Should’ve gotten an A in that class just for not snapping, throwing a chair through the enormous window, and never coming back. Now that’s real control for you.
Finally, our latest session came to an end. Kayleigh was off the floor and out the door before Jeremiah had even woken up, and long before the rest of the first-years filed in from the second room. I was still trying to rub feeling back into my legs and feet when Caleb spoke up.
“What’s that, Gabriella?” Caleb and Santiago both insisted on addressing our teachers by their first names. Some teachers took it poorly, but Ms. Stein was one of the less prickly professors. The Jitterbug was pointing at the back of the room, where a door that was normally closed had been left partly open. Within, we could just vaguely see some sort of machinery.
“Oh, I didn’t realize I’d left that open.” Ms. Stein looked to the open door and then back to us. “I suppose there’s no harm in showing you.” She opened the door wide. “This is the Maze.”
The Maze wasn’t actually a maze. If anything, it reminded me of the machine used for my testing… only someone had fused the machine with a chair, so whoever sat in it would essentially be placing their head into the heart of the device. Two armrests terminated in copper-wrapped handles. A basket of copper and steel wire to the side was designed to be lowered over the occupant’s head.
“The Maze,” Ms. Stein continued, “is one of the challenges at the Graduation Games. Not as flashy as the more physical challenges, I suppose, but for those us who prize the perfection of control, it’s by far the most exciting.”
“How does it work?” That was Penelope, aka Winter, taking a rare break from the assumption that she knew everything.
“Well, in a way it’s similar to the apparatus used for your initial testing—”
Ha! I’d totally nailed it.
“—but where that device simply measures the classification and magnitude of your power, the Maze evaluates your level of control by implanting challenges in your brain and measuring your attempts to meet those challenges.”
“Can we try it?” That was Tessa.
“Oh heavens no!” Ms. Stein shooed us away from the door, then closed and locked it. “The Maze is intended for third-years, and even then, only for the top two or three in the class. It’s not a toy, and it can be dangerous.”
Anything that put shit directly in your brain was best avoided, in my opinion, but whatever Ms. Stein saw in the other first-years’ faces had her concerned.
“As in burn-your-powers-out-and-leave-you-a-vegetable dangerous. Once you’ve made it to third-year, if any of you are interested in trying the Maze, you can come speak to me, but for now, you should all forget you even saw it.”
That was easy enough for most of the class to do. A few stories circulated about past winners—and losers—and then everyone got on with their lives.
Almost everyone… but we didn’t find that out until later.
Until it was way too late.
Someone should have fucking seen it coming.
CHAPTER 26
The sun was setting somewhere in the sky ahead of me as I picked my way through the small woods that filled the campus’ western border. I still had homework to do—assigned by both my real teachers and my tutors—but for the moment, I was focused on a different kind of problem.
I still wasn’t sure what to think of the monochromatic Dr. Gibbings—and I sure as hell didn’t fully trust her—but I’d finally let go of my pride enough to mention my own failures in Control. Alexa had looked at me for a long moment in silence. Wasn’t all that out of the ordinary for either of us. For a relationship that was supposed to be about talking, we spent an awful lot of time doing anything but.
Finally, she let those unblinking eyes drift off to the left and nodded. “There’s not a lot we know about Necromancers, Damian, including whether Gabriella’s techniques even apply to someone like you, but…”
“But?”
“Have you thought about practicing outside her classroom?”
“There aren’t any dampeners outside the classroom.”
“Exactly my point.” She had her hands steepled in front of her on the desk, the black stone bangle on the right wrist today instead of the left. I was sure that meant something… but had no idea what.
I shook my head. “What if something goes wrong?”
“Wrong?”
“Walkers? Spirits of vengeance? A total fucking undead apocalypse?”
“Damian, you’re eighteen, untrained, and a Low-Three. Apocalypses are a little beyond your reach. But I’m not suggesting you actually try to raise anything. Even with as many former Capes as we have on the faculty here, that’s not the sort of excitement anyone wants.”
“What are you suggesting then?”
“Practice your meditation. If you think it’ll help, focus on that peace and balance mantra Gabriella gets her little silk panties in a knot over. But mainly, just spend time looking inward. See if you can find your power. Not use it; just find it. Maybe once you’ve done so, you’ll have an easier time actually utilizing it under the safety of the dampeners.”
I chewed that idea over. As frustrating as it was to be completely inept in Control, there was a part of me that was relieved when each hour of class ended without any sign of success. If I couldn’t ever use my power, then maybe…
Alexa was already far too adept at reading my thoughts. “If there’s one thing that history has shown us, it’s that powers can’t be ignored. Sooner or later, yours will emerge. When it does, do you want to control
