by L Cross
When Dara looked at her with her hands on her hips, and Hanami smirking, Kat shrugged in response. "Tell me I'm wrong."
Dara notched her head back. "Can't I want good things for my friend and get something in return?"
"It's cool. I really don't care about Lance. About any of them. They're just there to annoy especially when I get to crush them a lot." Hanami's face fell again.
"Oh no, what's wrong now?"
Hanami tsked. "I just realized. With the suspension, I'll definitely be off the rankings."
"Okay, you all need to tell me about these ranks," I said. "I scoured the welcome letters and admission packets. There have been no mention of ranks whatsoever!"
"There wouldn't be. The ranks aren't a formal thing. Well, not really. But they're a point system."
"But if they're not a formal thing, who is creating points? Who is the one keeping track?"
"That's the beauty, no one knows. School legend has it that it's the mages of the council, but of course that would be a little too on the nose. Plus, there would be too much favoritism since many of the mages would want to favor their apprentices or protegés."
"I like to think they're the Order of Nimue," Dara said. "The ladies who serve the Lady of the Lake," she said for my benefit.
"The point is, once the formal school calendar starts on Monday, we will come in with ranks already listed, and it's up to us to either keep it up or..." And she trailed off.
"But that's crazy! There are so many people in this school, the ranks are probably endlessly long!"
They all looked at me like I was crazy. "Of course it would be long, but there really aren't that many people here, and they only keep track of the top 100. The rest would be so far down."
Kat interrupted. "Don't get me wrong, though. The others would still be ranked. Just not shown outside of the top 100."
"Besides, it's the top 10-20 that really matter," they all seemed to say at once.
I sort of got it but I was still confused. Like I was trying to see street signs from a great distance. "And why is any of this important?"
"Rank,"
"Benefits,"
"Because,"
They all answered.
I tried asking again, in a way that they might understand. “Are there any tangible benefits from ranking?" I asked
"Not directly, and not with anything that anyone would actually admit to," Dara hinted, "but the higher the rank, the more presents you get, more opportunities, more invitations. Just more."
I scrunched up my forehead. "That's kind of weird, though. It makes it like the strong get stronger. Or the rich get richer."
"But that's the thing," Dara said. "It's not about any of that. Most of the time, it's about character and skill. Stuff that you can't buy or bribe."
"Dara and Hanami are legacy kids, but I ranked in the top ten last year, too," Kat said.
I was impressed. "Wait, are you saying you all were top ten last year?" I asked.
They nodded. "Hanami was first, of course, then Kat at seven and I was nine!" Dara said proudly.
Wow. "Great, that's not intimidating whatsoever," I said. "What benefits did you guys get then?"
"This dorm for one. Usually it's only reserved for upperclassmen, but Hanami was able to secure this for us. And then our first choice of classes. At least, that's what we've been able to get so far."
"I'd say that's an awesome benefit so far," I said.
"Hey, don't worry," Dara said. "You're here. You wouldn't have gotten into this dorm with us if you weren't going to be a ranker."
I just looked at her. "Why do you say that?"
Hanami got that look on her. "Girl, you found--and then pulled--the dragon sword from the stone. You might have been recruited, but for all intents and purposes, you have a legacy here."
"Yeah, I can totally see all that counting for you when it comes to rank," Dara said. "Anyway, you have nothing to worry about Mimi. You're gonna get your privileges back, we'll reverse that suspension, and the people responsible will be the ones who get in trouble."
"Thanks guys, but I don't even know how one would be able to plant black magic onto anothers' wands. Hell I don't even know how it's even possible to do it. How are we going to prove it happened?"
"Well, you know that you didn't do it. I know that you didn't do it. So clearly there's a possibility of it happening because it happened to you. Proving it will be a challenge of course, but we'll do everything in our power to help you."
"Guys, I don't want you to go through any trouble for me," Hanami said.
I looked at that little girl who was a fierce warrior during laser tag, full of power and spunk. I didn't like this defeated girl. This wasn't the Hanami I have come to know.
"It's not trouble. Think of it this way: When we didn't know what that demon was, you were the one who was going to go at it all by yourself. Why would you do that?"
"Morgan implied that if I was the one who conjured it, then I knew I wasn't going to be hurt so there wasn't a risk."
Good lord, the overwhelming need to punch that guy in the face made me shake. "Morgan is an asshole, so you don't have to listen to him at all."
Where the hell did he get off saying shit like that? "Anyway, even the Merlin doesn't believe that because if she did you'd be so far beyond expelled, and there wouldn't be a hearing or summons to appear before the council."
"We'll make sure you have the evidence before that date," Kat said.
"It'll be a long shot, no one's gonna want to admit to being a black magic user even for a prank."
"We don't need to know who did it," I said, "we just need to find evidence you didn't do it. One step at a time."
"Thank you all," she said. "I don't deserve your friendship."
"You deserve it and more," Kat said fiercely.
"We love you," Dara added.
"And I hate seeing you like this, all mopey. Besides, you promised that you'd teach Kat and me some tricks," I winked at her.
A grin broke out over her face, and I knew she would be all right. We were too wired to go to bed despite being well past midnight, so we spent the rest of the night watching scary movies and laughing at the cheesy effects.
We slept like that, snuggled under big blankets in our squashy lounge chairs.
I woke up with a startle. It was one of those things where you didn't want to move. Like it was a primal feeling, like you could feel like there was something in the room, and you didn't want to move and draw attention to yourself.
I looked through my lashes, and couldn't see anything, but I still had that feeling like there was something here. A presence.
I wanted to curl up and hide even farther in my blankets, but the thought that something might threaten my new friends made me brave.
I opened up eyes, trying to keep my breath even.
My eyes adjusted to the shadows in the room. I couldn't see anything in the beams of moonlight. I realized that I must have been imagining it between dreams.
And maybe a ton of junk food and cheesy movies.
I wanted to move into my room and stretch out, maybe brush my teeth. I shifted so I wouldn't wake anyone else. Kat just snuggled deeper into her side of the couch. Dara and Hanami had their own chairs.
I used the bathroom, brushed my teeth and attempted to clean the makeup and grime from my face. It was during the trip from the bathroom to my bedroom that I my subconscious caught onto the fact that something was wrong.
There were a pair of shoes that I hadn't recognized.
And then something else was attached to those shoes. I took a long look all the way up to the body that was attached to those pair of shoes. Because of course there was someone there to fill those shoes. Shoes that were worn and ugly boots that were too big for any of us to wear.
What the hell?
As soon as I locked onto its face, or what I thought would be its face, its eyes glowed red.
That was when I saw the outline of the horns and the black b
at wings that shifted in the air behind it.
Fuck that.
I grabbed the dragon pen that was in my pocket and twisted the end. As soon as I did, it turned into the sword that I had taken out of the stone on the island of Avalon.
Blue light arced over the blade, the end of which I pointed toward the creature. An expression went over the creature, one that looked almost human.
It was surprised.
"I don't care what you are, but you will get the fuck out of here," I said. I brought the sword down in a downward arc over the creature's head.
Heat sizzled as the blade cut into the creature. It faded completely before the blade crashed down and landed into the floor.
The others roused from their sleep. I didn't quite hear their words of alarm, but I was happy to note that they didn't panic. I flipped the light switch.
"What is Artura?" Kat said.
"There was something here. That glowy-eyed thing."
"Glowy-eyed thing?" Dara asked confused.
"The demon thing from the laser tag," Kat explained. "Listen not to sound like a bitch, are you sure? You weren't dreaming?"
"I'm sure."
"But that's nearly impossible. There's no way an intruder can teleport into a warded Academy building. Not even the strongest magicks can do it."
I know what I saw, I don't just hack into random objects of my imagination." I crouched down onto the floor. My sword nicked into the wood all right, but I came up with something else that was found on the floor.
Tiny hairs. Whatever was here, I managed to hit it before it teleported away. Not much, but it was enough to shear off a few strands of hair that I rolled between my fingers.
I turned toward Hanami. "We could have that proof that will exonerate you sooner than we thought."
Hanami was fully awake now, the fire back in her eyes. "What proof?"
I held up the hairs in my hand. "I got a piece of the bastard before it could teleport away completely."
Chapter Five
"Thank god it’s Saturday," I said. I poured coffee in our little kitchenette. Even though I prefer to drink it black I dumped about a gallon of milk and a cup of sugar into it.
Light and sweet.
I figured the caffeine wouldn’t be enough to fire up my brain cells, so a mountain of sugar would have to supplement. A little extra pick-me-up. I took a huge mouthful and winced as I choked it down. How anyone could drink coffee like this on a regular basis, I’d never now.
"Dude you want a little coffee to go with that sugar?" Kat smirked.
"Ugh, it's horrible," I said forcing another swallow. "But I need it. I couldn't go back to sleep, and I need to be halfway intelligent sounding when I meet up with the Merlin."
Kat fumbled her bowl. "You're meeting with the Merlin?" she said, eyeballing Hanami's room. The door was closed, but for all we knew she could hear us. She pitched her voice low. "I thought Hanami wanted us to keep last night on the downlow. You know, in case there could be another reason to blame her for this shit."
When I showed Hanami the hairs, all she could think of was that it doomed her even more in conjuring up the demon thing if in fact they belonged to the demon. After all, now there was actual physical evidence of the creature in our suite, and my testimony wouldn't prove anything because I couldn’t attest to how the demon got in, only that it was there.
If anyone believed me at all.
Whatever.
I'd held onto the hairs, placing them in a resealable plastic storage bag. I was still betting on the fact that the Merlin was interested in ensuring her protege was innocent. She wouldn't have merely suspended Hanami if she believed anything else.
Besides, the Merlin didn't take my statement last night, and I had a few questions that needed answers from the top dog herself.
"Relax,” I told Kat, nursing my sickeningly sweet coffee. “I had other reasons to talk to her. Real reasons."
Kat eyeballed me skeptically.
"Trust me, I won't say anything about the demon-goat thing. Well, at least nothing specific."
"Tu tu!" Kat said with a warning in her tone, hands on her hips.
"I really wish that my mom kept my nickname to herself," I said. "Look, however this affected Hanami, I really do want to know what happened, and it would be interesting to know another’s point of view. Plus, I barely got to talk to her yesterday anyway, just the surface stuff. She said she'd give me longer today."
"Okay," Kat said, drawing out the word to make it way longer than it was.
I rolled my eyes, and poured the rest of the coffee into a tumbler, diluting the light and sweet concoction with plain black coffee. "Anyway, I'm off. I'll meet you for lunch?"
"You got it!"
I bounded down the stairs and noticed a little bit of a crowd near the game room in the common areas. I stopped behind the line leading out of the dorm. A couple of girls wandered in from that crowd to wait in line behind me. They were giggling.
"Hey, what's going on over there?" I asked them.
The brunette with a ponytail answered. "Oh, it seems like the ranks were updated already! So exciting, I'm in the top fifty!" She high-fived her friend who was next to her.
Those damn ranks! “So what do the ranks mean? Who does the ranking?”
The non-ponytail answered. “No one knows, that’s the beauty.”
“But it could be anyone? Why would that matter? Why doesn’t that sound creepy to anyone else but me?”
“Because the ones updating it are obviously higher ups like the Mages. The people on top always get special perks or better positions. Stuff like that.”
“Would it stand to reason that the most skilled person would have earned that anyway?”
“Exactly! Hence the ranks.”
I decided that there was no reason for me to argue with them. Curiosity overwhelmed me, so I stepped out of line and headed toward the crowd.
Someone who stood there took a look at me then the rank then back again. "Hey, you're Artura Drake, right?" she asked.
I looked at the girl and tried to place her. Her blonde hair was vaguely familiar.
"The spells class yesterday. You got the ghoul in record time?"
"Oh yeah," I said, pushing my brain to try and figure her out even more.
"Well, congrats! I'll have to pick your brain about spells sometime!" The girl left, leaving me even more confused.
If only I had realized that there were way more whispers and other people moving out of my way. As soon as I had a clear shot to see the board, the sheer number of names overwhelmed me. There were fifty names so far that snaked onto the board. I started from the bottom of the list and worked my way up telling myself that I really didn’t want or expect to see my name on this list.
After a ton of scouring to see if I didn't miss my name among the bottom and the middle of the list, someone came over and nudged me on the arm. It was Kat.
"Dude, are you trying to find your name?" she asked.
"Nah, I just like staring at random green walls," I joked, sipping my still-too-sweet coffee. Blech, coffee needs to be crisp and earthy. Not this cavity-inducing liquid.
"Seriously? You're still trying to see where you are? Dude, make it easier for yourself. Start from the top."
Before I could mouth off at her, my eyes locked on the first name on the rank.
Artura Drake.
* * *
#
* * *
"What the hell," I said.
"I think that's the general sentiment," Kat said, puling on my shirt. "Let's go before you catch some shit from others."
I followed her lead and lined up to leave the dorm again.
This was the way to keep the wards strong rather than creating random tears in the spell casting. I signed my name with a flourish, the dragon pen always in my pocket now.
"How in the world am I the top name on the list?" I asked.
"Well, maybe your performance so far has been impeccable."
"Ho
w," I asked. "I haven't even tried to suck up, like at all."
"Remember, it's not who you know but what you do,” Kat said. "Look, you don't have to believe me, that's fine, but at least hear me in the fact that the observers or watchers or whoever you choose to call them, aren't superior, they make mistakes. But when it comes to choosing the right people who go all out, you've been doing that. So, be a gracious person and accept it."
"I just feel like I didn't earn that."
"Hey now. If you don't feel like you earned your rank, I could always make you do push ups or my laundry." Kat laughed. "You take things too seriously. What are you going to do? Take credit for everything that fails around here, would that balance things out for you?”
“Okay, I see what you’re trying to get at,” I started, but she interrupted.
“See there, you go again. ‘Trying,’” she said, using her fingers as air quotes. "Let me ask you this: Would you take credit for something that you didn't win fairly?"
I shook my head immediately. "Of course not. And anyone who does would piss me off."
"Exactly. So why are you going to credit for another person's failure."
I looked at her in a new light. "Damn, you're good," I told her. "Okay, I promise to be more positive if you no longer quote those cheesy one-liners, okay?"
"Okay," she answered.
"Are you walking me to my meeting?"
"Nah, you're keeping me company as I walk toward downtown."
"Okay, fine. I'm actually really happy to be the top of the rank, okay? I just can't help feeling guilty, like Hanami ought to be on there, and for some reason that didn't get done."
"You getting a top spot isn’t taking anything away from anyone else. Also, Hanami can take care of herself."
"I still can't shake the feeling that something bad is gonna happen just around the corner."
* * *
#
* * *
"I hear you're the first on the rank," the Merlin said. "Impressive."
The Merlin’s office was always startlingly off-putting in its over-sized manliness. It seemed more in keeping with Hemingway’s descendants rather than this elegantly chic woman who represented the most powerful Mage of this generation.