Melissa was one of those doing the screaming, but she cut off suddenly as Nava rose into the air and flew down toward the stage. The scream turned into a squeak, and then Melissa was bringing her own Flight spell to the front of her mind to follow.
Nava swept down to land lightly on the now pitted and burned surface of the stage, her gaze sweeping over it. Chaos had descended upon the auditorium and people were trying to leave as quickly and as inefficiently as they could. Some were looking after their wounded compatriots in the first few rows. Nava gave one glance to what was left of Ryan Fairhaven and then moved toward Kyle. His wonderfully smooth, dark skin was now badly burned. Half his uniform was gone, showing the torn and bloodless flesh beneath it. He was on his feet, but clearly badly hurt and reeling. Courtney was not going to be happy.
‘Nava Ward,’ he said. His voice sounded weak. ‘What are you–’
‘Please shut up and heal,’ Nava told him. The bare flesh, which looked almost like it had been eaten away by acid, began to reform almost immediately. Nava turned away and started for the victims in the first row of the audience.
That was when Melissa flew in from above and landed beside Nava. She took one look at the mess of corroded flesh and bone that had been Ryan and clutched a hand over her mouth. ‘Oh, God.’
‘Are you going to be okay?’ Nava asked. ‘You shouldn’t have come down here.’
‘I can help!’
‘If you’re sure… Keep an eye on Kyle Maynard. He should be back up to full strength by now, but you check him out. Make sure he’s healthy before he starts ordering us off his crime scene.’
‘I can check out Kyle Maynard,’ Melissa said, nodding enthusiastically.
‘Down, girl.’
Melissa went scarlet.
~~~
Courtney was a little beyond unhappy. She was utterly furious. ‘Why is it that, every time something bad happens around here, I find you right in the middle of it?’
Nava found that highly unlikely. ‘I came to hear Ryan Fairhaven speak. Melissa Connelly came with me. I’m trying to listen to as many of the candidates as possible. Naturally, I’ve been to the only two speeches so far.’
‘Right. And the description of this explosion sounds a lot like the spell you used to kill Devin Girard.’
‘It was a release of quintessence,’ Nava replied, ignoring the implicit accusation. ‘A somewhat larger one than my Magic Burst spell. I’m not trained in demolitions, but I’ve seen the result of a C-sized Q-Cell rigged to explode. This looked similar.’
Courtney frowned. ‘A Q-Cell explosion?’ The heat had gone out of her anger in an instant and her analytical brain was picking up the slack.
‘Yes. They can be rigged by anyone sufficiently versed in magitech repair. Modern cells have safety measures to avoid short circuits, but those can be bypassed. Setting one up to explode on command or on a timer would, I’d imagine, require some more specific knowledge. A C cell produces an explosive force roughly equivalent to half a kilo of TNT, though the effects are different. Pure quintessence destabilises matter rather–’
‘I know what that kind of release does. What did you do to Kyle? He was badly injured and in pain. Then he wasn’t.’
‘An Active Recovery spell.’
‘You know how to cast– Obviously, you do.’ Courtney paused, still frowning. ‘Thank you. His uniform is a total mess, but at least he’s okay.’
‘It was my duty to do whatever I could to assist in the situation. This attack further confuses things. The sniper is also a demolitions expert. I don’t believe we are dealing with a student, Courtney Martell. It seems that all of the student president candidates are in danger.’
‘Yeah… I think you’re probably right. We’re going to have to shut down the campaigning until we can find a way to keep them alive to be elected.’
~~~
‘We had eight candidates, now we have three,’ Mitsuko said. ‘Obviously, as one of them, that makes things easier for me, but I can’t see this as any form of good thing.’
‘No,’ Courtney said, sarcasm heavy in her voice, ‘someone died.’ She had assembled all of the remaining candidates in the SSF’s meeting room to discuss the situation. It was going about as well as she had expected.
‘Yes, but it also damages what is supposed to be a democratic process. The reduction in candidates does make your job easier, I’d imagine. You have fewer people to protect.’
‘I want to assign someone to all of you.’
‘Well, I don’t need some sort of bodyguard,’ Tracey Spears stated flatly. ‘So long as you do your job and make sure there are no bombs in the auditoriums, I can handle my own security.’
‘I’ll take someone,’ Sebastian Ranta Voll said. ‘I’m not sure why anyone would want to kill me, but I’m not taking any chances.’
Courtney looked around at Mitsuko. ‘I,’ Mitsuko said, ‘am not stupid enough to refuse the help.’ Tracey Spears bridled some at that comment. ‘However, I’d like to see if I can source my own guardian before I take you up on your offer.’
‘Someone from your family?’ Courtney asked.
‘No, someone from the school.’
Courtney frowned. ‘Who?’
~~~
‘May I come in?’ Mitsuko asked.
Nava frowned, very slightly, but stepped back from the door to allow her in. ‘I’m not duelling anyone this time, so I assume this is not another warning. Do you mind Melissa being here?’
Melissa, sitting at the table, gave Mitsuko a timid grin. ‘Hi.’
‘Hello, Melissa Connelly,’ Mitsuko said. ‘I came to ask a favour of Nava Ward.’
‘A favour?’ Melissa asked.
‘A
