Stolen Hearts; Chapter Eight

There was a loud crack as Cala landed at the end of the Dragons dinner table startling a couple of first years. The hall was genuinely quiet, most now staring at her in astonishment. By the looks of it, Ruffelm had just ended his usual dinner talk, which Cala was yet to hear, because many people had their knives and forks poised ready to dig into their long awaited meals.
Numerous teachers scowled or shook their heads amongst one another; Ruffelm stared down at her ungrudgingly. Cala mouthed an uncomfortable sorry and took her seat between Hannah and Nicola. Not, however before catching a glimpse of surprise flickering across his face.

She dug into her meal along with Nicola and Hannah casually, ignoring all those who were still staring quite blatantly. Hannah jumped straight into the conversation of the Icenuk tryouts being canceled, moaning and grumbling until Nicola turned to Cala for means of a better conversation.
"So how do you think things are with you and James?" Nicola asked timidly.
"Not bad. I think we’ve gone from the obsession to kill each other to plain ignoring one another," Cala shrugged as she took a rather large bite of steak. Nicola obviously took the hint to end the subject and gratefully changed it to the idea of their subjects the next day.
"So, we all have Charms and Biology in the morning," Nicola repeated to Cala for the second time.

"Charms is in west wing, room twelve, with Professor Le… What was it again?"
"Professor Lexen! He is kind but very jumpy and having you to teach wont help, so be patient with him, he really is a good teacher," Nicola prompted.
"Right, And Biology is in the east block, room twenty with Professor Figgs?"
"Correct. Then you have a free period. I’ll be in Ancient languages then so it will be just you and Hannah,"
"Remind me again why you took that stupid subject?" Hannah scoffed butting in with her mouth still half-full of food.

"Because unlike you two I wasn’t born with the knowledge of an ancient language! And you need at least one language to take Advanced Matter Manipulation next year," Nicola snapped impatiently. Hannah was fluent enough in Greek to enter and Cala was fluent in Latin. Nicola however having a half gene mother and a father with no power to speak of knew very little Greek and no Latin.
Cala wondered what it would be like to have no powers, and could only come to the conclusion that it would be hard, and she’d probably be dead. When the war ended many who had avoided the radiation, and still survived the war, were forced into slavery until the recreation. Now they hide away in the most southern mountains living a basic nomadic existence. Nicole visits her family there over the longer holidays and stays with Hannah and her family for the others.

"What's after that?" Cala still had hardly any clue of what these subjects were and was a little apprehensive about breaking the ministry’s rules, not because she was scared of them, it was more the fact she actually liked where she was now and didn’t want to ruin it.
However if she didn’t do this then she would be second class for the next two years, besides Cala would do anything to annoy the ministry and disobeying them was like a huge middle finger in their face.
"After that it’s lunch, then History with Professor Kancar, Then-,"
"- Wait isn’t he the teacher that called me a blood traitor last night?" Cala cut Nicola off in mid sentence.

"Well, yes. Yes, it is, but Cala you cant go making Kancar your enemy! He is the evillest teacher here by far," Nicola warned quickly.
"I didn’t make him my enemy! In case you hadn’t noticed he was the one that called me a blood traitor!" Cala said exasperated that Nicola could think she wanted to make an enemy out of anyone and then rethought her argument sheepishly realizing she didn’t have a very good foundation to base it on.
"We know! But trust me; Max and Sam got given a detention every Saturday night for two months, just for giving Andrew Fox a laxative. A strong one as well actually, he would leave the toilets for a week!" Nicola explained sniggering in spite of herself.
"Are you sure you want to disobey the ministry and go to lessons?" Hannah interrupted. Cala laughed at the thought of Fox, she’d seen him on her way down to the ice rink.

He was in Scorpion’s house, a big lad for sixteen, not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed though. The clever one was a Theo; he seemed to be the equivalent of Simon for the Scorpions’, the dangerous one. He was always surrounded with four or five friends, all of them so unashamedly Black Nation. Andrew Fox and Kenny Dean, Cala realized, were seemingly his eternal bodyguards. Not surprisingly, Cala had thought, Nuke was one of the first Black family names to be created.
"Well I'm not sitting in a room all day! Besides, White magic is different from Black, not just the words but everything, I want to learn and sod the ministry; they’re going to hang me when I'm sixteen anyway if they get half a chance," Cala decided.
The mood lightened greatly as they made their way towards the Dragons common rooms.

"Do you think that we’ll get any homework on Cala’s first official school day?" Hannah mumbled, still sulking that Nicola had insisted she leave the rest of her dinner to allow herself to prepare for the lessons tomorrow before bed.
"Hannah, Cala may be the most serious change in this war for years but her being here doesn’t suddenly mean were on holiday. This is going to be quite I hard year I expect," Nicola stated as they entered the common room. It was empty except for a few second years like themselves who had come up early to claim the good seats by the fireplace.

"How do you figure that out?" Hannah scoffed taken aback a little at the thought of school being hard. Cala knew Hannah found the work at school a breeze, as did Nicola, but what Cala liked was the fact that neither of them acted like swats. Yes they were clever, but Hannah didn’t care she just liked to mess about. Nicola was a bit more on the studious side but Cala didn’t mind that much. She was probably going to be the one stopping her and Hannah doing something seriously stupid at some point.
"Look around Hannah! Everyone is getting tenser, everyone is scared of something and no one’s saying what. We’re going to have to prepare," Nicola said rather matter of fact. Hannah looked to Cala with a puzzling look. She obviously thought Nicola was mad to think something bad was coming. Cala just shrugged and flopped into one of a group of armchairs surrounding a battered old rug on the floor. She was yet to find out how hard the school work would be and the only tests she had ever taken were on strength not intelligence as such. Besides she wasn’t going to worry her new friends with the reality outside just yet. Hannah took the seat next to her and Nicola took the one opposite.

"What time are you supposed to be in bed by around here anyway?" Cala asked while flicking the tassels on one of her cushions. In the Black nation camps nobody slept until around eleven. It got the little kids used to the normal hours of an adult and it gave the adults time to finish their work. Cala didn’t think she would be able to break her eleven o’clock routine very easily.
"When ever you want really, so long as you get to class awake and on time," Hannah shrugged. Nicola was now making a somewhat noisy deal out of putting her schoolbooks for tomorrow in her bag. Cala sighed and got up to stuff hers into her bag also, and when Hannah made absolutely no attempt to put her own in her bag Cala decided to do it for her. Then went to sit back down, with an ‘Are you happy now?’ look on her face. Hannah sank deeper into her chair and lent her head back. It was silent for a while except for the frantic scratching noises Nicola’s quill was making on her parchment.

"What are you writing there, a book?" Cala asked. Nicola scowled.
"No, it’s a letter to my parents," She said unequivocally.
"Oh," Cala started to speculate what things would be like if her parents were alive. Her thoughts however were interrupted by a loud crack.
Sam and Max had teleported into the common room and landed right behind Hannah, who had almost fallen asleep. Hannah jumped a little but seeing who it was swiftly pretended they hadn’t disturbed her. Max and Sam glowered at her and Sam gave her a brusque slap across the face, with what looked like a rolled up magazine, causing her to shriek ‘Owww!’ awfully loud.

"What did you do that for?" Hannah squealed whilst rubbing her cheek.
"Next time we take care to land right behind you try and have the courtesy to jump," Max scowled apparently convinced Sam was right to hit her. Hannah muttered a couple of nasty words under her breath about her brothers and went upstairs to the girls dormitories. Nicola had taken one glance at the situation then returned to her letter.
"That was a bit harsh you guys," Cala told them honestly.
The two boys shrugged and sat down in the three-seated sofa on Cala’s other side.
"Come tell us that when you get an older sister and two younger ones as well as two older brothers. It is hell I tell you," Sam explained just before scoffing a fistful of sweets into his mouth. Cala couldn’t help smiling. Max and Sam were the strangest pair of people she had ever met. They were the sort of people who you got on with instantly.
"Big family," Cala commented and Max grunted in reply.
"All adopted," He stated before snatching a packet of Haribo out of Sam’s fingers. Sam scowled viciously but decided not to retaliate, content with the majority of sweets on his lap.

"I’m off to bed. Cala you should head up now to," Nicola arose from her seat and swiftly put away her letter and started to head upstairs.
"Aren’t you coming?" she turned around to find Cala stood still in front of the coffee table on the mat the chairs were surrounding.
"Erm, Sam. Can I have that newspaper?" Cala asked, transfixed on the title above the page. Sam looked down at the paper she was referring to. He picked it up and threw it to her.
"Yeah sure, Oh by the way page five is the best, the rest is a load of rubbish,"
"Thanks," Cala murmured as she read the title that had caught her eye.

Absent Princess brings silence from the Black Nation!

On Saturday the 14th the Black Nation submissively handed over Cala Hunt to the White Nation for nothing more than mere money. The government believes this was the greatest loss the Blacks have befallen in fourteen years. Since the day when Cala Hunt swapped hands, there has been no movement from the Black Nation.

I’ve been gone less than two days you idiots! Cala thought.

The ‘Princess of War’, as she was known by her own kind, is currently residing at Swiftstone Institution under the watchful eyes of Sir Ruffelm himself and of course the high minister. The high minister, Sir Oswald Grey, expresses his apologies to the public that he cannot have the girl executed just yet, as she is only fourteen and not yet the legal age of sixteen.

‘THE GIRL’!

Cala Hunt is guessed to be involved in or responsible for over 90 assassinations, 3 war massacres, 18 torture attempts, 42 kidnappings and the defeat of 16 armed regiments during the war so far. The estimated amount of deaths she is responsible for is well over six hundred…

18 armed regiments actually.

‘Ruffelm has assured us that this girl is under the complete control of the staff at the school and that having her at the school is hopefully going to be a perk for some of the students,’ Oswald Grey stated for us yesterday afternoon…
‘The worry we all face now is what the Black Nation is doing so quietly…’

Blah.
Blah.
Blah.

By Tim Walters

Cala threw the paper into the bin and rolled her eyes. After fourteen years of giving the media a hell of a lot to talk about all they could use as her name was ‘the girl’! She walked past Nicola and headed up the stairway towards hers and Hannah’s room.
And how exactly am I going to be a perk to this school?!
Hannah was lying on her bed flicking balls of paper into the air with her wand. Cala slumped onto her own bed and closed her eyes. After a few minutes, a loud cracking sound from downstairs brought her back to the present. Hannah remarked dully that it sounded like James and the rest were downstairs. Cala didn’t reply, she just stood up and went to sit on the window ledge next to her bed.

Night had fallen quickly and the window glass was ice cold against her cheek. Cala started to marvel at what it would have been like if she had grown up differently. Her trail of thought however was interrupted again by a gentle knock on the door.
Simon. Cala panicked then rationalized that he had no reason to visit her.
"Yeah alright Nicola we’re going to sleep now!" Hannah seemed to think it was Nicola checking up on them as she was sleeping in another room with a girl who was having nightmares for the next couple of days. Cala decided to assume so too and jumped down from the ledge.
"It’s not Nicola. Can I come in?" The voice from behind the door sounded reluctant to ask the question. Hannah shot a glance at Cala, who shrugged back.
"Sure," Hannah said curiously. The door opened slowly to revile James stood in the doorway. Cala was surprised but then thought, he probably wants to talk about Shiyan, which lowered her mood considerably.

"Hannah can you leave us for a second, I won’t be long?" James asked rather more quietly than usual. Hannah looked at Cala for instructions.
"Its ok," Cala muttered, she didn’t feel like talking to James at all but she knew she would have to sooner or later. Hannah nodded and left the room closing the door behind her gently. Cala looked at James who seemed defiant to start. "Erm, sit down if you want," She inclined to Hannah's bed as she went to sit on her own. James took the offer and sat down quietly. It was silent for a while. Cala thought it best not to break it.
"You know when I first heard you were coming to this school I thought you would be different. I mean, you’re nothing like what- what I expected," James muttered.
"You thought I would try to kill you or Ruffelm or run away?" Cala predicted back. James nodded his head shamefully.

"I only kill those who deserve it or if I have no choice," Cala clarified casually. A smile flicked across his face and he started to shake his head.
"I’ll have to trust you on that," He said.
"You wouldn’t trust me if your life depended on it," Cala scoffed, lightening the mood greatly.
"No, probably not, but I don’t think I dislike you all that much anymore," James shook his head again, "I could tell. From the very first time you saw me … You hated me; you couldn’t stand the thought of me. It confused me, it still does. How did you put so much disgust into your eyes when you looked at me without knowing me?"
Cala did not answer straight away; this was the last thing she had expected and for the first time ever she wasn’t sure whether Shiyan might actually be a more desirable topic of conversation. Cala started to remember what the Black Nation army sergeant had told her so crudely on her seventh birthday.

"Did Ruffelm never tell you?" her voice was quite unsteady and the most unlike her James had ever heard, he looked petrified as he shook his head. "When I was born somebody took me to him and asked if he would give me shelter, a home. Since my parents were already ‘lost in action’ somewhere, turns out they weren’t killed until a year later but I guess that’s not really the point. He refused to take me, he wouldn’t look at me and he banished my handler and me from the White Nation. The Blacks came and took me from whomever I was with. They raised me. Six years later, I am told that he likes one child in particular. You! And the reason I hated you so much from first glance was that he had taken a liking to a boy of no relation to himself when he had left me to die as a child…" Cala trailed off.
"Why were you taken to him? Why did he banish you?" James persisted totally unabashed.

"Because he is my…my grand- grandfather," The words came out in bits as she forced them over her tongue. James’s expression was now equivalent to having been hit over the head with a club. Cala tried to force a smile and looked away. "But, I don’t know why he banished me…"
James hung his head into his hands and groaned slightly.
"I'm sorry I shouldn’t have asked,"
Cala ignored the fact her cheeks were burning red and carried on.
"Why did he like you so much?"
James looked up, startled by the question.

"I- I don’t know really. He knew my parents before they died. I suppose they got on or something. Then one day he told me I was going to help stop a second war from happening and would I do it? I said yes straight away. The last war in Mebenna, the Red war, the one where people were rioting in the streets over White dictatorship,"
Cala nodded as she remembered what she’d been told about it "The war the Black Nation rose up out of, to offer a different way of life to the White rule. My parents died somewhere in that war,"
James nodded back "It killed my whole family and I wasn’t ready for a second one, but I didn’t know I would have to fight you…I thought I was just going to be sent to the army or something,"

Cala shock her head slowly at the injustice of the two nations.
"I better go," he muttered as he stood up. Cala didn’t move a muscle as he made his way to the door. "I'm sorry for everything,"
"Thanks," Cala murmured as he closed the door behind him. She knew why he was chosen, James was one of the rare ones, he wasn’t just a four he was a four and a half, just like Ruffelm but even James and Ruffelm couldn’t match Cala and Xandu in a fight.
If the Black Nation really did start to turn up the heat in this war it wouldn’t be unlikely that the four of them should meet in the middle of a battle. Which side they’d all be on was a different matter though. She lay back on her bed and tried to fall asleep. About ten minutes later, Cala heard Hannah come back in and drifted off to sleep.