It was a hot, summer day in the Life classroom. Students were lazily daydreaming and resting their heads while Moolinda Wu droned on about the importance of focusing all your energy into a spell; they were going into more advanced magic.
Cori Deaththorn huffed in frustration. She tapped her pencil angrily--violently--against her desk. She had learned this lesson ages ago, albeit with a different teacher. She pushed a stray strand of hair away from her face, only to have it fall back. The heat was extremely irritating, and the sweat didn't help.
She was feeling rebellious. "Professor Wu?" She threw her hand up in the air. Moolinda Wu paused in her speech and looked at her exasperatedly. "Yes, Cori? What is it this time?" She looked ready to drop dead.
"I want Sylvia back." At this Moolinda Wu's eyes flashed with anger. "That's it!" she screeched. "Headmaster's! Now!" Most of the students snapped to attention and were looking between Cori and Moolinda Wu fearfully. No one could make Moolinda Wu lose her zen-like calm. Ever.
No one, that was, except Cori Deaththorn. It was amazing, really, how she knew how to set Moolinda on edge. For one, the Life professor hated any mention of Sylvia Drake, the old Life teacher before her; how the students always wished that Sylvia were back and teaching instead of Moolinda. Most students learned very quickly that to mention Sylvia Drake was to ask for an abrupt end. They steered clear of her in any conversation with Moolinda Wu, but it didn't stop the whispers in the hallways.
Cori calmly got up and walked out of the classroom. The other students peered curiously at her as she walked by them, part awe-struck and part incredulous at her bratty behavior. No one quite knew why she had turned into a "bad kid"--she used to be the star-example of what a student should be.
But they had an inkling. She and Sylvia Drake had been close.
Merle Ambrose looked up from his stack of papers as he heard the door open and chuckled. "Why, if it isn't one of my favorite students." Cori couldn't hold back a smile. Recently, Merle Ambrose was one of the only people she could be herself with.
"Have a seat." He gestured toward the plush velvet seat across his desk. Cori plopped down and made herself comfortable. Recently, she had been coming here a lot.
Merle cleared his throat and set his stack of papers aside. "So, tell me, Cori. What did you do this time?" Worry lines creased his forehead. Again, like so many times before, Cori felt a pang of guilt. She shouldn't have been causing all this trouble. It only pained those around her and did nothing for herself, really.
But she was selfish. She needed to let out all the anger and resentment somehow.
She took a deep breath. "Sylvie." Merle nodded solemnly and patted Cori's hands with his own large ones. There were tears in his eyes, and in hers too. Sylvia had been dear to both of them. Merle sighed and wiped the tears out of his eyes.
"I miss her," whispered Cori. Merle shook his head. "I do, too, Cori. But this reckless behavior has got to stop." Cori hung her head. "What good does it do to anyone?"
Merle patted her hands. "Please think this over, Cori. Now, if you'll excuse me, I rather have much work to do..."
Cori walked out out feeling strange. There was only an hour left in the school day, anyway, and after that all the students would be bustling out of the school rooms and into various areas of Wizard City.
She walked back to Ravenwood, heading for the girls' dormitory tower. She opened the door and into Room 113. The tower was magically modified so that when you walked in the door you were automatically transferred to your room, instead of having to walk up endless flights of stairs. Besides, the other option of building up posed safety hazards. This also protected privacy and conserved space.
Cori tried to contact her cousin Sam with her standing mirror. She recited a spell and tapped the glass, which caused it to conjure up an image of him. Sam's back was to her, and he was painting something up on his easel. She knew he had been sick today, but from his posture and constant sniffling it seemed that he had gotten worse as the day progressed.
"Sam?" Sam kept on painting. "Sam!" He turned around, alarmed, before he saw that his Cori was in his mirror. "Oh. Cori. It's just you." He set his pallet down and took off his barrette, which he wore ridiculously. He looked rather down, she realized. From the streaks on his face it looked like he had been crying.
She could guess what had happened. "Sam," she groaned. "Is it Angela?" Sam turned away, covering his face with his smock. "No."
"I know when you're lying."
"No you don't."
Cori rolled her eyes and petted Charlie, her unicorn, who had scampered over. She sat down on her bed. "Sam, what did she do this time?" she asked angrily. Sam looked down. "It's just...I thought she was different, you know? But then I caught her holding hands with Brian GriffinFist in the Commons again and--"
Samuel Shadowhunter had a rather petty romantic life. It was almost comical, how unfortunate he was in the dating department. He had terrible luck with these things and often would only last for a week with a girlfriend. Cori found it all rather amusing, but sometimes he was genuinely hurt.
Now that Sam was out of the way, she could even see what he had been painting. It was Angela Lifeblossom's portrait, her delicate nose pointing up and her long, blonde hair flowing past her shoulders. She groaned.
Just then her whole dorm started shaking. All her pets squealed and ran frantically for shelter. The mirror was knocked on its side and Cori fell off the bed. "Oomph." She was laying on the floor, and the shaking was so violent she had bounced under the bed. In the mirror she could see Sam running out of his dorm. She crawled out from under the bed and ran outside, wondering what had happened.
Her face drained of color. The sky was a menacing dark gray with purple clouds. Lightning struck everywhere, and multiple severe thunder storms were scattered around the sky. There was a tornado tearing through Ravenwood, shaking all the schools' trees violently, but that wasn't the worst of the problem. Students were screaming and running everywhere. Most retreated to inside Bartleby. Some pushed pass Cori and some other gaping students into the safety of their dorms. Others ran frantically toward the tunnel that lead to the Commons.
She could see why.
Malistaire. She couldn't, however, comprehend what she was seeing. Professor Malistaire, the Death professor, was standing tall up on a piece of land ripped out of the ground that was floating high above the schools' roofs. Lightning surrounding him. He held his staff. There was a steely glint in his eye.
"Merle Ambrose!" he shrieked. His voice was magnified so that it boomed as loud as the thunder. Cori couldn't believe her ears. Quiet, gentle Professor Malistaire. Shrieking at the top of his lungs. Standing on a torn piece of land. Conjuring up storms to destroy Ravenwood. "You have not allowed me to use my power to bring my wife back. You have failed to save her. All of you. All of you! Unworthy of learning Death magic! Imbecilic fools! I swear today that I shall get my vengeance, for me, and for Sylvia. I will come back one day, Ambrose, and until then..."
Cori watched, transfixed, as he raised his staff. Lightning shot out from it and surrounded the Death school. It was torn out of the ground and lifted up into the sky. She fell down from the tremors this caused. She couldn't believe it. She never knew he was this powerful. Powerful, sure. But not enough to destroy everything in Wizard City.
"Malistaire," said a deep, slow, booming voice. "Stop this. You will regret it one day. It will not bring back Sylvia," said Bartleby.
Malistaire scowled from his post. "And you. I never liked you, Bartleby." He raised his clenched hand up and Bartleby's right eye was torn out of its socket and flew into Malistaire's hand. "I'll be keeping this." With one final clap of thunder, Malistaire vanished in a flash of light. Suddenly, all the storms evaporated and stopped. The tornado simply vanished. The Death school was gone. Bartleby's right eye was gone. Malistaire Drake was gone.
Cori Deaththorn fainted.
When she woke up again, it was late afternoon. Orange sunlight streamed in from a window on Cori's right and onto her body in streaks. She groaned and lifted up her right arm to look at it. "What--wha?"
"Sshhh, shhh. Rest," said a soft voice. Cori stirred. She tried to sit up and turn around to her left, but the effort it required was surprising. She gave up halfway and settled for having only her head facing the left and her body slumped slightly to the left.
"Professor Moolinda?"
Professor Moolinda set down a tray of green tea on the end table next to the bed Cori was lying on. "Shh, child. You never knew how to be still." Moolinda smiled wryly. She handed blew on a cup of tea before handing it to Cori. She turned again and took it gratefully, although she'd never liked tea. She nearly sloshed it down her front though, because she was drinking it so eagerly. It felt like she hadn't eaten in days.
She saw Moolinda Wu watching her out of the corner of her eye. She felt embarrassed and humiliated about all she had done to torture her. It was wrong, she knew. Moolinda didn't deserve it. Really, she was nice, gifted even. Cori had always felt a need to hate Moolinda Wu; she couldn't really explain it. But she knew it was illogical. Unreasonable. Unjustified. She had been horrible to Moolinda.
And yet here she was, taking care of her.
I'm sorry, she wanted to say. I'm sorry for all I did to you.
But she couldn't force the words out of her mouth. Instead she had to suffice with looking at Moolinda guiltily out of the corner of her eye.
"What happened?" she asked after she had finished gulping down her tea.
"You fainted, Cori. It's a good thing your cousin and his friend Mark had found you, or else you would have been trampled to death by the panicked students. You're already badly hurt from the tussle that followed the death school's...uprooting. You've been out for three days."
"Oh." Her lips formed the word silently.
"What...what happened after? When Malistaire..."
"The headmaster wants to speak to you about that."
"What about the life lessons? Don't you have to teach?"
"All classes have been canceled and students have been urged to stay home. We're...on high alert, see, in case...well. The headmaster will explain. But the classes have been closed until further notice. Don't worry."
Cori sighed and tried to make herself more comfortable. She wanted to go back to sleep. She was too tired to ask questions, really, although in normal circumstances she would have shooting off questions like bullets.
"Sylvia...was a good friend of mine, you know." Cori's body ached every time she so much as breathed, but she whipped around so fast she dropped her cup. "She was?" she asked, eager to learn more about Sylvia.
"Yes," sighed Moolinda. "She was an old colleague back when we were studying in MooShu. When she visited after she graduated it was always 'Cori this' and 'Cori that.'" Cori felt pleased, secretly, on the inside. "She would always joke around about how I should come down to Wizard City and teach Life. She'd always say that I was going to steal her job someday, or at least take it when she was gone or retired. I just...I never wanted it to be like this.
"But Cori, Sylvia was a remarkable woman who was full of love and optimism. She wouldn't want you to be angry and sad about her death. She would want you to move on and keep on living the rest of your life. With gusto and enthusiasm. Not wallowing away mourning something that will never change."
At this Cori flared up. She turned away angrily and took back every apology she had said in her head. Who was Moolinda Wu to think that she could say what Sylvia would think? Who was she to say how she should deal with Sylvia's death, to disgrace it and put it off as if it was nothing and just go on with her life as if nothing had happened, when in reality something had torn away inside of her? Something deep and irreplaceable.
She felt like smashing the teacup on the floor, but restrained herself by gripping it tightly.
Moolinda seemed to sense her distress and dropped it. "Did Sylvia ever tell you about the time she and Malistaire nearly killed Cyrus Drake?" The corners of Cori's lips twitched up.
They moved on to lighter topics; the next lesson in life class, how everyone was doing, favorite artists, books (they both enjoyed world-renowned author Sarah Spritheart and discussed her upcoming new series) and mostly, Sylvia, Sylvia, Sylvia. Her favorite colors (green and blue), her favorite drink (green tea), her favorite spell (seraph), and books, always books. Something Moolinda, Cori, and Sylvia all had in common was their love of reading.
Cori laughed so much that her ribs hurt (although really they were so delicate right now almost any movement hurt them). Moolinda nearly had tears in her eyes.
They talked for hours, until it was lights-out. Moolinda said good-bye to Cori and turned the lights off. Cori waved weakly and soon was out cold.
When she woke up again, she saw the grinning face of Samuel Shadowhunter peering at her. "Cori!" he cried joyously. Cori blinked groggily. She tried to sit up and saw star bursts popping before her eyes. It was hard to focus, but when her eyes adjusted she could see Sam's friend Mark DarkCrafter watching her from a chair next to her bed.
"Wha--what...?" She put a hand to her forehead to keep the world from spinning. She blinked and closed her eyes. When she opened them again the world was clear.
Mark grinned impishly from his seat. "You drool when you sleep." Her face reddened. She looked down quickly at her hands.
Sam ignored him and bounced up and down happily. "Cori, guess what?"
"What," she said flatly. He took no notice of her tone of voice and continued his little dance. "We're going to track down Malistaire!"
She nearly choked. "Wh--what?" She looked at him in disbelief, her face drained of any color. Sam paused and looked at her quizzically. "What's wrong?" he asked. Cori was at a loss for words. How could she explain the feeling of dread at the bottom of her stomach when she could barely understand it herself? She felt a cold, dark fear that made her skin crawl at the prospect of meeting Professor Malistaire again. It was baffling; Professor Malistaire had always been malevolent before this, and she was sure that he had just had a fit out of grief for his wife. It was perfectly understandable, to her.
And yet why was she so scared?
Sam started bouncing again. "Ambrose's picked us to go find Malistaire and talk some sense in to him--you know, bring him back," he said excitedly. Cori felt a rush of belief, although it was small. The color went back in her cheeks. She was aware of Mark watching her intently and was faintly embarrassed--she must have looked like a wreck.
"Why us?" she said faintly. Sam shrugged. "I guess we're his favorites, or Malistaire's, or something. But we get to go to Dragonspyre early!"
Cori wrung her hands nervously. "I don't know..."
Mark smiled lazily, showing his sharp canines. "I can already go to Dragonspyre. It's okay if you guys want to go without me, if my presence is what's bothering you, Cori..." He winked.
Cori blushed furiously. "No, I'll go. Sheesh. When do we have to leave?" She was still sore all over and it would have been a miracle if she could cast an imp. "In an hour," said Sam, grinning widely. He took a seat next to Mark. "Are you kidding me?" she asked in disbelief. "Nope. Want me to help you pack?" asked Mark with a roguish smile. Sam elbowed him. "No hitting on my cousin. Gross." Cori rolled her eyes and sighed. "Am I even allowed out of the hospital?"
Sam nodded eagerly. "They just let you out this morning."
Cori sighed and stepped out of bed onto the cold, hardwood floor. Her feet felt bare and exposed, cold. She stumbled for a little bit and Mark and Sam rushed forward to catch her. She wanted to say thanks, but instead snapped, "I'm fine." She wobbled uncertainly and stumbled again. Mark caught her from behind her and tsked.
"My, my, Cori. At this rate we'll be in Dragonspyre in no time."
She scowled. "Just help me get to my dorm."
Once Cori had changed back into her regular robes, she met up with Sam and Mark in front of Merle Ambrose's house.
Sam greeted her happily. "Cori! There you are!" Mark rolled his eyes. "We've been waiting for forever." Cori resisted the urge to kick him. "Are we going in or what," she grumbled. Mark nodded and knocked on the door. They all waited expectantly.
---
MY GOODNESS. I'M FINALLY DONE!
*collapses*
Yes. I know. It's terribly boring and horrid but I just wanted to post something and get it over with. I couldn't go on with procrastinating this forever. Yeah. It's horrible. I just wanted to sort of end it all. I'm getting really tired of this. And I know it took WAY longer than I promised. I don't have any excuses. I procrastinated. I hardly edited. I didn't do any writing at all between a few days after I posted the preview and now.
I'm eating Swedish Fish.
