“Is there a problem now?” I asked the girls, stamping down, with all of my will, the panic that was threatening to rise to the surface at the prospect of me being bullied in the store room.
I could see one of the girls, Nina, bring out her phone from the slice in her jacket. They were going to video whatever was going to transpire here, whatever they were about to do.
For a full minute, I regretted stopping here to eavesdrop. But then, would I have escaped this? They would have still waited for me.
It was better that I had even eavesdropped. That way, I did have some hold over them. But then, I knew that I couldn’t use it now.
It would be forcibly taken away, and my leverage would be gone before it could even be used.
No, I couldn’t do that. But then, what do I do? How do I get free from this entanglement? I wondered, wishing almost frantically, that Raul would come here, to perhaps take something or anything at all. I wished that would come to check on me, and taunt me.
During our working together, he had found any and every opportunity to taunt me, and I had returned them back.
If I didn’t know better, I would think the prince was even enjoying it, the back-and-forth taunts. Could he come now to continue from where he had stopped?
I almost laughed out bitterly at myself, at my pathetic thoughts.
Depending on the enemy now for survival? I mused.
No, something else must be done.
I watched, relegating myself in a calm mode. I was not sure how I had done that, but I had just taken a deep breath and then stilled my senses, stilled my fear, stilled the apprehension and panic that was rising and was beginning to reflect on my hands.
They were shaking now, barely noticeable but I could feel them.
There must be something within me. I chanted mentally, remembering Laura’s medical diagnosis-of the magic gene in me, remembering the magic I had expended last night.
It had been almost nothing but it had told me that I had something in me, that I wasn’t utterly useless as a person in supernatural communities.
There must be something in me. I chanted continuously, praying to whatever god over me that had saved me from Adam and his bullies, to continue the good work, as I watched Chyra approach me.
There was a notable smirk on her lips, and already her hand was lifted up, a swirl of white light on it. Magic.
I watched as Nina lifted the phone, as Gena did the same, chuckling at intervals, daring me with their eyes to prove them wrong, to prove that I wasn’t the magicless fellow who had just been putting airs in the cafeteria.
My eyes wandered to Gabriella. She was watching with something akin to curiosity.
I knew then that if I failed this test-because that’s what it was-then I had failed the girl, and Levina too, and the others who were being bullied without the principal’s knowledge.
I would have failed myself, and that couldn’t happen. I couldn’t let that happen.
I fisted my hands, and kept on willing for something, for the power within me to activate.
“Will my question go unanswered, Chyra?” I asked, walking on a thin line of false bravado.
Chyra chuckled, and then turned to her friends. “I hope this is being recorded. Rachel might give me that which I seek for if this goes according to plan. And you, why aren’t you videoing?”
Gabriella shifted on her feet under the glare of the three girls, gave me a pitiful look that spoke of an apology, before bringing out her phone.
When she raised it up, when Nina confirmed that the girl was making the video too, Chyra returned her attention to me.
“You know what, Dora; if you are able to beat me alone, then you can walk past the door. The others wouldn’t touch you. I promise.” She said this with a gloating smirk, like she knew that I wouldn’t do anything.
And when she came to stand in front of me, when she poked my forehead once and twice, and I did nothing apart from clutching my bag’s strap tighter, she pushed me with a force that I knew had been fueled by magic, because I flew-that would be the right word.
I flew and hit my back on the wall.
There wasn’t a crack, and I wondered why.
Was my back made of iron, or was the wall not strong, probably made flesh by magic?
Yet, there was a searing pain that had me crying out, and almost whimpering.
No, I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t cry here. I forced myself, amidst the pain, to bunch on my knee first, and then to stand.
No. There should have been a crack. I could see that in their eyes now, when I stood up to my feet. I let my bag stay on the ground. This might go on for a long time.
“What was that for, Chyra? I don’t want trouble.”
Chyra snickered. “Well, that’s because we know you have no magic. You are powerless. You idiot!”
She stepped toward me laughing, but this time around, the magic was swirling as a ball in her hand.
“Don’t worry about this mon ami. It won’t kill you. It will just render you unconscious for some time.”
Her friends joined in the laughter, and when they started mentioning the replies they were getting, I knew that they had gone live, that everyone in the community, or rather every student in the school site, was possibly watching me.
And that if Raul even came in here, that it wouldn’t do anything to sabotage my identity. I would be forever known as the weak. I would forever be bullied. I couldn’t become that.
I gritted my head, fisting my hands. I couldn’t return to that level. I just couldn’t. But what do I do?
I had no time to contemplate on that, because the next second, Chyra sent the magic ball flying toward me.