The Last Saint

17: Shuffled

Eve was uncomfortable with being left behind, but Ryan and Adam made it very clear that she was not allowed to come to school with them. The boys walked to school together, Adam's hand still not quite healed, and it was there that he took the time to tell Ryan about the conversation he overheard Eve having. Ryan was frustrated, to say the least. 

"I knew it," he said. "I knew she was up to something!"

"The cloaked swordsman saved my life. He might be an ally. If this is something Eve doesn't want to tell us because she feels like she can't, I would understand." Adam replied."For now, I'm not accusing her of anything. I still trust and believe in her."

Ryan shook his head. They got to school, and separated, going to class. They ended up in different homerooms, however Adam was still not entirely alone; Liz was in his class. They sat beside each other and talked for most of first period.

At lunch, he and Liz connected with Ryan and Beth and began talking about their first day of school and other things, until near the end, when Ryan brought up what Adam said earlier.

The girls were shocked from the development. Beth sided with Ryan, that Eve was up to something bad, but Liz sided with Adam, believing that she cares and whatever she is hiding, isn't necessarily bad or destructive. Still, everyone agreed that they should keep the discovery quiet and avoid confronting her, instead opting to spy on her.

After lunch, Adam and Liz began walking back to class, when they discovered three older boys picking on a younger, mousy looking girl with short black hair, thick glasses and a petite frame. They surrounded her intimidatingly, holding her books out of range, and making perverted comments. Adam walked up behind them, and snatched the books from the hands of the biggest boy, who was at least a head taller than him.

"Don't pick on her. It's not funny," Adam said. All three boys turned to look at him.

The biggest one stared him down. "Mind your own business you fairy-faced faggot."*

Adam shook his head. "You're pathetic." He said, and waved the girl over, handing her books to her. "I'll walk you to class, come on."

She nervously nodded and started walking with Adam, but the boy grabbed his arm. "If you ever disrespect me like that again, I'll beat your ass."

Adam nodded to Liz, who lead the girl away quickly. Adam grabbed the boys thumb, bent it back, and punched him in the nose, knocking him flat on his back. His friends crouched beside him, staring at Adam as he turned around and walked away with the girls.

"That was badass," Liz said with a laugh.

"After the summer we had, I just don't have patience for that kind of thing anymore. It's a joke!"

The other girl meekly stammered out a "thank you", smiling shyly.

"Don't worry about it, those guys were assholes anyways," he replied.

"They used to pick on me when I was in middle school too," she said.

Adam shrugged. "Guys like that have no life. Try to stay close to your friends, they might not bug you if you're in a group."

The girl shook her head. "I don't really have any. Friends, I mean. I usually just eat by myself in the library..." her voice trailed off.

Liz put her hands on the girl's shoulders. "What's your name?"

"Kara," she replied quietly.

"Well I'm Liz, and this tough guy is Adam. You should come sit with us at lunch tomorrow, we'll introduce you to our little group."

"Really?" She asked.

Adam and Liz both nodded, and he answered; "of course!"

They walked Kara to her class, and returned to their own. School continued as usual, until the end of the day. The teacher asked Adam to stay behind for a few minutes to talk. Liz went on ahead, and the teacher waited by the door for everyone to leave the room, closing it behind them. He then stood behind his desk, and Adam stood in front of him.

"What did you want to talk about?" Adam asked, genuinely ignorant.

The teacher, a tall man with short black hair, a black dress shirt and nice brown pants, smiled unnervingly. He reached his fingers to his blue eyes, and took out his contact lenses.

Adam watched quietly, but his face began to contort with fear.

Colored contacts.

The teacher looked Adam up and down with his glowing eyes; the eyes that every Saint seemed to share.

"You're a Saint?" Adam exclaimed, bewildered.

"My name is Raum Maze, the Twelfth." He reached into his desk, and pulled out a hunting knife.

Adam ran for the door and threw it open, running through, but somehow he found himself back in the classroom running towards Maze. He tried the door again, but somehow each time it re-oriented him. Maze walked towards him, and he ran around to the windows that lined the opposite side of the room, only to find that they were locked. He turned and picked up a desk to smash them with, but the desk impacted on a wall instead; the windows had vanished somehow.

Adam threw the desk at Maze, but despite his aim being dead on, it knocked over the desks to his right instead. Adam ran to the back of the class.

"What the hell is this?" He shouted.

"The power of the Twelfth branch of the World Tree is under my jurisdiction. And that branch governs force and space."

"Space?" Adam replied, looking around for any kind of exit.

"Yes. I've closed space in this room. There are no exits. But that is just one of my powers. I can also do this-"

Suddenly Adam's whole body began to feel much heavier, to the point where he could barely stand. He tried to move but the weight of his body was so much that it became nearly impossible.

"Gravity is also under my jurisdiction. You've had a good run, Fourteenth, but this is over." He approached Adam with the knife. 

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I do not condone using "faggot" as an insult. It's here in this story because there's a lot of bullies who throw that word around, however I am very much against it. Don't ever call someone that. It's a horrible, rude word that is almost as bad as using the N-word. Sorry for the preachy moment but I had to say this.