Chapter Twenty Eight
Deceptive Appearances

 

There was a crashing noise, and the monster stopped in its tracks. Something had hit it right in the forehead, giving them a horrible second to get a clear look at it. Like a gorilla with the head of a crocodile, dozens of eyes along its elongated face, its entire weight was on its massive forearms. It was currently shaking its head to shake off whatever had struck it, and the other one was still struggling to get back up on its many legs.

“I was having such a lovely day, too.” 

The words were barely audible over the rain and the monster’s rampaging approach, but it was crystal clear to him. Something about the gravelly voice cut through the din like a brick through cake. Jenna and Emily spun around to face Professor Vigours, looking extremely frustrated. He turned to them. 

“Go check on… uh…”

“Stillman,” his familiar helped. “Leah Stillman. You two okay?” The Great Dane made sure to make eye contact with him, and Emily tried to nod as best he could. “Good. Go make sure your friend is okay. We’ll hold them off.” He looked towards the two monsters. “Although if you can get the boys to try and deal with one you already wounded, that’d be great.” He looked up at the teacher. “Bad news, Samuel. The kids used a lot of the magic in this area already.”

Vigours slipped his hands in his pockets. “Think we should relocate?” The large hound seemed to consider that for a moment, then shook his head. 

“No,” he said. “They’d just rampage around town. Samuel, what are they doing here? They’ve never appeared this close to the school.”

“Don’t know,” Professor Vigours said, pulling his hands out of his pockets. He was wearing two sets of what Emily thought were rings for a moment. “Don’t care.” He turned to Jenna. “Go on!” He raised his hands. They weren’t rings, Emily realized. They were cast iron knuckle dusters. 

As if shaken out of a daze, Jenna and Emily ran over to Leah’s body. She was trying to pull herself up on the curb, but she was clearly struggling, and she wasn’t using her left arm. They hurried over just in time for Sarah to get there too. Behind them, he heard the sound of twisting metal and concrete being destroyed, and he wondered how long they’d have before police or something showed up. 

“Are you okay?” Jenna asked. Leah looked at her with confusion, like she’d just been woken up, then looked at her arm and shook her head. Jenna put an arm around her and helped her up. “Where’s your wand?” Sarah anxiously looked up at them both. 

“Don’t know,” Leah mumbled, then reached up to her mouth. “I think I lost a tooth.”

“You’re alive!” Sarah said. “That’s what matters!” 

“She’s right,” Emily said, “but she’s out of it, and those things are still here.” He tried to draw their attention to the creatures and turned around. What he saw took his breath away. Jacob held up a shield, protecting Dennis from the weakest of the two monsters, while Benjamin, still holding Simon, was essentially sprinting around it and firing off blasts of magic at it, keeping it distracted, and maybe even weakened. 

But that’s not what had drawn his eye. This was the first time they’d seen Professor Vigours fight using his focus and with his familiar present. It was hard to make out what was happening at first, he moved so quickly. Bouncing off the walls around the creature, he was almost a blur. The only reason he could even track him was because of the magic disturbance he left in his wake, although there was a brief yellow flash in the air whenever he launched himself somewhere else again. 

The monster stood no chance of hitting him, swinging its arms wildly and hitting nothing but rain. Every few leaps, Vigours would jump up under the creature’s defence and with the sound of a truck being dropped from a second story window, the creature’s head would snap back and Vigours would land not far away from them. 

“He’s destroying it,” Jenna mumbled in awe. Emily suddenly realized that, if Vigours had properly used his abilities while fighting them on the first day, they would’ve all been caught in seconds. When he’d mentioned not being a teacher, Emily hadn’t really understood what that had meant. But he also noticed something else. 

“No,” Emily said. “He’s not. And he’s slowing down.” Jenna looked at him nonplussed, and then back to the teacher, reverence slowly giving way to dread. The Professor’s hits were clearly hurting the monster, but it just kept coming. And magic around here was drying up. Emily looked at the boys. They were still keeping the other one at bay, if only barely. 

“We have to do something,” he said. “If we stay here, something’s going to go wrong, someone’s gonna make a mistake, and…” he left the rest unsaid. He could tell Jenna agreed. Sarah seemed hesitant to leave Leah’s side, her arm hanging limply by her side, but she gave a curt nod too. 

“Maybe if we can draw its attention, distract it long enough,” Jenna said, “the Professor can end this.” That was probably a good idea. They didn’t have a lot of time, but he had an idea. 

“Sarah,” Emily said, and ran over to her. “How fast can you throw things?” 

“Pretty fast,” she said, immediately picking up what he was putting down. “Very fast if I have help keeping things steady.” Okay, good. He quickly turned to Jenna. They didn’t have a lot of time to lose, and not a lot of magic to do what he planned with it. But they didn’t need to. 

“Jenna,” He told her mentally, trying to save every second he could, “try to pull debris this way. Bricks, that kind of thing.” Emily saw her jaw tighten, even in the rain, and then she raised her hand with the bracelet on it. He saw the water that had been running down the street start to flow towards them. It was going to get hectic for a second, but that was okay. Several bricks and rocks rolled their way in their direction, and he focused. “Ready?” Emily asked Sarah, who barked in confirmation. 

Carefully, he lifted one of the rocks as best he could over his head. He struggled with heavier things, but he could lift and hold still a brick, at the very least. From behind him, he saw the invisible tendrils of Sarah’s telekinesis wrap themselves around the brick, coil in on themselves for a second. 

She fired, extending the arm with incredible speed. Emily was so focused on the actual action, that he didn’t see where it landed, but he didn’t have to. “Yeah!!” he heard Jenna shout excitedly. He looked at the monster. It reeled and shook its head, then looked at them. Bull’s eye. It took a few steps this way, then seemed to decide against it, beginning to turn back to the Professor, who was dancing around behind it. 

“Another one!” Sarah shouted. Emily lifted another brick. Again Sarah’s telekinesis coiled. Again she fired. It hit the monster clean in the face, stone shrapnell exploding into its eyes. Emily even heard Leah whooping behind him, adrenalin dulling the pain. The monster bellowed and now advanced at them in earnest. “Uh oh,” he heard Sarah say next to him. He took a step closer to her. She made him feel safer, at least, although it didn’t mean much in the face of a creature like that. “Should we… run?” she asked, but then there was a sound. A deafening noise that they felt more than heard. 

The creature took another step towards them, snarled, and then toppled forwards. Before he could wonder if it was over, its body began to dissolve, like smoke. Vigours jumped down from its back and hurried over towards them, his familiar hot on his heels. 

“Good job, you lot,” he said. “That could’ve been ugly. We’re lucky the back of its head wasn’t nearly as tough.” He looked each and every one of them in the eyes. “Proud of you.” Then there was another roar, and they were reminded of the fact that the other creature was still up. Benjamin and Jacob had kept it busy, but they had to be on the last of their strength by now. “Let’s go save the boys, yeah?” Vigours said, and he broke into a run.

“Where does he get that energy?” Jenna asked, leaning on her knees. Clearly, constantly using magic was taking its toll on her. “He’s so old! How are we supposed to do it? They’re going to…” She shook her head. “I’m so tired.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Sarah said, looking at Jacob. He’d thrown up another shield, and the spirit was bouncing off of it. Benjamin had his arms wrapped around Dennis and Simon, shielding them from falling debris with his body. Even from this distance, he could see the puppy panicking.Sarah looked at Leah, and it was clear they were communicating. The Witch sat down against the wall, and Sarah jumped up. “Come on!” The white Fox ran after Vigours. “Jacob needs help, Jenna! Let’s go save your boyfriend!” 

“He’s not m— Hey!” Jenna ran after her. It was obvious what Sarah was doing to get her back in gear, but Emily didn’t mind. It kept Jenna from really taking her time to realize the danger they were actually in.

Vigours closed the distance faster than they could. Something about the way he used his magic. Instead of casting a specific kind of magic, he seemed to use it to turn himself into a weapon. Emily also noticed that it wasn’t using a lot of the magic in the area. Probably a good thing too, because the whole area was practically devoid of it now. It would take a while before anyone could recharge here. 

But there had to be enough, right? Emily saw a flash at Vigours’ feet that signalled he was about to launch himself, just as the spirit raised itself up on several of its long spindly legs to attack Benjamin and Jacob again. 

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Then there was a lack of sound. Like the deafening noise after a loud bell had rung, everything stopped for a second. The Spirit stopped moving. Then Vigours hit the ground with a thud, just a few feet from where he’d been. Jacob’s shield dropped. The only noise was the rain clattering on the street. 

“What happened?” Jenna asked. Vigours propped himself up on his elbows, looking equal parts confused and furious. 

“I don’t know,” his Familiar said, “but I don’t like it.” They all looked between each other. The spirit moved back, and regarded them with seeming curiosity, its grotesque face unreadable. It seemed more natural for it to be attacking them than… whatever this was. 

“What are you teaching those kids, Samuel?” a voice asked. “I figured, two of them would be enough to take you down, but here we are.” Someone stepped out from a doorway. It was a man, in his mid to late thirties, with slightly messy hair. Emily looked at him with suspicion. He looked impossibly calm, even while his suit was getting soaked through. Vigours stood up and rolled his shoulders. His Familiar stood frozen in place.

“If you did this—”

“Of course I did this, Vigours,” the man said as he walked up to the Professor. “You know, I would’ve expected a warmer welcome from you of all people.”

“You w— Wait, hold on,” Vigours said, “who are you?”

“What do you mean, ‘who are you?’ We went to Threewees together, you self-important bastard!”

“I’m sorry, you have one of those faces,” Vigours said. “You know. Real forgettable.”

“You know, I forgot just how insufferable you were,” the man said. “But my name doesn’t matter. You can call me Cunning. You know why I’m here.” He paced back and forth in the rain, clenching and unclenching his hands.

“I really don’t,” Vigours said with glacial calm. Emily could see him flex his hands, His knuckle dusters were covered in grime and what Emily really hoped wasn’t his blood. 

The man gave Vigours an incredibly fake smile and then struck him across the jaw. It wasn’t magic. It wasn’t even particularly fast. Just an open-handed slap. But for some reason, the sound bounced off the buildings. “The Heart, Vigours,” the man said. “Who has it? I don’t have all day.” 

“I have no idea what y—” Vigours started, but there was another smack. 

“You keep playing stupid, and I start killing the kids,” the man who called himself Cunning said, his voice suddenly a lot sharper. Vigours tensed up. “Yeah, that got your attention, didn’t it?” Vigours suddenly moved in a blur, and then immediately stopped. Emily hadn’t even been able to tell what had happened, but apparently, he’d lashed out with a right hook, but he’d been frozen just inches from the man’s face. Emily saw the invisible tendrils of magic keeping him in place, but she didn’t see where they were coming from. “Woah,” Cunning said, “almost got me! I’m going to ask you one more time, Vigours. The Heart. Now.” His hand seemed to be shaking as he reached into his breast pocket. Emily expected him to retrieve a wand, or a focus of some kind. 

There was something strangely funny about the fact that he pulled out a gun. “For heaven’s sake, they’re just kids,” Vigours said. 

“Yes,” the man said as he checked the chamber. “They are. I don’t want to hurt them. The Heart.” He raised the gun and pointed it at Jenna. “The girl first?” He moved his hand. “One of the boys? Or maybe the Familiars?” Emily felt his heart skip a beat as the barrel moved across him. “You know what, one of them is already injured, I’ll just put her out of her misery first.” He pointed it at Leah. 

“Don’t you dare!” Vigours snarled, but his shout was interrupted by the bark of the gun. A piece of brickwork near Leah’s head exploded. Vigours shuddered, but he seemed completely unable to move.

“Sorry, Vigours,” the man said. “Been a while since I used one of these. Let me try again.” Before Vigours could say anything, the man pulled the trigger. Emily could see it all happen in slow motion. He could see it. He could feel it. The bullet leaving the gun. And he realized he could… reach out. Everyone stared, except for Cummings. He was staring at the gun, like he couldn’t believe it had gone off. “V-Vigours,” Cunning said, “I didn’t know you taught them to catch bullets. I’m impressed.” His laugh sounded forced.

Emily’s forehead exploded in a rainbow of pain, and for a second he thought the man had shot him, until he realized it was ‘just’ a headache, flowering in the middle of his brain. Somehow, he’d been able to reach out and stop the bullet before it had hit Leah, but something about stopping that kind of force had taken its toll on him. 

“You know, I’m not going to ask again,” the man said. He raised the gun again. Emily noticed his finger wasn’t on the trigger yet. 

“Fine!” Vigours said. “The Headmasters have it. One part each.” He jutted his chin forward in defiance. “You’ll never get your hands on it.” Something about Cunnings changed. He’d been almost frantic before, but now that he’d gotten what he wanted, he relaxed. 

“Oh, don’t worry about that, Vigours,” the man said. “It’s a lot easier if you already have a part of it.”

“No,” the Professor said.

“Yes. Do you want to explain to the class what the Heart is, Vigours?” Cunning taunted him, walking back and forth, waving his arms around theatrically. “Or do you want me to?” He put his hands in his pockets, like a jovial teacher.

“Eat me, Cunning.”

“The Heart of Primaris,” the man said, “is not a physical object, like they teach you in school, kids!” he said, throwing his hands up dramatically. “It’s not an ancient artifact crafted by Primaris the Great!” He put the gun away. “But what, then, is it, you ask? How did he use it to create magic?” Cunning rolled his head and raised a hand. “The Heart of Primaris,” he said, “is a spell.”

Wait. Emily frowned. That didn’t make sense. How could it have been a spell if it had created magic? 

“Wrinkles your brain, doesn’t it?” the man continued. “Makes you wonder what else they aren’t telling you. And do you know what you can do when you have even a small part of the equation?” Cunning put his hand on Vigours’ chest, who struggled wildly, and cocked his head, and looked at him like someone might do with a butterfly they’ve pinned to a corkboard. Vigours struggled for a second, and then screamed. “I hear it hurts,” Cunning said. Vigours’ Familiar, Havelock, seemed to strain to move, but was completely incapable of doing so.

“Stop!” Emily said as he began to run forwards, but then something struck him in the side of his head, throwing him to the ground.

“Good try, kid,” Cunning said, “but I’m afraid you’re not going to do much here.” He grabbed Vigours by the collar. “Every bit of his reserves. His magical capacity, all of it… it’s mine.” Emily struggled to clear his head, to get back up, but the man’s words bounced around his head. If he could steal someone’s magical ability... “I’m sorry to say,” Cunning continued as he dropped Vigours at his feet, “the process is quite lethal. Now, for the rest of you kids…” He took a step forward, and then the pavement under him exploded. In mid air, Emily saw him frown, turn in on himself, and disappear. The Spirit roared, and was silenced with just one more blast. 

The Headmasters Mangrove and Lalonde had arrived, slowly descending from above. Too late, Emily realized as he looked into Vigours’ lifeless eyes staring up at the rain.