Battling the Invisible

“Is é an tiarna mAoire: ní bheidh aon ní de dhíth orm. Cuireann sé féin i mo luí mé i mó inéar féir ghlais. Seolann sé ar imeall an uisce mé. Mar a bhfaighim suaimhneas. Seolann sé ar shlí na fíréantachta mé mar gheall ar a ainm,” Axi said as he got ready for the day.
“You speaking in tongues, bruh?” Drake asked.
“It’s a prayer. In Irish,” Axi said, smiling. It had been three days, and Drake was finally talking. Very little, and only to Axi, but he was talking. “I usually say it in the shower, but since I’m going grunge today, you get to hear.” He straightened his purple bow tie in the mirror and walked over to the bunk beds. He leaned against the top one, resting his chin on this arms. “If I ask you something, will you promise not to freak or clam up?”
“I don’t want to talk—“
“It’s not about that. Well, kind of…. I want to start training with you again. Not as hard as we were before, but… I just think it’ll be good for you to focus on something right now.”
“Fine.”
Axi paused. He didn’t want to push his luck, but he had to. “And will you please start talking to Jackson again? He moping like he’s Glinda right after Elphie left Oz.”
Drake managed a small smile. “That was, quite possibly, the gayest Broadway reference I’ve ever heard of. And I don’t mean gay like ‘stupid’, I mean like ‘you’re a homosexual’.”
“Well I do what I can,” Axi said, laughing and wiggling his eyebrows. “Besides, you’re the one who asked another dude, meaning me, to accompany him to the banquet tonight.”
“Yeah, well technically…”
“But no one else knows that.”
“No one else knows what?” Jackson asked, coming through the door. He had a cupcake in both hands and was giving the boys an inquisitive look.
Axi, seeing that Drake had gone white as a sheet, jumped in. “No one knows that he’s secretly in love with Selena Gomez,” he mock whispered.
Jackson let out a yell of laughter. “Dude, really? Wow. Here, I brought you both a cupcake from the mess hall.” He put them on their dresser and stood fidgeting in the doorway, obviously hoping Drake would say something to him.
“Thanks,” Drake said.
Jackson’s smile could’ve given Vegas a run for its money. “See you later tonight.”
“Jackson’s going to the banquet too?” Drake asked. Since he’d run off after his race, he hadn’t found out how everyone did. He knew that Axi had placed 5th, right after him, but that was it.
“Yeah. He placed 7th. They invited the top ten from each class.”
Drake nodded and hopped off the bed. “I’m gonna grab a shower. See you tonight.”
*
Axi straightened his bowtie and pulled on his jacket. “How do I look?” he asked.
“The same as always,” Drake said. “Just with a jacket.”
“Let’s hurry up. We don’t want to be late. You look good in blue, by the way,” he said, nudging Drake with his elbow.
“Thanks.”
“Uh…Don’t take this the wrong way, okay. But are you ever going to… I mean, I was wondering…”
“You’re usually so good with words.”
“Are you ever going to let me see you as a girl?”
Drake doubled over laughing. “Seriously?”
“What?”
“Dude…This is me. I look the same. If you mean, will I ever wear a dress and put on makeup—hell no.”
Axi smiled. “Whatevs.”
*
The dinner was a quiet affair. The Dean of Students put questions to a few of them, made a short speech about hard work and dedication, and then let them talk amongst themselves as they ate.
Axi could feel the President’s eyes on him throughout the meal. He tried to escape quickly when the dinner was finished, but the man called him over. “Sir?”
“You’re Jefferey, correct?”
“Yes sir, but people usually call me Axi.”
“I’ve been watching you and your roommate in the training cages. You’re both very dedicated.”
“Thank you, sir,” Axi said, trying to figure out where this was going.
“I expect great things from you, Mr. Phillips. I taught most of your siblings. Phineas was talented, but headstrong. Shelby, Macbeth and Brooklyn were all…er…less than enthusiastic about practicing their magic. They preferred to enhance their more human abilities. Lidia and Sebastian…well, they didn’t posess the strength of magic that you have….”
Axi stayed quiet. He had a vague idea of where this was going, but he wasn’t going to help the man get there.
“What I’m trying to say is…the school has seen your whole family pass through its halls. Each one of them was very special, but didn’t go all the way. The things I’m already seeing from you tell me that you have what it takes to win in the Arena. I know you’ll get through the…er…conditioning challenges just fine. And you have the spark needed to compete in the Arena. Just remember to stay focused and…” he trailed off, looking down the hall. “If you should find yourself excelling, don’t let anything hold you back.” He gave Axi’s shoulder a squeeze and walked farther into the building.
Axi watched him go, and then ran over to where Drake was waiting.
“What was that?” Drake asked.
“Nothing,” Axi said. “Bullshit.”
*
The woods were cold. They had been blindfolded, loaded into vans, drugged, and dumped that morning. All they had was a backpack with food, a blanket, and a flashlight. Axi knew, from his brothers, that this was called the hunting ground. He’d explained to the group (consisting of Drake, Jackson, Max, Connor, and himself) that they had until nightfall to get back uninterrupted. When the sun went down, the “Hunters” came out.
“Hunters?” Connor asked.
“Upper classmen with paintball guns. Makes it harder to focus and find your way when you’re being shot at.”
“So we’ve just got to find out way back, right?” Jackson asked.
“Yep. But it’s harder than it sounds. The forest is super hard to figure out, and the rest of the guys still think it’s about taking out the competition. We’ll have to lay low from them. Anyone know their way around a forest?”
Automatically, everyone’s head turned to Drake. He was having a little more trouble getting over the effects of the drugs, having been given a male’s dose, and thus was a bit irritable. “Oh, right. Because I’m Native American—the Shoshone kid should know all the ways of the forest and paint with all the colors of the wind….”
“I’m guessing you don’t?” Jackson said with a smirk.
“Shut it, you.”
“Guys, come on,” Max said. “The rest of the guys already took off. This isn’t a challenge we’re supposed to do on our own. We need to stay cool and just think.”
“These trees have moss everywhere,” Axi said. “Can’t tell which way to go from them.”
“And we can’t wait until night,” Drake said.
“Wait!” Max said. “Yes we can. We just need to find a river. Let’s eat, and I’ll tell you the plan.”
*
Axi had never been so scared in his life. Theoretically, the upperclassmen wouldn’t actually hurt them. Theoretically….
“Wait for Jackson’s signal…” Max whispered.
It took about a minute, and then there was a light to the east. Jackson was shooting up sparks.
“Let’s go.”
They retraced their steps from earlier that day, making their way over to where Jackson and Connor were resting. Two upperclassmen were lying next to a tree, asleep.
“What the fuck did you do to them?” Axi asked.
“Hypnotized ‘em!” Connor whispered proudly. “It’s the first time I’ve made anyone go to sleep.”
“Where’s Drake?”
“Here,” Drake said, appearing from thin air. He took the two sleeping boys’ paintball guns and tossed one to Jackson. “Set everything up?”
“Tons of spirits of pioneers wandering around in different directions,” Max said. “And for us….” He picked up a handful of dirt and blew it into the wind. A ghostly figure took shape, and began walking southward. “A guide. Axi, you’re ready if we need you, right?”
“Most def.”
“Let’s get moving then. Someone’ll be along soon, I’m sure.”
They walked, following the spirit. It was slow going, as they had to contend with an ever more treacherous forest. They managed to dodge upperclassmen, most of the time going unseen. They rounded a bend by a waterfall, and walked straight into a group of them.
“Firsties! Get ‘em!”
They ducked behind the rocks, Jackson and Drake returning fire. “The guide is getting away!” Drake yelped, as Axi made it rain.
“Axi, there’s too many of them. I’m calling backup!” Max said, running to the nearest tree. He had a look of deep concentration for a moment, and then spirits started coming out of all of the trees. There were hundreds of them, adding to the confusion. Max stumbled over to the group and put a finger to his lips. Quietly, he led all of them in an army crawl past the group of seniors.
“Keep up the shooting!” one of them yelled. “Use your powers and smoke them out!”
Halfway into the trees, the group stopped, perfectly still. Axi stood up, the only one moving out of both groups. He ran over to the seniors and took their guns. As quickly as he could, he hid them in the trees. He ran through the still moving spirits (apparently him time control had no effect on them) and hit the ground again. He concentrated on the feeling of the dirt, the smell of the air— normal things. A second later, he was crawling again.
“Where’d my gun go?”
“What the fuck dude? I didn’t see anything!”
“One of the bastards is a time controller!”
The group kept crawling, making their way down the river and back into the trees.
*
“The first ones back,” Dr. Holmes said, smiling. “I must say I’m impressed. Axi, your brother, Macbeth, didn’t make it back until the next day.”
The five boys, muddy, bloody, and extremely pleased with themselves, grinned at each other.
“Head back to your dorms. The winners of this challenge get the day off.”
They all let out yells of relief and ran back to the dorm.
*
“I need a favor,” Drake said.
“What?”
“I have to go home next weekend, after the next event. Wanna come with me?”
“Uhh…sure. Why?” Axi had an idea, but he wanted to be sure.
“The funeral.”
Axi nodded. “Yeah, man. I’ll be there.”
“Jacob will be here Saturday morning to pick us up.”