Strains

“Thanks for helping me with this Hercules, but please do not tell Teacher about it.”

Hercules shifts the box of porcelain bowls in his hands.

“No problem, Squirt, I’m in a generous mood. Especially after, ah you know. Sorry, you missed dinner last night.”

“Don’t sweat it. I was able to snag some pretty nice ingredients when I woke up at the portal, and I didn’t have to pay Flynn a single coin.”

Best of all was that I wasn’t on Hercules’ kill list anymore and he had moved on to other targets. Instead of a kill list, he had a kill-on-sight list comprised of just one name, Theron.

Hercules is still laughing about his latest kill when we enter the back door of the kitchen.

“Just set everything over there,” Chef Floy says, thrusting the thumb to the back of the kitchen. While Hercules takes care of the bowls, I hand Chef Floy a bag.

“Teacher said you would appreciate this.”

Chef peeks into the bag and then quickly takes it from my hands.

“Tell him I said thank you.”

“You bet.”

Hercules and I exit into the dining hall and find our seats at the head staff table. Everyone is already there, and ready for dinner to be served.

“So, are we finally going to have soup again?” Ynez asks.

“You’re such an ass,” Tiffany answers on my behalf.

I settle in at the bench next to Teacher.

“How did your midterms go, Elizabeth?”

“About as well as I expected, Dean Hadden.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Ynez says.

“Ass!” Tiffany says and throws a fork at him.

Everyone at the table begins to laugh. Hercules fills a wine glass and tries to hand it to me under the table.

“How did you know I was thirsty, Hercules?” Teacher says, intercepting the drink.

“Well, I hope the rest of the semester goes even better for you Elizabeth. The winter solstice is just around the corner, and it’s a lot of fun,” the Dean says.

“She needs to focus on her studies rather than some party,” Teacher says.

“Come on, let the girl live, Matthew,” Hercules says trying to smuggle me more wine.

After dishes, I return to my room to find Teacher at his usual place at my desk.

“Everything go well?”

“As well as I can expect. I had to fight a couple of Sparks but it wasn’t too bad.”

“They sure know how to hold a grudge.”

I shrug my shoulders.

“They should use that energy to learn how to fight. See what I did there?”

He rolls his eyes and tosses me an orange pill bottle. I pop one of the pills into my mouth and throw the bottle back at him. He tucks it away in my desk.

“That should last you a month or two, make sure to take it.”

“Yes, sir.”

He gets up from the seat, but I catch him by his shirt before he can go out the door.

“Something wrong?” he asks.

“Are you really going to make me say it?”

He turns to me. “I’m trying not to listen in on your thoughts as much, so that means you have to speak up. Don’t you remember our deal?”

Of course I remember, but that doesn’t make speaking up any easier. Some things are easier to think than to say. And those some things are much more convenient for him to listen in on.

“I just wanted to ask if you could finally give me my memory back.”

“You sure?”

I nod.

“I’ve spent the last week thinking about it, and I decided that it’s for the best. I’ve accepted everything else, I’m ready to accept whatever happened to me before I died.”

He looks at me, a little nervously.

“Come on. I chose to deal with you and the rest of the academy, didn’t I? If I can handle that, I can handle anything.”