The Hand Collector

by Marian Gray

  “I’m not sure.” Ross shrugged her shoulders. “To be honest, I always thought the story was fake—like a boogie man used to scare us to behave at school and not stay out late.”

  “Do you think it’s the actual Hand Collector or copycat?”

  “I have no idea. But seeing Harley Wilson like that…”

  “I know what you mean. That image will haunt me for the rest of my life.”

  “How could anyone do that to somebody?” She sighed. “I mean, if someone were to take my hands and eliminate my magic, I think I’d want them to go all the way and just take my life too.”

  Ross was being dramatic, but given everything we had been through so far, I thought it would be kind of tasteless to call her out. “I feel like I need to do something.”

  Ross glanced at me. “Me too.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  I propped the book open in front of me. With my hand stretched out, I plucked the second and fourth essence from the plant on the desk. They slipped into my fingers with little effort, and for once, it didn’t feel as though I was trying to shove a round peg into a square hole. I mimicked the hand posturing In the textbook with my fingers curled into my palm and repeated the incantation. “K’ra ts’ahn.”

  The air rippled, and the terra-cotta pot hovered, rising into the air until it was level with my hands.

  “Hey, I heard what happened,” Idris’s voice sounded from behind.

  His presence broke my concentration, and the terra-cotta pot fell to the desk, fracturing it’s orange red base. “What are you doing here? You know we shouldn’t be speaking.”

  “We’re tucked away in the back of the library. Nobody’s gonna spot us.” He pulled out one of the chairs at the table and sat down.

  “You don’t know that for sure.” I swept up the spilled soil into my hands and dusted it back into the pot, making sure not to leave a single spec behind.

  “How are you handling everything?” He placed his hand on mine to stop my frantic movement.

  My chest tightened, and I struggled to inhale a breath. His gentle touch was soothing and sweet. “Frazzled—I’m frazzled. Assessments are next week, and I saw someone with both of her hands chopped off. I’m doing as well as anyone could hope.” The only ray of sunshine in my life at the moment, was the glimmer of hope that Dr. Raby’s oil injections had worked. I had noticed a difference, but that could also be my mind relaxing and no longer withholding.

  “I’m sure they will let you and Ross forgo the assessments if you need to.”

  “That’s the thing. I don’t want to. I want everything to go back to the way it was. I want to go back to when old people with musty breath were asking me invasive questions and whitehands were shitting on me and blackhands were urging me to do illegal things. That reality was at least familiar, and the familiarity made me feel safe compared to what I feel now.”

  “You don’t feel safe anymore?”

  I shook my head. “And I don’t think you are the one I should be having this conversation with. You’re the enemy, or have you forgotten?”

  “I think we’ve both forgotten.” He swallowed hard, leaning forward in his seat. “What happened to Harley Wilson should ascend the schism in our society. Whatever it is you’re going through, I want to help.”

  “Help?” They were the exact words I would want him to say, but at the same time they were so wrong. He was offering me something that I wanted so badly but couldn’t take. This point was hammered home at the mixer.

  “Yes, I want to help you,” he repeated.

  “Idris, I don’t even know if I can trust you.”

  My words threw him back in his seat and he stared at me as though I had injured him. “How can you say that?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe because you repeat constantly that we’re enemies, adversaries, heaven and hell destined to battle it out to the death. You never let me forget it.”

  He swallowed hard. His hands balled into fists. “I know, and it’s wrong for me. I shouldn’t have. I’m just as confused by all of this as you are. I guess…”

  “You guess what?”

  “I guess, I never expected to like you. It’s hard to hate someone when all you want is to be around them every waking second.”

  I stared at him, unable to speak. My throat felt swollen as though even swallowing would choke me.

  “Truce?” He lifted his chin, studying me, wanting to see my reaction before the words left my lips. “At least until this whole affair is settled. “

  “What?” I cocked my head, taken aback. “You think this will happen again? You think another student will be attacked?”

  He shrugged. “What do the police think?”

  “One suggested that it was somebody called the Hand Collector, but Chancellor Day quickly shut that down. She asserted that if anything it was just a copycat. She didn’t say a lot during the interrogation, but it kind of felt as though she wanted this all to blow over and just be an unfortunate memory.”

  “Well, it’s in her best interest and the school’s best interest that happens, but if it is a copycat, they’ll strike again. The Hand Collector claimed three victims before he or she stopped.”

  I nodded, having heard this before. “Ross already filled me in. We haven’t spoken too much but given what’s been said, I think we’re going to try to do something.”

  “What do you mean do something?”

  “I mean, find out who did this and stop them.”

  His lips screwed up, and he struggled to hold back a laugh. “With all due respect, Zuri, have you forgotten that the two of you are just a pair of eerstejaars, and Ross is a commoner?”

  “Well, that’s never discouraged you, and you’re just as common as Ross.”

  “Haven’t you figured it out yet? I’m one in a million, Lady Ebenmore.” He teased me, lightening the mood.

  “I already told you. I don’t like formal titles.”

  Idris shrugged. “If you get to remind me I’m a commoner, I get to remind you that you’re an aristocrat.”

  I rolled my eyes. “So, back to this truce thing.” I didn’t want us to drift too far from the prospect. “What exactly does it entail?”

  “I’d rather not compartmentalize it right now. Let’s see what it becomes. Why put restrictions on something before it’s grown?”

  I thought it odd he wanted to keep it so vague. That was dangerous given our places in this world. “Safety? Regulations tend to provide stability.”

  “Then, how about we start with the fundamentals of friendship? Let’s get to the point where we trust each other and can be honest.”

  “Alright.” I nodded. “That sounds fair.” My hands found their way to my hips. “And you don’t court Mercedes Montcroix.”

  “What?” Idris laughed. “Why? Would do want me to court you instead?”

  The question nearly knocked me out of my chair. “Sure, right after I pay a visit to your family like I promised.” I rolled my eyes. “This is a truce. If I’m going to trust you, you can’t be crawling in deeper with my enemies.”

  He winked at me. “Right.”

  “I’ll do the same if you want me to?””

  “No, I don’t think that will be necessary..” He stood from the chair and slipped his backpack onto his shoulders. “I have a lab I need to go to. If anything else happens or you need somebody who isn’t Ross to talk to, come find me. My cluster is Canis in the Nightingale wing. Tell the pixie you want to summon me before he has a chance to bite off your fingers.”

  A surge of emotions flushed through my system as I watched him walk away. Guilt pricked my stomach. I feared I was using the travesty to get closer to Idris, but at the same time, I loved slipping in deeper with him. I fell harder every day, and it wasn’t going to stop until I landed in his arms. But would he ever have the courage to catch me or would he simply let me tumble down forever?

  Chapter Eighteen

  I sank into my seat and nerves jolted through me. Tonight was our
first round of assessments, and I was feeling everything but prepared. Each passing day I noticed a positive change in my ability to push and pull essences, but I was still nowhere near meeting my professor’s expectations.

  “Any news over the weekend?” One student asked another behind me.

  “No, the keeping the lid on this one sealed tight.”

  “It’s just awful. Who could do such a thing to another person?”

  “That’s a stupid question. The answer is practically staring you right in the face,” the loudmouthed blackhand said.

  “Is it? Well, why don’t you enlighten us, James. Since you’ve managed to discover the identity of the Hand Collector before the authorities or faculty,” Siddhartha called him out.

  “The Leech.” He held up his hands like it was obvious. “There is a reason the party got rid of them in the first place. They’re jealous. They want what we have and they’re willing to take it at any cost. I think Middlemiss finally snapped.”

  “That’s a dangerous accusation,” Siddhartha remarked.

  “But it’s not far-fetched,” another boy pushed. “She is a Leech. I don’t know why we pretend as though that’s okay because it’s not.”

  “You had your chance to leave on the very first day,” Siddhartha said.

  “And I did,” he hissed. “They put me back.”

  “We should start a petition demanding for her resignation. I agree with James. The Leech is the Hand Collector. She’s a danger to us all.”

  I opened my mouth to say something, but the wave of support for this petition overwhelmed me. Second by second more voices added into the chorus. It felt as though Siddhartha and I were the only two who believed the accusation was ridiculous.

  “Middlemiss didn’t do it,” I shouted when the wave broke.

  The classroom quieted. “And how would you know?” James asked.

  “Maybe because I was there.” I hadn’t seen Middlemiss anywhere around. In fact, the only person I had seen was Professor Saviano, but none of the students were calling for his resignation.

  “That doesn’t mean anything,” James retorted.

  “Yeah, it does. It means I know things you don’t. They aren’t giving you all the full story.”

  “And what story would that be, Lady Ebenmore?” Pwofese Middlemiss asked as she entered the classroom.

  “Nothing,” I said, crumbling in on myself.

  Pwofese Middlemiss stood behind her desk and stared out at us. Her dark hands gripped the back of the seat, clutching as though she were holding on for dear life. “Since I’m sure nerves are running high today, I thought I would give you all a break from the usual lecture and instead do a full class time of practical work. We will work on ancient pushes and give you all a chance to loosen up before you step into assessments at the end of classes today.”

  As a warm-up, she had us run through several pushes and pulls we’d already learned. They were relatively easy for blackhands since organic matter was more rich and plentiful when essences were first discovered. Whitehands, however, had to focus the majority of their work on rocks, and from what I have been told, rocks didn’t like giving up their essences easily.

  “We need to tell Pwofese Middlemiss about that petition students are planning,” Siddhartha whispered to me. She had slid over two seats in order to be nearer to me.

  “No.” I shook my head. “They have no backbone—James especially. Don’t give it any more attention and it will die.”

  Siddhartha side-eyed me. “If we do nothing about this, then we are just as wrong and guilty as them.”

  I liked Siddhartha well enough, but she wasn’t someone I wanted to get entangled with. Siddhartha was a first year whitehand and an outspoken egalitarian. I admired her courage, but didn’t envy the spotlight it shined on her. I was still trying to make it through my studies without being found out as a snuffed hand. The last thing I needed was more eyes on me.

  “You can say whatever you want to say, Siddhartha, but don’t drag me into it with you.”

  She rolled her eyes and returned to her seat. Nothing was going to come of this petition, because it was so obvious the Pwofese Middlemiss wasn’t the Hand Collector. She already walked around with a target on her back. Doing something like this would only confirmed people’s biases, and she was still fighting to show the world that absomancers weren’t these bottom feeders the party made them out to be.

  “Hands down and eyes to the front, please,” Pwofese Middlemiss’s voice cut through the mix of jarring syllables. “We will move on to our new push that first originated in Ancient Egypt and spread to neighboring African communities. It’s a push that calls water from any open source. And by that, I mean not blood, saliva, or any other entity that is holding the water. It is only exposed, open water.” She moved to the front of the classroom, standing center. “As usual, I will need a student from whom I can borrow powers in order to demonstrate this push.”

  “Leech,” I heard James whisper.

  Siddhartha turned around in her seat and shot him a dirty look.

  The party had outlawed absomancers siphoning powers from hands, but the school had managed to get the party’s permission to allow Pwofese Middlemiss to do just that. The university faculty cited it as necessary in order to prepare students for what may come one day. What better way to ease the shock of having your powers siphoned, then to do it in a controlled and safe environment?

  “Zuri,” Pwofese Middlemiss called my name. “How about you?”

  The proposition stifled my breath. I glanced at my side to see Siddhartha staring at me. She lifted her eyebrows, urging me forward. But I desperately didn’t want to go.

  I feared Pwofese Middlemiss borrowing my powers and realizing just how much I lacked, how much wasn’t there that should’ve been. Dr. Raby had said the problem was a theoretical valve. Well, would Pwofese Middlemiss be able to sense that? I didn’t know enough about absomancers to feel comfortable.

  “It’s okay if you’re afraid,” James said. “It’s a natural response.”

  “Any more out of you and I’ll submit your name straight to the Chancellor,” Pwofese Middlemiss threatened him. “Zuri, whenever you’re ready.” She took a step to the side and gestured with her hand that I was to stand next to her.

  The students were quickly making this into something of a statement. If I refused to go, I was siding with the bigots, agreeing that this was a perverse act that I wouldn’t have any part in. By getting up from my seat, I was siding with Siddhartha. I was saying that Pwofese Middlemiss was my equal and most importantly, not the Hand Collector.

  I swallowed hard. My heart was beating so hard I could hear it in my ears. I knew what I had to do, and chances were it would come at the expense of my own studies within the school.

  I rose out of my chair and with heavy steps, marched to the front of the classroom. Pwofese Middlemiss smiled at me. It wasn’t a triumphant smile, but one that was reassuring and motherly in nature. As though she were trying to convey that she wasn’t going to hurt me and this would all be over soon.

  “In order to complete this push, the hand must focus more on your posturing rather than the syllables as our first four pushes have done.” Pwofese Middlemiss turned to me and held out her hands. The fingers were spread wide and palms turned upward to the sky as though she were preparing to receive something. “I will first borrow Zuri’s powers, and then I will demonstrate the push. Chances are, I won’t need to take that much given that she’s an Ebenmore, so the absorbency should be minimal.”

  I held my breath. This was it.

  Here and now in this classroom my big secret was about to be exposed. When she had to exert more than necessary in order to absorb from me, that’s when she would know I was snuffed. In fact, that’s when the entire classroom would probably know too. It’d taken her approximately five seconds to absorb from the previous student volunteers, and I was terrified that I would be standing up here for ten or fifteen seconds or maybe not even tha
t long. If she was unable to absorb anything, it would all end in the blink of an eye.

  “Ready?” She asked me.

  I felt the pressure building behind my eyes. This wasn’t how I wanted it all to and. I didn’t want to leave my studies and return home a failure. I didn’t want to let everybody down.

  “I’m ready.”

  As soon as the words were out of my mouth, it felt as though somebody had dumped a cold bucket of water on my head. I froze from scalp to toe, petrified of what was going to happen next.

  Pwofese Middlemiss opened her mouth and her fingers went rigid. The pupils in her eyes enlarged until they consumed all of her dark iris. I waited to feel the tug, to feel anything really.

  But there was nothing, not even an itch or a scratch.

  The previous students had discussed feeling as though somebody were reaching through their throats plucking out something from the pit of their stomachs, but I stood there, untouched. Was the valve too tight for her to even reach inside? Did the oils only work for me? Dr. Raby hadn’t specified explained the mechanism behind the oils’ function.

  Pwofese Middlemiss’s arms dropped to her side, and she closed her mouth with the jolt. I heard the click of teeth slamming against teeth. She blinked a few times and stumbled. She had to brace herself on her desk to keep from falling over. She was dizzy and out of sorts.

  “Pwofese Middlemiss?” I took a step forward, but she held out her hand, halting me.

  The air was tight and intense as we watched her. I could feel the students’ eyes jumping from me to her as they sat on the edge of their seats, waiting to see what would happen next.

  “Did Zuri attack her or something?” I heard somebody in the crowd ask.

  Before anyone could answer, Pwofese Middlemiss straightened herself. She kept a hand on her head, holding it there as though she were cradling a headache. “Class dismissed. We will resume the lesson on Wednesday.”

  Nobody moved. Nobody spoke a word. We all stood frozen.

  “Did I stutter? Class dismissed. Pack your bags and go!”