CHAPTER 10: YA GOT TROUBLE

"Grim!" Jill called out. "Grim, where are you?! Grim—oomph!"

She had been running at full-speed, weaving through schoolmates, suffering from tunnel vision, until she had bumped into the back of a dark-haired boy. He was nearly bowled over from the force, but quickly regained his footing and spun around. In that one swift movement, he grabbed Jill by the collar and glared at her with a piercing blue in his eyes.

"What's your problem?!" he demanded angrily.

Jill's throat tightened, and she shrunk back in fear. "I-I'm sorry!"

The boy blinked and released her, his anger dissolving to surprise. "Oh shoot," he said. "Listen, I'm really sorry about that. I didn't know that you were a girl! Not that it makes it okay to push me, but still, I overreacted. My instincts just kicked in and… well, again, I apologize for scaring you."

"Oh, um, it's okay," Jill said lamely. "I didn't mean to push you, I was just looking for someone and I bumped into you by mistake… um…" She held out her hand. "I'm Jill Bones."

"Deuce Spade," the boy said, shaking her hand. "Nice to meet you."

Jill dropped Deuce's hand and saw that his uniform was trimmed with red, and he had a spade symbol on his right eye. He looked kind of like Ace…

"Say, do you know Ace Trappola?" she asked.

"Not that well, but he's a first-year in Heartslabyul like me," Deuce said. "Was he the one you were looking for?"

"Sort of. See, there's this little fiery cat… weasel… beast thing named Grim," Jill tried to explain. "Ace insulted him earlier, and Grim's still mad about it. He ran away from me, and I think he wants to hurt Ace."

"Like a fight? That's not good," Deuce noted. "I did see Ace running towards the east wing about a minute ago. We should make sure he's okay."

"Thank you," Jill said, and the two were off. Deuce was notably fast; even with her adrenaline, Jill found herself eating his dust. She followed him into the east wing and into the large lunchroom, which was empty save for two people.

"For the last time, quit following me around!" Ace cried. "You're a real pest, you know that?"

"I wouldn't be chasin' ya if ya just held still!" Grim snapped. "I'm gonna make you pay for badmouthin' me earlier!" His blue flames flickered with anger.

"Wow, you're still mad about that? Learn to let things go," Ace said with a smirk. "What would your babysitter say?"

"She ain't here," Grim said. "Good thing, because I know she would say—"

"Grim, what do you think you're doing?!" Jill cried. "Leave Ace alone!"

"Right on schedule," Ace chuckled.

"Leave me alone, minion! Bother someone else for once!" Grim yelled. "I can fight my own battles!"

"There's not going to be a battle," Deuce said, stepping in front of Jill. "You know that fighting is against school policy."

"Clearly, you don't know this school very well, Mr. Honor Student," Ace replied. "My brother says that Night Ravens fight all the time."

"ENOUGH!" Grim summoned a large wall of blue flames between himself and the spectators. Then he launched blue fireballs at Ace from across the vast room.

"Whoa, geez!" Ace cried in shock. He took out his pen, which started to glow a bit in his gloved hand. He waved his pen at the fireballs, and they suddenly changed direction away from Ace.

"How can Grim be this strong?!" Jill said. She noticed that none of the tables were burning up, despite being covered with some of Grim's flames. Was that a part of magical fire, to decide what got burned and what didn't? If Grim had this much raw power up his sleeve, no wonder he was so bored with the beginner classes…

"We've got to put this fire out!" Deuce shouted. He took out his own pen and shot small balls of water at the fire. The flames weakened, but didn't vanish. "C'mon, Jill! I can't do this alone!"

Jill took out her pen and pointed it at the fire. She hadn't actually used a single spell this whole day; she didn't know if she even could. "Uhhhhh… water go?" she tried weakly. Nothing happened.

"C'mon, even I know basic spells!" Deuce urged. "Didn't you study before coming here?"

"I didn't know this school even existed!" Jill cried in frustration. "And I spent this whole day reading textbooks! I've never done this before!"

"Oh boy…" Deuce stared across the flames to see Grim still trying to fry Ace. The direbeast had rushed at his target, trying to close the distance, but Ace just deflected his every move. As he did, the air in the room shifted and blew in all directions.

"What're you doin'?" Grim demanded. "That's gotta be cheating!"

"Wind magic," Ace bragged. "It's my specialty. Like it?" He summoned a strong gust that blew Grim off his feet.

"I can't keep up with this," Jill lamented. She looked around the room, trying to find a fire extinguisher or a large blanket, or something mundane that could smother the fire—

"Alright, I've had it!" Deuce said. He lifted his pen, and the red jewel shone brightly. "Cauldron, I summon thee!" he announced.

Three things happened all at the same time. It only took an instant, but Jill could see it all in slow-motion.

Grim launched another fireball, larger than the others, as if there would be a different outcome. When the fireball was near him, Ace readied his hand to deliver another wind blast.

Then the cauldron appeared between them. It started out a few feet in the air, then it landed on the floor with an earsplitting BANG!

"GAH!" Startled, Ace flung his hand out too high, sending his wind blast towards the ceiling. Grim's fireball was deflected up as well… towards the chandelier.

The Night Raven lunchroom was huge and ornate, and it had a very peculiar chandelier. It looked like the roots of a great tree, branching out in all directions and flanked by circular lanterns. Upon closer inspection, the chandelier's branches were also lined with little crystals tied with glittering string.

Grim's fireball was mostly extinguished by the time it reached the chandelier, but a blue ember licked one of these little strings.

There was a silence, and then a ping sound that was like the drop of a pin. Grim's fire went away, and the four students stared in horror at something in the middle of the floor.

There was now a small clear crystal, broken into shards.

"Great going, kitty," Ace grumbled. "You broke one of the chandelier's magestones with your fire!"

"You broke it! It was your dumb wind spell that did it!" Grim argued.

"You both broke it!" Deuce said.

"…I think all four of you deserve the blame, to be honest."

Jill shuddered and turned around to find a very furious Headmage Crowley.

"Headmage! I'm sorry, we—" Deuce tried to say.

"We'll talk in my office," Crowley said. "And while I am a generous man, do not think me a pushover. I plan to punish all of you for this transgression."

Of course. With so much racket, some students must've seen the fight and gone to the headmage…

Jill's stomach plummeted as she realized that with her bad luck, there was no way she was going to stay out of trouble for a whole day.