Battling the Invisible

Axi loosened his tie a bit as he lounged in the bleachers with the rest of the lacrosse hopefuls. There were only about fifteen boys there, but all of them were built like rhinoceroses. He hoped none of them were blessed with super speed, or else things were going to get painful…

“Oi, Axi! That’s your roommate, innit?” the British transfer student asked.

Axi’s head snapped to the left and a look of utter disbelief washed over his face. In the, admittedly few, conversations he’d had with Drake, the other boy seemed adamant that he did not like sports in the slightest. So why the hell was he coming out for lacrosse? He spied Jackson walking next to Drake. Maybe the blonde was trying out…
Drake sprinted ahead of the other boy and vaulted onto the bleachers. Plopping down next to Axi, he said, “How’s it?”

“Umm…fine. What are you doing here?”

“I panicked.”

“About what?”

“We’d been training and he said I stank, and I didn’t wanna get in the shower at the same time.”

Axi smiled and nodded, familiar with his roommate’s “bathroom-phobia.” He waved at Jackson as the blonde came up the bleachers to sit with them.

“Sup?” Jackson asked.

“Not much. You trying out too?”

“These are tryouts?” both of the other boys asked.

“Uhhh, yeah.”

“Peace out bros,” Jackson said.

“How’s your hand/eye coordination?” Axi asked Drake.

Drake looked at him like he’d just asked how to fix the engine on a cruise ship. “Screw you dude. You know I can’t do this shit. Look at these guys! I’d be crushed.”

Axi laughed. “Calm down dude, I’m screwing with you. It’s just a meeting tonight. I said it was a tryout to get rid of Jack-o-lantern. No worries.” He smiled as his roommate visibly calmed down. Turning his attention to the track, he sat up to listen to the coach.

“Right boys,” the man said. “Meeting’s gonna be short and sweet. I know how anxious you all are to go try and sneak into the girls’ dorms.”

Most of the crowd laughed appreciatively. Axi looked over at Drake. The kid was blushing, and letting out a nervous giggle. What the hell was with him?

“Tryouts,” the coach continued. “Will be held in two weeks. That’s the day after Showcase. To those of you who are freshmen, you’ll only be able to make JV. Sophies and Upperclassmen, you’ll be up for Varsity. If you know you’ll be trying out, come sign the list. Next to it there’s a workout and diet routine to follow. Trust me, it’ll be a lot easier on your bodies if you start now, so no whining. After tryouts, we’ll coordinate schedules for those of you who are training for the Arena as well, so we can get a good practice time that works for everyone. If that time is six in the morning, I don’t wanna hear it, you got me?”

“Yes coach,” they chorused.

“Good. Now, I’m gonna be real with you boys. Some of you ain’t gonna make the cut. One or two of you will be downright shit. But in my book, dedication comes first. I’ll never turn away a kid who’s got drive and dedication. You don’t make the cut, but you wanna try again next fall? Fine by me. You stay and be a manager. You’ll be second-in-command to the athletic training majors, but we’ll get you in here. You can work out with the team, and have another go next year. Right? Come sign up and you can leave.”

“See ya, bruh,” Drake said.

“No way man!” Axi said. “You gotta sign up!”

“You’ve lost it. I’ll see you back at the dorm.”

“Come ooooonnnnn!”

“No way, bruh. I told you—sports and me? We don’t mix.”

“Alright,” Axi said with a smile. He walked over to the small table and signed his name to the list. He grabbed his diet and workout schedules and turned to leave. “Whoa,” he said, nearly running into the guy behind him. It was Broncos!guy.

“I thought that was you,” Broncos!guy said. “I’m Argo.”

“Axi.” Axi tried hard to get his brain to work, but Argo’s green eyes were kind of distracting. “I…er…are…um…” He chuckled nervously. “Are you a freshman too?”

“Naw, I’m a sophie,” Argo said, smiling. “I was in the chow hall on freshman day so I could wrangle people for the lacrosse team. How’s your first taste of Blueloch?”

“It’s alright. My whole family went here,” Axi said with a shrug. “Hey, is it true about Showcase?”

“What? That they parade you firsties in front of the school like cattle and kick you out if you haven’t gotten your shit together? Yep. All true.”

“Fuuuuuck…” Axi whined.

“Don’t worry. It comes to you.” He snapped his fingers and a burst of water went up from his thumb like a geyser.

“Let’s hope so.”
****

Axi’s week passed calmly. True, he still didn’t know what the hell his powers were. And true, he didn’t have a clue what to major in, despite the guidance of a very helpful English professor. But through all of that, he was still pretty chill about things. Hell, he was even starting to be more comfortable around Drake. The kid still creeped him out a little—he always seemed so secretive—but they were definitely getting along. It was three days until Showcase when Axi really started to panic.

“Bruh,” Drake said. “If you don’t calm the fuck down, I’m going to break into the infirmary, steal some tranquilizers, and force you to get some sleep.”

“I don’t know what my power is!” Axi lamented for what had to be the 36th time that day. “You don’t understand, my entire family has gone to Blueloch. If I get kicked out…” he broke off, shivering. It was too horrible to contemplate.

“Calm it down!” Drake almost yelled.

Axi jumped. His roommate never raised his voice. The one time he did, it had gone up about three octaves and Axi and the rest of their floor had teased him mercilessly about it.

“I found my power when I was just screwing around. It’ll come to you. Be chill.”

Axi took a deep breath. “You’re right,” he said. “I think I’m gonna go for a walk.” He grabbed his jacket and wallet and left the room. It was windy outside, but he ignored it as he walked to the practice cages. There were a couple of people battling in one on the far end of the training pitch, but they wouldn’t be paying attention to him.

The cages were ten feet high. They looked a bit like the decorative birdcages you could buy at Michael’s or Hobby Lobby. The bars were made of steel, reinforced with some kind of anti-mana solution so that magic couldn’t escape them. Students could use their powers inside of the cages, but it wouldn’t make it through the bars if they missed a target. Strictly speaking, only upperclassmen were allowed to practice after hours, but this was an emergency.
Axi took his wallet and pocket watch out of his jeans and placed them in a corner with his jacket. “10:45, plenty of time.” He sat in the middle of cage and snapped his fingers, the way his siblings and roommate did when they wanted to call up fire. Nothing happened. With a sigh, he lay down and tried again. And again. And again. He stood up and clapped his hands together. Nothing. He made all kinds of insane throwing motions, running, hopping and spinning around the cage. Nothing happened. Finally exhausted, he slumped against the bars next to his things. He called up his favorite memory then, trying to calm his nerves….

Axi put his birthday crown on and sat in front of his cake. Even at the age of twelve, he wasn’t the least bit sick of this. Especially since Phin was home from England and Shelby and Mac had made it home from Blueloch. All for him—for his birthday. He closed his eyes as his father said the blessing in Latin, and when he opened them again, all of his siblings had their thumbs ignited and were lighting the candles on his cake….

Axi opened his eyes again. Something was weird. He felt funny—tingly all over and there was a rumble in his brain. Looking down at his watch, he noticed something. “10:45? That can’t be…” He jumped to his feet and looked over to where the other students had been practicing. They were standing shock still, as if they had been petrified. “No freaking way…” Axi muttered. He closed his eyes again, concentrating on what he’d eaten for lunch. Grilled chicken and squash, side of rice, lemon freeze pop… Opening his eyes again, he heard laughter from the other cage and knew time was back to normal. He wasn’t though. He still felt tingly, and tired, and kind of cranky. Grabbing his stuff, he opened the cage and stumbled out onto the ground. The rumbling in his brain was getting worse. “Okay, breath…” Then, he understood. He had another power that was trying to take control. Holding up a hand, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The rumbling died down, but the tingling came back. He clapped, and a heavy rain started to fall. “SHIT! FUCKING HELL!” he yelped, half out of excitement and half out of annoyance that he was getting soaked. He clapped again and two bolts of lightning came down, striking him. It didn’t hurt though. He clapped again, and rays of yellow light shone from his fingers. He pointed them at the clouds, which began to clear. He pumped his fist in the air once and ran back to the dorm.
*****

Axi slept like the dead that night, but was up fifteen minutes before their alarm. “Yo, Drake!” he said, wanting to tell his roommate the good news. “Drake, wake up!” he said loudly, pushing on the younger boy. “Yuck!” he said, feeling something wet. “What the fu—dude! You’re fucking bleeding!”

Drake came to at this. “Fuck,” he muttered.

“Come on, man! We’ve gotta get you to the nurse.”

“I’ll be fine,” Drake said through clenched teeth.

“Are you out of your—“

“Water. Pills.”

“Huh?”

“In the desk drawer.”

Axi, wiping his hand on a tissue, fumbled around until he found some Tylenol in Drake’s drawer. He grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and handed both to the bleeding boy. “Dude, seriously—“

“I’m fine,” Drake insisted. “Just…please don’t tell.”

“Don’t tell that you’re bleeding everywhere?”

“Yes. I…I need to tell you something….”