Rebirth
8. Angel's first lessons
A week after our initial scaring-the-crap-out-of-each-other-by-turning-into-freaky-animals thing, life had calmed down. The transformations are actually fairly easy to control, whether it be the actual transformation itself, or choosing your course of action as an animal. Still, the students don't want to go within a five-foot radius of us and they constantly whisper about us during class. It's gotten quite annoying, but then again this school has quite a reputation as the gossip center of the American House of Night schools. The students like to talk. A lot.
Anyhow, once Shannon, Amiko, and I got our transformations in check, I set out on a new project: taming Angel's telekinesis. Jephthah volunteered his help, and Isis said she'd go through the process with Ange so she wouldn't feel so singled-out. So now our new fencing instructor and I have to teach these two how to use their affinity alternations. Can't be that hard, can it?
Why do I get the sudden feeling of impending failure?
"There they are." Jephthah said. The two of us had been waiting out by the archery field for a good five minutes with nothing to talk about.
"Here we are." Isis replied. "Now, what are we doing today?"
"And why are we by the archery field?" Angel asked. I looked expectantly to our teacher for an answer, cause quite frankly I've got no f'n clue what we're doing out here.
"Target practice." He smiled. Oh, his smile… such a shame he's a teacher. He's one of the only male vampyres that's remotely close to my age that doesn't think of me as a "freak-lover". Wait, he's talking again. "I want to see how much control you have over your affinity and what we need to improve on with it."
"Right." I nodded. "So, who's on first?"
"I'll go." Isis volunteered. Good ol' Isis. If she hadn't grown up in the wrong country, she'd have made an excellent Girl Scout. She's always prepared and ready to volunteer.
She walked up to the line where the Archery students stand and closed her eyes. A warm pinkish-colored aura surrounded her as she stuck her right hand out towards the target. The energy around her shot off like a rocket and punched a hole through her target. Jephthah watched with a grin plastered to his face.
"You've had practice." He stated. She nodded.
"Yes. My mentor aided me in controlling my affinities." For those of you who don't know, Isis's mentor is Professor Lilea, who teaches the advanced spells and incantations class. Professor Lilea's affinity is to read the auras of others and channel her own aura into physical energy. As you can see, it's really similar to Isis's empathy, which is why she was able to help her so much.
Unfortunately for Angel, telekinesis is kinda rare and none of our staff have an affinity even remotely close to it.
"I guess it's my turn." Ange sighed, stepping up to her spot like a prisoner walking to the gallows. She tried to mimic Isis's moves and yelled out "Target!" But instead of hitting her target, she knocked Isis's back about ten feet. She groaned as Jephthah walked over to her.
"You're too tense." He said. "You've got to learn to relax a little."
"And go find yourself some confidence too." I said. "That was half-hearted at best, and you know it. Try it again." Maybe that comment was a teeny bit snappish. I don't care. We've tried babying her and that's gotten us no-where. Apparently she'll need a lot more tough love than I did.
Angel squinted at the target and made an arm motion that greatly resembled throwing a baseball. This time, it actually hit her target, but only moved it backward. She doesn't have the heart to do any real damage yet.
Still, it was a good shot from her.
"Better." Jephthah stated, then looked over at me. I raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to let them do all the work?"
"It's their lesson." I reminded him. "What, do you want me to attack the target?" he grinned. Uh oh.
"Have at it, wolf-girl." He smiled. I glared at him, but stalked up to the next target. What? He is still a professor.
Apparently no-one had informed him of my affinity. Or if they had, he didn't remember. Whichever the case was, he sure looked astounded when the snow that covered the ground began rising up and swirling around me. I didn't need to move my hands to make this work: I could do it all in my head. I narrowed my eyes and the blizzard around me suddenly shot straight at the target, each flake of snow turning into a small missile before smashing into the wooden circle. While the target remained upright, it was no-longer intact: it now resembled a salt-shaker lid.
"Is that good enough, Professor?" I smiled sweetly. Yeah, I know he doesn't like being called "professor", but I don't like being referred to as "wolf-girl" so we're even now.
"Quite." He breathed, still staring at the target.
"Are you going to show-off for us now, Jephthah?" Isis asked. He shook his head.
"Not today." He said. "But, Angel, that is exactly what we're going to train you to do. Right after we go buy Coach March some new archery targets."
"You mean that's all for today?" Angel blinked.
"As I said before, today was a test to see where you are." He answered. "The real work begins tomorrow. Good day, girls."
"Good day, professor." Isis bowed.
"Yeah. Thanks." Angel said before walking off with Isis. They needed to check on the little ones, which left me alone with a professor.
"Guess I'd better get going too." I said. "I'll see you in class tomorrow, Jephthah."
"I will look forward to it." He smiled. "Take care."
"I will." I nodded, before turning around and walking back toward the school.