The teachers covered up the second dead goblin raiding party. At least Nick didn’t

  hear any talk among the general classes as he studied. He didn’t know if that was bad,

  or good.

  He took his assigned reading and struggled with it. None of the subjects were

  anything he was interested in finding anything about. He wondered if that was

  because of his singular focus on getting out of school as soon as he could.

  He did keep an eye on anything that might look suspicious since his sphere of

  influence triggered whenever a spell went off. Most of the time he knew that was

  because of students learning to maximize their skills. Sometimes he would see a ping

  next to the wall and wonder what was going on, and if he needed to swing by and

  shoot someone.

  Word got around that the Watch had visited the headmaster in his office. Apparently

  one of the students had inflicted harm on some rowdies one night, and they were still

  trying to find the boy.

  Nick readied a denial in his mind if the search centered on him.

  He doubted the headmaster would be fooled more than a second. He knew Granny

  wouldn’t.

  “What’s going on, cripple?,” asked Robert Blue. His family was minor nobility and

  he had picked up some of the typical bullying ways the Headmaster had talked about.

  He was an air mage, and in some of the general classes with Nick. “Have you worked

  out a new spell yet?”

  Nick looked at him. He felt the charge of the thunder cracker ready itself. It would be

  so easy to just shoot this guy and his friends. He could feel his mind split with the

  angry part saying shoot this clown as many times as it took, but the more rational part

  saying Crow would be angry.

  Did he really want another meeting with Them?

  “Hello, Bob,” said Nick. He gauged that he could shoot the first three if he wanted

  to before they could stop him. He might have some trouble with Blue himself, but he

  didn’t know.

  “My name is Sir Blue,” said Robert. “And you will address me as such.”

  “Don’t kill any of these guys,” said Will as he paused in the hall. He lit a cigarette as

  he watched the confrontation. “But if you do, shoot Blue boy first, because he has a

  lot of control as an air generalist, then shoot the guy on the left because he is a

  summoner, and then the guy on the right because he has some kind of shield. The

  other two can get shot last in no particular order.”

  “What did you say?,” said Robert. He turned his glare on Will. The fire magician

  puffed on his cigarette and smiled.

  “I said the guy you are trying to bully has a fair chance of accidentally killing you,”

  said Will. “And he won’t care that he has. Now me, on the other hand, I’m just a weak

  fire magician that couldn’t hurt you to save my life.”

  “Crow will be mad and put Them on me again,” said Nick. “I’m trying to avoid the

  consequences.”

  “Steve said you couldn’t move for a bit,” said Will.

  “It was unpleasant,” said Nick. “I have to get to class, Bob. I think Calliope is a good

  match up for you. She’s just a girl, and she’s weak. That’s all you’re good for any

  way.”

  “You know she will be angry that you said that,” said Will.

  “I’m a lot more scared of Crow,” said Nick.

  “I can see that,” said Will. “So what’s it going to be, Bob? The five of you against the

  two of us. I’ll try to keep Nick from spreading your brains all over the hall, but things

  happen in close combat. I might react just a little too slow.”

  “What brains?,” asked Nick.

  “The two of you think you can take me on?,” said Robert. He glared at them.

  “I have to go, Bob,” said Nick. “Make a move, or get out of the way. If you want to

  fight, that’s fine. Start swinging. Otherwise, you and your lovers need to get out of

  my way.”

  Nick held one of his hands down, his books under his other arm. He cycled a charge

  through his empty hand, already deciding that putting a hole in the bully’s foot would

  be the right thing to do.

  “He’s right, Bob,” said Will. “You’re blocking the hall with your entourage. Move

  along.”

  “Entourage?,” said Nick.

  “I would have said harem,” said Will. “I’m not sure if they are all special friends.”

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  “Okay,” said Nick.

  Robert summoned his power. He would blow both of these cripples out of his way.

  The air started moving to inflict thousands of cuts in a second.

  A flash blinded everyone in the hall. The ping lit up on Nick’s sphere of influence as

  the light blinded him. He blinked the dots out of his eyes as he pointed where Robert

  and his bullies should be. There was a piece of scorched floor and five boys running

  around with their clothes on fire.

  A water magician doused them with some summoned water. It took a few moments

  since his targets were running around in a panic.

  “You set all of them on fire,” said Nick, walking away from the scene. “I think that

  was excessive.”

  “You have to take a stand against bullies,” said Will, walking along. “They’ll keep

  coming back to take more and more until you have to any way, or you give up your

  life.”

  “I guess setting them on fire was better than putting them down,” said Nick.

  “It’s usually a lesson people learn,” said Will. “Bob will avoid me like the plague

  now, but he will still try to lord it over you.”

  “Then he better hope that Crow doesn’t let me loose from our agreement,” said Nick.

  “No shooting?,” asked Will.

  “She wants me to avoid confrontations,” said Nick. “They have told her to keep

  looking for the source of the searchers and stay out of trouble until we can spring

  whatever trap she comes up with to do the job. And then I’m heading back home.”

  “Still think one of the teachers is involved?,” said Will.

  “I would bet money on Cairn,” said Nick. “On the other hand, that might just be

  because I don’t like him.”

  “You don’t like anyone,” said Will. He smiled at his shorter companion.

  “I don’t think that’s true,” said Nick. “I liked Sister Ann, and most of the other

  orphans I lived with. I like some of the people here. There are just more here getting

  on my nerves.”

  “All right,” said Will. “I have to break off and head to my class down the way. Try

  to stay out of trouble.”

  “I was doing fine,” said Nick. “Still setting Bob on fire was great. I can’t wait to see

  how he takes it.”

  “Probably call his dad,” said Will. He veered to the left, looking for his next class.

  Nick shrugged and veered right. He still had to learn about some boring king that

  really didn’t do anything, and then there was lunch, and then he had to practice with

  the other misfits.

  Crow was taking this challenge to the Headmaster to heart. She made them practice

  movement and skills with each other for a couple of hours a day.

  And Nick’s shooting was limited to forty shots during the practice.

  At least no one was accosting him over the dead goblins and wounded toughs so

  Granny was keeping her end of things. He wondered how she had explained about the

  second group of dead goblins without mentioning his and Crow’s name.

  He sat through his history class, writing down the assignment on a piece of paper with

  a pencil. He hoped the Warlord attacked so he wouldn’t have to learn more stuff

  about things he didn’t care about.

  He knew waiting was the biggest part of hunting, but he didn’t like it so much.

  He went to lunch and took his usual seat at the back of the room. The others drifted

  in and settled to eat. He saw Carol and Bradley. He waved to let them know he saw

  them.

  “I don’t see Bob,” said Will, unlit cigarette in his hand.

  “Probably in the infirmary,” said Nick.

  “What did you two do?,” asked Calliope.

  “I did nothing,” said Nick. “I wanted to do something, but Will beat me to the punch.”

  “And what did you do, William?,” asked Calliope. She glanced at Crow. The pale girl

  made a face like she had just got bad news.

  “I set Robert Blue and the rest of his bullies on fire,” said Will.

  “He won’t forgive that,” said Calliope.

  “Then he shouldn’t be a bully,” said Will.

  “His parents will try to have you and Nick kicked out of school,” said Crow. “We’ll

  see an action before the end of the week.”

  “Really?,” said Will.

  “They are going to ask for your magic to be sealed,” said Crow.

  “I won’t let that happen,” said Nick.

  “A lot depends on the Headmaster,” said Crow. “He doesn’t know yet. He might go

  along to get along, or he might just deny the request.”

  “Would he do that?,” asked Calvin.

  “I don’t think he is as impressed with the noble kids as they want him to be,” said

  Nick.

  “Can he deny the request?,” asked Calliope.

  “I don’t know,” said Crow. “Either way, we’ll see something. Robert has to write his

  parents, they have to decide what to do for their baby, then they have to request a

  meeting with the Headmaster, and then request for Will and Nick to be sealed. Some

  of this might be out of his hands.”

  “How do you know all this?,” asked Felix.

  “They are giving me an assessment of the situation,” said Crow. “The Blue family

  may be able to appeal to a higher authority, but that will take longer. If that happens,

  we will have to be ready for some kind of inspector and trouble on top of it.”

  “We have to be ready for the Headmaster first,” said Calliope. “We still have his

  challenge fight in a couple of days.”

  “He hasn’t decided what he wants to do against us yet,” said Crow.

  “That’s comforting,” said Calliope.

  “Not really,” said Crow.

  “Why?,” asked Calvin.

  “Because he is reputed to be the most powerful magician in the land,” said Crow. “He

  doesn’t have to strategize if he takes the field himself. We would have to get very

  lucky to last against him.”

  “Nick could shoot him,” said Will.

  “We don’t really have a lot of time,” said Nick.

  “We’ll see what happens when Robert’s parents visit,” said Crow. “I doubt they will

  be reasonable.”

  “Did you really have to set Blue on fire?,” asked Calliope.

  “Yes,” said Will. “He was about to make a fatal mistake, and get himself and his four

  friends hurt or killed. Setting him on fire seemed the easier way to do things.”

  “Robert is a bully,” said Steve. “He has been using his position to act as if he is

  immune to consequences. He has been extremely lucky not to run into someone who

  will hurt him before this.”

  “The teachers let him get away with this?,” said Calliope.

  “He picks his time,” said Steve. “He thinks that even he is caught, he won’t face more

  than a wrist slap.”

  “He is the next generation of his family line,” said Crow. “That makes him a heir.”

  “His stupidity makes him a target,” said Nick.

  “We’ll deal with him in the right moment of time,” said Crow. “Until we know what

  the Headmaster will do, we’ll have to avoid him.”

  Nick didn’t think it would be that easy.