Auctioned off to a School for Magic

Chapter Eighteen: The Duo

When I walked into our first class I was worried about seeing Alice. Luckily I had my bestfriend by my side so it wasn't too bad. Over the weekend I buried my nose in books to distract from the disaster that was my love life. I ended up researching a lot about the psychic abilities I didn’t have and about the moon goddess. I have a pretty good idea about what’s going on with the whispers but how do I tell Alice?Jezebeth was telling me I should assume we’re both on our own but if I have information that can help her then she’d want to know right?

I thought Alice would go back to how she used to treat us but instead she didn’t give us any attention. I should do what everyone is advising me to do and just shift my focus. I’ve only ever fallen under a trance once so many it won’t happen again. The occasional whispers don’t bother me much so I don’t have to focus on this right now. Not when it just reminds me of Alice and makes me want to share my findings with her. My worry is that she still have trances and I have information that can help her.

“Ruth” Jezebeth whispered after the teacher stopped talking. “We need to start practicing for the school games, everyone already started.” She brought this up because it’s what the teacher was talking about. We had to sign up our groups.

I nodded. “I know I know and we will.” I stood up some of the class did to sign up their groups. “I’ll sign us up.” I walked to the sign up sheet and realized Alice was in line right after me.

I wrote down me and Jezebeth’s name down for our group then went to sit down. As I was half way to my desk I heard Alice say. “Officer Bailey, do you believe a duo could get very far in the games?” She was obviously referring to me and Jezebeth.

“Usually they don’t but it’s rare for students to sign up as duos.” She answered.

“Duos shouldn’t be allowed, it’s like they’re not even taking the games seriously.” Alice said as she finished listing her group.

The teacher shrugged. “The advanced track is required to participate so sometimes duos are just students who can’t find more members so we have to allow it.” But Alice knew we were doing it by choice and that got under her skin.

After classes I was training with Natalie. “Wow you’re really focused today, you’re levitating most the room now.”

I was so focused because now all I wanted to do was prove Alice wrong at the games. I put all the objects down before speaking. “Yeah, I am. Officer Natalie do you have any psychic abilities other than the ordinary ones?” I didn’t expect her to but I thought maybe she could still share something insightful about the subject.

Natalie chuckled. “Of course not, those abilities are given with purpose when the moon goddess wants them to be used for a specific reason.” Me and Alice were chosen to do something with our new psychic ability but how could we know what? “It’s rare. Where does the curiosity come from?”

I shrugged. “I guess I don’t get to talk to many other psychics since I don’t get to see many of my sisters.” I lied about my reason but getting to see them was the truth. The majority of them live in the human world so they don’t really visit. Red, Radiance and Rain visit and call but I haven’t seen the other four or heard from them since I was sold four years ago.

“I have psychic sisters as well but not as many as you. We’re not close either. I am close with one.” Natalie tried to relate.

We continued with the lesson which ended up focusing on astral protecting. I put this one off for a while, I never tried astral projection on purpose before because I was overwhelmed. I was paranoid I wouldn’t be able to make it back to my own body. “You did good.” She complimented. “Once you get even better you’ll be able to astral project into dreams. As an officer I’ve done this to collect information.”

I chuckled. “Good thing I’m not going to be an officer because that sounds like an invasion of people's privacy.” I joked but meant what I said. “I get it, you only do that for the greater good.” That part I didn’t believe as much. “If The Order is okay with you doing stuff like that then why is blood based magic such a big deal? It’s not dark magic since we wouldn’t be using the blood of others.”

Natalie sat down at her desk. “The order is fine with our Jr officers learning blood magic but we don’t teach it to our students. It’s just too close to black magic and will tempt you.” Jr officers were the graduates who accepted their invitation to become an officer. They become the apprentice to full fledged officers for five years

“So you know blood magic?” I asked.

Natalie raised an eyebrow. “You’re asking a lot of questions today.”

I started gathering my stuff. “I guess I have a lot on my mind, don’t think much of it. I had a long weekend and I just want to focus on the things that matter.”

“Your heart is broken.” She said.

I frowned. “Wow, another invasion of privacy.” I said defensively. I didn’t think empathy was the worst ability to use and sometimes it’s hard not to sense someone’s emotions when they’re strong.

“You can stay and we can talk about it if you want. I just hope it wasn’t Jezebeth since that would make things really complicated.” She commented. "You too are a good pair."

I walked to the door and face palmed. “I don’t like Jezebeth. We’re just friends and we’re doing just fine. We even signed up as a duo for the school games.”

“A duo?” Natalie said surprised. “That’s going to be really interesting, I’ll be rooting for you both.” I was surprised because she was the first not to try to discourage us. Anything else you want to ask me before you leave?”

“...Do you know anything about Jezebeth’s mother?” I asked.

Natalie took a second to answer. “Probably no more than she does.” I knew she was lying, you didn’t need to be a psychic to tell she was lying.

For a second I thought I was growing closer to Officer Natalie and that she’d care enough about me and Jezebeth to tell the truth. She was obviously just another officer who cared more about having someone as strong as Jezebeth stay in the order then her knowing her mother at all.

We’ll have to find another way to find out more about where Jezebeth’s mom way. I wanted so badly to be the one to help her get what she wanted. Why wouldn’t her mother want someone as amazing as her? Even in her early years it had to be clear how special she was.