Page 7

Malia

"Hurry! We are going to be late.

Again!" I urge Wystan as we run down the corridor.

Our training started about two minutes ago, and Kaz warned us that we would get a punishment if we were late one more time.

My best friend and I have been in the same class for about a year now, and I’ve long since lost count of how many times we’ve been late.

Sadly, our plans to get Dustin in trouble as a team were shattered when Kaz became our trainer, but other than that, I love my current group.

It’s why I asked Kaz to let me stay put despite his insisting my skills would benefit greatly from a move into a more advanced group.

I’m moving through the ranks at an unusual pace, and it’s not just during training.

My teachers keep telling me I am an exceptional student, not just in my elements training but also the mundane subjects.

Apparently, no one knows about a student that has learned to manipulate their element as fast as me, which gains me a ton of unwanted attention. Unwanted in the sense that it doesn’t feel deserved since I don’t work harder than other students here. All things related to my element just come naturally to me. I don’t know how; it’s like my body goes through motions before my mind even processed the new information or instructions.

Either way, moving to a more advanced group is the last thing I want to do.

I’m comfortable with my friends here.

Plus, changing my training group would bring me one step closer to Keahi’s group. The classes are not divided by elements, so if I keep climbing the ranks, I will be in his class at one point.

While we haven’t had any major incidents since our first encounter, that is only the case because we’re avoiding each other like the pest.

If we were forced to face each other one on one during a duel, I can only imagine the cataclysmic turn things would take.

In the few classes that we share, he’s more than willing to display his disklike of me in a show of unwavering glares and hushed scoffs only I can hear whenever I speak.

In return, I stopped trying to hide my scorn towards him a long time ago.

I’ve been told he used to be the star pupil before my arrival, so I guess he can’t deal with the competition.

I simply despise people that act like they own everyone around them, and Keahi is still the bully he was three years ago.

Hence, we don’t get along.

"How wonderful of you two to bless us with your presence after all," Kaz remarks once we storm into training room 13.

"We’re very sorry," I pant.

"Be that as it may, I was just telling your fellow trainees the plan for today’s lesson.

Duels, one on one.

You know the drill, so get going." He claps his beefy hands, prompting us all to get into position. We started dueling a few months ago. Our elements are in bowls on the side of our mat, and we have to manipulate it either to attack or shield.

Wystan and I get on a mat together, as always, and move into our starting positions.

Our feet are planted firmly and our arms ready in front of us.

Without any hesitation, Wystan is the first to attack. They make a ball out of mud and send it flying toward me, forcing me to duck.

"Use your powers, Malia," Kaz chastises me, his typical no-nonsense tone locked in place.

Whereas he comes across as caring and kind throughout the day, he is very strict in training.

I nod at him, which gives my opponent time to form two smaller balls.

I pull up a wall of water just in time for the mud to hit it instead of me and let it dissolve there.

Before Wystan can prepare another hit, I turn my wall into a beam of water and hit them in the face with it.

They fall to the ground, and I get a point.

We haven’t learned any truly advanced moves yet, but an older student has promised to give me some private lessons to work on those.

Despite what I tell Kaz, I’m interested in expanding my knowledge of my powers.

I’m just more comfortable doing it privately.

We train for two hours, and I am completely beat by the end of it.

All I want to do is pass out and take a long nap, but my first private session with the older girl of my division is in an hour, so instead, I take a quick shower before getting ready again.

"Hey, you good to go?" Fifteen-year-old Amaya is standing in front of my door, looking as energetic as I wish I were feeling.

Meanwhile, I’m groggy and sore.

Still, I confirm, and we walk to training room 22.

The rooms above twenty are smaller than the others and meant for people to train alone or with a partner outside of classes.

They are open for students to use all day until curfew.

Cutting straight to the point, Amaya fills a bucket with water and shows me the first move.

It is a kind of water whip that’s strong enough to grab something or someone.

She demonstrates it by slinging a thin beam around my wrist and pulling me toward her.

I stumble, forced to brace my hands on her upper arms to steady myself.

That leaves my face inches from her breast bone considering she’s taller than me, and when I look up, I smile sheepishly.

It was really easy for her to yank me closer. When she grins down at me, I become painfully aware of our close proximity and the fact that my hands are still on her skin. Heat rushes to my cheeks, and I take a hasty step back.

"That is awesome!" I exclaim, hoping to distract her from my the color no-doubt staining my cheeks.

To make water feel so solid is something I have never tried before and I’m sure it takes a lot of practice.

I focus on that and remind myself that I’m here to learn something, not gape at my tutor’s dimples.

Amaya gives me instructions and tips, but I don’t manage to create a whip like hers by the time we call it a day.

I also don’t manage on the second day, but I’m able to pull her closer, like she has done to me, on the third.

She shows me more of her moves over the span of a few weeks.

Meanwhile, I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t able to win a duel in training.

Since I mostly like to block and let my opponents wear themselves out, Amaya has shown me effective defensive methods as well, allowing me to perfect that approach.

"Malia, can I talk to you for a second?" Kaz asks me at the end of another successful training lesson.

"Sure thing.” Addressing Wystan, I tell them, “You can go ahead." They’ll probably wait just outside the door, listening in on my conversation with our coach.

They’re noisy like that.

"Malia, you’ve made a lot of progress these past few weeks.

I know you’ve been taking private lessons with one of the older students and am happy you are eager to learn.

That is precisely why I placed you in a new group to train with, effective immediately. Your first lesson is tomorrow at four pm."

Tomorrow? While I figured this talk would come soon, I expected to be at least given a heads up and a bit of time to get used to the idea of a new group.

I guess I should have known Kaz would rather try to keep me on my toes.

"Okay.

Thank you." I smile weakly and dash out of the room as soon as I’m dismissed.

"So, what happened?" Wystan asks as soon as the heavy door clicks shut behind me.

I can’t tell if they truly didn’t eavesdrop or whether they’re faking ignorance, but I just go along.

"I’m training with a new group from tomorrow on." I speak the words with a certain detachedness, not sure how to feel.

I want to learn more and have been preparing myself to change classes, but I’m also disappointed to leave my friends behind so soon.

It doesn’t seem right or fair on my part. They’ve been training for much longer, and while neither Wystan nor Dustin have ever shown any signs of envy towards my inclination to learn quickly, I feel guilty for one-upping them.

"Yeah, I figured.

Are you happy about it?" they question, not quite able to hide their disappointment, and eye me warily.

"Sure.

I’ve been working for it after all." I try to chuckle, but it feels unnatural.

What if I can’t keep up? Not that it matters. If I can’t keep up straight away, then I’ll learn quickly. I am comfortable in this group, though. Still, I will learn more with people that are stronger. That is what I want. I am just comfortable here because it is easy. What if Keahi is in that class? He won’t be. He could hurt me if he was. Even if we are in the same group, Kaz will be around.

I keep reassuring myself of that if nothing else.

My brain is working on high tours, and I don’t even note getting into the small shower stall of our adjacent bathroom.

I snap out of it when the ice-cold water hits my face.

It is Friday, which means there’s only one day left before our day off. I don’t even get to join the new group at the beginning of a new week. Do they know I’m coming?

We have school in the mornings and training in the afternoons Monday through Friday.

Everyone above the age of twelve learns about first aid on Saturday before lunch and has training in the afternoon, and Sunday is our day off.

It would be much more satisfying to start a new chapter here at the academy at the beginning of a week. Not that it matters. Days here can blur into one another to the point where I’m not sure what season it is most of the time. Sure, there’s a big calendar hung up in the cafeteria equipped with the date and a new picture of the outside for each season, but I barely take not of it nowadays.

Our routine here barely varies, and with the steady stream of new information at school as well as the physically grueling work at training, I’m mostly too tired to focus on anything else.

That night, I fall asleep early, not even waking up when Baia comes back.

Instead, a deep slumber drags me under and keeps me captive.

"Malia," an uncanny voice calls out to me in my sleep.

It’s the same dream I’ve been having for the past year.

Everything around me is black, and there are these distorted voices saying my name. Either a woman’s or a man’s voice. They both seem familiar in a way, and yet I don’t know to whom they belong.

The dream lasts about one or two minutes.

It feels like someone is trying to reach me or talk to me, but I don’t know how to respond so eventually, the dream ends.

At first, I didn’t think much of it, but the more the dream reappears, the more this weird feeling overcomes me. I’d like to confide in Wystan and get their opinion on it, but whenever I open my mouth to reveal what’s been occurring, something stops me. I don’t want to sound crazy, after all, and it’s probably nothing.