Letters of Red

Chapter 6: Hidden plays

Helena’s mouth twitched into a subtle half smile, looking me over with her thorough, thoughtful eyes, as if measuring me up. “So the old timer wasn’t lying after all. You do have an extra power.”

“Not that it does me much good,” I muttered before I realised I had. The tense air was clearing up a bit- it had been thick enough to cut with a knife a few minutes back.

Anthony was looking at me, with a hint of surprise in his expression. I doubt that it was sincere surprised; if he had overheard my conversation with my grandfather then surely he would’ve guessed what the blast was. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

I shrugged absentmindedly, going along with his naïve act. “Not a lot of people do. I only found out this afternoon.”

I looked around the room- it was unscathed, unlike the headmaster’s office. After contemplating on it for a moment, I decided that it was probably Mr Heave’s doing.  His powers were nullification of almost everything supernatural. He must have neutralised my energy burst.

“That’s an extra skill you’d like to have up your sleeve. The more tricks and secret weapons you have stashed up there the better. You don’t want to depend on it though,” instructed Mr Heave.

I looked down towards the floor, a bit ashamed. “I couldn’t even if I wanted to. I can’t control it, or use it on cue.”

“That doesn’t matter right now. All you need is someone to teach you how to use it,” Miss Calicos said in her usual clear voice. I could almost hear the smirk in her voice. “In fact, that person’s going to be me. The headmaster has expressed concerns on how far you’ve fallen behind compared to the other student council members. And while we’re at it, we can try and make you improve your other magic skills too.”

Mr Heave grinned. “And seeing how Anthony’s ahead in melee combat, he can help you with that!”

Ms Calicos glared at him. “Isn’t that your job?”

He shrugged and gave her a lazy smile. “I’m just really not bothered,” he drawled. He quirked an eye brow and sent a glance over to Anthony’s direction. “Besides, you don’t mind do you?”

And Anthony, being Anthony just said, “Not in particular.”

Ms Calicos just shook her head, as if giving up, and then walked out, Mr Heave following after her lead. I took that as dismissing, and walked out too, through the door we had gone through earlier.

Anthony ran up to me, and took me hand, smiling his usual smile. “I’ll walk you back to your dorm.”

I just nodded numbly. If I had thought I was sleepy and tired before, then I was probably on the verge of falling asleep on my feet now. I heard him say something. I looked up.

“Sorry, I didn’t catch that.”

He looked at me, and then said again, “I’ve joined the student council.”

I would’ve stopped in my tracks then and there, had he not been practically dragging me towards the dorm- he was a lot stronger than me, regrettably. He always was, and a small part of my mind tells me that he’s probably always going to be.

I could think of a dozen comments for that statement, but settled on the one that popped into my mind first. “Why?”

He wasn’t really smiling anymore- the moonlight light up his face well so I could see his expression. It’s odd to see him like that; not smiling enthusiastically, not stiff, not wearing a false expression.  But at the same time, it’s refreshing. Nice. It felt right.

“What you’re doing sounds interesting. I’m curious about those red letter things too,” he murmurs quietly, almost to himself and almost too quiet for me to hear him. But I do.