The Magi (The Magi Series) (18 page)

“Go…Go…Go…Go.” Zempke commanded each student one by one to jump into the pit. The students jumped in and sank almost completely to the bottom, foam bricks covering their entire body up to their neck. Some sank completely. As soon as they sank to the bottom, Elijah could see each student, as if they were quickly climbing up stairs without using their hands, slowly begin to rise out of the foam, reaching the other side of the pit just as their feet reached the surface. It was incredible to watch the agility and grace each student had. He had never seen anything like this!

Elijah studied each of their moves carefully, knowing he was going to be next. Some students flew through the pit gracefully, as if they were performing a dance. Some struggled a bit more, needing just a little bit of help to get out. But each one made it to the top. Elijah felt sick. His body was hurting; he was exhausted from the run and the two hours of training before class, but more than that, he was afraid of making a fool of himself in the pit.

Since he and Samuel were the last in line from the laps around the arena, they were the last in line to dive in. It was finally his turn. He pictured his body moving the same as everyone else’s had been. “Swing your arms,” he told himself. “Lift your legs quickly.” Elijah jumped in and immediately sank to the bottom. He moved his arms and tried to run. Nothing. He didn’t even move. The foam bricks barricaded his entire body. He stopped moving his arms and tried to climb out using the bricks like steps, but he would just sink right back to where he started. He began to panic. Everyone was looking at him! Elijah continued to push himself in fits of fury, determined to at least get to the edge on the other side, whether or not he made it to the top of the foam bricks like the others. He waded slowly forward through the pile, each step pushing the foam out of the way. Slowly but surely he made his way to the edge. Looking back, he saw Samuel, who was having an even tougher time than he was. Elijah was sorry for Samuel, but part of him felt better knowing he wasn’t alone.

The rest of the students lined up to have another go at it. They began jumping in, whizzing past Samuel and Elijah. It looked so easy the way that everyone else just glided out of there. Each foot would barely touch the foam before the other was right in front making the next step. Finally, wheezing and choking, Elijah made it to the other side and tried to pull himself out. Before he could get all the way up, a hand came down to offer him help. Gladly, Elijah grasped the helping hand as it pulled him up out of the pit.

“Thanks,” Elijah managed to blurt out. The help came from a boy with dark brown hair and brilliant blue eyes. He was broad and fit, but he was so tall, he looked a little on the lanky side. Even so, he was much more fit than either Elijah or Samuel.

“Not a problem. I’m just happy today’s not
my
first day again. Try closing your eyes next time.” The boy ran off to the next exercise, leaving Elijah to wonder if he would die before he got a chance to have a next time.

The rest of the day crawled slowly by. With each step, with each lift, with each pull, Elijah gritted his teeth and found whatever strength he had deep inside him for the next brutal exercise. When Zempke finally called the session over, Elijah walked straight out of the arena, up the two flights of stairs, took the right turn to the boys’ side of the hall, opened his door, and flopped down onto his bed. He didn’t even have the energy to eat. Seconds after his head hit the pillow, Elijah fell asleep, his legs hanging off the side of his bed.

Later that evening, Elijah woke up and noticed a piece of paper sitting on the desk beside his bed. His muscles pulsed painfully with every beat of his heart. He couldn’t even extend his arms fully without concentration. He actually needed to straighten each arm using the hand from the opposite arm. Elijah picked up the paper and read. It said:

Elijah,

Here is your schedule for the remainder of term:

Mondays – Strength Training: Report at 5:00 a.m.

Tuesdays and Thursdays – Academic discussion group: Report at 7:00 a.m. in Room 1

Wednesdays – Mental Training: Report at 5:00 a.m.

Fridays – Combo Physical and Mental: Report at 5:00 a.m.

Saturdays – Elemental Training: Report at 8:00 a.m.

Sundays – Free day. You may rest, visit with each other, or you may visit your family—or in your case, the Roddicks.

Get lots of rest tonight!

Mr. Button

P.S. Your required reading for this term has been placed on your wooden chest.

Elijah put the letter down, took off his boots, crawled under the covers, and went back to sleep for the rest of the night.

****

CHAPTER 11: AN EXTRAORDINARY GIFT

The following morning, Elijah woke up absolutely freezing. It had snowed during the night making the barracks cold and drafty. He walked over to the chest and pulled out an additional blanket before realizing it was time to get up. It was still dark outside, and his entire body still throbbed from yesterday’s physical training. Elijah gathered his pile of books and read the piece of paper lying on top of his pile, which listed what he was going to read and discuss for the remainder of term. Most everything was a classic like the
Iliad
and the
Odyssey
, various Shakespeare plays, and a textbook with a collection of short stories and poems. There were also books written by old philosophers and mathematicians. Elijah recognized the names of a few authors, but most he had never heard of.

After a quick breakfast, Elijah walked through the training arena and into his classroom. He took a seat in an empty chair at the very center of the room. He definitely didn’t want to draw any more attention to himself than there already was, being the new student, so he figured sitting in the middle would be a nice way to remain unnoticed.

There were some students in the classroom already. As the rest of them began to file into the room, Elijah recognized a few. Adam, the boy that heard him trying to open Kyria’s diaries, walked in and sat down in the very back of the classroom, near the door. He pulled out a book and began to read it silently. The tall boy that helped Elijah up from the pit of foam also walked in. He sat in the very front corner and turned so he was facing the entire room. He began chatting with a chubby boy next to him.

Then, Elijah saw Hannah Maybury walk into the room. He hadn’t seen her since her family had walked with him to visit Arthur during the winter recess. She quickly scanned the room, and Elijah figured she was looking for her circle of friends to sit with. To his surprise, she looked directly at him, smiled, and walked right over to the seat next to him.

“Can I sit here?” she asked politely.

Elijah blushed.

“Sure.” She sat down and smiled at him in appreciation. From her bag, Hannah pulled out a book called
The Writings of Aristotle
. Seeing this, Elijah pulled out his copy too and took a few deep breaths. He told himself he was only nervous because of the difficult book he was expected to read and discuss, but as he looked at Hannah sitting next to him, he knew that wasn’t the only thing making him nervous.

“So how did it go yesterday?” Hannah asked. “I work with my mentor on Mondays, but I wondered how you were doing your first day.” Elijah’s eyes widened in shock. She thought of him? His hands began to get sweaty again as he tried to calm himself down so his voice didn’t shake when he answered her.

“I’m not sure I did so well,” Elijah admitted, his voice shaking. “I had a hard time getting out of that foam pit.”

“It’s so embarrassing isn’t it?” Hannah said sympathetically. “The first day we did that last term, all of us in our first year got stuck in that pit. It was like a sea of drowning swimmers! There’s still some who can’t do it in my group.”

Elijah felt immediately better. He hadn’t noticed anyone in his group that couldn’t get up, but some did struggle more than others.

“So you had physical training yesterday,” continued Hannah. “I have that on Saturdays. You’re working with the older group then.”

“Really?” asked Elijah. “Why would they put me with the older group?”

“Oh, they mix everyone up for physical training. Paul’s in that group, I think.” Hannah pointed to the tall boy that helped Elijah up out of the pit. “So is Andrew.” She pointed to a small pale boy with red hair who was now sitting behind Paul and talking to him and the chubbier boy next to Paul. “They are both in their preliminary year too. It’s just that
most
of the kids in your group are older, and
most
in mine are younger.” Elijah paused for a moment, gathering enough courage to ask about her.

“How was your day with your mentor?”

“It was okay,” she said brushing her brown hair out of her eyes. “Mostly, we just talked about things my parents have told me already, but I had some time to work on moving the elements.”

“Any luck?” asked Elijah curiously. He was trying to be polite and carry on the conversation, but Elijah was also curious to find out what his own day with
his
mentor would be like. He had to wait until Saturday to find everything out.

“No,” she said. “I thought for a minute that I made some ripples in a pond, but it was just the wind.”

“Maybe you made the wind then,” Elijah said, immediately feeling like his joke was stupid.

Hannah smiled at him and looked like she was about to respond, but at that moment a middle-aged woman with dark hair and wrinkles around her mouth walked into the room, and Hannah straightened up in her seat, signaling to Elijah that it was time to quit talking. He felt much better after his short conversation with her. It almost made up for the embarrassment he suffered the first time they met. Immediately following the instructor, Samuel charged into the room out of breath. He took the seat next to Adam by the door.

The rest of the class was spent discussing the use of their five senses to discover more about the world. Elijah was completely lost the entire time, but thankfully he was never called on. So, he spent the day listening to everyone else talk about Aristotle, the philosopher, and reading from an act of Shakespeare’s
Julius Caesar
. Some of the students seemed to have a lot to say about each topic, but most of them were quite content to let the teacher, a very boring, long-winded woman named Mrs. White, talk for most of the class time.

Elijah enjoyed the time they were given between discussions to visit with one another, even though he really didn’t know anyone. He learned from the others that his discussion classes would always be done with students in his year. Other than physical training, which never changes curriculum regardless of age, all of his training would be with those same students. During the breaks, Elijah met almost everyone in the class—informally of course. There were fifteen of them, and they were all very curious about Elijah and Samuel.

“Why are the Maliphists after you?”

“Where did you come from?”

“What was it like living outside of Savenridge?”

“Who is Stan Hawk?”

“When did you learn about us?”

“
How
did you learn about us?”

Elijah tried to entertain each question and answer them seriously, but he began to grow tired of the attention after a while.

At lunch, Elijah found Samuel and sat next to him, but before he knew it, two other boys joined them. Elijah recognized Paul, the tall boy who helped him out of the pit, and he also recognized the other as the chubby boy who sat next to Paul during class discussions, but he didn’t know his name.

“So did you close your eyes?” Paul asked Elijah, referring to the foam pit as he sat down across from him.

“I didn’t get a chance to go again,” Elijah answered shrugging his shoulders, pretending that his failure didn’t bother him in the slightest. Paul chuckled.

“Try it next time. Remember, you’re training your body to get stronger. The stronger it gets, the easier it will be to get out of there. Technique has a bit to do with it, but it’s more about strength. Zempke’s totally loony, but he has a method to his madness. Before you know it, you’ll be flying out of there. Isn’t that right, Isaac?” Paul slapped the boy sitting next to him on the back in a playful way.

“Hey, if you can even
pull
yourself out, you’re doing better than me,” said Isaac. Elijah and Samuel laughed, but Elijah wasn’t sure if Isaac was joking or not.