Matsias had never been on a roller coaster, but he imagined this might be what one felt like. As his first few weeks at Faraday passed and he settled in, his days seemed to violently alternate between calm, joyful, and riddled with nightmares. When he was awake, he spent more and more time with Antony, and when the older boy wasn't around, he spent time with the girls studying or reading.
Matsias had even settled into an awkward truce with Reed. He didn't go out of his way to spend time with his roommate, but he had stopped avoiding the boy on principle. He would sometimes study with Reed in their room, and they even had the odd conversation. Thus, his days improved. But his nights got worse. For every thought he had about finally achieving his dream of attending Faraday, he had another about leaving behind his family. Instead of dreaming about the fire, he dreamed about Lamel, carried away on a train, and he woke with his brother's voice screaming in his ears.
Key was right, of course. Despair was a sin, but he couldn't find a way to pull himself out of it. Sometimes, when he woke, he wondered if this was the punishment the goddess had given him for leaving behind his family.
One Nortday, when his alarm clock rang, he shut it off and laid back down, praying for just a couple minutes more sleep. A hand shook him awake. "Mat?"
Matsias rolled over and blinked his eyes. A man with long hair stood over him, and for a moment, he thought it was his father. As he sat up, he realized the man's skin was too pale, and when he put his glasses on, he saw Reed.The other boy was fully dressed, with his school back slung over one shoulder. "Are you alright? Do you need to go to the infirmary?"
"I'm fine. What's going on?"
"You slept in. Class starts in ten minutes."
Matsias jumped out of bed and scrambled for his uniform as he set his thermos to boiling. He could feel Reed's eyes on him as he finger combed his hair and pulled it back in a horsetail with his purple ribbon, saving every second he could. But when he looked back, Reed had left.
Matsias carried his thermos, knowing he would need to calm down once he had the chance, especially with Mrs. Theelnin's class first thing in the morning. Tilli waited in the common and handed him a cheese pastry wrapped in a napkin. "I sent your roommate to get you when you didn't show up at breakfast."
"Thanks." He took a bite of the pastry, which was still warm.
As they headed to class, it started to rain. "I guess we'll be in the classroom today," Tilli said. Mrs. Theelnin had told them they were not ready for storm-strength winds.
Mrs. Theelnin looked their way as they walked in, but didn't remark. Matsias breathed a sigh of relief as he and Tilli took their seats and, with trembling bands, poured himself a cup of tea from the thermos.
"You stay up late last night?" Tilli whispered across the aisle.
Matsias shook his head. It had been one of the rare nights he had not stayed up talking to Antony. That was probably the reason he didn't feel rested. Those conversations seemed to be the only manner he had of escaping his nightmares. "Just have a lot on my mind," he whispered back."
"Tell be about it. They really piled on the homework last week, didn't they?"
That was true. Wince and Antony had taught him to play a card game called Feast, which was popular in Westwood House. He'd enjoyed it so much he'd almost forgotten to finish his channeling objects homework. Fortunately, Wince, as always, had been able to help him out.
Antony walked in with an umbrella and gave Mat a small wave. "Everyone get out the papers you wrote this weekend," Mrs. Theelnin said, "Antony is going to collect them for me."
A chill went down Mat's spine. He had completed algebra, history, and channeling objects, as well as finished the new book for Ethite Literature. He thought he had gotten ahead, but he had entirely forgotten about the three page paper Mrs. Theelnin had asked them to write on differences in controlling wind from different directions. Matsias swore in Zhohu, hoping that no one would hear, or at least no one would understand.
"Did you say what I think you said?" Tilli, of course, did.
With a shaking hand, Matsias drew a folder from his backpack and flipped through it, as if expecting his assignment to magically appear inside it. He supposed he could imbue his folder with luck, but at best, everything would fall out of the folder and get stepped on it. He could have lucked the fire alarm, but there were enough magical workings for the teachers to identify who tampered with them. Antony came ever closer. If Matsias said he left the paper in his room, Mrs. Theelnin would probably demand he fetch it. Antony stood at the desk in front of his. Matsias saw a sheet of notes he had jotted down during his research in the library, and thinking something was better than nothing, he pulled it out.
Antony arrived in front of them. Tilli handed him her paper. He accepted it and turned his eyes to Matsias. Antony towered over him, and even if he was a friend in Victoria House, here he was Mrs. Theelnin's student aid. Matsias wanted to melt into his desk, or at least to hide under it. He willed his hand not to shake as he handed over the single page of notes."Is this it?" Antony said, surprised. Though for a moment, it looked like the older boy was trying to hold back a smirk.
"I didn't finish..." Matsias said. He swallowed, wondering if everyone else in the class was watching him. What would they think, him going from the star of the windcasting class to the student who was too lazy to complete the paper?
Antony said nothing and passed on to the next desk as Mrs. Theelnin told the class, "since it's storming outside, we're going to talk about creating wind in a small place."
The class went on, and by the end of it, Matsias thought he had gotten away with his paper, but as he walked out the door with Tilli, Mrs. Theelnin said, "Mr. Truuit, may I speak with you?"
Matsias paused. So did Tilli. "You may go, Miss Todetse," Mrs. Theelnin said. Tilli gave Mat an apologetic look and walked out of the room. Matsias turned to face Mrs. Theelnin. As he did so, he could feel the walls of the classroom closing in on him.
She gestured to a chair in front of her desk. The walk from the door to the chair felt as long as the staircase to Mrs. Theelnin's room. He sunk slowly into the chair, his heart sinking inside him as he did so.
Mrs. Theelnin selected his paper off the top of the stack and placed it in front of her. "I see you didn't finish the assignment."
Mat swallowed and found his voice. "No ma'am."
"Why not?" Mrs. Theelnin did not add that she had given them all weekend--three entire days--to complete it, but he thought he could hear the inference in her voice.
"Because... because..." Matsias tried to think of a reason. Because he forgot. Because he spent too much time with Antony, trying to forget. Because he owned a debt to his family, and the only way to pay it was through a run of bad luck.
Mrs. Theelnin folded her hands on top of her desk, and to his horror, suggested the same thing Mrs. Putyam had suggested after the physics test. "Are you struggling with the language?"
"No," Matsias said firmly, though he knew it was the only acceptable excuse for not having finished the assignment. He absent-mindedly twisted his hands around his thermos.
Mrs. Theelnin sighed. "Mat." She spoke more slowly now. Matsias recognized the pace from when Key had started teaching him Shugbo. "I'm sorry, I don't speak Zhohu, but I want to help you. Are you having trouble with the reading?" Mat's nose burned and he bit the inside of his lip to keep from crying. Mrs. Theelnin continued. "I can't help you if you don't tell me what the problem is."
When Matsias remained silent, Mrs. Theelnin tried a different tack. "I understand that traditional schools are somewhat new to you. Are you having difficulty managing your time?"
Matsias nodded.
"Is that a yes? I need you to tell me yes or no."
Matsias swallowed again. "Yes, ma'am."
Mrs. Theelnin handed him his sheet of notes. "You're a good student, Mat. I'm going to give you a chance to redo this. I want it finished by Sutday. That's two more days. Okay?"
"Yes, ma'am. Thank you." Matsias accepted the paper. Then he stood up and made a dash for the door before the walls closed in on him again. He was so intent on getting away from Mrs. Theelnin that he ran into someone as he walked out of the room."Oh, sorry." As he looked up, he realized not only that he had run into Antony, but the other boy had clearly been waiting for him.
"What'd she say?" He said with a smile.
"She's giving me two more days to finish."
His eyebrows went up in surprise. "That's... great!"
Matsias nodded, trying to be positive. "As long as I don't have too much homework for my other classes." For a moment, he couldn't maneuver around Antony to get off the balcony. He tried to push his fear into a ball in his stomach as the two of them stepped back and forth in each other's way, and Mat finally slid past the other boy. He wanted to sit on one of the balcony chairs and pour himself another cup of tea to calm himself, but he had physics next, and he couldn't afford to be late. The last thing he needed was Mrs. Putyam holding him back after class too. Again.
Antony followed Mat toward his next class. "You want me to write the paper for you?" This shocked Mat enough that he stopped and stared, not fully believing a house head would suggest such a thing. He searched the other boy's face for a sign of humor, expected him to smile and say he was kidding. But he didn't.
"No," Matsias said emphatically, and walked into Mrs. Putyam's class without waiting for a reply.
Matsias knew that even if Antony didn't think he had the ability to write the paper in two days, he wasn't studying hard enough, so after dinner, he went directly to his room to work on it. Reed was there, but seemed to also be working on homework, so they didn't speak.
After working at his desk for two hours, Matsias had nearly completed the paper. He set down his pen and moved to his bed, leaning against his pillows and finally taking his leg off.
Someone knocked on the door. Mat let out a sigh and reached for his crutch.
"I'll get it." Reed jumped to his feet and opened the door to reveal Antony.
"Hey, how goes the paper?" Though Antony had never seen Matsias without his leg, he barely seemed to notice the stump now.
Mat gestured to the paper on his desk. "One more page. I'll have Tilli proofread it tomorrow."
Antony reached for the paper. "I can proofread it for you."
Matsias plucked the paper from the desk before the older boy could grab it. Antony seemed a bit less trustworthy since he had suggested cheating. "It's all right. I wouldn't want Tilli to miss out on telling me what I got wrong."
"Fat chance." Reed had returned to his own bed. "You're probably the smartest freshman in the school."
"Not even close." Matsias thought of the time he had spent in the library with books on wind magic, stumbling through, the Shugbo dictionary at his side.
"You corrected Mr. Connor about the development of boats in Alaj last week."
"I... I didn't mean..."
"Well, technically, you told Ayan, and she corrected him, but close enough."
Antony crossed his arms over his chest. "You're also taking windcasting in your first year, even though it's not your primary gift."
Key spread the papers from Faraday out across her bed. "Okay," she said, "read me the instructions again." Though Matsias stumbled over some of the less familiar words when he read Shugbo, he was still the better reader between the two of them.
Matsias picked up his own registration sheet. "All freshman are required to take physics and algebra, a history survey course, and a literature course. We reco... recommend you select a literature course in your native language. Also select one class and one alter... alternate class in each of the following cat... categories: magic theory and magic practicum. You may take two additional courses of your own choosing, or opt to have one re... recess period which you may use for study."
Key looked at her own registration sheet again. "history of the major continent, history of the minor continent, history of the southern continent," she muttered. Then she looked at Mat. "I guess you're taking Ethite literature."
Matsias winced. "Wouldn't be my first choice, but..."
"But it's in Zhohu."
Matsias flipped through the rest of his acceptance packet, still reeling from the news Key's parents had given him the day before--that they had applied to Faraday on his behalf, citing grief as the reason he was unable to complete the application himself. And now he had been accepted.
"Where are the rest of the classes?" Key asked. "It's just got lines for everything else."
"They're printed on the back." Mat flipped his page over to show her.
She flipped her registration paper over and ran her finger down the list. "Do they really have all these classes? I didn't think the school was that big."
Matsias skipped straight to the list of magical theory and practicum classes. "From what I understand, they don't offer every class every year. It kind of depends on how many students sign up for one. That's why you need an alternate."
"Fundamentals of sewing is listed as a magic practicum and a non-magical elective. That means..."
"You could learn how to sew." He looked at Key. "You should do it."
Key bit her lip. "But mom and dad..."
"Will be on a different continent," Matsias reassured her as he marked luck bending as his magic practicum. "Oh no."
Key paused, halfway through writing something on her own registration form. "What is it?"
Matsias flipped the sheet over to look at the class list again. "I don't know what to put for a practicum alternate."
Key sighed with relief. "I thought you were going to tell me there was a reason I couldn't take the sewing class." She frowned at her form. "I didn't think of an alternate for my magic practicum either. I don't know what I would do instead of electricity."
"Probably light." Matsias nodded to the collection of carved light stones above Key's bed. "But I bet they'll have electricity. Weather magics are common enough. But I might be the only luck bender."
"Mark windcasting."
"Why?""Because... you've done it before."
"Well, luck bending wasn't offered this year. And I've done windcasting before." Mat eyed Reed, who was not watching him avidly.
"Really? You've done windcasting before?"
"Well, I was in trouble. And you know... it's easier to do big magic when you're in danger. Your body goes into overdrive, and you can do things you can't normally."
"It's also a good way to get yourself killed," Antony said.
Matsias wasn't sure why he bristled at this comment, like he was being chastised for something he already knew. He must have been more tired than he realized. "It was an accident. When I lost my leg." Matsias nodded to his stub. "I tried to rescue someone from a fire, and a beam fell on me. I tried to use luck to get it off, but I couldn't concentrate, so I ended up sending it on the wind."
"What happened?" Reed asked. He was perched on the edge of his bed now.
Mat frowned. "Ur... Our mom found me. She had finished a business deal, and on the way home, she had a sudden idea to take a different route home." He realized it sounded stupid when he said it aloud. "It could have been a coincidence."
"I bet admissions didn't think it was a coincidence," Reed said, "You put it in your application, right?"
"I think so. I... don't really remember what I wrote." He tried to smile casually, as if it was funny that he'd forgotten his own application essay.
"Did they get out of the building okay? The person in the fire?"
Matsias stammered through his response. "We weren't able to get them out, but there were um... police nearby."
Antony smiled that half-smile that didn't reach his eyes. "That's good."
Matsias didn't bother to nod back.
