Legacy's Prince

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Finals

"Done," I whisper under my breath as I set my pencil down. My geography final is done, and though it's just the first exam of the day my hand already hurt. Stretching my fingers, I inhale deeply as I stand to turn it in, passing it to Morcant before returning to my seat. Morcant smile as he takes my exam, motioning for me to be quiet as I wait for the rest of my classmates to finish.

I nod as I have no interest in talking at all. My plan is to just rest and relax for the remainder of class time, but my racing mind is making that quite difficult.

One final down.

A seemingly infinite number left to go!

No matter how I try to put it from my mind, I still fret and worry. Glancing about the room I try to find something else to focus on. Seana was the first one done with her test and had her nose stuck in a book. Axellia seems to be stumped on something as she drums her quill on her chin. Dezden is furiously scratching out an answer and muttering to himself in his mother tongue. Though my friends offer some distraction, I only get a few minutes of rest before class ends and I have to start making my way to the alchemy class. I groan as I hold the door open for Axellia, Seana, and Dezden. This is one of two exams I'm very worried about, the familiar exam being the other.

At least for this class I have a plan. A shaky plan that requires me to rely of Rugrell and Frin of all people, but a plan none the less.

Familiar class? I have no clue what I'm going to do for that! I don't have time to try and make one, though, because the minute We sit down Professor Cicero taps on his podium to gain our attention. Behind him are several long tables covered in sheets.

"Alright," Professor Cicero tells us as he fixes his spectacles. "You have an hour to create your tool, beginning now!"

He rips the sheets off to reveal one table stacked with gemstones, one stacked with twisted bits of metal, and another filled with tools. He flips over an hourglass and everyone scatters. An elf boy nearly knocks my chair over before I can even stand to my feet, but I recover and jump towards the gem table to look for jade. I soon find three smoothed, circular pieces and snatch them up before anyone else can take them.

"Cai!" I hear Axellia's voice. I turn to find her stuck behind a wall of much larger students, pointing furiously at a small pile of stones. "That moonstone! Give it to me!"

I spot the round, white gem she's talking about on top of the pile and snatch it just seconds before a fairy girl with parrot wings does.

"Oh, no!" The girl laments as a toss the stone to my sister.

"Thank you!" Axellia cheers as she and I move to the metal table, I search for any metal I can use to make a mirror. Three flat, circular plates and three hollow bars of iron catch my attention. Tucking them under my arm with the jade, I begin searching for Rugrell and Frin.

Just as I was hoping, they are dumbly staring at their surroundings at the head of the tool table. Neither have even made a move towards the materials. Frin looks horribly stressed as he fidgets with a small screwdriver, while Rugrell wears the same angry scowl as before.

Making my way to them, my load still in my arms, I swallow my pride and ask, "Not sure what to do, eh?"

"Oh, bug off!" Rugrell snaps at me.

"While not an unexpected response from you, I'm actually here to help this time," I grumble.

"And why would you do that?" Rugrell asks, arching an eyebrow. Not trusting me at all, is he? Not that I expected anything less.

"Because, as much as I hate to say it, you two have something I need," I answer, the words tasting bitter as they leave my mouth.

"Ha! Then the answer's no!" Rugrell laughs, a horrible grin on his face.