I moved as quickly as I could while making sure no one could see me. This sneakiness had less to do with trying to hide from any boys from a certain group, but more to do with not wanting people to follow me to a different grove of trees that Helnion and I had made our secret base.

Seeing the boys and their secret meeting place had made me want one of my own and, thanks to the many groves that grew randomly around the countryside, it had not been hard to find one that satisfied me.

Helnion and I walked the two kilometer distance that our grove was away from the school. I had chosen one this far out because it was much less likely for the random person to wander into it and make it easier to spot anyone that would try to follow us. The only downside, at least at first, was that Helnion had been pretty out of shape and would have to rest periodically. Thankfully, she was now used to it.

I set the cylinder down next to a fallen tree and sat down. I then watched Helnion as she brushed the leaves and dirt off of an oiled cloth and then uncovered a hole that held one of our secret stashes. This one, in particular, containing a coarse linen blanket and a softer cotton blanket.

Helnion pulled her blankets out of the hole, brushed them off and then levitated them into one tree. She then climbed up and unrolled the two blankets. The linen one going on the branch, and the cotton one on top of her. It was what she usually did when we got here, at least until I started doing something, but as much as she seemed to sleep, she seldom did here as she would watch and listen to all that went on around her. The few times she had fallen asleep she had nearly fallen out of the tree.

What amused me the most about this aspect of Helnion was that, despite her love of nature, she was very particular about keeping insects off of herself, hence the two blankets. She never seemed worried about the other, more dangerous animals and had chased after foxes and even a snake.

I stood up and joined Helnion in the tree. Unlike her, I didn't like sleeping on the ground because I was worried about the foxes and snakes. I was sure the animals around here would have a chance of having rabies and I didn't want to find out if any of the snakes were poisonous.

The next few hours passed quietly, and it was just before dark. Unless I wanted to resort to a light crystal or make Helnion make a magical light, I needed to get ready for tonight's show.

I jumped out of the tree and headed for the hole that contained the things I would need to make my toy work.

Inside, I pulled out two bags. I opened the first one and pulled out a large cabbage that had rotted and placed it inside the cylinder.

Helnion jumped out of the tree and squatted next to me, "You sure I cannot shoot it?”

Helnion was the only person aside from me who had seen the cabbage cannon in practice. I had even let her shoot it once or twice. I couldn't have gotten it to work without her magical abilities. Under the right timing I could charge it up faster than she could, but she was more reliable.

I opened up the second bag and pulled out one of the wax rings I had made. Since I hadn't been able to find anything like rubber I had had to make a wax seal to prevent the compressed air I would use to propel the cabbage out of the cannon. It wasn't perfect and only lasted a few minutes before failing, but it was the best I had come up with so far. It also made a mess since it ejected the wax along with the cabbage.

The metal cap itself had a metal ring welded onto it, thanks to Helnion, that was slightly larger than the circumference of the cannon and helped hold the wax in place. I inspected the cap quickly and pressed the wax onto the metal ring before loading the cabbage into the cannon and latching the cap into place.

With this done, I turned the cylinder around and checked the other end. This end was where the heart of the cannon was. It was also where plenty of gold had gone into. This gold had gone to some very expensive magic crystals. Three storage crystals and a very high quality wind crystal.

I quickly checked to make sure there were no cracks or gaps in the wax I had used to cover all but a part of each of the storage crystals. The biggest problem I had had testing the cannon was escaping air or the wind crystal blowing itself out of the back end of the cannon. At least the latter had been a problem until I had put a latching metal cover on the back as I had with the front. This made it a slight pain to get to the crystals themselves but well worth the extra effort.

Next, I checked to make sure the storage crystals were charged. They were.

I had had instances in the past where a bump had made one crystal connect with the wind crystal and the storage crystal had slowly drained. I had fixed this by having the storage crystals held in place by some thick wires and only a heavy pressure would make them bend enough to let the crystals make contact.

These stiff wires had also become a part of the firing mechanism to the cannon. I had made it so that when I fully tightened the end cap, it would push the storage crystals into the wind crystal. When I did that I had to be certain I was ready to fire the cannon or else I was in danger of having the back end of the cannon blown out as poor Helnion had found when she tried to open it not long after I had made the modification. The bruise she had gotten on her chest from the impact of the end cap had not been pretty. I think it was still there even though it had been a few weeks.

I put the cannon down and Helnion and I put away everything we were not taking with us.

"Ready?" I said to Helnion.

"Ready!" she said excitedly.

Almost no one could figure out what was going on inside Helnion's head, but it had been obvious that she held no love for Dorito's group and had been adamant in helping me with every idea.

It had been Helnion herself that had given the idea for the air cannon. Most of her ideas weren't well thought and were usually unfeasible, but this one had stuck with me.

"What do you think they will do?" Helnion asked.

"Chase us of course."

"I hope they do not have more buckets."

"I hope they don't either."

"Can I carry the cannon?" She asked.

As expected…

"Remember what happened last time?"

Helnion pushed out her lower lip and pouted.

I would not have her drop the cannon again.

Every time Helnion stumbled on a rock, or whatever it was she kept tripping on, I was glad I had not let her carry the cannon. If we hadn't been stooping over to conceal ourselves in the tall grass, she wouldn't have been so bad but she had never gotten used to sneaking like this no matter how many times we did this.

"Salis," Helnion said in a whisper, "my back hurts."

"We're almost there," I said.

"Do you think they have seen us?"

"We'll find out soon, just be ready to run if they do something."

I looked back to Helnion. Her face was visible in the moonlight and showed no signs of nervousness. If anything, it was full of anticipation as she scanned over the grove that was now only a few meters in front of us.

By this point we had already heard the chatter and laughter of our targets. They were not worried about attracting attention.

"Do you see anyone?" I whispered.

Helnion shook her head.

One of the few things Helnion had over me, aside from magic skill, was that she had good vision. She often pointed out animals in the dark that I would have never noticed myself. I was also certain she could spot a squirrel five kilometers away even if it was sitting behind a rock wall.

I paused behind a bush and waited for Helnion to catch up to me.

We both looked around the area and listened.

Helnion shook her head at me and we moved to the next bush.

We had scouted out the area a few weeks ago and I had drilled into Helnion's head exactly what to do and to my relief; she had remembered.

Next, as rehearsed, we split up, and each went to a different bush and after that two more bushes and finally trees as we entered the grove.

Finally, we met up at our tree of choice. It was an unremarkable tree and was barely big enough to hold Helnion. The one thing it had going for it was the small opening in the foliage that revealed the center of the grove and the spot where Leader Boy was most likely sitting.

Helnion gave me one last pleading look. She loved shooting the cannon and watching the cabbage explode, even if she never hit her target. Not that the cannon was all that accurate to begin with.

I shook my head.

The next part was the most dangerous and was likely the time we would get spotted. Not only were we close enough for the boys to see us if we stood up, but they would hear any loud noise we made.

I motioned for Helnion to start the next phase of our plan. She did not look forward to doing it, mostly because what we were about to do would probably get us expelled, but it was also very dangerous.

Saying that I got nervous.

I soon felt myself float. Helnion was levitating me. By school rules they allowed no students of magic to levitate any living thing and for good reason. It was a good way to get someone killed if done by an unskilled person. Not only did we risk getting expelled, but it wasn't unheard of for someone to get a collar that made them unable to use magic.

I wobbled as I rose, but to Helnion's credit she could keep the tree between me and, hopefully, the line of sight of any boy that was looking this way.

By the time I reached the target branch I heard no cry of alarm. I hoped they weren't biding their time.

I wedged the cannon between some branches and then pulled myself onto a branch as quietly as I could and thanks to our practice I did just that.

I looked down at Helnion. She was looking back and forth at me and the light coming from the direction the boys were at.

I got her attention and motioned for her to leave the grove.

She pouted again but began making her way away from the boys.

I glanced towards the boys and saw it was almost the same sight as it had been the last time. This time I scanned for buckets too and saw none.

I next reached into the small pouch at my waist and pulled out a communication crystal. Unless my magic power was at its weakest, I would soon see Ferret's face. I just hoped they weren't being too noisy at the moment.

I turned it on.

"Hello," I said as loud as I dared.

I heard the chattering of several girls come through the crystal and glanced towards the boys in hopes they hadn't heard it. Thankfully, the chatter almost immediately cut off.

"Salis?" I heard Ferret say and soon saw her face.

I pointed the crystal towards the boys and then back towards myself.

"I hope they did not hear us," Ferret looked concerned.

"If I hurry it will not matter," I said. "But for now just watch."

Ferret nodded and then placed the crystal on a desk. I could now see every girl that was in the room with her.

I pulled the cannon from its place in the branches and propped it on the branch I had thought best suited for aiming.

"No more noise until I say so," I said into the communication crystal.

I heard several quiet replies and then nothing.

I bent over the cannon, holding the communication crystal towards my target, and began to aim. I had rigged up a rudimentary cross-hair system and looked down it.

In the area ahead of me, lit up by magic and lamp lights, I scanned for my target. It did not take me long until I spotted Leader Boy sitting exactly where he had been sitting last time. This made sense because he was sitting on a large stump that could easily be interpreted as a throne of sorts. Next to him stood Dorito and Caldren. The former was laughing at two boys wrestling in front of him and Leader Boy.

I fully latched the end cap of the canon. It took several seconds before I heard air escape through various gaps as the pressure began to reach its maximum and after forty-three seconds, the time it took for the storage crystals to deplete, I pulled the lever that released the clasp for the front cover of the cannon.