The Ragnix Circle

“There it is.”

“Can’t you come with me?” I asked her.

“Unless I want to make them aware of you and me,” my mum said gently. “I can’t come.”

“You trust this Turner guy?”

“No,” my mum laughed. “We know him and trust his love for my dead sister. He’s the principal and has many enemies but he’ll protect you alright.”

“Ok,” I gave up trying to convince her. “How do I get home?”

“The bus will bring you home.”

“What bus?”

“The pleb bus Ty,” my mum said. I could tell she was fighting with her emotions. “It will drop you off near the pleb dorms. Your dad will pick you up from there.”

“Sure. Sure.” I said as I got out of the car.

“Tyler.” I turned back with one foot on the spick and span pavement. “Don’t let a soul see those tattoos.”

“I won’t mum.”

I stepped out and waited for her to back away from the alleyway in which she had parked. I waved at her as she sped past me. As I was turning to leave, a train passed under my feet almost sending me scampering. This is the big city Ty, get over yourself.

The walk to this new school was not long. I stared at the iron bar gate as I walked towards the campus. I gripped my back pack tightly realizing this was new territory. A place without any friends or acquaintances. Better keep a low profile. I began to freak out as I saw the large number of cars parking at the gate.

Calm down, they are just a bunch of rich spoilt kids.

I snaked my way through the maze of cars and was inside the school campus. The grounds unlike any other part of Nodrid were lush with vegetation. The hedges were being trimmed by some invincible hand into different shapes. I wondered round the grounds looking at the gigantic building that lay in between the intoxicating grounds. It was made of full glass and I could see other students walking through the hallways in various groups. Most were chattering away as others flitted along.

I think I saw one charmed one playing around with the water in the fountains, spraying it in the face of some other students who retaliated with hot looks and curses. I passed through one of the giant arches near the entrance. Limbs of green moss snaked their way under the arches kissing my face gently as I neared the door. Most of the other students rushed through, even slapping it out of their faces. Thankfully, none of them seemed to notice me.

I walked towards the open doorway keeping my head down. I spied different cameras at the entrance of the school. I stepped in and tried following a weird looking group of students. They held their books close to their chests and were lost in some conversation about the rare chemicals found in some plant I had never heard of. Before long I was following another group, and then another. And another. It did not take me long to realize I was lost or moving in circles. Not a good way to start your first day in school. I passed a group of kids, no older than I was having given up on a following some new set of kids around. The way they dressed told me all I needed to know about them. They were pure bloods. As I walked past them, I felt a tinge of color hit my eyes. I stumbled at the effect of being nearly blinded.

“New kid Alex,” a female voice said behind me. “Better pay up.”

“Thanks for the newsflash Carol,” the voice that spoke had a tone of evil in it. “Hey newbie, come here.”

I refused to turn round and continued walking forward but before I knew it I was on the floor, my bag spilling its contents. My vision cleared and I found myself in a circle of about seven kids. All of them wore the fashions I had seen previously in the city. I ignored them and begun picking up my property before they got into it. One of them stepped forward. He had ash blond hair cut into a low lying Mohawk. His jeans were neat and appeared pressed compared to the ruffled button down shirt he had on. He spoke with authority.

“When a pure blood calls you in this school,” he said. “You answer, alright?” He dint wait for my answer and went on. “So what are you?” Still dint wait for my answer. He swiped the admittance card I was gathering from the floor. “Klaios huh…what did you do to get a transfer to the capital of capitals.”

I kept quiet avoiding any eye contact with him and ensuring I picked the last of my holobooks. My dad had given them to me saying they were not as good as parchment or paper but they would serve in this city.

“Dude don’t speak Alex,” one of my attackers said. “Can I make him begin blabbering man?”

“Go right ahead Catrick,” the leader laughed. “He must have some talent for him to get transferred here.”

As soon as those words were out of his mouth I felt some sort of worm tug at my throat. I looked around alarmed. A girl in a soft cream dress with grey knee high boots smiled at me and the worm became worms in my throat. I felt my voice box constrict with sudden pain. As the pain grew unbearable and I was opening my mouth to scream, something inside of me came alive. I felt the pain reside and a look of hate cross the girl’s face.

The pain stopped, just as the one they called Alex slammed his foot in my face. I felt my nose crack under the pressure. One of his friends squatted down next to me and poked his finger into my neck. His cold lifeless grey eyes stared at me. He stood up and placed himself right at the one they called Alex’s side.

“Damn pleb,” he snarled. “No one tries to resist magic. My father shall hear of you.”

“Never figured you pure bloods were the type to run to daddy when someone dint do what they wanted,” I croaked slamming my hand over my bleeding nose.

“What did you say?” Alex’s eyes became a shed of dark velvet as he looked at me. “You dare speak to a Le Fay, pleb. Maybe Catrick can give you another…”

“Let it go Alexander,” someone said outside the circle. “This is school that crap doesn’t work here.”

“Sure Ashlan. We might as well listen to a slave,” he said as his eyes became a normal shed of purple. “Plebs got to stick together huh…not for long though. Come on guys before this servant infects us.”

The circle dispersed but not before Alex gave me a kick in the gut and the girl, whoever she was, strangled me without touching me. Catrick smiled and winked at me as he passed leading the remaining three of their group after Alex.

“Sorry about that,” my savior was by my side helping me up.

“I dint need your help,” I coughed.

“Sure you dint,” she said. “A thank you would suffice”

“I’m all out of thank you’s if that’s the welcome I get here.”

“Oh shut up.”

I looked at her, my vision returning to normal. She had a gentle oval face with brown almond shaped eyes that reminded me of my mother. Her sand blonde hair cascaded down her face like one of the waterfalls in the nature zone of Plubit somewhere far away from here. She looked at me in a different way and I could see the anger in her eyes as she picked my bag off the floor and helped me up. Her green leather jacket was worn and begging for retirement but the red shirt she wore inside run down her torso like a flowing curtain of red Partian grass. The jeans and boots she wore were also begging for retirement, but one thing was for sure. She was pretty attractive and had no idea about it. As I stood, I observed her more sternly. Hidden by the cascading hair, a scar almost as faint as glass was visible to a trained eye or rather a magical one. It run from the corner of her left eye to her ear.

“It’s not nice to stare.” Her husky voice stopped my observations before they had started.

“Oh sorry,” I whispered.

“I’m Ashlan Naira but you can call me Ash,” she said. “Most of my friends do.”

“I’m Tyler.”

“We should get you to the infirmary,” she said her voice full of pity. “You need that looked at.”

“It’s nothing,” I said. “I’ve had worse.”

“Really, so you don’t say thank you and you believe a magically broken nose is cool. But hey,” she shrugged her shoulders. “It’s not my business but lemme warn you Tyler you’ve not seen anything like what’s about to come for you.”

“What is?”

“Alexander and his pure blood friends,” she spat. “They think they own the damn school because their parents are from the pure families.”

“How many pure families are left then?” I asked.

“You’ll learn all that in history of magic,” she said. “Come on, the infirmary is this way.”

She led me through the vast building, holding onto my hand firmly. I could not help ignoring the glances I was receiving from the other students. Most of them were nervous while others were close to sneers. With my focus taken, I nearly lost control of mind as the strings of the other minds round me begun calling out, but I was lucky when she pulled me harder.

“The number of plebs in this school is rather dwindling since the research center opened up,” Ash said. “We’re now approximately ninety five including you.”

“What happened to the rest?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “If I knew I would have that dorm filled again. But hey, you’re new, how come you’re not been in the dorm? I should have seen you around.”

“I’m supposed to move in today. I just came in today and was brought here.” I lied. She appeared not believe me. “I might be moving in around the white sections.” Thank God I had done my research on the dorms of plebs.

She paused and I could see the hint of a smile on her face from the corner of my eye. “It’s cool, you can’t dump all your shit on a stranger, and I understand that.”

“Sorry,” I said. I felt like I could trust her but I remembered my parents’ warnings. No one can be trusted in these times. “It’s complicated.”

“Sure it is Tyler,” she laughed. “We’re here. Mrs. Hapburn is rather cranky in the mornings, so just scream if she goes all physcotic alchemist on you in there.” We had stopped right in front of clean and open room. The A/C was in prime condition and I could not help shivering. The alchemists were a feared class of people and most of them enjoyed experimenting on plebs.

“I’ll do that.”

“Alright,” she said. “I guess I’ll see you around.”

“Hey wait up,” I don’t know what made me say it, but I did. “I’m new; maybe you could wait a moment and show me to my class.” I looked at my schedule which that Alex guy had dropped before sauntering off. “I’ve geo-physics up first.”

I waited for her to answer me. She seemed to be weighing me through and through with her gaze. I felt like a lab rat as she looked at me. “Fine,” she said much to my relief. She grabbed my schedule and looked at it thoroughly. “It’s not like this is going to be my first time to be late for a class. Besides, us plebs got to stick together…if only the others understood that.” She added the last part in a low voice.

“Thanks.”

I entered the school infirmary. The size of the whole thing took me by surprise. You could have fit ten of a burnt down hut in there. A glass desk with different quills and a small tablet computer, stared at me from almost three feet away. Behind the table, machines of all sorts hummed distorting my hearing. Beds laid with plain mattresses were placed at each wall and only a few of them were occupied at the moment. The white and sky blue tiles were shinning at me as the sun rays blazed through the open windows, lighting up the entire room. A lady in a grey lab coat sat staring into the tablet. Her grey hair fell over her eyes and blocked my sight of her face.

Now would not be a bad time to try, I thought as I let go of the barriers my mum had taught me on the train ride yesterday. A mass of emotions and thoughts swum into my brain the instant the barrier was down. The occupants’ strings were becoming more visible with each passing second. I tried to will myself to sort them out and zero in on the mind I wanted to see. It was a difficult process and I begun to become dizzy so I gave up and brought back the barriers.

“How may I help you?” the lady behind the desk asked me.

“Sorry,” I said.

“I’m busy here kid,” she said arrogantly.

“My nose…”

“What’s wrong with it?” she asked slyly. “Some magic trick got you in the nose. I’ve told you to watch what kind of magic you practice but none of you listens…” She stopped the torrent of words as her eyes met mine for the first time. I saw a glint of recognition there, but it disappeared as soon as it had appeared. I ignored it.

“I’m kinda new here,” I said.

“The term started almost three weeks ago,” she said. “How can you be new?”

“Ask the principal ma’am.”

“That pleb’s mind is his own,” she sighed. “Well come on,” she got up and beckoned me towards one of the beds. “Let’s get that fixed eh. I hate the fact that you are dripping your blood all over my floors.”

I walked round her table and sat on the nearest bed possible. It dint take her long to walk up to me with a small tray of weirdly colored bottles levitating at her side. “Alchemists’ work,” she said seeing my worried frown. “I’ve never liked the bloody lot. They are as bad as the plebs if you ask me.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“So what are you boy?”

“I’m…” I dint want to say pleb but I had to. “…pleb.”

“Well then,” she said. “Then just a drop of this to stop the bleeding. I don’t treat you with magic. It would be an abomination to our laws and besides I can’t imagine touching your filthy skin. Some of these people wasting time with bullying the likes of you.”

“What?”

“Yes where’d you live kid?” she asked flinching at my tone. “For one of the lower class, you use a really ugly tone. What’s your name anyways?”

“Bennett. Tyler Bennett,” I said calmly.

I felt so degraded. How could they just decide not to treat those without magic like total freaks? That explained why no one ever got alchemist medicine in the villages. It was all natural herbs and towels which different people had known. I had learnt a few of the recipes for burns, cuts and swollen eyes.

“Well Mr. Bennett,” she said cautiously getting a yellow bottle from the tray. “Don’t make this a habit. I don’t like seeing you rats in here too often; I have research funded by the state and I need to get it done.”

“I won’t.”

She placed the tip of the yellow bottle a few inches from my nose and undid the stopper. A pale green liquid crawled out and hung a millimeter from my bleeding nose. She whispered a few words which I could not make out and a small drop touched me.

I felt like a giant red ant had just bitten into my nostrils. I almost screamed, but a second drop landed on the nose tip and I could actually feel the blood solidifying. I opened my mouth to ease my breathing only for a third drop to touch my nose. This time it was not painful, but rather soothing.

“There, all done,” she said.

“Thanks again,” I said rubbing my nose to make sure it was not bleeding. It was still broken, but she looked at me with hateful eyes and I scampered off, ignoring the throbbing.

“She was supposed to fix that,” Ash said once I came out.

“Something about plebs not being treated by magic,” I said. “Along with my skin being too toxic for her to touch.”

“Damn leech,” she said rummaging through her bag. I stared at her wondering what she was looking for. What surprised me though was her awkward use of curse words in a place full of cameras, orbs and magic. Rule number one, no cursing, I thought remembering the handbook my dad had given me last night.

“Here,” she was holding a white damp hanky. “Hold this over your nose, it’ll help a lot.”

“What is it?” I asked placing the cold cloth over my nose.

“Something my mum taught me back at home,” she said. “I always carry one around since some sodding girl used magic to sprain my wrists.”

“What?” I asked. “You mean they can do that?”

“Yeah,” Ash said. “It’s not like we can do anything. Their families are too powerful to have their kids punished for asserting their rights.”

“Sorry about that.”

“What you apologizing for?” she asked pulling me along. “It’s not like you’re one of them. You’re a pleb just like me.”

I wish you knew, I thought before answering. “It’s not fair the way they treat us, that’s all.”

“You’ll get used to it, now hand back my secret weapon,” she said. “Your nose should be as good as new.”

True to her words my nose had stopped throbbing. I touched it feeling the straightness of the bone. I poked at it to be sure. “How did you come up with something like this?” In all my years in the village, I had never seen any herbalist as good as this Ashlan. “You’re sure you a pleb?”

“The alchemists might have their tricks but so do I Tyler,” she glanced a smile my way. “Those guys and their magic have forgotten some really cool properties of nature and the gardens here provide the source.”

“So you steal from the gardens?”

“Like you’ve never done worse?”

“That’s incredible Ash.” I smiled at her sarcastically. She seemed to ignore my smile and continued walking for a short distance.

“Whatever newbie,” she said stopping in front of a silver door. I had noticed us walking all this way up and until now. She held the handle bar of the door and smiled evilly. “Time for class Tyler, brace yourself.”