of order for our next class on Wednesday so we can finalize the game structure. Your other assignment is to practice any new skill you picked up from your classmates tonight. That’s it. Class dismissed,” Miss Berg said, turning and heading for her notes on the speakers podium.
I stood for a moment, a bit bewildered at what had just happened. Then I felt a shove on the shoulder, just a light one.
“Way ta go, ya bogger. Now we gotta play sports,” Ryanne said with a mock glare. The other witches and much of the class were still around us.
“I, ah, don’t know what just happened,” I said.
“I’m just codding ya on. It’ll be the craic,” Ryanne said, laughing at me.
“I don’t know, Ryanne, maybe for the earth and fire types, but how about the air and water witches?” Britta asked, arms still crossed. “No double D’s for us,” she said archly.
“Not how I see it,” T.J. said, eyeing her chest with a grin. She rolled her eyes at him, but her twin answered first.
“Damned right,” Erika said, hands on hips and shoulders back.
“Again, I was eight. But you’re witches. You’re only limited by your imaginations,” I said.
“What are you babbling about?” Erika asked.
“You’re an air witch. Show me a dust devil,” I said, holding out my handful of dirt.
Her eyes lit up with understanding, then she focused down on my hand. I closed my eyes just in time as I felt wind twist up around my hand, exploding the dirt in to a swirling column after pelting my face and chest with bits and pieces. When I chanced to open them, I found a little tornado of soil spinning on my hand. Erika wore a triumphant smile as she kept the air spinning in place.
“Think what havoc a couple of those could do to a dirt person,” I said
before turning to her sister. “Can you make a rolling ball of water?” I asked.
She looked back at me eyebrows raised in disbelief. “Don’t be absurd,” she said, plucking some kid’s water bottle from his hand and pouring a dollop into her palm.
Not a drop spilled. Instead, it globbed up into a sphere the size of a golf ball.
“Roll it through the dirt, but keep the dirt on the outside like batter on fried chicken,” I suggested.
The ball shot from her hand to my palm, rolling through the dust storm and getting coated with soil. I set it down on the floor and she immediately got the idea, rolling the ball over two kids’ feet and across the concrete before bringing it to a complete stop, then bringing it back. I scooped it up with my left hand, the mini-nado still in my right. A moment’s thought pulled all the heat from the water, leaving a perfect sphere of dirt-covered ice.
“This thing would hit like a wrecking ball,” I said. “The dirt protects it a bit from fire attacks and insulates it so it’ll last longer.” I set it into the peace lily’s pot to melt.
“My aunt is an air witch. Sometimes, if she had a few minutes, she would fly little model airplanes that I built into my game. She even rigged a few to shoot pebbles out of soda straws with a burst of air. She’d strafe my dou… dirt guys. Like I said, it’s all about imagination.”
“You keep talking about your double D’s and you be really confusing people’s imaginations,” Zuzanna said with a grin.
“Yeah, good point,” I said, now only slightly embarrassed. “Let’s get out of here; I’ve already got homework from my real college classes.”
Kids were chattering excitedly in small clumps, texting each other with idea after idea as we all began to scatter.
Outside the classroom, Caeco was leaning against a wall, arms crossed, waiting for me but looking sideways across the hall at another person.
“Ashley,” that person called out.
Both Ariel and Ashley, who were just behind me, turned to look at the woman leaning against the other wall. It was the tough-looking platinum blonde from Gina’s apartment, and she was eyeing us all pretty hard.
Caeco pushed off the wall, arms coming uncrossed, and the blonde mirrored her. I started to pull power, as it looked like something was about to go down.
“Oh, Neeve,” Ashley said, pushing past me. The blonde continued to watch Caeco although I was pretty sure she was aware of me as well, but Ashley’s obvious familiarity took most of the tension down several notches. Ashley flashed us all an apologetic glance, then