Year One- Recruit

by L Cross

  “For one: we’re alive.”

  Well, that was comforting.

  “If it were a true demon general, its entrance into our world would take out, like, a city block to cover the amount of human sacrifices needed to balance that kind of magical outlay. For two: Aside from being ridiculously loud, it’s not done any significant damage. It’s just standing there.”

  Huh. I dared myself to peek at it again, and without the overwhelming fear riding me, I saw that it was indeed just standing there.

  Seething.

  Almost like it was waiting for something.

  Better yet...that it was looking for something. Or, someone.

  “For all I’ve read, no demon of real power is gonna just be standing around here doing nothing,” Hanami insisted.

  “Shapeshifter?” Kat suggested.

  Hanami nodded. “That feels more like it.” She seemed unsure, though, which wasn’t really like her. Everything she did was always overflowing with confidence. “Odd. I’ve never had any problems seeing through glamour for shapeshifting, though.” She shook her head, her pink ponytails swishing along her body.

  “What are we gonna do?” I wondered more to myself than to anyone in particular. I couldn’t help but feel like the innocent bystander rather than a recruit with traces of magical power.

  Not for the first time did I wonder why I’d even been recruited to The Sword of Avalon Academy. For all the magic I supposedly inherited, I didn’t feel particularly powerful or learned.

  Kat and Hanami already knew so much despite it only being the start of their second year here. How in the hell was I ever going to get to their level?

  “I already contacted the mages and they’re sending some knights our way just in case. They might have told us to standby and protect any of the non-magical community,” Hanami shrugged. Unspoken was the idea that she had already considered that course of action as a given, and moved on to creating her own plans.

  “But we’re gonna formulate our own plan to stop this thing?” I finished what she had left unspoken.

  “Why not? Imagine the lift in our ranks,” she said.

  “Oh for crying out loud, when we get back to our room, you’re gonna have to explain what the hell these rankings are and why I should care about them.”

  Before Hanami could say anything, her face twisted in mottled rage. “Those mother fuckers!”

  I followed her line of sight and saw shadows flickering opposite the light show. The silhouettes looked like the burly outlines of some of the guys, and I was guessing that what they were doing now was not part of Hanami’s plan.

  “Don’t they understand that I’m the Merlin around here?” With a huff she poofed away again.

  Kat and I shared a look. “Okay, does that mean we just stay here?” I asked.

  Kat rolled her eyes. “Your guess is as good as mine.” Something shifted, and one of the fake walls from the obstacle course started tilting.

  We scrambled to get out of the way, ducking behind the fake building where the final boss would have been. Through the window, I thought I saw movement inside. “Is that Santiago?” I asked. The shadowy figure darted forward, right toward the demon. In the flashes of light from the laser tag, I saw Santiago’s face, pale and stricken with fear.

  What was she doing?

  Kat and I looked at each other before running after her. We got to her just as she shouted something. A flash from the end of her finger lit up the space. The guys shone in sharp relief from the shadows, Hanami, too, arms thrown up to cover her eyes.

  All of them seemed to be in the blast zone of either the demon’s claws, the blinding spell, or the falling wall.

  Everything seemed to freeze in a horrifying stillness.

  In the span of one breath, time rushed in again. The blast of the spell lifted the demon off its hooves, its claws merely glancing off of Hanami. It slammed into the falling wall with a crack that sent it crumbling in the opposite direction from the other knights, who were pushed back by the force of that spell.

  Carefully, we crawled over the debris to where Hanami sat nursing her arm.

  “Dara? Where’s Dara?” I called out. She was great with healing, or at least making others feel better. “Hanami, you okay?” I asked her. Her eyes were disbelieving and glassy, as if she was in shock.

  “I’m okay. Just a little blinded, but I’ll be fine.”

  I didn’t like the way she stared into nothing, eyes blinking and empty. I touched her shoulders. “Just stay here.”

  Kat had already joined Santiago who checked on the fallen creature that was disintegrating in a charred mess.

  I repeated my command to stay, and Hanami listened to me without a word. Thankfully a weepy Dara had arrived to sit with her and start the process of healing the stunned would-be Merlin.

  I went over to the knights to see what they had to say. “What the hell happened?” I asked.

  The obstacle course was already rife with pulsating lights, noises, and an overactive fog machine. I hadn’t noticed the growing mists until mages strolled through them, and circled around us.

  Eyes blazing and fierce, a compact woman whose cloak swirled around her in a shimmering white cloud demanded our attention. “That’s exactly what we would like to know as well,” the Merlin said.

  Chapter Four

  "Well that could have been worse."

  "Yeah, but it should have been better," I said dropping onto the sofa of our shared living space.

  Our suite was divided in half, with Kat and Dara sharing one side of the suite with a bathroom between them, and Hanami and I, the other side. I kind of got the better end of the deal since Hanami was hardly here thanks to her advanced studies. The academic school year had yet to start, and she was already on campus all day. She’d face plant long after I’d turn in for the night and would leave before any of us did.

  And here I thought that kind of thing wouldn't happen until at least mid-term or final exams.

  "Well, at least Dara got something out of this ordeal," I said.

  Kat snickered, rolling her eyes as she pulled open the freezer door. "Yeah, well the girl's able to find the good in any situation."

  I smiled to myself.

  Dara had found herself a little snuggle hottie. She was tagged out early and ended up spending more time making out with the guy than actual playing. But hey it all worked out, because when the shit hit the fan, they were the ones that called out to the mages and the Merlin.

  I was trying to finger comb the ceiling plaster out of my hair. Hopefully, all this dust wouldn’t form into concrete when I try to wash it out later. Maybe, Hanami could share her hair spells with me, too. "What was that guy's name anyway?"

  Half of Kat’s body disappeared into the refrigerator. "I dunno, Gunther maybe? Something like that...oh score! Leftovers!"

  "Praise Jesus," I declared, and hopped up to the kitchen area to see what was there to scavenge. "Damn, leftover Chinese and some frozen fries. Light 'em up!"

  Thanks to the botched laser tag and the subsequent questioning by the Merlin, we didn't get to hit up a restaurant like we’d planned for pizza and half-priced appetizers. All thoughts of the bet burnt up along with the demon.

  The mages were still looking for it, the last we’d heard.

  The bet might have been long forgotten, but facing down a demon in a possible life or death situation kinda worked up an appetite. At least for me. Not that it would take much to get me to hunt for food.

  Between bites of greasy leftovers and fried food, Kat and I talked about the laser tag fray, and threw down our own theories of what happened, including who was standing where and when.

  "I wonder what the guys told the Merlin," I said. "You think they threw us under the bus?"

  "With what? Conjuring up a demon?” Kat waved her hand at the notion. “They need to thank us for trying to save lives, is what they ought to be doing. First of all, we were the ones who were there first to see the demon thing. Second, it's n
ot like we planned anything to happen. Third, those guys would be stupid to try to pin any collateral damage on anyone or anything other than a freak coincidence."

  I was thoughtful as I crunched through an egg roll. "I just didn't like how Lance was looking at Hanami. As if she had anything to do with it."

  Kat snorted. "The girl's ruthless, yeah, but she plays--and wins--fair. That's how she's made. You play by the rules, and whoever plays better, wins. And that girl always wins."

  "How did you all meet? You all seem close."

  Kat shook her head. "Dara and I are close because you can't help being close to Dara. We were roommates last year as freshmen in these tiny closets of a room. It was like, there was no other choice!"

  We laughed, probably more than we needed to. Pent up adrenaline and tension needed an outlet. I could picture that though. Dara seemed the type.

  "I actually didn't meet Hanami until around Spring Break, so almost six months ago?” Kat started ripping into her napkin, and rolling the little pieces between her fingers. “There was a...party that I thought I could handle on my own. I was wrong. Anyway, I somehow signalled for Hanami to get me, and in a blink, she was there.”

  Kat had a far off look in her gaze as she recounted that night in her memory. “She took the dude off me before things got really bad, and threw him off the fraternity house landing. She could have set him on fire and made everyone forget it happened, but didn’t. She got me out of there, kept me safe. We hung out ever since."

  The emotional trauma that Kat had to carry permeated into this room. The air was thick and heavy, and I felt the need to say something but the words couldn't seem to form in my mouth.

  I never knew what to say in these kinds of situations, so I said the only thing I could think of to say. "Dude, that sucks, I'm sorry."

  Kat gave a wry smile. "Yeah, totally sucks, but could have been worse. Point is, she helped me out of a bad situation when no one else did. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that if she was every accused of murder, and even if she was standing over a dead body with a bloody knife in her hand...if she said that she didn't do it, I would believe her."

  She gazed hard and direct into my eyes.

  I didn't know any of my roommates, not really, but I trusted my gut. And my gut told me that I’d believe her, too. "Fuck, so would I. I don't even know the girl, and I would say the same exact thing."

  The door of our suite flew open, and Hanami waltzed through it. Because of the spells that warded all of the dorms and other Academy safehouses, there was no magicking ourselves in and out of the buildings.

  Not even the Merlin could appear here.

  "Hey girl. Egg roll?" Kat offered.

  Instead of an answer, Hanami looked like she was about to spit fire.

  * * *

  "Yeah, just a sec." The girl who would be the Merlin seemed smaller somehow. Fuming and stiff, she marched her way into her room. She didn't quite slam the door, and somehow that chilling control made it all the more eerie.

  Kat and I exchanged worried glances.

  I quickly cleared away our empty plates, and heated up some food for Hanami. By the time she opened her door and joined us at the table, the food was steaming and waiting for her.

  Hanami looked at the food glumly, dark circles under her eyes. She didn't have her contacts in--or at least didn't have anything that altered her eye color--and her face was scrubbed clean. Without her makeup and her hair back to her natural black and pulled back into a simple ponytail, she looked like she belonged in middle school.

  She tucked her legs underneath her and started stabbing the shrimp on her plate of lo mein. "Thanks guys," she mumbled.

  She didn't look at us when she spoke.

  I shared a look with Kat, and we had an unspoken conversation.

  Say something, I said with my raised eyebrow.

  Kat countered back with her own eyebrow arch. You do it.

  "You two don't have to tiptoe, you guys have questions, just ask. Everything's fine. I'm just annoyed."

  We made noises of protests as if we were totally about to ask something, but Hanami eyebrowed us herself as if to say, I'm the future Merlin, I could figure out what you all were thinking.

  "So what did the Merlin ask you about?"

  She twisted her lips. "She didn't really ask me anything. She doesn't really have to," she said.

  "Like she's a mind reader?" I asked.

  "More like she has this look," Hanami said. "Like it pierces into your soul. So either she's a really good interrogator or she's been there-done that. Regardless, it's not like we knew anything."

  "Well she didn't blame you for this evening did she?"

  "Not exactly. But she had that whole 'you should have known better' vibe going on. Like her words said one thing but her thoughts were another."

  "Wait wait wait," I said. "Are you a mind reader, now?" I asked.

  Hanami just sighed.

  "Look, you're hard on yourself, I get it. Future Merlin vibes. But you don't have to carry the weight of the world," I told her.

  "Dude, Artura's right. You need to get over yourself, and the Merlin needs to get over herself. The demon thing’s appearance wasn't your fault. The mayhem was no one's fault. Well, aside from the person that actually conjured up the demon...or whatever it was." Kat chewed thoughtfully. "What the hell was that thing anyway? Did they say?"

  "No. They were trying to figure out what would be physical like that yet dissolve into blackened nothing."

  "So, they're already ruling out demon," I asked.

  "Yeah, not even a low-level one, at least none that they knew of."

  "I know that the Merlin can be a hard ass," Kat asked, "but is there another reason why you're so glum chum?"

  Of all the possible reactions in all the unverses, I didn't expect what happened next.

  In a small voice that tore at my heart, Hanami answered, "I got kicked out of the Merlin's program." Her face twisted in an unspoken grief before it crumpled into sobs.

  I reacted out of instinct. I slid out of my chair and wrapped my arms around the middle of her trembling body. Kat stood on the other side, arms wrapped around Hanami’s shoulders, the both of us trying to hold her together as best as we could while her world crumbled around her.

  "What? That's crazy! You said that they didn't blame you?"

  "They didn't. But there was an inquiry. They took our wands and staff, at least the knights' and mine." They would have been the only ones authorized to carry one. "And when they tested mine, they found traces of black magic."

  Kat's eyes were round they nearly swallowed her face.

  "That's impossible," Kat said. "You wouldn't have anything to do with that shade. You wouldn't need to!"

  "That's what I told them," Hanami said. "But until they figure it out, I'm suspended pending trial." She fought through her hiccups. “I could be kicked out of the Academy and possibly ex-communicated.” Her sobs swallowed any other words that might have followed.

  My heart broke for this girl. She was the smartest person around, and not only that, but a decent and good person who didn’t need to misuse her magic. Apprentice or no, she was ahead of most knights and lived up to her reputation.

  Better than her reputation, actually, since there was a lot of whispers about her general bitch reputation. She spoke her mind, but I didn't consider that bitchy. That just meant that she was fearless and didn't cater to others.

  "What the hell! With your reputation, they had the nerve to suspend you?"

  "It was because of my reputation that I only got a suspension versus immediate expulsion and jail time."

  "Holy shit!" I said. "They're really against black magic!"

  Kat said, "The threat of Morrigan and her armies building outside of the mists has made all the mages, especially the Aegis Council on hyper edge."

  The scene that Professor Jameson showed me of Morrigan’s armies stretching over a countryside played in my mind’s eye. "Dude, there's no way the Me
rlin would believe you'd do this? Right?"

  I looked toward Kat for confirmation. Right?

  Kat bit her lip, a twinge of worry in her eyes. For Hanami’s sake, she said, "Well, you don't have to worry. We're gonna help you out, okay? And then all this would just have been a big misunderstanding. You'll see."

  We stayed like that, and for a brief moment, we were just a bunch of girlfriends, completely normal, as if we were a family.

  That was how Dara saw us a moment later. "Oh no, am I missing a group hug moment?" she exclaimed and bounded over to us and wrapped us up in her arms.

  Hanami squealed at the crush since she was in the middle. “I can’t breathe, Dara!”

  "Psh, you're going to take it," Dara replied, and squeezed harder.

  After we joked with Dara about her evening plans to which she blushed furiously while claiming that nothing happened, we caught her up on what had happened with Hanami while she shared more food with us.

  "Well, you know what I heard," Dara said. "Since I was with Gunnar--"

  "Gunnar!" both Kat and I exclaimed.

  "Sorry," I explained to Dara, "we were trying to figure out his name, go on."

  "Anyway," she said pointedly, "we were just hanging out, and I heard the other guys talking in their common room. They were talking about what happened and what they were questioned, etc. And the way they were answering, they had no idea what happened. And, on top of that, Lance felt bad about getting in your face, Hanami."

  Dara was petting Hanami’s head. With their size difference, Hanami was like Dara's doll.

  "Yeah, I figured that. He apologized to me after I got chewed out by the mages."

  "You don't even care about him, why do you let him annoy you so much, Mimi?"

  Hanami shrugged. "Habit?"

  That got us all laughing again.

  "Good, well, I love you and I want you to get over it. It'll be better for your aura," Dara said.

  "And it would make you feel better since you're gonna be boffing Gunnar, and it would be convenient if you didn't have to take sides when you're there with them?" Kat hinted.