Wizard (Troy Sanders Trilogy Book 1)

18: Twistingly Twisty Twist

“Troy,” I heard my name being called for the gazillionth time.

I snapped out of my daydream which, truth be told, was becoming somewhat of a habit and saw Jake and Elaine staring at me suspiciously. We were having lunch and they were discussing something I wasn’t really paying attention to; three days of private lesson with Victoria could do that to you, believe me.

Thing is, just like I had thought, Vic’s “Let’s lie to everyone about you taking magic lessons from me so that you can escape solitude” plans had totally backfired; but not in the way that anyone could have predicted. Turned out the trick she had taught me to show was so good that the school disciplinary committee decided that what I needed to whip me into shape as a wizard- if only they knew what they were talking about- was a lesson every evening from Victoria. So now, I believe you understand why my mind couldn’t concentrate on the present; I had another evening lesson with her!

“What were you guys saying?” I asked.

“What were you thinking about?” Elaine returned, a really impish smile on her face. “Was it that girl? What’s her name?”

“Wait, what girl?” asked Jake; he seemed really interested to learn the identity of my “daydream girl”, if she could even be called that.

“She walked in when I sat with Troy during solitude. Her glare was so stern that I’m sure the devil himself ran for cover in that moment.” Elaine rolled her eyes at the memory.

It was really impressive that Elaine could describe Vic like that after just one meeting; that glare must have been really comprehensive.

“Victoria Elmonton,” Jake deduced, shuddering at the name. Everyone in school really did know that girl for whom she was; not that she was easy to miss to begin with.

“Can we just go back to what we’re saying?” I said in order to steer the conversation back to its original course.

But by the time Elaine began to explain the topic to me again, I had already drifted back to the girl with the caramel hair who just couldn’t seem to leave my thoughts alone.

I must be dreaming ’cause I could hear the bangs of war drums coming from my door. Another loud bang and I opened my eyes; turned out it wasn’t a war drum but a knock- a very loud and annoying one at that- on my door.

“Whoever you are, go away!” I groaned as I rolled over in bed and buried my head under the pillow. Perhaps the person would eventually take a hint and just leave.

But no such luck as the banging went up another notch.

I looked at the time- 6 am - before finally dragging myself to the door and opened it to find Victoria shouting, “Do you die when you sleep?!” at me.

“I must be dreaming,” I said; there was no way in hell that Vic could be banging on my door at six o’clock in the morning on a weekend.

Immediately, water came flying out of thin air and splashed me on my face. I wiped it off and still saw Victoria standing there with a “woman on a mission” look on her face.

“It’s the weekend, Vic, and I don’t have you scheduled for today. Please leave, I have to sleep,” I told her and tried to close the door even as she stood there.

But she blocked my attempt. “Before your teacher, Troy, I’m your friend, and I say we grab an early breakfast and go out for some weekend fun.”

“Why?” I was practically whining at that time.

“Because you’ve been working hard all week long and you deserve to let loose a little.”

“And if I say no?”

“I’ll just stay here until someone sees me and we’ll both get in trouble, you more than I.” She crossed her hands and dared me to refuse; she really had meant every word. That girl didn’t care if she had to walk right through hell as long as she got what she wanted- but we all already knew that, didn’t we?

“Go ahead, I’ll catch up,” I finally said when I saw that she wasn't going to budge.

“See, that’s a good boy.” She smiled and patted my head. “Don’t be late.”

After she left, I quickly showered and began to get dressed; I’d learnt the hard way that promises couldn’t be broken to a female- hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, remember?

I was still putting on my shirt when I suddenly heard a really terrified scream; Vic’s. Throwing all caution to the wind, I ran out of the room and towards her, forgetting that I didn’t even have so much as a pen to fight off whatever had caused the scream.

But I skidded to a stop when I saw the cause of the terror. A dead body floated in the air, and it belonged to my good friend Jake.