🧸-Frankie

I could list down everything wrong with the tableau before me. Morgan was either going to faint from the information overload or probably break down from seeing so many aspects of basic mage protocol being broken.

For one, there was the Warping Barrier. Who in this dome had access to it? All of them were clad in their school uniforms or PE attire. No way were they high enough in the ranks to attain a gadget that only the Investigations Department and SPF’s Occult Department could use.

Secondly, the numbers on my tablet were swimming before my eyes. They were rising exponentially from not just one mage, but four mages alone. How many of them were unregistered? I tapped the profile screen. Only Luq, Mei, the gigantic Indian guy, and myself were registered into the system. I shook my head. This was beyond bad.

A bolt of lightning zipped past me and the next thing I knew when I opened my eyes, I was stuck in a cage of thunderbolt-bars just like the poor saps before me. I crossed over my heart. Oh, Lord. Please, help me. Huge cries came from the other side, and the three people who came to Divyane the other day were also imprisoned.

“Nobody can interfere now,” said the blonde.

The muscular girl…did she have a signature? I counted the lines against the number of people in this field. There were only eight lines of magical signatures. I hovered the tablet over the figure of the butch and ended up dropping it altogether.

“Please! Don’t do this! You don’t have magic!” I cried out to her.

She turned around to face me and gave me an apologetic look before standing her ground once again.

“You’re right,” she whispered. “Éclair, we don’t have to do this. Whatever grievances you have with me, please tell me. Tell me what I did wrong. I know I can sometimes piss people off, but I want to do better. So please. Tell me.”

And there was cheering coming from her side of the field. The boy with a brilliant, bronzed tan pumped his fist, screaming ‘Go Nora!’ while his bespectacled friend gave a thumb up. Yes. This was it. Come on, Nora.

“The hornbill. I need him. You took him away from me!” cried Éclair.

I tried getting a look at Mei and Luq’s team on the other side of the field. Her hands were glowing lilac while Luq pressed his hard against the grass. Roots crept up towards the bars. I mouthed at them with a grin. Kenny nodded his head.

“He’s more stable now, so you can have him. Just promise me that you’ll return him to the wild after this, okay?” Nora pleaded with her hands together.

The glow on Éclair’s porcelain-like hands turned dimmer. On the other side, Luq managed to grow an entire rain tree with just his powers alone. Kenny was already climbing up the sturdy trunk as the girls tried to mediate the situation on their own. Mei held her hand out and he pulled her up.

With the snap of Éclair’s fingers, the electric cages disappeared. Nora heaved a sigh and gave a soft smile at her.

“See? We can solve this without violence,” she said.

Or maybe some things should be left for later. The cheery boy who pumped his fists for her? He was crying her name out loud as a huge orb of gas began flying towards Nora.

“Éclair! What the fuck were you thinking?” yelled the tall Indian guy.

There were no screams after that though. Standing right between Nora and the projectile was Mei, her hand stretched out with her legs spread apart. She had created a shield that resembled a full moon. Éclair’s projectile still wanted to bore into it, causing her to be dragged back by the sheer impact. Nora and the tanned boy were sprawled on the floor together. I guessed he pushed her out of the way.

“I…I can’t hold on much longer. Pai thok. Pai thok. Kiu lang o. Tolong,” she cried as her voice got weaker and weaker.

The shield was indeed shrinking the longer the projectile bored against it. I dug into my sling bag, hoping to find something that I could breathe life into so that I could put a stop to this nonsense. What good could a pen do? I couldn’t hurt Éclair too, even though she was showing signs of being unhinged.

“I’m sorry. I don’t want to hurt any of you, but you all know too much!” cried Éclair as she directed her hands this time, towards Kenny.

Mei collapsed to her knees and brought her arms over her chest. I ran towards her side and asked if she was alright. Another orb flew past but this time, it just disappeared in mid-air. A shrill shriek broke the tension.

All of us looked up and saw Éclair’s hands being shackled to the ground as the more rugged-looking Chinese boy held her by the back. The taller one held the other ends of the chains.

🚲-Yu-chi

At least I would be going vegetarian knowing that I had saved my friends. The chain rested in my hands. I created it. No way. I thought I had sworn off my powers. The ang mor continued to shriek, resisting the other boy’s grip.

“Hey. I’m Sam,” he said with a grin.

“Uh…hi? Wo shi Yu-chi,” I replied back, unsure if this was the best time for self-introductions.

The little boy whom we saw on the other side of the field before he disappeared into this…kind of barrier world stood up. My eyes couldn’t help but be focused on Mei though. How badly she cried for help as she tried to save us all. I doubt I could forget that.

“You two, keep her restrained,” the little boy ordered.

“What? You expect us to take orders from a primary school kid?!” asked the tall Indian boy on our side.

The other guy slapped his palm against his forehead and grunted.

“Darn it! I know I look like I’m 12, but walau eh! I’m going to start poly in April. I’m the same age as you guys!” he lamented as he stomped his feet on the wet grass.

I nodded my head and tugged the chain harder until Éclair was on her knees. She let out another defiant scream. Sam shook his head and held her even tighter.

“Hey, be careful. There’s blood dripping from your…err…nails already,” I remarked, looking at Sam’s very sharp fingernails.

Were they even fingernails though? They looked almost like cat claws. I inhaled a deep breath and tried to assure myself that maybe this was a dream that the sleep demons had conjured up for me.

“There’s a lot I’ll need to tell my supervisor later,” said the boy after letting out another puff of air. “What…what happened? How did you guys get a Warping Barrier? Why are there so many of you?”

I sucked my lips in, wondering if this was a good time to bombard us with so many questions. The Indian boy stepped forward, making his name known to us. Kumar.

“We were just going about our regular CCAs and having a dance battle. Suddenly, Éclair wasn’t feeling too well. I chased after her and when she saw something on the field, she snapped and started going ballistic!” he said, giving his testimony of the events that led to this.

Then, the boy pointed at me. With my free left hand, I pointed at myself, to which he nodded. I turned to face the three of them, all of whom were attending to the muscular girl and her companions. I wished I could be there to comfort them, but only I could keep these chains.

“Luqman, Kenny, Mei and I were having lunch at J8. Suddenly, all of us started feeling weird about something. That’s when we saw you and followed you in. We didn’t know what was happening that time,” I said.

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“Lu siao lang! Siao lang! Gan lu! You could have killed our friends! Gan lu! Chekek darah kau!” Mei screamed.

I winced. I could not let this go on any longer.

“Hey, Sam. You think you can handle Éclair on your own? They need me,” I told him.

“Go ahead. We’ll take her somewhere. All of us have a lot of things to discuss,” said the small boy.

I let go of the chain and watched as it transformed back into two ordinary hair ribbons. I patted Sam on the shoulders, hoping that he wouldn’t grip Éclair too hard to the point of bleeding again. I finally rushed to Mei’s side, kneeling beside her.

“Aiyoh, Mei. Bernafas,” whispered Luq.

The boy clinging onto Nora was weeping, even though she was alive, albeit very visibly shaken, in his arms.

“How could you do this to Mei and Nora, Éclair?! I thought you were a sweet girl who needed a friend. Now I know, you don’t give a shit if people died from your actions!” he screamed as the other boys dragged her out of the field.

When they reached the walls of the barrier, they disappeared, warping with the walls, until we could see them again just outside this dome. His large eyes were burning, livid with betrayal. His bespectacled friend hugged him from behind.

“Kenny, ni hen hao?” I asked as I brought him into my arms.

“Wo hen hao. Thanks for saving my life sia,” he said.

It was time for me to turn my attention to Mei. What should I say to her? She almost risked dying just to protect all of us. Her right-hand had almost all the colour sucked out from it. I blinked back hot tears and patted her on the back while giving her back the hair ribbons that she lent me to make the chains.

“Gam sia li. What you did back there was really brave. You saved our lives,” I told her.

She looked up at me, not caring about the ribbons that she loaned me. We locked eyes for the first time. Her tears must have eroded the anger away because I began to feel a very calm presence beside her.

“Pai seh. It’s just that, this was nearly the second time she killed me,” she said with a puff. “I think we should follow Frankie and the others and see how we’ll take it from here.”

The six of us agreed. Luqman ran towards the Malay girl, helping her up with the tanned boy whose ethnicity I couldn’t really guess. Mixed Japanese and Malay? Chinese-Malay? It was hard to tell.

“I’m strong enough to walk. Don’t worry about me,” she assured them.

We stepped out of the dome and found ourselves back in the realm that we were originally from. All of us definitely needed a change of clothes from the conflict just now. And a shower. A really good shower.

🐯-Samuel

Yes. Keep the prisoner and ourselves in an abandoned corner of the school. Legit. Totally legit. How many times was Kumar going to say ‘sorry’ for tying Éclair up to the chair again? Frankie sat opposite her, tablet still in his hands. At least we wouldn’t be going straight to Divyane for this one. Ah, right. Blood.

I held my hands up. My nails were more or less back to normal, but man. Yu-chi was right. Éclair’s blood had stained my cuticles too. I saw where I had ripped her sleeves on accident. Maybe I should apologise for that too. But almost killing Nora and Mei? No-go.

“Please understand, Éclair. I don’t want you to hurt yourself and others. If you tell us the truth, we’ll let you go. Promise,” he assured her.

“Kumar, please lah. Even after Nora agreed to go with a more peaceful option, she still attacked her!” I protested.

He stopped tying her up and pulled his own chair forward. The ear-piercing screeching of metal legs against the dusty, cement floor reminded me of the scene a few days ago when we introduced ourselves to our CG mates. I looked up and saw Kumar, genuinely at a loss for words as his eyes darted to every corner of this empty classroom.

“She said something about how we knew too much. Éclair, you’re hiding from someone, aren’t you?” asked Kumar.

His eyebrows were slanted downwards and his eyelids halfway down. The dim lights in this far-flung classroom were not helping the mood either. I pulled the binds down and turned on the front lights at the very least. The shredded fabric of her right sleeve was a stark reminder that in some ways, they were right. She wasn’t the only dangerous one.

I stared at her, wondering if I should be the bad cop. But a leader had to show empathy, right? What if Kumar was right? No, I had to trust my bro on this.

“She won’t answer, but she’s really showing signs of trauma. They were arguing over some bird, weren’t they?” he recalled.

Frankie stopped taking down his notes and instead turned his attention towards the scribbles he made on his notepad. They were energy signatures.

“A bird? Why were they arguing over a bird?” asked Frankie, his eyes probably taking up half of his face by then.

“That bird that your friend is nursing holds great magical power! If its power is left uncontrolled, it could hurt the balance of this world!” she protested.

Okay. That was probably the most ridiculous thing I had heard in a while. Kumar carried the chair from the bottom and shifted to sit beside her. I folded my arms, wondering what he was about to do now.

“I know you wouldn’t normally know these things. Who asked you to get the bird?” he asked.

Éclair turned away, looking down at the pallid, grey floor instead. I groaned and sank back into the chair, agitated that this was going nowhere. I rose to my feet again, standing straight for a change.

“Then, maybe it’s time for me to play bad cop after all. Look, Éclair. I know I’m not a student councillor yet, but one of my priorities is to make this school one that is safe for others. You’re making Mei, Nora, Minori – hell – all of us, scared of being even near you!” I said.

Kumar was dragging me down by the sleeve. I yanked his hand away from me and folded my arms.

“I may not have the power to take action now, but I won’t hesitate to inform the disciplinary board about this attack. Nora wanted to settle this peacefully but nuh-ah, you had to go on and try to kill all of us!”

Then, I let out a yelp as Kumar dragged me out of the room by my collar. Frankie’s jaw dropped as he begged for us not to leave him alone with Éclair. He had a point. What if she tried to strike him with lightning too?

“What the fuck is wrong with you, bro?!” he asked as he let go of me.

“I’m doing what’s right. Hell, I’m doing what I should have done years ago when I saved your ass!” I retorted.

Kumar stammered, hitting the railing facing HDB blocks with a sharp clank. For a moment, his eyebrows furrowed before he just shut his eyes tight and let it all out.

“What the fuck, Sam? I look up to you because you listened to me and helped me out when nobody else would. Why couldn’t you extend the same kindness that you showed me to her? She could be going through a lot, and you’re not willing to offer her even a single shred of empathy?” he said, his usually delicate voice sounding hoarse.

I inhaled a deep breath. There was no way I could sugar-coat this. She was a threat. Yes, she might have unresolved issues, but we all saw it with our very own eyes.

“She’s refusing to cooperate. How can I know more about what she’s going through if she won’t even tell us what’s going on? If you can think of something better to make her talk, then tell me,” I said.

With that, he just walked back into the classroom. I groaned again, pressing my hands against my thick hair, letting the fingernails sink into my scalp. So much for our bro code.

🦜-Nora

The door to the sick bay creaked open. Sam stepped in; his body hunched in a manner that was unusual for him. He gave an exasperated sigh before sitting beside Nori, pressing his palms hard against his cheeks.

“Fuck it, lah. She won’t cooperate. Kumar tells me to be compassionate. Be caring. Be empathetic. I am, okay? But how can I when she won’t even tell us what’s going on with her?” he lamented.

I sat up, refusing to take any of this lying down. Nori blocked me with his arm instead.

“I’m not siding with Éclair, but honestly, I can see why she wouldn’t want to talk to you. I mean, you did scratch her pretty badly,” said Yu-chi as he stood up from his corner with his the…magic users.

“Well, what makes you think she’ll listen to you too? You’re the one who chained her up.”

I bit my lips. Minori kept tapping his lower lip as his eyes were glued to the CPR poster opposite us. Yu-chi and Sam began arguing to each other in Mandarin, leaving the two of us to just blink slowly as we tried to make out the air from their tone and body gestures alone.

Finally, Yu-chi raised both arms up and stormed out of the room. Kenny stood up, only to have Luq bring him down. He walked towards my bedside and scanned my body.

“Awak okay ka? Tak ada kecederaan?” he asked.

“I’m fine. I’m still shocked. That’s the second time she’s nearly killed me,” I whispered.

I buried my face in my hands and let out a muffled scream. How many times had tears sprung out of my eyes because of her? What would Adik say if he knew? Should I have just appealed to RJ to be with him somewhere safer? I felt Albert patting my back. Minori offered me a piece of tissue, which I used to blow my nose into.

My facial muscles were feeling the strain from all that ugly crying. I had allowed the people who were supposed to elect me see me at my weakest. I was too soft.

“Nora, awak mahu aku panggil Andi?” Minori asked.

I shook my head. He did not deserve to spend 70% of his time in school worrying about whether or not I was safe.

“So, what are we going to do about Éclair? Do we report her or…?” asked Mei. “Because as far as I know, having her around is unsafe.”

I could feel Minori tightening his grip on the sheets. His bangs drooped over his eyebrows, concealing his chiselled face.

“I feel so stupid for thinking she was just a sweet girl who needed help when I first met her. And I feel even more horrible feeling a little bit sorry for her,” he said.

Mei and I pretty much had the same expression of shock written on our tanned faces. She placed her hands on her hips and started looking at him like a very fed-up Makcik.

“Nori, how can you say that?! That psycho almost killed you! Do you know that she almost got me, Kenny, and Luq killed the other day too? Besides, didn’t you tell me just fifteen minutes ago that she almost got you and Nora killed too? She’s a danger to us all!” said Mei.

Sam nodded his head. Then, he turned to look at me. I brought my knees to my chest, looking at all the dry grass that had clung to my scar-laced shins. I wanted to stand in solidarity with Mei. To give a message that all this had to stop.

“But Sam, wouldn’t this hurt our campaign?” I asked.

“Nora, we’ve seen how you tried to solve this using peaceful means. You were diplomatic, but firm. You were fucking badass back there, okay? If anything, what you did will make people side with you more,” he said, finally giving a smile for the first time that day.

When I looked around, everybody was nodding agreement with Sam. Luq gave me an assuring smile. Even Mei and Kenny who barely knew me began pledging their support for me.

“See? We all have trust in you,” said Nori.

But would it be enough? I had to make a decision. Fast.