I hate Christmas music, can you tell yet?
—————
Leon furrowed his brow in confusion, looking back at Mr. Mudelin, and then at Káel. "Was he just nice to you? Cause if that's the case I need to be more sassy."
"Beats me." Káel grabbed the rock off the ground and rolled it in his palm.
"Can I help?" Phantom said, leaning in over Káel's shoulder, forcing him to flick at his face, pretending to move a loose strand of hair.
"This is good, if I keep doing everything perfectly I'll draw way too much unneeded attention to myself," Káel announced, acting as if he was talking to Leon.
"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure what you jus' did is below average, way below average," Leon replied with a grin. "Seriously man, I'm pretty sure a baby could do better."
"Not like it's gonna get any better in the time it takes for the teacher to come back," Káel grumbled, throwing the rock up and catching it.
"Yeah... But we are bein' collectively marked."
Káel was about to speak, but swallowed his words when he thought about how much of a jerk he'd be for not at least trying. But as he stared at the smooth grey rock he knew he couldn't move it, but if he accepted Phantoms assistance it'd go through the ceiling.
You don't have to use the given spell if it's not working.
He thought about those words for a bit, and despite the helpful loophole his teacher had given him, he honestly didn't know any other spells.
What was he getting at?
"You can use Insanctious," Phantom said, almost reading Káel's mind as he stared at the rock in hard concentration. Puff warbled in agreeance, and after realizing he was in public played it off with a small cough.
"Well, I'll try." Káel held out the rock and focused on it even harder than before. He muttered Insanctious under his breath so Leon couldn't make out the words, and lifted it up to the height he and Puff had achieved earlier, adding on an extra foot or two. "Your turn, maybe you'll do better."
Leon muttered the phrase, slowly lifting the rock, and as he did so Káel quietly told the rock to go up, and stopped it at a good height, which was about a meter from the ceiling.
"Woah. That was not me," Leon said, staring at the rocks new height with wide eyes.
"Well it wasn't me," Káel lied.
Leon smiled mischievously at their success. "Ah well, I ain't complainin'."
The boys awaited Mr. Mudelin's return, and Leon gave him a triumphant smirk when he approached them.
He looked at the rock, and then at the two boys. "I didn't expect that much progress. What happened?"
The two boys collectively shrugged, and Puff did everything he could to avoid any eye contact with the teacher.
Mr. Mudelin looked up at the rock calmly, lacking a single shred of confusion towards their sudden success as he scribbled in his book. "Well, good job."
Phantom watched Mr. Mudelin stride away. "He's not gonna grind you for information?"
Káel was confused too, Mr. Mudelin was being mild. Too mild.
YOU ARE READING
COBALT: The Red Phantom (Book One)
Fantasy[Featured: EDITOR'S CHOICE] Káel didn't think his life could get worse after being abducted by an alien posing as a Russian exchange student. Until that 'one day' turned into three months, and he was forced to get cozy on a post-war planet fresh out...
