Magelore Book 1: Smoke and Fire

Chapter 7

Akira

I headed for my next class. In the class before, I'd successfully made my own skin glow, without Raven this time. Though I did kind of miss that feeling I'd gotten when we'd learned how to create fire...
Ugh! Why does my brain do that? I shook my head, trying to get rid of the intrusive thoughts. Just go to class, Akira.
When I entered the room, only three other people were there. Raven, a girl who'd been in our last class (I thought her name was Kijo?), and the teacher. I did a double take when I saw him. That was Corryn, one of my father's teachers. He'd said Corryn was eccentric? I guess I was about to find out what he meant.
"Greetings, students," said Corryn as more students came in. "I'm your teacher, Corryn Blaze. You can call me Corryn. Or Blaze. Just... don't call me Mr. Blaze."
I glanced at Raven out of the corner of my eye. She raised an eyebrow when she saw Corryn. Maybe she knew him too?
"Today, students, we shall learn the art of self-defense. Magical self-defense, to be exact."
Ah. That's why she knew him. My mom's death... it had to do with magical self-defense. And Raven.
As the last few students trickled into the room and took their seats, Corryn came over to me.
"Hello, Ms. Burns. I believe your father told me he was my student?"
"Yes. And...you were my mother's teacher, too, right?"
"Ah, yes. A terrible accident, it was. I'm so sorry for your loss."
"Thanks, Corryn."
Corryn just laughed.
"Now, students, shall we begin? I believe you have already learned how to create fire?"
"Yes," said most of the class. The whole class, actually, except for one girl. Kijo. When Corryn asked the question, she blushed a deep red.
"Excellent," Corryn said. "Let us begin, then."
For the next hour, we went over how to make fire and, once we got the hang of it, we practiced some basic self-defense techniques using wooden dummies. I slipped up a bit, but Raven actually did well. She burned the entire dummy to the ground. By the end of class, I kind of wanted to ask for advice, but my dad's words rang in my head. Tell me if you see that girl again. So I should probably write to him...right?
But what if he makes me leave?
A week ago, that wouldn't have mattered to me. But now I was almost enjoying Magelore. Max was here, and I was learning magic.
And then there was Raven. Don't think about Raven.
"RAVEN!"
It was that kid again. Raven's brother, Oliver. He probably hated me.
He shoved open the door to our dorm, making an even louder noise than Raven had earlier. Must be a family thing.
"Raven, Raven–oh, it's you."
I winced. "Yeah, sorry about earlier–"
"What's wrong?!" Raven cut me off. "Oliver, what's going on?"
"It's crumbling, Raven, everything's breaking, help–"
"Oliver, chill out. What's going on?"
"Something went wrong with Taylor's earth magic. She can't stop it and now the floor is shaking!"
Sure enough, I felt a tremor run through the ground.
Raven stood up. "Shit," she swore. "Akira, where's Fiyero?"
"Right here."
"Bring him. And come with me."
I stood, not sure why I was following Raven's orders except that she seemed so sure of herself, while the rest of us weren't.
She led us through the halls towards the center for earth magic. In the center of it, a girl with short, chocolate-brown hair stood, her fists clenched and her eyes closed. Vines and other plants thrashed around her, and a spidery web of cracks spread from the floor beneath her feet.
I remembered something our teacher had taught us earlier. Some elves can use Dark magic to interfere with another elf's powers. He'd shown us a picture of an earth mage doing exactly what Taylor was.
Raven met my eyes and I saw the same realization in hers.
"Dark magic."
"What stops Dark magic?" Oliver demanded.
"Um..." I thought as hard as I could. "I know. Dragon fire can–"
"Purify things," Raven finished for me. "Fiyero's only a half dragon, but it's worth a shot." She turned to Fiyero. "Fiyero, listen to me. Go to that girl and do your firebreath thing."
"Don't hurt her, though," Oliver interjected nervously.
Fiyero spread his wings and leapt into the air. Another tremor shook the stone. Instinctively, I joined hands with Raven, who did the same with Oliver.
I could see Fiyero exhaling spurts of flame around the girl. Smoke filled the air. I heard coughing from Oliver.
And then everything...stopped.
The floor stopped moving. The smoke began to clear. Fiyero landed beside us, licking me and Raven to check if we were okay.
Oliver looked up. "Taylor!"
Taylor stood shakily. "What...what happened?"
We shared a glance.
"It's a long story."

That night, there was a celebratory We're-Not-All-Dead feast. People kept stopping by to congratulate me, Raven, Oliver, and Taylor on, well, not being dead. There was a nice storm going outside, and the rain drumming on the roof gave sort of a cozy vibe.
"Alright, feast's winding down," Ezzie called. "Start heading back to your dorms."
We stood, a few kids grumbling, and began the walk back to our dorms.
Back in the dorm, we each sat on our beds. I got out my sketchbook. Raven pulled something out of her bag. I gave it a closer look.
It was an instrument. A guitar. She began playing a complex melody, her fingers moving faster than I could follow.
She must've felt my eyes on her, because she glanced up. "Sorry. I'm bothering you, aren't I?"
I shrugged. "Uh...not really. You can keep going, I mean, I don't really care."
She tilted her head in surprise, but went back to her song. After a few more chords, she started to sing.
"I remember tears streaming down your face when I said I'll never let you go
When all those shadows almost killed your light.
I remember you said 'don't leave me here alone'
But all that's dead and gone and past tonight.

Just close your eyes
The sun is going down.
You'll be alright
No one can hurt you now.
Come morning light
You and I'll be safe and sound.

Don't you dare look out your window
Darling, everything's on fire.
The war outside our door keeps raging on.
Hold on to this lullaby
Even when the music's gone.

Just close your eyes
The sun is going down.
You'll be alright
No one can hurt you now.
Come morning light
You and I'll be safe and sound."
Her voice was beautiful, and combined with the guitar made an irresistible melody. She finished the song and glanced up at me.
For a second, there was that thing again. A connection. But then a rumble of thunder outside sounded. She jumped a little and put the guitar away. "We should get to bed. I'll get the torches."
A second later, the room was plunged into darkness.
To me, the storm was relaxing. But not long after the room went dark, a flash of lightning illuminated it again and for a second I saw Raven.
When the lightning flashed, she flinched. Just a little, but I could see it.
"Raven," I whispered. "What's wrong?"
"N-nothing. Go to sleep."
"Stop lying. Are you–" a smirk grew on my face. "Are you scared?"
"No!"
"You are. You're scared of the storm!"
"Shut up!"
I hesitated for a moment. I can't believe I'm doing this. "Get over here."
"...What?"
"You heard me."
There was a brief rustling noise and then Raven sat beside me on my bed.
I reached out and touched her hand. "It can't hurt you."
"I know."
I don't know how long we sat like that. After what felt like ours of Raven flinching whenever lightning flashed or thunder roared, we both drifted off to sleep.
When I woke up, the blankets were still warm from where she'd been.