For my part, I used my private study periods to visit Victoria at least once a day. She’d become my mentor, researching ways that I could better use my ability and guiding me through what she’d found. As it was a new ability, it came with a learning curve for both of us. At the moment, we were looking into the possibility that I might be able to Purge at will, to reduce the chance of a Purge sneaking up on me. The symptoms indicated when it was going to happen, of course, but we both thought it would make things easier if I could choose when I Purged. So far, however, our attempts had only ended in me being very sweaty and breathless, with a few burst blood vessels from straining too hard. She’d promised to research further, but we’d have to wait and see if it came to anything.
Aside from that, the general schedule included Hunting Technique with Tarif Hosseini, Engineering with Naomi Hiraku, Monster History with Ingram MacLoughlin and Nathan, and Monster Sciences and Anatomy with Lisbeth Oriel, a sweet, soft woman who hailed from Finland. That was our daily roster—and the latter three, I was happy to say, I was acing. In addition to our core classes, we had arena time twice a week with Captain Pain, otherwise known as Johannes Noah—a fierce and terrifying South African taskmaster who made non-sequitur jokes that everyone was always too afraid to laugh at. All except Genie, who was never afraid to laugh, and who’d become the firm favorite in all the athletic classes. And, of course, we had Martial Arts with Marcel to fill up those last three spots in the week.
“Bow,” Marcel instructed Genie. He put his gigantic sausage fingers together and leaned forward. Genie did the same. She was a foot shorter and a quarter of his width, but everyone in our class waited on tenterhooks, knowing this was going to be an interesting bout. The size difference didn’t matter one bit—she’d come close to flooring him a few times in the last three months, usually at a cost to her physical well-being. That somersault had been no joke. She’d soared over his head, misjudging her rotation and proximity to the wall, and crashed into the mirror, shattering it to pieces. Naturally, she’d brushed it off like she’d just grazed her knee, winning everyone’s awe for the thousandth time since defeating her first gargoyle in Hosseini’s class. But she’d felt that collision later. She’d splayed out on my bed, groaning with an icepack on the huge goose-egg that had risen on the back of her head, bemoaning her actions.
And that’s why I love you. I settled down beside Teddy, who gave me a firm pat on the back with his meaty paw.
“You did good, Pers,” he said with a smile. Most animosities had fizzled away after the revelation that I’d saved everyone from Fergus’s realm and that my pixies had been helpers, not kidnappers. After I’d watched their growth and progression with Genie, I hoped in the future they’d have the knowledge to stop themselves, and others, from acting the way they had.
Still, my classmates got a bit wary if I went pale or shaky, especially after I Purged a Wyvern at the May Day festival in the orchard. They’d heard a lot about my Purges over the last six months, but their fear was diminishing now that Victoria and I had our capturing synchronicity down to a fine art. I buzzed her when things got hairy, and she sent hunters to stand at my door, or wherever the Purge was taking place, in case I couldn’t deal with the monster myself. Nine times out of ten, I managed, using their momentary distraction of bowing or acknowledging me as their creator to launch a puzzle box. Sometimes, I used hex bags that Naomi had taught me how to craft, with Genie or a classmate adding a spark of Chaos to it to charge it up if the distraction didn’t work. A big gold star to shove in O’Halloran’s face, though he was still resolute about not letting me return to the SDC. But it wasn’t as though we’d been given a summer break, so I didn’t feel like I was missing out. My parents had been suitably disappointed that I wouldn’t be visiting, though. Video calls just didn’t cut the mustard as far as they were concerned, and it wasn’t often that they could get away for a visit.
Still, we’re halfway through our first year already… Putting it like that was bizarre. It felt like yesterday that Genie and I had arrived and the Door fiasco had gone down. Apparently, when nothing was threatening the peace and we only had our studies to focus on, time slipped through my fingers like sand. Well, I suppose it hadn’t been entirely peaceful; Leviathan still visited my thoughts from time to time, mostly during the private tirades of frustration I launched at my bathroom mirror after a particularly brutal arena session, or during moments of deep exhaustion. Anytime I was at my most vulnerable, it seemed—like he had a radar for my gloom. I might not have minded if he had more interesting things to say, but he was usually interrupting the hours of personal study that I had to do after classes ended, and he brought nothing of value to the conversation. He chitchatted, mostly one-sidedly, about the glory of Purging and how magnificent I’d look by his side, as his queen. That last bit tended to cut the conversation off sharp, every damn time.
My attention was snapped up again by Genie, in the center of the dojo floor. She darted forward like a furious honey badger, hands up and ready to boogie. This was the only athletic class that didn’t allow magic, but Genie was like a fighting chameleon, able to adapt to any and all circumstances and surroundings. On the other side of the training room, Marcel took a few casual steps toward his swift opponent. The sensei and the grasshopper, though I had no idea how this was going to end.
“Ah, come on, I know you can move faster than that! Don’t give me this shuffling old bear trick!” Genie shouted, peacocking a little. She wasn’t a show-off, but she was a bit of a performer. Now that our classmates had our backs and we had theirs, the Institute definitely felt more like home. Mom was part thrilled, part miffed by that revelation, but I’d come to learn that moms always had a gear to grind, even when things were going well. Or maybe she just missed me as intensely as I missed her.
Marcel snickered. “You fight with your hands, Genie, not your gob.”
Genie ignored this jibe and dropped to her knees, skidding right between Marcel’s legs. I could’ve sworn I saw a flicker of confusion on the scholar’s face as he processed what had happened. Genie jumped up on the other side and drove a kick into the back of Marcel’s knee, but his leg stayed firmly rooted, like the oak trunk it imitated. “I swear, you’ve had your bones replaced with metal,” she said, ducking away from his arm as it swung back to pull her into that deadly headlock.
“Aye, and you grease yourself up before you come to my classes. Slippery as a jellied eel!” Marcel leapt into a breathtaking swan dive, curving his head up at the last moment before impact with the spring floor, so his shoulders took the hit. As the rest of his body followed through the roll, he popped up to his feet, all in one fluid motion. My Uncle Finch, with his troubling enthusiasm for that ancient film Flashdance, would’ve been whooping and hollering right about now.
“It wouldn’t be any fun if you could catch me,” Genie shot back, pacing in front of her assailant.
Colette exhaled a tense breath in the brief pause. “Yeesh, that was close. When he gets you in that headlock, it’s all over.” She rubbed the crimson shadow on her throat, evidence of her turn with the scholar. Marcel’s headlocks were infamous, and though he’d taught us how to use them, they were never as precise or deadly as his.