Kane's Fate 2 Chapter 3

What the hell?

Why was a kid who was kicked out of another academy in this special class with me? And why did he need to learn about the Atroba?

Dozens of questions swirled through my head, but most of them circled around the same thing.

What the fuck was he doing here?

I kept my mouth shut as I made my way to the table and sat down across from Dax. I wondered if this was the reason Canmore had wanted me to go talk to him earlier today. She obviously knew she’d invited both of us to her class, but she hadn’t given me any warning that I wouldn’t be her only student.

I felt like my friends who’d already been researching the Atroba and the prophecy with me had more reason to be here than this guy, but maybe the dean knew something I didn’t.

Like why he got kicked out of Imperium.

I was just as curious about that as I was about him being in my class right now, but I held all my questions at bay while Dean Canmore made her way to the whiteboard in front of our table and began to write.

ATROBA

Then she set the marker down and turned to look at us with amusement in her eyes. She knew we were both uncomfortable, and she was getting a kick out of it.

“You’re both here for different reasons,” Canmore declared as she looked back and forth between us. “But you’ll be doing the same thing. We’re going to learn about the Atroba, and we’re going to work on duels and self-defense. Are there any questions?”

I raised my hand, and she nodded to me.

“What are his reasons?” I wondered. “I know why I’m here.”

“Well, I don’t know why you’re here,” Dax said as he threw a frown in my direction.

“It’s not necessary to dive into your individual reasons at this time,” the dean interrupted as our tempers flared. “I just need you both to trust me, and we’ll be fine.”

“I can do that,” I said without looking at Dax.

He stayed silent, and the dean turned back toward the whiteboard.

“Now, who can tell me what the name of this group means?” she asked.

“Trouble,” I replied with a half-smile.

“It does,” she said and smiled back over her shoulder. “But the name itself is derived from the Latin word atrum, which means dark.”

“Are they making sure everyone knows they’re evil?” I smirked. “Who names their club after darkness?”

“Philo thought it was ironic,” Canmore explained. “Meloria is named from the Latin phrase ‘ad meliora,’ which means ‘towards better things.’ The founders wanted students to reach for the purest and lightest of power in order to make the world a better place. Atroba uses darkness to try to overpower the light and get rid of the magical government.”

“And Meloria has a close relationship with the Premier,” I mused. “Maybe that’s why he hates it so much. If he’s an anarchist, he hates all of the government and anyone who supports it.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” she said with a nod. “It would make sense with his hatred for anyone with authority. He made sure to send me a letter when I accepted my role as Dean of Meloria so he could tell me how disgusted he was with my part in the tyrannical ways of the Premier.”

“So, he hates the government, the Premier, you, and this school,” Dax said as he pursed his lips together. “Sounds like a great guy for us to fight.”

“Sounds like someone we need to take down,” I growled.

“Which is why I wanted both of you here,” Canmore said as she looked between the two of us. “Both of you have your strengths, and you can help each other take out this threat when it arrives. We don’t know when or where he’ll show up, but we know he’s coming. He said so himself, and he didn’t say it lightly.”

“He has way more skill than I do,” Dax pointed out. “Sure, we’re both charmers, but he’s obviously been at it for a while, and I’m barely a first-year.”

“But you’re talented beyond your age, much like Kane,” the dean said. “And you’ll be able to complement each other well. You’ll learn more as we practice our duels and self-defense. As long as you work together, we can take down Philo. For now, we have to be prepared for whatever he throws our way, and to do that, we must learn about the Atroba and what Philo has on his side.”

“Well, he bragged that his club is bigger than you think,” I said with a shrug. “How big did you think it was?”

“I believe they have grown to at least two or three hundred from the dozens he had a few years ago,” Canmore said, “but the numbers don’t matter as much as he thinks they do. Either way, those on the side of the Premier will always outnumber the Atroba, but Philo is more of a creative thinker. He’ll have a plan.”

“A plan involving the asteroids?” I asked.

“What the hell?” Dax muttered as his eyes jumped from me to the dean and back again. “I didn’t know I was signing on for some sci-fi shit. What asteroids?”

“I think they’re part of the prophecy,” Canmore explained. “I don’t think Philo performed some spell to bring the asteroids exactly. I think he activated the prophecy. From what I can tell in the pictures, the symbols match the descriptions I’ve read from three hundred years ago, when the first asteroids came with the plague.”

“Does that mean we have a plague happening soon?” Dax groaned and slumped down in his chair. “This is getting worse and worse.”

“I’m not sure,” the dean replied and looked down at her hands. “It’s a possibility. We’ve already had the water turn to blood, so the plague is certainly on my list of concerns.”

Last semester, the water in the quad fountain turned to blood, but the eeriest part was the phrase one of the professors had read aloud before they sent all the students away.

Sanguis inimicus.

Blood of my enemy.

When the fountain first turned, it was like every faculty member told us to shut up and get out of the way while they didn’t do a damn thing but look just as terrified as we felt. At least now, I had the dean to help guide me in the direction of a solution to our current problem, even if she didn’t have the solution yet either.

Still, I wasn’t sure whose blood was in the fountain or how to figure it out. The fountain was pristine the next time I saw it, and I assumed a charmer had been able to clean out every red drop while we were sent back to our dorms.

“Did you ever find out whose blood it was?” I asked after a moment.

“You knew it was a person’s blood?” Canmore looked at me with apparent surprise. “How?”

“Blood of my enemy,” I said with a shrug. “We figured it had to belong to someone. So, who?”

“We still aren’t sure,” she said and frowned. “It’s not as simple as it looks on CSI to figure it out.”

“Lame,” Dax muttered. “You should just charm it to tell you.”

“The… blood?” I shivered. “You can do that?”

“And this is why I brought Dax in,” Canmore chuckled. “None of our seasoned professors thought of that. We’ll try it immediately. For now, you two need to get to dinner. We’ve been here nearly two hours.”

“No shit?” I glanced at my phone and confirmed the time. “No wonder I’m starving. Same time tomorrow?”

“Yes, this will take precedence over any other class or activity.” The dean nodded. “I want us to all be familiar with every piece of the Atroba by the time Philo does whatever he’s planning to do. You’ll each start with this roll list, your first homework assignment.”

She handed each of us a sheet of paper with dozens of names on the front and back side of the page, and we tucked them into our notebooks.

“Yes, ma’am,” I said with a nod, and then I glanced over at Dax. “Come on, we can walk down to the cafeteria together.”

Dax couldn’t seem to come up with a reason not to, and he finally sighed and threw his bag over his shoulder as he stood up.

I grabbed my backpack and waved goodbye to the dean before we headed out of her office and into the loud hallway of the Medius. The cafeteria in the atrium below us was already filled with conversation and laughter as we made our way to the elevator and down to the first floor.

“Kane!” Indira called out and waved her hand once I stepped into the cafeteria. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you. Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

I pulled it back out of my pocket, and we both watched as text after text dinged with the device in my hand. It seemed the dean had made sure nothing would interrupt our class.

“I was in class with Canmore and Dax.” I jabbed my thumb over my shoulder toward my classmate. “Right?”

I turned to see Dax had disappeared, and I searched the cafeteria to find him in line for food. He was either really hungry or had no desire to talk to my friends, and I had a feeling it was the latter.

“Well, we got you a tray,” Indira continued as though me pointing to blank space was nothing new. “Are you ready to eat?”

“Starved,” I confirmed and followed her to the table.

Auden and Charlotte were already there, and Demi and Madison sat on the other side engrossed in their phones. I sat down and dug into the large plate of spaghetti and meatballs as Indira updated the other two on where I’d been.

“What was the class like?” Auden asked as he eagerly leaned forward. “Did she tell you anything good?”

“Yeah, it was interesting,” I replied after I swallowed a meatball. “She said they don’t know whose blood was in the fountain, but Dax gave her an idea about how to find out.”

“Wait, that Dax guy is in your Atroba class?” Charlotte’s pale green eyes were round with surprise. “Why?”

“The usual mysterious answers,” I chuckled. “We have complementing skills, he’s more than meets the eye, we have our own strengths, stuff like that. I guess he did come up with a good solution to the blood question, but I’m not sure what else he can do. He doesn’t even know about the asteroids.”

“Oh!” Auden gasped. “That reminds me--”

“Kaaaaane!” a high-pitched voice sang out my name from behind me.

I turned around to see a blonde bombshell with skin-tight red workout pants under a cropped sweatshirt. Her flat abs were a golden color, and her bright blue eyes reminded me of sapphires. Her hair was curled into waves that flowed down past her shoulders, and she batted her thick eyelashes at me as she held out her hand.

“I’m sorry, have we met?” I took her hand as I turned around to greet the beautiful stranger.

“Not exactly,” she giggled. “I’m Heaven. It’s nice to meet you officially.”

“Ditto,” I said with a smile. “What can I do for you, Heaven?”

“Weeeeell.” She dragged her tongue across her red lips and puckered them out for a moment. “For now, I’m just wondering who you’re taking to the formal.”

“Indira and Charlotte,” I replied as I eyed her curvy figure.

“Two?” She raised an eyebrow as she glanced at my girlfriends. “How about a third?”

“I… I can keep my options open.” I glanced at Indira and Charlotte, and they each gave me slight smiles.

“As you should.” Heaven winked and waved at the other two girls. “I’m a hell of a good time. Let me know.”

She handed me a piece of paper with her phone number on it and walked away with her hips swaying from side to side. I tucked her number into my pocket and sat back down with a grin.

“Interesting,” I laughed. “I’ve never seen her before.”

“She’s a third-year seer.” Indira arched an eyebrow with amusement. “She’s pretty aggressive…”

“Yeah,” I snickered.

“She’s super hot,” Charlotte whispered as she glanced at Heaven’s tight backside. What are you going to do?”

“I’m undecided.” I shrugged. “Do you really want me to get more dates to this thing?”

“If you want them,” Charlotte said with a smile. “We don’t mind at all. We know you love us, and you have plenty of love to go around. It’s your call.”

“Exactly,” Indira agreed and reached across me to squeeze Charlotte’s hand.

“I’ll think about it,” I murmured and turned back to Auden. “Now, what were you saying about the asteroids?”

“Oh, shit, yeah!” Auden leaned in to lower his voice. “I found the seventh one! It’s off the coast of Oregon, maybe a hundred miles from here.”

“That’s less than a day’s drive,” I said as I did the mental math. “We should go check it out.”

“I don’t know.” Charlotte frowned. “That could be dangerous. What if they were designed to be traps?”

“Then we just have to be careful,” I assured her. “Auden and I can take care of ourselves. You two can stay here.”

“I don’t like that idea either,” Indira cut in with a pout. “I’d rather go with you. Besides, I’m the only one here who’s been through all the defense classes. I should go.”

“And she can fly,” Auden pointed out.

“Well, she can’t fly all of us,” I chuckled. “We just need--”

“Attention, Meloria students!” Dean Canmore stood at the front of the cafeteria and held her hands up for silence. “Many of you already know about the end of the year formal we’re hosting in honor of our graduating third-years.”

A small round of applause filled the room until Canmore raised her hands again.

“What most of you don’t know is this year, we’re combining our formal with Imperium Academy,” she continued.

The silence that followed was deafening until the dean cleared her throat and kept forging on.

“I know this is unexpected for many of you,” she said with a half-hearted smile. “And it will be the first time we’re bringing the two schools together in a friendly manner since we stopped doing the combined Bellator.”

“Yeah, ‘cause they were a bunch of cheaters!” a third-year guy yelled.

“Yeah, cheaters!” a few others agreed as ripples of dissent whispered through the crowd.

“Now, we never proved that,” Canmore chided. “Either way, the decision has been made, and--”

“We don’t want them there!” another third-year interrupted as he rose to his feet. “None of us do!”

He was a naturalist, but I only knew it because fire burned at the tips of his ears as he spoke. His anger seemed to be manifesting in an obvious way, and his fists clenched at his sides as he glared at the dean.

“Mr. Chen, I’d advise you to have a seat and extinguish your flames,” Canmore said in a low voice. “I have no tolerance for inappropriate magic, and your outburst may certainly qualify.”

Chen glared at her for a few more seconds before he sat in his seat with a huff and put out the fire on his ears.

“Why are we combining?” one of the projector girls asked with a frown. “I don’t understand why we want to have our dance with our biggest rival school.”

“That’s a fine question,” Canmore said, and she folded her hands in front of her as she looked out over the crowd. “We want to create a less… hostile relationship with our fellow magic schools, and Imperium is the only other one on this continent. In the future, we hope to invite other schools from around the world, but for now, we’re starting small.”

“What if they try another prank?” Chen asked as he rose to his feet again, sans fiery ears. “Last time they were here, they set the gazebo on fire.”

A few gasps rippled through the crowd, and I felt a twinge of concern at the thought of the rival students causing harm to our campus. I hadn’t been at Meloria long, but it had become a second home. I didn’t like the idea of some other group of kids coming in here and destroying any part of it, especially under the guise of calling it a prank. Destruction didn’t feel very prank-ish to me.

“Now, we’ve already established a few rules to discourage any kind of pranking,” the dean assured everyone. “The first rule will be no magic usage outside of class while the Imperium students are on campus.”

Another rush of frustration went through the students, and a few of them began to whisper angrily about not getting to use their magic, but my mind had already gone to possibilities of magic being used against us. If the Imperium students were as hateful and angry as the older students seemed to believe they were, I had no false hope they wouldn’t use their magic on us if they felt like it.

“What if we have to defend ourselves?” I stood up as I asked my question, and the room quieted to a lull while everyone turned to look at me. “If they use magic against us, what are we supposed to do?”

“Mr. Turner, I would never ask you to become a victim,” Canmore replied firmly. “If someone has set out to harm you, I have no problem with your magic being used to defend yourself. Thank you for asking a helpful question.”

I nodded and sat back down before the dean continued to explain how the Imperium students would be arriving an hour before the dance to help set up any last-minute decorations, which was followed by groans from the decorating committee. After a few more general questions, she dismissed us back to our dorms, and most of the students began to file out of the cafeteria.

I glanced over and noticed Dax had been silent for the entire discussion about his former classmates joining us at the dance. I wondered how he felt about being around them, and I strode over to sit next to him.

“How’s it going?” I asked casually.

“Fine.” Dax shrugged and didn’t meet my eyes as waves of students stared at us while they walked out of the Medius.

“Any thoughts about the formal?” I pressed. “Your old classmates? Anything?”

“Nope,” he said as he stared off into space.

“Anyone I need to watch out for?” I tried again.

“Probably.” Dax looked down at his half-eaten tray of food and then sighed. “Most likely.”

I started to ask what he meant by that when he grabbed his tray, stood up, and walked over to dump it. Then he joined the mass exodus and left me at his table alone.

“Don’t take it personally.” I turned to see Raven, the petite charmer I’d dueled, standing next to me with a dimpled smile. “He doesn’t talk much.”

“I got that,” I muttered as she sat down next to me. “Why not?”

“Probably because he’s an asshole.” Raven shrugged and looked down at her hands in her lap.

“You have a way with words,” I snickered.

“Hey, everyone can be a dick,” she said. “He hasn’t made many friends in the dorm either. I’m joking a bit about him being an asshole. He’s just super edge lord emo dude.”

“Well, he hasn’t been here long,” I said. “Maybe he’s just shy.”

“Oh, he is,” she chuckled and then cleared her throat. “I mean, he takes a while to open up, you know? Maybe he’ll talk when he’s ready. Or not. Whatever.”

I cocked my head to the side as I tried to read Raven’s face. It seemed like she knew more about Dax than she was letting on, but I couldn’t figure out why she would be so mysterious about it. Did she not want to be linked to the new kid at school because he was odd?

Or was there some other reason?

“Has he talked to you?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she answered and finally looked up at me. “He just doesn’t talk much. He doesn’t like to.”

“He stayed pretty quiet in the special class we’re in together,” I said as I tried to draw out more info. “Do you know why he’s in it?”

Raven’s blue eyes widened in surprise. “I didn’t know he was in a special class with you.”

“Yeah, I can’t talk much about it, so maybe that’s why he hasn’t told you,” I said. “But I’m not sure what brought him into it.”

“Me either.” She shrugged and looked away again, and then she began to play with a strand of her black hair. “Maybe he’ll tell you sometime. He takes a long time to open up to people. They say someone who’s been hurt too many times builds a wall to protect themselves.”

“Hurt by what?” I wondered with a frown.

“He should, uh, really be the one to talk to you about himself,” Raven stammered as she fidgeted. “I shouldn’t have said anything. I need to go.”

Then she scooted out of the seat and squeezed my shoulder before she hurried out of the nearly empty cafeteria.

I turned around to see only Auden, Charlotte, and Indira were left at our table, and they waited with curious expressions for me to come back.

I walked over to them and sat down with a grunt. “That wasn’t as helpful as I’d hoped.”

“He didn’t talk to you?” Indira asked.

“Not really, but Raven knows more about him than she’s admitting,” I said. “I just don’t know why she won’t tell me about Dax. It’s pretty clear she knows him well.”

“Maybe she has a crush and doesn’t want to say it,” Auden suggested.

“Nah, she’s too flirty with me to be crushing on someone else,” I replied with a shrug. “I think there’s something else there. I’m not sure what it is, but I’ll find out.”

“What are you going to do?” Charlotte asked with amusement in her pale green eyes. “Interrogate her?”

“Yeah, maybe one of us should try,” Indira agreed. “Girls talk to girls. She might give something away without even knowing it. Just let us have some girl talk.”

“You think you can figure out what she knows about Dax?” I asked with an arched eyebrow.

“I’m sure we can,” Charlotte said. “I’ll talk to Raven in the morning at breakfast. I have too much homework to do tonight.”

“Me, too,” Indira groaned as she dropped her head back. “Pearson gave the third-years a huge essay, and I have some papers to grade from the second-year class.”

“I’m glad I’m not the only one with a mountain of work to do,” Auden muttered and played with one of his piercings. “I swear Ms. Smith hates me sometimes. We have to draw our mindscape for the duels. I guess we’re going to start practicing them tomorrow.”

“Shit, she didn’t make us do that,” I said with a frown. “At least, I don’t think she did. I only have homework from Canmore’s class.”

“Her’s is the most important anyway,” Indira pointed out. “You should do whatever she asked you to do.”

I thought about the list of names tucked away in my backpack and decided she was right. Even if it wasn’t the most important assignment --and I was pretty sure it was-- I wanted to do it. I had to know more about the Atroba before Philo brought his minions to campus or whatever it was he was planning, and I still felt like I barely knew anything.

We walked out of the Medius, and I kissed each of my women goodnight before they headed to their respective dorms. Then Auden and I bumped fists, and he followed Charlotte toward the pushers’ building while I walked to the shifter dorm. Even though Indira was also a shifter, she stayed in the teacher and assistant building since she was the TA for Pearson’s class, so I made the trek alone.

The common room was empty when I arrived, but I could hear Demi and Madison giggling in Demi’s room as I headed down the hallway to my own. Seth’s door was still open, and the room was still empty, but I wasn’t worried about the bastard or his special assignment.

I closed my door behind me and thumbed the lock. If Seth decided to return in the middle of my homework, I didn’t need him barging in here like he had a few weeks ago and interrupting my work. Plus, I didn’t really want him creeping over my shoulder while I looked into the Atroba.

For all I knew, he was part of Philo’s little club.

After I’d swapped my jeans for sweats, I sat down on my bed and laid the list out in front of me. I was surprised to see the font was small enough to fit dozens of names on the paper, though it wasn’t quite the several hundred Canmore had mentioned, so these names had to only be the confirmed members of the Atroba.

Philo Geralds

Well, yeah, I knew that one.

I skimmed through the other names, and my eyes slowly widened.

Some of the last names sounded familiar.

They were the same as some of the students on the Meloria campus.

My gut twisted into knots as I pulled out my notebook and began to make a list of matching names. I wasn’t sure what it meant yet, but I had a feeling it would be important to know who was related to the Atroba in some way.

My adrenaline slipped away as exhaustion took over. I’d written at least twelve names before the pencil slipped out of my hand, and I leaned back against my pillow to rest for a moment.

Suddenly, I was jolted awake.

Someone was pounding on the door to the dorm, and the sound thundered through the halls like a gunshot.