Rising Shards

My hands shook as my eyes darted back and forth between the damaged book in my hands and the damaged glass doors.

“Oh crap, Stella’s gonna kill me…” I said. “Stella’s gonna get fired…then she’s gonna kill me…”

“We can just leave now.” Kalei said. “Let’s all say we had to go to the bathroom and didn’t notice. Maybe she won’t even notice! Problem solved!”

“We said we’d help Stella…we wrecked her old book… Stella’s gonna get fired…then she’s gonna kill me…” I muttered.

“Kalei, you suggested we play that stupid game!” Oka said.

“Something’s strange,” Lillia said, gently touching the impact point of the pens on the glass.

“Huh?” Oka said.

“Do any of us have any powers that would affect a metal pen?” Lillia asked. “Fire certainly wouldn’t. Plants wouldn’t. Ice wouldn’t.”

“Zeta’s got lightning!” Kalei said, snapping her fingers and pointing to me. “Her zapeezies bolted up her pen, metal conducts electricity, then zippity zop zap, all the pens did this.”

“No…” I said, not able to bear the thought that I’d ruined Stella’s new job like that.

“Don’t call them zapeezies.” Oka said.

“That doesn’t make sense, either.” Lillia said. “And even if it was one of us, are we strong enough to accomplish something like that?”

“Well, I mean, I probably am,” Kalei said, flexing. “Have my gains gone too far?”

“But you couldn’t do that on your own, especially subconsciously,” Lillia said. “Especially with such a specific pattern.”

"You said especially twice," Kalei noted.

"Shut up." Lillia said.

“Maybe there’s someone else nearby that did this,” Oka suggested. “Are either Ema or Snake’s powers metal based?”

“Again, if we couldn’t do something this specific with our powers, you think those two could?” Lillia asked.

“…good point…” Oka said.

“I think there’s something else to this.” Lillia said.

“Yeah, got it,” Kalei said. “Zeta’s the only one of us with a tail. Naturally, her tail has had a mind of her own and has been scheming this the whole time. Over its next steps, it’s gonna escalate to serial killer pretty quick.”

“It’s definitely not that.” Lillia said.

“Zeta’s adorable tail would never betray us like that,” Oka said.

“Yeah,” I said, patting my tail. I had a love/annoyance relationship with it, but it didn’t deserve to be called evil. "Wait, wait! I have an idea! Remember when Aira threw up for us when we busted that cube?"

"Uh..." Lillia said.

"Right, you weren't there for that," Oka said.

"I know about her...ability to do that, but..." Lillia said. "What on earth does that have to do with our situation? Is Zeta suggesting we get Aira to throw up on this mangled book or something?" She made a face like she just smelled some week old moldy food.

"No, no, this is a really good idea, this will fix this whole thing!" I said. I got out my phone and called Aira.

"Hello? Zeta Faleur?" Aira answered right away.

"Aira! Remember that time we broke that cube, er, not you, but Oka, Kalei, and I. That time we broke the cube and ran into you and asked for your help, and then you threw up and said you had a guy?"

"Uh huh, I remember," Aira said. 

"Do you...still have your guy? Can they clean up something right now?" I asked/begged.

"Er...I'm gonna be honest with you, Zeta," Aira said, plummeting my stomach into a pit.

"It's a lot, I know, I'm sorry. It's dumb. I just...broke something again and I was wondering if you could help and I know it's a lot and I know it's our fault for breaking the thing and...sorry, I just—"

"No, no! I'd be glad to help you, it's just..." Aira trailed off. "I kinda made up the whole thing about having a guy. I just threw up and pretended to call someone. I was trying to impress you three. Since you know, throwing up on command isn't that special..."

"Oh, no, you really still bought us time!" I said.

"What the hell are they talking about?" Kalei asked.

"I did call a custodian over after you left so I didn't just like leave it there," Aira said. "So in that regard I still had a guy. But she was a woman so...anyways, sorry I can't be of any more help!"

"No, no, it's OK!" I said. "It was nice talking to you. Sorry if I caught you in the middle of something."

"You didn't, I'm just sitting around at Wildfire Hearts deluxe-io bored. I hope your broken thing works out!" Aira said. "But I got some people waiting here. Bye Zeta!"

"Talk to you soon!" I sighed as I hung up. Then it started to dawn on me that I still was staring down a broken bookcase and a stabbed, inked up book. "Oh no...that was my one plan...Stella's gonna get fired...then she's gonna kill me..." I started my panicked near-chanting again.

Lillia collected all four of the pens and held them together. She dropped them and they started to swoop right back to book in my hands. Because Lillia was a lot closer to it than we were earlier, the pens merely bounced off of it before falling down. She then pointed to me. “Call Diast.”

“Why me?” I asked. “I’m gonna cry for ruining everything for my sister, I can’t make another phone call right now! Two phone calls in a row? Are you serious?”

“Here’s a thought I just had, Zates,” Kalei said. “Stella’s your big sister/guardian, right? She’s probably done a lot of stuff that made you mad. So…”

“So what? I ruin her job day one?” I said.

“I mean, a little revenge couldn’t hurt.” Kalei shrugged.

“Zeta, ignore her, please calm down, and call Dr. Diast.” Lillia said.

I nodded. I didn’t have time to waste here. I quickly dialed and winced. “Dr. Diast? Help?”

After I somehow explained the situation a bit without crying (Oka hugged me from behind halfway through my stammering which gave me power), Diast arrived much quicker than I expected. I was expecting her to sigh or say something about us getting in some calamity or whatever, but she looked distant as she approached the scene.

“We potentially accept any punishment as long as you help us,” I said, holding out the damaged book as if it was some kind of payment.

“Hey, I don’t.” Kalei said.

“Fine, I can take all the heat and whatever punishment you deem necessary for our transgression as long as you can help us fix this mess before Stella gets back and in a way that makes sure she never knows about this.” I said.

“I can also share in taking all the heat and whatever punishment you deem necessary for—” Oka started.

“You don’t have to say that whole thing again, oh my god.” Kalei said.

“I don’t think that will be necessary.” Lillia said.

“Huh? Why?” Oka asked.

“Because I have a hunch,” Lillia said. “Your Cani gift is metal control, isn’t it?”

Dr. Diast continued to look foggy, like she’d been somewhere humid all day.

“What are you saying here?” Oka asked.

“Again, it’s just a hunch, but I have a feeling…” Lillia said. “You know what happened here. Don’t you, Dr. Diast?”

Diast shut her eyes. When she opened them, she looked like she was tearing her mind out of whatever faraway place she’d been in. “You’re right,” She said. “This uh…this one’s mine.”

“What?” I said. “What do you mean yours? Is this yours? You did this? Why’d you do this?” I stopped myself from saying ‘Why did you do this to Stella?’ because that would open its own can of worms.

“I wanted to prank Mrs. Paine, but she must’ve never grabbed the pens I charmed, that old bat.” Diast said.

“Wait, when did you do this?” Oka asked.

“Like fifteen years ago!” Diast said. “I was your age, probably.”

“You went to this school when you were younger?” I asked.

“Yes,” Diast said. “I so told you that before.”

“Mrs. Paine was here fifteen years ago?” Kalei asked.

“She was here like fifteen hundred years ago.” Diast said.

“But like…how?” Oka asked.

“Because she’s very old and filled with spite so she used that spite to stay working for an elongated period of time.” Diast said.

“Not that, the pen thing.” Oka said.

“I have metal powers, remember?” Diast said.

“Like…death metal?” Kalei asked.

“No, like metal control,” Diast said. “Lillia just said it like a minute ago.”

“Again, like…how?” Oka asked.

“I charmed them,” Diast said. She held the bundle of pens. “I used said charm to make this thing fling over to that thing. Specifically to break her beloved antique glass and stab her favorite antique book she always put front and center in this case but never let me read.” Diast looked at the stabbed book with contempt.

“Dr. Diast, what if this hit someone?” I asked.

“I charmed it to avoid anything organic or living.” Dr. Diast said. “I’m not gonna hurt someone with a prank, I’m just gonna humiliate them and break things precious to them. Or at least, that was my mindset at the time.”

“Prove it.” Kalei said.

“Prove what?” Diast asked.

“The whole not hitting a person thing. I don’t buy that.” Kalei said.

“Fine, here,” Diast said. She reared back to throw the pens. “Who wants to be the target?”

“I’m not, what if I get hit?” I asked.

“If I do this and I get hit, I get to sue the school,” Kalei said.

Diast threw the pens. They were headed straight for Kalei until they randomly looped around her, zipping back to bounce off the book cover again.

“Whoa,” Kalei said.

“See?” Diast said.

“And you did that with a sledgehammer?” Kalei said.

“It was the pens, Kalei.” Lillia said, her brow furrowing in concern. “The pens she just threw. Where did you get sledgehammer?”

“I guess I was just imagining a sledgehammer, that’d be way cooler.” Kalei said.

Diast swirled her pointer finger around the pens, which shone for a moment before dimming back to normal. “There, charm gone. Plus side, your teacher has some skills if a charm lasted about fifteen years, huh?”

“I’m not amused, Dr. Diast.” I said.

We didn’t have time for this. Stella’s break wouldn’t be much longer. If she saw this, her first day of work would be ruined, she could get in trouble, get mad at me, and more and more as my mind trailed off in a deep anxiety spiral.