The Sphere (The Magi Series #2) (19 page)

They found a table closest to the doorway in the dining area. 
Isaac sat down last because he had a tough time deciding which dessert to bring
back with him.  So he took them all.

“Man, what a bore,” Paul said.  “You guys getting anything
out of this?”

Elijah shook his head.  Isaac shoveled in a mouthful of
chicken casserole.

“I don’t know,” said Hannah.  “I think the idea of the
Absolute Mind was a little fascinating.”

“You’re kidding, right?” said Paul.

“I didn’t say I thought Master Constantine was fascinating,”
she replied.  “Just the idea.”

“Okay, Elijah,” Paul said.  “Show Isaac and Adam the
creeper.”

“He’s not a creeper,” Hannah said.

“Whatever,” Paul stated.  “Show ‘em.”

Elijah pointed Thomas out to the others, and they all had a
good roundtable discussion about what kind of evil he was up to.  Then Elijah
said, “Honestly, I’m sure he’s fine.”

“Don’t kid yourself Elijah,” Paul argued.  “Just look at
him.  Those shifty eyes.  That stare.  I bet he’s plotting your death right
this second.”  At that very moment, Thomas looked right at them.  Each of them
frantically turned back around, hoping it wasn’t obvious they were looking at
him.

It was.

“Did he just look at us?” Isaac whispered, remaining as
still as a statue.

“You don’t need to look frozen,” Paul replied.  “Just look
natural.”

“I can’t,” Isaac whispered.  “I think he turned me to stone!”

“Oh geez,” said Paul, and he pushed Isaac hard enough so he
lost his balance and fell to the ground.

Hannah giggled and covered her mouth so food wouldn’t shoot
out.  Elijah helped Isaac up from the floor.

Adam was the only one of the five who didn’t wheel around
when Thomas looked at them.  In fact, he continued to look at Thomas, who
looked right back at him.  It was a staring contest to the death, by the look
of it, and Adam was holding his own.  He looked very natural.  Calm.

“Adam,” Elijah whispered, as though the dining area was as
quiet as the library.  “Adam, what are you doing?”

Adam stayed silent.  Still staring.  Then, after a moment,
he turned around and gave a quick, polite smile to his friends before he took
another bite of food.

Paul looked at him inquisitively.  “Are you back to Earth
now, Adam?”

Adam nodded his head and continued eating.

Elijah said, “Well, I guess Thomas knows about
us
now.”

“Great,” said Paul.  “Now he can plot
all
our
deaths.”

“What if he’s just scared?” Adam said without looking up
from his lunch.

“Scared?” Elijah asked.

“Seriously,” Paul agreed.  “How could you possibly tell he’s
scared from a thirty second gaze?”

“I didn’t,” said Adam.  “He does have an odd way about him,
but what if it’s an act?  Think about how he feels.  All these new guys staring
at him.  Plus he’s from Malpetra.  Maybe he’s been through a lot.  We’re not
exactly a welcoming lot.”

Elijah considered this.  It was true.  Becca was also an
ex-Maliphist, and it wasn’t until she sacrificed herself to help rescue Hannah
that they began to warm up to her.  That is, until she apparently dented Paul’s
pride in front of a bunch of preliminary students.  Elijah chuckled out loud at
the thought.

“What?” Paul asked.

“Nothing.  C’mon.  It’s time to get back to class.”

The second half of the day, Master Constantine taught them
about the importance of writing narratives.

“You’ll find that the time spent detailing our history is
one of the most important acts in preserving our heritage.  One of the reasons
for this is that our ancestors were meticulous in writing their narratives in
archives.  You must learn to do the same to preserve our history now for future
generations.”

“I smell a homework assignment,” Paul whispered to Elijah.

“From now until we meet next, I want you to detail everything
you do.  I want at least twenty pages of detailed writing.”

“Told ya,” Paul bragged.  Then he looked dejected.

“Put down your thoughts and feelings as well as your
actions.  Use dialogue if you wish.  And don’t hold back.”

Master Constantine wrote down his assignment on the board,
and the students reluctantly copied the notes.

“Homework on the first day?” Isaac complained as they all
walked toward their rooms after class was dismissed.  “Couldn’t he have waited
until we got a week under our belts?”

“It shouldn’t be too hard,” said Hannah trying to sound
positive.  “At least we have four days.  There’s a lot we do between now and then
anyway.  That should be easy to write out.”

“For twenty pages?” Isaac argued.

“Easy there, Porky,” Paul said.

“Stop calling me that!!!” Isaac snapped.  Then his face
relaxed.  “I’m sorry.  I get cranky when I’m tired.  I think I’m gonna go take
a nap.  See you all tomorrow.”  He headed up the stairs and out of sight.

“Don’t forget to put that in your narrative!” Paul called
after him.

Physical training the following day didn’t improve their
workload.  From the very first minute Elijah arrived at the arena, Master
Zempke had them running.  First, just like they did every time they trained,
they ran two laps around the perimeter of the arena.  For some of the slower
students, that alone took fifteen minutes.  Then, they did their basic
exercises.  It never looked like much.  In fact, it looked rather silly, but
the exercises Zempke had them do strengthened muscles Elijah never knew he had.

This day was no exception.  He spent two hours doing
stretches and exercises.  They worked on balance for most of the morning. 
Then, after a welcomed lunch break, Zempke took Elijah’s group to an obstacle
course.  Obstacle courses were quite common in the arena.  There were dozens of
courses, all temporarily placed so that they could be mixed and matched with
each other, creating an almost infinite number of possibilities.  This
particular one was only three parts.

First, the students ascended a twenty foot climbing wall. 
Seventeen students fell during the climb, but only one of them wasn’t a Preliminary—Isaac.

Then, they had to scale a forty-foot-long balance beam. 
This wasn’t hard by itself, but when the trainers and teachers’ assistants
hurled hard rubber balls toward their balancing act, it made matters much more
complicated.  Almost every student fell into the safety nets below, which meant
they had to start all over again from the bottom of the climbing wall.

The third and final piece of the course was to complete two
full laps of a fifty-foot pool.  The swim was the easiest part, except when
Zempke asked them to do another run at the course, it made the other parts
slippery.  Many students never even made it to the pool before the end of the
day.  Elijah completed the course only once successfully.  Hannah also had one
successful run.  Isaac never made it past the climbing wall.

After training, Elijah and Isaac decided to work on their
narratives from physical training in the Novice Lounge between the Preliminary
and Novice Halls.  They sat right across from the large fish tank and recounted
their experiences with each other.  Then, after they wrote five pages, Elijah
met Hannah in the library and they studied for their next class and talked
about their upcoming elemental training the next day.

By the time Elijah finally went to bed, he could hardly
think straight.  He had been working nonstop since 7:00 a.m. and wanted nothing
more than to go straight to bed, but he still needed to pack for the following
day.  He took out his bag and shoved in a change of clothes and his overnight
toiletries.  He also packed an extra pillow since he liked to sleep with two,
and he didn’t know if there would be extra.

His body ached.  His mind couldn’t think anymore, but for
some reason, Elijah tossed and turned until he finally fell asleep looking at
the odd lamp Olivia sent him.

Chapter
10:

THE FIRST TASK

Elijah’s alarm went off for nearly a full minute before he
registered that it was ringing.  It had somehow fit comfortably into his
subconscious until he finally woke up, and was immediately annoyed.  His
anxious anticipation for training that day did not overpower his desire to
sleep an extra hour.  He reluctantly flopped out of bed and headed for the
washroom.

When he was dressed, Elijah took his bag and overcloak into
the dining area, which was empty.  It reminded him of the previous year when he
and Samuel had to get up two hours early for extra strength training to make up
for the semester they missed.  He was used to seeing an empty barracks in the
mornings.

The weather was still quite dreary.  Elijah put on the hood
from his brown overcloak and tied it so his head stayed as dry as possible.  He
briefly considered keeping the rain off by controlling it so he could stay dry,
but decided against it.  He actually enjoyed the water drumming against his
body.

Elijah was quite surprised, however, when he stepped outside
to find none other than Olivia waiting for him.  She had her back to him and
stared off into the gloomy surroundings, her own green hood shielding her head.

“Are you ready?” she asked as though she felt his presence
the moment he walked outside.

“I suppose,” Elijah replied.

“Then off we go.”  She walked away briskly toward the woods
in the north and Elijah followed alongside.  Their feet sloshed in the wet
grass.  “So tell me,” she said.  “I didn’t have enough time to ask you about
your uncle.  How was he?”

“Oh.  He was fine,” Elijah answered.  “He showed me his
hideout and I met his partners.”

“And how is Miranda doing?”

Elijah felt a twinge of guilt.  He hadn’t thought about Mrs.
Roddick since he had arrived at the barracks.

“I think she’s doing okay,” he answered.

“You think?”

“I haven’t seen her in a while,” Elijah admitted.  “I assume
she’s lonely.”

“I think you can do more than assume,” Olivia stated with a
definite tone of accusation.  “I don’t want to hear that you’ve been neglecting
to visit her.  Don’t think I won’t check in.”

“I won’t,” Elijah said.

“Good.  Now tell me a story about your childhood.  Something
lighthearted.”

Elijah recounted a time when he and his sister got lost when
his family went camping.  Their family had taken them to the mountains, and he
and Kyria went exploring in a cave as their parents set up camp.  They took a
flashlight with them so they could find their way back, but the batteries
quickly died and they were left in the cave feeling around the walls for
direction.  Their parents eventually found them crying, not five feet from an
outlet.  Olivia stayed silent, only offering sounds of amusement as Elijah told
his tale.  She looked as though she was living his story with him and his
sister.

When they finally arrived at the Rose house, the rain had
stopped, although it looked like it could start up again at any moment.  Olivia
ushered Elijah into the house and she sat down for a moment.

“I just want to rest a bit,” she said.  “Then we can get to
your lesson.  Would you like something to drink?”

“No thank you,” Elijah said.

Olivia looked thoughtful as she stared off in the distance. 
She rubbed her hands and then leaned forward.

“Let’s start with goals.  Just like we did last year.  What
did you tell me you wanted to learn?”

Elijah thought back to the previous year.  It seemed so long
ago, and yet, weirdly, it seemed just like yesterday when Olivia left him by
the lake the first time and had him observe the water.

“I wanted to learn how to use all four of the elements,” he
said.

“Very well,” Olivia returned.  “Can you?”

“Somewhat.  Except for wind.  I struggle with that a bit.”

“I don’t think you should expect to master each element,”
Olivia stated.  “But a general ability to control each of them is a reasonable
goal.”  She walked into the kitchen leaving Elijah alone for a moment.  When
she returned, she carried two cups of tea.  “Forgive me,” she said, handing
Elijah a cup.  “I’m out of cider.  I hope you like lemon rose.  I’ve been
meaning to go into the market to stock up on cider, but as you can imagine I’ve
been a bit busy.  Phinneas is getting worse and is needing more attention than
usual.”

Elijah didn’t mention that he actually hadn’t requested a
drink, but now that he was presented with it, the warm beverage sounded
refreshing.  He sipped the tea, which tasted better than he expected.  He never
liked tea much before coming to Savenridge, but on this particularly rainy day,
the dull taste of tea was quite satisfying.

When they had finished their drink, Olivia led Elijah
outside into the open land right next to the river.  There were no trees around
the river bank.  Only mud and tall grass.

“Let’s review,” Olivia stated, pushing up the sleeves on her
overcloak.  “How do you control the elements?”

“Access the element and connect to its Soul.  Experience an
emotion.  Knowledge of the element.”  Elijah stated the three answers like
recalling a very familiar spelling word.

Olivia did not look satisfied with his answer.  “It’s not
like memorizing a recipe, Elijah.  You have to live and breathe this process to
evolve or you’ll never be able to master anything.  Talk it out.”

Elijah felt a slight bit of annoyance at her request, but he
forced his feeling to go away.  He knew what she was trying to do, and he knew
that her methods were helping him become more advanced than the other students. 
He took a deep breath.

“Okay.  In order to access an element, I have to access its
Soul.”

“What’s a Soul?”

“The thing that binds all created things together.”

“Go on.”

“I connect to the Soul by experiencing an emotion specific
to the elements.”