Finn
Athena’s quiet breathing annoyed me. Being tied to the bed, I would be lucky if I got any sleep tonight. Whatever little revenge scheme the pretty witch was cooking up for me, I would deal with it.
I wished that it didn’t involve being tied to a bed. There were too many fucking bad memories in my past of being held down with physical punishment. Not that I would ever share those memories with her. If she learned how some of my cruel mentors had disciplined a smart-mouth like me as a child, she would probably go all soft and weepy on me. I shuddered at the thought.
This would be one of those nights where I didn’t sleep, and maybe it was better than suffering through the nightmares that these bloody ropes would surely provoke.
The familiar headache I associated from suppressing those memories was returning with a vengeance. Don’t. Fucking. Go. There! I ordered myself, but one clear picture was showing on my inner screen. A man on the floor, his body in an awkward position of self-protection, his face smeared with blood, and his eyes empty. Another kick to his body, but this time he didn’t move or blink.
“Stop it – it’s enough now, he’s already dead. You killed him!”
Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to push the memory out, but from seventeen years of experience, I knew this memory had the power to haunt me and torture me. The best way to not think about it was to focus on something else. I would distract myself, but being tied to a bed in a dark room there wasn’t much I could use to distract myself. If I couldn’t hold back the memories, at least I would control what memories I would remember. I chose to think of the first day I met Magni.
There was a special excitement in the air that day. Rumors were spreading like wildfire; some said they had seen our ruler walk into the office to talk to Mentor Johnson and that he had a boy with him. Most of us didn’t believe it. There was no way our ruler would come to our school, and everybody knew his two sons were being homeschooled.
But it was true and before we knew it, all one hundred and thirty of us were lined up outside the school to greet our new student.
“It’s a proud day,” Mentor Johnson proclaimed, and although he held his chin high and his chest was puffed out, his rocking back and forth on his heals revealed that he was nervous.
“Our ruler, Lord Marcus Aurelius, is honoring us by letting his son become a student here at our fine school.”
While he spoke, we were all studying the unbelievable sight of our ruler in person. My first impression of him was that he looked mean, but maybe I was influenced by the fact that everybody knew he was quick to kill anyone who opposed him.
I had never seen either of his sons, but I knew his older one was fifteen years old like me while the younger was only twelve.
As the ruler and his son were almost the same height, I assumed the boy to be his older son, Khan Aurelius.
“Maybe you would like to introduce your son yourself?” Mentor Johnson asked our ruler.
Lord Aurelius raised an eyebrow before he took one step forward and spoke in a deep rumbling voice: “It is my hope that you will accept my son, Magni, as one of you. He has a bright mind and is an excellent fighter.” The way Lord Aurelius took his time to let his eyes slide over us felt like he was demanding a personal promise from each and every one of us. “You must all grow up to be strong and brave men. But no man is an island and having friends is an important part of succeeding.”
With those words, Lord Aurelius stepped back again and Magni had officially joined our school.
If his father had worried that we wouldn’t welcome him, he was wrong. Everyone wanted to be Magni’s friend. Only problem was, Magni didn’t make it easy. For one, he didn’t say much and he seemed annoyed with all the attention he got.
I was popular because of my humor and ability to make people laugh, but Magni didn’t crack a smile when I was around.
A week after he arrived, I gave up my attempts at making friends with him and accepted that he was a loner by nature. Not everyone was as smart as me, and some of the boys who couldn’t get his attention in a positive way resorted to provoking him. Two broken arms and four concussions later, even the boys my age were afraid of Magni, and no one dared provoke him anymore. He seemed content to be left alone, which is why I was shocked when a few weeks later, he spoke to me for the first time.
“Hey, you.”
I was returning from the study hall to my dorm and saw Magni sitting on a bench alone. At first, I turned around to see if he was speaking to someone behind me, but no, Magni had spoken to me.
I thought about telling him that sitting on the backrest with his feet planted on the seat of the bench wasn’t allowed, but I didn’t want to poke the bear, so I kept quiet.
“What’s your deal?” he asked with a deep scowl on his face.
Not wanting to be the next person to go down with a broken bone or a concussion, I took a small step back and held up both my palms. “I don’t want any trouble.”
“Oh yeah? Then why the fuck do you keep provoking Mentor Johnson? I’ve been here for three weeks and you take more punishment than any of the other kids here.”
My heart started racing and my palms grew moist. “Johnson is just an ass, that’s all.” I shrugged to make it seem like I didn’t care.
Magni crossed his arms. “What are you, stupid?”
“Yeah, something like that.” I backed away until I felt safe enough to turn my back on him. Then I ran as fast as I could, thinking my secret was safe. That was before I truly understood Magni’s observant nature, and how determined he would get, once he was onto something.