The Other Prism (The Broken Prism) (3 page)

“
Speaking of magical research, I expect you’ll be applying for an apprenticeship with Asher in a few years,” Master Willow’s next comment caught him off guard. “He hasn’t sponsored a student since he began teaching here, but you are also the first natural prism to come to Mizzenwald since then.”

The unpleasant memory from last year came to Hayden at that moment, unbidden. He had once broached the subject of doing resear
ch with the Prism Master, only to have Asher tense alarmingly and draw a mastery-level prism as though to duel him. After that it had become perfectly clear that while Asher didn’t mind teaching him basic skills in class, he didn’t like or trust him enough to ever work with him professionally.

“No!” Hayden’s response came out much sharper and louder than he’d intended as the horrible memory hit him. Master Willow nearly jumped at the outburst. “I mean, no sir, I’m…not interested in doing research, not with prisms at least.”

The Master of Wands gave him such a scrutinizing stare that Hayden was almost certain the man could see right through his skin. Thankfully he let the subject drop with nothing more than an, “I see,” and bid him farewell before disappearing again, off to check on his own research students.

Feeling both happy and miserable, Hayden carried his things inside the castle and prepared to get back to work.

2

From the Source

Hayden was pleasantly surprised to learn that his new room was on the fifth floor this year (last year he had been on the sixth), and doubly excited when he found out that Kayce—one of his former roommates—had requested a transfer to a new room, and that Tamon would be taking his place. The placards with their names and majors were already posted outside the doors when he arrived.

None of his three roommates returned to school before his thirteenth birthday, t
hough more students trickled into Mizzenwald by the hour as the new year approached, so it was only a matter of time. He sat reading in the third-year common area (which looked exactly like the second-year common area except it had a window as well) nearly finished reviewing his level-two Wands textbook. He had bought his level-three supplies just yesterday, along with the materials needed for his other subjects.

Theresa Wesley peeked into the common area and saw him there, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth as she came in and pulled up a
down-stuffed chair beside him on the floor. Hayden couldn’t help but notice that she seemed taller than he remembered, and her softly-curling blond hair was past her shoulders now. She also had an orange-and-white cat trailing her.

“Hi Hayden,” she greeted him cheerfully,
apparently glad to see him. “When did you get back?”

Hayden was still getting used to the idea that there were people in the world who actually enjoyed his company and didn’t wince at the very sight of him. It was a strange, pleasant sort of discomfort.

“A couple weeks ago. Master Willow brought me back after my meeting with the Council of Mages in Kargath. What about you?”

Tess raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“I just got in last night. What did the Council of Mages want with you?”

“Not much, just to check in and make sure I was doing alright in school and not menacing the population.” Hayden rolled his eyes, but Tess looked worried.

“Did it go alright? They’re letting you stay at Mizzenwald, aren’t they?”

Hayden nodded, trying to put her at ease. “
Of course they are. Willow and Kilgore told them a bit about last year and they sent me on my way without any fuss.” He closed his Wands textbook and set it to the side. “I’ve just been catching up on some level-two reading since I’m skipping right to the level-three class for Wands.”

Tess nodded. “I think we’ll be in Healing together this year. The rest o
f my minor classes are at level-two or three, and I’m moving on to level-four Elixirs and Powders. Mittens will be a lot of help with my higher level work there,” she gestured to the cat that was sprawled out beside her on the floor, lolling about in a sunbeam that filtered in through the window.

Hayden whistled appreciatively at t
hat. Tess had told him a while ago that after her first year in school she failed out of all of the major arcana except for Elixirs and Powders, and had enrolled in most of the other minor arcana instead to fill out her schedule. It made sense that she would already be in the second or third level of them all this year, whereas he was just beginning Introductory Charms.

“C
ool, hopefully we’ll end up in the same Healing class then,” he said with perfect sincerity. Tess was shy by nature (though she seemed much more outgoing towards him today), but she was also one of Hayden’s favorite people in the world, especially after enduring a year’s worth of challenge arenas with him and saving his life at the end of last term.

A new thought occurred to him just then. “Where did you get Mittens? I thought your familiar was a giant snail named Slimy.”

The mention of Slimy made Tess frown. “He was, but he died during the holiday. Snails don’t live very long, and Torin said it wasn’t because I did anything wrong, but I still feel bad about it.” She gently stroked the orange-and-white cat lying beside her and it purred. “Still, I’m glad to have Mittens now; he’s a much more active familiar than Slimy was.”

Hayden winced apologetically at reminding her of her dead snail when she had been so happy a minute ago. He couldn’t imagine how horrible it must be to lose a familiar, and patted Bonk’s head to reassure
himself that the little dragon was still there with him.

Tess
changed the subject and gave him a shy smile. “I also wanted to wish you a happy birthday.” She opened one of the many elixir slots on her belt and handed him a phial of something thick and bright purple. “It’s an energy elixir. It’ll give you a burst of energy when you need it, maybe ten minutes worth if I made it just right. I thought it might help you in one of the arenas this year.”

Hayden was momentarily stunned by the first birthday present (or acknowledgement) he had received in years. The last time anyone
celebrated his birthday his mother was still alive, and he was ten. He was silent so long that Tess’s smile drooped and she began to look embarrassed. Hayden shook himself mentally to recover his wits.

“Thanks a lot;
it’s sure to come in handy this year when we’re stuck in a freezing bog or something.” He grinned at her, and Bonk crawled into Tess’s lap and began nuzzling her affectionately, as though he was pleased with her as well.

Tess brightened instantly.

“Oh, you mean you might let me in your challenge group again this year?”

Hayden could tell by the way she said it that she had been seriously worried about him telling her to get lost, which was absolutely ridiculous
because she helped save his life only weeks ago.

“Of course I want you on my team again
—you saved us all more than once last year.” He didn’t understand why she looked so pleasantly surprised by his answer, because to him it was obvious. “I told you during our first arena ever, when you fell in that hole—we’re a team and I’m not leaving anyone behind.”

Bonk was still in her arms, and Tess hugged the little dragon so hard he let out a squawk until she released him. “Do you think Zane and Tucker will want to join up again too?”

Hayden frowned thoughtfully, because he had given the subject some thought before now.

“I think Zane’s a shoe-in, but Tucker…I don’t know.” He liked Tucker just fine, but he had very mixed feelings about whether or not the fourth-year boy should be in their challenge group again. He hadn’t voiced his concerns to anyone yet, not even Zane, but for some reason he blurted it all out to Tess.

“When we were in that den of wargs at the end of the year, Tucker kept telling me to use the broken prism if it looked like we were going to die there, even though he knew what it would cost me to do it,” he blurted out very quickly, his jaw clenching involuntarily at the memory. “I know that he was just worried about us being eaten by monsters, but he knows whose son I am and how much I don’t want to be like my father.” Hayden looked away from her. “I know it probably sounds stupid, because we all lived and no harm done, but it changed something for me.”

Tess
listened to him in silence, still gently stroking Bonk’s head. “That’s not stupid at all. It must have been horrible for you, having to choose whether to use it or not while you were being mangled by that warg, and he shouldn’t have encouraged you to break the law.”

“Even if we all died horribly?”

Tess nodded grimly. “It’s better than the alternative. Think of all the people your father killed because of imperfect prisms. If he had had the strength to say no like you did…”

She didn’t finish that thought. She didn’t have to. Hayden was miserably aware of the fact that Tess had lost her mother in the fight against Aleric Frost, and that she was probably thinking about how much happier she would be right now if he had never become the Dark Prism.

“Yeah, um…well,” Hayden struggled to find the right words. “Anyway, that’s why I’m not sure about Tucker being on our team this year, but I guess we’ll see what happens.”

Tess nodded, looking relieved by the change of subject.

“Well, I’d better get going. I’ve still got to get all my books and supplies for classes this year, and maybe some new clothing.”

“Cool, I finished all my shopping yesterday. I’ll see you later I guess.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you around.” Tess set Bonk down and woke up Mittens, who rolled lithely to his feet and followed her out of the common area.

Zane didn’t return until the day before the new term started, and spent much of the day buying supplies and putting his part of the room in order. After dinner that night he finally settled down enough to tell Hayden all about his winter holiday, which centered around a lengthy trip to the hot springs of Minir with his entire family, and was the reason he was so late in returning for the new term.

After he was done extoling the virtues of the hot springs to his roomm
ates, Zane wanted to hear all about the meeting with the Council of Mages in Kargath. Tamon and Conner, who had grown bored listening to Zane’s rambling and returned to straightening up their side of the room, now sharpened their focus on Hayden.

“It wasn’t terribly eventful,” he shrugged, trying to coax Bonk onto the new perch he’d gotten for him to sleep on. “I went to
Kargath right after school let out, and then I sat around cooling my heels for three weeks until the Council could be bothered to see me.”

Tamon made a face and said, “It took
them
three weeks
to assemble themselves?” When Hayden nodded he added, “That’s just rude. It’s not like they had to walk from every corner of the Nine Lands to get there…they have Mastery Charms! I know they translocated themselves there in an instant.”

Hayden shrugged again. “Anyway, they finally showed up and invited me to breakfast, where I learned that I have the table manners of a chimpanzee.” He grimaced at the memory. “Fortunately
, Kilgore and Willow showed up and did most of the talking for me.”

Zane arched his eyebrows in surprise. “Oh weird, you saw our teachers over
the holiday?”

“I didn’t
mind after spending three weeks surrounded by people I didn’t know. Anyway, like I said, it wasn’t that exciting. The Council cleared me to come back to school, and Master Willow gave me a translocation to save me the trip.”

“Ah, well, that does sound kind of dull.” Conner smirked, leaning back against his desk beside his owl’s perch. Hayden hoped that Bonk would emulate
the owl’s quiet grace and sit on his own perch, but that had been overly optimistic. Bonk walked from one side of the T-shaped post to the other and then hopped onto Hayden’s spare pillow to settle down for the night.

“Mira brought up a good point during the holiday,” Tamon looked at Hayden with interest, but before he could continue Zane said
, “Oh ho! You didn’t tell us you spent the holiday with
Mira
…”

Tamon spared him a flat stare and replied, “We didn’t sp
end the entire holiday together—I just saw her a few times.” The slight flush in his cheeks made Hayden consider just how much time he had seen them spending together in the last year. “Anyway…” he turned the subject back to Hayden, “she brought up the fact that since you’re the only natural prism in the school right now, you might be picked for the Inter-School Championship this year.”

That meant absolutely nothing to H
ayden, but the others clearly found it fascinating, because Zane’s eyes widened comically and Conner nearly slipped off the edge of his desk.

“Sorry, the what?”
Hayden was beginning to wonder if there would ever come a day when he knew as much about the magical community as all of his peers.

“Wow, that’s a good point…” Za
ne trailed off thoughtfully, casting Hayden an oddly appraising look. “Usually they only take sixth and seventh years, but Oliver would probably be the next best prism-user, and Hayden already mops the floor with him.”

“Again, could someone please tell me what the Inter-School Championship is supposed to be?”

Hayden’s friends were staring at him like they had no idea how to deal with him sometimes. It was Conner who took mercy on him and explained.

“Every-
other year the major schools of magic across the Nine Lands compete in the Inter-School Championship. Each school picks their most qualified candidate in each of the majors, and they go up against the other schools to see who is better.”

Hayden frowned as he took that in. Encouraged by his silence, Conner continued.

“The five eastern schools compete to see who’s the best, and the four western schools do the same. At every-other I.S.C, the winners from the east and west go head-to-head at the end in some epic challenge.”

“Mizz
enwald students win the eastern part of the championship three times out of four, and go on to the finals if it’s an on-year for it,” Zane put in proudly. “We do pretty well in the championship round too—like ten years ago, when Mizzenwald won in every major and swept the floor with the other eight schools.”

Tamon rolled his eyes. “That’s why it costs an arm and a leg to take the admissions tests for this place, because we’ve got the highest percentage of wins between all the main schools in the
Nine Lands.”