Nothing is more annoying than going to clean your hands after you finish a job only to discover a piece tucked under the rag. Well, that wasn’t quite true. I could take the time to open the thing up, only to find that said piece no longer fits.

  In all honesty, after rebuilding the mana engine for the third time, I gave up trying to get the small rod to fit. The thing was almost as stubborn as a gremlin horde chasing after their prey. It didn’t matter if said prey flew, skipped, ran, or even dug away; they would roll after it with reckless abandon.

  Speaking of rolling. The shaft spun cleanly as I slowly eased the motor up to full speed. The thing sounded… pleased. Like it was purring. A much better sound than the grinding noise it made yesterday. Something that was bound to make Mr. Haskins happy. Not only did I beat my dad’s estimated repair time by three days, but this would make Mr. Haskins’ transportation jobs that much easier.

  I just had to hope the change didn’t affect the motor's torque. He and his customers would not be happy if the thing broke down going up one of the steep roads with their merchandise. But a part in the back of my mind insisted that it would be fine.

  “Eli.” The whisper of my name, along with the soft burst of air against my ear, nearly caused my head to hit the ceiling. Not that it was all that far up, but still. Even before I spun around to confront the menace, his laugh echoed off the walls.

  “Bert!”

  Even doubled over laughing, Bert was nearly as tall as my moderate five foot ten inches. And, while I had a decent amount of muscles thanks to my work, even combined, they fell short of even one of his limbs. It probably helped that his power was based on his physical strength. Actually, it probably helped that he had a power at all.

  “Yeah?” The idiot didn’t even attempt to contain his laughter at my near concussion.

  I rolled my eyes as I pointedly looked at his overly long bangs. Those things were long enough that I could see them actively attacking his eyes every time he blinked. “You should really get those cut.” Before he could argue, I barreled on. “Nothing a girl says – let alone your mother – hell, especially your mother – is worth risking your life.” His wince told me the words hit home. “Also, shouldn’t you be getting ready for your test?”

  He waved my concern away. “You and I both know that, no matter my score, the academy will accept me.” I mean, he wasn’t wrong. There would always be a demand for someone with a power like his. Both inside the walls and not. Bert’s tone flattened as he dropped into a more serious tone. “The question is, are you ready for the test?”

  I couldn’t help the scoff that burst from my lips as I started to put all my tools away. While the test was mandatory, people with mana – like me – got special treatment. Better equipment, a nicer reception, and faster processing. Overall, they got a more personalized set of options tailored to them by various corporations, the academy, and even the government itself. People with mana got it all.

  Or at least, that was until they realized I didn’t have any sort of ability. No power meant no potential. No academy was going to waste money or resources on a talentless nobody. I could get perfect scores on everything, and they would still find a reason to deny me admission. I mean, sure, I could recharge their equipment, but to them, that was the extent of my usefulness. Especially in a world where any power meant that you could help defend the last vestiges of humanity in some way.

  To them, people either had powers or didn’t. And those who had a power had access to mana. So, when a person like me came around, it threw a wrench into their perfectly made hierarchy of the world.

  Not that I cared. For me, access to mana just made it cheaper to do what we did here. After all, why pay the exorbitant rate for mana cells when you could just charge the cells yourself? That is, if I wasn’t providing the mana directly.

  I think the worst part was the fact that having access to mana without a power wasn’t all that uncommon. At least, not out here at the edge of civilization. From what I could tell, the power just helped a person learn how to access it. What to feel for.

  But tell that to the government. If I so much as walked into a building, hit a checkpoint, hell, touch a public terminal – the idiots demanded to know if I had manifested anything yet.

  And it wasn’t just me. A fact I knew thanks to my parents and the multitude of odd jobs they took to keep the family in the black. All of which came into the shop’s email, along with a steady stream of ‘status check’ requests that came in from the government. It wasn’t like I was hiding a power. Fuck, if I had a power, I would be using the damned thing to help on any jobs I could.

  Which brings us to the test. While any adult could take it at any time, it was required for those coming out of high school. A requirement that dated back to the first city charter. While I didn’t look forward to the test itself, I was looking forward to the results as they would force everyone to acknowledge that I didn’t have a fucking power.

  And if in the off chance that I did have one – well, fuck me. After all, it wasn’t like the tests would tell me what power I had. The most I would get was a hint as to what direction it lay. If I was really lucky, it might not even give me a hint as to what grade it was.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  All of which depended on how much the local government office was willing to spend on the equipment for our school to use this year. I doubted they would bother with more than the basics. After all, even if they had the money, why waste it when three-quarters of the people in this section of the city had no chance of becoming a hero?

  It didn’t take long for him to realize I wasn’t going to answer his stupid question. “Hey, don’t worry. Even if you are unable to get into the hero program, there are other options.”

  “Like the military path?” The very idea of me in such a program was absurd. “We both know I would be kicked out within the first week.”

  “Only if you go in as a ground soldier. With your knack for magitech, you could go into engineering or something.”

  “I would have to get through at least a year of basic training to even be eligible to apply for the transfer.” This wasn’t the first time we had had this argument, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. Why couldn’t he get it through his head that I was happy working here? Sure, the shop was more like a hole in the wall than anything, but it was ours.

  “You and I both know that you would be able to tough it out for that long.” With a soft underhanded toss, one of my breaker bars slid through the air toward me. “How many times were you nearly kicked out of school again?”

  I grunted as I stopped the bar from hitting my chest. “None, at least not according to my record.” I would know, I had made sure to scrub that thing clean before graduation. I smirked at the memory of the principal’s face when he realized my record was spotless. After the fourth time, you would think they would have at least changed the passwords.

  They had to know what I was doing. Sure, they could never prove it. Not unless they caught me at a terminal with the system up. So it was their word against mine. While they could have taken that to court and won, why would they? It did nothing for them and would cost them more than they were willing to spend on a kid living near the outer wall.

  “And what about Kelly O’Neill? Don’t you want to go to the same school as her?” The guy always knew what buttons he could press. Lucky for me, the computer console chose that time to let out a shrill whistle. One so loud that Bert was forced to clap his hands over his ears.

  I just waited for it to finish before pulling out the little devices stuck inside my ears. Music, hearing protection, and basic console access all in one. Sure, the little magical devices were years out of date and second-hand, but they were well worth the hefty chunk of change I paid for them.

  “Time to leave for the academy test. Location: Lionsguard High School. Travel time: –” With a wave of my hand at the little camera, I cut off the computer-generated voice. Without a word, I grabbed my jacket on my way toward the door. I managed to get it on just as the autumn breeze raced around Bert as he held the door for me.

  It wasn’t him being nice or anything. Well, actually, that wasn’t true. The guy was nice to those he approved of. In this case, it was because he never seemed to have an issue with getting the door to shut tight on the first try. Without him, I would probably be stuck here for a good thirty minutes doing battle with the door frame as I tried to get the thing to stay shut for more than a moment.

  “How about this?” Even though the streets were a bit crowded, the wind carried his words to my ears. “If you give the test your all, and I mean everything. No half-assing any part of it. And you still fail to get in, I’ll stop pestering you about the academy. Maybe even send some of my loot your way, below market value. Once I can go hunting, that is.” He mostly had me with his first part, but the second part had me nearly salivating.

  I scoffed. “You and I both know that a person with mana but no power is little better than one without both. Even if I pass the tests, no one, not even the military, will take a chance on someone like me suddenly developing a power. They would rather spend those resources on someone with a power. Preferably a power that has potential. Something like yours.”

  All in the name of killing as many of the monsters out there as possible. To get revenge on those things. To pay them back for every person they took from us. People like Bert’s mother.

  I took a second to look into the distance as I continued. My eyes landed on the massive wall of metal and stone that surrounded the city. A wall that every city used to hold back the hordes. “Humanity needs more people like you and my parents than people like me. People with the ability to go into the wilderness. To find resources and to reclaim land. Even if I went into the military, I would just get tossed in with the rest of the mundane humans. And then I would be destined for the meat-grinder.”

  The bitter reminder of reality caused the air to sour. After a bit, he spoke. “At least promise me that you will give it your all?”

  “Even knowing my position, you would trust me to simply do it because I promised?”

  He shrugged. “You have never gone back on your word. And I doubt this will be the thing that breaks your streak.” His words hung between us, daring me to refute him. The problem was, I couldn’t. We both knew that if I gave my word, I would do anything short of dying to follow through.

  The more I thought about it, the more I realized there was no reason not to try. It wasn’t like my trying would change the outcome. At least this way, one of us would be happy. For me, it would be just another example of how biased the system was. Working as it was designed.

  “Fine.” My answer caused the edge of his mouth to twitch upward. “But it won't help.”

  “We’ll see.” The words were cryptic. Like he knew something I didn’t. The silence between us continued until we reached the high school. We were early, yet the place was already packed. So much so that they had already started to let people start testing.

  Not that I was all that surprised about the number of people. Even those who turned down the military during their first test might return after finding that they couldn’t make it in the city. At least in the military, they would be guaranteed food and housing. Something that wasn’t always easy to get on your own. Not in this economy

  Of course, then there was the test for the academy. Where the best and brightest went. God, I cannot believe I just thought that without breaking down in a fit of laughter. The academies claimed to be for the smartest and best, but everyone knew that they only took those with power and promise. Even with the required high school diploma and a power, you were not guaranteed a spot in any of the academies.

  There were even a few stories of a person with a powerful or rare ability getting the world tossed at their feet. Of course, most of those people were said to be rich or well-connected. A very different world than I came from. None of those people ever had to watch a few of their friends drop out so they could get a job to support their family.