Reader Believes

Chapter 18

            Rika stared out the window at the green lawn that carpeted the front of her school, ignoring Mrs. Schneider. Her History teacher was blathering on about what she expected out of their final essays, like it’d changed since the last time she’d spoken to them about it. She glanced at the clock and sighed. Still two more minutes left to go.

            Turning back to the window, movement attracted Rika’s gaze. A group of eight people were approaching the school from two different streets, all of them wearing what looked like the same outfit. Rika frowned. There was something about the grey suits and purposeful walk that was tugging at her memory…

            The bell rang at the same time that Rika remembered. She jumped to her feet, the movement lost as half the class did the same, most people hurrying to the lunch room. Rika turned to Hugh, who was watching her with Myra. “Look out and tell me if those are the same people from when we met.”

            Hugh stared then hurried to the window, his eyes sweeping the ground. When he looked back at Rika, his face was pale. “It’s them. They must have followed me somehow. They won’t stop until they bring me in.”

            Myra frowned, looking from one to the other. “What’s going on?”

            Rika forced a smile as she faced her friend. “Nothing you need to worry about. Just…go on ahead, alright? We won’t be long.”

            “No. If you two are doing something, I’ll help.”

            Biting her lip, Rika turned back to Hugh. “Will they be a problem for the rest of the students?”

            The boy’s eyes were wide, giving him the look of an owl. “They’ll be a problem for everyone. They’re already operating in public, which means they have a way of ensuring that any witnesses are no longer a problem, or won’t remember. And if they have someone who can see…They’ll know if we try to run.”

            Mind racing as worry began to churn her stomach, Rika decided to tackle the first problem head on. “Myra, you need to get out of here. Quickly. It’s too dangerous. I promise, I’ll tell you everything after, but for now, go.”

            The redhead studied Rika, taking in the set lines of her face and the brightness of her eyes, before she nodded. “Alright, but if you run into trouble, call me. I can always hack into the police database and send you a couple of squad cars.”

            Rika’s smile was real for a moment before she nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, before looking back at Hugh. “We need to get the other students out of here, too.”

            “I can do that. If I pull the fire alarm, everyone will have to evacuate,” Myra said. She shrugged as she saw the looks the other two turned on her. “One of the members of my ally does it every year to keep his school on their toes”

            Hugh nodded. “That’ll work.”

            “Be careful, Rika,” Myra said as she headed towards the door.

            “You too,” she replied, waving until her friend closed the door. “Now what?”

            “We barricade the door and hope too much attention is drawn and they’re forced to retreat,” Hugh said almost tonelessly. “It’s all we can do.”

            While her heart hammered in her ears, Rika had gotten used to operating with fear pressing down on her. At least this time there was no demon preparing to kill everyone. She swallowed, took a deep breath and squared her shoulders as the fire alarm began to ring. “Okay. Okay. You lock the door and start moving desks. I might not know a lot of magic, but the spell I’m best at is for sending messages. I’m calling in my friends.”

            Hugh stared as Rika ripped three pieces of paper out of her binder. She yanked the cap off her pen with her teeth, holding it there as she scrawled the same message on all three sheets. Help! We’re under attack at my school. Come quickly!

            When they were all finished, she folded them into airplanes. Rika opened one of the windows and grabbed the first paper. She brought her magic fizzing up inside of her until it filled her mouth with tingles. Shaping the spell in her mind, she breathed out onto the plane and whispered “Ahisu.”

            The paper jumped up, speeding out the window, disappearing around a building in seconds. Not that Rika watched. She was already concentrating on the next airplane. For all the fear clawing at her stomach, the whole process took less than five minutes.

            With the last paper zooming out the window, Rika helped Hugh push and pile the desk against the door. She ignored the part of her that said a bunch of desks weren’t likely to slow down mages. “Your magic isn’t any good in a fight, is it?” she asked.

            Hugh nodded. “It can be, but I haven’t grown into my full powers yet. I can attack from in here though, at least until I run out of energy.”

            Rika smiled weakly at him as she jammed the last of the desk against the others. “That’s more than I can do. If they break in, I can probably hold them off for a while. But I’ve called for help, so if we can just hold on until the others get here, we should come out of this okay.”

            He looked at her, his expression lacking even a trace of hope. “You’ve never fought them before. We’re as good as caught, excepting a miracle. All we can do is make them work for it and prolong the whole situation. Even if all three of your friends make it, we’re still outnumbered.”

            Heart sinking, Rika acknowledged the truth of Hugh’s words. But the memories of all of them fighting soldiers on the road and on the battlefield rose in her, reminding Rika that, whatever else her friends might be, they were strong. She had to believe they’d be strong enough to win. Or else, she’d have just summoned them to die.