A Game of Secret

Hey this is the story that Lady-Marian started I am gonna be posting the book here but I HAVE NOT WRITTEN THIS BOOK THING.


Chapter one

I sat nervously in the wooden chair, waiting for the headmaster to arrive. I tapped by boot impatiently on the floor and played with a strand of my curly auburn hair, why wasn’t he here yet? My eyes wandered from the closed door to the bookshelf. It was filled with books on magic.

Ever since I found out I had the ability to do magic, I had been saving up my money to come to this school. I still didn’t have enough, but my father heard about a scholarship I could get. All I had to do was become the headmaster’s apprentice, no problem. Only, there was a problem. The headmaster had already turned down everyone that had come before me, why should I be any different?

“Sorry I’m late.” The headmaster said, entering the small room.

“It’s no problem.” I said turning my head to look at him.

I gaped. The headmaster couldn’t be older than twenty years old. He smoothed back his dark brown hair and smiled at me, his warm brown eyes twinkling.

“What?” he asked when he saw how I was looking at him.

“Nothing.” I said, and looked away blushing.

“Ah, you didn’t expect me to be so young.”

I shrugged. He walked over to a desk and sat down in the chair. Opening a drawer, he pulled out a white feather and placed it on the desk. He beckoned me towards him. I stood up and walked the short distance to the desk.

“Now, to be my apprentice you must have a large enough magical capacity to handle the advanced magic I will be teaching you.” He paused, and I nodded like I understood (which I didn’t). “So I’m going to test your magical skill with a series of tests, starting with making this feather float.”

“What?”

“Make it float. You know, with your magic?”

“But I haven’t had any training.”

“Jade, that is your name, right?” I nod. “Jade, I know you haven’t had any training; I want to see what you can do without training.”

“Okay.” I say, still unsure.

I look at the feather and concentrate the part of my brain I associate with magic on raising it. It shoots upward towards the ceiling.

“Well done!” he says clapping, “Now how about something heavier, like a book?”

I levitate a book, and then he tells me to take a book off the shelf with my powers. These don’t seem like very hard tests, and I tell him this.

“No? Well how about we try something harder? Levitate the chair you’re sitting in.” I start to get up, but he says: “With you in it.”

I plop back into the chair and focus. This time, it isn’t as immediate as the others. I have to concentrate really hard, but I get the chair to levitate three feet off the floor. Good thing I’m not afraid of heights, I think.

“Very good, now stay up there, and get ten books to rotate around you.”

I don’t dare reply, for fear of losing concentration and falling to the ground. I get three books to rotate around me when he starts talking. He’s talking nonstop about who knows what nonsense, and I cannot concentrate. I drop the three books.

“You need to learn to concentrate.”

“I’m trying, but you’re talking!”

“If you want to be my apprentice, you will need to be able to perform magic in many different places, including a noisy one.”

He starts talking again and I close my eyes. This is harder than I thought it would be. I slow my breathing and concentrate on the steady beating of my heart. One by one I get the three books that fell orbiting around me again. After several minutes I get ten. Feeling proud of my accomplishment I open my eyes.

“Now I’m impressed. Just one more test.” Excitement makes my heart beat faster, and I almost lose my concentration and drop all the books again. “Slowly lower yourself to the ground.”

This didn’t seem that hard, but when I started I almost dropped every single book.

“You must learn to multitask.” He says.

I take a deep breath and devote a second of my time to lowering the chair, and another second to lower the books. It’s an unsteady trip to the ground, but I make it.

“Clever method, very unique.” He complimented me.

“Thanks.” I reply, wiping the sweat from my forehead.

“Congratulations, I think you have the magical capacity to be my apprentice.” I practically leap in joy, “But,” there was always a ‘but’, “Do you have the patience? You will train with me for a long time, and you won’t get to your family. Can you handle that?”

“Yes.” I say, excitement building inside me.

“Then welcome, apprentice.”

<^>

We walk back down the hallway I had come down. I was going to say goodbye to my parents while he dismissed the rest of the people that had come, hoping they would get chosen as his apprentice.

We entered a big room with chairs lining the edge. My mom looked at me with a questioning look. I smiled big at her. She nudged my father who was reading the newspaper and whispered something into his ear. He looks at me and gives me a big grin. I race towards them and tackle my father in a bear hug. Well, more like I attempted to tackle him. It turned quickly from me giving him a bear hug, to him giving me one.

“I’m so proud of you!” my father whispers into my ear.

“Thanks dad.”

“Oh sweetie, this is so exciting! You’re going to learn magic!” my mother exclaims.

“I know!” I practically squeal with excitement.

The headmaster cleared his throat and I realized that everyone had already left.

“Oh, hello.” My mother says pleasantly.

“I am Caleb, the headmaster at this school.”

“Headmaster?” my father asked confused.

“Yes.” I say.

“Well, take good care of our daughter, and when I see her again, I hope that she’ll be packed with new knowledge.” My mother smiles politely.

“May we have a word with our daughter in private?” my father asks.

“Of course.” He said, and walked over to the other side of the room near the door that led into the hallway we had come from.

“Now Jade,” my father said, “A man like Caleb could take advantage of a pretty little girl like you, don’t let that happen.”

“Dad! He’s twenty, way too old for me. And I can take care of myself!”

“I know honey, I just want to make sure your safe.” He said, “Well, I guess I’ve got to say goodbye.”

He caught me in another bear hug and then let my mother wrap her dainty arms around me and say goodbye. I watched them walk outside before I turned around and walked toward Caleb. He had an amused look on his face, though I couldn’t tell you why. As we began walking down the hall he said:

“I’m nineteen, not twenty.”

“You eavesdropped on our conversation!” I accused.

He shrugged like it was no big deal, and I rolled my eyes and laughed. I thought that I might like this guy. Boy was I ever wrong.

 

Chapter two

“This is your bedroom, if you ever need me; I’m right through that door.” Caleb said.

My bedroom was very basic. All it had in it was a bed with a white bedspread, and an oak dresser. I was about to plop down on my bed when Caleb said:

“I’ll give you time to settle in later. Right now let’s go to my office.”

I followed him back out of my room and farther down the hall. Soon we came to a wooden door. Caleb opened the door and let me go in first. The room was dark, with only a few lamps lit. In the dim light I saw a bookshelf; it was filled with necromancy books. That was odd, necromancy was against the law. Maybe he studied them so he could know how to defeat a necromancer, I thought.

“I see you are admiring my books. It is quite a collection.” Caleb said, “How about we start your training today, what say you?”

“Sure. The sooner the better.”

“My thoughts exactly. I think we can skip the basics with you; you can figure them out on your own. How about we start with draining another warlock’s power.” He said pulling a book off the shelf.

“But that’s necromancy.” I said, confused.

“Yes. I am a necromancer, and you are my apprentice.”

“Necromancy is against the law.”

“Laws are made to be broken.”

“No, laws are made to keep order in a country.”

“So? Now if you’re done lecturing me on what necromancy is and isn’t, let’s get back to our lesson.”

“You’re serious,” I realized, “You’re really serious.”

“I am.”

I began backing out of the room, first slowly, then running. I ran down the hallway, not caring where I went, just running. Without stopping I glanced over my shoulder to make sure I wasn’t being followed. When I turned back around was met with a wooden staff to my face.

“I’m so sorry!” the guy with the staff said.

“I’m okay.” I replied, although I could feel blood dripping out of my nose.

“You shouldn’t run into the training room when people are practicing in here.” He advised.

“Yeah, sorry about that.” I suddenly became aware that everyone in the room was staring at me.

“I’ll bring you to a healer.” He volunteered.

“Thanks.” I said with a smile.

<^>

The healing room wasn’t very far from the training room, so I didn’t have to walk far. First the healer wiped away all the blood with a cloth, and then she healed it. I had never had a wound healed before, and I had always imagined it being painful. I mean, having your skin knit itself back together doesn’t sound appealing. But it wasn’t painful at all. When she was done, the healer walked back to a desk in the back corner of the room.

“I’m really sorry I hit you with my staff.”

“No, it’s fine, really.”

“I’m Tyler.” He said, extending his hand.

“Jade.” I said, shaking his hand.

“So Jade, might I ask why you are wearing a dress?”

“What do you have against dresses?”

“Nothing, it’s just that students don’t wear dresses here. You are a student, right?”

“Yeah, today is my first day.”

“Really? We don’t normally except new students this time of year.”

“Well, I got a scholarship.”

“So you’re the headmaster’s apprentice.” Tyler said, taking a better look at me.

“Yeah.” I said, feeling a blush creep up my face.

“Well that’s something.” He said, lying down on the rickety bed next to me.

“I guess so.” I muttered yawning. “Are people normally tired after a healing?”

“Yup.” He offered no further explanation.

I lay my head down on the crisp white pillow, and let my auburn curls splay around my head. He put his head by mine and out of the corner of my eye I could see his messy brown hair. I was just drifting off to sleep when the door opened and closed loudly. I sat up in the small bed and rubbed my sleepy eyes.

“What happened here?” asked Caleb, picking up the cloth the healer had used to wipe off the blood.

“What do you want?” I snapped at him, still tired.

“I would like you to answer my question.” He said calmly.

“She ran into staff practice, and I accidentally hit her.” Tyler answered for me.

“Hmmm… well, let’s get back to our lesson, Jade.”

“Fine.” I said, getting up and trudging into the hall.

“I will meet you back in my office, but first I must speak with Tyler.” Caleb said.

Why would he have to speak with Tyler? I wondered as I walked back down to Caleb’s office. I told myself I didn’t care, but I knew I was kidding myself. I was truly wondering. I arrived at Caleb’s office, and saw the book that he had pulled off the shelf. When he didn’t enter the room, I walked over and opened the book to the chapter about draining a warlock’s power. I began reading and by the time I finished the first page I pretty much understood it. I glanced at the other pages, but felt no need to read them, I felt confident in my ability to do this. I was just about to set the book down when Caleb opened the door.

“Ah, you read it.” He said. “Well, that’s good, but we won’t be learning that today, there has been a change in plans.”

“What will we be doing?” I ask.

“We will be talking about personal powers. Every warlock has a personal power, and everyone’s personal power is different. Do you know what your personal power is?” Caleb asked me.

Goosebumps had formed on my arms when he said this. I did know my personal power, but I didn’t want him to know what it was. I was afraid he would use me. I shook my head.

“Now Jade, don’t lie to me.” He said with a smile. “What is your personal power?”

“I don’t know.” I told him.

“It’s that bad?” he asked. “Your power must be gruesome.”

“No, not exactly.” I said, “But I won’t tell you either way.”

“You’ve got a little fight in you, don’t you?” he said looking at me closely.

“I would hope I have more than a little.”

“Very well, suite yourself. Don’t tell me.” He said, flipping through a book.

For the first time in a long time I used my personal power. I just couldn’t resist. I closed my eyes briefly, and when I opened them again, everything was in black and white. I looked down at my hand. Glowing a dull yellow color was a small cut on my hand. Where I had bruised my knee the night before was now a bright orange. I knew that my head was glowing a vibrant red, for it was my greatest weakness. I could see people’s weaknesses. I looked up at Caleb and gasped at what I saw. He had no weaknesses.

 

Chapter three

“You have a weak mind.” Caleb said, bringing me back to reality.

“So?”

“So I can easily see into it.”

“Did you look into it just now?” I ask, cold fear making my voice shake.

“No, did you use your power?”

“No!”

“Will you promise not to lie to me?”

Strangely I found myself saying: “Yes.”

“Good girl. Now tell me, did you use your power?”

“Yes.” I couldn’t stop myself from saying this.

“It’s amazing that you can use it on such short notice. You must have practiced it a lot.”

“I did. But then I stopped.”

“Why?”

“People might want to use me for my power.” I answered. Why was I telling him this?

“What is your power?” he asked, moving closer to me.

I pressed my lips together, suddenly realizing that he was using some kind of mind control power on me. I bit my knuckle so as to not tell him.

“Ah well. You will tell me in due time.”

“Yeah right.” I muttered under my breath.

“Oh you will. Don’t doubt it.”

“Why did you need to talk to Tyler?” I asked, desperate for a subject change.

“He is a known trouble maker. I was just making sure he didn’t hit you on purpose.”

“He didn’t.”

“I understand that.”

“He seems nice.” I found myself saying.

“Hmm?” he said, seeming surprised. “Tyler? Nice?”

“Yeah, he’s sweet.”

“Really…” Caleb seemed deep in thought.

He said no more, so neither did I. I sat down in the chair and slumped low in it. I felt my eyes droop, and let a yawn escape. I quickly found myself drifting off to sleep, and I couldn’t prevent it. I struggled to stay awake, but I was just too tired from the healing and a long day of travel. I was half asleep when Caleb shook me, bringing me back to reality.

“What?” I said, crankily.

“I will bring you to your room. You obviously need sleep.”

“Mmmm.” I agreed, walking out the door with him.

We reached our room and I saw that my bags were already there. I thought briefly about unpacking, but these thoughts vaporized when I saw my bed. I walked lazily over to it, and fell into it. I was practically asleep already, but I was just conscious enough to hear:

“You called me? What did I do wrong now?” It was Tyler.

Dimly I thought about how Caleb could have called him. He had been with me the whole time.

“For once it’s not what you did wrong, it’s what you did right.” Caleb said.

No amount of curiosity could have kept me from falling asleep, and let me tell you, I was extremely curious.

<^>

I’m pretty sure I slept only a few hours, although Caleb assured me I slept through the rest of the afternoon and the night. I was wearing a uniform that Caleb had set out for me; like Tyler had said, no one wore dresses. The uniform consisted of a plain white shirt, brown breeches, and a red tunic. The tunic was made out of some silky material, and as I walked with Caleb to the eating room I couldn’t stop rubbing my hands over it.

“So are you going to tell me your personal power now?” Caleb asked.

“Huh?” I said before my mind had time to process his words, (I do that a lot) “Oh right! No; not now, not ever.”

“Suit yourself.”

We walked into the eating room. It was filled with teenagers, most looking to be about sixteen years old. That was one year older than me. Caleb walked up to the front of the room and called for attention.

“Good morning students.” There were mumbled replies back, “As some of you may know, I chose an apprentice yesterday. This is Jade.” Caleb pointed, and everyone stared at me.

I saw Tyler way in the back of the room; he was surrounded by a large group of boys and girls alike. Tyler gave me an encouraging smile. Caleb ushered me to a table in the front of the room, which to my dismay was easily seen by everyone. A plate of food was placed in front of me, and then Caleb left. You would think a headmaster would sit and eat with his apprentice, carefully watching over everyone, but not Caleb. He walked between the tables mingling with the students.

I noticed he spent a lot of time by Tyler, and I wished I knew what they were talking about. I looked down at my food. It was porridge with a sweet breakfast roll. I dipped my spoon into my bowl and tasted the porridge. It was flavorless and clearly watered down, but if I dipped my roll into it, it wasn’t that bad. I felt eyes on me, so I looked back out into the crowded tables. It was Tyler and Caleb. When I looked back at them they quickly looked away. I kept my eyes fixed on Tyler, and I used my power. I didn’t mean to, well, I guess I did, but I couldn’t help myself.

My vision clouded, and then I was seeing in black and white. I focused in on Tyler. I was shocked to see that he, like Caleb, seemed to have no weaknesses; that I could detect anyways. Strangely the people around Caleb and Tyler seemed to have weaker minds than the people farther from them. Tyler must make friends with the weak minded.

I was surprised that very few people stared at me. Everyone seemed to not care in the least that I was Caleb’s apprentice. People started to get up and leave the eating room. But I stayed where I was, even after I had eaten all my food. I only got up when Caleb and Tyler began to leave. I wasn’t the only one who got up with Tyler and Caleb, practically half of the people in the eating room left when they did.

I squeezed through the people in the hallway with mumbled “excuse me’s”. I struggled to make my way to Caleb and Tyler. I was only planning to ask them if they were talking about me, but when I finally caught up with them (out of breath and tired) I said:

“I saw you staring at me.”

“Well, you are a sight for sore eyes.” Tyler said.

Normally I would blush if a guy said that to me, but strangely I just grinned.

“I hardly think your eyes are sore.” I told him, remembering how he had had no weaknesses.

“And how would you know that?” Caleb asked.

“Just a guess.”

Caleb looked me over carefully, probably looking for a sign I was lying, which I was. I looked downwards, and then at Tyler. I looked anywhere but at Caleb. I risked a quick glance at Caleb, who was still staring at me.

“Okay, an educated guess.” I said, against my will. “Stop it!” I added angrily.

“I’m not doing anything.” Caleb said, “Honestly.”

“Well, you two can argue about what did or didn’t happen, but I’ve got to get to class.” Tyler said, and he smiled at me.

My ‘goodbye’ was caught in my throat when he smiled, and it came out as a squeak. I managed to smile though. I turned and followed Caleb down the hall to his office. Caleb was smiling.

“What?” I asked.

“Oh nothing.” He said, continuing to smile.

 

Chapter four

“… and once you’ve done that, make sure you concentrate, then draw upon your power to drain the other warlock’s power. Got all that, Jade?”

I nodded my head, although I hadn’t listened to a bit of what he’d said. I’d read all this two days ago, or half of it. Right now I was playing around with my weakness spotting power, trying desperately to find a weakness, physical or mental, that Caleb had. But, sucks for me, I didn’t find one.

“Jade!” Caleb said.

“What?” I said, annoyed.

“I asked you to try the spell on me twice already.”

“Oh… on you?” I asked, suddenly nervous.

“Yes, if you would be so kind.”

“Uh, sure.”

I remembered the first step of the spell was to locate the position of your opponent’s power with some other spell. I glanced at the open book, but it said no mention of the spell. Right, let’s do this my way. I took a deep breath to settle my nerves and to help me concentrate, and then I drew upon my magic.

My magic was in my brain, but according to the book, it can be anywhere; it’s where the warlock chooses it to be. The most common places are the heart, the core of your body, or your brain. After activating my magic, I started to see dark red spirals whenever I blinked. This assured me that my magic was working, and ready to do my bidding. Since I had absolutely no idea where Caleb’s magic was, or what the spell was, I just took a good amount of magic and thrust it towards Caleb with the goal to find his magic.

Only seconds later it returned to me with the information. Caleb’s magic was in his brain. I couldn’t help thinking how easy that was and I hoped that draining his powers would be just as easy. Instead of murmuring the words I decided to do the same thing as last time. I sent my magic out and told it to drain Caleb’s powers. It returned soon later, but this time some dark blue was mixed in with the red. I must have stolen his magic instead of just draining it.

“Very interesting…”

“What’s interesting?” I asked Caleb.

“Oh nothing, it’s just odd that I didn’t notice your magic inside me at all, and the only proof it was there is the fact that some of my magic is gone. Normally my magic would continue draining after the words were said, but this time it was only stolen.”

“I kinda didn’t use the spell.”

“What? Explain.”

“I just told my magic what to do. I told it to find your magic and then drain it, only it stole some instead.”

“Freestyle.” Caleb whispered.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a type of magic that doesn’t benefit from spells like most do. In fact, spells slow this kind of magic down. It’s also a very valuable kind of magic, because it can enter and leave anyone’s body without alerting them, even the strongest of warlocks.”

I smiled a smug smile. I could steal Caleb’s magic any time I wanted without alerting him that I did it.

“Don’t give me that look. I let you into my mind; I let down all of my defenses. You will be broken.”

“You talk of me like I am a horse. I will not be broken, conquered, or anything of the likes.”

“That’s what you think.” He said, and gave me a knowing smile. “I will break you, and if I cannot I know someone who can.”

Instead of answering him, I just gave him my best glare and crossed my arms. I was stronger than he thought. I was not a horse, and he would not break me.

“I’m planning a winter ball for the holidays.” Caleb said as if we were just two friends speaking to each other.

“So?”

“Just letting you know. It will be tomorrow.” A bell rang. “That’s the lunch bell, we should get going.”

“I’m not hungry.” I said with a tight lipped smile.

“Whatever you say.” And with that Caleb walked out the door.

I knew he must have realized what I would do. He must have. As soon as the door shut behind him I sprang up out of my seat. Now where would he put the real magic books? Not that the ones on the shelf weren’t real, I just wanted a book that taught me the stuff the others were learning.

I glanced at the book shelf, but there wasn’t a single book that wasn’t about necromancy. I searched his desk, opening drawers, but no books. I sat back down and sighed. Then I saw it- a chest. The chest was dusty, as if it hadn’t been opened in a while. I walked over and tried to open it. Locked. I walked back over to Caleb’s desk and opened some more drawers. One had lots of keys in it.

“Great. Just Great! It’ll take forever to try all these keys.”

I glanced at the chest again and saw that maybe it wouldn’t. Tied on a ribbon to the side of the chest was a key. I closed the drawer and walked back over to the chest. The ribbon was so old it crumbled when I tried to untie it. I stuck the rusty key into the lock and turned it. I heard a click and then I hefted the lid up. My nose filled with the scent of musty books. These were the books I was looking for! I sorted through them and stopped when I held a thick paper bound book. The pages were yellowed and the cover was half ripped off, but I saw the words: Freestyle: the basics. This was my book.

I put the books back and added the rusty old key to the key drawer before running to my room with the Freestyle book.

<^>

I had just reached my room, breathless from excitement, and I was about to open the Freestyle book when I noticed a plate of food sitting on my bed. I picked it up and saw the note under it. It said:

Find what you were looking for?

- Caleb

Yes, I did find what I was looking for, I thought. Good, a whispery voice said in my head. I screamed. Shhh! The voice said, it’s me, Caleb! What the heck are you doing invading my thoughts? I ask Caleb. You have a weak mind, remember? Caleb said, and I swear the whispery voice laughed. Well that’s going to change! I thought angrily, and opened the book.

I flipped to the table of contents and saw almost immediately what I was looking for. Techniques to strengthen the mind was there, but the reason I saw it was because it was underlined sloppily in charcoal pencil. This must have belonged to a child. I flipped to the inside of the cover and saw that sure enough, printed in sloppy caps were the names: Tyler and Caleb. I understood Caleb’s name, but not Tyler’s. Why would they have shared a book? I rubbed my temples thoughtfully, but my head hurt just trying to untangle this riddle.

Eventually I flipped to the chapter that would teach me to strengthen my mind. Basically what the first few pages said was that strengthening my mind would be hard and that it should be taught while you are still young. Great, I’m not young, so this will be even harder.

Trying to be optimistic I flipped the page and began reading. After reading the next few pages I practically gave up. It was telling me that the key to a strong mind was in recognizing my weaknesses. I knew my mind was my greatest weakness, but I didn’t know anything beyond that. It told me to go within and find my weaknesses. What did that even mean?

All thoughts of optimism had dissipated, and I flipped to a random page. It just happened to be about personal powers and how to strengthen them. Written on the page were instructions to a type of meditation that would help me understand my power and strengthen it. I decided it was worth a shot. If I could strengthen my personal power maybe I could strengthen my mind.

I lied down on my bed and closed my eyes. Taking deep breaths I relaxed my body and allowed any thoughts that came to my mind to slip away. Eventually I felt at peace. I drew upon my personal power. I had no idea what would happen if I used my power with my eyes closed; every other time I had used it I had my eyes open. I was astonished! I could see everything in black and white- with my eyes closed!

I could see my mind –a bright red- but some parts were darker red than others. I was about to enter my mind, (I don’t know how I planned to do that, but I felt as if I could) when suddenly I was walking. I couldn’t open my eyes; I couldn’t control anything my body did! I was scared out of my wits. I was running down the halls, I was almost to the eating room. I saw three bodies ahead of me. One had no weaknesses; he was either Tyler or Caleb, Tyler judging by the height. I was running fast now. I couldn’t stop myself before I collided with Tyler.

I finally managed to open my eyes and I saw that I was on top of Tyler. I got up, my cheeks burning. I brushed my clothes off.

“Next time we meet under odd circumstances can you not run into me?”

“Hey,” I said, suddenly brave, “I wouldn’t have run into you if you weren’t there.”

One of his friends snickered.

“She’s got a point. But hey, she was running down the hall with her eyes closed so I don’t know what to believe. I’m Alex by the way.” The friend that didn’t laugh said.

“Yeah, I can explain that… or rather I can’t. You see I was meditating and suddenly someone… or something took over my body and then I was running…” I could see they didn’t believe my story.

“If you like Tyler you can just tell him.” The guy that laughed said.

“I don’t.” was my immediate response.

“But you do!” The same guy exclaimed. “My personal power allows me to see when someone is attracted to someone else.”

I opened and closed my mouth, but no words came out, causing Alex to laugh this time. Luckily I was saved by Caleb. Or I was just put into my own personal hell.

“Jade, Tyler, follow me.”

I walked right beside Caleb, while Tyler took his time, walking a few paces behind him. I tried to explain what happen to me to Caleb, but it became clear that he wasn’t interested so I walked in silence. We reached Caleb’s and my room and stopped.

“Jade, grab your lunch.”

“I told you, I’m not hungry.”

“And you also agreed not to lie to me.” He said entering his room.

“Under forced circumstances!” I shouted at him, desperately. “Which, might I add, is a direct violation of my rights!” I added as I walked through the doors that connected his room to mine with my lunch.

“You know where I stand with the laws.” He said, with a small smile. “I think I’m going to like you, Jade.”

“I think I already hate you, Caleb.” I said, matching his polite tone.

“Well, if you’re all done arguing about one of the many things you two disagree about, can we get to the reason we are here.” Tyler asked, plopping down on Caleb’s bed and stretching out his body.

“I have a job for you to do.”

“What kind of job?” Tyler asked, his jaw tightening.

“Not that kind of job.” Caleb said, in a reassuring manner.

“Not what kind of job?” I asked.

“Nothing.” Caleb said. “What I want you two to do is decorate for the winter holiday ball.”

“Levitating decorations? That’s it?” Tyler asked.

“Yes. That is all.”

“You know, I’m sure that Tyler can do this by himself, I mean, he’s much more experienced.”

“I know, but I want you to exercise your magic.”

“Then why not let me do this alone? More magic exercises.”

“There are a lot of decorations.” Caleb said, walking out the door, probably going to his office.

“Well, he’s right.”

“About what?”

“There are a lot of decorations. We’d better get cracking.”

“Wait. Can I show you something?”

“Sure.”

I walked into my room and grabbed the Freestyle book. I flipped to the inside cover and showed him the names. I watched his face carefully. I definitely saw a flicker of recognition, but then his face went back to a mask of uninterested boredom.

“Never seen it before. It must be a different Tyler. Come on; let’s get started on those decorations.”

He led me out into the hall; well, herded me was more like it. He obviously wanted to get away from that book. Once in the hall, I saw that Caleb was just outside his office. Tyler looked at him, and when their eyes met, I knew Tyler was sending a message. I instantly activated my magic and told it to retrieve the message and tell me what it was. I felt a wave of magic sweep out of me; more then I intended to leave. I felt sort of woozy with the sudden loss of magic.

Suddenly I felt as if a horse had kicked me in the stomach and I fell against Tyler. He held me up.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I don’t know what happened.” I said, breathing heavily. “My stomach hurts and my head…”

“She’ll be fine.” Caleb said, putting a hand on my shoulder. I felt something rush into my body. It was magic, Caleb’s magic, with some of mine mixed in. “Jade, you aren’t ready for that kind of magic yet. Tyler was just concerned about the book you stole from my office. Although I’m not worried, that book will help you learn your kind of magic better than I could teach it. Although I must compliment you on your instincts.”

I nodded and stood a little straighter. I pretended to take his explanation, but when my magic mixed with his had entered my body; my magic told me the real message:

Danger.

 

Chapter four

“… and once you’ve done that, make sure you concentrate, then draw upon your power to drain the other warlock’s power. Got all that, Jade?”

I nodded my head, although I hadn’t listened to a bit of what he’d said. I’d read all this two days ago, or half of it. Right now I was playing around with my weakness spotting power, trying desperately to find a weakness, physical or mental, that Caleb had. But, sucks for me, I didn’t find one.

“Jade!” Caleb said.

“What?” I said, annoyed.

“I asked you to try the spell on me twice already.”

“Oh… on you?” I asked, suddenly nervous.

“Yes, if you would be so kind.”

“Uh, sure.”

I remembered the first step of the spell was to locate the position of your opponent’s power with some other spell. I glanced at the open book, but it said no mention of the spell. Right, let’s do this my way. I took a deep breath to settle my nerves and to help me concentrate, and then I drew upon my magic.

My magic was in my brain, but according to the book, it can be anywhere; it’s where the warlock chooses it to be. The most common places are the heart, the core of your body, or your brain. After activating my magic, I started to see dark red spirals whenever I blinked. This assured me that my magic was working, and ready to do my bidding. Since I had absolutely no idea where Caleb’s magic was, or what the spell was, I just took a good amount of magic and thrust it towards Caleb with the goal to find his magic.

Only seconds later it returned to me with the information. Caleb’s magic was in his brain. I couldn’t help thinking how easy that was and I hoped that draining his powers would be just as easy. Instead of murmuring the words I decided to do the same thing as last time. I sent my magic out and told it to drain Caleb’s powers. It returned soon later, but this time some dark blue was mixed in with the red. I must have stolen his magic instead of just draining it.

“Very interesting…”

“What’s interesting?” I asked Caleb.

“Oh nothing, it’s just odd that I didn’t notice your magic inside me at all, and the only proof it was there is the fact that some of my magic is gone. Normally my magic would continue draining after the words were said, but this time it was only stolen.”

“I kinda didn’t use the spell.”

“What? Explain.”

“I just told my magic what to do. I told it to find your magic and then drain it, only it stole some instead.”

“Freestyle.” Caleb whispered.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a type of magic that doesn’t benefit from spells like most do. In fact, spells slow this kind of magic down. It’s also a very valuable kind of magic, because it can enter and leave anyone’s body without alerting them, even the strongest of warlocks.”

I smiled a smug smile. I could steal Caleb’s magic any time I wanted without alerting him that I did it.

“Don’t give me that look. I let you into my mind; I let down all of my defenses. You will be broken.”

“You talk of me like I am a horse. I will not be broken, conquered, or anything of the likes.”

“That’s what you think.” He said, and gave me a knowing smile. “I will break you, and if I cannot I know someone who can.”

Instead of answering him, I just gave him my best glare and crossed my arms. I was stronger than he thought. I was not a horse, and he would not break me.

“I’m planning a winter ball for the holidays.” Caleb said as if we were just two friends speaking to each other.

“So?”

“Just letting you know. It will be tomorrow.” A bell rang. “That’s the lunch bell, we should get going.”

“I’m not hungry.” I said with a tight lipped smile.

“Whatever you say.” And with that Caleb walked out the door.

I knew he must have realized what I would do. He must have. As soon as the door shut behind him I sprang up out of my seat. Now where would he put the real magic books? Not that the ones on the shelf weren’t real, I just wanted a book that taught me the stuff the others were learning.

I glanced at the book shelf, but there wasn’t a single book that wasn’t about necromancy. I searched his desk, opening drawers, but no books. I sat back down and sighed. Then I saw it- a chest. The chest was dusty, as if it hadn’t been opened in a while. I walked over and tried to open it. Locked. I walked back over to Caleb’s desk and opened some more drawers. One had lots of keys in it.

“Great. Just Great! It’ll take forever to try all these keys.”

I glanced at the chest again and saw that maybe it wouldn’t. Tied on a ribbon to the side of the chest was a key. I closed the drawer and walked back over to the chest. The ribbon was so old it crumbled when I tried to untie it. I stuck the rusty key into the lock and turned it. I heard a click and then I hefted the lid up. My nose filled with the scent of musty books. These were the books I was looking for! I sorted through them and stopped when I held a thick paper bound book. The pages were yellowed and the cover was half ripped off, but I saw the words: Freestyle: the basics. This was my book.

I put the books back and added the rusty old key to the key drawer before running to my room with the Freestyle book.

<^>

I had just reached my room, breathless from excitement, and I was about to open the Freestyle book when I noticed a plate of food sitting on my bed. I picked it up and saw the note under it. It said:

Find what you were looking for?

- Caleb

Yes, I did find what I was looking for, I thought. Good, a whispery voice said in my head. I screamed. Shhh! The voice said, it’s me, Caleb! What the heck are you doing invading my thoughts? I ask Caleb. You have a weak mind, remember? Caleb said, and I swear the whispery voice laughed. Well that’s going to change! I thought angrily, and opened the book.

I flipped to the table of contents and saw almost immediately what I was looking for. Techniques to strengthen the mind was there, but the reason I saw it was because it was underlined sloppily in charcoal pencil. This must have belonged to a child. I flipped to the inside of the cover and saw that sure enough, printed in sloppy caps were the names: Tyler and Caleb. I understood Caleb’s name, but not Tyler’s. Why would they have shared a book? I rubbed my temples thoughtfully, but my head hurt just trying to untangle this riddle.

Eventually I flipped to the chapter that would teach me to strengthen my mind. Basically what the first few pages said was that strengthening my mind would be hard and that it should be taught while you are still young. Great, I’m not young, so this will be even harder.

Trying to be optimistic I flipped the page and began reading. After reading the next few pages I practically gave up. It was telling me that the key to a strong mind was in recognizing my weaknesses. I knew my mind was my greatest weakness, but I didn’t know anything beyond that. It told me to go within and find my weaknesses. What did that even mean?

All thoughts of optimism had dissipated, and I flipped to a random page. It just happened to be about personal powers and how to strengthen them. Written on the page were instructions to a type of meditation that would help me understand my power and strengthen it. I decided it was worth a shot. If I could strengthen my personal power maybe I could strengthen my mind.

I lied down on my bed and closed my eyes. Taking deep breaths I relaxed my body and allowed any thoughts that came to my mind to slip away. Eventually I felt at peace. I drew upon my personal power. I had no idea what would happen if I used my power with my eyes closed; every other time I had used it I had my eyes open. I was astonished! I could see everything in black and white- with my eyes closed!

I could see my mind –a bright red- but some parts were darker red than others. I was about to enter my mind, (I don’t know how I planned to do that, but I felt as if I could) when suddenly I was walking. I couldn’t open my eyes; I couldn’t control anything my body did! I was scared out of my wits. I was running down the halls, I was almost to the eating room. I saw three bodies ahead of me. One had no weaknesses; he was either Tyler or Caleb, Tyler judging by the height. I was running fast now. I couldn’t stop myself before I collided with Tyler.

I finally managed to open my eyes and I saw that I was on top of Tyler. I got up, my cheeks burning. I brushed my clothes off.

“Next time we meet under odd circumstances can you not run into me?”

“Hey,” I said, suddenly brave, “I wouldn’t have run into you if you weren’t there.”

One of his friends snickered.

“She’s got a point. But hey, she was running down the hall with her eyes closed so I don’t know what to believe. I’m Alex by the way.” The friend that didn’t laugh said.

“Yeah, I can explain that… or rather I can’t. You see I was meditating and suddenly someone… or something took over my body and then I was running…” I could see they didn’t believe my story.

“If you like Tyler you can just tell him.” The guy that laughed said.

“I don’t.” was my immediate response.

“But you do!” The same guy exclaimed. “My personal power allows me to see when someone is attracted to someone else.”

I opened and closed my mouth, but no words came out, causing Alex to laugh this time. Luckily I was saved by Caleb. Or I was just put into my own personal hell.

“Jade, Tyler, follow me.”

I walked right beside Caleb, while Tyler took his time, walking a few paces behind him. I tried to explain what happen to me to Caleb, but it became clear that he wasn’t interested so I walked in silence. We reached Caleb’s and my room and stopped.

“Jade, grab your lunch.”

“I told you, I’m not hungry.”

“And you also agreed not to lie to me.” He said entering his room.

“Under forced circumstances!” I shouted at him, desperately. “Which, might I add, is a direct violation of my rights!” I added as I walked through the doors that connected his room to mine with my lunch.

“You know where I stand with the laws.” He said, with a small smile. “I think I’m going to like you, Jade.”

“I think I already hate you, Caleb.” I said, matching his polite tone.

“Well, if you’re all done arguing about one of the many things you two disagree about, can we get to the reason we are here.” Tyler asked, plopping down on Caleb’s bed and stretching out his body.

“I have a job for you to do.”

“What kind of job?” Tyler asked, his jaw tightening.

“Not that kind of job.” Caleb said, in a reassuring manner.

“Not what kind of job?” I asked.

“Nothing.” Caleb said. “What I want you two to do is decorate for the winter holiday ball.”

“Levitating decorations? That’s it?” Tyler asked.

“Yes. That is all.”

“You know, I’m sure that Tyler can do this by himself, I mean, he’s much more experienced.”

“I know, but I want you to exercise your magic.”

“Then why not let me do this alone? More magic exercises.”

“There are a lot of decorations.” Caleb said, walking out the door, probably going to his office.

“Well, he’s right.”

“About what?”

“There are a lot of decorations. We’d better get cracking.”

“Wait. Can I show you something?”

“Sure.”

I walked into my room and grabbed the Freestyle book. I flipped to the inside cover and showed him the names. I watched his face carefully. I definitely saw a flicker of recognition, but then his face went back to a mask of uninterested boredom.

“Never seen it before. It must be a different Tyler. Come on; let’s get started on those decorations.”

He led me out into the hall; well, herded me was more like it. He obviously wanted to get away from that book. Once in the hall, I saw that Caleb was just outside his office. Tyler looked at him, and when their eyes met, I knew Tyler was sending a message. I instantly activated my magic and told it to retrieve the message and tell me what it was. I felt a wave of magic sweep out of me; more then I intended to leave. I felt sort of woozy with the sudden loss of magic.

Suddenly I felt as if a horse had kicked me in the stomach and I fell against Tyler. He held me up.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I don’t know what happened.” I said, breathing heavily. “My stomach hurts and my head…”

“She’ll be fine.” Caleb said, putting a hand on my shoulder. I felt something rush into my body. It was magic, Caleb’s magic, with some of mine mixed in. “Jade, you aren’t ready for that kind of magic yet. Tyler was just concerned about the book you stole from my office. Although I’m not worried, that book will help you learn your kind of magic better than I could teach it. Although I must compliment you on your instincts.”

I nodded and stood a little straighter. I pretended to take his explanation, but when my magic mixed with his had entered my body; my magic told me the real message:

Danger.

 

Chapter five

As Tyler led me to where the decorations were kept, I couldn’t stop wondering about what was dangerous. Was it me? The book? Putting up decorations? I was scared, because if it was me, I didn’t know what Tyler would do to me. But when I saw the decorations I let all worries slide away from me. They were beautiful; although breathtaking would be a better word to describe them. There were stars covered in silver glitter, and the plates and goblets looked like they were made out of frosted glass! In fact, as I touched them, I realized they were.

“You like them?” Tyler asked me.

“Yes!”

“Well, then you’ll like how the eating room looks when we’re done with it.”

“Wait, the eating room? Don’t we still need to eat dinner? And tomorrow we’ll need to eat breakfast and lunch, right?”

“Dinner will be delivered to our dorms and as for the other two.... Well, I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise.”

“What surprise?” I asked, “Wait, no need to tell me. It wouldn’t be much of a surprise if you told me.”

“Actually, I was going to tell you, but suit yourself.”

“Please tell me!”

“Not a chance.” He said, smiling.

We reached the eating room and dropped the first two boxes of decorations of the floor. The room wasn’t the same as this morning. All the tables had been cleared away, leaving a large open room.

“Race you back to the closet.” Tyler challenged.

“There’s no way you’re winning.” I said, accepting your challenge.

“I’m gonna win.”

“Over Caleb’s dead body.”

That made him laugh, so while he was distracted I started running. I loved to run. I loved the way the wind made my curls bounce against my back and the steady sound of my feet on the floor. I heard another set of feet quickly catching up to me, so I increased my pace. I reached the closet first, and took time to catch my breath. When Tyler finally made it, I said:

“Looks like Caleb won’t have to die after all.” That made him laugh again.

I picked up a box of glass plates and began walking again. All the way back to the eating room I taunted him. “How could he let a girl beat him?” Was the most common thing I said, but “I totally creamed you!” was up there.

“All right, all right! You creamed me, I get it. Now let’s get these decorations up.” Tyler said when we reached the eating room.

“What do we do with them?” I asked with a smug smile.

“We levitate the stars and set the plates in a stack by the cups. That’s pretty much it.”

“Doesn’t sound too challenging.”

“It’s not.”

As Tyler and I started to levitate two of the stars, a cook came in and placed a large bowl of punch on the table. It had raspberries and blackberries floating in it. I felt a tug on my star pulling it downwards. I glanced up but saw nothing. The tug seemed to vanish at first, and then it came back stronger. I sent a tendril of magic to go see what was happening. It returned to me with a small bit of orange magic as an answer.

“Stop messing with my star.” I told Tyler.

“Caleb did say he wanted you to exercise your magic.” Tyler shrugged; then strengthened his pull on my star.

At first all it took was a bit of effort, but then it actually started to get hard. I felt sweat trickled down from my forehead and into my eyes, and when I reached up to wipe it away my star came crashing down. It fell into the bowl of punch, causing it to splash all over me. With a last effort I shoved my star into the air and detached the magic I was using, ordering it to keep my star in the air.

“Look what you did!” I exclaimed, but strangely I wasn’t really mad.

“Don’t worry; you go wash up, and I will finish the decorations.”

As I walked into the hall my anger caught up with me. Squeezing out my hair I thought about marching back and yelling at him. I didn’t though. I removed my hand from my hair only to see that they were stained with berry juices. Great. I knocked on Caleb’s office’s door, and he answered almost immediately.

“What happened?” he asked, with something like concern on his face.

“Tyler happened.” The concern vanished, and was replaced with a small smile.

“I had a bath drawn for me, you wash up. Go into my room and it’s the red door.”

I didn’t thank him; just turned around and walked to his room. Thankfully his room wasn’t far from his office, and I had sunk into the bath in less than a minute. The bubbles surrounded me and a sigh escaped my lips. My eyes closed, and I lay my head back, letting the warm bathwater perform its magic.

<^>

I had barely fallen asleep when Tyler jumped in the bath with me. Yes, you heard right; Tyler jumped into the bath with me still in it. Thankfully he was fully clothed, but I still had one problem- I wasn’t. I crossed my arms over my chest and sunk low into the bubbly water. Tyler put a finger to his lips. I just stayed put, crossing my legs.

A few seconds later I heard footsteps coming down the hall. They entered Caleb’s room, and the bathroom door was opening. Tyler moved quickly and silently ducking under the water. Caleb entered, with an enraged look on his face.

“Have you seen Tyler?” he asked.

“No. I’ve been in here.”

“Ah. Right. I just thought that maybe when you were walking here…”

“Nope, sorry.”

He stopped and looked at me for a while. If he was reading my mind or something he would know where Tyler was. Tyler! He must be running out of breath by now.

“Uh, privacy please?” I asked.

“Right.” Caleb said, and left the room.

Tyler resurfaced when I kicked him in the leg.

“Ouch! What was that for?”

“You’re asking that question? Why did you just decide to hop in here?”

“I needed a hiding place.” He said as if it was simple.

He laid back against the other side of the bath his brown hair dripping wet and his clothes clinging to his body.

“Why did you need a hiding place?”

“I made some changes to the decorations. It’s a shame you won’t get to see them before Caleb changed them back.”

“I’m sure they would have been delightful.” I said sarcastically. “Look, can you leave? I’m kind of in the middle of a bath here, if you haven’t noticed.”

“First you have to kiss me.”

“Come again?”

“You heard me.”

“Actually I must have had some soap in my ear or something, ‘cause I’m pretty sure you just told me to kiss you.”

“Great, so we’re both on the same page.”

“I don’t think I’ve even opened the book.”

“You’re avoiding the subject.”

“The subject was never relevant.”

“Don’t try and confuse me.”

“Why? Did it work?”

“Ah, well... that’s beside the point.”

“Suuuuure it is.”

“Look, this bath is warm and comfortable, and I am in the company of a lovely lady, so it’s going to take some persuasion to get me to leave.”

Oh my god, did he just call me lovely? I made a mental note to slap myself later for falling for his flattery. I fixed my face with the best scowl I could muster in my mushy state and kissed him quickly on the cheek. He shook his head and pointed to his lips which formed into a smile. With my arms still crossed tightly over my chest and kissed him once more, this time on the lips. I’d meant it only to be a quick kiss like the last one, but somehow his lips seemed to hold me where I was. I felt time slip away as if it held no meaning. All I wanted was to stay here for eternity. I quickly pulled away before I did anything stupid.

“Out.” I said.

“Fine.” Tyler replied, stepping out of the bath and splattering water everywhere. He didn’t leave the bathroom.

“Leave.” I demanded.

“That would require another kiss.”

He leaned in, but I didn’t kiss his this time. As soon as he was close enough I grabbed his hair and shoved his head into the water. His whole body followed with a splash. I sprung out of the bath and grabbed my towel, wrapping it quickly around myself.

“That was unfair.” Tyler said, pouting.

“The situation was never fair in the first place. A strong fellow like you taking advantage of a delicate-“

“Delicate, riiiiiight.”

“-and defenseless girl like, I hardly consider that fair.”

“You do realize defenseless means you cannot defend yourself, right.”

“I am aware of that.”

I walked out the door and into my room, closing it on Tyler’s face. I found the key and locked it. Tyler tried the knob.

“Come on!”

“I’ll let you in when I’m done changing.” I said slipping into my nightgown.

He stood silently waiting for a while.

“You done yet?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Then open the door! You promised!”

“I lied.”

“That’s unfair.”

“Get used to it.” I told him. To myself I added: “I sure have.”

 

Chapter six

I don’t know why I put my nightgown on; I hadn’t even eaten dinner yet. I sat there on my bed, thinking about nothing, yet every thought possible to think seemed to be rushing through my mind. Unfortunately one of those thoughts was the reminder to slap myself. I did.

“Ow!” I exclaimed, holding my face.

Another unfortunate fact is that Caleb chose that moment to enter my room.

“What’s wrong?”

“Everything.”

“I mean what’s wrong with your face. It looks like somebody slapped you.”

“Can’t we talk about the ‘everything’ part of my problems?”

“It’s not my job to listen to your problems.”

“No. It’s your job to turn me into a little necromancer.”

“Precisely. Now, what happened to your face?”

“I slapped myself.”

“You what?”

“I slapped myself.”

“Why?”

“I’d rather not tell you.”

“Okay, but if it was Tyler, just tell me.”

“It wasn’t!”

“Then why did I find him outside of your room?”

“What? How’d he get there?” I said, trying my best to sound surprised.

“You tell me. He was soaking wet too.”

“Maybe some punch spilled on him too.”

“Maybe,” Caleb agreed, but he knew I lied, he just couldn’t understand it quite yet; I hoped he never would.

“So… why don’t we eat dinner?” I said, changing the subject.

“Of course. Dinner is in my office.”

Dinner turned out to be noodles in a delicious cream sauce. It looked and tasted amazing, but I had too much on my mind to enjoy it. And Caleb had no intention of making those worries disappear; only adding to them.

“I know the real message Tyler sent you. It was ‘Danger’.”

“It was. Although, that wasn’t the whole message.”

“Oh. Why are you telling me this?”

“What you and I play is a game of secrets. I reveal information to you when I will gain the most from it and vice versa.”

“This isn’t a game; it’s a fight for my life.”

“Indeed it is, indeed it is.”

We sat there in silence some more, until Caleb got up and grabbed a book off the shelf. Great, more learning, just what I need. He set the book in front of me and before I could stop him, his face was on mine. What the heck! Why in the world was he kissing me? I pushed him away and felt my face flush in anger. I blinked twice and realized my magic had turned on without me telling it to. Caleb had an expecting look on his face as if he expected me to blast him with my magic. Then I realized he did. Somehow he knew my magic would turn on. My anger was replaced with confusion. Caleb sighed.

“You shouldn’t think before you act, it would make you so much more predictable.”

“On the contrary, you should think before you act.”

“I did, I had this whole lesson planned out. I kiss you, you get angry, and you use your magic without thinking on me…. Only you thought about what was happening instead of just going with the flow.”

“I tend to do that.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“Well if you’ve noticed, then why didn’t you predict what was going to happen?”

“Does everything have to be an argument with you?”

“I like arguments.”

“That’s because you normally win.”

“So you admit I won?”

“Ugh,” Caleb said, tossing the book at me. I didn’t even make an attempt to catch it, and I had to pick it up off the floor.

“‘How to use your anger to fuel your powers,’” I read out loud. It was a thin paperback.

“Yes, that’s what I taught you. The book is just a reminder. Your powers turn on when you get angry, and you need to learn to use that anger to fuel your magic. So next time you’re mad at me, go for it.”

“That would be refreshing.”

“Assuming I don’t block it.”

“So, basically, I’m never going to hit you with a spell.”

“Not in your lifetime.” Caleb said, walking over to the trunk that I retrieved the Freestyle book from.

He dug around a bit and brought up a book on freestyle transportation. He handed it to me, saying:

“Read it and report back to me tomorrow knowing how to transport yourself properly.”

“Wait, you’re making me read the whole thing by tomorrow?”

“No, just the part on freestyle transportation,” he said sarcastically. “Of course the whole thing!”

“This isn’t a necromancy book.”

“No, but you can’t just learn necromancy. You must learn other magic as well. The art of necromancy is combining the two.”

“I must be crazy, because you’re starting to make sense.”

“Of course I am. Now Jade, I figured it out.”

“Figured what out?” I asked nervously. Did he figure out why Tyler was outside my door?

“I figured out why those drills I used to test you were so easy for you. It’s because you’re a Freestyle. It would have been so much harder if you were normal.”

“Right, so I’m not normal. That makes me a freak.”

“No, in magical terms it makes you a Freestyle. Now, go read that book.”

I took the book in my left hand and walked out of Caleb’s office.

<^>

Transporting turned out to be harder than the book claimed it to be. I read it, and it seemed to be pretty straightforward. Activate your magic, concentrate your magic on your body, and think of the place you want to transport to. Oh, and then there was the part about losing limbs. It turns out that if you don’t concentrate on a certain part of your body, then that part won’t transport with the rest of your body. This could be undone by transporting back to the spot that you were standing on before.

I laughed imagining a warlock transporting in to a battle to save a fair maiden only to have to go back to reattach his arms.

The first few times I tried to transport, nothing happened. The book said that this was probably due to the fact that when I chose a destination, I stopped concentration on my body. The next time I tried, I actually succeeded in transporting to the other side of my room. My moment of triumph was ruined when I fell down, probably a side effect of having no feet. I looked at the other side of the room, and sure enough, my feet were there.

“Okay, time to transport back,” I muttered to myself.

I did transport back, but when I arrived (with feet reattached) I had lost my arms. It was a frightening experience losing body parts. Only after about thirty times did I manage to transport (this time to get my thumb) without losing any other limbs.

“One more time,” I said to myself.

I concentrated on my body and then told my magic to transport me to the other side of the room, only this time I didn’t go anywhere. My clothes did, though. And to make matters worse, Tyler chose that moment to enter my room. I screamed.

“Jade? Is that you?”

“Yes! Who else would it be?”

“Where are you?”

“I’m right in front of you!”

“Then why can’t I see you?”

“I’m invisible?”

“Oh. That would explain it,” Tyler said, “Are those your clothes?”

“Yes, those would be my clothes which transported off my body.” I said, grabbing them and putting them on. “Can you see my clothes?”

“Yes, now turn back.”

“I don’t know how.”

“Well then, you’re stuck and in need of help, I suppose.”

I walked up to him and kissed him quickly then pulled back right away.

“Now help me.”

“Am I really that predictable?”

“She’s good at predicting people,” Caleb said. How long had he been standing in my doorway?

“Really?”

“Yes. See, watch. What am I thinking about?”

“Our lesson today,” I said, it was too obvious.

“But two can play that game.” Tyler said, “You are embarrassed now, Jade.”

I thought it through. I was invisible by mistake in front Tyler, and chances are Caleb saw me kiss him, while invisible by mistake. I had every reason to be embarrassed.

“I am, but that much is obvious. Based on Caleb’s face I couldn’t tell what he was thinking about, I had to infer.”

“What happened in your lesson that you would know what he was thinking about based on previous happenings? And don’t forget, I can’t see your face.” Tyler said.

“Don’t try and sound smart, and I’d rather not talk about it,” I said, getting so embarrassed that my magic turned on. I guess it’s not only anger that activates your magic.

I remembered what Caleb had said about ‘going for it’ when my magic turned on, so I decided, why not?

“Caleb?” I said.

“Yes, Jade?” he said, turning to face me.

I sent my magic at him with the intention of injuring him. He caught it but a startled look appeared on his face. He opened his mouth, then closed it and rolled his eyes.

“Interesting,” Tyler said, and then he sighed: “Well, I’ve got places to be.”

“Wait! Make me visible again! You promised!”

“I lied.” Tyler said, walking out of the room.

“Don’t worry Jade, I’ll change you back.” Caleb said, then he muttered something and I was visible again.

“Thanks.” I said glumly, watching Tyler’s back.

“So, can you transport yet?”

“Let’s see,” I said, and rolled my eyes. “Not really.”

“Well, show me what you can do.”

“Okay…”

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes so I could concentrate better. When I opened them again, I was on the other side of the room. I had done it! Or not, I thought, as I fell to the floor. Once again, I had lost my feet.

“Okay, why don’t you sleep on that one. I’ll reattach your feet, but it’s going to hurt a bit.”

“Please don’t, if it has anything to do with pain I don’t want to-“I stopped speaking when the pain hit me.

“Sorry Jade.” Caleb said.

“A little bit? It hurts a little bit?” I hissed.

“Might’ve been a bit of an understatement.”

“You think?” I agreed, struggling to get to my feet.

“Look, just sleep on the transporting thing, maybe you’ll be better in the morning.” Caleb said, walking out of my room and into his.

I let a large breath escape my lips in a sigh and sunk into my bed. I was almost asleep when I rolled onto the Freestyle book. I was reluctant move off of it and sit up. I reluctantly began the meditation I had started earlier the day, hoping it went better this time. It took longer to feel at peace than last time, probably because I had so much on my mind. When I did get to that feeling of peace I turned on my power as I had done last time, and just like last time I saw everything in black and white despite having my eyes closed. It was thrilling.

Then I focused on my mind, which was a blazing red. As I moved in deeper I saw the different shades of red. The two brightest were right next to each other. I chose the lighter of the two first, saving my biggest weakness for last. As soon as I “entered”, memories flashed before my eyelids showing every time I had ever been distracted by something in my life. I inhaled sharply, being as surprised as I was, and I almost broke the meditation. It felt like an eternity of memories but I had this feeling that it had only been a few seconds. So my second greatest weakness was not being able to concentrate. Not a good weakness to have.

Moving away from my “Disaster of Distractions”, as I named it, I prepared to enter my greatest weakness. This time I was prepared for the memories, but I felt like kicking myself when I saw what my greatest weakness was. The first memory was my first friend, a boy named Samuel, next I saw the guys I had crushes on in my town, and finally, Tyler. My greatest weakness was not boys! It couldn’t be! But who was I kidding? There was no denying it. I was boy crazy.

 

Chapter seven

My meditation was over, I couldn’t stay calm a second longer. I opened my eyes and tried to rip a pillow apart with my teeth. It didn’t work out so well, and I only ended up hurting my teeth. I was so angry at myself for my stupid weakness, until I thought: Isn’t that every girl’s weakness? Duh! Of course! Now, I can sleep in peace. Just for fun, I made the pillow explode, but then I got sad because I no longer had a pillow to sleep on.

Falling asleep without a pillow was easy. But so was waking to Caleb screaming in your face.

“Jade! Why aren’t you at the ball?” he shouted.

“Wha…?” I said, my mind still groggy with sleep.

“The Winter Ball! It started at midnight! It’s twelve thirty.”

“Midnight thirty…” I said, remembering something from my childhood; the memory was a little foggy, but I was laughing at my father.

“Jade! You have to be there! Get up.”

I obeyed, and stood up.

“Do you have a dress?”

“What do I need a dress for?”

“The Winter Ball! Now, do you have one or not?”

“Nope.”

“Fine, I’ll make one for you.”

Caleb looked at me, and seemed to be taking measurements. At least I hope that was what he was doing. Then he muttered something I later would swear sounded like “Bippity boppity boo,” and I was wearing a floor-length, dark-green dress and gold shoes that had heels. My feet were still sore, and these shoes were not helping me at all.

“I do not like green dresses. They clash with my eyes.” I said.

“Ah, your eyes are the color of jade. I never noticed. And the dress looks fine.”

“I am offended! My eyes are my most stunning feature, and you didn’t even notice them!”

“Sorry, I was more concerned on how fast you learn the magic.”

“So, we have a deadline, do we?”

“Indeed we do.”

It’s times like this when I remember that Caleb was using me for his mysterious purpose, or, as my dad called it, taking advantage of me. If only it was like my father had thought, but my life had never been that simple.

“I guess I’d better go.”

“Yes, you should.”

I took a single step and it was clear that I wasn’t making it to the eating room without help. Caleb had to practically carry me the whole way. When we entered through the room I immediately saw Tyler. He was saying to one of his buddies:

“… reason for holidays is because all the girls want to dance with us guys.”

“Correction, all the girls want to dance with you.” His friend answered.

“True,” Tyler said.

“Would you mind taking over here?” Caleb asked Tyler, handing me to him without waiting for an answer.

I fell into his arms and tried to stand up, but Caleb had made the shoes with too big a heel. I tried to magic them shorter, but they only got taller.

“Don’t waste your energy,” Tyler recommended. “That dress doesn’t look so good with your eyes.”

“Would you magic them shorter for me?” I said, and glared at Caleb. “At least someone appreciates my eyes.”

“I would, for a cost.”

“I believe I paid up for a different deed, and you didn’t help me there.”

“That was payback.”

“I never got revenge on you for, er, taking advantage of me.”

“Tyler, what did you do to her?” Caleb asked. He hadn’t left yet.

“Yeah, Ty! She’s just a defenseless girl!” his buddy said.

“See, I am defenseless. And I bet Caleb thinks I’m delicate, right?”

“Delicate? Defenseless? Yeah, right!” Caleb said.

“Two against one.” Tyler said.

“Two against two!” I protested.

“Ben doesn’t count; he won’t fight for his opinion like you.”

I looked at Ben, and he only shrugged.

“But seriously, what did Tyler do to you. Did he slap you?”

“Does that sound like something I would do?” Tyler asked Caleb.

“No, I slapped myself.”

“I thought you think before you act!” Caleb said.

“It was a well thought-over action!” I said, wishing I had a better excuse.

I remembered something then: disaster of distractions. Tyler was distracting me from figuring out what secrets Caleb has, so I decided to work on my concentration. I observed every detail about Tyler and let nothing distract me. The white of his teeth, the chocolate brown of his hair, the way his tan skin moved when he smiled; nothing was lost to my eyes.

“What are you doing?” Tyler asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re staring at me.”

“She’s got it bad for you, Tyler.” The kid with the power to be able to tell who’s attracted to whom said.

“Now tell me, why would I be attracted to him?” I asked the guy. “He’s been quite… what’s the word…”

“Mean?” Ben suggested.

“Distracting?” Someone else said.

“Awesome?” Tyler smiled.

“He’s been questionable,” I said.

“I’ll tell you why you like Tyler,” A girl in a blue puffy dress said.

She took my hand and smeared something sweet smelling on it.

“You have a weak mind.” She said.

“Don’t rub it in.” I groaned.

“Well, it’s easy to see your problem. You like Tyler because… well, a few reasons. First of all, because you like danger, and you can sense he’s dangerous. Second of all, because he’s good looking, a no brainer. And lastly, because you have a weakness for-“

“Okay!” I said, pulling my hand away. “I don’t like people looking into my weaknesses.”

Realizing how hypocritical I was being, I laughed out loud, and decided to turn my personal power on. Tyler still had no weaknesses, and Tyler’s friends still seemed to have weaker minds than the rest of the room. Then Caleb came running at me at full speed. I turned my power off as he stopped in front of me.

“You used it!” Caleb said.

“Used what?” I said, acting innocent.

“Your personal power! Dang, you’re good at turning it off and on fast!” he said.

“Caleb doesn’t know your power?” Tyler asked. “He should know, that way he can teach you things specific to help you grow as strong as you can.”

“Jade thinks I’ll use her for her power.” Caleb said.

“Now, Jade. That is something I would do.” Tyler said.

“Trust me, Jade.” Caleb said.

“Trust you?” I said, laughing, “That’s a good one! Like you’ve ever given me reason to trust you!”

“Ah, well, that is true,” Caleb said, walking off.

“You wanna dance, Jade?” Tyler asked.

“I can’t even walk in these shoes, and you want me to dance?”

“Let’s go.” Tyler said, taking my arm, despite my protests.

After about a minute of dancing I concluded that dancing was boring. You just sway back and forth on the dance floor. Tyler wouldn’t listen to anything relating to stopping dancing. As we danced longer I began to notice a pattern. Tyler would dance toward one glittery star, then another, and each time we crossed under one he would whisper something. We had one star left to cross under, and it was on the other side of the room.

“How about we just grab some punch? It would be quicker to get under that star.”

“Dang, you’re good,” Tyler said, shaking his head. He then led me to the punch, stopping briefly under the star.

“So what was that for?” I asked sipping my punch.

“When Caleb walks under a star- well, watch.” Tyler said, pointing out Caleb to me.

As he walked under the star, I saw the glitter cascading down over him, and before he could react, I activated my magic and sent the glitter flying to Tyler. He was covered in glitter. I poured the rest of my punch on his head. The word I said next was quiet, but echoed around the silent room.

“Payback.” I said, and walked out of there, miraculously managing to stay on my feet.

<^>

I don’t know if sleep came easily, but I think it must have, because I don’t remember waiting for drowsiness to find me. I woke up feeling refreshed and energized, ready to run a mile. I had always been a fast runner, and running was something I loved to do. I could run a mile.

“I can run a mile.” I said to myself.

“Good, because you’re going to have to.” Caleb said as he walked into my room.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean that you’re already late for physical training. Get up, get dressed, and get to the room where you first ran into Tyler. Move!”

I raced to get my clothes on and pull a brush through my tangled hair. I hated my curly hair because it would never behave itself! I was sprinting down the hall and made it into the room, panting.

“Finally!” the teacher proclaimed. “What took you so long, Jade?”

I heard someone saying quietly: “Just because she’s the headmaster’s apprentice, she thinks she gets special privileges.”

“Caleb didn’t wake me up on time.” I said, suddenly guilty of my good night’s rest.

“It’s not his job to babysit you.” The teacher said. “Now, stretch out, class.”

As I stretched, I thought, it is so Caleb’s job to babysit me! If he doesn’t keep a close eye on me, I’ll just poof away, and never be seen here again. I tried to ignore the fact that I couldn’t transport whatsoever.

“Jade! You can touch your toes, can’t you? And wipe that smirk off your face, or I’ll find out what it’s about and tell the whole class.”

“You can read people’s minds?” I grunted, as I touched my toes.

“My personal power is the ability to see what people want most hidden. When I want to, anyways.” He said. “Now, get ready to run! Today, we’re jogging outside.”

Caleb better keep an eye on me. Outside, I’ll be as free as a bird! I was about to follow the others outside when someone grabbed my wrist. It was Caleb.

“Don’t even think about it. I’ll be watching.” He whispered in my ear.

“What would ever give you the reason to think I would run?” I asked innocently.

“Maybe he can’t read minds…” Caleb said.

“Enough said.” I replied, skipping off to join the others.

They had already started jogging and were several meters in front of me. Looks like “coachy” wants to see what I can do. I caught up easily, but then stayed to the back of the group, jogging about two meters back. I stayed there until a girl slowed down beside me and said, “If you can’t keep up, you shouldn’t be here.”

Red-hot anger blazed in my chest. I’ll show her who can’t keep up! I picked up my pace tremendously, passing the girl easily. I saw Tyler up in the front of the group, so I decided to catch up with him. I was by his side in seconds. He glanced at me and smiled.

“I thought you had somehow cheated our race when you hung back there.” He said.

“Me? Cheat? Sounds like something you would do.” I laughed. I did kind of cheat though…

“Yeah, you’re right, it does.”

Tyler pointed to a black flag up ahead that was flapping in the breeze.

“We turn around there. I’ll race you back to the school. And I bet my lunch I’ll win.”

“Deal,” I said, and I pushed my limits, letting go of my stored up stamina and putting my all into this race.

I felt a kind of focus I had never experienced before, and it was just me. That’s how I would explain it. It was just me; no one else could distract me. I was just running, no longer racing. To myself, I was just running. I kicked open the door and slowed down. Tyler entered a few seconds after me.

“No… Fair…” he panted.

“Fair.” I said.

The rest of the kids came trickling in pretty soon after I had caught my breath. The teacher entered somewhere in the middle of the group.

“It seems I underestimated you, Jade. You can keep up on our jog, but what about in our lessons? You have a lot of catching up to do.”

“I think I can manage.” I told him.

“Good. Partner up and start sparring. Not you, Jade. I still have to show you the basics with a staff.”

I followed him over to one of the walls; it was lined with dummies. He handed me a staff. I grabbed it, placing my hand about a foot away from each other in the middle.

“Not bad. Your hands are perfect, and your stance isn’t terrible.”

I glanced at my feet, and spread them a bit farther away from each other, then looked up for confirmation. He nodded and then grabbed a staff and began teaching me some basic thrusts. He watched me for a bit, and then went to help the others. When I was sure he wasn’t watching me, I tried some spins with my staff and slid my hands closer together or farther apart depending on the thrust to make it flow smoother.

“Very nice,” he said, and I jumped, because I hadn’t realized he was there. “I think you can move onto sparring with a partner. Brett, would you mind sparring with Jade?”

Brett came over and got ready spar. I did the same, spreading my legs into the proper stance. He struck without warning, and I blocked. Basically, I just blocked his thrusts, trying not to get hit.

“You seem to be very defensive.” The teacher said.

“Jade is not defensive.” Tyler disagreed. “She waits until she sees a chance and then she strikes, knocking you over.”

Despite Tyler’s predictions, I continued to block. Then I saw it- a pattern. Every few thrusts Brett would falter, as if unsure what to do next. Like he prepared a few moves, but then had to stop and think for a second. The next time he did this, I lunged forward and hit him in the stomach. He wasn’t prepared for this, and faltered again, so I hit him in the shoulder. I continued to lunge and thrust until I swept his feet from under him. I looked to the teacher, noticing we had gathered a small crowd.

“Good, good.” The teacher said. “Most people defend that long without being tired out. But once you beat him, you need to assure he stays down.”

I put my foot on his chest.

“No, I meant sit on him.”

I sat on his stomach and his breath came out with an “oof.” I crossed my legs in front of me, and my arms over my chest. The teacher chuckled, as did some of the people in my class.

“No, like this.” He demonstrated.

He put one knee on one side of Brett’s torso, and the other knee on the other side. He grabbed my staff and thrust it under Brett’s chin.

“Like that.” He said, handing me my staff.

I copied him, blushing furiously as I did so. I got up as soon as I had it right.

“It looks like we’re about halfway through class, and I have nothing else to teach you. Do whatever.” The teacher told the class.

Kids walked off chatting, some grabbed books to read, and others went outside to jog or walk. I picked up my staff and walked over to a dummy to start practicing again.

 

Chapter eight

The teacher was coming over to teach me something more advanced, and Tyler was following him.

“Can I please, please, please, please move on?” Tyler was begging.

“I’m not sure you’re ready,” The teacher responded.

“I’m the top of the class; no one else is more ready.”

“If you’re sure.”

“What?”

“I said you can go. Be happy.”

“I’ve been begging you for a month, and now it’s all paid off?”

“Leave before I change my mind.”

Tyler left.

“Where’s he going?” I asked.

“He’s moving on early. He’s going to learn how to use a sword.”

“Oh,” I said.

“Don’t get lazy with your stance; you don’t want someone to knock you off balance. Using the staff is all about balance.”

Obediently, I fixed my stance and continued to hit the dummy.

“I see you’ve figured out the basics on your own. You’re a fast learner, Caleb was right to pick you.”

“Thanks,” I said, although I was long past wishing Caleb hadn’t picked me.

He began to teach me more advanced moves that used different stances. Also, I started to learn to use the staff with one hand. I was pretty bad at that.

“Watch it,” The teacher said when I almost hit him in the face.

“Sorry.”

“I am going to put myself out of harm’s way. You can practice alone until the end of class.”

I did practice. A lot. I didn’t even notice when people started to leave. I just focused on using my staff properly and keeping my stance perfect.

“Looks like someone is working hard,” Tyler said.

Startled I whirled around and almost hit Tyler with my staff. Now I noticed we were alone.

“Jeez, what did I ever do to you?” Tyler asked.

“No need to overreact, I didn’t even hit you.”

“Yes, but that was clearly your goal.”

“You startled me, now let it be.”

“Fine,” Tyler said. “Notice anything different about me?”

Although I had already seen the sword that hung by his side I made a big deal of observing him and then said:

“Nope.”

“Come on! See this here? This is a sword.”

“No, it’s a feather,” I said, practically tasting the sarcasm. “No duh, it’s a sword.”

“You wanna hold it?” he asked.

“I’m content with my staff,” I said, but Tyler didn’t take no for an answer.

Tyler unsheathed his sword and handed it to me, leather bound handle first. I sighed and grabbed it. And fell over. If the staff was all about balance, the sword was all about… well, unbalance. I wasn’t joking when I said I fell over. To my extreme embarrassment, that did, in fact, happen.

“It’s not that heavy,” Tyler said, helping me up.

I opened my mouth to object, but all thoughts of protest were bound, gagged, and most likely killed off when Tyler put his mouth to mine. Unlike all the other times he’d kissed me, this time I felt a foreign heat fill my chest. I dwelt on the feeling of his lips pressing softly against mine, and lingered in the heat. When he pulled back I felt the heat recede, filling me with longing and disappointment.

“Why did you do that?” I asked.

“You were going to argue, and I don’t want to lose another argument to you, even when I’m right. The sword is probably one of the lightest they have.”

I opened my mouth again to protest, but Tyler kissed me again. For some reason this time I remembered: biggest weakness- boys, and disaster of distractions. Maybe he’s distracting me! Or maybe I’m over thinking things…. But just then Tyler removed one hand from my waist and reached for his sword. But I was way ahead of him. I ducked underneath his first swing and grabbed my staff. His face showed his confusion momentarily, but even a few moments can be precious in a fight. I hit him in the stomach and then swept his feet from under him in a jerky ungraceful movement. I sat on him the way the teacher had shown me. I heard clapping.

“Very nice work, Jade.”

Oh, no. How much had he seen?

“I just wish I could have seen the whole fight. I’ll see you two at lunch.” Caleb left.

Thank goodness!

“Can you get off me so we can get to lunch?” Tyler asked.

“I don’t know; I’m kinda comfortable,” I said and gave him my most charming of smiles.

Tyler leaned in to kiss me. The heat flared up in my chest again, but before it could spread he had pulled away. The kiss was quick, and left me thirsting for more.

“Could you please get off me?”

This time, I obeyed.

<^>

At lunch I collected my hard-earned sandwich. Tyler tried to sneak past me, but I didn’t forget our earlier bet. I savored the slightly soggy sandwich and made him suffer by eating it in front of him.

“Come on!” Tyler begged. “Will you give me a bite if I get on my knees?”

“Maybe.” I said.

Tyler kneeled in front of me and made semi-convincing puppy-dog eyes. I watched him and finished off his sandwich licking my fingers when I was done.

“Noooooooo! You said-”

“Maybe. I said maybe.”

“May I ask what Tyler did to deserve this torture?” said one of the girls I recognized from the dance.

“He bet me his lunch he would win a race.”

“Tyler doesn’t lose that kind of thing.”

“Well he didn’t win. Jade beat him by a mile.” Caleb said joining us with a sandwich in his hand.

“It was more like a few seconds.” Tyler insisted, eyeing the sandwich.

“Jade, this is yours.” Caleb said, handing me the sandwich.

Tyler made a grab for it, but I managed to get it before him.

“This is my sandwich.” I said.

“Please!” he pleaded.

“We’ll see.”

By the time I had eaten half of the sandwich I was incredibly full. I handed Tyler the rest, and before he began eating, he pulled off all the tomatoes.

“Eww!” One girl squealed. “She already ate part of that!”

Tyler and I looked at each other, and then we both cracked up. Like it mattered! We had already swapped spit today.

“This is all I get?” Tyler asked when he finished the sandwich.

“Unless someone else is willing to give you any food.” There were no volunteers.

“I’m going to be hungry during magic though!” he complained. Still no one gave him any food.

Tyler sighed and then began walking out of the eating room. All his friends followed him, including Caleb and I.

“Ready for our next lesson?” Caleb asked me.

“No, but does it make a difference?”

“Nope.”

“Didn’t think so.”

“What am I going to teach you today?” Caleb thought out loud.

“Raising the dead,” I told him randomly.

“That’s a little advanced, but okay.” He said, and turned on his heel to go the other direction.

“Is sarcasm lost on you?” I asked.

Caleb chuckled, and kept walking. I rolled my eyes and followed Caleb outside and into a cemetery. It was relatively bright and cheery, though it could have smelled better. I tried not to dwell on the smell. Caleb gave me a reassuring smile which I returned, but inside I was a mess. I didn’t do well with dead bodies. Or bones, for that matter. Caleb took a shovel and walked three paces passed the end of the grave and dug a tiny hole. Inside was a box.

“Go inside and fill a jar with water.” Caleb said.

I obeyed without a word. Why he would want me to fill a jar with water didn’t matter, I was just glad to be out of there. But I had to go back.

“Here’s the water.” I said, handing the jar to him.

“Thank you. Now, raising the dead is a lot like lending your life source.” Caleb said.

“You mean giving your life source.”

“No, lending. When whatever you gave life dies again, the bit of your life that you lent will return to your body. Raising the dead is extremely tiring, and the bigger and more complex the organism you’re raising is, the more tired you will be. For this reason, we are starting out with something small.”

Caleb opened the lid of the box to reveal a tiny pile of bones.

“Go ahead.” Caleb said.

“Here goes nothing” I muttered.

I took a deep breath and sent my magic out to the bones. In a few seconds it came back, but the bones remained bones.

“Need a few pointers?” Caleb asked.

“No.” I snapped back.

I took another deep breath and did the same thing as last time. I got the same results.

“You should proba…” Caleb trailed off when I glared at him.

At least I’m getting consistent results, the positive part of me thought. I told that part of me to shut up. Okay, so I needed to lend my life source to this pile of bones…. Okay. New goal: find my life source. I sent my magic to find it. My magic came back to me with it was a ball of white light. My magic cocooned the light, as if protecting it. I sent it to the pile of bones and it returned seconds later. At first I thought nothing had happened, but then I saw the bones aligning themselves, and before I could shout victory, a small fish was in their place.

“Spectacular work, Jade.” Caleb said, scooping up the fish and putting it in the jar.

“It’s a fish.” I said.

“It’s my fish. I do have a heart.”

“How old were you when it died?”

“Seven.”

“You had a heart. Not anymore.”

“Let’s do something harder,” Caleb said.

“Why was the fish buried here?” I asked.

“My father was headmaster before me. I lived here.”

“Oh.”

We walked through the cemetery a bit, but stopped when we came to a human body. It wasn’t even buried. It was partly decayed and flies buzzed around it. The horrible smell was stronger here, and I felt like I was going to puke. Oh god, I couldn’t stay here. Caleb seemed to be saying something, but I couldn’t hear him. All I was hearing was a ringing sound. I took one last glance at the body and bolted. I ran towards the school, stumbling sometimes, and occasionally falling, but always getting back up. The last thing I remember was opening a door.

 

Chapter nine

Ouch. Ouch, ouch OUCH! My head hurt like nothing I’d ever experienced. OUCH!

“We get it, Jade. Your head hurts,” A vaguely familiar voice said.

I groaned and struggled to open my eyelids. I just couldn’t do it; they seemed to weigh a ton each! My hearing still seemed messed up, which was probably why I couldn’t hear myself talking. Am I talking? I thought loudly. No answer. Good. After receiving that nice little bit of information, I focused my energy on raising an eyelid. Just one, I’ll tackle my problems one baby-step at a time. But at that rate I’ll never get to getting out of here, I thought. Well you know what, self? What would you suggest we do? Open your eyes, Jade. A whispery voice said in my head.

“Aaaaaaah!” I screamed, and opened my eyes. It was only after this marvelous display that I realized it was Caleb’s voice, the one that had invaded my thoughts once before.

“Are you okay, Jade?” Tyler asked me.

It was now that I realized the true agony in my head. I gritted my teeth and tried not to cry.

“Fine,” I said, as I strained not to sound in pain.

“You look a little pale,” Someone else said.

Now I realized where I was. I was in some kind of dorm, and I was lying on a bunk bed. I was surrounded by boys. This must be the boy’s dorm. Why did I have to choose the door to the boy’s dorm? Well, I guess it was better than staying by that dead body. Oh, god, the dead body! Why did I have to remind myself!

“Not just a little, she looks a lot pale!”

“I’m fine,” I said, although I felt bile rising in my throat as I tried not to picture the dead body.

“I’ll carry you to Caleb’s office,” Tyler offered.

“No fair, you always get to be with the girls,” Some guy said.

“I hardly think Jade is in the condition to appreciate anything I do for her.”

The kid mumbled something that sounded like agreement. Boy, did my head hurt. I closed my eyes and felt strong arms lifting me off the bunk. I felt secure next to Tyler’s warm body, his rhythmic stride lulling me to sleep. I inhaled his scent and…. Tyler was carrying me. No. Not happening. I snapped my eyes open.

“I can walk,” I said.

“You sure?” he asked, his voice soft and caring.

“Yes.” No.

“Alright.” Tyler gently set me down on the ground, but continued to support my body weight.

“Ahem.”

Tyler let go, and my legs wouldn’t function. I just couldn’t stand up. I felt myself falling, and closed my eyes, ready for more pain. But before I reached the ground, Tyler’s arms were around my waist again, supporting me. I opened my eyes hesitantly, expecting him to drop me, but he was already carrying me, walking towards Caleb’s office.

“I can’t walk.”

“That much is obvious.”

“Tyler?”

“Hm?”

“Thanks. But do not ask what happened before I passed out. Do not.”

“Wouldn’t think of it,” He replied.

Once again I found myself drifting off to sleep, but when Tyler rapped on Caleb’s office door, I was awakened.

“Tyler? Oh, Jade. Come on in,” Caleb said while Tyler gently set me down in the chair. His slightly tanned hand rested on my shoulder after he had released me. “So what brings you here, Tyler?”

“Jade couldn’t walk,” Tyler said. I wanted to protest, but what was the point? He was only telling the truth.

“I see. Please leave.” Tyler left without another word. “Why did you run?” he asked me when the door creaked shut.

“I couldn’t stay. The body… I…” I struggled to explain.

“I understand. You found the corpse repulsive.”

“That’s not it. I was… scared.” I hated to admit it.

I watched the way Caleb’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, and then came back down. His face showed disappointment. I shouldn’t have felt like I had failed him, but I did. You don’t care what he thinks! I tried to tell myself. And before, I hadn’t. So why did I now?

“Do you know why I chose you, Jade?”

“What?”

“Why I chose you as my apprentice?”

“Because I have a large magical capacity?”

“Yes. But I had other criteria as well. I wanted my apprentice to be nervous and easily frightened. You seemed to give off that vibe when I met you, but after that you were the exact opposite.

“I also wanted my apprentice to have a weak mind. Well, you exceeded my expectations there.” I glared at him. “Lastly, I wanted my apprentice to be female,” Now I really glared at him. “Because, in general, girls are easier to control,” he said, ignoring my glare.

“That’s not true. Look at me, am I easy to control?”

“Yes. You are a little more stubborn than I had hoped, but otherwise everything is going as planned. I know now that you are not easily frightened, but I think that may be a good this after all. The fact that you are scared to the point of running away from a dead body disappoints me.”

“Whatever. I don’t care about what you think.” Saying it out loud didn’t help.

“That doesn’t matter. Completing our lesson before dinner does.”

He doesn’t mean we’re going back outside, does he? Watching Caleb sit down in his desk helped quell my fears.

“Since you are obviously incapable of going back to the cemetery, we will discuss the things that are needed to be taken into consideration when raising a human.”

“So, like rules?”

“No. More like warnings. When a human is raised from the dead, they will want to return to the dead. They will want to commit suicide. No one is sure why this is, we can only guess. Humans that are raised are insecure and not good fighters, no matter how they were in their previous life, so an army of dead would be foolish. And… that’s about it.”

“And you were going to have me raise a human?”

“Like I said, they are warnings. Guidelines. They aren’t restrictions.”

I looked more closely at Caleb, but I saw that he was telling the truth. He would have had me raise a human. There was more to Caleb than I had thought.

<^>

Dinner was interesting. I was stared at quite a bit. It was probably because word got out that I had collapsed in the boy’s dorm. Just a guess. I had found out that the meals got better as the day went on. Breakfast: not good, lunch: mediocre, and dinner: absolutely delicious. Tonight we had some kind of fish with a salad. I was really enjoying it. I noticed it got really quiet, and I was about to look up when someone shouted, “Boo!” I spun around in my chair. “Pay-” I spit my mouthful of fish on Tyler’s shirt. “back,” He finished as the half chewed bite I’d taken slid down his shirt.

“Nice try.”

“That is so gross,” Tyler said looking down at his shirt.

“That’s kind of the point.”

Tyler sat in an empty chair next to me and stared at me. I was very aware of everyone’s eyes, which were also staring at me.

“You don’t have to sit here, you know. You can sit by me,” Tyler murmured.

I remembered wanting to sit by him the first day I came, but now I didn’t want to. I was comfortable sitting up here, and I liked being able to see everything that was going on. More often than not, there was something funny that only I could see.

“Thanks, but I’ll pass,” I said.

Tyler’s response to this didn’t thrill me. He took my unfinished plate of food and began walking back to his seat.

“I wasn’t done eating that,” I called.

“That’s kind of the point,” He replied.

I ran to catch up with him and my meal. Once again, I was more than conscious of the people that stared at me. There was Ben, a girl I vaguely remembered seeing at the dance, and pretty much everyone else.

“Do you have to get your way every time?” I asked Tyler as I took a seat next to him. He made a face like he was thinking about it.

“Yeah, pretty much,” He replied, nodding his head.

Tyler leaned towards me, and for a moment I thought he was going to kiss me in front of everyone. But, thankfully, he didn’t. Instead his lips almost brushed my ears and he whispered, “Don’t fall asleep tonight, okay?” Before I could reply, he walked away.

As usual, most of the people got up and walked with him. Don’t fall asleep tonight… What was that supposed to mean? I was honestly a little scared to find out.

“Jade, time to go,” Caleb said. Wasn’t he even a little bit curious to know what Tyler had said to me? “Jade, we have to go.” Apparently not.

The walk to Caleb’s office was silent. Maybe he expected me to tell him what Tyler said anyways. I wouldn’t tell him; it was just too creepy. When we arrived I sat down in my chair, and he sat down in his.

“Show me how you’re transporting is going,” He said. It was an order.

“No.” I refused to obey that order.

He seemed only mildly surprised, as if he was expecting that this would happen at some time or another.

“Then you may not bathe tonight.”

What a lame punishment. Bathing wasn’t a necessity; I could live without it. I shrugged.

“So, what do the other students do after dinner?” I asked.

“They have free time until we turn off the lanterns.”

“Why don’t I get any free time?”

“Because you’re my apprentice, and I have to teach you as much as possible before…” He trailed off.

“Before…”

“You’ll find out soon enough.” Caleb looked sad as he stared at me. Before what?

“If I’ll find out soon enough, then why not tell me now and get it over with?”

“If you’ll find out soon enough, why not just wait?” He countered. He had me there.

I gave him my best glare before getting up. I attempted to transport to the other side of the room. When I got there, I transported back because I lost my left hand. I was about to transport back again to get my right arm when Caleb asked, “What are you doing?”

“I’m showing you my transporting, duh.”

“Oh.” He had a small smile on his face. He knew I wouldn’t rebel for long.

“Whatever,” I said, and went to retrieve my arm. In turn I lost my leg. It was going to be a long night. Even longer because I wasn’t supposed to sleep.

 

Chapter ten

I heard my door creak open. My heart beat faster, and I started breathing faster. I tried hard to look like I was asleep. I am asleep, dreaming happy things. I am not awake, and I will not wake up.

“Jade, wake up,” Tyler whispered.

“I wasn’t sleeping,” I whispered back.

“You fooled me,” He muttered. I sat up in my bed. I was still wearing my uniform; I thought it might help me stay awake. “You look kind of pale.”

“I was scared out of my mind when you told me not to sleep.”

“You shouldn’t have taken me so seriously.” Before I could argue, he said, “You’ll need to change. You can’t wear your uniform, but you can’t wear a dress.”

My hand froze on my dresser handle. I moved it to my hip and scowled at Tyler.

“I don’t have anything else.” I heard Tyler swear quietly. But then a smile appeared on his face. I had a feeling this wouldn’t be good.

“I’ll just have to make you something then.”

“No. You will not make me something.”

“Then you can’t go.”

“Go where?”

“I can’t tell you if you’re not going.” Damn you, Tyler.

“Fine.”

“I knew you’d come around.”

“Shut up and do it.”

Tyler didn’t need any more encouragement. He looked at me closely from head to toe, which I hope was for measurements, and waved his hands and whispered some words. My nightgown was replaced with a red blouse. It had short sleeves and a neck line too low for comfort. The skirt wasn’t any better. If anything, it was worse. It didn’t go anywhere near my knees, and I was almost afraid to sit down in it. The black leather boots were laced tightly up to my knees and, to my dismay, had uncomfortably tall heels. The whole outfit was much to revealing.

“I look-”

“Beautiful. Now let’s go.”

We walked down the hallway in silence. It was impossible for me to be angry at Tyler when he had called me beautiful. I thought briefly about slapping myself later, but decided against it when I remembered the effects of the last time I did it.

“You know, Jade, you should dress like this more often.”

“Oh, really,” I said. I stopped walking and put my hands on my hips.

“Yeah, you’ve got some nice legs.” I kicked him in the shin. “Sorry. You’ve got some mean legs.”

I started walking again; glad the shadows hid my blush. I felt giddy and dizzy, which was probably why I ran into Tyler when he stopped outside the boys dorm. The boots may have contributed a bit. Tyler knocked on the door and asked, “Are you presentable?”

“I don’t see why they have to be presentable; I’m certainly not,” I muttered.

“We’re fine,” Someone inside shouted.

“Are you sure? You’re going to be in the presence of a lady.”

“In that case, we’re more than presentable,” Another guy chuckled.

“Put on a shirt, everybody,” Tyler said, sounding annoyed. I heard grumbling from inside, so I assumed they were obeying.

“Now are you presentable?” Tyler asked.

“Just come in already.”

Tyler opened the door to reveal a dimly lit room filled with boys. I don’t remember seeing all of them in my unfortunate visit earlier today, but I wasn’t in the best condition to notice things.

“It’s just Jade? Aw, man! You made us get dressed for nothing!” Of course, that’s what he thought at the moment, but then he saw what I was wearing. His mouth made a small “o”, and his eyes got wide. His eyes lingered on my blouses neckline, and then on my legs.

“Nice legs Jade,” someone said.

“They aren’t nice, they’re mean,” Tyler corrected. I stomped on his boot. Tyler swore. “He said it, not me.”

“Yes, but you were the one who made me wear this.”

“How did you get her to wear that, Ty?” A tall boy with red-ish hair asked.

“She didn’t have any suitable clothing, so I made it.”

“Wait a minute Tyler, you know the rules. Does that mean you and Jade are… together?” The redhead asked.

Tyler walked over and put a hand around my waist. “Yeah, Jade is my girl.”

“Possessive, much?” I muttered under my breath.

“So, Jade…. How long have you and Tyler been together?” A blond with crooked teeth asked. I felt myself go red. Unlike in the hallway, everyone could see me blush in here, and that only made me blush more.

“She’s got no answer. Are you sure she’s your girl, Tyler?”

“She doesn’t deny being my girl, do you Jade?” I was getting even redder if that were possible. “See? Jade’s mine.”

No one argued after that.

“Come on, guys! The coast is clear.”

The door at the back of the dorm opened, and all the boys rushed out. Tyler and I were last. I stopped in the doorway; not quite inside, but not quite outside. I took a deep breath, and thought of Caleb. If he finds out.... What the hell. I don’t care if he finds out; I’m ready to have some fun! A smile touched my lips and I bounded after the boys.

I’m ready to have some fun.

<^>

Once we got onto the road, everyone relaxed; myself included. I was worried that someone would catch us and we would get in trouble, I was clinging to Tyler. As soon as I realized this, I leapt away from him. It might have been dark, but I could see him smirking. I glared, but I didn’t put any feeling into it. The walk to wherever we were going was long, and the other boys were laughing and joking around. The silence between Tyler and I felt awkward.

“So where exactly are we going?” I asked.

“You’ll see. It’s a surprise.”

“I’m honestly tired of surprises.”

“Too bad,” He said, smiling.

The silence felt less awkward after that. We walked behind the rest of the boys, our hands entwined. Wait a second! How long has Tyler been holding my hand? I guess I hadn’t noticed before now because it felt natural. I could see some lights off in the distance.

“Is that where we’re going?”

“No, we’re going to the next town.”

I jerked my hand apart from his and started at him with wide eyes.

“I’m kidding, Jade.”

“Oh,” I said. Of course he was kidding, what was I thinking?

We continued on towards the town, but Tyler didn’t grab my hand again. That made me sad. When we finally arrived, the other boys seemed to know exactly where we were going, so I just followed them.

We entered a building with a sign above it saying Al’s Place. Al’s Place turned out to be a bar. As soon as I realized this, I tried to get back out the door, but Tyler had grabbed my hand again. He pulled me through the crowd and to a counter. He grabbed two empty stools and sat me down on one. Once he sat down, I said, “This isn’t the kind of place that I normally hang out at.”

“So?” Tyler asked.

“So, I want to leave.”

“You can try,” He said, gesturing towards the door.

I got up, and started making my way through the crowd towards the door. What did Tyler mean, “You can try”? I was almost to the door when a man about a decade older than me grabbed my arm and yanked. I fell into his shirtless chest.

“Hello, beautiful,” He slurred. His breath smelled of alcohol.

I tried to pull away, but he held on tight. I stomped on his foot, but he still wouldn’t let go. Talk about determination. I used my free arm to hit him in the nose, and a satisfying scream followed. He didn’t let go, but his grip loosened enough so I could get away.

The silence that followed his scream seemed louder than the noise that was present before it. What was more disturbing was that everyone was staring at me. If I felt uncomfortable before, this was just plain unpleasant. It was Tyler who broke the silence.

“Dang, Jade. You just got that much more stunning.”

“Because that’s my goal in life, to impress you,” I replied sarcastically.

“It should be,” Tyler said.

People gradually started talking again, and Tyler led me back to the counter. He handed me a mug with what I assume had some kind of alcohol in it. I was about to refuse it when I saw the challenging gleam in his eyes. I took it and gritted my teeth. He still had the look in his eyes. I grudgingly took a tiny sip of the drink; it was far from delicious.

“So who’s Al?” I asked. I figured the best way to keep from drinking the foul liquid was to talk.

“No one knows.”

“Sounds like a good story. Why don’t you tell it?”

“I don’t feel like it. Why aren’t you drinking? Don’t you like your drink?” Tyler asked teasingly. I glared at him and took a big sip. “Are you going to swallow?” He asked. I swallowed. “How do you feel?”

“Normal. Are you trying to get me drunk, Tyler?”

“Maybe,” He said with a smirk.

“If you are, you can just get another girl.”

“Maybe I will,” He said, and walked into the crowd.

I could feel my mouth hanging open. I watched him walk up to a girl who gave him a flirtatious smile. I could feel my face heating up. Tyler started talking to her, and she giggled. I could never giggle; it wasn’t like me. Did Tyler like girls that giggled? Should I start giggling? It wasn’t my goal in life to impress him; if he wasn’t interested in my, who cares?

I swallowed the rest of the liquid in my mug and made a grim realization. I did care. I cared about what Tyler thought of me. I cared that he was flirting with a girl when he had announced that were together earlier today. I cared about Tyler.

 

Chapter eleven

The girl gave Tyler a flirtatious smile. At least, it seemed flirtatious to me. What did I know about flirting? Nothing. Tyler laughed at something the girl said, and I just wanted to get out of here. I stood up and made my way to the door for the second time that evening (or was it morning?). This time people got out of the way for me.

“Where’re you going, Jade?” Tyler asked and grabbed my arm.

“Where’s your new girl, Tyler?” I snarled and yanked my arm away.

“I’m talking to her,” He replied smoothly. “You look really cute when you’re jealous.”

“You did that to make me jealous?”

“Yeah,” He said. “And for payback.”

I clenched my teeth so I wouldn’t shout at him. What right does he have? I’m not just some stupid little thing he can play with! I turned around and walked straight into a man.

“Watch it…” The guy trailed off when he saw what I looked like. “Can I buy you a drink?”

“Sure,” I said, and I smiled at him. The man led me through the crowd back to the counter, and I didn’t even glace back at Tyler. Unfortunately, there were no open stools. The man who had offered to buy me a drink just tapped on a man and a woman’s shoulder. They looked up at him.

“Scram,” He said. They just laughed and went back to talking. The man sighed and leaned down to whisper something in their ears. Whatever he said, it must have scared them because their eyes got wide and they left.

“What’d you tell them to make them leave?”

“Nothing, I just asked nicely.”

“Yeah, right, like I’m going to believing that.”

“Fine, do you want to know the truth?” I nodded eagerly, and he leaned in to whisper in my ear. “I told them that these stools were haunted.”

I snorted. “Ha, ha. Very funny.”

“It’s the truth,” He said, but a small smile gave him away.

“The usual?” The bartender asked.

“Yeah,” The man replied, waving him away. “So what’s your name?”

“Jade. Yours?”

“William.”

“Like the prince,” I thought aloud.

“Yes,” William sighed. “Like the prince.”

“Here are the drinks,” The bartender said, sliding a mug towards William and a smaller glass towards me.

I took a cautious sip of the drink. It tasted slightly fruity. I looked out into the crowd of people and saw Tyler struggling to get to me. The look in his eyes told me that he was going to knock William’s brains out. Crap.

“I’ve got to go,” I told William.

“Alright,” He said. “It was nice to meet you, Jade.”

I hurried to get to Tyler before he made his way to William. I made it to him, and just as I was about to smirk at him, he pushed my back into the wall. He placed an arm on either side of my head trapping me.

“Why did you do that, Jade?” He asked his face just inches from mine.

“Calm down Tyler. You said I looked cute when I’m jealous, so I figured you would look the same way. Oh yeah, and for payback”

Tyler smirked as if he knew something I didn’t. He leaned in closer to me so that he pinned my body to the wall with his. His lips stopped millimeters from my own. Just kiss me already! I silently pleaded, but he still lingered there, leaving the small gap. I decided I wouldn’t wait for him to kiss me, instead I initiated the kiss.

I leaned my head forward, so that my lips just barely touched his. From there, I had planned to linger; teasing him like he had teased me. But my control snapped before I could fulfill my plan.

Our lips clashed together, but this kiss wasn’t like the others. It wasn’t slow and sweet. It was faster paced, and with every second that passed I craved more. I didn’t want to end this, but I needed to breathe. I pulled away gasping, but I wish I didn’t. As soon as I removed my lips from Tyler’s, he stepped back, dashing my hopes of continuing our kiss. He looked away while he regained his breath leaving me pressed against the wall and panting.

“We should probably leave,” Tyler said; he still wouldn’t look at me. “I’ll go gather the guys.”

I sighed as I watched Tyler walk away. My eyes wandered when I could no longer see him. They searched for something as beautiful as Tyler’s face to observe, but they didn’t find anything nearly as satisfying. I ended up looking at William. He was still sitting at the counter, and he was staring at me. He grinned at me and winked at me. I looked at the ground and blushed. He had seen Tyler and I kiss.

“Hey, Jade. You look nice.” It was Ben that spoke. He was clearly drunk and staring at my chest. I took his mug and dumped its contents on his head. Ben passed out. Just great.

Tyler came back then. He was leading the guys, and most of them seemed to be drunk.

“What do we do about him?” I asked Tyler.

“I’ll take his head if you take his feet,” He replied.

This is going to be a long walk home, I thought. It was all worth it though. That kiss made it worth it.

<^>

“Jade, wake up,” Caleb said. “Why is your nightgown on the ground?”

“I got warm during the night,” I lied as I snuggled deeper under the covers.

It was a good thing that I had thought to shove my boots under the bed before I fell asleep. I was still in the outfit that Tyler had made for me last night. Now, I wondered how I had even slept in the thing. It wasn’t comfortable.

“Aren’t you going to get up?” Caleb asked.

“Aren’t you holding my nightgown?”

“Oh. Right,” Caleb said, and he backed into his room shutting the door.

I threw the covers off and sighed. I did not get enough sleep. I wriggled out of the red blouse and skirt, and I replaced it with my uniform.

“Are you dressed, Jade?” Caleb asked.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Then get down to-”

“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled. “I know.”

I shoved the clothing I had taken off under my bed with the boots. I flung the door open and walked into the dim hallway. The dim light made me want to lie down and sleep right there in the hallway. Instead, I shook off my sleepiness and jogged the rest of the way to the training room, so I wouldn’t fall asleep. I was late again, but no one seemed to care. I was the last girl that arrived, but there were no boys there. I tried not to snicker.

“Jade, do you know where the boys are?” The teacher asked.

“In bed,” I suggested.

“Why do you think they’d be there?”

“That’s where I want to be,” I said and shrugged.

“Don’t push it,” He said, but he was grinning.

“We’re here,” A boy said. They all stumbled into the training room, exhausted.

“You missed stretching,” The teacher said. “It’s your own fault if you pull a muscle. Let’s run.”

He opened the door and we all filed out. The early spring wind greeted me with a gust of cold air. I started jogging with the rest of the group, but the boys were struggling to keep up. I supposed they deserved it. It was life’s little “payback.” As soon as everyone had gotten back to the training room, the teacher said, “Boys, Jade, get over here. Now.” He sounded angry.

“Can’t you let us off the hook this time?” Someone asked.

“Sorry, you broke the rules.”

“Wait, how did he find out?” I asked.

What I really wanted to ask was: Will he tell Caleb? Apparently he could tell I was freaking out, because he said, “Don’t worry, Jade. Since this is the first time you’ve broken the rules, I won’t tell Caleb. That, and I think Tyler had something to do with your participation. As for how I found out, I can see what people want most hidden, remember?”

“Speaking of Tyler, will he get punished too?” Alex asked.

“Yes, I was just going to go to Patricia’s class and get him.” I must have looked confused because he said, “Patricia’s teaches fencing.”

They began to walk away, and I didn’t follow until the teacher said, “Come along, Jade. Patricia has been asking to meet you.”

So I walked along with them, into a different training room. This one was different. It had the same stone floors, and dummies, but the room was lined with mirrors.

I spotted Tyler instantly. He was fencing with who I assumed to be Patricia. I didn’t know anything about fencing, but he seemed to be doing pretty well.

“Tyler! Get over here,” Our teacher said.

Tyler was startled, and he dropped his sword. I barely managed to contain my laugh. Tyler picked up his sword and walked over. Patricia followed him.

“What’s this all about, Albert?” Patricia asked.

“They snuck out last night,” Albert, our teacher, said.

Patricia’s eyes swept over the students following Albert until they landed on me.

“Her, too?” She asked.

“No,” Albert lied. “I brought her to you because you were interested.”

“Yes. I hear you’re a natural with the staff, Jade.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“Nonsense,” She said. “Tyler, your sword please.” Tyler handed her his sword. “Now, Jade. I’d like to see how you do with your first lesson with a sword.”

“I’d rather not,” I said. I did not want a repeat of what happened with Tyler.

“Aw, come on, Jade. Just one little lesson?” Tyler asked. I glared at him. By now everyone was staring at me and whispering. I grabbed the sword Patricia was handing to me.

This time I was prepared for the weight, but that didn’t make it less heavy. I didn’t fall this time, but I did stumble forward a little.

“Hm. You don’t weight much, do you?” Patricia asked. I was about to confirm her suspicion, but she decided to do that herself. She grabbed me and picked me up before gently setting me back down. “Yes, just as I thought. Unless she gains some weight, she’ll never be any good with a sword.”

I was fine with that, but Albert seemed disappointed. “She’s so amazing with a staff,” He said.

I opened my mouth to say I wasn’t that good, but Patricia handed me a staff. “What do you want me to do?” I asked.

“Fight Tyler,” She replied handing Tyler a staff. I wanted to argue, but I didn’t. “You can start whenever you’re ready, Jade.”

She’d barely finished that statement when I attacked. I didn’t want to give Tyler the advantage of predicting what I would do. He seemed to be unaffected by the alcohol he had last night unlike most of the other boys. Come to think of it, he hadn’t had much to drink at all. I continued to attack, but Tyler seemed unfazed by my constant lunges and jabs. He efficiently blocked each one.

I gripped my staff tighter, angry that I couldn’t lay a finger on him. In the second it took me to tighten my grip, Tyler swung his staff up and hit me in the jaw. I didn’t make a sound, but it was painful. It just made me angrier. I tried a risky move. I probably wouldn’t have if I wasn’t so angry at Tyler. I held my staff in my right arm and pivoted so that my back was facing him. My staff swung in an arc slamming against his chest. It felt like I just hit a rock with my staff.

The move is risky because now my back is facing Tyler, and I can’t see him. To solve the problem, I pivoted again. Once again, my staff came at Tyler, but this time he stopped it with one hand before it hit him. He held my staff with one hand and his with the other, and all of a sudden I knew what I was going to do. My lips curved into a smile as I kicked Tyler’s staff out of his hand. It flew across the room. Tyler had a panicked look on his face while he tried to take my staff from me. He tugged it hard, so I tugged back harder. He tugged again, and I let go.

 

Chapter twelve

Tyler fell backwards and landed on the ground. My staff fell out of his hands and rolled away from him. I placed one knee on either side of his rock hard torso and one elbow on either side of his head. I sat there with my head in my hands smirking. I broke the silence by saying, “You need to improve your stance.”

Then someone started clapping. My head shot up and looked for the source of the noise. It was Caleb.

“That was marvelous, Jade,” He said.

“Um… Thanks,” I said.

“You should get back to my training room,” Albert told me.

I agreed and walked back. I entered the room, and all of the girls stared at me. One with blond hair walked towards me. She stopped a foot from me, and she glared at me. What did I do to you? I thought.

“Stay away from Tyler; he’s mine,” She said. It took me a while to formulate a response, and in that time the other girls formed a circle around me.

“Well, Tyler likes me, so….”

“No he doesn’t. Have you even kissed?” The blond asks. I stay silent. “If you haven’t kissed, he doesn’t like you.”

Tyler decided to choose that minute to make his entrance.

“Jade, hide me!” he said.

“What did you do?” I asked.

“I escaped my punishment, but not for long if you don’t hide me,” Tyler said.

“That’s just going to make it worse when they do find you.”

“So?”

“Fine,” I said. “But I’m in the middle of something here! Well, I’m in the middle of a circle of girls, but you know what I mean!”

“Yes, I do know what you mean. I don’t have time to care though.”

“Okay, one question first.” I pointed to the bruise that had formed on jaw. “Did you do that on purpose?”

“Well… Yeah. But it was a fight…”

“Good. If you did it on accident, it would have meant you were going easy one me.”

“I can kiss it better for you,” Tyler offered. I rolled my eyes.

I heard angry voices down the hall. “Okay, come on.” I led Tyler to a closet half full of dummies. “You can hide in here,” I said.

Tyler stepped in and I was about to close the door when he pulled my in with him. The door slammed closed behind me. The last thing I saw was the girls with their jaws on the floor. The voices got louder, and I knew they were in the training room. I couldn’t exit the closet without looking guilty.

“I was serious about kissing it better,” Tyler whispered into my ear. Tyler started at my ear and kissed his way down to my jaw. I heard things being said outside the closet door, but my brain couldn’t make sense of them. “Is it all better?” He asked.

“No.”

I could feel Tyler’s lips form a smile as the continued to kiss me. I tilted Tyler’s chin a bit higher so his lips met mine. I felt warmth explode in my chest when he kissed me. Although we were already close to each other, I needed to be closer to him, so I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled his body against mine.

“… Get to lunch,” Caleb said.

I pulled away from Tyler when I heard this. Caleb was right outside the closet. My heart beat faster than it already was. Both Tyler and I held our breath as we heard Caleb’s footsteps retreating. We exhaled when together when we could no longer hear him.

“We should probably get to lunch,” Tyler said. I laid my head on his chest.

“Mmmm…. Probably,” I replied.

Tyler lifted my chin up so his lips reached mine.

“We need,” kiss “To go,” kiss “To lunch.” Kiss.

I nodded, dizzy and out of breath. Tyler opened the door and let the light shine in. I unwillingly stepped out of the dark sanctuary the closet had become with Tyler close behind me.

<^>

Walking into the eating room late was interesting to say the least. Everyone turned around and stared at us. I had no idea what they were thinking, but I can guess. Judging by the way all of the girls were glaring at me, they hated me for walking in with Tyler after being in a closet with him. I had no doubt that Blondie had shared that information with the whole school by now. Caleb looked at me and raised an eyebrow. Gosh, I hope he doesn’t know, I thought. The boys were all making room for two more bodies at the already packed table.

“Jade, what happened?” Alex asked.

“Tyler hit me with a staff,” I told him and took a seat.

“Tyler!” Alex yelled.

“Hey, she got me pretty bad too,” Tyler defended.

“Really,” Ben said. He wasn’t convinced.

“Here, I’ll show you,” Tyler said and begun unbuttoning his shirt. He finished and displayed his bruise for everyone to see. I don’t think anyone actually saw the bruise. They were all too busy looking at how muscular Tyler was. I looked down at my sandwich and blushed. Someone started laughing.

“Jade is red like a tomato!” Someone said.

I pulled a tomato off my sandwich (yeah, sandwiches two days in a row) and chucked it the laugher’s face.

“Now who’s red like a tomato!” I said and smiled sweetly.

“You could have used my tomatoes,” Tyler said. I looked. He indeed had a neat stack of tomatoes on his plate, but he still hadn’t buttoned up his shirt. I blushed again causing more people to laugh.

“Alright, you asked for it,” I muttered.

I grabbed Tyler’s rejected tomatoes and started throwing them everywhere. When I was done I just grinned like a fool. My grin disappeared when they grabbed their own tomatoes and started tossing them at me. I leapt behind Tyler. He stood up and turned around. He was covered in tomatoes. Now it was my turn to laugh. Bad choice. Tyler peeled a tomato off his face and threw it at me.

“Tomato war!” I yelled.

Tomatoes flew everywhere. I had deadly accuracy and the knack for avoiding getting hit. Even when our sandwiches had been robbed of their tomatoes, people just picked them up off the floor and flung them.

“What’s going on?”

Although Caleb spoke quietly, everyone heard and dropped their tomatoes.

“It’s Tyler’s fault!” I said, breaking the silence. Everyone else was quick to agree with me.

“What? No it’s not! Jade started it,” Tyler said.

“Yeah, but it’s your fault I threw the first tomato.” Once again, everyone agreed with me.

“We’ll discuss this in my office, Tyler. The rest of you, finish what’s left of your lunch,” Caleb said.

How much trouble was Tyler going to be in?

<^>

I walked back from lunch and had just gotten to Caleb’s office when I heard, “… Just can’t do it anymore.” It was Tyler. Caleb started laughing.

“Tyler, you don’t understand. Without you…. Jade, it’s rude to eavesdrop,” Caleb said, all of his laughter gone.

“Wasn’t eavesdropping. I just happened to overhear,” I replied.

“You may come in, Jade,” Caleb said.

I opened the door to Caleb’s familiar office. The only unfamiliar thing was Tyler sitting in the chair I normally occupied.

“Tyler, you may leave,” Caleb said. Tyler sighed and left.

Caleb looked at me and got an amused look on his face.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing.”

Had Caleb found out about Tyler and me? Oh gosh, I hoped not.

“What will we be learning today, Oh Powerful One?” I asked. What I needed was a magic lesson to keep my mind off things.

“Ah yes, magic,” Caleb said. “You will be learning to play the fiddle.”

“I already know how to play the fiddle.”

“Alright, show me.”

Caleb gently lifted a fiddle from its case and handed it to me. I played a lively, fast tune on the fiddle, not stumbling once.

“Very nice, but can you play this?”

Caleb handed me a sheet of paper. I studied the music for a minute before I started to play it. It was a slow, fancy song. It was very easy.

“Good, that was very good. Now play this one.”

He handed me the new sheet of music. It was just the harmony of the first one. I played it just as easily.

“This isn’t magic,” I said when I finished.

“Not yet it isn’t, but it will be,” Caleb replied. He pulled a second fiddle out of another case and placed it on the table. This one was reddish with the ebony of the chin rest shockingly dark on the bright wood. “Levitate this.” I did. “Now the bow.” Once I had both in the air he told me to play the song on it. It was challenging because I was always pressing either too hard or too soft with the bow. I couldn’t feel how hard or soft I pressed, so I had to listen. I saw Caleb wince whenever I hit a bad note.

“Yes!” I shouted when I finally got it.

“Impressive,” Caleb murmured. “Now play both of them at the same time.”

This was the hardest thing yet. I had to concentrate on both fiddles and play both tunes at the same time. After a few tries I decided it would be better if I first memorized each piece of music before I tried to play them together. Caleb lost interest in watching me practice and was flipping through one of the bigger books on necromancy. I made little progress at first, but once I had memorized both pieces it became a lot easier. Once I thought I had it down, I played through it a couple of times to make sure.

“I’m finished,” I told Caleb. He looked up at me startled.

“So soon?” He questioned. Instead of answering I played the music for him. “You are a very fast learner, Jade.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

“But can you do it in front of people?”

 

that's it for now I'll be with some more in a couple of days or so