Jaycen had already unbuckled her seat belt and was opening the car door. “Yes, yes, yes.”
“Benedict, you got here fast,” the police officer greeted him with a smile. He was a lot younger than Jaycen would have guessed from his voice. She wished she could have stayed just a little longer; she badly wanted to hear what the man was going to say. But she simply couldn’t, so without another word she ran off down the street.
She found the fast food restaurant quickly and ended up buying a drink while she was there. She thought it would be rude to use their restroom without buying anything.
With her drink in hand, she slowly made her way back to the car, stretching her legs as she walked. She could see the crowd that had gathered around the bright police tape and a few officers keeping people back. A scruffy looking man walked past her, pushing a shopping cart full of rubbish and litter. “All these cops, littering my street,” he grumbled, picking up a discarded coffee cup off the floor and dropping it in his trolley. Jaycen walked past him smiling but she couldn’t see Benedict, so she decided to take her chances with being seen and walked over to the crowd.
“Oh! Look at all of that blood.” A woman covered her mouth and looked away just as Jaycen walked up.
A body still lay on the ground, a thin white sheet hiding it from view. A white sheet that was slowly turning red. Blood really was everywhere. What could have possibly happened to them to cause so much blood? In such a place so public as well?
She noticed Benedict standing closer to the body, his back to Jaycen as he spoke to the young police officer from earlier and two other men. One of the new men, an older guy dressed in a clean, grey suit, his black and grey hair pushed back from his face, called over another policeman. She couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but she could see the worry in the man’s eyes as the police officer spoke. The younger man, more Jaycen’s age than Benedict’s, crouched down near the body, and lifted the sheet ever so slightly.
She watched them for another minute or so, still unable to hear anything but just watching Benedict as he pulled out a black badge and passed it to another policeman. A badge, somehow Benedict had a police badge. How? Was he somehow a part-time principal/part-time police officer? Could that even be possible? Was he a retired police officer? She shook her head at her own internal questions—he didn’t look old enough to have had two careers.
Jaycen had been so deep in thought that she hadn’t noticed the younger man Benedict had been talking to was now looking at her. Their eyes locked from across the street, even from her distance she could see his dark green eyes squinting as they scanned her entire body as he twisted a thick gold band on his pinky finger. He looked almost… suspicious? She didn’t know why; she hadn’t been doing anything strange. What she really wanted to do was shout, “What are you looking at?” but she held back, not really wanting to draw attention to herself. So instead she smiled at the man, and turned to walk away, sipping on her drink as she went.
Jaycen almost made it to the car when a body pushed past her, almost knocking her to the ground and spilling her drink all over her arm.
“Hey!” she called, shaking her wet arm as the person who’d pushed her rushed on down the street, their head down and a dark blue cap covering their hair. She couldn’t even tell if they were a man or a woman, but what she could tell was that they were rude as hell and in a rush. Jaycen watched as they sped ahead, and normally wouldn’t have thought anything of it, until a man with light blond hair pushed forward and reached for the pusher’s arm, dragging them into a nearby alley. She looked around, wondering if anyone else had thought the exchange seemed odd. But everyone seemed too interested in the murder just a few metres away to even notice, so the weird interaction between the two people had gone completely unnoticed. Dropping her now empty drink into a nearby bin, Jaycen followed them.
“Why are you back here?” Even over the noise of the crowd and traffic Jaycen could hear the cold hiss of a man, a French man.
“I felt something here. More magic. I didn’t think she had died.” The voice that answered wasn’t as strong as the first, or as angry. The voice was very much American; it was definitely the voice of a man. Possibly a man who had just committed murder!
“Of course there is magic here, you idiot! They would have called Benedict immediately. Do you want to get caught? Is that it? Do you want to mess this up?”
“No, no, of course not. I just didn’t want to leave a witness alive.”
Jaycen had heard enough; she turned, about to run back to Benedict when a hand wrapped around the top of her arm, pulling her into the shadow of the alley.
“Oh no, oh god. How much did she hear?”
She still couldn’t see the face of the pusher, but the second man, the blond man, was staring down at her with light purple eyes.
“Put on your goddamn mask,” the French guy ordered in a hiss.
“Get off me,” she screamed, trying to pull away, but all he did was pull her closer. He was so strong, too strong.
“It doesn’t matter; she’s not going to be telling anyone anything,” the pusher said, now standing next to the French guy, his face covered in a white, black, and red mask. It was petrifying, with large black eyes, the rest of the mask white, apart from what looked like red blood dripping from his forehead.
Now, alarm bells were really starting to ring. Jaycen pulled back, making a fist, and punched the blond man in the throat. He released her immediately. Jaycen kicked him once, hard in his shin, making him drop to the ground and moan in pain. She turned and ran away, almost making it to the opening of the alley when something took hold of her and dragged her back. Magic.
“Help! Help me!” she screamed and kicked, trying to dig her nails into anything her hands could touch. Anything to try and stop herself from moving.
“Just kill the bitch,” the blonde croaked out. Jaycen looked over to see him still on his knees and holding his throat. It was the other man bringing her back, the pusher.
Jaycen twisted as the magic pulled her closer. The pusher, his face still hidden by the terrifying mask, was only a metre away and holding out a knife, its blade shining in the midday sun. He was ready to kill her; this could really be it.
The fear was now consuming her. No, this couldn’t be it. Surely? Not when her life was just getting interesting?
“No,” she screamed, letting her body take over. As if it had done it a million times before her hands lifted, the fear in her body now buzzing as it was channelled through her, down her arms and into her hands.
“Just kill her!”
The pusher lifted the knife and was ready to strike when Jaycen’s other hand lifted. Her magic sent him flying backwards. His body went in one direction and the knife in another.
He screamed out in either fear or surprise; Jaycen wasn’t sure which. In that moment, she really didn’t care as she kicked at the ground and got up, running as fast she could to the opening of the alley.
“She has magic!” one of them screamed behind her.
Just then, something hit her back, propelling her forward so fast she couldn’t stop as her body collided with a parked car, hitting it hard, and falling to the ground in a heap.
Jaycen lay on the ground, the car alarm blaring next to her, and people screaming around her. Her vision became more and more blurry as she tried to push herself up; she couldn’t let them get away. She had to tell Benedict.
“Don’t move. Stay still.” A strong, warm hand cupped the back of her head and urged her to lie down.
“Stop them.” She blinked, trying to clear her vision. It cleared just enough for her to focus on the face of a man that hovered above her.
“Stop who?” he asked, his green eyes wide but still gentle. Green eyes, the ones that had been looking at her earlier. He knew Benedict.
Her eyes were getting heavy as she replied, “The people running away, you…. You moron.” Finally, Jaycen succumbed to the pain and everything went dark.
Cha
pter 4
“I feel fine. More than fine really, I feel amazing.” Jaycen stretched her arms out, just in case he needed a visual of just how okay she really was.
“Do you think you’re ready to start going to class?” Benedict still stood in the doorway, a pile of folders in his arms as he leant on the doorframe. He’d been doing this for the past three days, coming in and checking on her, but not making it any farther than the door.
“I’m so ready. More than ready.” She’d passed out after hitting the car and woken up at the Cure Academy a day later bruised and aching. Benedict had put her on strict bed rest, not letting her leave her room for a minute. Right now, she was itching to get out of those four walls.
“The doctors said your bruises are still there, but the pain is less?”
She nodded, pulling on her new school jacket as she looked out the window. She had learnt that her room was on the far end of the school campus, meaning she had a great view of the fields that surrounded them, but hadn’t seen anything of the actual school.
“If you think you’re ready then, okay. I’ll walk you down to your first class.” He stepped into the room and held out one of the many folders in his arms. “But first, could you have another look at this? We’ve made the changes you suggested. Let me know what you think.”
Jaycen took the folder from him and flicked through the drawings. She’d told Benedict as soon as she had woken up about her attackers, and how she thought they were the ones who had killed the person under the white sheet, who she later found out had been a forty-three-year-old woman called Maranda Smith. Benedict hadn’t told Jaycen directly about her of course, she’d overheard him talking to someone in the hall just outside her room. She also got the distinct impression that this wasn’t the first murder. She still didn’t understand why Benedict was so involved in the investigation, but she kind of liked the idea of him being a part-time criminal investigator. By day he teaches kids, by night he solves crimes. She wasn’t sure if it was true or not, but she liked the idea of it.
She found the new drawing of the blond attacker, this picture in colour and looking amazingly lifelike—damn, those artists really knew what they were doing.
Benedict had brought in a police sketch artist as soon as Jaycen had told him about the men, and she had been working with him for the past few days, trying to come up with the perfect picture. Looking at it now, it seemed they had done just that.
“This is him,” she muttered, her body shivering. Somehow the artist had picked up the coldness that had been in the man’s eyes, a coldness that was looking directly at her. Just like it had been that night. “Do you recognise him?”
Benedict took the picture from her and slid it back into his folder. “No. No one in any of the French schools know either. We don’t have him on file anywhere.”
“Well, he definitely knew you. He called you by name.” Jaycen took one last look in the mirror, giving her new uniform a onceover, a simple, dark blue blazer and white shirt, both embroidered with the school’s logo. It all looked very normal.
“That doesn’t really narrow this down. I’m well known in the magical community.”
Jaycen looked over her shoulder. “That was very big-headed of you.” She grinned. “But I like it.”
Benedict chuckled. “Well, it’s the truth. Take that how you will.” He rubbed his eyes, and when he looked up his smile was gone. “I’ve also put this picture out, letting everyone know that this man is very dangerous and seeing if anyone knows him. So far, nothing. I’ve also had some people double-check the alley. They couldn’t find the knife that you said flew into the trash. The mask you described…” He pulled out another piece of paper, this one a photograph. “Is this it?”
She nodded, staring at the masked black eyes. Everything else was white, apart from two large black eyes, the only colour was the red that look like dripping blood on its forehead. It was enough to give anyone nightmares.
“We know what group this mask belongs to. A small group of witches and warlocks with an ideology about how the magical world should be run. I’ll pass this on to the Cure, see if they know anything. Are you sure you didn’t see the other attacker’s face?”
“Nope, I didn’t see him at all. It’s a bummer about the knife, I honestly thought that was a great lead.” Looking for the knife in the alley had been her only idea when Benedict told her they were looking for the two attackers.
“Don’t worry about leads. You just concentrate on school,” Benedict had told her before leaving one day.
Benedict opened her dorm door, waited for her to step out into the corridor with him before he shut it after her. Then he marched ahead, leading the way. Jaycen hung back, trying to memorise their route so she’d be able to get back on her own once her classes were over.
“Hi, Mr Ravensmith.” Two girls passed them and smiled. Benedict smiled, greeting them.
“Is that what I should call you now? Mr Ravensmith?” Jaycen scrunched up her nose; it just didn’t seem right calling him that. He was Benedict to her; she’d gotten used to calling him that. They walked out into an open courtyard filled with groups of teens, all of them chatting away. Again, it was all very normal. Too normal. It left Jaycen feeling disappointed. This wasn’t the magical school that she had been picturing. Where were all the students zapping each other with spells? Where were the owls?
“I think it would be wise. It is what the other students call me,” he agreed, breaking her internal monologue as he pointed to one of the larger buildings set in the back. “You see that building over there? That’s the college. The building we are going into is the high school. Even though they are both pretty close, they aren’t joined. Both schools have their own dorms, their own cafeteria, training centres. The college only opened last year, so it’s all new. But then again, the whole school is relatively new.”
For the first time, Jaycen really got a feel for how big this school was as they walked into what looked like one of the main buildings. For some reason that she didn’t quite understand, she had been picturing old, gothic buildings that were dark and cold. In reality, everything was new, and very modern. Most of the buildings she could see were a mix of brick and glass, neatly cut lawns separated each building, while at the same time linking them all together. Past the school buildings was more grass that melted into a thick cluster of trees that spread around the entirety of the school.
A scream broke through chatter of the other students, but though Jaycen jumped back, no one else moved.
“What the hell?” she muttered to herself, scanning the courtyard for the source of the scream.
“Over there.” Benedict pointed to a field just past the collage building. She squinted, catching sight of two figures, both dressed in black, fighting in a cordoned off grassy area.
“It’s the defence and attack class. Kind of like the martial arts class, just harder,” Benedict continued.
Jaycen didn’t answer; she was transfixed by the two figures as they fought. They both attacked each other, both moving so fast that it didn’t look natural. Was it their powers? She watched as one picked the other up and threw them on the ground. Just when she thought the fight was over, the one on the ground flipped up so they were back on their feet. It looked like one of the old martial arts films that one of her many stepdads used to watch. They both carried on fighting, neither winning or losing, or even weakening. Their screams and grunts carried over the noise of the school yard, and Jaycen was blown away.
“Wow.” She wanted in on that class.
“The track circles the school,” Benedict said, either completely oblivious to Jaycen’s awe or just ignoring it. “In case you want to take up track later in the school year.”
Finally, she pulled her eyes away from the fighting and concentrated on Benedict, her head already spinning with ways to get into that class. She wouldn’t bring it up just yet though.
“It’s cool. I like how it looks,” she complimented, changing the subject as Bene
dict opened the large wooden door of the high school. “How many schools are there like this?”
“Like this one? None. We’re completely unique. There are magical schools though, thousands of them. Europe, Asia, North America, you name a place, there will be a school there. But they all just focus on the magical aspect and ignore everything else. We focus on every aspect, allowing some magical holders to hold jobs outside of the magical realm if they want to.”
Jaycen stopped in front of a classroom door. Students were now rushing past them, and the noise in the hall was almost deafening.
“This is your first class, physics. After that you’ll be joining the younger children for your first magical law and history and then art class. After that you’ll be in gym and then in general history. Okay?”
She nodded, not taking in a single bit of that information.
“Good.” Benedict smiled, opening the door for her. “Have fun.”
“Thanks, mom.” She waved as she entered the room, not missing the eye roll from Benedict—or rather, Mr Ravensmith, as he should now be known.
The class was already full of students, most of them huddled around desks and talking to each other. Jaycen made her way to the back of the class, picking the desk in the far corner so she could watch the other students without looking too creepy.
“Oh my gosh. I’m so glad you’re back!” one girl squealed and ran up to another one. They both jumped up and down, still squealing. At one point, Jaycen was sure it went so high that only dogs and woodland animals could have heard it. When they finished, they both sat down in their seats, loudly talking about their weekend. Weekend? That was all it had been? Jaycen had assumed that they hadn’t seen each other in years from the way they greeted each other. Did two days really call for that kind of greeting? No, she didn’t think so.
“Everyone take your seats.” A young man, no older than thirty, walked into the classroom, clapping his hands to get everyone’s attention. His dirty brown hair a mess on his head and the top few buttons on his shirt open. “Mr Jenson is away today; I will be filling in for him.”
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