Chapter Ten

Well, this is getting increasingly awkward.

Amber shifted a little on the spot. Behind her was her room. The first to the right, and... that was about all she could say about it. The room had a window overlooking the academy, with some plain curtains before it, a bed with a decently soft mattress, two pillows, some pastel covers and sheets, an empty dresser, and nothing else.

She could count the items in the space on both hands without resorting to her toes. It was a nice room still. With a tall ceiling, and a little more walking space than her room back home. The stone exterior wall was nice, and the door seemed solid enough to ensure privacy.

So, after dropping her box-full of stuff next to her bed, she returned to the main living space, and waited.

Morgan was on the couch, one knee over the other, with a book on her lap. She never looked up.

C’mon Amber. You were never awkward before.

“So, uh, have you been here long?” Amber asked.

Morgan’s eyes carefully scrolled down until she finished her page, then she looked up to Amber. “Yes,” she said. She turned to the next page.

“Okay,” Amber said. “So, are you part of team Svalinn?”

Morgan took thirty-six seconds to answer. Amber felt every tick of that time passing. “I am,” she said.

“Oh, good,” Amber said “I’m kinda new here. It’ll be good to have someone with a bit more experience to help things along? Are you the team’s leader, if you have more experian--” Amber trailed off as she noticed Morgan’s knuckles going white around the edge of her book.

She flipped the page again and didn’t say anything.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to insult you,” Amber said.

“Insult me?” Morgan asked, her head rose and she locked eyes with Amber. Morgan’s eyes were a bright blue-green. A nice colour, but not something unusual.

Maybe the eye thing isn’t with every magical girl? They always had weird eyes in the magazines.

“I... don’t know?” Amber said. “Just thought I’d make friends, you know. Since we’re on the same team and all. But if you want me to just leave you alone, that’s alright.”

“What are you implying?” Morgan asked. Her book snapped shut.

“Nothing?” Amber said. She didn’t sound too certain. “I mean, just don’t want to bother you. If you’re busy, it’s fine. But if we’re going to be working together, it’d be nice to know each other a little, maybe?”

Morgan’s brows drew together and she stood up. “Fine. What do you want to know?”

Amber raised her hands. This girl’s a bit much. “Hey, it’s not like that, it’s fine, I can... I don’t know, just go, alright?”

“Ah, so now you don’t want anything to do with me?” Morgan asked. “So much for being a teammate, right?”

“What?” Amber asked. “Look, I really did just want to talk a bit, I don’t know why you’re getting in my face like this.”

“Your face?” Morgan asked. “I’m not... nevermind.” She clenched her fists, and seemed genuinely angry for a moment before her shoulders slumped and she stomped off towards her room.

Amber sighed. Damn, that was a mess. Amber rubbed between her eyes. She felt her... magic thing rumbling in her, and figured she’d need to go fling a rock into the past again. Another thing to worry about, on top of all the rest. Wish I could start that conversation over. Life will be a whole lot messier with hostile teammates.

Something in her clicked.

The roiling mass that was her magic, the thing she was only just getting used to, pressed against her. Amber pressed back, like keeping a sudden surge of heartburn down.

The door to Morgan’s room clunked shut, and the power, in that moment of distraction, slipped.

Amber gasped, as she felt magic leaving her in a torrent, then... nothing. Nothing happened. The room was the same, her internal clock...

Amber blinked.

Morgan was on the sofa, knee over knee, a book in hand.

What?

Her internal clock kept ticking, telling her the time with every second’s beat. The time as if it had been dialed back. I’m... two minutes ago?

She looked around, but everything seemed the same. Not that she had been paying that much attention.

“What the hell just happened?”

Morgan looked up from her book, without finishing her page, even. “Pardon?”

“I... uh, sorry,” Amber said. “Didn’t mean to interrupt your reading, it's just. My magic did a thing.”

One of the blonde’s eyebrows perked up. “Your magic did a thing,” she repeated.

“Yeah. I was here, and then, well, I’m still here.” Amber worked her jaw. “I’m not making sense, am I?”

“Your eyes have shifted,” Morgan said.

Amber stared at her for a moment, then reached up to her face, but obviously she couldn’t see her own eyes. “They did what?”

Morgan pulled a bookmark from the seat next to her and carefully marked her page before shutting her book. “When a magical uses magic that is directly tied to their... essence, theme, soul or whichever word you prefer, it sometimes expresses as a change in their eyes. The windows to the soul.”

“And my eyes changed?” Amber asked. “My vision seems normal.” She took a half-step back and looked out the window in her room. She could see some forests in the distance, better than she could have a day ago.

“You’re new, aren’t you?” Morgan asked. “And don’t worry, it won’t affect your vision, not unless that’s part of your magic. It’s mostly aesthetic. Some girls play into it. In either case, it fades fairly quickly. Yours are almost back to normal.”

“So my eyes changed. Okay. Alright,” Amber said.

Morgan leaned a little closer. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Amber said quickly. She took a breath. “I’m fine. It’s just, a lot has been going on and I’m not used to being this lost. Or, well, I am, but... I don’t like it?”

Morgan nodded slowly. “That’s normal, I suppose.”

“I’ve only been here for a little bit,” Amber said. “I.” She raised a hand, and then let it drop. “I don’t know, sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Morgan said. “Or, rather, you don’t have anything to apologize for. How long have you been a magical girl for?”

“Fifteen hours, twenty-eight minutes, eleven, twelve, thirteen... uh, you get it.”

Both of Morgan’s eyebrows rose this time. “That’s specific.”

“My power has this time thing,” Amber said.

“Should have figured on seeing your eyes.”

“Why?” she asked.

Morgan waved at her own eyes. “Clock shaped.”

“Seriously?”

“With moving hands and everything, from what I saw. It’s entirely gone now.” Morgan stood up and stretched. “You must be one of the first they sent over. Or was it something else?”

Amber shrugged her shoulders. I don’t know if I really went back in time, but at least this conversation’s better than the last. “I guess. I kind of ended up in a forest last night. The Seelie sent some girls to save me. Team, uh Glasir?”

“With Cecilia and the other ‘a’ girls?” Morgan asked.

“‘A’ girls?”

“Cecilia, Emilia, Jessica, and Olivia. Their names end the same way. It’s a nickname from last year,” Morgan said.

“Oh. You were here last year?” Amber asked.

Morgan’s stony face returned.

“Cool,” Amber said quickly. “Maybe you can help me, and the others. It’ll be nice to have someone experienced on the team. I feel like I could use that.”

Morgan glanced away for a moment, her fists tightening, and for a moment Amber was afraid she’d said something wrong again, but the woman smiled a little and nodded. “I’m sure I could help you here and there. It would be nice to have a reliable team.”

Amber sighed. “Oh, good.”

“Were you worried?” Morgan asked.

“A little? Still not used to talk to magical girls,” Amber twisted the truth a little. “Uh, so, classes start in a few days, right?”

Morgan set her book on the table. From the cover Amber knew it was non-fiction, but she couldn’t quite read it at the angle it was set. “In a few days, yes. The first classes are introductory, for the most part.”

“Great,” Amber said. “I think there’s meant to be an orientation later?”

Morgan hummed. “Tomorrow, or the day after. I don’t plan on attending.”

“That’s fair, I guess,” Amber said.

The girl leaned her head to the side, the bones in her back popping with the motion. “Did anyone show you around yet?”

Amber shook her head.

“Do you want me to? At least the cafeteria and the practice halls.”

Placing a hand over her stomach, Amber found herself surprisingly not full. “I could eat.”

“You’ll get used to the caloric changes,” Morgan said. “It gets better, but if you’re bleeding magic all the time then you might have a hard time with that, at least until your control improves.”

“Could you show me how?” Amber asked.

Morgan’s brows knit together for a moment. “No. But I can throw you around the training halls after. Maybe give you an edge with your first classes later.”

Amber pressed her hands down the front of her skirt and looked over to the dorm’s front door. “Sure. Plus we’d get to know each other a little better?”

“I suppose so,” Morgan said. “Let me get my purse.”

“The skirts have pockets,” Amber said.

Morgan chuckled. “They do. I think some girls maybe four or five years back threw a snit about it. One of the classes said that we couldn’t bring bags into class, but we still needed to carry some small things in. You know, our phones and stuff. That rule changed, and we get pockets in our skirts.”

Amber laughed, some of her tension leaving. “That’s great. Do they listen to the student body here?”

“The student body is made up of about a hundred and fifty boys and girls who can use magic. Some could casually turn entire towns into craters. The staff, apart from the Seelies in hats, are normal people. There’s also a bit of friction between the Academy staff and the military people camped outside. So for now, the students tend to get the upper hand.”

“That’s a little strange.”

“This isn’t Earth. This is Agartha, where might is a much bigger factor on who gets to do what they want.” Morgan dipped into her room and returned with a purse strung over her shoulder. A plain leather one, with a copper clasp over the front.

Amber opened the door into the corridor, and soon they were both heading down.

“Cafetaria first? Or do you want to spar on an empty stomach?”

“Spar?” Amber asked.

Morgan nodded. “I don’t want weak teammates.”

What is this place? “Alright,” Amber said. “I'm going to warn you, I’m very competitive.”

Morgan laughed. “Good. You’ll fit in. Don’t push yourself too hard at first, but the more time you spend sweating, the less tears you’ll spill later.”

Amber eyed the girl next to her. Morgan walked with her back straight, eyes looking far ahead of them and long blonde hair trailing out behind her. Pretty, Amber decided. But in that sort of very cold, serious way that made her unapproachable.

It felt like she was dancing atop a tightrope talking to Morgan.

I wonder what her story is. She’s been here for a while. Did she fail a year? Can you fail a year here? Is she older than I am?

Morgan had a couple of inches on Amber, but her stance made her look even taller. That didn’t mean she was older, necessarily. She also felt more mature, though that was something hard to pin with just an hour spent around the girl.

From the dorms, they headed alongside the walls of the academy and around an open field with a great big oval of beaten earth around it and two nets at the ends. “Does the academy have a team?” Amber asked.

“A team?”

“Soccer,” she clarified.

Morgan nodded. “I see. And no, not really. I’ve seen and played with some of the others last year. Mostly pick-up games. There’s basketball in one of the gyms, and a full gymnasium for gymnastics. And a gym with weights and treadmills too.”

“That sounds like a lot,” Amber said.

“This place’s budget, as far as I can tell, is just the word ‘yes.’”

“Is there a, ah, fees? For books and things?” Amber asked. She has considered college before. She should have been preparing for it, but even the community colleges were beyond her budget. She couldn’t imagine a place as nice as this being cheap.

“You pay with your service to humanity and the Seelie,” Morgan said. “That’s worth a whole lot more than some mere money.”

***