Harris Institute for Gifted Students Episode 2: Gather

Harris Institute for Gifted Students by Pineapple | Content warnings

---

Elliot Brady’s studio was on the far west side of campus, with a wide and empty field in the front. Sometimes the grass housed sculptures, but generally, it was used for fight training. Broken rocks and clay rubble were scattered across the yellowing turf, and there was a worn trail leading up to the door. Outside was a work sink and a pottery throw. There was a house, small and private, tucked deeper into the woods that were a few yards behind the studio itself.

The front door of the studio was open, and there were voices echoing around the empty space.

Sofia poked her head inside.

Mr. Elliot was often sad-looking when Sofia saw him, but he was always kind. He was in his 20s maybe, a few years older than the oldest students here. Easy to get along with and popular with everyone. He had a strong jawline and an out-of-date, but clean, undercut that framed his pale face. The two others with Mr. Elliot turned when they saw him looking towards the door.

There was a tall upperclassman, only made taller by the platform heels she was wearing, so she towered over both Mr. Elliot and the young man they were with. Half her head was shaved, with the other half in kinky curls hanging stylishly down her right cheek. Gold statement earrings in the shape of Africa shone next to her slim face.

“Hello,” she said, the gold bangles on her arms clinking as she put her hand on her hip.

“Aren’t you Vanessa’s roommate?” the boy next to her said.

Sofia recognized him. He was always friendly, always dressed in sweats and slides, just like he was now. His head was shaved, growing in where the fade had been.

“Yeah,” Sofia said. “Ben, right?”

“Yeah!” he said, easy and amiable. “This is Marjani.”

Marjani nodded at Sofia.

“Marj, this is Sofia. You know Vanessa? She started the baseball team I play on.” Ben knocked Marjani’s arm with his elbow, his eyes sparkling when he looked over at her.

“Ah,” Marjani said in vague recognition. “Nice to meet you. I was just telling Mr. Brady that he should display the sigils of his protection spells on the outside of the clothes.”

Mr. Elliot, who had been gathering the uniforms from a clothes rack for them, sighed, good-natured. “It would attract attention, Miss Marjani,” he said. “The bad kind of attention from those who want to do you harm.”

“I am strong enough to defeat any who would dare,” she said confidently.

“Not everyone is a fashionista like you,” Ben said, taking the handful of clothes from Mr. Elliot. The look Ben gave Marjani was teasing, full of affection. “We couldn’t all pull it off if there were designer logos covering our uniforms.”

“You could,” she said.

Ben was a deep umber brown, but Sofia could see a red blush crawling up his face. He cleared his throat and looked pointedly to the far corner of the room, where a half-done sculpture was placed.

“You could be the next big thing in fashion, Mr. Brady,” Marjani insisted.

“Alright, alright,” Mr. Elliot said. “You got your uniforms. Do you mind?”

Marjani chuckled. “Not at all.”

“Come on,” Ben said, grabbing her by the elbow. He led Marjani to the door, her heels clicking. Ben paused to call back to Sofia as they left. “Sof, have Vanessa text me, yeah?”

“Okay, I’ll tell her.”

“Sofia Lopez,” Mr. Elliot hummed, shuffling through the clothing rack as he did. “Do you want pants or a skirt?”

“Pants, please,” Sofia answered. “I’m doing combat with some new students and Ms. Larisa this year.”

He nodded in understanding, pulling them off the hangers. There was a navy blue blazer with matching pants, two sets, and an extra pair of sweats for combat training. He turned back to Sofia and closed his eyes. His hands glowed, and then the light flowed into the fibers of the fabric, weaving itself in. It felt like the whole room was holding its breath, like the air was still. The light started to fade as it settled like fireflies in grass. Mr. Elliot’s eyes stayed closed the whole time, until the magic was gone and the sunlight came back to the room and it felt like reality again.

“These should protect you,” he said, holding them out. Sofia took the uniforms gingerly. The inside indeed had a tessellated pattern now, Elliot Brady’s sigil, to protect the wearer where they were covered by it. He watched her with his sad-looking eyes. “It’s not armor, but… it’ll reduce the damage from magic and physical attacks. You’ll still feel pressure, and pressure can equal pain. That’s why strong ones like Marjani can be especially dangerous.”

Sofia nodded.

“Hera is a good instructor. She’ll be careful with you,” he finished. “If something happens to your uniform, if you need another set, come back and I’ll get you more.”

---

The first day of classes wasn’t intimidating or nerve-wracking like it had been her first year. Sofia went to lessons with Ms. Fatima, where they practiced telekinesis. Ms. Fatima asked her about the bubble thoughts, but Sofia told her she hadn’t had them again since the assembly.

Sofia went to a lecture about the different kinds of Evil Ones and new mutations that were developing. She’d learned the basics already last year, but this was more in depth. She was also slated to learn about famous heroes later on in the semester.

Then it was time to go meet her fighting instructor, Hera Larisa. Support types like Sofia, who weren’t melee combat specific, were taught the foundations of fighting and introduced to sparring. Students who were fighting-oriented were thrown into training from the beginning, which is why Sofia would be with a couple of first years who had been here for a few weeks already, during the summer break for their orientation.

Sofia went to the designated area where Hera Larisa taught—the open field east of the admin building. Ms. Hera was waiting, talking to the two other students that were already there.

She was tall and muscular, her skin tawny and her hair like straw. She smiled big and bright and laughed even louder. When she spotted Sofia crossing the yard, Hera adjusted her glasses, raised an arm, and waved.

“Hey!” she shouted. “Sofia Lopez?”

Sofia waved comparatively meekly. “That’s me.”

The two students, who Sofia had only seen from the back, turned to look at her. They were identical twins—or close to it, at least—with straight, black hair and equally dark eyes. A boy with a short wolf cut and a girl whose hair went just past her shoulders. The boy smiled, his upturned eyes disappearing into crescents, and waved too. The girl was much more reserved, her eyes watching, the rest of her unmoving.

When Sofia got to the small group, the instructor gestured to the other students. “I’m Hera Larisa,” she said. “This is Sugi Kawashima and his sister, Sumire.”

“Nice to meet you,” the boy said. The girl said nothing, but she smiled this time.

“I tend to specialize in transformative powers,” Ms. Hera said, cracking her knuckles. “I’m not really sure why they gave you to me, other than maybe the twins are first years, so they’ll be a good match to start with.”

“Transformative powers?” Sofia asked. “Like… werewolves or something?”

Sugi laughed out loud.

“Maybe we should show you before we get started.” Ms. Hera rolled her neck and shoulders, taking a step away from the twins. “You do telekinesis, right? I can see how that would be helpful mid-range.”

“It’s… not really a fighting skill…” Sofia said weakly.

Sumire used an arm to politely move Sofia away from what was apparently becoming a battlefield. Then Sumire struck a pose once—twice. She shouted something in Japanese and then, in a snap, she was covered in a motosuit with heavy padding and a helmet to match. Similarly, but also completely in his own way, Sugi raised a hand to the sky and was bathed in a bright light. When the light faded, he was wearing the impractical outfit of pink shorts with matching pink combat boots and a button down with puff sleeves.

“It seems backwards, right?” Ms. Hera quipped to Sofia. “It makes sense once you get to know them.”

“Ready?” Sugi shouted. When he turned his head, Sofia saw a pink beret with a red ribbon.

Ms. Hera slammed her fist into her palm, her whole body looking like a comic book vibration for just a moment. Sofia had heard that Hera could improve her own durability, but she’d never seen it in action until now. She sat down, making herself at home on the grass to watch.

Sugi only glanced at his sister briefly before diving in to attack. Light and every color of the spectrum burst from each point of contact he made. When Ms. Hera had had enough and made her retaliation, Sugi jumped off her forearm in a graceful flip. Brass knuckles with jagged, raw crystals materialized on his hands, and he held on to his wrist for support, and… the gemstones shot off the weapon like missiles.

As Sugi was in the air, Sumire had launched herself forward as well, preoccupying Ms. Hera’s hands and attention with her own. Sumire was fast, her attacks a blur of blue, heavy leather. When the homing crystals got close, Sumire grabbed onto Ms. Hera’s arm and twisted so Ms. Hera was on top of her like the shell of a Sumire turtle. The crystals got closer and closer, and Sofia saw it in slow motion, and—

She raised her hand.

The crystals wobbled, swerving barely, stabbing into the ground instead of Ms. Hera’s stomach.

Three heads turned to look at her. (Well, two heads and one helmet.)

“Nice!” Sugi shouted.

“Nice?” Sumire echoed, incredulous. She released Ms. Hera and stood up straight. “You finally had her!”

Sugi pouted. “If I did it once, I can do it again,” he said. “It’s cool to see telekinesis in action. I’ve only heard it talked about.”

Sumire sighed audibly, even through her helmet. She tapped a button on her wrist and the helmet withdrew, folded itself up into a pack that looked like a space for rocket thrusters on her back. She didn’t look amused.

Ms. Hera was dusting imaginary dirt off herself and inspecting the rocks Sugi had shot at her. “These are solid,” she said. “Where’d they come from?”

“I saw a picture on the internet,” he said brightly. “I thought the—” he made a punching motion, “was cool. But I needed to shoot you.”

Ms. Hera nodded in understanding. “Quick thinking, Sug. I like it. As for you, ma’am.” She turned to Sofia.

Sofia tried to smile, but she felt stupid. There was a bit of fear creeping up with each step the instructor took.

“You’re slotted in as a support type?”

“Under the metaphysical branch,” Sofia expanded, wringing her fingers together.

“Your main instructor is Fatima, right?”

Sofia nodded as best she could.

“Fatima is… great. A great lady. But she’s no good in a fight. You managed to derail them, but if that telekinesis was any weaker, they would have continued their path into my stomach. I mean, I would have been fine, but thanks, anyway,” she said. Her voice was scratchy a bit, talking one on one. Something stuck out in Sofia’s mind, facing Ms. Hera like this, and she understood suddenly. There was a reason that she was in charge of people with transformation powers.

“Of course, Ms. Hera,” Sofia said.

The ends of her lips quirked up. “We’ll work on it. Get the reaction time and the power up. I’ll talk to Fatima about it, and we can come up with a plan.”

“Okay.”

Ms. Hera turned back around to the twins. “Good job. I think that’s all for the first day, huh?”

“Good, I’m tired!” Sugi said. “We’ve been here forever before Sofie even showed up!”

Sumire rolled her eyes, but she had a fond look on her face, anyway.

Sofia stood up and dusted grass off her pants. The twins waved at her and walked away together.

---

“I got some people together to play ball,” Vanessa said.

Sofia lifted her head up from the pillow, her phone dropping to her chest. “Already?”

“I mean, some of them are from last year, but there’re some new people, too, yeah.”

Leave it to Vanessa. She gets done what she wants done. What an extrovert.

“Wanna come watch?” she asked.

“Sure.” Sofia wasn’t doing anything other than scrolling mindlessly on the socials, anyway. She rolled off the bed and into something presentable as Vanessa changed into her sports clothes: leggings, a raglan, and a visor to keep the sun out of her eyes.

They grabbed Vanessa’s gear and went to the dorm yard. It was too small for fight practice, too close to buildings that might get broken if someone’s powers got out of hand, so students used it mainly for recreation or ceremonies. As an added bonus, there were metal bleachers. Whether some bored student or faculty put them there, though, Sofia didn’t know.

Sofia took a seat as Vanessa unpacked a couple baseball bats and balls.

“Hey, Nessie!” Ben walked up, Marjani at his side.

Vanessa looked up, frowning like she was seeing her brother, a mix of affection and necessary disgust. “Hey, Ben, Marjani,” Vanessa said idly, stretching her arms. “This is Sofia.”

“We met the other day,” Ben said. “Good to see you again. You playing?”

Sofia waved her hands in front of her. “Just watching. I’m not really a ball player.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” Marjani said, setting herself on the bottom rung of the benches. She turned, looking upwards at Sofia. “I’m not, either. Ben insisted I come see him in action.”

Vanessa rolled her eyes. “He’s gonna be all ‘this one’s for you’ and miss completely.”

Marjani laughed. “I can only hope so.”

“I’m not that bad,” Ben scoffed. “Who else you got to play?”

“Mickey said she’d come watch. There’re some twin first years.” Vanessa checked her phone. “I thought Greyson would play, but he’s late in class, he says.”

“Weak.”

“Yeah.” Vanessa stuck the phone back in the little pocket of her leggings. She picked up a ball and tossed it to Ben. “Warm up?”

“Hell yeah,” he agreed, catching it easily. They each grabbed a mitt and started to walk opposite from each other, throwing and catching the ball back and forth.

“What’s fun about this?” Marjani teased, but her eyes stayed noticeably on Ben the entire time.

It wasn’t much longer before Mickey arrived with Sumire, Sugi, and another first year with blue, down-turned eyes and a blonde stylishly mussed mushroom cut. Mickey took a seat right next to Sofia.

“This is my roommate,” she said, gesturing to Sumire. “And her brother, Sugi.”

“Ah!” Sugi exclaimed, clapping his hands. He smiled brightly, like he had before. “We have the same fight instructor!”

“Oh really?” Mickey looked between them. “Sofia’s one of my best friends! Be nice to her, alright?”

Sumire laughed lightly. “Okay, Mickey,” she said. She sat between Mickey and Marjani off to the side, while Sugi jogged off to join Vanessa and Ben on the field.

“And this is Sam,” Mickey said, placing her hands on the shoulders of the pale boy next to her. “He’s Greyson’s roommate and Melissa’s little brother.”

He shook her hands off. He looked solemn, unimpressed.

“Samuel, this is Sofia.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said, inclining his head, not even looking at her.

Mickey elbowed him lightly. “Can you at least try to make friends?” she scolded. And then, to Sofia, “He’s shy. He’s so nice, though, I promise. You know Melissa?”

Just barely, Sofia thought. Melissa worked in the infirmary as a support, a healer. She hadn’t needed to go in her first year, but it might change, given the new training she’d be receiving this year. “A bit,” is what she said.

“Melissa’s a sweetheart,” Mickey said. “Sam’s not so different, once you get to know him. He’s also a genius.”

A little smirk peeked through his facade of indifference, and Sofia could see that piece of arrogance and personality in it. She was so busy trying to decode his expression that she hadn’t heard the warning of “Watch out!”

Everyone was moving around her.

Sam flinched, raising his hands in front of him with a flourish of visible magic.

Marjani was there, glowing, but it wasn’t the same as what Sam was doing. She was…

Sofia looked down at her, down at the field.

Ben was looking at them, his hands raised, and—oh. It was Ben’s magic that was surrounding Marjani. She’d hit whatever was heading towards Sam out of the air and now—

The baseball from the field was flying at her.

She was too slow to stop it from hitting her straight in the head.

---

She woke up, her head throbbing. Things came back in stages. Pain. Spinning. Cold. Images and logic were piecing themselves together slowly.

Sam had a hand over where the rogue baseball had hit her. His hand was chilly. It must have been magic. She was being held by… Oh, it was Marjani. She was this strong?

“We’re almost to the clinic,” Marjani said. “I apologize that my interference got you injured.”

Sofia’s head felt fuzzy, but it was clearing up the longer she was awake. “It’s okay. What happened…?”

“Vanessa’s ball flew in an unexpected way,” Marjani said. “Ben feels very badly he didn’t catch it.”

“Mickey wanted to come, but it would only stress my sister out if more people came,” Sam explained. “Marjani is the strongest apparently, and she was the fastest acting, so she volunteered to bring you.”

“Oh.”

Samuel’s hand left Sofia’s head when they reached the clinic—a glorified school nurse’s office with several beds and a cauldron sitting on top of the front desk.

“Hello, what seems to be—Samuel?”

“I’m fine, Melissa,” Sam said. “She got hit in the head and blacked out for a bit. Can you check her out?”

The woman, Melissa, stood up. She looked remarkably like her younger brother. They had the same sad, down-turned eyes, the same hair, though Melissa’s was much longer, cascading down her back in a long ponytail. She was fat while her brother was slim, and she was more expressive, her brows turning up in worry.

“Marjani,” she said gently, “put her here.”

Marjani laid Sofia down on the bed easily and softly. “I’ll be going to check in with everyone else, if that’s alright.”

“Thank you for carrying her,” Sam said. He then turned his attention to the man in the bed his sister had been at beforehand. “You’re here, too?”

The man was nursing what looked like a healing broken arm. Blood was splashed across his fair skin, crusting and tangling in his light brown hair. It looked like it had been spiked with product at some point earlier in the day, but it was wilting now. “I finished class,” he said, as if that explained everything.

Sam hummed, smirking again, amused.

Melissa had been pressing on Sofia’s injury, shining a light in her eyes. “Ms. Clara,” she shouted.

The lead healer stuck her head out from a curtain. “Yes, dear.”

“Concussion potion?” she asked, her voice sweet.

“We have plenty, but we’ll make some tomorrow to stock up now that classes have started,” the nurse, Clara Torres, said. She pointed with her lips at a cabinet behind the desk with the cauldron.

“Thank you.” Melissa got up and went digging through the cabinet. She pulled out a mason jar filled with a red potion, poured out approximately half into a plastic cup, and gave it to Sofia. “Drink this. We’ll wait a bit, and then if you’re feeling better, you should be alright.”

Sofia drank it down. It tasted like… well, a bit watermelon-y. With an aftertaste of pepper and grass. It may have been a placebo, but she felt like something was flowing back into her. The cotton in her head was melting like candy, and she was starting to remember what happened before she blacked out. Weird. She’d never known Vanessa to throw something so sporadic like that…

“Is the bitch gonna be okay?” Sam asked.

Sofia’s head snapped up, and she realized that Sam was talking about the other patient, not her.

“Shut up,” the boy grumbled, resting his face in his good hand.

Melissa gaped, affronted, at her little brother. “Be nice to him,” she scolded.

Sam rolled his eyes.

“He’s still a patient,” she said. “I need to finish.”

“Well, then I’ll go back early…”

“No, you will not!” she gasped. “Greyson is your roommate. Wait until I’m done and take him back with you.”

Sam sighed like he was extremely put out and sunk onto a stool across the room. Melissa took the seat she’d been in when Marjani brought Sofia in and placed her hands around Greyson’s arm again. Sofia heard him muffle a whine when she’d touched him. But then his eyes fluttered closed, and he visibly relaxed in her touch.

Healers were really rare, Sofia remembered. Maybe Mickey hadn’t been exaggerating about Samuel being a genius, if his sister was a healer. A few minutes passed in silence, and then Melissa let out her own long exhale.

“I think you’re okay,” she said. She released Greyson, but his arm was red where she’d been holding him. It looked almost raw. Almost burned. But he seemed nothing if not soothed.

“Thanks, Mel,” he said, standing up.

She grabbed a smoothie from the desk and sucked half of it in one go. It must have taken a toll on her. “Just… don’t be so reckless next time. Okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll try,” he said. It sounded like ‘no promises’.

“Take him back, Samuel,” Melissa said. “Keep an eye on him, okay?”

Sam shrugged, jumping up from his stool. “We’ll see,” he said.

“Sam!”

He gave a little smile and pushed Greyson through the door, following him out.

Melissa shook her head and physically adjusted her attitude before turning back to Sofia with a fake, customer-service smile. “And how are you feeling?”

“Better,” Sofia said, which was the truth.

“Good,” she said. She examined Sofia with the flashlight again, put a hand on her head. Sofia could feel Melissa probing around with her magic, checking for anything unusual. Melissa was gone from Sofia’s mind quickly, withdrawing when Melissa removed her hand. “Seems good to me, too. If you start having black out moments, come back right away, okay? It shouldn’t happen, but… you never know when the psychology and physiology of everyone here is so different.”

Sofia chuckled at that, which Melissa seemed to take as the green light to let her go. She patted Sofia on the knee and told her to be careful, even if it was recreational, and Sofia walked back to her room on her own.

It was only the first day of classes, and it was already such an eventful start to the year.