"What the?" Logan couldn't believe what he just saw, while the crowd couldn't even understand what happened. Erik just cut Logan's chest with a harmless tray.
They knew there must have been some reason for this; they did not know what it was, or their minds refused even to think about the plausible explanation. Though many people could swear, they saw the tray getting sharper.
Erik grinned at Logan's injury as the latter pressed his hands against the wound, trying to stem the flow of blood.
"What did you do?"
"What do you think?" Erik grinned from ear to ear.
"He used a brain crystal power!" someone from the crowd said, and then murmurs spread inside the cafeteria.
"A brain crystal power? What the hell are you talking about? He is the plant hugger!" Logan said.
Everyone stared at Erik.
"What couldn't have I developed a new power?"
"But that would make you—"
"An awakener? Indeed…"
Erik surveyed the cafeteria, now silent. Shocked faces stared back, students frozen in disbelief. Some stepped back, widening the circle around Erik and Logan as whispers and gasps broke the eerie silence.
"Whatever, you will pay for what you just did!" Logan started conjuring another venomous dart, and Erik knew that, given the energy disparity, he was going toward a bad quarter hour. However, someone entered the cafeteria before things turned really ugly.
"STOP THIS MADNESS!"
"Professor McAllister!"
Professor McAllister pushed through the crowd, making his way to the two students who stood facing each other.
"Stop your fight immediately."
He glanced back and forth between the two.
"Using brain crystal powers to fight is strictly forbidden! Are you two trying to kill each other?" the man bellowed.
Both men stopped and turned to look at the teacher.
"Now, tell me what happened!"
Erik was already anticipating how the situation would unfold. He knew the other students would blame him for instigating the chaos. After all, he had been the first to resort to violence, and he knew any explanation he might offer would fall on deaf ears.
"It was him!" Logan said, pointing at Erik. "He attacked my friends and me."
Professor McAllister turned to look at Erik. "Is it true, Mister Romano?" he looked doubtfully at the kid. He knew Erik didn't have the ability to harm Logan.
"It is not."
"We will find out soon." Professor McAllister said. The school workers arrived.
"Bring these three to the infirmary." Conal and Orson were still on the ground, while Logan had a huge gash on his chest.
"Since you only have some bruises, you are going to the principal's office."
Erik didn't reply; he knew that whatever he said, he couldn't go against more than a hundred people's words.
After leaving the cafeteria, Professor McAllister escorted Erik to the main building housing Principal Harris' office. Upon arrival, a secretary directed them to wait, informing them that the principal would see them in an hour.
While the teachers sought details, the students recounted the entire event. As the waiting time expired, Professor McAllister and Erik stepped into the large room.
Principal Harris sat behind his desk as they entered. He glanced at Erik before addressing him.
"I heard you made quite a show in the cafeteria," he said. Erik knew something like this was bound to happen when he decided to mess up with Logan.
Still, he had to show the others he would retaliate from now on and that harassment would have consequences.
"Sir, with all due respect, Logan and his friends started the whole situation. They asked me to leave the cafeteria; they were not new to bullying me. Whatever I did, they deserved it."
"So, you are not denying what happened," Principal Harris said.
"I'm not, but can you blame me, sir?"
The principal remained silent. "I bet the other students are already blaming me, sir, without telling you what Logan did today, or the other days, for that matter."
"You are not wrong," Principal Harris said. He stood from his chair.
He strode to the window, gazing out at the bustling school courtyard where students milled about, entering and exiting the building.
"The kids really blamed you for the whole incident, but aside from that, I want to ask you, young man, if Logan and the other two bullied you, why didn't you say anything?"
It was a legitimate question, but one only he was interested in hearing.
"I did. I complained to the teachers when everything started, but they did nothing. However, when words of what I did got to Logan's, Conal's, and Orson's ears, the situation worsened."
"Ah… I get it. It looks like I have to talk to the teachers about this…" Then the principal went to his computer, searching for Erik's file.
"However, there is something I can't quite understand," the old man said while looking at the computer.
"Here, it says that you have a power that allows you to grow plants faster. If I'm not wrong, you are one of his teachers, Professor McAllister. Can you confirm it?"
"Yes, I can, Principal Harris," McAllister said.
"So, Erik. Care to explain how you were able to injure Mister Reid with a harmless tray?"
Now that everything had been revealed, Erik prepared for his last lie. He knew his life would change forever once he said those words.
Erik had already prepared a speech for this situation and that precise question and spent his free time searching for other double power cases to make his lie more believable.
"I woke up with a migraine the other day. There was something different, and as soon as it went away, I felt I could do something new. That's when I accidentally discovered I got another brain crystal power," Erik said.
This was the story that most of the so-called Awakeners told when they found out about their new power.
He then recounted what had happened. He had been scrupulous in describing the feeling and the pain he felt. Of how he found out he had his new power, mixing lies with truths. It wasn't difficult because most of the things he described sounded real enough since they happened to others, and he had experiences that closely resembled the awakening process when he got the Densoph's brain crystal power.
"That is an amazing thing, young man," Principal Harris said.
"Yes, sir."
"Well, if what you are saying is true, we need to test your new power, and probably a man from the military will come to talk to you."
Erik understood the consequences of exposing his second brain crystal power to the school. The military wanted guys like him, and it was pretty obvious why.
Double powers meant double neural links, which meant stronger soldiers—something they desperately needed.
In truth, Frant's war against Hin had a purpose, at least according to military claims. The nation was experiencing a difficult period.
This was due to the rampaging corruption at all hierarchical levels—something already present way before Becker became the leader's nation but something he was hell-bent on solving.
"If that happens, then yes, sir. I'll be happy to comply." Erik lied.
Principal Harris smiled. "Now, we should talk about your punishment."
Erik lowered his eyes. "Did you believe I wouldn't have punished you?"
"No, sir."
"Now, you sent three people to the infirmary and used a brain crystal power to injure one of them. "
"He used his power, too," Erik said.
"And we will take care of it. If that happened, we would also punish them for the bullying you, but that would require an investigation," the principal said.
"Now, I guess you know that having injured a person, I should alert the police, right?"
"Yes, sir." Erik expected such a thing to happen. Improper use of one brain crystal power was severely punished, leaving stains on one's record.
"But despite this, I won't do so."
"What?!"
"What?!"
Erik and Professor McAllister said.
"Why?" Professor McAllister asked.
"I have my reasons," the principal said. He then looked at Erik. "This only if you accept being trained by Professor McAllister after school ends."
"Trained?" Erik said. "With the top 20, you mean?"
"Exactly."
"That's it?" Erik asked.
"Yes. That's it."