Page 53 of Group Studies
After tossing the ball up in the air and failing to catch it, the ball rolled toward my roommate. She handed the hateful bright yellow thing back to me this time, my last attempt at catching her throw had not gone well.
Roisin swung her racket way harder then necessary and scowled. “Will you talk to someone about it?”
“Nope.” I popped my lips, holding my anger in check. “I’ll keep my head down until I’ve figured out my magic, and then I’ll fix it myself.”
“Un-huh,” Roisin said. “And that’s been working for you?”
I wrinkled my nose, accidentally dropping my ball again. “Well, asking for help hasn’t helped,” I said, retrieving it. “It might have gotten me out of the suitcase, but let’s think about this. I used my magic to ask for help, and it literally compelled people to do my bidding. I asked for Saffron’s help both verbally and non-verbally and discovered that’s not how our friendship works. I asked for Ashe’s help, and now the most upstanding mage I know is having to compromise his integrity for my mistakes.”
Tears pricked the back of my eyes.
“Ask Beryl,” Roisin said, focusing on her ball. “Pretty sure he’d go to the moon and back for you.”
I swallowed. “Beryl’s already on the MA’s watch list for the last thing I asked him for help with.” Guilt twisted my stomach. I stopped bouncing my ball and turned to my roommate. “Do you believe there’s a non-evil way to compel people to do things?”
Roisin captured the ball between her hand and her racket. “I know you grew up under a rock, but people are compelled to do things every day. Maybe not quite as bluntly as you did to build your Shell. Some things are too good to pass up, or you see a pizza commercial one too many times. Billions of dollars are spent on advertising and understanding the human subconscious every year.”
Mercedes yelling out a new drill pulled our attention. I set down my ball and mimicked her motion for a ‘backhand swing’ with no concept if I did it right or not.
“Mercedes is bending us to her will right now,” Roisin added.
I shook my head. “She’s not. We could walk away at any moment.”
“But there would be consequences,” Roisin argued.
I swung my racket in her direction. “But we could still make the choice.”
Roisin shrugged. “Is it really a choice if you're punished if you don’t make the right one?”
My brain started to hurt. “Ah, yes, but no.”
“I’m not talking to you anymore,” Roisin huffed. “Can you get your tennis racquet to go more at an angle instead of straight across? Mercedes is en route, and she’s gonna tear you a new one.”
I grimaced, trying to do what Roisin said, but I didn’t understand what I’d been doing wrong in the first place.
* * *
I held my breath as Abe inspected our mock-up in the alchemy lab. Her frown deepened into the one I’d come to know as approval.
She turned to Ram. “Thank you for coming in because of your partner’s mistake.”
I scowled at our rebuilt project.
“Aphrodite,” Abe continued. I bit my lips together. “I want to see what you made with the extra time I gave you. Tonight. If it looks as good as I presume it will, your extra lab time will be granted.”
I brightened, bobbing my head.
“Nine o’clock would be best,” she added.
“I’ll be at your office at nine,” I repeated, already inching away from Ram.
With Abe watching our every move, Ram had been on his best behavior, but he still grinned lovingly at my scarf. The violence in his gaze made my skin crawl.
Ashe asked me to wait for him so he could walk me to dinner, but Ram and I finished early. The Gentle Giant was still in Coterie. There was no way Ram would let me wait by myself.
I bolted out of the alchemy lab like it was on fire, only slowing when I neared the cafeteria.
Although I wanted to sit and eat, I knew Ram would be hot on my heels. I grabbed a PB&J and as many pickles as I could fit in my fist before heading toward the cosmetology wing.