She half tripped going up the stairs and heard him call out behind her, “Don’t hurt yourself!”
Laughing as she quickly unlocked her room, ran inside, and grabbed her brand new sunglasses, she locked it again behind her and traipsed cheerfully down the stairs. “Does it matter if I do? I can just heal it.”
He shook his head. “I suppose that’s true. You remember how to get there?”
Grinning, she stuck her tongue out at him. “Yes, Da.”
He whacked her head lightly. “If I was your dad, you’d have more sense! And be way, way younger.”
She stuck her tongue out again. “Maybe you were cradle robbed!” He laughed, gently pushing her out as she stuck her sunglasses firmly on her face, smiling because for the first time, she was outside and didn’t have to squint at the sun!
“Don’t get lost. Don’t cause trouble. Don’t get hurt. Please?”
She saluted him ironically. “I’ll do my very best.” Turning, she began to make her way to Dracona. When she was almost there, the streets were practically empty. Seemingly most of the traffic in that area came from Dracona, and with everyone in the physical training, there was no one around.
Absently, she sang under her breath, “I cross these empty roads, on the boulevard of stolen dreams…”
Chapter Two – Petty
She walked up the large hill to the gate where two guards were relaxing. They seemed startled to see her and one of them asked curiously, “Can we help you?”
Jade smiled cheerfully at them, nodding and pulling out her school pass. “I’m just heading to classes.” The guards frowned, but one of them took her pass. She brushed his weathered hand as he did so, happy to see a new blinking dot.
The guard stared down at her card as if trying to figure out if it was a forgery while he absently tugged on his well trimmed dark brown beard. He looked like he was probably in his forties, if she had to guess, and she met his much lighter brown eyes as he said gruffly, “You realize classes started at eight o’clock? It’s almost nine.” He was obviously disapproving of the fact that she was so late, now that he’d verified her pass was real.
She just smiled innocently at him. “Oh, I’ve been excused from the fitness classes.”
Guard number two, who had light brown hair and looked much younger than his counterpart, was now also frowning. “No one gets excused from the fitness classes. It’s an important part of the academy training.” His voice carried a small undercurrent of hostility for some reason.
She smiled at him, then took her card back from guard number one. “Well, I’m sorry to prove you wrong, but I’m the exception. You’ll just have to get used to seeing me come later.”
Guard two grabbed her arm, now glaring angrily. “You will show up at the same time as everyone else. Fitness training is mandatory.” She was getting angry now because he was gripping her hard enough to bruise. Concentrating on a magic she’d never used before, she imagined herself using a shocking grasp on his hand and he yelped, pulling his arm away as she felt the magic flash out of her. “Did you just use magic on me!?”
She was glaring now as she spoke calmly. “Yes, and if you could do more than ten kinds of magic, maybe you’d have been exempt from fitness training as well.” Looking disdainfully at the bruise on her arm, she touched it, healing it and watching in satisfaction as the already swelling skin went back to normal. Looking back up at the guards, with guard one now watching her warily and guard two just looked pissed, she continued, “If you ever lay a hand on me again, I’ll do more than shock you.”
She was mad. It was the first time a person—she was discounting monsters—had ever laid a hand on her with the intention to hurt her in her life. Not even Raphael had done it. She should probably be scared, but she found he wasn’t nearly as scary as when she felt helpless in front of the mesmer. Fuming, she turned to guard one as she asked, “Which way is the infirmary?”
Guard one looked both wary and confused now. “Didn’t you just heal yourself?”
Getting more annoyed by the minute, she snapped waspishly, “I’m here to heal the students after their fitness session ends. Now, if you two would stop delaying me and give me directions, I could go help the people who need it.”
After a quick glance at her notifications, she figured out that guard one’s name was Terry and guard two’s was Aaron. She assigned names to faces as Terry gave her directions almost numbly. She nodded to him, then turned to Aaron as she said in a quiet but menacing voice, “I’ll give you some time to think over the choices you’ve just made. Perhaps you’ll never have to deal with the consequences, but I want you to think about it. One day, your life may be in danger. You’ll need a healer, and they’ll call someone. Maybe it will be me. If that happens, your life will rest in the hands of someone you tried to bully and physically harmed.”
She smiled slowly, then turned to walk away, her voice carrying to them. “Think about it.” Before she’d turned, she could see Aaron go white as a sheet. Was she the bully now? Maybe. Would she still heal him if he really was injured? Probably. It had only been a bruise, after all. Nevertheless, it left a bad taste in her mouth.
Deciding that she was just going to move on from the encounter, she smirked and sang softly to herself, “I won’t heal no scrubs. A scrub is a jerk who can’t get no heals from me…” She kept humming the rest of the song as she walked, and soon enough there were students pouring out from various directions. She glanced around, realizing the fitness classes had ended.
Picking out one person who looked like they’d had a pretty hard fall, she followed him, figuring he’d be going in the right direction. She smiled sunnily at people as she passed, and they seemed to look at her fresh-faced smile with curiosity, since unlike them, she wasn’t covered in sweat.
And then she was there. She was glad she’d chosen to follow the boy because she might have otherwise missed the unassuming building in front of her. At only two stories, it wasn’t all that large, but there was a small stream of injured students entering. Walking in, she noticed that they’d formed an orderly line and were waiting to see a middle aged woman at the front desk as if it was the most natural thing.
To her surprise, she didn’t recognize any of the students, which meant that the injured were not first years. It made sense, since she figured out the first years might not have known exactly where to go yet, while these veterans had booked it over in order to get treated first.
Smiling cheerfully, she walked past the line, and one of the guys in it called out, “Hey, get to the back of the line!”
She glanced back at him and smirked, responding confidently, “No.” He looked dumbfounded at her audacity and she used that opportunity to finish making her way to the front, where she caught the attention of who she assumed was the resident healer.
The woman had wispy gray hair that curled around her head wildly. She’d obviously tried to pull it back earlier, but fully half of it had already escaped. Her kind blue eyes were still shrewd as she asked pointedly, “Is there a reason you’re cutting in line?”
Jade nodded, answering with an innocent smile, “Yes, actually. I’m your new assistant.”