Nick tried to enjoy the meal as he watched the dining hall. He waved at Carol when

she waved at him. He tried to smile, but still felt anger coursing through his system.

“True love?,” asked Will.

“No, we’re from the same orphanage,” said Nick. “She’s a fire magician like you,

except she can make fire and doesn’t need a crutch.”

“Okay,” said Will. “I can take the low blow.”

“They said that the Lords of Death were at the border and close to my village,” said

Nick. “Did any of you hear the same thing?”

“Your village was on the edge?,” asked Calliope.

“We came in the last conjured airship,” said Nick.

“I think all of us came before you, Nick,” said Steve. “If they picked up your orphans

and arrived last, it might mean all of us live closer to the city than you.”

“I guess that makes sense,” said Nick.

“They say there is a map of the world here in the school,” said Crow. “If we saw it,

we would know where our villages were before we came here.”

“We lived in a city,” said Calvin. He grinned at them.

“But it wasn’t as big as the one surrounding the school,” said Felix.

“We might be put in the same quarters,” said Calliope. “If they are keeping each

group together, we irregulars will probably have our own space.”

“Separate rooms?,” asked Nick.

“Maybe,” said Calliope. “Why?”

“I never had my own room before,” said Nick. “We always had to share space with

each other.”

“They’ll probably have us all share rooms,” said Will. “Two boys get a room, two

girls get a room. One of the boys will be on his own.”

“You guys can bunk in together,” said Nick. “It will be nice not to share with anyone

else.”

“We might all get one room,” said Calliope. “That means you are going to have to

respect our privacy.”

“Would they do that?,” asked Nick.

“I don’t know,” said Calliope. “I don’t see how they can teach us how to do better

with the strange outlier magic we each possess.”

“Will doesn’t have an outlier magic,” said Steve. “He just needs a starter for what he

has. If he could do that, he wouldn’t have to stick around with the rest of us.”

“So once I am able to create fire out of thin air, I can move in with the other guys,”

said Will. “Get some privileges.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” said Steve. “We would be holding you back if you tried

to stay with us.”

“Let’s shelve this,” said Nick. “The classes are moving out.”

He indicated the air class at the tables nearest the faculty were being gathered and

walked out of the hall.

“We’re at the back of the room,” said Felix. “We will be waiting a bit before they get

to us.”

“But they will be getting to us,” said Nick. “Granny Bitter is eyeing us for what we

will do.”

“Don’t start shooting her in the face,” said Will. “It looks like it would just make her

mad enough to rip your legs off.”

“I know,” said Nick. “I’m not sure if the thunder cracker could punch through a

toughened enough shield. And I’m not sure I want to find out.”

“Do you know what it can punch through?,” asked Will.

“It will kill a small animal with one shot, medium sized animals with a couple of

charges, annoy bears and bigger unless I put a charge through the eye,” said Nick. “It

won’t go through most stonework, but anything lesser I can chop away from a

distance. The main problem is the reserve. Once I run out of charges, I’ll need to

scavenge more from anything I put down, or buy with spirit money which I don’t start

the day with enough of. Essentially I can do things, but I have to be in conflict with

someone and win to get the supplies I need. That’s why I picked up this sword as a

backup weapon.”

“I’m surprised they let you keep it,” said Felix.

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“They will probably tell me to keep it in my room while I am going about my

studies,” said Nick. “Everyone here is more dangerous than a boy with a sword

anyway.”

“Maybe the older students,” said Calliope. “I don’t think the younger ones have ever

seen a sword used to fight. You might be able to scare them before they can get a

spell off.”

“That’s good,” said Nick.

“Granny Bitter is coming our way,” said Steve.

“Everybody finished eating?,” Calliope asked. “We don’t want to have to leave

anything if we’re still hungry.”

A chorus of we’re dones following hastily grabbed bites answered her. They watched

as more of the students were led out of the hall. Nick stood, watching Carol being led

away with the rest of the fire magicians in her new class.

“You can sit,” said Granny Bitter as she arrived at their table.

“I can stand,” said Nick. He looked for more of his friends. Where was Bradley, or

the others?

“It wasn’t a suggestion,” said the teacher.

“It wasn’t a command,” said Nick. He barely glanced at her. “When can we go

home?”

“I don’t know,” said the teacher. She glanced at the other children at the table. She

noted that only the twins seemed to not want to look her in the eye. “The Academy

was asked to train every talent that could be found in case an emergency state

happened. The other schools are doing the same thing.”

“I don’t think you can train us,” said Nick. “Our talents are untrainable, and have their

own rules. What are we even doing here?”

“Speak for yourself, buddy,” said Will. He lit a cigarette and puffed out the smoke.

“I can fit in with the other fire users well enough. I don’t even know why I got

shuffled to this table.”

“Smoking again?,” asked the teacher.

“I like to smoke,” said Will. “And you owe me the cigarette you took.”

“Really?,” said Granny Bitter.

“I think two pence is the rate of a cigarette,” said Will. “Nick’s right about one thing.

Their talents have different rules in action than a regular magician. How do you

expect to know more than they do about how their skills work?”

“We’ll know that starting tomorrow,” said the teacher. “I’m Agatha Quince. I will be

showing you some things in the morning.”

“You can show me the front door right now,” said Nick. “I can get home on my own.”

“I don’t think that is wise at the moment,” said Quince. “And I think you already

know this is for your own safety.”

“Ripping people from their homes won’t make them inclined to listen to you if they

are stubborn and stupid,” said Calliope. She stood. “Please show us to our rooms. We

can discuss all of this in the morning.”

“Don’t, Nick,” said Steve. “Tomorrow is a brand new day.”

Nick let the charge in his hand clear. He counted his reserve. He had enough to put

a few people down, and loot them for better variants, and maybe some other things.

He thought about the reset, and knew he would have to fight someone with just his

starter spell if he couldn’t make it home before he fell asleep.

The others stood. None of them looked as angry as he felt, but they didn’t look happy

either.

“Please lead on, Madam Quince,” said Calliope. She gestured with her hand. “None

of us will conk you on the head and make a break for the wall.”

“But don’t rule it out either,” said Will. He puffed calmly on his cigarette.

“I am sure you are all dangerous people,” said Quince, squinting at them.

“Not me,” said Steve. “I haven’t done anything dangerous ever.”

Quince led the way out of the hall. She seemed to float across the ground. The minor

use of magic pinged on Nick’s sphere. He saw similar pings in the direction of the

other groups.

He said nothing. He didn’t want her to know that he could sense magic in use. It

would be one more thing they would hound him over.

He did spot several magical shops on his map. He didn’t have the spirit money to use

them. If he had, he could buy variants to help get out of the school and started for

home.

He glanced at the others. They seemed to be taking in the school, not really enjoying

the tour, but looking for ways to do what they wanted to do.

If he left, he felt he would leave on his own. They had their own places. There was

no reason for them to go over the wall like he wanted to do.

Quince paused at a small building at the back of the keep. She waved her hand, and

a door opened for her. She stepped inside and lit a lantern on the wall.

“This is where you will be staying until we can move you into rooms with the regular

classes elsewhere,” said the teacher. She stepped aside so they could enter, and look

around.

Steve made a gesture and all the lanterns lit in the building. He looked around,

inspecting the main hall with his hangdog expression.

“Is there a kitchen, Madam Quince?,” he asked as he paused at a set of stairs leading

upwards. Lamps glowed, leaking light down the staircase to him.

“It is in the back of the building,” said the old lady. She clasped her hands together

in front of her.

“Are you staying?,” asked Steve. He walked toward the back of the place.

“I have rooms in the central tower,” said Madam Quince. “I can move in here if you

want.”

“That would be great,” called Steve from the back of the place. The expressions on

the rest suggested the opposite.

“They say you know the Warlord is not at the edge of the country,” said Crow. She

walked to a narrow window facing the rest of the Academy. “It’s just his followers

trying to unseal him.”

“They?,” asked Madam Quince.

“If you want to move in, we can’t stop you,” said Calliope. “I can’t promise some

of us won’t go for the wall either. We’ve been teaching ourselves for a long time. We

don’t need you as much as the regular students.”

“Are you sure about that?,” asked Quince.

“You have a fire magician that can’t ignite a fire, two brothers whose spells change

elements uncontrollably, a magician with one spell that he can use reliably, a

magician who can’t learn other spells unless he forgets one he already knows, and a

magician that specializes in runic structures,” said Calliope. “I don’t know what Crow

can do, but she seems to know what she can do better than we do. I just don’t see how

you can help us beyond the written part of things which I am sure we will have to

cram to learn until we are at the level your school wants. And I feel that at least half

of us would rather be at their real home on their own territory than here. I don’t think

your regular lesson plan will work in this situation. So we’re going to settle in for

at least tonight, talk to you in the morning, and decide what we want to do when

we are thinking straight and not emotionally involved in the decision process.”

“That’s a lot of words,” said Will.

“Shut up you,” said Calliope. “We have to find our rooms so we can settle in. Thank

you for bringing us over.”

“Madam Quince?,” said Steve, walking into the room. “You wouldn’t happen to

know where I can get some tea, would you?”