Ace of Minds

The Call

“I’ve seen it!”

Irene should have been used to Fleur’s explosive actions and voice by now. Yet, she still cringed whenever her friend got too excited, too happy, or any words with ‘too’ in front of it.

First, Fleur’s footsteps could be heard on the entire east wing. It was probably something to do with her enhanced strength talent. Second, Harkin was seconds away from locking the door. Third, thanks to her talent, Fleur managed to open the door and sandwiched Harkin with the wall. The latter groaned in pain and cursed in twenty different languages.

Ignoring the glare she’d got, Fleur ran straight to Irene’s bed. “Ugh, Nancy, a newbie in my tutor class has kept me from seeing the schedules. She wouldn’t stop whining on how she couldn’t throw a freaking punch!” she sighed loudly, looking down. When she looked back up at Irene, her eyes softened, and then she hugged her. “I’m so sorry for your fate to fight against that smexy, deadly, otherworldly handsome Kassel. I don’t know what to say … or how to help. A tip from me, pretend you’re dead the moment you step in the arena.”

Fleur might as well have announced it with a speaker. Irene’s roommates couldn’t help but heard the news. They gasped always simultaneously.

Fleur covered her mouth. “Oopsie. They didn’t know, did they?”

In split second, everyone already gathered around her bed.

“Is it true?”

“Poor you.”

“Can I switch with you?”

“God, I can’t tell whether you’re lucky or not!”

Clearly, she was not lucky however you see it.

Harkin, still tending her bruised temple, also commented while tch-ing, her lips formed a smirk. “You are so dead.”

Fleur’s snapped to Harkin, “Funny, hearing it from someone who’s going to become a pulp in the hands of Wright Egor.” Harkin was taken back with Fleur’s statement. “Just so you know he’s been practicing nonstop. And yes, I know that because I’m in the same department with him. So if that door hasn’t hurt you enough, I’m sure Egor could do a lot better job. Knock some sense in your ugly head. And maybe, since I’m his friend, I can tell him a couple of things to do to you.” That was enough to shut Harkin and turned her paler than Edward in Twilight.

Flipping her hair, Fleur turned back to Irene, “See you in breakfast. I think Denzel and Brian would like to say a thing or two. Good luck!”

The girl walked out of the room without saying goodbye to the other girls. Not that she had to.

As Irene tucked herself into bed, Jeanette’s head popped from the upper bed. Her long, blond hair that hung freely almost covered her face. It looked like a scene from a horror movie. “Are you really going to fight Kassel? As in the Logan Kassel?” she asked with her eyes widened.

Irene sighed, “Yes,” she breathed out.

“Really?”

“Yes, Jeanette.”

“Isn’t he so powerful or something? Are you sure you’re not going to die?” she sounded petrified, probably imagining if it was her who would fight Kassel.

“Why don’t you go to sleep? It’s late.”

“But-”

“Goodnight,” Irene rolled her body to another side so she was not facing Jeanette anymore. With a heavy heart, she closed her eyes and drifted to sleep.

…

Or more like she tried to.

She just couldn’t sleep. She was going to face the Tournament’s forever champion, Logan Kassel. And everyone had been trying to convince her that she was not going to last more than three seconds in the arena. What the hell did the freaking school thinking when they scheduled her with Logan; a mere unknown versus an invincible guy, whose talent was unknown to her?

They must be joking.

Maybe it was a bad choice that Elswood brought her to Z. Maybe she was not really his daughter. Everyone had been fawning over her last name, but clearly, she was not capable of the Ace thingy, or talent thing. She should have just stayed at her house in Beverly Hills, sitting in a ladylike manner when her mother told her to, graduate in normal high school, go to university, work somewhere nice and perhaps, marry a nice, handsome man.

Yeah, like she could just go back.

She sat up, leaning on the bed frame and closed her eyes. And she continued to breathe in silence (thankful that Jeannette had gone to sleep). No matter how hard she tried to sleep, she couldn’t. The thought of being the world’s biggest joke on the following day wouldn’t leave her alone.

She needed to talk to Elswood.

And she knew exactly how to do it.

Getting up from her bed, she opened her drawer, looking for a certain red stone. She remembered on her first day she had put it behind all her clothes, just so she wouldn’t lose it. The stone looked like a small, normal obsidian stone. Only that it was bloody red. Once she held it, she looked around the room. She couldn’t possibly ‘call’ his father in her room. Her roommates were sleeping. She could already imagine what ruckus Harkin would cause if she caught her disturbing her sleep.

She had to get out of the room and the only one who had the key was Harkin. Last time she came back to the room late, she had seen Harkin put the key under her pillow. She went to Harkin’s bunk.

Now that’s a problem, thought Irene.

She settled the stone on Harkin’s drawer. As she moved closer, she held her breath. Her hands reached out for Harkin’s pillow. It slid below the pillow … and Harkin moved. Irene’s breath hitched, eyes widened, and her body went as cold as ice.

“Hmfsh …” Harkin mumbled in her sleep, shifting to another position.

Irene let out a relieved sigh. Her hand went deeper, searching for the small key. Just where on earth is it? Irene couldn’t help but scowl.

Then she felt a cold material that seemed to be what she was searching. She grabbed it and slid her hand out. “Gotcha,” she whispered to no one in particular. As she took the stone and turned around, she froze again.

“Can-deehh d!ka#fahks@ …” followed with some incomprehensible sounds from Harkin.

Again, Irene sighed. She proceeded to open the door. Click, it sounded. She went back to Harkin and put the key back under the pillow. “Hope you have a nightmare,” she chuckled lightly before bolting out of the room.

If her guess was right, it would be around nine or ten pm. It means, the majority of the south wing’s rooms would all be locked to prevent students from wandering around. And that was exactly what she was doing. She could only think of one place other than searching for an empty room: the greenhouse.

She could use the back door from the south wing. Brian had said that no one guarded that door. And so she went. She had to go from the kitchen, where all dishes were done. Usually, the goblins did the dishes, but it appeared that there weren’t any goblins either. It made her question Z’s security system.

Or if they let it be like that on purpose. You know, let brave kids wander every now and then. Except Irene wasn’t exactly brave. ‘Desperate’ described her better.

Once she was out, she looked up—definitely past bedtime. The sky was blue-ish dark without many stars. It was so quiet that she was afraid the sound of her footsteps would blow up her plan.

As she walked past the woods, she felt tons of eyes staring at her. She didn’t know what were being kept in the woods since she was only a beginner in Fauna. Z hadn’t allowed beginners to go into the woods for Fauna class. Instead, she was stuck with Sir Fur and a couple of students (who she suspected stayed in the beginner class on purpose) inside a classroom, learning about the animals and beasts through the textbook.

Her steps were especially light and quick as she passed the woods, going straight to the greenhouse. As expected, the greenhouse was not locked. Sir White had always been a bit tardy and forgetful. Irene shook her head, tsk-ing. Now she really did question Z’s security.

She took out the stone and without hesitation threw it on an empty space. She waited for a few seconds.

Nothing happened.

“Is it broken?” she asked herself. She went to get the stone back, but then black smoke puffed out of it. It startled her that she jumped two steps back. “What on earth—” she trailed off as Elswood appeared in front of her. In a form of smoke.

At first, he stayed still like a stone. But after two seconds just looking at each other, smoke Elswood coughed.

“Oh goodness,” he coughed, “you finally contacted me!”

Irene didn’t answer.

“How’s Z? Awesome, right?”

It was already weird seeing Elswood like that. Moreover talking to him. “Uh … yeah, sure.”

Elswood raised his brow, “Something happened. What is it?”

“I just have … questions.”

“You can ask me everything. Since, you know, I’m your father, although I haven’t stuck around that much.” He smiled crookedly and rubbed the back of his neck.

Irene could tell Elswood yearned her to think of him as her father. But he was still a crazy uncle with cool traveling talent and old fashion sense for her. For now. “Where should I start?” Irene sighed, there were so many things she wanted to tell.

“Beginnings always good.”

Inhaling deeply, she exhaled as much and started to talk. “Well, first, I’m still an Unknown, which sucks. Second, I have one roommate who detests me for life. Third, my teachers expect me to do great because I’m an Elswood. Fourth, the Tournament is nearing and my opponent is Logan freaking Kassel!” She hadn’t even noticed how she had raised her voice and managed to say it in one breath. She coughed.

Elswood eyes brightened … then Irene shook her head. His eyes couldn’t brighten. He was gas.

“You’ve met Logan?” he asked, getting excited. “He’s a nice guy, isn’t he?”

“That’s not the point!”

The middle aged man shook his head. “Right, sorry,” he cleared his throat. “Uh, first, it’s natural for you to be an Unknown because you’ve been living sixteen years among … normal people.”

He paused, eyeing her. “Not that we’re not normal, though. Your talent is pressed and pressed until it’s hidden under tons of layers in you.” He paused again. “You don’t get it and it’s perfectly fine. All I’m saying is, you need more time. You haven’t been here that long.”

Irene stayed still. She had been in Z long enough.

“And I’m sure you detest that roommate of yours just as much as she detests you by now. Um, don’t mind the teachers. I wasn’t not that great, you know? I caused troubles, ditched classes, sneaked out into the woods … I’m pretty sure there were times they wanted to expel me. Seriously, I think some people hate me. It’s normal. You’ll set your priority straight when the time comes. Oh, yes, I know I’m rambling.” He shook his head again.

“Don’t feel down because you’re failing at stuff. Wise people say failure is only a delayed success. I love to believe what wise men says.” Elswood smiled.

“And the Tournament?”

Elswood was silent for a second. “Okay, Tournament is an annual thing so you’ll be participating a lot of it. It is to see what you’re capable of and if you need intensive study or tutor. It’s also to see if you’re ready for advanced classes. So, you’ll be fighting Logan … wait, what?”

Irene was close to rolling her eyes. “I have to fight him for the Tournament,” she said clearly, leaving some space for each word.

“Okay, that’s weird and scary and just unfair.” Elswood rubbed his frowning temple. “But I think he’ll go easy on you.”

She doubted it.

“I’m dead,” she sighed, burying her head in her hands as she dropped and sat on the ground.

From Elswood smoky eyes, she could see he pitied her. “Look, Logan won’t harm you, trust me.”

“What makes you think so?” Irene crossed her arms.

“He knows me,” he pointed out.

That’s suspicious, thought Irene. What was the story between Logan and Elswood? They seemed to know each other well. Irene sighed, “What is it with you and him?”

“He talked about me?”

He saved my life because of you! Irene wanted to say. But she didn’t want Elswood to know about how stupid she was in Floras, and how much of a loser she was in Combat. “Let’s just say he wouldn’t bother talking to me if I’m not your daughter.”

Elswood seemed to want to say something but closed his mouth afterward. “It’s just that I’ve known him for a very long time.”

Irene’s shoulder slumped. She knew he wouldn’t tell her about the debt thing. “Alright.” She ghostly smiled. “It’s nice to see you. I think I’m going crazy here.”

Elswood chuckled, leaving some smoky coughs as residue, “You just need to adjust a little more. Tell me more about your friends. Okay, you have friends, right? Because—”

“Who’s there?” a voice from behind her was heard. Irene stood up and spun around, finding a familiar figure looking at her. She didn’t know why it didn’t surprise her anymore that he found her. Even when he was not supposed to go out of the bunker. She turned to bid her goodbye to Elswood, but the man was already gone. “Where …” The only thing left was the red stone. She picked it up. She could hear his footsteps closing by. With a crooked smile, she waved at him awkwardly.

“Hi … Logan.”