Bye Arsène

Chapter 2

Monsieur L therefore asked me to sit down on a chair and put on my arm a small machine connected by a wire to his ear. His face turned serious for a long minute during which I dared not speak.

He ended up getting up and going to get another machine and then another. When he finished his examination he looked me in the eyes gently.

"Atalante, I found the presence of a lock in you.

-A lock?

-Yes. A magic lock that would block your powers.

-What does it do there?

-You created it.

-I did?

-Yes. You are not the only case. Following trauma, many children lock their powers in locks like this one. Did something happen to you in your childhood that caused this lock to appear? "

I shook my head automatically but suddenly I knew exactly when I had installed this lock. Monsieur L saw the realization on my face and smiled tenderly.

"Can you take it off?

-No, this kind of lock can only be opened by you but from what I see the lock has been cracked. Surely following what you saw at your university.

-Surely...

-If you want to open it at all costs I can guide you but it's your decision. "

I took a moment to think. My life had already changed so I didn't want to go back to how it was before. I wanted magic. I wanted to feel original. I nodded. On this note Monsieur L stood up and told me to follow him.

"We're going to go to a secluded room. Sometimes the release of power can cause a surge and therefore the body tries to expel it by all means. Don't worry you're not going to be in danger. But the machines around you could. "

So we went into a large empty room cut in two by an unbreakable glass. Arsène had followed us without a word and immediately went to stand behind the glass. As for me, Monsieur L took me to the only piece of furniture in the room. I sat down on the seat and he told me to close my eyes. Once safe behind the glass, Monsieur L asked me:

"Can you hear me well?

-Yes.

-Very well. So tell us what made you put that lock in place. "

I froze. I hadn't really wanted to share that with them.

"Don't worry I have a degree in psychology. It's not the first time I've helped someone open a lock. You can trust me."

I tried to let myself relax in my seat. I sighed heavily.

"My grandmother died. That day everything became empty. Magic cannot exist in a world like this.

-I see ... With the death of a person important to you you refused the existence of something so beautiful and which could have perhaps even saved her. "

Tears were rising but I didn't let them fall.

"But now I feel bad that I forgot about magic because of it. I'm sure she wanted me to keep using it.

- Did your grandmother have powers?

-I think. I don't remember clearly. I remember that every morning she got up before me and I found her doing her hair in the bathroom. I remember she would read Tarzan to me in the armchair at night. I remember she used to cut me watermelon in the summer. But I don't remember any magic. Well, everything was magic by her side. So maybe I thought she took the magic with her to the grave ... "

I went silent.

"But I want to use magic. It would be like it's her again."

The tears finally flowed.

"I want her to be here again."

Suddenly I felt an unknown heat spreading from my head to my whole body. Then I was suddenly covered with wind. Yes with wind. It ran through my veins tickling me. I barely had time to realize it's presence that a huge explosion occured and the whole room shattered. The glass had shattered, the walls had collapsed. But the dust from the explosion had no time to fall. It began to whirl around me imprisoning me in it. I didn't know what was going on and I didn't know how to get out of this dust cage. I was screaming to find out if Monsieur L was okay but I got no answer. Suddenly everything went dark and I woke up shortly after in a bed with a heavy head.

Arsène and a lady watched me wake up. The lady smiled at me and helped me sit up. I realized that I was in a sort of infirmary and immediately asked how Monsieur L was doing.

"He's fine. He caught a piece of debris and passed out instantly but he has nothing serious. He woke up not long ago.

- Phew ... I am reassured. What happened?"

Arsène's voice sounded much warmer than before. I had the impression he was curious.

"You blew up the room.

-Me?

-Yupp. You released such an amount of energy that even our release room couldn't hold out."

He gestured at my wrist so I looked down and saw that I was wearing a thick leather bracelet.

"We made you pass out somehow and took advantage of that to put this bracelet on you.

-What is that ?

-It absorbs your magic. This way you will be able to get used to it little by little and control it. As your bracelet will absorb less and less you will be master of your powers. "

Monsieur L ended up coming to visit me and I offered him my sincere apologies. He didn't seem to be mad at me at all and even offered to come to this institute every day to train me to use my powers.

Arsène volunteered to help me with it and I accepted. So that'as how I began training. When I didn't have classes I went to this dilapidated building every day to try again and again to control my powers. I was progressing at high speed but it was nothing compared to my total amount of magic.

Arsène was as patient as possible and there were times when I wanted to strangle him but I didn't. Despite his lack of diplomacy he was really there for me and lately I've been seeing him more than my own family.

We became friends anyway and my other friends saw me so much with him that they were convinced we were together and didn't want to believe me when I told them we weren't. So I decided to let them believe it. In this case it was easier to explain why I saw him every night. Moreover, since they thought that I was in a relationship, they had stopped wanting to fore me to settle down with someone.

My college was attacked a second time shortly after the first. Whenever I thought of Arsène this event was the first thing that jumped into my mind. Just like last time, there had been no warning signs of the attack. I was sitting in a lecture hall listening with more or less interest to the lesson when the doors opened and five strangers took turns entering. Surprised to be disturbed the professor fell silent and all eyes were on these strangers. Among them were three women and two men all dressed in various colors not afraid of being noticed.

Two of them stayed near the entrance as the others stepped forward and scanned the students looking for someone. I knew immediately that that someone was me and that feeling was confirmed when they called my name.

"Atalante? We know you're here so don't waste our time and follow us."

I didn't know what they wanted from me or who they were but something told me it was better not to follow them. The students who knew me looked at me puzzled as the professor called out to the strangers in anger:

"Who are you? We're in the middle of class and you just interrupted us. I don't know what brings you here but you'll have to wait until the end of the hour."

The strangers seemed irritated by the professor and I felt that if I didn't do something it was going to end badly so I jumped on my legs the click of my seat catching all eyes. Seeing me the strangers wore a smile full of mischief.

"There you are. If you don't want us to hurt this kind professor you better follow us.

-Don't you dare touch anyone."

They laughed as the students and the professor watched the scene from behind.

"What are you going to do honey? We are outnumbered. You better follow us without making a fuss out of it."

I smiled.

"As if I don't have a choice."

My interlocutor seemed frustrated that I did not express the slightest sign of fear in front of them and the tone rose.

"Follow us right now or your teacher loses his head!"

Accompanying her words, the young woman took up position alongside the professor. I was out of my row but was not fast enough being further away. I froze on a step, gauging the stranger with my eyes.

"Let go of him immediately. They have nothing to do with this. You want me."

The stranger laughs.

"Obviously you're not the one in command anymore. Get out of this lecture hall and I'll release your teacher."

Therefore I started to descend the stairs, raising my hands but without taking my eyes off the woman for a second. When I was at level with her acolytes the woman's smile widened and I saw her hand move. Guessing what she was going to do I freed myself from the embrace of the acolytes and in a jump I was at the level of the woman. I twisted her arm and propelled the professor away from her. The woman freed herself from my grip and we stepped back to be at a reasonable distance from each other.

The two men accompanying her came towards me to surround me. Suddenly I heard the whispers in the lecture hall and I turned to the professor. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the blood. I had stopped the woman from cutting his throat, but a thick wound was spreading along his neck and if the bleeding was not stopped quickly he would die.

I turned to my friends in the amphitheater and ordered them to press something against the wound to stop the bleeding and call an ambulance. My friends got up immediately and ran to the professor, being careful to be as far away from the attackers as possible.

At the sight of the blood many members of the amphitheater began to scream and panic. I couldn't take care of them right now. Knowing that the professor was in good hands I now had to take care of these five.

Seeing that I was not determined to follow them they jumped on me all three at the same time leaving two people behind to watch the door through which I could have escaped. Even though I had made incredible progress with Arsène, I still couldn't control my powers well and I risked hurting the students more than anything else if I used them. I thus relied entirely on my martial arts knowledge and kicked two of the attackers to the ground without any problem.

However while I was focused on them the third hit me in the back of the neck and I fell to the ground too. I rolled onto my back immediately and dodged her next blow before getting up. Visibly wanting to have fun, the young woman did not use her magic either and was content to send me more powerful blows than the others. I blocked almost all of them and ended up sending her waltzing in the window with a return kick. Then I turned to the two remaining who decided to play the safe bet and attacked me with their powers.