The World's Start

Heath

Heath hadn't told any of the other students about the experiments the Professor wanted to subject him to. Not even Norma and Ken, and Heath usually told them everything.

However, it was harder to speak to his friends, the Laoch realised, when it came to telling them important and possibly dreadful things. Heath had barely shared parts of his past, which they both guessed at, because Norma was very analytical and Ken listened to everything Norma said.

Were they in a normal college, Heath could have told Jack, who was the leader of the students and self-appointed man of the moment. However, the relationship between Heathcliff and Mister Tenney was not business of his classmates. First, they were family, related though not by blood. And second, if the man wanted to run some studies on the Laoch, the future spies should be ruthless enough to understand his motives.

Surely, Heath thought, Jacob Edens, the greatest spy and best student, the one who named his study group 'the Rogues' might have nothing to object to something like that. He kept saying that Heath should become a better Laoch, too.

So, even though Heathcliff had just stumbled on one of Jack's secrets, and could never find something as threatening to hold over his head if he tried, he didn't feel safe enough to ask for help. He'd already made up his mind, that he was going to leave.

He was going to miss Norma and Ken. He doubted he would ever find friends like that again.

And begrudgingly, he admitted he would miss Jack too. It would be even harder to find a rival that he wanted to challenge quite as much.

Heath couldn't stop fidgeting on his way to Norma's door. He debated until the very last minute what he was going to tell his friends.

His first idea was writing a little note to Norma, pink writing on white paper, that said,

'I'm off to see the world. Please, try not to miss me too much. Give Ken a kiss for me. You kow how much I'd like to give it to him in person.

Your best friend,

Heath'

He decided to stick with it, even though it looked childish and a little shallow in retrospect. But Heath second-guessed everything he did, so he liked sticking to his first ideas. Besides, Timothy Lewalski had made a career out of writing books with no drafts and edits, for he claimed your first idea was always the most genuine.

Heath slipped the note under Norma's door. Luckily, Mister Tenney had them train to be as silent as possible. He'd developed his own technique, using the monks' teachings. He could shift all the weight from one foot to another very quickly by using his chi, and with the same method, he could feel how hard he was pressing down on his soles and try to walk with a lighter step.

The real reason Heathcliff had settled for the note, though it would never beat talking to Norma and Ken and explaining face to face, was that he couldn't tell them the truth without having Mister Tenney find out. And as far as lies went, Heath wanted them to feel at least reassured that he hadn't been kidnapped by anyone.

Were they going to find his explanation that he needed to 'see the world' suspicious?

Obviously. Norma and Ken were trained secret agents.

But at least, it sounded like the light-hearted bullshit the Laoch could pass off for a real explanation. Someone's henchman who could take him away for their motives would never be able to fake the Laoch's writing so well, and it didn't sound like something they'd tell him to write with a weapon to his head.

Or at least, Heath had calculated it to look authentic, and he'd been trained as a secret agent, too.

The worst was that there were many people out there who like the Laoch for themselves --- to kill him, harm him or study him.