He was quiet for a long moment. “No,” he said, finally. “I never think about them at all.”

Windows and Doors

One day per month the first-year students met as a group and visited various instructors for their Magical Warrior Training. It enabled them to perfect new spells based on the instructor’s specialty, thereby rounding out their arsenals.

In Ms. Morning’s class they had learned singing charms that could lull their targets to sleep or make them weep and collapse in misery. They had also learned slash singing, which would cause an enemy to tear himself to shreds. They each whittled a small pipe instrument that, when played, would cause the enemy to go insane. Meghan had a variety of other instruments she kept in her arsenal as well, but most of them were too difficult for those less musical to learn properly.

Mr. Appleblossom had spent his day teaching slam poetry and stunning soliloquies to the students. Both required an ability to think on one’s feet, for the words uttered had to fit the situation. For example, if there was an attacker in a vehicle, one could aim an explosive slam at the tires to make them blow up, and then follow up with a singeing slam to the driver, setting his hair on fire. Lani was especially good at slams. And Samheed excelled in soliloquies—not just stunning kinds, but opposite soliloquies as well, which would make the enemy do the opposite of what he’d intended to do. Samheed planned to use that one a lot, should they go to battle. He felt that if he could get several opposite soliloquies going at once, he could make his foes turn their weapons on themselves.

Today’s lesson was with Ms. Octavia, and Alex arrived in her classroom feeling chipper, despite having dreamed about Aaron yet again during the night. But he tried to push it aside and focus on the class, for Ms. Octavia was going to let Alex introduce a new spell he had created. She said he could teach everyone how to cast it. After all he’d done to catch up to the others, Alex was proud to have this chance to prove that he had succeeded.

When all the students had arrived, Ms. Octavia called Alex to the front of the room.

“Alex, tell us about your spell,” she said.

From the pocket of his component vest Alex pulled out two tiny balls of clay. He rolled them between his fingers to warm them up as he sauntered to the front of the class. “The new spell I created is called trapping clay. You aim it at the arms, legs, or neck you wish to trap, and it hardens immediately upon impact, trapping the target in place.” Alex hid a wicked grin and called Lani up to be the victim.

Lani flashed him a suspicious look, but slowly made her way to the front.

“A larger ball of trapping clay can encase an entire person. Like this,” he said. He picked up a larger ball, wound his arm back, and said, “Full body cast!” He flung the clay at Lani.

“No!” she squeaked, but it was too late. The clay found its mark and spread to cover her entire body, sticking her to the bulletin board. “Alex!” came a muffled cry from inside, followed by a reluctant, hollow chuckle. “I guess I deserved that.”

The students laughed. Alex smiled. Revenge, at last. After a moment, though, he tapped on the hard shell cast and released the spell. Lani took a deep breath of fresh air and punched Alex playfully in the arm. “You got me,” she said. “Clever.”

Alex blushed. “You took that awfully well.”

“That’s my way of making you feel bad.”

“It’s working,” Alex admitted. “Okay, everybody,” he said to the class. “Give it a try, if you can find a willing partner. You can call out ‘shackles’ if you just want to chain somebody’s arms and legs, or,” he said, and his eyes lit up, “‘dog collar’ is a fun one too.”

They spent the morning trying out the trapping clay, and after lunch Ms. Octavia gave them a painting lesson to calm them all down. Each student sat with his own easel and practiced defensive painting, which would allow them to quickly paint themselves out of any precarious situation.

Alex was already a professional at defensive painting, so he went to the corner of the room where he kept his easel. He picked up where he’d left off the previous day.

“May I join you back in your little corner, Alex?” Lani asked.

Alex looked at her suspiciously. “Is this a trick?”

“No. Don’t be a jerk.”

Alex tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. “You have a suspicious history, Ms. Haluki.”

Lani rolled her eyes. “In case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t done anything to you in positively months. I’m done. Okay? Get over it.”

“Hmm. I guess that’s true.” Alex was quiet. He turned back to his artwork and began daubing thoughtfully with his brush.

“What are you painting?”

“A window,” he said. He shrugged in the direction of the nearest open window. “That one, there.”

“Why?”

“I’m practicing my 3-D art. If I do this right, by the time I’m finished, I should be able to tear this sheet off, stick it to the wall, and put my arm straight through it to the outside.”

“Cool,” Lani said. “Is it hard to do?”

“Very,” muttered Alex. “I haven’t been able to do it yet.”

“Why do you want to make a 3-D window, anyway?”

“I don’t. Windows are just easier than doors. Ms. Octavia told me to start with this. I’ve been trying for weeks, and it’s getting really boring. But I think this one might work. You really need to shade and layer and get all the colors and textures right.”