Sam excitedly knocked on the door to The High Educator’s office for the second time in twenty-four hours. It was a privilege. The High Educator took twenty minutes to answer the door, and Sam was sweating when he finally did.

  “What?” The High Educator barked.

  Sam bowed his head.

  “Apologies sir.” He said meekly. “I was here yesterday morning. You said that you would give me a reward for my work on the Time Bloodline.”

  “What work?” The High Educator asked angrily.

  “T – The work I gave you yesterday sir.”

  “The only work on Time Bloodlines I remember was all done by me.”

  “But -”

  “No!” The High Educator roared. “I’ll hear no more of it! Now if you don’t drop this matter and return to your studies, you shall be expelled!”

  The High Educator slammed the door is Sam’s bright red face. His hand raised as he considered knocking again to see if he could talk the matter out, but he concluded that it was pointless.

  The High Educator had stolen his work, and there was nothing he could do about it.

  He fled the academy’s halls, his bottom lip quivering and tears building up in his eyes.

  Once this place had felt like home; now it felt like a prison.

  ***

  Mat awoke to the sound of voices in the living room – that’s what they called it, though it was much larger than his living room back home. Spring’s head was buried in his neck, her leg thrown around his waist. Mat played with her hair gently so as not to wake her.

  She stirred a little, her head popping up to look at him. A large smile was on her face as she brushed some of his hair away.

  “Good morning my love.” She yawned.

  Mat gave her a kiss of her soft lips. Spring rolled over on top of him, her chest on his. Mat made sure the blanket remained on her. Spring rested her nose on his.

  “Good morning beautiful.” Mat said. Spring giggled cutely.

  “Oh, are we doing a flattery competition my sweet handsome boy? You don’t want to try that,” She put her mouth to his ear, “because I promise you will lose it.”

  “Really?” Mat asked. “Well then -”

  He was cut off by the sound of an ear-splitting crash. Mat and Spring glanced at one another, Spring rolling off him to throw her clothes on. Mat rocketed out of bed, rapidly putting on a shirt and trousers. Picking up his blue coat, Mat and Spring burst out of the room. Spring had already summoned her Sword of Eternal Flame, lighting the doorway a bright, ominous green. Mat had a dagger in his hand. Both were searching the room for enemies. Mat’s Eyes of the Tiger couldn’t see any enemies, but he didn’t know if it had any limits.

  George and Sam were in the room, but no others were. Mat’s shoulders sagged in relief as he lowered his dagger. The green glow vanished as Spring dropped her sword.

  The crashing noise had been George punching the table. Sam was blubbering and sobbing. Mat and Spring ran over to comfort him.

  “What’s wrong?” Spring asked.

  “The Academy…” Sam blubbered. He let out a heart wrenching sob.

  George took over.

  “They stole his work.” He spat. “Threatened to expel him. Not even rewarding him.”

  Mat’s eyes went hard.

  “What are we going to do about it?” He asked.

  “I’ll go and give them a piece of my mind!” George roared.

  “No.” Mat said calmly. “That won’t do anything. What Rank are you?”

  “Gold.” George said, his eyebrows knitting together.

  “Exactly! Do you think The High Educator will listen to a Gold Ranker? Obviously not. Instead, we need to teach them a lesson ourselves.”

  “What do you mean?” Spring asked as Sam looked at him in confusion.

  “They have no respect for us. They have no respect for Sam. The only way to show that we aren’t just going to roll over and accept this… is to rob them.”

  The team had come round to it far sooner than Mat expected. George agreed within a second, no hesitation in his voice.

  “There’s no honour is robbing an innocent man’s work.” He said.

  Spring had also accepted the idea quickly, though she was sceptical about how they were going to do it.

  Sam was the least receptive.

  “What if they punish me further.” He asked in terror.

  “They won’t.” Mat said confidently. “I swear to you.”

  Sam wasn’t too happy about it but eventually agreed as well.

  “I guess we should get the work back.” He said reluctantly.

  “Great!” Mat exclaimed. “Now then, we’ve got a heist to plan.”

  ***

  Spring jumped to the top of a tall building, carrying Mat is her arms.

  “That was really attractive.” Mat commented as Spring landed graciously.

  “Oh I know.” Spring joked. “I only do that to get you ogling over me.”

  Mat grinned, turning his face to the academy. As he scanned the entire building, a bright golden light shone in his eyes. His eyes were focused and… calculating, Spring thought.

  ***

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  Mat, using his Eyes of the Tiger, analysed the entire Academy. The halls, the walls, the offices – all were encompassed in his gaze.

  He could see the guards and their patrol routes. Every twenty minutes the guards switched over. That would give him a brief moment to slip in; they would be distracted with the switch over so less vigilant. He could then give the others a chance to get in as well.

  If Mat and Spring could provide a distraction, Sam and George would be able to get into The High Educator’s office. It had security measures, but Mat was confident they could be disabled.

  While they did that, Mat and Spring would sneak into the Archives to collect the reward they were promised. Inside were several security measures, several of which would be difficult to plan for. Mat wondered if there were any he couldn’t sense. It doesn’t matter. I’m doing it either way.

  The plan was genius. It just had to be executed properly. Mat had to hold back a powerful laugh; scaring Spring wouldn’t be a good idea.

  Checking the Academy once more, Mat knew his calculation were correct. Now they had to plan the heist.

  Spring looked at Mat proudly. He had come so far in so short a time.

  And he looked good when he was focused.

  “Right.” Mat said, standing at the large glass window in the living room, staring at the Academy of Toh. “We need to get in there tonight. If we leave it too long, we’ll lose Sam’s work.”

  Sam fidgeted with his white robe.

  “I have a plan.” Mat said.

  In the reflection of the glass, Spring saw a smirk on his face.

  “Spring, you and I will break into the Archives to collect Sam’s reward. Sam, you and George will break into The High Educator’s office to collect your work.”

  Mat turned, indicating to the table behind them. On it was a map of the Academy of Toh, will circles and drawing in bright red.

  “These are all the traps and alarms that I could see.”

  The words reverberated through the room with some sort of authority. Spring wasn’t sure, but the others had also sensed it.

  “What the -”

  A loud crashing came from Mat and when Spring turned she found him on the floor. He had tripped over a chair somehow.

  Spring rolled her eyes adoringly and helped him up.

  “You need to be more careful my love.” She said. “What would I do if something happened to you.”

  Mat gave her an embarrassed smile as he took her hand. As he pointed to the points of particular interest and difficulty, Spring snuggled herself closer to him.

  Perhaps the others couldn’t see it, she knew her Mat was a genius. Yet he was also her special boy.

  ***

  Mat let out a mental sigh of relief as the team further discussed the upcoming heist. All of them seemed to have forgotten the strange authoritative words that had left his mouth. Pretending to fall over had distracted them enough to keep them away from thinking about it. Still, he would likely end up doing it again.

  As he tightened his grip on Spring, he realised how lucky he was. She was so precious to him. Just like Mary had been. His stomach dropped, and he forced the thought out of his mind.

  All he wanted to focus on was the heist, and his precious Spring.

  ***

  Humphrey wandered the streets angrily, wondering how he could get his hands on Spring. She was always in the tower or with her boyfriend. Not that he would be an issue. Humphrey could bury him with his eyes closed. But Eritandellion wouldn’t let him into the tower.

  “If you haven’t won her love, then you can’t enter my home.” He had said.

  Humphrey could have destroyed the city in his rage. But he didn’t.

  Gravel crunched under his feet as he prowled around. It was an irritating sound. A weaklings’ sound. Anybody who was anybody could fly. Either through wings, like him or his brother, or through special manipulation could propel themselves through the air. It looked much grander than teleporting.

  And his stupid brother had betrayed him. George had been spending all his time with Spring and her friend’s. He was trying to steal his prize from him. George had always hated him.

  As Humphrey was walking, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. On his left was a dark alleyway. A black hood poked out before vanishing back inside of the shadows. Curious, Humphrey stormed into the alley, pulling out his sword. He needed to get his anger out somehow.

  As he entered the shadows, he felt the world around him vanish. Hearing the sound of boots on hard concrete, Humphrey spun on his heels. A black cloaked figure was watching him. All Humphrey could make out were strange blue symbols on the person’s face. They were glowing, yet the figure’s face was still shrouded in darkness.

  “You are Humphrey Clarentsi.” It was not a question, though it was a man’s voice. The voice was deep and echoed inside Humphrey’s head.

  “Anybody who is anybody knows that!” Humphrey snapped. “Now let me see your face coward.”

  The man didn’t respond for a moment, and Humphrey began feeling shivers down his back.

  “You want power.” The man eventually said calmly. “You want Spring. We can give you both of those things. All you have to do is commit yourselves to us.”

  Humphrey felt something in his soul, something dark. Something powerful. His soul felt like it was in the midst of raging inferno.

  If he accepted this man’s gift, he could get anything he wanted. He would be unrivalled within the world.

  Without hesitation he allowed this gift into his soul. A deep belly laugh erupted from his lungs.

  ***

  “We stand here today to celebrate and remember the life of Matthew Johnson.”

  David fought like hell to keep the tears from streaming down his face. No matter how hard he tried though, the flood couldn’t be held at bay for long. It been weeks since Mat’s suicide – that’s what everybody believed it to be – but he still hadn’t come to terms with it.

  His brother, somebody who had been part of him his whole life, had been taken from him in a cruel instant. They couldn’t even find his body. David couldn’t say goodbye to his brother face to face. His soul felt like it had been ripped apart by razors. Half of him was missing.

  The graveyard surrounding them was a depressing site, and seeing Mat’s casket ready to be put in the ground hurt more than anybody could imagine.

  Evie squeezed his arm, tears sliding down her face. Both of them were equally responsible and they knew it. If they had been more persistent, if one of them had put their foot down and insisted Mat stay for the night he might still be here.

  “I can’t believe he’s gone.” Evie croaked.

  David closed his eyes, resisting the growing need to fall to the ground and cry.

  Their mother was stood over the casket, sobbing loudly. She had never paid enough attention to Mat, or to David or Evie, through her life. She had been too busy raising her other children to wonder if her older kids were doing alright. Now, one of them was dead. Some of his siblings would never even remember Mat. David would been seen as the oldest sibling. That shattered his heart further. Out of all of his siblings, none were equal to him. David really was the oldest child.

  David opened his eyes again, looking over the small group. Most of their family had come out, as well as several of David and Evie’s friends to support them. They were keeping their distance at the moment, allowing the two of them to mourn in peace. All of them had already given their condolences and asked if they could do anything to help. None of them could bring Mat back though.

  There was oddity however. Standing close to the casket, although far enough away to be respectful, was an older man in a dark blue robe. He looked out of place, and David wondered if he was a friend of his dad’s, when he heard Evie speak, taking his thoughts off of the old bearded man.

  “What the hell are you doing here!?” Evie roared furiously. David turned his head to see the two perpetrators of this whole funeral. The two who had led Mat into killing himself.

  Mary and Tom.

  They turned at the sound of Evie’s screaming, Tom looking unconcerned and Mary distressed.

  David felt his blood boil and walked angrily toward them. Evie was right at his side. When they reached the two perpetrators, David punched Tom in the face.

  “You were supposed to be his friend!” David shrieked. He turned to look at Mary. “And you were meant to love him more than anyone. But you two led him to this.” David accused.

  “We should kill you to make up for it.” Evie snarled. “He was worth so much more than you two combined.”

  Tom looked outraged, wiping blood away from his nose.

  “How can you blame us?” He asked. “He chose his path. I didn’t kill him did I.”

  David couldn’t even find any words to respond to that. Evie didn’t need to. She kicked him in the balls. Tom fell to the ground, moaning in pain.

  Mary was staring at the ground.

  “I’m sorry.” She mustered.

  “You’re sorry?” Evie asked incredulously.

  “Will that bring my brother back?” David asked coldly.

  Mary gave him a despairing look.

  “I never meant for this to happen. It was never meant to get like this. I loved him I really did but -”

  “Stop.” David said, a quiet rage in his voice. His lips trembled. “Just stop. This is your fault. Both of you. Now get out of here.”

  Mary was on the verge of tears but slightly nodded her head, helping Tom up and dragging him away.

  David fell to his knees, tears pouring down his face. Evie kneeled down next to him, crying just as hard. David felt saw a pair of boots appear in front of him and when he looked up it was the old man.

  He gave them a sad smile.

  “I’m sorry for your loss.” He said gently. “Mat was a lovely boy. If it is any conciliation, he’s now in a happier place, and he wants you to know he is okay. He is where he is meant to be.”

  David knew the man was just attempting to be comforting, but David didn’t believe in any of that religious stuff. Still, it was a nice thought.

  The man gave them one more smile before walking away. David didn’t see him again. Not even a footprint in the mud.