The World's Start

Heath

Heath couldn't help but think of the words the Elvors said. If Leo had seen the Sheevra Stone already, then all of them might have seen it.

In the building of the school, or during a mission. But the truth was Heath tried to call in sick during their first missions and since Mister Tenney showed him, with a tight fist in the literal sense of the word, that he couldn't hope to sit them out, he simply pretended he was queasy, prone to passing out and out of magic during most of their missions.

One would think it would give time to Heath to look around and memorise the details of each place they visited, or do something equally useful. The truth was that it was hard to keep his magic contained, use only tiny bits of it and understand when he should sacrifice it. If it had been for the ecstatic feeling alone, Heath would have used it all the time, but it was also particularly draining.

"I'm happy that you don't get to wear suits on missions," Heath told Jack. They were both dressed in black spy attire and they were about to go on their second task: a mission.

"Put on a hat, or your hair is going to stick out like a sore thumb," Jack replied and forced a black beanie on Heath's curly hair. It was hard to cover all the pink locks, and Heath forced the hair that curled on his neck beneath the cap before Jack could do it.

Being face to face with Jack Edens was not easy, as it never was. Heath couldn't be caught dead admitting that he liked his sly smirk, his fine cheekbones or his cherub's mouth. Even Jack's nose, which was often made fun of by Leo, and looked like it had been broken, had a certain proportion in the rest of the face and it was easy to see that, had never been that accident that ruined it, it would have been straight like the one of ancient statues.

He couldn't be caught dead thinking those things, not by himself, and least of all by Mister Tenney. It was easy, then, that there was so much about Jack he disliked, and that the other man didn't seem to like him either.

"You know that this mission is not together," Heath said pointedly. "Our paths will diverge. We cannot help each other out, so, before you say anything like 'who wants your help', I'm just reminding you that you won't get to use my magic."

"So this time you get to use it?" Jack replied with a little smile. "I didn't know you finally decided to make yourselves useful."

Heath found that so infuriating that, for once, he didn't know how to reply. All the lines he wanted to use about Jack's own lack of value didn't make sense in the context of their missions. Jack Edens was smart, calculating, good at physical exercise and he knew which lines to cross and which simply would be silly to, when he wanted to. While it was very easy to get him mad talking about his garish clothes or his reckless and over the top attitude, there wasn't much Heath could say about school-work.

School was the only place where Heath would always rank lower than Jack.

"The fact that the two of us had the same grades was obviously a lie," it seemed Jack was thinking about the same thing, too. "You're the only student with an asset the others can't dream of."

"Pink hair," Heath agreed dreamily, and Jack huffed as he stalked off.

Heath took a look at the building where they where supposed to infiltrate, a huge house made of reinforced concrete frameworks and curtain walls of polished stone. Heath understood that he didn't have the slighest idea how he could get in without being seen, and that, even though they weren't meant to go together, if he didn't tease Jack endlessly, he could have had a chance to follow the other students.

Jack scoffed as soon as he saw Heath in distance. "Ugh! I should have seen this coming. Now, please, get away from my sight."

"Rough morning?" Heath asked, and he was surprised to find out that if Jack wanted to tell him about his day, he might have listened. Just to get something from it, of course.