Chapter Forty
A BOY Elliot had never met before came up to him as he was walking through the campus to his afternoon lecture. “Is it true that you uncovered some Nean plot against the university?”
Elliot stared at the dark haired teenager, wondering how he had heard what had happened so soon and how it had already been garbled into something dangerously false. “There was no Nean plot. A kid like me – part-Sapiens and part-Nean – who had magic impersonated someone else to date the girl he loved. It was pathetic and hurtful but he wasn’t trying to cause trouble.”
“Weird. Who was he?”
There was no way Al would be allowed to continue his studies so Elliot didn’t see the harm in saying his name. “He was Al Greela, a history student. He was pretending to be someone called Nolan Summers.”
“I think I saw Nolan at a party last year,” the boy exclaimed excitedly, “or, wait, would that have been Al?”
“No, last year it would have been Nolan. Al only pretended to be him this year. Sorry, I have to get to a lecture.”
“Sure. Cool to meet you.”
Elliot shrugged off the encounter and walked into the hall. At once, some of the talking stopped and people stared at him and then a burst of whispering sounded, with more glances in his direction. He ignored them and walked down the steps to sit down in the front row as usual. If they were going to be like this with him then how – with the words ‘Nean plot’ going round – would they react to Farlden and Barve? It had never even occurred to him when they took Al to the Vice Chancellor that it could cause his friends to face more prejudice than ever. There was no reason why it should, but bigotry wasn’t known to be founded in logic.
The lecturer walked in while the room was still buzzing with conversations and she looked round, her gaze settling for a moment on Elliot before moving on. “Quiet, everyone,” she said, but had to repeat the request before the talking stopped.
He had the self-conscious feeling that half the eyes in the room were on him during the entire lecture and was glad to get away when it was over. He wanted to check on Barve and Farlden but another teenager stopped him before he could leave the campus.
“Is it true that Al used magic to pretend to be someone else?”
At least this person had got a true version of what had happened and he spoke as if he knew Al. “Yes. Were you friends with him?”
“I guess so, yes.” The boy slumped a bit as if afraid Elliot would condemn him for it then, for he didn’t, asked, “What’s going to happen to him?”
“I imagine he’ll be expelled from the university. I don’t think he’ll face criminal charges but I honestly don’t know.”
“This was about Eva, wasn’t it?” The boy spoke quietly and, as Elliot looked at him, he recognised him from the magical memory in the halls of residence. This was the boy Al had been hanging out with. “He couldn’t stop talking about her last year, although it was obvious she was massively out of his league. He’s just a geek like me and she’s really popular.”
“You knew he had magic?”
“Yeah. He kept it secret because most of his family are Neans and he was afraid the university would kick him out if they found out, then this year it became legal for Neans to get Sapiens education and I kept telling him he had nothing to worry about anymore. What did I know?”
“Maybe you should phone him,” Elliot said. “He could probably really do with a friend with all the trouble he’s in.”
“I tried to call just now but his phone’s switched off. I’ll try again.”
Elliot nodded and left, driving down the road to his halls of residence. He ran up the stairs and found Farlden trying to get scribbled graffiti saying, ‘Neans, Get Out’ off his door.
“People are finding out what happened...”
“... No kidding!” Farlden interrupted.
“... But they’re getting a twisted version of it. Someone used the words ‘Nean plot’ to me.”
Farlden scrubbed in sharp, fierce motions at the door. “Bloody hell – as if enough of them didn’t already hate us.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s hardly your fault.” Farlden glanced round at him. “I never thought they’d turn on us over it.”
“Hopefully, when the gossip dies down, they’ll forget about it,” Elliot said and Farlden gave him a look that suggested he was being naive. “We’ll get through this.”
Farlden lowered his hand, cloth dripping and stained with green ink, and turned towards Elliot. “Even after everything I’ve put you through, it’s still ‘we’?”
“Always.”
Farlden took a step towards him and Elliot’s heart gave a stutter, but then Barve walked out of his bedroom and saw them. Farlden moved away, leaving Elliot confused and uncertain.