Roomies?
A wave of nausea rolled through her. Jessica had not, apparently, gotten her room changed last night.
Which meant, they’d be seeing each other daily for their time at the Academy.
Kill me now.
She made a mental note to talk to somebody about switching. She didn’t want to leave her other roommates, but there was no way she could deal with this chick for the foreseeable future and not have one of them wind up dead.
“I’m an Elemental, and my power is probably fire,” Aiko said in a proud voice, clearly not picking up on the fact that Jessica had just come over here to gloat about whatever ability she had found out she had.
“As I’m sure you know from school, mine is speed,” Izzy said in a low voice. She didn’t want to make her roommates think poorly of her by being outright rude. Jessica had managed to make herself look like the victim to Sam, and Izzy didn’t need her new friends thinking the same. Still, it was hard to hide the fact that, if given the choice between talking to Jessica and eating maggots wrapped in bacon, she’d have chosen the latter.
Jessica’s smile grew even wider and the disdain in her expression grew even more apparent to Izzy.
“Ohhh, that’s really cool. And, hey, I’m sure that would help with waiting tables if you ever want to pick that up again!” she said, barely bothering to hide the backhanded compliment.
“So what’d you get?” Aiko said with an eager grin, still apparently oblivious to what Jessica was doing.
“Oh, me?” Jessica said, but continued without waiting for an answer, “they said that they couldn’t put me in a specific category because it was so unusual. Professor Baxter said something about my power being related to having control over other people’s perceptions. Seems interesting, but I almost wish it was something a little simpler and more commonplace, like an Enhancement Talent.”
Izzy wanted to punch her right in the chops there and then, but she restrained herself. She couldn’t risk getting expelled and losing this opportunity before she even got a chance to understand it fully. Rebecca, on the other hand, looked like she could barely contain her excitement.
“Neat! Wow, that is so super cool!” She seemed to want to continue her gushing but glanced at Izzy and then closed her mouth with a snap.
“I’m going to go check on Max,” Izzy said as she stood. Anything to remove herself from the conversation, but she was also genuinely worried about her new friend. Rebecca’s name was called as Izzy walked out of the room, and Izzy shot her a thumbs up. “See you soon, can’t wait to see what you guys got,” Izzy called.
She hustled away, letting out a pent up breath and forcing herself to release some of the tension balling up inside her. She’d allowed this girl to ruin a lot of her days in high school. No way was she going to let her ruin her days here, too. She had to focus on the positives. Already, she’d made some friends, and found out about a whole other world that she never knew existed. Surely that trumped having to deal with some ignorant bully?
Feeling a bit better, she continued down the hall into the dorms. When she arrived at the room, it seemed empty, and the first thing she noticed was a pile of dresses on Max’s bed. Was she packing to leave?
Izzy was about to sit down and wait for Max to get back from wherever she’d gone when she heard a yelp from the bathroom.
“Max? Are you here?”
“I’m in here. You can come in.”
Izzy opened the door to find Max facing the mirror in a yellow camisole and sweatpants, a razor in one hand and a pair of scissors on the blood-spattered countertop. Izzy stared, stunned into silence, at the carnage in front of her.
"What did you do?” she gasped.
A large swath of Max’s hair behind one ear had been cut to the quick and it looked like she was in the process of shaving the rest of that section down, with questionable results.
“Gave myself a haircut…not good?” her friend asked, brows knitting in concern. “I plan to dye the stubble purple when it grows in, so that should help.”
“You’re bleeding, honey. Are you okay?” Izzy asked, leaning in to grab a wad of toilet paper and hand it to the other girl.
“Yeah, I’m not great with a razor but the scabs will go away eventually. It’s gonna look cool, right?”
Izzy swallowed hard and nodded. “Yeah. Yep. It’s gonna look…cool, for sure.”
“I just found out my power is to build cool tech stuff and I figured I needed a new image, you know?” Izzy only just realized that Max’s affected medieval accent was gone, and in its place was something that sounded vaguely Dutch?
“What was your power?” Max asked as she dabbed at the blood and then went back to butchering her head.
“Um, I can make myself super-fast. I kind of knew it would be that already,” Izzy said, trying to focus on the conversation instead of the train wreck in front of her.
“That sounds pretty rad,” she said. “Do you know what the others got?”
“Aiko got fire but I’m not sure what Rebecca and Ashley got. Turns out, Jessica is still going to be rooming with us and, of course, little miss perfect got a special power that belongs to none of the groups. She’s able to alter the fabric of reality.”
Max paused, gaping at her in the mirror. “Wow. That’s amazing, what a cool power.”
“Yeah,” Izzy said, annoyed but unable to deny it.
Shortly after Max finished her haircut, the other roommates returned. Rebecca cocked her head sideways, staring at the side of Max’s head.
“You like it? I’m gonna dye it purple.”
“It’s sweet, I wish I could pull that off,” Rebecca said sincerely. Jessica turned her nose up and scoffed, refusing to look at Max.
“I like it,” Ashley said, trailing off.
“Wanna do me next?” Aiko said, pulling her hair to the side and looking in the mirror. “I wanna dye mine red.”
“I’m not sure you want to let her anywhere near your head with a razor,” Izzy said. “You should’ve seen the bathroom, looked like a scene from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre in there.”
Max laughed and dabbed some blood off the side of her head with the damp paper towel she was holding.
“What’d you get, guys?” Izzy asked, addressing Rebecca and Ashley. She avoided Jessica’s gaze. She knew that she had now decided to make the best of a bad situation and use the chance to make Izzy’s life a living hell.
“I’m an Enhancement type, like you, and my ability is increased speed of thought and intelligence,” Rebecca said. “I wish it was something that made me a little better at beating up bad guys, but I guess I’m okay with it. It also explains all the skipped grades, somewhat.”
“I am a Matter Manipulator and I’m a telekinetic, not what I had hoped for, but it’s not bad,” Ashley said.
“Those sound pretty cool, we actually have a pretty strong combo between the six of us,” Izzy said.
There was a knock at the door and, a moment later, a piece of paper shot through the crack beneath it. Jessica was the closest and she was quick to pick it up. She began reading silently, a sly grin tugging at her lips.
“It’s the note that the testing lady mentioned, our classes are set to start in thirty minutes at 9:00. Izzy and Rebecca can report to classroom 106, Ashley and Max should report to classroom 108, which is across from the cafeteria, and Aiko is in the courtyard,” Jessica said, clearly waiting for someone to ask the obvious question.
“Which class are you in?” Rebecca asked.
“Who, me? It says I am to report to the Dean’s office for a special one-on-one lesson.”
She preened while Izzy tried to keep her expression neutral, but inside, she wanted to tear her hair out. Jessica, of all people, was getting special lessons from the Dean herself.
Just lovely.
Chapter 6
"Welcome to day one of Enhancement class! I'm sure you're all as excited to be here as I am," Professor Baxter said with a wide smile as he saunte
red to the front of the room where a blackboard stood behind a massive, mahogany desk. His clothing was as disheveled as ever as he searched the desk, presumably for a piece of chalk, before shrugging. "You all remember my name without me writing it on the board, correct?"
The students nodded and he beamed.
"Already making a great impression on me, kids," he said with a nod of approval. "Now, as you can see, we're starting in the classroom this morning because we have some things that I feel are important to discuss before we head to the gymnasium where there's room for you guys to show off a little. First things first! Let's talk about what, exactly, Enhancement types have the potential to do, shall we? While some of us might have super keen vision, others might have spectacular hearing. I, myself, am known far and wide for my sleight of hand." He turned toward the board again and stopped short. "And, still no chalk," he mumbled under his breath.
A wave of chuckles rolled over the room and Izzy couldn't help but grin. Not to be mean, but Professor Baxter did have a way about him, and the scatter-brained impression he gave off was endearing. Still, as much as she imagined she was going to like him as both a teacher and a person, she couldn't help but wish she had a badass like the Elemental and Matter Manipulation teachers. They were probably learning how to shoot fireballs and make whips out of lightning or something right now...
"Aha!" Professor Baxter said, jarring Izzy from her thoughts. He held up a piece of chalk like a sword. "Victorious!"
There was a sigh from behind Izzy's left shoulder and she turned around to see a guy her age with brown hair and stormy blue eyes slouched in his seat, his would-be handsome face stony.
A kid beside him, this one more heavily muscled with dark skin and dark brown eyes, chuckled and turned toward the other to whisper, "I wanted to learn how to prep for a zombie apocalypse or something cool like that. I don't think showing them a card trick or that I have better than 20/20 vision is going to stop them from eating our brains, am I right?"
The other kid said nothing, his expression chilly.
"Mr...Ross, is it? Trent, is that right?" Professor Baxter asked, his still smiling gaze now locked on the muscle-head. The kid, apparently named Trent, nodded, shifting in his chair a little as the Professor continued, "While I feel certain that, as former human beings with good taste, zombies would surely love a good card trick as much as the rest of us, I understand that there is a time and place for fun. Maybe you'd like to come up and show the class some of the skills you would utilize to best the undead in a more serious way, should the need ever come to pass?"
Trent opened his mouth and slowly shook his head, but then paused and looked around. Everyone in the class was staring at him now, and his cheeks turned ruddy. "Uh, yeah, why not?" he asked, shrugging his massive shoulders.
Professor Baxter pointed to the Buick-sized desk in front of the chalkboard and offered Trent a smile. "First order of business, could you move that out of the way for an old man and give us some room?"
Trent nodded and, with barely a nudge from the heel of his palm, sent the desk sliding across the room to stop mere inches from the stone wall and stained glass window that adorned it.
"Far enough?" he asked with a wide grin.
"Quite!" The Professor applauded lightly and turned to the rest of the class. "Impressive, no?"
Izzy and the others all murmured in the affirmative, but a low frequency tension seemed to be gathering in the room and she found herself wondering what Baxter was up to. Surely, he wasn't just giving a cocky kid a chance to strut his stuff for no reason?
"Now, for our little one act play I'll dub, 'Zombie Smackdown'. Trent, you'll be playing the part of a brash, young hero. I'm sure it will be a stretch, but alas, I think you'll manage. I will be playing a recently turned zombie on the hunt for brains to consume." He held his hands open, "Annnd, five, four, three, two, one...Action!" then clapped them together. He stuck his arms out in front of him and began to walk, dragging one leg behind him as he moaned incoherently.
Trent stared at him, then at the class, then back at Professor Baxter as everyone broke into nervous laughter.
"Come on, then. Make a move, son," Baxter murmured to Trent with an encouraging nod before resuming his moans and groans.
Trent flexed his muscles and stepped toward the Professor before letting loose a halfhearted jab.
The Professor moved only an inch or so, but so swiftly that Trent's blow missed him entirely as he continued to shuffle along, groaning.
Izzy and Rebecca shared a wide-eyed look, and then turned their attention back to the front of the room.
Trent cocked his head, eyes narrowing a second before he fired off another shot, this one meant to be an uppercut with a little more power behind it. Again, swing and a miss as Baxter feinted right.
Izzy leaned forward in her seat, enthralled. Why, that wily old S.O.B.
Trent's jaw clenched as he barreled forward now, massive fist raised as he put all of his weight into a body shot that never connected with a body as Professor Baxter spun away an instant before contact.
"What the--" Trent shook his head in shock before letting out a low growl and backing up to the other side of the room. When he came at the zombie-professor this time, it was with everything he had. Muscular legs churning, arms pumping, as he lunged at him, center mass.
The resounding crash that followed left them all gasping. Rebecca leapt to her feet. "Trent!"
The kid lay face down on the stone floor, the splintered remains of the mahogany desk littering his motionless form. Professor Baxter was still in zombie stance, unharmed in the center of the room.
As Rebecca rushed toward a prone Trent, he stopped her with a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"He's fine. Strong as an ox, that one, and just as stubborn, I'm afraid," Baxter said with a wry smile. "Have a seat, Rebecca, and trust that whatever happens in my classroom is all part of the learning process."
She shot one last, worried glance at Trent and then took her seat.
Just as Izzy was starting to wonder if he might be wrong, Trent began to stir and pushed himself up into a seated position. Professor Baxter walked over to him and held out a hand. To Izzy's surprise, Trent took it and allowed the professor to help him up.
"Can we give Mr. Ross a round of applause for assisting in this demonstration?" he asked with a wide smile.
Trent had the grace to look embarrassed and the good humor to take a bow, which made Izzy like him instantly, despite his initial cockiness.
Trent walked unsteadily back to his seat as the Professor took his place in front of the blackboard again.
"How did you do that?" one of the other girls in the class asked, her voice barely a whisper.
"As you just witnessed, there is more to Enhancement powers than meets the eye," he replied, scanning the faces of his students. "My talents don't just lie in sleight of hand. I can also read people's expressions and process visual and auditory information very quickly, which can help me learn a lot about a person, like when I was able to determine each of your potential powers. On a physical level, it also allows me to forecast what's going to happen next and react before that initial action is anything more than a thought. I know what happened with Trent probably seemed harsh to some, but let it be a lesson for you all. You might think that Elemental powers are flashier and cooler than yours, but understand that they have ONE singular power. Yours can manifest in many, many ways and it’s likely you’ve only scratched the surface of what you can do.” He turned his gaze away from them to glance at the clock. “Class dismissed. You can head back to your dorms where your uniforms will be waiting on your bunks. Change, grab a snack at the cafeteria and some water, and then meet me in the gymnasium in thirty minutes, ready to work.”
Long after they trailed out of the room, Professor Baxter’s words continued to ring in her ears. Was he right...had she just scratched the surface of what she could do?
And, if so, what else might she be capable of?
&nb
sp; By the time Izzy got finished changing into her black uniform and made her way to the gym, she wasn't the only one buzzing with excitement. Rebecca was pretty much ready to jump out of her skin.
"Did you see that, though?" she hissed as they pushed through the wide double doors and stepped into the gym, where some of their classmates were already milling about. "I mean, I still can't believe it. Professor Baxter was all 'hiYAH’, and ‘pew pew’," she added, dipping to one side and then spinning to the other. "Don't get me wrong, I'm super glad Trent wasn't hurt, but that was impressive stuff. Do you think we're going to be able to do that?"
"I wish I knew. It seems like the Professor thinks it's possible, right? Not that there's going to be a zombie apocalypse anytime soon, but surely those kinds of skills have to be worth a lot of money to someone?"
"Yeah," a short, black-haired girl they'd seen earlier that morning in class chimed in from behind them, lengthening her stride to match theirs. "Actually, I heard that Baxter used to make a pretty penny on the carnival circuit. The Great Sabini or something like that? He did a lot of sleight of hand magic as well as fortune telling."
Izzy and Rebecca shared a scrunch-nosed frown.
"Not exactly the kind of job I was hoping for, but I guess that's cool, too," Rebecca said with a shrug as they slowed to a stop beside a row of bleachers. "Money is always nice. I'm sort of hoping to change the world someday, though." She stuck out a hand and the other girl shook it. "Rebecca, and this is Izzy."
"Molly. Don't ask me what I can do yet because, so far, it seems like I just have a really good sniffer," she said, touching a finger to her nose with a wry smile. "Good for letting you know when it's almost dinnertime, bad when my baby brother has the poops. But, hey, it landed me a scholarship, sooo..."
Izzy liked her instantly, and the three girls sat around and talked while they waited for the Professor to come.
When he stepped into the room a few minutes later, everyone stood up at attention.
"How about we get right to it, kids? A good, old fashioned relay race. Let's get into seven teams of three and line up here," he said, pointing to a line on the painted track that circled the perimeter of the gym.
Nightgrove Academy Book One Page 5