I desperately clung to the railing I caught. My hands stung and my arms screamed out in protest. I mentally braced then dropped again. The ball of my foot landed on the top of the railing and I managed to maintain my balance well enough to lower myself and pushed off dropping in a more controlled manner this time.

I spared a glance after my second drop.

Leo’s crew realized what I was doing and were rushing after me. I vaulted over the railing back onto the safety of the fire escape and started bounding down the stairs until I reached the now extended ladder at the bottom.

I slid down and sprinted back out of the alley the way I came. I ran towards the local pawn shop and ducked inside. I relaxed as I saw Ernest manning the counter. He was an old acquaintance.

"H-hey can I camp out here for a few?" I coughed out, breath ragged and unsteady.

"Hells, are you okay? You're bleeding."

“Huh?” I looked down only to see the palms of my hand torn and bloody, a result of my haphazard plan from moments ago.

"Here," he said, ushering me behind the counter, "Stay here 'til your safe, and let me disinfect that,"

I thanked Ernest, and also thanked the heavens above he was in.

We went around the back of the shop and he cleaned and bandaged my hands. As I relaxed I felt small pains sprout up all around my body. My feet were hot with pain; I didn't plan on running in these shoes let alone take multiple falls in them.

The bell on the pawn shop door opened and Ernest went up front to meet his customer. I waited quietly in the back until Ernest came back several minutes later.

While I would have loved to stay at the pawnshop and hide out, I didn't want to ditch Ella and knew another route home. Ernest looked worried, but ultimately let me leave as I carefully scouted outside before cutting back into the alley I was chased into before.

My feet throbbed as I limped my way back to my house. I finally got there and luckily Leo either didn't think I would loop back here or didn't show up yet. I grabbed the wardbook, as well as a duffle bag to shove some of my clothes and materials into. I didn't want to sleep with one eye open tonight so I'd find somewhere else to hide out for the next few days. I looked for my gun, not wanting to be unprotected when I left my house only to realize I, like an idiot, left it laying on my floor for over half a day. I also left the safety off.

I was a damned idiot.

I shook my head and re-engaged the safety then shoved it into my waistband.

I tossed the duffle bag over my shoulder and walked out, my hand hovering awkwardly in case Leo's gang showed up and I needed to react. I grabbed my phone with my right hand and sent Liz a text, asking her to stay the night. I shoved my phone in my pocket, not waiting for a response, and then headed to Raul's.

I got to Raul's undisturbed, minus the occasional stare. Ella was sitting there looking bored on her phone. She looked up and saw me, looking excited briefly before recognizing my sorry state. She hurried over to me.

"What happened to you, you’re limping and dirty," Ella stated as she started examining my body.

"Nothing really. Ran into someone who had an issue with me, you know how it is."

She gave me a knowing look, then grabbed and steadied me. She helped me walk over to the booth. I sat down and motioned for her to sit as I dug the wardbook out of my bag. I threw it on the table then leaned back in my chair feeling drained.

"Can you just look over that, please? I'll get up and order something." I tried to stand but Ella leaned over and pushed me into my seat.

“I’ll get your food and look over your book after. What do you want?”

“A number nine, large cola.”

Ella got up to get my drink while I sat there trying to force my stinging hands and feet out of my mind.

Ella came back with my food and started flipping through the ward book in silence. We sat there quietly for about twenty minutes before she closed the book.

“So far, all of these wards look good. I'm pretty sure this is legit. The wards are efficient too, where did you get it? Might have hit them up if they’re selling stuff of this quality.”

“Just a slumlord who I owed a favor to. He gave it to me for doing the favor exceptionally well,” I lied smooth as silk.

She gave me a nonplussed look, “Wow, you’re really deep in those types of circles huh?” I shrugged.

“Not much you can do when you owe a favor, you know how things are around here.”

She leaned in closer to me, “Yeah, but most of us don’t owe favors to slumlords of all people and you don’t strike me as the type who would risk their hide like that. Is that honestly how you got this?” She looked down at my bandaged hand and her accusation was clear.

“Hah, I didn’t steal this, trust me. No one in their right mind would fuck with someone who deals in things like wardbooks.” Technically, being influenced by seething vindictive anger would mean I wasn’t in my right mind last night. I think.

“Sure,” She responded neutrally. “Anyhow, the entire thing does appear to be legitimate.” She started sucking her straw then suddenly stopped. “By the way, if you didn’t get attacked for sticky fingers, how did you end up like that?”

“Well, to be fair most of this is self-inflicted; botched my escape.” She sat there silently as she continued to drink her soda silently. She maintained eye contact expectantly before I finally continued, “I ran someplace high and had to get down somehow without royally fucking my legs. I did a couple of drops but was rustier than I thought. Fucked up.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Royally I presume. Didn’t answer my question though,” she quickly pointed out. I sighed.

“Cut someone off and they took it extremely poorly,” I explained as much of the situation as I was comfortable.

“Is it safe for you to go home? If you want I can let you crash at my place, though it can be kinda crowded.” Her voice finally broke its neutral tone as concern washed through it.

“Nah, thanks though. I got a friend whose place I’m gonna stay at tonight. What class do you have after this?”

Ella looked at me astonished. “You really have time to worry about classes right now?”

I shrugged, “Class won’t stop just because I’m injured. Besides, I used all of my sick days as well as my independent study days already. I’m shit outta luck.” I really didn’t plan on getting run down when taking days off, but not much that I could do about that now. What was done is done.

We checked the time and had forty minutes left before afternoon classes. We threw out our food and started getting ready to head back to school.

Ella, bless her heart, helped me walk back, supporting me the entire way. She also acquiesced to my request to take a slightly longer route, so we could avoid the area I ran into Leo earlier. We got back to school and had to break off, not having the same classes from this period forward. I went to my artifice class while she went to her gemcraft class.

Before I headed to artifice though, I slapped my bag into my locker. I never had a chance to use it before, but managed to memorize the number at the beginning of the term. Afterward, I headed straight to Modern Artifice.

I had already learned most of the information that my artifice class covered either online, through the textbook, or from some kids I knew in last year's class. At this point, all the work was busy work and optional as well; if you didn’t do anything stupid you would graduate without actually giving it much effort. I used the period to sleep, passing out almost immediately as class began.

I was startled awake as the bell signaled the end of the period ended.

“Trey, can you come over for a second?” Professor Baker asked.

I limped over knowing where this was going.

“Are you okay? First, you skipped a ton of classes, then the day you finally come in, you’re limping, dirty, and have bandages on. Is it something in your home life? We can help-” I cut her off.

“Nothing’s wrong at home. I've just been busy working on my project for entrance exams for a couple of months. Honestly, they’ll be here before we know it and I want to be prepared. I injured myself on a test that went wrong when I ran home for lunch. You can ask my morning teachers. I was fine before then.”

“Oh come on Trey! You honestly don’t expect me to believe that, do you? Everyone knows you live in a bad part of the city, the second worst thing is next to the gods-forsaken slums. I can help. I just need you to work with me, you’re brilliant and have a future! Don’t let your environment trap you like it does so many beautiful young minds from lesser backgrounds.”

I suppressed my growing feelings of annoyance and disdain. This wasn’t the time she overreached, I had a lot of letters in the mail and had to meet with a few government employees because she couldn’t accept that things were fine for me. All while the girl a row down has bruises that peek from under her cuffs. It was performative.

I took a breath. I wasn’t exactly a beacon of morality either, so I couldn’t really judge. Forcing a light airy tone I smiled and spoke.

“I promise you I’m fine, honestly!”I said laughing between words, “There is no reason for you to worry. Besides, I only have a few months until I’m off to a first-rate academy. I can’t ruin anything in that short of a period.” I wanted this conversation to be over.

Professor Baker sighed and slouched back into her chair. “I can’t force you to do anything, Trey. But seriously, if you need anything, anything at all, please reach out to me. All of us teachers are here to help.”

I thanked her for her concern again as I hobbled out of the classroom. Saying nothing was wrong is significantly less convincing when you can’t walk straight, but there isn’t much she can do without me specifically asking for it. Delmar Academy was a fourth-tier school, only set up for giving those with a spark of potential for a longshot. But ultimately, we were viewed as a lost cause and schooling served as a way of keeping more dangerous elements off the street being reckless. Can’t have kids playing soldier with mana bolts or artifice, so all of us with a bit of knowledge or potential are shuffled off to a shitty academy to make sure we aren’t on the streets killing random folks or causing mayhem. Hell, even the kids from uptown who were here were seen as second-rate. Just because I was going to make something of myself, doesn’t mean I was expected to.

I went to my locker and grabbed my duffle bag, not wanting to forget it before I headed home for the day. I could be forgetful and would likely be distracted talking to Liz on the way back.

I found myself outside my last class of the day, before the study period. I sat down and prepped for Foundational Mana Theory, the only class I shared with Liz.

Honestly, this class is the only one I gave any thought to during my extended vacation. I opened my notes to the parts I copied from Liz who diligently attended class. Liz wasn’t the best at most of the theoretical classes until it concerned mana, war, or fighting. She truly was specialized.

Liz walked in, happily before seeing my sorry state. She sat next to me and whispered, “Who the fuck was it this time, I swear to the gods that I’ll put them six feet-” I held my hand up in front of her, stopping her tirade before she got into a groove. Several kids were staring at us.

“Liz, it’s fine and doesn’t concern you. I’ll be okay, I promise.”

“The fuck you mean it doesn’t concern me?! Dude, we’re basically family. You know I have your back and you have mine, which fuckface did this to you? They’ll be eating from a straw for their brief miserable life.”

I cringed, I knew she’d get like this. Liz treated me like her younger brother and felt the need to protect me. Ironic, since I was the older one.

I appreciated the thought, it gave me a warm feeling to know she would still get this heated for me. But I really didn’t want her charging off to start some one-woman war— she would end up getting both of us in hot water with her temper.

“Liz, seriously. We don’t need this right now. We’re gonna be out of here heading to bigger and better things; can we not stir the pot for the next few months? Please?”

Liz clenched and unclenched her fist before letting out a heavy breath, “Fine, but seriously Trey, you need to stop letting people walk all over you. This isn’t the first time you’ve done it and I know it won’t be the last. I worry about you.”

I’ve been worrying a lot of people for a while now.

“Yeah well…” I started my sentence then realized I really didn’t want to talk about this anymore and decided to change the subject. “Hey did you get my text? I need to stay the night tonight.”

She stared at “Ah, no. Sorry, I didn’t check my phone today. Is that why you have the duffle bag? Assumed I was gonna say yes?”

“I didn’t assume anything; I knew you’d say yes, you always do when you aren’t having a girl over and you’re on a dry spell right now.” Liz laughed in response.

“Yeah, well can’t argue with that. Yeah, we’ll head home and can play some games or something, I need help in ‘Of Conquest and King’s anyways.”

“Yeah sure, though you’re better at that than I am. Grand-strategy isn’t my thing.”

“You’re right, mind-numbing funny moments videos and how-tos are all you ever do. I don’t know how you plan on getting into Northridge when you spend most of your time-consuming literal mental rot.”

I punched her shoulder and then regretted it as the impact left my hand stinging in response. I was about to retort, but our professor finally walked in.

“Sorry I’m late class, I had an urgent emergency. I hope everyone is ready to begin.”