Between Sun and Shadow | Part V (5)
Part 1: https://www.chess.com/blog/AvaR1008/between-sun-and-shadow-part-1
Between Sun and Shadow–Part V
Silas glared at his ceiling. Ever since someone had moved into the room above him, he could hear someone pacing. Back and forth. Back and forth.
He hadn't known who was above him until Miss Valchez practically forced him to bring Maya's headphones she had left behind in class to Maya's room–Valchez insisted that teammates should be helping each other unconditionally–and he noticed that the girl's wing was the exact same as the boy's wing except directly above it.
And now that he knew that the room directly above him belonged to Maya, it was somehow even more annoying.
If he had normal hearing it would be fine. Even with his Nycteri hearing, it was barely noticeable. Little disturbances across the length of the ceiling; small creaks. Back and forth, back and forth.
Usually for a good hour or two past curfew, and then sometimes it would pick back up in the middle of the night.
And today it had started again after it had went on for half a hour after curfew; at four A.M.
Back and forth, back and forth.
His eyes tracked the noise as it progressed from one side of the room to the next.
Back and forth, back and forth.
The pace didn’t slow when it neared the wall, just turned around and kept going.
Back and forth, back and forth–
It stopped.
Silas stared at the ceiling for another minute. He glanced over at the clock on the wall. 4:32 A.M. That meant the pacing went on for about 24 minutes.
Not that he really cared.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Did you sleep at all last night?”
Maya stopped pushing her scrambled eggs around on her plate long enough to blink at Zara. “‘Course I did.”
Fletcher stared at Maya, trying to see whatever Zara saw that led her to believe Maya hadn’t slept. Maya’s eyes were as bright and alert at ever, and she didn’t look tired in the least bit.
Zara rolled her eyes. “Alright, smarty. How many hours did you sleep last night?”
Maya bit her lip. “Four.”
Fletcher piped in. “You have insomnia?”
Maya blinked slowly at him. “Huh?”
Now he could see what Zara did. Maya was a little too slow to answer, a little absentminded.
Cobalt sliding into the seat next to Jax saved Maya from answering. “Guys. I, uh, did a thing.”
Jax’s eyebrows shot up. Zara slowly set her fork down. Maya rested her chin in her hand and gave Cobalt a unamused look.
Zara pressed her lips together before opening her mouth. “So… what is the ‘thing’ you did?”
Cobalt’s smile grew wickedly. She reached into her backpack.
And pulled out a smooth pink orb, a little bigger than a softball.
”Arcnum Acadiams, meet Bubbles.”
Jax raised his hand. “Is Acadiams even a word?”
Cobalt’s smile grew somehow even wider. “It is now.”
Her hands smoothed across the orb, fingers finding a hidden button.
She pushed it.
Jax nearly fell out of his chair trying to get up, backing a full three feet away. All the kids at the neighboring tables turned their heads to stare at Cobalt.
”HI! I’M BUBBLES! I LIKE PINK, GLITTER, UNICORNS AND DOUGHNUTS!”
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Zara thought it would be a great idea for hers and Fletcher‘a team to do their independent potion work together, before all the groups split off for the weekend, spending it with their assigned Master.
Taiji, Zara, Maya, Fletcher, and Iris–the third kid in Zara’s team–sat around a table in the lab, an assortment of questionable ingredients lined up in a neat row down the length of the table. Glistening Mary gold flowers that occasionally muttered their own name from inside the jar, whisperweed that kept whispering Latin nonsense, sticky sneezeblooms that thankfully only sneezed when they were actually on the living plant, chestnuts (not the normal kind; these were actual little chests that opened when bribed with apple seeds), among other things Fletcher couldn’t identify through the frosted glass of the jars.
Silas was standing a little ways from the table, glaring at the ingredients like he could make them get up and skitter off with his ice cold gaze.
Zara clapped her hands, making Iris jump. “Ok, everyone! Mr. Aijun says that if we can brew a batch of Star Tar potion together, that he’ll consider both of our group’s potion projects complete.” Fletcher stared at the ingredients, but Taiji spoke before he could. “I’m not like a potion expert or anything, but what do any of these ingredients besides the whisperweed and black eyed Susans have to do with Star Tar?”
Zara smiled mischievously. “They don’t. I just needed it to seem like I was being productive down here.”
Iris leaned back in her seat. “We need like 13 different ingredients. Did you really have to pick this one, Zara?”
Zara shrugged. “It was between this and the potion that turns things to gold; what is it called?”
”Chrysopaktos.” Maya muttered. “Extremely hard to make, plus it takes like 10 sorcerers to complete.”
Taiji sighed. “Does everyone really have to pitch in to complete this potion?”
At least 3 people chimed in at once.
”You’re not going anywhere, Taiji.”
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Somewhere in the vents…
”Agent Bubblegum, do you read?”
“Huh? Oh, no I don’t. I find it rather boring. I prefer to be chasing dust bunnies, or throwing glitter, or–“
Sparky’s sigh crackled through the walkie talkie. “No, Bubbles. ‘Can you read’ means ‘can you hear me’.”
”OHHH! Ok. Yea, I read you. I mean, I read. Like I can hear you.”
Sparky sighed again. “Cobalt was much better at this.”
”I can give her the walkie talkie back! I know where she is. Like, exactly where she is. You know what, I’m gonna bring it to her right now!”
Bubbles zipped off–slamming into the side of the metal ductwork as she went along.”
”BY THE WAY SPARKY, YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ME!”
Sparky floated away from his walkie talkie in defeat. “I beg to differ Bubbles. I beg to differ.”
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“Why is the potion violently bubbling blue?”
Silas stared at the cauldron where the potion was happily–actually, violently–bubbling away.
BANG!
”Hii guys! Did I miss any of the fun?”
Cobalt blinked her blue teleporting dust out of her eye, gazing around the room. Everyone was gathered in a loose, chaotic circle around the cauldron.
Maya sniffed the air. “Taiji, when I told you to put false blue midnight root in, how much did you do?”
Taiji lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “I dunno.”
Silas sighed, moving to the far end of the room in a flash. Zara and Jax stared intently at the potion. Iris pushed her round glasses further up her freckled nose, her expression that of pure horror. Maya held her breath. Taiji smiled sheepishly. Cobalt…
Cobalt pulled out a camera.
“This is perfect SparkyVision footage! Taiji, move to the right a little. There, perfect. Just try to look… actually, how you all look right now is amazing.”
She swiveled around to get a shot of Silas standing in the far corner before refocusing on the group around the cauldron.
“Here’s to magical mishaps!”
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Somewhere in an old classroom Sparky definitely did not get permission to use…
”Uh, Bubbles? Can you hear me?”
The walkie talkie cracked to life on his desk.
”Yep! Glitter-clear!”
”Theres something… strange on the cameras.”
”Ooh! Strange like glitter in your socks strange or what?”
”No… like ten feet tall frog with red eyes strange.”
END PART FIVE
Part 6: https://www.chess.com/blog/AvaR1008/between-sun-and-shadow-part-vi
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