Twilit Mage

Chapter 22: A Simple Plan

Did she want to fit in?

Did she not?

The question haunted Mercury as she continued on through the week, trying to keep her eyes down, avoiding everyone but Raoul. She hadn't created any more illusions since that day, none that were big enough to cause chaos at least; everything would have been quiet if not for the people around her. Ms. Solstice was still accusing her of not trying to adjust whenever she made a mistake. Ms. Cole was fully convinced she was a bully and keeping a sharp eye on her, still not allowing her to go to the Otherworld and find her familiar and making her do theory exercises instead. The one teaching enchantment, the class she had missed on her first day, was none other than Ms. Darcy, who looked at her like the only thing keeping her from putting a body-freezing spell on her were the school rules.

And people were still picking on her. Everywhere she looked, everywhere she went, students would duck out of her way or speak in hushed whispers or jokingly warn each other about the approaching bully. When she tried to sit next to someone other than Raoul, that seat was always miraculously taken, leaving her to search until the teachers entered and got annoyed with her indecisiveness, forcing her to sit in the next best place. When she got food somebody would levitate the lunch tray out of her hands and knocked it to the ground, shouting something about Light Mages stealing food like they stole everything else. When she returned to her room she would find the door covered in scribbles, calling her a liar and thief and telling her to get out.

And Raoul changed too. If he had been carefree before, he was reckless now. He piped in during class whenever he wanted. He "accidentally" floated objects and dropped them on people's heads. He showed up for breakfast and then went to class fifteen minutes late, or not at all, or to the wrong class entirely. It was all Mercury could do to hope that he didn't end up in detention, and yet he somehow managed to get away with it all.

"How do you do it?" Mercury asked him one evening, collapsing in her chair next to him. "Every time I mess up everyone calls me a bully and you..."

Raoul merely gave a shrug, looking every bit as confused by the whole thing as Mercury felt. "Dunno," he said with a goofy half-grin. "I guess I just kinda keep getting away...or maybe," he added with a mischievous smirk, "it's your magic, Mercy."

Mercury couldn't help laughing, tired as she was. "Yeah, right."

"What? Maybe you're illusion-ing everybody into thinking I don't gotta get in trouble." Raoul made a meaningful gesture. "Mercy, my guardian angel. Or something."

Mercury laughed. Raoul laughed too, and a little bit of the weight fell off Mercury's shoulders. "I'm trying," she said jokingly. "Now I just have to figure out how to do the same thing for myself..."

Raoul's smile disappeared. His eyes went oddly dark, all shine disappearing, making them look like a pair of black holes, swallowing every inch of light around them. His face was completely blank, so blank that he looked like he had never smiled before.

"They're still picking on you, huh?"

Mercury nodded, closing her eyes and trying to swallow the lump that had been stuck in her throat all week. "Yeah," she said. "I-I mean, I can handle it, don't worry...I just wish it would stop..."

Raoul said nothing. His eyes were locked on some indefinite object in the distance, or perhaps he was staring at nothing, Mercury couldn't tell. He looked deep in thought, focused on something inside his head, as if he was thinking up a plan or debating with himself.

Then he blinked, smirked, turned back to Mercury and said, "I think I got an idea."

Mercury's heart skipped a beat. Something about the way his eyes stared into hers, dark and intense, was telling her that this was serious, much more than just another one of his zany schemes and stupid ideas. An odd feeling stirred inside her, fluttery and anxious yet excited.