Twilit Mage

Chapter 18: Two Illusionists

The class passed calmly after that. Mercury and Raoul sat and watched as Ms. Cole taught the others to communicate with their familiars, wrote down all the names they had given them, and helped them with the reverse-summoning spell that sent them back to the Otherworld. "Next time I'm showing you how to summon them normally," she said. "That's it for now, see you tomorrow."

They all started walking towards the exit, but just as Mercury and Raoul got up and started to follow them Ms. Cole called them back. "You two, wait a minute!" she shouted across the gym, so loudly that they jumped. "Come back here for a sec."

Exchanging a puzzled glance, they turned around and made their way back to her.

"Actually," Ms. Cole said as they were halfway across the gym, "hold on. I'll just talk to the girl."

Mercury's heart skipped a beat. "M-Me?"

Her alone? Talking with a teacher...alone? She was screwed, she was screwed, she was screwed!

Raoul looked back and forth between them, looking as if he was torn between arguing and leaving. Mercury wanted to cling to his sleeve and ask him to stay, but Ms. Cole's sharp eyes were still fixed on them both, and she didn't have the courage to utter a single word that could make her angry. "Um..."

Raoul hesitated again, then he gave a slight smile, placing his hand on Mercury's shoulder. "Good luck, Mercy," he said. "I'm gonna wait at the door."

"No need." Ms. Cole marched up to him and stared him straight in the eyes; she was almost as tall as he was. "You go on to class. This could take some time."

"Okay?" With a confused shrug Raoul nodded, squeezed Mercury's shoulder again, and walked back across the gym towards the door. "Catch ya later, Mercy!"

It fell shut behind him with an echoing boom, and Mercury was left alone with her teacher.

Silence.

Mercury twiddled her fingers, trying to avoid Ms. Cole's gaze but fully aware it was there, fixed on her with an icy stare. Her body felt hot and cold at the same time. She should say something. Something that didn't make her sound like the idiot troublemaker she had acted like earlier...something that made her seem mature...something...

"I, um..." She swallowed. "What...I mean...why did...no, I mean..."

Once again she had no idea what she was saying, no idea what she was supposed to say. The few words that did make sense in her head came out mangled and jumbled, a confusing, unintelligible mess that no one could take seriously. Her hands felt even clammier. Her stomach was in knots. What was she doing? Why was she like this? Why was she always like this?

"First of all," Ms. Cole declared coolly, "you're never doing any stunt like this again."

Mercury stared at the ground and nodded. She wouldn't keep this promise, she knew that already. She couldn't, physically. How was she supposed to learn how to control her powers without at least one more disaster like this?

"If you do it again after all," Ms. Cole continued, "that means detention. Or worse, if you're in somebody else's class."

The cold, furious face of Ms. Solstice appeared in Mercury's mind, and she shuddered. If her next accident was with her around...

"And right now you're going to the principal's office and explaining the situation to him, got it?"

Mercury's head snapped up. Her insides froze up. "But–"

"But nothing! You think I'd let you get away with disturbing the class and bullying the other kids?" Ms. Cole crossed her arms, and her bright, metallic eyes seemed sharper than ever. "Maybe you grew up as an outlaw, but in our community we got zero tolerance for troublemakers like you!"