Abigail Wilhelm - Day Two

Abbey walked into school the next day with her bag slung over both shoulders the same as yesterday but today she had learned from her mistake and had pulled the door instead of pushed it. She smiled to herself. She walked down towards her locker and crouched down to her locker and inserted the key into its designated slot. She had come in early again today but this time it was willingly. She had newly found feelings for Terrance even though it was just after a day. I suppose a fight does that to people. She thought and exchanged her books that she had taken home for homework for her books for the first three periods.

The familiar shadow from yesterday appeared above Abbey and she closed her locker. She ducked out from underneath Terrance and stood up, leaving her bag on the floor. She smiled at him and waited patiently for him to exchange his books. He finally turned around and looked at Abbey a bit oddly. "Why are you smiling? You've got some s'plaining to do." He said the last part with a very bad Spanish accent impersonation.

"Okay but can we sit down in the caf." She said adjusting to the new lingo of the school. They shortened cafeteria to caf and there were other names that were different to the originals like the gymnasium which was just called Gym here. She and Terrance walked down to the caf and picked a nice secluded spot away from wandering ears. "What would you like me to explain first?" She asked him casually as they sat down.

"Well...I suppose I would like to know who that girl was." Terrance answered. "I've just got so many questions that I can’t make sense of." He said and looked attentively at Abbey.
"I know the feeling." Abbey said but continued quickly afterwards. "Her name is unknown to me or anyone that I have asked. Although we have had several little skirmishes before I never saw the right opportunity to ask." She said the last part with sneer.
"Fair enough." Said Terrance raising his eyebrows and lowering them again. "I suppose this is the big question; how could you do all that stuff? I mean I can control the little shadows that creep in the corners of our world but I've never been able to do what you did." Abbey stayed silent for a moment silently praying for something to happen and her prayers were answered a few minutes later when someone sat down at their table. "Hey, I couldn't help but...ugh...oversee your little fight yesterday." Said the newcomer. Abbey surveyed his appearance. He was skinny with unnaturally silvery hair. His fringe covered his eyes. Abbey spotted what looked to be a tattoo on his chest where the shirt didn't cover his skin. He was dressed in the standard uniform.

"Huh? We don't know what you're talking about." Said Terrance playing dumb. Ignorant. Though Abbey and said. "He obviously knows. I would just like to know how you "oversaw" our little "argument"."
"Well I've set up several barriers in and around this school. Nothing goes on that I don't know about." He said with an overconfident smirk. "I even know about ole Terry here; with slipping in and out of the shadows."
"And just who are you?" Asked Abbey enquiringly.
"I'm Sky." He said and extended his hand to Abbey.
"His real names Leslie Williams." Added Terrance teasingly.
"I thought I told everyone to call me SKY!" Said Sky angrily towards Terrance.
"You did, I just chose to ignore you." Replied Terrance in a mocking tone. Sky made a grab towards Terrance but he leaned backwards away from Sky's hand and shrieked. "Oh no! Leslie is going to kill me!" Terrance burst out laughing and Abbey suppressed a laugh but accidentally let a small giggle escape her lips and Sky's gaze immediately shot to Abbey. "Sorry." She said meekly.

Sky sat down taking deep breaths and with his eyes closed. "It’s okay." He said and opened his eyes.
"So what do you want? You know what we were doing, now what ya going to do about it?" Abbey said.
"Well I would like to join ye." Sky said with a smile spread across his features.
"Join what? We don't do anything. That was just a freak accident." She said sternly.
"There’s sure to be millions of those magic wielding demon worshipping scum." Sky said.
"Are you proposing that we hunt them down?" Interjected Terrance. "That’s just inhumane."
"Yes I am proposing that idea and if you don't agree then maybe our school would like to hear about your abilities." He said in a low threatening voice. So that’s his game. Thought Abbey.
"Fine but we do this outside of school hours." Shot back Abbey.
"We don't have to since 1) you can freeze time. 2) You've both already passed school and 3) I don't care." Said Sky.

"Okay." Abbey said a bit reluctantly. "So what grade are you? Or are you unregistered?"
"Grade 3" He replied.
"You sure you want to do this? There will be many mages that have a grade higher than you. It could be dangerous." Said Abbey slightly worried that this boy was so absorbed in his own ego that he wouldn't even consider the consequences of this impulsive activity."
"Oh don't act all high and mighty I bet you're only a 2 or 3. In fact Terry here can't be more than a 4 because of his non-magical upbringing." Snapped Sky angrily, feeling insulted.
"Actually...I'm a grade 1A and my personal evaluation of Terrance's grade would be a grade 1C-." She stated calmly.
"Ah..." Sky opened his mouth and closed it several times in astonishment. "Grade 1..." He said slowly as if testing the word.
"Yes." Replied Abbey.

***

Terrance watched the two argue and talk. He didn't understand what these "grades" were but apparently his was quite high by the sounds of it. "Err...what are grades?" Asked Terrance, interrupting their argument.
"Oh...they are sort of marks of power and skill. Each grade of power is graded with a number from 1 to 10, 10 being the lowest and 1 being the highest, then each grade of skill is measured with a letter from A to Z, A being the best and Z being the worst. You are grade 1C- which means you have a moderate amount of skill but a high level of power." Explained Abbey.
"Okay..." Said Terrance and looked at his watch and seconds later the bell rang. Terrance made to leave.
"Bye Terry." Said Sky teasingly.
"Bye Leslie." Replied Terrance in the same taunting tone and left. Abbey made to follow but Sky grabbed her collar. "You're not going anywhere. We have places to be." He said.
"But class...I didn't know you meant now." She protested and tried to break free but his grip tightened.
"We go now or the school discovers a new race." He threatened.
"Fine." She said, deflated. She cast the spell to freeze time. She looked him in the eyes. "Happy?" She said sarcastically.
"Very." He replied. "Let’s go."

Abbey and Sky walked towards the main entrance and exited the double doors. Sky grinned the whole time that they walked. "So how do you plan on finding these people you want to...hunt." She asked.
"I can sense them. Anyone below 1B I can sense. That is why I hadn't discovered you until yesterday when one of my wards started blaring." He said. "Besides I figured that you would probably be a trouble magnet and that they would probably flock to your location."
Abbey spent several hours with Sky as they walked out of the town and towards the city. So far they had found nothing and it was looking doubtful. Abbey got sick of walking and started to slow down which irritated Sky and he continuously shot her annoyed looks.

Abbey walked on with Sky until he abruptly, stopped her with an outstretched hand. Up ahead of them was a street full of shops and with a road down the centre which took a left turn but had a few smaller streets leading off it. In the middle of the road stood a small boy looking lost and bewildered. Abbey made to move forward to help the little kid but Sky stopped her. "Don't you notice anything odd?" He asked in a testing manner.
"No not at-" Abbey's sentence was cut off by a loud snarling and the loud footsteps of an animal running. She turned in time to see a large bear like creature with a dog's snout and the teeth of a shark and at the end of its body was a tail that mimicked a panthers. It was an odd mix but Abbey didn't have time to contemplate its origin as it pounced at her. She jumped right and rolled out of her jump staying crouched on the ground. Sky had a smug smile spread across his face. He withdrew a hand from his pocket and jabbed it at the creature. The creature snarled and at first it seemed that Sky's attack was having no effect but after a few short seconds its legs gave out beneath it and an invisible weight held it to the ground. It started squirming under the spell but fell limp shortly after.

Abbey stood up and walked towards Sky. "W-what was that?" She asked the fear making her voice tremble.
"Not what but who." He said and pressed his thumb to the forehead of the creature. "Decquez." The creature's fur started to fall out and the limbs and tail started to morph. When the changes stopped, where once had been a terrifying beast was now a naked adult male lieing on his front. "They are druids, common to Ireland only. There were some in stories of long ago but they were only impersonators. The real druids lived in the wildlife and avoided people for the first 20 years of their life. They learned the skills to turn into other animals and sometimes hybrids as we saw here. They are a nuisance since they don't give off a very distinct aura of magic and are practically untraceable in every way." Explained Sky.
"You sure know a lot." Remarked Abbey dusting herself off and standing up.
"I realised my grade wasn't that high so I made up for it with study and knowledge. My mom says if only I could put the same effort into school." He laughed to himself. "Well let’s go. The surge of magic would have warned all nearby mages and elementalists." He said and started to walk back the way they had come. Abbey followed behind as they walked back to school.

At the gates they parted and Abbey left for class as Sky went...to do something else she presumed. He didn't seem like the classroom type. She walked to her classes and resumed time. She took her seat and waited for the other students to sit down. Terrance sat down next to her and she remained quiet about her little adventure with Sky. Abbey went through the day with all her classes until the last period. She sat down next to Terrance just like all her other classes. Terrance looked nervous as he took out his books and waited for the class to commence. "What is it?" Asked Abbey.
"Ugh...err...want to go out Saturday?" He blurted out.
"Yeah sure." She said smoothly. She had mixed emotions about this.

Day Two down!