Wayward Mages

Chapter 29

Kaira

I wake up to the same old gray and dingy room. I stretch slightly and look around to see a pair of camo pants with a matching shirt and brown shoes near the awful old rotting chair they have given me. Wait, I think they are actually white shoes that have just been rolled in the mud about a gazillion times.

There's also a cotton towel lying next to them, to dry myself off after bathing. As I slowly make my way over to them, I see that there is a tiny note attached.

'Hopefully this will protect you from dangers, we have a very busy day ahead of us today.

-Luke '

My heart beats faster on seeing the signature of my friend. Over the past few weeks we've become well acquainted, and he's helped me a lot. Meaning he helped me forget that Charlie was a cyborg and he made me stop worrying - and thinking - so much about him. I've begin to accept the fact that he's probably dead.

Anyways, the reason that Jonathan left me alive is because he's using me to blackmail MAGES. Yes, they didn't even use their powers. Apparently, being a child of famous people, from two different clans and whose parents were in fairytales makes your life very valuable. Guardian had forgotten to mention that one tiny thing when she was telling us our parents' story. The famous fairytale part.

So yeah. Life sucks. Jonathan just has to go to a Mage refuge and hold a knife to my neck, and the refuge is his. The power a child can have sometimes...

I strip of the grimy clothes I'm currently wearing and go to the bucket near the wall that I have been given for my ablutions. The water from the nearly broken tap is freezing and chills me to the bones, but hey, a girl doesn't wanna stink, does she?

I finish bathing as fast as possible and dry myself off with the thin towel. I shrug on the olive green camo and the camouflage shorts. Today's workout day,where Luke and I go to the gym. It's pretty much the only thing that keeps me sane here.

I open the door and punch in the practice code. The code notifies them that I'm ready to be picked up. Let's just say that before the code system was introduced, somebody walked in too early and I killed them. Yup. Killed them with a ceramic plate. No joke. 

That's probably why Jonathan was so harsh on me and so reluctant to let me live. It didn't help my case that the guy I killed was his general. I really have only Luke to thank for that. Which reminds me, I have to see him for gym! Yay!

Okay, I know I sound like I have a crush on him, but no. I just like hanging out with him; he's like a personal diary. I've even told him about my feelings for him, Which I'd never really admitted, even to Charlie.

As if on cue of my thoughts, the door slid open. "Lukey! Hi hi!" I launched myself at him and hugged him.

We had this thing where we'd greet each other twice. "Kay! Hey hey!" He grumbled. You see, he had this whole 'Bad Boy' personal going for him towards Jonathan's lackeys, but I broke down his walls after a day. I know, huge progress. Cool, eh?

We started going down the stairs, towards the huge gymnasium. "So, today it's only gonna be workout. No swimming, am I clear?" He looks at me sternly. It makes no sense - his hatred of the pool isn't at all justifiable!

I pouted. "Please Luke? I'll do anything!" I have this weird affiliation with water - I can't control it.

"No way Kay - the last time you did that, I nearly drowned. Uh - uh. Don't even think about it."

I made a face. I knew that Jonathan well, hated me, 'cause I was getting his son into a hell load of trouble, but I wasn't trying to kill him! I was just playing around in the pool. And curse my heavy weight...even though I worked out, I seemed to only gain weight, not lose it. Come on, tell me, is a healthy, working-out nearly seventeen year old supposed to weigh a hundred and forty-five pounds? Huh? I didn't think so...

I flashed back to what had happened to make him hate the pool -

I was walking with Lukey across the pool. We had to practice my abilities, and now i was fighting across water. I lost my concentration when Luke jabbed a sword at my legs. He was on a skiier. Yeah, the pool was so big that it allowed that. It was like an ocean. I screamed, and grappled for anything to hold onto when I fell - forgetting the minor fact that I could breathe underwater. As I fell, I grabbed Luke's leg. Underwater, I'd ended up on top. I breathed out i relief after realizing that I wasn't dead.

Then, I thought about Luke. Selfish, I know, but I gotta look out for myself too!

"Luke! Luke! Are you okay?"

He sputtered in response and I realized that I was on top of him, pushing him down to the bottom of the pool. I was probably squeezing the breath out of him too, on second thought...

I managed to pull him out of the pool, but ever since then, I've been regarded with special hatred from everybody but Luke who was simply wary of me.

Oops...maybe his answer of 'no' each time he asked me was justifiable.

Even then, I was still pretty athletic. I had to be, to be a Mage. I recently discovered from one of Luke's slip-ups that he was a Mage, which meant that Jonathan was too. Like, how cool is that? The Luke part, not the Jonathan part. Ya know what I mean? No? Okay, whatever.

"Fine," I mutter discontentedly.

Luke breathes out, relieved. We'd now reached the gym and he opens the door for me. "Okay, we're gonna start off really simple - thirty squats, and then forty-five crunches. You follow what I'm saying?"

I nod, "Then can we spar?"

"Yep."

"With magic?"

"Okay, but pick on element. After an hour of that, combine fire and water when we spar. Have you worked on channeling fire from candles?"

"Yeah, but I don't think I can do it alone, without another Mage." Luke runs a hand through his blond hair. You see, Luke can somehow control all the elements for some reason. It's so cool - why is he perfect and I'm not! Plus, I thought that Mages could only control two elements, but not him. Every Mage has eyes that reflect their powers. Luke's eyes change color depending on his mood. They seem familiar, but I can't place them.

"Kaira, you can't always have a Mage alongside you when you're fighting."

Okay, I'll work on it...can we get to work already?"

"Yes."

Without another exchange of words, I get down and start doing my crunches before my squats, 'cause they're easier.

I finish in fifteen minutes while Luke finishes in eight. Ugh! He's always faster than me! I'm breathing heavily while he isn't. This isn't fair!

"You ready to spar?" He asks me. In response I pick up a spear and jab it at him. He deflects it using his air powers.

He swivels and sends a right hook in my direction; I execute a somersault and it misses. During the brief moment that I'm preoccupied, he grabs a javelin from the weapons rack. While he's not looking, I mutter under my breath, "Altera Slamite." Another image of me appears a few meters away from me, and Luke turns towards it. They engage in battle, and I sneak up from behind him. I nearly trip on a loose nail that's on the floor, and I lose my concentration. The image of me disappears, and Luke's eyes narrow.

Before he can turn I swiftly pull him off his feet using the shaft of my spear. Hey, I know I'm playing dirty, but in battle, d'you think that your enemies are gonna be playing fair? No? I thought so.

I put a foot on his back while he's dazedly groaning. "I win," I say with an evil smirk even though he can't see me.

He rolls over and looks at me wickedly. "Oh, it's on."

A/N: This chapter was kind of a filler, but it displays 'Luke' and Kaira's relationship and overall shows off their current powers and skills. Hope you enjoyed it! Also, Author 1 noticed something - 2222 reads, 222 votes! xD, looks like our (or at least, Author 1's) new lucky number is 2!