Infusion

Chapter 9: School

Today was Wednesday, one of the days Will was at his normal school. Annoyed that he couldn't go to the Fort, he had missed the bus and was going to be late to class. He had discovered that his internally stored Light vanished after he slept, so he'd filled up on a Node in a playground on his way. He used up the last of it now sprinting to school.

He was still about a minute late to class. His maths teacher looked at him strangely; Will didn't normally turn up late.

He sat down next to Hugo, who, seeing the faint afterglow of Infused Light, smirked. "Have a nice run? he whispered.

"Shut up."

The math lesson proceeded as normal until Hugo nudged him.

"Psst. Watch this."

He slid a pencil-thin stick of Chalk out of what appeared to be a thin shoulder holster.

"Touches my skin," he whispered. "Stops it from disappearing."

He began to draw a fairly simple rune on a piece of paper using the Chalk. The lines stood out his signature bloodred from the white paper. After he was finished, he ripped out the paper from his book and folded it up so only a corner of the circle was shining. He then put his hand up and asked to go to the toilet. As he closed the door behind him Will saw him wink.

After about a minute, there was a knock at the door. "The door's locked." came Hugo's muffled voice. Mr Westerly (his teacher) went to open the door. He grabbed the doorknob, turned it and pulled the door open. "No it's not."

"Huh," said Hugo, stepping in and sitting down at his desk. "I couldn't open it from the other side."

Mr Westerly swung the door closed, then yelped as his hand somehow caught on it and he tripped. The hand holding the doorknob stayed stuck to it, and as he got up and tried to pull his hand off, he found he could not. The class was in hysterics. "What did you do?" asked Will.

"Sticky rune on the knob."

"That's brilliant!"

Mr Westerly was not a very favoured teacher, which made it all the funnier for the laughing students.

"It'll run out just… about… now."

The rune on the paper Hugo held faded and the poor teacher's hand was released from the doorknob. He stumbled back, and looked from his hand to the door warily. To the students' further amusement he picked up a broom and cautiously poked the doorknob, which stayed not sticky. He then shakily said "Dismissed."

Will and Hugo ran out of the building laughing. "That was hilarious!" exclaimed Will. "I need to get me one of those sholder holsters!" Hugo pulled something out of his bag. "I thought you'd want one, so I brought another. Keep it, it's yours."

Will went into the bathroom and strapped it on under his shirt. Making sure no one was looking, he went to the Node at the fountain and carefully solidified a Chalk pencil and slipped it into the holster. It felt slippery and cool against his chest. "So will that last forever?"

"Nah. About three days."

"Smart. Whose idea?"

"Sam's. He always has at least three pieces on him at any time, shoulder and two boot holsters. You can't snap Chalk unless you want to, so that's not a problem."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Try to snap that price you just made."

Will pulled it out and tried. It snapped with almost no resistance. He dismissed the pieces back into Light and summoned another one, as he'd been taught by Sam.

"Now throw that as hard as you can at that wall."

He did so and it bounced off silently. Will caught it and shoved it into his holster. "See? Only of you want to. Oh and it's like dismissing, only you can break your own Chalk."

The bell rang and, talking amongst themselves, they walked to second period. They had English with Ms. Carter, who was much loved by the school for her bright and enthusiastic manner. Will wasn't particularly bothered by English, he succeeded well enough to pass with Bs and As, but it wasn't a subject that really mattered to him.

Ms Carter was already sitting down when they came in. They were earlier than the rest of the class, and they sat down and began to unpack. Will didn't think Hugo would do anything this period; everyone loved Ms Carter.

Sure enough, the period - and the rest of the day - passed without anything happening. But as they were walking down the steps of the front gate, they were confronted by a group of boys. The leader (Will was pretty sure his name was Harry) addressed him snidely.

"Why weren't you at school on Monday, Will? Aw, were you sick? That's too bad, because you missed out on our little meeting. You know, the one that you were going to pay me at?"

"Yes, I was sick, and I'm sorry but I don't have the money you say I owe you, because I don't owe you anything. All you did was find my book and give it back to me, I don't expect to have to pay you for that."

"Well then. We have a problem, because me and my buddies here" - he pointed to the rest of his gang - "expect otherwise."

Normally Will would have just walked away. He wouldn't have paid them, of course, they were bullies.

But not this time. He knew they would keep pestering him, and he wanted to stop all future conflicts.

"Well then. You may expect something from me, but you will be sorely disappointed, I'm afraid. Piss off before I hurt you."

Harry, taken aback, looked around at his cronies incredulously. "Did you hear that?" They nodded. "Seems like he wants to fight!"

"Careful, Harry," Will said. "You wouldn't want to lose face in front of your friends." He stressed the final word.

That was the last straw for Harry. He swung a fist at Wills nose, which Will easily grabbed, Light surging through him. He Infused strength, and started squeezing Harry's fist, popping his knuckles. His attacker's face scrunched up in pain. Will slowly rotated him until he was facing his followers.

"This is your leader?"

Harry suddenly grabbed Will's arm with his free hand, and dug in with his nails. Will plucked it off with his left arm, holding it away from him between thumb and forefinger. "You disgust me." He shoved Harry away, who fell to his knees, cradling his hand. Will walked away, smiling as Harry's gang walked off. Harry himself was left kneeling on the ground.