Wish upon the Stars chapter 39

The next day found me well rested and eager to check out the Academy.  I'd stayed up pretty later actually, watching all the footage I could  find from the various competitions. Luckily Vitality helped offset the  tiredness from lack of sleep and I had plenty. I'd caught maybe three  hours but I felt rested and ready to start my day. I probably could have  just gone without at this point, but I LIKED sleeping, so I wasn't  going to get into that habit. I was going to live a long time most  likely, I had the hours to spare to enjoy a nice soft bed.

I  headed out into the general quarters of the VIP residence to get  something to eat, or barring that possibly cook something given my  cooking skill. I couldn't do much with Ascendant food at my level, but I  could make a tasty breakfast, and I still had another hour or so before  we needed to leave. I'd set my alarm early just in case. I threw on  some sweats and a t-shirt from the one small bag I'd brought with me,  leaving my costume laid out on my bed and ready to change into once I  finished eating.

The  common area was...kind of empty. I'd been expecting it to be busy. I  saw a few people I didn't know, a tall blonde man with a crew cut and a  tattoo of an anchor on one bicep, a tiny redhead with hazel eyes and an  infectious smile teasing a dark skinned woman with dreadlocks, and a  short man with Asian features and kind brown eyes talking animatedly to a  pair of blonde blue eyed twins, one male and one female but still  strikingly similar. It was homey, everyone seemed relaxed and at ease  around each other and I enjoyed the atmosphere.

I  noted one ring of couches next to a table with a small child at it, and  made my way over to find Jessie fussing over a little boy as a gorgeous  dark haired woman with a ponytail smiled happily at them. From context  it was easy to tell this was Shadowthorn, or rather, Annie. Her tiny,  athletic form was identical to the masked heroine. Despite having the  same hair and eye color, she and Callie were markedly different in terms  of facial features, though both beautiful.

Callie  had a long patrician nose, kind of regal, and her eyes were wide with  thick lashes. Annie looked less like a supermodel and more like the girl  next door. Cute button nose, full lips, kind smile. I could see why  Callie would have gravitated to her as a mentor. Aside from obviously  being powerful she looked like a friendly outgoing person. There was  something in her eyes that made her seem like someone you could trust.  She smiled widely when I came over, waving to me in greeting. "Shane!  It's so nice to finally meet you face to face, as it were. I'm Annie, by  the way."

I  was...torn. She seemed so nice, and I was pretty sure that she genuinely  wanted to be friends, even if I was also sure it was a way to get to  Callie. But I didn't feel comfortable getting close to her when Callie  was still so angry, since it would alienate my friend. I just gave a  polite smile and tried to keep things neutral. "You too. I was about to  make breakfast, do you guys want anything?" It felt shitty to shut  someone down when they were trying to be nice, but Callie really needed  someone on her side.

Jessie  was clearly unconcerned about the tension, knowing her this was her  attempt to mediate by bridging the gap between them, but I didn't really  have that luxury. Annie, for her part just kind of...wilted a little.  She knew why I wasn't willing to be friends and it bummed her out, but  she got it. She gave me a small nod, still smiling, but a sadder one  than she'd had a moment ago, and I felt even worse. I added a punch in  the dick to the mental list of horrible things I was going to do to  Callie's dad for causing all of this nonsense when I was strong enough.

Still,  she got her cheer back pretty quickly. "That sound great! Eric is  pretty hungry, and I'm sure you're a great cook. I hear you have the  cooking skill, and even at Minor that's pretty impressive. We're pretty  easy about what we eat, so just make whatever and we'll appreciate it!"  Her forced enthusiasm was, if anything, even sadder than the smile had  been, but I just chose to maintain my polite smile as I turned to Jessie  and Eric. The little boy was enthusiastically showing Jessie a small  toy truck he had, and the blonde was gleefully asking questions about  it.

It was  kind of adorable to watch. I clapped my hands together and then rubbed  my palms, getting some blood flowing in my extremities. "Ok then, I  think I'm in a chocolate chip pancake mood. Maybe with some bacon if  they have it." Judging by the very large and well outfitted kitchen I  was betting they were pretty stocked up, so I headed over to start  digging out ingredients. I wanted to test out my cooking skill a bit,  and while I knew it was nowhere near Benny's level it should be plenty  delicious.

There  was a materializer, but honestly even the lowest level Minor Cooking  Mastery made better quality food. I took out some eggs and flour and  grabbed my secret ingredient. Cake mix, which when mixed into the  pancakes made a sweet and delicious base that complimented the chocolate  chips perfectly.  I also cooked the bacon first so I could use the  grease to prevent sticking when I made the pancakes as opposed to butter  or oil, which would tie the meal together better. It smelled pretty  fantastic.

I  decided to make eggs to go with it, specifically scrambled eggs with  green peppers, ham, and a bit of goat cheese and fennel. The meal was so  sweet and fatty I wanted to add some healthier fare to start the day  off since I was feeding a small child. Plus goat cheese tasted fantastic  on almost everything. The whole thing took me like thirty minutes,  since there was a huge stove where I could cook multiple dishes at the  same time, allowing me to make the eggs and the pancakes at the same  time. I used canola oil to grease the pan for the eggs, sticking to my  healthier theme there.

I  carried the food over to a nearby table, not the one they were sitting  at since that was a coffee table next to a couch and not a table for  dining. When I got there I saw that the smell had clearly drawn some  more diners. Benny had woken up and was sitting at the table waiting to  eat, and Callie was off to one side sitting at the counter, obviously  close enough to be in position to get food but far enough to avoid  Annie. I put down the huge plate of pancakes and the giant bowl of eggs  next to a platter of bacon on paper towels and then made Callie a plate  after I made my own, bringing it over to eat with her.

She  smiled dazzlingly as she took a deep breath of the food. "Sweet  Revenant that smells good. I didn't know you could cook." She took a  bite of the pancakes and let out a long moan. "And pretty damn well  too." She shot me a wink. "You're not allowed to cook for any girls at  the academy. I don't want to have to fight for food rights." I flushed  at that. I knew Benny's cooking was better, but I didn't want to tell  her that. I liked when she looked at me like that. I made a mental note  to get as many instances of my cooking Skill as possible to try to get  to Lesser.

Callie  looked good this morning, though she nearly always did. She was dressed  in yoga pants and a sports bra with her hair in a ponytail and had  clearly been out jogging or something, though I had no clue where. She  wasn't sweaty but she was...glistening was I think the word people used  to make someone working up a sweat sound fancy. Except in Callie's case  it was completely accurate. I focused on my food, which luckily made two  of us because she seemed to love her breakfast.

I  cleared my throat, trying to shock myself out of the slight awkwardness  I was feeling. We'd had a moment back in the room in the Velan branch  before Jessie interrupted us, and we hadn't really been alone since  then. I didn't want to bring it up in case I was reading too much into  it, but I was feeling a little off balance. So I focused on the obvious  subject. "So the big Academy visit is today. Have you ever been? I know  you had been here before as a kid but I wasn't sure how much of the city  you saw."

She  chuckled, talking around a mouthful of food. "Not much, pretty much  just here and a few places nearby. I've never seen the Academy before.  I'm really looking forward to it though, the place is supposed to be  amazing. The facilities house something like a million ascendants at any  given time. Only a fraction of the one billion Ascendant population of  the city, but still a ton of people."

That  really was a ton of people. I tried to imagine what a million  Ascendants would even look like. It was hard to picture. I had to ask  though. "Are all million of them G rank and under twenty? Because even  one percent of Ascendants in the city meeting that criteria is honestly  nuts." Unless it was just way easier to rank up here. Which to be fair  it might be given the absurd number of people, though that could just as  easily make it harder, since there were so many other Ascendants to  pull focus.

She  shook her head. "No. Locals have less strict criteria to get in. It's  still not exactly easy, under twenty and H rank as well as a sponsor,  but it's much easier than getting admitted as an out of towner. There  are a pretty decent chunk of the school at G rank at this point though.  It gets easier to accrue points once you're in so most of the people  there with any real power accrue the needed rep pretty fast. You won't  be the only H ranker there though, far from it."

That  actually worked out well for me since it provided an excuse for the  quick progress I was going to make to G rank after school started. I  just had to climb up the rankings early and my insane progress speed  would be at least partly explained away. I couldn't help but anticipate  the challenge, it seemed like it was going to be fun. Callie finished  eating and I did the same and we both stood up. She pulled me into a  hug. "Thanks for breakfast, I'm going to go get ready, meet you back  here in a bit."

I  froze up as she hugged me for a second but then hugged her back before  she scampered off to go shower and get her costume on. My room had an  attached bathroom so I went ahead and showered myself before slipping  into my costume. Once I was done I headed back out to the common area to  meet up with the others, who were all in their costumes. Except Benny  of course, who apparently wasn't allowed on campus. I tried to argue  that one, but he just waved me off, saying he could watch Eric and I  could tell him about it when I got back. I was a bit hesitant but he  gave me a reassuring smile that put my mind at ease. With that out of  the way there was no more reason to stay, so we set off for the Academy.