Fire and Rain

Two

“I’m sure most of you have been here before,” Mrs. Dunston announced, “but we are now entering Anchorville. On your left, you can see the world-renowned Anchorville University. One of the largest and most prestigious universities that produced many great High Council Leaders, lawyers, and businessmen.”

Everyone looked to the left, excitedly gushing about the—in my opinion—overly-hyped university. It was grand for sure, with its 500 hectares, state-of-the-art technology, and old-school architecture that made all of the buildings look like castles. I have personally gone there twice. Once to visit my older brother, Martin, and the second was when my parents signed me up for a day-tour for prospective students. What I mostly remember was how they bragged about their alumni and the fact that for every hundred of applicants, they only take one to ensure the quality of education. Which is bull. My two cents is that they only do so to maintain their “exclusive" brand. Universities are required to publicize their budgets, and let me tell you, they have a heck load of excess space and budget for at least a thousand more kids.

“Hey, Dana.” I was pulled out of my daydream when Daniel Montgomery slid into the seat beside me and put an arm around my shoulders. I looked around and found that Maria—my supposed seat mate—was sitting next to Fin, engaged in a discussion about Anchorville.

“Hey, Daniel,” I greeted back with much less enthusiasm.

“What's Fart-en need you and Gareth for?” he asked. “Is it for the Student Council? Have you decided to run? Your parents would be happy about that.”

How nosy can you be?

Daniel was playing his role as the number one suck-up to my parents. Even though he was a typical A douche who’s one of the kids that like to tease Mr. Farden, halflings and commoners, my parents absolutely love him.

“You know,” he continued to ramble on, even though I hadn’t replied, “my parents are asking when you’d like to have dinner again.”

About my parents loving him, let me scratch that. What my parents actually like is the status of the Montgomery's, who also come from a long line of full Therians. I’m pretty sure that if I’m in a legal age to be married, they would’ve already set up a wedding.

“Hmm,” I pretended to think, “I think I’m gonna be busy for the next few weeks, especially with the college apps and the Student Council thing. Maybe next time!”

“Oh, but—” he began to say, when the bus finally stopped. Mrs. Dunston called everyone’s attention and said, “Alright, everyone! We have reached our destination. Remember, use of comm links, elements and shifting are not allowed inside. Now, please go down the bus in an orderly manner and fall in line outside.”

I happily shrugged Daniel's arm off and stood up, turning towards Maria and Fin before he gets any ideas. Daniel said a short “later, guys” to us, then rejoined his friends. Maria held onto my arm and snickered, “What’s he want?”

I shrugged. Then we made our way out of the bus. As soon as I stepped out, I saw Mr. Farden waiting for me, and beside him was Gareth, leaning on a street lamp and looking at the museum’s façade.

“Ah, Dana,” Mr. Farden greeted. Fin mouthed a “good luck" and Maria gave me a “you got this" look, before they joined the rest of the class. Gareth walked towards us with his hands in his front pockets. I raised an eyebrow at him and he smugly smiled back at me.

“Now, Dana and Gareth,” Mr. Farden began, “this would only take a few minutes, then you can, uh, rejoin the others.” He fumbled as he navigated his watch, where a holographic projector displayed a document. “So, as you know, I’m the new Junior coordinator for the, uh, Student Election Coun—I mean, Student Council Election. And you two,” he scrolled down, accidentally exited the document, then hurriedly put it back on. “Sorry, I, um, anyway, typically, one student from different classes run for a position, but you two seem to be running against each other even though you’re in the same class.” He awkwardly gestured at the two of us.

“Are you asking for one of us to concede, Mr. Farden?” Gareth asked, beating me to it.

Mr. Farden fumbled with his tie, looking a bit intimidated even though Gareth asked nicely. “Well,” he spoke, “that is the best option.”

“I have no intention to back down,” I said to the teacher, glancing at the halfling.

“I passed my letter of intent a few days ago,” Gareth butted in.

“First of all, it’s not like you announced it. Second, that doesn’t matter, right, Mr. Farden?”

Mr. Farden put up both his hands, attempting to calm the situation down. “Now, now, technically,” he said, “Gareth should be the one allowed to run.”

Gareth smirked at me. “But,” Mr. Farden continued, “it is true that he didn’t make any formal announcements.”

I stuck my tongue out at Gareth, who rolled his eyes.

“I uh, spoke with the rest of the committee, and the vote was to, um, let the two of you run,” Mr. Farden informed us, “making this a special election. So, please prepare for your campaigns by the end of December. We’ll be formally announcing the uh, candidates by then.”

Gareth and I simultaneously narrowed our eyes at each other.

“That’s all.” Mr. Farden gestured to the rest of the class, who were now entering the museum. “You may join your classmates. Have a blast learning.”

We thanked and smiled at him, but just when I was about to leave, I overheard Mr. Farden saying, “Goshdarnit,” repeatedly as he furiously typed into his watch.

I looked behind me and saw Gareth already a few paces away, so I turned to Mr. Farden. “Are you okay, sir?” I asked, giving him a startle.

“Oh, Dana, you’re still here,” he said, embarrassed, “I’m sorry you had to hear me cursing.”

I wanted to tell him that goshdarnit was barely considered a curse word, but I let it be. The poor man was already distressed. “Anything wrong with your watch, Mr. Farden?”

“N-no, I just—” he aggressively clicked a few buttons then finally turned off the holographic projector. He sighed and turned to me. “I have to find a new apartment,” he lamented.

“What happened to your current one? The one with the balcony?” I asked. I distinctly remembered him rejoicing when he was approved to rent that place, because he gave us no homework that day.

“If you must know,” his shoulders sagged, “the landlord is kicking me out because a full Therian wants the place.”

“But that’s unfair!” I exclaimed. He sadly nodded.

“I guess such is the life for a commoner.”

“But you’re a good tenant, aren’t you?” I argued, “Plus, don’t you have a PhD and all those research papers under your name? That’s just so unfair!”

“But a commoner no less,” he said in despair. “Anyhow, I have no more say in the matter. How are your university applications, Dana? I’m sure you have no troubles with it.”

It wasn’t clear to me what he meant by that. Did he mean I had no troubles because of my good class standing, or because of my social status? Well, either way, he was right.

“I’m supposed to be writing an essay for Anchorville, but…”

“What about the, uh, Kors Art School you wanted to go to?” he asked, impressing me with his memory. I had only told him about Kors in passing, and yet he remembered.

I shrugged. “That was a lost cause from the start, Mr. Farden. Looks like I’m headed to Anchorville.”

From the distance, we heard Mrs. Dunston yelling for students to hurry up. “Ah, you best go, Dana,” Mr. Farden said, “but good luck on your applications. I’m sure you’d do great.”

“And good luck on your apartment, Mr. Farden.” I briefly smiled at him then jogged to the entrance. I was seething with second-hand rage for Mr. Farden's case as I neared Fin and Maria, when an arm stopped me in my tracks.

“We are to go in partners, Dana. Do you have yours?” Mrs. Dunston asked. I searched amongst the crowd, when I noticed her signaling someone to come over. “You two can stick together for an hour or two without biting each other’s head of, right?”

I looked to whom Mrs. Dunston was referring to. Gareth smiled at me then the teacher. “Of course, miss,” he replied so surely. Left with no choice, I nodded.

“Good,” Mrs. Dunston said, “you know the rules. You’re responsible for your partner if they do something against the rules. Go on, now.”

I walked ahead, and stopped at the end of the line of students getting their museum passes by pair. Gareth caught up with me easily, then stood closely beside me that the varsity jacket he had swung over his left shoulder would occasionally touch my arm whenever the line moved.

“You know why the election committee decided like that, don’t you?” he spoke quietly while looking ahead.

I looked up at him—literally, since he was around a foot taller than I was, which made me wish I had worn taller heels—and feigned ignorance. “Are you talking to me or yourself?”

He sighed and turned his head to look at me.

“Oh,” I muttered, “I guess you were talking to me. Anyway, it doesn’t matter because I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“It's because of your parents that they’re holding a special election. You should’ve been disqualified,” he whispered.

“Don’t—” I was about to speak loudly, but when I saw Mrs. Dunston look at us all hawk-like, I decided to lower my voice into a hiss, “don’t take this out on me. You heard what Mr. Farden said. You didn’t make a formal statement of your intent to run.”

Gareth scoffed. “You know that’s only a formality. Parinski glossed over that last year and still won Secretary.” He was right.

“Be that as it may,” I said, not backing down, “it’s in the rules. I’m not gonna concede, Gareth.” I muttered under my breath, “my parents would kill me.”

“And mine won’t?” he asked, apparently hearing me.

Thankfully, the line moved fast and we were next in line. We were given a stamp pass, and our ID cards were checked. As soon as we stepped into the main hall, a woman dressed in the museum uniform stood in the middle. As she spoke, my eyes met with Maria's, and when she saw who I was partnered up with, she snickered and whispered at Fin. Fin followed her gaze and his eyebrows shot up when he saw the situation. I rolled my eyes.

“Your friends seem to like me,” Gareth slightly leaned in to sarcastically whisper. When Maria and Fin saw that he had noticed them, they immediately turned their eyes towards the speaker.

“Why aren’t you with yours anyway?” I blurted. “Isn’t the Stup—I mean, isn’t your group of friends made up of four?”

“Baron's…busy,” Gareth said, nodding towards his friend, who was trying to cozy up to our classmate, Lara—who was looking pretty uninterested.

Our museum guide made us follow her into one of the exhibits about the history of Theriantrophy. The displays were beautiful, but the tour was pretty boring, actually. We had been learning about the subject since grade school, so she wasn’t really saying new information. So, I found my eyes wandering around in search of anything interesting. Jonathan and Louie, who were paired up and obviously not listening to the guide, were snickering in a corner about one of the displays that looked a bit phallic. Maria and Fin were whispering—I assumed they were in another debate. Daniel was talking to his friends loudly about a Halloween party. Lara was trying to get his attention, while Baron was vying for hers. Barely half of the class was listening, but the guide was unbothered. This probably wasn’t her first high school tour.

I was surprised, however, when I glanced beside me and found Gareth intently paying attention. He may be a bit snooty and sarcastic, but he really is a good student. When I stole another glance at him, he had a small smirk on his face, even though the guide was in the middle of a serious topic.

Finally, we were led to the next exhibit, which was more interesting than the last. Specifically, the scroll and large chunk of stone with engravings.

“These date around the same period as old religious texts, such as the Puranas. They were found just a few years ago when a group of explorers were on a hiking trip in the Basker mountain. Does anyone know what this scroll contains? ” the guide asked. “I’ll give you a clue. It speaks of a belief somewhat similar to one of the topics in the Puranas and Norse Myths.”

Beside the scroll was an enlarged picture of it, which showed writings in a Celtic language, but I wasn’t sure which. From the sea of quiet, clueless students, Fin raised his hand.

“A multiverse,” he answered, a bit unsure.

The guide nodded. “Correct. The unidentified person who wrote this seemed to believe that he was able to go to a parallel universe. He described the world in detail, saying its inhabitants are like us humans, but without Theriantropy and the power to wield the elements.”

From a few rows ahead of us, Jonathan and Louie waved to their faithful leader beside me and acted as if they were sleeping and bored, but Mrs. Dunston was too busy on her watch to see, and Mr. Farden seemed too invested in the scroll. Jonathan, who saw that I was looking, elbowed Louie and together they bowed down dramatically. I rolled my eyes and Gareth shook his head at them, looking unamused.

“The rumored portal he used was said to be on an intersecting ley line,” the guide continued. “Does anyone know what that place is now?”

“The Basker Bay?” Baron called out in jest, and everyone chuckled. Basker Bay was known for being a make-out spot for lovers.

“Not that,” the guide said, obviously trying to remain civil. “It's actually Carden Academy. That’s right, where your school stands.”

A chorus of “ooh's" filled the room. “Interesting, isn’t it?” the guide smiled. “But sadly, there were traces of hallucinogenic compounds in the area where the scroll was found. Given that this was written around the time hallucinogens were first discovered by human kind, scholars believe that this was either a product of a vivid hallucination or an attempt to write fiction.”