The Magi (The Magi Series) (19 page)

“I’m Paul Hetfield, by the way, and this is Isaac Rogers. I don’t think we’ve actually introduced ourselves.”

“I’m Elijah Hawk, and this is Samuel Moore.”

Paul and Isaac were almost exact opposites. Paul was tall and lean, but strong-looking. He had dark brown hair and icy blue eyes that were hard not to notice when walking by. Elijah wasn’t sure if he even liked Paul, but he enjoyed being around him. He radiated a charismatic confidence that was easy to be drawn to.

Isaac was not tall or thin. He had an average height and was a tad on the pudgy side. His hair and eyes were dark brown. As the four boys talked about their new experiences in training and living in Savenridge, Elijah could tell Isaac was a happy person. He smiled even when there wasn’t anything obvious to smile about. He paid attention to each person that was talking by looking at them directly and, of course, grinned as they talked, as though they were in the middle of a joke and he was anxiously awaiting the punch line. Elijah liked Isaac immediately.

It was clear that Isaac was struggling with training because every so often, Paul would make a wisecrack about Isaac’s shortcomings, almost in a taunting way. True to form, Isaac would roll with the punches and laugh about his struggles. Elijah wondered if deep down Isaac was bothered by the playful banter, or if he really, truly was that lighthearted and carefree about his faults.

After the class discussions were over for the day, the four boys, Elijah, Samuel, Paul, and Isaac, decided to take a walk outside the training quarters and get some fresh air after being cooped up in a classroom all day. Paul led the quartet into a meadow covered with snow. One of the runoffs of the river cut right through the middle of the meadow. They found a spot close to the tree line that had a few large rocks and patches of earth peeking out through the snow, so they stopped there to relax for a few minutes, watching their cold breath steam out in front of them.

“So tell me, Elijah,” Paul said with authority. “Word is you’ve got something that the Maliphists want. Is that true?” Elijah cocked his head sideways and gave Paul a curious look, not having a clue what he was talking about. His question seemed almost accusatory.

“I have no idea what the Maliphists want with me,” Elijah said.

“Is it true they have your uncle?” Isaac asked without his usual smile. Elijah dropped his head and kicked at the dirt under his boot.

“Yes.” All four boys were silent for a few moments. Paul looked around, his long arms resting on his hips.

“So you have no family here, then? No blood relatives?” asked Paul.

“No,” Elijah answered. “I was brought here from Saint Phillip’s Academy.”

“So you know Felix Pennington,” Isaac said merrily, changing the mood and, Elijah hoped, the subject as well.

“Just a little bit. He filled in for Master Roddick for a short while. I was only at the academy for a few months,” Elijah answered.

“Pennington was my brother’s mentor,” Isaac said. “At least when he wasn’t teaching at Saint Phillip’s Academy. He taught me a couple things here and there when he was mentoring my brother.”

“A lot of good it did,” Paul joked sarcastically.

“Hey, I’m doing better than when I started,” Isaac said. “I can almost run a full lap without assistance.” The boys laughed. “And, yesterday, I made it to mental training on time.” Isaac said this with mock pride, and he held his head up high.

“You’re right. You certainly are training hard to be mental,” Paul said, and Isaac took a playful swing at him as Paul danced out of the way.

“So what exactly does a mentor do?” Samuel asked, finally feeling comfortable enough to contribute to the conversation.

“Mostly, they work with you controlling the elements, but they also run your element training program,” Paul answered. “They meet with you once a week to see how everything’s going. To see if you’re on the right track and help you if you’re not. As you can see, Isaac’s mentor’s got his hands full.” Isaac shook his head and rolled his eyes.

Elijah thought about Saturday when he was supposed to meet his mentor. He wondered what he would be like. There were other questions he wanted to ask Paul and Isaac, but he decided to wait until another day. It was getting much colder outside, and Elijah had some reading to do to catch up for Thursday’s class.

Mental training, both his accelerated session and his normal session, was not nearly as hard as Elijah thought it would be. In fact, he found it to be quite easy. The trainer had him spend the day focusing and concentrating on various things. He had to repeat what another student said while the other students were talking to him at the same time. He had to stand on one foot without moving a single muscle for as long as he could remain stationary. Elijah found this to be physically demanding too, but it mostly took concentration to remain still. He lasted twenty-one minutes, which was the longest time for any student in their preliminary year. He also had to build puzzles from memory and stack items blindfolded. Mental training started out fun, but after six hours, Elijah became easily agitated as the work became more tedious.

One exercise, however, had the entire school in a buzz about Elijah when it was over. This exercise was done blindfolded inside a quiet classroom. The instructor, Master Ismai, who was a short, stocky man, blindfolded one student and lined the rest in front of that student. A frail-looking girl with white-blonde hair, named Rachel, was first to go. Ismai blindfolded her, stood her about ten feet in front of the other students and then explained the exercise.

“We are going to work our senses during this exercise,” Ismai instructed. “Most of us overuse our sense of sight. In other words, we rely on our sight for pretty much everything. How will you function if I take that sense away?” The class, still standing in a line shoulder to shoulder, murmured when he said this. Rachel, still blindfolded, looked absolutely petrified.

“Today’s exercise is not physically difficult,” Ismai continued, “but it will require lots of concentration. I will ask a certain number of students to step forward. Your job, while blindfolded, will be to simply tell me how many students have stepped forward. You will need to lose your dependency on your eyes and use whatever instincts you have to give me the correct answer. Let’s see how well you do.”

After demanding absolute silence, Ismai walked behind the line of students, tapping a few at a time on the shoulder, indicating them to step forward.

“Okay Rachel,” Ismai said when he was finished, “how many students stepped forward?” Rachel took a moment to think.

“Four?” she answered feebly.

“Take off your blindfold,” Ismai instructed. Rachel took off her blindfold and looked around. Seven students stood in front of her. She looked mortified, but Ismai encouraged her to keep going. After five tries, she correctly guessed the number of students standing forward. At her success, she was told she could stand with the rest of the students, which she did gratefully.

Most everyone performed about as well as Rachel. Some did much worse. Many were not able to get the right answer at all without major help from Ismai. One student named Gabriel got the first one right, so Ismai gave him another few chances to exercise his focus. It turned out, Gabriel took a lucky guess the first time, and he missed the next six tries.

After almost the entire class had gone, including Samuel who got zero correct, Elijah finally got his turn. He felt unusually confident in his ability to use his other senses, and since everyone before him didn’t do well, there was little pressure on him. The room was completely silent, but he strained his ears to hear just the slightest sound or movement. The feeling he had was very strange. He couldn’t hear anyone, but he could almost feel the presence of three students getting closer to him. He even felt like he knew who they were.

“Okay, Elijah,” Master Ismai said. “How many students have stepped forward?”

“Three,” Elijah said swiftly. Ismai didn’t give Elijah the chance to see the students. He moved quickly to the next try. After a moment, the question was posed to Elijah again. Then again. Then again.

“Six. None. Four. Er—twelve?” After close to ten times of guessing, Ismai stopped and instructed Elijah to take off his blindfold. Elijah was confused and embarrassed. The other students were only asked to guess five or six times at most. Why was he asked to do it so many more? He didn’t even know how well he did. It was as if he was made to show his failure over and over and over in front of everyone. Elijah felt his face blush with shame as he took off his blindfold. In front of him stood the entire class of fifteen students whose eyes were as wide as dinner plates. Not a word was spoken for several moments, but the students looked around at each other incredulously. Elijah sunk into his place in line completely humiliated.

“Let’s have another,” Ismai said, quickly breaking the awkward silence.

A different atmosphere permeated the remainder of the class. It was much quieter—almost eerie. After everyone had gone and Ismai gave final words of instruction to work on for the future, the class was dismissed, but Elijah was asked to stay afterward. Elijah wondered if he had exposed something about himself that made it obvious he wasn’t cut out for the Magi after all. Maybe he had been so far off that everyone knew he didn’t have the potential Roddick once thought he had. He sat down before he was asked to. Ismai sat down next to him.

“Elijah Hawk, is it?” he began. Elijah nodded his head, staring at the ground. “Can you describe what it is you were able to hear when you were asked to guess the number of students?” Elijah was not expecting this question, but even when he thought about it, he didn’t know what to say.

“I’m—I’m not sure that I heard anything,” Elijah said. “Why? Did I get any right?”

“Every single one,” said Master Ismai. “You didn’t miss any. I’ve never seen anything like what you did today—not even from an older student. I even tried to trick you at the end and made students step forward and then step back. You still got it right.”

Ismai paused as if he was expecting Elijah to enlighten him on his ability, but Elijah was still speechless. He felt a little better knowing that he didn’t make a fool of himself, but at the same time, he felt uncomfortable, as if he did
too
well on the exercise. Ismai smiled at him.

“Not to worry. In fact, I think it’s obvious you have an extraordinary gift. I’m excited to see what you can do with it.” Master Ismai thought for a moment before he spoke again. “If you don’t mind, I think I will speak with Mr. Button about this. You’re not in trouble—” he said, noticing Elijah’s eyes looking up in concern. “—I think we just need to make sure you get the proper training for your ability. Possibly give you a mentor that would be more suited to teach someone like you.” Elijah felt like a big bull’s eye was tattooed across his forehead.
Someone like you
sounded like he was being referred to as if he was from another planet.

When Elijah was dismissed, he went straight up to his room and locked himself inside. He didn’t want to be stared at, but even through all of the attention, there was a small part of him that was impressed with his performance during class. He felt special, but whether that was good or bad, he didn’t yet know.

The rest of the week was not as bad as Elijah feared. He noticed a few stares and some quiet gossip, but overall, the students didn’t treat him any differently. Friday’s physical training was very different than Monday’s. He thought it was going to be another day where he abused his body, but it was actually quite fun. Most of the day was spent with the obstacle courses, using his focus and mental strength in conjunction with his physical strength to complete.

Finally, Saturday arrived. It was the perfect scheduled day for element training, he thought. It was at the end of the week, so he was able to look forward to it, and he had a day off right after, so he could visit with the Roddicks and tell them all about it. Or, better yet, he could ask for advice if he didn’t do well during the training.

All the students that had elemental training on Saturday were told to report outside the front doors and wait for their mentor to meet them. The anticipation of this training had been growing as the week wore on. He waited outside with the others, watching the adult mentors gather their students one by one and walk out into the forests and meadows and fields until only he stood alone.

Elijah began to wonder if he had been forgotten. He remembered Master Ismai saying something about needing to find him a different mentor, but what if he forgot? What if all the other students received their training today and he didn’t? What if no one wanted him because they were afraid of his ‘gift’?

Elijah was about to go in and ask if he had the wrong day when he heard a noise behind him. Around the side of the building, Elijah saw an old woman he recognized. She was carrying a bag around her shoulder and slowly making her way through the snow. It was Olivia Rose, the woman who spoke for Savenridge, telling the Maliphist rider with the yellow eyes that they would not give Elijah up—the woman whose husband was with Elijah’s uncle in the depths of the Maliphist prison. She walked up to Elijah and handed him the bag she was carrying.

“I’m sorry I’m late, young man. Would you mind carrying this for me?”

****

CHAPTER 12: THE METHODS OF OLIVIA ROSE