Stolen Hearts; Chapter Nine

"Good morning class," said a short man at the front of the classroom. He was wearing an assortment of clothes that didn’t quite fit him; a white shirt with sleeves twice as long as his arms, a brown petticoat that looked one size too small, a pair of trousers with a waist far too big for him; they were being held up with a belt fastened tightly around him. His black shiny shoes seemed normal enough until you caught a glimpse of him standing sideways, then you could see they were raised by about two inches of sole on the bottom. The jacket he had just hung up on the chair fitted him perfectly though.

"Good morning Professor," everyone chanted back making Cala flinch, which Hannah found highly amusing. Professor Lexen however seemed not to have heard them as he struggled to climb into a very high chair in front of a blackboard. This incidentally looked like it hadn’t been used in years as it was covered in spindly cobwebs. When he had finally perched himself at the top he called out again.
"Good morning class!" but this time slightly louder as if they were deaf.
"GOOD MORNING PROFESSOR!" they all yelled, this time Cala was ready for it though. Professor Lexen however seemed a little shocked at the sudden noise.
"Oh! Yes, yes. Good-good morning indeed," He said as he shuffled around on his seat evidently looking for something, "Has anyone seen my wand? I hate having to use these damn things,"

A few people looked over the front of their desks before a voice from the back of the classroom called out.
"It’s in ye’r top pocket!"
Everyone looked around to see who had yelled, it was more than one person. Conner, James and Simon had all spotted it; Luke however was still searching on the floor with his head out of view.
"Ah, so it is. Now today we are starting the topic of shrinking and enlarging," Professor Lexen went on into a long lecture about concentrating on certain points of the object and the various speeds it will occur at depending on the enthusiasm you put in.
Cala noticed Nicola and Conner were the only ones taking notes and decided not to. Nobody seemed that interested, Hannah had gone into a muttering lecture of ‘why can’t we just do it?’ and the like, Simon and James obviously knew this particular charm and seemed to be having a competition of who could make their pens the largest.

Neither seemed to be winning, they were both up to the stage that the pens filled up their share of the desks, hiding their faces from view in the process. Simon’s however took a sudden advantage causing Luke, who was watching in amazement as if his life depended on it, to fall backwards off his chair. Cala tried hard to suppress a laugh as both James and Simon returned their stationary to their original sizes and then tried to look studious as Professor Lexen looked up at them.
The sudden clatter of Luke’s chair seemed to have alerted the professor to the fact that he had a class in front of him. He set them about doing the charm. It was quite simple really; Hannah got it on her first try as did Nicola, Simon, Conner, James, Grace Heart and Anthony Parkinson, two people Cala didn’t really know.

Cala managed it on her second but many of the others were still at it when the bell rang for next lesson. She found the White version of spells didn’t come naturally for her. Whenever she discovered a new Black version of a spell Cala could do it straight away as if she had already mastered it several years ago. But for each spell ever invented there were three ways of executing it and three ways of saying it.
You could use any combination of speaking, using your wand, or using your body/mind or not. You could speak it in White, which was generally based on Greek words. In Black, this was commonly based on Latin words or for the advanced, in the language of ancients, which had little link to any other language but was much stronger.
"Remember class, Augeo and Minutum. Practise, please!" Professor Lexen called as they filed out.
Although that lesson hadn’t been that boring Cala had a very strong impulse to do something reckless, she was not used to such a laid back approach towards life.
If I was still in the Black nation I could have blown something up by now. She thought sourly.

Cala glanced around at Nicola and Hannah to see what they had thought of the lesson. Their faces were unreadable. Cala soon found that their expressions were usually the same after each lesson, blank but not so much board.
The Biology lesson wasn’t too bad but it was pretty basic stuff. Cala was sure she had seen several people fall asleep and James, Simon and Luke hadn’t even bothered to turn up. Conner however was sat at the back writing notes down frantically. After the lesson Nicola hurried off to her Ancient language lesson and Cala and Hannah started to make their way back to the Dragons common room. Unfortunately, half way there they ran into Theo Nuke, Alex Zialo, Kenny Dean and Maria Down. Hannah had filled her in previously; they were Scorpions, and Scorpions and Dragons weren’t getting on lately. After their last lesson Cala had very little enthusiasm left and facing this lot was the last thing she wanted to do right now.
"Well, well. If it isn’t the famous Cala Hunt," Theo joked rather more nicely than Cala had expected.

"How are you my princess?" Kenny said in his usually spiteful and sarcastic tone as he pretended to bow. Everyone in Scorpion’s house supported the Black Nation and not all of them were taking Cala’s change of heart too well. The three other houses, Hawk’s, Lion’s and Dragon’s weren’t as bothered.
Lion’s house were like the opposite house to Scorpion’s, they all supported the White Nation and were naturally the most suspicious of her. Cala knew for a fact she’d killed a lot of their relatives and hated to say that that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Hawks were mainly White supporters as well but Cala had noted some less well know Black family names dotted amongst their ranks, they acted completely oblivious to her arrival.
Dragon’s house, the one she was in, Cala didn’t think she’d seen so many potential revolutionaries in her life. The majority of them were from Black families surprisingly but none of them, not Black or White were passionate for their side in this war. It was obvious even James didn’t know where he stood anymore.
"Get lost Kenny, I'm not in the mood," Cala said dully.

"Whoa, Cala you look like somebody stole your sole," Theo had a shifty look in his eye, "Or maybe they took your heart with a legend,"
"What legend?" Cala hissed.
"The Vita Ereptor. What else can steal your heart?" Theo winked and laughed again, Cala cringed. "We wouldn’t want that now, would we?"
Theo and the rest of them walked off pleased, Theo looking extremely smug seeing Cala’s expression when he mentioned the ‘life thief’. She scowled at his back until he was out of sight.
Hannah swore at them under her breath all the way to the common room where she started to practice Professor Lexen’s growth and shrinking spell. Cala joined in for a while but she had defiantly caught the hang of it now and she was starting to have another craving for an adrenalin rush.
Seriously, why is everything so laid back? No wonder they’re loosing the war.
"What was Theo on about anyway?" Hannah asked suddenly.
"What about the ‘life thief’? Cala asked back, surprised Hannah had never heard of it.
"Yeah,"

"It’s a myth. Another one of these items the Devil theoretically sent down with those kids or whatever," Cala said vaguely.
"Yeah but what is it?"
"Erm… it’s a necklace which purportedly enables the wearer to capture the lives of other beings without killing or damaging the person whose life has been taken, it steals your heart basically. Xandu was searching for it but never found it,"
"Oh," Hannah went back to her practising, obviously in deep contemplation. "Are you sure?"
"Mmmhm," Cala nodded, "I’m sure,"
"I guess Theo just ran out of good insults then because to talk about that is a bit unusual," Hannah shrugged to herself. Cala decided not to give it any thought and started humming to herself, which made Hannah laugh for some reason Cala couldn’t quite understand.
"Do you have stables here?" Cala asked with a flash in her eyes. She had seen something flying over the forest treetops.
"Yeah, why?" Hannah answered apprehensively.

Cala walked over to the window by the stairs. It looked down onto the lake and the old willow tree. It was the matching view to the window next to Cala's bed, only a bit lower. Cala stared out guiltily over the skyline.
When she had been a child a friend had given her a baby winged horse to look after. He was named Apollo after the Greek god of the Sun. The name, Cala thought, suited him.
He had grown into a beautiful strong stallion and Cala always rode him out to the lake at night when everything was quiet. However in the sudden circumstances with Xandu she hadn’t had time to call him along. She knew Xandu would have him tied down but not killed. It was a crime to kill a winged horse in Mebenna, although she didn’t think it was a rule that would last for much longer, as they were used in battle more and more frequently.
Apollo was extremely strong willed and surprisingly intelligent for a horse.
I will find him. Plus she could have sworn she had just seen him. There was a bond between them. Cala could tell him from a thousand identical horses.
"I’ve got to get my horse back!" Cala turned round abruptly and headed for the door. Apollo wouldn’t be able to fly into the grounds with all the barriers surrounding it; she had to go to him.

Time for a day trip.
"Whoa, hold up! Your what?" Hannah had stood up to obstruct the exit. Cala didn’t have time for this, there was only one thing on her mind and that preceding craving for an adrenalin rush was urging her all the more.
"My horse Apollo! Xandu has him and nobody hurts my horse! I'm getting him back, now!" Cala said impatiently. Hannah frowned and stood her ground.
"Explain," She asked.
"Not now!" Cala flicked her hand and Hannah soared to the side hitting the wall and fell to the floor. For a second Cala was shocked, her power hadn’t been able to come straight from her hand it had had to travel through her fingerless glove. She couldn’t do magic without a conductor, she would need her wand.
The barrier Cala remembered and cursed, she hadn’t felt the change before because she had been so preoccupied with getting into the castle. She should have noticed earlier, she had teleported for god’s sake. Cala scolded herself inwardly for not paying attention to her powers.

It hadn’t been hard but Cala knew Hannah had remembered all too well how strong she was. From that little nudge of energy Hannah started seeing the power surging through her new friend; Cala on the other hand got a second huge shock. If you use your abilities constantly, as Cala had, then your body begins to be able to hold more and more power but if you suddenly stop using your ability as much your body adapts back, calculating the average amount of power you need to store. Cala's body had done just this. She could tell the maximum limit of power had already dropped considerably to at least a 4.7. If she didn’t get Apollo back soon she’d never be strong enough to get through the school barriers alone.
Cala ran out the door and headed down the stairs not waiting for the scowls and angry words that followed from several people that she ran through, literally. Energy and matter were funny things.
It wasn’t until Cala reached the main doors that she realized Hannah had followed her. She turned round.

"I'm sorry but I need to find him,"
Hannah nodded "I understand, good luck," Cala felt a sudden rush of gratefulness and despite herself gave Hannah a hug.
"I’ll be back,"
"You better!" Hannah laughed "Kancar is gonna hate you for missing his first lesson. He wanted to grill you for information of Black nation history,"
Cala grinned "Good," she turned to leave.
"Wont you need a horse just to get there?" Hannah asked quickly. A smile spread across Cala’s face.
"I think it’s about time I used my abilities," Cala winked as she started to lift weightlessly into the air.
"You can fly! You jammy git, you are so teaching me that when you get back!" Hannah yelled while laughing as Cala took off.

*
It took Cala minutes to reach the power barriers surrounding the school. She passed through them with minimalism; it was like feeling a slight tug in the air and once she was out she could feel her powers flowing freely without using her clothes as conductors. It was a further twenty or so minutes until she passed completely over Lake Rojhan, she followed the river Normid to the right travelling low and fast along its left back. River Normid ran straight through the center of Black territory, and half way in as the river took a sharp bend to the left, curving into a deep sideways ‘U’ shape Cala left the river to carry straight on. For at the head of the bend was the village of Gergoth and that was where Apollo seemed to be. She felt it.
Cala hoped that none of the NEX would be around; they’d be able to sense her up to a mile away or ten miles away if they actually tried to find her. Cala would have never admitted it but she was afraid. She was now passing above temporary camps every couple of minutes; moreover almost every single person beneath her would kill and ask questions later. The camps were full of soldiers and Xandu had been building up forces by the looks of it.
Cala shivered, this was not a good sign; soldiers didn’t set up camp like this, not such large masses of them. But with each passing minute Cala felt him, Apollo, he was calling for her.

I'm coming.
Cala finally arrived, landing in the back ally of a deserted street. Here the buildings sprouted from the ground wherever they pleased. Half of them gave the impression of being built like a stair case as they wilted over the half made cobbled streets. To a White this place would look like a shanty town with its dark lanes; towering buildings; its people dressed in rags; the dirt paths and the old worn shoes placed out to dry on every doorstep from the rainy day before. But to Cala this place was almost her favorite place to be, it was wondrous.
She saw the alleys and streets as a place to run, hide and play; she saw the forthcoming people who laughed before scolding when they saw how muddy you were; the amazing buildings that stood after years of battle; the shops containing every object found by the trading world; she saw the little children being reprimanded and sat down on the doorstep as their friends came to keep them company. This place was a place where Cala always learnt something new. But there was a chill in the air that screamed danger.

She didn’t feel them as she walked through the streets.
She didn’t smell them as she smeared mud on her new found Gergothian rags.
She didn’t taste them as she walked through the markets.
She didn’t hear them as she wandered down a quiet street.
She saw them.
Cala grabbed hold of an old woman stood next to her.
"What’s going on?" Cala asked her wits on high alert. The old woman took a couple of seconds to decide the meaning of the question.

"The Black King has withdrawn the armies, concentrating them inside our great nation’s borders. The heralds will fly and soon we shall be victorious," Then she froze as her senses finally picked up what Cala’s had minutes ago. Cala smiled as she realized the elderly lady had understood just what she had wanted to know.
The woman, she was sure, knew very much that the girl in front of her was Cala Hunt. Luckily for Cala she seemed not to care. She had visited this town often; it held many memories for her. It was special in more than one way. The people here knew little about why she visited so often or as to what it was she did when she was here, but many of them came to know her quite well. It was this that made Cala believe the lady with dark mud chocolate eyes and straw colored hair was a friend.
"You must leave here," was the advice Cala kept hearing her whisper every couple of seconds now.

They were in the street now.
Cala should have left as soon as she smelt the danger but the lady had more to say and Cala knew it was important.
"If they have it…if they…you….no, you must go! Your life…too dear. You must go! If he finds it… if he finds them…if he finds you!" the lady was either in a trance or too far gone into shock to be making any sense. Any minute now she would start screaming for Cala to leave, Cala could feel it coming. But they were here, everywhere.
They had found her.
NEX!