Max spent the weekend playing with her shadow essence during the times she was alone. She had gained greater proficiency in manipulating shadows to the point that she coudl create tendrils. Tendrils that could pick up and hold various objects. Another interesting application of her shadow essence occured when she clad her hand in it. Her hand had become clawed and a layer of very flexible black armor clung to her flesh like a second skin. It felt like soft leather and didn't restrict her movement at all. She tested it with a knife from the kitchen and to her surpise she had to press quite hard to even feel the edge. If she could cover her whole body in it, that would give her quite the defense, but it wouldn't be useable until she was almost bronze rank from the way it was draining her strength. The last thing she discovered was that she could use her shadow essence to temporarily change her eye color. She had alot of fun with it as she changed her eye color repeatedly. Too bad it wore off as soon as she retracted her essence from her eyes.
Unfortunately, Max had over slept monday morning and had to rush to get ready for school. She got to the school only minutes before her first class. Several of the other students gave her a curious look while she rushed to the classroom. Somehow Max had gotten assigned into the same class as Emily, but they were seated on different sides of the room. Emily looked like she hadn't slept well for days. It wasn't until lunch that she got a chance to talk to her.
They sat down at an empty table. The other students were keeping their distance for some reason. Max was wondering why no one was trying to approach them. Not even to try and comfort Emily, who was clearly feeling miserable. Max put her hand on Emily's arm to try and sooth her. Emily looked from Max's hand to her face with a small look of worry before whispering very softly, "Grandpa told me what you are."
"Yeah, I figured he would," Max said calmly. She wanted to ask Emily, if she wanted to become stronger, but didn't know how to go about it. She had never had an apprentice before.
There was an akward silence between them as they ate. Emily took a glance at the monitoring bangle on Max's left wrist. "That's the ugliest piece of jewelry I have ever seen," Emily says with a slight trace of amusement.
"That is what I said when your gramps told me to wear it," Max said as she smiled.
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"Really?" Emily said with a small smirk, "That's just like grandpa to be fashion blind."
"Tell me about it," Max agreed before she had a sudden thought, "Hey, do you want to hang out later?"
"Not today. But maybe tomorrow after I ask grandpa," Emily said.
Max opened her mouth to voice her assent, but the boys must have gathered their courage as two of them had approached. As if by some earlier arrangement, one of them went to her and the other Emily. Max stood up and got infront of Emily protectively. The boys tried to appear friendly, but Max knew their real intentions. They had clearly heard about the events at her other school and assumed that they were survivors, especially with Max's arm bandaged up and in a sling. These pieces of garbage wanted to take advantage of their fragile state of mind after they had experienced a traumatizing event. She had seen this same shit being pulled too many times before to them have their way. She immediately told them that she was a lesbian and that Emily was her lover. Emily blushed lightly, but remained silent. Since Emily wouldn't refuted it, they had no choice but to give up. No other boys came over to bother them after that. Although a few girls did come over to make an attempt at talking to them.
After school while Max was in the car with her mother, Max asked if she could spend time with Emily tomorrow. Her question has surprised her mother, but her eyes had quickly softened. She gave her approval, but required Max to be home before ten.
Max went to lay down in her bed when she got home. She had been wondering what she could do with Emily tomorrow. She knew she had to bring up how to cultivate to Emily soon for her to be of any help. Perhaps she could broach the subject while they hanged out. She tried to imagine Emily's expression when she finds out about Max's cultivation method.
Max sat up to remove her sling. After taking it off, she looked at her hands. These are a young girls hands. Her vision began to become cloudy as an overwhelming sense of loss came over her. She had been so busy with planning, cultivation and everything else that she hadn't really let it completely sink in that she was indeed a girl now. The longer she looked at her hands the more apparent it became and the more clouded her vision became. Tears began streaming unbidden down her face as small sobs escaped her lips. She didn't want to face this, but she could no longer lie to herself. She forced herself to accept the cruel truth. I am no longer Maxwell Adams. That man died protecting the weak. I... I am now Maxine Levings. With that thought, Maxine threw herself face first into a pillow and cried in earnest.