Spirits of the Earth

"A-Aahva, stop! I n-need that for c-class today!"

Susie Rainfeather cried out in pain as she was shoved to the floor, her schoolbag ripped from her hands. The Thanati boy laughed, imitating the girl's voice. "Aahva stop! Leave me alone!" He began to rummage through the redhead's bag, grinning cruelly. "What's the problem, retard? I just wanna see if you have any cool stuff in here, that's all."

"I-it's just my p-papers! N-n-nothing for y-you!" Susie sputtered, tears beginning to flow down her face. It seemed like every time she found something fun to do, the school always found some way to take it away from her. The girl swallowed timidly. "I-I don't carry my g-games with me a-anymore..."

Aahva looked down at the girl, sneering. "What? You're no fun..." The boy began to dig through the bag again, pulling out a bottle of ink. "Guess I'll just have to do this!"

"No! Wait!" Susie cried, but it was to late. Aahva uncapped the bottle and poured it's contents into the bag, staining it a deep blue color. "B-but..." the girl murmured, tears now falling freely from her face. "M-my essay on w-w-wards was in there..."

Aahva grinned nastily, throwing the bag to the side. He lifted his arm as if to hit Susie, laughing as the girl whimpered and recoiled. "You know what?" he said, spitting on her. "You're such a pussy, you're not even worth it."

The Thanati boy walked away, leaving Susie alone with her tears...

"Come on! We studied all week and you have a good memory anyway! The uppers are going out tonight, so Taig and Us can get the sparring pit to ourselves!" Kana, on the right, pleaded as the two-boy rounded a corridor. They were late for their lessons and cryptozoology and cutting across the stacks, a twisty, turny warren of dusty old bookshelves.

"We studied? You were trying to play cards with Arthur the whole time!" Liam huffed.

"Its a joint effort! You get me through class, and I see how you enjoy flexing for the mirror..." Kana gave a wry little smile.

"Ssh!" Liam brought a hand to Kana's mouth. Up ahead they could hear Aahva's shrill taunts. They were always fighting Aahva, and always getting in trouble for it. Liam's pride and Kana's aggression were not a good mix. They found themselves unconsciously avoiding the Thanati boy all the same, though neither ever admitted it. Soon Aahva's voice faded, replaced by the tell-tale sniffles and sobs of Susie. They found her between two-bookshelves trying to scrape ink off... everything.

"Susie? Are you okay?" Liam called out gently.

"Did that donkey dick take your hackeysack again?"

"Um, is that ink? Karsu's Chromatic Siphon can... de-blue things you know! I mean its pretty easy if you wanna get stains and things out. Kana always-!" Liam babbled on, over-eager, whether to help Susie or show off his spell who knew.

Susie blinked at Liam's voice, and flushed a deep red at Kana's. "No! I don't want him to see me like this!" she thought. "What if he thinks I'm weak? I already chickened out on him once!"

Susie frantically attempted to wipe the tears from her eyes, smearing her face with ink in the process. "I-I'm fine!" she sputtered unconvincingly, smiling unnaturally at the two boys. "It was a, um, spell backfiring on me!" She looked at them uncomfortably for a bit, eyes wide. "Um. Yes. I-I could use help with this. P-please."

"I don't deserve it."

Liam canted his head and stared at her in disbelief. The apprentice attempted to cross his arms but Kana didn't follow. It came off more as an awkward kind of shrug.

"We both heard Aahva giving you trouble again! Why do you even let him?" Kana blurted out, a hint of anger in his voice. Letting Susie save face and politely pretending nothing happened wasn't in his nature. The duhjari boy had no sense of shame or subtlety. He raised up a white-knuckled fist, scratched and calloused "We'd get him for you."

"You're a good wizard Susie. I'd bet you could shrink him or give him buck teeth or something." Liam smiled at Susie, trying to be  reassuring. "But I guess fighting him does just make trouble. But really? Can he even do magic?  He's just so ordinary that I don't get why he gets away with so much.

"Give me a quill?" Liam asked, stepping them forward.

"Well there's gotta be a way to get back at him! Make him look stupid or weepy. I hear he cries at night! Maybe pants him in front of everyone?" Kana grinned.

"Can I have our pen?" Kana took his time to fish for the quill, perhaps deliberately if the little smirk he have Susie was any indication.

The more studious of the pair knelt over Susie's pack and began to twirl the quill. Inky vapor rose up from Susie's pack, swirling about the raven feather. The blue on her parchment began to fade... so too did the hem of Liam's sleeve as the spell pulled away the blue...

Susie's cheeks flushed pink as Kana offered to get back at Aahva, and the girl timidly began to pick at her fingernails. "He's really gonna stand up to that jerkhead because of me?" she thought, trying not to tear up. "D-does he like me back?"

"Don't kid yourself, Susie." whispered a voice in her head. "Who would ever like you? Even Myyla think's you're worthless."

Susie's mind blanked, and she was silent as Liam knelt nearby to cast his spell. "Yeah." she silently agreed. "You're right. I'm a nothing." 

The blue began to disappear from Liam's sleeve, snapping Susie back into focus. "W-wait! That's too much!" she cried, and she quickly reached into her bag. "Oh no oh no oh no... Oh no!" Liam's spell had worked too well- not only had the ink stains vanished, all the writing in her spellbook and notepad had been removed as well. The redhead looked up at the two boys, tears streaming down her face. "T-that was all my notes f-for the semester..." she sobbed. "N-now what am I s-supposed to d-d-do?"

"Thow yourself off the library tower. Nobody will miss you anyway."

Liam stared blankly at Susie in utter shock, jaw slack. His face was hot. Before Kana he'd have been blushing furiously. How could he do such an awful thing? "I-I'm sorry! You said there wasn't any blue so I thought it was okay! We'll fix it somehow. Maybe I can help you with your homework or something?! I've had the class before." How could he be such a moron? Susie always got flustered. He should have asked. Why did he have to mess up her stuff of all people's? She'd breaks down when her socks don't match! And he wasn't supposed to make mistakes like this. Ever.

Kana was quiet for once. He liked fighting, but not arguments and bad feelings. Not between friends. Liam's idea made sense, they were one year ahead of Susie and either took or were taking anything she had. But copying would take ages and be so boring. Unless! "Susie. You can just copy us. Liam keeps all our old notes ya know. How long before class?" The duhjari boy might have taken a swipe at his other head, but Liam was probably feeling bad enough. Liam had never messed up a spell before. Not like this.

***

"Wretched!

"Nasty!

"Smelly!

"Stupid!"

Idiot hissed under his breathe, fluttering up and down and reshuffling the volumes of Cadebadh's Hivan. The imp did not care to read the book, but it had pretty pictures. Pretty fish. Idiot might have liked to have colorful fins like that. There were dozens of volumes, of course, and the order was ALL WRONG. Stupid human children always making mistakes. Idiot could hear them now squawking and whimpering without purpose as they do. It wanted to be one once and play chasing games and laugh and drip snot and have hair but it was not to be so. Idiot was made to keep order, and these human things were the very opposite.

It's ears, flappy bat things, twitched. Idiot did find their secrets amusing. The girl was like a little mouse always running and hiding. Always nervous. It made it so angry she would aquander what she was and be a little mouse instead...

Susie stared at the now blank parchments in her hands, blubbering incoherantly. "B-b-but w-what if I g-g-get c-caught?" She looked up at the conjoined boys, face wet with tears. Her nose was beginning to run, and her lower lip quivered madly. "A-are you s-sure we c-c-can do that? We- we won't g-get in t-t-trouble?"

"There's no point. Just find a rope and hang yourself. You won't hurt anymore."

The image of the girl's body hanging limply from the rafters floated through Susie's mind, and she shivered. "U-um, would..." Her eyes drifted from Liam to Kana, and then to the floor. "W-why do you even w-want to help me? I'm no good..."

Liam reached out to touch Susie's shoulder. He should make her feel better, this was all his fault! But what could he really do? She probably hated him now. His hand hovered there, unable to extend or retract. "Its okay Susie. Its not your fault, its mine! And ruining your homework is against the rules too so copying should be okay. So long as you learn it, right?" In reality there wasn't any real rule against sabotage. Students were somewhat expected to keep their things safe, not that it was explicitly encouraged. The boy nudged Kana who began fishing for a quill and paper after some prompting.

"What was it on anyway? And when's it even due? Here you write out the alphabet so the quill knows what you write like. Then I'll dictate it. We won't even need to get my old notes." Liam beamed with pride just a bit. His memory was always very good, and whatever he dictates will probably turn out even better.

"Why not? You're our friend." Kana smiled, totally without guile. The boy flipped the quill in his hands, covered in scrapes and callouses, offering it to Susie with a flourish. Liam supposed Kana would still offer for her to copy even if Aahva hadn't ruined her notes. He wished he could be that way, sometimes.

***

Bad stupid ugly cheaters they could be wizards but they're not instead they're cheating! Idiot curled its wings and compressed himself into a crack in the bookshelf. Only a single, yellow eye glowering from a crack in the shelf would have given it away. Imps were better sometimes because they could fly and have no bones, but not all the time. It bulled its little fists, turgid with aqua vitae, digging razor claws into soft mahogany. Oh it would make them get it good and be made to do messy horrid things and be worse than imps because they were! Yes they would learn...

The words caused Susie to inhale sharply, and a small smile fluttered onto her lips. "I-I..." she stuttered, blinking the tears from her eyes as she took the quill. "Yeah... Friends."

The girl's cheeks were tinged pink as she hurriedly began to write the alphabet. "It w-was on words- um, wards." she said, stumbling over herself in her attempts to appear composed. "D-due next week, for Magistrix Fen-Breath."

"Oh Myyla, I can't believe it!" she thought, glancing up at Kana's cute smile. "He called me a friend! He actually called me a friend!" The girl handed back the paper, now with all twenty-four letters scribbled on it. "Th-thanks you guys..." she said, sniffling. "I'm glad I have friends like you..."

One week? She could do that easy. In a day even! It was so dumb to risk cheating over this! But he did promise. They did, rather.  Liam felt warmth rushing to his cheeks at Susie's words. He ever really had friends before, either... The boy reached for the paper and pen, and gestured to a tiny end-table flanked by two chairs. A flower-pot, housing a tiny tree with an even tinier village upon its leaves, sat on the table. "Its really no problem. Its wards against hexes and demons, right? We can do that easy.

"...wards are spells used to pre-emptively negate the actions of another spell. They are divided into two classes: metamagic and kinetic. Metamagic wards, which negate any magical manipulation. Metamagic wards are difficult to maintain and can potentially create barriers impermeable to your own spells. Kinetic wards, which are not true wards, conjure energy opposed to a spell. An example of this would be an icy wind to a counter a blast of flame..." the quill moved on its own, scratching his words into the parchment. It was all in Susie's looping script.

Kana peaked around Liam to talk with Susie. It was kind of weird to just sit there quietly while the more bookish of the two babbled about magic. "I guess that's one nice thing about being this way. It makes sitting together much easier," he smiled at the sad girl. "Anyway you feeling better? Weren't you afraid Fenbreath was gonna eat you at first? She looks just like the stories. I don't know why they just don't make Aahva's mouth vanish or something. She did it to us once."

"Just wait a minute okay? Its hard to think with you guys- Oh gosh now I wrote it! I'm going to need to erase this bit now!"

Sniffling, Susie nodded and sat at the table. She watched in awe as the pen began to write in her own handwriting. "He has an E-Z-Forge pen?" she thought, beginning to get nervous. "But I thought they were on the ban list like dupliquills are!" The girl's breathing became heavy, her eyes growing wide. "What if se're caught and we get in trouble? Will they hate me for it? Oh no, this is really bad!"

Kana's voice snapped Susie out of her panic. "Y-yes! Much better!" she squeaked somewhat unconvincingly. "Miss- um, Magistrix Fen-Breath has always been really nice to me! She even let me keep the pup..."

The girl's voice trailed off as she remembered the dog she'd transmogrified in class, and how it's bloody, broken body had been discovered in the hall the next day. The girl's eyes began to well up with tears once more. "U-um..." she said, lower lip trembling. "She just l-looks scary is all... I don't think she'd hurt a fly..."

Liam waved a hand and the dupiquill stopped, for a moment. "Well I think some pretend to be sweet to, um-" Liam tried to hide a brief wince. Kana had reached behind their heads to scratch, subtly flicking his friend's ear.

How could Liam be so smart and so stupid? It was kind of cute. But you had to let Susie have something. She got questions wrong in class almost much as him, but mostly because she kept going back and forth and back and forth. She was really good at hacky-sack too. One time he swore she conjured enough energy to knock a stone loose. Kana didn't really care very much about auras and elemental manipulation, really (he kind of didn't have to), but he knew some stuff. "You made it really cute ya know! You-" Liam nudged him back.

"You are a pretty good transmuter anyway. Can you change that dust stuff you make into other things yet?"

***

This week Idiot was meant to find Headmistress Nettlefield when students were bad. Usually it was bigger, uglier humans he needed to find. But this week the Master told Idiot and the other imps to report everything bad and wrong to the Headmistress Nettlefield. Many mischief-makers meant many meaty mice! Leathery wings propelled Idiot, with more purpose than the imp could usually muster, through the labyrinth of bookshelves. It sent candles flickering, and a bird-faced girl with glass on her eyes shrieked when his barbed tail whipped her face, knocking her extra eyes onto the floor. Idiot was the best imp. There was a great line of imps in the headmistress' study. Three more were on the floor, smoldering, ozone fresh in the air.

"Magistrix Nettlefield! Two bricks at front gate are black and not red!

"Mistress Nettlefield! Professor Zinc did not cut hair from face again!"

"MISTER NETTLEFIELD RAINFEATHER GIRL DID BAD! STEALING NOTES AND SPELLS FROM TWO-HEADED BOY!" You had to be loud to be heard. Idiot was the loudest and the smartest.

The Magistrix was perched at her desk, eyes narrowed at the cadre of shrieking homunculi. It was not in their nature, being wrought from blood and clay, to sense her outpouring of contempt. It was not in their nature to care for their siblings' safety. Her finger darted between the flock, ready to pick another victim, but paused at the mention of Susie Rainfeather...

***

Azure rob afflutter, Saoirse Nettlefield kept place with the gleeful imp. She made no effort to hide her footfalls; the school was hers and she knew every inch. Money from the Whitechalk family was all well and good. It was business: prestige for the family and funding for Wyrdwood. However, the way their useless daughter wandered about with pretensions of importance was completely unforgivable. Showing how that toy of her's, the Rainfeather girl, was a worthless little sneak would be just perfect. A letter to Juniper, no, to her father would be a perfect reminder.

"So good to see my students working together so diligently. Shall I check?" Her voice was sharp. There wasn't even a twang of humor or mockery to it, just impatience. She knew that they knew that she knew.

Liam's jaw fell open. The headmistress? But how-? Why would she even-? At least he couldn't blush anymore. The boy fumbled for the dupiquill but it was on Kana's side.

"Kia's cunt..." Kana muttered. He did not have the cunning.

Susie expression turned bleak at Liam's comment. The puppy had been really cute. Transmogrifying that kettle was without a doubt the coolest thing she'd ever done, but fate had seemingly taken issue with her small victory. "Um, I-I..." the girl stuttered, desperately trying to distract herself from the image that was currently stuck in her head. "W-well, I'm not s-sure it-"


Susie froze, her eyes like dinner plates. "The headmistress?" she thought, beginning to hyperventilate again. "But she'll see us! We're gonna get in trouble! What if we're expelled?"

"It won't matter, Susie. You aren't a very good witch anyway." said a voice in her head. "You deserve to be expelled." The girl blinked, desperately trying to quell the tears that were forming in her eyes. Her head moved up to look at the headmistress...

And then she saw Kana's face.

"Yeah, so what?" she thought, a weak sense of determination beginning to fill her chest. "Maybe I do derseve to be expelled, but they don't! They were only trying to help!" Susie's hand clenched into a fist. "I can't let them get in trouble!"

The redhead stood up abruptly, rocking the table and (deliberately) knocking over the inkwell Liam had been using. The blue liquid spilled over the notes that'd been taken, rendering them illegible. "Headmistress Nettlefield!" she squeaked. "I-It would be an honor to have you look over my notes!"

Kana stifles something between a gasp and a laugh of fear. He knew when not to push it, usually because of how Liam would get all tense. Most underclassmen tutors, besides, accepted that kids would be kids. It was okay to punch Aahva or enchant someone's desk to run away. Magisters, especially the older ones, were very different. There was sometimes just a look in their eyes where Kana knew they could care less if he lived or died. Saoirse was like that.

Liam cringed. Just tell her! Nettlefield isn't dumb, your story isn't going to add up, and that will make her angry. Getting in trouble, really, was not so bad...

Nettlefield's eyes widened. Surprise? Anger? Amusement? That was the only indicator of emotion on her stony face. An unseen force whisked the page from Susie's fingertips and held it in front of Saoirse's face. "Have you found the imps of Wyrdwood to be very imaginative, Susie? Your little friends, rather routinely, are able to outsmart them. Do you really think one might invent fanciful tales of how Kana-Liam is writing your essay?

"I would be expecting you to mop that up if it wasn't intentional." A soft breeze gusted over the paper, drying the ink before it might spread further. The Whitechalks' pet was not so bright, was she? And how smug she was about it! No doubt preening around the school and chasing after boys under the delusion she has real talent, while some poor and deserving students toil in obscurity.

Liam flicked his wrist and a spectral handkerchief, translucent and vaguely sparkling, errupted from their sleeve. Kana began to mop up the ink with a nudge.

Susie swallowed nervously as the notebook was taken from her, her body quaking. What did she say now? She couldn't let Kana and Liam get in trouble, not when they'd been so willing to help her! "I-I-I didn't..." she stuttered, desperately trying to sound not guilty. "It- it's not what you t-think! T-that imp must be-"

"It's all true, Headmistress Nettlefield!" exclaimed a nasally voice. "I saw the whole thing!"

What little hope Susie had left evaporated. With her lower lip trembling, the redhead turned her head to see Beatrix Evans standing behind them with her arms crossed. "B-Beatrix..." Susie whispered. "Please..."

"Kana and Liam were letting Susie copy their essay 'cause Susie didn't have it done yet!" Beatrix said, ignoring her classmate's pleas. "They were using one of those quills that lets you copy handwriting, which are explicitly stated to be against the rules in chapter six of the student handbook." The pug-faced girl glared at the supposed troublemakers, her black irises seeming to ripple slightly. "I can't believe you'd cheat like that! Some of us actually put in effort, y'know!"

"How does anyone know you're not?   You could be copying us from any fold in the dark! And-" Kana spat defiantly crossed their arms. That was the weirdest part. When your arm wasn't yours anymore.

"Aahva did pour ink on her work. We were just trying to help her understand it. We were, um, teaching her..." Liam added hopefully with a sort of half-hearted smile. Sometimes people really did occasionally notice that he, or they, were actually good students...

"-and Aahva poured ink over all her stuff anyway! Her essay was probably good but its not like she can rewrite it so quick!"

Really...

Nettlefield's lips, usually woven into a steely yet enigmatic grimace, flickered into a half-smile as Beatrix stepped into view. The Headmistress was not one to joke or grow over-familiar with students. Even the smallest hit of praise, she liked to imagine, carried weight. The girl had won some honors in her brief time at Wyrdwood, and Saoirse knew enough that the pug-nosed girl was disliked by her peers. It was hard to follow the rules, and be liked, and succeed. You could only ever pick two. "Thank you for your honesty, Beatrix. I know that was a difficult choice.

"And don't you imagine, Kana-Liam, That Susie simply should have informed a teacher if there is misbehavior? Surely you know that. There are procedures for everything." Nettlefield narrowed her eyes toward the Whitechalk's mousy pet. "Now I do believe the sixth years are having an examination today. I am going to send you over there. I trust you know why?"

"You're always finding ways for Aahva for be an ass to people. Always! And you cheat, too, I bet. This is why no no one likes you! Do you even care that Susie's stuff got ruined!?" Kana glared indignantly at Beatrix. Whatever Nettlefield was droning on about was irrelevant. It was just boring teacher stuff. Why was this lady even in charge?

Liam was beginning to get mad too. Perhaps it was just their shared hertbeat. But how could Beatrix make him go to detention and cost him a bad grade? They were so much smarter than she was anyway! Or at least just as clever. And maybe Kana was right and the teachers really weren't going to do anything about her. But he was... and it was going to be great. Their left hand lifted the quill from the desk and began to twirl it, Liam's eyes locked on Beatrix. Karsu's Chromatic Siphon slowly bleaching her blue hair white. Old lady white. He could always blame it on Kana...

Susie's glared at Beatrix, tears running down her face. The ugly girl was practically glowing at the Headmistress's praise! Why did she always cover for Aahva?  She was so gross!

Kana, unsurprisingly, shared Susie's opinion. The blue haired girl's face fell as the boy tore into her, lower lip trembling. "P-people like me!" she said, eyes beginning to water- crocodile tears, Susie bet. The girl began chew on a lock of her hair- another gross thing she did. "I have-"

Just then, the color from Beatrix's hair began to fade! Susie burst out laughing. Was Kana responsible? It had to be him, right? Oh, how Beatrix deserved that...

"Susie! How could you?" Beatrix cried, tears now falling from her face. "You're so mean! It- it's like you don't care about living up to the school's reputation at all!"

A little smile crossed Liam's face when Susie started to laugh. He was always so afraid to do stuff like this. Usually Liam would be smiling and nodding while someone else bragged about a prank or told a dirty joke. But not this time, and it was great! It was great until he caught sight of Nettlefield.

Kana suppressed a little giggle at the color change

Nettlefield pursed her lips. There was, however, an audible crunch as the Magistrix ground her teeth with rage. Did this failed experiment that amounted to nothing more than a castoff toy, and this middling insignificant little girl really think Saoirse Nettlefield was some schoolmarm to be sniggered at?  Saoirse pointed a manicured nail at Susie's robe. A wisp of blue snaked from it and toward Beatrix's hair, turning it blue once more, though it remained a frizzy mess. Susie's robe was left frayed, pale, and blotchy. It was always so neat and pressed, too. "Susie and Kana-Liam. Did you really think even cracking a smile at this stunt was wise? I do not understand why it was even very funny? Is it just the only spell you knew how to do with even middling competence?"

'But-!" Liam was sure he could do Beatrix's old hair better...

The Headmistress' fingers danced through the air in an intricate pattern, filling the air with the cool scent of ozone. And then came a flash of light and a boom of thunder. A crooked blue man with feathery wings stood before her, no doubt some air daemon. His beady blue eyes met Nettlefield's with a mix of loathing and awe. "Imp! Take these three to the alchemy stockroom. They will scrub the rust from every last pot. It is just through the Alchemy lab. The sixth years are having a little test, but do not mind them. Perhaps they will enjoy the parade?"

The little daemon nodded eagerly, sending a jolt of electricity toward Kaliam and Susie. "You go now!"

"Ow! We're going we're-" they yelped again in unison, a second shock countering whatever rebuttal they could muster.

***

"It will get easier." Her voice was quiet. Saoirse turned away from the tear-stricken Beatrix. Pretending it never happened seemed more of a mercy. It was not that her heart was icy, she should say something, but such a display would be saccharine and unseemly. "Nonsense like that stops being amusing once it actually wastes time. Susie's mistress will grow bored of her and in time she will be nothing. Kana and Liam have already served their purpose and are now a passing curiosity.

"I will... I will see you are rewarded." Would she have wanted anything more, at that age, than a nice book or a new wand for being right? A smile or pat on the arm from an elder would just be pitiful.

This was going far better than Beatrix could have ever hoped.

She had known the two-headed boy was impulsive, of course- watching people was a hobby of hers. To have jinxed her in front of the headmistress, however, went far beyond "impulsive" and right into "really fucking stupid" territory. Really, what made him think it was a good idea?

Pinning his act on Rainfeather did make Beatrix feel bit guilty. The two girls shared a common enemy, though the redhead didn't know it. Aahva was the least of that girl's problems- Maergath's tiefling lacky was the real menace. Still, Susie being a troublemaker seemed to be what Nettlefield wanted to hear, so she'd have to take the fall this time. Besides, when had Susie ever been nice to her? She was the same as the other students, really.

Sniffling, Beatrix looked up at the headmistress. Her eyes rippled slightly. "Th-thank you for standing up for me..." she whimpered, tears flowing freely down her face. "Nobody's ever done that for me before... M-my classmates just tell me I'm a killjoy for sticking to the rules..." She swallowed nervously. "Um... I don't want a reward... I t-think they would want to get back at me if I did..."

Her eyes suddenly grew hopeful. "But, maybe, could you show me how to do that spell? I'm not the first girl who's been hit with that color drain charm, I bet if I could reverse it for people then maybe I..." She trailed off, as if embarresed to have said it. "I mean... if you had time..."

"I am going to be your favorite student, Nettlefield." Beatrix thought darkly. "Freeing Aahva will be a piece of cake if I have you in my pocket..."


"This is not fair!"

Susie, for what seemed like the first time in forever, was visibly angry. Having to clean dirty cauldrons was bad enought, but seeing all those upperclassmen giggling at her when they were paraded through the testing hall was too much. "I hate her!" she spat, aggresively scraping the dried muck out of a large beaker. "She lies about everything, and she always gets away with it! She such a... such a..." The girl face scrunched up with rage. "Such a cunt!"

The beaker was clean by this point, but the redhead didn't seem to notice. "I hate this stupid school too!" she muttered, her scrubbing getting increasingly violent. "Everybody is out for themselves, and the people who aren't get-"

The girl shrieked in frustration as the beaker broke in her hands, glass nearly piercing her hand. "Myyla's underwear! Can't I do anything right!?"

"If you've made a sacrifice you should get a reward." Magistrix Nettlefield maintained careful stillness as Beatrix sniffled. She had considered children when she was much younger. Why not? It was the next step when your youth was fading and your friends and siblings were settling. Try as she might that the spark was never there. Not with her nieces and nephews. Not with children she tutored. Spark was the word she used because it was impossible to articulate. The way Ellis could make faces and tell jokes seemed so natural, but the science of why was beyond her. It did not matter, truly, Saoirse was content. But why was this impossible to master?

"But do you really think a pretty illusion is worth your time? Or mine? You could learn it from a book in three days. Think of something you would actually want or use.

"You are smarter than this. You won't get my favor very often so think carefully about something I can give you that no one else can." Those cutting words felt right.

***

The boys gasped in unison at the weepy girl with broken glass. She was almost trembling. "Um, here. Liam can get that for you.

"And you know, most of those uppers probably had to do this once or twice. Its nothing, really! And the teachers know you're not bad Susie. The Headmistress doesn't really know who we are is all." Kana tried to sound cheery. It wasn't really very fair to Susie. He and Liam got punished but they got some laughs out of it. And everyone kind of liked them. It wasn't like Susie ever got to sneak out or do anything fun, she studied hard, but was always treated like a trouble maker. It was the worst of both worlds. Probably. It made him sad. "This whole idea was Liam's fault anyway. So I'm blaming him for the fact my ass got shocked a bunch of times."

"The one time I do something fun? And its our, um-" Liam turned a bright shade of red, hiding a smirk. Kana wasn't helping him scrub. He could feel it and had to be bored, of course, but it was kind of an unspoken thing that Kana would always actually do whatever chore they were assigned after being dumb. Now it was the other way.

"Anyway, maybe we should do a little something to embarrass Aahva and Beatrix? Or at least show people what they're like. They can't just keep doing this. You probably spent hours on that essay! Maybe Beatrix's schoolwork should get spoiled for once." The idea of taking her down a peg, academically, was more appealing than Aahva.

"We could pants him at dinner friday!"

"Crud, now what?"

Beatrix racked her brain, trying to think of something she could ask for. Asking about Aahva was out of the question- revealing how much she knew about his situation could put both of them at risk. Asking for something physical like a wand or broom seemed pointless- she had never been particularly materialistic, social status always being a more appealing alternative to her. "Yeah, I can ask for that! That'll make me look super dedicated..."

"Well.... there is something that's been bothering me lately." Beatrix said, wiping her nose on her sleeve. "Um... So, in my black magic class, I've been getting top marks pretty consistantly. I really don't feel like I'm being challenged by the material anymore." The girl's shoulders slumped, as if just thinking about it was disappointing. "I've tried talking to Magistrix Fen-Breath about it, but she was really dismissive and coddling about it..."

Beatrix, for once, was being entirely truthful. Dark magic came naturally to the girl, and while she did do a lot of extra-curricular studying in the library, it was no replacement for learning hands-on. She looked up at the headmistress nervously, now genuinely hopeful that the favor she was about to ask could be granted. "Could... could you maybe talk to her about moving me up a year? Or at least extra lessons?"


"No. It's neither of you guy's fault." Susie said darkly. "It's all Aahva. If he wasn't here, I might actually enjoy it here."

The girl began to scratch at her wrist, picking at a rather long scab. "Pantsing him isn't gonna make him stop, he'll just get worse in retalliation." Her eyes narrowed. "We need to really scare him." Her shoulders slumped. "...but then Beatrix would just tell on us, huh?"

"Coddling is not the word you're looking for. I'm sure excessive comfort and pampering for fear you'll break or become horribly unhappy is not what you mean, is it?

"It is more the sort of thing you want to ask for over a private lesson on an insignificant cantrip. Of course you realize we take into account that students will be more talented in some schools than others? This new challenge may cause hidden weakness and vulnerabilities to surface. I will make the recommendation. But is this something you want?" Nettlefield's eyes fell on Beatrix. She seemed very tall in that moment, like a queen out of some painting ready to pronounce a terrible judgment.

***

"He really isn't that clever, or even that good at magic. I don't even think I've seen him do a spell right." Liam worked furiously on one of the larger pots, rust giving way to clean black iron. It was mindless work but kind of relaxing. The dull burn in their muscles was oddly satisfying. "If it wasn't for Beatrix he wouldn't be able to do much. He wouldn't know secrets, or even have the nerve to retaliate I'd bet."

"So? Everyone already laughs at her and hates her. She's got nothin' to lose. And nobody gets expelled here except for really bad stuff. And if we framed her it would be bad."

"Well, what if we got them to hate each-other? Or ruined her grades?" Liam mused softly, canting his head to the side.

"Myahaha, you're right!" Beatrix laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of her head. "That probably isn't the right word! Sorry..."

"This is a magic school!" she thought angrily. "Don't tell me I need to study vocab too!"

Beatrix looked the headmistress, her black, swirling eyes locking with the headmistress's own. "But... yes. I'm sure, Magistrix."


Susie went back to scrubbing pots, mind racing. Was it really okay to hurt people if they hurt you first? She only could imagine what her parents would say, the image of her mother and father's disappointed faces floating through her head. What if she was caught and they got a letter explaining what happened? She didn't want that!

But at the same time, she really, really wanted to hurt Aahva and Beatrix for everything she'd been put through.

"What if we told Aahva that Beatrix has been telling on him this whole time?" she said, narrowing her eyes as she attacked a particularly difficult stain with her sponge. "Or is that stupid?"

Nettlefield paused to regard Beatrix. Interesting. Shadow magic was, in her expert opinion, more the absence of everything than the presence of something. Rare for it to physically manifest for so long. Rare and rather annoying to look at for very long. The headmistress turned her gaze to the courtyard garden.

The girl's request was ultimately pointless, of course, as one way or another she would complete the course. A year at school was nothing, really, though children did not know that. Hopefully the girl had learned to appreciate the value of a favor over some mewling attempt at ingratiation. No one would ever find the little thing pretty or even endearing; she would have to learn to be useful. "I suppose you should be off to lessons. The process for excusing tardy underclassmen is not something I care to learn.

"You did well." A curt nod followed. And mewling. Had been spending too much time with Maergath of late?

***

"It would be hard to frame her for that. And he doesn't really get in trouble very often, you know?" Liam paused. "Maybe sometimes with Arthur or someone important."

"Well what if we framed him, yeah? What's it called when you use magic to look like someone else? Glamour! We glamour into him and wreck her stuff." Kana really did pay attention. He just sort of liked that he and Liam had their little roles, and somehow were combine into an even better person. But sometimes it was nice to be smart, too.

Liam's mouth fell open with mixed surprise and admiration. Wasn't he supposed to do plans and stuff? Normally this sort of impasse might make him angry or jealous, though in a way maybe it was his plan too. "I think that might work. Do you live with Beatrix or know anyone who does? Does she have anything that's, I don't know, important? Journal? Spell she's working on?"

Beatrix nodded hastily, puffing out her chest in pride. It felt good to be praised, even if she had ulterior motives. "Yes ma'am! Thank you!" she said, giving the headmistress an odd sort of curtsy with her school robe. "I promise I won't waste it!"

Turning on her heels, the girl gave one last wave as she walked away. "Yeesh, what a pill..." she thought, melting into a shadow of a bookshelf. "This manipulation stuff is harder than I thought it'd be..."

Traveling from shadow to shadow was faster than walking, and soon Beatrix found herself back in her dorm. Class was optional this period- she'd turned in her paper on wards early, and didn't particulary want to attend what would end up being a glorified study hall anyways. Besides, if she'd be moving up a year, none of that material would really matter anyways, right?

The girl flopped onto her bunk, a loud sigh escaping her lips. She picked up the plush yale that had been laying neatly on her pillow, looking at it intently. It was the only thing she had from her parents- it had been in her crib when the Order of the Moon raided her house, and was probably as close a friend as Aahva was at this point. "Well Mr. Hooves," she said, a look of both hopefulness and uncertainty passing over her face. "Looks like we're finally getting started."


"Oh my god!" Susie exclaimed, a devious grin on her face. "Can we do that? This- oh Myyla, we could be so awful to her like that!" She giggled. "You know what we need to do? We need to make it look like Aahva tore up that stupid teddy bear she has! I bet she'd hate him forever!"

"She has a stuffed bear? Well, I guess everyone needs a friend." Liam snorted, rolling his eyes. "That's a real good idea, though." The boy offered Susie an encouraging smile. He didn't think anyone really even knew Susie existed. He would be like that, really, if it wasn't for Kana.

"Like how you finally got me to keep you company!" Kana grinned, nudging Liam with his cheek.

"I, uh, we know a pretty good disguise spell. Its really easy. Siwan's Stolen Visage. You just need a mirror the person used; does anyone know where his room is? Beatrix is in your corridor at least, right Susie?"

"He's in the attic with us. He just gets his own for some reason. Probably real nasty!" That was saying quite a bit, considering the cramped little room they shared with Arthur, Taig, and Dylan. "Probably has all kinds of traps..." He imaged buckets of glue, scorpions, filthy playing cards of girls or whatever...

"Well they'd be non-magical. He's not that talented. Can't you just build a little elemental to go in first?"

"Oh yeah! Um, what do you think Susie? Could you be lookout or something?" Kana felt rude leaving her, or anyone really, out of the fun.  The alchemy classroom was, thankfully, empty as the trio left. A few jolts of static was the least of what uppers might do to humiliate you. Thoughts of Dylan's clothes being animated and made to run away sprang to mind. The castle was in sort of a pre-dinner lull when class was over but everyone was too tired to have fun. The Duhjari boy knew this was Liam's favorite part of the day, and was content to let his other half read and do boring quiet stuff. It was nice when he read aloud, though, sometimes. At least he liked playing cards with Arthur.

It was four flights of stairs before they reached the lower boys' corridor, high in the attics of the eastern hall.

Susie nodded, an uncharacteristically dark glint in her eyes. "Yeah. You can count on me."

The climb to the attic dorms was a long one, and the strain it put on her legs was nearly enough to get Susie to turn back. At one point the girl caught a glimpse of Aahva himself hastily descending the opposite staircase- "Probably off to harrass another girl", Susie figured, fists clenching. "At least we won't have to worry about getting him out of his room."

Finally, the three students stood in front of Aahva's room, neaty tucked into the corner of the attic. Taking a deep breath, Susie opened the door a crack and poked her wand inside. Nothing happendd, and she soon pushed the door open all the way. "Go, quickly!" she hissed. "I'll knock if somebody shows!"

Aahva's room was suprisingly clean, all things considered. The floor, while dusty, was free of any sweet wrappers or used paper. The small dresser was slightly out of place, scratch marks on floorboards leading from it to the door. Monster Mash cards- no doubt stolen- were stacked neatly on the boy's bedside table, organized by monster type. On the boy's bed was a worn looking sketchbook- which was odd, because Aahva had never indicated having any hobbies apart from bullying other students. On the open page was a small ink portrait that was clearly recognizable as Beatrix, as well as a Thanati girl with a sour expression on her face. A small mirror hung from the opposite wall of the door, it's glass cracked down the middle...

There was no official rule against girls walking in the boys' corridor, or vice versa, but such a thing simply wasn't done. Of course, the Housemasters would put a stop to anything unseemly.

Nevertheless, Susie Rainfeather was an awkward sight meandering outside Aahva's closet, and none of the ratty tapestries and defaced-then-repaired portraits offered a suitable hiding place. Two boys, blonde and willowy and round and red, gave her cock-eyed looks in passing. "Hi Susie!" boomed Carwyn ap Rhys, a loud and stocky boy who could turn into animals. He could do bears and wild boar really good at least.

"Going to ask Aahva to the dance?" Dylan mumbled as they passed. The shy ice mage was convinced the sort of whispery deadpan made him seem mysterious and grown-up. No one ever seemed to get his jokes, or liked him very much.

***

That's our Wyrmkragg Chinchilla! Kana's eyes widened at the card. It was a coal-colored rodent, printed on hexagonal card-stock, with a plume of smoke erupting from its wiggly little nose. Kaliam had one just like it that had gone missing some weeks before. It was a rare card but not so rare no one else had it. Kana mostly enjoyed it because he enjoyed the little creatures that summer he went to Altas Verde; one of the best things that had ever happened to him. But Kana always chewed the top tight corner of his cards. And pencils. The boy narrowed his gaze.

Liam found the whole thing peculiar too. Austair. How he loved that word. But something was definitely off about the whole thing. Green eyes darted to the sketchpad as he flipped through. "Did you know he could draw? Its not bad for a moron, really." It was actually pretty good but Liam never would have said so. Who was the other girl? It was hard to imagine Aahva caring about anything that wasn't pointless cruelty. Though he must really like Beatrix if he drew her and stuff. She looked almost cute in a gangly kind of way. Like a baby horse.

"Nope. And they look like horseshit anyway. I say we rip it all up." It was enough that Aahva was mean to make his artwork bad in Kana's eyes. A wicked grin crossed his face as their right arm went for their drawstring. "We should piss in his bed or something while we're here."

"You're gross!" Liam butted his head against Kana's, swatting the hand away. "And he'd know. We need to be sneaky!"

The two-headed boy hurried to the cracked mirror. Both, really, were pretty eager to sift through Aahva's things. The sketchbook and general neatness that seemed to defy his being a juvenile male, lazy student, and nasty bully. But first there was work to be done. Liam traced his left hand through the air and uttered Siwan's Stolen Reflection. It had to be done slow and carefully, of course, since their right wasn't in his control. It took tries to get it right. Before their eyes the last month's work of reflections flashed through the mirror: Aahva in various poses, presumably...

"You could help you know. I am right handed."

"I leave the boring spells to you. And you just gotta practice being lefty." Kana tossed Aahva's sketchpad up in the air and caught it, deftly, with a smirk.

Susie stood outside Aahva's room, grasping her shoulder awkwardly as she kept watch for any teachers or upperclassmen who might try to foil their plans. While that alone was a nerve-wracking idea, scarier still was the possibility that Aahva himself might return. "What would I even say? If I tried to stop him, he might hit me! Or he'd hit Kana!" she thought nervously. "He's never gonna leave if I just- Eep!"

Carwyn's loud voice snapped her from her thoughts, causing her to flinch. Her eyes watered, and she looked at the two boys defensively. "N-no!" she cried, folding her arms. "I am not asking... that asshole to the dance!" Susie's lips trembled, hands balling into fists. "Y-you take that back, Dylan!"


"Fuck, I'm gonna be late!"

Aahva rushed down the stairway, laughing as he pushed the Clearwater boy into the railing. He heard an angry cry from behind him, but he ignored it- he promised to meet Beatrix at her room in fifteen minutes! Smiling gleefully, the boy turned down the corridor leading to the girls dorms...

"Aahva! Just who I was looking for!"

Aahva's heart skipped a beat, and the boy froze in place. Heart racing, he slowly looked over his shoulder to see Obedience Barebone walking towards him, hands in her pockets. The boy's eyes widened as he tried to speak, but all he could manage was a small stuttering noise. "Damnit, fuck, shit!" he thought, desperately willing himself to move. "Demonic cuntwad, vet lost! Go away!"

Stepping towards him, the tiefling rested a hand firmly on the back of Aahva's neck. She gave him a goofy grin. "C'mon little dude, walk with me!" She would begin to lead him along, the boy too frightened to try and break free from Obedience's grasp...

"I-I was kidding!" Dylan's voice went about an octave, manufactured apathy vanishing alongside it. Even the mousiest little first year, apparently, hated him.

Carwyn nudged his pained-looking friend along, but not before offering Susie an apologetic shrug. "You should probably go before he gets back, hey?"

***

A boy who resembled Aahva Chatterjee, but was not, stood before the mirror making numerous faces. "This is so weird. I can feel your cheek squished against mine. But then we're also sharing a face? You can feel me doing this right?" he sneered and pried his lips apart. Kana had no understanding of the strange glamour that had transformed the into Aahva. Normally he didn't much care for magic. The novelty of floating books and talking cats had long worn off on the Dujhari. "Man you did this good!"

Liam's cheeks grew warm. "I think there's more space in the costume than outside. So we're sort of stuffed inside it but also experiencing what the illusion ought to experience. Shoruff-!" Liam slapped their shared face, which now had its tongue sticking out and lips pulled aside. "Stop!"

"Can't we have some fun? Gods his voice is annoying. Like he's trying to sound big and tough to make up for being such a scrawny rat."

"We're going to! We just can't mess up. We need to pull our faces from the mirror and send Susie ahead." And Liam did just that. He stole the reflection of them rifling the room, and conjured forth a shimmering note which slipped underneath the door. This was all coming together so good!

***

An ethereal slip of paper darted from underneath the door, spiraling through the air until flapping before Susie's face. It was common for students to enchant little paper birds to carry notes and homework to and fro.  Kaliam's chicken-scratch hand-writing was scrawled upon it.

Peak ahead to Beatrix's room and make sure the coast is clear. We should not go together.

KL

Susie scoweled at the two boys as they left, nose wrinkled in disgust. "Me and Aahva, really?" she thought, eye twitching furiously. "Like I'd ever ask him to the dance!" An image of the Thanati boy wearing a suit and holding a swooning Susie popped into the girl's head, and she forced back a gag. "How could anybody think that?"

As the boys disappeared, a scrap of paper fluttered past Susie's face. Initially started, the girl quickly regained her composure and snatched it out of the air and read it. She flipped over the note, heart racing as she took out her quill and scribbled a response.

Quote

ok meet me there in 15 mins

A tap of her wand send the note flittering back under the door, and Susie quickly began to walk in the direction of the girl's dorms...


Beatrix lay on her bed, kicking her feet back and forth. "C'mon, where is he?" she muttered to herself, frowning. "He said he'd be here by now!" Pulling herself into a sitting position, the girl closed her eyes and ler her consciousness slip into the shadows. "Where are you..."


After a few minutes, Susie had nearly reached the girl's lower corridoor. Beatrix's room was towards the end, all she had to do was-

"I-I don't fucking know!"

Susie froze. Aahva? Here? Her head slowly turned in the direction the voice had come from- the corridor that led to the washroom. What was Aahva doing there, of all places? And why did he sound so... scared?

Against her better judgement (but trembling all the same), Susie moved to listen in closer...

It was weird being someone else. Kaliam didn't get the sorts of friendly smiles and hellos as usual, or the bug-eyed stares from shocked first-years. Instead the two-headed boy, now disguised as Aahva, found students gave him a wide-berth and avoided eye-contact for fear of being drawn in a match of insults or painful groin-kicks which would no doubt go unpunished. It was also hard being someone else. The boys agreed they would need to make a scene so everyone knew it was Aahva. And that meant acting the part.

"Hey, um, asslicker!" To a passing boy with long hair. It was hard for Kana to come up with insults, especially for innocent people.

"Is it true you make your boyfriend grow a horse dick?" 'Aahva' grinned wicked as he passed Sunny, a Duhjari girl. Liam hated how she thought she was so clever. That one came from the heart.

A very astute observer might have noticed how 'Aahva' passed by a cringing Arthur Clearwater, his favorite punching bag, without saying a word.

***

Just where was Susie? She was supposed meet them outside the girls corridor to check if Beatrix's room was empty. Minutes ticked by and it felt like an eternity. What if the spell wore off or Aahva came by? Was Susie okay? Anxieties raced through Kana's mind. The worst of it was he couldn't talk to Liam. Their faces were, in some extra-dimensional space, smoothed side by side. Yet the silence and loneliness drove him crazy. Finally the girls' corridor cleared a bit as dinner went underway, allowing him to mutter to himself.

"Where do you think she is?" came a raspy, fearful mutter.

"Maybe she ran into Bea- Susie. You know. To distract her?"

"Should we wait?" Few people had ever heard that plaintive uncertainty in Aahva's voice.

"No time."

***

One. Two. Three. Kaliam took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Three loud bangs. "Open up thundercunts. Its me!

"Oh, hey. Trixie." That was a good catch. He always called Beatrix Trixie. They were doing it! Maybe this would be even better? Kaliam's heart pounded and Aahva's blue eyes widened with fear and excitement.

Beatrix's conscious slipped through the shadows, searchimg for any trace of her friend. Aahva simply wasn't late like this- which meant something had to be holding him up. After minutes of slithering through the dark corners of the upper halls, Beatrix finally heard his voice coming from near the girl's washroom...


The knocks startled Beatrix, her consciousness snapping back into place. Even more startling was that it was Aahva's voice at the door! Didn't she just hear him someplace else?

Beatrix slowly opened the door, brow furrowed as she saw that it was, indeed, Aahva. "Heyo..." she said, her eyes quivering. She gave the boy a worried look, moving aside so as to let him in. "What took you so long? Is something going on?"


"Come on dude, relaaaax. I promise you aren't in trouble."

Susies heart raced as she pressed herself to the wall, body shaking. She strained her ears, trying to make out what had her bully so scared. It was hard to hear over the sound of her pounding heartbeat, and soon enough the girl meekly peered around the corner to see what was going on...


Aahva stared timidly up at the upperclassman, back to the wall. The tiefling was leaning with her arm on the wall, smiling contently. He knew from experience that her relaxed posture was a ruse- one wrong move, and she'd use that awful flower hex on him again. "Well? What t-the fuck do you want then?" he stammered, hoping he didn't sound as frightened as he felt. "Fucking get on with it!"

Obedience giggled. "Dude, chill, seriously! I just wanted to talk about Susie." She shifted her weight, leaning in closer to the boy. "I heard about what you did today. You're really killing it out there!"

Aahva paused, blinking. This was about that, of all things? "Uh... thanks, I guess..."

The demonic student beamed. "You're welcome! Actually, I kinda was wondering..." She leaned in even closer, her gaunt face inches away from his own. "Do you think you could go, like, even harder on her?"

"Uhh..." The Thanati boy's mind began to race, and he inhaled sharply. "Do the opposite!" a voice in his head screamed. "Whatever she says, do the fucking opposite!"

"She'll kill me if I don't!" cried another. "She's a fucking psycho!

Obedience pulled away, laughing. "Hahahaha! Dude, the look on your face!" she said gleefully. "I swear this isn't me trying to get you in trouble, I mean that!" The tiefling began to to twirl her already tangled hair in her fingers. "It's just that I'm gonna have to start cramming for finals soon, y'know? I'm not gonna have time to mess with her myself anymore." The girl sighed. "Plus, I really think I topped myself by killing the dog. Like... nothing else I could do will ever be funnier than that."


"Nothing else I could do will ever be funnier than that."

The words rang inside Susies head, echoing over and over again. She slowly slumped to the floor, eyes wide. She began to scrach her wrist, peeling off the scab and digging her fingernails inside the cut. "I want to die." she thought abruptly, tears falling silently from her eyes. "I don't want to do this anymore..."

"Do it." said the voice in her head. "You won't have to feel anything bad ever again.

It was at that moment that something inside of Susie Rainfeather finally broke...

'Aahva' stated at Beatrix for several moments, bewildered, as his imposters tried to find the words. They had to be ones Aahva used. "What could be wrong, dipshit?

"Why are you so weepy lately?" I thought bled out LAST week! That was what Aahva would really say, but Liam knew he'd have stuttered or mumbled it.

They edged toward the bed. Kana saw her stuffed yale. It was nice for raggedy old child's toy. Not a stitch out of place. He imaged her parents must have chosen it especially for her, and how her face lit up when she got it and it made her think of them on lonely days. He never had anything like that in his village. There would be treats at festivals but never anything of his. Even the unspoken inheritance of Liam's property, most of his old toys stuffed in a messy closet, didn't quite fill the need.

They snatched the horned toy, running their fingers over the coarse tarycloth, flexing it by their neck as they neared the window. "What's this dumb thing called again? A yox? And do you seriously sleep it with it like Arthur? Kia's cunt, next thing you know you're going to be pissing the bed."

"A-Aahva, no! What are y-you doing?"

Something was not right. Beatrix stared at her friend with wide eyes as he grabbed Mr. Hooves from the bed, her breathing sharp. When Aahva first found out about the toy she made him promise he wouldn't laugh or make fun- and up until now, the boy had kept his word. "You- you put him down now!" the girl cried. "What's gotten into..."


The words ran through her head like an alarm bell, and Beatrix's arms went limp. "Aahva never says that- he can barely tell our gods apart as is!" she realized, her mouth twisting into a grimace. "And I don't say it either, so there's no way he could have picked it up from me." The girl's fists clenched, and the entire room seemed to get darker. "I just heard him by the washroom. I know I did."

Beatrix narrowed her eyes, leaving only her pitch-black irises visible. If whatever was pretending to be Aahva didn't move or cast a ward, the shadow of the bed would quickly tie itself to his own, immobilizing his legs. "You're not him." Beatrix said softly, mind racing. "You're one of her tricks, aren't you?"


"Mom... I want my mom..."

Susie sat on the floor, blubbering softly. She could hear Obedience and Aahva talking still, but she was too depressed to pay attention to what they were saying. "What... what the fuck... I-I barely even know her!" she thought, tears streaming down her face. "Why? Why?"

The image of the dog's corpse flashed through mind once again. Chunks of it's flesh had been missing when she found it, it eyes still open wide with fear. She'd been told that the school's zombie had done it, an explanation she'd been too despondent to question at the time.

Come to think of it, hadn't it been Obedience herself who told her that?

Susie squeezed her wrist, a few droplets of blood oozing from her cut. It hurt, but she was the one doing it- an oddly comforting idea. "Just end it." a soothing voice said. "You'll feel so much better when it's all over." Susie nodded to herself. It did sound nice...

"No."

A voice Susie hadn't heard before spoke up, and the girl froze up. It sounded like... her, except this Susie sounded brave and confidant- emotions the girl hadn't felt since entering Wyrdwood. "Are you just going to let this stop you? Really?" the other Susie asked. "The dog was taken from you, yeah- the dog you made. So what, can anybody just take your stuff now?"

Susie's eyes narrowed. She stood up slowly, resting her hand on the wall for balance. Her hair messily covered her eyes, damp from her tears. "It's hopeless." the other voice said. "Just let-"

"Shut up." Susie muttered under her breath. "I never asked you." She pulled her hair out of her eyes, tying it back in a loose ponytail. "Atta girl." said the confidant voice. "Don't listen to her."

The redhead took a deep breath, pulling her wand out of her robe pocket and looking at it darkly. Then, with a scream of rage, she ran down the corridor towards Obedience...

Why the hells did he go in? Liam knew he couldn't act and it wasn't part of the plan at all. This was some stupid brash thing that Kana would do. Why did he want to be like him so badly? They just had to stay calm. Even if she thought they were a ruse he could still hurt her, or made a rift between her and Aahva.

"Tricks? What do do you mean?" He leaned forward, feigning concern. "That sounds gay as-"

While they chatted 'Aahvas' right eye swiveled toward a corner. Kana spotted movement in the darkness. She was calling a demon! Kana clenched his fist, enveloping them in a corona of heat and light. If there was no darkness she couldn't use her magic right? There was no way anyone was beating him in a fight. The illusory boy's lips twitched into a half smile.

It took a moment to register Beatrix had cast a spell and Kana had too. "Trixie what the fuck? If Obedience wanted to fuck with you she would, like, make me stick a knife up his ass and leave it on your pillow.

"Just for that? Maybe I should!" A devilish grin crossed his face, left hand clenched around the stuffed toy's neck. Three. Two. Should he do it? He was so close to getting back at Beatrix for every cruelty she'd done, but hesitated all the same...

"Isn't that Byskov's Blinding Barrier? But Aahva can't..."

The bed's shadow quivered and retreated, no longer able to ensnare it's target. Beatrix's eyes widened, then narrowed as she took a step back. "I knew it!" She shouted, jabbing her finger at imposter. "I knew you weren't him! Aahva can't cast! He doesn't even have a wand!"

The girl grit her teeth, slowly lifting her left hand into the air. Her shadow rippled like water, dark particles splashing out of it as... something emerged from it's depths. A solid black mass rose like a pillar, twisting violently as it moved to follow Beatrix's hand. Small appendages sprouted and clenched together, resembling a wildly deformed fist. "Didn't you know?" she asked, eyes rippling angrily. "Darkness isn't the absence of light- it's the absorption of it!"

"Oh Faryion, I bet I look so cool right now!"

Her swirling irises expanded, sclera vanishing entirely. "Take this! Perfect Black Punch!" The writhing construct shot forward, piercing the light barrier effortlessly. If it connect, it'd feel like the imposter had been hit by a feather pillow...


"Wysteria's Rending Wind!"

Susie slashed her wand through the air as she ran towards the tiefling, a strong gust of wind rushing towards her target. Aahva yelped and scrambled away, but Obedience didn't budge. Holding onto her hat to prevent it from blowing off, she gave the underclassman an sheepish grin. "So you, uh, heard all that, huh? Man, that sucks..."

"Shut up!" screamed Susie, sending another blast of wind at the older girl. "You killed him! He was mine and you killed him!"

Obedience groaned, flicking her wand in the air. The wind calmed, and the tiefling stepped towards the redhead. "Susie, stop. Acting all self-rightous and stuff is lame, I'm not gonna have fun this way."

"I said shut up!" Susie yelled back, raising her wand a third time. "I'm gonna make you- huh?"

The girl's wand flew out of her hand, landing on the other side of the hall. Obedience sighed, shaking her head. "Man, you really need to calm down." she said, putting her own wand in her pocket. In an instant, she brought her fist crashing into the redhead's stomach, causing the girl to cry out in pain. Yellow flowers began to sprout from Susie's sweater, roots getting tangled in the fabric. "I can't believe this," the tiefling muttered. "I was so close to getting you to do it yourself..."

A look of shock came over 'Aahva's' face as the wave of shadow devoured his cantrip. Horseshit! Only some sort of demon magic could eat light, and demon magic was not allowed. Kana was fuming, and raised his hand defensively to block whatever she was doing. This disguise thing was so stupid-!

Stupid. Of course Aahva never did magic! Oh-god-what-to-do?! Liam's mind raced. If her shadow ate light it had to be solid or some kind of transdimensional spell. What would counter that? There was no time to counter it! Instead Aahva's left hand dropped the Yale and began tracing sigils in the air, trying to weave an escape glamour.

And with that Kaliam vanished from sight. But not before the Beatrix's fist of darkness slammed into him.

"Beatrix that was so gay," a voice came from behind her. Apparently Aahva had teleported, clutching the yale. "And if darkness is the absorption of light why do candles work, idiot?!" Liam couldn't help himself. They had to beat her at something. If only Kana would catch on.

Kana wished he could say something. Nudge him. Bite him. He was being really dumb and this wasn't going to end well. They could sneak out the door right now, but Liam's foot was anchored in place. It made 'Aahva' twitch and sway.

Beatrix's nose wrinkled as the fake Aahva vanished, her chest heaving. Controlling that amount of solid darkness at once took a lot out of her, and for it to have barely any effect...

"Gotcha!"

The black-eyed girl knew where the imposter was before he'd spoken- he'd passed through her shadow on his way there. In an instant she spun around, aiming a punch in the direction of the voice. She had to end this fast and find the real Aahva- wherever he was, he was likely in danger.


Susie doubled over in pain, clutching her stomach. She glared up at the tiefling, eyes wide with fear. Why had she thought she could beat her? It was suicide! She had to run, now!

Obedience's gaze softened, a relaxed smile playing on her lips. "Aw. Yeah, that's more like it." A second later she'd brought her fist colliding into Susie's face, giving the girl no time to react before she collapsed onto the floor. "Try not to make too much noise, kay?"

Susie desperately tried to push herself up. She had to escape somehow, find a teacher! A searing pain suddenly hit her as flowers began to spout where the upperclassman had punched her, causing the girl to let out a pained whine. She could feel the roots spreading underneath her skin, threatening to tear through her cheek and into her mouth. "W-why?" she sobbed, tears mixing with blood as she looked up helplessly. "Why are you d-doing this to me?"

Obedience shugged. "I 'unno." she said. "I thought it'd be pretty funny. Mind games just seemed like a fun change of pace compared to how I normally do it, y'know?" The tiefling aimed a kick at the struggling girl, flattening her against the floor. "If it's any consultation to you, if I hadn't done it,  something else would." she said, her voice eerily sweet. "You never really belonged here."


Aahva sat in the corner or the girl's washroom, clutching his knees to his chest. He could hear the fight coming from the hallway, and it wasn't sounding good. Susie was lame, but he didn't want her to die! But what could he do? Obedience was too strong to fight- and even if she wasn't, the awful soul magister would probably show up to defend her! Aahva breathing grew sharp as he began to panic. Why couldn't he be brave like her? Why did he have to be so fucking weak!


Aahva clenched his fists. "Oh, so she doesn't belong?" he said softly. The words echoed in his mind, fear being replaced with rage. "You fucking cuntwad..."

"Aahva" seemed all wrong now. His frame was thicker and his skin a shade off. And he winced just a little too much at her blast of shadow. The boy's sleeve just clipped her dresser, passing through it as he balled a fist. Liam's glamour had projected their sound, image, even tactile sensation to the other side of the room. It was made all the more real by the tension and hot tempers in the air. The two boys remained in place, imperceptible.

Kana knew what to do. As Beatrix whirled to blast Liam's illusion, Kana sent fist of wind and sand into her back. A solid hit could knock Taig down sometimes. Surely the gangly thing would be thrown from the bed.

Beatrix's eyes widened as her fist passed through the boy's face. "A fairy trick?" she cried angrily. "That's just- AHH!"

A strong blast of wind knocked Beatrix off her feet. She waved her arms in front of her, causing a shadow to spring up and cushion her like a pillow. "Damn you..." she snarled, glaring in the direction of the attack. "You think you're the only one who can play that game?"

In an instant the girl had sunk into the shadow, disappearing from view...


Susie struggled to move as the upperclassman moved in on her, pleading for her body to cooperate. The pain in her face was close to unbearable, and it was a challenge to even think straight. Tears silently rolled down her face, puddling onto the floor. She had to do something- but what could she do do without her wand? It's not like her dust magic would...

"The dust..."

With great effort, Susie rolled onto her back to stare up at Obedience. The tiefling had her arm outstretched towards her, a nasty grin on her face. The redhead hesitated, then steeled herself as she thrust her arm forwards in an attempt to conjure dust into the tiefling's eyes...

But the dust never came. Instead, a small, white ball materialized in it's place, launching itself at the upperclassman's head. It bounced harmlessly off of Obedience's horns, falling to the ground with barely a sound. "W-w-what?" Susie whimpered. "B-but..."

Obedience paused, then bent over to pick up what Susie had just conjured. "Pfft, what is this supposed to be?" she snickered. "Some kind of... dry snowball?" The tiefling tossed the object into the air and caught it, laughing. "It's like, so light! Was this supposed to hurt me?" She non-chalantly tossed it to the side, shrugging. "And for a second there I was actually a bit spooked! Guess you really are useless!" Susie squirmed and tried to back away as the Obedience reached for her neck. "Goodbye Susie."


A loud crack could be heard as a bronze pipe collided with the back of Obedience's head. The tiefling blinked in shock, then slumped over in a daze. From the end of the hall stood Aahva, breathing heavily. His hands were filthy, apparently having disloged the pipe from underneath one of the sinks in the washroom. "Stupid... cunt..." he said, chest heaving. "I... don't belong here either..."

A broad grin of satisfaction crossed their illusory costume's face. Both Kana and Liam were smiling at the prospect. But where the hell was she?

Liam shut his eyes and focused, reaching out for the presence of other minds. There were lots of small ones chattering away: spiders and mice, bugs and bats, and something else nearby. It was human but felt wrong. It was like when he went to Arca as a little boy and saw clowns; human but not human. Was this Beatrix? Liam didn't like it. The boys turned and darted outside the room. Now it was just a matter of not being caught...

***

'Aahva' darted down the hall fast as he could. Luckily Wyrdwood was a vast maze with numerous side-passages and reading rooms. It wasn't long before the glimmer of Beatrix's mind faded it into the distance. Kaliam darted into a dark alcove, and in the shadow of dust-covered gargoyle shed their disguise. Liam let out a heavy sigh. "God that was close..." their shared heart was pounding.

"You did great!" Kana grinned, nudging his sort-of-brother's head.

"Thanks. I mean, you did knock her down." Liam's flushed, offering a shy smile. "We'd better find Susie. She should have been there watching. Do you think she's okay? Maybe at her room?"

The coast was clear now, so Kaliam walked back toward Susie's room. As they neared it a plaintive sobs and hushed voices coming from a washroom. "Susie?" they called out in unison, softly.

Beatrix remained unseen, the shadow she'd conjured seeming to disperse across the room. Slowly she pulled herself towards the bed, in hopes of startling the imposter by jumping out from underneath it...

Too late. The fake Aahva had dashed out of the room, moving too quickly for Beatrix to swipe at. The girl emerged from the shadows, breathing heavily. "What... who... was that?" she asked nobody in particular, resting her hands on her knees. After a few seconds she straightened herself up, picking her plush Yale off the floor...

"Aahva. Where's the real Aahva?"

Immediately the girl tried to peer through the schools shadows, but found herself unable to- even trying felt like swimming through molasses. Had she expended too much energy it the scuffle? She'd never had this issue before- but she'd also never used the Pure Black Punch on an actual target. Beatrix's shoulders slumped, inky black tears welling up in her eyes. "N-no! Not now! I-I..." She clutched the stuffed animal tightly, chewing on a lock of her hair nevously. "I need to find him! Why won't it wooooooork?"


"Yeah... Haha, yeah that's right! Who even fucking needs wands?"

Susie slowly stood up, eyes wide. Did Aahva just save her life? She stared at the Thanati boy, feeling at her face. The flowers hadn't disappeared, and the girl's cheek and neck felt wet. She winced as she pulled her hand away, fingers now covered in her own blood. "Um..." she said slowly, glancing down at the unconscious tiefling. "Th... Thank you?"

Aahva glanced at her, lowering the pipe he'd been admiring seconds before. "Eh?" he grunted. "Yeah... whatever." The boy's expression became slightly less pointed. "...Don't try to magic the flowers out. You need to pull them out like weeds."

Susie gulped, taking a step back. "Is... is that gonna hurt?"

The boy groaned. "Yes it's gonna hurt, retard! That's the whole fucking point!"

The redhead grimaced, retrieving her wand and the strange orb she'd conjured off of the floor. "R-right... what do we do about Obedience?"

"Not be here when she wakes up." Aahva said, rolling his eyes. He turned to leave, then paused. "Hey... Don't go thinking that-


Aahva sneered, then dashed away withought finishing his sentence. "Kana? Liam!" Susia cried back. "I-I think I just got in a lot of trouble..."

"Uh-" Kana blushed, hesitating. "Do you want us to come in?" From tribal life he recalled women and girls as very private creatures. Even though it was a man's place to make decisions and fight, there were some places he simply did not go. Liam was not so apprehensive about a girl's washroom and continued on.

"Are you hurt or-" And then Aahva sprinted past. The two-headed boy might have checked him, but the sight of Susie standing over a bloodied obedience left them in shock. Liam knew the tiefling to be a mostly useless creature.  She certainly did not belong at Wyrdwood. Probably some mage's pet or illegitimate off-spring.

Blood on her. Blood on Susie. Aahva sprinting off. The Thanati boy was usually buzzing around her; Liam's own sister usually had to corral him into spending time with her. "Did you hit her? We should go if you did. Or maybe hide her." Was she dead? His heart was racing for some reason. If they were caught it would be bad. Or he could save Susie! Or maybe he had never been this close to danger, real danger, ever...

"Are you okay?" Kana asked in a small voice. He hadn't seen people, hurt people like this, since Zantaric and his tribe. Worry creased his voice, the life-less obedience very different then the sort of sparring and wrestling pins he preferred. "We should go... why does your face have her flowers?"

Liam gave him a look. Surprised himself at the whiny tone. "Well I think she will know who hit her." All eyes settled on Susie for an explanation.

"Um..."

Susie wasn't sure where to even begin to explain what had just happened. It had been less than five minutes, but it had felt like an entire year had passed. She reached up to touch her cheek, feeling the flowers that had sprouted. "I... I lost my temper..." she said quietly. "And.... and I lost..." She shook her head, a few loose petals falling from her face. "I-It was her. She was the one who did it... And Aahva-"

Whether or not Susie realized she wasn't making much sense became irrelevant as a quiet groan could be heard coming from the unconscious tiefling. The redhead's eye's widened. "Shit. My room, now!"

Susie would grab Kana's hand, dragging the two boy's behind her as she turned the corner and ran down the hall...


Aahva rushed down the hallway, bronze pipe still clutched tightly in his hand. Had it been the right thing to do? It seemed right at the time, but now he was unsure. Yes, he'd saved Susie- oh, how he was going to hold that over her head- but at at the same time the boy felt an impending sense of dread. "There's no way that demonic cunt-sludge will let this go..." he thought, mind racing. "She's gonna try to get back at me, or Susie, or...

The boy threw the door to Beatrix's room open. "Trixie!" he said loudly, slamming the door behind him. "We've got- ack!"

Aahva flinched as the blue-haired girl pulled him into a tight embrace. "It's you! It's you, it's you, it's you!" she squealed, sounding very relieved. "I forgot... you never knock."

"Trixie... Trixie I can't breath..." the boy gasped, squirming in the girl's arms. "You're hugging too tight..."

Beatrix quickly let go, cheeks flushing. She'd been a pretty touchy-feely person ever since they became friends- something Aahva still hadn't quite gotten used to. Not only was the girl uncomfortably taller than he was (his forehead only came up to her nose), but she had a habit of hugging with both her real body and her shadow at the same time. There was also the fact that she somehow managed to feel below room temperature whenever they touched, and never seemed to warm up even after prolonged contact with her...

Beatrix held her arm awkwardly. "Myahaha, sorry..." she said. "It's just... our mutual friend finally made her move."

Aahva nodded, grimacing. "Yeah she fucking did. Were you watching?"

The pug-faced girl's eyes rippled. "No! What happened? Does, erm..." She glanced at the bloody pipe in Aahva's hands, having seemingly just noticed it's presence. "Oh Faryion, what happened?! Are you okay?!"

The Thanati boy shifted on his feet, exhaling. "...Yeah. Let's... let's sit down..."

"Wait! You know someone is going to get mad. We really should-" Liam flushed a little. He felt Susie take his hand. Or rather, it was Kana's in an unspoken sort of way, but he felt her touch all the same. Speaking with her was always strange in the sense she noticed him but didn't with her eyes always on Kana. It crushed him.

And off they went to Susie's dormitory, racing through the narrow halls, until they were inside and the door slammed shut. That horrible sick feeling had left the pit of their stomach, and Kana back to his own self. "Aw no, your face!" Kana stared at Susie, perplexed, reaching out to brush away the flowers. "Wow though, you really got her huh? I didn't know you had it in you!" The boy was shaky in spite of the bravado.

***

"Mister Anwen! Come! Come! Come-come-come-! Now! Blood and fighting and Obedience! You must!" Idiot was flapping about in a tall, narrow chamber which spanned three stories of the castle. From floor to ceiling there stood nothing but shelves arrayed with thousands upon thousands of sanguine phials.

A young woman, with dark red hair and a freckled face, was seated at a desk. She seemed unshaped by the imp, calmly adding a drop of Red Manticore vitrum to a flask of blood. "Just a moment, Idiot. And its Mist-ress." She gave a cheerful smile, eyes never leaving her work. Her face fell as the imp began to jabber.

***

Obedience would find the washroom dark when she stirred, but for a few candles, limbs wracked with pins and needles. Anwen ferch Rhys stood blocking the doorway. She was a junior lecturer at Wyrdwood under Magistrix Fenbreath and expert in the primitive rituals of goblins, ogres, and the like. Her expression was blank, studying the Tiefling as if a zoological exhibit.

"Why do you think we have you here?"

As Susie got further and further away from the washroom, the more it dawned on her just whose hand she was holding. By the time they'd reached her dorm, her cheeks had flushed beet-red. She slammed the door behind them, letting go of the boy's hand immediately. Her bunkmates weren't in the room- probably at dinner, Susie figured. It certainly made things easier, at least...

"Ah, yeah... It wasn't me..." she said, chest heaving as she sat down on her bed. She wrapped her arms around her knees, rocking back and forth slightly. "It was actually Aahva... He, um... kinda saved me..." It had been such a confusing turn of events, the girl honestly had no idea how to process it. Was Aahva a good person deep down?

She shook her head, trying to push that thought out of her head. "I heard her admit to it..." she said softly. "Obedience, I mean..." She looked at Kana and Liam, her grey eyes like steel. "She was the one who killed my dog. She's been egging Aahva on, too..." Susies eyes drifted, a disturbed look on her face. "I just... I just really wanted to hurt her."


"...The application I sent in when I was twelve?"

Obedience sat up groggily, rubbing the back of her head. A dull pain responded to her touch, causing the tiefling to wince. It'd certainly come as a shock- she wasn't used to losing fights with children. How Rainfeather had even managed it in the first place was beyond her, the girl, unless that item she'd conjured had some kind of "hit you in the back of the head" curse on it. "Weird..."

Obedience rubbed her eyes. She was still in the washroom, though it seemed Anwen had decorated it for this meeting. She snorted, the image of the redheaded woman hurriedly setting up candles before the tiefling woke up flashin through her mind. "Sooooo..." she began, a sheepish expression on her face. "Can I assume it was Evans who tattled to you? I feel stupid now, shoulda guess she'd be watching..."

"Are you sure it was Obedience and not-? Susie I'm, um, sor-" Liam stammered. A lot was going on right now. Had Obedience, who was always a bit of a joke, really killed Susie's puppy and not Aahva? It was so hard to imagine. But the evidence was right there wasn't it? And Susie was just miserable. How could he miss all that? And now it was Liam's chance to do something nice for her, to help, but the words or what to do didn't come.

"Its going to be okay Susie. No one's gonna let her get away with that." Kana sat on the bed beside her. "I don't even know where to start, though. Did she make Aahva do all those things? To everyone? And why was she so awful to you? I mean you're great." Kana smiled, flashing a playful smile. Silly jokes and games were how you dealt with these things as a slave. "And I bet you could've got her if you wanted to.

"Me and Kana can vouch for you and everything" Liam piped up, mind still racing. How was all this so effortless with Kana? All he did was talk and smile and people liked him. Liam always had to do things. It was baffling. "And I- we're sorry about the dog. We'll... we'll get it fixed."

***

"We are always watching." Anwen sighed forcefully. Normally their agents and initiates had no idea, but could Obedience be trusted on a long leash? "My family in Ravensway owns lots of pastures. They're good for sheep. But where there are sheep there are wolves, and so our farmers had dogs. One of the dogs was called Sable. He was a big thing with shaggy black fur, and fierce, he chased off a bear once.

"But that is when the trouble started. My brother was friends with a shepherd boy called Kieran; they'd pal around the village turned into animals and causing mischief." Anwen rolled her eyes. She was always left out of those games. "But one day Sable near mauled the pair of them. No more playing dogs, and a switching, came after that. No one thought much of it; it was the boys' fault for turning into animals wasn't it? Sable was simply a beautiful, fierce herding dog and it was in his nature to be ornery.

"But then, one day, our friend Kieran found Sable had bitten a sheep. The poor thing had nearly lost its leg. What do you think happened to Sable after that?"

Susie's entire face flushed bright red, and she found herself staring at her feet. "I... I..." What did she say to that? If they had been alone, Susie would have known exactly what to say, but Liam being around made things too awkward. "You- you're great too... Both of you." That last part was audibly an after-thought, though it sounded good in Susie's head.

The girl lifted her hand to her cheek, tugging on one of the flowers tenatively. After a few seconds she yanked it out, whimpering in pain as the roots dislodged themselves from her skin. "I- owwwww- I don't know what's going on with her Aahva..." she said, trying desperately to hold back her tears. After a moment she pulled out another, wincing again. She dropped tje two flowers onto the floor, where they lay in a bloody pile. "He seemed a little nicer after- owowow- after it happened, though."


Obedience stared blankly at the redhead in front of her, visibly confused. "Um... The dog, uh, was put down? I'm not a freakin' shepherd, Anwen." she said, squinting. "Wait, wait, hang on. Am I supposed to be the sheep?"

The tiefling shook her head, scowling. "Ugh, god. Could you be less obtuse? Like, I do not need this today."


"I can't get in."

Beatrix lay on her bed, eyes closed. Aahva sat next to her, a worried look on his face. "The fuck? What do you mean, you can't get in?"

Beatrix wrinkled her nose. "I mean something is blocking me. Some kind of ward, like the ones in the basement." The girl opened her eyes, pulling her consciousness back into her body. She sat up, frowning. "That's... not good. I hope Susie's isn't still in there..."

Aahva grimaced. "Check her room, just in case."

"On it." Beatrix wrapped an arm around Aahva's shoulder so as to steady herself, then closed her eyes once more..."

Kana reached toward Susie's face, almost speaking but stopped himself. Over the course of a year they had gotten good at picking up subtle queues from each-other. Sometimes Liam might jog Kana's muscles when the Duhjari mage was put on the spot to work a spell, springing forgotten trivia to mind. "Here. Hold still. Let me- we'll get it!" Liam squeaked out, reached to pluck the roots from her face.

***

"I wonder if you are being deliberately obtuse sometimes yourself." Anwen frowned. "You're the dog. Its why you've been allowed to rise so far. But a sheepdog is just a means to an end. Without a flock of sheep, placid and stupid as they are, what is the point of the dog? This school is here to ensure Serendipity endures. And you? If you aren't going to be useful, why should you even exist?"

Three. Two. One. The smallish woman uttered a word of power. Magic coursed through the tiny sample of blood she had taken -- painfully twisting flesh -- and not in a good way: the mottled skin, long nose, and pointy ears of an imp or other pathetic creature might soon to come light. "Keep hurting our purpose, and people, and we will take everything about you. You will not even recognize yourself." Her gray eyes were fixed on Obedience, jaw clenched, trying to hide fascination and elation.

Susie blinked, then looked away. Her blush would be clear as day had her face not been covered in blood and flowers. "You- hou don't have to do that!" she sputtered, ripping more of the buttercups out of her cheeks. "R-really! I got it!"


"So I'm just an animal to you? Oh, I'll show you..."

Putting on a smile to mask her rage, Obedience opened her mouth to retort. "But Anwen, I am being useful!" is what she wanted to say. "If the weakest links aren't culled, the flock will wither and die! I was doing the country a service!

However, all Obedience could manage was a pained whine as her face suddenly began to writhe and twist of it's own accord. The tiefling grasped at her cheeks, trying desperately to make whatever was hapening to stop. Tears of agony ran down her face and onto what was now an elongated nose. Her ears had now doubled in size, and ended in sharp points. The girl's eyes were burning with hatred as she looked up at Anwen, teeth grinding furiously. "I understand." she blurted out robotically. "Make it stop."

"You'll pay for this, bitch. I'm kicking your ass in badminton this weekend!"

"We can-" Kana opened his mouth and shut it. The boy knew if he offered maybe Susie would've let them help. Part of him was proud Liam worked up the courage, but almost relieved he'd failed. You couldn't get closer to anyone than he and Liam were? Why would you need anyone else?

"Are you sure? Well I can get you a- a mirror maybe?" Liam retracted his hands, weaving a tiny illusionary mirror into existence. It flickered a bit but showed Susie's freckled, bloodied, and flower-speckled face well enough. As if such a thing mattered. It was supposed to be something nice he could do...

"Aahva still seems like a cock to me. Just because he wouldn't let her choke you with flowers doesn't mean he wasn't having fun with the rest." Kana interjected. Whatever little moment of tenderness he hoped give Liam had thankfully passed. "So what do we do now? Tell a matron? Nothing?"

*** 

"You don't look very sorry, or like you even understand. I think you're just going to bite me or someone sel the very moment you get loose. Isn't that what you're thinking right now? Just that you'll wait and you'll get free-

"And you'll try and do something stupid like touch me with those flowers?" It was a question for Anwen as much as Obedience. Creatures like this never truly changed. Whatever it was, its mind was churning at how it might inflict more pain. And girls of this age, they were so stupid, especially at Wyrdwood. The smallest hint of praise, a look from a boy, and they got it in their head they were special or interesting. It was pitiful. This was her first time playing enforcer in truth, and her heart was pounding. The young woman shifted to hide the ever-blooming pink-and-blue Yoreiqi flower around her neck to seem more menacing.

Susie looked into the mirror Liam had conjured, inhaling sharply at the sight of her reflection. Her injuries looked much worse than they felt- and they felt pretty bad already. Her shock quickly turned uncertainty, which then morphed into anger. It was one thing to get hurt, but like this...

"I'm done with him." she said done. "If he wants to play nice, fine. If he doesn't..."

"He'll be the one looking like this." finished the voice in her head.

Susie sighed, wincing as she pulled out a few more flowers. "But yeah. We should probably tell somebody about Obedience- even if it's just another upperclassman they might be able to do something."


"Is that fear? You have me at your mercy and you're scared?"

Thoughts were hard to form when your face felt like it was melting, but those ones managed to get through clearly. Obedience looked up at Anwen, attempting to give her a reassuring look. It made her appear slightly demented. "Anwen, I swear I won't! You know I'd, like, never do that to you!"

"Your brother Canwen, on the other hand..."

Tears began to form in the tiefling's eyes as her horns crumpled and began to reshape into antlers. "Please... How do I make this right?"

"I'm sure the Headmistress would want to know..." Liam trailed off. Her stern ways and perfectionism made sense to him. He did not think she particularly liked him but felt driven to impress her nevertheless.

"We just got in trouble with her, dumbass." Kana grinned, nudging Liam with his cheek. "Maggie is nicer."

"Yeah but would she do anything? Nettlefield or Maergath would be mad."

"Fine. We'll find one of them." Kana lept off the bed. "You should come, Susie, in-case she wakes up or something." he touched her arm, carefully nudged her out the door...

***

The hex she used to make Obedience a mewling imp had faded as they spoke. As the girl began to cry Anwen gritted her teeth, anger welling up inside. "Haemothrax!" the spell was meant to send wracking, arthritic pain through the tiefling. It was a dangerous spell beyond mere agony, but she did not care.

"If you're stupid enough to think a year girl crying will melt the heart of anyone but a young boy, I don't know why we have you. You're smiling and five minutes later you're butchering a puppy." Anwen regained her composure. She was being observed much Obedience was. The sorceress had always guessed the imps and gargoyles of Wyrdwood were more than simple statues. Now that was confirmed. "How can a word you say be trusted?

"Its even more insulting you don't think! Why aren't you at least trying to make a real bargain? If you had not took it too far I would be fine with your amusements. This is just grotesque. If you're going to constantly be testing us, I don't know why we should even keep you about anymore. Can you tell me that?" she trailed off, in a quiet sort of voice that oozed menace.

"...yeah."

Susie nodded, slowly following the two boys. The bleeding was beginning to slow, though there were still a few flowers left unplucked. Little red spots dotted her face like pimples, marking where each root had sprouted. With any luck they'd scab over and blend in with her freckles...

"With any luck?" said the negative voice. "You don't have any luck, remember?"

The girl reached into her pocket, gripping the strange object she'd conjured earlier. "No. That's wrong." she decided. "Things are going to start looking up. I know they will."

For the first time in months, Susie Rainfeather felt a sense of confidence...


"Bitch!"

What should have been a scream came out as a gasp. Obedince writhed in pain, the tears in her eyes now genuine. She looked at Anwen darkly, no doubt planning a hex of her own...

The doorknob jiggled, and somebody began to rap on the door. "Is somebody in there? I really need to go!" said a panicked voice. "Come on! Hurry up!"

Obedience glared at Anwen, smirking madly. "Shall we finish this later?"

"No. Not later." She uttered another word of power, to strengthen the blood binding - leaving Obedience's limbs with pins and needles. A delicate hand produced a strange-looking lancet from her robe. "If you can't be reasoned with we will simply need to make you behave. Not just a tighter leash. We will have to change you.

"And stop smiling, if you want to keep your teeth. I can't stand the sight of it."

The girl did not knock again...