The Strange Apprentice- Book Two

Chapter 2

Wednesday afternoon, my classes were finished for today. Lyla called me from behind:
- Casey, wait up ! Listen, I have been struggling with this project I have to deliver tomorrow for my Animal Physiology class, and I could really use your help, are you available? We could go to that coffee shop that has nerd things written on the mugs that you like so much.
- They're called formulas, Lyla.
- Whatever! Are you coming or not?- on a regular day the answer to this question would have been easy. You know I have training at the Sanctum on Wednesdays, so the answer would have been "no". Today I thought twice about it. Truth is, I didn't feel like going to practice, in fact, in the past few weeks, Doc has been a lot more demanding with me, trying to rise the difficulty of my training to levels almost unimaginable, he doesn't even look like the same person anymore! He went back to that judgmental and cocky attitude of his, and when I couldn't do something he would laugh at me ,calling me weak, looser and sorcerer sample. He was trying to push me to the limit. He got angry when I couldn't memorize an ancient 500 page spell book. On Monday he kicked my ass in combat training, gave me a black eye and a broken leg on purpose, just to make me heal them. He hasn't been sleeping either, he has been waking up with dark circles around his eyes, everyday for the past few days. He is nervous and frightened, I can tell, I just don't know with what or whom. I know I should go to practice, but I was tired of being bullied by him, I know I am a sorcerer, but I also want to have a normal life:
- Yeah, sure I would love to!
In that afternoon, me and Lyla sat at the coffee shop talking and laughing like normal girls. After giving her some guidelines to her project, I walked out of the coffee shop. It felt good acting like a regular person, even if it was just pretending. I caught the train to the Sanctum arriving almost 1 hour late:
- Where were you!? You should have been here an hour ago!!- Doc was furious, I didn't answer, I didn't mind. I was walking towards the stairs to get changed when he flew and stopped right in front of me. He was a lot taller than me. His presence really imposed respect:
- I was having coffee with a friend, like a normal person for a change! I'm sorry if i passed being pushed around for the one hundredth time in the last three weeks!- I shouted with a severe tone. I was getting tired of this game, and I was going to give him a piece of my mind:
- What the hell has been going on with you lately!? You have been torturing me physically and psychologically in an extreme way, even for you! You don't sleep, you don't eat, what the hell is going on!?
- That is not your business, we had a deal!
-Yeah, you spit that in my face everytime i do something wrong, which for you is everything! God, not even once you were capable of telling me you were proud, or that you appreciated my efforts despite I did everything that you always asked me to do!
- I didn't ask you to come to me, you decided that for yourself, you knew it was going to be hard!
- You knew i needed you to help me control my powers, you knew exactly what you were doing when you gave me a "choice"- He was going to answer me, but contained. We weren't going anywhere with this. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a few seconds and rubbed his hands on his face. I took a small turn around myself, to calm down:
- Okay, maybe i should have told you this before, but before you say something you regret, i'l tell you why i have been so hard on you.
- I'm all ears...
- Truth is, on sunday it will make two years and three weeks since we met for the first time. To check the progress of students, the other masters subject all of you to a test where your abilities as a sorcerer will be pushed to the limit. I don't want you to be good, i want you to be the best, so i pushed you a little further.
- A LITTLE further?! Doc, you broke my leg! On purpose!
- Okay I might have exaggerated a little bit but i assure you, it was for your own good.
We didn't speak for a few seconds. To be honest i was relieved. I thought maybe he was done training me, or maybe i just wasn't good enough. It felt good to know that despite the things he had done to me, he always looked out for me:
-So that's what this was all about? An exam?
- Not just any exam, if you excel in this test, the masters will notice you, you can become a person of interest in Kamar-Taj and one day replace someone with a very important position.
- You mean i can turn out like... you?
- From what i have seen, you will be even better.
-Thank you for your honesty Doc. I will try to keep up from now on but, why didn't you tell me this before?
- I didn't want you to be too nervous about it and loose your focus, but I was going to tell you eventually.
-Well... i guess i get it. I will ace that exam for you Doc, I promise.
-That's what i like to hear- He smiled, almost like he hadn't had a huge outburst just a few minutes ago- well...i guess you have been squeezed enough in the past few weeks... you deserve some rest. Go home, you earned it.
-I would like that, thank you, I will see you tomorrow.
-See you tomorrow, Casey.
I turned around and walk down the staircase to the door. When i walk down the front porch steps and turned right heading the train station, my bracelet started to glow. That was new, she had never done that before. I stopped and hid it underneath sleeve of my black jacket, so no one could see, and be suspicious. I took a look around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I continued my path. The bracelet was glowing even harder. Could something be happening to John? Maybe he was in danger and i couldn't do anything about it. I have been thinking about him a lot in the past few Weeks. Usually he is the one that puts up with all my complaining about Doc and his methods. Suddenly someone spoke behind me:
- You should check your bracelet love, you never know what she might be trying to tell you.
A familiar voice. I turned around quickly. It was John. He had came back without telling me:
- You look even more beautiful than I remembered.
-Idiot, you scared me!
- With my good looks, I know, but what can I say, I can't help it.
-Shut up- I walked straight to him and crashed my lips into his. I wrapped my arms around his neck. He put his hands around my waist, pulling me close to him. Our chests were compressing against each other and every kiss seemed like the last one we would ever had. It felt great feeling his touch again, his lips against mine, the way he would grab my face between his hands, and intertwined his fingers in my hair. We stopped to regain our breaths and our foreheads were pressed against each other. I put my hands on his wide shoulders and looked him in his eyes:
- It's nice to see you to love.
- You can't imagine how much I needed this, I missed you.
- Well, this sure was much more pleasant than what I imagined, but what i really wanted, was for us to be alone.- I chuckled and made a little smirk:
- Are you that desperate?
- I went to Texas darling, have you seen the women there? Believe me, I missed you more than you missed me.
- Well, I guess we should change that then- I kissed him on the neck and he held my hand back to his place.