Lesson 3: Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

Viper rushed forward and the hedge parted before him. Me and Wolff raced after him. When we entered the big area beyond, we looked to our left.

Standing there, fifteen feet high and a blinding white, was the escaped Artic Wurm. Its long body was coiled around a small pavilion and its head turned to look at us. Held by the back of his shirt in the great jaws of the Wurm, was Blake. When it saw us, it dropped him and he landed on the pavilion roof.

"Raven, Viper? When I say so, give it hell. I'll try to put a Restrainer on it," Wolff stage whispered to us. "If you can distract it for two minutes, I'll be done."

Wolff held the gaze of the beast and held his fist up to us. He lifted one finger, then another. As soon as we saw the muscles in his hand twitch, me and Viper started our assault.

Viper shot off rapid fire spells that bit into the monsters hide. I saw him move his left arm forward in an underhanded arc and a large serpent sprang out of the stones and sunk its fangs into the Wurm's hide. Viper’s original spell, Serpitis, was his most powerful spell. But it would barely be enough.

I fired Concussions and used the spell Ultimo Bombardo in quick secession. My spells hit their mark every single time. I had fired twelve times and Viper controlled his serpent. This had taken exactly six seconds, too short a time for the Artic Wurm to even register pain in its mind.

The Wurm did something none of us had expected. We had anticipated it to go after its attackers, but it lunged over us and scooped Wolff up in its jaws. He vanished from view down the monsters throat.

"Wolff!" Viper yelled. He ran at the monster and pulled all his power into his fist to release it as a massive Concussion. The Wurm looked at him and breathed its freezing fire on him. Before we could react, Viper was a block of ice, smashed to pieces by the Wurm.

Filled with fury at their deaths, I no longer restrained myself. I cast a Deathly Torment, a possibly fatal version of the spell Blake was under; only this spell was nearly a hundred times more powerful than what a human could endure. The monster fell to the ground, dreaming a horrible nightmare.

My anger gone, I fell to my knees. Wolff and Viper were gone. They've been at my side since we were children; they were the closest thing I had to friends. My head hung and I stared at the ground between my knees. Dark spots began to dot the soil and dampen my legs; I realized that I was crying something I hadn't done since my pet cat passed when I was five.

Madam Flar came and worried over Blake and me, but I paid her no mind. I just wept. For me, there was no comfort. Everyone went over to Blake, who was being pushed away on a stretcher. No one realized that Wolff and Viper were no longer among us, nor the living.

So I sat and cried. I felt a touch on my shoulder and flinched away from it. Then I felt arms hold me in an embrace. That second year girl, Blair, held me as I cried. I don't know why she did, but as I cried, she gently rocked me until I had stopped crying so hard. I cried for a long time over their deaths, my grief too great to shoo Blair away from me.

 

One week. That was how long it took for me to be released from the medical wing. I had to wait in a big white bed, constantly being occupied by nurses and people wishing to know of the incident. One week before I could make the damn phone call.

Blake had been in minor condition, a few scrapes and broken bones, but nothing serious. He been released days before me, but he stayed nearby me. He didn't say anything. He didn't do anything. He just stayed by me, day and night, as if he was worried about me. The nurses had said I severely depleted my magical powers and I might be in a fragile condition from seeing Wolff and Viper die.

On the day I was released, I went to my room and grabbed the phone. I punched in the number quickly. My door opened and Blake took a tentative step inside.

"Who're you calling?"

"I need to call my parents, so they can arrange the funeral services. I doubt the school had called and filled in the details," I said, not angry with Blake for prying.

"Why do your parents need to arrange it; isn’t that something that their parents should do?"

"Blake, I'm going to tell you something that not many students know. Wolff and Viper were my brothers. Different fathers, but we share a mother. My mom and dad took care of them for most of their lives," I explained, waiting for someone to answer the phone.

Blake had a strange expression on his face, and then I could see sadness in his eyes. Without speaking, he left.

"Who is this?" my father's voice said as he answered the phone.

"Dad, get mom. I have terrible news."