The Deceiver | The Magicians

Chapter 18

Eighteen | Firefly

Though Brakebills South had a heating system, there was something about the place that had cold seeping through Lilly's bones. They had each been provided with a thick wool uniform that they would be wearing for the duration of their two week stay. The spell that had turned them into geese wore off almost as soon as their webbed feet hit the fluffy white snow and they were left naked and shivering out in the cold, until one of the TA's was merciful enough to let them inside. The giant building was almost identical to the original Brakebills, with the same dark wood and layout of the classrooms. However, with one glance out the frost covered windows, it was clear that they were not in upstate New York anymore. Brakebills South was positioned in the middle of an icy tundra, with no other civilization in sight. Whoever decided this would be a good place for a school was obviously not in their right mind.

They each realized the moment they met Professor Mayakovsky, that the rumors were true. He was absolutely insane. The professor was middle aged and always wore a thick wool hat over his head. He had a thick russian accent, a bottle of vodka clutched in his hand and a disposition that was anything but pleasant. They had been initially herded into one of the many empty classrooms, where Mayakovsky had informed them all on how these two weeks would be played out. Bottom line was, he could tell them to do whatever he wanted, no matter how horrific. His first task for them would be to use the Hammer Charm of Legrand to force a nail into a board. They each expected the spell to be a piece of cake for them. They already learned this spell in the first few weeks of school. What they didn't expect, was for Mayakovsky to take away their voices.

Lilly found out almost immediately that she had underestimated the difficulty of the spell. If she had her voice, it would've taken her less than ten seconds, but now, she had already spent the better part of the day. None of her fellow students had any better luck. They had been deposited into their dorm rooms and given the supplies they would be needing. She had a perfect view of Penny's struggles from her bedroom across the hall. She had to admit it was a pretty good view now that he couldn't ruin it by speaking.

Lilly focused on her nail, trying as hard as she could to keep a hold on it with her magic. The thin piece of metal wobbled around lazily, just as it had every other time she tried. Much to her frustration, It swung to the left and in an attempt to bring it back to center, she lost control of it completely and it fell limp onto the wooden board. Mayakovsky occasionally strolled down the hall, peaking into each room with a delighted smirk on his face. So when a figure stopped between her and Penny's room, she initially assumed it was him. But the curly brown hair definitely didn't belong to the professor.

Kady stood uncertainly at the edge of his doorway, waiting to see his reaction to her presence. The two had been colder than ice since arriving at Brakebills South and Lilly couldn't help but imagine what had been confessed during the last trial to make things that way. Penny didn't bother to look up from his work, though it was obvious he knew she was there. Lilly watched the exchange with genuine curiosity as Kady took a few tentative steps forward and placed what looked to be a chocolate bar on the table between them. Lilly watched the other girls back, which continued to tense the longer Penny ignored her. After a very uncomfortable few moments, Kady turned to leave, shooting Lilly a glare when she caught her watching. 

Penny waited until she was gone to grab the chocolate bar and examine it. Lilly half expected him to toss it in the trash, but instead he gently placed it out of the way. He locked eyes with Lilly, who gave him an inquisitive stare. Though she couldn't voice her questions, she had perfect control over her hands. She quickly sent him a message through sign language, hoping he would be able to understand. Unfortunately, the only response she got was furrowed eyebrows and a mask of confusion. shaking her head, she resolved to having to wait to have her questions answered. 

Another torturous hour passed before she was able to complete the spell and Penny followed only a few minutes later. Both students let out a relieved groan as they felt the invisible fist around their vocal cords slacken and release. Mayakovsky waisted no time in waiting to demolish their sense of accomplishment. 

"Yes. Yes." He spat at them, clapping his hands slowly and tauntingly. "Good doggies. Would you like a treat?" Neither Penny, nor Lilly responded, though they could speak again, they let him finish whatever emotionally scarring speech he was starting. "That is what you are. Pets. You do what you are told and expect to be rewarded every time you learn a new trick. Pathetic." He spat the last word, reaching into his pocket and throwing a handful of small, hard objects at her. Lilly shielded herself from the impact by holding up her arms. "There you go. Eat up. Maybe if I'm lucky you'll choke and I'll have one less child to teach." He said before moving along down the hallway to abuse another student. She and Penny shared a look of anger and utter confusion. It wasn't until then that they looked to see what he threw at her. 

"Why the f**k does he have dog biscuits in his pocket?"

~~~~~

"I can't believe he threw dog treats at you." Dani cackled, Lilly barely made out the words through her giggles. They sat in the dorm common room, chatting while they waited for the rest of the students to finish the assignment. "All I got was a bunch of insults thrown at me. For some reason he called me a 'snotty little feminist troll doll". What does that even mean?" The two friends could not stop laughing and they turned a few heads of the others in the room. 

"I mean I guess I can see it. You've got the pink hair, and the feminist thing down and you can be a bit snotty." Lilly teased, earning a firm wack with one of the throw pillows between her and Dani. "I'm joking! I swear!" 

"Mmhm." Dani glared, though it was all in good fun. Quentin and Alice had finished a few minutes before Lilly had, but they had both gone to their respective dorms instead of sitting with her. Penny had been planning on joining her, but one look at Kady sitting in one of the armchairs by the fire and he turned on his heel, leaving Lilly to wait for the rest of her friends. "Alex! Come sit!" Dani suddenly shrieked, causing Lilly to give a little jump in response. Turning her head she saw the third musketeer standing behind her. He looked just as beat up as the rest of them and unceremoniously flopped down between the girls. 

"How much of a chance of survival do we have if we make a run for it?" He groaned, resting his head against the back of the couch. Dani took the opportunity to stretch her legs across his lap and get comfortable. 

"As appealing as that sounds, knowing Brakebills, there's probably wards around the entire place and knowing Mayakovsky, they're probably to keep us in." The others nodded in agreement.

"Besides we'd freeze to death and I don't know how to turn into a goose again." Dani added and Alex groaned. 

"So who were you paired up with for the secrets magic? I kind of lost track of you for a while." Lilly asked him, grabbing a blanket from a nearby chair and draping it over the three of them. Alex paused, staring into roaring the fireplace. "Ava." He whispered tentatively, so quiet that Lilly almost thought she misheard him. Almost.

"As in, Ava Westmore? You're joking right?" The girls eyes went wide simultaneously and the lack of response threw them into a frenzy.

"How the hell did you even pass? She's an ice queen! And we thought we had it bad! What was her secret?" Dani gasped, her words flowing out excitedly as she readjusted her position to get closer to Alex. "Did she kill someone? I wouldn't be surprised if she was some sort of assassin. It's a wonder you're still alive Lilly, you slept in the same room for weeks! She could've slit you're throat at any moment! Did she a—" 

"She didn't kill anyone and I'm not telling you what her secret was. That's personal and not for me to share." Alex interrupted, his voice serious and decidedly final. 

"Touchy." Dani muttered. "Why do you care? She's rude to you too. I swear someone shoved a stick up her ass." His reaction surprised both both his friends. He had been just as put off by Ava's behavior as they were, yet here he was defending her.

"She's not that bad." He mumbled to them, his shoulders tense. Dani looked at him like he was crazy.

"Well, you're entitled to your own opinion." Lilly told him, just as bewildered. "But until I see some proof I'm gonna have to go with Dani here." A long silence ensued and Lilly used the time to mull over his defense of Ava. It was a small gesture of faith in her character, but from what they had seen, Ava wasn't worthy of it. She wondered what exactly had been shared during the final trial, and she supposed she'd never know. The conversation was soon forgotten and they were able to go back to the comfortable banter between friends. 

"What do you think Mayakovsky's hiding underneath that hat of his?" Alex wondered allowed.

"I bet he's completely bald." Lilly placed her bet. "Or he's got snakes for hair like Medusa."

"What if he's hiding Voldemort under there? Quirell did it." Dani theorized with a completely serious expression. Their roaring laughter earned more than a few eye rolls from their fellow peers. They stayed cozied up together beneath their shared blanket long after everyone else went to bed. They would come to regret that decision the following morning, but in that moment they allowed themselves to enjoy the company of friends and relax in the wake of the trials.

Six hours later, they all sat at the giant wood dining table, sleep still clouding their vision and listened to Mayakovsky's lessons. He had a way with words that made everyone he spoke to hate him with a passion. 

"Alright children." He addressed them with his thick Russian accent. "Today will determine if you are to be a great Magician, or a mediocre one trick pony." The professor waved a hand and a jar appeared before each student. Everyone shared looks of confusion, inspecting their jar. A tiny little firefly flitted around in Lilly's own jar, it's light turning on and off rapidly as it tried to escape. Everyone at the table had their own insect in their jars. "What you will now learn, few know and even fewer understand. Mind control. And these," He pointed to their jars, "are your first subjects." A low, startled, wave of murmurs swept along the table. Lilly's stomach twisted. This was wrong. how was she supposed to steal the free will of another living creature?

"Uh, Isn't that sort of unethical? I mean, even if they're bugs, they're alive." Quentin spoke, resulting in unanimous nods of agreement from the entire first year class. 

"They have free will. We've been taught not to try to control living things." Alice added, to which Lilly stoke up.

"It's completely barbaric." Mayakovsky glared at the both of them.

"How was your lunch today? Excellent beef bourguignon, no? And how much free will was exerted by the cow." Both girls looked down at that, realizing that, however harsh, he had a point. 

"Mind control is in everything, everywhere. We make only one choice: are you the controller? or the controlled?" He moved over to Quentin, unscrewing his jar and releasing a moth. For obvious reasons, Quentin jerked away from the creature and Lilly also felt a trickle of fear left over from the incident at the beginning of the year. After making fun of Quentin, the professor tormented Penny for a moment with a very unnerving centipede. To everyone's confusion, he pulled Penny from the room after asking if he was a Psychic. He instructed everyone else to go ahead with the lesson. Unsurprisingly no one seemed too thrilled about starting. The teachers assistant stepped in, explaining how exactly they were supposed to do it. Lilly wasn't even sure she'd be able to do it. She felt sick at the thought of taking away another living being's free will.

Mayakovsky had said that he didn't expect any of them to actually complete the task as it was rare for anyone to master mind control. She was grateful that it wasn't a common skill. Looking around at the other student's wary faces as they tried and failed to control their insect gave her a bit of confidence that she wasn't alone. A few of them even panicked when it would get too close. A healing student named Sharon let out a squeal not unlike a pig when her spider decided to crawl up her arm. Lilly took a steadying breath, trying to ignore the startled cries and furrowed brows of the others as she zoned in on her victim. She had yet to open her jar, but it seemed easier to get a hold of it's mind before she set it free. 

Lilly tried to think of it as just another one of her occlumency classes. She took her feelings and apprehension and locked it in her own jar, until she was a blank canvas. Then, just as she had, all those times under Eliza's guidance, she reached out a tendril of her mind. The firefly's conscience held a different quality than that of a human, but it was still the same. She sensed it's fear, it's panic, as it tried to escape it's glass prison. Lilly felt nothing, keeping her emotions neutral, she brushed against it's mind, a gentle caress. It never knew what was coming until Lilly had already closed her mind around it's conscientiousness in a vice like grip. The tiny creature was now her slave. 

Slowly reaching out, she unscrewed the top of the jar. The firefly stayed exactly where it was, fluttering in the middle of the jar. No longer frantically bumped the jar in hopes to escape. It stayed unnaturally still until Lilly gave it the nudge it needed. Using her fingers to guide it's direction, the Firefly shot up into the air, forming a figure eight above the table. The other student's attention was pulled from their own work to the glowing insect being controlled by the blonde. Lilly instructed it to make complicated shapes in the air, putting on a show for her peers. Her friends stared at her in awe. She had done in less than ten minutes, what few Magicians in history have been able to. 

A sudden shriek from the other end of the table broke her concentration and the firefly slipped from her control, veering off course and flying off. Lilly whipped her head to see what it was that ruined her focus. Poor Sharon hopped straight up from her seat, a giant scorpion clinging to her sweater. her eyes widened as the creature jumped from Sharon to the boy beside her. This was not normal behavior. Someone else had control of it. A quick scan of the table and the culprit was revealed. Ava stared at the scorpion in concentration, her hands directing its movements in the same way Lilly had. She shouldn't be surprised that Ava had done it, but she had to admit she was impressed. 

After the rogue scorpion and Lilly's firefly display, the rest of the day was pretty uneventful. No one else was able to accomplish what they had and Lilly spent the remaining time trying to reign in the firefly she lost to no avail. When Lilly and Dani finally collapsed onto Lilly's bed it was late at night. They had been given a break from Mayakovsky luckily as he had never returned after he took Penny away. She wondered what happened as she stared up at the ceiling.

"I can't believe you actually controlled that thing's mind! That's f*****g sick!" Dani exclaimed, standing up on the mattress and jumping up and down, her bright pink hair flying around wildly. Lilly's body was jostled around by her movements. "My best friend can control minds! We can take over the world together!" She yelled, dropping back down beside the blonde with a grin on her face.

"Not if Ava takes it over first." 

"Ugh! Of all the people it could've been it had to be her? Why not me? Do we really need another crazy person walking around with the power to control minds?"

"Hey!" Lilly protested, furrowing her brows, "I'm not crazy!" Dani chuckled, patting Lilly lightly on the head like a child.

"If you say so..." Lilly reached over to grip her pillow and slammed it into Dani's face with a mischievous grin. "Hey!" Dani gave her friend a mock hurt expression before retaliating, only this time with a particularly thick and heavy book that sat on Lilly's desk. Lilly raised her hands in an attempt to defend herself. 

"I surrender! I surrender!" The blonde squeezed through her giggles. Dani pulled back, still holding the book threateningly. Before Dani could speak, A loud growl from Lilly's stomach interrupted. The two looked at each other for a second before collapsing in another fit of giggles.

"I think we need a trip to the kitchen." Dani smiled and Lilly nodded enthusiastically, hopping up from the bed and pulling her friend with her. "Should we grab Alex?" Lilly made a show of thinking it over.

"I guess if we have to." Her words were thick with sarcasm, causing Dani to laugh and lead the way towards Alex's dorm. The pink haired Magician skipped energetically down the hall, Lilly following behind and shaking her head at Dani's antics. Dani slowed to walk beside her as they got closer. Alex's door stood ajar, a soft light creeping out into the hall. Dani didn't even bother to knock. She never did, just barging in as she pleased. Lilly followed her in, only to slam into the other girl's back as she stopped short. Her face scrunched in confusion and she stretched her neck to see what had stopped Dani in her tracks.

"What is-- What the f**k!"