“Think? You’re not sure?”
“It’ll be a fun test. Zoe doesn’t use her full power. At least, I hope she doesn’t.”
Shalise wasn’t sure she’d be willing to test Professor Baxter’s lightning strength on the whims of hope. Juliana just smiled and went back to watching the spar between the professor and a water mage.
Once he got knocked down and wandered off the stage, Shalise decided to act. Waiting any longer wouldn’t help. She’d only get more and more nervous.
“I-I’d like to go next,” Shalise said as she stood up.
Professor Baxter glanced at her with a puzzled look on her face.
Good, thought Shalise, she wasn’t expecting me to volunteer. Keep her guessing.
The confusion didn’t last more than a second or two. Professor Baxter gave her a smile as she gestured to the opposite end of the stage. “Miss Ward, excellent. Come on stage.”
Shalise gripped her wand in her hand as she walked up to the raised platform. Quelling the shakes in her hands with a loosened grip, she pointed her wand at her professor.
“Are you ready?”
She gave a single nod in response.
“Very well. Prepare yourself.”
A single marble flew towards Shalise. It didn’t appear to be moving very fast. Shalise sidestepped it without trouble.
Shalise smiled. She moved her fingers apart in a ‘v’ shape with two fingers on either side. The metal plates on the fingertips of her offhand glove tapped together and Shalise started channeling magic.
Two more marbles flew through the air after her. Shalise lacked the magical prowess to deflect the projectiles on a shield, but she could at least disrupt the cushions of compressed air they were riding on.
She sent out a gust of wind. One marble dropped and rolled along the ground. The other wavered in the air, but stayed aimed at her. Without the second marble blocking her movements on the stage, she easily dodged around it.
Before Professor Baxter decided to ramp up the fight, Shalise tried to subtly aim her hand at the professor. Her fingertips pulled together, bringing all four fingers into alignment.
A thin bolt of lightning shot out.
And promptly crashed into Professor Baxter’s already raised shield.
Four marbles launched out at Shalise. She managed to knock one out of the air and dodge another. The two remaining struck her in either shoulder and knocked her on her butt.
“Secret weapons are an excellent idea, but lose effectiveness when their secrecy ceases.” Professor Baxter walked forwards and offered a hand to Shalise.
Shalise accepted the hand. Half of her wanted to channel a small amount of magic into the gloves and give her a little shock, but gripping the professor’s hand moved the plates out of alignment.
“You weren’t attacking with your wand,” the professor said, loud enough for the audience to hear. “I knew something was up. Combined with your arm and hand being far too stiff and I narrowed it down to that. As soon as you aimed that hand at me, I shielded.
“Next time, throw out a few attacks to distract from your secret weapon, rather than call attention to it.”
Professor Baxter’s voice dropped to be less audible to the audience. “I am curious, but we’ll talk later. Even though you didn’t hit me, good job. Take a seat.”
Shalise nodded and headed off to her smiling friends. Juliana gave her a friendly pat on her knee.
“Miss Eva. I believe I felt your hand in that last performance. Why don’t you come down and we’ll see what your actual hands are capable of.”
Eva’s friendly smile towards Shalise turned to a far more feral grin. The grin faltered for just a moment as she leaned over to whisper something in Juliana’s ear. The blond nodded a moment later.
Long, black legs crept out from beneath Eva’s slightly lifted shirt. Arachne’s body followed a moment later and all of her came to a rest on Juliana’s lap. The blond partially covered Arachne with her own shirt, though she left the eight glowing eyes peeking out.
The sight of her two long fangs resting on Juliana’s legs sent an involuntary shiver down Shalise’s spine.
“Don’t worry and don’t do anything, I’ll be fine,” Eva said to the spider before she marched up on stage.
Professor Baxter had crossed her arms and started tapping her foot.
“Sorry,” Eva said, “felt like I had a spider on me. Had to get it off.”
The professor sent a glance back towards Juliana. Shalise thought she might have sighed before turning back to Eva. “Prepare yourself,” she said.
“Way ahead of you.”
Before the professor could even lift up a marble, Eva lifted her wand. The entire stage was covered in a cloud of darkness.
Juliana leaned over. “Since she doesn’t have eyes, she doesn’t have any impairment from being unable to see through the blackness. Of course,” she said with a sigh, “we can’t see anything so there isn’t much to comment on.”
And there really wasn’t. The pitch black of the stage wasn’t much to look at. Some sounds–generally metal hitting earth–escaped every now and again, but nothing else.
At some point, the darkness vanished. A slightly disheveled Professor Baxter stood over a very torn up Eva. Her shirt and her pants had a few holes in them. Luckily, for Eva, the holes on her pants were not big enough for anyone to question why they couldn’t see anything beneath.
Once again, the instructor offered her hand to the student and helped her up.
“No secret weapon from you?”
“I decided that I needed to get better at standard fighting in a safe environment before I’m caught without all my secret weapons against someone trying to actually kill me.”
Professor Baxter shook her head. “I suppose I can’t fault you for using your resources as you see fit. I do believe you’ve singed my hair,” she said as she pulled a lock by her chin out to her eyes. “On an unrelated note, I do hope you’ll be here next seminar.”
“Count on it,” Eva said with a grin.
On her way back to the seats, a boy sitting right on the aisle stuck out his foot. He stuck it out right in Eva’s path, right before she was about to step past it.
Shalise started to call out a warning.
It was too late.
Eva reared back and stomped onto the outstretched foot. Hard.
A sickening crack echoed through the amphitheater. It was accompanied by a cry of pain a moment later.
“What’s your problem, trying to trip me up?” Eva paused, seemingly looking at him. “I know you,” she said. “You’re that pathetic excuse for a water mage. I thought you weren’t fighting me out of some misplaced sense of chivalry, but it seems like I was wrong. You’re a coward who tries to trip girls on their way back to their seat.”
“Eva,” Professor Baxter half shouted as she ran up the aisle. “What did–”
“He tried to trip me,” Eva said with a point of her finger. “Even a blind girl could see that.”
“It’s true,” Shalise said. She stood and took the few steps down next to Eva. “I watched him stick his foot out almost underneath Eva’s own foot.”
The student just clasped at his foot and whimpered. Actual whimpers. It was somewhat sad, given he was a year or two older.
Professor Baxter sighed. “There are better ways to deal with bullies.” She turned and shouted, “you’re all dismissed for the night. I’ve got an infirmary run to make.”
She gripped the student by the shoulder and both promptly vanished with a flick of her dagger.
Shalise shivered as a wave of cold air brushed past her. The rather hot June air that rushed in afterwards was very welcome. Not that Shalise didn’t like the cold, just not when it was already hot out.
“Did you have to hit him so hard?”
Shalise turned to see Juliana walking up behind them. Arachne, beneath her shirt, squirmed back and forth as she tried to escape to Eva. It was doubtful she was trying all that hard. If she was, Shalise imagined she could get away without much trouble.