Battling the Invisible

Axi walked into the room and glanced around. “I know you’re in here. And if you don’t go visible right now, you don’t get the cupcake I brought you.”

Drake appeared at his desk. “Fine…bribe me with food.”

“I do it because it works.” He set the bag of snacks down on his roommate’s desk and slid a chair over. “I’ve been a dick.”

“That’s one way to start a conversation,” Drake teased.

“Shut it, I’m trying to be real here for a second. Anyway, I pushed you way harder than I should’ve, and as much as I’d like to think I was doing it for you…. Well, I got carried away. So I’m sorry for being a tool these past few weeks.”

“Accepted,” Drake said.

“We lost by two points, but the other teams fucked up even worse. First time jitters….”

“That’s what she said.”

Axi chuckled. “We can still come back…if you still want this.”

“Of course I do.”

“We’re in third place until the next event. Max and Jack are second, and to my utter disgust, Argo and Terrance are first.”

“Wait…Terrance who?”

“He’s another junior. Argo’s smart—he didn’t choose based on anything flashy. He picked the way we did—based on how our powers mesh. They’re good.”

“What’s this kid’s power?”

“Shape-shifter. But not just animals. He can…change. It’s hard to explain if you haven’t seen it.”

“Hmmm….”

“Anyway, I have more important stuff to talk to you about.”

“Like?”

“I talked to my brother again—Sebastian—and he’s worried about us.”

“Why?”

“He gave me this,” Axi said, pulling a book out of his bag. “It’s a book of myths surrounding different influential American leaders.”

“O…kay?”

“You remember that book we checked out of the library? The history of Magi in this country?”

“Don’t even fucking tell me….”

“Each of the myths coincides perfectly with that history. And every single one of them passed through Blueloch.”

Drake was quiet for a moment. “Alright…but what’s the big deal? There’s a lot worse we could do than becoming super important marks on the pages of history.”

“That’s what I said…but it just…seems like there’s something more.”

Drake took the book and flipped through the pages. “2007 edition, but no one beyond 1988…that’s weird.”

“I hadn’t even noticed that.”

They sat quietly for a moment, Drake flipping through the book and Axi biting his nails. Finally, without looking up, Drake asked, “Do you still want to do this?”

Axi thought about this for a moment. “Do I want to prove myself? Yes. Do I want to be the youngest winning team on the map? Yes. Would it be awesome for you to get that scholarship? Fuck yeah. But I’ve got to be real with you, mate. Something about this isn’t right. It’s not clicking for me yet as to what…but there’s something up. I can feel it—and I know you can too. The way Archer coddles us, that whole thing with Argo….”

“I know. I’m with you on all of that.”

“You know what the shit of it is, though, right?”

“What?”

“We can’t back down now. We’ve already proven that we’re tough competitors. We worked our asses off to get here, and the whole school knows. What do you think will happen if we suddenly go all ‘I don’t give a fuck’ about things?”

“Questions start getting asked. And what with all the research we’ve been doing…we might be fucked. So we’re still in this.”

“Looks like it.”

---

The pair relaxed their training schedule so that neither of them felt like dying at the end of the week. The day before spring break (which was round 2 for those competing) they were called into the Provost’s office.

“Boys!” she said jovially. “Have a seat.”

They shared a glance as they sat. It was one of the now frequent silent conversations they shared.

“Be on your guard.”

“Don’t answer any more than you have to.”

Weeks of waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop had made both of them hyper-vigilant. This was good during training, and hopefully they wouldn’t need intensive therapy to turn it off after all was said and done.

“Are you excited for the start of the next round?” the Provost asked.

“Yes ma’am,” Axi said, smiling.

“Of course,” Drake said.

“Good, good. I’m meeting with all the competitors to let them know about their academic options. Since you’ll have to stay on campus during the summer, some of the faculty offers different classes for the competitors. It’s a good way to explore interests outside of your major. I’ve seen students end up with a minor in different areas because they took advantage of the summer program. Here’s a booklet on what will be offered this summer.”

“Thank you.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Also, I’ve been informed that our finance office has changed a few things this year. Starting with this round of champions, the top five competitors will receive full scholarships.” She smiled, seeing their faces light up. “Yes, it’s an exciting new change. Hopefully it’ll make the competition less cutthroat, but really it’ll probably make it more so. So make sure you look after yourselves…. Anyway, I’m sure you want to get to supper. Good luck, boys.”

---

Rhynehart Lake wasn’t on any map. It was another one of Blueloch’s well kept secrets. It was large, but small enough that the competitors could just make out the other shore. They stood on the bank, shivering in the chilly March wind. Drake grinned over at Axi—somehow the boy had been able to locate a surfer shirt that, no shit, had a bow tie image on it. President Archer and a few other high-ups from the school watched from a raised platform. Finally, Dr. Holmes took the stand and spoke into a microphone.

“Welcome to round two of the tournament!” he said excitedly.

Axi was starting to twitch. He’d been able to control his nerves up to this point, but his eye was ticking almost uncontrollably now.

“Easy,” Drake whispered, using his Cierra voice. “We’ll be fine.”

“Today the challenge groups will be in threes. Our top teams, Turner-Pierce, Hawthorne-Scylla, and Phillips-Tory, will go first. The object of the round is to make it across the lake. Each team is equipped with one boat. There are obstacles, as you can see, and each team must collect the flags that correspond to their boat’s color.”

“Why’d we have to get the green boat,” Drake mumbled.

“On my whistle, you may go to your boats and begin. Three…two…one…”

Axi and Drake raced forward as the shrill whistle blasted through the air. They pushed their boat out into the water and hopped in.

“We’re fucked! Argo can control water!” Drake said as they started the engine.

“Doesn’t matter what he can control. Get us closer to him.”

That took some maneuvering, but they managed to grab their first flag and make it within six yards of the other boys. Max and Jack weren’t even on their radar at the moment—they were still having trouble with their boat.

Axi stood and, with a look of intense concentration, started a fucking hurricane.

“Are you out of your damn mind?” Drake screamed above the wind.

“I’ve got it.” He managed to knock the other boys off course and nodded for Drake to take off. They hadn’t gone too far when Axi was hit by what felt like a cannon. He went flying out of the boat, hitting the water with a resounding smack. When he reemerged, he had to duck under the water again to get to their boat.

Drake and Terrance were going at it with fire, and it was looking like there would be serious injuries if something didn’t happen soon. Axi debated for a second, but decided not to use his time control. It was always good to have a secret weapon. Instead, he called up a gust of wind. It fanned the flames between the two boats, but also shot their boat forward a good long way.

“Take it down a notch,” he told Drake. “Don’t wear yourself out, we’re not even half way.”

Drake grabbed their next flag, and steered them on toward the opposite shore.