Kirby Hall, Friday afternoon, Sept 30th, 2016
“It’s ALIVE,” I cried out, as if I was some mad-scientist from an old horror movie.
Bending over, I took a closer look at the vial of black liquid that was bubbling over a bunsen burner. It looked gross and disgusting, just like something out of one of those movies, hence the dramatic exclamation. There were several other containers of similar liquids spread out on the work station, as well as some powders.
What I was doing, was more like alchemy than mad-science, not that I actually knew anything about alchemy. In fact, I wasn’t really using any magic, and just about anyone else could have done the same thing if they had the ingredients at hand and instructions on how to do it.
At the moment, I was inside the magic workshop that my group had been assigned. This whole area was like the devisor labs, except for the magic students. Each work shop had various tools and equipment for our use, and most importantly, a lot of magic wards for safety and protection. Since I wasn’t actually doing any spell casting just then, I could have done this somewhere else, assuming that I actually had a place.
“I need to get my own lab,” I mused aloud. That way, I could do this kind of thing whenever I wanted, without the security and privacy concerns that came with a shared lab, that the faculty had full access too.
What I was up to, was simple. I was making my own inks, chalks, and paints, which would be useful for casting my spells. Since I could only do spells by drawing them out, I needed to have the right materials in order to get the best results.
In the book that I’d inherited from my grandmother, which I sometimes thought of as ‘How to Be the White Lady for Dummies’, there was a section that talked about how different materials could have different results, when rune magic was concerned. Writing a spell on paper might get an entirely different result, if the same symbols were drawn on leather. A spell that worked great when etched into a gold plate, might not work at all if etched into bronze or silver.
The was also true of inks. Different materials in the ink, could also affect the spell. I didn’t understand how it all worked, other than that this was all part of the ritual and tradition of the spells. And when you were relying on the law of precedent to make your magic work, ritual and tradition could be important.
The same section in the book, gave instructions on how to make some of my own inks and chalks, which is what I’d been doing for the last couple hours. There was one ink, that had silver nitrate mixed in, because some spells worked best if written in silver. There was one that was made from squid ink, though I’d only found one spell so far that required this. However, nearly all the inks, chalks, and paint that I’d just made, contained some of my own blood.
Blood was a powerful ingredient, and by mixing my blood with the ink, I’d be able to create a better link, and transfer my essence into the spell a lot more efficiently. From what I’d read, and experimented with myself, this meant that I got a bit more bang for my buck, when it came to casting spells.
Of course, using blood could also be dangerous. The same thing that let me transfer my essence into the spells more easily, also meant that if someone got hold of my blood, they could use it to cast spells on me more easily. Fortunately, once my blood had been processed to make these inks and chalks, that made it a lot more difficult for other people to use against me. Still, I’d have to be careful not to leave these things lying around, or to let people realize what was in them.
With that in mind, I took the tools and containers that had come in contact with my raw blood, and went to the cleaning station in the corner. After washing and sterilizing these items, I carefully put them away. Next, I took the paper towels and bandage that I’d used, and threw them into the small incinerator in the corner of the room. Most of the school magic labs had one of those, just for this kind of precaution.
Once everything was cleaned and sterilized, I looked at the book I’d brought with me and smiled in anticipation. There was one spell in the book, that would act as a magic fuse, in case anyone ever tried to cast a spell on me using my own blood. Since I was using my own blood, this would be an important precaution…once I was actually skilled enough to cast that spell. Unfortunately, at the moment, it was still beyond my skills. But one day, that would change.
By this time, most of my inks had cooled to room temperature, which meant that they were ready for use. I took the largest bottle, which contained my primary ink, which was just ink and blood mixed, without any fancy ingredients, and looked it over. A few seconds later, I pulled out a small paint brush, and used this ink to draw one of my primal runes into a sheet of paper.
“That should do it,” I said, gently blowing on the ink so that it would dry faster.
As soon as the ink was dry, I pushed a little essence into the spell. The paper burst into a ball of fire and vanished, leaving a broad grin on my face. Sure, I’d been able to do that before, though usually, it took a bit more essence to get that kind of effect. With this ink and my blood connection, I could get the same effect with noticeably less essence, which meant that I had more essence for other things.
It only took a few minutes to get everything else cleaned up, which mostly meant sealing up my containers and carefully loading them into my back pack. Then, I put my personal equipment which I’d brought in with me, into the locker. The locker wasn’t completely secure, but what was at Whateley? There were far too many ways to get into something like that, which was why I was bringing my inks and chalks with me.
“I really need to get my own lab,” I repeated with a sigh, thinking about all those secret rooms that supposedly filled the school tunnel system. I’d have to ask around and find out what it took to get one of those for myself.
Just as I was about to leave, I saw another student come out of one of the labs. He had brown hair, tanned skin, and seemed to be in a good mood. However, I scowled at the sight of Racoon, tensing up and waiting for him to pull something. He saw me looking and gave a brief wave, which I didn’t return. Did he really think I’d let my guard down that easily?
The first time I’d met Racoon, he’d seemed nice and friendly. Sure, his mom was a supervillain, but it wasn’t like I could say anything about that. I was technically the head of a crime family, even if it was only as a figurehead. But then, a couple weeks ago, the Bad Seeds had sent a hired thug named Beatdown, to rough me up, just so that I’d go running to them for protection. Apparently, they never expected me to defeat Beatdown, or that I’d be able to make him tell me who’d hired him.
“They underestimated me,” I muttered under my breath. Just about everyone did, and I wasn’t sure yet if that was a good thing or bad. The Messenger had underestimated me, and I was only alive now because of that.
With a scowl, I started back to my dorm room, though I continued thinking about the Bad Seeds. They were the children of supervillains, and in other circumstances, I might even have joined them. However, after what they’d pulled on me, there was no chance of that. They’d declared war on me for no good reason, and I’d spent the last two weeks trying to figure out what to do about it. Or, being more honest with myself, I’d been procrastinating, afraid that anything I did, would only make things worse.
One of the things that concerned me, was that I’d get my friends caught in the crossfire. I had no doubt that most of my friends in the Mutant Mayhem Machine would watch my back and help me against the Bad Seeds. Hell, my roommate Morgana would probably be happy to charge in with fists swinging, and that was one of the things I was worried about. I didn’t want to get my friends in trouble.
“I need to do something,” I reminded myself. “But what?”
I silently asked myself what Tessa or Marcus would do in this situation. Then, I asked what my Grandmother would do. However, I wasn’t sure any of their solutions would work in this situation. In fact, I was pretty sure they wouldn’t. The first thing I needed, was more information. I needed to know more about the Bad Seeds and what I’d have to deal with.
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Crystal Hall, Friday evening, Sept 30th, 2016
I was sitting at my usual table in the cafeteria, eating dinner with some of my friends. At the moment, it was mostly just those of us in Poe, since we’d come over together. However, I expected that one or two other members of my training team would show up before long.
To my right, was my roommate, Morgana. She was British, and she could transform into a more intimidating form, where she looked like some kind of demon. Needless to say, she was a bit odd, but so were the rest of my friends, and I had no doubt that they would say the same thing about me. After all, between my pure white skin and hair, and my unusual family, I was hardly the poster-child for normalcy either.
On the other side of Morgana, was Laura. Where my skin and hair were chalk white, hers were Smurf blue…not that I’d ever say that to her. For some reason, Laura took any comparisons to a Smurf, rather personally.
Bailey was on Laura’s other side, and she seemed more focused on her meal than on the conversation. She looked up, and seemed to be about to say something, but her mouth was full of food. With a brief shrug, she turned her attention back to eating.
And then, to my left, there was my friend Janine. She was the only one of us who wasn’t a poesie, and therefore, didn’t know our cottage secret. But in spite of that, she’d recently been spending a lot of time in Poe anyway, usually to hang around with me. For some reason, Janine had gotten it into her head that she was now my personal assistant, not that I wanted or needed one. However, she was also a good friend and didn’t care about who my grandmother had been.
“How’s your new invention coming?” I asked Janine, who immediately brightened up with a broad smile.
Janine was a gadgeteer, but not an especially powerful or high tech one. While other people in the labs were making jet packs and death rays, Janine focused on complicated domino chains and Rube Goldberg machines. They were fun to watch, and a bit silly, but not exactly the kind of thing that people expected of a gadgeteer. As a result, Janine didn’t get a lot of respect from the other kids in the labs, and appreciated any interest in her work all the more for it.
“It’s going great,” Janine beamed. “I’m almost finished with it too… In fact, I should be done tomorrow.”
“I look forward to seeing it,” I told her honestly, knowing that this was her most ambitious project so far.
Janine’s eyes seemed to light up at that. “If you come to the labs with me tomorrow, you can help me test it.”
“Tomorrow is the big party,” Morgana reminded us. I would have been perfectly happy to forget.
“Then Sunday morning,” Janine said. “I’ll test it then.”
I nodded my agreement. “Sure. That should be fun.”
“I’m curious to see what you came up with,” Laura told Janine, though I suspected that this was more to be polite than for any real interest. Laura was the kind of devisor who really could create those impressive science fiction type weapons, so probably wasn’t very impressed by Janine’s accomplishments.
Morgana grinned and announced, “What one of you needs to come up with, is an alarm clock that wakes me up in the morning, with a big mug of quality coffee…”
“They already make coffee machines with a timer,” I pointed out wryly.
“Maybe,” Morgana agreed with a broad grin. “But I figure you lab wonks should be able to come up with something a lot better. I mean, if you can make a death ray, surely you can come up with a better way of delivering coffee in the morning…”
“So, you wake up and get your favorite brew handed to you,” I commented.
“Precisely,” Morgana agreed.
“And get a foot massage while you drink it,” I continued.
Morgana grinned more broadly. “Now you’re thinking.”
“So, basically, you want Rosie the robot,” Laura pointed out.
“Not a bad idea,” Morgana agreed. “Now, if you’ll get on that right away…”
Laura rolled her eyes, making it clear what she thought of the idea. I chuckled faintly, as did Janine and Bailey.
“So,” Morgana asked, pausing to take a good sized bite of her dinner. “What does everyone have planned for tonight?”
“I’m doing a little babysitting for the Wyatts,” Laura answered.
“Homework,” Bailey offered.
Janine looked a little self-conscious as she added, “I’m designing a new domino track.”
With a shrug, I said, “I was thinking of touching up some of the wards in our room…especially the sound dampening one that blocks out most of the snoring.”
Morgana casually flipped me off. “Just leave my coffee cup alone…”
It was about this time that I noticed two more of my friends heading towards our table. Hikaru and Tia were walking over together, which was no surprise since they both lived in Melville.
“Hey,” Tia greeted us with a smile and brief wave.
“Hello,” Hikaru said a second later.
When I’d first met Hikaru, she’d really come off as stuck up and arrogant, a bit like my older cousin Nicolette, or at least, like Nicolette had been. But the longer I knew Hikaru, the more I realized that a lot of this was an act, sort of like when I put on my metaphorical White Lady mask, in order to present a specific image. I was still trying to get a feel for the real Hikaru, which wasn’t easy, because she tended to be guarded and private, even among her friends.
I finished eating a few minutes later, as did the others who’d come with me. However, we remained at the table for another half hour anyway, just to hang out and talk. Eventually, though, we all got up to leave. As nice as it was to chat, we still had other things planned.
A short time later, I returned to my room, alone, since Morgana had other plans for the moment. Once I had the door locked behind me, I went to my closet and looked at the small safe that was hidden in the back. Tessa had sent me the safe, which had a few spells cast on it, making it a bit more secure than a normal safe of that make.
“Let’s see,” I mused, opening the safe and checking the contents.
Inside the safe, there was the book I’d inherited from my grandmother, all the new inks and chalks that I’d made using my own blood, and a few other small items, including a small stack of cash. I was fairly wealthy on paper, but I couldn’t actually access most of that money until I was an adult. Fortunately, Marcus gave me a decent allowance, enough to cover all my extra expenses, as long as I didn’t go crazy.
“I hope this is enough,” I muttered, taking two hundred dollars from the stack before putting the rest back into the safe.
A minute later, I left my room and started upstairs. I was only about halfway up the flight, when I passed Cherry Bomb, an attractive and somewhat punk girl, with short dark hair, who was on her way down. Cherry gave me a friendly smile and wave before she leapt down the rest of the steps with ease.
I was a little startled that Cherry Bomb was friendly towards me, or at least, I would have been if I hadn’t met her in passing, a couple times before. From what I knew of her, she was usually energetic and aggressive, though not in a particularly hostile way. She was a low-level exemplar, though she didn’t have the typical exemplar looks, as well as a devisor with a specialization in explosives, which was a prime example of her aggressive nature. However, the reason that her friendliness surprised me, was that she also happened to be a member of the Cape Squad.
Since I was the White Lady, and the official head of the Family, which was generally considered to be a criminal organization, I would have expected the Future Superheroes of America to be more than a little hostile towards me. However, other than a few suspicious and dirty looks from the club’s members, they’ve pretty much left me alone. I suspected that this was probably because several of the members, happened to be poesies, who might be a little sympathetic, because they knew a bit more about my real past than was publicly available.
After giving Cherry Bomb a polite nod and wave back, though she was probably gone too quick to see them, I continued to my destination. I went to the hallway where the junior lesbians were housed, and quickly found the correct door. Coincidentally, this happened to be Cherry Bomb’s room, though she wasn’t the one I was here to see. I hesitated only a moment, long enough to take a deep breath and prepare myself, then I raised my hand to knock.
“Come on in, Glyph,” a voice called out from the other side of the door, before I’d knocked.
Then, before I could even touch the door, it swung open on its own. I might have found that a bit creepy and intimidating, if I hadn’t known that one of the room’s residents was a mage.
Stepping into the room, I immediately saw the girl who’d positioned herself, right in the center. She was gorgeous, with creamy pale skin, high cheekbones, and long black hair. Obviously, she was an exemplar.
“Hello, Scrye,” I said politely, careful not to show any sign of being startled by the way I’d been greeted.
The older girl was sitting in a large chair, which gave the faint impression of being a throne. And if that was the case, then I was put into the position of having to approach and petition her, which immediately put me on my guard. My grandmother had played similar power games with people who came to see her, so I recognized what she was doing.
Like myself, Scrye was a magic user, though that wasn’t why I’d come to talk to her. At least not directly. She also happened to be an information broker around campus.
“Please have a seat,” Scrye said with a smile and a pleasant tone.
She gestured to another chair, which was smaller, less impressive, and lower than her own. If I hadn’t been aware of what she was doing, I might have fallen into the subtle psychological trap she’d set. However, since I was aware of it, I put on my White Lady mask and sat down with a fake smile, to play along.
“Glyph,” Scrye said. “Or would you prefer to be called Bianca?”
“Bianca will work fine,” I answered with a faint smile. It seemed silly to go by my codename when she knew my real one. In fact, she probably knew my original name of Bryan too.
Scrye nodded faintly, but didn’t ask me to call her by her real name. Instead, she said, “To be honest, I was expecting you to come see me a little sooner than this…”
“You know why I’m here?” I asked curiously.
The older girl hesitated a moment before answering. “There are several services I can offer, which would be of use to you. But admittedly, I’m not certain which of those finally drew you here.”
I felt a little relieved that she didn’t know everything, though if she had, that would have said something impressive about her abilities. For a moment, I just sat there, considering my answer and whether I wanted to keep playing her game. In my head, I could almost hear Tessa telling me that this kind of game was normal for someone in my position, and that I should practice it while I could. Eventually, the results of this kind of game could have serious consequences.
“I want to know more about the Bad Seeds,” I finally said.
The look on Scrye’s face immediately became completely professional. “What kind of information are you interested in, and what level of detail? Are you looking for something specific, or about someone specific? The price will vary, depending on how much information you require, and the difficulty in obtaining it.”
“I just want some basic information about who they are, what their powers are, and what I’ll be dealing with.” I paused at that, then reluctantly admitted, “I asked around campus, but got a lot of rumors, and I’m not sure how accurate it is.”
Scrye nodded at that, then sat there with a thoughtful look on her face for a few seconds. “That is doable.”
I watched Scrye, pretty sure that she already had the information I wanted and a whole lot more. She’d probably just been trying to decide how much to give me, and what she wanted in exchange. From what I’d heard about Scrye, she never gave information away for free.
“And what is the price?” I asked.
With a faint smirk, Scrye answered, “Information is my preferred currency, though I usually accept cash. In this case, there’s something you can do for me instead.”
“And what is that?” I asked, suddenly feeling wary.
“A simple matter for someone with your abilities,” Scrye told me. She got up and went to her desk and grabbed a piece of paper, which she came over and handed to me. “I would like you to translate this for me.”
I looked over the paper, which was covered in writing, in some language I didn’t recognize. However, just because I didn’t know what language it was, that didn’t mean I couldn’t read it. My translation ability made it as easy to read as if it had been in plain English.
While I read the page out loud, Scrye listened with a focused look. Since she was an exemplar, she was probably memorizing every word. The page seemed to be instructions on how to activate a magic amulet of some kind, but from Scrye’s expression, she hadn’t realized what was on the page, and apparently had no idea where this amulet was. However, when I was done, she nodded acceptance.
“I’ll have the information for you tomorrow,” she told me.
“Thank you,” I said politely, before I got up and left the room. I was still a little surprised, because I’d expected to pay a bit more than simple translation services. “I look forward to seeing it.”
Once I was back in the hall, I let out a sigh of relief and began walking back to my own room. I’d done it. I’d taken the first step in getting even with the Bad Seeds.
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Poe Cottage, Saturday morning, Oct 1st, 2016
I bolted upright in bed, gasping for breath and shaking a little from my nightmare. I couldn’t remember exactly what I’d been dreaming about, but there had been sense of violence and people dying.
“Why do I have to keep dreaming about that?” I bitterly asked myself. “I already lived through it once. Isn’t that enough?”
After I’d calmed down a little, I looked over at Morgana, who was still sound asleep and snoring. Thankfully, this time I hadn’t woken her up with my nightmares. At least that was one thing to be grateful for.
One of the things that made Morgana such a great roommate, was that she actually understood. She had plenty of her own nightmares, so the two of us sometimes took turns waking each other up with them. It could be frustrating, to be woken up in the middle of the night by having her scream, but that was a small price to pay. Most other roommates wouldn’t have been nearly as sympathetic or understanding about my own screams.
It was late enough that I didn’t bother trying to go back to bed. Instead, I slipped on my robe, grabbed a book on Romani runes that I’d found in the school library, and went to the day room to do a little reading. If I couldn’t sleep, I might as well get a little studying in. So far, I’d already found a couple spells in this book, that might come in handy someday.
After getting comfortable in the day room, I opened up the book as well as a notebook that I’d been using to track the new rune spells that I’ve discovered. Eventually, I planned on transferring all of these to a good hardbound book, to make a better record of just what spells would work for me. But for now, it was more of a cheat sheet so I didn’t have to keep going back to whatever book I found these ones in.
“This might be useful,” I mused as I looked over one spell.
However, when I looked over the series of runes needed to cast the spell, several of them didn’t make any sense at all. I’d run into this kind of thing before when it came to the written portions of spells, where parts of them were nonsense. Sometimes, this was an accident, where someone accidentally wrote a rune down incorrectly, the equivalent of forgetting to dot an ‘I’ or cross a ‘T’. For normal writing, this kind of thing would be considered a minor mistake. However, for many runes, that small of a change could alter the entire meaning of the rune, or strip it of meaning entirely. I would be easy for someone who didn’t understand what the rune was actually supposed to mean, to copy this mistake and teach it to others. But at the same time, there were also magic users who intentionally inserted that kind of mistake into their records, as a form of code or sabotage, to keep others from stealing their knowledge and power.
As I looked over the spell, I wondered how well it would work, or if it would at all, when several of the runes were broken. Trying to test this might be the equivalent of casting a normal spell, but replacing several words with nonsense ones that you made up yourself. If you had enough essence, willpower, and focus, you could probably make the spell work, but not nearly as efficiently or effectively as if it was done right.
“And it’s more likely to blow up in your face,” I said with a shake of my head.
That broken spell was disappointing, but a few pages later, I found another one with promise. It was a fairly simple spell, using only one rune, which basically translated to ‘don’t look here’. I’ve heard of and seen similar spells, but this was one of the simplest versions that I’d run into so far. From what I saw, it wouldn’t be especially powerful, but it would make people much less likely to notice or pay much attention to whatever it was cast on…like a safe.
I considered the safe up in my closet and smiled. “Just the thing I need.”
Once I was finished, and had killed enough time, I packed up my things and went back to my room. Morgana was now up and awake, if you could call it that. My roommate moaned and staggered around the room, like some brain hungry zombie.
“Coffee,” Morgana moaned, in nearly the same tone that I might have expected a zombie to call for brains.
“You find coffee,” I told my still half-asleep roommate. “I’m going to take a shower.”
A minute later, I was in the showers down the hall. Since it was the weekend, rather than a regular school day, there weren’t any of the usual lines. In fact, the only girls who were present at the moment, besides me, were Flower and Laura. I made a specific effort, not to stare at either of them, even though they were walking around naked. Sometimes, the best thing about being allowed in the girl’s showers was one of the most difficult.
“Good morning,” Laura greeted me.
“Morning,” I responded a little uncomfortably.
I stepped into an open shower stall before we got into an awkward conversation, and turned on the water. My eyes went to the ‘special’ equipment that was built into the shower, but I was careful not to touch it. The Hydroflux system actually scared me a little. Using that stuff wasn’t just acknowledging my new parts and gender, it was embracing them to an extent that I wasn’t really ready for. I might not have any choice about being a girl, but I just couldn’t accept it quite as easily as Laura did.
Since my thoughts had turned in the direction of my changes, I was now quite aware of my body and new parts while I washed. Sometimes, I could go a couple days straight, without thinking about how strange my body felt, or how embarrassing it was to have breasts and a ya ya. But at other times, I was more than a little aware of it all.
I washed up as quickly as I could, trying to ignore my body at the same time. Maybe one day, I’d get used to this enough that it no longer seemed strange at all. One day.
When I was finished washing myself, it was time to dry off. I smiled faintly and reached for the mental switch to activate one of my built in spells, the one that let me control water. A second later, my eyes and all the watermark tattoos on my body, began to glow blue at the same time. This wouldn’t last long at all, but for the moment, I had the ability to control water, so I used this to pull all the loose water away from my skin and hair, and dropped it right into the drain. Like that, I was completely dry and the glow faded from my tattoos, along with the power. It would take me at least an hour to charge that spell up enough to use it again.
By this time, Laura and Flower had both finished up and moved on, leaving me with the entire place to myself. If I’d actually been tempted to use the Hydroflux system, now would have been the perfect time to do so.
Returning to my room, I saw Morgana was drinking from a large cup of coffee, and looking more awake already. She nodded to me in acknowledgement but didn’t say anything quite yet. Then, after taking another sip of coffee and letting out a yawn, she finally said, “Morning.”
“Unfortunately,” I agreed.
It might have been a Saturday, but that didn’t mean I was completely free of classes. I still had my costuming class to go to this morning, though at least, that was always an interesting one.
Just then, there was a knock on the door, right before something was slid under it. “What’s that?” Morgana asked.
“A folder,” I answered. “With my name on it.”
I picked up the folder and opened it up, though I wasn’t surprised to see the contents. After all, this was what Scrye had promised to get for me, files on the Bad Seeds. Each file consisted of a single sheet of paper, which gave limited information on one of the members. I quickly looked over the sheets and saw that there wasn’t really any new information. Between talking with Erica and asking around campus, I’d already learned all of this. However, it was hardly worthless, because this seemed to have the false information and rumors stripped out, leaving me with what actually appeared to an accurate report of each.
“This should be useful,” I mused. Sure, there wasn’t anything new here, but simply having all the inaccurate stuff tossed out, simplified things a great deal for me.
“What’s that?” Morgana repeated, though she was already pressed up against me to get a better look over my shoulder. “Oh, you’ve got a bunch of dossiers on the Bad Seeds. Nice.”
“Definitely,” I agreed, and all these had cost me, was some easy translation work.
“Just don’t plan on going to war with those guys this afternoon,” Morgana said. “We’ve got that party to go to.”
“Don’t remind me,” I responded with a shudder. “In fact, I think I’ll skip it…”
“Not on my watch,” my roommate responded with a grin.
The last time I’d been to a party, things hadn’t gone very well. Actually, that was definitely an understatement. The last time I’d gone to a party, I’d watched my entire family get murdered in front of me, and then, I’d proceeded to lose nearly everything else that meant anything to me, including my own identity. That party was the cause of the nightmare, that woke me up a short time ago, so I had absolutely no interest in going to another party, ever again.
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Poe Cottage, Sunday late morning, Oct 2nd, 2016
I was in the Poe common room, curled up in a chair with a good book and a bottle of my favorite beverage. At that moment, I felt more like my old self than I had in a couple months. For a short time at least, I could forget my worries and pretend that I was still Bryan.
My drink was Black Cauldron rootbeer, made by a small company back in Chicago. Marcus had mailed me a case of the stuff just last week, to help with any homesickness I might have.
The book was the second novel in the Darius Shepard series, which were thriller adventure stories about spies and mutant conspiracies. I’ve read the entire series, and enjoyed it a lot, including this book, which I first read two years ago. However, after manifesting as a mutant myself, I went back and began reading them all over again.
Now that I knew a lot more about mutants, it was obvious how many ‘facts’ in the book, were inaccurate. That put a whole new spin on the series, which now came off more as anti-mutant propaganda than anything else. Still, it was well written propaganda.
As I shifted positions in my chair and then flipped the page, I decided that the only thing that was really missing, was a nice pizza from Mama Carlotti’s, or maybe even Gino’s East. The thought of good pizza, made the Chicago way, the way it was supposed to be, was enough to make me drool. The pizza in Crystal Hall wasn’t bad, but it just didn’t compare.
Just then, someone asked, “How can you read that crap?”
I looked up from my book and saw Chessa standing a short distance away, giving my book a look of disapproval. “Because,” I answered with an amused smile, “It’s a good story…”
Chessa rolled her eyes at that. “It’s also a bunch of BS…”
“I know,” I responded with a shrug. “But it’s well written BS, and pretty entertaining…” Then, before she could argue with me, I explained. “I used to be a big fan, but now that I know how various powers work, this is almost like reading a B-movie. I keep reading to see just what else he got wrong about mutants…and how bad.”
With a laugh, Chessa said, “I guess that makes a bit more sense…”
I just nodded agreement. “According to this, I must be possessed by some kind of evil spirit, and have to commit human sacrifices to perform any of my spells…” Well, the books were a little more subtle about it than that, which was why they were still fun to read, but they definitely took a negative view on mutants in general, and on how our powers worked.
“Somehow,” Chessa commented wryly, “I suspect that they wouldn’t be very positive about dragons either.”
“Precisely,” I agreed. Then, I hesitated a moment before admitting, “I heard that they’re actually making a movie of the first book. Is it wrong that I’m looking forward to seeing it?”
“Probably,” Chessa replied, though she was grinning as she said it.
After this, I glanced at the clock on the wall and realized that it was getting late. If I wanted to catch Janine while she was still down in the labs, I had to leave soon. With that, I gathered together my things and quickly hurried to my room.
“Hi,” I said to Morgana, as I dropped my book on the bed and set my half-empty bottle of rootbeer onto my desk. Then, before she even had a chance to respond, I said, “Bye,” and rushed back out the door.
“Weird girl,” I heard my roommate say from behind me.
I felt a little nervous, walking across campus by myself, especially after the way I’d been ambushed a couple weeks ago. There were a lot of people on campus who didn’t like me, for one reason or another, which meant that there was a good chance of it happening again. I had good reason to be worried. However, whether I liked it or not, I was the White Lady, and I couldn’t afford to let anyone see me acting afraid. Because of that, I tried to act as though I didn’t have a care in the world, or at least, like I could kick the ass of anyone who got in my way. If nothing else, maybe I could make people think twice about trying anything.
While I walked, I kept a close watch on my surroundings, trying to see if there was anything suspicious. My friends sometimes joked that I was paranoid, but was it really paranoia if people really were out to get you? Paranoid or not, I didn’t want to get ambushed again, not by hired thug like Beatdown, not by obnoxious jerks like Weaponeer and Photech, and certainly not by anyone that Scorn might send after me.
Since it was Sunday, there weren’t nearly as many people wandering around as there would be at this time on a weekday, but the area was hardly abandoned. There were enough kids around, that a couple of them gave me the stink-eye. My reputation as a supervillain and mob boss had already spread around campus, even if it was mostly undeserved. Ironically, the people who were the most hostile, and most likely to cause me problems, were the ones who thought of themselves as the ‘good guys’. And the Bad Seeds, I had to remind myself.
Once I reached Kane Hall I went down into the tunnels, and then to the labs where all the devisors and gadgeteers worked. It didn’t take me long to find the area I was looking for, since it was a large room with numerous desks and work stations set up for the students.
“Bianca,” Janine called out from the far side of the room. She was standing at her work station, waving for my attention.
I waved back as I walked over to her. “Hi,” I greeting Janine, before turning my attention to the girl at the next work station over. “Hello, Giggles.”
“Hello, Bianca,” Giggles responded in a polite tone.
Giggles used to be a little friendlier towards me, but ever since I was outed as the White Lady, she’d become a bit cool and distant. I was pretty sure she thought that I was trying to turn Janine into my henchgirl or something, and having Janine suddenly announce that she was my personal assistant, didn’t help any. This was annoying, but I couldn’t blame her for trying to look after our mutual friend.
A moment later, Giggles held up her hand, revealing the odd looking glove she was wearing. It was made of something resembling black and red rubber, but it had a few wires and metal pieces running through it. Then, as I watched, sparks shot between the fingers.
“Now, I just need to test the improvements on my shock glove,” Giggles said, in what I suspected was meant to be a subtle threat.
“Awesome,” Janine exclaimed, giving the other gadgeteer an envious look.
“I don’t have any real offensive abilities,” Giggles explained. “So, I figured that I needed some way to weaponize my power… For self-defense.”
“Well, it looks impressive,” I said to be polite, which seemed to please Giggles a little.
Giggles began removing her glove, so I turned my attention back to Janine and the small contraption, that had some wheels on it. I gave her a curious look, wondering whether or not she’d finished it yet.
“I used a remote control car as a base,” Janine explained proudly, “and built my domino setter on top of that.”
With a nod of understanding, I asked, “Are you ready to give a demonstration?”
Janine nodded emphatically, then picked up the contraption and set it on the floor. She picked up the remote control, and a couple seconds later, her invention began to move forward. That wasn’t especially impressive since she’d started with a remote control car. However, as it drove, it began leaving a trail of dominos set up behind it, all ready to be toppled in a domino chain.
“With this, I’ll be able to set up my dominos a lot faster,” Janine stated proudly.
Compared to what the other shop kids made, this wasn’t very impressive, though it was probably the most advanced thing that Janine had made so far. I watched the little car drive around, leaving a trail of dominos until it ran out after only four feet. Obviously, Janine’s toy could use a little more work, but I wasn’t about to tell her that.
“Nice,” I told her with a smile, watching her brighten up. “I can’t wait to see the domino setup you make with this thing…”
I was definitely sincere about that, because Janine’s domino chains were impressive. She could design complicated patterns in her head, then set them up without any notes or instructions. And when they went off, they were a sight to see. Janine’s gadgeteering talent was a little more low tech than what most kids in the lab worked on, but she could still do some interesting things with it.
Just then, Laura came into the room and started towards her own work station, though she waved towards us, calling out, “How’s the domino setter going?”
“I just finished it,” Janine responded, looking a little self-conscious. “It can’t hold enough dominos to do anything impressive though.”
“What are you working on?” I asked Laura.
Laura held up her neural neutralizer, which I’d seen her using on several occasions. “Just switching out batteries on my neural neutralizer.”
“I just finished upgrading my shock glove,” Giggles announced as she reached over to where she’d left it on her work station. However, a moment later she paused, only to blurt out, “It’s gone!” She began looking around frantically. “Where’d my glove go…”
Suddenly, Laura exclaimed, “Oh no you don’t, Karma…,” and went running towards the door, where she grabbed hold of a small figure who’d been about to escape.
Janine, Giggles, and I all rushed over, and I got a better look at the person Laura had stopped. I blinked in surprise, because there was a little girl standing there, who looked like she was only about seven years old. She was cute, with gray eyes and long dark hair.
“You give that back to Annie, right now,” Laura firmly told the little girl.
“But I only wanted to play with it,” the girl pouted, turning up he ‘puppy dog eyes’. “That zappy glove looks fun…”
“That isn’t a toy and you know it,” Laura pointed out. Then, she added, “And it wouldn’t do you any good anyway. It’s powered by Annie’s energizer power…”
“I’ll take that,” Giggles said, taking the glove out of the girl’s hand, then glaring at her for several seconds.
Laura let out an exasperated sigh. “Come on,” she told the girl as she gently led her out of the lab. “Let’s go get some ice cream…”
At those words, the girl’s pout instantly turned into a broad grin. “YAY. Ice cream…”
Once Laura and the girl were gone, I blinked. “Why was there a little girl in here?”
“That’s Karma,” Janine told me with a giggle. “I heard that she’s the youngest kid at Whateley…”
“But she’s not even old enough to be in junior high,” I protested in surprise. “Why is she in a high school?”
“She must have manifested pretty early,” Janine responded in a sympathetic tone. “I heard she’s a devisor, which is why she keeps trying to sneak into the labs. Because of her age, none of the teachers will let her around any of the equipment…”
“Actually,” Giggles said, “Smith told me that she’s a mangler. You heard about that paint incident last week…”
“Paint incident?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Janine responded with a giggle. “I heard about that.” At my curious look, she explained, “Apparently, Karma snuck in and accidentally knocked over a paint rack…”
“Paint splattered everywhere,” Giggles continued with a snicker. “Samantha Harris, you know, Tek Rider from over in Melville, was almost as blue as Laura… And somehow, Karma didn’t get a single drop on her.”
“That sounds like a mangler alright,” I agreed with an amused smile.
Janine picked up her domino setter and put it back into her work station, then began collecting the dominos, though not before gently pushing the first one and watching the rest topple over. Giggles just looked over her glove, apparently trying to make sure Karma hadn’t broken anything.
“It’s about time for lunch, and I’m getting a bit hungry,” I said, wondering if I should go for the pizza today. It might not be Chicago style pizza, but it should still be tasty. “Do you guys want to come eat with me? My treat.”
“Sure,” Janine immediately answered.
Giggles gave me a wry look. “You do know that the food in Crystal Hall is free…”
“Really? I asked in mock surprise. “Then I guess you can have seconds, on me.”
A minute later, the three of us started towards Crystal Hall. It seemed that Giggles was warming up to me again, so things were starting to look up.
--------------------
The Quad, Sunday early afternoon, Oct 2nd, 2016
Clive Franks was a large boy, standing six foot one and being built like a linebacker. He had short brown hair, a wide jaw, and a slightly hooked nose. Overall, Clive looked like a thug, which secretly pleased him. He liked the fact that he looked strong and tough, because it made a clear statement about who he was. There was a good reason that he’d chosen the codename of Beatdown.
At the moment, Clive was sitting down at a table in the Quad, which he’d taken from its previous occupant a short time earlier. Clive had chased the smaller boy away, without even having to try very hard. All he’d done was come over, looking threatening and angry. The look on the other boy’s face was enough to make Clive chuckle.
Another boy sat at the table beside Clive. This was Shades, his roommate and best friend. Shades was almost the physical opposite of Clive, being five foot eight and thin, without any of the physical presence or strength. His blonde hair was shaggy, in need of a haircut, and he had a thin face with a scar on his lip, as well as a frequent smirk. In addition, he was also wearing the dark sunglasses that he was almost never seen without.
“Now, who is going to be our entertainment?” Shades mused as he looked around the quad. “Do you see any volunteers?”
“Not really,” Clive responded with a shrug.
The truth was, there were a lot of students nearby, and many of them would probably work for whatever Shades had planned. However, Clive didn’t really like to mess with people unless he had a reason to do so. If they tried to start something with him, pissed him off, or just got in his way, he’d be happy to stomp on their faces and give them a good beatdown. Otherwise, picking on some kid who couldn’t really fight back, seemed almost pointless.
“And there he is,” Shades said, pointing out a boy who was walking across the Quad.
Shades smirked as he raised his glasses, revealing eyes that were pure black, except for the silver irises. He squinted since it was too bright for his sensitive eyes, but he could usually focus and get a better lock on his targets, without his shades getting in the way.
A moment later, the unknown boy suddenly vanished, only to reappear a short distance away, right above a girl who was walking across the Quad. Clive immediately recognized the girl as Slyme, one of those thornie freaks. Her body was green and a little transparent, making it look like she was made of jello. The surprised boy fell right on top of Slyme, who splattered into a puddle of green goo, which got all over him.
Shades burst out laughing, exclaiming, “Nasty… He’s been slimed…”
Clive nodded agreement, chuckling a little as he did. This wasn’t quite as funny as when Shades teleported some boy into the girl’s showers, but it was still entertaining. Just because Clive didn’t like to go and pick on kids for no reason, that didn’t mean he couldn’t get some entertainment from it when other people did.
“Hey,” Shades said, gently elbowing Clive to get his attention, and pointing towards the Crystal Hall.
Clive looked where Shades was indicating, and saw three girls walking into the cafeteria. One of them immediately caught his attention because she had pure white skin and hair. She was Glyph…the White Lady. He couldn’t help but shuddering at the sight of her.
Just two weeks earlier, Esquire had hired him to rough Glyph up a bit, so she’d go to the Bad Seeds for protection. At first, it had seemed like an easy job, and he’d shrugged off everything she threw at him. But then, things suddenly changed. Before he knew what was happening, he sank into the ground like it was quicksand, and was then trapped. He’d been completely helpless…and humiliated. And to make it even worse, Glyph made it clear that she could kill him and make his body disappear, as easily as snapping her fingers.
The large boy had no illusions about how powerful he was, or where he fell in the overall scheme of things. Clive was a force field brick, and could even absorb certain kinds of energy in order to become more powerful. However, he was also only an energizer 4, and there were other students who were a lot stronger and tougher than he was. A couple of them had even thumped him good in a fight. But there was a difference between fighting someone straight out, where he could at least throw some punches and feel like he had a chance, and what Glyph did to him.
“You’re afraid of her, aren’t you?” Shades asked quietly.
“Of course not,” Clive lied.
“Just don’t get any bright ideas about going after her for revenge or anything,” Shades said. “You’ve gotta think about your future…”
This was now starting into a conversation that they’d had before, on several occasions. “I know,” Clive responded with a scowl.
Clive’s mom ran off when he was young, so he’d been raised by his dad, who was a hard-working mechanic. He grew up watching his dad work some long and hard hours, just to pay the bills and put food on the table. And while Clive had a lot of respect for his dad, he had absolutely no intention of working that hard for a living. Instead, he’d already decided that he’d make a living by doing what he was good at, pushing people around and breaking things. The idea of becoming a professional criminal appealed to him, especially as he could see himself as a mob tough guy.
Shades was from Las Vegas, with a valet father and a casino dealer mother. After manifesting, he’d tried using his new powers to ‘help himself’ to a small amount of money in one of the casinos, and as a result, he’d been ‘politely’ asked to leave Vegas and never return. Now, he was making his own plans for the future.
“We have to think about what we’ll do after we graduate,” Shades said, not for the first time. “And I’ve got an idea of how we can get our foot in the door…”
“Oh?” Clive asked. He’d heard a number of Shades’ ideas, and was curious what this one was.
“Glyph,” Shades stated with a smirk.
“Glyph?” Clive asked in surprise, and a little confusion.
“She’s the new White Lady,” Shades explained. “If we can get in good with her now, then after we graduate, we’ll have a place in the Family. We’ll be made men. Hell, if we play our cards right, she might even make us her lieutenants or something.”
Clive considered this for several long seconds, scowling deeply as he did so, before realizing that Shades was right. The Family was an established organization and could probably use some good muscle. If they could get in good with Glyph, then they’d be set. Of course, Glyph had nearly killed him, and she scared him because of that, not that he’d ever admit it to anyone else. Still, there were worse things than working for someone who scared you.
Finally, Clive nodded agreement. “Sounds good to me.”
--------------------
Sunday late afternoon, Oct 2nd, 2016
Melody Sheridon, better known among the students of Whateley as Chained Melody, strolled across the campus courtyard with an easy grace. She’d just finished a long photo shoot with Venus Inc, and was eager to get back to Melville, where she could change clothes and meet up with her friends before dinner.
As she walked past the Quad, Melody noticed two girls sitting at a table together and talking. This was a somewhat unusual sight, since one of them was a junior while the other was a freshman. Normally, there was little socialization between students in these grades.
Melody immediately recognized the older of the two girls, since Kim Hashida, Perfume, was not only a fellow resident of Melville, but a former member of Venus Inc. However, Perfume had quit Venus Inc the previous year, halfway through the school year. She said that she wanted to put more of her attention and focus into her other club, the Intelligence Cadet Corps, but that seemed like such a waste to Melody.
The younger girl was Carrie Harper, Mouse, the newest member of the Spy Kids. Because of that, Melody suspected that Perfume was simply giving advice to their club’s newest recruit. Heaven knows, that mousy girl Mouse, could use all the fashion and makeup advice that Perfume could provide. Obviously, it still wouldn’t be enough, though.
For half a minute, Melody stood back and watched the girls, considering her options as she did so. She’d already had a few words with other members of the Spy Kids, and this would be a great opportunity to expand on that. However, Perfume knew her too well and might realize what she was up to, which wouldn’t do at all.
But then, Perfume got up and left, while Mouse remained behind at the table. Melody smiled faintly at that, then slowly began walking towards the table. Once she was close enough, she began humming a little tune, pushing enough essence into it to activate the spell. This wasn’t a very powerful spell, but it would encourage Mouse to be a little more trusting and open with her.
“Hello, Carrie,” Melody said, intentionally using Mouse’s real name. “Do you mind if I sit here?”
Before Mouse could respond, Melody sat down at the table. “No,” Mouse finally said, looking just a little annoyed.
“We haven’t met before,” Melody said in a pleasant tone, “so I thought I’d introduce myself. I’m Melody, or Chained Melody if you’d prefer codenames…”
Mouse looked a little uncomfortable, making Melody smile a little to herself. She liked dealing with shy people, because they often lacked proper social skills and were easier to…influence.
“Nice to meet you,” Mouse said a little hesitantly.
“My condolences on your gymnastic career,” Melody told her, trying to look sympathetic. “I heard that you had a good chance at a bronze, or even silver in the next Olympics. It isn’t right that they banned you from competing, just because you’re a mutant…”
“It is what it is,” Mouse responded quietly, though there was a flash of anger in her eyes. “Mutants have an unfair advantage.”
“Maybe some,” Melody mused. “But I don’t see how your power could have changed your performance.”
Mouse nodded at that, obviously having thought the same thing. “Maybe.”
“Well, I may not be an expert in gymnastics,” Melody continued, “but from what I’ve heard, I think you would have done fantastic, if you’d been allowed to compete.”
Melody talked with Mouse for a couple more minutes, softening the other girl up and then directing the conversation. Once Melody thought Mouse was receptive enough, she turned the conversation to her real purpose.
“This is a good school,” Melody said, “but I’m concerned about some of the students that they let in, such as that girl, Glyph…”
“I know her,” Mouse admitted with a clear note of disapproval. “We have a couple classes together.”
It was all Melody could do to keep from smirking at that. “I’ve heard that she’s a supervillain and even runs her own crime family…”
Mouse nodded agreement. “I’ve heard all sorts of stories about her…”
This was no surprise to Melody, since she’d intentionally spread a number of those rumors herself. In fact, she’d even made up a few of the more outlandish ones, knowing that those were the kind that people liked to share the most.
“I heard that she attacked two devisors, for no good reason,” Melody continued, trying to look concerned. “And she destroyed all their devises. If only there was some way to get security to investigate her…to protect the rest of the students.”
There was a long pause before Mouse hesitantly admitted, “We’re already investigating Glyph…”
“We?” Melody asked, trying to look confused.
“The Intelligence Cadet Corps,” Mouse answered. She sat up a little straighter and announced, “We started investigating her last week, so it probably won’t be long before we have enough evidence to get her kicked out of school…”
“Perfect,” Melody said with a smirk. “That is exactly the kind of good news I like to hear…”
Over the last couple weeks, Melody had not only spread a few rumors around about that white-skinned freak, but she’d also whispered into a few ears. It looks like her talks with some of the other Spy Kids had worked out in her favor after all. Now, all she had to do was sit back and let these nosy snoops do her work for her.
“It was nice talking to you,” Melody told Mouse, still chuckling to herself as she turned and walked off. Even after this delay, she still had time to clean and change clothes before meeting with her friends. Yes, this was turning out to be quite a nice day after all.
--------------------
Monday morning, Oct 3rd, 2016
Basic Martial Arts was undoubtedly my least favorite class of the day. I’d learned very quickly that neither my powers nor temperament were well suited for hand-to-hand fighting or close combat, and I was reminded of this fact nearly every day in class.
I was about as strong and tough as any normal girl my age and build, which wasn’t really impressive, especially when compared to other students who had much more physical powers. Some of my classmates were bulletproof and strong enough to lift cars, and there was absolutely no way I could compete with that kind of thing.
Of course, I did have my own powers, and they could be quite impressive as well, in the right circumstances. Unfortunately, most of my magic was really only useful when I could set up and prepare ahead of time, which didn’t work so well in class. I did have a few inherent spells, which were the only reason I’d done as well as I had, but they each took an hour or two to recharge, and my classmates had seen me use them enough, to figure out their own workarounds.
Sensei Tolman was our instructor, and she was the kind of woman that people might call ‘tough but fair’, except that she seemed to be missing the ‘fair’ part. She loved putting me up against opponents whom I had no chance against. I knew that this wasn’t personal though, because she liked doing that to just about everyone in class.
At the moment, I was staring across the sparring circle at Bacon, who looked like an anthropomorphic warthog. He was a bit scary looking, though actually a pretty nice guy, as well as funny. He didn’t take himself or his GSD very seriously. However, I hated having to spar against him, because this was a perfect example an unfair match. Bacon was a PK brick, who was not only a LOT stronger than I was, but he could also shrug off just about everything I threw at him.
“Come on,” Bacon said with a broad grin, which was a little intimidating thanks to his tusks. “You want a piece of Bacon? Well, come and get it.”
“You know,” I commented wryly. “That is almost enough to make me turn vegetarian…”
Bacon just chuckled at that. “Well, hakuna matata, I always say…”
Before I could think of anything to say in response, Tolman called out, “Hajime,” and officially started our match.
I might have expected Bacon to charge at me, since that is the kind of thing you’d expect from a warthog. However, he began moving towards me more slowly, obviously waiting to see what I was going to do. He was probably waiting on me to activate one of my elemental spells, so he’d know what he had to deal with. Today, it was time to surprise him.
“Bacon,” I said as I held up a sheet of paper.
My opponent instinctively looked at the paper, while I focused on pouring essence into the rune I’d drawn. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light, which blinded Bacon. I took advantage of his surprise and momentary blindness, to try shoving him outside the circle. However, he caught his balance right before going out, much to my annoyance. A moment later, I followed this up by holding out a second sheet of paper and charging essence into that rune as well.
“Good one,” Bacon commented, trying to backhand me. Fortunately, his vision hadn’t recovered yet so he didn’t get very close.
“I do have another one ready for you too,” I replied.
I slapped the second sheet of paper onto his arm, and it exploded into a ball of fire before I could get my hand away. There was a searing pain on my palm, though at least I had the satisfaction of hearing Bacon yelp. Unfortunately, it was more a yelp of surprise than of pain. His PK shell protected him, leaving me hurt worse than he was.
While I was distracted by my own pain, Bacon grabbed hold of me, lifted me off the ground with one arm, then casually dropped me back down…right outside the circle.
Tolman called the match, then gave me a disapproving look. “Hurting yourself more than your opponent is a poor move.”
“Yes, Sensei,” I said in full agreement.
“Do you need to go to Doyle for your hand?” Tolman asked.
I glanced at my hand, then shook my head. While my hand definitely hurt, the burn wasn’t really very bad, and would heal up quick enough that it wasn’t worth a trip to Doyle. “I’ll be fine.”
When I returned to my seat on the mat beside Morgana, she leaned over and whispered, “Are you okay?”
“A little singed but I’ll be fine,” I assured her with a wry smile, embarrassed about the fact that I’d done this to myself. “At the moment, regen is my favorite power.”
Laura leaned over and quietly asked, “Why didn’t you just use your other fire spell?”
“Yeah,” Morgana agreed. “You could have blasted him good while he was blind.”
I nodded agreement at that, knowing that this would have been a smarter move. “I’m trying to not rely on my built in spells so much…especially since everyone expects me to use then.”
“You know,” Laura reminded me, “I can make you some nice holdouts.”
“Is it just me,” Morgana asked, “or is Mouse giving you the stink-eye?”
After glancing over to where Mouse was sitting, I saw that my roommate meant. Mouse was indeed glaring at me, though I’d never done anything to earn her dislike. Then again, a lot of students had given me that treatment, ever since I’d been outed as the White Lady.
“I’ve been getting it from Crysis too,” I pointed out. I’d seen him staring at me, or simply glaring, nearly every day in class. Like Mouse, he seemed to have it out for me, without any real reason. “I’m getting used to it.”
My eyes went to AJ, who was currently sparring with Rapunzel. He was a member of the Bad Seeds, and it was well known around campus that he was the son of a villain. I wondered how he dealt with this kind of attention, though I was hesitant to ask him. I got along pretty well with AJ, which was fortunate since we were partners in magic class, but I wasn’t very happy with the Bad Seeds over the way they’d outed me.
When class ended, several of my friends came up to me, asking how my hand was doing, and I had to assure each of them that I was fine. I finally had to hold up my hand so that everyone could see that there was no sign of injury. I hadn’t been burned very badly, and my regeneration had already taken care of it.
“You need to be more careful,” Jimmy told me with a concerned look. “You’re not supposed to hurt yourself…”
“You can say that again,” Morgana agreed, fixing me with her own gaze. “You might want to work on your combat spells a little more…”
By this point, I was already more than a little embarrassed. “Yes, I think I figured that out, thank you.”
Then, Bacon came over towards me, asking, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I repeated yet again, as I held up my hand. “I just need to be more careful in the future.”
“Sorry about that,” he apologized.
“Not your fault,” I assured me, smiling to let him know that I wasn’t blaming him for hurting me. “I got careless with my own spell, but that won’t happen again.” Then, looking him in the eye and trying to sound more confident than I actually felt, I said, “Next time, I’m going to beat you.”
Bacon just grinned at that, then gently patted me on the back. “That’s the spirit.”
But as soon as Bacon turned and went to the boy’s showers, I confided to Morgana and Laura, “I’m never going to beat him.”
“You’ll get better,” Laura assured me. “You just need more practice.”
“And maybe a bazooka,” Morgana offered with a grin.
Without saying another word, I flipped my roommate off, then went into the showers to clean up and change. Fortunately, it was now lunch time, which meant that I didn’t have to rush through my shower just to get to my next class in time. That was the biggest benefit of having this class right before lunch.
A short time later, my friends and I started for Crystal Hall together. Most of M3 was in the same BMA class, so there was actually a fairly large group of us, as there was on most days. Along with me at the moment, was Morgana, Laura, Erica, Callie, Jimmy, and Vic. Because of that, I was actually able to relax my guard a little, since there was little chance that someone would try to jump me.
“I’ve made some new inks,” I explained as we walked. Morgana nodded along since she was the only one of the group who’d really seen them. “Now, I’m trying to find some better paper…”
“What?” Morgana asked in mock surprise. “You mean notebook paper isn’t the best you can find?”
“Don’t tell me you’re going to start making your own paper too,” Erica said.
Laura chuckled. “I wonder if they offer classes in making papyrus…”
“I don’t think so,” I responded with a shrug. “But they are going to offer calligraphy during winter term, and I figure that one will help me…”
Suddenly, Morgana stopped and gently elbowed me in the side. “Look,” she said with a grim expression. “Your old friend Beatdown…”
I looked where my roommate indicated and immediately saw Beatdown walking towards me. I tensed at the sight of him, remembering the way he’d come at me in the tunnels two weeks ago. I’d managed to stop him, though I’d been afraid he might try again. Fortunately, he hadn’t come near me again since then, until now, and this time, he wasn’t alone.
A thin boy with shaggy hair and a pair of dark sunglasses, walked beside Beatdown. I’d never met Shades before, but I’d seen him around campus, and I’d heard about him. Apparently, he was a projective teleporter, who liked to mess with people. The only reason he didn’t get his own butt kicked on a regular basis in retaliation, was that they’d have to go through Beatdown first.
“Don’t worry,” Morgana assured me. “We’ve got your back.”
“These boys have to be stupid, to try anything here,” Jimmy pointed out. “Security has cameras all over the place…”
“Of course they’re stupid,” Laura commented wryly. “If they think that the two of them can beat all seven of us…”
“It does seem a little unfair,” Erica added with a grin, while Vic just chuckled.
But instead of charging forward and attacking us, Beatdown and Shades stopped short. To my surprise, neither of them looked hostile at the moment. In fact, Beatdown actually looked nervous, though he was clearly trying to hide it.
“What do you want?” Morgana demanded of Beatdown.
Beatdown ignored Morgana and looked straight at me. “Glyph,” he said, bowing his head a little. “I want to apologize for my actions the other week.”
“What?” I asked, not sure that I heard right.
“What I did wasn’t personal,” Beatdown explained. “I was just hired to do a job, but I regret taking that one…”
Before I could even think of what to say to that, Shades quickly added, “What my associate here is trying to say, is that he made a professional mistake that he deeply regrets, and which he hopes you don’t hold against him too much. We would like to make amends by offering our services.”
“What do you mean by services?” Laura asked, looking a little confused.
Shades seemed to ignore Laura, as he continued talking to me. “A woman in your position can use people like us, to watch your back or just take care of things for you…”
My eyes widened a little as I realized what Shades was offering. “Thank you,” I said a little shortly. “But I’m not interested. I don’t need that kind of thing around here…”
“But,” Beatdown started to protest, only to get elbowed in the side by Shades.
“We’re going to lunch,” I said, gesturing to my friends. “Thank you, but no thank you.” And with that, I quickly walked away, continuing towards Crystal Hall, while my friends followed close behind.
“Wait,” Jimmy said, once we were away from Beatdown and Shades. “Did those two idiots just ask if they could be your henchmen?”
Morgana burst out laughing. “Imagine what people would think if you had your own henchmen…”
“I think Bianca has enough trouble with the rumors as it is,” Laura agreed.
I just groaned at that, deciding not to point out that if I wanted henchmen, whether in the form of bodyguards, legbreakers, or enforcers, I had plenty of professional ones back in Chicago. My Loyal might not have powers like Beatdown and Shades, but what they did have, was training and experience, which those two wannabe thugs just couldn’t match.
A few minutes later, we reached Crystal Hall, picked up our food, and hurried to our normal table. Hikaru, Tia, and Tanya were already there and waiting. I was just thankful that Tanya was no longer giving me the stink-eye, or avoiding me like she had been.
“Get this,” Morgana announced with a broad grin. “Apparently, word is out that Bianca is trying to recruit some minions…”
I glared at Morgana, then glanced over to Tanya, hoping that she didn’t start avoiding me again over this. Sometimes, or most of the time, being the White Lady was more trouble than it was worth.
--------------------
Kirby Hall, Monday afternoon, Oct 3rd, 2016
Magic Lab was one of my favorite classes, and not just because it was my last class of a normal school day. This class also happened to be one of the most relevant to my powers, along with being one where I had a chance to shine.
Of course, I had plenty of quirks with my powers, which prevented me from casting the same spells as everyone else. It was always frustrating to watch someone recite some nonsense words and get a spell from it, but that was the price I paid for having a large advantage with written spells.
I was in the workshop that we’d been assigned, along with my lab partners Morgana and AJ. Today, we were working on an exercise based off the lecture we’d received this morning in Magic Theory. Specifically, we were creating some basic wards, which was a subject that I was more than happy to work with.
AJ and Morgana were both standing inside their protective circles while they worked, though it was pretty obvious that they were going about their wards in different ways. I suspected that AJ had already been taught this by his mother, the Witch Queen, and was using the method she’d shown him, while Morgana was doing it the way Ms. Grimes had shown us this morning in class.
Like my two lab partners, I was inside my own protective circle as well, though as usual, I was doing things my own way. Or more accurately, I was doing them the White Lady way, which involved drawing my spell instead of casting it aloud. I used one of my new chalk pieces to draw two different runes on opposite sides of my circle, though I double checked them to make sure they were right before adding any essence. The ability to translate other languages, and therefore see if they were done right, was the key to my success with this kind of magic.
“Done,” I said, not bothering to activate my wards, at least not yet.
“Aren’t those the same ones you drew in our room?” Morgana asked.
“Two of them,” I agreed.
I tended to be a bit cautious about my privacy and security, so I’ve practiced with various wards quite a bit, especially to protect my dorm room. In this one aspect, I was a little ahead of most of my class. Of course, there were other areas where I was probably a little behind, due in large part to the limitations of my particular magic.
The two runes that I’d drawn on the floor were connected to each other via an invisible path of essence, which made this the magical equivalent of a tripwire. Once the path was broken, and the tripwire set off, essence could be released into other spells. Depending on how things were set up, this could be used to notify me that someone had broken the path, which was how I had it set up on the door of my room, or it could trigger more interesting spells. However, since this was a class assignment, I was keeping things pretty simple and straightforward.
Ms. Grimes came into the room a minute later and promptly said, “Now, let me see your wards…”
Our teacher went to AJ first and examined his spell, which I couldn’t really see myself. Some magic users could actually see the flow of magic, though I wasn’t one of them. Morgana had the advantage over me on that one. Grimes ran her hand through AJ’s spell, then nodded her approval.
“Well done,” she stated. “I can see some elements of your mother’s style. It seems that she’s already taught you a little about wards.”
“Yes ma’am,” AJ responded politely.
Grimes turned her attention to Morgana’s spell next, and though she didn’t seem as impressed as she’d been with AJ, she found it acceptable. She gave Morgana a few tips on how to improve her spell, and then came over to check my work.
“Clean rune work,” Grimes commented after bending down to examine my runes.
“Thank you,” I responded. My runes should be clean, since I’d practiced those ones often enough.
After examining my spell carefully, Grimes put her hand out between the runes, which triggered the magical tripwire and released most of the stored essence in a flash of light. This was just enough to give a nice show, and prove that my wards had been tripped.
“Nicely done,” Grimes told me, nodding in approval. “I assume that you’ve been practicing your wards.”
“Yes ma’am,” I answered with a faint smile.
The truth was, I’ve been practicing a number of different wards that had been in my grandmother’s book, nearly every day. I’ve cast them not only in my dorm room, but also on various pieces of my property. Considering my situation, it paid to take precautions.
“Keep practicing your wards for the rest of the class,” Grimes told us. “And test each other’s work. Tomorrow, I want each of you to arrive ready to add at least one improvement on your wards.”
After Grimes was gone, Morgana let out a sigh and complained, “These wards take too long to cast…”
I just smiled at that and pointed out, “Then you need to practice more. I mean, if we both put some wards on our room, it’ll be that more secure.”
Morgana rolled her eyes. “I think you’ve cast enough spells on our room for the both of us.”
AJ chuckled at that, then stared at me for several seconds. “Bianca,” he started, just a little awkwardly, as though he wasn’t sure how to say what he wanted to. “I heard that you’ve been asking around school about the Seeds.”
I tensed at that, bracing myself for the confrontation that I’ve feared would come for the last two weeks. But before I could say anything, Morgana demanded, “Well, what do you expect? Your friends declared war on her….”
AJ scowled and shook his head. “It wasn’t us, or at least, not all of us. Esquire did that on his own, and the rest of us didn’t even find out about it until afterwards. Trust me, we’re pretty mad at him for outing you like that.”
“And what about hiring Beatdown to jump me?” I asked, carefully keeping my expression controlled.
“Yeah,” AJ agreed, “The Seeds aren’t happy about that either. You see, most of us were hoping you’d change your mind and join us, but we figure that this blew any chance of that…”
“You think?” Morgana asked with a snort.
I stared at AJ for several seconds, trying to decide if he was being honest or not. He certainly seemed sincere, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. After all, AJ was pretty new to the Bad Seeds, and the others could have done this without bothering to tell him.
“For what it’s worth,” AJ told me, “I’m sorry you got outed that way. It sucks, having everyone look at you like you’re about to mug them or go on some kind of killing spree.” He gave me a wry smile. “I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy, much less someone I think of as a friend.”
“Thank you,” I said, sure that he meant what he said. However, I was still more than a little skeptical about the rest of the Bad Seeds, in spite of AJ’s assurances.
When class was over, Morgana and I said goodbye to AJ and started back towards Poe. I let out a sigh of relief, thankful that the day was over.
“Crazy day, huh?” Morgana asked. “I mean, with those two morons actually trying to become your minions… What kind of rubbish idea is that?”
“Are you saying that I don’t treat my minions well?” I asked in mock innocence.
Morgana snorted. “You’d probably forget to feed and water them…”
“True,” I responded with a smirk. “But fortunately, they know how to cook for themselves.” I paused at that before musing, “At least some of them do. Jean-Paul could burn water…”
For a moment, Morgana just stared at me, then she shook her head. “Sometimes, I forget that you really do have your own minions…”
That just made me smirk. “And sometimes, I even paint them yellow and make them wear overalls…”
“Really?” Morgana asked in surprise.
I rolled my eyes at that. “Somehow, I couldn’t see any of my Loyal being willing to do that.”
Just as we were reaching Poe, Morgana said, “Speaking of your minions, here comes one of them now…”
Curious, I looked to where she was indicating and I saw Janine flying towards us. She was only seven feet above the ground, and was moving pretty slowly. Janine’s PK, like her gadgeteering, wasn’t especially impressive. She could fly, but only about as fast as she could walk, and she couldn’t lift much besides herself.
“Janine is NOT my minion,” I told my roommate. “She’s just a friend…”
“But that’s not what she says,” Morgana reminded me with a smirk. Then she waved towards Janine, calling out, “Hey, Tinker…” Janine waved back.
I remained where I was, waiting for Janine to catch up, while my roommate continued on inside. As soon as Janine reached me, she landed on the ground and let out a sigh. I knew that flying like that took a bit out of her, but she’d been trying to push herself lately, in the hopes of getting stronger.
“Bianca,” Janine exclaimed with an eager grin. “I brought some stuff so we can study. And I’ve got a new planner, so I can keep track of your schedule and all your important appointments…”
“I don’t really have many appointments,” I said, feeling a little guilty as Janine’s expression fell. I quickly added, “I’m sure we can come up with something though…”
Somehow, I was pretty sure that if Morgana heard this conversation, she’d be teasing me about having minions even more than she already did. I never asked Janine to become my personal secretary, and I really hoped that Beatdown and Shades took ‘no’ for an answer, better than Janine did.
A minute later, we went into the Poe dayroom, where a couple other poesies were already sitting. There was one girl, who had purple skin and a pair of horns. Janine stared at her for a moment in surprise while I just chuckle. I had to admit, that I never would have recognized Façade either, if I hadn’t already seen her current appearance this morning.
“Façade,” I greeted the purple girl politely, since I wasn’t sure what kind of ‘persona’ she’d developed to go along with this appearance. Sometimes with Façade, it paid to be cautious. Then I looked to Decibelle. “Deci.”
Janine and I sat down in the corner and began going over our homework and notes. Since she was on the tech track while I was on the magic, we didn’t have a lot of classes together, but we could still go over things like English and Algebra.
We hadn’t been there long before a couple other poesies came in and made themselves comfortable. A couple, like Bailey and Chessa seemed to be doing the same thing that Janine and I were, while Deci, Summoner, and Swerve, just sat there watching TV. However, after a short time, Bailey and Chessa began looking at Janine and I, and whispering to each other. Then, they were giggling and snickering.
I just rolled my eyes and quietly muttered, “I can’t wait until all these minion rumors go away.”
--------------------
Monday late afternoon, Oct 3rd, 2016
Carrie Harper squirmed in her chair, fighting the urge to shrink down so she could hide. There was a reason she was called Mouse, beyond just her ability to shrink. Fortunately, at the moment, there was little need for her to actively hide, because nobody was paying her any attention anyway. Then again, nobody ever really did, unless she was performing one of her gymnastic routines.
With a sigh, Carrie looked around the table, at all the other members of the Intelligence Cadet Corps. As the youngest and newest member, everyone else ignored her, which suited her fine, at least for the time being. That just gave her the opportunity to observe everyone else.
David Nayer was a chubby black boy, with a broad nose, acne scars, and a pair of high tech goggles over his eyes. David, or Cyber Swarm as he preferred to be called, was a senior and the official leader of the Cadets, just out of pure seniority. However, Swarm was a gadgeteer and typical lab geek, so focused on his micro-drones, that he was usually too distracted to do much leading.
Even now, in the middle of the club meeting, Swarm was bent over the table and tinkering with a couple robotic insects that were sitting in front of him. He poked at a metal cockroach and didn’t seem to be paying much attention to what anyone actually said.
Perfume was sitting beside Cyber Swarm, looking gorgeous as always, which was to be expected of an exemplar. She was long-legged, lithe, and athletic, with Japanese features and long black hair that was tied back in a braid. In addition, she had a subtle flower scent, which filled the air around her. And in spite of her name, this scent wasn’t the result of perfume, but a low level manifestor ability that let her create any scent she wanted.
Carrie had a great deal of admiration for the older girl, who was poised, confident, and a lot more intelligent than most people gave her credit for. Kim had given up a career in modeling, in order to dedicate herself to law enforcement and detective work. It was no wonder that she was the second in charge of the Cadets, and the one who usually led them when Cyber Swarm was distracted.
Edward Temple and Caroline Voight, or Mister Blank and Miss Violet as they were also called, were sitting next to each other, as usual. The two of them were British, and they’d been partners and more, since before they even came to Whateley.
Edward was a slender boy, with a thin face that was splattered with freckles, and ginger hair that was always well trimmed and perfectly combed. He wore a nice suit, as he usually did when outside of school uniform, and he carried his trademark umbrella with him. It was an old-fashioned cane umbrella, rather than one of the ones that folded up into a small space, and he was almost never seen without it.
Violet, who really didn’t like being called by her real name, was an exemplar and looked the part. She was beautiful, with an athletic yet feminine body, a heart-shaped face, button nose, and pouty lips. Her violet and gold eyes, as well as the violet colored hair, which cascaded down to her mid-back, added an eccentric touch, that somehow made her seem more alluring. And then, as if intentionally trying to stand out even more, she was currently wearing a dark purple catsuit.
Carrie avoided looking at Violet, and tried not to think about how jealous she was of the sophomore. Violet was both an exemplar and a paragon, so everything was easy for her. It might not have been so bad, if Violet hadn’t been such a know-it-all and showoff.
Of course, Carrie’s dislike hadn’t really started, until a week earlier. She’d been practicing one of her old gymnastic routines in order to keep in shape, but then, Violet had come in and had completely blown her out of the water with a gymnastic routine of her own. It had been the kind of routine that could only have been performed by someone who was both an exemplar and paragon. Carrie had spent her entire life building her skills, and then, some rookie shows up and makes her look clumsy and unskilled in comparison. It was because of mutants like Violet, that mutants weren’t allowed to compete in athletics.
Flipside sat next to Carrie, though he didn’t pay her much attention either. He was a lean and athletic black guy, with a shaved head and an easygoing grin. Carrie still didn’t understand what his powers were, other than that he was some kind of reality warper and could make the laws of physics go wonky.
The last person in the room was Tiptoe, who sat on Carrie’s other side. Like her, he was another new member, with only several more days of seniority on her. To her annoyance, the others seemed to think that those extra days were enough for them to take him more seriously than they did her.
“How about Slyme?” Flipside offered with an easy grin. “She’d be a great Cadet. I mean, she can get through tight spaces, and would be great for infiltration or tailing someone without being seen…”
“She’s a thornie,” Edward pointed out with a faint scowl. “She can’t control her powers…”
Flipside just rolled his eyes. “I was a thornie when I first got here too, and besides, just because she has to sleep in a bowl, that doesn’t mean she can’t control her powers otherwise…”
Carrie sat up a little straighter and cautiously said, “Slyme and I are in a couple classes together. She’s pretty nice, and she’s really hard to hurt, which might be useful…”
“I just don’t think this goo girl is Cadet material,” Edward continued, seemingly ignoring Carrie. “As Cadets, we need to maintain high standards for membership.”
“Okay, we’ve heard what John Steed has to say,” Flipside joked, looking to Violet. “Now, what does Emma Peel say?”
“That’s Mister Blank and Miss Violet,” Violet corrected him with a look of annoyance. “And I believe Mister Blank is correct. We need to ensure any further candidates are qualified for our organization.”
“Slyme’s abilities could be useful,” Perfume said, giving a nod to Flipside. “Though Carrie is already more than capable of infiltration or tailing suspects without being noticed. None of us begin with all the skills we need, and we could train Slyme, if she joins our club… The important question is though, is she actually interested in joining the Intelligence Cadet Corps? I haven’t seen any real interest in her part…”
Flipside shrugged. “I think she’d make things a little more interesting around here, if nothing else…”
“This is not a game,” Edward said. “We are not in this business simply to entertain you or play James Bond, which you seem to think this is all about…”
“Pretty amusing, coming from the John Steed wannabe,” Flipside responded with a chuckle.
“Slyme?” Cyber Swarm asked, looking up and appearing to pay attention to the current topic for the first time. He blinked a couple times and lifted his goggles. “Isn’t she that girl that looks like she’s made of jello?”
“That’s her,” Tiptoe agreed.
“I wonder how she maintains her humanoid shape,” Swarm mused to himself. “She doesn’t appear to have any skeletal system or muscles. I wonder if the outer layer of her body may act as a form of exoskeleton…”
Perfume gave Swarm an odd look and shook her head, before saying, “I’ll have a talk with the girl. If she’s not interested in law enforcement or intelligence gathering, then any further discussion about recruiting her would be pointless.”
“Agreed,” Violet said with a nod of approval. “Now, if we’re finished discussing possible new recruits, I believe we should talk about ongoing investigations.”
“Okay,” Perfume agreed, glancing to the club’s leader to see if he had anything to say on the subject. When he didn’t, she said, “Then, moving on…”
Carrie listened carefully as they discussed their investigations on the Bad Seeds and the Masterminds, though there was little progress. Apparently, both of those other clubs had a lot of experience in avoiding the Intelligence Cadet Corps, which made it hard to get any serious evidence against them.
“Next,” Edward said, “is our investigation into Bianca St. Claire, AKA Glyph, AKA the White Lady.”
Carrie scowled as they mentioned Glyph, whom she shared a couple classed with. In fact, it had been her discovery that one of her classmates was not only a supervillain, but also the leader of some kind of mob family, that had inspired her to join the Cadets. After all, someone had to stop people like her from taking advantage of the other students, and campus security certainly wasn’t going to do that when another supervillain was currently running the school.
“My micro-drones have been of limited use against Glyph,” Cyber Swarm stated, looking up from his metal insects and scowling in annoyance. “As you are all aware, the magical wards on Poe Cottage tend to neutralize any bugs and listening devises inside.”
Tiptoe smirked faintly at that, commenting, “Trying to bug Poe isn’t a good idea. Mrs. Horton takes it real personally.”
Swarm nodded faintly and continued. “I have planted several passive recording devises on both Glyph and her roommate, in an attempt to bypass Poe’s protections, but my devises went completely inert once they entered the suspect’s dorm room. Attempts to place micro-drones on her window, have been similarly futile. In addition, the subject habitually casts spells throughout the day, that interfere with both active and passive eavesdropping devises, preventing me from gathering much useful intelligence on her.”
“It seems to me,” Violet commented thoughtfully, “that anyone who goes through that much trouble to avoid being observed, must be trying to hide something.”
“Precisely what I was thinking,” Edward said in agreement.
However, Perfume disagreed. “Attempting to ensure your privacy is not evidence of wrongdoing.”
“Perhaps,” Cyber Swarm reluctantly admitted. “But what little my micro-drones have been able to record, suggests that Glyph is attempting to recruit henchmen and minions among the student body.”
“I knew it,” Carrie blurted out.
Flipside just chuckled. “I wonder if she’s going to make them wear blue overalls, and feed them bananas.”
“I recommend that we put Glyph under a more active investigation,” Edward suggested. “We need to learn what she’s up to, before it’s too late.”
“I agree completely,” Violet said. “It’s about time that the Cadets make an example of a criminal, to prove that we should be taken more seriously.”
After a little more discussion, with everyone getting a chance to offer their opinion, Perfume looked around the table and let out a sigh. She glanced to Cyber Swarm, but when he didn’t say anything, she stated, “Then it’s agreed, we’ll step up our investigation on Glyph.”
Tuesday late morning, Oct 4th, 2016
I was in BMA, practicing forms, which was my favorite part of the class. While practicing the movements, there was virtually no chance of my getting hurt and humiliated, not like when we sparred. However, I knew my luck wouldn’t last for long, and I was proven right.
“Glyph,” Sensei Tolman called me up to the sparring circle. “Crysis.”
I groaned when I heard Crysis’ name called. When we sparred without our powers, he had the Advantage of being larger and stronger than me, but it was even worse when we did use our powers. As a fairly high level telekinetic, he could usually throw me out of the ring, without touching me, before I had a chance to do anything at all. And of course, he was never gentle about it.
With a sigh, I took my place in the sparring circle. As Crysis took his place, he smirked at me, confident of an easy victory. That smugness burned me up inside, and I decided that even if I was going to get my butt kicked, I would at least make him work for it. Now, if I only felt a little more confident in my ability to do that.
My options were limited, which they always were in this class. I could use one of my built in spells, namely the ones that let me control air or fire, but Crysis would be expecting those. For various reasons, my other three elemental spells were either useless, or couldn’t be used in this setting. That meant I would have to rely mostly on my limited skills, or on a couple spell sheets.
“For this match,” Tolman announced, “Glyph, you will attempt to get Crysis into the capture cage before the five minute time limit, and Crysis, you will attempt to avoid being captured. The match ends at the end of five minutes, or if Crysis enters the cage.” She looked back and forth to each of us to make sure we understood. “Hajime.”
Crysis immediately went on the offensive and hit me with a telekinetic push that sent me flying back and outside the usual sparring area. A couple students dove to the side, and I just barely missed hitting them before I landed hard on some of the mats. If we’d been playing by the usual sparring rules, going out of bounds like this would have enough to end the match, with my instant loss. Fortunately, we weren’t playing by those rules today.
“Ouch,” I groaned as I scrambled back to my feet.
While muttering a couple choice profanities under my breath, I reached to my belt and the small pouch that contained a few sheets of folded paper. These were my spells that had been prepared ahead of time, mostly for emergency use. I figured that this was close enough.
I cautiously approached Crysis, wondering how I could possibly beat him when his telekinesis could keep pushing me away, before I could really get close. In fact, he could use his power to pick me up and throw me into the capture cage, just as easily as he’d knocked me across the room. I really hoped he didn’t do that, because that would simply be humiliating.
When I was close enough, or at least, sure that Crysis wouldn’t let me get any closer, I pushed essence into one sheet of paper, which glowed brightly for several seconds. I hoped that this provided enough distraction, because I charged forward, dropping the other sheet of paper and punched Crysis. I actually connected to his jaw, though I was immediately thrown back again. Crysis didn’t even have the courtesy to yelp in pain.
“You’re going to have to do better than that,” Crysis stated with a cold sneer. “I don’t know how you ever beat the Messenger.”
My heart nearly jumped up into my chest at the mention of the Messenger. The Messenger had been a professional hit man, and was the person who’d murdered my entire family, right in front of me. He’d come after me too, and almost out of pure luck, I’d managed to kill him. The very thought of that man was enough to shake me, and for good reason. He occupied a central place in many of my nightmares.
Ever since I’d been outed at Whateley as the White Lady, there had been a lot of rumors around the school about me, but as far as I knew, none of those rumors had included mention of the Messenger. However, this was the SECOND time that Crysis had mentioned him, and I suddenly wanted to know why.
“What do you know about the Messenger?” I demanded.
Instead of answering me, Crysis grabbed me with his telekinesis and lifted me up into the air. From his dark and malevolent expression, I feared that he would use that opportunity to kill me, or at least do some serious damage. With the current situation, it would be extremely easy to either crush me or fling me against some surface, and then claim it was some kind of training accident.
I flipped the mental switch to activate one of my built-in spells, and suddenly, my eyes and tattoos all began to glow a reddish-orange. That was a very clear indication of what I was about to do, so before Crysis could react, I sent a ball of fire flying straight at him. Crysis yelped and jumped aside, just barely managing to avoid being singed. And as a nice bonus, he lost his concentration and his grip on me, letting me drop back down to the floor.
“You can’t keep that up for very long,” Crysis stated, giving me an angry glare.
He’d seen me use this power in class on a number of occasions, as had everyone else, so they all knew that I could only hold out with this power for thirty seconds at the very most. Crysis was right, in that I couldn’t keep this up for long. That meant, I had to make use of this power while I had it.
I sent another blast of fire towards Crysis, trying to herd him to where I wanted him to be. Crysis was a powerful telekinetic, and could probably use his powers to throw a car at me. However, he didn’t have the kind of control that might let him do things like create a PK shell, which meant, he couldn’t use his powers for defense, at least not directly. He jumped to the side, as I expected, but before I could do much more, my power ran out.
“I’ve got you now,” Crysis stated with a furious look in his eyes.
I couldn’t bluff him with the threat of another fire blast, because my eyes and tattoos had stopped glowing when that power faded. Of course, I still had other tricks up my sleeve. I just hoped that I had the opportunity to use them.
Crysis grabbed me with his telekinesis again and sent me floating up into the air. It felt like a giant invisible hand was holding me tight and squeezing, making it difficult to breath. From the look on my opponent’s face, I was pretty sure that this time, he would take advantage of the opportunity to cause me a little extra pain.
“I don’t see why everyone in Chicago thinks you’re such a big deal,” Crysis announced, taking a couple steps towards me so he could gloat better. “You’re nothing…”
But then, Crysis stepped onto the sheet of paper that I’d dropped onto the floor at the beginning of the match, and suddenly, it exploded into a ball of flame. Crysis yelled like a little girl as his foot and pant leg caught on fire for a moment, and he was distracted enough to drop me…again.
This time, I flipped the mental switch while I was still in the air, so by the time I hit the ground, my eyes and tattoos were all glowing a silvery color. I didn’t hesitate before jumping to the side, just so I could position myself better, and then I unleashed a powerful gust of wind. The wind hit Crysis and threw him back, right into the capture cage.
“Glyph wins the match,” Tolman called out.
I remained where I was for several seconds, letting my power fade away. I’d won. I almost never won in this class, especially not against someone as powerful as Crysis. Of course, I’d only done so because I set my trap early in the match, and then waited for an opportunity to have Crysis activate it. Unfortunately, that trick probably wouldn’t work again, but for now, I’d won.
Crysis stepped out of the capture cage, limping from his burned foot and looking pissed. For a moment, I thought he was going to attack me again, even though the match was over. However, after glancing at Tolman, he took a deep breath and restrained himself.
“Good match, Bia,” Morgana called to me from halfway across the room. I grimaced at that. I hated when people shortened my name to Bia.
“Congratulations,” Laura told me with a smile.
“Thanks,” I said, giving a self-conscious smile back.
Class ended just a few minutes after this, much to my relief. After that fight with Crysis, I was tired, sore, and more than ready for lunch. Still, in spite of that, I was in a good mood, after earning a hard-won victory in class.
But just as I was going to the locker rooms to clean up and change, Crysis walked past me on the way to the boy’s locker room, and sneered, “You won’t get that lucky when Scorn comes for you.”
I froze at that, my eye going wide in shock as my heart felt like it was jumping into my throat. “What…?” However, Crysis quickly continued to the locker room, leaving me standing there in stunned disbelief.
“Hey, Bianca, what’s wrong?” Morgana asked as she came up to me.
“Scorn,” I whispered. The name tasted foul in my mouth.
Though I’d never met Scorn, and didn’t even know what he looked like, I’d certainly heard of him. After all, Scorn was the man who’d hired the Messenger to kill my family, and who’d sent other people to kill me afterwards. I didn’t know Scorn, but I feared and hated him more than just about anyone, with the possible exception of the Messenger.
“What are you talking about?” Morgana asked, giving me a worried look.
I just gulped. Crysis had known about the Messenger, and now he’d mentioned Scorn coming for me. Somehow, Crysis knew more than what should have been available on the campus grapevine, and he seemed to have a personal grudge against me for some reason. That alone would have been enough to make me worry, but with the threat of Scorn as well…
“He said Scorn is coming for me,” I whispered. My voice shook a little.
Ever since I’d been outed as the White Lady, I’d known this moment would come. I’d known that sooner or later, Scorn would find me, and then, he’d send someone to finish the job.
Laura came over and gently asked, “Are you okay?”
Morgana looked at Laura. “She said Scorn is coming for her…”
“Isn’t he the guy who…?” Laura started with a look of wide-eyed concern. I could only nod.
“That jerk is probably just trying to shake you,” Morgana told me. “I mean, you just beat him, so he’s trying to get back however he can…”
“Maybe,” I responded, without much conviction.
“Even if this Scorn guy does know where you are,” Morgana assured me, “there’s no way he’ll be able to get to you here at Whateley.”
“He’d be an idiot to even try,” Laura agreed with a smile. “I’ve heard that even the Syndicate will go after anyone who messes with the school.”
I nodded at that, relaxing a little. “Maybe,” I repeated, feeling a little less concerned, though my fears didn’t go away entirely. In fact, as long as Scorn was out there, and had a price on my head, I doubted that I’d ever feel completely safe. “I knew he’d find out about me being here eventually, but having Crysis threatening me with him that way… It…”
“It hit close to home,” Morgana said in understanding. After I nodded agreement, she put her arm around my shoulder. “Well, let’s go get cleaned up so we can get lunch. I bet one of those greasy cheeseburgers that you yanks like, will make you feel better.”
With a laugh, I pointed out, “Actually, pizza is more my comfort food, but a good burger is still appreciated too.”
Then, after giving a cold glare in the direction I’d last seen Crysis, I turned and started into the locker room with my friends. Maybe they were right. Maybe there was no more reason to worry today than there had been yesterday. And maybe Bacon would learn to fly.
--------------------
The Quad, Tuesday late morning, Oct 4th, 2016
It was in the middle of the lunch period, so Beatdown and Shades were sitting at their usual place in the Quad. From their table, they could not only watch all the other students walk past, but also pick the ones who looked like good entertainment.
Clive glanced to Shades and let out a sigh. He was still disappointed at having missed out on such a great opportunity the day before. He’d had a chance to get in good with the Family, an established and well respected organization, and he’d blown it. From what he heard, the Family treated their muscle pretty good, so this was a missed opportunity that he truly regretted.
Just then, Clive was distracted from these thoughts by the sight of a girl who was literally skipping right past them. Twitch was one of those junior high kids, with blonde hair that was pulled back in pigtails, and she was even wearing a purple witch hat. Clive smirked faintly, knowing that this was the kind of kid that Shades normally liked to mess with, but that his buddy would pretend that he hadn’t seen her.
“Hey,” Clive said, gently elbowing Shades and indicating Twitch.
He saw Shades stiffen a little before asking, “What?”
“Nothin,” Clive responded, smug in that he’d predicted Shades’ reaction.
The one time Shades had messed with Twitch, he’d received a visit from four of the Bad Seeds, just a few hours later. And while Clive didn’t know exactly what the Seeds said to Shades, he knew that his friend had carefully avoided the girl since.
“Hey,” Shades exclaimed, abruptly elbowing Clive in the side. “You hear that?”
It took a couple seconds for Clive to realize that Shades was referring to. Two boys were sitting at the next table over, and they were talking about Glyph, or at least, about some of the rumors they’d heard. From what Clive could make out, they weren’t saying anything good about the girl.
“I think we need to do something about that,” Shades said with a thoughtful look. “If we’re gonna be working for Glyph, we can’t let these guys talk trash about her…”
“But we don’t work for her,” Clive reminded him with a scowl of annoyance. “You heard her. She said she didn’t want us…”
“You don’t get it,” Shades responded with a smirk. “She was just saying that for plausible deniability. You saw, she already has a bunch of kids working for her, so she’s obviously recruiting. We’ll just have to prove ourselves if we want to get in solid.”
Clive considered that for a moment before nodding his agreement. Then, without another word, he stood up and walked towards the next table, while Shades came up beside him.
“I heard you talking smack about our boss,” Clive announced while making a show of cracking his knuckles. The two boys looked up at him with expressions of surprise and fear, while he just grinned. “Now I’m gonna have to teach you two a lesson…”
--------------------
Tuesday late afternoon, Oct 4th, 2016
The members of the Intelligence Cadet Corps sat around a table in their headquarters, staring at some photos of Glyph. Many of the photos were extremely blurry, as they’d been taken during times when the target of their investigation had been taking anti-surveillance measures. However, some of them were crisp and clear.
“Look at her,” Flipside commented as he tapped one of the photos. “Chalk white skin and hair, and those eerie silvery eyes. Creepy.”
“Glyph does bear a startling resemblance to some creature out of a horror movie,” Miss Violet commented with a faint smirk. “Perhaps a vampire or ghost of some sort…”
“We don’t judge a suspect’s guilt or innocence off how they look,” Perfume pointed out. “We need evidence.”
“The evidence has been building,” Mr. Blank said with a smug look. “We know that she’s been recruiting minions and henchmen, and today during lunch, two of her thugs roughed up a couple other students.”
Miss Violet nodded agreement. “Indeed. Beatdown and Shades even admitted that they were doing this for Glyph. She’s getting more brazen, having her people silence those who speak out against her.”
“And she broke one of my drones,” Cyber Swarm complained. He held out the wreckage of a robotic dragonfly. “She hit it with a book…”
“To be honest,” Flipside admitted with a shrug. “If I saw a metal dragonfly buzzing around me, I’d swat the damn thing too…”
Perfume fixed Cyber Swarm with a flat look. “If you didn’t keep making your drones look like insects, then people wouldn’t keep smashing them.”
“Those spider ones are really creepy,” Mouse offered quietly while Miss Violet nodded agreement.
Cyber Swarm scowled, though it came out more as a pout. “But insects and arachnids are incredible. Do you know how many species there are on Earth, and how many still haven’t even been discovered? They are the perfect models for my micro-drones…”
“Does anyone have anything else to add?” Perfume asked with a sigh, obviously trying to change the subject.
Mouse cautiously raised her hand, then said, “Today during martial arts, Glyph and Crysis talked about someone called the Messenger.” Then she shrank down a little in her chair, losing several inches before she caught herself. “I didn’t really hear more than his name, and that Glyph apparently fought him or something.”
“I don’t know anyone called the Messenger,” Mr. Blank said with a thoughtful look. “Is he a student?”
“I’ve heard of him,” Perfume responded with a scowl. “And he certainly isn’t a student.”
Everyone turned to look at Perfume. “Well?” Cyber Swarm encouraged.
“I heard the name when I first began researching Glyph,” Perfume explained. “Apparently, he’s a professional assassin, and is the one who killed the previous White Lady.”
That suddenly had everyone’s complete attention. Mr. Blank scratched his chin and asked, “Do you think Glyph might have hired him?”
“That would make a twisted sort of sense,” Miss Violet mused. “After all, with her predecessor dead, who benefits more than Glyph?”
“She doesn’t seem quite that ruthless to me,” Mouse said, though nobody seemed to pay attention.
“I haven’t seen any evidence to suggest she’s quite that ruthless,” Perfume said with a scowl. “But if she really is that ruthless and ambitious, then the school may be in even more danger from her than we’d realized.”
Cyber Swarm stood up, announcing, “Then it’s time we trap her in our web. This villain isn’t going to escape from us…”
Perfume let out an exasperated sigh and reminded him, “We can’t take any serious action against her, until we have enough evidence…”
The Cadet’s leader gave her a look of annoyance and disappointment before reluctantly nodding. “Fine. I’ve got a new batch of micro-drones ready, so we might as well use them. Hopefully, these ones will record something good.”
--------------------
Poe Cottage, Tuesday late evening, Oct 4th, 2016
I was in the Poe dayroom with a short stack of paper sitting beside me, while paper trimmings were haphazardly scattered about. Janine was next to me, using one of those large paper cutters to slice the sheets of paper down to just the right size and shape.
“Here’s another batch,” Janine cheerfully announced, while handing me a small stack of cards.
The paper was a good quality card stock, which would hold the ink and wouldn’t wick it away. That was important, because I couldn’t risk any smears or smudges. A single smear could not only ruin a spell entirely, but could even result in unintended consequences. A smudge on a rune, was the same as mispronouncing a word in a verbal spell, which needless to say, was not a good thing.
Janine was in the process of cutting the sheets of paper into smaller cards, each about the size and shape of a tarot card. I had absolutely no idea how to read a tarot deck, and I lacked the painting skills necessary to paint the pictures on them. In spite of the similarities in size and shape, between these cards and tarot cards, I had a different use in mind for them.
As I’d learned in Magic Theory, some spells could take a lot of time and focus to cast, which you didn’t usually have available during an emergency. Because of that, a lot of magic users would cast their spells ahead of time, and tie them to a physical object, where they would be safely stored until needed. Wands, staffs, and gemstones were some of the items used for this purpose, but spell slips were one of the more popular, mostly because they were inexpensive to make. For most magic users, tying a spell to a sheet of paper was extremely useful. For me and my style of magic, it was even more so.
“Thank you,” I told Janine as I looked over the new batch of cards. “Now, it’s time to up my game and move from sheets of notebook paper, to something a little more professional.”
“I can’t wait to see what they look like when you’re done,” Janine responded excitedly.
She was so enthusiastic about helping me with this project, that I almost would have thought she was working on one of her own projects. Truthfully, I was looking forward to seeing her next domino chain, and what she’d add to mix, since she kept improving them each time she made one.
For a moment, Janine just stared at me with her big brown eyes. She was cute, with an oval face and dark brown hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. In a place like Whateley, which was filled with exemplars, Janine tended to blend into the background and was nearly invisible to most students. It was hard for someone like her, who came off as a tomboy and a girl next door, to compete with girls who looked like airbrushed supermodels.
“I really appreciate your help with this,” I said, perhaps a little awkwardly.
Janine smiled even more broadly, if that was possible. “What else is a personal assistant for?”
I chuckled at that, still confused over where she got the idea to become my personal assistant. Still, she was helping me, and didn’t seem to care that I was the new White Lady, so I wasn’t about to question my good luck too loudly.
“This is so cool,” Janine told me, gesturing to the cards and the bottle of ink that I had sitting on the table in front of me. “I’ve seen some of those books you checked out from the library, so I bet you’ve got a lot of really powerful spells…”
“Not as many as you’d think,” I admitted a little self-consciously.
“But I’ve seen you do a lot of spells,” Janine protested.
“Oh, I’ve got some good spells,” I agreed wryly. “I have some good protection spells and wards, but most of those aren’t very flashy or noticeable. I’ve got some primal runes, which can be fairly powerful, but they’re really focused and not very flexible. And I have a few other good runes that I’ve found, but they tend to be more on the subtle or low power side.” Then I paused for a moment before shrugging, “And the most powerful spells I found so far, are ones I can’t even use yet.”
Janine blinked at that. “Why not? Do they need special inks?”
“Some,” I responded thoughtfully. “But a lot of the powerful ones have certain…conditions. I found one, that has to be carved into marble and etched in gold, then it has to sit for a whole year before it can activate.”
“Wow,” Janine gasped.
I nodded my agreement. “A couple of the ones I found are really complicated, and have to be drawn all at once…without even lifting the pen off the page. If you mess up on those ones even the smallest bit, the whole thing is ruined. Unfortunately, my hand isn’t really steady enough for some of those spells yet.” I paused at that to shake my head and let out a sigh. “If I’d known that good penmanship was the secret to powerful magic, I probably would have paid more attention in my old handwriting class.”
Janine laughed at that. “Yeah, I can imagine.”
I picked up a pen that had already been filled with my homemade ink, and told Janine, “This part is probably going to be pretty boring for you…”
“It’s okay,” Janine responded. “I’ll watch anyway. And if I get bored…” She held up her notebook, which contained some sketches and notes about various domino chains and Rube Goldberg machines that she’d been designing.
With a nod, I turned my attention to the first of my cards, and I carefully drew the rune I wanted. Technically, I was creating two separate spells which were tied together. The first was a basic ward spell, that when tripped, would activate the second spell, which was the primal rune for ‘fire’. If I didn’t get this perfect, then the whole thing could blow up in my face, literally, as soon as I poured essence into it. Fortunately, one of my most important abilities was a built-in translator, which helped me ensure that there were no mistakes.
I spent the next fifteen minutes, carefully making several more copies of the same spell. Janine alternated between watching me and making notes in her notebook. Still, even though she was obviously bored, she remained anyway.
“You know,” Janine finally said. “I bet I could make a simple printing press and just stamp that out for you… It would be a lot faster…”
“That would be a lot easier,” I agreed before letting out a sigh. “Unfortunately, it wouldn’t work.”
“Why not?” Janine asked curiously. “I’m not the best inventor, but I can make that…”
“Oh no,” I quickly assured her. “What I mean is that, drawing the runes myself, is part of the ritual to cast the spell. It isn’t just a symbol, but all the focus and intention that’s put into it while it’s being made.” Then with a shrug, I told her, “Trust me, I wish I could just print these off instead. That would be a LOT easier…”
“I guess that makes sense,” Janine agreed. She stared at my project, then down at her notebook for a moment, before abruptly asking, “Could you put spells on dominos?”
I blinked at that, a little startled by the question. “I don’t see why not,” I finally answered. “The hard part would be writing the runes clear enough at that size, and they wouldn’t be large enough to hold much essence…”
“So,” Janine suggested with a grin, “you could make a domino chain with spells…”
When I paused in thought, Janine asked, “What?”
“It would probably be a lot of work,” I agreed thoughtfully. “But yeah. I think so.”
“Cool,” Janine gushed, her eyes practically gleaming with excitement. “Maybe we can try that sometime…”
I nodded my agreement. “That would be fun. But like I said, it will be a lot of work spelling each of the dominos, and it might be a bit of a challenge getting them all set up and charged with essence, without accidentally activating them. It would definitely be an interesting project though…”
Janine and I continued talking about this possible joint project, while I finished up making a few more spell slips. Eventually though, it was time for her to leave. I needed to talk to Scrye about Crysis, and Janine needed to get back to Dickensen before curfew.
“I had a lot of fun tonight,” Janine told me as I escorted her out of the day room.
But as we were leaving, a couple of the other poesies, who were watching TV in the dayroom, began whispering and giggling to each other. I glanced back to see what was going on, and overheard Deci say, “Tinker definitely belongs here in Poe…”
I scowled in annoyance at that. Janine was a good friend, and just because she could come off as a bit of a tomboy, that was no reason to joke about her being a changeling or anything.
“Come on,” I told Janine, putting a reassuring arm around her shoulder, in case she’d heard that and thought that Desi was calling her crazy. After all, Poe did have a reputation around the rest of campus. Janine blushed brightly, which probably meant she had heard Desi and was a little offended. “Now, how would you want to start this domino spell chain…?”
--------------------
Wednesday morning, Oct 5th, 2016
I was in Magic Theory, sitting next to my usual lab partners and cohorts, Morgana and AJ. Ms. Grimes was giving one of her lectures, which I normally found fascinating. However, today, I found it hard to pay attention since my thoughts were on other things.
“It looks like those bints are at it again,” Morgana whispered from beside me while gesturing across the room.
My eyes followed her movement and I immediately saw who she was referring to. Melody, Antionette, and Estelle, or as they were also known, Chained Melody, La Mage Blanche, and Hermione, were three of the typical ‘mean girls’ that every school seemed to have. They were pretty, had money, and usually took delight in belittling, demeaning, or outright bullying anyone they thought beneath them. Unfortunately, Morgana and I both fell into this category, mostly because of our unusual physical features.
The truth was, those three girls reminded me of my cousin Nicolette, and to a lesser extent, my sister Paige. Both of them had been spoiled brats, and far too entitled for their own good…or that of the Family. When I was being honest and objective, I had to admit that it was probably a good thing, that neither of them had inherited the mantle of the White Lady.
At the moment, Melody, Antionette, and Estelle were whispering amongst themselves and snickering. However, what had obviously drawn Morgana’s attention to the three, was the fact that they kept staring at us. Antionette and Estelle both had looks of contempt and disdain, while Melody’s expression was more unnerving. She was smirking, and looked a little too smug for my comfort.
Antionette and Estelle had both been annoyances to Morgana, while Melody’s hostility seemed to be focused almost entirely on me. During our first day of class, I’d inadvertently embarrassed her, and then, to make matters worse, when she tried to retaliate and ‘put me in my place’, I had the gall to actually be immune to her powers. For some reason, she really took that personally and had been insulting me ever since.
AJ leaned over and quietly said, “You know, Chained Melody has been spreading a lot of rumors about you around campus.”
I nodded at that. “I know.” It was annoying, but there wasn’t a lot I could do about it.
“Is that why she’s so smug?” Morgana asked. “Did she make up something new?”
“I don’t know,” AJ admitted. “But I heard that she’s the one who talked Weaponeer and Photech into going after you, so you should probably watch out.”
That made me blink in surprise. Elliot and Marty, or Weaponeer and Photech as they styled themselves, had come after me on the same day that Beatdown had, and in the same tunnels. Until now, I’d assumed that the Bad Seeds had sent them after me, the same way they had Beatdown. Of course, AJ was a member of the Seeds and could just be trying to spin things to take my suspicion away from them, but for some reason, I doubted it. AJ had always played straight with me before.
“Thanks,” I told him.
My eyes went back to Melody, and I scowled. If smirking at me, and looking that smug, then I really should watch my back. I had no idea what she was up to, only that it wouldn’t be good for me.
“Didn’t you hear,” Melody said to one of the other girls sitting near her, speaking loud enough so that I could hear on the other side of the classroom. “That albino freak has been sending her thugs to beat up anyone who badmouths her…”
That rumor was a new one on me, though I shouldn’t have been surprised. Thanks to Janine and her offer to be my personal assistant, there were bound to be rumors that I was recruiting minions and the like.
“Is there something you’d like to share with the class?” Grimes asked Melody, her expression and tone clearly stating that she wasn’t happy about having her lecture interrupted.
“No ma’am,” Melody answered with a look of mock innocence. Grimes gave her a flat look, then continued with the lecture.
The rest of the class continued without any more problems, but as soon as it was over, Melody decided to make her move. She came over towards me with a sneer on her lips. “We don’t need criminals and freaks like you around this school,” she started to say.
However, a moment later, Penny Dreadful exclaimed, “Move it blondie,” as she walked past. The zombie that Penny usually had following her, brushed up against Melody, who let out a shriek of disgust and leapt back.
“Watch it, you freak,” Melody exclaimed with a shudder.
Morgana and I shared a look of amusement before we simultaneously burst out laughing. Then, before Melody could recover, we hurried away to our next class.
Our next class was Basic Martial Arts, which I was actually dreading even more than usual. In fact, I rather would have stayed in Magic Theory and dealt with some of Melody’s verbal abuse, than with what I’ve have to face in BMA today. It was less a matter of what I’d have to deal with, than whom.
After changing into my gi and sitting down on the mat, I looked around and saw Crysis. He was giving me a look of cold determination, which suggested that if we sparred today, he wouldn’t take it easy on me in the least. In fact, from his expression, I was sure that he’d welcome the opportunity to come after me with everything he had.
“Hey, what’s with everyone glaring at you this morning?” Morgana asked, indicating Crysis and then Mouse, who also seemed to be glaring.
“Just lucky, I guess,” I responded flatly.
“Is there something I should know?” Laura asked curiously.
Morgana just grinned. “Chained Melody was glaring at Bianca last period, now we’ve got a couple more kids doing it here…”
“It looks like I’m popular today,” I commented with a sigh.
“You get all the attention,” Morgana exclaimed with a mock pout. “I’m so jealous…”
Erica was sitting close to us, and pointed out, “I saw you glaring at Crysis too. Is there some story there?”
I hesitated a moment, not sure how much I should say. Then with a sigh, I explained, “After everyone found out who my grandmother was, a lot of people became…hostile.”
Tanya blushed at that, probably remembering the fact that she’d been one of the people to avoid me after that revelation. “Yeah, I noticed,” she said carefully.
“Well, Crysis was one of them,” I continued with a sigh. “But he seemed to have a personal grudge against me, and a couple times, he said some things that he shouldn’t have known about at all. I mean, things from back in Chicago, that haven’t really hit the rumor mill around here…”
“Wow,” Laura commented. “I’d be worried about that too…”
I nodded at that, scowling a little as I did so. I had definitely been worried about Crysis, which was why I’d gone to see Scrye last night. This morning, I found a folder with a brief file on the boy, and what I’d learned, had answered a few questions. Unfortunately, it had also caused me to become even more worried than before.
“So, you think he might be one of your enemies from Chicago?” Erica asked, sounding a little skeptical.
Meeting her eyes, I answered, “I know so.”
“It sounds like you’re being a bit paranoid,” Tanya told me in a skeptical tone.
“Just because you’re paranoid,” Morgana offered with a chuckle, “that doesn’t mean that they aren’t out to get you.”
“I looked into Crysis,” I blurted out, which suddenly had all my friends staring at me. “He’s from Chicago, and his dad works for Scorn…”
“Wait,” Morgana gasped, giving me a look of surprise. “Isn’t Scorn the guy who put a price on your head?”
“Yes,” I replied in a grim tone. “Crysis’ dad is one of Scorn’s top lieutenants, so if I had any doubts about Scorn finding me here…they’re gone.”
“Damn,” Morgana exclaimed.
“You need to report that to security,” Tanya told me. “You know they won’t let anything happen to you on campus.”
With a bitter snort, I pointed out, “They already know who my grandmother is, who I am, and that I have a price on my head. I wouldn’t be surprised if they already knew who Crysis was too, and just hadn’t bothered to tell me.”
“Don’t worry,” Morgana insisted, putting an arm over my shoulders. “You might snore a lot, but you’re still my roomie, and I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
“We’ve got your back,” Erica promised, her expression serious. The unspoken part was that she hoped the rest of us would be there to watch her back as well, when she got in trouble. I wasn’t the only one in our group with enemies, both on and off campus.
“Thank you,” I told them, feeling a little relieved.
Before I could think of anything else to say, Tolman moved up to the front of the room and called for everyone’s attention, effectively announcing that class had just begun. I took one more glance at Crysis, hoping that I didn’t have to spar against him today. Now, I just needed to figure out how I was going to deal with him.
--------------------
Kirby Hall, Wednesday afternoon, Oct 5th, 2016
It was the final class of the day, and I was in my group lab with Morgana and AJ. Today, Grimes had given us a free lab period, where instead of working on assigned tasks, we were able to experiment on our own. Of course, Grimes kept showing up to make sure we were following the safety rules and weren’t doing anything stupid or dangerous.
“What are you doing?” Morgana asked me.
I was down on my hands and knees, drawing runes into the floor in chalk. After double checking my latest rune, I glanced back at my roommate and gave her a wry smile. “I’m setting up a domino chain…”
Actually, there were no dominos involved in what I was doing, though I had come up with the idea last night, while talking to Janine about doing a domino chain together. Instead, I was setting up a series of wards into a simple chain. When one goes off, it activates the next one in the chain, and so on. At least, that was how it should work in theory. So far, I hadn’t finished setting it up yet.
“This is a bit challenging,” I explained as I began working on my last rune. “Each individual rune is pretty simple, but the hard part is setting them up so they go off in the right order. If I do this even a little wrong, they might go off out of order, or not at all.” When I was finished with my last rune, I mused, “Now, to see if I can charge them all up without setting them off.” That was going to be the real difficult part of this.
Before I invested any of my valuable essence into this spell, or series of spells, I stood back and looked the whole thing over again. If there were any mistakes, I wanted to catch them now, before all my work was wasted.
As I silently examined my work, I considered how complicated it might look at a glance. With rune magic, a long series of symbols could easily be a single spell, the equivalent of a sentence or even paragraph, which defined and controlled the end result. For someone who didn’t understand what I was doing, this might look similar, though it wasn’t. This was more like writing two words over and over again. It filled up the metaphorical page, but didn’t really have much meaning.
“Well, it certainly looks fancy,” Morgana joked. “Kind of artistic too, like finger paints.”
AJ, who had been watching me draw without saying a word, finally came over for a better look. “This looks interesting,” he said, giving me a curious look. “I recognize this rune.” He gestured to the main rune that I’d copied a dozen times. I’d drawn other marks on the floor as well, which were the wards that tied them all together.
“Now for the hard part,” I said.
With that, I bent down and carefully began to charge my runes with essence, hoping that none of them went off prematurely. It was a near miracle that I managed to get them all charged without any accidents, so I was feeling quite pleased with myself.
“Now what?” Morgana asked, giving me a curious look.
“Now for the fun part,” I responded with a smile.
I reached down and touched the first rune in line, tripping the ward which then activated the spell I’d tied to it. There was a small flash of light, which showed me that it worked. And then, the flash of light triggered the ward next to it, which in turn, activated another flash of light. This sequence of spells activated and repeated several more times, like a magical chain of dominos. However, the chain abruptly stopped eight steps in, when a faint smudge broke the path and prevented one of the light runes from activating.
“Wow,” Morgana said, flashing me a grin. “Somehow, I expected it to go a little further, but that was still pretty neat…”
“Definitely,” AJ agreed, giving me a nod of approval. “And I think that trick has the potential for some interesting uses.”
I just grinned triumphantly, pleased at how well my little experiment had worked. Sure, it hadn’t completed the entire chain, but I had proved that the concept was sound. I was especially pleased by this, because it wasn’t a trick that I’d learned from Tessa, Grimes, or my grandmother’s book. This was one that I’d figured out on my own.
“I need more practice,” I said, “and a steadier hand, but this could be useful…once I figure out how.”
“Let’s try it again,” Morgana suggested with an evil grin. “But this time, instead of the little lights, hook it up with fireballs…or little explosions so it’s like a bunch of firecrackers going on…”
“That sounds like a great idea to me,” AJ agreed with a grin of his own.
That sounded like a good idea to me too, but unfortunately, we were almost out of time. I probably would have had enough time before the end of class to draw the first rune or two, but certainly not a whole chain. Besides, before I expanded to something a little more dangerous, I wanted to go over my notes and plan things out a little first. And since Janine was so good with domino chains, it might not be a bad idea to see if she had any ideas too.
Since I couldn’t make any more progress during class, I decided that I might as well clean up instead. An eraser and a wet rag took care of wiping away my runes, leaving the floor a blank slate for whatever I needed to do in the lab tomorrow. Once the bell rang and class had officially ended, my lab partners and I locked up our lab, and left Kirby together.
We’d barely stepped out of Kirby, when I noticed a girl standing just a short distance away, looking like she was waiting for someone. Twitch was a cute blonde girl of about twelve years old, and as always, she wore a traditional ‘witch hat’. Most of the time, she had a purple hat, but today, the one she wore was bright green.
“Hey, what’s up?” AJ greeted the girl with a friendly nod, which served to remind me that Twitch was also a member of the Bad Seeds.
“Hi, AJ,” Twitch responded with a wave. She grinned cheerfully as she added, “We came to talk to Glyph…”
I was a little startled by that, and it took me an extra second to realize that she’d said ‘we’. Only then did I notice Twitch’s companion, a cute little raccoon that had been sitting on the ground beside her, as if he was her pet or something.
“What’s going on?” AJ asked, focusing on the raccoon rather than the girl.
Morgana nodded agreement. “Yeah, what’s up with the trash panda?”
Suddenly, the raccoon shifted and changed, and where the furry animal had been, the Bad Seed known as Racoon now crouched. He stood up, ran a hand through his shaggy hair, and flashed a grin. “No need for name calling, girlie…”
“She said you wanted to talk to me,” I said, warily watching Racoon rather than Twitch.
“I’m just here to talk,” Racoon said, holding his hands out with the palms exposed to show that he was unarmed. “If I meant you any harm, I certainly wouldn’t have brought the munchkin…”
“I am not a munchkin,” Twitch protested, giving Racoon a flat look before announcing, “I’m a witch… A Tek Witch.”
I couldn’t resist smiling at that since Twitch looked rather cute. And I was pretty sure, that if Racoon had been up to something, he wouldn’t have involved her. The Bad Seeds might be the children of supervillains, but they were very protective of their youngest member.
“So,” AJ repeated curiously. “What is going on?”
Racoon nodded towards me. “Just a friendly chat is all. Don’t worry, I’m not planning any mischief.” Then he gave a mischievious grin and added, “At least not much.”
With that, Racoon made a sweeping gesture with his hand, before revealing that he now had a metal coin that he was rolling over his knuckles. If he’d been trying to convince me that he was unarmed and harmless, this wasn’t the way to do it. I happened to know that Racoon used coins as his version of spell slips, as a way to store precast spells until he needed them.
“I heard that you’ve been asking around about the Seeds,” Racoon announced in a cheerful tone. “That makes a few of us a little concerned.”
“Can you blame me?” I asked, putting my metaphorical White Lady mask on. I kept my expression tightly controlled and professional, just like I’d been taught. “Your club outed me to the school, and then sent Beatdown to jump me.”
Morgana added, “If that isn’t a declaration of war, I don’t know what is.”
“That wasn’t us,” Racoon responded, his expression turning serious. “At least, not most of us. Esquire acted on his own, and the rest of us didn’t find out till it was too late. To be honest, we’re all kind of pissed at him too.”
“Why do I doubt that?” Morgana asked, trying to look tough and intimidating beside me. I was pretty sure that Racoon wasn’t about to try anything, but I still felt better for having her there.
“Esquire is a jerk,” Twitch grumbled.
Racoon chuckled at that. “Yes, indeed.” He looked at me again and explained, “You see, the Seeds have a rather firm policy of not trying to force or blackmail anyone into joining. We watch each other’s backs, and that kind of thing doesn’t work if there’s backstabbing and resentment. The truth is, a couple of us kind of hoped that you’d change your mind and hook up with us later on, but Esquire kind of ruined that.”
“I told you that Esquire was acting on his own,” AJ told me.
With a nod of his head and a roll of his eyes, Racoon said, “Esquire is…special.” He smirked at that. “His mom, the Iron Bell, is one of those bricks who likes to punch before thinking, and only respects physical strength. His big sis, Leveler, is cut from the same cloth. Heck, she was one of the founding members of the Amazons, back when she’d been here at Whateley. The poor boy can’t get any respect from his family, so he tries to compensate by going the criminal mastermind route. Needless to say, he overcompensates a bit, and this isn’t the first scheme of his that’s backfired.”
“While Esquire’s sob story is interesting,” I commented, still keeping my expression tightly controlled. “That doesn’t change what he did to me.” I still wasn’t sure that I believed the story about Esquire acting on his own, but it was starting to seem a little more plausible.
“No,” Racoon agreed. “I expect it doesn’t. And to be honest, I’m not sure he’s done with his current scheme either… Sometimes, he doesn’t know when to give up.”
My eyes narrowed at that. “So, you think he’s liable to try something else?”
Twitched pulled off her hat and then reached inside. A second later, she pulled out one of those old-fashioned magic eight balls. She stared at it with an intensity that nearly made me laugh, before asking, “Is Esquire gonna mess with Glyph again?” Then, she shook it, paused to read the results, and announced, “It says most likely.”
I stared at Twitch for a moment, trying to determine how serious I should take this. Twitch was young, but she was also a talented devisor, with a knack for making all her inventions look like magical paraphilia. For all I knew, that magic eight ball could be a computer that houses an artificial intelligence, but it could also just be a normal toy. With that girl, there was no way of telling.
“If you want to retaliate against Esquire, go ahead,” Racoon told me with a serious expression. “We won’t interfere, since as far as we’re concerned, he brought it on himself. However, if you decide to start something with the rest of us…” He paused at that to give me a flat look, one which spoke more clearly than words would have.
“You don’t wanna do that,” Twitch offered.
“If Esquire really did do this on his own,” I said carefully, “then I’ll leave the rest of you out of it.”
“Good,” Racoon responded with another of his easy grins. “I didn’t want you thinking that the Seeds had declared war on you or anything. The truth is, even if you aren’t a member, we can still be friends.” He made a sweeping gesture that included Twitch and AJ. “At least with some of us.”
I glanced to AJ, who’d been watching most of this exchange with a thoughtful expression. “I’m certainly not your enemy,” he said with a nod.
“Me either,” Twitch exclaimed. “I wanna see you do some magic writing stuff… That looks so awesome…”
“Then, it looks like we’re done for now,” Racoon said, before asking Twitch, “Are you up for some ice-cream?” The gleam in her eyes was answer enough.
Once Racoon and Twitch began to walk away, I let out a long sigh and told my roommate, “That went a lot better than I feared…”
“Yeah,” Morgana agreed. “No fighting or anything…”
“Oh, one more thing,” Racoon abruptly said, pausing to turn and look back at me. “Just as a friendly warning, but you should know that the Secret Squirrels have been nosing about your business. Make sure that you take precautions.”
Before I could respond to that, Racoon and Twitch were off again, leaving me with Morgana and AJ. When I looked at AJ, he just shrugged and said, “I had no idea Tyler was planning this, but he does have a tendency of doing his own thing.”
“And this is legitimate?” I asked, looking AJ in the eyes. “This really was just Esquire acting on his own? The rest of your club wasn’t involved?”
“I think I already told you as much,” AJ responded wryly. “And as far as I know, none of the other Seeds even knew what he was up to, much less helped.”
“Thank you,” I said with a nod and a long sigh of relief.
Instead of a well-connected and dangerous group, I now only had to worry about a single person. That made my ideas for retaliation a lot more doable. Of course, I still had to deal with Crysis too, and apparently, the Spy Kids as well, but things weren’t quite as bad as I’d feared.
--------------------
Crystal Hall, Wednesday late afternoon, Oct 5th, 2016
I strolled through the cafeteria with a tray in my hand, walking towards my usual table. Tonight, dinner was going to be baked chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy. I could barely wait to eat it, or the dessert I’d picked up, a nice slice of chocolate mousse cake. Yum.
When I reached my table, I was relieved to see that I wasn’t the first to arrive. In fact, it looked like I was probably one of the last of my friends to show up.
“Hey, Bianca,” Tia waved to me.
“About time you showed up,” Morgana added, taking a bite of her own dinner. “I was starting to get worried that you got lost between Poe and here.”
“No real chance of that,” I responded as I sat down.
After placing my tray onto the table, I reached down to my belt and one of the pouches I’d started keeping there. It took me a couple seconds to pull out the card, which was made with my new ink, drawn onto quality paper. Without a word, I pushed a little essence into the runes and activated the magic, then placed the card into the middle of the table. This would keep anyone from eavesdropping on us during our conversation. Well, technically my spell could be broken, either with raw power or a skilled enough mage, but it was still a lot better than nothing.
“Apparently, the Spy Kids have been spying on Bianca,” Morgana explained, though she didn’t really need to. I tended to take this kind of precaution all the time anyway.
“I guess we shouldn’t be surprised,” Erica said, giving me a wry look. “Considering your background and all. Honestly, if they’re after you, then they’re probably snooping on me too.”
I frowned at that while nodding agreement. From what I’d been told about the Spy Kids, the whole club was obsessed with playing spy. In fact, Decibelle had once told me that they were a whole club of snitches and wannabe hall monitors, who liked sticking their noses into everyone else’s business, in the hopes of catching them with their hand in the cookie jar. Apparently, they liked to ‘investigate’ anyone who they even suspected MIGHT have something illegal going on. Unfortunately, I fell into that area of interest, as did Erica, because of her own colorful family history.
“They’re training to be in law enforcement,” Jimmy offered. “You have to admit, they have reason to be a little suspicious.”
Erica, Morgana, and I all fixed Jimmy with simultaneous glares. He was a good kid, and he meant well, but he wasn’t the one they were snooping on.
Suddenly, Tavi appeared in front of Jimmy. Tavi was a virtual intelligence, or VI, who appeared as a holographic ferret. At the moment, Tavi looked like he was wearing some kind of keystone cop uniform, which looked odd on the furry creature.
“Book em, Danno,” Tavi exclaimed, holding out a pair of oversized, cartoon handcuffs.
“Even if they are investigating you,” Jimmy continued, seeming to ignore Tavi’s antics. “That doesn’t really mean anything…”
Now, Tavi was dressed up like Sherlock Holmes, complete with the stereotypical hat and magnifying glass. He made a show of leaning in towards Jimmy and inspecting him through the magnifying glass.
A moment later, Erica suddenly stomped her foot and I heard a crunching sound. “Cockroaches. Yuck.”
“Ewwww,” Laura responded with a look of disgust.
Erica looked down at the bug she’d stomped on and scowled. She bent down to pick it up, which was enough to make me think twice about my dinner, especially when she set it down on the table. Squashed cockroach was the last thing I wanted to look at, when I was trying to eat.
“Except, I don’t think cockroaches are supposed to be made of metal,” Erica pointed out.
That drew my attention to the bug, and I saw that it wasn’t a squashed insect like I’d thought, but some kind of tiny machine. There were metal parts that resembled a cockroach shell, but obviously, that wasn’t what it was.
“It looks like someone was trying to bug us,” I said wryly.
My eyes went to the card that I’d placed in the middle of the table, and it was still glowing faintly, an indication that the spell was still active. I suspected that whoever had send this metal roach, had been trying to eavesdrop on us, and was trying to get closer for a better signal. And my friends thought I was being paranoid, because I insisted on taking precautions to protect our privacy.
“Do you still think that their investigation doesn’t mean anything?” Morgana asked Jimmy.
“I might not be an expert or anything,” I pointed out in annoyance, “but I believe any legitimate criminal investigation requires warrants, oversight, and official authorizations. Somehow, I don’t think this club has any of that.”
“True,” Jimmy admitted with a sigh. “This is starting to look more like stalking and harassment than an official investigation.”
“We don’t even know if this was from the Spy Kids,” Tia pointed out, gesturing to the smashed robotic insect.
However, Laura quickly said, “Actually, this looks like Cyber Swarm’s work, since he specializes in these little robot bugs…and he’s with the Spy Kids.”
“So,” I asked, looking to Erica since she was probably being targeted the same as I was. “What do we do about this? I mean, so far, all they’ve done is try eavesdropping on us…”
“You could always go to security,” Tia suggested. “I mean, isn’t that what they’re for?”
“Somehow, I don’t think that would work,” I admitted with a sigh.
For most students, going to security about this kind of thing would probably be the smart move. However, as I’d been reminded on a number of occasions, I wasn’t most students. I was the White Lady. If I ran to security, it would make it look like I couldn’t deal with things myself, which would only hurt me more in the long run. I could get away with having my friends help, but definitely not security.
“So, they just keep bugging us?” Morgana asked with a smirk.
I considered the problem for a moment, trying to think of what Tessa or my grandmother would do. Unfortunately, I wasn’t sure what their responses would be, though I did have my own ideas. “For now, we just keep an eye out for bugs…and smash any of them that we find. Eventually, it will either get too expensive for them to keep sending these things after us, or they’ll do something more direct, which we can act on.”
“So, we don’t actually do anything,” Morgana muttered impatiently. “Now, I’m almost hoping they try something else.”
“At least our room is warded,” I told my roommate, who’d teased me mercilessly about all the wards and protection spells I’d put up. I looked at Erica. “If you want, I can put some wards up in your room too, so they can’t bug you there.”
“Thanks,” Erica responded. “I’d appreciate that.”
I nodded at that, hoping that the Spy Kids just gave up and left us alone. I’d only barely avoided a war with the Bad Seeds, and I certainly didn’t want to jump into one with the Spy Kids. I didn’t have anything personal against them, but they were starting to get annoying. As I ate my dinner, I absently wondered how the Bad Seeds dealt with this nosy club. Maybe I’d have to ask AJ tomorrow in class.
When we were done eating, I told my roommate and the other poesies, “I’ll see you guys in a while. I’m going to the library for a bit.”
“Do you want some company?” Morgana asked. What she really meant though, was did I want someone to come along and watch my back.
I appreciated the sentiment but shook my head. “I’ll be fine.”
A minute later, I left Crystal Hall and started for the library. Because of everything that was going on, I paid close attention to my surroundings during the brief walk, trying to spot any signs of an ambush or trap before they could close on me. Fortunately, I reached the library without any problem.
I wasn’t the only student with the idea of going to the library after dinner, but the place was far from packed. The few students who were there ignored me, except for one.
As I walked through the library, one boy immediately caught my attention. He was six and a half feet tall, muscular, and had golden metallic skin. In fact, he almost looked like he could have been a statue of some Greek god, if he hadn’t been wearing a nice business suit, and hadn’t been sitting at a table, with several books open in front of him. However, the thing that first drew my attention to him hadn’t been his size or skin color, it was the thoughtful way that he’d been watching me.
I didn’t know this boy personally, but I’d seen him around campus, and Janine had pointed him out to me. Edward Lowe, the Golden Lion, was supposed to be an influential senior. From what Janine told me, he was a high level exemplar, who’d used his exemplar brains to make himself rich, and now he loaned money to other students and invested in some gadgeteers’ inventions.
Physically, Edward looked strong and powerful, but he also radiated a sense of confidence, and near arrogance. He stared at me for just a few seconds before looking away, and seeming to dismiss me from his very thoughts. With a shrug, I tried to banish him from my own thoughts, and turned my attention to something much more important. There were a couple old magic books that I wanted to check out, to see if they had any useful runes or glyphs.
I spent the next hour looking through the two books in question, but unfortunately, I didn’t get anything useful from them. There were several spells that involved a heavy written component, however, this was only a part of these spells. These spells also included important verbal parts, which meant that I couldn’t cast these ones, at least not without a lot of reworking the spells, and I wasn’t nearly good enough to try that yet.
“Maybe later,” I said with a sigh.
At that moment, I suddenly wished that I had access to my grandmother’s library. I had no doubt, that she had all the books I’d need about written magic. Unfortunately, her private library was probably hidden within her old house somewhere, and I hadn’t stepped foot in that place since the night she’d been murdered. In fact, I shuddered at the very idea of ever going into that building again. There were far too many bad memories tied to it.
When I was finished with my research, I left the library. My thoughts were still on what I’d just learned, and how little of it was actually useful to me. However, in spite of being a little distracted, I didn’t miss the figure who was standing in my path, a short distance ahead.
The boy had a slender build, angular features that some might consider handsome, and dark hair that was combed back. He was leaning on a stick cane and watching me with an arrogant expression, which seemed to suggest that I was there because he’d somehow summoned me.
“Esquire,” I said in a cold tone that conveyed my hostility towards this boy.
I quickly glanced around for my friends, but none of them were in sight. Now, I regretted not taking Morgana up on her offer to come with me to the library, because I was facing Esquire without any backup.
“Miss St. Claire,” Esquire greeted me with a nearly predatory look in his eyes. “Do you mind if I call you Bianca?”
“What do you want?” I demanded, trying to keep my anger and expression under control. At the same time, I reached for the mental switches for my built in spells, preparing to activate them.
“It has come to my attention that there has been a…misunderstanding,” Esquire responded.
“A misunderstanding?” I asked. “Is that what you call outing me to the school? Or sending Beatdown to attack me.”
Esquire just smiled, obviously trying to be charming, but not quite succeeding. “I can assure you, my involvement in those unfortunate situations has been quite overstated.”
I stared at Esquire, not believing him for a moment. “Somehow, I doubt that.”
“Be that as it may,” Esquire continued, as though my skepticism meant nothing to him. “I understand the precarious situation you find yourself in, quite well. We both come from families with many enemies, some of which are inside the school. We cannot trust the school to keep us safe, and must attend to our security on our own. Alliances are crucial. You have influence and contacts beyond these walls, while I have many of my own. A tactical alliance would be greatly beneficial to both of us.”
“You want to be…allies?” I asked in surprise. “And you really think I’ll go for that, after what you did?”
I could hardly believe the nerve of this guy. The scary thing was, I might even have bought into it, if he’d tried this tactic before outing me, and if it hadn’t been for Racoon’s warnings.
“You don’t need to like me to form a business arrangement,” Esquire said. “Admittedly, I’d hoped you would have joined the Bad Seeds, and would have been an asset in that fashion. However, we can still make arrangements on our own.”
“You’re crazy if you think I’m going to help you,” I spat out angrily.
I started to walk past, but Esquire reached out and grabbed hold of my arm. Since I was already on edge, I instantly flipped my mental switch and activated one of my elements. Suddenly, my eyes and tattoos all began to slow a silvery color, and I knew that a rune had appeared on my palm which said ‘air’.
“Let go of me,” I snarled, shoving Esquire with a gust of wind that send him flying back. I was so angry, and admittedly, scared, that I hit him with a little more force than I’d intended. Esquire hit the ground hard and tumbled a couple times.
“No one treats me like that,” Esquire exclaimed as he scrambled back to his feet.
Esquire had dropped his cane when I’d thrown him back, but it floated up into the air and right into his hand. With a swift motion, he removed the head of the cane, and two dozen steel ball bearings floated out and began to orbit around him.
“White Lady or not,” Esquire stated, “it’s time you learn to respect your betters.”
Half the metal spheres flew straight at me, slamming into the shield of hardened air that I’d barely managed to get up around myself in time. They hadn’t come as fast or hard as they could have, so I suspected that Esquire was trying to bruise me rather than kill me. At least that much was a relief, especially since I knew he was capable of throwing a lot more than ball bearings. He was a powerful enough ferrokinetic, that he probably could have thrown a car at me, if he had one in range.
My power was rapidly running out, so I used what remained of my activated magic to send another blast of wind at Esquire. This wasn’t nearly as powerful as my first blast, but it was enough to knock Esquire back again before I ran out.
“Is that all you have?” Esquire asked in an arrogant tone. “I’d expected more of the White Lady. Now, I wonder if I made a mistake in trying to ally with you…”
All of Esquire’s ball bearings returned to him went back into orbit, though they moved around him faster and faster, creating a spinning wheel of death should I try to get too close. He stared at me with smirk, and I knew that this time he was going to hit me even harder.
“Damn,” I muttered, knowing that none of my spell slips would do much against this. My best chance now was to unleash my fire power and hit him hard and fast, before he could hit me. Unfortunately, I was pretty sure that he could attack faster than I could.
Just then, a new voice announced, “As entertaining as this promises to be, I believe that continuing with this is not the wisest course of action.”
I blinked in surprise and glanced over, seeing Edward Lowe, the Golden Lion, standing there a short distance away. He was watching Esquire and me with a faint scowl.
The golden student adjusted his tie and casually commented, “If you two continue this, then it won’t be long before security arrives.”
“You do have a point,” Esquire admitted. He glared at me for a moment, before musing, “I allowed my temper to get the best of me.”
Esquire held out his cane, and all the ball bearings shot back inside of it. Once they were all hidden within, he put the cap of his cane back on and then began leaning on it again, as though nothing had happened.
“Brawling in a public place is beneath me,” Esquire commented, still giving me a cold look.
Though I was tempted to make some kind of sarcastic comment, I bit my tongue and tried to maintain the dignity expected of the White Lady. Of course, the fact that I couldn’t think of any good comments at the moment played a part in that decision.
“Then I’m glad that this is settled,” Edward said.
“For the moment,” Esquire responded. He looked at me again and said, “We’ll continue this discussion another time…in a more private setting.”
“Next time,” I told him, “please make an appointment.” I felt vaguely pleased with myself for coming up with that one, and for keeping my cool.
“Of course,” Esquire replied with a mocking bow. “Until next time, Miss St. Claire.”
Once Esquire walked away, I turned to Edward, who hadn’t moved. “Thank you for breaking that up.”
“There is little profit to behaving like a thug,” Edward said with a wry smile.
“I’m Bianca St. Claire,” I said in introduction. “Glyph.”
“Edward Lowe,” the large boy said in return. “The Golden Lion.” Then, he gave me a thoughtful look. “Of course, I’m aware of your other codename. The entire school is, by this point.”
“Unfortunately,” I mused. “I didn’t want that getting out.”
Edward smiled faintly, though it didn’t really reach his eyes. “I imagine not.” After a momentary pause, he changed topics and said, “I offer certain financial services here on campus. Should you find yourself in need of a short term loan, local savings, or any investment opportunities, please let me know.”
And with that, Edward bowed his head slightly and walked off, leaving me by myself. I let out a sigh of relief and then looked around, making sure that Esquire really was gone. Then, once I was sure it was safe, I hurried back to Poe as quickly as I could without actually running.
--------------------
Emerson Cottage, Wednesday evening, Oct 5th, 2016
Crysis was in his dorm room, sitting cross-legged on his bed. His roommate Cole was out with a friend, leaving Crysis with the room to himself for the time being. That meant, it was the perfect time for him to study and take care of his homework. Unfortunately, he had a hard time focusing on that at the moment. Instead, his thoughts kept going to that white-skinned girl, Bianca St. Claire. Glyph. The White Lady.
“The bitch,” he announced with a sneer.
Crysis didn’t like that girl, not in the least. However, when he was being honest with himself, he didn’t have anything personal against her. Because of Glyph’s position and who she was, she was an obstacle to his dad’s boss, Scorn. That meant she was his dad’s enemy, and by extension, his.
It had been a couple weeks since Crysis told his dad about Glyph, and where the new White Lady was located. His dad hadn’t believed him at first, but after a little convincing, Crysis was sure that he’d convinced him. However, what Crysis didn’t know, was whether or not this information had been passed on to Scorn, or if anything would be done with it.
“I found her for Scorn,” Crysis muttered in frustration.
He’d expected to have heard back from his dad by now, with instructions on what he should do, and possibly even about a reward. Crysis smiled faintly about that, looking forward to receiving some recognition. Maybe his dad would appreciate what he’d done for them.
Crysis continued to think of Glyph, picturing her clearly in his mind. He’d been up close and personal with her in BMA, enough times that it was easy to envision her. Her skin and hair were pure white, while her eyes were an old silvery color. However, if it hadn’t been for her strange pigmentation, she probably would have been very pretty.
For a moment, Crysis tried to imagine kissing Glyph, or taking her for a walk along Navy Pier. However, he quickly laughed at the idea and how ludicrous it was. For one thing, her pale skin was creepy and unnatural, not the least bit attractive. And for another, even if Glyph hadn’t been a freak, they weren’t Romeo and Juliet. She was his enemy, pure and simple, and he wasn’t going to forget that even in some silly little fantasy.
A moment later, Crysis’ phone suddenly began to ring from his nightstand, nearly making him jump. He gave a quick mental tug and it flew into his hand, where he answered, “Hello.”
“Robert,” his dad said from the other end, making him instinctively sit up a little straighter.
“Yes, sir,” Crysis responded.
“I have discussed the current situation with Mister Scorn,” his dad began, getting straight to business. “Due to certain strategic complications, Mister Scorn cannot take direct action against the White Lady as long as she is at Whateley.”
“I understand,” Crysis said. Whateley security was pretty fierce, but even more importantly, there was the whole Whateley neutrality thing. As powerful as Scorn was, even he wouldn’t want to cross the Syndicate and all those heroes at the same time. “What do you want me to do?”
“Watch and observe,” his dad told him. “Learn as much as you can about the new White Lady and report back to me. I will relay the relevant information to Mister Scorn.”
Crysis nodded agreement, though he knew it was silly since his dad couldn’t see that over the phone. “Yes, sir. I can do that.”
“Good,” came the response from the other end of the line. Then, his father added, “Mister Scorn will not act on Whateley grounds, but should the White Lady happen to suffer an accident while there, he would be quite pleased.”
Crysis gulped at those words and carefully controlled his voice. “I understand.”
“Good,” his dad repeated in a grim tone. There was a pause, and just when Crysis thought the call was over, his dad spoke again. “Whatever you do, Robert, be careful. You’re in a dangerous position, and one that may very well determine your future.”
“I’ll be careful,” Crysis promised.
“Good,” his dad repeated again, before adding, “And make sure you call your mother. She worries about you.”
When the call ended a few seconds later, Crysis remained where he was, almost afraid to even breath. He understood what had just been asked of him…unofficially. Scorn wanted to use him as an expendable asset, to provide plausible deniability. If anything went wrong, his head would be the one on the chopping block. However, Crysis also knew that if he played his cards right and pulled this off, then he’d have earned himself a position in Scorn’s organization, one that nobody would be able to say he’d been given because of his dad’s name.
Crysis smirked to himself as he mused, “Now, how the hell am I going to pull this off?”
Thursday morning, Oct 6th, 2016
I was in my first period Power Theory class, where I was surrounded by a lot of my friends. Last night, I’d told the ones in Poe about what had happened with Esquire, and this morning during breakfast, I’d repeated the story for nearly everyone else. Now, I was having to tell the story for a third time, for Janine.
“What?” Janine gasped, staring at me in horror. “He really attacked you?”
“He started to,” I responded with a sigh. “If Golden Lion hadn’t been there, things might have gotten…messy.”
“I’ve heard about him,” Vic said. He sat several seats away but was close enough to hear us talking. “Apparently, he’s some big man over in Emerson.”
“Why would he be in Emerson?” Laura asked, giving Vic a curious look. “I didn’t think they put anyone with GSD over there.”
“Yeah,” Morgana added with a smirk. “But he has the ‘pretty’ kind of GSD.”
“And rumor around Twain is that he greased a few palms,” Vic added wryly. Then he shrugged. “Admittedly, the rumors are mostly from kids with GSD, who just MIGHT be a touch jealous.”
“But what about Esquire?” Janine asked, giving me a worried look. “If the Bad Seeds declared war on you for not joining…”
“Not all of them,” I corrected her with a sigh. “Just Esquire. In fact, I have it on good authority, that the rest of the Seeds are keeping their noses out of it.”
Morgana grinned at that. “Then all the better. If all of us go after him…”
“Then the Seeds would probably decide to get involved,” I pointed out grimly. “Right now, it’s between me and him, but if all of you got involved…”
“Then they’d probably feel obligated to help him,” Laura finished for me.
“That just sucks,” Tia commented while Tanya nodded agreement.
Tanya scowled, pointing out, “This isn’t a fair fight. I mean, Esquire is a sophomore, and you’re a freshman. He has more training than you, and to be honest…we’ve seen you in BMA.”
“Don’t remind me,” I responded with a wince.
“Bianca can beat him,” Janine announced with a confidence that surprised and confused me.
“Thank you for the vote of confidence,” I told Janine, feeling a bit touched by it.
Morgana nodded at that. “You know, we have your back if you need it. Just say the word.”
There were more nods of agreement from my friends. Tia offered, “You can still bounce ideas off us, if nothing else.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I told her, before turning my attention back to the class and the lecture that we’d been talking through.
When class ended a short time later, the conversation immediately started up again, or at least, several separate conversations started up. Janine was by my side, complaining about how last night, Karma had gotten into her latest domino chain, and set it off prematurely. Knowing how much time and effort Janine put into these things, I could understand her frustration.
“Oouch,” I said sympathetically. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” Janine admitted with a sigh. “The workshops aren’t really a good place to set up my dominos, but I don’t have anywhere else where I can leave them set up overnight. Well, except for Dickensen’s basement, but there are always girls who’d mess with it, just because.”
“You probably need to find a private lab,” Laura suggested. “You know, one of those hidden rooms I keep hearing about.”
“That’s a great idea,” Tinker exclaimed, her eyes gleaming with interest.
“I wouldn’t mind getting a private lab myself,” I commented almost absently. I glanced at Morgana and continued, “No offense to you or AJ, but I’d like somewhere a little more private to work on my inks.”
Morgana gave me a look of mock offense. “I’ll have you know, I’m mortally offended. You’ll have to earn my forgiveness with a properly caffeinated apology.”
“You can put it on my tab,” I told her wryly.
“I’m keeping a tally,” Morgana assured me with a smirk. “And one day, I am going to collect.”
“You’re welcome to try,” I said with a smirk of my own.
After this, our group split up and went in different directions. Morgana and I had Magic Theory next, so the two of us went to that while everyone else went to their classes.
--------------------
Thursday late morning, Oct 6th, 2016
I stood under the hot running water, letting out a sigh of relief as I did so. I could feel all the aches and pains washing away, along with the sweat and grime. In fact, I could literally feel my bruises healing and fading.
BMA had just ended, and I was taking a much needed shower before going to lunch. Today, class had gone relatively well, and I was feeling rather pleased with myself.
At first, I’d sparred with Rapunzel, who’d quickly tied me up in her long prehensile hair. However, I’d been able to activate my built-in fire spell to burn a lot of her hair away and free myself. In the process, I’d also left her unable to defend herself from my retaliation, which meant that I won the match.
Most girls would have been furious at having their hair destroyed in that way, but not Rapunzel. She’d been annoyed, but nothing more. Her hair grew at a rate of several feet a day, and she had to cut it every day just to keep it at a manageable length. By class tomorrow, her hair would be just as long as it had been at the start of class today.
When I was done with my shower, I activated my built-in water spell, which caused all my silvery watermark runes to glow blue. It took me only a couple seconds to pull all the loose water from my skin and hair, and then to drop it directly into the drain, leaving me nice and dry. Several girls gave me looks of envy as I got dressed, not having to worry about wet hair.
“That was a pretty good match against Rapunzel,” Laura told me, giving me an approving smile. “But next time, you’ll need to keep your distance and avoid her hair entirely.”
“Trust me,” I responded with a sigh. “I know.”
“Yeah,” Morgana added with a grin. “That burnt hair smell is nasty. I do NOT want to deal with that again…”
“Weren’t you the one who burnt her hair last week when you were sparring with her?” I asked my roommate. “Where do you think I got the idea from?”
“Yeah, but it’s different when I do it,” Morgana responded, before sticking her tongue out at me.
Laura chuckled at that. “You both had better hope that she doesn’t find a way to make her hair fireproof. I think, someone in the labs is working on some shampoo to do just that…”
“Then I guess I’ll just have to resort to scissors,” I said, pulling out the knife that I usually carried with me. It was a dagger, not scissors, but it got the point across.
While we finished getting dressed, Rapunzel showed up, with her blue hair now being only a little longer than a pixie cut. This was the shortest that I’d ever seen her hair, though I knew that in no time at all, her hair would be touching her shoulders again. She gave me a nod of acknowledgement that was almost friendly.
“So,” Rapunzel asked, looking at Laura. “What’s this about fireproof shampoo? And where can I get some?”
Laura, Morgana, and I all looked back and forth at each other before we all burst out laughing.
A minute later, Morgana and I left the locker room together, while Laura remained to talk with Rapunzel about the possibility of devisor shampoos that might work with her hair. However, as soon as we stepped out of the locker room, I noticed two members of campus security standing there.
“Miss St. Claire,” one of the men said. “We need you to come with us.”
“What?” I blinked in surprise and confusion.
One of the other girls who was coming out of the locker room saw this, and immediately said, “About time they took care of her…”
“What’s this about?” I asked, trying to calm down. The only reason I could think of for security to want to see me, was because of what happened last night with Esquire.
“We aren’t at liberty to say,” the other security officer said. “But we’ve been instructed to bring you to the security office.”
“Bianca didn’t do anything,” Morgana protested, immediately coming to my defense.
I looked at my roommate and gave her a nervous smile. “I guess I’ll see you later…” I silently added a ‘hopefully’ to the end of that.
The security officers didn’t really say anything as we left, which only played on my already frayed nerves, though they didn’t handcuff me or anything, which I took as a good sign. A couple minutes later, they led me to the campus security offices, and then to one specific office. There was a nice looking desk in the middle of the room, with an attractive blonde woman sitting behind it. I immediately recognized Samantha Everheart, the head of Whateley Security.
“Here she is ma’am,” one of my escorts said.
“Thank you,” Everheart told him, before gesturing for them to leave.
Once the other two were gone, Everheart stared at me for several seconds. There was something about her body language and the look in her eyes, that immediately reminded me of some of my Loyal back in Chicago, though perhaps a little more intense. At a surface glance, this woman didn’t look very dangerous, though I had no doubt she was.
Then, without any polite introductions or preamble, Everheart said, “Several students have reported being harassed, threatened, or in one case, physically assaulted, by two students who claimed that they work for you.”
“WHAT?” I blurted out in surprise and confusion.
“You’re surprised by this,” Everheart said. It was a statement, not a question.
“Yes,” I admitted, not sure what else to say. After a couple seconds, I added, “I don’t know anything about this. I don’t even have any people working for me here…” Well, there was Janine, but I wasn’t going to mention that. “And I certainly wouldn’t ask them to go after other students.”
“But you do have people,” Everheart pointed out.
I nodded agreement, knowing that it was pointless to deny anything. The school knew all about who I really was, and not just as the White Lady. There was no doubt that security, and especially Everheart, would know every bit of that.
“I have bodyguards back in Chicago,” I said. “And technically, other people who work for me too.”
“Technically?” Everheart asked, raising an eyebrow.
With a grimace, I reluctantly admitted, “I might be the White Lady now, but I’m really just a figurehead. I don’t actually have any authority with the Family.”
“I suspected that was the case,” Everheart told me with a faint smile that quickly faded. “Now, about these students who claim that they work for you…”
“But I don’t have any,” I started, only to pause in realization. With a gulp, I asked, “Who are they?”
Everheart stared at me for a moment. “Shades and Beatdown.”
I groaned at that and nearly pulled a facepalm. “It figures…”
“You aren’t surprised that it’s them,” Everhearet pointed out. “Why is that?”
That was a question that really made me nervous, so I wondered just how much I could tell without giving away enough to get me in trouble. Somehow, I didn’t think that security would look favorably on what happened in the tunnels a couple weeks ago, even if I was the one who’d been attacked, and had only defended myself.
“A couple weeks ago, Beatdown tried to jump me,” I said. “I got away from him and thought that was it. Then, a couple days ago, he and Shades showed up and asked if they could work for me. I told them that I wasn’t interested…”
“Well, it seems that they misunderstood,” Everheart responded with a sigh. She scowled at that and shook her head faintly. I had a feeling that she was marveling at the stupidity of students.
I took a deep breath, then cautiously asked, “Am I in trouble?”
Everheart stared at me for several more seconds before answering. “No. I believe you, that you aren’t behind those two. However, I suggest that you have a word with them and clarify your position.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I responded in relief.
A minute later, I hurried out of the security offices, wanting to get away from Kane Hall as fast as I could. I might not be in trouble this way, but I’d seen the way a couple of those security officers looked at me, like I was either some kind of troublemaker that they had to keep an eye on, or worse, like I might be a potential payday.
Fortunately, my visit to security hadn’t taken all that long, and there was still enough time for me to get to Crystal Hall and get something to eat before I had to get to my next class. I hurried towards the cafeteria at a quick pace, already expecting all the questions I was bound to receive from my friends, about what was going on. I had a feeling that Morgana would laugh her butt off, and then tease me even more about having minions.
Since it was still the lunch period, students were out in force, which always made me a little nervous. Being surrounded by so many people always triggered that little paranoid voice in the back of my head, the one that had only become louder after the attacks in the tunnels.
I slowly looked around, trying to see if there were any threats, not that this was likely with so many witnesses. However, you never knew, and it always paid to be aware of your surroundings.
Two boys, who were obviously either gadgeteers or devisors, were messing around with a robot that bore a striking resemblance to the one from that old movie Short Circuit. A short distance away, several more students were playing a game of frisbee, using their powers to make the game a little more exciting. And then, there were numerous people who just seemed to be walking around.
My eyes locked on one of these people in recognition. Esquire was walking past a short distance away, calmly strolling by with his cane and acting as though he hadn’t seen me.
Seconds later, I suddenly heard some kind of explosion from the side, and when I snapped around, I saw the robot had exploded and something was flying towards me. I barely registered that it was the robot’s head, before it hit my shoulder and sent me flying back in a burst of pain.
--------------------
The Quad, Thursday late afternoon, Oct 6th, 2016
I was sitting on a hard bench in the Quad, feeling chilly and sore. My coat helped me against the chill, but didn’t do anything for the ache in my shoulder.
Earlier today, a couple devisors had been testing out their robot, which spontaneously exploded, as devises sometimes tended to do. The robot’s head had struck me in the shoulder, breaking my collar bone and severely bruising me. If it had hit me just a little differently, or several inches closer to my head, there was no doubt that I would have been killed. As it was, I’d been rushed to Doyle, where they patched me up as best they could. Between their healing spells and my own enhanced healing abilities, I was much better than I had been. However, my entire shoulder was still heavily bruised, and extremely sore, and probably would be for another day or two.
They said that it was an accident…that devises sometimes failed and even exploded for no clear reason. They said that I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I didn’t believe that. Not in the least. Not when a ferrokinetic, who happened to have a grudge against me, was right there when it happened.
“Esquire,” I said in a quiet and bitter tone.
Esquire had come after me again. First, he’d outed me as the White Lady to the entire school, which caused me some serious problems. Then, he’d sent that thug Beatdown to rough me up, in the hopes that I’d go to him and the Bad Seeds for protection. And now, he’d attacked me directly, trying to make it look like an accident when it clearly wasn’t.
“I have to do something about him,” I told myself.
This was the kind of thing that most students would take to campus security, or at least, the kind of thing that they should. After all, this was what security was there for. However, that wasn’t an option for me. I could almost hear Marcus and Tessa in my head, reminding me that I couldn’t be seen as being weak, and if I ran to security, that was exactly how I would be seen.
“So, nothing has changed,” I pointed out with a scowl.
I couldn’t go to security without being seen as weak and unable to solve my own problems, and I couldn’t allow my friends to get involved, without risking a full war between us and the Bad Seeds. I’d just managed to avoid that, and had no intention of starting that up again, or dragging my friends into it. Esquire was my problem, and I’d have to deal with him on my own.
Then with a sigh, I looked around at my surroundings, trying to catch sight of any other possible ambush or attack. I wasn’t happy about being out here in the open like this, but this was where Janine had wanted to meet up with me. She’d said that she wanted to show me something, so I assumed she wanted to demonstrate some improvements on her domino setting machine.
While I waited for Janine, I continued watching my surroundings closely. However, my attention kept going to Kopy, who was showing off for a couple girls, obviously trying to impress them. From the sparks he was shooting out of his hands, I assumed that he’d copied the powers of some energizer.
At the moment, I was just thankful that Kopy wasn’t bothering me. Either he hadn’t noticed me, or he’d finally realized that I wasn’t with the Bad Seeds and couldn’t get him into the club. He claimed that his biological father was the supervillain Mimeo, but apparently, the Seeds didn’t believe him, because they’d never offered him membership. Kopy was definitely something of a show-off, so I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that he’d made the whole thing about Mimeo up, just for attention.
“Hey, Glyph,” Kopy called out to me, finally noticing that I was there, or just deciding to acknowledge me. “I was wondering if I could copy your powers for a bit…you know, for practice. It always pays trying out a variety of different abilities…”
“I’m afraid not,” I responded as politely as I could.
The truth was, I had no idea what would happen if Kopy tried to copy my abilities. My abilities didn’t all come from my mutant power, at least not directly. Most of my powers were due to the legacy that I’d inherited from my grandmother, the one that was passed down from one White Lady to another.
I suspected that if Kopy did try to copy my powers, all he’d get would be my mutant avatar trait, without a spirit to go with it. However, I was a little worried about the possibility of him somehow copying my ‘spirit’, the family legacy that made me into the White Lady. If he could do that, it would create a lot of problems that I didn’t want to deal with, so it was best to avoid that can of worms entirely.
Fortunately, Janine showed up before Kopy could press me on the issue. “Bianca,” Janine called out as she quickly walked in my direction. As soon as I saw her, I let out a sigh of relief. My problems with Kopy were over, at least for the moment.
“I’m glad you made it,” I told her in complete honesty.
Then I noticed, she didn’t have her domino machine with her, or anything to set up a domino chain. That made me more curious over what she wanted to talk to me about.
Janine gave me a concerned look, asking, “Are you okay? Do you feel better?”
The questions made me instinctively reach over to touch my aching shoulder with my good hand. “It still hurts,” I admitted. “But now, it’s mostly just bruising.”
“The guys feel really bad about what happened,” Janine told me with a pained look. “They don’t know why their robot blew up. I think they’d come and apologize but…” She cringed, suddenly looking even more self-conscious than usual. “I think they’re kind of intimidated by you…”
I blinked at that, surprised for just a moment. I wasn’t a very intimidating person, or at least, I certainly didn’t think I was. Nobody who actually knew me, thought I was intimidating, but I guess I did have a reputation now, whether it was deserved or not.
“It wasn’t their fault,” I told Janine with a scowl. Then, I explained, “I think Esquire was trying to take me out, and make it look like an accident…”
Janine gasped at that, giving me a look of horror. “No…”
“It isn’t the first time that someone tried to kill me,” I stated, clenching my fists as I did so and trying not to shudder. “And it probably won’t be the last.”
I glanced around nervously, hating the fact that I constantly had to watch for ambushes and assassination attempts. If I let my guard down for one minute, I could get killed. That had nearly happened a couple hours ago, and was a clear reminder to stay alert.
“That’s horrible,” Janine gasped, giving me a look of worry.
“So,” I said, trying to change the subject. “What was it you wanted to show me?”
Janine’s eyes seemed to light up at that. “Well, I was talking to some people in the labs about how I needed to find a place for my dominos, and Samantha…Tek Rider, said that she just got a new lab, and that I could have the old one she used last year…”
“That’s great,” I told Janine, honestly happy for her. I knew how hard it was for her to find a place to set up her dominos and Rube Goldberg machines, where other people wouldn’t mess with them.
“Yeah,” Janine started to respond, before pausing for several seconds. She gave me a nervous smile before continuing. “That was really nice of herj, but when I went to look at the lab…it was way too small for me. I need a lot more space than that…”
I nodded at that, knowing that her domino chains could take up a lot of floor space when she set them up. That was one of the reasons she had such a hard time finding the right place. This was a busy school, so a lot of open space that was also relatively secure, was hard to find.
Janine bit her lip for a moment before saying, “So, I kind of thought that you might like it…”
“What?” I asked in surprise.
“You said that you wanted a lab too,” Janine explained self-consciously, bushing as she did so. “It’s a little small, but I thought you might want it…”
“Um…thank you,” I said, not sure what else to say. “Where is it?”
Janine pulled a folded sheet of paper out of her pocket and unfolded it, showing that it was a series of directions. “Samantha wrote down the directions for me,” she explained, before starting towards the nearest entrance to the tunnels.
I had no idea where we were going, and Janine only seemed to have a vague sense, in spite of having been there already. She kept looking at the directions in order to guide us through the tunnels to our destination.
“We’re here,” Janine finally announced, stopping in front of what seemed to be a janitor’s closet of some kind.
I peeked my head into the closet, which was actually empty, before wryly commenting, “You’re right. This is too small…”
Janine giggled at that, then stepped inside and pushed the wall, which swung open, revealing that it was actually another door. I blinked at that, then followed her into the small closet and then through the door.
A moment later, I found myself inside a small room that couldn’t have been any larger than the dorm room I shared with Morgana. In fact, I was pretty sure that this was just a little smaller. The floor and walls were all plain concrete, which made me think ‘jail cell’ for some reason, and the entire place was almost completely empty. The only thing in the entire room, besides us, was a bench against one wall. If this place had been used as a laboratory by some devisor or gadgeteer, she’d obviously done a good job of cleaning it out.
“I know it isn’t much,” Janine said awkwardly, “but I thought you might be able to use it…”
“Definitely,” I responded with a smile, already imagining where everything would go. This place wasn’t nearly as large, nice, or well-equipped as the lab I shared with Morgana and AJ, but I could make it work. “I can make my inks and chalks right over there.” I pointed to the bench. “I can put a bookshelf here, to store my materials. And I can even put a small writing desk… This place is perfect for what I need… Thank you…”
Janine practically beamed at that. “I’m glad you like it.”
“Best personal assistant ever,” I said, which made her blush. “Now, I just need to figure out some security…”
“Security?” Janine asked me curiously.
“Well, Tek Rider obviously knows where this place is,” I pointed out. “And who knows how many other people might know.”
“Oh, yeah,” Janine responded with a disappointed sigh.
“I’ll need to get a good lock,” I mused aloud, looking at the door. In fact, I might want to reposition the door, sealing that one up and opening another one instead. That would be a real pain in the butt, but with my built in ‘earth’ spell, I could probably speed that up. “And I know a lot of wards I can use too…”
“I can help with the physical lock,” Janine offered eagerly. “That could be fun.”
I nodded my agreement. Then, I asked, “But what about you? Maybe I can help you find a place for your dominos…”
“I already found a place,” Janine replied, looking pleased. “But thank you…”
“You did?” I asked in surprise.
Janine nodded at that. “A couple people in the labs told me about a spot that should work. Apparently, a lot of people in the labs know about it, but most other students don’t. It’s got a LOT of room, but since it isn’t super-secret, and it’s out of the way, most people don’t bother going there. They said that if I set my stuff up there, nobody should really mess with it.”
“Then, let’s go take a look,” I said, curious about this place.
“All right,” Janine said, barely containing her excitement.
Before we left, I bent down and drew several runes near the door in chalk, setting some wards that would let me know if anyone else came into the room. Then, I shook my head, already considering the physical and magical protections that I’d need to set up if I actually wanted this place to be secure. I silently promised myself that by the time I was through, this room would be just as secure as my own dorm room, if not more so.
“That should do it for now,” I muttered, definitely not satisfied with the current level of security. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time for anything more just then.
The place Janine told me about wasn’t too far away, though the twists and turns in the tunnel made it seem further than it actually was. As soon as we stepped through the door into the large room, I could tell that it was indeed perfect for her domino extravaganzas. The room was huge, with lots of floor space, and that was after taking into account the various contraptions that were scattered about against the walls.
“I guess some people used this for storage or something,” Janine said, staring at some of the odd contraptions. “But I bet I can use some of this stuff for parts…”
My eyes went to something that looked like one of those death traps that all the villains liked to use in the old Batman TV series with Adam West. There was a big container up top, with skulls painted on it, along with the word ‘ACID’.
“I figure I can put in some new locks and use this place,” Janine told me. “Of course, a lot of people know where this is, and if they want in they can get through the locks, but that will probably make it too much trouble for most people to bother with…”
“I’ll set up some wards to help protect the place, if you want,” I offered.
“Really?” Janine asked, suddenly getting more excited. “You’d do that for me?”
“Of course,” I responded, giving her a look of surprise. “You just got me a lab. This is the least I can do…”
Janine let out a little squeal of delight and then grabbed me in a hug, before jumping back with a look of embarrassment. “Sorry,” she apologized with a bright blush. “I got kind of carried away…”
I smiled at that, though I was blushing a little myself, or at least, what little I was able to with my odd coloration. Getting hugged like that had actually been kind of nice.
Then, I looked over the room again, trying to decide how I could help with security, when suddenly, an idea came to me. For a moment, I just stood there froze, my mind racing as the details began to come together. It would take some work…a LOT of work…but if I could pull this off…
“Janine,” I asked carefully. “Before you set your stuff up here, would you mind if I used it for a few days?”
With a look of confusion, she asked, “What for?”
“Because,” I responded with an evil smile, quite aware of my still aching shoulder, “I have an idea for how to deal with Esquire.”
--------------------
Thursday evening, Oct 6th, 2016
Carrie squirmed self-consciously in her chair as she looked around the table. Only three of the other Cadets had shown up for the meeting, and all of them were staring at her expectantly.
“You were right,” she told Miss Violet before glancing to Mister Blank and Perfume.
Violet just smirked. “Of course I was.”
Carrie wanted to roll her eyes. Instead, she continued, “Whatever spell she uses to jam our listening devices, doesn’t work on someone who is physically close enough to listen in themselves.”
“How close were you?” Edward asked curiously.
“I was shrunk down to just a few inches tall,” Carrie answered. “So, I was able to practically get right under the bench where she was sitting.”
“It seems unlikely that Glyph would talk about anything sensitive in the open like that,” Perfume commented thoughtfully. “But did you learn anything useful?”
“A little,” Carrie said, uncomfortable with the attention.
Ironically, she’d done gymnastic routines while being watched by lots of complete strangers, and she never had any problems with that. However, once she was out of her comfort zone, her confidence went out the window.
Carrie took a deep breath and steadied herself as she continued, “Glyph was talking with Tinker, and she said that Esquire was the one who caused her accident today.”
“Better they go after each other than team up,” Edward pointed out.
“But I wonder what they’re fighting for,” Violet added a moment later, looking thoughtful.
“If they are,” Perfume mused. “We don’t have all the facts yet, and I don’t want to jump to conclusions.”
“Tinker also said that she found a lab for Glyph,” Carrie added.
“Glyph has a lab now?” Edward asked in surprise.
“If she has a lab,” Violet said, “we need to get a look inside it. Who knows what evil spells she might be cooking up there.”
Carrie nodded her agreement, though didn’t say anything. Instead, she sat there and silently watched while Edward and Violet tried to figure it out.
“There’s no point in speculation,” Perfume finally said. “We need to get more information first, and that means investigation. Now, where is this lab at?”
“I don’t know,” Carrie admitted with a wince. “I couldn’t keep up with them when they went down into the tunnels.” Then, she got defensive. “It’s hard to go very fast when you’re the size of a mouse…”
“That’s understandable,” Perfume told her gently.
Edward smirked. “You still learned more than any of Swarm’s drones.”
“Tinker said that it used to be Tek Rider’s lab,” Carrie offered.
“Then, I think we have a place to start,” Perfume said, giving Carrie a smile. “Good job, Carrie.”
--------------------
Emerson Cottage, Thursday evening, Oct 6th, 2016
Crysis sat on his bed, doing his best to ignore his roommate Cole, who was on the other side of their shared room, staring at his laptop. He didn’t know if Cole was doing classwork or looking at porn, and was afraid to ask. And at that moment, Crysis had much more important things to concern himself over.
“Glyph,” Crysis whispered to himself beneath his breath. “The White Lady…”
Earlier in the day, after BMA was over, he’d watched as security came and took that white-skinned girl away. Out of curiosity, he’d followed at a distance, until he’d seen that they were taking her to Kane Hall. After that, it was only a matter of waiting until she came back out again.
At first, Crysis had only intended to follow her, to gather information and come up with a plan. But then, he’d seen his opportunity. A couple lab geeks had been testing some kind of robot, so it was a simple matter of using his telekinesis to tear the thing apart, making it look like it had exploded. Then he’d thrown a part at Glyph, and had even hit her…though not as fatally as he’d hoped.
His heart raced as he remembered what he’d done, and how close he’d come to killing her. If he’d succeeded, he would have earned his dad’s respect, as well as a position in Scorn’s organization. Unfortunately, while his powers were pretty strong, he still needed to work on fine control. If he’d had more control, and had been more accurate, he would have succeeded.
“It would have looked like an accident,” he muttered. Nobody would have been able to trace it to him.
Crysis was frustrated by his failure, but at the same time, a small part of him was actually relieved. He’d never killed anyone before, and the idea of actually doing so made him a little uncomfortable, even if his victim was someone who deserved it, like the White Lady. After all, she’d killed a man and mailed his head to Scorn, so she was no helpless innocent.
“Next time,” Crysis quietly promised himself, “I’ll do better.”
Of course, he’d have to be careful and wait for the right opportunity, because it had to look like an accident. If he got caught killing someone on campus, even someone like the White Lady, not even Scorn would be able to help him.
--------------------
Crystal Hall, Friday late morning, Oct 7th, 2016
I was sitting in my usual seat as I ate lunch with my friends. Today, the conversation was pretty lively, though it would have been more accurate to say that the conversations were, since everyone had broken up into smaller groups, and several different conversations were going on at once.
Taka and Hikaru were talking to each other in Japanese, and I had little idea of what they were actually saying. I knew that they were discussing some important event in Japanese history, but when they’d tried explaining it to the rest of us, it hadn’t made a lot of sense. I guess that I didn’t have the cultural background necessary to appreciate the detail or importance to their culture.
Vic and Jimmy were similarly engaged in a private talk, though Jimmy’s VI ferret Tavi, floated over the table in front of them and kept inserting random comments. I couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but from the way Tavi suddenly pumped up with muscles, and then had a cape and spandex hero costume appear, I had to admit that I was curious.
On the other hand, I could easily hear what Tanya, Callie, Erica, and Tia were talking about, though I would have been happy not to. They were talking about fashion, and since Tia knew a lot of professional models, most of their attention was focused on her. I was somewhat amused by that, as well as sympathetic. Tia was a changeling, like me, which meant that this was probably still a little odd for her.
And then, there was the conversation that I was actually involved with. Laura, Morgana, Bailey, and I, were all talking about BMA and how the class had gone this morning.
“It’s things like this that make me wish I had a more physical power,” Laura said, still complaining about her own sparring match.
“I know what you mean,” Bailey agreed. “I hate sparring with Cindy…”
The rest of us nodded agreement. Cindy Hoffstatter looked almost like a stereotype of a scrawny nerd girl, but she happened to be a PK supergirl, and a fairly strong one at that. Only a couple people in class could match her for raw physical power, and I certainly wasn’t one of them. The only thing more humiliating than being badly beaten by your opponent, is when the opponent looks like the stereotypical bully victim from nearly every movie ever.
“I have a lot more experience with martial arts,” Laura continued, “but it’s hard to compete against that level of power.”
“She’s called Miss Omega for a reason,” Morgana commented, having had her own rough sparring match against Cindy earlier this week.
“I got off pretty easy,” I commented.
Today, I’d been matched up against AJ. Sure, he was better than I was, and he’d beaten me, but at least he wasn’t the kind to rub it in your face. As I was frequently reminded in class, hand-to-hand combat wasn’t really my thing, and in spite of what Sensei Tolman said, I didn’t think that any amount of practice was going to change that.
Since I was thinking about AJ, my thoughts naturally went to the other Bad Seeds, and especially to Esquire. I scowled at the very thought of him, knowing that I owed him for what he’d done for me. When he’d outed me as the White Lady, he’d helped reveal my location to Scorn, and had put me in serious danger.
My eyes went to the center of the table, where two of my spell cards were sitting. Each one contained a different spell to protect against eavesdroppers and bugs, and while there were ways to get around them, doubling up on the spells would make that more difficult. With as many enemies as I had now, I didn’t consider that kind of protection to be paranoid, merely a reasonable caution.
Esquire was a pain in my behind, and he’d caused me a lot of trouble, but admittedly, he wasn’t my worst problem. That would be Scorn, who’d probably send more assassins after me eventually. Then, there was Crysis, who was probably Scorn’s spy. Of course, there was also Chained Melody, who was spreading rumors about me and trying to instigate trouble for me, the Spy Kids, who kept trying to stick their noses in my business, and even those two idiots who caused me even more trouble, in the name of trying to help me.
“I need even more protection,” I muttered to myself with a sigh. Or at least, I needed to take care of some of those people, so that they weren’t problems anymore. Unfortunately, that was a lot easier said than done, especially where Scorn was concerned.
While I’d been distracted by my own thoughts, the conversation continued around me. I hadn’t even noticed that, until someone called my name.
“Bianca,” Laura asked, giving me a curious look.
“Earth to Bianca,” Morgana added. “Are you listening?”
“Sorry,” I responded with a self-conscious smile. “I was just thinking about something…”
“Don’t strain yourself too hard,” Morgana teased, flashing me a grin to show that she was just joking.
“We were just talking about getting together after dinner tonight to study,” Laura said.
“Sorry,” I apologized, shaking my head. “I already have plans tonight.”
That seemed to catch everyone’s attention. “What kind of plans?” Bailey asked.
I paused for a moment, not sure how much I should tell my friends. I had no doubt that if they knew what I was up to, they’d offer to help. However, this was something I had to handle on my own, at least for the most part, and I didn’t want them involved any more than they already were.
“I’m just working on a project,” I responded, keeping my answer honest yet vague. “Janine is helping me with something.”
“Oh, really,” Laura responded with a look of interest. Morgana and Bailey shared a look and began to grin, though I was a little confused why.
“Just the two of you,” Morgana said with a smirk, “working on some secret project together…”
“Yeah,” I said, still not getting what she was talking about, though Laura and Bailey both snickered.
Once I was finished eating, I excused myself and said a quick goodbye to my friends. Algebra was my next class, and I didn’t want to be late. It might not be my favorite class, but at least, unlike BMA, I didn’t walk out of class every day with more bruises.
However, on my way out of Crystal Hall, I happened to see a couple of the items on my list of problems that needed to be dealt with. Beatdown and Shades had been running around campus, threatening other students in my name, and damaging my already poor reputation. And since I’d already been hauled in to talk to security because of their actions, I was more than a little upset with them.
At the moment, my two wannabe henchmen were standing in line to get food, surrounded by a lot of other people. Now would be the perfect time to talk to them, if there weren’t so many other people to hear. Then again, that might make this the best possible time.
“Damn it,” I grumbled under my breath, feeling self-conscious and nervous. I hated confrontations, but I didn’t really have much choice. If I just let this continue without saying anything, then I might as well have given those two goons my blessing.
I took a deep breath and braced myself as I slipped my metaphorical mask into place. Hopefully, anyone looking at me would think that I looked calm, confident, and in control, without realizing how little of that was true. Then, I walked over to the food line.
“I want to talk with you two,” I said, hoping that I could keep my voice even.
My eyes went to Breakdown, and I hoped that they didn’t see how nervous the large boy made me. Just a couple weeks ago, Esquire had paid him to attack me, and I couldn’t forget how close he’d come to seriously hurting me. It was probably my imagination, but for a moment, Beatdown looked almost as nervous as I felt.
“Glyph,” Shades said with a grin, as though happy to see me. Maybe he thought I was coming over to thank them.
“You’ve been running around campus, telling everyone that you work for me,” I announced in a cold tone. “I clearly remember telling you two, that I didn’t want or need any hired muscle. And I know good and well that I never told you to go after anyone…so STOP IT! If you two want to be a couple of cheap thugs, that’s your business. Just leave me and my name out of it.”
Then, before either of them could say anything in response, I turned and walked away, shaking a little as I did so. I’d done it. I’d managed to confront those two and make my message clear. I wasn’t sure if they’d really listen, but that was only half my reason for doing this. The other half, was that there were enough people watching and listening, that hopefully, this would get around school pretty quickly. Hopefully, this time, I could actually use the school gossip mill for my own benefit. And hopefully, people would stop thinking that I was sending a couple of goons around to beat up anyone who badmouthed me.
“The last thing I need is security to lock me up because of those two,” I grumbled to myself. Or just as bad, have some kid I’d never even met, swearing vengeance on me, because of them. “I’ve already got more than enough of that to deal with as it is.”
Now that all the excitement was done and over with, I hurried out of Crystal Hall as quickly as I could, while still walking in a dignified manner. It wasn’t until I was out the door, with no sign of anyone following me, that I let out a sigh of relief. Now, to get to class.
--------------------
Crystal Hall, Saturday late morning, Oct 8th, 2016
I was eating lunch in Crystal Hall, though not at my usual table. Janine and I had finished setting up my project a short time ago, which had been a lot of work, then afterwards, we’d gone to lunch together, and ended up sitting with some of her other friends.
Giggles was there, of course, because she was Janine’s best friend. She was a bit protective of Janine, so after learning that I was the White Lady, she’d become a bit suspicious and hostile. Fortunately, she’d mellowed a bit, probably because she realized that I had no intention of either using or hurting Janine.
There were two other girls at our table, but I didn’t know either of them very well. Dodo, who was apparently called that because her real name was Dorothy Donner, she had dull grey feathers where her hair should be, and her powers were pretty much useless, was one of Janine’s fellow Underdogs. From what I understood, she was a low level telekinetic, with a range of only a couple feet.
Amy Pfeiffer, AKA Blackberry, hosted some kind of plant spirit and could grow thorny vines, which was a bit more impressive than what Dodo could do. I didn’t know if I made her nervous, or if she was always this shy, but she’d barely said two words since Janine and I sat down.
Dodo stared at my spell card, which was placed in the middle of the table. There was probably no real need to protect our conversation from eavesdroppers, but I’d gotten into the habit of doing so whenever possible. From her expression, she wasn’t used to that kind of protection, and she probably thought I was being paranoid. Amy gave my spell card a curious look, but nothing more. Janine and Giggles were both a little more used to my precautions.
“So,” Dodo asked, giving me a curious look while nodding to my spell card. “Do you do this kind of stuff very often?”
“All the time,” Janine answered for me.
Giggles nodded. “She’s kind of paranoid.”
“Not paranoid,” I responded with a wry smile. “Just prepared.”
Janine quickly came to my defense as well. “The Spy Kids have been snooping on her.”
“Ah,” Dodo said with a look of understanding. Of course, she probably just assumed I was only worried about my fellow students, so I didn’t bother to mention that there were far more dangerous people after me. So far, the Spy Kids were merely annoying.
“So,” Giggles asked, looking at Janine. “What were you up to all morning?”
“Only half the morning,” I corrected her. “I had costuming class first.”
Janine brightened up. “Bianca and I were cleaning up the new test area for my dominos…”
I nodded agreement, not bothering to point out that were doing a few other things as well. Though we’d cleaned the area out for my own project, once I was done, Janine would benefit from the work.
Janine held out her notebook and flipped through several pages that were filled with diagrams and sketches. “I’ve been thinking about this one for the last month, but haven’t had any place to set it up until now…”
“And what is that gonna be?” Dodo asked curiously. “That doesn’t look like just dominos…”
“It isn’t,” Janine responded with an eager smile. “It’s gonna have a bunch of Rube Goldberg type stuff mixed in too.”
“That sounds pretty cool,” I said, looking forward to seeing how it all worked out.
“It’s the biggest and most complicated thing I’ve done so far,” Janine announced proudly. However, she deflated a little and admitted, “I’m not very good at the real high tech stuff.”
“Maybe not,” I told her. “But you’re real good with all this mechanical stuff. Have you ever thought about working with cars?”
Janine nodded at that. “I’m pretty good with cars, and back home in Idaho, I fixed my uncle’s tractor a couple times.”
Dodo suddenly got excited and suggested, “Then you should join the Gearheads. You’d be able to get your own car on campus too…”
“Maybe,” Janine replied without much enthusiasm. “I don’t really like working on cars though.”
“Have you ever worked on clocks?” Blackberry asked, surprising me since I’d almost forgotten she was even there. When we looked at her, she explained, “Old clocks are all springs, and gears and stuff. You know, all mechanical…”
“That’s true,” Giggles said, looking back at Janine. “Have you ever made anything clockwork?”
“Not really,” Janine answered. However, she now had a thoughtful look in her eyes.
“Well, there you go,” Giggles continued with a smirk. “Maybe you should specialize in clocks…or at least, in clockwork.”
“But this domino stuff is so fun,” Dodo pointed out, while I nodded agreement.
“Who says you can’t do both,” I offered.
Janine no longer seemed to be paying much attention to the rest of us. Instead, she began doodling in her notebook. I couldn’t quite tell what she was drawing, though I could make out a gear or two. It quickly became obvious that she was too distracted to bother with the rest of the conversation.
A few minutes later, I finished up my lunch and said a polite goodbye to everyone at the table. As I made my way out of Crystal Hall, I wondered what my roommate was up to, and if she was still fiddling with +that magical telephone bowl she’d been given, or if she was already done with it.
“Or maybe I’ll sit down with a good book,” I mused to myself.
Lately, I’ve spent a lot of time and effort preparing my new inks and spell cards, not to mention the project that I’d been working on over the last couple days. I’d more than earned the right to sit back and relax for awhile. Besides, I had a new spy novel that I was really looking forward to reading.
I’d just left Crystal Hall and started to make my way across he Quad, when I noticed several of the Bad Seeds gathered together at one of the tables. I thought it was a little too chilly to be sitting around outside like that, but they didn’t really seem bothered by it.
Only two of the Seeds seemed to notice me, or at least, gave indication that they did. Twitch waved cheerfully, until a gust of wind knocked off her witch hat and she leapt to chase after it. And then, there was Esquire, who stared at me with an intense gaze that made a chill run down my spine. Then, Esquire slowly stood up.
“Let it go,” Racoon said, giving me a shrug and an apologetic look.
“Let it go… Let it go...,” Twitch began singing, earning a glare from Esquire and a snicker from Racoon.
I was thankful for the distraction and quickly continued on my way, until I realized that Esquire was following me. I tensed at that, and for a moment, I considered making a run for it. However, I restrained that impulse and stopped instead. Since I had to deal with Esquire anyway, now was actually as good a time as any.
“Now, we can continue our conversation,” Esquire said, pausing a short distance of me and making a show of leaning on his cane. I knew he didn’t really need the cane to walk. It was an affectation of style, as well as a weapon. In fact, the cane reminded me just a little too much of the Messenger, which was just one of the reasons I didn’t like Esquire. Of course, he’d given me plenty of other reasons too.
“I have nothing more to say to you,” I said, trying to keep my White Lady mask in place so that he didn’t see how worried I was. “Now, leave me alone, or you’ll regret it.”
“Are you threatening me?” Esquire demanded with a sneer, clearly confident that I posed no threat to him.
“No,” I responded, repeating something that I’d once heard my grandmother say. “I don’t make threats, only promises.”
With that, I turned and walked away, though I was a bit worried that Esquire might attack me from behind. Fortunately, he didn’t attack me, though he did follow, obviously deciding not to take my warning. Then, I realized too late, that my warning had merely encouraged him.
“We aren’t finished quite yet,” Esquire called out.
I grimaced at that. “He can’t say I didn’t warn him.”
Instead of responding to Esquire, or even looking back, I went down into the campus tunnels, confident that he was going to follow. He did. I picked up my pace, though I didn’t break into a run since it wouldn’t be very fitting for the White Lady to run away from someone. And besides, I didn’t want to risk losing him.
A couple minutes later, I reached the large room that Janine had claimed for her test area, and which was now lacking the previous clutter. The whole room was wide-open and empty, a nearly blank canvas that Janine would soon be able to use for her dominos. I barely had to wait before Esquire arrived to join me.
“Campus security has no cameras in this area,” Esquire announced as he confidently walked into the room. “They won’t be able to see or hear anything that occurs down here.” He paused to stare at me for a moment. “But you already knew that, didn’t you? In fact, I have the distinct impression that you’re trying to lure me into some kind of trap.” From his smirk, it was obvious that he wasn’t concerned.
I gulped at that, then nervously demanded, “If you think this is a trap, then why did you walk right into it?”
Esquire continued to smirk as he opened the handle of his cane, releasing the steel ball bearings that had been hidden within. “Because,” he answered casually, “you’re just a freshman, and can barely control your powers. White Lady or not, you’re no threat to me.” He looked around before commenting, “I assume your friends are going to jump out at any moment to attack me…”
Shaking my head, I said, “No. My friends aren’t part of this.”
“Very good,” Esquire mused, fixing me with his gaze. “Mine have made it clear that they won’t get involved either.”
“It’s just between us,” I stated grimly. “But it doesn’t have to be. You started this, and you can walk away.”
Esquire seemed amused by that. “Why would I do that when I’m holding all the cards?” He stared at me with a hungry expression. “You have resources and contacts that I need, both now and after I graduate. We can still work out an equitable arrangement, one where you gain some benefit.”
“And if I say no?” I asked
“Then, in terms that you can understand,” Esquire responded, “I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse…”
As soon as those words were uttered, several of the metal spheres shot right at me. I’d been expecting this attack and immediately activated my built in air power, though still only barely managed to do so in time. The ball bearing slammed into a wall of hardened air, which protected me almost like a force field. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hold this up for long. Only half a minute at the very most.
Then, I realized that Esquire knew this. He’d kept most of his spheres back, floating in orbit around him. He’d intentionally pushed me into using this power, knowing that it wouldn’t last long, and that once it wore off, I’d be vulnerable.
Esquire took a step towards me, with an arrogant certainty of his victory. After all, why shouldn’t he be confident, when as he’d said a minute ago, he seemed to be holding all the cards.
A couple seconds later, Esquire stopped and gave me a look of surprise and confusion before demanding, “Why are you smiling like that?”
Esquire might think that he holds all the cards, but I had an ace up my sleeve. No, I had a full house.
“Look down,” I told him.
As soon as Esquire looked down, he let out a gasp of surprise, seeing the glowing runes and symbols that were not only beneath him, but surrounding him as well. Over the next couple seconds, this spread, so that the entire floor of the room was covered with glowing runes and glyphs.
I’d spent the last couple days working on this project, clearing the room in order to create a blank canvas, and then drawing all these symbols. It had taken a lot of time and effort, a lot of blood and chalk, and nearly every bit of essence I had available. But the look on Esquire’s face made everything worth it.
“You just walked right into the middle of a mine field,” I explained, not bothering to keep the satisfaction out of my voice. “And you just stepped across the trigger that turned all of them on.”
It had taken a lot of work to create this many runes, and even more to create the layer of wards that was woven in with them. I’d taken a page from Janine’s playbook and set it all up as a complicated domino chain of spells and wards, or more accurately, a series of chains that were tied together. This was the same thing that I’d done in class with my wards, just a lot more complicated. In fact, this was the most complicated thing that I’d ever done, either with my power or without. And if I dared to show Grimes, I was sure that I’d get an A in class for this project alone. Along with detention.
Esquire tried to jump back, only to find that his feet were stuck to the floor, held there by magical superglue. At the same time, the effects of one of my other spells became evident, as every ball bearing that he had floating in the air, began to rust and disintegrate at once. Since I didn’t want to leave Esquire with any weapons he could use against me, I’d taken precautions, which included removing all the metal clutter from around the room.
Now would have been a good time to gloat, but I couldn’t think of any clever comments to make, not that Esquire would have been able hear them. Some of these runes were spells to neutralize sound, making it so Esquire couldn’t hear anything, and nobody would be able to hear him. This was the same spell I sometimes used in my room, so I could sleep through Morgana’s snoring, just with a bit more power and essence.
And then, there was a similar spell, which neutralized light instead of sound. There was now a big black blob of darkness where Esquire stood, keeping him from seeing anything at all. I figured that dark, silence, and not being able to move freely, would freak anyone out a bit. Of course, none of this would last for long since I had a limited supply of essence, but Esquire was also surrounded by more spells that did the same thing, and which would keep him occupied for awhile.
“That should do it,” I said as I carefully walked through the safe zone towards the door.
Esquire had done a lot of things to deserve this. He’d outed me as the White Lady and put my life in danger. He’d attacked me via Beatdown, as a way to try manipulating me. And then, when that hadn’t worked, he’d attacked me directly. Yes, Esquire definitely deserved this. However, this wasn’t just retaliation for his unprovoked attacks on me. This was also a message, that he couldn’t come after me without consequences, and a warning that next time, the spells I used might be nastier.
When I reached the door, I paused to look at Esquire, or at least, the patch of darkness that obscured him. I briefly considered staying to watch, but decided that it wouldn’t take long before I got bored. And with that, I turned off the light, just to make things more interesting for him, and left, sure that Esquire would find his own way out…in an hour or two.
--------------------
Saturday early afternoon, Oct 8th, 2016
Carrie scowled as she looked around at her surroundings. She wasn’t claustrophobic, but walking around in these tunnels, she was beginning to see why some people were. As it was, she was tempted to shrink down, just to make the tunnel feel larger and more spacious.
A moment later, Carrie glanced to her companions, Edward and Violet, or Mr. Blank and Miss Violet, as they insisted on being called, since they were working. A short time ago, she’d overheard Glyph and Esquire having some kind of disagreement, then watched as they both went down into the campus tunnels. That had been interesting enough that she’d immediately gone to report it to the other Cadets, though Edward and Violet were the only two she’d been able to find on short notice.
“Are you certain that this is the direction they went?” Edward asked Violet.
Violet looked annoyed at the suggestion she might be wrong. “About as certain as we can be, without Perfume to track them down.”
Carrie was a little skeptical of Violet’s claim, but wisely didn’t say anything. Perfume had an enhanced sense of smell and could track people down by their scent like some kind of bloodhound. Violet didn’t have that kind of ability. Sure, she was a paragon, but as Carrie had learned, that was focused mostly on physical activities and things that used muscle memory, not on things like tracking or detective work.
The three of them looked around the junction of tunnels where they stood, trying to determine where Glyph and Esquire could have gone…if they’d even come this way at all. However, Edward pointed down one of the tunnels and announced, “I’ve got a strong hunch that they went down this way.”
“Very good,” Violet said as she nodded approvingly. “One of your hunches is as good as must people’s facts.”
Carrie nodded along as well, knowing that Edward’s hunches were actually a part of his power. Without any further hesitation, the three of them began walking down the path that Edward had indicated.
They hadn’t gone much further before they saw another student, a short boy with unruly red hair. Carrie recognized him as one of the lab geeks, a devisor called Weaponeer, but she didn’t really know him very well.
“What are you three doing down here?” Weaponeer demanded suspiciously. His hand twitched a little but didn’t quite go to the odd looking gun that was hanging from his belt. From the way he was acting, Carrie suspected that he probably had one of those secret labs close by. She’d heard that the tunnels were filled with those things.
“That isn’t any of your concern,” Edward said, holding his hand up.
Suddenly, Weaponeer froze with a look of dazed confusion on his face. It took Carrie a moment to realize what was going on. Edward had just used another one of his tricks, the one that had earned him the name of Mr. Blank. He’d just erased Weaponeer’s short term memory, leaving it a complete blank.
With a smirk, Edward said, “Come on, before he recovers.”
As they hurried away, Violet commented, “That was uncalled for.”
“Perhaps,” Edward agreed. “But we can’t risk him telling Glyph that he saw us down here, or having her realize that we’re investigating her.”
Carrie knew that as both a freshman and a rookie in the Cadets, her opinion wouldn’t matter much, but she still said, “It doesn’t seem right to erase his memory, just because he saw us…”
“I didn’t hurt him,” Edward assured her, just a little defensively. “And he only lost about half a minute.”
Carrie scowled at that, still not happy with the way Edward had used his power on that boy, but didn’t say anything else. Instead, she tried to focus on their task of locating Glyph and Esquire, and learning what they were up to.
Just then, Violet exclaimed, “Quiet. I heard something…”
A couple seconds later, a boy burst out of a doorway, pausing for just a moment with a look of wild-eyed fear. It took Carrie several more seconds to realize that this was Esquire, and he was clearly upset…and without that cane she’d always seen him with. He barely looked at her, though he did give Edward and Violet a dark glare before making a show of neatening his clothes and walking off with as much dignity as he could muster.
Once Esquire was gone, Carrie asked, “What in the world was that?”
“I don’t know, Mouse,” Edward said, looking in the direction that Esquire had gone, with a thoughtful expression. “But it certainly bears investigating…”
“Indeed it does,” Violet added a moment later. “And since Esquire was last seen following Glyph, that suggests she was involved, and quite possibly the cause.” She scowled thoughtfully. “This seems to confirm the report that the two of them are at odds.”
Edward nodded his agreement, before saying, “If Glyph can make Esquire behave like that, then she might be even more dangerous than we suspected.”
“And if that is the case,” Violet said with a grim expression, “then I’m going to recommend we further upgrade our efforts to deal with this threat.”
--------------------
Poe Cottage, Saturday evening, Oct 8th, 2016
I was in the Poe common room, leaning back in a comfortable chair with a good book in hand. A bottle of my favorite rootbeer was resting on the table beside me, already half consumed. After the success of my little project, I deserved a chance to just relax and enjoy myself.
In spite of the book in front of me, my thoughts kept going back to the trap that I’d set for Esquire. I couldn’t help but feeling a little smug over how well it had worked out. I’d put a lot of work and essence into setting up those runes, so it was good to see that it hadn’t all been wasted. But at the same time, a part of me still felt guilty as well. What kind of human being would lure another person into that kind of trap? The answer was obvious. The White Lady would.
Marcus and Tessa had both told me that when someone comes after you, you only have a limited number of options. In this case, Esquire had not only caused me a lot of problems, he’d damaged my image and reputation, so I’d had no choice but to retaliate. If I hadn’t, then not only would he keep coming after me, but it would encourage other people to come after me as well. As it was, I’d actually taken it pretty easy on him, perhaps even too easy.
One of the things that Marcus had told me, was that if you want to make an example of someone, you have to do it in a public fashion. You have to hurt or humiliate them in such a way that other people would know about it, and would want to avoid that kind of thing themselves. However, what I’d done to Esquire had been in private, without any witnesses but the two of us. This wouldn’t work very well as an object lesson because of that, but hopefully, it would keep Esquire from retaliating or escalating things because he felt like he had to save face.
“I just hope that he’s done with this,” I muttered to myself, before reaching over for my rootbeer.
As it was, I hadn’t really hurt Esquire, merely his pride. So far, I hadn’t done anything that the school could really punish me for. This hadn’t been anything more than a relatively harmless prank. Or at least, I hoped that they’d see it that way if anyone found out. But if Esquire came at me again, I might not have any choice but to raise the stakes, and I really didn’t want to do that, and not just because I feared the consequences. In spite of what everyone else seemed to think, I wasn’t my grandmother, and I really didn’t want to hurt anyone.
“But I might not have a choice,” I reminded myself.
After taking a long drink and emptying the bottle, I let out a sigh, deciding that I should stop worrying and just enjoy my victory while I could. I’d expanded my skills in a way that I hadn’t even known was possible, until I’d been forced to it, and in the process, I’d beaten one of my enemies. I’d proven that I wasn’t some helpless victim that Esquire could manipulate or threaten into doing what he wanted. But of course, I hadn’t done it alone.
A smile formed on my lips as I considered Janine’s part in my victory. Not only had she provided the place for my little trap, and helped me clean it out, she’d also been the one who inspired it. It had been her domino chains that gave me the idea for chaining my spells and wards the way I had. Without her, this wouldn’t have been possible, so I was going to have to take her out for an ice cream treat or something as a thank you.
While I was considering this, I noticed Morgana walk into the common room. She paused at the door long enough to look over the room, then gave me a nod and smile before coming over to join me.
“What are you so happy about?” Morgana asked with a faint smirk, “and does it have anything to do with that look Esquire gave you during dinner. I swear, it looked like he was about to crap himself.”
I chuckled at my roommate’s semi-vulgar but accurate description of Esquire. For a moment, I considered lying to her, since I’d been trying to keep her and the others out of my conflict with Esquire. However, now that I’d already sprung the trap, there was no reason to remain quiet any longer.
“Actually, yes,” I admitted with a wry smile.
Morgana gave me a curious look. “Spill it already.”
I carefully closed my book, making a show of doing so slowly since I could see Morgana was impatient. “There isn’t really much to tell,” I finally said. “I set up a trap and lured Esquire into it…”
Morgana’s look of interest suddenly grew a little sharper. “Ooooh, now I’ve got to hear the details…”
“Well,” I started with a faint smirk. “You remember that project I’ve been working on…?”
Once I finished, Morgana burst out laughing. “So, you left him in a dark room, with no sound, and with his feet glued to the floor...?”
“Pretty much,” I agreed cheerfully.
“And what happened when those spells wear off?” she asked curiously.
“Then, there are a lot more of the same ones for him to go through,” I explained.
Morgana chuckled at that and shook her head. “But couldn’t he just stay in one spot and not trigger them?”
I shrugged at that. “Probably. If he thought about it. But he still had to go through them if he wanted out of there.”
“Why didn’t you let me help?” my roommate asked. “I would have loved to be in on that one…
“Because,” I explained…again, “this had to be all me. Esquire had to know that I was the one who was dealing with him, not my friends. If you or any of the others had helped, then it would have defeated the purpose.”
“I guess I can understand that,” Morgana said with a sigh. “But you know, if you need my help…”
“I know,” I interrupted her, since we’d had this conversation before. “You and the others have my back.”
With that, my thoughts turned to my other enemies, the ones that I probably would need help to deal with. I let out a sigh, thinking about Scorn and the fact that he was still after me. Even though I silently assured myself that I was safe at the school, and that there was no way he and his assassins would be able to get past Whateley security, I still wasn’t convinced. I’d lost more than one night worth of sleep because of worrying about this very thing.
But for the moment, I didn’t want to worry about Scorn, his spy Crysis, or those nosy Spy Kids. Instead, I simply wanted to savor this one victory while I could, because tomorrow, all the rest of my problems would still be there waiting for me.
--------------------
The Quad, Saturday evening, Oct 8th, 2016
The Quad was nearly empty at this time of evening, with only a few stragglers passing through on their way to or from a late dinner at Crystal Hall. That suited Clive perfectly fine though, as he wasn’t in the mood to deal with other people at the moment. Clive leaned back against a light pole and scowled, making one nearby boy hurry away as quickly as he could, without actually running.
A minute later, Clive noticed his friend Shades, who was casually walking in his direction. Once Shades reached him, the other boy gave Clive a curious look and asked, “What’s the grumpy look for?”
Clive thought about lying, but just shrugged instead. “Just frustrated,” he grumbled. “I thought we were in with the Family…that we were set.”
“Oh that,” Shades responded dismissively. “That whole thing with Glyph was just for show. You know, for plausible deniability.”
“You really think so?” Clive asked skeptically. “She seemed pretty serious to me…”
Clive shook his head, worried about what could happen if Glyph really got pissed at him. He didn’t want to go swimming with a pair of concrete sneakers. He might be tough, but even he needed to breath. And as he well knew, Glyph was quite capable to giving him a full body concrete suit, all on her own. He shuddered at the memory.
“Yeah,” Shades assured him. “She doesn’t really have a lot of muscle here at Whateley, and everyone knows about her usual crew. She probably wants to keep us a little more on the down low for now. You know, as backup, or in case she needs us to deal with something that she can’t be tied to directly.”
Clive made a show of cracking his knuckles. “That works for me.”
Shades nodded at that, then smirked. “You know, I’ve been thinking…?”
“Why do I have a bad feeling about that?” Clive asked, giving his friend a suspicious look.
After giving a look of mock offense for just a few seconds, Shades asked, “You know what would be even better than getting hooked up in the Family as a couple of the White Lady’s lieutenants?”
“What?” Clive asked warily.
Shades smirked. “Getting hooked up in the Family…as her boyfriend.”
Clive blinked at that. “She’s not really my type…”
“I mean ME,” Shades exclaimed, puffing himself up. “Once I turn on the charm, she’ll be putty in my hands…”
For several seconds, Clive just stared at his smaller friend, expecting Shades to burst out laughing at the joke. However, when he realized that Shades was serious, he shook his head instead. There was no doubt in Clive’s mind, that this wouldn’t turn out well for anyone involved. Still, he’d have Shades’ back. After all, that was what friends did.
--------------------
Crystal Hall, Saturday evening, Oct 8th, 2016
Crysis sat at a table by himself, eating a late dinner. After a good workout at the gym, he’d built up a nice appetite. Sure, he couldn’t compare to most energizers, but he still had a much larger meal than normal, and justified it with all the calories he’d just burned.
But in spite of the food in front of him, which he ate almost mechanically, Crysis’ thoughts were elsewhere. They were focused on Glyph…the White Lady. They were focused on this opportunity he’d been given to earn his way into Scorn’s organization, not to mention, make his dad proud. However, all of that was contingent on whether or not he could deal with HER.
So far, Crysis had only made one serious attempt on Glyph, and it had failed. Sure, he’d injured her, but it hadn’t been enough. The truth was, it was lucky that he’d hit her at all. He was a pretty strong telekinetic, but he knew that he was weak when it came to fine control and accuracy.
“Next time,” Crysis promised himself.
Next time he wouldn’t fail. Of course, he’d have to make it look like an accident, and that would be the hard part. Killing her would be easy, but doing it in a way that he could get away with it… That was something else entirely.
“Hello,” a voice suddenly said, immediately drawing Crysis’ attention to the gorgeous blonde exemplar who sat down across from him.
“Chained Melody,” Crysis greeted the girl.
He’d never spoken to her before, but he’d seen her around campus and knew who she was. However, that didn’t explain why she was sitting across from him. He briefly wondered if she was hitting on him, but quickly discounted that. She was here for some other reason.
The blonde gave Crysis a friendly smile, then said, “Rumor around campus has it that you have some kind of personal grudge against Glyph.”
“You know how reliable rumors are,” he responded in a flat tone.
“Oh, I do,” Chained Melody agreed with a faint smirk. “I also know that sometimes rumors are true.”
Crysis didn’t respond to her obvious attempt at fishing for information, at least not in the way she wanted. Instead, he asked, “What’s your interest?”
Chained Melody smiled in a sexy way that earned an immediate response from his body. However, he noticed that it didn’t quite reach her eyes, which dulled the effect a little.
“I’m just a concerned student,” Chained Melody said. “And I’m especially concerned about having a dangerous villain on campus like that…”
This time, it was Crysis’ turn to smile. “That sounds like a valid concern to me,” he agreed.
“I was thinking,” Chained Melody continued in a pleasant tone, “that it would be in everybody’s best interest if she could somehow be convinced to leave school…”
“And you think that I might be the one to do the convincing?” he asked curiously.
“I thought you might be one person with motive,” she agreed.
Crysis considered this for a moment, immediately seeing how this could provide certain opportunities. If Glyph left Whateley, then she’d no longer have the school to protect her, and Scorn could deal with her more easily.
“Did you have something in mind?” Crysis asked curiously.
The blonde girl smirked, obviously pleased by his interest. “That was just the thing I wanted to talk to you about…”
Crysis listened to Chained Melody for several minutes, wondering what she had against Glyph, not that it mattered. However, it was obvious that she had her own issues with her, ones that were more personal than his.
By the time the blonde had finished her spiel, Crysis had developed a few more ideas of his own. Sure, this alliance could be pretty useful for dealing with Glyph, but there were some other possibilities here as well. Maybe he didn’t need to make it look like an accident. Maybe, all he really needed was a good patsy.
--------------------
Saturday evening, Oct 8th, 2016
The beautiful young woman paused by the entrance of the hidden door and looked around carefully, to make sure that no one was watching before she opened it. After all, it wouldn’t do for anyone else to learn where this clubhouse was, especially since the club that it belonged to, didn’t officially exist.
After entering the clubhouse, she quickly saw that the other Masterminds had already arrived. Or at least, most of them had. However, as their leader was still absent, she wasn’t concerned by her tardiness, and knew that none of the others would be either.
A couple of the others silently acknowledged her presence, though it was Doma Know who greeted her. “Scrye.”
Scrye nodded at the other girl, Helen Cartwright, AKA Doma Know. Doma was a gorgeous exemplar, with long red hair that had a streak of black in front. She had green-eyes that were flecked with gold, and the kind of exaggerated curves that would normally only be found on some cartoon woman, like Jessica Rabbit. But even though Scrye found Doma to be extremely attractive, she’d never act on this interest, since she knew just how cold and manipulative the other girl could be.
For a moment, Scrye stood where she was and glanced over the room, taking note of who was present and where they sat. There were only three open seats available, but two of them were on either side of Bystander, and there was no way that she would willingly sit beside him.
Bystander had shaggy, dark blonde hair, and a look of youthful innocence that was only enhanced by his frequent grins. However, those grins never reached his eyes, and Scrye knew quite well that he was nowhere near as innocent or helpless as he looked.
Scrye disliked violence on principal, and felt little but contempt for those who embraced it needlessly. She felt a great deal of contempt for Bystander, and though she’d never admit it…fear. After all, she knew about his dark amusements, and was thankful that he had the self-control to avoid that kind of behavior near campus.
Fortunately, there was one other empty seat, so Scrye didn’t need to sit next to the psychopath. Instead, she sat down next to the self-absorbed hedonist, Devil’s Advocate. He would undoubtedly hit on her for the entire meeting, but that was preferable to dealing with Bystander.
Once Scrye was seated and comfortable, she looked at the other Masterminds again, before settling her attention back on Doma Know. She admired the other girl’s beauty for a moment, thinking that it was a pity she wasn’t in Poe.
She found it amusing, that while the Masterminds didn’t officially exist, the other students who did know about them, primarily the Cape Squad and the Cadets, had no idea who their leader was. They all thought that Doma held this position, which was a misunderstanding that the whole club encouraged, especially their real leader.
Just then, the clubhouse door opened, and Scrye straightened up, knowing that their illustrious leader had finally arrived. She carefully kept any expression except boredom off her face.
“I’m glad to see everyone here,” he announced, seeming to ignore the fact that he was the one who was late.
The massive form of Edward Lowe, AKA the Golden Lion, one of the top financial movers and shakers on campus, sat down at the head of the table, in the seat that had been reserved him. As usual, he was dressed in a nice suit.
Scrye schooled her face to avoid the sneer that wanted to form. When Edward had first arrived at Whateley, he’d been just another cheap thug and bully. But then, unlike most of that ilk, he’d realized that his mental abilities, could be even more powerful than his physical ones, and that money could give him power far beyond his mutant powers. He’d completely reinvented himself as a businessman, and worked hard to build his fortune and new image. But in spite of the money and the expensive suits, underneath it all, he was still just a cheap thug at heart.
“Now, down to business,” Edward said as he absently straightened his tie. “Report.”
Scrye set a folder onto the table in front of her and said, “Blueprints have been acquired. The company changes the access code on a daily basis, and we have no way of identifying which code they’ll be using ahead of time. However, I found an employee with access, who happens to have certain secrets that he wouldn’t want revealed. We can leverage this to our benefit.”
“Of course, you’d go straight to blackmail first,” Swandive commented with a note of disapproval. “That is your business after all.”
“Yes,” Scrye agreed with a faint smirk. “It is. But I’m professional enough not to do anything on campus. Can you say the same?”
“What about our exit?” Doma Know asked thoughtfully. “If there’s one thing I learned from the Imp’s heist class, it’s that you always need a way out planned ahead of time, and preferably, at least one backup.”
“That is one of the things that we’re here to discuss,” Edward pointed out.
For the next half hour, they discussed the upcoming ‘club activity’, and then moved on to the next item on the agenda. This was to be a continuation of a topic from the previous meetings.
“The White Lady,” Edward stated. “Glyph. As you all know, we’ve discussed recruiting her for the Masterminds. I’ve made contact with her the other day.”
“I know that you’d get certain financial benefits if we recruit her,” Doma Know commented. “But what does that do for the rest of us?”
“She has a great deal of contacts, that can benefit all of us,” Edward pointed out calmly. “And having connections with the Family, can be useful after graduation as well.”
“Esquire thought the same thing,” Scrye pointed out wryly, “and that didn’t work well for him.”
Doma snorted. “Esquire’s ambition exceeds his competence.”
“There is a reason we denied his request to join, last year,” Edward agreed.
“She’s cute,” Devil’s Advocate pointed out with a smirk. “And I wouldn’t mind having another magic user around.”
Scrye scowled at that. And while she had to admit that Glyph could be a useful member of their club, there were a number of things that could go wrong. After all, Glyph was extremely useful to her for translation services, and she’d hate to lose that because someone like Devil’s Advocate couldn’t keep it in his pants, or because Bystander scared her off.
“What do you know about her?” Doma asked Scrye. “And do you have any leverage on her?”
Scrye hesitated for only a moment. Of course, she held knowledge that could be leveraged against Glyph. They were in the same cottage after all, and she knew all about Glyph’s previous identity. However, while Scrye didn’t care if others knew that she was a lesbian, she had friends in Poe who would suffer if they were outed, and she wasn’t about to risk that for something like this. In spite of the fact that she was an information broker, the secrets of Poe were safe with her.
“Glyph was not intended to inherit the mantle of the White Lady,” she carefully said, providing enough information to be useful, without giving any real secrets away. “Because of that, she was never fully trained. She’s naïve, which gives us an opening. If we offer her protection and training, especially at the right time, she might be willing to join us.”
“Very well,” Edward announced. “We’ll wait for the right opportunity, then extend our offer of membership.”
The End