Cave of Nightmares (16 page)

Hayden tried not to sound resentful when he said, “Yes, I am.”

“Hmph,” The man narrowed his eyebrows unpleasantly. “I hear you’re eager to follow in his footsteps.”

No need to ask who “he” was.
Hayden clenched his hands into fists at his side.

“Then you were lied to.”

The man still looked noticeably unfriendly.

“Yet here you are, at his old school, looking to buy a prism.”

Hayden’s fingers were beginning to hurt, but he couldn’t seem to unclench his fists.

“I’m a P
rism major. If you want to tell me how I can manage that without ever using one, I’d love to hear it.”

“
Don’t you sass me, boy!” the man snapped at him. “You’ve clearly inherited your father’s arrogance along with his dark intentions.”

Hayden was tempted to turn around and walk out, and would have done so if not for the knowledge that he would only have to come back another time to get a prism.

“I don’t like people being rude to me for no reason,” he answered slowly, suddenly aware that his jaw was clenched and aching.

“Well then forgive me, Great Prism M
aster…” the owner gave him a mocking bow. “Asher may think the sun shines out of your arse, but the rest of us aren’t so keen on arming the blood of Aleric Frost.”

Hayden’s face was burning in anger and embarrassment; he could hear the blood pounding in his ears.

“Does that mean you are refusing to give me a prism?”

The man looked like he was swallowing something extremely unpleasant when he said, “No, unfortunately I don’t have the authority to deny you my wares. But that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it.”

Hayden answered in a voice of forced-calm, “Your displeasure is noted. Now tell me what prisms I am cleared to own.”

The jeweler pointed at a shelf that came about waist-high against the wall without looking at it.

“Level-one glass prisms: clear and amber.” He walked away, clearly unable to look at Hayden for a moment longer.

That was just fine with him. Hayden took a calming breath and tried not to focus on the sound of blood raging between his ears as he approached the fullest boxes on the shelf.

The boxes were well-labeled and he quickly located the ones he needed. The clear and the amber looked almost identical, and only by holding them side-by-side could he see the slight tint of color to the latter. Using the silk cloths that were provided, he picked a couple up and held them to the light, trying to determine if there was any variation from prism to prism, but they looked identical. He grudgingly admired the jeweler for being able to cut them so precisely.

W
hen Hayden had one of each tint he brought them to the jeweler’s desk so that he could write a receipt to bill the school, which the man did without speaking or looking at him. As soon as he was finished, Hayden tucked the prisms into the first two vacant slots on his belt and hurried out of the shop.

His stomach was growling
, so he jogged towards the main entrance, more to relieve some of his pent-up frustration than because he wanted to eat. He could still feel his ears burning as he threw his things down beside Zane and began loading up a lunch plate, trying desperately to put the encounter in Pounds of Prisms to the back of his mind.

Bonk sidled over to him and hopped up on his shoulder, cuffing him affectionately with his wing. Hayden appreciated the gesture.

“How’s the homework coming along?” Zane, apparently not sensing his sour mood, started in cheerfully.

“Not bad,” h
e answered truthfully.

“
Did you ever figure out what Bonk wanted you to do?”

Hayden speared a cube of beef on his fork and held it up for Bonk to nibble.

“He wanted to play ‘fetch’ with a red rubber mouse.”

Zane
snorted in amusement, and Hayden began to calm down. It was refreshing to know that there were still some people who enjoyed his company.

“Oh, hey, you got cleared to buy prisms!”
Zane pointed to his belt, grinning. “I’m not even allowed inside the store, but Oliver’s always telling anyone who will listen how awesome it is.” He rolled his eyes. “So, what’s the official verdict?”

Hayden barely suppressed a grimace when he responded.

“Yeah, it’s pretty awesome.”

8

An Abundance of Calm

Hayden spent the rest of the weekend relaxing with Zane and Conner, except for during their challenge group meetings. Since Tucker was the only one who had actually been in a challenge arena before, he spent most of their first two meetings telling them about past encounters of his and what sort of things they would be scored on.

“—and using really impressive magic doesn’
t always get you points,” he told them on the night before Gerin. “It’s all about efficiency and conserving the materials you’ve got so you don’t run out. Sometimes they take points away from you if they think you were extravagant with your use of magic.”

Later that night they were informed that the challenge group schedules had been posted in the main foyer, and
Zane and Hayden hurried downstairs in their pajamas to push through the crowd and see when their first arena was.

“Oh man, we’re up fo
r our first challenge in a week,” Zane said, nervous. Given the number of challenge groups in the school, it was fairly bad luck for them to come up so early in the schedule.

Hayden felt a flutter of panic in his stomach, because he still hadn’t proven adept at anything except for prisms, and Master Asher’s class focused heavily on theory so he hadn’t actually been trained on using a prism yet.

When he voiced his worries to Zane, his friend smirked and said, “Don’t worry, I’m ace at Healing.”

Hayden frown
ed. “What does that have to do with anything?”

Zane
grinned. “If we do too badly, at least I’ll be able to patch us all up afterwards.”

Hayden was not reassured.

He was one of the first people to arrive at Wands the next morning, determined to
work his hardest so that he had at least some kind of magical capability before he went into his first group challenge.

Master Willow started class by asking them to take out their birch wands and cups of dirt from last week so they could begin a fresh attempt at growing flowers. Hayden wasn’t the only one who didn’t have his materials—having already used them—though the other three people had simply forgotten to bring theirs.

The Master of Wands looked mildly reproachful as he passed out more dirt and seeds, though he stopped in front of Hayden’s desk with a curious look on his face.

“Hold up your wand.”

Not sure where this was going, Hayden did as he was told. Master Willow narrowed his eyebrows suspiciously.

“Y
our wand is the wrong length,” he stated bluntly. “If you had completed the Growing spell successfully it would be half a centimeter shorter, but yours is only a quarter centimeter less than full-length.” He was eyeing Hayden carefully, “Which begs the question of what spell you performed instead.”

Hayden thought it was incredible that Master Willow could tell that his wand was a quarter centimeter too short just from a casual glance, because he hadn’t noticed the change at all. Nervous at being called out in front of the class, Hayden answered quietly.

“I was practicing the Growing spell like you asked us to, but it wouldn’t work for me with the pile of dirt I had, so I put the seed in the ground instead.”

Master Willow’s expression cleared immediately, and he walked back to the front of the room before addressing him again.

“I see. And did that work for you?”

“Yes, a daisy grew on my first try after that.” He glanced around at his classmates, most of who looked like they were waiting to hear him get chewed out.

“And why do you suppose that was?”

Hayden really had no idea why it had worked better to put the seed in the ground; he hadn’t given it much thought at the time. Now he racked his brains for a likely reason while Willow stared at him.

“Umm…maybe because the dirt in the ground is better?”

There were a few chuckles at that. Master Willow just smirked.

“You could say that, I suppose.” He faced the class. “In actuality, there is nothing special about the dirt in the ground, aside from the fact that it is in the ground. Your previous attempts at the spell were done on a surface where flowers do not naturally grow: the desk, the floor, and so forth.”

He was pacing the front of the r
oom again. Hayden considered the Master’s words, remembering how much he had struggled when he set his pile of dirt on the pavement in the courtyard for his first attempts.

“When that didn’t work, you made an intelligent decision and put the seed in a place where it
does
naturally grow. Effectively, you lessened the skill required to complete the spell, which is why you were successful on your next attempt. Since you were performing less complex magic, the material loss from your wand was reduced as well. Good thinking.”

Hayden, who was expecting criticism, felt buoyed
. True, he hadn’t been consciously trying to make the problem easier when he was practicing, but that didn’t change the fact that he was the only one in his class who even thought to try it.

“Of c
ourse,” Master Willow continued, “that was only a partial fix, as you will need to demonstrate the capability to perform spells with whatever materials I allow you, but not a bad start.”

With that, he told them all to continue practicing for the next fifteen minutes, while he walked around the room and offered advice to the class. Hayden was disappointed after he called for them to stop, because he was still having no luck with his seed now that he was back indoors.

“Eight of you have managed to perform the spell successfully, about what I would expect at this point.” Master Willow swept back to the front of the room to face them. “The rest of you, continue practicing for homework. For now we will begin learning about the complement to the Growing spell: Shrink.”

Hayden spent the rest of the period taking notes on the Shrinking spell, which apparently only made things smaller. If he had wanted to return his flower to a seed, he would need the Reversion spell, and Master Willow spent a long time explaining the difference between the two
because they could be easy to confuse.

Hayden was packing his bag
to go to Conjury when the Master of Wands called his name.

“Hayden, stay after
for a moment.”

Wondering what he had done wrong, he waited for the rest of the class to clear out of the room, one or two of them shooting him disdainful looks as they passed. When they were alone, Master Willow leaned against the edge of his desk and studied him thoughtfully.

“You show a fair amount of skill with wands.”

Hayden’s eyebrows lifted in surprise, because he felt like a complete novice for failing to successfully complete a single spell thus far.

“But I couldn’t make the spell work without cheating.”

Master Willow made a negating gesture with one hand.

“Creative problem solving is not necessarily tantamount to cheating,” he countered. “In fact, it shows good instinct.”

“I’m still not powerful enough to do the spell properly,” Hayden mumbled.

“Intuition is no less important than power, in my experience,” the Master said delicately. “I suspect you are going to be quite adept at using a wand once you get the basics sorted out, though you need to work on your patience. You haven’t even been in class for a week yet, and you’re already growing restless.”

Hayden sighed. “I’m trying to be patient, it’s just frustrating
because I’ve got a challenge arena this weekend and so far I can’t use anything but prisms, and I haven’t even practiced with those very much.”

Willow gave him a strange look.

“I believe you have Tucker Claxen in your challenge group?”

“Yes,” Hayden confirmed.

“He has very nearly qualified for my level-four class, due to his skill. If you’re struggling with wands, why don’t you ask him to help you?”

Hayden felt like an idiot for not thinking of that on his own.

“I—I don’t know. I guess I’m not used to asking people for help…or for people wanting to help me,” he amended, and Master Willow frowned mildly.

“Your challenge group is your family for the next year. You all benefit from helping each other.” His eyes flickered across Hayden’s features. “I believe you’ll discover t
hat Tucker is an amiable person to work with.”

Hayden nodded
and Master Willow dismissed him. He had to sprint down the stairs to make it to Conjury before class started.

By the time he made it to Elixirs he was feeling better about the day, despite another abysmal Powders class. He was beginning to accept that he would likely never improve at Powders, and looked forward to the day he’d be able to drop the class entirely.

He was the last one to arrive at
Master Kilgore’s classroom, and Hayden groaned audibly when he discovered that the only vacant seat was beside Lorn Trout.

He sighed and went to take his seat, telling Bonk to behave while he set up his mixing bowls and cauldron, examining the materials that had been laid out on each desk before their arrival.

Lorn was talking to one of his friends—a rat-faced boy named Pollus—and didn’t notice Hayden immediately. Lorn’s familiar, a mink, was curled up around his neck like a furry scarf, fast asleep.

Unfortunately
, Lorn became aware of Hayden’s presence when Bonk sidled into his line of sight, and turned towards him with an unpleasant smile.

“I thought I felt an id
iot nearby. Turns out I was right,” he said by way of greeting.

Hayden grimaced. “Funny, I was thinking the exact same thing.”

Lorn scowled. “Keep your defective dragon away from my station or he’s toast.”

Hayden raised his eyebrows at the threat.

“What are you going to do, throw your pet scarf at him?” He smirked at the angry red patches flushing Lorn’s face. “Bonk’s a dragon; I suspect he’d eat you and your familiar quite cheerfully if it became necessary.”

Lorn clenched his hands into fists and opened his mouth to say something scathing, but Master Kilgore prevented him by calling the class to order.

“I hope you all did the assigned reading on the calming elixir, because today you’re going to attempt to make it.” He took his usual seat on the edge of his desk with a little hop, legs dangling over the side beneath his bright red robes. “On your desks you’ll find seagrass, heartsbane, and juniper. You have thirty minutes to present me with a completed sample.”

Hayden promptly dismissed Lorn from his thoughts and turned his focus to the task at hand, opening his book and following the preparation instructions.
For a few minutes the other boy ignored him as well, carefully chopping his seagrass into equal lengths. Unfortunately, by the time Hayden was heating his cauldron of water and heartsbane, Lorn was back to making snide comments about him to Pollus in a carrying whisper.

“—heard he’s hopeless at Powders. What’s the point of being descended from one of the
most powerful mages of all time if he can’t even grind a simple compound?”

Hayden, used to Lorn’s tactics by now, did his best to ignore him, though he felt his ears turning red.

“I mean, at least his father was
good
at magic. The only thing his son can do is play teacher’s pet in Wands and Prisms.”

Hayden exhaled heavily through his
nose as he added half a cup of juniper to his cauldron and began stirring the mixture, because his jaw was clenched too tightly to open his mouth.

“
Yara was saying that he only got into Mizzenwald at all because of his father. If he’d had to test in like the rest of us he’d have been sent home,” Lorn opined with savage pleasure, and Pollus laughed and muttered agreement.

Add
seagrass and let simmer for seven minutes...

He read the words three times before they registered in his brain, and then he had nothing to occupy his attention for the next seven minutes
other than the boys beside him.

“Of course, my brother’s got bets going with all his friends about how
Frost’s challenge group is going to rank in the third-year rosters,” Lorn continued. “So far everyone’s money is on them being last place; but maybe he doesn’t care since he got his girlfriend onto his team.”

Hayden’s ears were ringing oddly, and he was almost glad for the interruption when Bonk hopped up onto the edge of his desk and gave him a surprisingly stern stare, as though scolding him for letting Lorn bait him.

“…probably not going to make it past first-level classes until his third year here,” Pollus was chuckling, and Hayden’s patience snapped.

“If you two are such geniuses, explai
n why you’re still in the first-level Elixirs class when this is your second year in school,” he retorted angrily, wiping the smiles off the other boys’ faces.