"Sorry, 'scuse me. Gotta take a phone call!" With that I was pushing my way out of the library, rushing down the hall in a panic. I knew Elliot. He was the kind of guy that kept things bottled up like a shaken thing of soda until he was too afraid to pop off the lid, so the fact that he was coming to someone, that someone being me of all people, was borderline terrifying. And he lost his job? What happened?

Sure, the boy's bathroom wasn't the nicest place to have a heart-to-heart, but it wasn't like I had a lot of other options given all the drama attached to my name now. He picked it up on the second ring, and I barely had time to slam a stall door closed behind me before he started ranting in a panic.

"I can't believe I just lost it. I didn't even- it was the same thing I always do -I don't even know how-"

"Elliot," I began. "You have to take a deep breath and start from the beginning. I have no context to work with. Just try to calm down, and I'll be here to listen, all right?" My shoes were already echoing in the empty room from my pacing, and I tried to focus on the noise before I started freaking out with him. True, Elliot had always been a jumpy little thing ever since kindergarten, but this sounded like the step before a full-blown panic attack.

His breathing become ragged through the receiver for a moment, turning almost into a whistle before I heard the sound of a spray sharply going off. "...I-I said I lost my job. It happened so fast."

"What'd you do? You're always a perfectionist if I ever saw one." Sure, laying off could happen to anyone, but fired? That was something that would happen to me long before him.

"I... I was serving this morning since MAFES is closed this week for a teacher conference, and you know how I usually fill water with magik since it saves me a trip to the back?" My fingers gripped the edges of my phone tighter as I tried to pick up on every little noise coming through. His speech was still unsteady, but I could tell it was at least slower and more controlled at the moment. If his lungs got anywhere close to collapsing, I was nowhere near him to help, and who knew if anyone else was? I couldn't risk that. The best thing to do was keep him calm for his own safety.

So I agreed, nodding along. "Yeah, I was just there the other day. Wait... You did not get fired for dropping it on someone, right? That would be ridiculous!" One, because every server spills something eventually. That should barely get a talking to, much less mean losing your job. Two, Elliot losing his grasp on the basics for even a second? Impossible.

"No, I was just- I was serving them, and the woman told me it was offensive to be working after what happened yesterday, and that it was too soon to use magik in public. The man she was with also kept reaming me out, and they demanded another server that wasn't a Witch. That would have been fine, but as I went to go get the manager, they started following me to the back with personal insults. They said that a Witch like me shouldn't even show my face in society after what I did. That all we cause is harm... and, I just... lost it."

"You yelled back?" No way. Elliot? "Good for you, standing up for yourself!" I felt my chest swell a bit in pride. "About time you stopped letting people always tell you what to do."

"No. Not me. My magik," he explained, drawing in another deep, rattling breath. "All I did was clench my fists, but I could feel them. Every spirit and every bit of water around me. They were in the glasses, the sinks... Their blood." His usually higher, smooth voice had dropped to a dead monotone. "It was just a twitch, some rattling in the walls and a jolt in everyone's body but they felt it. I controlled their own souls! Living people, Crow! I... I didn't even know I could do that!"

The room fell into silence as I stood there for a second, stunned. After a few moments, he managed to bring himself to talk again, but I could hear how chocked up he was even as he continued. "After that, my manager came out, and apologized. He got them a new server, and took me in the back to hand me the last tips I'll ever get from there. I'm lucky if we don't get sued." Another sound like a whistle, another hiss of a spray being released. "I don't know what to do! How do I get another job if everyone hates me? Even if they consider me, they'll call my old job and know what I've done. I'll never be able to afford college. I'm just going to be a disappointment, and I don't even know how I did it!"

"I'm sorry." It came out like a sigh, and I slowed my pacing to slide against the wall, head tilted back as I took a seat on the floor. "That sucks. You don't deserve to be treated like that, and it's not as if you're in the cult and attacked them, so don't going taking it to heart, okay? It's their fault for being assuming, racist bastards, but unfortunately, I think we're gonna look bad from now on. That cult ruined our entire image in a day, and..." A bitter laugh escaped my throat. "If I'm being honest, I'm talking to you from a secluded bathroom stall because I had to be separated from my classmates for my own protection. Everything's a mess right now."

"Yeah." I heard a sniffle for a moment. "I have to say I'm surprised though. I didn't think you'd be dealing with anything after you stood up to all of them with those grounding potions. I guess Humans are just too prejudiced to see that."

My brain stopped for a moment. "Hold up. How did you know I was there?" That was something really only Dustin, Blyke, and Liesel should've known about. He wasn't even there, and I had been way too stressed to remember to contact him sooner.

"...It was all over the news. That one guy was freaking out, and I assumed it was a grounding technique where he couldn't access his magik for a moment. You didn't see it? The clip I mean. You obviously saw what happened."

Oh right. "No, I don't watch stuff like that. I just heard I was all over it." That meant now I had to worry about whatever narrative they wanted to weave me into without my say, on top of everything else. Dekoran's warning about openly practicing echoed out in the back of my mind, but I ignored it. I wasn't in the mood to care, and it was too late now anyway.

"Well, from what I saw, your potions are really something else. The things you did out there... it was really brave. No wonder my school approved them so fast," I heard him mention sheepishly, making me wonder if he was somehow jealous of my 'daring heroics'.

Pushing that aside, I honed in on the one thing that stood out to me. "They were approved? For what?" Before, I would have been all too happy for an elite school to think anything I did was important, but now I had to worry where it was going to, and what for, which hit a lot harder than I expected.

"Oh, for instructions and case studies of course. That way they can have a visual of different types of magik, not to mention how they interact on the Witch anatomy is like nothing they've seen before. The advancements they could make with it... and if it can enhance our connection to the elemental spirits in magik, think of how powerful that'd be!" I could hear his voice getting excited again, as he always did whenever we talked about spiritual study. Ever since he'd discovered that his specialty meant he could commune with both the dead, and the same nature spirits that provided the same energy Witches used for magik, it had become his passion and career path. While it definitely wasn't for me, I was glad he had that going for him, and the fact that I could take his mind off the incident for a while.

Still, as much as I wanted him to succeed in school, I felt like my magik ought to come with a warning label at the rate I was going. "Yeah, they are powerful, but that's why I don't want my stuff ending up in the wrong hands again. That cult broke into my school and stole my projects, and I can't have that happen again. It already did so much damage and... I can never take that back." To me, it didn't matter if I was the one who caused the destruction or the deaths. My power had been the catalyst, and it was my responsibility to make sure I didn't let it happen again. Not if there was something I could prevent it.

"Don't worry. MAFES is the best place I can think of. You have all the top Witches aside from Dekoran himself working there, and one is going to use them for anything morally wrong," he assured me.

Right, Dekoran. I had completely forgotten about him, and my after-school lessons today. I felt like I could throw up if I even looked at a potion right now, but I had to finally tell him what happened. That the cult can get into the school somehow, and most likely would again. That he would need to provide better security. It wasn't a talk I was looking forward to, but I guessed if I could face a bunch of angry, violent radicals then I could face one old man.

"All right." I dropped the subject with a sigh. "So what now? Are you stuck outside your work? Do you need a ride?" I didn't have my car, or broom license yet, but I was sure my mom wouldn't mind giving him a ride if need be. She always thought he was the better out of the two of us anyway.

"No, I'm sure my dad can pick me up at some point... I just couldn't bring myself to call him right away." He stopped to take another deep breath. "Thanks Crow. I really needed to talk to someone."

A small smile grew across my face. "Anytime. You can count on me."

After that, it was all goodbyes, and then me staring into the empty stall I'd made my home for the past... Oh geez. Was I really on the phone for forty-five minutes?

My head was spinning. I knew I had to own up to breaking into the school, but the ring of the bell bringing me one step closer to confession wasn't exactly a comfort. One groan later, I got up on my feet and made my way to Basics to Magik. It felt like an entire eternity since I'd entered the musty cylinder of a room that started it all, but I didn't even have time to sit on my designated pillow before Dekoran was rushing up to me, examining my face with worry.

"You weren't scanned by those evil machines entering the building, were you? I tried to call them off, but they got the blasted government involved." It wasn't hard to pick out his obvious disdain, as potent in his energy just as much as his voice.

"I mean, I was, but it's not a big deal. Just another precaution after everything that happened." I shrugged before taking a deep breath. No time like the present, right? "Listen, I-"

"I'll say. They caught a Human using magik yesterday. We need to start taking more precautions than ever... Just not in the form of robots." I heard him mutter the last past under his breath. "Speaking of, I will be having a chat with you later, but for now, I have a class to run. I'm glad you're all right."

Oh joy. Wonder what will be more fun, whatever he has to tell me, or what I need to tell him, I thought as I plopped down in my seat next to Blyke, his black eyes shining up at me in excitement. 

"Hey man, do I have news for you," he started, pulling the smallest notebook I'd ever seen out of his jacket pocket. Considering this was the class I'd already failed the year prior, I should have ignored him, and tried my best to pay attention, but hearing Dekoran start his usual droning about how each element had three signs, and that just because they were all one type that didn't make them the same... It was boring. Magik always was. I should have focused, but then again... I do have all that extra credit. Would it really hurt to have a day off?

I turned back to him. "What? I'm kinda in the middle of class right now." Granted, I'd already made my decision, but I didn't want to seem like a bad student to someone who had relied on my magik to save his life only the day before.

"So, you know how I was talking earlier about you needing a better way to launch those potions? Well, do I have the thing for you!" he whispered fiercely, rapidly thumbing through a bunch of the book's doodled pages. Finally, he landed on one, opening it up to reveal a sketch that spanned across both pages, which he flattened on the stone floor.

"A gun?" I questioned. "You want me to straight-up shoot someone?" He must have seen the disbelief on my face, because he frantically started shaking his head.

"Okay, you remember way back in grade school, making marshmallow cannons and all that jazz?" I nodded. "So it's like that, but for potions. I'm thinking like two options for it. A, a main pipe you load in the back to launch the bottle itself, and the pressure builds up until- Bam!- It shoots like a cannon, and B, where you can pull a second trigger and it has some other potions already stored inside, so you can gently pour it on something, like a water gun option!" He pointed at the barrel slightly above the bazooka-like base, each one labeled PVC pipe with arrows pointing at everything. I did see one discrepancy though.

"Is that a bike pump?" I asked, seeing the other realistic sketch he'd made on the page, connected to the back of the launcher.

"Yeah! It's to get the air in there so it can shoot far. That's what worked for the marshmallows."

"Hold on," I interrupted. "First off, do we even need a whole weapon? I really, really do not want to mess with these people again." I was already going to come clean to Dekoran, and hopefully that'd be the end of things. However, the miffed look on Blyke's face told me that to him, it wasn't even a question. There would be a gun because gun. Period. 

Fan-tastic. I tried not to roll my eyes at him. "Secondly, let's say that for some stupid reason I decided taking down riots was my new passion in life. You want me, theorectically, while having a bunch of crazies run around with enhanced magik, to cart around not only a huge cannon, but also a bike pump, so that every shot, I have to go, 'Oh hold on a second Mate. Please don't light me on fire. I just have to repump my weapon to attack; you know how it is.' Every single time?"

I watched Blyke's eyes widen as his mouth began to stretch into an awkward, thin line. "Hmm, guess not. This is only a beta design by the way. Just wanted to know what you thought."

"I think it's a cool idea, but... it's a little ridiculous. Really, I'm going to tell Dekoran that we came to the school and saw the cult stealing my stuff." I paused for a second. "Well, I'll leave you and Dustin out so you don't get in trouble, but the point is, I'll let him know to up the security, take my consequences and after that, nothing else should happen. Besides, while that's a nicely-drawn picture, better than anything I could make, who's gonna build something like that?"

"Oh, me. Duh!" Blyke answered heartily, suddenly getting above the whisper we'd been maintaining. "I'm gonna be a great engineer someday. Probably. I'm not sure what subsect yet, but hey, I got time to decide. Magik's all well and good, but it's not my calling, you get me?" He then stopped, realizing the rest of the class had gone silent around him.

"Magik's not your calling, so you say?" Dekoran suddenly spoke, more than a little disgruntled. "Then don't expect your grades in this class to be going up anytime soon." I heard Liesel's mention of 'Oooo someone's in trouble' from across the room, but I tried to ignore her.

"Oh nah, my grades'll be fine. I can do magik pretty well, but I just don't think I want to be a Witch professionally. There's a difference," he noted, finger-gunning Dekoran.

Not for me, I thought enviously as Dekoran called him up to the center of the room, frustrated.

"Is that so? Then why don't you prove how good of a Witch you are?" Dekoran challenged, grabbing a piece of wood off his desk. "You're a fire sign. Ignite this."

"I'll do you one better," he shot back before taking hold of the wood in his left hand, and Dekoran's own in his right. My eyes widened as the old man's already pale skin became even paler, bluer almost, like a stubborn six-year-old child who refused to leave a pool for hours. On the other hand-- literally-- the wood just burned freely, not even harming him, as he grinned confidently. Not cocky or rude, just proud.

It lasted only a moment though, before I felt a tug in the air from both of their directions, a thud sounding as Dekoran raised his staff once, then slammed it into the stone floor. Then, the fire went out and Blyke stood there, mouth open in shock as he let go of Dekoran's hand, now coated in a thin layer of ice.

"So your specialty is removing heat from one thing, and placing it in another. Quite interesting, but in a world full of specialties, I can't say it's the most powerful," Dekoran mused, but there was not a hint of that amusement on his face. "Know your place. I'll be borrowing this until the end of class, since you don't seem to be all that grateful for your gift anyway." With that, he ushered him back to his seat, bracing his staff up against the wall. 

Blyke sat there, quiet like I'd never seen him before as he gripped his shirt frantically, holding it tight to his chest like it was as empty as his gaze. Like something was missing. At the other end of the room, I saw the orb of Dekoran's staff light up with a deep red, the source inside flitting around the hovering glass ball.

"And Crow," he mentioned softly, in a cool tone that sent a chill down my spine. "Be careful with who you choose to get close to."