184 Mirch University [Jacob Terrence]
184 Mirch University [Jacob Terrence]
The moment we stepped through the front gates, the bold letters spelling MIRCH UNIVERSITY towered over us like some ancient monument. Diane stopped walking to stare up at it, eyes bright with awe.
“So this is what a university looks like,” she whispered.
Her new ID badge hung neatly around her neck, Diane More, while mine read Jacob Terrence. They were strange and borrowed names, but necessary ones. To everyone in the Godslayers, we were siblings, though not biologically related. But at the same time, we were lovers. And while the world we came from never frowned on such things, this world… did. This world frowned on a lot of things, and forced one to conform if they wanted to fit in. Washing every day. Presenting yourself properly. All these strange rituals. What good was a toothbrush anyway?
“We’re late,” I reminded her. “Go to your class.”
Diane puffed her cheeks. “I told you I should’ve taken the same course as you.”
“We’ll still meet in general education classes,” I said. “Besides… we need to get used to this place if we want to accomplish the mission Lord Eclipse gave us.”
That got her moving. With a dragging sigh, she waved and hurried off toward the design building.
It was a miracle I wasn’t a slave anymore.
I didn’t know freedom could feel… warm. Sweet, even. I sat through my first lecture and learned at my own pace, though everything still felt new and strange. Our high school credentials had been faked, of course. On weekends we attended GED reviews to make the lie true. This world had far too many things to learn.
But Lord Eclipse had prepared us. One month of intense training from language, manners, history, and psychic tutoring that drilled the letters and numbers into our skulls until they stayed. Now it was just a matter of blending in.
When the morning classes ended, I stepped out into the hallway and heard it again.
“He’s cute, kinda gloomy though.”
“Yeah, but the gloom works on him.”
I didn’t understand it. Lady Amelia had worked hard to make me look “well put,” whatever that meant. Diane had also taken an interest in her own appearance lately, probably why she chose fashion design in the first place.
I found her in the cafeteria, sitting with a group of girls and a handful of guys orbiting her like flies. Irritating. My chest tightened with a sharp stab of jealousy, and I grabbed a tray from the lunch lady, retreating to a far corner.
Diane noticed immediately and glared daggers at me.
One of the boys leaned in. “So… you got a boyfriend?”
Boyfriend. Another new word. It meant something like a chosen partner, I thought.
Before Diane could answer, one of the girls chirped, “She’s with someone,” then turned, waving me over. “Right? Come sit with us!”
A seat was freed beside her. Diane’s death glare softened only enough to grab my sleeve and yank me down beside her. Then she pinched my arm hard.
“What was that?” she demanded under her breath.
I shrugged, staring at my tray. Too many eyes were on me; too much noise, too many voices. I’d learned something important in class today. It was that crowds drained me.
“It was nothing,” I said.
The more time I spent around people, the more I understood why crowded places made my skin crawl. It wasn’t the noise or the stares. It was the shadows. My shadow wasn’t just a shadow. Instead, it was my real body and my true self. This flesh was only a tool, a puppet hand I moved around. Whenever someone stepped too close and their foot brushed the edge of my shadow, I felt it like a pressure on my spine.
No wonder crowds made me uneasy.
The girls at the table leaned forward with bright, nosy eyes.
“So how did you two meet?” one asked.
“How long have you been boyfriend and girlfriend?” another chimed in.
I blinked. “What is a ‘boyfriend’ or ‘girlfriend’?”
They all exploded in giggles.
“Aaah, cutie patootie!”
“He’s like a baby deer!”
“Adorable!”
I had no idea what any of those meant.
Diane waved her hands quickly. “We’re new to Markend,” she said.
That was my cue. I stuck to the information packet George and Amelia drilled into us.
“We grew up together,” I added.
Diane groaned softly as the girls squealed.
“Childhood friends to lovers?! That’s sooo romantic!”
I was beginning to suspect my studies on social cues were pitifully inadequate. George taught me how to drive, how traffic worked, what licenses were, and even how to do taxes. Diane, from what she said, learned fashion and etiquette from Amelia. We were becoming different kinds of “normal.”
One of the guys nudged me with his elbow. “Hey man, join a club. You look pretty built. Maybe soccer? You on steroids?”
I stared at him. “I don’t know what steroids are.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Then you’re just naturally buff? Damn.”
“I’m not interested,” I said quickly.
We were here on a mission. Nothing was supposed to distract us.
Diane leaned toward me, whispering, “You should accept. It’s a good excuse to come and go from campus. And it wouldn’t hurt for you to stretch your legs.”
I sighed. “I’ll think about it.”
I focused on my food, watching where everyone’s feet were in relation to my shadow, when the cafeteria TV switched to a replay of Eclipse humiliating the New Vanguard.
“Why does the media keep showing this?” one student complained. “Are they stupid or just trying to start drama?”
“Probably sensationalism,” another replied. “Broadcasts like this rake in views.”
“But it is a problem,” someone else argued. “If our heroes are that incompetent—”
The gossip turned sharp, acidic, piling over each other until someone slammed their tray down.
A student with short brown hair stood up, face red with anger.
“Shut up!” she snapped. “All of you! You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!”
The cafeteria fell silent.
Diane watched the girl storm out of the cafeteria and tilted her head. “Who was that?”
“Millie,” one of the classmates answered. “She’s been… stressed.”
Millie’s arm was in a sling. Her face looked tired, almost sickly, like she’d just come from an accident.
I asked, “What happened to her?”
“Bicycle crash,” a girl replied casually. “Or so the story goes…”
Another leaned closer, whispering, “But I swear I saw her without an arm a few days ago. Now it’s back. Like, completely back!”
Someone shushed her. “Don’t say that. Don’t even joke. You can’t guess if someone’s a cape. It’s illegal. Unmasking law.”
A few nodded nervously.
Millie didn’t look back. She walked away with sharp, angry steps while a brunette hurried after her.
For a moment, I wondered something stupid. Since Lord Eclipse and Lady Amelia were also college-aged, couldn’t they have done this infiltration mission themselves? I rolled my eyes at myself. They had important duties, important fights, important futures.
They obviously didn’t avoid school because they hated studying… probably.
I shook the thought away.
I sent a clone after Millie and the brunette. My shadow clones were perfect spies, since they could flatten into thin smears on the floor, slip into any darkness, and pull themselves along until they merged with someone’s shadow. No one noticed a thing.
Diane and I finished lunch, and then went to our shared general subjects. Halfway through a lecture, I stiffened. My ears warmed.
The clone had found them making out in the locker room against a row of metal shelves.
Was this campus filled with nothing but young people in heat?
Diane tapped my arm. “Jacob? Your ears are red. Are you sick?”
“I’m fine,” I muttered.
When classes ended, Diane clasped her bag and said, “I want to try the book club. You should go to the soccer club. Meet people. Get familiar.”
I nodded, but I didn’t go anywhere near the soccer field, since it was too much running.
Instead, I headed for the recreation club.
I heard they often worked closely with university staff, perfect if we needed internal access later. And more importantly, the club president was Natasha… who had been making out with a girl who might have regrown an arm.
It was too suspicious to ignore.
I pushed open the club room door.
It was quiet and empty, except for a woman with dark hair sitting at a desk, legs crossed, tapping through papers.
She looked up and smiled politely.
“Looking to join?” she asked.
I nodded, filled in the form as neatly as I could, and handed it to her.
She took it, glanced at it, and then met my eyes.
“I’m Natasha,” she said. “Club president.”
I kept my expression straight, though my shadow curled behind me like a tail.
“I’m Jacob,” I said. “I’d like to join.”
“We’re a pretty open club,” she said. “Events, small projects, sometimes we help organize campus activities. Not hard work, but you have to show up. That okay with you?”
“That’s fine,” I answered.
Natasha flipped through my form with a pleased nod. “Good. I’ve been looking for new blood. As a sophomore aiming to graduate early through the advanced program, I need someone trustworthy to take over this club after me.” Her smile sharpened. “That someone might even be you.”
I blinked. “Surely you jest.”
She laughed once, before turning her chair and reaching for a stack of papers in the corner. Without hesitation, she fed them into a small shredder beside the table.
The sound of ripping paper filled the quiet room.
My brow furrowed. “What… are those?”
“Applications,” she said casually. “Rejected ones.”
“Why?”
“Because only a select few are allowed to join,” she answered, brushing shredded strips aside. “This club has criteria. Unique criteria.”
Her eyes glimmered as she watched me. Something was very off.
Finally, she asked, “Tell me, Jacob… did you like what you saw?”
My stomach tightened. “What do you mean?”
Her expression hardened. “Don’t play innocent. Peeping tom.”
I stared back, lost. “My name isn’t Tom.”
She froze. Then she placed both hands on her head, fingers dragging down her face. A long, strangled sigh escaped her.
“I can’t believe this,” she muttered. “You—”
She pointed at me, her cheeks pink with frustration.
“—are a cape. An unregistered one. Don’t bother denying it.”
My heart thumped. She didn’t look like she was lying.
She continued, “But I’m willing to overlook it. If you join the club. Register with the SRC. And maybe consider the hero track.”
I swallowed hard. She didn’t seem to know anything about the clone I sent after her. Nothing about what it saw. But she was absolutely sure I had done something. I forced myself to stay calm.
Natasha crossed her arms and leaned back. “I’m more observant and more cautious than most. I already checked your background.”
My blood ran cold.
She began reciting it in a soft voice from my supposed childhood in the lawless, how Diane and I smuggled ourselves into the city, and how we had nothing but each other. It was all fake, built up by George, but she looked convinced.
“And because of that,” she went on, “your situation is ideal.”
“...Ideal?” I echoed.
She nodded. “If you don’t join the club and register, I will report you. And Diane. You know it’s a crime to conceal powers while living in Markend. Moreover, you smuggled your way in here. Being a minor doesn’t protect you as much as you think.”
My hands tightened in my pockets.
“The university,” she said, “is a transitory ground for young capes like you. You won’t get a cleaner chance than this. You can join the hero track without years of official training. You’ll learn on the field.”
Then she leaned forward, eyes narrow.
“And I will look past the fact you peeked at me and Millie.”
I nearly choked. She wasn’t joking. I screwed up, badly. I wanted to blame bad luck, but honestly, I’d been too careless with my powers. Still, how did she know? Was she bluffing?
No. Her face held no doubt. She was absolutely convinced she caught me.
At least George’s fake documents held up. If she learned what I really was and what Diane was, she wouldn’t be inviting me into some secret hero club. But what frightened me most was the speed she did her “background check.” Barely half a day had passed. She was dangerous.
And yet… This could be an opportunity.
It was a way to get inside and complete the mission Lord Eclipse entrusted to us. Most importantly, a way to isolate Diane from suspicion. I wouldn’t let anything threaten her.
I took a slow breath.
“I’m joining,” I said quietly. “So you don’t need to scare me.”
Natasha relaxed slightly. But she stepped closer, her voice lowering into a warning whisper.
“Good. Then keep your mouth shut about me and Millie.”
I nodded, realizing shortly that I stepped on what George would call an enormous landmine.
Diane was already waiting by the car when I stepped out of the campus gates. She leaned against the passenger door, scrolling through something on her phone with a seriousness that did not match the bright sunset behind her. When she noticed me approaching, she straightened, studying my face the way she always did when something was off.
“You look troubled,” she said the instant I slipped behind the wheel.
I buckled in and rested my hands on the steering wheel. The question had been batting around my head since lunch, and the moment I saw her, it came out before I could stop it. “Diane… is it possible for a girlfriend to have a girlfriend?”
Her expression twisted into confusion. “A girlfriend having a girlfriend? I’m not sure.” She tapped her chin. “My classmates call their friends besties or girlfriends, so… maybe it’s like that?”
I stared at her. Somehow Diane was adapting to this world faster than I was. I tried to catch up, but every time I thought I understood something, another bizarre detail tripped me up. I didn’t regret coming here, not for a moment, but sometimes the uncertainty made me doubt my own decisions.
I leaned closer and whispered, “Would you kiss your girlfriends? And touch them in sensitive places?”
Diane’s fist shot out and punched my shoulder so hard I jerked back against the seat. “Ow—! Diane, what was that for? That hurts!”
Her entire face was bright red, and she couldn’t look at me. “Of course not! That would be wrong—and weird—and—just no!”
Now I was even more confused. So a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship was different from a girlfriend-girlfriend relationship? How many rules did this world have? How did anyone keep up with them? Maybe I should ask George. Or Lord Eclipse. Or both. Preferably when Diane wasn’t around to punch me again.
She finally calmed down enough to ask, “Why did you even ask that?”
I opened my mouth to tell her about Natasha and Millie in the locker room… but Natasha’s warning hit me like a slap. I felt the weight of it press down on my shoulders. If she found out about Diane and her power, our entire mission could collapse before it even began.
I shut my mouth and shook my head. “Never mind. Forget it.”
Diane didn’t push. She trusted me enough for that.
I started the car, letting the engine hum fill the silence. “Where do you want to eat?”
Her eyes lit up instantly, a welcome change from the awkwardness earlier. “I want to try those soft things called ice cream. The ones they sell around the block. Everyone keeps eating them, and they look… fluffy.”
I couldn’t help it. I laughed. “Ice cream isn’t fluffy, I think.”
“It looks fluffy,” she insisted, folding her arms.
“Fine. We’ll get the fluffy ice cream.”
Diane grinned like she’d won some great argument, and the car rolled forward into the fading light.