The class mumbled in agreement as their teacher went on into an elaborate speech about chemical reactions. Phantasia enjoyed the science teacher’s rather overzealous approach to teaching, more so than the majority of her peers. Only Joel and John seemed interested in the science of “blowing things up”, as Ms James frequently described it. Emerald-Second was filled with girls – though Astrid’s little clique was missing today, along with Phoenie’s friend Amanda – who were more disturbed than fascinated, while Doyle was more concerned with staring at Ms James’ twenty-something figure than listening to her. She seemed aware of this, and would always pick on him.

“Doyle looks like he can’t wait to get involved!” she said, before ushering him forward.

“Miss, why are we learning to plant explosives?” asked Joel.

“To test your understanding of chemical reactions!” she replied, “Only by handling them yourselves will you come to appreciate the raw power of science!”

Doyle returned from setting up the clay-like substance and its detonator, and managed to produce a perfectly reasonable explosion, much to his teacher’s delight. The rest of the class took it in turn to try it themselves, with class clown Angelo moulding his clay into an obscene shape beforehand, and Kaori failing to set the detonator properly because she was afraid it would go off in her face. Phantasia had no problems with hers, though she found the whole thing somewhat crude. There were faeries and demons who could cause explosions on a whim.

“So what have we learned today, guys?” asked Ms James at the end of the lesson, though there was no time to answer before she continued, “We’ve learned another way to blow things up! For homework I want you to come up with examples of practical uses for plastic explosives, with bonus points given for anything we can try in class!”

As the class were walking back to the main building, leaving Ms James locked in her shed, Joel stopped outside the gymnasium and ruffled his ginger hair.

“Dudes, don’t you think these lessons are getting stranger every term?” he asked. “I know things are always a bit odd round here, but the school I was at a couple of years back was totally different. I mean, way stuffier. Science never involved weapons!”

The others shrugged and looked around at each other for an answer.

“They’re just preparing us for the outside world,” said John, “My dad’s always said other schools are too insular,” – he noticed the confused expressions – “You know, telling everyone to stay in the boundaries, where it’s safe. Nowhere’s safe outside Malkuth, though.”

“Plastic explosives, though?” said Joel, “Dude, when the hell are we gonna need that?”

The group continued on their way into the school. Phantasia could understand why they might need the various skills they’d been taught, but she didn’t want to say anything for fear of reprisal. Ever since the memory-altering incident she’d decided to keep her mouth shut regarding anything supernatural. Everything from Kaori’s suicide to the students’ various encounters with the leansídhe had been blocked from their memory and replaced with illusionary lies. It wasn’t even a semi-decent illusion though, and certainly not anything on par with what Prince Freyr or Queen Áine would have been capable of, which made Phantasia wonder just who was responsible. It annoyed her to think that everything she’d worked towards had been compromised by an outside – and obviously rogue – source, and she wondered just how much she could push things before another rewrite occurred.

Chapter 14
Previous / Continue
(page 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8)