Chapter Thirty One
Boot Camp

 

It was very strange, going back to class. Miss Falls was absent a lot, and when she was there, her happy and pleasant demeanour felt forced. Mister Van Zant was too preoccupied to be bothersome, and most of their homework was light and easy to do. More importantly, without Vigours there to teach applied combative magic anymore, Emily wasn’t sure who was going to teach it. There had been no notice about any cancellation, so on Friday she made her way to the clearing next to the school. 

It was a special Friday, though she hadn’t been keen on telling anyone why.

“Do you know who’s taking over from… Vigours?” Jacob asked Jenna, carrying an excited Dennis under his arm. Jenna shook her head as she put her hair up. Because of how intense these sessions used to be, she was wearing sweatpants and a hoodie, and Emily had been happy to curl up in the hood. 

“I hear it’s going to be Lady Lalonde,” Leah said as she joined them. Sarah trotted next to her, followed closely by Simon and Benjamin. “She hasn’t been teaching in forever. Before we were born, at least.”

Emily poked her head out of the hood and briefly made eye contact with Sarah, and the two exchanged a little nod. She still wasn’t sure if this new distance was because of her coming out, but she was glad Sarah acknowledged her at least. She looked over at Benjamin, but she only saw Simon’s fluffy tail sticking out of Benjamin’s jacket pocket. “I thought she was like, in her thirties at best?” 

Leah shook her head. “Nah. She’s pushing seventy or eighty at least,” she said. Emily frowned. The Headmistress looked as young and spry as anyone, her dignified behaviour easily explained by an upper-class upbringing. 

“Guess we don’t really know much about the headmasters, huh?” Jacob said. 

“Yup,” Leah said. “I just don’t understand why I have to be here. I’ve done all the classes already, and Sarah’s been working double time to catch up.” Sarah’s fur seemed to be a little shinier after the compliment, and her head was held high. Emily smiled. 

“Because, Miss Stillman, these classes will be a little different after recent events,” Ellen Lalonde said from behind her. She was flanked by an older woman, although at this point, Emily was hesitant to make assumptions about peoples’ ages. Leah clasped her mouth closed with the expression of a kid who was caught badmouthing their mom. “Gather ‘round, please.” Lady Ellen walked onto the clearing, followed by students of various classes. 

“Probably an announcement?” Jacob offered. The other students gathered around her in a big ring, the other woman still standing behind her.. Other than lunch, Emily never saw this many students all in one place, but it was the other woman who drew her attention. She was the opposite of Lady Lalonde. Where the Headmistress held herself with dignified poise, the woman slouched. Where Lady Lalonde had a lithe frame and immaculate bone structure, the other woman looked like she ran — and participated in — an underground fighting ring. And where Lady Ellen wore the most beautiful suits and dresses, the other woman was wearing a suit jacket with the sleeves rolled up, her hands in her pockets, reminding Emily slightly of Vigours. It looked like Lady Ellen had brought in an outsider to teach the class. 

As it turned out, Jacob was right. “As we explained briefly during Monday’s assembly,” the Headmistress said. “Mister Vigours passed away last weekend. I won’t lie to you. He was attacked by spirits, but he was killed by a person.” There was a wave of gasps going through the assembly. 

Some of the younger kids like Dennis cried, while others who weren’t really aware of the gravity of the situation ‘ooh’ed and ‘aah’ed. While Emily understood that their grasp on the idea of death was tenuous — technically every familiar here was ‘dead’ — it was still very crude. 

“That said,” the Headmistress continued once things died down, “You will all be taking more defence-classes from now on. While we know what the assailant wants, we don’t know what they’re willing to do to get it. So you will learn how to help yourself, and your fellow students.” She briefly looked over at Emily’s group and nodded, and was about to continue when one student raised her hand. 

“Can we just give them what they want?” Sylvie Simms said a little dryly. Her Owl Familiar — Erinna, Emily remembered — hooted in agreement. “I mean, even if you want to take it back later, that would keep the school safe, right?”

Lady Lalonde chewed on that for a moment, and then shook her head. “I’m afraid it’s not that simple. What they want is… dangerous. Something that, if it fell into the wrong hands, could hurt every one of you.” She started pacing left and right. “When this school was founded, its principles were very simple. We use magic to defend the world from the shadows that slip through. Now that shadow is a person. Our mission statement hasn’t changed.” Her hands behind her back, her gaze drifted across the faces looking up at her. “I want to say that you won’t be fighting for your lives, or that you don’t have to. But like I said at the start, I won’t lie to you. If the fight comes to this school, you will be expected to help each other. Protect each other.”

Emily mewled softly. She didn’t want a repeat of the fight in the street, but she got the distinct feeling something like that was coming again. And she wasn’t the only one. Simon had stuck his face out of the pocket again, and Benjamin was ruffling the hair on his little head. By his breathing, Emily could tell he was stressing out too, and so were many others. 

“So for today, I’ll be teaching you how to shield yourself, and others. In order to do that, I’ve brought in my old friend. Yaz, if you’ll be so kind?” The other woman stepped forward and cricked her neck, then her wrists and knuckles. Promptly after that, she turned into a tiger. Not, like, a large cat. A full-on tiger, easily ten feet long. She looked at the students and growled softly. Some of the smaller familiars hid in the Warlocks’ clothes. Emily noticed a slight smile play on the Headmistress’ lips. 

As it turned out, ‘Yaz’ was Ellen Lalonde’s Familiar, although by the way they acted around each other, they hadn’t been that close for a while. After that class went on sort of normally, the Headmistress explaining and demonstrating shielding to the Wizards, Warlocks and Witches, while Yaz explained to the gathered Familiars how to use their telekinesis to redirect incoming objects. 

As they practised, Emily and Jenna stayed in contact over their link. It was easier for both of them to do magic when they were connected like this. “How are you holding up?” Jenna asked her. 

“I’m okay,” Emily said. “No headaches so far. You?”

“Pretty good!” Jenna replied happily. “Ellen is getting Jacob to demonstrate his shield because he did such a good job last week!” Even over their mental link, Emily heard her sigh wistfully. She looked over. It was like she said. Jacob was conjuring up a fairly large shield, its kaleidoscopic rainbow reflecting in the dim daylight. “He’s doing a fantastic job.”

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“He is,” Emily said, happy, to hear Jenna excited like that. 

“Focus,” Yaz said as she stopped right behind Emily, who felt her tail poof up like… well, like a cat. “Hold on, you’re the Rosewood girl, right?” Emily turned her head and nodded. It was incredibly nice to hear someone refer to her as ‘the girl’, even with the kind of growly, dismissive tone Yaz used. “Heard about you,” Yaz said. “Hear you stopped a bullet.”

“I-I did,” Emily said, thinking back on it. It had been a reflex more than anything, but she’d still done it. “I got lucky.” She lowered her head. 

“You did,” Yaz said. “Could’ve popped your head off like a cork like that.”

“I -- What?” Emily immediately perked back up and turned around, coming face to face with the Tiger. The Familiar towered over her. She barely came up to its knees. Elbows?

“Strain like that? Your body’s not meant to take it, girl. Still, you’re still here, head and all, so you’re sturdier than you look.” Yaz leaned in close. Her face was larger than Emily’s entire body. “You’ll do well, kiddo,” she said. “Keep it up. And keep pushing yourself. You’ve got a head start, but if you let it get to your head… well…” Yaz straightened up. “Pop.”

“Pop,” Emily mumbled back with a sigh and turned back to her exercises. Rather than put students opposite each other — that would come later — Yaz had instructed them to throw small objects, like rocks and sticks, straight up, and catch them on the way. While they were doing that, she occasionally threw out bits of wisdom like “Try not to get killed” and “Always pee before a fight.” That one got Simon giggling, the ferret bouncing in amusement until Yaz tipped him over with the gentlest nudge of her paw, much to the delight of the rest of the class.

Near the end of class, she had all the Familiars gather in a big circle. Over on the other side of the clearing, Lady Lalonde was doing the same with the assembled Warlocks. “I want all of you to practice over the weekend. It’s about focus and finesse. You’re not weightlifting, you’re lockpicking, y’hear?” The Tiger stood up and suddenly she was a human again. “The other thing I want you to do is to get close to your Witch and Wizard,” she added. “There’s going to be a moment when it’s better to be a person than a Familiar, and the stronger your bond, the easier it’ll be for you to turn back. I know Ellen mentioned this already, but changing back and forth can heal you, as long as you don’t do it too fast. So practice. Communicate. No secrets. Trust.” She looked over at the Headmistress with a face so devoid of emotions, Emily could only speculate as to how many there were below the surface. “Alright, class dismissed,” she said with the nod of her head. “Head over to the others.”

Emily began trotting back and saw Simon and Sarah head over too. She clenched her jaw, hoping the conversation coming up wasn’t going to be as painful as the silence she’d had to endure these past few days. “Hey,” Sarah said as she flanked Emily. 

“Hey yourself,” Emily returned meekly, and then squeaked when Simon nipped at her flank on the other side. 

“Hey you,” Simon said. Emily felt trapped, and she didn’t know why. Why were they so mad at her? So secretive? Had they decided they didn’t want to be around her now that she’d come out to them? But they’d been okay with Jenna, so—

“Happy Birthday,” Sarah said, echoed by Simon. 

“What?!” Emily exclaimed. “What -- Who -- What -- Who told you!?”

“Charlie did. When we were back at the Familiar House,” Simon said. “Were you going to try to keep it a secret?”

“I… What if I was? It’s not like you two have been talking to me all week anyway!”

“You’re right,” Sarah said. “And I’m sorry. Simon and I had some thinking and talking to do, and we’ll… talk about it. Soon. I’m sorry for leaving you in the dark.”

“I am too,” Simon said. “I promise you… you didn’t do anything wrong. Promise.”

“M-hm,” Sarah said. “And I get it if you’re mad at us. And I wish I could say I’d make it up to you, but we’re actually going to make it worse.”

“What?? How?!” 

“Because we might have heard some things,” Jenna said over their link as she stepped into view with a smug-looking Benjamin and Jacob by her side. She switched over to speaking out loud. “And since it’s now the weekend, we think it’s time for you to have your first ever birthday party.”