The Marked

Hidden Things

Our school was set up like a castle. The rooms inside were all identical, serving as classrooms for all the students here. The numbers on the white doors were the only identifying difference between each classroom, and they helped us navigate through the halls of our school. Inside the walls of the castle was a yard that was about three or four acres big in a large square.

There was a small courtyard area, where trees were planted about twenty feet or so from each other inside the stone perimeter that measured nearly one hundred and fifty feet. There were several benches to sit on, and the gazebo had four picnic tables under its roof. A metal fence circled the gazebo, giving a form of privacy to those inside it.

The rest of the yard was filled with shops, stone pathways, fountains, and a training ground. This training ground was where Marked could duel, under the close eyes of a Caretaker and teacher. There were usually around five to six battles each day after classes let out and before dinner, so if you wanted to see a good fight, that's where you would go.

So, Em decided to lead me there. It was about two hundred feet away from the College dorm, and it surprised me to see that it was nearly identical to the High School one. They were both built of brick, with stone ledges running under the small windows that featured each room, three stories tall, and about five hundred feet wide on each side. The only difference was, this had a large "C" in the middle of the building, whereas my dorm had an "HS".

Em and I arrived just in time to see the girl who had been juggling fire paired up against the guy who had been freezing the water in the fountain. The girl was dressed in grey sweat pants, a white shirt, and white sneakers, while the guy had on a pair of blue jeans, boots, a grey T-shirt, and a black leather jacket.

They were on opposite ends of the basketball sized court, crouched with hands held at their sides, muscles tensed for the moment the teacher gave the order. The cement underneath them was cracked in places, and seemed to have been patched more than once. Em was practically bouncing up and down in excitement, and I couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm.

"Go!" As soon as the teacher shouted, the two students were racing towards each other, neither one looking like they were going to move and avoid running into each other. When they were just ten feet away, the girl threw a ball of flame at the guy, and he caught it in his frost covered hand, snuffing it out.

He spun to the side, narrowly missing hitting the girl by an inch, but managed to reach out and touch her shoulder with his left hand. Snow and ice instantly covered her arm, and she cried out in shock. Spinning to face him, she held a ball of flame in her hand and slammed it into the ice that covered her arm. It shattered into brilliant slivers, and she charged forward with her right arm raised to punch him.

He blocked her fist with his left forearm, but was unable to stop the fire that shot forward and engulfed him. When the fired died down, he was on all fours on the cement, breathing heavily and soaked in water. Looking up at the girl with a smile, he shook his head to clear the water from his brown hair.

"I barely got up that ice shield in time. Good match," he said, and the girl raised her arms in victory while the crowd of students around cheered for her. She held out a hand to help the man up, and he smiled gratefully. The teacher stepped to the center of the court, and raised his hand for silence. I was surprised to see that it was my second hour teacher, but quickly got over my slight shock.

"Alright, who wants to go next?" Feeling a tugging sensation on my arm, I looked down to see Em pulling me onto the court. I hadn't been paying attention, but she had been gradually navigating me closer and closer towards the fight, until we were nearly standing on the cement.

"We'll go!" Looking at Em and feeling everyone's eyes on me, I was beginning to worry that maybe Shea had been right about her. The teacher looked at her with a blank expression for a moment, but then nodded and glanced up to see me. Shock immediately filled his features, but it was quickly covered by a fake smile.