Stormcraft Academy: The Apocalypse

Chapter Sixteen: Sigh

    Alex, Blaine, and I made our way down the building, across the courtyard, and down a large, cobblestone road to the edge of the dark forest where a group of students stood. In the middle of them was the guy that was with Ms. Alberts for the tour of the campus. He was a lanky man with bony hands but he didn't look a day over 200. His mouth was set in a straight line and he didn't have a single smile line on him. His brows were creased together like he was always frowning. His reddish-brown hair was cut short just below his ears and his grey eyes were fixed on the group of kids before him. His expression almost said, "Ugh. Look at these pathetic fools". His eyes quickly snapped to us as we got closer to the group before turning around and grabbing a bag from the floor. He turned the bag upside down and dumped the contents on the floor. Bags of brown shirts and pants landed on the cobblestone. "Change from your robes into these. They will work better with your armor. There are changing rooms on the left. Go now, and be back in no later than 5 minutes." He ordered, gesturing to a path on our left. There was a moment of silence from the group like they were waiting for some introduction before they realized there wasn't going to be one. Blaine, Alex and I took a bag and followed the crowd of students down a separate path. The path wound around the forest, down a hill and stopped near a small river where there was a fork in the path, one leading to the girls' changing rooms and the other, the boys'. We followed a group of girls and soon, we arrived at an old wooden shack with moldy windows and brown stains on the wood. We slowly approached the changing rooms.

    "How is this building even standing?" I asked, looking suspiciously at the building if you could call it that. We knocked on the wood to make sure it was stable and went in with a few other girls. Alex, Blaine and I changed quickly and put on our leather armor from our satchels.

    "EW!" a girl shrieked from behind us when we had just come out of the changing room. She was a redheaded girl who I recognized was talking to Cleo on the train. "These clothes are so, like, prehistoric! I look like I'm covered in mud."

    "Right?" an identical-looking girl replied, "Like, I look like a dinosaur!" Those were followed by similar comments as we made the trek back to Professor Illton.

    Professor Illton cleared his throat, "That's enough, girls. Today, we will not be relaxing as you might have in other classes. Tracking is a time for you to explore your powers and use them in a proper defensive way. I'm assuming that your combat teachers will not get to this until your second year. You will have tracking every day at the same time and unlike other classes, we will be starting immediately. First, we will need to have a warmup. Place all your belongings under that tree over there." He said, smirking with a glare in his eyes that I did not like at all. We all dropped put our robes into our satchels and dropped them underneath a large oak tree at the edge of the forest. When I was about to turn around to head back to the group, I heard voices coming from behind the tree. I almost continued on but decided to listen instead, tilting my head to the side and strained my ears.

    "Come on, Xavier! You know you love me. We were destined to be together!" came the sound of Cleo's voice. I made a gagging sound. You've got to be kidding me. I turned around to head back just as I heard Xavier's reply.

   "Cleo, you are very pretty, but you will need to prove that you're worthy of my affection first, now, if you'll excuse me, I need to be going now. You know Professor Illton isn't a big fan of mine." Xavier said, coming out from behind the tree. I shuffled away just in time.

    "Is everybody here? Great, let's get started. Everybody, clump together in front of me and we will get started with our warmup," Professor Illton said, as we followed his orders.

    "I have a bad feeling about this," Blaine said, squished next to me. Professor Illton raised his hand as if he was about to throw something.

    Then, all of a sudden, an enormous fireball appeared in his palm and before anyone realized what was happening, he flung the flaming ball at us. Everyone screamed and scattered. I ran off to one side just as the ball hits the ground where we were standing. Now, there was a flaming hole in the middle of the grass! Professor Illton loaded up another ball and aimed it at a group of students next to him. They ran, some diving down on the ground, covering their heads, others shoving each other to hide behind trees. What is the name of Borgaldra is happening?!?!?!

    "Come on, children, I thought you possess magic! Show me your potential. Most magic is activated when the subject is in an area of distress," Professor Illton said as he threw fireball after fireball at students who were standing still. Alex came by my side.

    "That is it! I'm teaching that douche a lesson. Sam, cover me," Alex said, closing her eyes. I ran in front of her, wishing that it would stop. Then, suddenly, the wooden stage that Professor Illton was standing on cracked, and he fell through the hole. The fire stopped.

    Everyone held their breath as a moment of silence passes through the crowd. Then, Professor Illton slowly rose up from the rubble. He was wrapped in thick, thorny vines that lifted him onto the remains of the stage. I felt Alex gently release the vines on him by closing her eyes and gently mumbling to herself. I thought he was going to yell at us. Instead, his face contorted into a strange crooked scowl. I think it was a smile?

    "Very good! Who did that?" He asked, scanning the crowd. Alex slowly shuffled her way forward from behind the tree.

    "What is your name, darling?" He asked, grinning at her strangely.

    "Alex Vinur," she replied, her voice cracking a little.

    "What you did there was wonderful. You effectively surprised the enemy and paralyzed them. Let us all give Alex a big round of applause. I expect you all to be like Alex," Professor Illton declared. The group applauded hesitantly at Alex while she just stood there and smiled, her face getting a little red. As she made her way back to us, Professor Illton said, "I hope you are all warm. Now, let's get on with the activities planned for today."

    Alex stood next to us as we stared at Professor Illton in shock. We spent the rest of class doing strange drills with one another but surprisingly, Professor Illton was just as mean as he was at the beginning of the class. There was no sign of the kindness he had shown Alex. When we had changed back into our robes, it was almost dark. I walked back to the main building with Alex and Blaine and we talked about random topics.

    It felt nice to talk to someone my age that was Oscar. I felt more like myself. I laughed at something Blaine said when we passed the fountain in the courtyard. The back of my neck tingles, like a warning. What? I looked around, searching for something that I didn't know was there. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

    As we reached the dining hall, I remembered I still had to write back to Benji. "You guys go and get dinner before me. I just need to do something in the dorms quickly," I said, turning to Alex and Blaine.

    " M'kay, Sam. We'll save you a seat," Blaine said as they headed inside. I walked to the Phoenix dorm and to my rooms. Outside, a small wire rack used for newspapers was full. The messenger owls must have come early today. I picked up the newspaper as I opened the dorm room. Riots. New trends in fashion. Apparently boots were in now. Ivy would love that. I stopped in my step as I read the headline on the last page. "Missing: Clara Galdur".