The Reset
Kro threw down his hat and cursed the project, the students, and the whole institution. They were the most incompetent group of people he'd ever crossed paths with. At least that is what he thought at that moment. But at a closer glance, he noticed a bright light sitting on top of one of his no-so-smart students...Veronica Glaser. Were his eyes deceiving him? Was there truly a glimmer of hope for his project? What did that mean? The curse didn’t work on her, but why? Every other person in the room had turned a pale shade of green and covered their mouths. But not Veronica.
Kro realized that it was one of her ideas that had materialized itself right there on her head.
“Veronica,” Kro said, “can you come over here for a moment?" He was actually impressed but he wasn’t going to let her know that. Even though the spell wasn’t very powerful he didn’t know that a regular mortal girl could fight against it. He would never have guessed that she could be the one he was looking for.
Veronica timidly approached and stood before her teacher. "Yes?" she mutterd quietly, her corn-silk hair falling over her eyes.
“Do you have any idea of what I just did?” Kro asked her.
She shook her head.
“Do you want to know why everyone but you is puking their guts out right now?” Kro asked.
“They got food poisoning?” She asked.
“All at once?” Kro smirked. “No. I did a spell on them, but you are immune to it. I need to know, where did you come from? Why were you immune to the spell?”
Veronica stared at Kro mouth turned down and brow furrowed. “What the hell are you talking about? I’ve been here the whole time. Everyone is right you’re such a weirdo.” But her eyes flicked this way and that as she said it. She was hiding something.
The only reason she could be immune to the curse was if she wasn’t a regular mortal. But as Kro had learned over the past three years, that could mean any number of things. He needed to find out where she came from.
“You know it’s funny that the only people in this room who aren’t sick are you and me,” He said. “What are you hiding Veronica?”
Veronica gave her own smirk. “What about you? What are you hiding Kro? What did you do to these people? I know you hate them, I know you get bullied constantly, so explain to me what you mean when you say you put a spell on them? Are you some kind of wizard or what?"
He grinned back devilishly. "Perhaps you're onto something, my dear. How would you like to learn something new and amazing? Real knowledge of how the world really works.”
“Me learn from you?” She laughed as her eyes turned dark and huge large black wings appeared on her back.
He turned away from her and started for the door. Veronica wasn’t the one he was looking for. He had stumbled onto something he wasn’t ready to deal with yet.
“Kro wait!”
Despite his better judgment, he stopped and turned around. After all, even if she was too much, it was her or nothing, and he hadn’t worked so hard for so long to end with nothing.
“What do you mean when you say the spell didn’t work on me?” she asked. She flexed the dark span of feathers aggressively.
The sides of kro’s mouth turned up and he shook his head. He remember something from the Book of Signs. There were beings of smoke, light and noise that could appear to be quite formidable, but possessed little real power. She was one of the Illusive. It was all in his head, she didn’t have any wings. Veronica was messing with his mind. “I can’t tell you, until I find out who you really are.” He whispered. “I know what you really are.”
In one swift motion, Veronica proved him wrong. She pushed him and took to the sky, laughing crazily.
What the hell? What was she? A witch, an angel… something worse? Kro rubbed his eyes in desperation searching for some kind of answer. Veronica was more powerful than he had feared. Perhaps she was a form-taker or worst a demon. The book would have the answers.
Kro snatched up his hat and ran out to the parking lot. He looked up into the sky, but Veronica was nowhere in sight. There was no mistaking what she had just done. It was a warning. The book had mentioned beings that defended its knowledge from mortals, though it never did specify what those beings would do or what they looked like.
Whatever Veronica was, she could have destroyed him. If Kro had been responsible to protect the Emblems in the book, and if he had just a portion of her power, he would have destroyed a mortal meddler such as himself. But she had let him go with just a warning.
Maybe she was an angel after all, he hoped as he walked briskly to his car. There are ways to deal with angels. It’s all in the book. He smiled and started the engine, looking forward to a long night of research. Suddenly Veronica was there beside him in the passenger seat.
Kro jumped. “WHAT ARE YOU?" He tried to hide his fright behind anger.
“I’m your worst nightmare,” she said with an evil grin, showing her sharp teeth, right before sinking them into his throat.
Kro opened his eyes, screaming and clutching at his neck. It took him several long moments to realize he had been dreaming. He had never had a dream that felt so real. Veronica, the girl, was real enough. She had sat at the end of the second row all semester long, doodling and paying very little attention to anything he ever said. Her test scores were barely passable. That she could have been… Kro laughed at himself, at the ridiculous things his mind comes up with in the dead on night.
He stooped down and picked up the Book of Signs. He had been studying the Purge emblem, an assault on ignorance and a path to the enlightened. It was the spell had cast in his dream. The same he would try later in reality.
The memory of Veronica’s attack remained poignant though. Dream or not, that was a warning. Perhaps his subconscious had a good point. It was too late to learn any new emblems, but he used to keep a folding knife tucked in his right sock. It was a good habit, and perhaps one he should be getting back into. He found the blade in his sock drawer and tucked the familiar horn handle against his calf. “A sensible man needs to protect himself,” he said, nodding in approval of his own wisdom.
The dream stayed with him, making him paranoid and twitchy. As he drove to work, he forced himself to calm down. If he couldn’t control his nerves, the spell would fail or misfire, and all of his hard work would end in nothing at best, or serious trouble at worst.
Everything seemed to be normal at the school. The hallways carried the same familiar faces, and the cafe wafted the usual scents. Kro took a deep breath. It was time to make history.
When he walked into the classroom the first thing he saw was Veronica staring a hole through him and smiling that impish smile of hers.
Imprint
Text: Public Domain
Images: Public Domain
Editing: Stephen Johnson Jr.
Publication Date: 01-28-2014
All Rights Reserved
Dedication:
To every dedicated speculative fiction writer.