The defense against magical arts class started. The students assembled in a single loose line. Trevor was among them, looking at Professor Derek Hearth, who stood directly under one of the biggest crystals drifting slowly under the ceiling, illuminating the whole chamber.

- Since all of you already learned the shell spell, and put it to practice, I want to teach you another spell. This one is called 'Icicle'. Miss Karcrow, how about you show us how to do it? - he asked and looked at Lena.

She rolled her eyes but slightly rose her hand. It flashed with red energy, and it was ejected to the outside. In a blink of an eye, she rolled it with incredible speed, as it turned into a solid ice spike, and then it shoot out, to crash into the wall.

- Good - the teacher summed up. - Now let us pick apart what exactly Miss Karcrow just did, for those who actually don't know the spell. The rest of you might split into pairs, and start practicing. Just take it easy... For safety reasons, I want you to oversee your classmates, miss Karcrow.

Lena rolled her eyes again but stepped forward, to walk to the safe space. Few students followed her. Among them was the whole of Duncan's crew.

- Ok, so let's start with manifesting your power outside your body - professor continued and raised his hand, so everybody could see what he was doing. - I'm gonna radiate my power to the outside, change its element to ice, and force it to spin. That's basically all you need to do to create the icicle. To attack you also obviously need to eject it.

As he spoke, his palm flashed with brown light, which quickly turned into a spinning piece of ice, before he clenched his fingers on the projectile, and crushed it in his hand.

- That's how you do it. Now it's your turn. Just remember to face the wall. We don't want any accidents.

The students followed the instructions and turned to the nearby walls, Trevor among them. Meanwhile, those familiar with the spell were already, one by one, practicing in the safe space. Their magic was crashing into the forcefield generated by the Haddish on the floor, or on the semitranslucent bucklers they were using, for defensive purposes.

West ignored them all, focusing on his own magic. He followed all the instructions and pushed his magic to the outside, then drawing from the memories he received just a day before, he focused on extreme cold. To his surprise, the raw power turned to solid ice. He immediately forced it to spin, and it followed, turning into a proper icicle. Then he send it flying, and the projectile crashed into the wall.

- Good, mister West - said Derek Hearth, who out of nowhere appeared behind Trevor's back. - Great even. You've been doing very well so far. I think you can put your skills to practice with other students.

As he spoke, he pointed with an open hand toward the safe space, where the duels were conducted.

Trevor nodded, happy with the praise he just received, and went on the move, to join the few classmates surrounding the safe space. Lena was among them, on the outside of the runes, but more or less near the middle of the safe space, where two boys were currently fighting one another, trying to pierce their own shells with the icicles.

As he joined Miss Karcrow, he noticed that they were the two that usually hung around Duncan.

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Their fight was quite the interesting one, as they threw the spells at one another at a fast pace, trying to destroy the semitranslucent protective bucklers. Fragments of ice were spraying around, and hitting the protective barrier for quite a while, but then they ran out of energy and had to stop.

- Your turn - said Lena, and shoved Trevor inside the protective space.

The boy stumbled forward, but quickly caught his balance, and turned around with his eyebrows frowned.

- That was uncalled for - he protested.

- You need to learn how to fight - she informed him. - So stop whining, and start practicing. Who will be joining him?

She turned toward some of the students, expecting a volunteer, but she misjudged them. They hesitated.

- I'll do - said Duncan, from the opposite side, as he stepped into the protective space.

In the blink of an eye, he used 'Shell', without even performing the whole hand movement, and a semitranslucent yellow buckler appeared in front of him.

Trevor responded by casting his, although he had to draw the patterns in the air and his protective shield emerged between him and Duncan.

The bully didn't wait for a second and immediately threw an icicle at him, which got blocked by the spell. West responded in the same manner. For a couple of seconds, they were throwing ice at one another, but then Duncan started moving.

He closed the distance, not stopping the blizzard of icicles. Trevor also didn't back down, although he started to feel that his energy was getting lower and lower. Before he ran out of it, Esthose smashed his buckler into Trevor's.

Sparkles of energy showered the air around them, as the shields collided. The tension was so big, that they broke at the same time, which was something that Duncan actually foresaw. He jumped forward, protecting his face from the magical shards with his left forearm, and swung his right fist at Trevor's face.

Then an unknown force slammed into him and send him into the air. He flew a few meters and fell to the ground just next to Lena, who seemed to be ready to jump into the safe space, but since there was no more need for that, she calmed down.

Derek Hearth suddenly appeared next to Trevor, who was still in shock, and there was anger painted all over his face.

- You were supposed to duel, not have a fistfight, mister Esthose. What part of that you didn't understand? - asked the teacher. - I will not tolerate such behavior during my classes, so if you want to stay in this school, I recommend you follow the instructions properly. Am I clear?

Duncan groaning out of pain picked himself up but didn't respond.

- Am I clear? - the teacher asked again, a bit louder.

- Yes - the bully finally spoke, but then he gritted his teeth out of fury.

- Good. Now you are dismissed for the rest of the class. I hope that when you show up for our next lesson, you will have everything put straight into your head. Now go.

Duncan stood up, holding his shoulder, and slowly walked out, as everybody else followed him with their eyes.

- There is nothing to watch here - Derek Hearth said loudly. - Resume your practice at once.

The instruction was loud and clear, and soon the teenagers went back to trying to cast their spells. Trevor left the safe space making room for the next people to try their skills, as he rejoined Lena.

- You are screwed now - she whispered to him. - That idiot will definitely want revenge for what just happened.

- I'm counting on it - he responded. - I'm gonna kick his ass.

- I don't think so. You would get beaten up if not for the teacher - she said, ignoring the noise caused by the ice smashing left and right into the barriers inside the safe space.

- He took me by surprise. It won't happen again.

- Maybe - she shrugged her shoulders.

He didn't respond to her words at first, but as a moment passed, he spoke again, because what he saw was bothering him to the point where he just had to mention it.

- I noticed that you were about to come and stop him... Thanks.

- I had to save your ass since I need you, and that asscrawler was about to send you to the infirmary. It wasn't just a regular punch. He really was about to hurt you. You don't have to worry about being beaten up when I'm around. I'll protect you - she promised, while her face remained expressionless as she was speaking.

- I don't need protection. I can take care of myself - Trevor said with confidence and a hint of anger hiding in his voice, as she touched his nerve with what she said.

She just rolled her eyes and focused back on the duel, happening in front of her. In this way, the conversation ended.