General Assembly

  Tick, tick, tick, tick.

  Ty waited it out like a ticking time bomb, watching the clock on the wall advance ever so slowly toward her assembly’s start time. What did it matter if she was late? It was better than walking with them. Or having to face him.

  When the long hand of the clock hit eleven, Ty brushed away the last of her tears and made her way out of the common room.

  Her first step outside was to the gray skies she had seen from her room—no rain, no thunder. Just gray. The wind was still, the sun unseen.

  And she could not be late.

  “Woah, woah, woah. Slow down, Ty, slow down!”

  Ah yes, she mused to herself bitterly. The Earth Mother is going down the list. The second last person I wanted to see today.

  “Hey, I’m serious—I wanted to ask you about something.”

  “Leave it,” she snapped.

  “Aw, ya won’t even hear me out?” Luci craned his head enough to block her view. “A little bird told me you’ve been leaving school in the middle of the night on Fridays and every weekend.”

  Her eyes shifted to meet his for a split second, but that was all he needed.

  “Oho, so the rumors were true. You’ve got to be more discreet. I had Will tell me over lunch the other day. Whatcha doin’, anyway?”

  “I said leave it,” she seethed through gritted teeth this time.

  “Helping the Headmistress? She’s been missing recently, too. Fourth-years got some sub from MATS for their main classes—could you believe it? Up and left when the year’s just started!”

  After what felt like an eternity, they arrived at the lecture halls, and he fell in line with her as they ascended the stairs. “I’ll bet she’s coming today, though. There was an entire procession of some serious lookin’ MATS officials. News must be big. Something about…”

  Luci jogged up to the landing of the second floor, smiling toothily like he was posing for a picture. “Ancients? Population decline? Am I…getting close?”

  Despite every muscle in her body screaming against doing so, she met his eyes again and scowled, walking past and muttering, “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”

  “Oh, but I think I do,” he insisted, trying to catch up again. “I really, really think I do this time.”

  Ty felt herself walking faster and faster the more that the truth spilled from his lips—how he had come by the information, she hadn’t a clue. But what she knew, and what she refused to accept, was that deep in her memories, there was a red world where she had found Luci at the bottom of her feet instead of Theo at the top of the hill.

  “I’d go to the ends of the world for you,” he whispered when they finally reached the lecture hall where the assembly was being held. “I’d kill for you.”

  “Hi,” she said in a louder-than-usual voice to the individual in front of the door donning the official blue-white-gold MATS clothing.

  A cursory glance lasting barely two seconds was all they needed. “I see your pins; you may both enter,” they dismissed almost instantly.

  Swallowing her nerves and expecting the worst, Ty took a deep breath and entered the room.

  What she didn’t realize, as she stood stone-still two steps into the lecture room, was how tempered her image of the absolute worst was when she compared it with reality.

  Five MATS-garbed individuals were sitting by the large windows across from the entrance. The Head Tactician—the Headmistress—sat at the professor’s desk in the front, and the rest of the Academy’s tacticians were scattered across the benches.

  Em. Em was here, sitting on the first chair closest to the Headmistress. And as always, something felt off about him.

  “Maybe we should take a seat first,” whispered Luci from behind her.

  Inhaling sharply, tearing her eyes away from the old sorcerer, the tactician took an aisle seat in the last row of the section closest to the five MATS officials so she could get a good look at all of them. Luci, who took a seat to her left, eyed her curiously.

  I wonder how much he knows, she thought to herself with a hint of bitterness as she continued staring at Em, trying to figure out what was off about him other than the fact that he looked older than the skin he was wearing.

  He was in his MATS robes today instead of the brown robe he had worn to the Academy when she first saw him. The pristine, lustrous colors only emphasized the bizarre darkness she could feel surrounding him. His dark eyes that almost seemed pure black, the sagging, pronounced bags under them so exaggerated they almost seemed fake, the thin, practically hidden lips under his pointed nose, the sunken cheeks that delineated his square jaw, the wrinkles and old age spots sprinkled liberally across the rest of his pale face.

  And then there was that darkness. It wasn’t anything she could pinpoint…it wasn’t in his face, it wasn’t in his long, tied-back wiry white-gray hair, and it wasn’t in his bony hands that were folded politely on a book on his lap. It was…something else.

  “Welcome, everyone.”

  All heads turned to the Headmistress, who looked the same as she always did. Her ashen hair messily tied up into an intricate bun, her white blouse and navy pants, and her gold and red-lined coat resting casually on her shoulders. A warm, disguised smile on her face that reminded Ty of what she saw in the mirror every morning. Some things never changed.

  “Thank you all for coming today. I know it’s early, so I’m going to get right into it.” Her guise faded slightly, turning serious but trying to remain pleasant. “Assemblies are not a common occurrence. They are generally held when major changes and occurrences are going to happen. Not just at the Academy, but in the broader state of Chloris. Today we have some officials from MATS here to discuss some of these changes.” The Headmistress gestured to the visitors sitting on the side. “However you decide to disseminate this information to your peers will be up to you. Please keep in mind that standard class-specific assemblies will not contain the information you will hear today, as they will only receive information regarding curriculum and class changes. These revisions are necessary to keep up with the constantly developing political situation.”

  The Headmistress’s eyes fell on Ty for a moment, and she forced a quick smile before inhaling deeply and turning back to the paper in front of her. “Following the new state representative’s orders to monitor Ancient camps, ignoring all peaceful attempts to negotiate, MATS and the Academy have decided to enter into a preemptive state of war.”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  At the mention of war, Ty could hear faint whispers across the entire room. She pulled her gaze away from the Headmistress and observed her peers.

  They’re the normal ones. That’s how you’re supposed to react, Ty thought to herself as she scanned their wide eyes, their dark looks, their knitted brows.

  She turned to Luci after canvassing the room, and the teasing voice in her mind fell silent.

  “You’re not surprised.”

  “No,” he smiled, head cocked. “Should I be?”

  A reply did not immediately come to her, but when it did, the Headmistress cleared her throat loudly, silencing the room. “As such, fifth and fourth-year classes are officially canceled and will be deployed posthaste to all camps. Third-years will join them next month—meaning their field exam will last two months—and first and second-years the month after. A MATS official or professor will accompany all such expeditions. Everyone must be ready to engage in combat on the front lines. Casualties will occur, and you may not return at all, but sacrifices will have to be made. As tacticians here today, you are integral not only to the future of the Academy, but to the future of magic and MATS. It is an enormous responsibility and honor you must all uphold.”

  She gripped the podium with both of her hands, her false guise fallen as she said with finality in her voice, “If there is anything you can take away from today’s assembly, it is that we must protect this institution at all costs. Even if the cost is the lives of those we love, or even ourselves.”

  With that, the Headmistress stiffly turned to the MATS officials by the window. “I will now let our representatives from MATS speak.”

  As the first representative, cane in hand, walked up to take the Headmistress’s place at the podium, Ty realized that she truly must have been too focused on Em to see anything else, because there she was, standing right in front of them.

  I’ll see you later, professor.

  “A small portion of you may remember me,” the MATS official started slowly, tucking a long strand of white hair behind her ear and surveying the room with dispassionate eyes. “I was once known as Tact. Araminta Levyarn, and then the Head Archivist at the Chloris Tome Society. What you may not have known, however, is that I am also the Head Archivist for Ancient texts at MATS.”

  Yes, the professor sounded as severe as Ty had remembered her being. Slow and meticulous, every word she recited felt important and deliberate. And not once did she look down at the podium. Not once did her eyes waver.

  “We have almost completed the dictionary of Ancient context notes. There are a few more missing, no doubt as you all have seen in your reports. We are still accepting submissions irrespective of conflict or war.” Her eyes met Ty’s for what felt like the longest second, just like all the other students, and then she moved on.

  “There is another option. Everyone at the Academy has a choice. Further bloodshed can be avoided.”

  A loud, deliberate cough came from her colleagues’ seats.

  Thud.

  Ty could feel her hair stand on end, her eyes widen as all the students turned their heads to the officials, who all kept their neutral, almost manufactured expressions.

  “I. Am. Talking,” barked the Head Archivist, staring daggers at her colleagues before turning back to the students. “We are currently recruiting individuals to work at MATS after the current school term.” She paused for emphasis. “Do not misunderstand me when I say ‘term.’ I mean at the end of this current term, before Blessing Day.”

  While Ty felt like what had just happened was important enough to have garnered a few shocked whispers among the group, no one dared speak up.

  “Replacements, if necessary, will be arranged,” continued Levyarn. “It is of the utmost importance that we complete work on the context numbers, so please look out for today’s report. It will have all the information you and your peers will need to apply. That is all.”

  Without so much as a bow, thanks, or introduction for the next speaker, Levyarn, with her walking stick and scowling face, walked up the stairs of the lecture hall, to the top where the attendant stepped aside for her, and left.

  Thud, thud, thud, her cane echoed in the hallway as a singular sigh pierced the heavy silence.

  Everyone turned their heads to watch Em shake his head and stand up with a groan. “Alright, alright, I’ll go after her. I’m due at the Caster’s Assembly soon, anyway.”

  The white-clad figure beside him stood up as well without addressing Em’s remarks, making his way to the podium. This left one lady left by the window, who wore a thick, white hooded robe. Ty couldn’t see her face from where she sat, but she must have been someone important, too.

  “Please excuse my colleague’s outburst,” said the unfamiliar figure formally, smiling so widely the whites of their teeth were showing. “She, like the rest of us at MATS, is very concerned about the current events. And as the head of MATS, I will be forthright with you—it is not looking good.”

  The smiling, blindingly white man’s demeanor certainly exuded friendliness, but there was very little likelihood that he was going to be anything but evil, being the head of MATS. They had enslaved the Ancients for decades upon decades. His white gown, his white teeth, his long silvery white hair—there was no way he was as pure as he looked.

  “The Ancient population is dwindling. Sanctuaries are being burned down. The Circle of Graces has disbanded. Let me ask you all here today—where is the Earth Mother?”

  Ty felt her blood run cold.

  He nodded, a smile still plastered on his face as if this was all an amusing game. “That’s right. No one knows. So if the Earth Mother won’t do anything to save them, and the state certainly won’t do anything to save them, then who will besides us?”

  He canvassed the room with dark eyes that looked just like Em’s before continuing excitedly and putting his clasped hands on the podium stand. “We will soon reach the point of no return. That means that if you don’t go out there and fight, fulfill your roles and protect the Ancients, then there will be no more of them to protect. And with no more Ancients, no more sanctuaries—I’m sure you all know what I’m getting at—there will be no. More. Magic.” His toothy smile only widened even more, devilishly grotesque as he leaned forward, continuing to pierce through every tactician present. “That’s right. Everything you’ve worked for your entire lives. Books. School. Your studies. Your lifestyles, your family’s lifestyles, the lifestyles of those after you—none of that will exist without the Ancients. You will not exist without the Ancients.”

  And then he stood up straight, retracted his hands to his side, and then he nodded once. Deeply, decisively. “Please think hard about what I’ve said today. Unlike Araminta, I cannot offer any opportunities right now, but I can impart some advice: focus on your studies and stay the course. The Academy is here to help, and so is MATS.”

  His eyes landed on the back row, where Ty was. Though his eyes seemed glassy, unfocused, making it hard to determine whether he was looking at her, her hair stood on end as his lips parted, and his smile once again spread across his face. “Stay. The. Course.”

  Is that what he wants me to think?

  At the last word, he laughed and turned to his side, where the Headmistress sat. “The Headmistress will now make her closing remarks while I try to locate my little party. My assistant will remain to answer any questions. Good day, all.”

  As unceremoniously as he had approached the podium to take his place did he now leave, his white cape lined with gold daintily trailing behind him as he walked up the stairs nearest Ty. Eyes straight forward, smile on his face with a lingering laugh certainly hidden behind it, he barely made any noise as he left, taking with him his heavenly white aura that almost seemed to dim the room upon his exit.

  It was then that it finally struck Ty—the white. The sanctuaries, the Souls of the Earth Mother. White all around her, under her feet, on the trees, suffocating her. It was the same.

  Her stomach churned. She could feel the saliva building up in her mouth. The smell of burned bark and thick smoke.

  “Ty?”

  The tactician slowly tilted her head to eye Luci, panic undoubtedly written all over her face as she scanned his wide, curious eyes. His tiny smile, as if nothing was ever wrong, as if he was always hiding a secret.

  Without having to speak, she knew the answer to the question that ran across her mind at that very moment—the same question she had asked Theo.

  “Almost done,” whispered Luci with a nod and reassuring smile before they both turned to the front of the class.

  Ty folded her shaky hands in her lap and focused on the answer. Swallowed, breathed in, breathed out, trying to quell the storm rising inside her chest as she watched the Headmistress stand up.

  I trust you, she repeated to herself. I trust you.

  “Classes will resume after midday meals. Should you have questions for our remaining guest, please keep that in mind. That is all. You are dismissed.”

  Whatever noise the other students made while getting up to leave the classroom, Ty could not hear. There was only the tempest that could not be tamed, whirling around and around in her stomach, blowing away the black leaves in her white forest, fantasies she tried to convince herself of, fantasies of children playing adults, tearing apart everything to leave only the dust and fire behind, in its center a single shadow mouthing the words:

  I don’t trust you.