Despite Adams' threats and Ethan's chills, Koi was determined to befriend his two teammates.
Adam was gonna be tougher to reach since he and Koi had so few classes together and little in common. The only class they all shared was a music class once a week. It could be easier now that Adam was living in the same dorms as him, but that would mean Koi making the effort to go visit Adam and communicate with him. That just wasn't going to happen.
Other than that, he could look forward to seeing Ethan on Mondays through Fridays in select dark arts classes.
But in another way, Ethan would be harder to reach. The blond was a sort of puzzle box, the brunette just laid it all out there for you. Rude as he might be, at least there weren't guessing games with Adam. Adam didn't like him; it was pretty clear. But Ethan? What did he really think of anything? Koi didn't have a clue. And right now in Professor Diaz's class, the puzzle box was beginning to snore loudly, his head dug peacefully into he shoulder of a moderately attractive sophomore girl.
They had gotten back into the dorms only forty-five minutes before class. Koi managed to quickly shower, get dressed, and make it right before the bell rang. Ethan came to class late...and drunk. And within 10 minutes of him sitting in the classroom, he was already out cold and snoring.
Koi kept quiet, resigned to the fact that today would be pure Hell. He was dead tired—so much so that part of him wished he could just collapse into the grave that already bore his name.
I smiled. I was happy. Because I knew my parents sent me here to die, but I was half convinced I was just paranoid and being a bad son. I now have all the evidence I need to confirm that this place is a death trap. Ethan just showed me what I already knew and gave me some evidence to back it up.
"Contrary to what you may have learned before, stopping time is a rather simple spell. Low-level sorcerers, such as yourselves, are able to produce simple treatments involving time manipulation.
"Time manipulation is a college course; we haven't even mastered levitation yet." Dorathy Smiles says, in her usual matter-of-fact voice.
"To be honest with you, magic is all based on one's own ability and strengths. While some of you have mastered levitation, others of you will find time manipulation much easier. It's a doorway talent, it will open up your power shockrahs and give you much more reach for more powerful spells, and it's such a useful tool…" Diaz sighs and gives the room the once-over. "What is that sound?"
The eyes of the young lady Ethan was currently using as a pillow grew wide. She tries to nudge Ethan awake and quell his snoring before Diaz's eyes reach them.
"Fee, fi, foe, fum. I hear the snoring of a young French mun." Diaz's emerald peepers find their target. The girl was trying to shake Ethan awake without it being obvious. Mission failed. Diaz puts his hands together, and you can see the power surge within his body.
"Ethan Robespierre, awaken please."
Amazingly, the slightly irritated but still gentle voice of Diaz awakens Ethan, whereas all the girls' shaking and calling couldn't.
"Ah! Sleeping beauty! He is awakened!" Diaz shouts as Ethan rubs the sleep from his eyes.
Ethan looks over at the student next to him, and at the walls around the room, trying to figure out what class he was in. Before he could tell for sure, Diaz called out to him again.
"Please, Mr. Robesquirre, join us down here; you can help me in a demonstration."
Ethan curses under his breath. I heard it as I started sketching in my notebook. The air was changing around Ethan and the classroom. Something wicked this way comes...
Ethan starts his way down to the head of the class.
"And could I ask for a lovelier model?" Diaz continues. The class giggles and snickers as Ethan makes his way down to the floor, sighs, and lets his tiny, assured smile return to his face.
Great. I think. Ethan gets to be the star again. Obviously, the concept that bad attention was better than no attention at all was Ethan's motto. Yet, I couldn't seem to get attention no matter what I did.
And then I am going to die. And then this place will kill me off. Morbid as those thoughts were they weren't giving me the bad feels I think they were supposed to. For one thing, I would rather be in the dirt than trapped in the spell book with Ketsu. Or replacing him.
"Now, Ethan, while you were asleep, your classmates were discussing time manipulation. What are your thoughts on the subject?"
"Well…" Ethan turns to the class, who have just become his audience. "If you can manipulate it to make the bell ring faster. It's A.O.K in my book." He completes this commercial by winking at some random girl in the class.
The class snickers again, but not everyone, since someone else had used that same joke 5 minutes ago. Naturally, Ethan didn't hear it over his own snoring.
Diaz especially didn't look pleased by the comment. He wraps his hand tightly around the back of Ethan's neck.
"Ethan, there isn't anything that saddens me more than wasted time and wasted talent. We give you plenty of time to sleep after school hours. Why disrespect my class and do it here? Is all this really so boring?"
Ethan yawns and then stretches, then stands defiantly in front of Diaz.
The bird on Diaz's shoulder squawks. Diaz reaches his hand up to pet it.
"I guess it's my fault then, class. I didn't realize I was making class so dull. I do apologize."
Diaz nods; the class says nothing. We had a feeling this wasn't quite over.
"That's the problem with this generation of spellcasters." The Bird begins to melt into Diaz's hand. "Everything's gotta be a big show." The melted mass grew and stretched. It began to take a form.
Ethan watched the magical spectacle with mild amusement, but his eyes widened in shock as the black bird twisted itself into a new, menacing form.
"Stand still, Ethan."
Ethan pulled out another roll of Mentos and smiled as he popped another white candy into his mouth. There was no way the teacher would do it.
Diaz took the heavy oak of the mass in his head and swung it forward. The blade of the Axe he now possessed embedded itself into Ethan's skull. Ethan's face seemed stunned for a moment, and the Mentos rolled right out of his mouth. His eyes darted around, and he saw blood running over his eyes and down the rest of his head. Some of the students in the class began to scream and jumped out of their seats, running to the top of the bleachers. Others stood in their chair in stunned silence. My mind just began to race.