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 to dies again, the bit of your life that you lent will return to your body. Raising the dead is extremely tiring, and the bigger the thing 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 result, 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.
So, so ,SOOOOO sorry for the delay! I'm really sorry! To make it up to you, I'm gonna let you in on something secret.... I HAVE A REALLY GOOD IDEA! Don't believe me? Well, it involves: Jade, Tyler, and a bar, sometime after midnight. Good idea, right? Chapter nine Ouch. Ouch, ouch OUCH! My head hurt like no other. 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 grit 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 them 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 them 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. <^>