Field Trip

They finished out the first week of school without anything dramatic happening. The next couple of weeks went by smoothly for all students. There was some talk of the duels, but it had mostly died down two weeks later.

What the sophomore students of Gailuri did notice was that their chances of running into Zidon Sarkis and getting verbally abused had almost ceased completely. Most of his free time was spent in his room studying.

They had made it to the twenty-sixth of the month and the first of two big field trips. Today was the day they would be going to the Summoner Association's headquarters for a tour. After winter break they would get a tour of the Mages headquarters. Both field trips required all sophomore students.

Rowen had been given a lecture the day before by Brooke and the headmaster during their lessons. Austin had gotten his in that morning when he took her to school. The theme was the same; don't cause any trouble.

By the time Rowen boarded the dark blue and red bus she was thoroughly annoyed. Nazeri and Nasi were keeping their distance, she had already snapped at them that morning.

Rowen's mood improved when she saw Zidon sitting with Cian. She had been impressed that Zidon had kept the demon with him, even if he had blatantly avoided her all this time.

"Morning, Cian. Zidon."

Rowen smiled and motioned for Cian to move. It bowed its head and stood up, Cian moved to sit two seats behind them as Nasi and Nazeri had taken the empty seat behind them.

Zidon frowned when she sat in the seat that Cian had vacated.

"What do you want?"

"Well, I was in a foul mood and then I saw you and thought that maybe you'd help fix my mood."

Zidon's frown deepened, "Should I translate that to mean that you plan to beat me up while saying it's teaching me something."

Rowen laughed, "It's nice to see that you understand me."

"Hey, back off."

Lysander and Saraiva stood up from their seats in front of Rowen and Zidon and turned to face her. Neither of them looked pleased that she was there.

"I think you've done enough. You're lucky Mr. Sarkis doesn't know what you've been doing or you'd find yourself kicked out of the academy."

"Oh, you think so? Wanna make a bet? I'm always up for gambling when my chances of winning are good."

Saraiva frowned and crossed his arms, "Whatever, just leave Zidon alone."

Rowen waved them away, "You're not needed right now, just ask Zidon. He's enjoying my company, aren't you?"

Zidon gave his friends his best smile, and failed to look anything but annoyed.

"It's fine, guys. It's not like she's going to do anything on the bus."

"See, just two friends hanging out."

Zidon turned to her, eyebrows raised, "Friends might be an exaggeration."

Rowen threw her arm around his shoulder and leaned in close. His eyes widened just a hint and his back straightened.

"Or maybe friends is an understatement for what we are."

Just then Mr. Edwards stepped onto the bus and made everyone sit.

"Because of seating space Mr. Khan and I will be following the bus. Mr. Snell will be your bus driver and Mrs. Trin will be on the bus to make certain you all behave.

"If you aren't on your best behavior I will personally make sure that you'll be cleaning the bathrooms in your dorms."

There was a collective groan and promises of good behavior. Once Edwards was certain he had made an impression he left the bus.

The driver, Mr. Snell, was in his late forties with grey streaked brown hair and brown eyes. He had the body of a man who enjoyed sitting and watching tv rather than being active, but he had an easy smile and was always friendly with the kids. When he was not driving the bus, he cleaned the academy. One of the many custodians that cleaned the academy.

The driver closed the door when Edwards stepped off and started the bus.

Mrs. Trin was in her late fifties with grey hair put up in a bun. Her brown eyes held a hint of green. Most of the kids knew her, and knew that she was friendly. She worked in the cafeteria most days.

"Now you have to behave."

Rowen rolled her eyes, "Why is it everyone just assumes I'm up to no good? I am capable of behaving myself."

Zidon did not answer her. He turned away to look out the window.

"I am curious why you've been avoiding me. I figured we were at least friendly enough to say hi as we passed each other."

"You didn't seem to like me, I figured most of that was just you tolerating me for the bet."

"I don't like the attitude you show others, underneath all that you're not half bad. That's why I wanted to invite you to join the mercenary group I'm putting together after graduation."

Zidon turned to look at her, "Are they still a thing?"

Rowen shrugged, "It's more of a freelance thing. We'd be consulting with the police in the smaller cities where they don't have Mages or Summoners.

"Some of the work would be smaller jobs like helping regular people find missing things or cheating spouses. We would cover a wide range of jobs."

"Sounds interesting, but I can't. Next year I will start interning with my father at the Summoner Association Headquarters."

"Ah, but is that what you really want to do, or is that what you're expected to do?"

Before Zidon could say anything, someone to the right spoke up.

"Hey, this isn't the way to the Summoners headquarters. We're headed out of town."

Everyone started talking at once and turned to look out the windows. They were indeed headed out of town. Rowen looked out over Zidon's shoulder and saw that they had just passed what was left of the old city walls.

Hundreds of years ago Lumen had been a walled city. Back then it had boasted a population of fifty thousand and had stood as a shining star in the kingdom of Lumen.

Now that the various kingdoms had become districts within the same country Lumen had become the capital of said united countries. As Lumen grew the walls had been torn down, only a few had been left up in various places. The population of Lumen had nearly tripled during that time as well.

Lumen was the largest city in the country by a large margin. Past the walls were the newer areas built within the last two hundred years. They were driving through an industrial portion of the new area.

Mrs. Trin stood and made her way to the driver. A moment later she sat back in her seat, face pale.

Rowen turned to look at Zidon, "Looks like something is up."

"Should we do something?"

Nasi and Nazeri peeked up over the back of the seat.

Rowen shook her head, "No, we should wait until we know what's going on."

They did not have long to wait. Just outside the city there were two black vans parked alongside the road. The bus pulled over behind them and parked.

Mr. Snell got up from his seat, his form wavered and the illusion around him fell. It revealed a man a good ten years younger with an athletic build, and short brown hair and brown eyes. He had opened the door before standing and two men wearing black suits stepped on the bus.

"Listen up boys and girls. We are here for Zidon Sarkis, the rest of you will be left in peace as long as you cooperate."

The man that had been disguised as the bus driver spoke. Everyone in the bus stood up but did not move further. When Zidon's name was mentioned several kids turned to look at him.

The two men who had come onto the bus made their way toward Zidon. One was a little over six feet with short black hair and pale blue eyes. His skin was a light shade of burnt brown and marked him as a diluted orc bloodline.

The other man had short black hair as well, but stood several inches taller than the first man. The red eyes alone did not scream demon, there were a few fairy bloodlines with red eyes, but Rowen could smell demon on it.

"We're not just going to stand aside and let you take him."

Lysander stepped in front of the pair, Saraiva beside him. Rowen could respect what they were doing, but based on her assessment of the enemy neither had a chance.

The Summoner they had blocked was strong and his demon was a level three. Neither of the young Summoners had their demons present. The third man who had driven the bus gave off a strong magical aura that made Rowen believe he was a Mage capable of advanced magic.

That did not cover whatever backup they had waiting in the two vans. Rowen grabbed Zidon's arm and shook her head just enough for him to get the hint.

"Lysander, Saraiva, step away. I doubt they plan on hurting me, but you two don't have that certainty. I don't want you guys getting hurt."

Lysander looked at Saraiva then at Zidon and back again.

"The kid's right. If you don't want to have a short life you'd better back off."