The Obsidians

Colonel Cain’s moment of niceness faded. His voice became cold and hard again. “I said run.”

Chris wasn’t going to argue. He pounded off again, to make yet another lap around the field.

This time when he looked up at the dormitory window, he saw that Malcolm had now gone.

As he rounded the corner, catching sight of the silhouette of Colonel Cain in the distance, Chris realized his mentor was no longer alone. There was a second figure beside him. Someone smaller. A student, Chris realized.

As he drew closer still, it dawned on him. Malcolm, having watched Chris training from the window of the dormitory, had now come down to the playing fields.

Chris clenched his jaw. He didn’t want Malcolm interacting with Colonel Cain. The colonel was his mentor!

His pace grew even faster, until the pain in his side felt like a knife blade. His lungs ached but he pushed himself on and on and on.

At last, he thundered up to the colonel, kicking mud all over Malcolm’s pant legs.

Colonel Cain looked surprised. He stopped his stopwatch.

“That was your fastest lap yet, Christopher,” he said, with the smallest hint of pride in his voice. He looked at Malcolm, then back to Chris. “I guess a little bit of competition is good for you.”

Chris took a huge breath, his lungs hurting as he did.

“Competition?” he stammered. “What do you mean?”

But Colonel Cain had clearly gotten an idea. “Malcolm was telling me about your last mission. He’s volunteered to join you on your next one. I was going to say no. But now that I’ve seen how much faster you can be with a competitor to beat, I’ve decided to send him too.”

“No!” Chris shouted. The last thing he wanted was Malcolm stealing his glory, taking his spotlight. “I’m the only one Mistress Obsidian trusts with this. Malcolm already failed. It’s my turn to lead.”

But the colonel wasn’t listening. He’d walked over to the side of the field where he’d laid out some sparring equipment and boxing gloves. He picked up a pair of red gloves.

“Here,” he said, offering them to Chris. He handed another to Malcolm. “Let’s see how you two get on in a duel.”

Chris couldn’t believe this. This was supposed to be his time to shine! Now Malcolm had muscled his way into it. The stupid weasel had been half the problem last mission. Bringing him along to this one was a terrible idea! He’d have to knock him out and concuss him so badly there was no way he could come along too.

Glowering at Malcolm, Chris affixed his gloves. The cold rain pounded down but he could hardly feel it anymore. All his attention was on Malcolm. On kicking his butt.

Malcolm got his gloves on and punched them both together in a menacing way. He smiled his horrible, weaselly smile. Chris narrowed his eyes even more.

“Last man standing,” Colonel Cain announced. “Go!”

Malcolm wasted no time. He barreled toward Chris like he’d been waiting for this chance his whole life.

Chris took up his defensive stance. He could use Malcolm’s passion against him. The kid was rage-filled, not thinking. All Chris had to do was let him wear himself out before taking a well-aimed blow.

Malcolm threw a punch. Chris pulled his arms up, blocking it easily. It had been a sloppy first attempt.

Malcolm tried again, attempting a quick left hook. But Chris had already anticipated it. He blocked again. This time, he retaliated with a blow to Malcolm’s exposed side.

“Oof!” Malcolm gasped as he staggered.

The mud was slippery and he stumbled. Chris quickly realized he had an opportunity here. He’d been training in the slippery mud for hours and was more steady on his feet, but Malcolm had not and he was barely able to keep himself up.

Chris knew he had to take this moment while Malcolm’s defense was down.

He took two large steps forward and focused on Malcolm’s exposed shoulder, than put the full bulk of his bodyweight into plowing his right fist toward it.

But Malcolm suddenly righted himself, and at the last second he ducked. Instead of thumping his shoulder, Chris’s hand soared past it, bringing his entire body with it.

He staggered. He’d made a huge mistake. A miscalculation.

A sudden sharp blow struck him across the back of his right ear. Pain exploded across his jaw, neck, and cheek. His ears began to ring.

Disoriented, Chris swirled around, trying to get an eye on Malcolm. But Malcolm must’ve darted around behind him because all Chris could see was the muddy field and pounding rain.

Drops got into his eyes, making it even harder to see. Then he felt another horrible blow slam into the back of his head. This one was so hard his teeth rattled. Black stars danced in his eyes.

He started lashing out, desperately trying to find Malcolm, to get any single one of his blows to connect. But he failed. He was just flailing. Shame overcame him.

A third blow came. This one got him in the throat. The pain was so awful that Chris felt his eyes fill with tears.

Gasping, he fell to his knees onto the soggy earth. Then he flopped sideways, no longer able to hold his body up, his body overcome with wracking coughs. His face slammed into the ground. As he panted for breath, he tasted mud.

Malcolm’s feet appeared beside him. As he looked up at his figure framed by raindrops, the boy smiled devilishly.

Then Colonel Cain stepped up and peered down at Christopher.

“Yes,” Colonel Cain said, nodding his head. “I think you two will make quite the team.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Oliver felt the strange tugging sensation on his body of the portal pulling him through. No matter how many portals he went through, he’d never get used to the feeling. It felt like having his atoms ripped apart and rescrambled.

The flashing purple lights of the portal whizzed past him, blindingly bright and adding to his general discomfort. He felt nausea swirl in his stomach.

Oliver couldn’t help but feel for his friends. Neither Walter nor Hazel had ever traveled through a portal before, and this one was particularly brutal, especially considering there was no guarantee they’d even make it out the other end. He could only pray that he’d be able to safely lead them to their desired destination. But if his intentions had not been pure enough, they’d all be ejected into space. The thought was just too terrible to consider.

After what felt like hours, Oliver heard a strange sucking noise, like water draining through a plug hole. Then with a pop like a bursting balloon, all the flashing lights and tugging sensations disappeared.

Oliver felt himself fly through the air as if catapulted. He landed hard on the ground and groaned from the pain.

Three distinct thudding noises came from behind him and Oliver knew that was the sound of each one of his companions landing.

He looked back. They all looked stunned and disheveled. David’s ponytail had come undone during the journey, and Hazel’s bun looked messy and askew. Once again, Walter was the most unfazed. He leapt up and punched the air.

“That was awesome!”

Oliver quickly scrambled to his feet. “Shh!” he said, running toward Walter. “We don’t know where we are. Don’t draw so much attention to us!”

He reached Walter at the same time as Hazel and David.