Chapter Nine

Greatness? Seriously? I'm a thief. A murderer in progress. Her maternal instincts are way off. I hate the word greatness. Mama's great.
“Ja." Sure, Mama.
Kaseke and I share the look. It's the yer-Mama-is-gonna-be-so-disappointed look. I fork the uneaten pancake and look around the green kitchen to avoid mama's curious eyes. I gesture to my brother to get me out of here. I want to go to school.
"Steel," Kaseke says from the doorway. "Look, we gotta go. Ya and Mama can chit chat later. Ma, lock the door, stay inside and don't let anybody inside, ya hear me?"
He means the essence thief.
Mama waves him off. She's not afraid of death; the sword she barely ever touches gave her the rarest gift of reversing it.
"I'm serious. There's a thief out there looking to kill. On arena day, bad things have been known to happen.."
Mama rolls her eyes and with good reason. "We have Guardians.”
Guardians are Wendigos. Seven feet tall, fast, indestructible with dagger shaped talons. They stand watch day and night. Noddon is safe. Well, used to be safe before this person started stealing magic.
"Don't go looking for trouble," she tells me.
"Ja Mama."
I don my jacket and Kaseke and I head out into the blistering heat. The clatter of my steels is unnerving. I wish I could wear the clothes Sabonis girls wear, a dress perhaps but where would I hide my sword? Of course another downside would be that mere fabric can't protect against blade. There are always people involved in a friendly dual here and mistakes are prone to happen.
Whispers follow us from the moment we leave our house. People fly down their dragons and line up to see me. It is lucky that I have a date with D'ziko to look forward to, because the staring is a part of stealing the Bakantwa that I can do without.
I wish they'd stop, I'm still the same Imani they saw yesterday before I picked up my "sword".
"Hey," Kaseke says, reaching for my hand. "Slow down, will you?"
"Not with these people staring," I tell him.
"If we keep this pace, I'll be smelling like rotten fish by the time we get to school."
I look over my shoulder at him. "Hurry, please."
He keeps up a string of complaints as we dash through the forest. The others lack behind as they find a new obsession: the tree of life. The fruit has changed color too, from violet to a shocking red. I want to stop too and admire the gold leaves, the blue trunk but I know better. I'm certain if a pirate were to stumble upon these leaves, he'd pick them, stripe the tree bare. His treasure.
The school comes into view. The buildings are maroon and announce Noddon Academy of Magic in bold white letters.
I scan the play grounds and the first thing I see is D'ziko Gabada. He is petting his dragon in the back. It makes a screeching noise before it lifts to the air. There's a gush of air as it takes off. It's wings are enormous. They flop higher still. His dragon sputters fire unto the sky and the gasps and murmurs begin. We feel the heat immediately. Everyone turns to stare at his masked face while it seems he can't take his eyes off me.
Suddenly, he screams my name in alarm and starts running toward me when a black Dragon flies straight at me. My eyes widen in horror. I dodge to the left. Still it hits me, hard. I'm jolted towards the gravel and hit my head on the stone floor with enough force to crack my skull. The shattering crunch seems to be coming off a car crash. Kaseke slams on his bottom and scrambles to get to me.
For a few seconds, I can't see anything except the firecrackers that seem to exist only behind my eyes.
His hand finds mine. Blood makes his grip slippery. I rub my eyes to get them to focus again.
The dragon comes back but this time it's too fast, like a bolt of light. It roars, I kick blindly and hit it on the side of its neck which only makes it angrier and it picks me up by its hid legs, it's talons dig into my shoulder blades. I scream.
D'ziko leaps into the air and holds on to one of its wings. The black wings starts turning a glowing gold, same as my wound when I was burnt by the bakantwa. The creature screams, spinning widely among the trees. It is going to hit the tree but it let's go of me and D'ziko catches me. I land on top of him in the ground.
"Imani, Imani...?" he asks. "Are you okay?"
I touch the back of my head and groan.
"Okay, okay," he says and he takes off his shirt and places it on the back of my head. "Just... try to relax."
I try to sit up, and the trees spin dizzingly, and I clutch his arm to remain steady.
"Easy," he says as he helps me maneuver into a standing position. "There, now. Careful. Careful."
He let's go of me and I don't topple over. I take a precarious step toward him.
"Would you like some water?"
I shake my head. "I'm fine."
My brother finds us first and it seems he's brought the whole school with him.
There's mayhem, people shouting at each other. At us.
"Someone get her to the nurses room," someone instructs.
"Wouldn't it be wiser to call her mother?" someone else asks.
Another cuts in angrily, "Her mother is not a healer."
"Arguing won't do anyone any good."
Kaseke sandwiches my face in his hands. "Steel, can you hear me?"
I try to nod but the pain hits me so hard I whimper.
"Should I take you to the healer? To mama?"
I shake my head.
"Can you hear me, Imani?"
"Yes," I croak.
"Steel, talk to me, are you okay?"
D'ziko eases me out of Kaseke's grip.
Kaseke pushes past him and digs his eagle’s nails into my shoulder and shakes me. To get my attention I suppose. It's already on him anyway, or rather the pain shooting up my arms. With how hard he's shaking, I'm quite certain I'd make a bobblehead jealous. The last thing I need, on top of everything else, is a paralysed neck.
"Ow, I'm fine, Kaseke, D'ziko."
D'ziko smiles in relief. "You can be so stubborn sometimes, can you walk?"
I roll my eyes and his smile widens.
"You're sure?"
I nod. "Positive. Now leave me alone."
"Steel..?" Kaseke stares in my eyes, his wide with horror. "Did you see the driver?"
My body goes cold. "Papa?"
His answering smile is bleak and disappears immediately.
I don't want to overuse my imagination but was that really papa? If so, why'd he try to kill us?
Someone hands me merryz juice. I mouth my thanks.
Mama and a couple of teachers elbow and angrily shout their way through the crowd. The moment was humiliating enough without my mother here.
"Imani!" she yells in panic when she sees the blood. "Baby, who did this to you?"
She removes the hair strands on my face and splashes kisses all over me. "Oh, honey, I'm so sorry."
I prey her hands off me. "Mama, please." I look around me. "I'm fine."
I'm speaking through clenched teeth.
She turns to Kaseke and D'ziko for a second opinion. My brother shrugs. D'ziko talks her through the accident. She only let's out a breath when she hears I've been offered merryz juice. Still though she removes the shirt on my wound and checks if the merryz has done it's job.
She sighs in relief. But takes my hand and fishes for my brother's. I tune her out as she says something about thanking the Gods I survived. Kaseke and D'ziko manage to get lost in the crowd. I try too but I'm not successful.
While she prays, I stare blankly at the wild onions. When she's done, she wishes me luck. She wants me to have a great day. Her wish is in vain. It didn't exactly start of on a good note, now, did it?
Kaseke gets my backpack and we walk together to the main entrance.
When we break out to the hallway, a swarm of teenagers are rendering the hallways with their silly banter and ringing, infectious laughter. They go silent. Others double back to pass me in the corridors again. This is ridiculous.
A tall girl stands in my way and plasters a welcoming face. I've seen her hanging around Kaseke before. She is the kind of girl most guys would only be with in their fantasies. I suspect her black hair has never been in need of hair straighteners. Her limbs are long and willowy. She even walks with the grace of a ballerina for God's sake! It is a body meant to model the latest fashion, not parade the hallways of Noddon Academy.
She kisses Kaseke on the lips. A French kiss with deep strokes of the tongue.
She steps back from the kiss and turns her attention to me.
Kaseke wrinkles his nose and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.
I raise an eyebrow.
He just sighs. Later, he's saying.