Wizard (Troy Sanders Trilogy Book 1)

12: Nothing Was Ever as Expected in Firewalt

I moved around cautiously for the rest of the day trying to avoid you-know-who; plus everyone kept asking me how I did that “trick” and I couldn’t very well tell them I didn’t know, now could I?

In the middle of my “escape,” I came to a place where I stopped to admire a table filled with magic books from all over the world.

All of a sudden, I heard, “Fancy seeing you here.” I turned and surprise! Victoria was standing right behind me.

Her hair was still tied up in the ponytail so it was probable she was just returning from the field; plus she still had the bottle with her. She had discarded her cloak— didn’t think that was allowed— so I was able see she was putting on a grey top that sagged on one shoulder and a blue bum short.

“Wait, are you stalking me now? Is that it?” I said to her- practically shouted it, actually- before I could catch myself to look around and see that I was in the year threes’ training hall; of all places. My brain just seemed hell bent on getting me into trouble, doesn't it?

Now, I knew that the right thing would be to apologize that very second but my embarrassment kept my mouth screwed shut and I pretended to study the walls instead.

“Heard you did really good in your first class today,” she said to me, smiling like I hadn’t just snapped at her; guess she was a girl who didn’t hold grudges- can’t say anything about her payback plans though.

“Yeah,” I replied, trying to go for a smile to match hers although it was an epic fail, “something like that.”

“Oh-Oh!” she said all of a sudden, spinning me so hard I almost fell on my rear towards the crowd.

“What?” I asked, still not getting the cause for alarm.

“Dwayne,” she replied as she pointed to a blonde kid that had just entered the hall. He was putting on a white cloak; a year five.

We weren’t the only ones who had stopped as everyone was staring at him, which wasn’t all that surprise, truth be told. The kid was really great-looking- I say it with all authority- he was handsome, strong, confident, the absolute coolest dude on the block. In short, he was that guy every girl wanted to date and every boy wanted to be.

“He’s the head of the Knights Order,” Victoria explained to me, which made sense of the sword strapped to his hip and the two guys, also with swords, following.

“You’re Troy Sanders?” he asked as soon as he reached me, his face as grim as death; it was like the guy wouldn’t be able to smile even if he tried- that was a bummer in my book if you asked me.

Anyway, I replied, “Yes.” My first thought was actually to shout “Obviously!” at him but the guy didn’t look like someone who would enjoy a good sass.

“Come with me. Ms. Firewalt wants to have a word with you,” he said and left immediately. I had to say it was kinda a relief to see someone who was not jumping like a kid on a sugar rush just because he saw a Sanders.

“Good or bad?” I turned to ask Vic; I had been called to the principal's office times before- many times before, in fact- and it had never been a pleasant experience.

“Go find out yourself,” she replied and shoved me after Dwayne who was already about to disappear into the crowd again. I raced to catch up with him but was still able to hear Victoria shout, “Got a surprise for you after dinner!”

And I laughed at myself as I went; so much for avoidance, right?

I had to say that Ms. Firewalt’s office wasn’t as I expected; no surprise there, nothing in Firewalt was ever as expected.

The walls were painted red with several portraits hanging on them. One of the portraits was actually of my dear old dad’s looking much younger- twenty five or so years old- with a smile plastered on his face. I could practically feel his eyes following me as I walked, pressing down on me even as I pretended it had disappeared from existence.

Surprisingly, there were no crazy magic inscriptions or human skulls anywhere as would have been expected in a magic room; it was just as normal as normal could be.

Behind a mahogany table sat a woman who seemed to be in her late forties- Ms. Firewalt, I guessed- a lot younger than I expected. I was actually expecting to see an old wrinkled woman with flowing white hair and teeth that were almost falling out. But she had a black hair which she tied up in a bun and was wearing a corporate black suit; looking all business-like seemed to be the order of the day around here.

She looked up from her laptop immediately I entered into the office. “Please, sit,” she said, gesturing to a seat on the other side of the table. “My name is Francesca Firewalt, head of the school,” she said when I had sat down.

“I already gathered that,” I returned, pointing to the plaque sitting on her desk; it actually read Francesca Firewalt, Head of the School.

“You’re a funny one, aren’t you?” she said smiling. “Anyway, I’ve been meaning to see you but hadn’t got the time. Sorry it took me this long to make it.”

We both knew that was an outright lie- Francesca Firewalt had no intention of meeting me if not because of the “incident” from earlier that day- but I nodded understanding anyway. “It’s no problem, Ms. Firewalt, I understand how busy you are and really appreciate the time you’ve taken to see me.”

“You know you look a lot like your father, you talk like him too.”

“I don’t,” I replied, “I never met him.”

Her brow arched in confusion, I could tell that she wasn’t sure whether I was joking or not. But she pointed at Oliver’s portrait anyway; giving me a really scrutinizing look as I looked at it, or pretended to.

“We attended this school in the same year. He was always the best in the class, greatest potential I’ve ever seen. Even graduated top of the class,” she explained while I looked at the portrait. “He was a really great student, Troy.”

The way she talked about him was filled with so much admiration that I suspected that she might have had a relationship with him; or at least, a crush. Now, I wasn’t sure whether it became anything serious; a relationship between them seemed unlikely seeing that she was more than a couple of years older than him and would be considered inappropriate.

But that wasn’t any of my concern anyway. Oliver might have been a great wizard but he was a lousy father; and that was as much a fact as any other thing anyone knew about him in that school that seemed so intent on singing his praises in my ears.

“I’m really glad that you could come see me, Troy, but I’m afraid this is all we have time for, for now,” she said as she stood up to shake me. “I’ll see if we can’t have this again some other time. Thanks again for coming.”

I shook her hand and excused myself. I still didn’t know what that meeting was all about. But if there was one thing I was sure of, it was that while I might not have been on Francesca’s radar before, I was definitely on it now.

“Good or bad?” I asked myself again. In truth, I had no idea.