Rising Shards

Once again, it felt like my whole world had been upended, and I still had to turn my homework in the next day like nothing happened.

“Not your best work, is it?” Ms. Letoh asked as I handed my assignment in.

“Well!” I almost snapped, surprising myself for talking back to a teacher so easily.

“That was a poor attempt at a joke, sorry,” Letoh said. “I don’t think anyone is putting their best work in at the moment.”

I sat down at my regular spot in social studies, most of the class in a funk already.

It felt like everything had been turned upside down. A void storm, Mom showing up, Penteldtam getting fired, Kitty becoming the new principal, Caya punching her way to announcing that she’s also the principal now, a bunch of super powerful Cani showing up and now being the focus of the entire school…it nearly made my head spin.

We were already reeling from everything prior, but I wasn’t completely knocked off my feet like I was when my parents hit me with beast tendency, or when we fought Jeans, or the other big life events thrown my way over the last few months. Maybe we were all just preemptively bracing for this for so long, like we knew a bunch of big stupid junk was coming and tensed up in preparation, making it hurt less?

Some people, however, were a bit less dour about the shake up. For example, Tay was seated next to me, scribbling onto one of her tomes that tracked all the social happenings around the school.

”So, um,” I said. ”I bet you’re pretty excited about all this, huh?”

”Ohohoho, I can barely keep up,” Tay said. ”I haven’t even caught up with the Wildfire Hearts arrivals, and now we have mysterious newbies? Caeda stepping forward is something I hadn’t predicted, but she could finally be getting that importance she so desperately craved. Many suitors could be on the prowl for her now. The other ones do already.”

”You think so?” I asked.

”Oh, I know so,” Tay said. ”I’ve already heard from six girls from class BA who are each planning on asking at least one of the devil girls out to the dance.”

”Really?” I said. I could tell there was buzz around them, but wondered if them attacking Penteldtam would make people more afraid of them than anything.

”Well, just devils, as the group is not entirely girls,” Tay said. ”And yes, they’re effectively rockstars now. Exciting, sexy, thrilling new folks who beat up the principal and got away with it? Of course everyone is going to be enthralled by them.”

”What do you know about the devils, exactly?” I asked.

”I’ve done some research, sent some feelers out,” Tay said.

”Did you talk to them already?” I asked.

”Mhm. Briefly.”

”And they didn’t hit you or anything?”

”They said they’d wait til the ’official bout’ this week where their powers will be tested against ours to strike any students,” Tay said. ”But I would not be surprised if someone tries to fight them before that. As for what I know...”

Tay cleared her throat, grabbing a different notebook than the one she was scribbling in, muttering as she turned pages until she got to one with printouts of the devils taped onto them.

”Myles Althea,” Tay tapped on the picture of Myles, that looked like it was taken of her passing by in a hallway. ”Apparently was big in the treasure hunting game in her world. I was told she can fly a plane.”

She flipped the page before I could ask any follow up questions.

”Ash Althea,” This picture looked like it was taken maybe a centimeter away from Ash’s face, who did not look pleased to have a camera that close. ”Myles’ sister. Seems to be a gentle sort from early impressions. Honestly, both Althea sisters don’t seem to have the temperament of someone who would beat up Penteldtam, if you ask me the devils were even more coerced into that than we’re lead to believe.”

”Maybe they are actually nice?” At least, that’s what I tried to say, but Tay cut me off right away.

”But! They could just want us to think that to lull us into a false sense of confidence. Moving on!” Another page turn. This picture was so far away I could barely make the person out. ”Sai. No last name? Apparently no last name. And no past either, as they can’t remember anything about their past. They have a blank slate ahead of em, and I’m curious how they’ll fill it.”

”Hm,” I said. Sai was also the one who apparently didn’t join in on the fights. I wondered if they’d be the best person to start with in trying to befriend the devils.

”Next!” Tay said, snapping her fingers in front of my face for me daring to space out for about five seconds. ”Esther Corde. It sounds like she was the leader of the team before, but they have Caeda, P.D., and Chickadee now, one of those will probably take on that role. It remains to be seen how Esther will respond.”

”And lastly, Charmaine. According to her, she was a princess in her world, but her kingdom was wiped out by the baddies. Bummer, right? Maybe that is fueling her desire for revenge.”

”Why revenge?” I asked. ”We didn’t do that, did we?”

I didn’t know if I could handle it if it turned out that through our void adventures that we’d accidentally done something horrible.

Tay shrugged. ”I don’t know what they were up against, but she could also have a desire for rage-filled vengeance that she is mistakenly taking out on our school. I’m kind of guessing with her, I didn’t actually talk to her yet.”

”Huh,” I said. ”Well, thanks for the updates anyways.”

”Of course,” Tay said. ”Think about this, Zeta. This devil situation is just for us first years.”

”Oh, right,” I hadn’t thought much about how the other grades would be getting powerful visiting groups as well. It hopefully wouldn’t affect us too much.

”Think of what the others will do for the seconds through fourths! I need to buy more books.” She gasped, then repeated herself. ”I need to buy more books.”

Tay gathered her things, zipping past me moments later.

”Um, Tay, class hasn’t started yet—” Letoh said as Tay bolted out of the classroom. ”I should probably go get her so she doesn’t get another skipped class penalty.”

”Definitely should,” Maia said.

”We’ll hold down the fort, boss,” Iris said.

After debating it internally, Ms. Letoh did decide to go after Tay, but said if she wasn’t back in five minutes that one of us would have to go get her. Lillia and Amara both volunteered for that job.

Iris was in the row in front of me, with Maia on her left and Marmalade on her right. Kalei was next to Marmalade, resting her head on her hand as she looked like she was struggling to stay awake.

Kalei was cagey about what she saw Syval and Aira up to the day of the talent show, which had us worried. She was definitely hiding something, because she was even sleepier than usual. Kalei was the type to really made sure you knew when she was in closed off mode and didn’t want to be bothered, and it made me wonder what she got into that had her that way.

According to her, she followed Aira and Syval outside then got stuck dealing with the void storm all day. That would explain her being tired, because from the footage I saw of the storm a lot of junk fell from the sky from the void. But why be all secretive about it? I couldn’t really pry too much, as I had plenty I didn’t tell Kalei about right away. I hoped she’d tell us soon.

”Anyway, where was I?” Iris said. ”Oh, right! You seriously should’ve seen it, the blue haired sisters did a freaking double suplex on Penteldtam!” She laughed so hard she snorted.

”Did they really?” Marmalade asked.

“No they didn’t, it was just Caeda with a frying pan and the devils stomped on him a bit,” Maia said.

”Stomping is still pretty dangerous,” I said.

”I think like half of them missed,” Maia said.

“Well, still, it was hilarious,” Iris said.

“And I think their hair is more turquoise colored,” Maia said.

“Turquoise is like basically blue!” Iris said.

”Hold on, I got a pic of them...” Marmalade said.

”What, you’re their photographer now?” Maia asked.

”Turquoise is basically blue, I’m telling you,” Iris said.

”The school’s Friendliest page posted a picture of them! I didn’t take the picture!” Marmalade said.

”Turquoise!” Iris clapped. ”Is! Basically! Blu—”

The class went deathly quiet. It wasn’t hard to tell why. Caeda Firae stood still, soaking in all the eyes on her.

”Don’t stop talking just because of me,” Caeda said, a wry smile on her face.

She strode forward, just as some others entered behind her. The awkward silence continued as some of her group joined us. P.D. and Chickadee weren’t along, but the new students Myles, Ash, Sai, Esther, and Charmaine were.

“Literally blue,” Iris said, gesturing to the sisters with turquoise hair, Myles and Ash.

Ms. Corinani clicked at her smart glasses as she was apparently leading them to our class.

”Kay, I brought you here, now tell the teacher what the deal is, my class is pissed that I left and I really have to get back—” Corinani stopped. ”Oh dang, where’s the teacher?”

”She abandoned us,” Iris said.

”That’s what my kids are gonna say about me,” Corinani said. ”This is a pickle. Ah well, I’m sure you can handle it. Toodles!”

Corinani sprinted off.

The devils waited at the front of class.

”I guess while she’s gone, I can talk a little,” Caeda said as everyone groaned.

”We know you already!” A girl braver than me called out from the back of class. ”Let them talk!”

I couldn’t gauge the others’ reactions as they waited behind Caeda, who decided to talk anyways, delivering a speech with so little substance it bordered on being entirely incoherent. Her group waited patiently, but they didn’t nod along or anything. How close were they? When did they become a team?

In spite of their arrival, showing up attacking Penteldtam, I didn’t really want revenge or anything against them. I was concerned about the new school initiative involving us ’training them,’ as it sounded like we were going to be fighting a lot.

I told the others I thought it might be a good idea to try and befriend them. We could maybe quell any early anger, making them less excited about doing battle with us and more interested in hanging out with their new friends. It was a longshot I knew, and one probably doomed to failure, but my gut told me I had to at least try.