I sat at my usual table in the cafeteria, surrounded by my friends as we ate lunch. Every once in awhile, another student would come by and congratulate me on my victory against Teressa yesterday. It kept surprising me each time it happened and I couldn’t help but wondering if this was what it was like being popular.

“Man, the look on her face when she started turning into a frog,” Sylvie exclaimed with a loud laugh. “That was awesome…”

“I still think it should count as cheating if you make it so you can’t be knocked out of the circle,” Kimberly said.

“Or destroying tokens,” Eve agreed. “That should be against the rules too…”

I just nodded absently, though I wasn’t really paying much attention to my friends at the moment. Instead, my thoughts were on last night and the work I’d done with Amylia on her spell. Of course, she was the one who really did all the work. All I did was form a ritual and provide extra magic for her while she worked.

Amylia and I had gone to her study in the hall of sorcerers, a study that was three times the size of my own. We’d both changed into Were form since we could draw more magic, then we’d gone to work. We spent almost the entire night working on this before Amylia was able to finish the spell and store it in a token. And even after all that, I still wasn’t sure what the spell did.

“She does like her secrets,” I muttered to myself with a sigh.

“What’s that?” Todd asked me.

“Nothing,” I told him with a smile. “Just thinking about a project I was working on.”

“Like that frog spell?” Eve asked me with a curious look. “How in the world did you ever manage to make that one?”

“It’s based off my aunt’s talent,” I explained with a grin. “When she gave me the spell diagrams for it, she didn’t think I’d ever be able to cast it.” Then I hesitated and admitted, “I didn’t think I’d ever be able to cast it either.’

“So how’d you do it?” Eve asked eagerly.

“The pattern part was pretty challenging,” I admitted. “I mean, it was the most complicated spell I’ve ever worked and I wasn’t even sure I did it right until I used it on Teressa. And as for getting the raw magic for something like that…” I grinned at her and added, “I can draw a lot more magic when I’m in succubus form…and I have a few tricks for getting even more.”

Before I could really explain, I heard another student yell out, “Hey slimy… Ribbit ribbit.”

I looked over and saw the boy teasing Teressa, who was trying to eat lunch with her friends. Teressa looked pissed off, and I didn’t really blame her. Our classmates had been doing that to her all morning long, teasing her about having been turned into a frog. If she hadn’t been such a bitch, I probably would have felt sorry for her. As it was, after she’d tormented me so much, it was nice seeing her be targeted by it for a change.

“You have GOT to keep a copy of that spell on you,” Sylvie told me with a smug look. “The next time that bitch causes trouble, you can send her right back to the lily pad.”

“You know, she’s only going to come after you again,” Todd told me with a serious look.

Suddenly, I heard Monica yell, “Are you out of your fucking mind?”

I snapped around only to see Monica and Teressa standing up at their table and arguing with each other. “What’s your problem?” Teressa demanded of her angrily.

“I can’t believe you’d ask me to do something like that,” Monica snapped at her, just as furious. “I’m not doing something like that again…not for you are anyone else.” Then Teressa said something that I couldn’t make out, but Monica responded, “I’m your friend…not your lackey. And I’m sick and tired of you dragging me into your drama.”

Nearly everyone in the cafeteria was staring at them while Kaellie kind of backed up, looking uncertain as to what to do now that her friends were fighting each other. Teressa and Monica just stood there glaring at each other, looking almost as though each was about to physically attack the other. I hope it didn’t come to that since Teressa was a sorceress while Monica didn’t have anything except her talent of making people naked. But if it came to a fight between those two, I was definitely rooting for Monica.

Sylvie leaned over and whispered, “What in the world is that about?”

“No clue,” I responded.

Teressa snarled, “I can’t believe you’re just going to let that monster walk around here…”

“God damn it,” Monica responded. “You’re starting to sound like my brother, and he got kicked out of here because of that.”

“They’re fighting about you,” Todd said unnecessarily.

“I can’t believe you’re on HER side,” Teressa spat out furiously. “You saw what she did to me…”

“I’m not on anyone’s side,” Monica snapped back. “And if you remember right, you were the one who started the fight with her. I can’t believe I came back here just to get this…” Then she glared at Teressa for a moment before exclaiming, “I am so sick of this shit…”

And with that, Monica turned and walked out of the cafeteria while Teressa glared at her the entire time. Once Monica was gone, Teressa turned her glare to me, as though the argument with her friend was entirely my fault. Maybe it really was in her mind since she seemed to blame everything else on me.

“Wow,” Sylvie told me a moment later. “That was…interesting.”

“To put it mildly,” Eve agreed.

As lunch ended and we got up to leave, I reminded everyone, “Don’t forget, I’m cooking dinner again tonight…” Then I gave each of them a grin and added, “But next time, it’s someone else’s turn.”

When I got to the next class and took my seat, Mrs. Khuto began her lecture. “There are certain techniques that we have yet to teach you,” she told the class. “Yet it has been brought to my attention that you should be aware that they exist. I will not teach you these techniques at this time, just provide you with brief descriptions of what they are.”

Mrs. Khuto started off by talking about chain spells and then mentioning scatter spells, which seems to actually be a little closer to what Amylia was working on. I listened curiously, though most of what she talked about wasn’t new. I’d already learned a lot more than that from working with Amylia and from reading the books she’d given me.

Then Mrs. Khuto announced, “Rituals are another useful technique you may choose to employ in the future.” She looked directly at me and said, “Erin. If you would tell the class what a ritual is.”

I slowly stood up, feeling self-conscious as the entire class was now staring at me. I looked at Mrs. Khuto, who was watching me with a calm expression, realizing that she was testing me. After what had happened at the duel, she wanted to confirm for herself that I knew enough about rituals to use one.

“A ritual is a way to gather raw magical energy and briefly store it,” I explained, trying to remember everything I’d learned about rituals from Amylia and the book she’d given me. “You can then use this extra energy when casting spells, allowing you to cast a spell of a higher class than you would normally…”

Mrs. Khuto nodded for me to continue so I did so, explaining the basic theory behind how a ritual worked as well as describing how inefficient they were and how little magic you got back compared to what you put in. When I finished a few minutes later, Mrs. Khuto nodded again, seeming to be pleased, though it was hard to tell for sure since she wasn’t a very expressive person.

Sylvie stared at me for a moment before saying, “So that’s how you cast that frog spell…” Then she grinned and told me, “You have GOT to show me how you do one of those rituals.”

“Sure,” I responded with a grin of my own. “But you’ll have to spend an extra three hours just to go up one class level.”

After Mrs. Khuto was finished putting me on the spot, she returned to her normal lecture, covering a few more types of techniques that I’d never even heard of. I listened intently, wondering when they would really start to cover some of that stuff in class. I decided that I’d have to ask aunt June about a few of those.

When classes were over for the day, I decided to take a walk to stretch my legs and clear my head. I’d begun doing this every few days, going to the beach or to the wooded side of the island. Today, I started for the small lake, and the bench that overlooked it. It was always peaceful to sit there and let the events of the day wash away before I focused on whatever work aunt June or Amylia had for me to do that evening.

I reached the lake and bench a short time later, only to see that I wasn’t the first person there. Someone else was already there, hunched over on the bench. When I got closer, I was startled to see that it was Monica. Her eyes were red and puffy and it looked like she’d been crying.

Monica noticed me and quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Erin,” she greeted me awkwardly.

“Um…sorry,” I said uncomfortably. “I’ll go…”

“No,” Monica said with a wry smile that was obviously forced. “You can stay. I was just about to go anyway…”

Monica began getting up and I couldn’t resist asking, “Are you okay?”

She hesitated for a moment before responding, “I’ll be fine…” Then she stared at me for a moment before adding, “But you should watch out. Teressa is really after you now.”

“I figured she would be,” I responded with a sigh. “I’d hoped that after I beat her badly in the duel, that would end it… But instead, she’s even more pissed off.” I snorted. “She’s frakking nuts.”

“Frakking?” Monica asked, giving me a curious look. Then she chuckled. “Yeah, she kind of is. She didn’t used to be, but it’s just been getting worse and worse. To be honest, she reminds me a bit too much of my brother.”

“Marcus,” I said grimly, trying to keep the venom from my voice so I didn’t offend her too badly.

Monica nodded absently. “I know you think he’s probably some kind of fanatic,” she told me weakly. Then she paused before adding. “He didn’t used to be. He wasn’t always like that. When we were kids, I always looked up to him. He was smart, athletic, and always looked out for me. He used to love adventure stories about heroes and he used to say he was going to be just like them when he grew up. And when Merlin offered to be his sponsor…it really looked like he was on the road to it.”

“Merlin?” I asked in surprise. “As in the King Arthur Merlin?”

“He’s not the original Merlin,” Monica told me with a weak chuckle. “I think he’s the heir of the original, or something like that. Anyway, he’s really powerful…and I guess he’d have to be to be that old. He’s one of the oldest sorcerers alive.”

“When nine hundred years old you are,” I started, quoting my favorite Muppet.

“Look so good you will not,” Monica finished for me before chuckling. “Anyway, Marcus wanted to be a hero and I guess having Merlin as his sponsor sort of convinced him he was. It sort of went to his head and all…” She shrugged at that. “Then he decided that another student was some kind of evil super villain or something and actually tried killing her. The whole ends justifies the means thing.”

“Damn,” I muttered, remembering what I’d been told about Gayle being the target of that attack. When I’d told her about Marcus being involved in my kidnapping, she’d gotten a look of cold anger on her face but hadn’t said anything. “Amylia told me that Marcus always thought he was doing the right thing.”

“But his head is so far up his ass that all he can see is shit,” Monica responded with a bitter snort. “He’s my brother, but even I have to admit he got off pretty light. They just kicked him out of the Academy. Mom and dad were furious at him…and disappointed. They used to be all Marcus this and Marcus that… Now they practically pretend he doesn’t exist.”

I just nodded at that, not sure what to say. Then I hesitantly pointed out, “But you went to him after you left the Academy.”

Monica winced at that, suddenly looking ashamed. “I was afraid my parents would kick me out too,” she admitted quietly. “I didn’t want to face them and…” She paused for a moment before quietly saying, “I just got so carried away with everything that was going on, and then I got scared.” She gave me an embarrassed look. “I guess I forgot what he was like and sort of assumed that he was the only one who understood…

“That sounds rough,” I said sympathetically.

Monica just stared at the ground in silence with an almost pained look on her face. “I’m really sorry,” she told me quietly. “I just got so caught up in all that drama…I was acting like a total bitch… I’d always told myself that I’d never do the kind of things he did…”

“It’s okay,” I told her, hesitating a moment before putting a reassuring hand on hers. “Everyone gets carried away sometimes. I know I did.” I winced slightly as I remembered the look of terror on Monica’s face when I’d turned succubus in front of everyone for the first time. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re square.” Then I grinned and added, “But admittedly, I wouldn’t mind a replacement for my favorite shirt.”

“You’ve got it,” Monica responded with a laugh. Then she smiled and told me, “Thank you.”

“So,” I asked, just a little awkwardly. “Do you want to eat dinner with me and my friends tonight?”

“I think I’ll avoid the cafeteria,” Monica answered apologetically. “I don’t want to run into Teressa or Kaellie. We kind of had an argument.”

I gave a wry smile and responded, “I think I heard something about that.”

“She wanted me to help ambush you again,” Monica admitted awkwardly.

I just nodded at that, not at all surprised after what I’d heard in the cafeteria. “Then it’s a good thing we’re not eating in the cafeteria,” I told her with a grin. Then I grabbed her by the hand and started leading her back towards the dorms. “Come on…”

“But…,” Monica protested weakly, looking a little startled. “Why would you invite me?”

I gave her an evil grin and answered, “Because someone has to peel potatoes…”