Chapter Five
edited by @rsrdiall

Why are they letting us go by ourselves?  Thought Kayla as she watched Alex, Jorge and Quaid go toward a large murky pond that was in a completely different direction than Ebony and Gloria.  Not wanting to cause issues asking questions she headed in the direction of a grove with the girls. As she entered the path she looked over her shoulder to see Anthony sit down in a billow of smoke that resembled a throne.  Looks can be so deceiving; he's super creepy, she thought.

"Hey we need to find as many amulets and stones as we can," Gloria called from over her shoulder in an exasperated tone. "From what I've read and heard we have dead weight in our group," said Gloria with a cutting glance toward Kayla.

Kayla pretended to ignore the insult, but she was actually annoyed by it.  Waving her hand a little, Gloria stumbled over a rock that found its way in front of her.

Ebony also heard Gloria, but decided not to say anything when Kayla seemed more interested in studying their surroundings.   Shrugging she thought, if she doesn't care, I'm not gonna let it faze me. We have to find the amulets so we can see what stones they possess.  We really need ones that can strengthen powers.  She was contemplating that as she spotted a group of suspicious looking thorn bushes that shouldn't be able to grow on this side of the solar system.  

Kayla saw the thorn bushes, called toge busshu, and made her way towards them.  She'd seen pictures and read about these bushes. If they broke the skin the person would be flooded with a toxin that would make them feel as if their blood was on fire.  The effects lasted for hours, if not days depending on the amount the body absorbed and the person's metabolism.  She once heard the baker’s daughter saying she was giving small doses to her boyfriend since it acted as an aphrodisiac.  She had no desire to get caught up in that bush and didn't think the other girls did either.

"Be careful of those," she called to both Ebony and Gloria as they both started to make their way closer to the bushes seemingly unaware of the toxin’s effects..

Gloria stopped less than a foot away and lifted her hand. She started a low level spell that would separate the vines.  As she was speaking one of the vines from the toge busshu swept out and hit her on the arm before swinging back and striking her on the back of her neck.  Kayla ran over to her hoping that the bush didn't do a lot of damage. She was relieved when she saw only an inflamed area.  

“Gloria, are you ok?” Kayla asked quickly.

“I didn’t expect the bush to move on its own,” she answered still staring at the bush. Kayla ran beside her to examine the damage. Gloria stared at her. Her pupils dilated and she looked Kayla up and down.

“Gloria!” Kayla waved a hand in front of her face.

Gloria blinked her eyes a few times. “I couldn’t stop staring at your breasts and ah...No way am I attracted to your fat ass “ she muttered.

“What was that?” Kayla asked staring at the bush.

“Nothing,“ Gloria shot back quickly. “My skin is just sensitive and I feel a little hot.”

“Maybe we should go back.” Kayla looked at the woman but she quickly shook her head.

“That won’t be necessary.”

Ebony eagerly walked over. “If the bush did that it’s obviously hiding something.”  Ebony raised her hand and mumbled, “brûle en enfer”.  The two women looked on as a fireball appeared in her hand.  She threw sent it at the bush.  The bush smoldered and then turned to ash. And there shining in the ashes was an amulet.  The amulet had inscribed on it stone of repair, picking it up she walked over and handed it to Kayla while staring at Gloria.

"Being that we have a dead weight on our team I thought you'd need this Gloria," Ebony walked away without looking back.

Kayla didn't let any emotions show as she braided the amulet into Gloria's pale blond hair near the nape of her neck. The skin there was a molten red color, thankfully the vine didn't break skin.  When she was done she stood and followed behind Ebony.

"I'm sorry, Kayla." whispered Gloria.  She was ashamed of herself; that she'd let things she'd heard some of the Ah'Tarians say prejudice her.

"It's fine, let's just find some more." Kayla replied with a small smile and a chipper attitude that she didn't really feel. Something told her this was not gonna a walk in the park and that if moving bushes were the start it could only get worse.

More than 3-4 hours had gone by and the sun was starting to set.  Kayla, Gloria and Ebony reached the clearing looking like they'd gone for a pleasant afternoon stroll through the park. The girls had found four of the amulets that were placed around the area.  The guys were coming up the other side of the incline. They looked like they just ran a gauntlet. Dried sweat covered their skin, their blazers had rips and tears and they had dirt caked on their uniforms and boots.  When they made it to the clearing they had found one amulet.  As they all met back up, Gloria reached into her hair and removed the braid to pull out the amulet with healing properties and handed it the exhausted looking guys.  The amulet would give them some of their energy back and heal any superficial wounds on contact.  But the amulet wasn't going to make them smell any better and become any cleaner.

Jacob,Lucas and Anthony listened as the girls happily told the boys of their finds. They spoke about thorn bushes, a small clearing of fire flowers, the nettle trees and a grove of vampire lilies.

Gloria excitedly showed off their bounty after listening to Kayla and Ebony, "We found the healing stone, the mist of magic, the sunflower stone and the breath of song."  

Alex, Jorge and Quaid looked a little dejected when they showed the one amulet they found.  The girls, not wanting the boys to feel bad, were oohing and ahing over it.  The boys started to smile and puff up their chest believing the admiration the girls we're laying on so thickly.  Jacob let a smile play on his lips as he listed to the girls stroke the three first year boys ego.  Jorge did find a good stone with Alex and Quaid. He found the stone of strength.  The stone was the only one they had that would multiply the distance and strength of a spell.  

Alex started to tell the story of how Jorge retrieved it from the murky waters of the pond. But just as he was about to get to the good part Lucas stood up and interrupted the riveting story.

"It's time for us to head to the humanities building.” With that Lucas turned and started up the incline.  Jacob and Anthony were already at the top staring down at them with amused expressions.  Kayla looked up with a bewildered expression wondering, when did the incline go from being at a 35 degree angle to almost a 75 degree angle?  Lucas strolled up the new incline as if it were level while the rest of them struggled to finish the climb.

We finally made it up the side of the mountain, thought Kayla looking back the incline which was once again at a 35 degree angle. Rolling her eyes, she trailed everyone into a building that looked like a fort made of crushed black onyx. It was shrouded in swirling mist.  She wondered why the building seemed less like a place to learn critical thinking and more like it was meant to teach the art of war. As they walked through the building she heard Anthony talking about the classes that were taught here: literature, history, and philosophy to name a few.  As they made their way to the back of the building they walked under a gleaming white metal portcullis that looked like it was meant to guard a castle’s entrance from an attack. It certainly shouldn’t be inside a school building meant to teach the art of diplomacy.

As they walked under the portcullis she heard Anthonyspeaking.  "Welcome to the school's training grounds.  We are running late. Sparring will begin in 25 minutes. Notice to your right there is food and beverages for you.  When the doors open," he swept his hand in the direction they had just come and several wooden doors had replaced the portcullis.  "When you step through." Finally with the smile of a devil fox he added, "The fun and games will begin shortly."

Ebony was looking at Anthony with an expression that showed she didn't believe the activities were about to be fun or games.  Kayla just shook her head at what she assumed was a play on words.  Gloria, Quaid, Alex and Jorge went to the tables and started to grab food before sitting down a few feet away barely breathing as they stuffed their faces.  

Kayla walked over and grabbed two halves of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a few apple slices. Ebony grabbed half a ham and cheese sandwich with celery sticks, but after eating went back for seconds.

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Jacob was happy to see that the pushes he gave both Kayla and Ebony were working. Kayla hadn't touched her head or had a vague look on her face and Ebony ate more than a stalk of celery. He looked over at Lucas who was deftly looking at the tablet, switching from screen to screen.  He was examining the other first year students for their strengths and weakness.

As the time approached for the doors to swing open Lucas started to speak in a commanding tone that was too passionate to be serious, "I know we all didn't really get to know each other during the tour. But” he continued starting to sound ridiculously pumped up, "if you guys win, we'll all go out for drinks and pizza at Carlo's Pizza and Ice Cream during the first break."  Pausing Lucas thought for a moment then continued with a smile that could melt rock, "And it's Jacob's treat!"

All eyes swung to Jacob.

Jacob stood there shaking in amusement trying not to burst into fits of laughter as Lucas offered to spend his stipend money on pizza, drinks and ice cream. He decided he would play along, in an overly serious tone he quipped, "If you guys lose, Lucas can take you to Lou's Pub for drinks to drown your sorrows and it'll be his treat."  As an afterthought he added with a megawatt smirk, "I'm going to the pizzeria with the winning team so you'd better win."

Anthony smiled, it was hands down the scariest smile that anyone had ever seen on such a handsome man's face.  His quip was said in a voice that made -10 degree weather seem warm, "If you lose I'll haunt your dreams."

As the doors slammed opened they all stood rooted to their spot staring at Anthony's empty spot while Kayla said, “That'll be scariest dream ever.”