Breath of Fire

Chapter Nine

    Today's classes went a whole lot better than yesterday. With the exception of having to spend most of the morning's class listening to Penelope and her cronies snicker as they talked about me not so quietly, it was a rather fine day. The sun was shining high in the sky and I felt happier than I could ever remember feeling. That is, until I got partnered up with Penelope during the practical portion of the day's classes where we were told to practice control over wind in groups of two. I had been hoping to get partnered with Elios, since I knew he would at least be nice about the fact I couldn't control myself but instead, the fates had decided that was not to be the case...I sighed heavily as I followed the instructor's directions and made my way over to where Penelope was standing; her friends standing not far away.      "Get ready to squeal, little piglet," Penelope said as soon as I got within earshot of her. I didn't respond, just rolled my eyes. If anyone resembled a pig in this room, it was her, no added embellishments necessary. Before I could begin to think up a witty retort, Penelope had sent a gust of wind towards me that knocked me flat on my ass and sent her two friends into fits of laughter. I slowly got up as the rest of the class glanced sideways at Penelope and I. I looked wildly around for the professor who was supposed to be watching and making sure nothing got out of hand, but he was nowhere to be found and Elios was of no help, standing all the way on the opposite side of the room too far to step in and take over.       Apparently, I was not the only one who realized that the professor was nowhere to be found. By the time I had fully gotten back on my feet, the whole class had surrounded Penelope and I and were urging us on to fight. I rolled my eyes at this cliche scenario. Seriously, why does everyone get so entertained by watching two people fight? I had never understood wrestling, or whichever sport it was where people paid to watch scripted fights where two people fought one another. What was the point of making a bet on a fight that was predetermined? I was quickly brought back to reality as the rest of the students crowded around Penelope and I and started chanting "fight, fight, fight." I couldn't help but roll my eyes once more at this childish behavior. I would have thought ancient mythical creatures to not act in such a manner, but apparently I was wrong. I craned my neck to try and catch a glimpse of Elios, but before I could, I found myself landing back down on my ass as Penelope sent another gust of wind my way. I tried and failed several times to get my abilities under control enough to send her powers right back at her like I had done in the alleyway, but to no avail. My powers were nowhere to be found at the moment and once again, I found myself being beat up by Penelope and her henchman, well woman, but who had time to worry about proper titles when they were getting their ass kicked!                                                                                             *****      "What the hell happened to her, Elios!" Elios and I looked up as the hospital wing's door burst open and Terence, Blaise, and Caspian stormed into the room.      "Don't give me those looks! I stopped it as soon as I could! You know what Penelope is like, especially you, Blaise, she's your girlfriend after all," Elios added, causing my eyebrows to lift in surprise at this news.       "You, she's, what?!" I spluttered, unable to come up with a solid sentence. I don't even know why I was surprised, the two made a perfect pair from what I'd seen of the both of them; a match made in heaven, those two. But for some reason, the news that Blaise was off the market seemed to disappoint me, which also came as a surprise to me. Why should I care if Blaise was taken or not! From what I had gathered, he was a monumental jack ass!      "Keep it down, you four, this is a house of healing! I will not have you hatchlings disturbing the peace here!" Hyperiona commanded as the boys started arguing amongst each other over how I had gotten into my current bruised and battered state. They mumbled their apologies as Peri came over to me and doused me in more of the dreaded purple goo. I groaned in disgust as I tensed my muscles in anticipation, Suddenly I felt a gentle pressure on my hand and looked over to see Elios smiling at me sadly as he reached over and grabbed my hand. I smiled back at him to let him know that I did not blame him for what had happened earlier. It wasn't his fault that Blaise's girlfriend had it out for me.                                                                                                *****Two Days Later      Two days passed by faster than the drop of a hat and I had made no more progress on showing my powers. For some reason, now that I actually wanted to reveal them, they didn't want to work at all, not even the slightest bit of control did I have and it was driving me crazy. I had Air class again with Penelope and her friends and I kept trying to tell Elios that I didn't want to go. What was the point in going to a class that I wasn't welcome at? I din't see any benefit in going, but Elios refused to let me ditch the class. I hissed in irritation as he pulled a Blair like move and all but dragged me back inside the very same classroom that I had been beaten up in two days prior. The only comforting news, was that this time, Terence and Caspian were here as well; they had gotten permission to join all of my classes so that I had extra protection from Penelope and anyone else who felt like she did about my presence at the university. As predicted, the moment everyone who was supposed to be watching me had looked away, Penelope was there with her nasty snide comments about humans and how I didn't belong.          Today was not the day to mess with me though. I had just spent the last two days being harassed not only by Terence, Caspian, Elios, and Blaise to give up my "innocent act" as they decided to call it, but by Professor Pyrion as well. Everyone wanted something from me that didn't want to come out and today was the last day for me to prove to them that I was magical and deserved to keep my memory in tact. And here was Penelope trying to undermine me even more. Today is the wrong day to mess with me woman, I thought to myself as Penelope strode forward. I could finally sense that my magical abilities were ready to burst out and it was making my skin crawl. But this was not how I wanted professor Pyrion, or my four "friends", or anyone else to find out about them. It was never a good sign when my magic burst out. Not to mention the fact that every time it had, in the past, the people hunting me had been able to track me, I had no idea how, but now was not the time for anything to go wrong. I needed professor Pyrion to continue to want me here at the school, not give him another reason to wipe my memory and send me back onto the streets with no idea what had happened to me for a whole week. If the people hunting me didn't already know where I was, they would certainly find me in a heartbeat if I suddenly had my memory wiped!       Unfortunately for me, Penelope did not get the memo about me trying to spend my last day on my best behavior and she and her friends whose names I still had yet to learn, wouldn't leave me alone. They were just out of earshot from me and my three shadows, but from the way they kept glancing over at me and giggling, I knew they were talking about me. It wasn't until after fight and flight class that I realized why Penelope and her friends had been laughing so much every time they looked at me. Sometime between when I had changed for class and after my quick shower in the changing rooms, they had decided to steal my clothes and leave me with nothing but my towel and underwear. I was pissed off to say the least. If Blair thought I argued to much when it came to wearing her skintight clothes, she had another thing coming when I was left with just the bare minimum...       I put on my underwear and wrapped the towel as tight around me as possible before peering out of the shower stall to make sure the coast was clear. It was, all except for Penelope and her friends, who happened to be waiting for me right outside. Fuck. If only invisibility was a spell I could cast! And just as I wished it, I suddenly saw my reflection in the mirror disappear! I grinned as I realized I had somehow made myself invisible. Thank the heavens or whatever divinity existed that had allowed that to work just now! I sneaked out of the locker rooms as fast as I could, making sure to keep a tight grip on my towel.       My feet were covered once again with dirt, blood, and rock by the time I made it back to the cottage and to my displeasure, all four boy happened to be home when I made my disheveled appearance. I hissed with irritation as I glared at Blaise. I knew that it wasn't his fault, but as Penelope wasn't here to take my frustration out on, he was all I had left to channel my anger towards.      "Well, well, look what the cat dragged in," Blaise said, with a wicked grin on his face.       "Blaise, shut up, I'm not in the mood for you and your mind games right now," I said, feeling my magic threatening to burst out any moment. God, not now of all the times! But god or whatever religious figures existed had it out for me, and as I tried to pass by Blaise without any further incident, I was not in luck. A quick flash of skin was all I saw before my towel was ripped away from me, leaving me standing at the bottom of the stairs in nothing but my bra and underwear. I shrieked and raised a fist up and suddenly found I could not control my powers any longer. A wall of flame erupted in front of me; slamming forward and knocking Blaise over. As soon as the wall of fire disappeared, so did I; my vision swimming before my eyes with a twinkle of black dots before I passed out.