Free Web NovelChapter 41: Six F’s
"You’re absolutely sure there’s nothing else you want to add to your report?" Cavel asked, tapping the single piece of paper with his notes on it. He looked at Evelyn, then at Phoebe, as if he wanted them to push for more information.
"Evelyn, Cavel, would you mind if we have the room to ourselves? For just a moment?" Phoebe asked. Her eyes met Evelyn’s, not for permission but for acceptance.
"So be it," Evelyn spoke, detaching herself from her position against the wall. Cavel followed her out the door. Cavel glanced back once, mouth half-open like he had a follow-up question. Evelyn didn’t slow. The thick door closed with a satisfying thud.
"Regular academy students do not get beat up by random people with weird names. Ash. Please. What really happened?" Phoebe leaned slightly towards him. Her hands were deciding if they wanted to make contact or not and curled into a fist tight by her waist.
"It’s related to when I do that thing," Ash said. "Kasz and his master seem to hunt people like me."
Phoebe’s hands twitched. Then her eyes changed to something with more understanding to them. "I’m sorry for the outburst. But..." She took a second to collect herself. "There are more people that have your power? That can enter where a person’s Shade lives and calm it down?"
"I guess not many are left if they get hunted." He said it flatly, but the words settled in his stomach like a stone.
"Besides me, how many other people know about how you’re able to enter a person’s Shade?"
Ash hummed to himself in thought. "Lucia and a professor. Those are the only ones I’ve told. But I can also—"
"Hmm?"
"Never mind," Ash said, swallowing the truth down.
"Kasz and his master don’t stumble upon people like you by accident," Phoebe said.
Ash grunted in agreement.
"Alright, here’s my read." She slammed a hand on the table beside Ash. "One of the three people that know about this is a traitor."
Ash raised an eyebrow. "Phoebe, are you the traitor?"
"One of those two," Phoebe said with a soft giggle. "I’m certain of it."
Ash didn’t laugh.
"Are we done here? I think they are about to post mid-term grades."
Phoebe was already out the door before Ash had finished his words. Evelyn and Cavel returned through the open door.
"Cavel, Evelyn. What I stated is what had happened. Excuse me," Ash said, standing up from the chair.
It wasn’t hard for him to find where the grades were posted. Packs of students were crowded against pieces of paper that were placed throughout the hallways. He saw Phoebe push herself out through the crowd with a smile on her face.
"Did you do well?" Ash asked.
"Well is an understatement. This was my best result yet!" Phoebe nearly punched the wall from how excited she was.
"I’m happy for you. Stay around for me. Please?" Ash asked.
The crowds were beginning to thin, so it was easier for Ash to get to the front and see his grades.
[ STUDENT: ASH ]
[ F | F | F | F | A | F | F ]
Six F’s. He knew he had missed weeks of class through various injuries and external circumstances, but seeing it listed like that, stark black ink on cheap paper, made it real. Ash dragged his hands down across his face. He knew his grades weren’t the best to begin with, but to only have an A in Olley’s class was not something he thought would happen to him.
He looked several places above to find where Phoebe’s grades were posted. Straight A’s, not even a blemish to a single score.
"How bad is—" she began, then found his line. "Oh." The syllable landed without her usual energy. "I’ve never heard Olley ever give anyone an A before, so you’re unique in that. You must leave a positive impression on him."
"Phoebe. I think I might get dismissed from the academy." Ash said, still blankly staring at the wall.
"They always give everyone second chances. Do well in the tournament, make a name for yourself, and they will beg for you to stay enrolled."
"It’s that big of a deal?" Ash asked.
"You’ve never competed in one, have you?" Phoebe asked.
Ash didn’t answer.
"Okay, here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to enroll in the preliminaries; it’ll suck, but competing is the only way you can fix this. Unless you can leave your ’positive’ impressions on your other professors like you did with Olley." She spun around and left for her dorm.
"That might be easier at this point," Ash admitted to himself.
While walking to his own dorm, he found Seth talking to a few other elite students. When he saw Ash approach, he waved to the other kids to leave.
"I saw," Seth said, taking a spot against the wall.
"Yeah, I messed up," Ash said, squatting beside him.
"You know what you can do, right?"
"I’m entering the preliminaries."
"You’ve never entered one. You sure this is what you want to do?"
"Not what I want to do," Ash began. "What I need to do."
Seth laughed softly, placing a cold hand on his shoulder. "I’ll be competing like I usually do. If we face each other, I won’t treat you as a friend. I want you to know that."
Ash got up from his position. "I wouldn’t expect anything else." ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
The next day, Ash entered the main registration hall where students registered for the preliminary rounds. It smelled like it was recently cleaned, competing with the scents of students fresh from their morning showers. In the middle of the hall was a rectangle desk with three administrators working through the queue.
Ash took his spot towards the end.
A third-year was finishing his registration at the central terminal.
He was average height and build, though the way he carried himself made him seem larger. His brown hair swept back with one deliberate strand falling across his forehead. His collar hung open beneath a loose tie worn exactly within dress code, with a silver chain catching the overhead light.
The suit jacket was good material. He wore it with the kind of carelessness that required effort.
His eyes were pale grey-blue, half-lidded like he had spent years deciding that looking unbothered was more useful than looking interested.
The hunger ran its course the moment he entered range. It was cold and automatic, the same background orientation it performed on every Shade in proximity. The void found his Shade and looked at it.
It felt like anxiety built over performance. Layer upon layer, years of it, compressed tight, until the layering itself had structure and the structure had weight. The architecture of a student pretending to be a version of himself for so long it had developed its own walls. But beneath that, there was something real underneath it. Something that had been sealed a long time ago.
The void looked at it and went still.
It didn’t reach or pull at it. It took one look and discarded it, like it wasn’t up to the standards it expected, and moved to locate one that would.
The signature was one degree too theatrical for the occasion. He stepped back from the terminal and moved toward the exit, and his shoulder caught Ash’s in the gap between them. He kept walking. About three feet clear, he looked back.
"Try not to embarrass the lower bracket," he said.
Ash didn’t respond. The administrator at the center terminal cleared the registration and called forward the next student. Ash moved to the terminal.
"Name?"
"Ash."
"Would you like to sign up as an alternate or go through the preliminaries?"
"Alternate?"
"In the event there are not enough people through to the main event, alternates are called to fill in the gaps. As you might imagine, there’s the chance you won’t be called at all, especially given how many people sign up for them."
"What did that guy sign up for? The one that was too overdressed."
She glanced down. "Preliminaries."
"Sign me up for that then."
The administrator nodded, then handed him a form. "It’s your standard waiver release form in the event you get injured."
He signed it. "What’s that over there?" Ash said, pointing to a list of students with some numbers next to them.
"They are the early student seedings before any dropout post-ceremony."
"Can I see that for a second?" Ash asked.
The administrator leaned in. "You aren’t worried that it’ll affect your performance?"
"It’ll give me that extra edge I need."
The administrator seemed to like that answer and gave him the early seeding information.
Ash glanced down to see the students seeded where he expected.
[ EARLY STUDENT SEEDING (DO NOT HAND OUT) ]
[1] Evelyn
[2] Vivian
[3] Seth
[4] Lucia
[6] Azure
...
[9] Phoebe
"Ash, your registration card," the administrator said, holding up the completed information. "Present this tomorrow and you will be allowed in."
"Is that it?"
She nodded. The hall felt emptier on his way out, the queue behind him now a handful of stragglers.
