Everyone froze. Not even Phantom dared to laugh, and Káel's face was filled with speechless horror. He stepped forwards, about to run and check if his victim was alright, but Mr. Mudelin stopped him.

          "What is this?" he growled, poking the bouncy surface of the shield. "Do you think this is some sort of game? If I had hit you with a full forced attack you could have killed him!"

          Káel couldn't speak past the lump in his throat, watching Eris help Horus back up. Bright red blood was streaking down his hand as he held his nose. "I didn't-"

          "No excuses," Mr. Mudelin growled. "I don't care where you're from, I'll not have a student that endangers the lives of others for mere entertainment."

          "I'm sorry."

          "Would you have still said such an empty phrase if the attack took his head off?" Mr. Mudelin snapped, turning his attention to Horus. "Do you need a medic?"

          "I'm fine," he replied, still holding his nose to stop the blood.

          Mr. Mudelin sighed. "I'll get one anyways."

          "I'm sorry, it was a fluke, I'm bad at this!" Káel said, catching an irritated, yet acknowledging nod from Horus.

          "What did I say?" Mr. Mudelin boomed. "What use are your apologies? If you had put up the proper shield instead of trying to be funny with an advanced one, your poor humour never would have shown its face!" Mr. Mudelin dipped his voice to a heartless whisper, snatching up  Káel's wrist with the strength of an anaconda. "I don't care where you're from, but if you think endangering the lives of other students is a fair price for your jokes, then you can get out of my class."

          "You think I want to be here?" Káel spat, the freezing panic melting as something bubbled in his stomach.

          "Uh oh, let's calm down a bit," Phantom whispered, trying in vain to keep the red from rising past Káel's cheeks.

          "Pardon?" Mr. Mudelin growled, dipping down to float at his eye level. "Care to speak up?"

          "I said do you think I want to be here? Because I can assure you I don't. I don't want to be in this class, I don't want to be in this school. Hell! The last thing I want on this godforsaken hunk of rock is to be on it! Especially, in this dreary room, with pissy man that sounds like my old social teacher role playing some hot shot army general pretending to teach me!"

          "Káel," Phantom stepped between them, trying to cut the fuming teen's view of his speechless target.

          But Káel wasn't finished. 

          He passed right through Phantom, coming half a foots length from Mr. Mudelin's blackened coat. "I said I was sorry, I still would have said I was sorry if I'd blown his damn head off! But you know what I'm not sorry about? This."

          "Káel, calm down," Phantom cut in, greeted by a murderous scowl as Káel cleared his throat.

          "You are the single most pain-in-the-ass teacher I've had the pleasure of meeting, and I hope you have a full semester of migraines every time you see my face, because I'm not going anywhere! I couldn't if I tried!"

          Phantom cut in one last time, hardening his voice to catch the teen's attention. "Káel, stop it before you regret it."

          "You shut up as well!" Káel snapped, his voice reverberating through the room as he gave Phantom a raging death glare.

          The room had gone silent. Most of the students were staring at Káel, exchanging their gossip as he ripped his attention from the empty wall he'd screamed at. Even Mr. Mudelin didn't have any words for the outburst, quietly analysing the empty wall. Eris calmly walked towards Káel opening her mouth to speak, but before she could get within a suitable conversation distance he turned and walked away.

          "Where are you going?" Mr. Mudelin's voice had become surprisingly calm.

         "What do you mean? You said it yourself, you don't want a student that purposely endangers the lives of other students in your class, right? And since you can't seem to get it through your narrow head that I didn't do it on purpose, or that my name is Káel, not boy, I'm sparing you a migraine for a day!"

          "Just sit down until you've cooled off."

          He grabbed the door handle, looking back at Mr. Mudelin with a haughty glare. "Make me, Lucifer." Ripping open the door he left the room, slamming it with a resounding thud that carried an awkward silence over the entire class.

          Puff ran to keep up with Káel, almost forcing him to burst into his real form so he could follow his friend. Unlike usual, Káel seemed to know exactly where he was going, and it wasn't the dorms. He didn't feel like getting caught and dragged back to class after an event like that.

          "Where's Tia?" Káel growled, without even looking at Phantom.

          "Not here."

          Káel made a sharp turn around a corner, and approached the familiar stone wall. He shoved his hand in his pocket and whipped out the Ceptrum, muttering the password with a grouchy growl.

          "Don't yell, but didn't blondie say not to go down here?" Phantom said, shedding the usual playfulness painting his speech.

          "Yeah, Blondie did. But I don't care about what Blondie has to say right now, or anyone on this planet for that matter," Kael replied, entering the secret hall and waiting for the path to close behind him.

          Phantom followed, twiddling with the feather on his hat. "Well, what are you going to do down here?"

          Káel let loose a heavy sigh as he looked around the filthy room. "I don't know, sort stuff, get a better look at a couple things..."

          "You're going to clean? I thought you'd break a vase or something."

          "Well the vase didn't piss me off, and there's nothing else to do short of returning to class." He frowned at the small shrug Phantom gave. "Which is not an option in my books." Káel smacked the debris off a large, metal bound book, creating a shower of dust and loose pages. "Besides, why are you complaining? We might be able to find more stuff on your friend."

     —————   

          Samanthra grabbed a stack of papers, and hoisted them up with a grunt, slowly waddling over to a shockingly empty table.

          "You need help with that?" Ray cut in, approaching his struggling headmaster to assist her.

          "Ah no deary, I'll be fine." She dropped the stack with a relieved sigh, and wiped her forehead. "I hate paper. Anyways, continue, have you found any other methods? Ways to fix your... What was it again?"

          "Telly?"

          "Ah yes, Telly. Well, any progress?"

          "Nope, I've got nothing," Ray replied, he hadn't even thought about fixing the Telly. "You know, I don't see why keeping him on Lumi is so bad, he's having loads of fun."

          "I'd hardly call snapping at a teacher and wounding a house leader 'loads of fun'. That poor boy needs to go home, I can only imagine what he's going through right now. What you've done to him."

          Ray ignored the guilt trip, his face shedding its usual lighthearted smile. "He can't go back to Earth. He's safe here."

          Samanthra sighed, shaking some dust off a document and pulling her glasses down to read it. "If you'd tell me why you kidnapped him, we wouldn't have to constantly have this conversation. Because as it currently stands, he belongs on Earth, not here."

          "He's not even from Earth! How could he belong there?"

          "You don't seem to grasp how serious this is, there is consequences to every action, and I'm afraid you tipped your scale the wrong direction with whatever trade off you had in mind. Why did you kidnap him?" Samanthra insisted, shooting Ray a motherly look of expectation.

          Ray folded his arms, looking at her with such a straight face it practically screamed fake. "He's got good potential and he was practically abandoned, spare having a cat and a golem taking care of him... Who wouldn't kidnap him?"

          "Try normal people. Now be honest, what was the real reason?"

          Ray grudgingly opened his mouth to speak, but Tia cut him off before he could utter the first syllable. "Sorry mi'lady, still no signs of our lost troublemaker. Honestly, how does he do that? It's like he can see me."

          "You're sure he didn't leave the school premises?" Samanthra said, the stress nearly reaching her voice. "This has happened twice now, where does he just disappear to?"

          "Beats me, he's one sneaky little kapria I'll give him that. Didn't go outside, or check in to his dorms. It's like he's a ghost."

          An urgent beeping cut the conversation, muffled by Ray's sleeve as he casually slipped his fingers into the cuff and stopped it. He spared a smile for Samanthra's confused squint. "Can I go now?"

          "No. I still have questions for you, and we need to figure out where he's gone."

          Ray smiled. "Why not call the Breakers to look around? Half the school already knows him, it's not like that's gonna give him any more attention than he already has."

          Samanthra shook her head. "Tia, you stay here as well, I need to speak with you," she said, grabbing some envelopes and throwing them on the empty table. She then fixed her loose strands of hair and turned her attention back to Ray. "Now then, the real reason deary."

          Ray averted his gaze. "To win a bet with Draven."

          Samanthra raised her eyebrows, unimpressed by Ray's sad response. "You're fired."

          Ray cocked an eyebrow. "Good luck finding someone that can keep this place clean." 

          "I have more than enough funding to invest in some golems," Samanthra retorted. "What I don't have, is the patience to protect you from the Council if you're starting up secret operations in my school."

          Ray remained silent, trying to refrain from speaking by holding his breath with a pained expression.

          "You're dismissed. Pack your bags Mr. Peterson."

          Ray snapped, sighing at his failure. "I didn't think you'd get so up tight about it. I'll tell you, if you tell me exactly who I kidnapped."

          A glint of curiosity crossed Samanthra's face and she muttered under her breath, lacing the walls of her office with a flickering green sheen. Ray recognised the sound blocking enchantment, a nervous smile finally bringing out the fear in his eyes. "Right now? It's a pretty long story."

          Samanthra tugged out a chair. "And I'm patient." 

     —————   

          Káel held up a vial of purple liquid. "Another weird thing."

          "That's poison," Phantom cooed. "Put it on the shelf with all the other vials."

          Káel carefully rubbed the thin film of dust off it, placing it alongside all the other vials of strange liquids and objects. It looked like a warped, and very dangerous-if-spilled, rainbow.

          "How is this stuff still okay? It's been down here for hundreds of years, hasn't it?"

          "Thousands. Those vials are enchanted to keep their contents untainted by outside influences, rather pricy. I wonder if there's a bottle of wine down here, by now it'd be priceless."

          "Wouldn't it have expired?" Káel replied, sweeping a pile of dust into the little mound he'd created.

          "Not if it's in that enchanted glass as well." Phantom turned his attention to the towering black ghost that hadn't moved from the corner of the room, it seemed to be impassively watching Káel clean up. "Hey ghosty, any wine down here?"

          "Why are you looking for wine? It's not like you can drink it anyways."

          Phantoms enthusiasm immediately dropped. "Way to rain on my parade. I just need to get out of this rock, then I can have all the wine I want, and I will get out of this rock."

          Káel gave Phantom an amused look, eyeing the sealed mouth of his mask. "That's the only thing stopping you from drinking wine?"

          "Hey, I have a mouth, therefore I will find a way," he snapped, looking back at the ghost slowly making its way to a collapsed bookshelf full of webbed and dusty debris. His excitement shot up again. "Did you find it?"

          The ghost stopped and eerily watched a pile of debris.

           "Is it there?" Phantom said, his voice spiking with enthusiasm. "Hey Káel, clean over here!"

          "I'll work towards it," Káel replied, picking up a bunch of loose papers strewn across the ground. "Hey look, it's you."

          It was a detailed ink drawing that looked like Phantom, tall and clad in red, tilting his hat to an unknown audience. There was something else beside him though, a floating snake-like creature with a light blue skin, and amethyst purple tints.

          "What's with the flying snake?"

          Phantom leaned over to look at the picture. "For your information, that flying snake is my guardian. I wonder where she went off to."

          "It's been thousands of years, it's probably dead by now."

          "I doubt it, Senguin's just as likely to die of old age as me... But thanks for that lovely thought."

          "There's some more drawings," Káel said, switching the thread of conversation, and holding up an ink drawing of a powerful looking man in fancy garb.

          "That's his father."

          "Zalius's?"

          Phantom nodded. "He was an alright person... I guess."

          "Didn't like you?"

          "Not one bit."

          Káel chuckled, and placed the drawings on a stack of other loose papers. "This place is pretty cool, once you get rid of all the dirt and spider webs."

          "Yeah, it was one of his secret rooms, he had a ton of them. Makes me wonder how many more there are like this."

          "Why was he so secretive?"

          "Well, in his time, if people saw the stuff he was researching, he would have been executed as a heretic. Which is why the Council was able to pass a warrant for his death."

          "That must've sucked."

          "Yeah, this place was pretty sucky back in the day."

          "It still sucks," Káel sighed, sweeping the last specks of dust out of the area he'd cleared.

          Phantom pretended to lean against the large wooden desk, but froze when he saw something over Káel's shoulder.

          "What?" Káel rubbed the spider webs off a flask of clear liquid.

          "Blondie alert."

          A hand came down upon Káel's head, causing the glass container to slip from his grasp and bounce unstable between his palms before he finally regained a firm hold over it, panting at the sudden adrenaline that struck his heart.

          "For the last time, don't do that! This could have had some freaky acid in it," Káel snapped, glaring at Ray until it struck him. 

          He'd just been caught.

          "Uh huh, that's dragon spit, the worst it'll do is give the floor a nice fire-resistant shine." Ray folded his arms with a taunting smile. "I can see you listened to my orders the first time around."

          Káel placed the container of dragon spit on the vial shelf, and flicked the cobwebs off his sleeves.

           Ray watched with amusement as Káel ignored him and continued to clean, quietly tapping his foot on the stone floor. "So, who were you talking to? Sounded like a fun conversation."

          "The ghost."

          Ray nudged a dusty crystal necklace lying on the ground with his foot. "You mean a spirit?"

          "Same difference."

          "Actually, no. Ghosts can't talk, and they also look pretty freaking scary when they show themselves. Spirits on the other hand can talk, and they're way easier on the eyes."

          The ghost slowly turned its head to Ray and narrowed its glowing white eyes, almost as if it had taken offence at his statement.

          "Anyways, you find anything interesting while you ditched school and got me in trouble with Samanthra again?" Ray said, looking around at the sorted piles of paper and jewelry.

          Káel turned his attention to Ray, a grin creeping across his face. "You got in trouble?"

          He narrowed his eyes. "Don't get any ideas." As he glanced at the desk, the colourful drawings immediately pulled his attention as he scooped them up to skim them.

          Káel went back to cleaning while Ray admired their colourful details. Until he got to Phantom and grimaced.

          "Hey look at this weird dude." He tapped Káel on the shoulder to grab his attention. "Imagine finding that under your bed."

          "Has he ever looked in a mirror?" Phantom growled.

          Káel almost broke into laughter, but managed to keep it back with a snicker, grabbing the drawings from Ray and placing them back on the desk.

          "What? Don't you agree?" Ray picked up the drawing again. "He looks like the kind of guy you meet in a dark room in some creepy horror movie."

          "I think he looks fine," Káel replied, pausing suddenly as he processed Ray's full statement. "Horror movie?"

          Ray didn't say a word, forcing Káel to look over his shoulder to see what he was doing. He was whistling a tune to himself, while playing with a silver necklace dangling from a shelf, pretending he hadn't heard a single word Káel said.

          Something ticklish brushed against Káel's hand, tugging his attention back to the bony black spider crawling across his skin. His spine tensed, ripping his hand back to send the sorted sheets he'd tucked between his fingers flying in every direction. He quickly leapt to his feet, shaking his hands maniacally as he patted down his entire body with a jittery sigh.

          "Spider?" Ray said, an amused smile plastered across his face.

          "Yes, shut up, they're unpredictable little creeps with fangs, and venom, and too many eyeballs!" Káel snapped, still looking all over his uniform that was unfortunately mostly black.

          "It's probably not venomous you know."

          "I'm not taking chances."

          Ray chuckled, turning away to walk out the door. "Well, I'm here to tell you you've got a package, and I'd recommend coming out soon, since Tia's in a meeting right now." He blocked out the door before Káel could follow him. "And this room is out of bounds. But because you gave that mirror kisser the peck of a lifetime, I'm not warning you three times."

          Káel took Ray's wink with a grateful smile, nodding and following him up the steps. 

     —————   

          Jeremiah had finally returned, bearing a letter and a small, fairly light sling bag. When Káel entered his room, Truvius, who assumed he was still fuming, refrained from talking to him, and left their conversation at a greeting before retreating to the study room.

          Starting with the letter, he tore open the envelope and retrieved the paper inside.

Dear Nephew (Káel)

Firstly, please refrain from doping my cat on a daily basis, it makes him forgetful and clumsy, which is not ideal for delivering letters.

Secondly, your kidnapper is lying, and I can't wait to get my hands on him, could you tell me their name by any chance? There is no such device I know of that requires such a tool to transcend worlds, I don't know what he used, so there is the miniscule chance I may be wrong, but I want you to know it is beyond unlikely that whatever it was used a Zodraic Battery. Not even an ancient portal requires that much power.

But, since I promised to meet your needs to the best of my abilities, there's a zodraic battery in the sling bag, and a special lesson.

~sincerely, Staz (your uncle)

          Káel sighed with relief. "Thanks."

          He quickly opened the small sack, pouring a small metal disc and shred of parchment into his open palm, the words 'gullible' scrawled across its surface. 

          His eye involuntarily twitched at the message.

          Phantom leaned in to get an unnecessarily close look at it. "That's a real Zodraic Battery though, it's just missing it's battery."

          "Oh, that's good." Káel inspected the hollowed disc with a sarcastic ring. "The battery is only missing it's battery. No biggy."

          "Yes, it is," Phantom cooed, brushing his purple feather out of his line of sight. "But it isn't a lost cause."

          "You-" Káel started, getting cut off by a quiet shuffle in the study room. He grabbed a piece of scrap paper and scribbled on it. 

You can fix it?

          "Probably."

          Jeremiah meowed questionably, but Káel didn't feel like pushing his uncle's buttons by showering the cat in catnip, so he grabbed a fresh bird from his closet and tossed it to the cat. "Is that a good enough bribe?"

          Jeremiah chirped and scooped the bird into his mouth, jumping up to the windowsill in expectation to be let out. Káel played with the strange latches for a bit, until he found his cat showing him how to do it.

          When he finally opened the window, Jeremiah jumped out to eat his dinner, and Káel turned to Phantom.

          "Your sassy cat just called you crazy, so hopefully we're safe for now."

          Káel grabbed his paper and scribbled on it. 

Yeah, hopefully. Where do we start?

          "Well, first of all, write a letter to get rid of the little furry spy, then we'll need to find something with enough energy to resuscitate it." Phantom looked around the small room. "And we'll have to do it somewhere secret."

          Káel flipped over his piece of paper and scribbled. 

Well, we have two of those things, how much energy do we need?

          "Not a lot compared to making the whole thing. Maybe if me, you, and Mudbrain worked together we might be able to shock a new battery back to life and merge it."

I thought you were some super powerful Novan. 

          Káel scribbled, scrunching up the paper into a ball after Phantom read it over, and chucking it into the empty garbage can.

          "I am, but this damn rock kind of undermines my forte, which is magic, not lumience. And even that's been downsized to where I can only use large amounts of it if you're holding onto the stupid thing."

          Káel quietly snickered, and grabbed a fresh piece of paper to write on. 

Sorry. When should we try it? The weekend? Cause I need to get rid of Jeremiah first, and the sooner the better.

          "Sounds good."

          I'll hide it until then. Káel wrote, scrunching the paper up and chucking it in the trash.

          "Keep it in your pocket. This place has sucky hiding spots."

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Quality Quip #14:

'There are more fools in the world than there are people.'

~ Heine