ONE HUNDRED NINETY-EIGHT: United

198

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“Torsten, I want to thank you for warning me about the dangers of the Mind Writher. I didn’t let it kill me, as you advised.” Aparna, grinning, held the unitard she’d been wearing over an arm as she followed Torsten to the cleaning cabinets in one corner of the MPE faculty lounge.

“What’s this?” Morrison Waker, in Little Snake form, swiped away the footage he’d been viewing. “Did Writher get a special mention when you were all havin’ fun without me earlier?”

“He just mentioned that it was capable of moving very quickly and unpredictably,” Hale said from her seat at the small table across from Morrison. She looked toward her husband, who was flipping through a magazine that had coffee rings from at least two different cups on the cover. “He was concerned it might catch us by surprise. I wasn’t caught by surprise, were you?”

“No! Thanks to the warning, I was on my guard against that dangerous Meister. Scary student, you have there.” He paused. “Lexi could even kill an instructor with that thing.”

The Zhang-Demirs’ straight faces fell apart as soon as Morrison guffawed. Aparna was cackling while she hung up the cuffs that went with the suit.

“I don’t suppose it would help my cause to point out that there were a few more students than Lexi involved?”

“That’s right,” said Aparna. “So many students united for a common goal, willing to sacrifice themselves…what horrors do you commit during your regular classes to provoke such a response?”

“There was so much cheering when he died, wasn’t there?”

“The smiles on their young faces. Pure delight.”

“The way the girl with the spear stabbed you a couple of extra times to make sure you were really gone!”

“Can’t be too cautions when you’re facin’ true evil.”

Torsten shut the cabinet door. “They did well for what was more of a timed pile-on than a coordinated assault.”

“Maybe it was coordinated. Kids could’ve been plannin’ it all period.”

Torsten’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “Good point. We should have all the participants submit write-ups on it, so we’ll know exactly what they were thinking.”

“Not a bad idea…wait, I’m readin’ all the written work this week!”

“I do seem to recall that,” Torsten said. “Now that you mention it.”

“Assigning homework to punish your students and your fellow instructors,” said Aparna. “I am no longer surprised those girls were bold enough to carry you to one of my Shock Boxes and throw you in.”

Torsten blinked. “I think they were hoping a body would spring the trap and let them cross.”

“I’m sure that’s the excuse they’ll use in their homework.”

 

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The volunteers had left, the gym had been cleared for the next users, and replacements for damaged elemental weights had been added to the daily inventory request list, when the two instructors finally left the building together. Torsten stopped on the way out to hold the door for a group of four teenagers. The two of them who were still in school uniforms at this late hour wore third-year pins on their jackets.

“Ready for your graduation tests?” he asked them.

Two of them said no in laughing tones; one said yes. A short girl with a weathervane tattooed on her arm shook her head. “I still have one more quarter to go, Instructor.”

“You just missed Galecourse,” Torsten said.

“She was here?!”

“She’ll be back on Friday. And she’s on our list of volunteers who are offering one-on-one lessons…you’ve heard about that? She’s only donating a few hours, but I thought you’d like to know. I’m aware you’re a fan.”

The students headed inside, the girl groaning about her chances of earning a slot with Galecourse before someone else snapped it up, and Torsten let the door close behind them.

“Melanie did take off in a hurry,” said Morrison. “Wanted to get some quality time in with Vandy, maybe? I don’t see how her mom and dad manage heroing for two cities each and parenting here on Anesidora.”

“I think her grandparents are very involved. Morrison, have you got a good read on Alden Thorn’s skill?”

“Can’t say I do! But I like the ones that take a little more figurin’ out.”

Torsten slid his hands into the pockets of the coat he wore over his button-down shirt. “It was more resistance than I was expecting from him, especially at the end of class.”

“Think there’s a clue there about what makes the skill tick? Or what makes the user tick along with it?”

“Possibly. It was just worth noting.”

They walked down a lamplit pathway, heading toward the nearby street that marked the edge of campus. A stiff breeze tousled Morrison’s shaggy hair.

Torsten said, “I admit I have a preference for the more familiar or obvious abilities. Many students who receive my advice about which talents to affix seem to think I’m on a mission to make them boring. It’s challenging to explain to a teenager that boring strengths aren’t going to seem boring at all when you actually need to use them.

“The lists of options the System provides contain undiscovered trinkets and traps in addition to hidden treasures. Every year we uncover more of the latter, we negotiate with the Triplanets for improvements, and we learn how to use what we already have better. Why be the first through the gate at sixteen? If the skill that’s tempting you is good, if the spell is world-changing, you’ll hear about it one day and you can make acquiring it your goal then.”

“You definitely can’t apply that to the first choice, though,” Morrison said. “Look at Kon! Look at Søren! Look at Alden givin’ you a little surprise. Great class today, wasn’t it?”

“I’m happy to see them finding themselves, recovering from the ordeal of the past days, and losing the tensions the obstacle course brought out. Some of the tensions…what exactly did Winston do to infuriate Søren?”

“Guess you missed it while you were occupied. I’ll give you a run-down of what I saw. Rebecca gave a speech that was even more illuminatin’ if you want the full picture.”

Torsten sighed.

“So weary! Come with me. I know a place that’ll knock the worst parts of the day off us both.”

“I should—”

“Come on. We don’t spend enough time together outside of work, do we? I’ll tell you about some of my funnier moments that the PR people hid from the public. Ha! There. You look tempted.”

“I guess I could spare some time.”

“This way.” Morrison turned down the street. “I do see your point about the mystery talents, but I think some people thrive on the idea of trailblazin’.”

“Too often trailblazers end up blazing their way into trouble or rushing down no path at all,” Torsten replied. “Anyway, let’s ask Alden if he knows yet how different kinds of attacks affect his time to skill fatigue. We might find something there. I have a lot of thinking to do about several of the students. Søren’s going to need more help. For now, let’s leave work at work.”

“Sure you’re not just afraid I’m going to bring up the fact that the kids banded together to attack y—”

“You promised me stories about your own errors.”

“Fair enough. Second year on the job in Houston. I’m feelin’ unbeatable, and then this little old Object Shaper comes along and hoists me up by my blue jeans… ”

They entered North of North together, and only a few short minutes later, Torsten’s eyes were boring holes into Morrison as they stood outside the recovery sauna.

“I swear I didn’t know,” Morrison whispered, looking through the glass door.

“One of them just happens to be the student who killed me earlier,” Torsten said dryly.

“These kids have more expensive after-school habits than I did when I was their age. Come on before they see us if you don’t want to sit with—”

“They’re waving,” Torsten said darkly.

“Wave back and keep walkin’?”

******

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[Haoyu: They leave! But we waved!]

[Lexi: They probably have other plans.]

[Haoyu: Stop using fingers. Moooo.]

Between them, Alden laughed softly then went back to watching Søren fry Winston.

 

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“I can’t believe Kon and Everly didn’t come with us,” Haoyu said a while later.

The three roommates had missed their dining window at the school cafeteria, which hadn’t gone back to the original schedule and convenient drone deliveries yet, so they’d opted for free smoothies and expensive salads here at North of North. Sharing a table beside the smoothie bar and listening to the blenders whir, they chewed on mixed greens artfully sprinkled with a medley of health food.

Haoyu slurped on a chocolate peanut butter drink while he talked. “What could be better than a recovery sauna homework experience with the three of us?”

“Kon even complained about not being invited.” The salad on the table in front of Alden was disappearing at a shocking rate. The combo of gym and recovery sauna always made him ravenous. He only had a few more walnuts and arugula leaves to go, and he was considering ordering another. “And then they said no thanks.”

“They wanted a rain check. I say we don’t give them one,” Haoyu said.

“How are you going to threaten me with Kon if he won’t do things with you?” Lexi looked smug.

“Don’t worry. I’ll threaten to let him in our room. He’ll always go for that.”

Lexi reached for his own smoothie, which was so full of kale powder that it was the color of grass, but he paused before sipping on it. “There’s supposed to be rain in half an hour. Do you need to fly to…the place you’ve been going sometimes, Alden? Tonight? That could be hard.”

Surprised by the concern, and a little touched, Alden swallowed his last walnut and shook his head. “I’m at the dorms tonight. Did you check the weather for me?”

“I thought I heard thunder while we were leaving the showers, so I looked.”

“It would suck to fly across the ocean in a storm, so thanks for that.”

“Are you done going there so much? Or not?”

Alden sat back, his own raspberry smoothie cold in his hand. He didn’t really think Lexi—Mr. Keep Your Weirdness to Yourself—was being nosey.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

He probably just wants fewer surprises. Like the whole island suddenly delivering Thanksgiving food to our apartment. Or like me and Haoyu suddenly delivering a knight to our apartment.

“It’s been a busy week,” said Alden. “You’re a good roommate.”

Lexi froze.

Haoyu started snickering.

“Why are you saying that?” Lexi asked.

“Saying what?”

“What’s going to happen?”

“Nothing! It was a compliment! Gratitude. I was being grateful to you.”