Every fifth one or so, Juliana managed to form into a more-or-less proper spike of ice. She took care to try to remember every thought pattern she had whenever she managed that. And, every time she managed a spike, Juliana took care aiming.
Most of her spikes at least brushed the target if they did not strike it directly.
“Rivas,” a voice half shouted from behind Juliana just as she formed a proper spike.
The ice dropped to the ground and shattered as her concentration snapped like a twig. She spun around, metal clinging to her already turning to liquid as she activated her ferrokinesis. The sword of metal forming out of her sleeve stopped just inches from Zagan’s face as he leered over her.
He didn’t even flinch.
“You will be serving detention with me on Saturday alongside,” he glanced to one side, “Anderson.”
Juliana followed his gaze to her fellow student.
On the other side of Shelby stood a very blank-faced Jordan. A ball of fire clung to the tip of his wand. He frowned but gave a small nod.
“Detention?” Juliana said as she looked back towards the professor. She wasn’t going to just take it. “For what?”
“You both disobeyed me. I believe I said to use your element. Neither of you are using your element.” A sharp glint grew in his eyes as he spoke. “I will not suffer insolence from the likes of you.”
Juliana snapped her jaw shut. She had a feeling he meant more than just children by his last statement.
“Well,” Zagan said as he pulled himself to his full height, “what are you all staring at? Get back to work unless you want to join them.”
Nobody needed telling twice.
— — —
Every time Zagan walked past, he glared at Eva.
She was trying her best.
Arachne helped out. She rearranged herself into a position that couldn’t be comfortable for the poor spider, but she managed to peek out of Eva’s shirt between two buttons. Without speaking to one another, they managed to work out a sort of communication.
If Eva missed, Arachne would tap out a ‘no’ followed by a few taps on Eva’s stomach to the left, right, high, or low. The number of taps indicated by how much Eva missed.
Luckily, Eva wasn’t missing often. It wasn’t like the targets moved.
Ideally, fireballs would either explode with a concussive force on contact or splash burning fire over the target. Eva’s did neither. She could make them hit. She could make them hot. None did anything more than leave a small scorch mark before vanishing.
The score on her exams actually got docked down for that. One aspect of the exam included both concussive force and another had her keep the flames burning in a far more fluid manner than fire had any right to be.
In her defense, it was harder than it sounded.
Eva couldn’t actually see the fire. It burned away any blood she allowed to get close to it. After the first few balls of fire sailed through the air and struck the targets, Eva kept a small vacuum of blood between her and the target. She would end up burning through all of it before class finished otherwise.
Now, the heat warming her hand through her glove was the only real indication she succeeded at conjuring it. Once the fire left her hand, it vanished from her sight.
Still, Zagan glared. He never said a word to her, unlike the words of ‘encouragement’ he had for the other students.
Not that Eva wanted any of his ‘encouragement.’ From what she overheard, none of it seemed all that useful.
His glares were something of a mystery. Eva didn’t think the two of them were on bad terms, even if Eva would be happier never meeting him again. Perhaps he was upset about the demon attacking during Zoe Baxter’s seminar the other week.
Zagan hadn’t spoken with her since before that attack. If he or Martina Turner suspected Eva of having anything to do with it, neither acted on their suspicions.
Towards the end of class, Arachne poked Eva right in the bellybutton.
Eva let out a truncated yelp as a the fireball she held fell and nearly incinerated her pants.
She was about to give Arachne a harsh swat disguised as brushing off her shirt when she felt it.
The hairs on Eva’s neck stood on end as a wave of hot air blew past her head.
Eva mentally cursed herself–she hadn’t lost concentration on her surroundings in a long while. Slowly, she turned to face Zagan.
“Something wrong, Zagan?”
“My office. After class.” With that, he turned and continued stalking around the students.
Arachne repeatedly tapped ‘no’ on Eva’s shoulders as she turned back to the target dummy. Ignoring Zagan, despite Arachne’s repeated tapping, couldn’t have good consequences. “He wouldn’t try something in the middle of school, would he?” Eva whispered to Arachne.
The demon’s ‘no’ taps immediately swapped to Eva’s opposite shoulder.
