The hallways in the east section of the senior building were empty, and the sunlight peered through the window between the two men with a thick veil of silence. Mohammed was dragged to this section against his free will, as he could not overpower the bulky student that stood before him. Behind him was a dead end since they were on the furthest side of the east block.
"I have no business with you." Mohammed said, his eyes narrowing at the guy.
"And you have no business being in this school." He said, his tone calm yet aggressive.
"If you have a problem with me being here then cry about it. I worked harder than all of you pampered nobodies to get here." Mohammed tried walking passed him before being shoved back to his original spot.
"Let me pass. Unlike you, some of us need to earn our keep in this school." Mohammed was getting visibly frustrated, but he knew he had to keep his cool as one mistake would be enough to send him back to the South.
Is that their angle? He wondered.
"I'm not going to fight you." Mohammed said, which got him a curious look from the brute.
"If you have a problem with me, then we can deal with it outside the school." The guy laughed and it was now Mohammed's turn to show confusion.
"Oh no Mohammed, I ain't here to fight you." He began walking closer to Mohammed, a calm yet haunting smile on his lips. His icy blue eyes stared daggers at Mohammed as he stood inches from him.
"I'm here to give you a reason to leave." Mohammed did not anticipate a punch to the gut as it lifted him off his feet and got him rolling on the ground. He couldn't help but see a vision of Nami the previous day as he struggled to get up. Only difference being that hers was out of compassion. His had nothing but anger behind it.
Moe would be lying if he said the attack didn't stir his own frustration, but he had to hold strong. There was a camera behind his aggressor and if he didn't retaliate then he'd have more than enough evidence to prove his innocence.
"That's a shame, I thought Aha'med's spawn would put in a little more fight. It doesn't matter I guess." Hearing his dad's name was enough to unearth his negative memories with him. But he held strong.
"Knights don't beat on those who don't fight back." He bent down to pick him up by the hair. "It's a shame that all my hopes of being one are gone." He slammed his forehead onto Mohammed's nose, a loud crack echoing as Mohammed fell back in pain. His nose bleeding uncontrollably.
"Isn't it funny that it all happened after you started schooling here? I guess ruining lives is something that runs in the blood." He kicked Mohammed on the abdomen while he was down, sending him sliding across the wooden floor of the hallway.
He picked Mohammed up by the collar to look him directly in the eyes.
"You won't get away with this." Mohammed said through strained breaths.
The guy looked back, as if he only then noticed the camera. Mohammed smiled, but that smile soon faded when he noticed the glow behind his eyes.
"You're a Mage." He said in shock.
"I believe that's enough Bastien." Bastien turned his head to meet the gaze of the person who caught them, before throwing Mohammed to the side. His back slammed against the wall.
"Duncan, do you know this guy?" Bastien asked as he walked towards Duncan.
"Mohammed Binyam, he's a student like everyone else in here. Which is why, as president of the student council, I cannot overlook this incident." Duncan said, his voice firm.
"Then you know exactly how I feel about him." Bastien shoved passed Duncan. His eyes returning to their usual radiance.
"I'll be sure to report him as soon as possible, he won't be troubling you for long." Duncan said as he reached out to help Mohammed up. He snapped out of his daze, his world still spinning. He looked at his hand hesitantly before reaching for it.
And that's when everything went black. As if he had been submerged under water he felt like he couldn't breathe, but at the same time he wasn't suffocating. The only sound present was the swooshing of the non-visible water he was submerged in. It was eerily peaceful.
(JAMAR!)
Moe took in a large breath of air as he jolted up, feeling a weird weight on his chest. He blinked a few times and saw that it was Nami on top of him.
"Sorry for that Duncan, I'm just so excited he's back at school." Nami said as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pinning him with a warm embrace. Moe remained frozen in her arms as he struggled to compute what had just happened.
"Nami, I'd suggest you release him right this moment, or I'll have to sign you for breaking PDA." Duncan warned sounding just as confused as Mohammed felt.
Nami released Moe and helped him up. Letting out a sheepish laugh as she patted herself clean.
"Sorry about that, it's just---"
"It's fine, I get it, just get him to the nurse's office." Duncan said before walking off.
Nami let out a sigh before checking on Mohammed's wounds.
"Bastien did this, didn't he?" She asked, seeing the bruise on his nose. "I'm sorry, I should have been faster." Her hands were trembling and her brow furrowed. Seeing this worry on her made Moe smile.
"It's okay," he started as he grabbed the hand that was scanning his face. The bruise on his nose began disappearing until it was completely gone. "I am Aha'med's son afterall." Nami's expression softened before she started pulling him away from that hallway.
"You should go to class; I'll explain everything during lunch." Nami said switching to her serious self, giving Mohammed no time to process what just happened.
________________________________________________________________________________
"I was possessed!?" Mohammed asked in shock. The group was huddled up under the staircase, away from unwanted eyes. It was lunch time, but only Mohammed brought out his lunchbox.
"Not so loud Mohammed, we're trying to not attract attention here." Nami reprimanded.
"I can't believe you chose to do this under the stairs. This place smells like weed." Mitchell complained, highlighting the places shady reality.
"Do you want to do extra laps after school." Nami retorted. Mitchell remained in the plank position with Nami seated comfortably on his back. A punishment given to him for his earlier attitude. He groaned in annoyance but complied either way.
"By the way, you were right." Mitchell rose his brow in confusion.
"I should have started with how to counter their spell instead of how their technique works." She looked at Mohammed apologetically.
"Don't beat yourself up too much about it, everything turned out okay in the end." Mohammed reassured.
"Next time you should let the men do all the talking." A smile grew on Nami as she tried to mask her anger at that statement.
"Fun fact Mitch, me and Moe are the only ones who can fight against their possession." Mitchell opened his mouth to speak but closed it in silence. Moe looked at her in confusion before she answered him by pointing at where her slave mark was.
"As I was saying. You were possessed, and you were about to attack Duncan, but I got to you before you could." Nami finished explaining. "What did it feel like?" She asked while crossing her legs.
"It was...peaceful. I couldn't see, hear, or even breathe. I just floated." Mohammed described.
"Usually, people who get possessed don't remember what happened while they were possessed. If I didn't force you to break out, then it would've been the same case for you." Nami started as she bit her thumb in thought.
"Possession is like your body has been hijacked, so you float near it as a soul instead. Once possessed you are at the mercy of the puppeteer, but that's just one version of it." Nami explained. "Now that we know what type of possession we're dealing with we can move on to the next portion of this plan."
"Then how did you get him out of it?" Mitchell asked.
"Well, my trusty piece of furniture, if you had paid attention to my explanation earlier, you'd know that a trigger is required to hijack the body. The same goes for when you're trying to snap someone out of it. For hypnosis you can use any physical stimuli to snap them out of it. The concept is similar for possession, but in his case, I triggered his authority to break him out of it."
"So that's why..." Mohammed trailed off as he lost himself in thought.
"Authority is the thing that separates Mages in power and title. The more a Mage has, the more control they have over their own Mana and more so on the Myst."
"I like how you explain all of this as if we already know what all these terms mean." Mitchell retorted.
"Hey Moe, do you wanna sit down." Moe didn't even answer before Nami got up and forcefully seated him on Mitchell. He groaned at the extra weight Mohammed brought on to him as his body began to tremble.
"I'll explain all of this to you later Moe, you might need to know this should I ever get possessed." Moe looked at her worriedly but nodded in understanding.
"The sum of it all is that, because of the type of Mage Mohammed is. He should be able to resist the Puppeteer's possession." Nami stole a glance at her right arm before going back to them.
"Thanks to what you told me we can assume that the entire school knows about your father now. I can protect you against people like Bastien, but I will need you to not get triggered every time your family is brought up." Moe gritted his teeth. Who were they to judge them based on the deeds of one man?
Nami plopped herself next to him, getting an audible groan and a few silent curses from her human chair.
"I'll be with you the entire way Moe, you have my word." Nami wrapped her hand around his and squeezed it reassuringly.
"Hey, you know how I feel about my family, so I trust you to slap me every time I crash out." The two giggled before Mitchell gave in under their weight.
"I hate you both." He groaned. The two burst into laughter before climbing off him.
"You've done more than enough for today, Moe. Our next step involves this man right here." Nami said while brushing Mitchell's hair as he slowly got up. He smacked Nami's hand away with visible annoyance on his face.
"What I'm about to say now are the things I learned from my contact, so I'm not sure about the details behind it all. First Bastien and Maze's break up happened directly after the party and as a result Bastien hooked up with Tiffany, rumor has that he moved in with her. Secondly Maze has been M.I.A for the past week. No one, not even her friends, have heard from her ever since the party. Rumor has it that she ran away from home. Thirdly, Duncan has also been out of the student council office ever since he cut off Tiffany. He was absent for a few days last week and some people speculate that he was looking for Maze. Lastly, there is a video on what happened that led to Bastien and Maze's break up and his hook up with Tiffany and only the teachers are known to have it." Mitchell finished.
"Could it be that one of the teachers are our so-called puppeteer?" Moe asked.
"I thought that too, but I couldn't think of a motivation for their actions unlike if it was a student." Nami argued.
"But that doesn't rule them out as potential suspects. This is a rich school with rich parents. It could be to create a situation where the parents will have to bribe for a position in the school." Moe answered gaining a few weird looks from both Mitchell and Nami.
"You have a dark way of looking at things." Mitchell commented.
"I never thought of it that way, I'll keep that in mind." Nami said dawning a thoughtful expression.
"What if it was someone within the big 4?" Nami asked.
"What would they gain from sabotaging not only themselves, but also their friends?" Moe asked.
"Mitchell mentioned something about Duncan staying out of the office and looking for Maze. I think he purposely orchestrated whatever happened at the party all to get with Maze." Mitchell dawned a thoughtful expression at Nami's theory.
"Y'know, Maze and Duncan used to date about 3 years ago. Which means that is a very probable outcome. Duncan has always tried to play both sides in their group, so it does make sense that he'd go for the option that made everyone happy." Mitchell analyzed.
"What about Bastien? I've confirmed that he's mage and I got possessed after he left." Moe asked, looking down with a scowl on his face.
"Bastien is not really the intelligent type, so unless there is someone working with him then I doubt." Nami said, realizing that if he was actually behind it all then their interaction in the changing rooms was done with him completely conscious of his decision to harass her, which was something that didn't sit well with her. Then again, she did see his eyes.
"Now that you mention it there is one more person we're forgetting here. That boy Chris was oddly close to Maze's group in the first week of school." A lightbulb went off for Moe at that moment.
"That's right, out of all these suspects he has the least to lose and the most to gain." Moe said as he connected more of the puzzle pieces.
"By removing the big 4 from the top of the food chain he basically created a power vacuum that he can take advantage of. If his plan works, then almost anyone can potentially replace Maze as the next Head Leader of our school. No one will be able to touch him if he's successful." Mitchell added.
"Okay, so we've got our main suspect. What's our next move?" Moe asked, looking at Nami who was still deep in thought.
"It all sounds plausible, but we can't say for sure until we confirm a few things. First is if he is a Mage and second is his involvement at the party. If we confirm those two, then we'll at least know who our target is." Nami listed.
Moe nodded in agreement and asked yet again. "What is our next move?"
"Moe, you're a Mage, right? So can't you tell if someone else is a Mage or not?" Mitchell asked.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but I can't unless I look them directly in the eyes. Then again, even a normal person would be able to tell if they knew what to look for. I've heard of a technique Mages use to identify one another, but I was never taught how to do it." Moe apologized.
"Which leaves us with one option..." The two looked expectantly at Nami who paused for dramatic affect.
"We kidnap him." Nami said as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
"Easier said than done, if he's a Mage I bet he has a few tricks to give us the slip." Moe said with Mitchell looking at them both as if they were crazy. The bell rang signifying the end of lunch.
"Why is lunch so short!?" Nami moaned. She smacked herself on the cheeks and wore a serious expression.
"Mitchell, your task is to spy on Chris until the end of today. Text me if you see something funny." Nami ordered.
"Then I take it that we'll be doing the kidnapping?" Moe asked only to get a weirdly excited nod from Nami. He could swear that she was enjoying it more than she should've been.
The group walked out from under the stairs only to see a cluster of learners making way for a teacher who seemed to be carrying an unconscious student. The group got closer and saw that the teacher was none other than Moe's homeroom teacher Mr. Fry. And the student in his arms came as a shock to all of them.
Maze's unconscious body carried gently between the cluster of students. Heading straight to the nurse's office.