My lips twitched. “I guess we’re about to find out.”
His laughter rang out and I let my own go free as well. “I mean, I might be a fully-fledged god now, able to access all of my powers, but … I still gotta study.”
He shook his head. “I know. And with that in mind, you’ll have a modified syllabus. But it won’t be easy. One month until final exams, and if you can pass the third and fourth years, you’re free to graduate.”
Graduation. It was important to me, and maybe a lot of supes wouldn’t understand, what with who I was and my power now, but coming to the Academy had changed my entire life. This was the full circle of this journey. If I wanted to move on to whatever was next, this was the path I had to take.
Another fucking path. This time, though, I had a good feeling about it.
Leaving Princeps Jones’ office, I made my way directly to the library. I was going to be there for the next month straight, trying to catch up.
I was ready.
I could do this.
And I would not be alone.
Mab was the first one to greet me, the tiny fairy flying over to embrace me in magic and a finger hug, wrapping around my hand. “I am so proud of you,” she said, pulling away, chiming bells in my ear. “I’ve known the destructive energy of original magic, and I don’t have to imagine the strength you showed. You’ve always been the hero on this journey. Always.”
“That was why you couldn’t be there to help me?” I asked her.
She nodded. “Yes. The risk was too great, but I always knew you wouldn’t need me. It ended as I expected it would.”
She was a mystery wrapped in a quandary, filled with super special magic. There was so much we didn’t know about her, the eternity of years she had walked this world … and that was okay. I didn’t have to know everything to know when someone was a good friend.
“Maddi!” Axl exclaimed, jumping to his feet when I made it into the main part of the library. “What did the princeps say?”
I smiled, taking a deep, fortifying breath. “I have one month. One month to finish the modified coursework he assigned and take the final exams.”
His jaw twitched, but not a single negative word left his mouth. “We’ve got this, sister. Don’t even stress on it.”
I hugged him hard. “Oh, I know. If there’s one thing I trust, it’s that with your help I can do anything.”
“You helped me stop the erratic weather,” he returned.
That was true. Ilia and me to be exact. The goddess of storms was handy to have around when you were trying to incinerate a weather spell gone awry. She didn’t have full control still, but with my help we’d gotten the energy exactly where Axl needed it, and then he’d set his spell in motion.
It had been blue skies since that day.
Grabbing my hand, he dragged me across to an empty table. It hadn’t been there the last time I entered the Atlantean library, and something told me this was specifically here for me to study on for the next month.
“I’ll bring you the books and coursework,” Axl said, pushing me into the soft chair. “You start now, because you don’t have a second to waste.”
He wasn't kidding, and before he’d even walked away, I reached for the book on top. History.
Oh yeah. Let’s do this.
* * *
One month later…
As the lastfirebolt burst to life, incinerating the multiple targets, the teacher dropped his hand and I all but collapsed on the floor. For the past month—thirty-two days—seven hundred and fifty hours—forty-four thousand minutes—I’d slaved over the Academy textbooks.
My final exam had just ended, and despite the range and strength of my powers now, I wasn’t sure I could get to my feet.
“You did very well, Ms. James,” my professor said, standing over my head. “Your official grades will be posted on the wall in the next thirty minutes. Good luck.”
Thirty minutes. That was all the time left to find out if all my hard work had been in vain, if I was going to graduate this year. No matter what happened, I wouldn’t be back to the Academy next year. None of us would be.
