Mage of Shadows (21 page)

"I have class." Yasmina offered as way of explanation with a sunny smile, "Coming, Stratus? Your test won't study for itself."

I nodded as if it wasn't complete BS, "Yeah, you're right. I definitely didn't wake up early to relax at Tim's all day." I chuckled weakly at my own joke and found that no one had joined me, instead staring each other down as if daring the one of the others to blink first.

From a Normal perspective, it would have been a showdown of the strangest sort. Not one of them looked inherently dangerous at first glance. Mehdy was dressed in pink, for God's sake. The three girls were all fashionably outfitted and wouldn't look out of place on a runway.

I kind of wanted them to fight, if only to get a glimpse of how far I really had to go to compare with their abilities. But more than that, I was really beginning to despise Danae Lincoln and her thinly veiled politeness. The cracks in her mask were wide crevices, it was easy to see past it to glimpse at something ugly underneath. It was the mask of someone who hated hiding themselves and reminded me of Vik- except he was far better at concealing it.

Danae thought she was better than anyone else and fiercely wanted to let everyone know it.

"It was nice meeting you," I said with no real conviction, I honestly didn't care if the blonde believed me or not. My goodbye to Carmen was wordless, only catching her eye briefly. I didn't dare smile at her again. The Hispanic girl's face was carefully blank and she gave me only the briefest shred of a nod. I turned and walked away from the two, who appeared to be staying at the coffee shop.

My face was stony as I grimly recalled the texture of Carmen's hand- her complexion had made it difficult for me to see- but I felt it. The parallel jagged aberration, a thin irregularity in comparison to the otherwise smooth ridges of her skin. It was a decisive cut across her palm, barely healed and no doubt still tender.

It was punishment. For what, I didn't know, but I could guess. I didn't have to ask who did it.

Yasmina, Mehdy, and I didn't speak to each other until we were very far away from Tim Hortons, as if Danae's shadow could cast out and reach us, even from afar. When we did speak, it was a simple goodbye. I could tell that I wasn't the only one shaken by the encounter, though Yasmina and Mehdy didn't seem very willing to go into detail about why, so I could only guess at their fears. Both disappeared into the science building, and I began a lonely trek to the library to try and get some studying done before lab in a few hours.

Studying, after that? I would be lucky if I didn't throw up the donuts. My stomach was churning dangerously, rebelling against the so-called 'User diet.' I could also feel the beginning of a cheerfully pounding headache taking residence in the forefront of my skull.

Joy. As was my life. Funny to think that if I could've just managed to sleep through the night, this whole enlightening debacle would have never happened to me. Life was give and take, like that.

I didn't tell Jimmy or Nishi about meeting Ruark, my fight with the Aberrants, or what happened after. Everything I had learned only served to scare and worry the crap out of me, and I decided it was probably best to spare them that. The assured confidence I had gotten after Vik was lost again, a possibility of a dream newly born morphed into a living nightmare once again.

They noticed something was off with me, as friends could. I went through a daily routine with the mechanical precision of a robot. I spoke less, studied harder, and saw my grades rise even further in the month that followed. The pride I had felt before had faded into acceptance. Of course I would do better if I studied harder. When I scored higher than anyone on the midterm lab practical, barring one other student (and it wasn't Eliza,) I took it in stride.

Work at the SEL marched at a monotonous pace. It was an easy job for minimum wage, the most work I had to do was stock books and help out whenever someone was having trouble connecting to the internet or getting into a study room, which was more common than you would expect. Even Raj calmed down when we had work together, using the time to study for his monstrous MCAT that was drawing closer, only a mere six months away.

Rush week for frats and sororities came and passed, with no word from APA.

Everyone was puzzled by it. It seemed as if Alpha Phi Alpha was simply skipping out on recruiting this semester, accepting no new pledges. It wasn't unheard of, especially when it was a frat as exclusive as APA- but I had to wonder if there had to be a deeper reason. Maybe Emily's death had shook things up too much and they were… recovering? Things definitely were tense in the falsely pleasant meeting between the four mages some weeks earlier.

Everyone outside of APA believed them to be a tight-knit group, and that Emily's death had been a shock to them. I knew the grim, ugly truth, however. It was Archanos who killed Emily, her own brothers and sisters were instrumental in killing her. The ugly mysterious schism that I still didn't understand had left a jagged wound that had not yet healed. It was the only conclusion that I could come up with, and even then it was just theory.

For a while, I tried to believe that Archanos had forgotten about me, and I could therefore forget about them. A foolish fantasy, but it actually worked well most of the time. I even was able to recover a fair bit of my humor, albeit jadedly edged.

Two months more passed and the semester began to wind down to an end, no one from the frat contacted me. I didn't see Ruark again, nor did I see much of Vik except at a distance when he graced the UGL with his presence, surrounded by his usual cadre of older students that I assumed to be mages. He never looked my way whenever I made a halfhearted attempt to catch his eye for some signal. Danae never appeared came to the library, not that I would welcome it if she did.

Now I noticed Mehdy and Yasmina whenever they were in the UGL, though they tended to stick with their own group of friends and never hung out with Vik or his people. If I didn't know they were in APA, I would have believed them to be completely Normal.

I saw Carmen every once in a while; we tiptoed around each other, and publically appeared as nothing more than passing acquaintances. She was the only APA member that seemed to be on good terms with Mehdy and Yasmina, and hung out with their friends. From what I could see, they treated her warmly enough, but I wasn't sure if it was just sympathy because of Emily, or they actually considered her a good friend.

She and David didn't cross paths much, though they also seemed to be on fairly good terms. It didn't seem awkward when they greeted each other. She genuinely smiled and talked with him for several long minutes and they parted with a mutual hug. He had raised a brow when she greeted me politely by name and I returned the sentiment, but said nothing about it.

Raj on the other hand…

"Stratus moving in for the rebound," The Patel boy waggled his eyebrows suggestively when Carmen had walked out of earshot, moving towards Mehdy and Yasmina, "David, are you gonna let him steal your girl?"

"I didn't know you went for Asian girls, Strat." David said mildly, referring to Tammy, his current girlfriend that he was still going strong with.

"Neither did I." I replied dryly, while underlining a particularly important looking fact in my Bio textbook, "But Rajkumar must absolutely know more about me than I do myself."

Here Raj scowled, he hated his full name. "Very funny, Stratus. But seriously, what's up with you and Car-Car?"

"Nothing is up; I've just talked to her a couple times." I replied truthfully, just without going into detail.

Raj grumbled, but didn't insist on further details. Soon enough, Sam, Tammy, and a few others joined us at the table. A rousing debate on the benefits of studying from Berkley Review vs. Examkrackers began almost immediately.

"You are stupid, man." Sam said, shaking his head at David, "Why bother trying to go through all that material in Berkley, it will just slow you down. Examkrackers is faster."

"Not enough content review, Sammy-boy." Raj retorted, on David's side, "We aren't all super-brains that remember everything from our classes and don't need a refresher."

The Chaldean crossed his arms petulantly, "Examkrackers is review, Berkley is like taking the class all over again. It is silly thing to do."

"Pre-Meds are crazy." Sarah, a petite dark haired girl, muttered from her seat next to Sam at the far end of the table. I didn't really know much about her, other than the fact that she was Pre-Pharm and good friends with Tammy and David.

Tammy, the peacemaker, broke in, "They both have their good and bad points, one isn't necessarily better than the other… right David?"

David nodded, though I wasn't sure if it was because Tammy said it, or because he really agreed with his girlfriend's neutral position.

Forever outspoken, Raj pointed a dramatic finger at Tammy, "He just agrees because you sleep with him. Come on David, grow a pair and disagree, I'm sick of sleeping on the couch anyways." His voice was too loud, even for the normal animated chatter that went on. The tables next to us traded amused looks, and more than a few were openly laughing.

Tammy's pale skin turned an uncharacteristic shade of red as she glared at a smirking Raj, then hissed, "Why do you have to such an asshole?"

If anything, Raj's smirk widened even further, while David's frown deepened, "Not cool Raj, that was too far."

Raj shrugged, "Sorry," He said offhand, and no one believed he meant it for a second. Silence fell over the table however, everyone suddenly interested in their laptop or books in an attempt to distance themselves from the awkward end to the conversation. For a few minutes I actually thought people were going to get some real studying done.

"Examkrackers is better." Sinan muttered.

Raj threw his pencil at him, "No it's not."

An annoyed Sarah smacked Sam on the arm, "Why can't you both just study your own way and leave it be? Does it really have to be a competition?"

"Yes." Sam and Raj replied simultaneously, then smiled at each other and pounded fists across the table. Tammy and Sarah shared a look, while I smiled at the continued argument with fond amusement. There was never a dull moment in this group of friends, Normals or otherwise. It was moments like this that helped me forget APA, genuinely happy to avoid being drawn into their mysterious world for a bit longer.

Of course just as I had the thought, my phone buzzed ominously and I received the dreaded text. Vik hadn't attempted to contact me since we exchanged numbers after our first conversation outside Resident Towers. Vik, the male head of APA frat, and Danae's counterpart. I stared at the words, wondering if it was for real.

Alpha Phi Alpha Rush, 2 am, structure 5. Bring your friend Swann.

"Are you okay? You look like someone just died." Tammy asked me softly from her seat next to me, and I automatically angled the phone further out of her vision.

"Fine," I replied quickly, "Just fine…"

I tried to school my features to look as normal as possible as I turned back to my work, relieved that Tammy took my word for it and went back to her own work.

Rushing for all other frats and sororities had occurred over two weeks before. Everyone, including myself, had just assumed that APA wasn't recruiting this semester. I had rationalized that I could put aside my Archanos problems for now and focus on school. I was almost happy to do so; it was nice to focus on only Normal problems for a while. I didn't have to wonder why Yasmina, Mehdy and Carmen hung out with Normals even though they knew they could never really be like them. It was preferable to forget for a while.

On some days, I could have almost forgotten that I had magic altogether.

It seemed sacrilegious to just think about how pleasurable those days were in their simplicity. Kevin Ruark's haunted blue eyes followed me into my dreams, replacing his confident grin. Now, I wasn't afraid of him… I was afraid of becoming like him. Lost, broken, defeated. I wondered how close he had been to Emily to be so affected by her death.

I might yet find out. My vacation in Normality, a little over a month of magic-less serenity, was apparently coming to an end. Not just for me, I watched grimly as Swann and Nishi approached the table, chatting amiably on their way from the stairs that led up to the third floor.

Tammy smiled pleasantly as they walked hand in hand towards our table, "Those two are so cute," She commented, nudging her boyfriend, "Aren't they, David?"

David, currently absorbed in human physiology, mumbled something that could be taken for an affirmative answer. Tammy looked annoyed, but didn't have time to scold him as Swann and Nishi arrived to greet the table politely, knowing everyone by name just about as well as I did.

I attempted to wordlessly convey a message to Swann, staring intently at him as he said hello to me. Surely after two and a half months of being somewhat close confidantes and friends, we would have at least some form of best friend telekinesis…

"What's up, Nick?" He greeted me.

I nodded slowly in response, and tried to tell him through a very intent stare to go sit in an isolated area so we could talk.

Jimmy tilted his head, "Are you feeling okay, dude?" and sat down across from me, Nishi taking the seat next to him, "You look kind of… constipated."

I could've slapped him, I swear. Instead I settled for a glare, "I'm fine."

"He's just fine." Tammy said seriously, mimicking my earlier assurance. I glowered at her too for good measure. The older Asian girl flipped a strand of sleek black hair over her shoulder and ruffled my already messy mop, "Oh don't give me that glare, Strat. Quit looking like your girlfriend just broke up with you, because we all know you don't have one."

"Because you're gay." Raj added from further down the table.

"He has a girlfriend." Jimmy chimed in immediately after my roommate, but not really on my side either.

"She's not my girlfriend." I responded automatically, knowing that Jimmy was referring to Eliza, who was just my friend, and I could bet money that she still had a crush on David, even though she would never act on it. In part because of Tammy, but also because Eliza was still quite the amateur when it came to social interaction. I wondered if she could even conceive the idea of stealing another girl's boyfriend, much less act on it.