After depositing Eli outside his house Jim went back to Toby's room. Immediately he got tackled by his best friend, because of course he did.
A small smile appeared on his face, stretching wider and wider as the hug prolonged. He didn't even care that they were lying on the floor in an uncomfortable position.
Okay, maybe he cared a little. He didn't want his back to hurt later.
"Tobes, mind if we change positions? This one's a little awkward," he giggled, massaging small circles into his best friend's back.
"I missed you," Toby mumbled into his chest, not moving an inch.
Jim's smile faded slightly. "I missed you too, Tobes. I missed you so much." He hugged his friend a little tighter, still mindful of not putting too much strength into it. He didn't want to crush him. And Toby was so fragile, so squishy. Just a human.
"Okay, my leg is cramping, you were right about position change," Toby wheezed, letting go and getting up. "I demand cuddles!" he said, collapsing on his bed.
"Your wish is my command," Jim's smile regained its power as he climbed into the bed after his best friend and tackled him into a hug.
He loved him so much.
"Mother, I'm gonna take on a student," was the first thing out of Jim's mouth when he appeared in the house at the unholy hour of 3 am. "If he agrees, that is."
"And why, pray tell, are you telling me this?" she asked instead of pointing out the hour, or the obvious. "You should be going to sleep, we need to enrol you in a school tomorrow— actually, this morning. And where were you?"
"Right back at you mom, what are you doing up so late? And I was at Toby's, we were catching up, and also had to clean up after the portal accident in school." He circled around her seat, not quite looking at the screen of the laptop she was holding.
She sighed and turned the screen his way so he could read.
"Ah," he said, skimming the text of a letter from the local hospital. "You certainly are fast."
"I certainly didn't need to be, but oh well, I missed working with people, so…" she shrugged and went back to typing her reply. From the corner of her eye she saw Jim lean on the side of her armchair. "Is there anything else?"
"Yeah… It's just… weird to be back," he said eventually, with a great amount of reluctance.
"Tell me about it," she murmured, and squinted at her screen trying to remember how to finish an official email. What was it? Definitely not 'kisses' or 'xoxo'.
"Well, for one, it's wild that I'm gonna see Toby, like, every day," Jim moved to sit in front of her. "Don't get me wrong, I love him, but it's definitely gonna get weird fast."
"You don't remember that, but when Nomura started living with us it was weird too." Barbara remarked, reluctantly typing out 'Dear regards'. That didn't sound correct. That didn't sound correct at all. Was she really gonna have to look it up on the internet? "I wasn't used to her antics, she wasn't used to my habits, it was only thanks to Walt that we weren't at each other's throats all the time…" She sighed, opened a new tab and typed out 'how to write an official email', feeling shame bubbling inside her. How long has it been since she has last done something that normal? A decade? Two? "But you and Toby have known each other nearly your entire lives, honey. I'm sure it's going to be okay."
"I hope so…" 'Kind regards'. Alright. She was close. Good enough. She quickly typed out the last line of her email and proofread it once again, then satisfied, clicked 'send' and closed the laptop's lid. Jim was staring at her, lips turned down and a ridiculous look in his eyes.
"Kid, you're not gonna go far getting so emotional over a possibility of 'things getting weird fast'." She made air quotes to emphasise her point. "You're to defeat Gunmar, what's some social interactions to you?" she asked with a smile. Jim reciprocated it slightly. A step in a good direction. "Alright, now go to sleep. I'm waking you up in three hours and you better stay up." She wagged a finger at him and he conceded, raising his hands in the air and smiling fully.
"Got it, got it! I'm going," he laughed and got up. "Man, going to school is gonna be weird."
"To bed. Now."
"Alright, alright—" He disappeared in a portal and Barbara found a fond smile growing on her face. She was so proud of how far he's come in the magic department. It all came so naturally to him… Good. Otherwise he wouldn't stand a chance against what awaited him.
Three hours later she had yet to go to bed, and it was time to wake Jim up.
So maybe she had made questionable life choices. Oh well, extra strong coffee with half a pinch of gravesand would be able to fix it.
Jim wasted no time getting up. He immediately sauntered down to the kitchen and opened up a portal to the cellar of his summer house. Or well, it was just called a summer house. For years it was just his house. And they still stored food in it because it acted like a giant fridge.
He absentmindedly turned on the oven, then pulled out sourdough baguettes, eggs, heavy cream and green onions from the portal, and then opened another to look through the cheese section… and there it was, gruyere. Now to just find pancetta… there it was.
He removed the bread stuffing from baguettes, filled them with cheese, mixed the rest of the ingredients and put them inside, then placed them in the oven.
"Okay, now just half an hour in there and you'll be good to go…" he muttered to himself, and started making coffee.
Barbara watched from the couch with muted enthusiasm.
"What did you make?" she asked, typing away on her laptop.
"An eggy surprise," he said, not wanting to admit he forgot the name of the dish. All that mattered was that it was breakfast food, and it would be tasty.
"Alright, keep your secrets," Her eyes went back to the screen.
"Did you sleep at all?"
"Nope," she popped the 'p', not looking away from the laptop. "It doesn't matter."
"Just don't do anything stupid in front of my future teachers, please."
"I'm not gonna. Walt is going with you," As if summoned, Walter appeared on the staircase, yawning and stretching as he descended.
"Ah," Jim shrugged. "Even better."
"What's for breakfast, chef?" Walt asked when he finally appeared in the kitchen. "Smells amazing."
"An eggy surprise," Barbara did jazz hands, repeating Jim's previous words. He sent her a glare and she fought the urge to stick her tongue out.
Walter just nodded with a serious expression. Ah, what a goof.
Seconds later there was a thud, and Barbara saw Nomura crouching at the bottom of the stairs, after she had jumped from the top of them.
"What's there to eat?" She asked, momentarily peering behind Jim's shoulder.
"Nothing yet, fuck off," Jim playfully booped her on the nose, and she snarked, attempting to bite off his finger.
"He made an eggy surprise," Walter informed her in a stage whisper.
"So you forgot the name of the dish, didn't you."
"Shut your fuck." Jim said so eloquently. "Or you won't get a single bite."
Despite his words he turned around and gave her a cup of steaming hot coffee, flat white, exactly how she liked it. Then he proceeded to prepare another drink.
"Honey, could you add some power to mine?"
"I swear you're addicted to this shit," he grumbled, but obediently took out their gravesand tin out of the cupboard and added a minuscule amount to the instant coffee.
Moments later she was nursing a cup of the drink, just like the rest of her family. Jim, like the freak he was, drank his coffee in half a minute, basically chugging it.
For a moment they just existed in companionable silence, accompanied by sounds of sipping, until Jim broke it.
"So, how did yesterday's scouting go?"
"We didn't find anything, Young Atlas," Walt sighed, "It seems that the portal you found was the only one that appeared."
"That seems almost suspiciously good," Jim said and turned around to deposit his empty cup in the dishwasher. "Did you manage to build something to detect them, mom, or are we dependent on our inner radars?"
Barbara sighed and closed the lid of her laptop. "It turned out to be a little more complicated than I expected. The Heartstone is disturbing the ley lines more than usual, probably why we're having the problem in the first place, so to build a detector I would need a piece of it," she explained, taking a sip from her coffee and suppressing a shiver at the taste. She felt her eyes glow for a second before she suppressed it too. No one paid her any mind.
"So a visit to the Trollmarket it is?"
"Unfortunately."
"Eh, why?" Jim shrugged with a smile. "I miss Vendel, I can go ask him."
"It's been eight years since you've last seen him, he might have changed his opinions," Barbara warned him, and he dared laugh in her face.
"Mom, when was the last time you changed your opinions? He's so old I doubt anything short of a miracle could change his mind."
"Don't be so confident, Jim," Walter intruded smoothly into the conversation. "Vendel wouldn't be as effective of a leader if his opinions weren't fluid. And we're just… worried for you. Who knows what the Trollmarket would do to a changeling in this political climate?"
"Maybe, but I still think I should be the one to go."
"Young Atlas…"
"If they try to hurt me I can kick their asses with no problem, besides it's Vendel. He likes me!"
Barbara and Walt exchanged worried looks. She bit her lip, wondering what arguments would have a chance of deterring Jim. After all, once he set his mind to something it was hard to make him change it.
"I vote Little Gynt does it," Nomura said nonchalantly, finishing her coffee. Walt turned towards her with a surprised expression. "If anything it will be a good battle practice against multiple opponents. And if he succeeds, we'll have a valuable tool in our hands."
"That's true…"
"Besides, he'll have to contact the Trollhunter sooner rather than later. The old prick might be his best shot at that without arousing any outside suspicion."
Well. That was true. It didn't mean that either Barbara or Walt liked it.
"I just wish we had more time…" the doctor sighed, rubbing tiredly at her eyes.
"Every day we're one step closer to the apocalypse, mom. There's no time like the present."
"Actually," Walt cut in, "The trolls of the Trollmarket are all most likely gearing up to sleep at this hour, with the sun in the sky and all that, and what we do have to do immediately is get you enrolled into the school system. We have to be as inconspicuous as possible."
Jim sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine."
They waited a few more minutes in companionable silence until the oven dinged signalling the food was ready.
Jim laid his eyes on Nomura, who was lounging around in her troll form.
"Go get it," he said, and whistled at her.
"What am I, a dog?" she grumbled but did as was told, with only minimal resistance in the form of shoving Jim off his perch on the sofa. Her polished stone skin was a perfect counter to the heat of the oven.
Could Jim just turn and do the same? Yes.
Why didn't he do it? He was lazy, hope this helps.
"Voilà," the changeling said, once she put the food out.
"That's my line."
"Well, were you the one who took it out? No. Shut up."
They all dug in, and Jim and Nomura bantered all the while.
Jim and Walter walked into the building of the school keeping close to one another. They both had business to attend there, and so, strode in with confidence and purpose filling their moves. It got them a few stares, new faces in such a small town…
Finally they reached the principal's office. Walter knocked on the door, and heard 'Come in'. They both entered.
"Principal Levit," Walter greeted the balding man.
"Mr Strickler, it's been a good decade since I've last seen you, you haven't aged a day!" Walter just politely chuckled.
Jim clenched and unclenched his fists, ready to cast a spell. Hopefully it wouldn't be necessary, but who knows really.
"And you must be Jim! If what your mother told me over the phone is true it will be a pleasure to have you join the circle of our students," he said with a bright smile.
"I can assure you there were no lies there," Walter spoke softly, putting a hand on Jim's shoulder.
"Sit, why don't you, I'll prepare the documents you need to sign," the principal took the place behind the desk and they sat in front of him while the man carded through the various papers on his desk.
They shared a glance. That was going surprisingly smoothly.
An hour, and much chatter later they left the office, Jim as an official student of Arcadia High, and Walter as one of the teachers. The principal would be busy with last-minute changes in the timetable, which would change starting Monday next week, that's when Walter would start teaching again. He thanked the gods for Barbara changing his memory to be much more infallible a few centuries ago. That helped with teaching history. Hopefully the curriculum didn't change much during the decade, but he'd have to look through it anyway to refresh what he had to teach the students.
"I'm gonna go find Toby," Jim announced, and Walter gave him an approving nod. "And Eli."
"Who's that?" he asked confusedly. He didn't remember anyone with that name.
"I'll tell you later, bye dad!" he said loudly and a few heads turned. Walter just huffed with a smile. Honestly, this kid…
Jim found Toby putting his bike away on the rack, and sneaked behind him to hug him. The boy yelped indignantly when he was raised into the air, but quickly realised what was happening and began laughing.
"Jim! Put me down!" he said through fits of laughter. "Please!" Eventually the changeling yielded and set him on the ground. "What are you doing here!?"
"Came to get registered as a student, remember?"
"I expected you to do it later though." Tobes shook his head in disbelief. "Anyway, since you're here…" his face fell, and he looked to the side. Jim followed his line of sight until he saw something… weird.
"What are they doing to Eli?" The boy was currently pushed into the locker, and some blonde was trying to close the door on him.
"They're bullying him."
"Oh." Jim didn't quite know what to say. So he didn't say anything and instead sped towards the scene with a half-baked plan in mind.
Eli was in the process of being pushed into a locker, when something grabbed him. He thought it was Steve, doing something different than usual, when suddenly he found himself a few metres away from the group harassing him, and he startled. What—
"Sorry, had to borrow him," Jim's voice sounded right by his ear, "I'll give him back in time for the lessons!" It took him a moment to understand what was being said, and by that time Jim had already set off with him in a bridal hold, running as fast as humanly possible while carrying someone. Eli blinked, and craned his neck to look behind them, finding Steve and his 'friends' stunned and just standing by the lockers.
Jim looked down and Eli looked up at him, feeling very, very, small and insignificant in his steady hold.
"Hi." From up close his eyes were stunning, big, blue, deep like an ocean. Eli could get lost in them if he allowed himself to.
"H-Hi…" he replied weakly, trying to not let his traitorous thoughts distract him. "Why did you kidnap me…?"
"I did promise we'd meet again, didn't I?" Jim smiled cockily, and Eli's belly was filled with warmth. Ah fuck. He got a crush on a monster in human skin after seeing him twice in his life. Great. Amazing.
He must have made a face, because Jim slowed down, coming to a gentle stop, and gently set him on the ground.
"Sorry for that, I just didn't want to see those guys tormenting you."
"Thank you but I'm…" fine…? Not exactly. He finally settled on just, "Thank you."
When he looked around he noticed they were near the locker rooms, now deserted as no classes had PE at that moment.
"So… you wanted to talk to me?" he said eventually, after the silence stretched for too long.
"Yes," Jim nodded enthusiastically, "I want to teach you magic. If you allow me, that is."
"Oh," sure he spoke about it before, but Eli didn't expect him to mention it ever again. "Really?"
"Really." Jim closed his eyes and breathed in, then held his breath for a few seconds. "Okay, we're alone," he said eventually, "Minus Tobes, he's coming."
"How can you tell?" Now in the daylight Eli's mind was more prone to curiosity instead of fear. "Advanced hearing?"
"No, when I'm in my human form my senses are that of a wizard—slightly better than human's but nothing special," Jim explained patiently. "I can, however, focus my magic outwards to create a sort of a… invisible sphere, that tells me where everything is based on its energy signature. Every single thing has it, just like radiation, it's usually just small enough that I can't tell unless I'm focusing on it." He shrugged. "Humans have their unique magic signatures too, so that's a bonus."
"So… everyone has magic?"
"That's a loaded question but I'm going to assume you're talking about 'spark'." Jim smirked. "Everyone has a different magic potential, but usually it's so small they wouldn't be able to do most spells anyway. For example Toby. He doesn't have a proper spark for anything, just some basic, usual magic potential that everyone else does. The most he can do is summon a heap of snow."
"Toby can summon a heap of snow?" Now he was just confused. Why hadn't Toby ever told him about magic and the supernatural if he could provide definitive proof? It stung. He bit his lip to stop himself from asking this question out loud.
"I— huff Sure— ha! Can!" Toby appeared in the doorframe, breathing loudly. He had been running, obviously.
Eli didn't face him, lest his expression showed the feeling of betrayal.
"Can you show me?" he asked instead, only half turned towards him.
"Sure can!" He straightened his arm and splayed his fingers open, then closed his eyes and muttered, deep in focus: "Ninguis."
Eli watched as momentarily a heap of snow just appeared from thin air, and splattered on the floor loudly.
"Woah!" His apprehension was momentarily shadowed by awe. "You can do magic!"
"Yeah man! And you will too!" Toby excitedly patted him on the arm.
"If he agrees to learning that is," Jim cut in, then recited: "Flamma Impes." and his hand burst into flames, like a flamethrower, and melted the snow on the floor.
"Why would I not agree?" Eli asked. It was so weird that Jim put so much emphasis on him agreeing.
"Because then you'd become immortal."
"Say what…?"
"Also it would put you in danger. Your magic signature would get stronger, detectable, and you'd have to learn quickly how to defend yourself, but that's the easy part." Jim had the gall to shrug.
"How is that the easy part?" He couldn't wrap his head around it. "How is immortality… harder?"
Jim sent him a guilty look.
"Let's just say it's more of a burden."
A stray thought hit Eli, and he opened his mouth, disbelieving where the thought process was taking him.
"How… How old are you?" he hissed out.
"Oh," Jim blinked at him, surprised by the question. "Fifteen."
"How long have you been fifteen?"
"What is he, Edward Cullen?" Toby laughed. "No, Eli, don't worry. He's actually fifteen. We grew up together!"
Eli looked between them, disbelieving. Something wasn't adding up.
"Then what is it about immortality being a burden?" he pressed.
Jim sent him another deep look and sighed.
"My mother…" he stopped. Grimaced. "No. I would rather not say." He took in a deep breath and released it. "Point is, immortality can be a burden. Imagine your loved ones dying of old age for example. Yeah, let's go with that."
Eli pinched his brows. "Okay. Okay. Then how is the other part easier?"
"Oh, that's easier to explain," Jim visibly relaxed. "I specialise in strength magic, so I can easily teach you basic offence and defence spells."
"But… you said I have a mental spark…?"
"It's a grand oversimplification of what I felt inside you when I attempted to use my magic on you, but even if you had only mental spark you'd still be able to use basic spells from other types of magic," Jim said, bouncing up and down on his heels. "I can teach you one right now."
Eli was quickly approaching his limit of weird things that could happen in the span of 24 hours. "Sure," he said, keeping his expression forcefully relaxed.
Toby squealed with happiness, Jim smiled.
"Okay, the first step is to find your inner reservoir of magic. You can do that through meditation for many years… or I can pull it out from you immediately."
Eli deeply disliked the way Jim said 'pull it out' as if he was talking about cutting him open and removing his organs. On the other hand though he was… excited. If they were telling the truth he'd soon be able to do magic. He'd be a— a wizard. He nodded sharply and Jim's smile turned wolfish.
"Great! This might sting a little." He moved to stand in front of him, and placed his hands on Eli's neck, right above the shoulders. "On the count of three. One, two, three," Something zapped from his fingers and Eli felt paralysed, and then as if someone opened his eyes. He took a breath, then another, marvelling at how much easier it seemed to be to just breathe. He felt lighter, like some weight had been taken from his shoulders, he felt… strong, like he could move mountains with just a thought.
"How do you feel?" Toby asked, almost jumping up and down.
"I… feel amazing," he confessed in a whisper. It seemed appropriate to stay silent at the moment.
Jim squeezed his shoulder with one hand and patted his neck with the other, then stepped away from him.
"Do you feel something bubbling inside you?" he asked quietly. Now that it was mentioned, Eli did indeed feel something like that, fizzing in his limbs, ready to be expelled from him, used.
"Yeah…"
"Focus on this feeling and gather it in your arm," Jim instructed, "Then imagine you want to gather even more energy from elsewhere." Eli closed his eyes and focused. He experimentally thought about moving the energy and it followed his will. It felt exhilarating.
"Okay, done."
"Great, now I'm going to hit you. Block it while saying 'Ligo'." Hit him? Must be a strength spell then.
Eli nodded resolutely and opened his eyes slowly, mindful to not let the energy fizzle out or go elsewhere in his body. He raised his arm in front of himself, ready to receive the hit. Jim telegraphed his movements as he swung. "Ligo!" His fist connected and… Eli felt nothing.
No, that wasn't correct. He felt the touch of Jim's hand, but no pain, no pressure, nothing like that.
"Woah…" he couldn't help but gasp.
"This is great, isn't it?" Jim smirked. "Now do it again."
They spent the next few minutes very carefully punching and getting punched. Eli got a hang of it quickly, and when Jim suggested he try to do the spell without saying anything, he managed to do it too.
"How?" he asked bewildered.
"Intent. That's the core of magic. You can't do anything without intent, but you can do many things with it," Jim sounded like a teacher as he explained it. "How do you feel?"
To be perfectly honest he felt so excited he might explode. The energy inside him was buzzing, wanting an out. He told Jim as much and the boy smiled.
"Then it's time for your second spell. Exsolvo. Imagine some of the energy leaving you. Not too much though or you're gonna hurt yourself."
"Like, from my hand or something?" He straightened his hand and made finger guns. Jim immediately grabbed his arm, to stop him.
"Maybe not here. You don't want to destroy anything," he said placatingly. "But it's a good form of defence if you get grabbed or something. Try to release some energy in my direction from your arm, where I'm holding you."
Well, that sounded a little hard… But Eli wasn't one to back down from the challenge. He took in a deep breath and concentrated his energy in one spot, in his arm. "Exsolvo."
There was a sharp burst of pain in his arm and he cried out, but then he heard a thump and realised Jim got flung away from him and hit the lockers.
His eyes widened. What— What happened?
"I said a little energy," he grumbled, getting up from the floor. "Let me see your arm."
"Jim! You just hit the lockers!" Eli said the obvious, "You're obviously more hurt!"
"You sure?" Only then did Eli look down on the arm he was clutching, and blanched. His skin was angry purple. It looked like he suddenly got a haematoma. "Let me see," Jim repeated, and very gently touched the affected region. Eli hissed at the unexpected pain, but kept still as Jim's fingers sparked with red and he whispered "Redintegro.". The pain spiked and for a second Eli wanted to take his arm away, but then it faded completely, and he looked down to see his arm looking normal.
"That was…" Eli was at a loss of words.
"Dangerous," Jim finished the sentence for him. Not quite what he wanted to say though. "We shouldn't experiment with magic in school lest you hurt yourself more or someone sees." He said seriously, and Eli nodded sadly. "You can still use ligo to protect yourself though," Jim patted him on the shoulder.
Only then it caught up to Eli that he not only did magic, but also got injured while doing magic. His head spun.
"If you decide you want to learn more… Here's my number," he clicked his fingers and a neat business card appeared in his hand. Eli took it cautiously, hoping it wouldn't do something insane and bite him. "You can call anytime."
Something beeped, and Jim took out a phone out of his pocket. "Ah shoot, they need me home. Gotta go!" He turned around, made a portal and disappeared in it.
Eli looked at the card presented to him. In neat cursive writing it said Jim's full name, email address and phone number. Huh.
"I wonder why he has those…" he muttered.
"Oh, his father prepared him to be very professional since he was young. Here's one of the many results of that upbringing," Toby said with a shrug. "Anyway, I know what Jim said, but wanna practise anyway so next time Steve tries to beat you up he has a surprise?" He smirked devilishly.
Eli looked at him in surprise, before looking down at his freshly healed arm. "Hmm…"
Toby nudged him, with a knowing look. "You'll get used to this."
Eli didn't even want to know what that 'this' was supposed to be. He nodded, and Toby's smile somehow got impossibly wider. "Okay, so let me show you other applications of this spell…"