Jack's Gang

“You fought zombies?” Mason asked at breakfast the next morning.

“Not zombies, apparently.” Felix pressed his hands to the back of his head and leaned back in his chair. “But yeah, I torched some undead.”

“Could you maybe try torching my toast?” Arisa held up a piece of bread. “I think the toaster’s broken again.” Clementine, who sat on Arisa’s shoulder, folded her tiny bear arms.

“Can’t they fix it with magic?” Mason asked.

Felix took the piece of bread from Arisa, but she was barely paying attention. “No one uses that kind of magic around here,” she explained. “We’ve got our abilities, and we’ve got sigils for healing, killing, and keeping out monsters. That’s about it.”

Blue fire consumed the piece of bread. As quickly as it appeared, Felix extinguished it. Arisa stared at the blackened bread left in his hand.

“You used too much,” Mason said. He reached toward Felix’s tray. “Here, hand me a piece.”

Felix swatted Mason’s hand away. “Use your own bread!”

“Fine.” Mason picked up the bread off the tray in front of him and held it a few inches above his palm. Purple hellfire came to life in his hand.

“It’s bread, not a marshmallow,” Felix said.

“If it works, it works.” Mason closed his fist, putting out the fire. Felix had to admit, his toast looked pretty good. He lowered his gaze back to the burnt bread in front of him.

“Sure, but now some Guardians are giving you dirty looks.” Arisa’s gaze darted around the room.

Mason shrugged and held out the piece of toast to her. “Isn’t it good if they see me use my powers for nonviolent purposes?”

“I guess.” Arisa accepted the toast.

“That’s not all that happened last night.” Felix glanced around the dining hall and lowered his voice. “Kendra started telling me about the leader of the Guardian Uprising.”

Arisa’s eyes went wide. “Really?”

“What’s that?” Mason asked.

“Us students aren’t supposed to know about it,” Arisa explained to him. “I barely know anything besides the name. I was nine when it happened.”

“Sebastian mentioned that the Guardians who left afterward have started calling themselves the Moonlit Army,” Felix said.

Arisa snorted. “Army? That’s a little ambitious. I don’t think there were that many of them.” She bit off a piece of her toast.

“What do we know about them?” Mason asked.

“Not much, besides that,” Felix said. “Kendra wouldn’t even tell me the leader’s name. All I know is that Gideon and this necromancer guy work for her.”

“We could try asking Sebastian about it,” Arisa suggested. “If anyone were going to give us secret information, it would be him.”

“Sebastian did start telling me about their leader my second day here, but he didn’t seem interested in saying much,” Felix said. “He said he was trying not to overwhelm me. Now that I think about it, though, he was acting a little dodgy.”

“Wasn’t his family involved in the Uprising?” Arisa asked. “That could have something to do with it.”

“Change the subject,” Mason muttered. “Sebastian’s walking this way.”

A few seconds later, Sebastian stopped next to their table. “Whatcha kids talking about?”

“Uh, tennis,” Felix blurted, at the same moment Arisa said, “Zombies.” Mason buried his face in one of his hands.

“Great.” Sebastian’s gaze moved to the black toast on Felix’s tray. “Are you going to eat that?”

Felix gave him a weird look. “Uh, no?”

Sebastian picked up the burnt piece of bread. “I have good news. I got permission to take you on another field trip.” He took a bite.

“Really? After the last one ended so badly?” Felix asked.

“Hm?” Sebastian swallowed. “What are you talking about? That was a complete success.” He gestured at Mason. “We got Mason, didn’t we?”

“Ha, that’s right.” Arisa playfully punched Mason in the arm. “Good times, right?”

“Anyway, you’ll want to bring anything silver that you own,” Sebastian said as Mason pulled A Brief History of Curses from his bag, opened it to a random page, and held it up in front of his face.

“Silver?” Arisa asked, eyes widening. “You mean—”

“Werewolves,” Mason muttered.

“Bingo.” Sebastian snapped his fingers. “I’ll bring silver weapons for you all, but the more we have, the better.”

“Are werewolves easier to fight than demons?” Felix asked.

“Generally, they aren’t as powerful,” Sebastian said. “But don’t let your guard down. Now, believe it or not, most werewolves aren’t actually bloodthirsty monsters who go on rampages once a month. As long as they only hunt wild animals and stay away from urban areas during their transformation, we let them mind their own business.

“Unfortunately, there have been strings of killings during the full moon over the past several months,” Sebastian continued. “All taking place within a five-mile radius of a town called Cold Creek.”

“That’s pretty far north, isn’t it?” Felix asked, recognizing the name.

Sebastian nodded. “The drive’s a few hours. And since the moon’s full enough to induce transformation for three nights, we’re going to stay in a motel in town, so pack for that. We’ll leave Friday morning.”

Arisa’s brow furrowed. “This sounds like a real mission, not a field trip.”

“It would be, if I were planning to have you engage with the wolves directly. I’ll show you how to track them, but you won’t be fighting them. Unless they attack you first.”

“Does this mean we’ll get to see you fight?” Felix asked.

Sebastian lifted an eyebrow. “You saw me fight Archer at training.”

“I mean a real fight! Kendra said you’re one of the most powerful Guardians.” Felix had barely seen Sebastian use his ability.

“Well, if this trip goes as planned, it won’t come to that,” Sebastian said.

“Oh, this is why you knew the full moon was coming up when Mason asked, isn’t it?” Arisa asked.

“Believe it or not, I am usually aware of the current moon phase,” Sebastian said. “But on that note, how’s the wand coming, Mason?”

Mason lowered his book. “I finished carving it. Now I just have to bond it to my blood, say a simple purification spell, and bury it in the earth during the full moon. It should be ready to go when we get back from the trip.”

“Great!”

“It’s passable,” Mason said with an annoyed expression. “I wasn’t able to add anything to the wood to amplify it’s power, and I don’t have many spell ingredients, so it won’t be very strong. But it will work until I get the Ironwood Wand back.”

“Hey, as long as it does anything at all, I’ll be impressed,” Sebastian said. “I’ll see you all in a little while for training.” He waved and walked away.

Mason sighed. “How long do we have to run around chasing monsters before we can do something important?”

Arisa yawned and tapped a napkin. It twisted itself into the shape of a swan. “Speak for yourself. I haven’t done anything close to this interesting since I was put on probation.”

“Saving people is important, isn’t it?” Felix asked.

“Of course it is,” Mason said. “But we have no idea what Ernest Abernathy is planning to do with the wand. He could hurt way more people than a pack of werewolves.”

“Maybe we can use this trip to get information from Sebastian about Ernest,” Felix suggested. “Or the Moonlit Army leader.”

Arisa’s face lit up. She glanced at Clementine. “You know, since Ernest is a Guardian, we might be able to find information on him in the library.”

“Like his records?” Felix asked.

“We won’t be able to access anyone’s personal records,” Arisa said. “They’re locked. Students can’t get into them. But a lot of mission reports are open access. We could search those and see if he’s mentioned anywhere.”

“Sounds like it’s worth a shot,” Mason said with a shug.

They finished breakfast and headed toward the library. Arisa led them to a shortcut through the central courtyard.

That ended up being a mistake.

As they passed the foot of the Silver Paladin statue, Jack Caldwell called out to them. “Look out, Arisa, there’s a demon behind you!”

Arisa stopped and glared at him, fists tightening at her sides. “Hilarious,” she spat sarcastically. “What, you gonna quit the academy to become a comedian?”

“Who are these assholes?” Mason asked as Jack and his three friends sauntered over to them.

Jack stuck out his hand. “Jack Caldwell. And my friends are Noah and Clara Wallace—” He nodded to the blonde boy and girl. “And Rose McAvoy.” Rose’s head tipped to the side as she sized up Mason, her brown curls swaying.

Mason stared blankly at Jack’s hand.

Jack looked to Felix. “Does he not understand human manners?”

Felix jabbed a finger in the air in front of Jack’s face. “He was human until a few months ago, dumbass.”

Mason held an arm out in front of Felix. “Don’t bother,” he said. “He’s just trying to rile us up. Let’s go.”

Mason only made it a few steps before Jack stepped into his path. Jack laughed. “It’s a shame you’re all on probation. I’d love to face you in combat.”

“Real shame.” Mason stepped to the right. Jack followed.

“What, you don’t want to know if you could beat me?” Jack asked.

“I already know the answer to that question.”

“I’d like to see for myself.”

“Of course you would,” Mason said. “It’s not enough for you to be strong. You need other people to see you win.”

Anger briefly flashed across Jack’s face. Then, he forced a cold smile and shook his head. “I think you’re just scared.”

“Oh, yeah. I’m terrified,” Mason deadpanned. “Please leave me alone before I start crying from fear.”

Jack sighed. “Clara?” He gestured toward Arisa.

Clara lifted her chin. Her braid swung behind her. After a heartbeat of silence, Arisa cried out in pain and dropped to her knees. Clementine slipped from her shoulder and thudded against the ground.

Students wandering the courtyard around the two groups stopped and looked their way. Some whispered to each other. Alarm flashed through Felix as he realized there weren’t any adults nearby.

Felix dropped to the ground next to Arisa. “Arisa? Are you okay?”

“What are you doing?” Mason demanded, stepping toward Clara.

Arisa pressed her hands to her stomach, face twisted in a grimace. “Don’t,” she managed between ragged breaths. She lifted her chin. “Clara can sense pain. And cause it. Nothing’s actually hurting me.”

Clara turned toward Felix. “You’ve got some injuries,” she said plainly.

All at once, every sore spot on Felix’s body burned. He gasped and doubled over. Clara’s empty expression gave way to a wince, but it vanished when Jack rested a hand on her shoulder and laughed. Her face flushed.

Felix forced himself to his feet, lifted a hand, and tried to summon electricity. Nothing happened.

“Don’t bother,” Jack said. “Noah can negate magic.”

Felix pushed harder. The faintest bit of magic sparked in his chest, and he latched onto it. The lightning that appeared between his fingers was weak, but it was enough for him to grab Noah’s wrists and deliver a shock.

“Looks like I’m stronger than you,” Felix told Noah through gritted teeth, his body still screaming in pain.

“Noah!” Clara exclaimed as Noah gasped.

Felix’s head snapped toward her. “Let go of Arisa.”

Clara’s shoulders sagged. Arisa leapt to her feet and lunged at her. Jack pulled Clara out of the way, and Arisa stumbled past them.

“Enough,” Mason snapped.

Everyone else ignored him. Felix pushed Noah backwards and whirled around. Rose swung a fist at his face. He ducked and tried to sweep her feet with his leg, but his foot passed right through her. He lost his balance and landed hard on the concrete path.

Arisa tried to attack Clara again. Clara sent her back to the ground with a yelp of pain. Felix lifted a hand but couldn’t summon the strength to overcome Noah’s ability again.

“Come on, Mason, you’re not going to help your friends?” Jack slid his hands in his pockets and nodded at Rose. In one swift motion, she elbowed Mason in the side and knocked him to the ground.

“Why are you so desperate to prove you can beat me?” Mason exclaimed, glaring at Jack. “Because I’m a demon?”

Jack ran a hand through his black hair. Laughed. “I’m not desperate. I haven’t lost a fight in three years.”

“You haven’t lifted a finger. You’re making your friends do all the work.”

“Until you actually put the effort in, this fight is beneath me.”

Mason extended a hand toward Jack, black claws appearing at the ends of his fingers.

“Don’t,” Archer warned.

The seven kids swung their heads toward the man who’d appeared behind Mason. Noah’s hold on their magic disappeared. Arisa’s shoulders sagged in relief. Jack was the only person who didn’t have the sense to look even a little guilty.

“What’s going on here?” Archer asked. “Did you three forget that you’re banned from combat with other students?”

Were fights like this normal among non-probation students? Felix glanced around the courtyard again.

“He started it!” Arisa pointed at Jack.

Archer’s gaze flickered to Jack, and Felix couldn’t believe the boy didn’t immediately wilt under it.

“We were just discussing our abilities,” Jack said with a shrug. “I wanted to see theirs in action.”

“Don’t you have a class on the third floor in a few minutes?” Archer asked.

“Am I in trouble?”

Archer was quiet for a moment. “Get to class,” he ordered.

Jack walked by Felix, Mason, and Arisa with a smug grin. “Let me know when you’re ready for a rematch.”

“I’d hardly call this a match in the first place,” Mason replied, keeping his tone even.

Jack ignored him. Noah, Clara, and Rose threw nervous glances at Archer as they hurried past him and followed Jack out of the courtyard.

“You’re just going to let him get away with this?” Arisa asked. “He and his friends attacked us first.”

“I didn’t see the start of the fight,” Archer said.

“You don’t believe me?”

“I didn’t say that. But I can’t do anything about something I didn’t witness.” Archer shot an annoyed look at a group of students who’d been inching slowly closer. They scurried off. “Consider yourself lucky I don’t have your trip with Sebastian cancelled. And stay away from those four if they’re going to cause problems. Understand?”

The three climbed to their feet. Clementine ran up to Arisa, and Arisa picked her up and set her on her shoulder.

Archer wasn’t done. “If Mason used his hellfire against another student, he’d be in the dungeons in a heartbeat.”

Mason glanced at his hand. “Archer has a point. Unfortunately.”

“I still don’t think it’s fair.” Arisa folded her arms.

Felix agreed, but he couldn’t bring himself to argue the matter any further. “Come on, guys. Let’s just get back to what we were doing.”

“Where are you three going now?” Archer asked.

“Library,” Mason told him.

“Funny. I’m going there too.”

“Yeah, I bet,” Arisa said under her breath.

It probably wasn’t a coincidence, but there was no point protesting. Archer followed closely behind the three as they walked to the library. Thankfully, he split off from them as soon as they entered, headed in a completely different direction than the one Arisa led them in.

The three gathered around a computer at a desk in a dim corner of the second floor. Arisa clicked and typed and clicked again while Mason watched intently and Felix spun in circles in his chair.

“Here!” Arisa pointed at the screen. “These are all of the mission reports involving Ernest Abernathy. All the ones we can access, anyway.”

Mason groaned as Arisa scrolled down the list. “This isn’t going to help at all. I need to know where he lives.”

“We can’t access that information—”

A shadow cast by a nearby bookshelf shifted, and Hana emerged from the darkness. Felix and Mason jumped in surprise. Hana signed something to Arisa with a confused expression.

“She wants to know what we’re doing,” Arisa muttered. She signed something back, and Felix actually understood the gist of it. “Reading old mission reports. For educational purposes.” Arisa paused, then added, “Technically, we’re not breaking any rules.”

Hana lifted an eyebrow and a hand. “Technically?”

While Arisa and Hana continued their conversation, Felix’s gaze darted between them and Mason, who had leaned forward to peer at something on the screen. He grabbed the mouse and began clicking.

Hana walked back into the shadow she’d emerged from. Before Felix could ask Arisa what just happened, she reappeared carrying a massive black binder.

Felix glanced back at Mason and found his chair empty.

“Hana didn’t actually care about what we were doing,” Arisa said, drawing Felix’s attention back to her. Hana was gone now, too. Arisa let the binder drop onto the desk with a thud. “She just wanted to dump this on me. I have wedding planning to work on during the trip.”

“Oh, fun!” Felix exclaimed.

“What, you want to take over for me?”

Mason returned, waving around a few pieces of paper. “Where did you go?” Felix asked as he sat down.

“Printer.” Mason set the papers on the desk. “I saw something that looked interesting. It might be nothing, but—”

Felix picked up the top sheet. “It’s a mission report.” He frowned. “To kill…werewolves?”

“That sounds pretty standard,” Arisa said as she opened the binder.

“Yeah, but Ernest was the only survivor,” Mason said. “He and a small team of Guardians went to take on a pack, and he was the only one who returned.”

Arisa looked up, surprised. “Even if it was an entire pack, they shouldn’t have been that dangerous.”

“Wait, this is near where we’re going,” Felix realized. “Sebastian wouldn’t take us on a mission to track wolves that killed a bunch of Guardians, right?”

Mason slid aside one of the papers and pointed to the bottom page. “Ernest claims here that they did kill all of the wolves. He was just the only one who made it out without fatal injuries.” He shrugged. “And it’s miles away from Cold Creek. Location’s probably a coincidence. But I want to know what happened here.”

“Yeah, werewolves aren’t hard to fight,” Arisa said. “There’s magic in their bodies, but they can’t wield it. They just have accelerated healing and brute strength.”

“So, it’s not weird that there’s another killer pack of wolves in the same area?” Felix asked.

Mason and Arisa shared a look. “This is a heavily forested area,” Mason said. “It’s a good place for wolves. It’s not really surprising that a new pack would move in after the old one was killed.”

“And even though most wolves don’t hurt people, it’s not super rare for them to kill, either,” Arisa added. “Unfortunately.”

“Staying out of trouble?” Archer asked from behind them.

The three jumped and yelped in surprise. As Mason slid the mission report papers aside, Arisa rolled in her chair to reveal the open binder in front of her. “Yeah, just, um, doing some wedding planning,” she stammered.

Archer leaned forward and studied the printout of flower arrangements. He pointed at one. Voice as dead as usual, he said, “You should go with this one.”

“You think that one looks best?” Felix asked.

“No, but those flowers repel malicious spirits.” Archer stepped back from the desk and walked away without another word.

“He is without a doubt the most terrifying man I’ve ever met,” Felix said. “And that’s including the necromancer.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe Jack’s not scared of him. I know his dad’s on the council, but Archer’s the King’s Hand.”

“I don’t think Jack’s had to deal with Archer much,” Arisa said. “Archer makes sure training runs smoothly, but he doesn’t get involved in student affairs directly. Well, except us. But that’s because of the probation thing.”

“One thing’s for sure,” Felix said. “First chance we get, the three of us are going to kick Jack’s ass.”

“Agreed,” Arisa said.

“Honestly, he’d hate it so much more if we ignored him. If we avoid fighting him, he won’t get the satisfaction of—” Mason paused. “Nah, scratch that. I’m going to punch him in the face.”

Felix laughed. “That’s the spirit.”