Light & Dark: The Awakening of the Mageknight

Chapter 4

Danny was wide-awake, still in his bed when his mother came to wake him for breakfast. With nightmarish dreams and jumbled, confused thoughts, sleep had been rather difficult.

Grounded for a week, despite attempts to explain his actions, Danny sighed and began his day.

The bus ride to school seemed normal enough, although Danny was in no mood for Alonso's stories.

Alonso simply shrugged and told his tale anyway.

Danny was going through the motions, heading toward midday. To his surprise and relief, Steven Rooney kept his distance during gym class. Whether it was because of the white bandage on his nose or Mr. Ingram's watchful eye, Danny couldn't be sure. In either case, he was glad to be left alone for once.

"You okay, man?" Chris asked during their baseball game, the gym activity for the day.

"...Not sure," said Danny, looking at a fellow student getting ready to bat.

"Well, you sure waffle stomped Steven Rooney. I heard that was an epic fight."

"I guess," said Danny, though he wasn't thinking about Steven, his thoughts were far away. He wanted desperately to tell Chris what he'd seen the night before, yet he knew Chris would never believe him. Danny wasn't quite sure if he believed it himself.

"I guess?" mimicked Chris. "You broke his nose, man. The story has been going around school all morning. I just found out myself. I'm surprised you didn't text me to tell me last night."

Danny turned and looked at Chris. Danny could see that he'd hurt Chris's feelings. They were best friends, after all. "I'm sorry," said Danny with a shrug. "I just, have a lot on my mind right now."

"Hey, I understand. I get the same way after a wrestling match. It's easy to second-guess yourself," said Chris with a comforting smile.

After gym, Danny skulked his way to science class, noticing that he seemed to be the center of attention. Everyone looked at him with a mixture of fear and awe. Danny didn't feel like a hero, as the day went on, he began to feel more and more awkward. It was not what he had expected.

Science class ended with Danny in a daze. He was so focused on the events of the previous day that he didn't even acknowledge Sabrina Drake. She was sitting right next to him.

The bell chimed, echoing through the small science lab, marking the end of the period.

Still going through the motions, Danny placed his science book back into his backpack, got up, and left the room. Lost in his thoughts, he almost failed to hear Matt call out.

"Danny, wait up!"

In a dazed state, Danny stopped and waited for his friend.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Stephen Rooney, wish I could've seen that. How'd you pull that off?"

Danny turned and continued down the short hall. Matt followed him. "I wish I knew."

Before Matt could continue, Danny heard his name uttered lovingly by Sabrina Drake.

"Danny Firoth," she said in a soft, alluring tone, materializing out of the crowd.

Danny held the door open and allowed her to breeze past him.

"Thank you," she said with a slight smile. The faint aroma of wild roses followed in her wake. "That's the second time you've held the door open for me," she said, flicking her long black hair back behind her shoulders.