.
“She’s in the infirmary. She hasn’t woken up yet,” Greyford informed me.
“What?! Is she going to be okay?”
“Your sister took quite a beating, but she should be okay. If she’d been in the water for longer, it might be very different. You saved her,” Artemis calmly replied.
“I… Did what?” I honestly had no idea what I had done. I remembered Raven attacking the mysterious person, I remember her getting thrown into the lake, I remember jumping in after her, but everything else was a mystery. I checked my wrist. The stone was still there. That was one less thing to worry about.
“We’re not sure. But, given that we found her in the middle of the athletics field, I can only assume that you transported her there,” Greyford explained.
“What, like…”
“Reality Magic. Yes. I’m not sure how you managed to do it, but it seems that you managed to use a matter transportation spell to move Raven out of the water before you passed out. It did take a toll on her own body though, so it may take her some time to recover.” Greyford had said exactly what I was thinking.
“How long was I out?” I asked, trying to move on from the very worrying subject of me subconsciously knowing powerful reality-bending spells.
“About half an hour, in total. Mr Silvemist saw you dive into the lake, and pulled you out fairly quickly. And it was him who administered CPR before we had even arrived,” Artemis explained. I looked over at Matt. He shrugged.
Wait… That means… I pushed away the scarily clichéd, juvenile ideas that I couldn’t help but think up.
“What actually happened?” Greyford asked me.
“I… I don’t know…” I replied, still a little dazed from everything that had just happened.
“Very well,” Greyford eventually exclaimed. “You’re very lucky, Emilie. You and Raven could both have been in a lot more danger.”
“Yeah…”
“You have my permission to leave for home early, if you wish.” Greyford offered.
I shook my head.
“I think I’d rather stay… We had our lesson scheduled for this afternoon, and with all that’s just happened, I want to find out why.” I decided. “Besides, I don’t want to leave Raven.”
Greyford nodded slowly.
“I expected as much…” he muttered. “You can all leave now. Miss George will be fine.”
My friends all hesitantly turned and walked away.
“Nina, could you take Emilie to the infirmary. I have important business to attend to,” Greyford whispered to Artemis, who nodded, and draped my arm around her shoulder.
“Are you sure you’re alright, Emilie?” she asked kindly. I nodded.
“I’m fine.”
*
When Artemis walked me into the infirmary, the first thing I saw was Raven, lying unconscious on the bed. Mary was sitting next to the bed, and another girl was holding onto Mary’s shoulder. She looked over, noticing me. She jumped out of her chair and hugged me.
“Emilie, are you alright?!”
“I’m fine… A little shaken, but I’ll live…” I assured her. “How is she?”
“Still unconscious… What happened?”
“It’s hard to explain… I’m not really sure what happened myself, to be honest. Sorry.”
I looked over at the other girl, who was standing quietly by the chair where Mary was sitting. She was tall, with long, dark hair.
“Hannah,” The girl introduced herself. “I’m Mary’s…”
“Girlfriend?” I suggested. “Raven told me you were meeting up. It’s nice to meet you.” I tried to smile, which, given the circumstances, was easier said than done.
“I’m sorry about your sister.”
“It’s fine…” I went and sat down in the chair that Mary had been sitting in. “I’m sorry… I couldn’t do anything…” I sobbed as I stared at Raven.
“There wouldn’t have been anything you could do. You shouldn’t have even been able to do what you did. Don’t blame yourself.” Artemis comforted me.
“When I find out who did this to you…” I ignored her.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Artemis interrupted. “Your sister, unrefined as she is, is one of the most powerful Magicals at this school. If she couldn’t beat him…”
“I know…” I admitted. “But… I…”
“You’re not going to be able to do anything while you’re like this. You need to rest.”
“It’s quite a long way home for you, isn’t it? You can stay in our dorm tonight,” Mary offered.
I nodded, wiping away tears.
“Thank you…” I did my best to look grateful.
“We need to go right now, but I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
“Yeah…” I replied as her and Hannah left the infirmary. I couldn’t take my eyes away from Raven’s unconscious face. I knew that it wasn’t my fault, but I still couldn’t help but feel guilty for what had happened.
It was only now that I realised how tired I was. I mean, it made sense. I had almost drowned. But with Raven being in the condition that she was in, I hadn’t really stopped to make sure that everything was okay with me. I didn’t really care, to be honest.
“If you’re tired, you can catch some sleep here.” The man in charge of the infirmary offered. He was a tall, and fairly young, with a scruffy beard and round glasses.
“Thanks… I might grab half an hour… Could you wake me up at 2?” I asked. Dr Birchwood chuckled.
“Of course.” he smiled. I slowly made my way over to the bed next to Raven and dropped down onto it. I closed my eyes, and ended up falling asleep almost immediately.
11
I dreamed a worrying amount given I was only asleep for half an hour. My brain managed to throw up every possible variation of what had happened by the lake. I dreamed it as it happened. I dreamed that it had been me who attacked the man. And I dreamed the worst possible scenario: That I didn’t save Raven. It was after the last one that I woke up, screaming. Dr Birchwood ran over to me when he heard.
“It’s alright, it’s fine. It was just a dream.” He tried to calm me down. I was hyperventilating by this point. “It’s fine, you’re at Foxway, in the infirmary. Miss George?”
“I’m fine…” I panted as I finally calmed down. The doctor exhaled and stepped back.
“Okay. As long as you’re sure…”
“Has Raven…” I trailed off. The doctor shook his head.
“Not yet.”
I dropped back down onto the bed and wiped my forehead.
�
��It’s only been an hour, and she’s gone through a lot. I’m keeping a close eye on her.”
“Thank you…” I sighed. I slowly climbed up out of the bed.
“You sure you’re okay to leave?”
I nodded.
“Yeah, I’m good. I’ve got a lesson with Professor Greyford, so I need to go,” I replied. I still wasn’t quite up to full strength, but I was doing alright given that I had just nearly drowned.
*
After I left the infirmary, I went up to Raven and Mary’s dorm to get a change of clothes, assuming that whatever Raven had would fit me. We were pretty much the same size, but I only ended up borrowing trousers off her. Everything Raven owned was black, and not really my style, so I ended up borrowing a shirt from Mary instead. She was quite a lot smaller than me, but I managed to find a loose fitting, blue top that fit fine, and in any case it was definitely preferable to Raven’s slightly more depressing wardrobe.
After I got changed, I went straight down to Greyford’s office for my Reality Magic class. I knocked on the door, and slowly pushed it open. Greyford looked up from his desk at the sound.
“I wasn’t expecting you to turn up. I thought I told you to go home.”
“I wanted to ask you about what I did. To Raven, I mean.”
Greyford stood up.
“Yes, I thought you probably would.” He pushed in his chair and sat down on a more comfortable chair. It was opposite another identical grey chair, with a glass table in-between. The modern look really didn’t fit in with the aged wood of the rest of the office. “Please, sit down.”
He didn’t have to tell me twice. It’s surprising how much almost drowning takes it out of you.
“So, Emilie. What do you think happened at the lake?” he asked. “Your sister… falls into the lake, you jump in to save her, and somehow she ends up in the middle of the athletics field. How does that happen?”
“Didn’t you say it was Reality Magic?”
“That certainly makes the most sense. But, the question is, how did you know how to do it?” he asked. “Do you even remember what you did?” he asked. I shook my head.
The Arch Stone: Foxway Academy: Book 1 Page 7