Russel was staring at me as I walked into History. I had missed the rest of Spellcraft.
“You’re almost late! What happened?”
I glanced down at my still wrapped up wrist. “I had an interesting morning in Spellcraft.”
He looked at my hand and shook his head slowly. “How did going to class get you hurt?”
I shrugged at him and tried to look ahead at Professor Dellik, who looked at me with a confused expression for a second.
The Pixies were also looking at me funny. Guess they weren’t expecting me to come back to class so soon. But I was not staying alone in the pink hellscape of Pixie Tower when I could be elsewhere. Besides, maybe we were going to set something on fire in Alchemy.
“I want details,” Russel pressed.
“After class,” I told him.
(*********)
“I can’t believe they sent you back to class!” Angelina exclaimed as we left the classroom. “I thought for sure you’d have the day off!”
I sighed as she and Russel both decided to corner me while I excited the classroom.
“What happened?” Russel demanded.
“My Magic Manifestation exercise didn’t do what it was supposed to,” I told him.
“Are you kidding me?” Angelina screeched. “You nearly lost your hand!”
“It wasn’t that bad,” I tried to reassure both of them. “If it was, I wouldn’t be standing here.”
“Magic Manifestation can go wrong?” Russel asked.
“Apparently.” I shrugged.
“How are you so calm about this? There was so much blood!”
“I got better.” I shrugged.
“Got better…” she repeated softly and quietly. “You are unbelievable.”
“Back up, what actually happened?” Russel asked.
“I did the thing. My magic manifested, it attacked me, but I’m fine now,” I explained.
“It can do that?” Russel asked. He didn’t sound nearly as alarmed as Angelina. He mostly sounded curious.
“I know. I hadn’t known that was even possible. Apparently it can.”
“I heard it can attack others. But I have never heard of it attacking the person being tested.” Russel continued, “Any idea why it might have done that?”
The throbbing little mark covered by the bandages was likely a big clue. “There are a few theories, but nothing concrete.”
“Helpful,” Russel scoffed. “What do you think happened?”
I glanced at Angelina, whose eyes were wide and watering. I sighed. “I have an idea, but it’s hard to say for sure. I’ll give it some thought and let you know later.” I gave them both my best grin to prove that I was in fact fine.
I don’t think it worked.
“Anyway, I have to get to Alchemy. See you around!” And then I left.
(*********)
Celica was already sitting in our usual seats in the back when I got to class. Her eyes narrowed and I noticed she was glaring at my left wrist.
“There wasn’t a locked door involved?” I tried to explain while she sat there in a heavy silence.
She said nothing in response.
I was in trouble, wasn’t I?
Nothing I could do about it though.
“Miss Stewart, I’m surprised to see you with us today. I was sure Miss Fel’Graces nearly had to do today’s lab by herself.” Professor Gorgon’s cold gaze caused a Banshee in front of me to flinch.
“Nothing better to do. I’d much rather be here than sitting around Pixie Tower,” I told him as I sat up straight and faced the front of the class. On Professor Gorgon’s desk were thirty lumps of round rock. They sat in two rows of fifteen.
Celica scoffed.
“Do be more careful. I will not have an accident in this classroom.”
“Of course, sir.” I nodded as I spoke.
Stolen story; please report.
“Unbelievable,” Celica grumbled next to me.
“Speaking of today’s lab this week you are going to be a multi-day experiment. This first step will involve each of you picking a geode.”
Geodes! I then noticed the steel runic plates on all the tables. Square shaped and with different markings than the fire plates of last week.
“Since you’re so eager to learn, Miss Stewart, why don’t you and Miss Fel’Graces go first?” Professor Gorgon asked in a way that made it sound closer to an order.
Should I bother being surprised? I blamed the garish bubblegum pink I was wearing. It made me stand out too much in this class.
Celica didn’t seem to mind as we stood up. She still didn’t say a word and wasn’t looking at me.
Was she that mad at me?
I picked the geode that was third from the right in the back row. Celica picked the one in the center from the front.
The walk back to our seat was just as awkward.
What was I supposed to do? What did she want me to say? Please don’t hate me!
It took a few minutes for him to call up the other students and for them to make their selections. The geode in front of me sat on my desk. It wobbled a little from the unevenness of its surface. Roughly the size of a baseball and fairly light, I couldn’t help but be a little excited to be able to crack it open.
Celica rolled hers around as we waited for our classmates.
“So. What happened?” she asked stiffly.
“This?” I held my left hand up to show off the bandage. “I had an accident in Spellcraft. It’s fine though.” It wasn’t hurting anymore. It itched a little though.
“You know we haven’t been here for two full weeks yet, right?”
“I don’t do it on purpose. I just have terrible luck. I’m sorry?”
She sighed. “At least being in Dragon Tower won’t be boring. I can’t wait to say goodbye to Kraken purple.”
“I wasn’t kidding about me rather being here than in Pixie Tower.”
She rolled her eyes. But I don’t think she was upset at me anymore.
Small wins.
“Now that everyone has their geode, I want you to place them on top of the plates on your desk. I trust you’re all smart enough to figure out what to do next?”
Celica tapped the corners of her plate once each. There was a quick flash of light, and then her geode split evenly down the middle. Inside were small glittering grey crystals.
I mimicked the same motion and pattern with mine.
And big shock; it did nothing.
“Runes don’t like you very much, do they?” Celica teased.
“I’m starting to think that maybe magic in general doesn’t like me.” Not even my own.
I tried it two more times just to confirm that this was not going to work.
I rubbed my face with my hands and Celica decided to have mercy on me by activating the plate for me.
The two halves of my geode fell to the side to reveal large blood red crystals inside. Of course it was red. Why wouldn’t it be red? Why did everything I touch involve pink or red?
“Of course you get the red one,” Celica scoffed.
“The sooner I get to wear it, the better.” Hopefully, we would get that opportunity.
“Most of you have figured out how to open them. For this next part you will extract the crystals from the rock. To do this you will be using a solution of compounds found in carbuncle and kobold cells.”
How was that supposed to work?
“Can anyone guess why those cells hold compounds that are able to separate the crystalized material from the other rock?”
A sea of hands, mostly in white, were raised.
“Mr. Viess,” Gorgon pointed towards a Banshee guy in the front.
“Both species have parts of their bodies made from minerals and have special tissue designed keep those minerals from hurting the softer parts of their body.”
“Proving yourself worthy of Banshee Tower Mr. Viess. That’s correct.”
I saw Celica roll her eyes.
I rubbed the top of the bandage on my arm absentmindedly while Professor Gorgon made four empty glass beakers, two large and two small, and glass vials of a translucent green liquid appear on our tables. Along with them were pairs of metal tongs and tweezers and a sheet of parchment with instructions on the amounts to use.
Gorgon, despite the reputation he had, did have something that resembled a merciful bone in him. Or us melting from chemical misuse would look bad on him. Maybe both.
I placed one of the geode halves in one of the large beakers. I carefully used the dropper in the vial to put two drops of the liquid at the base of where the crystals grew out of the rock. The parchment said ten seconds minimum so I counted to twenty in my head. I watched as small bubbles formed between the red crystals and a small amount of clear liquid form.
I picked up a pair of tongs, and after I was done counting, I reached for the largest crystal out of the cluster with them. It was about the size of my pinky finger and came off easily. I placed it in one of the small beakers.
It took a few more applications of solution but at the end I had filed the small beaker about halfway with the red crystals. I glanced over at Celica’s. She was finishing up.
“Can you believe Professor Gorgon? He’s trying to shove the fact that you’re in Pixie Tower in your face. Like’s it’s a bad thing. So rude,” Celica whispered to me while the rest of the class was working.
I shrugged. “He is head of Kraken Tower. Doesn’t that make him the king of judgment making?”
Celica snorted. “Yeah. I guess it does. I’m using that from now on.”
“Unless I’ve terribly misunderstood how Kraken Tower works.”
“You haven’t. If they say anything juicy about your injury I’ll let you know.”
“Did you mention my entrance exam score?” I asked.
“I did. They didn’t believe me. Pricks.”
I wasn’t shocked. “That’s Kraken Tower for you.”
“Guess what happened next.” Celica was grinning, “Gorgon stood up for you. Or against gossip, I can never tell with that guy.”
“What did he say?”
“That students who score ninety-five or higher on the exam automatically qualify for advanced classes. No test required.” Celica laughed to herself. “The look on some of the faces of the other Krakens was the best.”
“I’m glad I can be a source of entertainment for you.”
“If only you could stay out of danger,” She was glaring at my bandage again.
“I don’t do it on purpose!”
“That’s not better.”
“And we all seem to be done for today. Tomorrow we will continue this lab, so you’d all better be here. Even if you don’t have the same enthusiasm as your Pixie classmate.”
Rude.
(*********)
Celica had decided to not let me out of her sight to go sit by the sea of bright pink.
“You don’t need to hover.”
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
“I went to class, I did the magic manifestation exercise, it went badly,” I explained. Again.
“I want actual details.”
“Serafina!” I looked away from Celica to see Fethris headed towards us while a number of Kelpies stared after him. “Jarec told me what happened. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I held up my hand. “It’s perfectly fine.”
“Jarec said you nearly lost your hand,” he continued.
“WHAT? You didn’t tell me that part!” Celica screeched.
People was starting to stare. “It’s not that big of a deal…” I said quietly.
“Not that big of a…you were attacked by your own magic. That’s kind of a big deal.” Fethris was leaning in and thankfully not yelling.
“What? It can do that?” Celica demanded.
“Can we go sit down somewhere? Please? I’ll explain if we do.” So many eyes in the ocean of colors, and a tsunami of voices whispering. I wanted to find a hole to crawl in.
“Come on. The others are waiting for us anyway.”
Oh thank the gods.
“You did not mention your own magic did this to you,” Celica said as Fethris led us to where Russel and Jarec were waiting. The majority of the Slyphids were sitting at the table, so it wasn’t quite isolated but it was the best I could hope for considering that the entire student body was scattered throughout the room.
“Quicksilver! Tell me everything because Stewart is useless,” Celica said as we sat down. I ended up between Fethris and Jarec while Celica slid in next to Russel.
“It was crazy. It was standing there and then it moved so quickly. Then Serafina was on the floor. Professor Hearth can apparently move pretty quickly. She had it dispelled before anyone else could react.” Jarec was leaning forward there was a glint in his eyes that I didn’t fully trust.
“What shape was it?” I asked.
He turned and gave me a flat look with a raised eyebrow.
“Look, my memory of the event is a bit hazy. All I remember is the color pink and a lot of blood.”
“Your bone was sticking out of your wrist, Serafina,” Jarec stated. “Your hand was barely hanging onto the rest of your arm.”
I hadn’t known that part. “It’s fully attached now?”
“I still can’t believe you went back to class after that,” Fethris said. “I would have taken the week off.”
“I don’t think sitting around getting my eyeballs burned out by the ugliness of Pixie Tower is going to help me heal faster. Besides, I’m sure the spider bite was worse. Sealie forced me to be on bedrest for that.”
“Saying, ‘It’s not that bad compared to the near-death spider bite,’ does not help your case,” Fethris said.
“I’m fine, really,” I insisted.
“If you say so…” Russel drifted off. “I’m more interested in how it happened.”
Jarec shook his head. “I’ve never heard of a person being attacked by their own magic before.”
“Neither have I,” Fethris said. “I didn’t know it was even possible.”
“Apparently, neither did the Professors,” I informed them.
“Gods above Serafina,” Celica was in disbelief. “How do you do this? First it’s opening Dragon Tower and now it’s somehow being capable of being attacked by your own magic. Something without an explanation.”
Maybe. Maybe not. “I have a theory on ‘why’.”
Russel leaned forward. “What are you thinking?”
“After it was done…there was a mark on my skin. For whatever reason a patch of skin couldn’t be harmed. I think that might something. Whether that mark made it attack me, or it attacked me to reveal that mark, or maybe something else. I don’t know. But I can’t imagine it’s unrelated,” I told them while leaning forward to talk quietly.
Russel whistled low, “That’s not suspicious at all.” His voice was dripping with sarcasm.
“It’s all I know for sure. They want to run a few tests to try and pinpoint exactly what happened,” I told them. I rubbed the spot where the mark was hidden by white cloth.
“So you’re staying?” Fethris asked.
“I have waited my entire life to go here. I’m not leaving because of two crazy accidents. Besides, if I leave we definitely won’t get into Dragon Tower.”
“Is this going to be a thing with you? Get into crazy situations and not caring?” Celica asked.
“Well ideally, this kind of thing won’t happen a third time,” I told her.
I wished I was more confident about that.
Should I remove the extra spaces?
