Sophia Jackson
Stories
11
Chapters
5,834
Words
1.6 M
Comments
0
Reading
5 d, 14 h
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81 “ “It’s because there are no vermin here, isn’t it? You need mice to chase. Maybe the dorms will be infested.” He doubted it. Anesidora didn’t have much of a pest problem. There weren’t even mosquitoes. He set Victor back on the sofa because the cat bed wasn’t good enough for his orange majesty, then he grabbed his lunch from the fridge. He sent a group text to the girls across the hall, letting them know they could hang out in his apartment while he was gone if they wanted and use…-
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Their group of four had been walking for several minutes when Kon suddenly stopped, threw his arms around his chest in a self-hug, and stomped his feet rapidly while giggling and saying, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Alden, Maricel, and Tuyet stared at him. They were on a paved walkway, heading past a tall classroom building with reflective windows, so there was a second Kon doing the victory dance alongside the first. “Delayed realization?” Alden asked. “Haha!” said Kon, throwing his hands up in the air…
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. Alden stretched out on the bench where he'd planted himself after his interview had ended. The weather outside was pleasant enough, and it seemed like a good place to decompress and kill time. He turned his thoughts toward his priority contact list, and it appeared. His attention lingered on Boe's name at the top for a few seconds. Boe would have had so much to say about his magic, the interview, and all the people he'd met today. The more time passed without hearing from him, the more Alden dwelled…
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“Want me to fix your umbrella?” Alden looked over at Konstantin. The Adjuster was sitting beside him, running his fingers through his dark hair, trying to straighten it out. He was breathless, red-faced, and sweaty—the same as almost everyone who’d taken part in the heroes vs. villains battle. Alden himself hadn’t realized how depleted he was until it was over. Now both teams were sprawled across the bleachers. Most people were sitting slightly apart from each other. Emotions were still…
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“This is like Saturday morning cartoons. But better. We should hold these more often.” The middle-aged brunette woman who’d spoken was sitting at a table positioned at the front of a large classroom. To her left, a younger man in a sweatshirt, board shorts, and flip-flops was doodling on a tablet. And to her right, a man with short, salt-and-pepper hair was sitting with his arms crossed over his chest while he watched the images being projected onto the classroom’s wall. They showed a live…
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. Alden headed over to the side of the gym where the rescue game was going on and received his instructions. He was on a team of six “heroes” who would be facing off against four “villains.” There were also three victims being played by other students. The heroes had to get the victims safely from one side of the gym to the other while the villains attacked them. Alden was the only B-rank in the whole group this time, but there was a familiar face among his fellow heroes.…
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* The few minutes of attempted fighting with Maricel was painful, embarrassing, and just plain confusing. After it was over and they awkwardly thanked one another for the educational experience, they both parted ways to go to their next assessments. Maricel went to some kind of Ground Shaper’s-only dirt flinging thing. Alden headed toward the outdoor track. Hitting people feels so wrong. Getting hit felt way less wrong. So maybe it was just social conditioning, and he would get over it. But as he…
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The lawn Alden’s schedule directed him to was a large stretch of grass that separated the building from the school’s track. The sky was turning paler, but it was still dark. And one of the teens walking ahead of him was glowing. In addition to the glowing person, who turned out to be a guy from Denmark, there were fourteen others under the canopy of the green tent. Feeling nervous, Alden sat down at a picnic table with the glow guy and two girls. A moment later, a short, red-headed woman with tons of…
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* I’m nervous. It was eight o’clock on the night before the talent testing, combat assessment, and final interview. They were the last hurdles Alden had to clear to become a student at Celena North High. He stood in front of his closet, staring at his clothes without really seeing them. His laptop was on his bed. Victor was lying beside it rubbing his head against the edge of the open screen, which showed the latest message from the school’s admissions office. Alden had read through it several…
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* > “Hola, Dragon Rabbit!” Alden said cheerfully to the faceless and nameless errand runner on the other end of the voice call. “Muchas gracias por la…clothing. Ropa? Ropa! Muchas gracias.” He was planning to try for a higher score on the Spanish language proficiency exam soon. “You’re welcome,” said Dragon Rabbit. A girl he didn’t know from the eighth floor slid a notebook across the counter to him. “Today is Spree day for our intake group,” Alden said, glancing down at the…
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