77 EYES ON THE PRIZE

The rest of the day went less chillingly for Claude and his class in combatives. They went another handful of rounds in unbalanced spars. Then, they worked specific martial techniques. It never got as intense as it did to start. No one would say it out loud, but Samuel's pace was frightening. Especially to the students who never saw much combat. Like Tai's island peers and the ones who never made it far.

And Prof. Brennan knew that. At least, that's what Claude observed. Especially when Samuel was taken out of the sparring scenarios to work with Prof. Brennan.

After being told sundays were all about setting the weeks pace for the first years, Claude was aware of Prof. Brennan's worries.

Samuel was setting a pace— or evoking feelings and images of slaughter. Decimation. His own success and power was steamrolling its way over everyone else's.

And considering most of them had their first tangent to enter in less than a day, Claude considered even the dumbest man knew it wasn't smart to send a bunch of kids into a world full of monsters with fractured confidence.

By the end of it, things were better.

And by dinner time, it was relatively back to normal.

Claude made sure to eat quick— much to his house leaders dismay, and leave the Mess Hall before anyone of worry could enter.

That was an hour ago.

They had about three hours to themselves before bed.

Claude spent it outside. With the world and nature and what he knew. He took it all in, preparing his mind for the unknown that awaited them.

Maybe he was hyperfixating.

Maybe he was still mentally scarred from the last tangent. Either way, the butterflies in his stomach continued their fluttering war in flight.

But it wasn't terrible.

An excitement still held him.

He channeled the energies as he stood up and howled.

He was only a boy. A teenage boy— who was still in the chemical throes of entering manhood. So, his voice cracked.

"—the fuck was that?" Someone said from behind Claude, back near the University entrance.

"It sounded like a dying animal." Marion replied.

"I think Canis is trying to live up to his namesake…."

"Didn't he already do that?"

"I mean sort of. But howling at the sky is the next step surely—"

Before the students banter could continue, Claude's pathetic howl was met with a much more intense and legit cry to the skies.

Frosty's baritone roar silenced the students. Ren's hybrid howl confused them. When the island dogs and Jade joined in, they nearly panicked.

"And what was all that?" Warren asked.

Claude turned and found his friends climbing over the rocks to join him atop his boulder.

"My people." Claude said jokingly.

"We're your people. We've been through too much to be snubbed like this!" Brink climbed up behind Warren.

"You're both my people."

"How flattering." Darius said. His silver flecked brown curly hair spun and swayed in the wind like ocean currents.

"And sweet." Carmen was on him like glue. As always. He was thankful her pink skin and witch heritage didn't draw any negativity her way. Then again, if it did, Darius was as gifted with his words as he was with his magic.

The force-mage patted Claude on the back as the others arrived.

Isaac, Marion, Ursula, Finn, Trey, Percival and Goren.

They all stood on the rocks and watched Frosty and the rest of Claude's pack of dogs approached.

"Woahhhh— where was this at during the entrance games?!" Brink asked incredulously as Frosty approached and began sniffing everyone intensely.

"I didn't know we could bring this kind of stuff until I saw Burp and Naz with weapons and animals." Claude shrugged.

"Man oh man…. This things a unit!" Brink patted Frosty's sides and smiled maniacly, "Imagine the damage we could've done if we had him during the island wars?!"

"Imagine the attention he would've drawn." Goren added.

"The simple sight of a Orc-wolf would've sent at least half the students we fought running." Darius said.

"Almost did that for me." Ursula said.

Carmen turned to face the berserker at her left, "You've seen this wolf before?"

"Frosty? Yea."

"When?"

"Oh, you know. Over the weekend— before coming here." Ursula replied.

Isaac and Marion looked at Claude with raised eyebrows.

Claude didn't understand the scenario and shrugged, "What?"

"Wraw…" Ren said as he sat beside him.

"You cheating on my cousin, bro?" Isaac asked.

"You cheating on my bro's cousin, bro?" Marion asked. He tried to say something else but a snowball hit him in the mouth.

"Stop being stupid." Ursula said as she spun another ball of snow into existence in her calloused hand, "Me and Claude are besties."

"Since the C.S Academy days!" Warren said. "That one day…." He whispered afterward.

Only Claude and Ursula got the joke.

"Speaking of, where is Naz?" Claude asked as Finn picked up Jade and held the gremlin-cat like she was a newborn.

"We couldn't find her." Carmen said, "We assumed she was with you."

"Most likely with her House." Claude shrugged.

"We checked there." Percival said. "By we I mean my fellow surfers and I."

"Dude— you're like fifteen, how is your voice that deep?" Warren asked.

"Focus." Was all Percival said.

"She might be with our other island buddies. Everybody relax." Darius said.

"Sir yes sir." Brink saluted.

"Something you…." Darius pointed at Claude, "Can't seem to do around her."

"What?"

Carmen took a step closer to Claude and put a hand on his shoulder, "We've noticed you and Naz have lost some….. chemistry compared to the entrance games."

Claude felt his cheeks heat up, "Well— no. It's just….. things were easier back then. I didn't have to worry about upperclassmen and weird professors."

"Yea. Serpentmancers and dark gods was way simpler." Brink mumbled.

Ursula threw another snowball Brink's way. Casually, he spit a fireball at it and blew away the steam like it was cigar smoke.

Darius and Carmen held Claude's gaze. Frosty and the others hung close to him.

"I don't know. Naz will always be a little more than I can handle, I think. She's….. intense."

"So are you, to be honest." Warren mumbled.

"Yea— didn't you blow up a giant hurricane golem by turning into an eel-man and making yourself a lightning bomb?" Isaac asked.

Claude laughed, "Yea…. I have my moments. Naz doesn't. She just is. Sometimes, it's just different. I'm off my game in a lot of ways. Don't worry about us, though. Let's focus on tommorow. As a team."

Finn somehow went even more silent at the mention of the tangent.

"This is the job." Darius said matter of factly as he agreed with Claude.

"You two, no hero sacrifice team up plays, got it?" Ursula said to Claude and Brink.

Brink grinned, "I don't know, that last one was fun."

"Easy." Claude said, "We lost people."

"Right. Sorry guys."

"We know what to do better this time." Darius said.

"And we'll have help." Isaac added.

They all agreed.

The group was silent for a while as they watched the sun set behind the black castle with its Phoenix accented spires.

"So, what were you doing out here anyway, Claude?" Ursula asked.

Claude held up his spear, "I was going to get some more reps in."

"See! Intense!" Warren called back to their previous conversation.

"Nothing crazy." Claude said.

"Yea— it's not like you were trying to impress anyone or anyt—" Before Brink could let off his sarcastic remark, the sound of a group of students exiting the University through the massive swing doors got their attention.

Claude turned around and instinctively took the traits of the frost-eagle circling above. His nails turned into talons. The skin of his hands went scaled— nearly reptilian, while his eyes began to glow.

His vision maximized, zeroing in on the group of students in the distance. Upperclassmen based on the advanced weapons, armor and size of them. Even worse off, HexBlades.

"Here they come." Claude said.

"What?"

"The HexBlades— the wraiths. They waited for the day to be over to get me."

"Yea well we won't go without a fight." Percival said.

"No." Claude said quickly, "Remembering Prof. Brennan's hopes for them. "I can't let us all get our asses kicked the day before our first official tangent. Plus, I don't know how dirty they play. I already know they cheat. Especially for Samuel. And Samuel's only getting crueler by the day. We can't risk it. I'm too anxious for this shit."

Claude took off, "Come on!"

Suddenly Claude and his friends were hopping and flipping across the scattering of rocks and boulders to create space between them and the Hexblades.

The sun was fully behind the school, casting them in premature night.

With Claude's enhanced vision, he led them around two biomes before settling for the eastern edges of a sanded forest by the oceans. It had a small cliff side that dropped into formation of rocks where the water frothed and spun between the crevices.

They huddled on the rocks, crouching and shivering from the cold. Until the group heaters got to work.

Isaac's aura of fire quickly caused him to steam.

Brink joined in, blowing hot winds on whoever shivered the hardest.

"This is bullshit!" Brink snarled, "We owned these lands, man!"

"Yea— and when we did we were smart about it." Claude said.

"We also didn't have to worry about people who had years of leveling and experience over us." Percival added, "I believe this is called big fish theory."

"How on the nose." Darius grumbled as Carmen used her tail to rub his back.

Frosty growled as he sat on a collection of outgrown roots in the form of stairs above them.

Claude held a finger to his mouth to silence them.

They listened.

"Orion, we've got better things to do."

"Like what?" The assumed student named Orion asked, "This is Samuel's first hiccup. This kid— this… Claude. A nobody. He completely redirected the trajectory of Ronin's children. He embarrassed one of our own. The Hex Club. Bested by an impoverished dog-wrangler. That's incredible. Don't you want to see what makes him tick? How he speaks? Where he looks when he's afraid? We're supposed to be students. Id like to study."

Warren looked like he was praying to the gods.

"Are you done?" A female asked.

"Yes, Ms. Firescribe. Would you like to get back to talking about your boyfriends?"

They all laughed as they walked past them.

Claude and his friends sighed in relief.

His moment of peace lasted no more than a second as he and his dogs went alert.

More accurately, Claude finally sensed what his hounds had been sensing.

The very thing that made Frosty growl.

Blood.

Blood and the most acrid strain of wolf piss he'd ever had the displeasure of smelling. He was lost on how he'd missed something so foul until it was dropped at his very feet.

Literally.

A waved washed up the rocks they stood on, harder than the others. In Percivals relaxation, he lost control of the waters, allowing the frothy blue element to come splashing.

Everyone laughed and shivered.

Claude gagged as the foul mass of fabric fell on him.

Quickly, he ripped it off and held it out in front of him.

"That's some thick seaweed, boss." Brink said.

Claude untied the wet thing, "Not seaweed."

Isaac conjured a flame in his hand and held it to the item so they could see in the dark.

"A longcoat. How old you think that is?" Ursula asked.

"Not old at all." Claude marveled at the smell of the coat. You would've thought a wolf with mange had worn it for decades by the smell. It was even greasy inside despite wafting through the salt water waves.

"You know this coat?" Darius asked.

"I mean…. Isn't this Prof. Whitechapel's coat?" Claude asked.

Isaac's eyebrows went up, "Wait— it is…. the hell is it doing in the ocean?"

"He must've realized it looks ugly." Marion said.

"Weird way to trash it." Ursula said.

"Yea…" Claude agreed as he eyed the tears along the sleeves and back of the coat. Animal hairs stuck out in thick strands there. "Weird."

He threw the coat back in the water as the waves pulled it further into the oceans where the Tangent entrances hovering above began to glow like stars.