Chapter 7: Chapter Seven—Yellow Eyes

The trip to town was what I expected it to be, exhausting. 

Danelle would not stop talking; it was annoying. She was constantly in between May and me. Covic did his best to keep her relaxed, but this woman couldn’t sit still; she hopped around like a rabbit with no purpose. I liked Covic, but Danelle would take some time to grow on me. Dealing with hyperactive people wasn’t a pastime for me—So I thought. 

The city was beautiful, and the view from the school windows was awe-inspiring, but beholding it from the ground was different altogether. The buildings climbed so high at times that clouds ran into the tops. Steam plumed out of the building vents, giving them an industrial appearance. The glass and bronze surfaces reflected the light as the red sunset in the distance. Cars raced down the streets, and I saw my first truck hauling a trailer. It appeared horses and carriages were completely phased out in the inner city. 

Luckily, it was easy to mute Danelle talking as I got lost in astonishment at the copper megalopolis. I was definitely glad I got to see this in my lifetime. Living on the island would have robbed me of this experience, but at the same time, I missed my dysfunctional mother and my cat; however, I wasn’t worried about him. There were many elders on the island that loved him. So, if my parents lost interest in taking care of the cat, I was sure someone would step up to help.

“So, Cyrus, has anyone caught your attention?” Danelle asked, grabbing my arm. Which made me feel highly uncomfortable. This woman was touchy like May has been these last eight months; however, I didn’t want her attention.

I coughed nervously, trying to push away gently without insulting her. “I’ve been locked in a room for months, so no,” I answered, glancing over at May for help. She, however, was amused by my discomfort.

Covic tore her away from my arm, walking next to me as she pouted before defaulting to clinging onto May in the back. I am glad he was the older brother type because I could only take so much of Danelle before saying something rude.

“My sister likes male attention, and if you’re uninterested, oh man,” Covic laughed. “Cyrus, how do you like the city?” He gestured towards the buildings. Covic had a relatively small frame, making him appear taller. His clothes no doubt needed to be specially tailored for length.   

“We certainly had nothing like this on my island.” I gestured towards the tall building. “Honestly, I would have called you insane years ago if you asked if this was possible.”

“You’re taking it well, though.”

“I am adaptive.”

Covic paused before chuckling. “Clearly.” he glimpsed back at Danelle hanging onto May's shoulder, who wore a deadpan expression. May’s face was typically animated, and when it fell blank, she was typically annoyed. "Danelle makes people her friend," Covic sighed. "and May's patience is unyielding."

"Trust me. It has its limits."

Covic looked toward me as we climbed the hilly incline of the city, and I felt my strength waning. "Really? She seems always collected."

"She falters in other aspects of toleration," I said as May came up next to me, and Danelle bounced over to Covic for entertainment. My pace had started to slow, and everyone adjusted for me. It was embarrassing, but no one seemed irritated. It wasn't my fault they made this city on the side of a mountain. This island was by no means flat, like at home. They needed steam vehicles here. Horses would die from exhaustion quickly.

"You okay?" May asked, brushing her fingers against mine.

I nodded. "Yeah, you know, I'm just not used to physical exercise yet… being pent up in that room for those couple of months took a toll, I guess."

May looked at me, worried. "If you need a break, just ask."

"Noted."

"We have a gym at the academy, six actually," Covic said, and Danelle jumped in front of him, taking the lead as she walked backwards. 

"Or you could come with me to the park to jog. Being cooped up in that building all day is not good for you," Danelle said doe-eyed.

"sure, I could probably—"

"Cyrus needs to rest, Danny. Do not push him," May said sternly.

I didn't understand why she responded for me. While spending time with Danelle seemed unpleasant, I wanted May's friends to like me, but clearly, that is not what she wished.

"Okay..." Danelle said, facing forward. I wasn't sure if she was annoyed or confused. The two emotions played strongly on her face at the same time.

We crossed another street, coming to a cafe of sorts which Danelle practically pushed us towards. Covic opened the glass door, gesturing us in. As we entered, my face was hit with a wall of cold air, which was welcoming. While I did not miss the snow, the air here felt like it drew the moisture out of your mouth at every breath.

Covic lead the way to a red-cushion booth and slides over to the wall, giving Danelle the outside. May and I awkwardly bumped into each other, and I motioned towards the seat before she quickly smiled, taking the inside. I sat down with Danelle, who was staring at me intently. I glimpsed down at her red tie loosened and white undershirt that was unseemly buttoned. 

The waiter put down a menu, and I picked it up, blocking Danelle's concentrated stare and unnecessary cleavage. Everything was foreign on here except for the meat sandwiches they called burgers. Edwin had them brought to my room regularly. He said he usually finds them unhealthy, but I needed to gain some weight, which wasn't a lie. Nothing piqued my interest resulting in me defaulting to everyone else’s choice of a burger.

“So… I am unsure if you know this Cyrus, but you’re already well known regionwide,” Covic said, handing his menu to the waiter. “You’re the student with the unknown element. That’s big news, considering it was widely accepted that all of them were discovered.”

“Yeah! That’s big news considering The Divinity was found too,” Danelle said enthusiastically. 

May kept close to my arm but didn’t touch. She was acting distant, and I wasn’t sure if it was because of these two.

“So the Demon Lord still hasn’t been found?”

Covic shook his head. “No, all the nations are still unsure where they’re at, but they are living among us in some country.”

“Do you think they’re hot?” Danelle asked, and I saw May give an eye roll. Even May had her limit for Danelle’s nonsense.

Covic just stared at her for a moment. “You do know they’re born to kill us all? This isn’t one of your edgy romance novels.”

Danelle pouted, as Covic shook his head at her in disapproval. Finally, the food came, and the hamburger was much better than what Edwin brought me. He’d fed me greasy foods for the past four months, throwing vitamins on them to make them seem better. This burger on the other hand, had tomatoes and other vegetables mixed in, bringing out the flavour of the meat more and tasting less like cardboard. I finished before everyone, which was a little embarrassing, but it appeared no one noticed I vacuumed my plate down in two seconds; hunger was a familiar feeling that I could never satiate.

May scooted the white milkshake glass towards me. “Try it,” she insisted, and I did. It tasted amazing; I had never tasted something even remotely this good in my life. Sweets were my addiction. Edwin would occasionally give me bags of candy that I would finish in hours. How I was not overweight was truly a miracle.

"I need to pee. Come with me, Covic," Danelle announced, jumping up, making her way to the restroom with her red and black plaid skirt swishing. 

Covic let out a loud sigh. "Just say you need to use the restroom, sister. Detail is not needed," he lectured, joining her toward the restrooms around the corner.  

I noticed after a few minutes that May had some ketchup from the burger on her face, and I put my finger to her cheek, swiping it away. She clutched my hand, putting my finger in her mouth, not breaking eye contact as she slowly licked ketchup off with her tongue. I didn't know how to react to this, so I awkwardly froze.

Danelle coughed with a raised eyebrow as they returned to the table and I pulled my hand from May’s mouth so abruptly that I knocked a cup off the table, dropping water all over the floor. The waiter ran over, cleaning up as May looked horrified.

After I nervously helped the server clean my mess up, I paid for everyone’s tab with Edwin’s card. Danelle stared at us the whole time as we left the cafe. I would not be the person to bring it up. Pretending it never happened was fine with me, but I was naïve if I thought they would sweep it under the rug.

“So, I’ll see you guys tom—” Covic said, being the friend I knew he was, but Danelle had to interrupt.

“Okay, so what the hell was that about? You said he was like a brother to you,” Danelle said, and May froze. “That was far from sisterly… well, I did read a novel—”

“Danelle, shut up, stop comparing your trashy novels to real life,” Covic complained, grabbing her collar, pulling her away waving goodbye.

"They were step-siblings. Calm down, Covic," Danelle whined to him. "You're such a prude, and my novels are not trashy." 

May and I weakly waved goodbye to them. Danelle protested as they travelled toward the school.

May put her hands to her face. “I just can’t keep it in my pants,” she said, throwing her hands up before making her way towards the academy as well.

I paused; I wasn’t sure what that phrase meant. The Archon Domain idioms were a little different from what my father had taught me… should I catch up or let it be for a while? Making life harder was a challenge I accepted long ago, so I rushed up next to May, walking with her in silence. May still looked incredibly embarrassed. I put my arm around her shoulder, pulling her towards me.

She didn’t react, which made me self-conscious. “Are you going to talk to me?”

“What would you like to talk about?” May asked indifferently.

I stopped, letting go of her shoulder, and she turned back to me, confused. “May we need to talk like now?”

“What about, my love?”

“Love… that word. It needs to be talked about,” I said, not knowing where I was going with this, but Edwin was right; it needed to be discussed. “You want to… why is this so hard?” I said, rubbing the back of my neck nervously, glancing off at the sunset. “You want to sleep with me, right?”

May’s face turned slightly red. “Why would you ask that, Cyrus?”

“Am I wrong?”

May gave me a deadpan expression, getting her emotions under control. “I think I’ve made it clear, and you say it as if that is the only thing I want from you.”

“I know it’s not the only thing, but it’s an issue that needs to be addressed because… I can’t.”

May’s face became flushed with dread, and paused. “I knew… I knew you would say this, but—I didn’t think it would hurt this much.”

“Not right now, at least. This doesn’t mean I feel nothing for you; it’s just… I don’t know what I am feeling,” I said, as guilt overwhelmed me for even starting this conversation.

May put her forehead to my chest. “I am so sorry, Cyrus. I’ve been a horrible friend for pressuring you.”

“You understand I care about you,” I said as I felt her tears dampen my shirt. “I am obsessed with you. And to be honest, it hurts that I can’t give you what you want—if you find someone else, I understand. You will not hurt me.”

Lies.

“We should’ve had this talk a while ago,” May said meekly.

Her voice sounded so defeated that it made me feel horrible. We stood there, hugging, as the crowded sidewalk moved around us. The sun had set before we returned to school, and we walked in silence most of the way, letting only the sound of the cars speeding by and the footsteps striking the cement fill the space between us. 

Leading the way, May stopped on the stairs of the academy, staring up at the spiralling structure. "Obsessed. Is that true?" she asked, turning back.  

I glanced up at the building. "The academy kind of looks like someone pinched the top and bottom before twisting it."

"Cyrus," May sighed before giving me an endearing smile. 

I kept my eyes focused on the glass surface. "I think about you a lot, so I felt the word expressed my feelings." 

"Is there another way to say it?" May asked.

The prolonged silence caused her to continue without a response, and I sheepishly followed. I knew what she wanted me to say… but I couldn’t muster the courage for it yet. As we came to her dorm room, I stopped at the door and she looked back after unlocking it. 

“Goodnight,” May said before staring at the door blankly like she wanted to say something more.

I reached out and grabbed her hand, “I love you, May, Goodnight.”

May turned back slightly at the tug, processing my words and physical touch for a moment, “I love you, too.” She replied.

Something about her saying it back lifted such a weight off my chest that it was hard not to show relief. “Things are on pause. I didn’t turn you down, you know this, right?”

May turned around, cupping my cheeks. “I understand you love me, and that is all I need to understand.”

She dropped her hands and walked into her room, closing the door as I stood, staring at the finished wood. After a few minutes, I left and made my way back to my quarters. May was trying to act fine, but she wasn’t. She took what I said as a rejection. I knew this abysmal experience would torture me for the next few nights—my mental health had been too stable for too long.

***

I woke up, turning my head on the pillow to a woman in a maid’s outfit cleaning my room. She purposely ignored me as I sat up in my bed, coughing a few times to get her attention. Cleaning was clearly the top priority, and she was doing it with aggression.

“I see you. I just don’t care,” she said, flipping my couch cushions up and cleaning underneath.

I sat there for a moment, a little shocked at why she would be so rude when she was in my room. I usually enjoyed being bossed around by the opposite sex, but this annoyed me.

“I am pretty sure I put the do not disturb thing on the door handle.”

The woman’s head shot up from behind the couch. Her yellow cat-coloured eyes stared at me intensely. I had never seen golden eyes before and I was pretty sure they weren’t a naturally occurring colour in humans. “You sit in this room for days when school is not in progress. If someone comes in and sees this filth, I get in trouble, not you. I don’t care how important you are or if you’re a prince from a far land. I don’t enjoy being blamed for things out of my control.”

I sat, staring at this woman’s face for a moment. “Oh, okay…” I mumbled, not sure I could really argue with what she said even if I wanted to. She went back to cleaning and my hormonal eyes dropped to her breast. I couldn’t avoid these things.

The maid caught me before I’m able to pull my wandering eyes in. “Can you not?” she irritably asked, putting her arm over her chest. 

My logical brain cringed at my primitive side regularly. Honestly, this type of stuff got me into this… situationship with May. If I could just turn this useless part of my brain off, I would. Unfortunately, it had only made my life more difficult and only motivated terrible decisions. It didn’t help that the maid’s outfit showed cleavage for some reason, and she was far from flat-chested. I wasn’t a prude; I simply found it unnecessary. This, however, didn’t excuse my gawking, and I was going to take this awkward blunder and cringe about it for a while.

“Am sorry. Puberty, it’s an annoying thing. Can’t wait for it to be over,” I said, owning up to my perversion. I would not pretend it didn’t happen when I was plainly caught. However, the phrasing could have been better, but whatever.

“I am not that type of maid. Go ask the other girls,” she huffed, returning to cleaning off the coffee table littered with glass bottles.

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My hands shot up defensively. “I was… I would never,” I said, getting flustered at her accusation. “I would not ask—” I stopped talking and grabbed my shirt, making my way to the bathroom. I took a shower, praying she would be gone by the time I came out—she was not.

As I left the bathroom, she was making my bed, and her maid hat fell on the mattress. She had… cat ears. One was white, and the other was black, which matched her two-toned hair colour. She looked back at me with a face of dread. I was way too excited by this turn of events, and I hoped my face didn’t convey something other than curiosity.

“Yes, I am a Nekoami,” she announced, quickly putting her white hat back on.

I blinked a few times. “Wait, cat-humans are real? What…? We can breed with Nekoami…”

“I think I am done here,” she responded, walking towards the door, but I slid in front of it before she could exit.

“Do you have a tail?”

“Tail? Did you really just ask that?”

“I did.”

“That’s rude.”

According to my textbooks that mentioned Nekoami, they drifted around and didn't really have communities. From how the literature articulated, They were more cat-like than humanoid, but she appeared very human. This made me wonder what the bipedal dragons, called Kairyu, looked like.

She was short, and I towered over her. If I had to guess, she was right at five feet or a little under, which gave me a perfect view of her cleavage… that I shamefully took advantage of and my hormonal mind struggled not to make it obvious. 

I stepped out of the way. “I’m sorry, I’ve been extremely offensive to you, and I hope you can forgive this morning’s events. There is no excuse for how I’ve acted. Unfortunately, I am not from this land, and my curiosity got the better of me.”

She let out a long exasperated sigh, “I do have a tail, but humans are very racist to subspecies, so we Nekoami’s tend to hide our animal features or remove them,” she said, gazing at me with a little more understanding. She looked like she was scowling at me the whole time before, so this was a welcoming expression.

“What’s your name?”

She tilted her head at me in curiosity. “Chloe,” she replied.

“I am sorry people have mistreated you, Chloe. I didn’t mean to appear offensive or to demean you or your species. Being from the Outlands, I understand being judged, and it is not a good feeling. I am sure it’s worse for you.”

“So, what are you? Outland Royalty?”

I laughed; Outland Royalty, that was a funny idea. “No, I am just some average teenager that got kidnapped off an island to fight in a war that has nothing to do with me.”

“Oh,” she said, analysing the room. She didn’t believe me. Why would a native boy have a room of this quality, or maybe that was more than enough of a reason?

 

“I have this room simply because I have a new element. I am Cyrus, and if you are ever worried, you will get in trouble for not cleaning my room. Let me know, and I will let you in,” I smiled. Her skin was tan like mine, but just a few shades lighter. I wasn’t sure if that was from sun exposure or natural tone. She had freckles running across her nose and cheeks like May, which I found adorable. However, Chloe’s freckles were more apparent.

“Okay, Cyrus,” she said, putting her hand out. I took it, shaking gently. “I misjudged you. I apologise,” she said with a smile.

I returned her smile, walked her to the door, and closed it behind her. “I am glad that’s over.” 

Class started soon, so I dressed in my version of the school uniform, which no teacher had complained about yet. Edwin must have told them to allow me to do what I wanted. It probably appeared rebellious, but I would’ve defaulted back to the original clothing if I had gotten yelled at enough.

I grabbed my textbooks and stuffed them into my satchel, which already weighed a ton. Admittedly, I could probably leave a few of the novels I was reading in my room to lighten the load. But I could never decide what I wanted to read before leaving, so I brought them all.

The halls were crowded like usual. This school packed way too many students into one building. Sure, this building was probably the tallest in the city, but keeping small classes required more resources, and with a war going on, they needed to pump out as many high-level magica users as possible. The only solution was to overwhelm the auditoriums with students. The one thing that kept The Empire in power was the Archon Domain’s military power. Packing like this worried me.

I stepped into the elevator and saw the little Rachel girl. She looked up at me, tilting her head. “Interesting.”

“Roof?” I asked, and she nodded as the elevator began going up. “You’re late.”

“So are you,” she responded, as this trip to the top of the building took a millennium. Rachel was staring at me intensely, not caring that I was clearly uncomfortable. I kept my eyes forward at the elevator’s number panel.

Rachel turned to me. “Who are you?” she asked, not breaking her glare.

I sighed. “I’ve been asked that question today already.” As the elevator stopped and the door opened to a crowd of students on the rooftop, I said, “I am just some average teenager that got kidnapped off my island to fight in a war that has nothing to do with me.”

Jolene was waiting with her arms crossed, tapping her shoes in a grey suit. “You’re late,” she scolded and Everyone looked back at Rachel and me.

“My attendance is not needed,”—she glanced up at me—“He, however, needs this class.”

“What… I don’t need this class,” I snapped back at her.

Rachel let off a huff. “Prove it then.”

A student busted out laughing, stepping out from the crowd. “He is a native. He most definitely needs this lesson. I can’t believe they let you in.”

Jolene’s face turned slowly in his direction with an irritated glare. “Shut up, Phoenix,” she growled.

Phoenix grinned before walking toward me. “So do you still make fire with sticks out there?” he mocked as he approached, bumping into me as my nose touched his chest. I kept my eyes forward. Under no circumstance was I going to engage in this bullying. “Last I heard, you all ran around like naked monkeys—”

“I am going to assume being way up there typically clouds your vision. Let me give you the prognosis from down here. There’s a hundred per cent chance of me kicking your ass, so I suggest you back the fuck off,” I said, emphasising the last three words as I glared, into his copper-coloured eyes. A strand of dark red hair fell forward, blocking part of his face as a grin emerged.

Rachel came over, trying to push us apart. “Stop it, you Idiots,” she said as Phoenix threw his hand out, knocking her back a few feet as her head bounced off the roof-tiled cement floor. She aggressively  sprung to a sitting position as her left hand began to illuminate—and I did what I said I wouldn’t.

I put my hand out, unleashing an explosion of black fire from my palm toward him. He barely blocked it with an opposing orange blast, and the two different coloured flames slammed against each other violently. I put my other hand up as the dark wave surged forward, overpowering him and his feet slid back towards the building’s edge. Everyone had gotten away by now, gawking at me like a freak. I knew this black fire wasn’t normal.

A gust of wind shot past me, and I felt hands on my shoulders as Jolene’s lips met my ear. “Stop fucking around!” she yelled as I cut the flame and Phoenix stood with his fingertips burnt. He looked overwhelmed—and it brought me joy—I would not be bullied here. Not now or ever.

Phoenix gave the biggest grin. “Name.”

“Cyrus Reed,” I said unenthused, as water dripped from my fingertips. Whenever I used the fire, it caused ice to build upon my hand to the point I worried about frostbite—this made little sense, considering the flame coming out was definitely warm. 

“Go get your fingers fixed,” Jolene said, rolling her eyes at Phoenix. “I wish the Prince would go play Hero in his own castle,” she said as he strolled by.

Phoenix stopped, glancing back at her. “Watch your mouth, cunt. I play the hero where I damn well please,” he said, walking towards the elevator, Phoenix unbuttoned his school jacket as he stared at me intensely from inside before the metal doors closed.

May came to me from the crowd as I stared at the closed copper elevator doors. “Cyrus, you didn’t tell me you had that much control over your magica.”

“He’s going to be a problem,” I mumbled before walking over to the little girl, putting my hand out, completely ignoring May’s comment. “There, I did what you wanted to do. The Divinity can’t be killing a Prince by accident.”

“You knew that was the Prince and still attacked him,” Rachel said, grabbing my hand as I pulled her up. “Also, I never would kill him, perhaps hurt him.”

“No, I applied context clues. I just wanted to burn that smile off his face, and yes you would have killed him. I saw your hand glow and the aggression in your face before I stepped in. You wanted violence.”

Jolene slid in front of me before reaching up, grabbing my silver necklaces, and jerking my head down in a swift motion, making eye contact. “Stop getting cocky. It’s weird.”

“How is it weird?”

“Because you were weird and quiet before.” She said, giving me a disgusted face. I hope it was not for my past self—I was not that cringey.

She released her grasp, and I stood up straight. “Are you going to yell at me or something?”

“Should I?” Jolene asked without an expression. She truly had perfected the deadpan look, or it was a lack of interest.

“Are you not the teacher?” I asked, squinting my eyes at her.

She glanced over at the crowd of students before coming back to my eyes. “Yes. Bad Cyrus. Be better,” she scowled, leaving the conversation as students chuckled at her weak discipline.

I strolled over to May. “It never came up, and I had only burned papers in my room before.”

May just stared at me for a moment. “You’re a little late on that response.”

“There’s a line to my thought process, and you were queued for a response later. I needed to finish what I was doing first.”

May gave a worried smile. “You’re so weird.”

“Ouch,” I replied, sauntering my way to the wall next to the elevator. I leaned against the cement surface, staring at the group that was returning its attention to Jolene. May mouthed, “I love you,” before joining them. I did not return any gesture as Rachel was staring at me intensely.

I didn’t need this class, and now I was about to hear Edwin yell at me for not telling him I had that much control. Honestly, all I did in my room was light a few papers on fire with the strange coloured flame. The fact I could unleash that wave of fire was actually purely coincidental. However, it was good that expectations were met because if the roles had been reversed, I would have looked like a moron or died.

It didn’t take long for May to sit next to me, clearly upset. “How useless is a healer that can’t heal anything but herself?” She had failed to produce any offensive magica for the last two hours. She could heal her wounds, but that was it. May couldn’t transfer it, destroying any hopes of being at least a doctor or nurse. Not that it was required, but it made the job easier. Jolene had told her she could leave class. While I don’t think Jolene meant it to come off like May was a failure, but she did.

“You healed me,” I replied, glancing slightly at her, watching all the students test their magica on the roof. I was wondering when classes of this type would begin and where. The top was plenty large enough; you could definitely fit quite a few track fields up here. Huge chain fences lined the edges to stop any accidents. Multiple classes certainly could go on here.

May sighed. “Right. How, though?” she asked, looking down at my hand that was shaking. She grabbed it, flipping it over. “When did you do this?” May asked. 

My palm had become frostbitten from the flame, and it was purple and black now, leaking a clear fluid; a bit disgusting, to be honest. I had to figure out how to stop this.

“Heal yourself,” I said. She looked at me, confused. “Just do it.”

May listened as I felt her hand get warm, and her eyes started dimly glowing a blueish-white. The wound on my hand became luminescent as it closed. The skin returned to its natural colour while May’s eyes opened wide. She looked down at my hand in shock. I lifted my other hand up, waving it at her.

“I don’t understand,” May replied, feeling my smooth palm.

“I can absorb people’s magica and use it for a short period,” I said, not knowing if this was a hundred per cent true, but connecting the dots. It was clear that some mechanism of absorption was going on. I had wholly stolen that man’s fire ability protecting May, which seemed to be permanent. That, however, didn’t explain why my flame was black.

May just sat, feeling my hand for a few minutes. “You’re amazing,” she said, looking sadly at me. “And I am useless.”

“If it weren’t you that cared for me, I would have died” —I tucked her auburn hair behind her ear—“I don’t want to see your beautiful face upset like this. You will always be important to me,” I continued, caressing her cheek. “It could easily have been a combination of us both. I was in rough shape.”

“Why are you so endearing towards me?” May asked, which appeared as irritation rather than flattery.

I removed my hand from her face. “Does it bother you?”

May shook her head. “No, but I feel like I don’t deserve it.”

“Who decides if you deserve it?” I asked, shrugging. “I would say it is my choice to show affection. You don’t need to deserve it. You need to want it.”

“I want it, I want it badly, Cyrus. I know I appear desperate,” May said, shamefully looking down at her knees. “It is humiliating that I am fumbling over you like this.”

“You’re my rival,” Rachel said, completely interrupting the serious conversation.

I glanced up at her. “I am your what?”

“Rival, I have decided you are worthy of The Divinity’s attention,” she said with such authority that was unjustified by her size. Honestly, a ten-year-old declaring me her rival was offensive in itself.

“I’ll pass,” I said, turning to May to say something, but Rachel was persistent.

“This isn’t a choice.” She hit the button on the elevator door. “I will be the valedictorian,” she said, walking into the elevator. She crossed her arms as the door closed, trying to be tough.

The doors slid together, and May laughed. “Wow, Cyrus. You have The Divinity’s attention,” she joked with a smile.

May and I quietly watched the rest of the five-hour class from our seats on the ground. She seemed to forget about her worries, relaxing as we saw some impressive performances from Covic and Danelle. Both were quite skilled at lightning magica, a variant of the fire element. They both lashed around lightning like a whip striking as they sparred. This class was gifted, making me wonder if the senior year students were more impressive than this. If they had three grades above me, far beyond this, I would have a lot of work. This high-level class raised the question of why May was here. Edwin didn’t need to put her in a situation like this to keep his promise. She was already older than most people in this grade. May wasn’t dumb, but the lack of education in the south stunted her from getting into classes her age.   

May sat her chin on her knees, and I just stared at her before she turned to face me with a smile. “Let’s get food.”

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