Stolen Hearts; Chapter Seven

Simon, James, Luke and Conner were making their way across the front lawn of the grounds towards the old weeping willow. The grass was damp with autumn dew, and the sky looked like it was about to release tonnes of rain down on them any time soon. All and all the day looked bleak.
Simon grinned half-heartedly and brought a hand up to the back of his head, messing his hair up purposely.
"Don’t worry about it Rory. Maybe they canceled it because of the weather?" He joked looking grimly towards the sky.
"Don’t try and butter this up Dodger. Icenuk has been canceled because of the war and it sucks" James sulked in reply.
Ruffelm had told everyone during morning breakfast that the government had declared a state of emergency and that until it passed Icenuk would be suspended completely. Students also had to be inside the school by nine, anyone found on the grounds after that would be scripted straight to the front line of the army; a threat not to be taken lightly.
"Come off it. It’s not that bad," Luke said defiantly.
"For you, you don’t even play Icenuk Fin!" James retorted, his foul mood matching the weather.

A frown spread idly across Simons’ forehead as he stared ahead at the hollowed stadium. The wind blew his hair about as they walked onwards sending a little chill down his neck. Shadows danced maliciously behind the structure on the schools boarder as Simon's eyes stoned over.
Things are getting much worse. He thought.
Simon turned back to his friends as they sited themselves under the willows drooping branches, sheltered from the wind and potential rain.
He liked the fact his friends all had nick names. When they were in first year Connor, James, Luke and himself had all met in the Dragon’s common room on their first night and become best friends almost instantly. James and Simon had always been the trouble makers. Connor had been the clever one and Luke was always there to support them.
Unfortunately Simon and James ended up spending most of their time in detention after getting caught so Luke suggested transforming as a way to hide their faces. Conner had helped but it didn’t work, they weren’t adept enough to pull it off.
Half way into the year Simon had heard about a form of magic called ‘verto in pectus pectoris’, to turn upon heart. It was an art learnt only by the ‘originals’, the ability to change form into your own soul. An animal, its nature was your nature and recognising that bond enabled more than the transformation but even Simon didn’t know that.
It took them the rest of the year, toiling endlessly night and day, ignoring all other work but they actually managed it. Simon allowed himself the briefest of smiles remembering that glorious week.

James was a lion cub, the same age as himself, brave and temperamental. As he grew so would his soul and named thus as Rory. Connor was a golden eagle, bold and watching so named as Tails. Luke was a shark, flexible with a killer instinct and named Fin. Simon was a wolf, loyal, protective and a survivor so he was given the nickname Dodger not just because of a wolfs ability to avoid extinction but also because now Simon hardly ever got caught and thirdly because everyone was convinced Simon was the pirate. Simon smiled when he thought about that also.
People are ridiculous.
"Magic is strange," Luke stated suddenly as he watched James twirl several water droplets in the air in front of him. Connor shook his head.
"It’s not magic Fin, its science," He corrected "We learnt this in first year Physics for God’s sake,"
James and Simon started batting the water droplets between themselves keeping them suspended, oblivious to Luke and Connor.
"Why do we call it magic though?" Luke carried on, his eyes still deep in thought. Conner shrugged.
"How else do you describe the idea that all mass is just compressed energy? Or that radiation causes brain evolution so much so that humans have the ability to turn matter into the pure energy? I guess it is magical to some extent,"
Luke leaned back against the tree "I swear Tails only you could turn that," Luke pointed at the suspended water droplets "into science,"

Conner smiled as he watched Simon write their initials out of the water droplets and place them against the tree’s bark. There was a sizzling noise as the water started to boil and brand the tree behind. Once all the water had evaporated it left behind the trademarked initials, pale against the dark tree bark, forever.
James smiled for the first time all day and Simon slapped him on the knee affectionately and stood up. It was already starting to rain, so much for sitting out side all day.
"What a waste of a Saturday," James moaned as they made their way back up towards the castle, none of them bothering to shield themselves from the downpour. "Damn," James stopped and made to turn back. "I need to collect all the equipment in the ice rink and put it into storage for Ruffelm,"
Simon caught his arm as he turned away; his jaw was clenched anxiously as he shook his head.
"I’ll do it; you guys head back and put the common room fire on. I’ll be faster," He argued, heading back down towards the arena before James could object.
There was a crackling noise behind him as the others teleported inside into the dry. Simon flicked his collar up, still not bothering to produce a shield, and eyed the shadows flickering across the building's windows from the inside. Maybe he should have told James and the others but it was nothing he couldn’t handle.

He ran over to the entrance and pressed his ear against the metal door, the sound of air blades slicing through. Gently Simon leaned against the frame and the door creaked open, he slid inside quickly. Within the building was a normal ice rink surrounded by high rise stands. It was surrounded by reinforced transparent plastic screen that ran from the floor of the rink to the ceiling. The building was six storeys high and incredibly cold inside to keep the ice from melting.
Simon ducked behind a stand of seats to his left and made his way along cautiously, peering through the gaps to see who was inside. A figure flew past the screen in front of him in a blur followed closely by the recognizable thumps of the horseshoe Razzors colliding with the see through plastic.
Simon almost jumped out of his skin as he saw them coming but they’d missed the figure, which had now risen suddenly and circled. He spotted it then, after spending the last two years as Dragons Decoyer, the Arrow darting ahead only a meter away from the figure at all times.
Simon gasped as both the figure and the Arrow skimmed along the opposite wall, the blades scratching its surface.
It’s Cala! Simon laughed inwardly in silent awe. Deciding he wasn’t in any danger he climbed out from behind the seats, sat and watched.
A minute later after a spectacular spinning dive she had caught the Arrow, had to resort to skating on the ice to avoid the Razzors, turned around and stunned them still.
Simon clapped slowly as the Razzors clattered to the ground and Cala spun around violently and breathed heavily. Her hair fell out of its bobble and glided around her shoulders as she skated over towards him frowning.
"What are you doing here?" She said, her cheeks flushed from the cool air. Simon grinned and pointed to the sign that hung on the entrance to the ice.

ICENUK IS SUSPENDED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE! DO NOT ENTER!

"I’m here to tidy up the equipment ‘until further notice’," He mocked "What about you?" his eyebrows raised slightly.
Cala smiled secretively and skated toward the exit from the ice as Simon walked around to meet her, holding out his hand to help her onto the tiled surface.
"I wanted to see if I could do it," She laughed as she unfastened the laces on her skates and flung them off. Simon picked them up and flung them into a box of skates waiting for him to put them away.
"Do what?" He asked as he picked up one of the boxes marked ‘uniforms’ and made his way over to a door marked ‘storage’. Cala picked up one marked ‘skates’ and made her way over as he punched in a code on the panel of the door, unlocking it.
"Catch the Arrow…be a Racer," Cala said quietly, not sure whether to be embarrassed or not. Simon decided not to tell her that not only was that the best air skating he’d seen in years but that he didn’t think anyone had ever caught an Arrow while the Razzors were loose without at least one Decoyer by her side.
The door swung open to revile a set of stairs which led down to a concrete room lined with shelves.
"Looks like we’ve go a lot of work to do," Simon said. Cala raised her eyebrows.
"We?"
"Well you are carrying a box already and you wouldn’t want me to let it slip to Ruffelm that I caught you in here," Simon laughed, smiling hopefully.
Cala shook her head in mock disbelief and laughed.
"Fine,"
*
Half an hour later Cala and Simon were sat on the stands again, finished. Simon sunk into the red plastic seat as Cala made circles in the misted screen surrounding the rink.
"You’re something else you know that?" Simon muttered with his eyes closed, half asleep. Cala carried on drawing, circling over the same trail again and again.
"So are you,"
Simon grunted gently, eyes still closed. Cala looked at him for a while, his thin hair framing his face so delicately, his mouth innocently relaxed and his eyelashes brushing the skin beneath his closed eyes.
"You’re staring," He whispered. Cala turned away abruptly and muttered back an apology. Simon sat up groggily and looked at the single circle she had been tracing continuously. He reached over and held the hand softly, stopping it from circling again.
Slowly he teased open her fingers and pressed them firmly on the screen, smothering the circle she had made. He held their hands there for several seconds, their hearts pounding as the blood rushed through their veins. Then he drew back her hand and placed it on her lap, let go of her fingers and stood up to leave.
Cala sat and stared at the image they had left. A single handprint with Simon's finger tip marks dotted between the outstretched lines of her own hand. There was no trace of the circle she had spent ages tracing.
Cala looked up to find where Simon had gone and saw only the fading colors of his back as he teleported back to the castle.

Hey guys. I'm glad you like the story so much :) It makes me so happy. I'm a bit worried that with this story I will become very tempted to follow the lines of Harry Potter though. So since it will all be fresh in our mind (with the new movie coming out soon!) please, please tell me off if you think some bits are getting too similar! I hate it when that happens ): Thanks J for pointing that out with the game, I hope this chapter has rectified it by dropping it. No more Icenuk :) Thanks again.