From the transcript of the interrogation of Florian Quinn by the Academy Prime: “She never mentioned anything to me about that, no, Sir.”

  Only Thad stressed about detention.

  Throughout the entire day he babbled nervously, asking the same questions again and again. By the end, Florian only answered out of a sense of friendship and only through gritted teeth. No, he didn’t know if detention went on a permanent record. No, he didn’t know if there even was a permanent record. No, he’d never mucked out stalls before and yes, they’d probably get dirty. Yes, it would be completely insane for the Academy Prime to get involved in a routine detention and yes, it would be even more insane for them to write to his parents. No, he didn’t know how long they’d be in detention and yes, it would probably cut into their studying time.

  Lane attempted, on multiple occasions, to silence Thad by changing the subject to literally anything else but found himself rebuffed by his balding friends anxiety over getting in trouble for the first time ever.

  They joked about smashing him on the back of the head with a flower pot, knocking him out until detention but both agreed getting expelled this early would be in poor taste.

  All of this meant that when the time came for them to report to the stables, Florian actually felt a sense of relief. The stables were a walk from the Death Dealers wing of the castle, and Thad insisted on them leaving early. Early. To detention. Thanks to Thad, they were there first, knocking on the door of the wooden barn and waiting for it to swing open.

  Manny Savona and his friend - Jay Camby - were next, Savona wearing the evidence of the fight with Lane on his face, purpled and swollen. At least he still had his teeth. Manny and Jay wore sweats, primarily gray slashed with colors of Storm blue, contrasting with the black and white athletic garb of the Death Dealers.

  Tension roiled the air when Savona’s eyes locked onto Lane’s causing Florian to tense, coiling, ready to break up a fight. Just in case. Savona took a step forward toward Lane who stood his ground and Thad took a step back, no doubt considering his fastest escape option should things get physical again.

  Lane stepped forward, back up, chin out.

  Florian took a deep breath and waited.

  Then, the unexpected. Savona stuck out his hand. Instead of making a fist, or attempting to sucker punch the stockier Lane, Savona went for a handshake. He looked sheepish as he did, brushing hair from his face with the other hand, his eyes leaving Lane’s.

  “Hey man, I just wanted to apologize. Wasn’t cool what I did. First day jitters and all that. Still, no excuses.”

  Lane clasped the other man’s hand firmly and they shook. “All in the past now.”

  Florian let out the air he didn’t realize he was still holding and the tension evaporated from the group. Even Thad stopped sweating.

  Savona took a step forward and extended his hand out to Thad next, apologizing to him as well, making a point to ask how his head was healing up. Thad accepted the apology, responding that the cut was healing quickly.

  Jay introduced himself to the group, shaking each of their hands in turn, playfully feigning to jostle Florian like he had during the fight before bursting into laughter. “So how are you guys liking the Academy so far?” Jay asked. “We tried to conjure a raincloud today but nobody could get anything going.”

  The Death Dealers hadn’t done anything like that in their first lessons, but their affinity focused less on conjuring and more on decay.

  “Yeah, nobody in our class could find any magic either,” Thad replied. “The theory lesson was pretty cool, though.”

  The guys knocked again on the barn door and again received no sign of life beyond the door. “Anyone got the time?” Florian asked.

  Savona fished into his sweater and pulled out a polished blue timepiece, opening the latch and doing the calculation. “Still have a couple minutes, I guess.”

  Good thing, too, because as it turned out, they weren’t the only people who’d earned detention.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Florian stood rooted to the spot, staring at the Grinnrock girl who’d appeared with her friend on the horizon, both wearing grey and red tinged sweatpants and loose matching sweaters. He forcibly smoothed his features, showing no outward reaction to her beauty. Even the way she walked seemed somehow graceful, like how a panther would walk knowing it had no equal. Everything about her captivated him, from the coloring of her hair, to the shape of her eyes with the black makeup underneath, to the way her attire hugged the curves of her prominent bosom. How could she look like that without even trying?

  He elbowed Lane. Hard. “Ouch, man, what the fuck do you want-,”

  “Shut up. Look,” Florian said, inclining his head.

  “Look at what?” he said, rubbing his arm where Florian elbowed him. After a startlingly long time, he noticed where Florian’s eyes pointed, to the fast approaching girls. The Grinnrock girl saw Florian and her face darkened.

  “Is that her?” Lane said in a voice that Florian hoped wouldn’t carry. “Nah, that’s her. I know it. Right?”

  “Yes, that’s her. Lower your voice,” Florian hissed.

  Manny turned to Jay who shrugged.

  “The one girl has been staring daggers at Florian every time they’re in the same room,” Thad explained. “Then the other apparently looked at Lane for a second longer then normal.”

  Jay frowned. “That’s it?”

  “That’s it,” Thad confirmed.

  “That’s the whole reason they both look like they swallowed a fistful of lemons?”

  Thad chuckled. “That’s the whole reason.”

  Neither Madeline nor Talia introduced themselves to the Dealers or the Sorcerers, instead huddling together a dozen paces away, pointedly avoiding eye contact.

  Florian turned to Lane and whispered again. “You want to go over there?”

  Before he received Lane’s answer, the wooden door creaked and groaned its way open, revealing the freckled old stableman. “I’m Earl,” he said, introducing himself in a nasally voice that sounded as though he needed to swallow ten minutes ago. Earl beckoned them inside, revealing a hand with only four fingers on his right and the digits he did have bent at an awkward angle. Florian led the way behind the shorter stableman, feeling eyes on his back as he walked and hearing the girls whisper though try as he might he couldn’t make out any words.

  As they walked to the middle of the barn, Florian scrunched his nose. From the smell, the stables sure needed a good mucking. Though Earl had clearly seen hard years, he kept the barns in good repute, everything in its place including the shovels, manure forks, buckets, hay bales and even the troughs were as clean as water troughs got.

  “There are close to sixty stalls in our stables. The lot of you are going to muck and reset every one,” Earl said. None of the seven students showed any outward reaction as none of Earl’s words came as a surprise. “You, you and you,” Earl pointed to Thad, Manny and Jay. “You will work together in the larger stalls. You and you,” now Earl pointed to Madeline and Florian, “will take the stalls on the left side of the barns, and you and you,” finally pointing to Lane and Talia, “will take the smaller stalls on the right. I’ll be around to supervise. You’re done when you finished to my standards and no sooner.”

  Madeline turned to Talia, bending slightly to say something in her ear. Earl noticed - droopy eyes not missing something so obvious - and held up his gnarled hand. “No switching partners. You, the angry one, look like you want to kill him which is good for working. This is a detention, not a carnival. The faster you finish, the faster I can make my tea and go to bed. Any questions?”

  Earl didn’t stop to see if there were any questions, shuffling out the entrance, ratty cloak swishing behind him.

  Thad sighed and offered a quick word of ‘see you later’ to his friends then followed Manny and Jay to the closest big stall only stopping to grab gloves, a shovel and a bucket.

  “I’m Lane Jones,” Florian’s remaining friend said to Talia, offering her a cheeky grin and subconsciously rubbing the scars on his neck.

  “My name is Talia. This is Madeline. Hi, Florian, good to see you again.”

  Huh? Florian wracked his brain, trying to remember this girl. From where did he know her? She said ‘good to see you again’, implying that they’d met. Talia, Talia…

  “Talia Vansaghe? Oh my god! How the hell are you?” It clicked for Florian, remembering childhood trouble-making at the Vansaghe Estate, sneaking extra pastries and running for their lives as the chef shouted at them. Birdo or Becko or Banjo was his name. Something like that. Florian gave her a hug, not a hug of affection but a hug of old friends seeing each other as though no time has passed. “You’re not a Sorceress? If memory serves both Mr. Vansaghe and Mrs. Vansaghe were graduates of the Storm affinity? Or am I wrong with that? It’s been a while…”

  “No, you’re not wrong. I’m sure Mom and Dad will have words once they get my letter,” she sighed. “I’m a Warrior but the more time that goes on, the happier I am here,” she said, smiling in a way that reminded him uncannily of Lane. “Madeline and I get to be roommates which is pretty cool. Why don’t you introduce yourself to Madeline?” Talia grabbed Madeline’s elbow and pushed her toward Florian. Then she took a step toward Lane, coming to a hard stop a yard away from him. “Lane Jones. Follow me.”

  After they left to grab their buckets, forks and shovels and begin their detention, the only two not working were Madeline and Florian.

  “I’m Florian Quinn,” he said, holding out his hand for her to shake, praying his voice didn’t betray the outright nerves he felt just speaking to this woman.

  “Madeline Le Torneau,” she replied, not showing any signs of any emotion besides calmness. And maybe anger. She did not shake his hand.

  He awkwardly returned his unshaken hand to his side, hoping Lane didn’t see that lest Florian be ribbed to death.

  Undeterred, he kept up a positive tone. “It’s nice to meet you. Ready?”