As if sensing my change of mind I felt his stare from across the room. I didn’t even know how I knew it was him but when my eyes slid to his face, he was indeed staring. He mouthed the word “Midnight”.
I shook my head. He can call me a coward but I was already on two weeks of dish duty and I needed to find out what was going to kill Finnick and perhaps more of us before I went traipsing about at night. One thing I couldn’t see was my own death.
He shrugged and then went back to flirting.
I tuned back into what our headmaster was saying, “Classes begin at seven. When you’re finished eating, you may explore the academy, but stay inside for tonight. Again, be back to your kingdom’s dormitories by ten. If students are caught outside there will be consequences.”
Headmaster Jace stepped down from the podium and chatter amongst the students grew.
Taz nudged my arm. “Madison is waving at us. I think we’re being summoned for dish duty.”
I groaned and stood from the bench. Legacy and Taz walked beside me and we made our way over to my grandmother.
“This way.” She pushed a swinging door open and we were led down a set of stairs into the kitchen. It looked almost identical to the one at home and had the same mound of dishes that was growing. The plates were spelled to appear down here when the person was finished eating. A couple of older women looked relieved when we stepped into the room. We were about to take over their job.
“If it were up to me,” Madison said. “You wouldn’t be doing dishes. This is a new place and you should have started with a clean record. But fortunately for you, I’ll allow the use of magic. You have some help as well. There are a few other students who apparently aren’t good at following rules either and should be arriving soon.”
I smiled at my grandmother. Just allowing us to use magic would make this go by so much faster. “Thank you,” we three said.
Madison flipped her golden hair over her shoulder and made for the exit. With her hand hesitating on the door, she said, “When you’ve finished, the time is yours to do what you’d like until curfew.” Then she was gone.
The two kitchen workers made their way to the exit. “Have fun,” one said.
“Madison is so great,” Legacy said and enchanted three sponges to start scrubbing. They dipped into the water and in circular motions scrubbed the floating plates, poised above the sinks.
“Definitely.” With a flick of my wrist and the spell in my mind, my magic wafted from me and those scrubbed plates dipped into the hot water and floated to a drying rack. This magic took minimal energy, about as much as doing it manually.
Taz started on a different stack of dishes and then the door swung open. Leaning my back against the countertop, I turned, and in walked Aric with two students from Hesstia I didn’t recognize. To say I was surprised was an understatement. Out of the two princes, I’d expect Zyacus to be on dish duty not Aric. He seemed more on the straight and narrow but then again, I didn’t know him really at all.
The professor who brought them in looked at us, then to the dishes being cleaned on their own then back to his group of students. “Just make sure everything gets cleaned.” And he was out.
Aric made his way over. “Already in trouble?”
“It was a previous offense,” I said with a shrug. I didn’t want to go into details about torturing professors with snakes. “You?”
“Same,” he said but didn’t offer any more details.
I gestured to my two partners in crime. “This is my cousin Legacy and our friend Taz.”
Legacy’s smile brightened the room and Aric looked as smitten as any other boy she directed it at. “It’s great to meet you, Prince Aric.”
With an awkward wave, Taz said, “Hello.”
The other two Hesstian students, two boys hung back for a moment but then they grabbed sponges and started scrubbing in a different washtub. I wondered if they were illcasts, no magic ability. Or perhaps they were unsure how to enchant the items to do the work for them. I didn’t know how to ask without possibly offending them so I turned back to observing my own task, making sure nothing was amiss.
“Should I help you Taz?” Aric asked. “The girls seem to have theirs under control.”
Grinning, he nodded. “Sure.”
There were five wash tubs and soon we had the pile of dishes dwindling. Even the Hesstian students started talking with us. They were illcasts it turned out but they didn’t seem to mind washing by hand, since we did most of the work.
Legacy and Aric chatted like two old friends, then he playfully tossed a handful of water at her and it hit her in the face. At first she was stunned, wide-eyed and silent. Then with a wave of her hand a bucket zoomed across the room and dumped soapy water over his head. I darted to the door to avoid the water fight but Taz flung a cup full at me and soon all of us were soaked.
“What in the name of Delhoon is going on!” A man’s voice boomed and all of us froze. I knew who it was before I turned and dread crept into my body.
Professor Deg with his very full, serious mustache, looked at each of us pointedly. When he stepped further in his arms swung wildly in circles, he slipped on the bubbles and crashed onto his behind.
I swallowed hard with the long pause that followed
