Icy Inferno (Troyler AU)

⋙ Chapter Twenty-Three

Three masked figures were marching determinedly towards the exit. They were carrying a paralysed body between them. The only distinguishable feature of the body was the hair - brown ombre hair. Only one person had hair like that in our school. The familiar elvish features came into view as they passed the doorway. Dan gulped behind me.

They must’ve been carrying the wrong person - how could Zoe be seen as a threat? She was an Earth for goodness sake.

Close on their heels was Joe, face alight with fury. He was shouting and cursing as they moved forward, undeterred by his words. We ran out the room after him. Together we shouted after them. By the time we were in the car park, there was a small group of us, calling for them to stop.

Our shouts were met with silence. They headed towards a government van, and opened up the doors. No one could clearly see who else was inside, but you could hear sobbing. Joe tried to push past the masked figures, to get Zoe out.

Immediately the three officials created a blockade. “It is a criminal offence to interrupt a government operation,” the smallest said.

“Well it’s a crime to lock her up. She's innocent!”

Instead of arguing back, they pushed him towards us. Joe didn’t give up though. He charged at them again, with more force. Without hesitating they decided to push him to the ground. The impact of his body against the concrete made every student flinch. The smaller of the three kicked him the chest repeatedly, whilst the others got to work on bundling Zoe’s body into the van. Joe screamed out, begging them to stop. They didn’t. I wanted to intervene, but one of the masked men blocked us off. 

The kicks grew more brutal. The screams of pain died out, becoming chesty coughs instead. His eyes rolled back, the white parts becoming visible. Red liquid spread out across the concrete. 

"What's going on here?" A voice called from behind. I spun round to see Ms Singh was rushing forward, almost falling over in her high-heels.

The figure nearest me answered "He tried to get to the critical-graded elementals in the van. An example needs to be made of him."

"You will do no such thing here! Who gave you permission to hurt any student?"

"He's not just any student. He's an elemental. He deserves to be punished for breathing alone."

Everything grew still - even the wind halted. Ms Singh's expression became one of pure hatred. "If he's committed no crime you leave him be. This is my school, and I won't have you hurting my students. Do you understand? "

The smaller figure stopped kicking Joe. From underneath the mask you could see the person was grinning. "Yes, it's you're school but for how long?"

 *

Powergy periods were changed to Private Study in the library. Dan decided not to turn up, saying he was too ill. Alfie and I sat around a small round table, scarcely speaking.Without saying so, I knew we were both worried about Zoe, hoping she’d be alright. To distract myself, I was on a news website, reading up on the powergy ban. Alfie was struggling to understand CAST diagrams, and eventually went off to find “a maths bof”.

A few minutes after he left, my phone started to ring. Everyone was too focused in their own books to notice the ring. As casually as possible, I fished it out my pocket, answering it before looking at the caller ID.

“Hello?” I whispered.

A broken-up voice came through the speaker. “Hi.”

Even with the bad signal, I knew who it was.