Incubus Ascension-Chapter 14

Liam headed toward the open field where they held the physical exams, already hearing the low buzz of voices before he even got there.

When he stepped out from the path, he saw pretty much the whole group already gathered.

Most of the guys were in plain trousers and plain white shirts, nothing fancy, just stuff that let you move.

The girls had on short skirts and those tight tops that hugged everything.

He caught himself staring a second longer than he should have as they stretched and shifted around, talking.

Yeah, he licked his lips without thinking. Sue him; it was a nice view.

Then he spotted Rax. He was standing a bit off to the side, back toward him at first.

Their eyes locked the moment Rax turned. That stupid smirk crawled onto his face like he’d just found his favorite toy.

Rax started walking over, clearly thinking this was going to be hilarious.

He got right up in Liam’s space, put both hands on his chest, and shoved, hard. Except Liam didn’t move. Not even an inch.

His smirk flickered, then vanished when he realized Liam hadn’t budged. Surprise flashed across his face, real surprise.

Liam stared him down, feeling the heat rise in his chest. "Fucking Rax,"

Liam muttered, and before he could think better of it, his fist snapped forward and caught Rax square in the nose.

There was a wet crunch. Blood sprayed. Rax staggered back two steps and dropped straight into the mud with a heavy splat.

For a heartbeat the whole field went dead quiet.

Every single student froze, eyes wide, like they couldn’t believe what just happened. A noble’s kid. On his ass. From Liam.

Footsteps approached fast. One of the teachers, Mr. Calen, strode over, face tight.

He didn’t yell, just grabbed Liam’s arm with one hand and Rax’s with the other. "Both of you. Director’s office. Now."

Rax was already wiping blood on his sleeve, but even through the swelling Liam could see the grin trying to form.

Rax thought he had Liam. Family name, connections, the whole Rover pull, he was already picturing Liam expelled and probably worse.

They marched across campus in silence. When they got to Elena’s office, she looked up from her desk and actually smiled at Liam first.

"Liam. How are you feeling today?"

Liam shrugged, still wired from the punch. "I’m alright."

Rax’s head jerked toward Liam like someone had slapped him. The familiarity in her tone clearly didn’t compute.

Mr. Calen cleared his throat and gave the short version of events, Liam punching Rax, Rax ending up in mud, the whole frozen crowd.

Elena’s brows drew together. She leaned back in her chair and looked between them like they were two kids caught fighting over a toy.

"Why are you two still doing this childish nonsense?"

Rax straightened up, wiping the last of the blood from his lip.

His voice came out smug. "The Rover family won’t let this slide, Director. I’ll have to tell my father exactly what happened here."

Elena’s expression went flat. "Do you honestly think an archmage gives a damn about a mid-ranked family at best?"

Her voice sharpened. "I wasn’t going to punish either of you, both of you were being idiots.

But that tone? That arrogance? Ten academic points deducted. From you, Rax."

His eyes went huge. The color actually drained from his face.

"Please, no. Director, I can’t. My family, they expect the same performance every term. If my points drop they’ll, they’ll, "

"Not my problem," she cut him off, calm and final.

Rax looked like someone had punched him in the gut all over again. Mr. Calen sighed and motioned for them to leave.

They walked back to the field in silence. Rax didn’t say another word the whole way.

When they got there he just went and sat in the corner of the grass, knees up, staring at nothing.

His eyes looked empty, like someone had switched the lights off behind them.

For a second, just a second, Liam actually felt bad for him. Whatever his family was like, it sounded like a cage.

Maybe he’d be better off without them breathing down his neck.

Then Rax snapped his head up and glared at Liam like he wanted to burn a hole through his skull.

"I’m taking the exam too," he told the teacher, voice flat and hard.

Mr. Calen nodded and called everyone into a circle around him.

He explained the test in a few sentences: simple rope climb to the third-floor platform. That was it.

Liam gave a wry smile. Of course it would be something like that. His arms were decent now, but three floors? That sounded miserable.

"Liam, you’re up first," Mr. Calen called.

Liam cursed under his breath. Rotten fucking luck.

He glanced back. Pyra was standing there with that smug little look, arms crossed, eyebrows raised, basically saying do your best, loser.

He walked over to the rope, grabbed it, and started pulling. And... it wasn’t awful. His grip held. His shoulders burned, but they didn’t give out.

He kept going, hand over hand, legs helping when he could brace them.

By the time he slapped the platform at the top his breathing was rough, but he wasn’t dying.

He looked down. Pyra’s mouth was open. So were a bunch of others.

Even Mr. Calen was checking his clipboard, comparing it to last month’s disaster of a result.

He gave a small nod. "Big improvement, Liam. Really big."

Rax kept staring at Liam from the ground. Long. Hard. Then his face changed, he’d clearly thought of something.

He suddenly cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Liam! Did you use Overdrive?"

The whole circle sucked in a breath. Overdrive. The banned strength drug.

The same one that got people arrested, kicked out, sometimes worse.

Liam glared down at him. He was grinning again, thinking he’d just ruined Liam.

Mr. Calen looked up at Liam for a long second. Then he shook his head slowly, like he’d already made up his mind.

Liam remembered the way Elena had talked to him earlier, calm, familiar. Apparently that carried weight. He didn’t even ask Liam to explain.

Liam climbed down carefully, palms stinging, and walked back to the group.

Pyra elbowed him in the ribs as soon as he got close. "Why is everything you do lately so damn weird?"

Liam just shrugged. "Dunno. Lucky, maybe."

The rest of the exam went by fast. When they posted the rankings at the end, he was 20th.

Twentieth. From dead last last time. People were whispering. Liam tried not to look too pleased with himself.

Class dismissed. Pyra fell in step beside him as they headed toward the cafeteria.

His mind kept drifting back to Rax sitting there broken in the corner, then that death-glare he threw him.

Whatever pity he felt earlier was gone. Next time Rax tried something, Liam wasn’t holding back.

They ate quickly, nothing special, just fuel, then headed to afternoon class.

When it finally wrapped up Pyra checked the clock outside.

"Six pm.," she said. "Come on. Elena’s orders. Time to go look for those demons that snuck into the academy."

Liam let out a long sigh but nodded. "Yeah. Let’s go."

They started walking the empty paths.

The place felt strange with everyone gone, students, most of the staff, all cleared out for the evening. Just them now.