Chapter 39: Out in the Open
“L-Lyra’s right!” Shelley Edwards had been sitting silent in a bundle of towels, eyes fixated on the floor tiles. “And I remember there was a shadow demon and then Godhand wanted to execute me for witchcraft and they shut me in a room and…” Her lip began to tremble and Elone swept over to place a comforting hand around her shoulders.
“You better not tell us we’re all hallucinating, Rogan,” she said, giving Phoenie an evil eye before the Veritas editor could try and counter everything.
In the midst of an awkward silence and as Katrina was debating whether to show them all the auragraphs or not, introverted star-pupil Deneb Odette rose from her own silent contemplating and swept through the group towards the exit.
“We’ll be late for class,” she said, “Mr Haan won’t be happy if we’re late.”
Mr Haan was never happy, but the big debate was killed there and then as the girls mumbled their agreement with Deneb and began to filter outside, all except Elone clutching towels around their swimsuited bodies. Katrina decided that, after the lesson she would show them all the pictures. If nothing was going to make sense anyway, she may as well take the chance and hope a glimmer of truth would finally reveal itself.
***
Azarat Haan folded his arms with contempt as the remainder of his students staggered into the pool’s enclosure. Byron d’Arcadie and Vincent Masters were the worst students in this class by far, turning up as they did in a drug-induced stupor with clouded eyes and sheepish grins. A spell in the freezing water would snap them back to reality, and Azarat looked forward to throwing them in at first opportunity.
They weren’t all failures, though. Theseus Armstrong and Deneb Odette showed enough raw talent to make up for any failings from the slackers – both were already preparing themselves with warm-up exercises while the rest of their peers stood around gossiping. Azarat grit his teeth at such a flagrant display of casual ignorance. These kids didn’t understand how lucky they were.
“This is your final lesson in the pool,” he announced, “This is your last chance to work on your skills in teaching time before the Midwinter exams, where I daresay the weather conditions will not be as forgiving as these,”
The sky had clouded over and there were distant grey rain clouds on the horizon, but nothing compared to the sorts of severe weather the world could throw at a person. If these kids didn’t learn how to hone their endurance or deal with unpredictable and unfavourable conditions, then they may as well have been brought up in the sheltered technopolises of Malkuth and its ilk.
The reaction from the students was as expected and most looked as if they’d been been grounded from socialising for a week. When he’d started this role as teacher things hadn’t been this bad: Azarat had settled down from his years as a vagrant to work with Rembrandt Payne and help the next generation prepare themselves for whatever dark future the world cursed them with, but the increasing presence of Godhand had culled the curriculum set by SEELIE. Students now graduated with below-par ratings and filtered out into menial jobs and lives, while the talented few that made it into SEELIE itself provided inadequate protection for the area. Now Godhand had retreated, taking with them their own ‘protection’, the town’s limited defences were exposed to all.
And the students meandering around in front of him – girls who shied away from lecherous male stares, boys who tried to flex underdeveloped muscles, egotists who kept their over groomed hair under water-proof caps, and rebels who strutted around the pool’s perimeter as if they were too good to get involved – these kids were the future.
At times like these, Azarat longed for an unexpected assault to thrust their innocent minds into the real world.
***
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