SWORD ACADEMY (censored)

I pull the tent open at the same time Ainsley’s crawling out of Luke’s bed. The look of horror in her eyes over me seeing her warns me against saying a single thing about it.

“Please don’t ask,” she backstops as soon as we leave the room.

At the very least, I want to explain how common and largely encouraged sleep sharing is for new charges. I’m the last person who will ever judge her choice in bed companions. If sleeping with Luke keeps her safe, I wholeheartedly agree with the concept and will even encourage it. And, quite frankly, a sleeping Luke’s the least insufferable version of late, so it can’t hurt to highlight that benefit as well. She desperately needs to know these things, but I comply with her requested silence in spite of that need. How can I not? She bloody well asked nicely.

We shower in stalls next to each other, our pace perfectly matched. I let my mind burn with ideas. Did she have an episode? Wouldn’t we have heard her alarm erupting? Had she caught it in time to prevent it? Had Luke even known she was there?

We dress in sync when we finish showering. I maintain the requested silence, though I’m beyond curious what happened. Still, curiosity is not going to BBQ this cat. Nuh uh. No way. Eventually, I’ll get my answers. For now, she just needs to know I’m here, even if the only thing she’s letting me offer is my proximity. That’s a safer burn path.

She doesn’t come back to the room with me when we’re done, opting instead to head straight to the Oculus for breakfast. I sit on her bed waiting for the others to move their pits after waking them up. Luke’s relaxed posture tells me he just had the best sleep of his life, but his steely gaze says something else too. He definitely knows she was there. While one of my questions has been answered, that answer ignites a hundred more questions.

Breakfast is quiet for us as it tends to be. None of us are really morning people. We usually don’t fully wake up until we hit the Stadium and start kicking the pits off each other. Luke gets himself fixated on the back of Ainsley’s head the second we sit down with our trays, but that isn’t exactly telling me anything. He did the same brooding mare routine yesterday. He could probably tell me how many brown hairs are in that ponytail of hers if I asked him. It seems like he wants to go talk to her, but she doesn’t turn to look at him once, so he just sits there as rigid as an iceberg.

Frig, he’s an idiot, and while I’m riding this high horse, screw him for being an idiot. Screw him very much. You know what else he did? He promised Ainsley once she got a handle on her sparks, she’d be able to request new roommates. I’ve already been making efforts to stop that from happening by keeping her as comfortable as possible. I don’t want new arrangements. My crater really, really likes our existing arrangements. Luke needs to follow suit so she doesn’t boot us. He’s a giant jerk, but even he can’t argue the benefit of having her water spark on tap.

After breakfast, we head to the Stadium. We spend our mornings here while the charges are in General Studies at the Registry. We don’t bother with classroom studies anymore. There’s no point. Maverick, Aspen, and I are graduating this year. We’ve already formally enlisted in the Fighting Sect for secondary. Frank’s a year ahead of us, and Luke’s Polarity eruption caused him to be held back a year. While I hate that for him, it’s clear he needs the extra time to work through the emotional complexity of his spark’s needs instead of just numbly trudging forward on the path he sees for himself.

Our training is focused on elemental usage in these early sessions. Without the novice charges cluttering up the space, we’re free to wield without worrying about inadvertently slaughtering some doe-eyed dolt with a stray fireball, ice shard, or wooden stake.

Frank has me pinned to the floor, spanking me with a weeping willow branch he’s conjured using his light earth spark. “Holy flint, Frank. What’s gotten into you today?” I crackle. “I mean, not that I’m complaining.”

Maverick leans down to dispel the branch using his dark earth spark. There’s a little glint of jealousy in his expression that sends a wave of heat right to my magma chamber. That’s new. I like it.

“They moved our troop to evening watch,” Frank buzzes. “Just working out a little of my frustration over it. Sorry.”

Why they did that is pretty obvious. Docent LightFire is a narky fart about her furniture, and since Ainsley’s already accosted three guards, they think it’s best to try new ones.

“There are better things you can do with my pit, Frank,” I smoulder.

“Not interested,” Frank bumbles.

“You might be full of fire, Keira, but you’re not the fiery redhead he’s been hoping to pollinate,” Aspen vogs.

“She’s not fiery!” Frank whoops. “She’s sweet like a lily.”

We all just stare at him, surprised he’s so readily admitted his feelings.

“Besides, I still get to sniff her,” Frank adds. “She’s a frequent Registry flier.”

“Precious,” Maverick slags. “Is she gonna teach you how to read?”

“Maybe,” Frank vibrates. “I wouldn’t mind learning just about anything she’d be willing to teach me if she wore that pretty rose in her cheeks while she did it.”

“Leave the poor girl’s flower alone, Frank,” I pop.

“I’m going to make it bloom,” he coos. “It’s going to be so beautiful when it’s fully blossomed.”

Aspen swooshes a laugh. “He already fertilized the soil.”

My brow fires up. “You what?”

“She offered her earth spark to me freely,” Frank confirms, flickering his eyeflints like a dipstick. “The seed has been planted.”

“Which charge is that again?”

“The one that asks all the questions,” he pipes in. “You know, the one who nearly had a heart attack when you and Luke swarmed her room.”

“The scared little mousey one?” I baulk. “She gave her earth spark to you?”

“That’s the one.” He sniffs dreamily. “Fiona.”

“I thought she had a water spark,” Maverick outcrops.

“Water and earth,” Frank counters.

I have a hard time keeping the names straight, but I’m good with faces, and I know which ones will make good snacks. I can feel the pull without ever touching them. Bryson, Cam, Sunny, and Ty all have a little fire in them. Only Bryson has a single fire spark though.

“And she gave you her earth spark willingly?”

He nods. “Twice actually. The second time was when I walked her back to her room when the Registry closed.”

“Geez Frank, if that’s the case, why don’t you work your wiles on all of them and plant us a whole garden?” I suggest.

Luke shoots a blast of cold water into Frank’s back that topples him onto me with force. I hiss my displeasure over his ridiculous weight crushing me to the floor.

“What was that for?” Frank groans.

“Just helping you cool down,” Luke spumes.

“What’s the matter, Luke?” I shove Frank off me and haul pit over to confront him. “Are you afraid he might try planting seeds in some beds you already flooded?”

“We didn’t…” he splutters. “She just…I didn’t make her…it can’t happen again.”

“It will if it bloody needs to,” I cinder, all my sass leaving me.

“It can’t happen again,” he foams.

“What can’t happen, Boss?” Aspen outgasses, coming to stand with us.

I shake my head to warn him off drilling Luke for more information. He’s clearly struggling harder with this than I realized. I want to offer him something encouraging instead of some platitude.

“Hey.” I cup his chin in my hand, forcing him to look at me. “If you don’t want it, that’s one thing, Luke. But if you do, you need to know that’s okay. She’s never going to do something she doesn’t want to do. Whatever happened last night, happened because she bloody well wanted it to.”

“Did Skittles touch you in a bad place?” Frank fake quakes.

Luke glares daggers into him while Aspen and Maverick fight to keep straight faces. Frank’s right though. Ainsley definitely touched him in a bad place, the absolute worst place she could’ve touched him. She jammed her finger right in his exposed heart, and she just keeps poking it.