Hale Academy: University of Sui Generis (Vol. I)

Chapter 10: Ding Dong Ditch (...Contd.)

Bell hummed to herself, “Well we can’t, I think…” she paused, “Though Hale Academy magic right?” she muttered and then turned around, “Is there… there’s no trigger when we teleported in right, or when I left, which means no one knows I left”, she grinned as she stood up, “Because they’d be swarming the place if I’d disappeared”, she muttered, “if the past is anything to go by, and the cameras would have picked up on any movements, not to mention the wards and everything else”, she turned around and faced Fiona, “Which means, we’re invisible thanks to Hale magic, I can leave, with no one the wiser!?” she asked and at Fiona’s nod she whooped, “YES!!!” she celebrated hooting, “Oh My God”, she stopped and put her hand to her chest, “That will do it”, she whispered gleefully.

“Do what?” Fiona eyed her warily.

“It will be the biggest ‘f**k You’ to that man and his family who abandoned me”, she smirked, “I can give it to them without even saying anything!” she grinned brightly, her white teeth glinted and she hummed, “And just think I will be the first of my blood bound family to be free”, she gushed, “I’ll be free”, she smiled brokenly, “Mother always used to say, ‘be patient little one, the truth always find a way out. Sometimes it takes longer than it should. But when it comes, it will set you free’, she was wise like that”, she laughed, “Clichéd yes, but wise”, she snorted at Fiona.

Fiona hummed wordlessly.

Isuzu shrugged, “Of course I don’t think she meant the truth would set my soul free quite in the same way”, she hummed, “Life lessons – you can’t always beat ‘em, but you can morph them”, she smiled loudly.

Fiona huffed, “Packing”, she reminded the teen and Isuzu blinked out of her glee and nodded;

“Right”, she nodded again and rushed to her room. As she leaned down, she picked up the large skirt of the bed and hummed, “Where are you, come on, come on”, she huffed when her hands didn’t reach for the item she was looking for, she wiggled under the bed.

“What are you looking for?” Fiona asked.

“My ETC duh…” she huffed and then cursed and grumbled her way, wriggling and wiggling until she ended up somewhere under the middle of her bed, “Aha! There you are you pesky little—ouch—”

“Are you okay?” Fiona asked worriedly.

“Paper cut”, she answered and then wiggled back out of the bed.

“No dust bunnies?” Fiona asked amused.

“Are you kidding, I live with a wolf, and he sheds, a lot”, she huffed, “I clean this place every single day, can you imagine the dust bunnies if you calculate Ookami into the math?” she asked shuddering at the mere idea, “Anyway here we go”, she grinned showing her the cube.

The Black Cube with the Number one etched onto its side, indicated the level of the luggage. Isuzu placed it in the center of her bed and found the key; she bit down on her thumb and smeared her blood on the key point, and stepped back.

A mechanical voice emerged from the cube;

‘Greetings ~Bell~, Luggage Carrier will now begin transformation and expansion, please step back until emergence ceases. Thank you for your patience…’

“You have an advanced ETC hidden under your bed?” Fiona asked as she watched Isuzu flit around the room.

“The last few were confiscated by my father; this one was one of the bags I’d hidden in my blouse, at the airport after I was told I’d had an over-weight limit situation, anyway, even if it’s a hovercraft or air balloon or a good old fashioned airplane”, she listed, “They always get cranky at the weight limitations. So if everyone follows them they should let the few who cross the threshold go, I mean what’s one or two kilos extra gonna do?” she grumbled as she reached the end of the bed and opened the ornate chest.

“You mean besides causing unnecessary imbalance?” Fiona asked cheekily.

Isuzu rolled her eyes, “Yeah, yeah”, she huffed and then dug deep into the chest, tossing a few things onto the floor, a parka, a blanket, a throw, a pillow, a comb, a few jewelry pieces, beads, lots and lots of multi-colored beads on a string, a long coin carrier—

“Wait”, Fiona crouched down and stared at the mass of coins, “You have Gylden?” she demanded, “And a lot of them”, she whispered awed.

“Well yeah”, Isuzu shrugged, “I told you I ran away from home every year after I turned twelve and worked during the vacation slots of winter and summer, and Gylden—”, she hummed as she continued digging. “—are easier to earn and hide than money paid through the banks, plus you know people on the run prefer coins rather than carrying traceable, like credit and debit cards and cash. I mean those suckers are easily identified what with the numbers printed on the side and each currency has it’s on market and economic value in a different country. But gold coins, who in their right mind is going to print id-codes on gold, can you even imagine how tedious that is, and gold is gold, it only has one value?” she muttered, “And ten Gylden pretty much mark me as the equivalent of owning ten thousand dollars”, she huffed, “Makes me rich”, she winked cheekily.

Fiona huffed and sighed, “Except that’s not ten Gylden”, she pointed at the mountain of coins.

Isuzu shrugged.

Gylden non-traceable money that overpowered most nations’ currency: A Universal Coin. The only problem regarding it was how to go about actually earning it. The only jobs you could get were jobs non-magicks were left to do, magical cleansing via non-magical means, and bounty hunting bait. Isuzu hated playing bait, but she was small and nimble and quite good at being bait.

And if she never had Ookami or her mother’s katana at her side, well she wouldn’t wish that life on her worst enemy, maybe her deadbeat asshole dad, but on no one else. Not even her.

“Exactly what are you looking for?” Fiona asked as she picked up a fancy looking comb.

“Just some everyday knick-knacks, oh and my makeup, my skincare collection, my shampoos, the new lip-balm I just bought, and the nail-care kit, oh and

all my oils and perfumed, ah found it”, she muttered and pulled out a huge picnic hamper filled to the brim with oils, lotions and other equally scented products, it caused Fiona to start sneezing in rapid succession.

“What— ‘cough’—the hell?” she wheezed after a few breaths.

“Why do you think I keep it all buried deep in a chest, I live with a wolf, if it does that to a normal human, can you imagine how Ookami feels?” she muttered as she then flit off to the dresser and emptied a tray of more of the same products and placed it over the hamper, identifying it as a lid and not a tray.

“Except I’m not a regular human”, Fiona coughed as she sneezed a few more times and took several steps away from the basket of toxicity.

Isuzu looked up and blinked, “Whoa…” she reared back, “You’re on fire”; she hissed frantically, eyeing Fiona’s sleeves that had lit up.

“Give me a minute”, Fiona coughed out and exhaled in slow deliberate measures, she breathed slowly and hummed, “Let’s not do that again”, she grumbled as soon as the last flame dispelled.

Isuzu nodded, “Agreed”, she said and then, “What are you?” she asked sliding to her knees boneless as the tension left her.

“Don’t want to guess?” Fiona smirked teasingly.

“I mean I could but there are so many creatures that have a base affinity for fire, so you could be anything from a Phoenix to a Dragon and that’s just according to Western culture, there are plenty of Japanese gods and creatures associated with fire, like the Kitsune”, she answered going back to piling things beside her bed as the Level One continued expanding.

Fiona hummed, “A dragon Ascendant hasn’t existed in one hundred years”, she informed and then hummed, “I’m a Phoenix Ascendant”, she answered, “Most birds don’t really have a heightened sense for scents, but well a Phoenix is a legendary creature. A lot of its existence is steeped in myths and stories and I’ve discovered only a few things about it myself, so I couldn’t tell you more than I know. High powered smells, like a factory of different herbs, spices and floral tangents all together in one place and seemingly having seeped into the very foundation of its container”, she shuddered and took another step back, “Well it’s overpowering and migraine inducing. I very much sympathize with your wolf”, she muttered cringing.

Isuzu nodded, “Makes sense”, she hummed, “So what can a Phoenix Ascendant do? Can I also become one at the same time?” she asked eyeing a drawer critically and then closing it.

“Ah”, Fiona she hummed with an air of someone realizing something, “No”, she shook her head, and “It doesn’t work like that, because Ascendant magic is basically a borrowed power from one Supreme Being, such power cannot be handed to more than one Avatar at any given point, it messes with a certain amount of the world’s balance. Us, as Ascendants are—avatars of a sort. It’s a Unique Power, hence why we are called Ascendants or Students of the University Sui Generis or Sui Generis”, she listed, “We are all Unique”, she stated, “Powerful beings that all hold one Unique Gift”, she explained at length.

“That sounds oxymoronic”, Isuzu muttered as she started organizing the things she had added to her pile.

Fiona laughed, “Yes”, she agreed but didn’t elaborate on what she found amusing as she continued giggling.

“Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrooooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwlllllllllll”

//Ah… Ookami’s home…//

*

Fiona flinched as a growl reverberated through the apartment and from directly behind her, it had the timber and sense of James’ growl when he was angry, both familiar and yet not at all.

Her charge blinked as she continued sorting offhandedly muttering, “Oh, that’s probably Ookami, he’s home”, she noted idly.

Fiona raised a brow, “I can hear that. Does he bite?” she asked, almost jumping out of her skin as white Arctic wolf, slithered past her. Inwardly she cringed at her attire as his fur brushed against her skin.

//What an unfortunate and unforeseen fashion complication…//

The teen hummed absentmindedly, “If he could have scented my blood, no amount of magic would have saved you; if I was dead he’d have ripped you to ribbons. And if you did manage to come back with some Phoenix hoodoo—magic-do… Ookami would have spent years hunting for you”, she answered simply. “Because he grew up drinking the blood of a High Ranking High Priestess and mine, he has enough mana in him, that killing him would be a very expensive endeavor”, she stated almost bored, as if she had repeated the same thing before, and many times over.

Fiona blinked and then nodded, “Duly noted”, she stated eyeing the creature settled between them both, next to her charge close enough to receive her absentminded petting and yet angled in a way that would leave no doubt he was guarding her.

Fiona sighed heavily, “And so what are you doing? I mean do you need any help?” she asked.

“Well that depends, what’s your packing skill like?” Bell asked curiously.

“Military like”, she answered honestly, “It’s the first thing you learn during your second year. We mostly let everyone get to know and form relationships during the first year. For example I’m sure Prof. Haynes explained that you would need to complete a few matches to score credits for a prize right? Most students don’t understand how valuable working together can help in the next year. Believe me my school year sucked, because no one really tried, oh we were a competitive lot, and we won, but it was based on the basic fact that the prize was the ultimate goal, no one really cared for the relationship factor. We won a fifteen day and night’s cruise to the Magical Island of Bahamas, and it was fun, but instead of the whole class enjoying it, thirty students formed independent groups or pairs and it was more and more of a group of strangers on a trip than students that had spent an inordinate time with each other working as a team to take down other teams”, she muttered as she walked into the room, and knelt in front of Bell.

The teen nodded, “But no one could ever determine that working in a team would result in forming permanent bonds or that it would guarantee that to be an end result”, she pointed out, “I mean even with us chosen seven that couldn’t—I mean it might not work, what if we end up hating each other?” she asked quietly.

“Well that’s a thing that could happen, for example Edwards and Maya, they got married, and James hates them with a passion rivaling a thousand suns and then some”, she muttered, “And he didn’t even grow up with them or was in the same year. Just because we’re bound by a similar fate doesn’t mean we’re bound to like each other”, she answered simply.

Bell nodded, “I guess that makes sense”, she hummed easily. “Still I’ve been running away from home, for a long time, I know how to pack my belongings

in a way that I can take whatever I want in a way that I won’t overflow even my ETC”, she muttered, “For now, I’m just separating everything so none of my essentials and liquids trip on to my clothes, I think even if I end up smelling like an apothecary, Ookami and every kid in school never mind the team will take a good step back”, she stated as she piled a few clothes on top of each other. Her clothes were simple, a mix of traditional Japanese clothes, assuming the few slinky silk and cotton long sleeved gown shaped clothes were Japanese by origin, and the others plain jeans and t-shirts, with a few added skirts and fancy dresses as well as—

“Are those robes?” Fiona asked curiously.

“Well yeah, a few ball gowns too just in case there’s a formal event and I end up short in cash. I never want to come back here again and maybe I’ll find someone who can do fashion magic to revamp them according to the new season looks”, she stated as she finished folding all the different sets of clothes.

“You seem to be very fashion forward”, Fiona stated.

Bell raised a brow, “This from a woman dressed in the January Summer Fashion Miki’s Design Specials 2113”, she stated rolling her eyes, “Obviously having a job as an Ascendant pays a lot, because the dress you’re wearing is priced at over two hundred dollars as a base minimum”, she muttered and exhaled, “Anyway I like to dress well, I’m a teenager it’s the one luxury even that man couldn’t take away from me, and keeping up with fashion and the like is one of my hobbies”, she stated easily.

“I see”, Fiona hummed.

“So why does James not like Maya and Edwards?” Bell asked as she kneeled up to sort through all her beauty products, idly muttering about expiration dates and the like.

“Well Maya and Edwards are what James calls taboo”, she gave up on addressing him as Professor since the teen refused to acknowledge her thinly veiled initial attempt, “Maya is three years older than Roger Edwards prefers using his surname to his first-name, and initially was and still sometimes is Edwards mentor. To him I guess certain boundaries should never be crossed, no matter how romantic they may seem”, she stated as she picked up a star shaped perfumed bottle and gently sniffed it.

“Maya thinks it’s because he hasn’t got a romantic bone in his body, and Edwards believes something truly horrible happened to him, like a bad breakup. The Elders have advised us against talking about it, and Marcia—Zen’s current mentor, has explicitly warned Maya to not poke at that hornet’s nest”, she stated and picked up another bird shaped perfume bottle and sniffed it delicately.

“Well I suppose that would be a good reason to be angry at a couple. Love can twist the way a person feels”, she whispered quietly.

“That’s a negative way to think”, Fiona murmured quietly.

“Maybe, but “Love” ripped my family apart, I have little to no patience for it”, she huffed as she placed a few bottles of shampoo and other liquid bottles to once side.

“When you fall in love, you will change your mind I’m sure”, Fiona said softly sniffing a blue bottle, “I like this, it has a sweet calming scent, what is this?” she asked quietly.

Bell hummed, “Lavender”, she answered, “The bottle is blue the perfume is more of a purple color, mauve if someone were to be pedantic. But yes its calming, since most people only buy things related to the herb because of the effect lavender has”, she explained.

“The effects of lavender?” Fiona asked confused.

“Lavender reduces stress, anxiety, and possibly even mild pain. I had a green tea I used to drink made with a blend of Lavender buds, it helped whenever I was stressed out. I enjoyed the scent of the brewed tea, I figured the perfume would offer the same, but it turns out my olfactory senses are sensitive to it, in that form. Hence, why it's full, you can have that if you like it, I won't be using it at all, since every time I sniff it I start sneezing worse that what you and Ookami experience from my Basket of Wonders", she explained as she placed a few tubes in a lined wooden container.

“Oh, I—are you sure?” Fiona asked quietly.

“Yup, you’d be doing me a favor. Please take it, since you’ll be Ray’s mentor, it’s not like I’ll get hurt if I’m in your vicinity”, she muttered, “Or you can keep it for special occasions”, she stated clinically.

Fiona hummed, “Thank you”, she accepted it quietly she decided to ignore the clinical barrier placed between and the fact that her charge gave up on arguing about love and feelings.

“So tell me more about Edwards and Maya and the Epic Taboo that peeves James”, she asked curiously.

Fiona sighed, “Part of me thinks that it was also because of their Ascendant Gift that they found each other. Do you know of the legend and relationship between Nymphs and the Leviathan?” she asked softly.

“No, not particularly”, Bell answered tilting her head curiously.

“Okay”, Fiona nodded and helped her when a bottle rolled away; she caught it and handed it back to her. “Maya is one of the Elements of Earth, but an Ascendant of a Nymph, derived from Nereids”, she started.

“Wait, what are Nerids”, she asked mispronouncing the word completely.

“Nereids”, Fiona corrected, “Nereids are particularly associated with the Aegean Sea, where they dwelt with their father Nereus in the depths within a golden palace. The most notable of them are Thetis, wife of Peleus and mother of Achilles; Amphitrite, wife of Poseidon and mother of Triton; and g*****a, the vain love interest of the Cyclops Polyphemus”, she listed, “Though that really isn’t important, I only know about it because Edwards made me study about them when he wanted help in how to woo her”, she grumbled a tad fondly. “Anyway, according to Greek Mythology, Cetus or The Leviathan is a sea monster; a large serpent that was sent by the God Poseidon when a queen insulted the Nereids by suggesting she and her daughter, were more beautiful than them. Of course no man wants to be informed of their wife’s beauty being slandered, never mind a god. So he went after her, to save her own skin though she was told by an oracle to sacrifice her own daughter to the Sea Monster and calm Poseidon’s heart”, she explained sneering.

“What a b***h!” Bell cursed scandalized.

“Yes, that’s true. Andromeda the young princess was saved by Poseidon’s son Perseus, though some perceived him to be Zeus’ son; anyway he was a demi-god. To protect Andromeda, he believed the young princess was innocent, because she neither agreed with her mother nor did she believe she had to be sacrificed to save her family from a God’s wrath. But she had little choice, the woman was chained to a rock”, she huffed, “Anyway when Perseus saved Andromeda, he killed the serpent and the Nereids cried for its death, because in certain stories it said they used to ride the serpent for some reason”, she shrugged, “Honestly I don’t know, but they probably grew up with the sea creature as you know Sea Nymphs, they would have known of all kinds of creatures in the sea. It was an unnecessary death, I would have wept for it”, she murmured half to herself.

“I guess that’s a good enough reason to fall for anyone”, Bell hummed shrugging more than a little lethargically.

Fiona shrugged easily. “I guess. For Maya she felt a kinship for Edwards, who like the Sea monster, was also used and discarded without warning. I guess this time as Ascendant of a Nymph she wanted to protect the Leviathan. Though this is all speculation, maybe she just fell for the fact that he’s the exact opposite of her. I mean she’s like the Queen of Grace and Elegance, people fell all over the place for her, and Edwards is the living embodiment of a Klutzy mess, a disaster just waiting to happen. The man once stood ramrod straight and still managed to bring wreckage to a shop filled with expensive crystal. I still have no idea how he did that”, she muttered mostly to herself.

Bell giggled amused. “That could be another reason why James hates him”, she pointed out.

Fiona chuckled and nodded, “Probably”, she agreed amused.

“Right, well I’m done organizing let’s get to packing”, she turned to her wolf, “Ookami, we’re leaving, never to return again, isn’t that awesome?” she celebrated happily.

The wolf tilted it head and then gruffed l*****g a long stripe up Bell’s face.

“I guess that means he’s happy”, Fiona hummed amused as she watched Bell descended on the wolf in retaliation, her bright laughter a soothing contrast to her earlier indifference, inwardly she prayed;

//May Hale Academy be a good home for you, as it has been for me…//

xXxXx

(End of Chapter 10).

Please Read and Review! I would love to know about your thoughts, comment and let me know!