Starlight Academy #2: Darkness Rising, page 8
One more to go.
I looked back to see that Blake was throwing a javelin. It was coming fast, but I was already prepared.
I focused on it and willed it to land just an inch away from our cart making it seem as if Blake had missed by a small margin.
He was strong, but that didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to hurt us or win this race.
The veins in his forehead bulged. “You’re not so bad,” he called from his cart. “But don’t worry. I’m better.”
“Like hell you are!” I yelled, before turning my attention to Felicity. “You good?”
“I’m fine. Just keep doing whatever it is you’re doing,” she said.
I nodded. I picked up the quiver and the bow. We had practiced with a bow and arrow a few times during Celestial training last semester, and while I was no Katniss Everdeen, I was decent enough to hit something right in front of me. I strung the arrow against the bow and released, planting my arrows in the front of their cart right in front of Morgan. Her eyes went wide and her face went a little pale, but she didn’t stop the chariot. I grabbed another arrow and strung it against the bow. This time I was ending this.
I released the arrow at their left wheel and willed it to land in the wheel and anchor them to the ground. Their cart jerked to a stop.
“You bitch!” Blake yelled, jumping down to remove my arrow.
I laughed. “See ya!” It was kind of fun goading him, and some of the students in the bleachers chuckled.
I was glad some people weren’t on Team Blake.
He roared and held his hand out toward the distance. I had no idea what he was doing, but he was pointing his palm toward the pond.
Wait.
Oh no.
Water from the pond began rolling until it was one big wave. I gasped. Blake willed the pond water to move like a tsunami coming right for me and Felicity. With a wave that strong, that would surely knock us off the cart and give Blake enough time to get ahead of us and win.
“Shit!” I yelled.
“Oh gods!” Felicity cried.
I had to think fast.
“Keep going!” I told her.
The wave followed us. With quick thinking, I used my Cancer magic to slow it down but to keep it following us a few feet behind as if we were able to outrun it. Right when we were at the finish line, I stopped using my magic and let the wave finally collide into us.
I held my breath as water crashed over us. The horses whinnied, and Felicity shrieked because the water was freezing. I opened my eyes to see that we both lay on the ground soaking wet. Our hair clung to our faces, but the wave did exactly what I wanted it to. It pushed us over the finish line. We had won.
The students in the bleachers cheered.
“How the hell did you outrun that wave?” Blake asked, storming up to us.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, getting up and squeezing the water from my hair.
“You… did something,” he sputtered. His face was getting redder and redder. It was almost comical if I wasn’t so irritated. “To the water.”
I gave him a smile as sweet as sugar. “We out ran the wave.”
Blake narrowed his eyes in a way that told me he wasn’t convinced. “No, you didn’t. You did something.”
“Come on, Blake,” Morgan said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “It’s over.”
But I was still in the mood to tick him off.
“Don’t get mad you got beaten by freshmen,” I mocked. He gave me a death glare, not at all concerned about what I was saying.
“You did something to the water.”
“I didn’t do anything to the water.” I rolled my eyes, then looked at Professor Sybil who was walking up to us. “Can you please tell Blake we won fair and square?”
She sighed in exasperation. “Blake, they won,” she said. “Congratulations Lapras Tennsley and Felicity Chambers! You’re the official winners of the competition, and therefore, the champions of the water dorm for this year’s Chariot Games.”
“Thank you,” Felicity and I both said in unison.
“Alright!” Professor Sybil yelled firmly. It always amazed me at how fast she could turn on and off her aggressiveness. “Competition’s over. Go get dinner!” She turned to Blake again, and she frowned. “Except for you. You’re staying here. We need to talk.”
CHAPTER 15
WHEN FELICITY AND I entered the dining hall, the room went quiet as students stopped eating to stare at us. Their looks were something of confusion mixed with surprise and respect. Maybe us winning the chariot race made them see that Felicity wasn’t as helpless as they thought she was. I saw Claire and Ezra sitting at our usual seats. She was beaming at us, which helped to ease the nervousness that I was feeling.
Felicity and I went up to the buffet to get our food. It was Mexican night, which was one of my favorites. I piled my plate high with burritos, tacos, and tortilla chips. We took our seats next to Claire and Ezra. I could still feel eyes on me. The curiosity that radiated behind their eyes was like they were seeing a different me.
“You guys were freaking awesome this morning!” Claire said. “You have no idea how good it felt to see someone kick Blake’s ass. I have a class with him and he’s such a cocky bastard.” My tension eased at the sound of Claire’s voice.
“Oh, it felt really good,” I said.
“It felt even better once he made that scene in front of everyone,” Felicity said. “He’s such a sore loser.”
“What happened?” Ezra asked.
“He accused us of cheating,” I said.
Ezra chuckled.
“Where is he?” I asked, looking towards the senior table. I spotted Morgan but no Blake.
“I haven’t seen him since the competition,” Claire said, shrugging.
“Professor Sybil said they had to ‘talk.’ You think he’s in trouble?” Felicity asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t know.” I looked over at the professor’s table to see that Professor Sybil was chit chatting with Professor Middleton. It didn’t seem like anything was wrong.
“Well, this race just got more complicated,” Claire stated.
Claire was right. This race really did get more complicated. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the chariot race all evening. Technically, I hadn’t cheated. We could use magic to win, but I had a major advantage over the others. It might be unfair, but it felt good. It was so satisfying seeing that defeated look on Blake’s face when I’d outrun his wave. A part of me didn’t regret a thing.
“Why?”
“Ezra and his friend Keaton are the earth dorm champions,” Claire said.
My mouth dropped. “You are?”
Ezra blushed but nodded.
“I’ll be cheering for the both of you, though,” Claire said.
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Is that possible?”
“Sure it is,” Claire said.
Ezra shook his head. “Not possible honey. You have to pick.”
Ezra and I looked at one other. There was a glimmer in his mossy green eyes that was playful. I smiled slightly. We both looked at Claire giving her our sternest look. She looked back and forth between us. Her face began to turn red. She opened her mouth to speak. “I…I…”
“It’s okay,” I said, laughing before we gave her a heart attack. “We’re just joking.”
Claire heaved a sigh of relief and placed a hand over her heart. “Whew. Very funny, you guys.” She swatted at Ezra’s arm. He laughed and pulled her to him, placing a quick kiss on her cheek. She blushed.
A pang of jealousy went through me. I was happy for Claire, but damn, I wish my love life was that easy. I glanced at Felicity. She gave me a small smile as if she knew what I was thinking. Of course, I couldn’t help but think about Barry. Nothing had ever been easy between us, and I doubt it ever would be.
We were in the middle of discussing the champions for the other dorms when my mom burst into the dining hall. Everyone in the room froze. My mom’s eyes were dead focused on me.
Uh oh.
“We need to talk,” she said, walking up to where I was sitting. “Now.”
I think I could feel my heart literally jump out of my chest. I’d never seen my mom this angry, and I was surprised at the darkness I felt radiating off of her. It reminded me of when I sat with Sullivan and Saanvi for breakfast, and their magic seemed to be coming off of them in waves. Normally my mom kept her dark magic very controlled, held against herself, but right now I could feel it press against my skin. Felicity and Claire looked so uncomfortable. I’m sure they could feel her anger too.
I sighed. I gave Felicity and Claire an apologetic look and got up. I followed Mom out of the dining hall.
She didn’t speak until we were outside of the dining hall in the lobby of the main building.
“So,” she said, narrowing her eyes at me. “I hear you and Felicity are this year’s champions of the water dorm.”
“I wasn’t going to compete,” I started. My throat suddenly felt extremely dry. “But Felicity wanted to, and no one else would volunteer to race with her. Then Professor Sybil volunteered me to compete with her, and she said Felicity couldn’t race if I didn’t. I couldn’t let Felicity down. And the senior who would have won, Blake, was being such a jerk. I had to stand up to him. So Felicity and I went up against him…and we won.”
Mom sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Lapras…Blake is accusing you of cheating. I need you to tell me the whole story,” she said. She could be so annoying at times with that. She always wanted to know everything that happened. “From the beginning.” She walked over to one of the armchairs and sat down. Her message was clear. She wanted me to sit down and tell her everything, and she wasn’t going anywhere until I did.
I took a deep breath. “Okay.” I sat in the chair that was across from her.
She didn’t interrupt me as I recounted what happened during the chariot race. She nodded occasionally to let me know that she was listening. I tried to gauge her expression, but I couldn’t tell what she was thinking.
Once I was done with my story, I bit my lip and waited for her reaction. I wasn’t sure if she was upset or not.
“Well, that was…a lot,” she said, staring at me.
I raised an eyebrow at her because this was not the reaction that I had expected. “You’re not mad?”
“Well, it won’t change anything. I can’t say that I blame you. I would have done the same thing if I were you.”
“Oh,” I heaved a sigh of relief. “I thought you were gonna be mad.”
My mom smirked. “I’m glad you knocked a little of that arrogance out of him. But Professor Sybil brought Blake to Professor Middleton, and he told her everything. He is convinced something happened during the chariot race. He wouldn’t stop talking about how you used other magic to help you win. So yeah, I’m not happy about that part. You could have exposed yourself.”
“I know. Luke warned me too.”
“He knows what you are?”
“Yeah, remember my first day and the rune incident? That was him confirming his suspicions. Turns out he gave me the wrong rune for a reason.”
Mom considered this. “Smart man. I should’ve known he would figure it out on his own.”
“I had to hide this too,” I said, bending down to roll down my socks. I had made my Starstone into an ankle bracelet. “It wasn’t helping my case.”
“Good. You’re smart like your mother.”
I smiled.
“You aren’t feeling weird or anything, right?” Mom asked.
“What do you mean?”
“That stone is powered by death. Sooner or later, you’re going to need to power that thing.”
That’s right. Belinda had had to kill to keep the stone’s activated. For now, it was still working. I hadn’t thought about what would happen when that power would start to fade.
I stared at my mom, and she waved it away.
“You don’t have to worry about that just yet,” Mom said. “But you have to tell me if you start feeling any different. Okay?”
I nodded. “So, what did Professor Middleton do with Blake? He wasn’t at dinner.”
“He’s on disciplinary probation.”
I snorted. “Because he knew too much?”
“No. Because he drained the school’s pond and killed some rare aquatic wildlife that lived in there. Damaging school property is against school rules. So, she put him on probation. I’m sure he learned his lesson. He knows he’s on thin ice.”
“Well, I can’t say that I feel sorry for him.”
“Me neither, but you’re right. He knows way more than he should,” she said, giving me a look. “Luckily, no one is taking him seriously and since the professors know about our ‘history’, it’s not like it’s a shock to them. He just sounds like a sore loser. From what I was told, he can be a little entitled, so his rantings aren’t unusual. That Morgan girl didn’t notice anything, so that’s good. But you need to be careful from now on. If one more person sees something else weird that you’re doing, they’re going to get suspicious. I think you forgot that Celestials aren’t that keen on Chthonics. Your generation doesn’t really know what happened to my grandmother, but the older Celestials do. If you keep parading your skills all over the place, it’s going to give them more reason to go against what I’ve worked really hard to do for our kind. So, cool it with the dark magic. Got it?”
“So you want me to lose the race?”
Mom shrugged. “If that’s what it takes. You showed Blake that you aren’t one to mess with, but don’t get too cocky.”
“Fine,” I mumbled, thinking about how excited Felicity had been during dinner. I hated the thought of letting her down.
“Are you listening to me? No more dark magic. Are we clear, Lapras?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Thank you.”
Both of us were silent for a few seconds.
“All right,” she said, standing up. “I’m going back to work. I’m glad we had this chat.”
“Wait,” I said as she began to walk away. She stopped and turned. “Do you think I’ll have to hide my magic forever?”
My mom didn’t answer, which was a clear enough answer. “I know it feels like I’m asking a lot, and I understand. I’ve had to hide too, but think of it from their point of view. We have something that they can’t control. People of any kind fear what they can’t control. For Celestials, that just happens to be things like us. It’s a sad reality and I really am sorry about that Lapras.”
I nodded. “Maybe one day I can fix all of this. This fear of what we are.”
“Maybe,” she said, feigning a smile. She then nodded back at the dining hall. “Alright. Now get back in there. Champions need to eat their dinner.”
CHAPTER 16
IT WASN’T LONG BEFORE Felicity and I were standing in our chariot behind the starting line next to the earth dorm champions, Ezra and the Capricorn they had mentioned named Keaton.
Yesterday was the second round of the games where we had witnessed the fire dorm champions, Sullivan and Everett, the Aries who had tried to push up on me at a party my first semester, win against the air champions. It was brutal.
I shouldn’t have been surprised that Sullivan and Everett had gotten along. They were two guys I couldn’t stand, so it was fitting they matched with each other.
As much as I wanted to win against Ezra and Keaton, there was an unsettling feeling at the thought of racing against Everett and Sullivan.
The racing tips that Professor Sybil and some of the other professors, who belonged to the water element, had given me went through my mind. As a Virgo, Ezra could use the environment against me, manipulating nature to his will. If he was really strong, something as little as the grass that surrounded us could be a threat. I wasn’t certain about Ezra’s strength, so I would have to be alert to my surroundings and play mostly defense against the pair. Although Ezra avoided our gaze, his partner Keaton stared at us. I could see the wheels in his head turning. He was trying to figure out the best way to take us out. I was more worried about him than I was about Ezra.
I tried not to let him intimidate me so I stared back at him. He finally broke his gaze.
Professor Middleton, Luke, and my mom were sitting on a bench near the sidelines. Sullivan and Everett sat with them.
When Sullivan caught me staring, he gave me a small grin. I willed myself to look away from him.
Professor Middleton stood up and walked to the center of the field. She cleared her throat loud enough for us to quiet down.
“Today, the water champions-Felicity and Lapras-and the earth champions-Ezra and Keaton-will race in the third round of the Chariot Games,” she said. “The first one to complete two laps will face off against Sullivan and Everett, our fire dorm champions, in the final round.”
At the sound of their names, the fire dorm cheered.
It was something to see these Celestials root for someone like Sullivan. If only they knew how much dark magic Sullivan had, they wouldn’t be so eager to claim him as their own.
I eyed the track around us. It would be so easy to win. I could use all of my magic. I could easily get around the track twice while causing minimal damage to the opposing team.
But I couldn’t risk exposing my magic nor opening myself and my mom up to criticism. The long conversation that my mom and I had replayed in my mind. If I made a mistake, it could possibly cost me my place here at Starlight as well as my mom’s role as Chief. The two of us weren’t the closest and we disagreed on a lot, but I wouldn’t put her career in jeopardy just to satisfy some personal need to prove to these people that I was strong.
Professor Sybil started her countdown.
“One…Two…Three!”
The whistle sounded overhead. Felicity whipped the reins and we shot down the track so fast I would’ve fallen out if my arms hadn’t been holding on to the rail. The wheels of the chariot were gliding down the track when we were suddenly lurched back. I looked behind me to see that Ezra was using his Virgo magic to make the grass nearest to the track shape like tentacles. They grabbed and wrapped around our wheels. He smiled and their chariot raced past us. I groaned and held out my hand out to shoot flames at the grass that wrapped around our wheels. Once they burned off, Felicity got the horses going again.
