Page 66 of Two Who Live On

“What?” Jamie sprang forward, swatting the nurse’s hand from his face. The searing pain running down his jaw and nestling along the nerves of his neck paled in comparison to the fury he had for what Mrs. Whitehurst announced so casually. “You can’t disqualify me. Our team won, and I didn’t break any rules.”

“I assuredly must disagree. As the moderator in this event and your homeroom instructor, it’s well within my authority to pull you from the Spring Showcase.” Chanelle’s throat and chest tightened. Doubt crept into her surface thoughts, fighting to maintain an impartial tone in her words, yet she worried this outcome resulted because she’d stretched herself too thin this semester.

Jamie was far from a favorite student, but she went out of her way to avoid his wrathful tendencies because, frankly, she didn’t see an answer to change his attitude, his entitlement.

“Your actions, behavior, and disregard went well beyond the code of ethics you signed. During the showcase, it’s your responsibility to uphold integrity, and during that match, you proved you have none. I want to believe it’s there, buried somewhere underneath whatever that was today—unsportsmanlike conduct doesn’t even cover it. But after what you displayed today, I can’t allow you to partake in an event that compromises yourself, your peers, or this academy.”

“Get out!” Jamie’s face turned red. The nurse went to finish her healing, but he shouted, “I said get out! Everyone out!”

His rage fumed, creating a crimson aura that pulsed with a pitch-black center. Each thump of his heart radiated in his aura like a thunderstorm of blood only my magic could see. Well, Jennifer’s too, but thankfully my empathic student avoided the infirmary for all the turmoil it carried from injured classmates.

Chanelle walked past me, wordless, enthusiasm lost, and mind spinning on a dozen different things she’d have to check off before filing Jamie’s disqualification paperwork so she could prepare for the finals at the end of the week.

“Do you need any help?” I asked.

“With what?” Chanelle turned with a smile on her face but not in her heart.

“Spring Showcase stuff.”

“From you? No. I’ll be fine.” Chanelle walked away.

I sighed. The aftermath of the semi-finals was more exhausting than the event itself.

There was still one person I needed to check on. The person I’d actually come here to talk with.

I made my way to another private room where a nurse had finished. Tara’s cheeks were red. She had a prominent welt on her left cheek, bruising up her arms and legs, and most likely elsewhere. A large scrape covered her right knee. Sigils were drawn on, and ointments had been applied. Between the medicine and magic, Tara seemed relatively numb to the pain, though that might have been because she was often numb to the pain around her.

“I’m very proud of how you held yourself during the match.” I stared at the cast on Tara’s arm, regretting my hesitation.

“I lost.” Tara’s mind churned in a familiar motion when faced with failure and her part in it.

“But you didn’t give up. You didn’t back down. You held yourself with the same bravery as an industry witch would whenfaced against overwhelming odds.” I took the chair next to Tara’s bed. “And you did what no other student attempted during their match.”

“What’s that?”

“You resisted the dampening cuff.”

“It was only halfway on.”

“Which is enough for most witches. But your magic, for what it’s worth, refused to be contained.”

“Don’t remind me.” Tara frowned.

“Speaking of your magic. Can I ask you about the icicles?”

Tara blinked, unaware of their presence. There wasn’t an inkling of the casting in her surface thoughts, likely because she was fighting against the dampening cuff and Jamie’s cruel tactics and ended up lost in the heat of the moment.

“All I know is I tried using my telekinesis to push the water away.”

“Did you feel something primal? The only reason I’m asking is water to ice seems like elemental control within the primal branch.”

“Not sure.” Tara laughed, light, brief, but genuine.

“What’s so funny?”

“Just how I might have a fourth branch I never noticed because my control over the first three is so awful, I didn’t feel the tug of those magical tethers.”

“It could be new. Some branches blossom later in life while most branches develop at or before the start of adolescence; it’s possible for some not to reveal themselves until the late teens, even early twenties.”

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