The Chase Space (A Magnus Chase Semi-Short Story)

Chapter 4: I Suck At Teaching

Just a quick recap, the classes are: Sword Fighting (Magnus), Pottery (Alex), Archery (T.J), Hand-to-hand combat (taught by Mallory and Halfborn. Note: It is two separated classes), Axe-Throwing (Sam), Sign-Language (Hearth), Working at Blitzen's Best (Blitzen), There are 8 classes in total, because there are two different Hand-to-hand combats.

Who knew you could do so much in two weeks. I got most of the stuff from Valhalla, lugging it through the small corridor. Fortunately, I had the help. My friends on floor 19 help get and carry all the equipment needed into the Chase Space. Then, since all the kids at the Chase Space already knew about "school", they all decided to pitch in and help. They helped move the targets into the backyard, and wrap cloth around the blades so that they would bruise, not cut. They helped organize the leather armor and find enough extenders and outlets for the pottery wheels. They helped carry the massive kiln downstairs, and they helped set up mats for the hand-to-hand combat. Still, even with everyone's help, it was still a ton of work.

We celebrated the last day of work with a massive feast. Hunding, who was the servant of the manager of Valhalla (long story), ended up bringing up a lot of delicious food. Everyone happily dug into the food, which was much better than normal fast food takeout (look, we don't get that many donations). What pleased me the most was that everyone was talking about the classes, what they thought it was going to be like, which class they thought was the best. I was happy that everyone was so excited, but it also means that their expectations are higher.

I stood up on my chair and tapped my spoon on my glass. I cleared my throat and said, "Hello everyone, can I please have your attention. You all have your schedules, right? Just a reminder, classes start at 8am and end at 4pm. It is a block schedule, so you will have a day where you have 4 classes, then the next day you will have the other 4. Get some rest, and have a good night," I said in my most professional sounding voice. And with that, I headed up to my room.

Isaac's POV

Finally, the start of classes! Ever since we heard about them, I have been itching for them to come, and now they are finally here! I looked at my schedule, which was just a small slip of paper with words almost too small to read. I had archery for my first class.

"Hey Isaac! What class do you have first?" Wesley as he and the other Bozos walked up to me.

"Oh hey! I have archery first. What about you guys?" I replied.

"I have sword fighting, first," said Wesley.

"I have pottery," said Jayden.

"And I have hand-to-hand combat with Mallory," said Ronald.

A bell rang from somewhere, and we said our goodbyes. Wesley and I hurried out into the backyard, where our first classes would take place. I ran over to T.J, who had a rack of compound bows next to him. Since there were only around 30 kids who were in the Chase Space, there were only 3 other people in the class.

"Welcome everyone!" T.J said. "So have any of you used a bow before?" NO one raised their hand. "Alright then. So everyone grab a bow and line up with one of the targets." We did what he said. "Everyone grab an arrow out of the quivers. Do you see the fletching that is a different color than the other two? You want that fletching to be pointing to the left. Now everyone nock the arrow. Turn yourself sideways so you're facing the target sideways with the hand that has the bow pointed toward the target. Draw your bowstring back with three fingers, right up to your cheek. When I say 'fire', release the bowstring."

I nocked my arrow onto my bow and grabbed the bowstring with my index, middle, and ring fingers, two on the bottom of the arrow and one on top. The bow only had a 10 pound draw weight, so it was relatively easy to pull it back. I aimed, and waited.