Harris Institute for Gifted Students Episode 8: The Fool

Harris Institute for Gifted Students by Pineapple | Content warnings

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The Fool in tarot set out on a bright sunny day. If this was the journey Ms. Fatima had mentioned at the beginning of the semester, it certainly didn’t feel as optimistic as the card looked. Sofia couldn’t help but feel like she was taking a step into darkness. Something like dark water, something unknown, with only a flashlight and whatever heavy pack she had to carry with her.

“Greyson’s classes tend to run long,” Mickey said. She was leading the way, across the field towards Elliot Brady’s studio and cabin.

“I know.” Vanessa huffed. “He’s always late to practice.”

Mickey shot a wry smile at Vanessa. “It’s not his fault.”

Vanessa shrugged, never one to let people off when she could tease them.

When Mickey had come to their room to take Sofia to talk to Greyson, Vanessa had insisted on coming along. She had her own questions about the way Greyson and Mickey were acting. Between Sofia and Vanessa, they’d already privately decided that ‘staying out of it’ wasn’t going to happen. Whatever Mickey’s reservations about the situation were couldn’t be bad enough that they’d want to leave their friends in danger. To die, if the way Mickey and Samuel’s indecision was any indication of the possibilities.

Coming up to the yard in front of the studio, they could hear fighting. The dull thud of an impact, the grunts and shouts of Greyson’s exertion. A muffled explosion. A squish that sounded like slime.

“Good,” Mr. Elliot’s voice said, nearly echoing between the trees. He sounded tired, less than enthusiastic. “Don’t lose focus. There’s more coming.”

Sofia could smell wet earth before she saw anything between the thinning trees. Vanessa’s arm shot out to stop her before she realized what they were walking into.

Greyson’s arm was elbow-deep in the chest of an Evil One, and the three of them were frozen at the edge of the woody clearing. Sofia’s mind was desperately trying to kick into gear.

It was a Level Two Evil One. She’d learned all about them in her first year. Level Twos typically worked in groups. Not quite thoughtful enough to organize, but they leaned towards pack behavior like wild animals. If they became minions of a Level Three or higher, it could spell out trouble for citizens and heroes alike. They could be highly dangerous if taken lightly. Most deaths were, statistically, due to large numbers of Level Twos.

She knew it was a Level Two because it was holding its shape. Level Ones were amorphous blobs that attacked on their own, senselessly lashing out until they amassed enough malicious intent and entropic energy to evolve into a Level Two or higher.

Looking around, it seemed Greyson had already killed a number of Evil Ones. There was one left standing. Whatever was left of the others, an arm or a leg here or there, was slowly melting into what looked like clay. A rune on the throat of the Evil One glowed—Sofia recognized it instantly as Elliot Brady’s magic marker—the same one that covered the inside of their uniforms. It growled, lunging to attack Greyson’s leg, but Greyson pumped his fist open and closed, and the enemy exploded into ceramic slurry.

Across the empty yard, Mr. Elliot looked over the carnage with the same sad expression he always had. He cupped his hands in front of him slowly, like it was taking great effort. The material spread across the ground and stuck in Greyson’s hair and on his face skittered away, forming itself into a pile in front of Mr. Elliot.

“Are we done?” Greyson asked, his voice flat.

Mr. Elliot nodded. “You did good today,” he said back. He waved at the group. “Have a good evening.”

Sofia watched him go into the studio as Greyson made his way over to them, stretching all the while. His face was scrunched up, but he looked unharmed, unlike when Sofia usually saw him. “What’s up?” he asked, looking between the three of them. He was just a touch shorter than Mickey was, but his styled hair made up for the difference. “Am I in trouble?”

“Something like that,” Vanessa answered with a mischievous smile.

“Let’s walk,” Mickey said gently. She tugged on the sleeve of his uniform and they all walked back the way they’d come. “You never said that Mr. Brady could recreate Evil Ones…”

The furrow between Greyson’s brows deepened, his gaze passing over Sofia and Vanessa quickly enough that it could have been incidental. “I told you I knew it was a set-up,” he said.

“You didn’t tell me how.” Mickey rounded on him then, stopping everyone in their tracks. “I can’t lie anymore, Greyson. I’m here for you, but I told Sofia I’d tell her what’s going on. I can’t… I can’t do it without somebody knowing in case something goes wrong.”

Sofia wondered if this was the best place to talk, but Mickey and Vanessa both were more aware of their surroundings even if it didn’t seem like it. Most people would be in the cafeteria or their rooms eating at this time. There were bugs buzzing, but other than that it was quiet all around them. It was probably as good a place as any; Vanessa would have them move if it wasn’t.

“I don’t want more people involved,” Greyson said.

“They said they wouldn’t interfere,” Mickey argued. “Sofia promised, I just…”

“And youbelievedthem?” Greyson put his head in his hand, shaking his head. “Mickey, I love you, but you can be so…”

“This is about Sahar, isn’t it?” Vanessa cut in, and Greyson prickled, looking over at her. “He didn’t go on a journey like the instructors said, did he? What happened? What aren’t you telling us?”

Greyson shifted his focus to Mickey. “They know us well enough to know something’s up,” she offered with a small, weak smile.

Greyson looked at Sofia. “And you?”

“I…”

Sofia thought about everything she’d heard, wanted or not. About how desperate Greyson looked, how helpless Mickey felt. She thought about the fish hooks.

“Is Sahar a telepath?” she asked.

“No,” he deadpanned. “He’s an alchemist.”

“Then…” Sofia knew. She knew because she’d heard it the next day at the assembly. She met Greyson’s eyes and opened her mouth before he could say anything else. “The philosopher’s stone. That’s what he was working on?”

Greyson’s face grew as impassive as his voice had been cold. He looked at Sofia with a dangerous, critical eye. “Most alchemists are,” he agreed carefully. “How do you figure that?”

“I heard it,” Sofia said, tangling her fingers in the drawstrings of her hoodie. “During the assembly before the semester. Someone was thinking that it was dangerous. Something was almost ruined.”

Mickey and Greyson exchanged a look, and Mickey gave a small, open handed shrug.

“Do you know who?” Greyson asked.

Sofia shook her head.

“You didn’t recognize the voice?”

“Peoples thought voices don’t always sound like their speaking voices,” Sofia explained. “It’s… weird. It’s distinct and I can tell if I know them, but… no, I don’t think I’d know it even if they were speaking right to my face.”

Greyson pursed his lips, crossing his arms. He seemed to come to a decision, nodding to himself. “The quake that night… before classes started. That was me.”

Vanessa mirrored him, crossing her arms. She nodded. “You said it was a set-up?”

“Yeah,” he answered.

“Okay. Walk us through it.” Vanessa had the look she had on the pitcher’s mound.

He took a deep breath, hesitating. Mickey put a hand on Greyson’s shoulder, and he looked over at her. There was something in their eye contact. A silence Sofia couldn’t hear anything over. But he looked back at Sofia and Vanessa and talked.

“You know I don’t go home during the break, right? So I was helping Elliot around the studio. He’s been getting ready for an exhibition. We were… actually getting along alright, but then this bullshit had to happen.” He paused to clear his throat. “Anyway, I was with him all day. Otherwise, I’d think that maybe… maybe he wanted Sahar for some reason.”

“What happened?” Vanessa was gentle, but it was her way of refocusing him.

Greyson shook his head like he was resetting an etch-a-sketch. “He wears this little watch thing all the time. And it beeped. It was late, right? We were working on setting this sculpture on this big base thing and I was helping, ’cause it was so heavy. But his watch said that there was an emergency on the far north side of campus. So we went.”

“Far north side?” Sofia asked. “What’s up there?”

Nothing, as far as she could think. Just woods. An administrative building with a few lecture halls and then woods.

Greyson shrugged, shaking his head. “Sahar was,” he said. “He goes back there sometimes for materials. I guess they cultivate them for alchemists and potion-making. Sam was there, too.”

Vanessa brought a hand to her chin. “Nobody else?”

“The witch,” Greyson said. “Ms. Ximenez.”

“Bruja,” Sofia corrected on auto-pilot.

Greyson stared at her, and there was a silence that felt tangible, like a hole in Sofia’s chest.

“Sorry, I…” Sofia chewed on her lip. “Go on.”

“The Evil Ones that the Headmaster mentioned were Elliot’s,” he said, eyes falling from Sofia to the ground. “They were different than usual. They didn’t have his seal, and… he normally controls them a bit, but with these ones he wasn’t.”

“Then how do you know they were his?” Vanessa asked.

“I’ve been fighting them since year one. I’d know them anywhere.”

Vanessa barked out a laugh. “Okay, fair.”

Greyson smiled, but it was just for a second before it fell again. “But then I…” He paused to take a deep breath. He did that little glance again, checking Vanessa and Sofia. “Alaric of the Light came and after that, Sahar disappeared. I knew something wasn’t right about it, but I still… they didn’t find him when they rebuilt the tower.”

“Wait, hold on.” Vanessa held up her hands. “What?”

Mickey put a hand on Greyson’s back, rubbing circles into the space between his shoulder blades. She took over. “Alaric’s tower was destroyed during the fight. That was the quake we felt that night. Alaric and Mr. Elliot rebuilt it, but…”

“I destroyed the tower and Sahar was under it,” Greyson clarified. His eyes were empty, staring at nothing, like he was seeing everything in front of him again. “I thought I killed him.”

Vanessa gasped quietly beside Sofia.

“But later that night, I saw him,” Mickey said. “I saw him leaving the tower. I… figured enough time had passed that we’d be safe to leave and I was out stargazing. As I was going back to the dorms, I happened to run into Greyson coming back from the clinic.”

“So then I knew he wasn’t dead like I thought.”

“But why go to the trouble?”

“I don’t think I was supposed to show up,” he said. “I think I ruined their plan. So they said that he left. Lots of people could use the philosopher’s stone. Now I just need to find out where he is now and who’s behind it. Sam already said he’s not anywhere in the tower. So if he’s still alive, he’s being kept somewhere else.”

“Well, if the philosopher’s stone was made, I think we’d hear about it,” Vanessa said. “So he’s probably still alive.”

“Hopefully,” Mickey agreed.

“Do you think Ms. Fatima has something to do with it?” Sofia asked.

“I’m not ruling anything or anyone out,” Greyson said. “She’s your instructor, right? Mickey told me.”

Greyson leveled Sofia with a stare. The weight in her chest grew impossibly heavier.

“Let me investigate her,” Sofia said.

“No way.”

“Greyson,” Mickey said as a warning. It sounded more like a plea.

“Don’t you get it?” Greyson said. “This is dangerous.”

“I know,” Sofia said. There was something coming off of Greyson in waves—oozing off of him like sludge. Self-hatred and guilt but other things too. She wondered how he could have handled it on his own for so long. “I know it is, but she trusts me and I have leads that you don’t.”

Because there was another building. Not far north, but north. The old, empty training building that Ms. Fatima kept locked up next to Ms. Hera’s training field.

“Tell me and I’ll look into it,” Greyson said.

Sofia shook her head. “If I’m wrong…”

Greyson’s voice was quiet but sharp. Like a knife slicing through the silence. Had the bugs stopped chirping? Sofia could barely hear anything over the rushing sound of blood in her ears.”You’re afraid I’ll hurt her?”

“No, I—”

“Like I almost killed my best friend?”

“Greyson…” someone said. Mickey, probably. She was more emotional than Vanessa was.

“I thought I could control myself after three years of training,” he spat, bitter. “I was wrong. I don’t know how it happened. The tree I dismantled wasn’t close, but… somehow I brought down Alaric’s tower, too. I panicked. I panicked and I almost killed Sahar.”

“It isn’t your fault,” Sofia managed to say.

He looked dangerous when he looked at her. A weapon, but also…

“The thing inside you is so…” Sofia gestured with her hands. “It’s moving so much. It’s gooey. It’s so angry right now, but it’s…”

“Malleable,” Vanessa offered. She looked slowly from Sofia to Greyson, tilting her head.

Sofia snapped. “Yes! Like clay!”

Greyson flinched. “What?”

“That must be why you’re with Mr. Elliot,” Sofia said. “Your powers aren’t just for destruction. They’re for clearing an area for something new. They’re for saving. I can feel it.”

She could feel the weight lift, just a little.

Vanessa put an arm around Sofia’s shoulders. Greyson looked between the two of them like he was caught. “If she can feel all of that, who knows was Ms. Ximenez would get from you? Let Sofia handle this first part, Greyson,” she said. “We don’t want to go into anything blind.”

“I don’t…” he started, but Vanessa waved a hand.

“I know you don’t want help,” she said. “But we’re all heroes, and there’s a reason we don’t go solo. It’s safer that way.”

“You can trust us,” Mickey said. “You can trust Sofia. She’s one of my best friends.”

He looked unsure, but he nodded, sighing resignedly. “Fine,” he said. “But the second things start to look or sound bad, I’m coming.”

“I’ll stay safe,” she promised.

It didn’t feel empty. If she truly was The Fool, at least she wasn’t alone.