Poster's Note: Pictures of Joseph and Clarice are now available for viewing on deviantart: philowenaster .deviantart .com (Take out the spaces)
Chapter Three
Yokai Academy
"Uh..." Joseph looked from his cousin to the grabby kid of earlier. "Clarice?"
She took a deep breath, her entire frame rigid, her hand tightening around Lorien. "I'm still under control."
"Good?" He hadn't seen her like this, except for—his eyes widened. Oh, crap. Except for that time in Furumiya's car, when the Manitatsukarera had explained to them what their classmates would be, and had mentioned incubi and—a succubus. A number of things clicked into place, and a Sceath word—fortunately untranslatable—bubbled to his lips. Force of habit made him clamp back on it, since he had seen what his mom did to his dad when he said it. This is bad. "Clarice!"
Kurumu was starting to realize that she might be in trouble. Or maybe she could sense her angelic opposite, the way Clarice could effortlessly peg her. Either way, her eyes widened, and she shrank back. "Uhhh...Mizore? W-who's your friend?"
Joseph put his hand on Clarice's shoulder. "Calm down, cuz. She hasn't actually done anything."
"Neither did Saizo." Clarice didn't move. "And he's still going to be seeing funny for the next two weeks."
Mizore smirked. "She jabbed him right in the eye while we were leaving class, after he tried to feel up her skirt."
"Heehee!" A familiar voice giggled excitedly. "I bet you did!"
Clarice turned, relaxing. "Hello again, Yukari."
Yukari came bounding up, hauling the same human kid Joseph had noticed earlier. "Hello! Hey, you're both here! Tsukune, these are the ones I told you about earlier!"
The other boy looked embarrassed and interested at the same time. "Uh...hey." A flicker of recognition entered his eyes as he looked at Joseph. "Hey, I saw you in class earlier."
Joseph grinned and flicked his ear. "I think I might be hard to miss. I saw you, as well."
Clarice looked at Tsukune and gasped, just a quick, sharp sound. She'd felt it, too. Joseph stepped up beside her and bumped her shoulder. "Keep it under control," he breathed as softly as he could. She gave him a wry glance, then looked back at Yukari.
"What all were you telling your friend?"
Joseph heard a quick scuffing noise and glanced over his shoulder to see Kurumu scooting away as fast as her bouncing little feet could take her, sending nervous glances at Clarice the whole way down. That answers that question. She knows Clarice is a danger to her.
Tsukune rubbed his head. "Something about fairy calls and trunks named Mjolnir. And apparently you dealt with those lizard-jerks." He chuckled. "Their ringleader is in trouble with the security committee again, we passed Takata hauling him off."
"Yeah." Joseph laughed. "Sounds like the story got a little garbled between the doing and the telling. We found them shoving Yukari around earlier, so Clarice used a charm called The Faerie Call to get her out of there, and I threw my traveling truck at them. It's...well, my sisters were the ones to do the packing for me after they found out I was transferring here, and they practically stripped my room to the drywall. There's a charm on the trunk so that I can move it no matter how heavy it is, so throwing it wasn't that hard for me."
Clarice laughed. "He bulls-eyed them. And they couldn't get up, which is what made them the angriest. All three of them under that thing, and they couldn't move it."
Tsukune's eyebrows arched. "Really? Okay, that is impressive."
Clarice glanced at a nearby clock. "Oh, I was going to grab a book from my suitcase; Mizore wanted to look at it. I'd better run if we want to have any time." She darted off, waving. "See you, Joseph, Yukari! Nice to meet you, Tsukune!"
They watched her dash off. Tsukune blinked. "Your cousin?"
"Yeah." Joseph looked around, noting that Kurumu had vanished. "Um...your girlfriend, Moka. Are she and Kurumu friends?"
Yukari giggled, and Tsukune laughed. "I'm friends with Kurumu. We're in the newspaper club together. Why?"
"Clarice." Joseph grew serious. "My cousin is...gah, it's complicated. But the long and short of it is, she and Kurumu are like—like fire and ice. And that's a pretty weak comparison." He rubbed his head and sighed. "All right, I'm going to flat-out blab. Clarice is something called a Demon-Seeming. Her other form looks like a ten-foot-tall demoness, probably complete with razor-sharp claws and shark teeth. But she only looks like a demon. She's on the side of Light, which makes her angelic. And...her dad, who is also Demon-Seeming, was sired by an incubus. Clarice is the angelic opposite of incubi and succubi, and..."
Tsukune's eyes widened, understanding. "Yikes. So that's what was going on when Yukari hauled me up here."
"Yeah." Joseph grimaced. "Not that I, um...well...Kurumu kind of scares the snot out of me, so I'm probably going to run if I see her coming, but still. My dad is best friends with Clarice's dad, and even he's scared when the Demon-Seeming side comes out. I just thought it was best if she knew to keep under the radar if Clarice is around."
Tsukune nodded. "I'll let her know." He looked Joseph over. "Are you going anywhere?"
Joseph shrugged. "Just out. I need to stretch my legs; I'm not used to sitting so much. And then I might try to find the gym. Dad's not here for me to spar with, but I might at least set up a routine to keep from getting rusty."
"Spar?"
Joseph turned to see Kazuken and his twin watching him with interest. It was the twin speaking. "Like, in karate or Tae Kwon Do or something?"
"No, swordfighting. Dad's..." He decided not to brag at the moment about his father being the best swordsman in two worlds, and settled on gross understatement. "Really good with a blade."
"Might come by and watch sometime." That was Kazuken, his expression calculating and unreadable. Joseph held his gaze.
"I don't mind an audience," he answered calmly. Then he turned. "I'm going to go out and run for a while. With any luck, I won't be able to get completely lost."
Run. A smile touched the corners of Clarice's mouth as she came out of the girl's dorm to see Joseph flying through the trees, barely seeming to touch the ground. If that's what he wants to call it. She watched as he jumped, hurtling from tree-trunk to tree-trunk like the ninjas in a kung-fu flick, before coming down lightly on his feet again and continuing at the same speed.
I shouldn't be hard on the girls admiring him. He's impressive enough as a lanky teenager. She tried juxtaposing the muscular young Elf she'd seen receiving his sword on the running figure and quickly fanned herself, blushing. Stop that, Clarice; he's your cousin. She turned away, smiling a little. But I do want to see what he's capable of with his sword.
That was when...it wasn't a feeling, or even a sensation. It was a compulsion; something deep, primal, terrible. Her inner powers roiled up, struggling against the calm, warding block of her armband. Succubus!
It took her less than three seconds to find the source: that bubbly, blue-haired little—she discarded several alliterations, descriptive as they might be, and settled on hussy. She was crouching behind a large rock, watching Joseph run. A cold rage settled. Clarice willed herself into a deadly calm, then approached.
"You." All the frost, power, and fury she felt came out packed into that one word.
The succubus jumped guiltily and turned, gasping as she saw her. "Uh! C-can I...help you?"
Clarice glared down at her, her armband the only thing that kept her powers at bay. "Why are you following my cousin?"
Kurumu's eyes widened. "Uhh..."
Clarice stepped forward, one menacing step. A shadowy aura billowed around her, her armband glowing like a ring of moonlight in the gloom. "I know what you are." Another step. "I know what your kind does." A third step, and now she was almost on top of the cowering girl. Her eyes shone with a terrifying blue light.
The girl shrank back into a quivering jelly, shaking so hard it was almost possible to forget what she was. She was outmatched, in danger—and she knew it. Seeing this calmed even the angelic fury—a little, anyway. "W-w-what are you going to do?"
Clarice willed herself back to a calmer state, dispersing some of the black aura. "Nothing—for now. I do not attack without provocation. But this is a warning. You stay away from Joseph. Leave my cousin alone—because the next time I catch you after him, I will fight." She leveled one more blistering glare, then turned and strode away.
Kurumu was still in place ten minutes later, when Tsukune and Kazuken's twin finally found her. Joseph slowed to a halt, stretching his nicely-warmed muscles, and watching from a distance. He tended to lose track of what happened around him when he ran; but he thought he had seen Clarice, looking quite ominous indeed, looming over the other girl like a Balrog over Gondolin. There was no way he was going near them—especially not if Kurumu had been watching him run, the very idea made him break out in a cold sweat—but he could easily hear what was going on.
"Hey—Kurumu?" Tsukune slowed, puzzled. "Are you all right?"
"What happened?" The twin knelt down beside her. "You're shaking all over!"
"Th-th-the new girl," she finally managed. Her teeth were chattering. "It-it-it was her."
The boys exchanged looks. Joseph could imagine what had happened, and couldn't decide if he felt sorry for her, or relieved.
"New girl—you mean Clarice?" Tsukune put his hand on Kurumu's arm, trying to help her up. It was like trying to pile Jello into a tower.
Kurumu nodded.
"Looks like we're a bit late, then." The twin sounded shamefaced. "Joseph asked us to warn you about her; apparently she's something that...is the opposite of succubi."
"I know." Kurumu's voice was tiny. "I could f-f-feel it."
"What did she do to you?" Tsukune was pretty alarmed by now. "I haven't seen you this shaken since you attacked Moka. Are you hurt?"
"Sh-she looked at me!" Kurumu wailed, breaking her stupor, and hurling her arms around Tsukune. This had the opposite effect of what she wanted, since his balance wasn't great and she pulled him over, crashing into the other boy, but she didn't break her hold.
"Hey, hey now," the twin joked, trying to pull his legs out from under them, "if you're going to do that, at least get a room!"
"Not funny, Kyle," Tsukune griped, trying to lever himself up.
"Just trying to lighten the mood a little."
It needed lightening. Kurumu was no longer in a quivering heap. Now she was in full-on hysterics, shrieking at a pitch Joseph figured they could hear on the other side of the barrier, and clutching Tsukune so tightly she looked like she would have to be pried off with a crowbar. Joseph wondered if he should go over and help. But, A: he had never been good around girls, especially ones in a high emotional pitch, and B: he had a sneaking suspicion that he was what Clarice had been terrorizing Kurumu over. Either way, his presence would probably make things worse. He decided to do the next best thing and find a teacher.
And...thinking back over his teachers of the day, he figured he knew which of them would be the best choice.
Clarice looked up from poring over her leather-bound Book of Beings with Mizore as Joseph, his shirt drenched from his run, walked past them. "Uh, Miss Nekonome?"
The cheerful teacher looked up. "Yes, Joseph?"
He jerked his thumb toward the door. "Thought you should know: Kurumu's having hysterics outside, about halfway between that woody tangle and the main school building. She's got Tsukune and...I think they said his name was Kyle with her, but I don't think they know what to do for hysterics."
"Oh my!" Miss Nekonome jumped up. "What happened? Do you know?"
He shook his head. "No, I was running until a minute ago. And I, uh, would kind of rather avoid Kurumu. I get...nervous around girls like that."
"Is there a reason?" She looked at him curiously.
"Yeah." He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to banish the still-vivid memory. "Let's just say... childhood trauma. I was thirteen at the time, but still. It made its mark."
"All right. I'll go and see what I can do." Miss Nekonome hurried out.
Joseph waited until she was gone, then turned to Clarice. "And what, pray tell," he said, crossing his arms, "did you do? I don't mind you telling the other girls to keep away from me, but—my gosh, you turned her into a pile of melting Jello out there!"
"I caught her spying on you while you were running." Clarice was not repentant. "I admit, nearly losing control was taking it a little far...but hopefully, seeing what might have happened will get through to that girl. And I did not even yell."
"I was never afraid when Dad yelled." Joseph loomed over them—or tried to; Mizore was too interested in the Book of Beings to pay attention, and Clarice wasn't afraid of him. "It was when he got quiet that I feared for my life."
Mizore giggled, completely unaware of him. "Clarice, this book is incomplete. There's nothing it in at all about half the creatures here!"
"I know." Clarice looked down at it. "That is actually why I brought it. I've been training for a few years now as a Chronicler; I'll be adding races to the book while I'm here."
Dismissed. Joseph shook his head and sighed. All right. I'm just going to go change my shirt so I don't stink up my next class. And seriously hope I don't run into Kurumu again for a couple of days.
Neither Clarice nor Mizore noticed as he walked out, both too engrossed in the book. Mizore fingered the thick, vellum-like pages. "You and Joseph; are your people in here?"
"Yep." Clarice flipped the pages back. "Here's the Demon-Seeming entry." She paused, looking down at the illustration of a huge, terrifying, blue-black creature. "It's new. As far as anyone knows, my father and I are the only Demon-Seeming out there. That picture is my dad in his other form."
"Ooh." Mizore traced the picture with her finger. She noticed a certain detail that had been left out and giggled again. "Does that..."
"No. I don't know why they drew him like that. Mom made him a special kilt that shows up when he changes." She paused. "Now the first time it happened...I don't know. He might have been."
"Do...you?" Mizore glanced up at her slyly.
"Absolutely not." Clarice swatted her over the head. "I have a tunic. It's not a very long tunic, but it covers me."
Mizore ducked, giggling. "All right, all right. What about Joseph's kind?"
Clarice sighed. "The Sceath. Oh yeah. They're in here; and my edition wasn't censored."
"Censored?" Mizore glanced at her curiously.
For answer, Clarice flipped through the book until she reached the appropriate entry. "This."
Mizore gasped, staring down at both the words and the illustrations. A few of the latter blurred away as she looked; neither girl objected. She read silently for a few moments, swallowing hard a number of times. "That's...that's scary."
"Believe me. I know." Clarice stared down at a portrait of a Sceath man, glaring over his shoulder out at them. It was possible to see a resemblance to Breagan or Joseph in the lines of the face, but nowhere else. "It's a good thing Joseph's mom had never found this entry before she met Breagan. Most Sceath who come to the surface don't do so because they have good hearts. Usually, they've made the underground too hot to hold them." She hesitated. "When that happens, they...they're usually hunted down. By a Judge(1)."
Mizore shivered. "Don't, please; I'm terrified of Judges."
"Those who don't cause trouble have no reason to be afraid of them." Clarice decided she'd had enough of those unpleasant illustrations and flipped ahead to a more attractive entry. "I have several aunts who are Judges...and I might become one myself, once I turn eighteen."
"You don't know?" Mizore shot her an odd look.
Clarice shook her head, flipping ahead a little more. "I'd be fairly confident of becoming a Healer(2) if my staff was made of elder wood. As it is, I'm a birch; we tend to go either way." She paused, looking up. "Joseph's mom, Ange, is ambidextrous: she's a Healer and a Judge. So is her twin, Paige. They didn't know that at first."
"How did they...find out?" Mizore looked a little sick.
"Long story. Very long. Let's just say it was after that that Breagan and Ange knew how much they meant to each other." She found the entry she wanted. "Ah, here we are." She turned it slightly so that Mizore could see it.
"Oh! That's—that's us!" She bent over the pages, eagerness making several waves of cold gust off her. "Oh—oh, I know her! I know the one in the picture!"
"Really?" Clarice looked at it, admiring the graceful, silver-haired woman. "Who is it?"
"Her name is Akiko! She's one of you—a Manitatsukarera. She married into them; they formed a treaty with us because of it. I used to be good friends with her daughter, Suzuto." She sighed. "We lost track of each other once I came here. The Headmaster wouldn't let her join."
Clarice gasped, jerking upright. "I've heard that name before! Akiko—yes! She was the one who got us our applications—who got Joseph and I approved to transfer in!"
They looked at each other, both wondering how, and why, exactly, this had been done.
Joseph groaned in relief, stretching his stiff limbs in the dorm room. It had been a long day, and he was going to have trouble taking it all in. I was still in America this morning, he thought ruefully. And now...now I'm a Japanese schoolboy. Sort of. Night had fallen outside, bringing true darkness as opposed to the sullen, overcast orange of earlier. He looked around the room. No one had turned on the light, so it was nearly pitch-black...something which didn't bother a creature meant for lightless caverns.
It's stuffy in here. Joseph ghosted over to the window and pulled it open, letting in a breeze. Huh. There isn't a screen. He leaned out, looking around, then up. There's a walkway up there. I wonder...
Glancing inside and around assured him that no one else was moving. Stealthily, he pulled himself out of the window, making use of the dozens of handholds to climb up the roof. In a few seconds, he reached the walkway and hoisted himself over the railing. Then he looked up.
The clouds had drifted away, revealing a full moon floating in a sea of stars. He stared up, his lips parting in a contented smile. It's been a while since I've been able to go out and stargaze. Maybe I'm across the sea; but there are dozens of old friends up there. Easily, he picked out Orion, Cassiopeia, the Big Dipper, Leo, and his personal favorite, Pegasus. The moon was too bright for the Milky Way to be visible, but he could see the Pleiades cluster, and...
A grim voice interrupted his reverie. "What will happen when we go to the human world?"
He turned to see Kazuken behind him, also up on the roof. He wasn't looking at the sky; he was staring ahead, looking at something only he could see.
I wonder if he's worried about standing out. I probably would be in his place. "There are ways," he said, his voice low in keeping with the night.
Kazuken dropped into a fighter's crouch, whirling to face him. Evidently, his night vision wasn't quite as good as Joseph's; it took him several seconds to find him, standing against the stars. Joseph held his gaze calmly. "Ways for even the most monstrous of creatures to hide in plain sight." As I should well know.
Kazuken finally found him, and his weird eyes widened. "You're that transfer student, aren't you?"
"Yes." Joseph smiled. "And you're the grumpy one who was introduced before me."
"Then I shouldn't have to remind you of my name." Kazuken opened his hand, flashing claws.
Joseph reached back, carelessly rubbing his hand over Tellemaera's hilt. "I've seen claws much bigger than that. Much bigger." And trust me, kiddo; you have no idea how much bigger. "I'm not looking for a fight." It didn't work earlier, but heck. At least people can't fault me if I'm trying.
Kazuken's stance didn't change. "Then what do you want?" He was hands-down the most suspicious guy Joseph had ever met.
"Nothing," he answered honestly. "I just like the night. I don't mind the light, but..." He tipped his head backwards, enjoying the breeze on his face. "Sceath were meant for the darkness."
"Sceath." The surly kid seemed to be thinking something over. Then he stiffened. "You mean the dark elves?"
Joseph turned back to look at him, surprised. "You've heard of them? I didn't think anyone here would have."
"I've heard a few things." Now he was really looking to rumble. "Nothing good."
A laugh that wasn't as harsh as it might have been escaped Joseph's lips. "That doesn't surprise me. You should hear my dad's stories of his homeland sometime." You might even be old enough—and mean enough—to hear them without getting nightmares.
Kazuken's crouch deepened, and he scowled. "All right. Enough small talk. What do you want?"
Joseph sighed, shaking his head. "Nothing. I already said that." He paused, then decided to be generous. "But if you need help with a glamour, I'll be happy to oblige."
And I've suddenly had enough night. He vaulted over the railing onto the slick shingles and crouched, spreading his weight evenly as he slid down them. It was fun—almost better than the time they had gone skiing. He came up to the open dormitory window, caught the edge of it, and swung himself in, landing easily and silently.
Morning came way too soon—at least in Clarice's opinion. She groaned and turned over. The jet lag hadn't hit until about three last night, and now she could barely keep her eyes open. Oh, today's going to be fun.
Showering next to Mizore helped. A lot. There was something about the sensation of standing naked in a storm of freezing rain that banished any and all desire to sleep. But, while she was awake, the cold water did nothing to quell the welling grouchiness that was probably going to sit on her until her next chance of sleep. She'd had lots of practice in the past, staying civil when she wanted to scream and run around ripping heads off...but today will not be a good one to tick me off.
She pulled on her glamoured skirt, making a mental note to ask Joseph to transfer the glamour to something she could move from one outfit to another, so she didn't have to keep wearing the same one all the time. It took her a few minutes to realize that several girls had gathered to watch her do so.
"Um...can I help you?"
"Your skirt." She didn't know the girl who spoke, staring at it covetously. "How did you get a full-length skirt?"
"It's not really full-length." She passed her hand through it, demonstrating. "I had my cousin put a glamour on it yesterday. I've been in the same class as Saizo, and I...figured I had better take some preventative action."
The other girls looked at each other. "You think he might do the same for us?"
Clarice could picture the girls trying to ask Joseph in a group, Joseph panicking, and the whole farce ending somewhere in the vicinity of the tallest tree on the property. "Let me ask him if he can replicate it. And if he can, get a clip or a brooch or a safety pin or something that he can tie the glamour to; that way, you can switch it to any skirt you want."
"Okay." The girls looked at each other, interested. One, a chipper girl with blonde hair in perky buns and not-inconsiderable assets, looked particularly intrigued. "You think he would? It's not quite so bad with Moka and Kurumu around, but a lot of the boys are perverts—and believe me, you notice when they're around."
"I have a great deal of sympathy." Clarice looked over at her staff and frowned, inspired. "Hmmm...you know, I don't quite have the oomph that my aunt Bodie does, but I can cut wards, and they do work. If you could get hold of some wooden medallions, I could make you some anti-stalker wards. At the very least, they will make you impossible to see clearly if someone is spying on you."
"Oooh." That was even more interesting to them than the glamours. "Yeah, we'll get those medallions, even if we have to make them."
On the whole, waking up at Yokai Academy wasn't all that different from waking up at home. Joseph cracked one eye, grunted, and turned over, pulling blankets and pillows over his head. Three seconds later, the entire world shattered as perhaps fifty-seven alarm clocks of varying types went off at the same time.
As wake-ups went, that was effective. Almost as effective as Breagan's method for rousing his morning-hating son, which was first to bang on the door and loudly announce that it was time to get up; then, if Joseph had not stirred in twenty minutes, to barge in, scoop his son out of bed, blankets and all, carry him to the top of the stairs, then unceremoniously unroll him and tumble him down into the kitchen, where Rachel and Melody, no matter how drowsy they had previously been, eagerly waited to laugh at the spectacle of their brother rolling downstairs in his boxers. Joseph had the ability to sleep through an earthquake. He did not have the ability to sleep through that.
Nor, he thought ruefully as he picked himself up off the floor, could he sleep through this cacophony. All around him, the alarms were being silenced, some with a relative gentleness, some with a muffled curse, some with a crash that made him wonder how often the clocks had to be replaced. He sighed, decided not to wait for the equivalent of Breagan rousing the late sleepers, and dug into his trunk, looking for his uniforms.
He came out of the dorm building twenty minutes later, more or less neatly dressed, and vainly trying to comb his hair out with his fingers. I look like a friggin' bush. It was the one problem with his glamoured hair; his real hair just tangled. His glamoured hair stood up every which way. And I don't have my brush. They pack my whole cotton-pickin' room and they forgot the hairbrush. I guess I should feel lucky they didn't forget my toothbrush, too.
His hand snaked up to cover an enormous yawn. Jet-lag, here I come. I hope they have coffee here. He wasn't quite addicted to the stuff, but both he and Breagan had developed a taste and a need for it in the morning; and the stronger and blacker it was, the better. His hand fumbled up for Tellemaera's hilt, wondering as he did if the sword's power might wake him up a little.
"Hi."
His eyes snapped open as he realized he'd just walked into someone. The stranger grinned at him, amused.
"Were you even awake?"
"Not really." His hand found the hilt, but the surge of power just made him feel confident, not awake. "Where's the nearest coffeepot? I...do have a tendency to walk into walls before I've had some."
The other kid laughed, reaching up to shift his headband. "Did you think I was a wall?"
"I didn't even see you. I generally don't see the walls, either." Joseph covered his mouth and yawned again. "Where's the nearest coffeepot?"
"Try the cafeteria." The student grinned at him. "Might get to see you around later. I'm Gin. What's your name?"
"Joseph. Nice to meet you." He rubbed his eyes. "Try to remind me to get your name again later, when I'm actually awake."
Gin laughed heartily, grinning down at him. "I'll do that. See you later, Joseph." He looked into the distance, and his grin turned salacious. "Ooh, there are some good ones this morning..." He moved away.
Joseph didn't know what he was going after, and he didn't care. He stumbled off, hoping he could find the cafeteria, and really hoping they would have coffee.
Clarice found him fifteen minutes later, looking down at a cup of black liquid with an expression of distaste. "Morning," she greeted. "Something wrong?"
"Japanese do not have a coffee culture," he answered. "I've had stronger brews from the bottom of the instant coffee tin at home. This is vaguely flavored water." He looked around, found a sink, and emptied the cup out. "I'm going to find the kitchen crew and ask if I can make my own. I'm awake at the moment, but this jet lag is going to kill me later on."
"If you can get some decent coffee, let me have some," Clarice suggested. "I need something to get me a little nicer. I'm in kind of a...dangerous mood."
Joseph paused in the act of walking off. "Dangerous as in?"
"Dangerous as in slugging anyone who looks at me wrong. I walloped someone on the way in from the girl's dorm." She sighed, rubbing her hair. "Admittedly, he was a creep, but I don't really think he deserved a black eye first thing in the morning. Not like some of the guys here..."
"Who'd you clobber, and why?"
"Some black-haired rake-in-training with a headband. He, um, complimented my...chest. And insulted it in the same breath, I think, but by then I was already winding up, so it didn't matter." Clarice sighed. "I laid him out flat. Some of the other girls cheered, but...that sort of snapped me out of crab mode. At least for a little while."
"Good thing I wasn't there to hear that. He wouldn't have just had to worry about you." Joseph scowled. "Maybe I'm scared of girls, but that doesn't mean I'll let someone disrespect one in my hearing. Especially not my cousin."
"Don't kill anybody on my account." Clarice smirked, then sobered. "That is, unless I ask you to with good reason."
"I won't." Joseph grinned slyly. "But Dad's not the only one who taught me how to fight. Mom and Aunt Paige know some really awesome wrestling moves—and they taught all of us. And I'm a lot stronger than I look, so I can pack some serious oomph into those moves."
"I bet." Clarice covered a yawn. "Weren't you going to try and make some good coffee? And I like a lot of cream and sugar in mine."
"Yeah." Joseph rubbed his hair. "You know, I almost can't believe I didn't dig a coffeemaker out of my trunk, the girls packed just about everything else. If it turns out we're allowed presents from outside, I'm going to ask about having them send me a french press and some coffee grounds."
"Sounds good." Clarice found a spot to sit. "I'll wait for you here. Don't panic if there are some other girls with me when you get back; they're just interested in skirt glamours like mine."
"Once I wake up, that won't be a problem." Joseph walked toward the kitchen.
As he returned some ten minutes later, bearing two large cups of hot, steaming brew almost strong enough to float the spoons, he noticed Kyle, Kazuken, and Tsukune talking.
"Did you see that shiner?" Tsukune sounded stunned. "I've never seen anyone catch him that hard before."
Kyle snorted with laughter. "Despite numerous efforts on the part of nearly every girl on campus...I've got to admit, though, that was an impressive one. Whoever belted him has quite the swing—and is faster than greased lighting, as well."
"Faster than greased lighting?" Kazuken glanced up and noticed Joseph. His eyes narrowed. Joseph, mellowed somewhat by several sips of his blacker-than-doomsday coffee, just nodded back. "I can name at least one who fits that description."
"And you'd be wrong," Joseph answered. "It wasn't me. Clarice is not a morning person. Take note."
"Clarice?" The other two turned to him, then Tsukune's eyes lit with recognition. "Oh, your cousin. That was her?"
"And I think she feels a little guilty over it, though if what she said was true, she has no cause to be."
Kyle waved the concern away. "Gin always deserves it. If he didn't do anything at that moment, he did something a few minutes ago. She doesn't have to feel bad."
"I will pass that on to her." He caught a glimpse of the student he'd walked into earlier and raised an eyebrow. The black eye was indeed impressive, being quite large, several shades of purple and green, and swelling his eye shut. "Wow, she really did pop him a good one." He looked down at the cups he held. "Ah, I'd better get back over to Clarice before she falls asleep or this gets cold, because I don't know which would be worse." He nodded to the group. "I'll catch you guys later."
There were several other girls sitting and chatting with Clarice, all of them quite pretty, but also demurely dressed—at least, as demurely as their uniforms allowed. He nodded to them politely as he came up, holding the second cup out to Clarice.
"Here you go," he said. "I don't know how much cream and sugar you like, so I was generous."
"I like it pretty close to syrup," she admitted, taking the cup and sipping. "Wow, you really do drink it strong. This is fine."
Joseph sat down across from her. "You said there was something they wanted?"
"Skirt glamours, like mine." Clarice indicated her long skirt. "There are a lot of, well..."
"Perverts," the generously-proportioned blonde said bluntly. "Gin and Saizo are the worst, but most of the boys are awful. And these short skirts..."
"Are enablers. I understand." If it wasn't for his cold-water charm, Joseph would probably be in trouble, surrounded by acres of long, attractive female legs. As it was, it only took a few shocks from it to keep his eyes at face height. He frowned, considering what he would need to do to create a number of glamours, and fiddled with his earring as he did. "If I can bind the glamours to something special to each of you, or something that has some significance, that...energy on the item will be enough to fuel something that small. But in order to work the charm and create the illusion, I'm going to have to touch your skirts. Just the hem; and you might want to tell me how long you want the glamour to be, or you'll all be walking around looking like you're going to trip on your hems at any minute."
"Oh." They exchanged looks. "So you can't do it right here?"
Joseph stared at them. "You are asking me to touch a girl's skirt way too close to...um...all the way up in public? No thank you. It'll feel weird enough doing it in a closed room."
"That makes sense." The girls nodded, reluctantly, but understanding. "All right; we'll gather some special things and be ready for you after the first class."
Joseph nodded. "I'll be ready for you then."
After breakfast, the campus milled with students gathering in knots to chat, challenge each other, or just congregate. Joseph's agorophobia started to kick in, so he found himself a lonely-looking tree, and challenged himself to see how far he could jump up it before he had to climb. Clarice, on the other hand, gathered in a cheerful group with the girls who had asked her about skirt glamours earlier.
Joseph stretched out on a sturdy branch and gazed into the distance, wondering just what the day would bring. He didn't want all that much: decent grades, Kurumu to leave him alone, no fights with the Reptoid or his crew...not much at all.
"Papers!"
His eyes focused again and he looked down. A number of familiar faces had appeared, carrying stacks of newspapers. The other students perked up, turning toward them. Joseph, still stretched out on his branch like a smallish panther, watched idly. He smiled when he saw Kurumu start toward Clarice's group, then veer wildly to the side as she noticed the Demon-Seeming eyeing her coldly. Gin also noticed Clarice, and steered clear himself. Yukari, on the other hand, went straight to her, making Joseph wonder if The Faerie Call left echoes on the mind even after its aim had been accomplished.
Might be the reason we're only supposed to use it in emergencies, he mused. He decided he didn't really want one of the papers, and remained where he was. He could find out what was in them just by listening.
There was, he soon discovered, a flaw in his plan: the loudest voices below were not discussing the papers, but the girls who had passed them out, and the attributes thereof. He scowled, looked at the tree, and decided to try something he'd once heard described by a cousin who was one-fourth Dryad, one-fourth woodland Seelie, and one-half completely unknown. Not sure it will work for a Sceath, but I've done stuff like this before...
He flattened his hand on the branch and closed his eyes, drawing into himself the knowledge of the tree and what it had been when alive. It was easier than he'd thought; either the tree hadn't been dead for very long, or his magic was stronger than he'd imagined. And...yes. Hehe. This kind of tree produced lots of small, hard seeds. Perfect for ammunition. He concentrated a little harder, reminding it of how it felt when the sun beamed down on it, when its sap flowed freely, when it burst out in leaves and blossoms, when it produced fruit...
It shuddered beneath him, then, with a rush and a crackle...Uh. That was considerably more enthusiastic than I had planned. Or expected. Joseph looked around at the one completely living tree in a sea of dead ones, and blinked. And to be frank, more than what I thought was possible.
He'd only wanted to bring his branch to life long enough for it to produce a few handfuls of seeds, which he could then use to bomb those perverted little twits loudmouthing it up below him. He hadn't expected to bring the entire tree back to life. He also hadn't expected to...he lifted his head in amazement. The tree was awake, now. "Uh...wow."
"Oh, gosh."
He looked down to see Clarice under him, looking up at the rustling leaves. "How in heaven's name did you pull this off?"
"I have absolutely no idea. I was just...trying to do it to the branch for a few minutes." Joseph sat up. "I did not expect it to do this."
Clarice touched the tree and shook her head. "This is crazy. I...wow. Holy smokes, what you did was seriously powerful magic-wise, something I'd expect more from an oak than from a yew."
"So what did I do?" The tree rustled again, almost as if worried. He patted a nearby branch reassuringly.
"As far as I can tell, none of these trees are actually real. They're more like...decorations. Ideas. Props." Clarice stroked the one he was sitting in. "But you...oh, I see what you did now. Not that it makes it less impressive."
"So what, exactly, happened?" Joseph glared down at her. "Quit beating around the bush."
"Oh, hush. I'm not. The trees are..." She frowned, searching for the right word, "borrowed from the outside world. This pocket dimension sits on top of a wooded area, so all these trees are like...shadows. Dead twins of the real trees. What you did was pull the awareness of the real tree up into the twin. You started telling it it had been alive at one point, and reminding it of how that was. It believed you—then realized that it actually was alive."
"Okay." Joseph patted the branch again. It felt, oddly, like he was patting a large, unusual pet, and he had the impression that, if the tree had a tail, it would be wagging it furiously.
Clarice also patted the trunk. "I'd tell you to bind it so that the charm you used doesn't follow you through all the trees on the campus, but I don't think you'll need to. That's cool, that you woke the tree." She beckoned. "Better come on down, though. It'll be time for class in fifteen minutes."
"All right." He felt oddly reluctant to leave the tree, but he did understand that he needed to.
As he dropped down, he noticed the paper in Clarice's hand, with a blurry picture of something large and winged on the first page. "What's that?"
"This?" She looked down at it. "Oh. Yukari gave it to me; she and her friends make it. This story looks like something about a series of thefts on the campus. Kuchito says it's more like muggings than thefts, though; but she also said no one's really seen the thief."
"Who's Kuchito?"
"She's one of the girls who wants a skirt glamour; the blonde. I imagine that if it hadn't been for Moka and that Kurumu, she'd have had a real bad time here." Clarice shook her head. "She's having kind of a bad time anyway, so I hope you can do something for her."
"Well, I can't give her an anti-dazzle charm, but I can at least put a glamour on her skirt." Joseph frowned. "Don't know how much more I can do than that."
"I'm going to be cutting some anti-stalker wards for them, once we get some wooden medallions." Clarice unobtrusively pulled her amethyst out of her shirt and tapped it against the paper. "I think I'd better read up on this...mugger, though. Find out what's going on." She grinned sheepishly at Joseph and shrugged. "Just in case."
The morning went by uneventfully. Sort of, anyway; Joseph found himself wondering if his cold-water charm was going to wear out in his math class. He also understood why Clarice had gone into reason lock so hard the previous day.
He was also aware of the number of looks and whispers cast his way by just about everyone he passed. Word of the fight's got around, no doubt. He wouldn't have minded that so much if most of the guys hadn't been watching him with a sort of...testing gleam in their eyes. I may have to find my tree again once we've got some free minutes. They look like they don't believe the rumors—and they all want to prove they're meaner and more powerful than the Reptoid. By beating me. He scowled, setting his shoulders. I'm not doing it. I'm not getting pulled into their game.
Admittedly, they probably also wondered why a group of girls had gone into a room with him and Clarice in tiny miniskirts, and come out thirty minutes later in more modest clothing. Two of them still had Victorian-style maxis, but by the third glamour he had more control, and he was able to offer a wider range of lengths. And all the girls had brought a small trinket special to them, which he was easily able to tie the glamours to.
There had been a bit of trouble when one girl tried to have him tie the glamour to a large stuffed animal; but fortunately, she understood when he explained that she would have to wear the item controlling the glamour, or at least pin it to her skirt, if she wanted the illusion to work. She also had a little gewgaw on her already that worked perfectly to hold it.
It had all gone pretty well, actually, though when Kuchito had received her swishy calf-length skirt, she had been a little...over-enthusiastic. She hadn't nearly strangled him, though, and she had understood—sort of, anyway—when Clarice quickly intervened. The revelation that Joseph was afraid of girls had been more puzzling to them than anything else, but at least none of them had thrown their arms around him again. And she hadn't explained in detail why he was afraid of girls, which was also good.
Nobody needed to know that contact with a girl brought back vivid recollections of dozens of hands ripping clothing off a thirteen-year-old kid.
He hopped over an obstacle thrust into his path and continued down the hall, still musing. The boy he'd just passed stared after him, his face slack with astonishment.
"Hey! Wait up!"
Joseph stopped and looked over his shoulder. Instantly, he relaxed. It was Kyle. "Hey," he greeted.
Kyle fell into step beside him. "You on your way to the gym?"
"Yeah." Joseph brushed Tellemaera's hilt. "Whether I can get a sparring partner or not, I can at least work on my footwork and set up a target or two. Are you on your way there, too?"
"Yeah; I'm part of the karate club. You know karate?"
Joseph shook his head. "I know some moves for emergencies, but Dad was never a big believer in unarmed fighting—probably for good reason."
"Oh?" Kyle cocked his head.
"If you're going into battle against someone with an enchanted sword, you'd better either have one of your own, or be really good with magic." He paused. "Although Aunt Paige said none of the Sceath Below ever expected her to have a sidearm, either. I'm good with a blade, though." He paused, then decided not to rectify that statement. Better with a blade now, anyway. I did keep Dad on the defensive for a little while.
"Oh. Makes sense." Kyle glanced at him. "You going to join the kendo club, then?"
Joseph shrugged. "I don't know. I'll check it out, but I may have a more...western idea of what to do with a sword than them."
Kyle looked at him blankly. "What?"
"A sword is a weapon," Joseph said bluntly, twisting his shoulder to avoid hanging up on something that had bumped him. "It has other purposes, yes, and it means more than bloodshed, but it's a weapon. I am training with a sword for one reason: to defend myself, my family, my friends, and any other innocents from the various breeds of creep that may threaten them. I am learning to fight. And, if necessary, to kill. I'm not meditating with a sword, lifting my mind to higher planes, or any of that other...well, Dad calls it garbage. I am learning to be a butt-whipper with a blade."
Kyle glanced over his shoulder and grinned. "Whoo, that guy looks sorry now. He heard everything you said."
Joseph looked back, and yes, there was someone standing there with a rather sick look on his face. He shrugged and kept going. "So?"
"So he punched your shoulder—tried to, anyway, you kind of twisted away from it. And then you give him this ear-full about learning to fight and kill if necessary. I think he thinks trying to pick a fight with you is a bad idea."
Joseph sighed. "One look at my training sessions with Dad would tell them picking a fight with me is a bad idea—if only because I don't know what an easy win is. Or an easy lose, either, according to Mom. But then, she's the one who always has to patch us up."
"Patch you up?" Kyle cocked his head to the side. "How...intense do these training sessions get?"
"Pretty darn intense. Dad went easy on me about to the time I hit puberty; after that, he told me he wasn't going to be any easier on me than a real opponent would—and told me to just stop short of actually trying to kill him." He sighed. "I've given him a few bumps and bruises, but mostly by accident."
Kyle looked ahead gloomily. "Any training sessions I got with my family were with my mom—and that was when I was little, before she left. Otherwise, I had to go elsewhere. My dad's not...we're not close."
"Ow. Sorry to hear that." Joseph shivered a little.
Kyle shrugged. "It's not that bad. Gives me time to think." He looked over at him. "You said you've bumped and bruised your dad. What does he do to you?"
"Let's just say there's a reason the floor and walls of the gym are padded, and the display stands are made of balsa wood. And that I know exactly how it feels to be knocked unconscious."
"I know that feeling, too." Kyle laughed. "You should have seen me training to beat Moka after Kazuken challenged her."
Joseph frowned. "Okay, if your porcupine twin challenged Moka, why would you be the one training up?"
Kyle jerked, then looked around guiltily. "Uh...okay. I'm..." He looked sideways at Joseph. "Can you keep a secret?"
He sighed, slumping his shoulders. "If I had a dollar for every secret I've had to keep since I was seven years old, I'd be a friggin' millionaire by now. Is this an 'I left the marker in the pants that went through the washer' secret or an 'I punched a hole in the drywall' secret?"
"What?" Kyle stared, baffled.
"Is this a secret that does not matter so much if it gets out, or one I should guard with my life?"
"Probably the second." Kyle looked around again. "Is that a problem?"
"No, but I'm going to spill the beans about a couple of stunts my sisters and I have pulled to make room for it. There's only so many things a guy can keep quiet about."
Kyle laughed. "I'd probably like to hear some of these stories. Okay." He looked over his shoulder a third time. Joseph wished he would quit doing that, since his caution was making him jumpy. "Kazuken isn't actually my twin." He lifted a strange necklace Joseph hadn't paid attention to before: it looked like a Celtic cross that had been sliced down the middle—and looked oddly familiar.
"I think I've seen something like that before." Joseph frowned, calling to mind...Wait. He had seen it before—not that one, but the other half of it. On...Kazuken's neck. "Uhh..."
"He's my other half." Kyle's eyes were grim as he lowered the necklace. "We're the same person—just different sides."
"Okay, that is weird." Joseph shook his head. "And unexpected. The pair of you are totally different."
"That's the thing." Kyle sighed. "He's usually the...dormant side of me, and only comes out when Kurumu takes our seal off. But we had a big disagreement recently, and the seal...split."
Joseph rubbed his hair. "I'm having a little trouble wrapping my mind around this. I know about people having wildly differing forms. Clarice has another form that is...well, she described it as the Incredible Winged She-Hulk. But her personality doesn't actually change when it happens. And neither does her dad, Dranwyn's. They look scary enough to make Chuck Norris step back, but they're still in control of themselves. It's not a Jekyll and Hyde thing."
"Moka's the same as me. She's got another side, locked by her seal, and that other side is not something to mess with. And it's nowhere near as friendly."
"Moka, if I remember the name correctly, was pegged as a vampire by a guy who was telling us what to expect here. Her last name is Shuzen?"
"Akashiya, actually. That doesn't make her any weaker, though; Kazuken and I found that out the hard way." Kyle grimaced, rubbing his shoulder. "I trained like crazy, and she still whipped me."
"If there is one thing I have learned about girls, it is this: do not underestimate them." Joseph shook his head. "If they don't have a secret demigoddess side that they unleash when under extreme stress, or a twin who will stick by them at all times, they probably have some secret that will give them the upper hand in any circumstances."
"Yeah. And he challenged her other side."
Joseph looked at Kyle wryly. "Wouldn't make much sense for him to challenge her nice side. As she is now, she looks almost like she could use a few staff lessons from Clarice."
"Clarice fights with a staff?"
"Well enough that a fight never has to last more than a minute. I haven't sparred with her yet, but she apparently got Saizo in the eye with one good jab yesterday."
"You guys just got here yesterday, didn't you?"
"Yep."
Kyle grimaced. "Our split occurred the night before last. Just before you arrived."
"Since Kazuken was the other new kid when I walked in, I figured it couldn't have been a long while since it happened."
They entered the gym. A group of kids in white gis, wearing a rainbow of belt colors, milled together, some of them sparring, others working on forms or smacking dummies. Joseph noticed several racks of bokkens and bo staffs against the wall and headed for them. Almost at once, a tall kid with shaggy blond hair stepped in his path.
"Are you part of the karate club?"
Joseph shook his head. "No."
He folded his arms. "Why are you in here?"
"He's with me, Haiji." Kyle came up behind him. "This is Joseph."
Joseph bowed slightly at the waist. "I can come back later if you want, but all I really want is a target stand, a bokken, and a corner to practice in."
Haiji cocked his head to the side. "You in the kendo club?"
"He's not in any of them." Kyle was grinning. "He just got here yesterday. Says he's learned swordsmanship from his dad."
"I have. And I don't want to get out of practice. Dad kicks my butt hard enough even when I train every day. If I start slacking off, going home for the holidays is going to be a nightmare."
Haiji grinned. "All right. Just let us know which corner you've picked, so anyone who gets whacked knows it was their own fault." He looked at Joseph again, suddenly interested. "Say...didn't you get into a fight with someone yesterday? One of the Lizardmen?"
"Joy, so you've heard that too. Yeah, he tried to pick a fight with me. I just ducked, mostly—until his claws came out and it looked like there would be collateral damage." Joseph shrugged. "I wasn't looking for a fight. I'm still not."
"Nah, I'm not wanting to fight." Haiji waved his hand. "I heard that you were dodging his moves almost before he made them."
Joseph picked up a bokken and frowned. "Wow, these are way lighter than I'm used to. I don't know about before he made them, but yes, I didn't have any trouble keeping away from him." He started as he realized Haiji was now right at his shoulder.
"How did you do it?"
"Do—huh?" He blinked. "Do what?"
"Keep ahead of him like that. Are you...I don't know, telepathic? Could you read his mind?"
"Not his mind. His moves. My dad taught me how to read an enemy's motions to try and guess what he would do next." Joseph found a heavier bokken and held it out, testing the balance. "I did my best; but back home, all I could ever read for sure was the moment I'd just make a huge mistake and was about to get my tail handed to me on a silver platter. That guy was a lot easier to read than Dad ever is." He paused. Probably because that guy is still a kid, and hasn't been in any real life-or-death battles with a skilled warrior.
"Hmm." Haiji rubbed his chin. "Interesting."
Joseph looked at him warily. Haiji just grinned. "Grab a target and pick your corner of the gym. Kyle, you sparring with me today?"
Kyle had already picked up a gi. "Yep. Gonna last longer this time."
"Heh. You might need some lessons from the Artful Dodger here to do that." Haiji clapped Joseph on the shoulder and moved away. "I'll try not to throw you into his corner."
Joseph glanced back at them, shook his head, and picked out a dummy. Just to be on the safe side, he set it up in the corner of the gym farthest from the space opening around the two.
Start with the footwork. Joseph grinned a little as he pulled his earbuds out of his pocket. Ange had taught him a little trick to make his footwork easier: combination. Breagan did not know that Joseph knew some steps of Irish dance—indeed, Joseph privately thought he would die of embarrassment if his dad found out about the combinations. But it worked. It worked surprisingly well. He decided to face the others, just so he would be able to tell if one of them got too close, selected the song Reel Around the Sun from his list, hit the play button, and stuck the MP3 back into his pocket.
The song started out slow, allowing him to stretch a little and get a feel for the sword. His first moves were slow and flowing, more about control than anything else. He went down on one knee, then the other, flexing his arms and his back, his legs and his neck. Then, as the rhythm sped up, he went to work.
His feet fell into familiar patterns, as did his arms as he worked through the sword positions, using them as a warmup before the music changed and he went into a simulated fight. He ducked and lunged, snapping the sword up to block imaginary blows, out to strike blows of his own, and then thrusting to take advantage of an opening. Every move his father had ever used came after him in his imagination, and he either countered or avoided—and all the while, whenever he stayed in one spot, his feet rapped against the floor in the quick dance moves Ange had taught him.
Finally, he dispatched his pretend opponent and turned to face the target dummy. That he had set up in the corner, so that his hardest blows could be aimed without fear that someone might get too close. And he lashed out without mercy. The target had no bones to be broken. It could not receive an concussion or die. And if, he thought, breathing hard as he struck, harder and harder, I am ever in a fight, I cannot hold back—especially if I am fighting for my life!
The wall suddenly vibrated as Kyle slammed against it, feet-first. He nodded at Joseph, who stared at him blankly, then threw himself back across the gym with an inarticulate battle-cry. Joseph ducked, as he would have had to in a real fight after a distraction like that, then went back to mangling the dummy.
At last, his arms burning, he lowered the sword and stopped. His music had stopped probably ten minutes ago, he was completely soaked, and several of the dents he'd put in that thing were...deeper than they should have been. He checked the bokken. Thankfully, it was still in one piece.
CRASH! Kyle hit the wall again, harder this time, and flopped bonelessly down onto the floor.
"Wow, that was—" Joseph stared down at him. "Kyle, are you all right?"
"You," Kyle mumbled, his eyes unfocused. "Get away from my food, my friend, my two emergency foods, and my son. In that order."
"What the heck?!" Joseph looked back at Haiji. "Should I..." Be worried? Call an ambulance?
Kyle's eyes focused, and he sat up, shaking his head. "Dang it. Not again."
Joseph watched him warily. "Does this happen a lot?"
Haiji snorted. "What, get knocked out and blather nonsense? All the friggin' time. Fortunately, it never lasts more than a few seconds."
"Oh." Joseph eyed Kyle. "My sparring sessions with Dad usually end in me having a serious need for an ice pack, but I've never spouted nonsense. And I know because Rachel and Melody would not miss a moment to tease me about it, if I did."
"Who's Rachel and Melody?" Haiji noticed the dummy and his eyebrows arched. "Wow, you didn't spare that thing, did you?"
"Rachel and Melody are my sisters. Twins. And no, I don't hold back against something that can't die."
"I'm a little concerned about what you might do to something that can die." Haiji prodded one of the deepest dents. "Please tell me that wasn't from one blow."
"Probably it's from fifteen or so landing in the same spot. I've got pretty good aim." Joseph looked at the dent in question. "Yeah, I just struck there a lot."
"You whacked at the exact same place fifteen times?" Another kid came over to inspect the damage and whistled. "That's pretty good. Could you do it again?"
"Probably, but I won't." Joseph set the bokken down. "Certainly not with this one; I don't think it's quite meant for the kind of wear Dad and I put on our stuff. I've got to remember to grab one of mine from my trunk next time. Anyway, I wasn't just whaling on one place. That's a worse habit to get into than using a pattern. Which I was, because there's no way to really avoid that when you're practicing."
"Maybe you should join the kendo club." Haiji rubbed his hair. "Just to give them a refresher on what swordfighting means. They've got a little...lax lately."
Joseph snorted. "Which means I wouldn't be able to take it. You thought what I did to that dummy was intense, you should see what my dad does to me whenever we spar." He rubbed his head. "Dad's an actual warrior. He gets into life-or-death fights a lot. And he has a not-unreasonable expectation that I will probably do the same. He doesn't go easy on me, and he doesn't want me to go easy on him—because when I get into a fight, my enemy won't go easy, and neither should I."
"You know, that sounds like a really good idea." Haiji glanced at the other members of the club. "I'll talk to you some time about that; and maybe you can show us how to read someone's moves."
"Maybe." Joseph shrugged, then looked at his shirt and grimaced. "I better go shower and get changed, or I'm going to be nasty to be around. I'll see you guys later."
"I have to confess, this is the first time I've ever been to any sort of school." Clarice ran a hand through her hair self-consciously. "You girls are going to have to help me here; let me know if I start...breaking any unwritten rules or anything."
"We'll help you out." Kuchito put her arm around her shoulders. "Though...I guess if you keep away from Tsukune, you won't have much of a problem. He seems to be the one most of the girls go after."
"I wonder why?" Clarice glanced over at the newspaper club, visible through the windows of the building. I seriously hope it's not because he's human. If that's the reason...yikes. Nightmarish stories of evil Fae lovers drifted through her mind. Having to Stand Between that sort of situation would be...unpleasant. Extremely unpleasant.
"I don't know." Fujika, a young lady with cobalt hair braided down her back, shrugged. "I don't find him all that interesting. Though it's hard to find an interesting boy here who's not a pervert—or really scary. Takata's cute, but he..."
"Who's Takata?" Clarice noticed a flicker of black in her peripheral vision and looked that way. Her eyes narrowed. The tall student watching them was handsome—very much so—but there was something about him she didn't like. Her spine stiffened, and she lowered her head, directing a challenge to him. You want to start something?
He made an odd face—either curling his lip or smirking, at that distance it was hard to tell which—and disappeared.
"—one of the security team." Fujika apparently had not noticed. "He's different from what they used to be; they used to be nothing but a bunch of thugs. It's better lately, and they've got some new members. He's one of the new ones. He actually cares about keeping the peace, not just about threatening anyone who disagrees with them."
"I think your cousin knows him," offered a stick-thin girl whose turquoise hair constantly fell in her eyes. "Takata was the one who took care of that lizard-man after their fight yesterday. And Joseph acted like he knew him."
"Not knew him. He'd just seen him before." Clarice dismissed the lurking creep from her mind. "On our way to the school, Joseph dropped his traveling case on the lizard-men; it was so heavy it pinned all three of them. He went back to get it later, with one of the security team, so he didn't have to fight those guys once he picked the trunk up." She saw their confusion and waved a hand. "There's a spell on the trunk. He can always move it, no matter how heavy it gets."
"Oh."
"Hey, Clarice!"
She turned again to see Yukari running toward them. "Oh, hello again!" I wonder if there is a reason the Faerie Call is only to be used for emergencies. The other girls sighed, but didn't offer to walk away as the little girl joined them.
"What are you doing?" Yukari cocked her head at Clarice curiously as she fell in step with them.
"Just walking around the campus, trying to learn my way around." Clarice smiled down at her. "I was homeschooled all my life; this is a new experience for me." She glanced around. "I'm still trying to get used to all the people."
"Homeschooled?" Yukari was not the only one who looked interested. "How does that work? And why did you have to be homeschooled?"
"Homeschooling is just having school at home. I really liked it, actually; just for starters, we could take a lot of field trips." Clarice grinned at the memory. "You know I come from America, right? We went all over the place; Grand Canyon, South Dakota Badlands, Mount Rainier, Carlsbad Caverns. We even hiked the Appalachian Trail once. That was one heck of a walk, let me tell you. Mom had to quit, but my dad and I went the whole way. And I..." She twisted the anti-dazzle charm around her wrist. "I had to be homeschooled because of my bloodline. I've got a lot of Elf in me, and Elves have a...really strong pull for the opposite sex. If I'd gone to public school, the boys wouldn't have ever left me alone."
"So how come you can do it now?" Kuchito frowned, trying to understand.
Clarice held up her left wrist. "This glass bracelet is called an anti-dazzle charm. It blocks that pull, so the boys don't feel drawn to me. They might watch me anyway, because it doesn't make me look ugly; but they won't...feel like they have to come after me."
"Huh. That's interesting." Fujiko looked over the charm curiously. "Could you make one of those?"
"Me? No. It took the foremost wardcaster in the States to even start to make this work. I can only cut small wards."
"Could you teach me to cut wards?" Yukari grinned up at her eagerly. "I know I can't learn that call because I'm not an Elf, but surely I could make wards!"
"I could teach you a few things," Clarice answered. Harmless things. Protective ones. "Just the really simple wards, though; they're the only ones I know. I'm not in training to become a Wardcaster, just a Chronicler."
"Okay!" Yukari beamed. Thankfully, neither she nor the other girls thought to ask what a Chronicler was; Clarice wasn't sure she could explain without betraying herself. Though...looking at the odd gleam in Yukari's eyes, she doubted the girl was thinking about that. Yukari looked back up at her. "Are any of these wards...love charms?"
"Uhh...no." And I do not want to know why she asked. "I don't know any of us who do love charms. The only ones I really know how to do are the ones Mom taught me when we went hiking; some shields, a compass ward to keep you from getting lost, and one to keep off big predators like bears and cougars." The other girls snickered. "Mountain lions, you goofs, not that kind of cougar! Wrong habitat." She rubbed her armband. "I have a...powerful other side, but it isn't always reliable."
"Oh, is that why you wear that armband?" Yukari peered at the embossed silver. "I guess it's like Moka or Kyle's seal, then."
"I guess. I haven't met either of them, so I'm not sure. I had to get this when I turned twelve, because I couldn't control when it decided to come out." She worked her wrist, then reached up again to brush a few locks of hair out of her face. "And my other side is...let's just say I have a lot of sympathy for Bruce Banner."
Blank looks greeted her on all sides. "Who's Bruce Banner?"
Clarice shook her head. "You guys are really out of touch in here."
Movement over by the boy's dorm caught her eye, and she looked over to see Joseph, talking to a couple of boys she hadn't seen before. He held a bo staff, switching it from hand to hand in a way that looked partly like careless ease and partly like a nervous tic. He laughed about something and shrugged, then stiffened, staring hard at a spot she couldn't see. A moment later, he relaxed again—but not all the way.
Huh. I wonder...maybe that weirdo I saw earlier is watching him, too. Though why I couldn't start to guess.
Then—
Clarice shrieked in shock as something large, black, and feathery crashed into her from overhead. Claws scraped her face, and her hands jerked up to protect her eyes. The other girls screamed too, reeling back, a few starting to run off.
Whatever had hit her grabbed her right wrist and—no. Not the wrist. The armband. It yanked hard enough to pull it off.
"No!" Clarice grabbed for it desperately. "Give that back, you thief!"
Foul-smelling wings buffeted her, knocking her to the ground. She landed—it took off, flying into the trees. Dark clouds billowed in front of her eyes.
No. She rolled over, breathing deeply, trying to keep under control. No! It's not needed! Don't—don't—
"Keep her calm!" Footsteps raced past her, shouting to the other girls. "Strong emotions set her off. Try to calm her down! I'm going after that harpy!"
"Harpy?" Yukari wavered in place, looking around wildly. "Was that what that was?"
Joseph ran backward a few steps. "Try to calm her down!" He wheeled around again and vanished in a blur.
Clarice breathed deeply, trying to ignore Yukari, Kuchito, and a few others, crowding around her and trying a number of different tactics. Her limbs trembled, trying to expand. Her back screamed with the effort of holding her wings in, and she could feel her teeth and nails sharpening. No... no... no... no...
"Oh my gosh," breathed a horrified voice near her. "She's—is that—she's turning blue."
Joseph ran harder than he'd pushed himself before, his vision tunneled on the human-headed bird creature in front of him, clumsily trying to gain altitude. Silver glinted in its claw—the armband. He readied the staff, his moves as clear in his mind as if he were seeing them happen.
Gain altitude. He leaped through the trees, bounding from one trunk to the other, springing on a level once he reached ten feet. Take aim. Fortunately, the harpy couldn't maneuver well; he could only imagine how hard it would be if the creature was part eagle or hawk instead of half vulture. He drew his arm back, balancing the staff like a javelin. And throw!
His aim was not quite perfect, which was why he aimed for the larger target of the bird's rear end, rather than her claw. The staff smacked her right under the tail. With a startled screech, she lost her coordination, crashing down through the trees. Joseph was on her before she could so much as push herself up, retrieving the staff and ripping the armband out of her claw.
"Thanks! I'll take that back now!" He wheeled and went back, hoping he would be in time.
Clarice knelt, head low, her breathing growing deep and stentorian. The other students had drawn back, watching her in terrified fascination. Fools, she thought. If I lose control...they should be running now. They might not be able to if I change. The worst part was, she was so much more aware of them. She knew them; all of them. Their true natures, their real strength, their power; it was all laid bare. In her human aspect, she could be fooled. A Demon-Seeming could not be.
Thank God Kurumu's not around, she thought in a tiny, back pocket of her mind. The presence of a natural enemy would rip away all desire to keep from transforming. She dug into the ground, nails grown into claws scoring deep furrows into the earth. Her skin had turned entirely blue-black, and all it would take was one slip of her will to release the rest of it. And her will was getting weaker.
"Clarice!"
Joseph came flying up beside her in a spray of dirt, landing on one knee and grabbing for her wrist. Her head jerked up, she bared her teeth to snarl at him-
Then she collapsed on the ground as he slipped her armband back on, abruptly removing the mental war. Joseph sank back, breathing hard.
"Wow. That was way too close."
"You have no idea." Her limbs felt like putty. With the supernatural strength of her other side gone, she was having trouble convincing her body that normal human strength was enough—and besides which, she was tired from the struggle of not letting her other side loose.
Joseph put his hand on her shoulder. "You okay?"
"Wore out. That was hard."
"I bet. Can you stand?"
Clarice lifted her head to stare at him. "Are you joking? I almost can't roll over." She dropped her head back into dirt. "Took almost everything I had to keep from changing."
"Okay, I think you need to get either to the nurse's office or back to your dorm. Would it be weird if I picked you up?"
"You drop me and I'll bop you one with Lorien once I'm up to it again." Clarice grunted as he slid his hands under her, turning her over so that the hold was a little less awkward.
"I've never dropped anyone—except Melody, once, and that was because Rachel clocked me from behind hard enough to knock me out." Joseph stood. "You're not heavy enough to give me any problems. Where to, nurse's office or dorm?"
"Nurse's office." Clarice sagged, not strong enough to even help him a little. "Girl's dorm would be weird. Nurse might have some vitamins, or an energy drink or something."
"All right." Joseph walked toward the building, ignoring the looks he got as he did. "Let's get you inside."
(1)(2) All women born to They Who Stand Between have one of two gifts that emerge when they reach eighteen years: Healer and Judge. Healers have a powerful gift of healing in their right hand, as well as being more naturally sympathetic and comforting. Judges are sterner, though not always stricter, and are the ones who have the ability to restore order to a room in chaos by just standing up and Looking. Judges use their left hand to determine the innocence or guilt of whoever they touch, and are most renowned for instantly bringing death to black magicians and Fae preying on humans.
Poster's Note: From now on, updates will be sporadic since this was the last chapter that was written ahead of time. We've also gotten a few questions as to Kurumu's actions as of late. These will be explained in a later chapter, and it will also be mentioned in Behind Blue Eyes. Post recommendations or ideas in the reviews, tell us what you think so far, but above all, keep it appropriate.
PS: If you still don't like the story and think it's complete and utter crap, keep in mind you are on a website for fanfiction, where the quality would be just decent at best with a select few being phenomenal (I'm no exception).
