Chapter Nine: Prep School
Bea turned to Catherine and the two shared the same look of confusion and concern as the pods dashed off down the line. What had just happened? Why had the patrol fairies taken Curtis? The answer was obvious and yet frustrating, it was because of his wings.
Bea's mind was racing as she finally found her voice and said to her friend in an urgent tone, "They have been watching him."
"You think?" Catherine spurted out. Her face was flushed and her eyes seemed to be on fire. Catherine rarely got angry, but when it was about her brother she had shown some extreme emotions over the years. Bea grabbed her friend's hand to try to bring her back down to a calmer place.
"It's going to be OK. You know? They probably just want to tell him to stop. Don't worry," Bea pleaded.
Catherine's eyes softened a little from pure anger to frenzied concern. "Why do they watch us? It just all seems so wrong, don't you think?" Catherine kept looking around her anxiously, hoping that Curtis would appear on the next pod as the last students arrived for school.
Bea hadn't really talked with her friend so much about what some of the recent events had really meant to them. When Catherine had been stuck in the Edge and they had all learned of the patrol fairies tracking kids Bea had simply thought that it was unfair that they had been told on. But later at night, as she had sat in bed after the exhaustion set in from finding Catherine, she had thought about what it had all really meant. The injustice. The strange feeling that your privacy was constantly being invaded. The fact that the patrol fairies were about ten times worse than having an annoying brother like Steven who would occasionally barge into your room without asking. It was all so unfair, and wrong, and disturbing. And the worst of it all was that Bea had a feeling that nothing could be done about it. Bea could tell from the look on Catherine's face this morning that she had the same thoughts running through her mind.
Bea didn't even try to hide her feeling of hopelessness as she replied, "Yeah, but what can you do?"
"I don't know . . ." Catherine was interrupted by the sound of the first bell. She and Bea exchanged looks of desperation as they plodded into school and their first class of the day.
The prep school was a fairly large building for such a small number of students. The exterior was made up a dark, burnt-red brick. Scattered across it were small circular windows. At the entrance of the school the floor was tiled with marble and the walls were lined with wood paneling. It felt rich and stuffy. Bea knew that the idea was to make everyone feel special and smarter in some way, but Bea always thought that the school was too big and that the students wound up feeling even smaller when they crossed through the doors every morning.
They were in their fifth and final year of prep school. Their courses had steadily gotten more difficult and all students were facing the challenge of deciding their career so that they could be given the proper entrance exam for training school. Bea seemed to have known for a long time that she was going to try to be a flier like her mother. She had sat back and watched as some of her classmates struggled with the decision. Catherine had been back and forth on a few choices. She was so smart and skilled at so many things, she could really choose to be anything. Bea had laughed a few times over this point; how simple her own future seemed with only one choice, while her friend struggled with so many.
The fifth-year students started their day off with nature class. This was taught by Mr. Butterfield, the same teacher who had helped Curtis the first time he had flown and crashed into the school fountain. Mr. Butterfield was a very old fairy. He had insisted that he be allowed to continue teaching, when most other fairies his age were moved to the island for the elderly to relax and live out their days until they reached the age to die. He was small and thin, but not frail. He seemed to have more strength in his small frame than some of the larger young students in his classroom. He had a sharp goatee that was snow white. His hair was trimmed neatly and was matched by perfectly angled white eyebrows. His eyes were brown; a soft, glowing brown that helped soften his otherwise harsh features. He almost always had a slight smirk on his face, and some students had been known to make fun of this suggesting that his mind might have been somewhere else as he would laugh and mumble under his breath. In Bea's mind, he was easily one of the best teachers she had ever known. He seemed to know literally everything, and was only too happy to share with anyone willing to listen. He did have a strictness to him. He had no patience for those who did not study or participate in class.
Bea and Catherine stumbled into class shortly after the bell hand rung and Mr. Butterfield turned his eyes to them to reprimand them for their tardiness. He had always liked Bea, and Catherine and her brother and so his gaze softened as he said in a clear voice, "Watch the time, ladies."
Bea and Catherine found their seats. Mr. Butterfield was nice, but he always insisted that students sit in order. This meant that Catherine and Curtis could sit next to each other, but Bea was left with Natalie Cooper always hovering around her. Natalie was one of Veronica's gang and had proven over the years to be quite as frustrating as Veronica, if not more so. She seemed desperate to shine for Veronica and would put a great deal of effort into harassing Bea. Today was no exception as she turned around to snarl at Bea as she got her books out.
"Where's your boyfriend?"
"What do you mean?" Bea was not in the mood to listen to Natalie this morning. Her mind was still filled with thoughts of Curtis.
"You know, your boyfriend, Curtis? I mean he does follow you and Catherine around like a pitiful dog. I always assumed you and him were together. You know, since no one else would ever take either of you." Natalie twisted around to see if Veronica was watching her and was pleased to see that Veronica was watching and had just passed Natalie a slip of paper. Bea tried to prepare herself for whatever craziness Veronica had thought to share with Natalie but was not expecting to hear the news that came from Natalie's lips.
"Guess he's being held by the Ancients. Wonder what our little moth-boy did to get taken in to see them?" Natalie's voice had grown louder with each word as she seemed to glow with happiness over the gossip she had been shown by Veronica. Bea's eyes turned to meet Catherine's. How did Veronica know? Had she been there that morning to see what happened? Bea was almost positive that they had been alone. She shifted in her chair and found Veronica staring at her. Natalie's announcement had reached everyone's ears. The early morning buzz of conversation had completely stopped as everyone tried to take in what they thought they had heard Natalie just report. After a moment of silence a frenzied murmur took over the class. Bea's anger was nearly too much to contain. She was ready with a retort when Mr. Butterfield cleared his throat and demanded the attention of the class.
The lecture for that day went surprisingly fast and Bea found herself at the end of class putting away her pencil and looking at a blank page in her notebook where she usually did her best to take notes. She hadn't been able to stop her mind from thinking and worrying about Curtis. The bell rang and the class filed out. Bea hadn't meant to be slow, but she found herself, Catherine and Veronica as the last three to leave. Bea had a feeling that this was no accident. Veronica swung her bag over her shoulder and sneered at Bea and Catherine.
"I saw you guys this morning behind the school. Moth-boy just doesn't seem to learn that it is a gross misuse of magic to let someone like him fly. I hope the Ancients don't take away his magic . . ." Veronica's speech had been made in a harsh whisper. She faked a smile to Mr. Butterfield and left the room with a strange little bounce in her step.
Bea and Catherine waited a moment to not follow Veronica too closely and then finally made their way out the door. Mr. Butterfield stopped them.
"Did Curtis do it again?" Mr. Butterfield's asked in excitement, his eager eyes sparkling.
Catherine seemed annoyed, "Yes, he did, but the Ancients took him."
Mr. Butterfield laughed. "Don't worry. They do that sometimes, especially with some
one as talented as Curtis. He will be fine. I remember when they took me in. Scared me half to death of course, but I found out it was all in my best interests. I sure wish I could have seen him this morning. I have yet to catch him at it you know. Tell him, for me, to kindly alert me the next time he thinks he might try again." He finished his last sentence with a gentle pat on Catherine's shoulder and he turned to prepare for his next class. Bea and Catherine left the classroom.
"I guess Curtis getting taken in is normal then?" Bea said with a smile.
Catherine nodded but Bea was sure her friend was not quite yet ready to let go of her worry over her brother.
"Don't worry. Mr. Butterfield said it was normal. I'm sure he's fine." Bea, on the other hand, was ready to move on with her day. Their next class was sports class and Bea was so excited she practically skipped down the hall. Right now in class they were separated into boys and girls and the girls were working on their flying skills. Some days the lessons were more focused on sports that were from below. Bea didn't particularly like some of these activities, not so much because they were not fun, but more because they took away from what she wanted to do, fly.
But today it was all about flying, and not just casual flying, but racing. Bea couldn't contain her excitement for class as she and Catherine got changed and ready. Catherine on the other hand had further wrinkled up her brow as she prepared for the class. She was clearly still worried about Curtis. She also hated flying, especially racing. Over the years she had gotten used to having her wings out in front of everyone, but she still had to deal with Veronica. Catherine easily had the smallest wings out of everyone in her class and when Veronica was in a mood, and wasn't already trying to harass Bea, she put all her energy into teasing Catherine about her wings.
Catherine was not to be the target today though. Veronica had just finished whispering to the last group of girls that Curtis had been apprehended by the Patrol Fairies and taken to the Ancients. All eyes were on Catherine as a low buzz took over the class. The class had congregated out in the field behind the school. Bea felt her body tense as she waited for the first verbal assault to be thrown. Just then Ms. Hill came flying overhead. Ms. Hill was the sports teacher as well as the flying instructor for the school. She was a very tall fairy. She was muscular and had extremely short hair. If she did not have wings one might easily mistake her for a male fairy. In fact, students had been known to toss around rumors that Ms. Hill was actually a male fairy in disguise. Ms. Hill didn't seem to mind all the unfounded gossip and just went about her job with great intensity. To be honest, Bea did not really like Ms. Hill. Her approach to teaching was a little too harsh and Bea always felt like she might be yelled at for no apparent reason. Luckily for Bea, she had always excelled at flying and the other sports that they did in class. But Bea had watched as Ms. Hill tortured some of the less talented girls in class, like Catherine. Oddly enough, Veronica, though so similar to Ms. Hill in her love of bullying, was always reprimanded for teasing the other girls in class. This one point had redeemed Ms. Hill in Bea's eyes.
The girls were to fly around the field as fast they could while Ms. Hill timed them. They had been working on making a quicker start and Ms. Hill had shown them a special technique of leaping forward, rather than up. Dashing straight out meant flying lower from the start, but also meant getting to your goal faster. This method of flying was only to be used in an open area and so in the field practicing was one of the few times Bea could really give it her all. She was so excited to get her turn around the field that for a moment the rest of the class melted away. She watched as her classmate, Holly, went ahead of her. She stepped up to the start line and readied herself for her moment.
Ms. Hill looked at Bea approvingly and gave her a sharp slap on the back. "Give it your best Featherstone! Let's beat your score from last week."
Bea bent her knees and crouched down. She placed all her weight on her heels, getting ready to thrust her body forward into the wind. Holly was just clearing the halfway point when Ms. Hill sliced her hand through the air and ordered Bea to go. Bea was like a spring and made a fierce leap out into the air. Her wings waited until the entire force of the start was used and then they began to beat methodically pushing her forward. Bea couldn't keep the smile off her face if she tried. She loved to fly, especially fast like this. She strained her eyes to see the scenery as it flashed by her. Her eyes watered up as the air pressed against her face. She saw Holly for a moment as she easily overtook her and came in to finish her lap.
Bea stumbled a little as she landed, having wanted to put as much strength and speed down to the end. She stood up and looked around, waiting for Ms. Hill's triumphant cheers bringing the news of her new record. No one was there. The entire class had moved to the back by the line of trees that surrounded the field. Bea's heart sank as she saw Veronica and Catherine at the heart of the group. Bea's feelings of disappointment for having no one to see her great flying skills were immediately replaced by a searing anger. She lunged herself into a flash of flight that brought her right to the center of the group. Bea mumbled some apologies to her classmates that she had just knocked over as she had plowed through. She was stopped short though by Ms. Hill's outstretch arm.
"Step back Featherstone," Ms. Hill barely looked back at her as she moved to place herself between Veronica and Catherine.
Catherine looked like she wanted to run and hide. Veronica looked ready to physically attack. What had Bea missed during her lap around the field? Bea tried to listen to the girls around her as they were all mumbling amongst themselves.
"I missed it, what happened you guys?" Bea asked a girl named Jennifer.
She replied with a strange smile on her face, "Catherine was getting up to the line, to race after you. Veronica played her usual card, you know, teasing Catherine about her wings."
If Bea wasn't mistaken, Jennifer seemed to find Veronica's usual verbal assaults entertaining. But then her friend, April, interjected. "Yeah, but this time she went too far. She said that. . ."
". . . maybe she needed to ask her clearly superior brother to make her some wings since the ones she has are so small," snorted Jennifer, as she repeated word for word Veronica's attack.
April stared at her friend with a small look of disbelief, "She was really relentless about it. I think she went too far Jen."
"Whatever . . ."
Bea dashed forward again trying to get as close to Catherine as she could. Ms. Hill had grabbed hold of Veronica's wrist trying to get her to stay back from Catherine. She turned her head to Veronica and asked her, "What nonsense are you yapping about Iverson? You can't make wings. Male fairies can't fly, you know that. What strange stories are you making up here about Curtis Royce?"
Veronica's smile curled into a menace as she gladly shared her story with yet another teacher, "Curtis makes wings with magic. Wings that are far superior to his silly sister's. It must be so hard to know that despite being twins, you are so much less than he is, Catherine. What little skill exists in your family obviously just went to him. Too bad it is being wasted on such a freak! And now the Ancients have him."
"Veronica, that's enough! Now, I have told you before to watch your mouth with your taunts and harassments. Get out of here and cool down inside for a bit." Ms. Hill barked.
Veronica's face turned red as she turned and flew to the building at the end of the field. Bea had an indescribable feeling of joy take over her entire being. It was so wonderful when Veronica got in trouble, sweet justice. Her eyes finally met Catherine's and she was expecting to share their usual triumphant smile as they had always done when Veronica had finally been reprimanded for her bad behavior. This time though Catherine did not look up. Tears were streaking her face as Ms. Hill gave a small push to her back.
"Come on, Royce! You're up next!"
Bea shook her head at Ms. Hill's strange attempt at bringing the class back to normal. She never did have much tact, Bea thought to herself as she watched Catherine leap
into the air and begin her lap. The class bell rang and most of the girls started hustling in to change. Bea waited back a bit to meet up with Catherine who was walking towards Bea after just having crossed the finish line. Catherine's face was stained with dried tracks of tears. It was obvious she had been crying while flying. Bea never knew exactly what to say at times like this so she put her arm around her friend, gave her a squeeze, and walked with her towards the school.
When they made it into their next class a surprise awaited them.
"Curtis!" Catherine hugged him and started bombarding him with questions.
"Calm down, calm down, OK? I'm OK. Really, I am. Embarrassed, but OK." Curtis was literally holding his sister down with his hands gently pressed against her shoulders.
Bea was so happy to see her friend and she had tons of questions as well, but unfortunately for all three of them, the bell rang for the start of their next class.
Magic class was easily one of Bea's least favorite, only to be eclipsed by her complete hate of practical magic, fourth period. It did not help that Mr. Wahlstrom4 was one of the worst teachers to ever be allowed into a school. It was oddly an accepted fact amongst all students and even parents that Mr. Wahlstrom lacked the skills needed to be a teacher. He knew his subject; however, he had no command of the classroom and no power in his voice that would normally draw the students to listen. He wasn't exactly boring. In fact he was very talkative. His favorite subject to talk about was himself and he would start his lectures with fact that then quickly slipped into a side story about some greatness he had achieved in his not so recent past. He took great pleasure is proving his superiority to all those in his classroom. The theory of magic was taught in his classroom and then Mrs. Ironwood brought everything together with the application of these theories in the practical magic class. One would assume that being a teacher of magic, that Mr. Wahlstrom himself would possess some fairly decent abilities. Hearing his stories one would think he had superior high-grade dust pulsing through his veins. There was a rumor that many believed to be true that Mr. Wahlstrom had in fact barely cleared into the regular grade of dust and that his test results had been tampered with or a bribe had passed to bring him a higher level for his certificate. Mr. Wahlstrom was careful to not let it be known that he was not very gifted in magic. Very little magic was ever preformed in his classroom and he would often suggest that anyone who wished to try out the magic they were learning in class were to wait until the next class to do so. His vanity was so self-consuming that he had made it a hobby of his to ridicule and torment any student that showed true abilities in magic. His favorite target was then, of course, Curtis. Mr. Wahlstrom actually paid little attention to Catherine. He, like so many other fairies, didn't think much of female fairies and magic.
Mr. Wahlstrom walked into the class and scanned the room. Bea sat down dejectedly wishing she had just a small moment to talk with Curtis. When Mr. Wahlstrom's eyes fell on Curtis, his entire face lit up. He rushed over and grabbed Curtis by the arm before Curtis had time to sit down. He then pulled Curtis next to him in front of the classroom, released Curtis' arm, and took a couple of steps to the side to distance himself from Curtis. Mr. Wahlstrom cleared his throat.
"Class! Please be seated."
Normally, this call to attention was ignored the first few times it was uttered, but with Curtis standing next to him, Mr. Wahlstrom found he had the focus of the classroom on him from the start.
He continued, "Now, today we have a chance to learn a very important lesson. Have I not spoken on numerous occasions about the risk of performing magic too soon or challenging oneself to magic that is clearly beyond one's abilities? Have I not told you of the great care that I took when I was your age, bursting at the seams with intense magic ability. I held back to ensure that no mistakes were made, I held back to make sure that my light did not shine too brightly and bring those around me into shadowed darkness?"
Bea was half listening to Mr. Wahlstrom's ramblings when Catherine, who was seated directly behind Bea, tugged on her shirt and whispered, "This is not going to be good."
Bea wasn't really sure what Catherine was hinting at, but then she started really listening to Mr. Wahlstrom and saw the way that his words caused lines of panic to take over Curtis' face.
Mr. Wahlstrom began his interrogation. "Now, Curtis, please tell the class where you have been this morning."
Curtis looked at Mr. Wahlstrom with pleading eyes, but being met with no compassion he was left to reply. Curtis' voice was small and barely audible to the students sitting in the back of the room.
"Again, Curtis! In a clearer voice, please."
Curtis straightened up his shoulders with a look of determination and Bea couldn't help but smile. "Sir, I was taken to the see the Ancients at the Great Hall."
Mr. Wahlstrom nodded his head in a sadly disappointed manner. "Can you tell us what terrible thing you did to need to be apprehended by the patrol fairies and taken in to be interrogated by the Ancients." Mr. Wahlstrom's loaded question had its effect as the class bristled with anticipation of Curtis' confession of wrong doing.
This time Curtis seemed ready to reply and said clearly, "I was using magic to make wings . . ." Curtis paused for effect before adding, ". . . for the thirteenth time."
Everyone in the classroom gasped, Bea included. She had no idea that Curtis had been successful in making wings that many times. She had only seen him a few times and to think that he had been successful on thirteen different occasions was awe inspiring. Bea wanted to share a smile with Curtis, but she found that he had chosen a spot on the wall to stare at, rather than losing his nerve by making eye contact with his classmates. But Mr. Wahlstrom was not going to give up so easily. He shook his head and walked around Curtis and found his new position to his left. He turned to the class and tried to unnerve Curtis with further questions. "So, this is nothing new to you? You must be so proud to have such a general lack of concern for your well-being as well as those around you. You clearly do not care that your egotistical act has selfishly left behind your hard working sister to be the subject of taunts and harassment as she is dragged into your spotlight of bad behavior. "
With the mention of Catherine, Curtis' shoulders fell and his general attitude seemed to shrink. Bea was screaming cheers of encouragement from inside her head.
Mr. Wahlstrom continued. "Do you care that what you have been doing, not just once for fun, but repeatedly for thirteen times, is illegal?"
"I. . . "
"Do you care that your selfish use of your magic abilities is being wasted on such a vain endeavor as making your own wings?"
"Now. . . "
"Do you care that while you are flitting along outside having fun flying like some sort of freak of nature, your sister, your family, are left behind to try to endure the shame of knowing that they are unfortunately stuck with you as a member of their family?" Mr. Wahlstrom finished this final statement by bringing his gaze to Curtis'. They stared at one another for what felt like an eternity. Bea's head was heavy as she felt ready to burst out in defense of her friend. Curtis did his best to hold the stare.
"I'm sorry." Curtis said in a determined voice. Curtis' gaze had shifted slightly to Catherine and his apology was in no way meant for Mr. Wahlstrom. Mr. Wahlstrom didn't even pay any attention to the fact that Curtis' apology was spoken to Catherine.
Mr. Wahlstrom practically succumbed to a little dance of joy as Curtis voiced his confession. "Thank you Curtis, I am glad to hear that you are taking some responsibility . . ."
"I was apologizing to my sister . . ." Curtis interrupted Mr. Wahlstrom as he finished, ". . . not you, sir."
Curtis still stood tall and actually flashed a true smile in his sister's direction as he sat down and got his books out for class. Mr. Wahlstrom was watching Curtis carefully and his satisfied grin had melted into a sneer. The entire class could feel the tension run through the room like static. Mr. Wahlstrom turned around to face the class a
nd declared, "Surprise, class! I have a secret test waiting for you all today! Put your books away and get out a pencil."
Bea tried her best to plough through the surprise test that had been forced on the class. Bea had no doubt in her mind that this test was the only weapon Mr. Wahlstrom still held in his battle against Curtis. Mr. Wahlstrom's desired effect could be seen on some students' faces as they stared in anger at Curtis, hissing threats. But Bea was surprised to see that some students had clearly experienced a change in opinion. Curtis, for as long as Bea could remember, was always the target of teasing. Without the help of Veronica and her gang, other students, especially boys, had all taken a shot at Curtis at one time or another. The most obvious display of this had been when Curtis had fallen into the school fountain. Bea had been shocked to find literally all the students joining in on the chanting and teasing. Bea searched the classroom and saw a couple of faces sharing a smile with Curtis. One boy nodded his head in approval, and then tried to catch Curtis' attention as well. A small silent victory rippled through the classroom and Bea knew that something monumental had just happened for Curtis.