Jason just accomplished something called lightning. He leaped in delight and ran indoors in search of his friend. Ms Kate insisted Luke stay in the classroom to "meditate", to clear his thoughts when needed. Jason didn't understand how it was possible— nor did Luke.
"Just pretend!" Jason said to him, and Luke glanced to the side, then smiled slowly. Luke was always the one more reluctant to break the rules.
When he got in the classroom, it was not the sight he expected.
Luke's alarm and fear was written all over his face. He was tense, shrunk in the corner of the room, his hip stabbed by nearby cabinets. All Jason could hear was his wheezing breath.
"Yo! Luke?"
"S-stay back."
"What?"
"Did you hear it?"
"Hear what?"
"The wolves..." he breathed, his dark eyes darting around the room, unable to locate what he was searching for. "They were everywhere. They wanted me dead!"
"You're so not making sense..." Jason uttered a small, cautious laugh. He looked to the side, then to the other. There was nothing. "Come on, I'm so hungry!"
"I'm serious, I'm serious..." He breathed in gasps and Jason started to grow worried as Luke began to slide down to the floor. "They'll come back."
"I... I'll call Ms Kate."
"No! No don't!"
"But I don't know what to do!" Jason was already turning. "We have to get her!"
Jason's mind began drifting as he studied in the library, researching about an essay due in a few days. He wasn't sure why he was thinking about the past. But Eira was right, it was impossible to go back to old times.
***
"Exactly what are we doing?"
Jayden, Nick and Jason were huddled together on higher grounds, a cliff overlooking the dock below.
"We've been doing the same thing for the past three days," Nick stated factually.
"But this Angel-Angela-Ann-something person hasn't appeared."
"After so long, Jay..." Jason sighed, "you're still the same."
"Of course, otherwise you wouldn't like me so much."
Nick made a sound of amusement, and the boys went silent.
"I've been hearing things around school," Nick started, his eyes stuck on three points: dock, ocean, and the rocky stairs. "People say that since the school has valuable artifacts and things that stretch back into Lady Kallo's times, people have been smuggling them out."
"How does no one find out?"
"They're small things. The big one's weren't attempted," Nick shifted his shoulders, breathing as he relieved the tension in his limbs. "Maybe the upper has a hand in this. They might get a share in it too."
Jason rolled his eyes, "Is there any place where there isn't something dark and dirty?"
"Nope," Jayden helpfully inputted, tugging the mask higher on his nose bridge. "Usually something sacred always get tarnished by the later generations."
"Like us?"
"Potentially," Jayden stretched his neck. "I wouldn't leave myself out as a villain. Maybe one day I decide to retire as the hero for once."
"Christ," Jason shook his head exaggeratingly, feinting a headache. "Can't stand you."
"Yet here we are..."
Jason could imagine the smirk behind that mask, and he smirked with him.
"And you know it's true, Jason," Jayden sighed. "I feel the spirit of Lady Kallos long gone. Things have changed. Things always change over time and I usually like to believe that it goes downhill."
"Never took you as a pessimist," Nick cut in.
"I'm a realist- wait, is that her?"
They ducked their heads lower. Jason narrowed his eyes. This time, Angie— if it is Angie —wore a navy hoodie. Their hoodie was on and given the gloomy sky and the gloomy outfit Angie suddenly decided to put on, Jason became uncertain who it was.
"She's wearing her clothes differently."
"Uhhhh, I don't see her wearing her pants upside down."
Nick and Jason resisted their sigh.
Angie pulled her hands out of her pockets and waited for the boat. The boat came a few minutes later, but in the boat, there was only one person. Angie conversed with them quickly and quietly. Jason could see the urgency laced in their body language. Angie pushed a small pouch of things into the hands of the boat person and turned to leave.
"Whoa, whoa," Jayden hissed, his body already shifting into action. "Do we want her to leave?"
"Let her leave," Jason said and then shifted his pair of copper eyes to the person on the boat, his voice deepening, "but not that one."
A pause, several nods and gestures after, Jayden leapt off cliff-edge followed by the boys, gliding through the air current Jayden sent beneath their open arms. The boat had moved metres away from the dock, almost shrouded by the mist, but Jayden closed his arms in front of him and shot Jason and Nick forward, they landed onto the boat, one on each end.
The person on the boat observed the two, but they were unfazed as though prepared. Jayden came next, with his leg stretched out and aiming for a kick. The person on the boat crossed their arms and blocked the forced. With one swipe of their arm, Jayden was pushed back.
Jason caught Jayden by the arm and turned him, swinging him back for a second round. But the boatman kneeled, letting Jayden fly straight into Nick mid-action. The boat bounced from Jason's end, almost sending him flying. But Jason caught on to the boat seat and waited until the boat splashed back to the water's surface.
The boatman leaped from their place and Jason raised his arm to clash his elements with his until his vision came across something familiar.
Darkness. They sparkled like stars in the galaxy, or micro-organisms colouring dark ocean waves. Jason felt his throat tighten, he didn't want to face him, and he wasn't sure he was prepared to see his face, but Nick's long hands caught the back of the boatman's hood and with a rough rug, the hood was off and Luke's back was smashed against the bottom floor of the structure.
Jayden pinned him down by the neck and once Nick caught on, Luke couldn't move an inch of his limb. Luke's eyes darted back and forth as though in fear. Jason caught that expression before it vanished. Luke put up his walls, shielding his panic, his face revealing nothing.
"It's not our anniversary yet," Luke smirked, his eyes glinting in a fox-like shine.
Jason ignored him and picked up the pouch. Pulling the strings apart, Jason shook the contents first and then put his hand inside. Luke was quiet, he watched the whole thing play out. There was no struggle, no fighting, just a calmness that unnerved Jason.
The things in the bag included valuables that seemed to be from the university's artifact collection. Things that brought money. Then there was something else. Jason took it out, held it between two fingers and let its silver catch the light.
"A ring?" Jayden exclaimed. He glanced down and landed a hard kick at Luke's side. "What do you need a ring for?"
Not just any ring, Jason turned the ring around and noticed its markings. This one belonged to an air wielder, the elements had marked it with ancient languages and scripts. Jason didn't understand it completely.
When Luke didn't answer, Jason held the ring in front of Luke's face and said, "Why do you need this?"
He hesitated; eyes narrowed slightly. With effort, Luke tried to maintain his faltering smirk, "It was a careful selection."
"Stop speaking in riddles!"
Another kick and this time, Luke made sound. He shifted his body slightly to the side and breathed out carefully. "Time to go."
With a clench of his fists, his dark magic covered his palms and arm and lifted him up. Nick was thrown back, his matter force unable to hold him. Luke stood straight, his movements significantly slower but it was still quick enough for attacks and defence.
Jason's fire whipped over Luke's head, almost burning him. Jayden's air swept under him, shaking the boat and throwing Luke off balance. But Luke diverted his step and knocked Nick off the edge of the boat with a hard shove.
"Yo!" Jayden floated into the air, keeping an eye on his friend. "Jason! Punch him!"
Jason held out both arms to steady himself on the rocking boat, his eyes tracing the movements of the dark magic. They swirled like thorns, tangled in the air. Luke was breathing heavily, and without Nick, his footwork was lighter.
Jason struck first with an orange flame, trailing his fingers and burning through the dark sand. Luke caught Jason's free arm and planted a palm on Jason's old wound; the wound that he had healed. Jason let out a cry of pain and kneeled.
"Ah! Shoot!" He cursed, pulled Luke down with him and threw his own weight onto his chest.
Luke pushed Jason's face back but with a turn, Jason locked Luke into his vision and hooked his palm to his throat, tightening it like a rope.
"I can burn you to ashes."
Luke's face was contorted as Jason squeezed but both were quiet after that. Luke knew Jason wouldn't do it. Jason knew he wouldn't do it.
A splash meant Jayden went into the water in search of Nick. Nick didn't surface.
Nick didn't surface, Jason thought to himself, his face paling.
"I should bring you in," Jason clenched his jaw, "but this time, I won't."
Luke's eyes rounded slightly. Jason let go of his neck and took a step back. He glanced over the edge and took a leap, pivoting in the air with a roll. A fire conjured itself, sucking in the oxygen, powerful enough to create heat waves in the air. The fumes pushed the boat, and it began to move.
Straightening, Jason plunged himself into cold water.