As Humphrey chewed on his lunch he was reading for an answer for his magic problem, alone at his table. The professor had asked him a question on one of the first spells created. He gave the answer of capturing the weather, which of course was correct, but had failed himself in not giving any greater details like the dates or who was recorded in doing this. He was brought out of his reading by whispering behind him at another table. He couldn’t avoid them for long. He ignored them and flipped the page telling himself they were just jealous of his accomplishments that he a felden was better than the geoptics. That he was better than them.

  One swore to him, but use to the mockery he took another bit of his meal. Suddenly he felt the hit of something on the back of his head, wiping it saw jelly on his fingers. Sadly to admit he was use to this bullying. It started years ago at the yearly awards ceremony. He was called up to collect a reward four times in a row. That put a target on his back. Rubbing the food from his hair tried his best to block them out. However, it was hard now that they were talking louder. He took a breath in, focusing his mind, continued to read.

  He recalled the Dra-Cast book he had read. In childhood the felden was too bullied, but stopped it quickly with a few choice blows to the face. Revenge. The word rang in his mind. It sounded good. He began his plot as he drifted to sleep on his sofa.

  His leg bounced repeatedly up and down unable to focus on anything but time. One hour before he could go down, half an hour, he got changed into fresh clothes, fifteen minutes… Thirteen…. Eight….. Five. Close enough, slamming the book shut jumped off the sofa and hurried down to the hall. Going to their usual table and splashed the potion he had onto the wood. Sitting at his table he began to wait… Only a few minutes felt like forever, the anticipation was killing him. Suddenly the rowdy group came in of five felden. He held his breath, having a sudden, deep desire they would not choose another table and clenched his fists in anticipation. After the group got their food it felt like an hour passed before they finally sat down at the correct table. With butterflies in his stomach he mumbled the spell words under his breath, suddenly aware of his volume worried they would hear him. Mind filled with the steps to complete and focus on the ice… He covered his face with an arm to look conspicuous. Glancing over as subtly as he could, he watched the table jitter and shake slightly, the group seemed to not notice, causing a jolting feeling within him. The emotion cut off his concentration of the spell. Taking a moment he tried again and suddenly the table shot up. The groups food was thrown at them before it smashed to the ground as their chairs few away. Laughter erupted as the five sat in their mess, broken chair and table parts around them, shocked at what happened. He felt a strong smile form on his lips, making him overjoyed. His chest swelled eyes wide. He did not know it tasted this good and joined in the mocking laughter wholeheartedly!

  Humphrey felt the sense of victory as he walked through the corridor, like his chest was puffed out, like he was taller, like he was stronger.

  But then his blood ran cold when he saw the bullies sprint towards him. He turned around and walked hurriedly in the opposite direction but they caught up before he could go far. A red faced felden with small, dark eyes grabbed his collar and spun his around. ‘Did you do that?!’

  His lips were stiff, like he couldn’t talk, ‘w-what?’

  Another with eye emeralds grabbed his shirt and shoved him into the wall. ‘Only you could do a spell like that, freak! It was you, wasn’t it?!’

  A knot formed tight in his throat. ‘N-no!’ He willed himself to say as hot flushes covered his skin and felt like he was being cooked in his own clothes.

  ‘Liar!’ Spat the geoptic and grasping his top and threw him to the floor. Before any of them could attack he jumped up and shoved hard past them!

  He ran to the first place his sluggish mind thought of: throwing himself against the library doors he squeezed through them and hurried down the first bookcase he could. The library was always dimly lit from the sheer size of it compared to candles they could burn so the darkness would work to his advantage. His eyes caught the Dra-Cast book poking out from the folds and cursed it. Stupid ideas getting in his head and in trouble! How utterly stupid of him!

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  Thumping himself against a dead end his heartbeat hammered horribly, waiting with battering breathes, unable to fill his lungs enough! He could hear them run down the corridors in search for him. Suddenly a flicker or movement- ‘found him!’ One shouted. His hands clutched themselves and screwed his eyes shut, wishing to be anywhere else as a terrible dread slithered deeper under his skin. He needed to get away, to vanish, to- suddenly he was weightless as he fell back into darkness…!

  His gasps echoed. He slowly realized the pressure on his back was simply the floor. Dazed, it took him a moment to understand he had fallen… fallen… fallen over what? Sickly tired from the run and fear he slowly sat up in the darkness, dust swirling around his face as he moved. Legs shaking kneeled and felt the wall which he slipped through… it was solid stone. He had fallen through the stone wall into a sealed off room. How would he…? A lump formed in his throat as he suddenly focused on reality- the second he was living in. For now he wasn’t trapped in a tomb, he was simply lost. Just lost. Which he would find his way out of and back to his room in no time…

  Daring to turn around his eyes strained against the darkness as he pulled himself to his feet. His shoes scuffed against bare stone floors as the air was thick with newly disturbed dust. His fingers brushed rough, splintered wood, some spikes almost wedging in his fingertips. Quickly retracting his fingers he noticed a candle on the side and with a quick flick it spluttered with life. Amber light revealed it to be a study. Papers were scattered about, some were layouts of the castle. The room must have been walled off a long time ago until the new teacher didn’t know of it. Then his heart fluttered at the wall of books covering an entire wall. Their spines disclosed they were not school-warranted. Forbidden magic. Picking a pristine one up it read . He lit a few candles dotted around and sat on the chair- which shattered under his weight. Now he wasn’t fat. This room must have been truly old. Flickering through every paper he could they were broadly about a more hidden location within the heart of Drocon. Reaching for some more he rusted key clanged against the floor. It was old and heavy, leaving muck on his hands for whatever resided in the centre of the land. It had a nice ornate design scratched into it. Suppose it could be a good paperweight. The writings continued to explain how it was off limits which he scoffed at. His school was beside the edge of the map within treacherous mountains. Whoever made this room clearly liked walking more than he did. But eventually worry did set in, so flicking through books for enchantments he needed to find a way to free himself from the room. Hours upon hours later he found the correct chapter. It was simple enough. Approaching the wall he imagined it splitting like a waterfall and instilled himself with the desire to leave—and just like that he pushed through the solid stone!

  When his disorientation subsided he was back in the dim library. He was all alone apart from the heavy key in his hand.

  He could not believe he was in trouble with the school. The boy sat sheepishly on a chair too large for him. His legs were nimbly swinging and scraped just above the ground. A sapphire geoptic with a far too long nose for her face sat opposite. The tea cup was warm in his palms but not as hot as his ears. ‘You know why you’re here?’

  He nodded as his throat was too dry to use. It was about the incident yesterday.

  ‘You have gone against our school policy. You will move to the Southern Wing for a few days as punishment.’ His eyes watered.    Humphrey mumbled something but she could not hear him.    ‘Remember, magic is not a tool for violence. This school is about knowledge.’

  He tried to speak up but clamped his own mouth shut.

  ‘Go.’ The professor signalled to the door.