CENSORED 14: GRADY

This day started out bad and just keeps getting worse and worse. First my roommates woke me up by tossing me back and forth like a ball while they sucked out my earth spark. Spark juice. A balanced wielder breakfast.

Then, when I finally got my mom to answer my call on the tenth try, she did the unthinkable. I spent a good twenty minutes detailing my terrible experience, and you know what she said? Just toughen up, Gradykins. Like I’m being an exaggerative wuss baby.

She didn’t offer to come save me from these spark suckers or the tiniest glimmer of sympathy. She actually sounded happy about the whole thing. I’ve been missing her like crazy and worried about her. All the while, she’s apparently been enjoying the freedom away from me instead of missing me too. I ended up hanging up on her. She didn’t even bother to call me back.

Worst.

Mom.

Ever.

Then, on our way to class, we figured out why Fiona missed breakfast. She was breakfast. Some tall blond spunkbucket right out of a model magazine had her pinned up against a wall sucking the water spark out of her. Ainsley shoved that jerkwad to the floor, but it was too late anyway. Fiona had that glassy look in her eyes I know all too well by now, the draining effect.

We’re all sitting together at the far back of the classroom despite my sensing Fiona wants to be closer to the front. She won’t go alone though. I really don’t blame her. Honestly, I don’t want to be far from Ainsley either. She makes a heck of a shield.

I look at the four Registry Guards posted at the back of the class, one for each element, then back down to the collar on my wrist. My spark is within normal range, but I just know if it rises at all they’ll steal my spark from me. The wristband is a doggone dinner bell. I try to cover it up with my hand as if that’s going to help.

I glance back at Ainsley. She’s busy covering the screen of hers with white correction fluid. That won’t mute the vibrations or sound, but at least she won’t have to look at it rising. I guess she likes surprises.

“Welcome Sparklers and Orderlies!” the overly cheerful instructor greets us, making their way to the blackboard where they point to their name already written on it. “I’m Docent LightFire, she/her. I’ll be your General Studies instructor this term. You’ll spend your mornings with me here in the classroom and your afternoons in sectionals.”

“We’ll start with a roll call,” she radiates. “This will be the only roll call we ever do. I just want to put names with faces. Call out any corrections as needed, along with your pronouns.”

“Sparkler Ainsley – Fire, Air, Water, Earth.”

She’s met with silence from Ainsley who chooses to stare out the window instead of acknowledging her. I resist a snicker. Barely.

“Alright then,” Docent LightFire continues on. “Orderly Argus.”

“He/him.”

“Sparkler Bryson – Fire.”

“They/them,” they mutter, slumping down in their seat.

“Sparkler Charleston – Water.”

“Charlie, she/her.”

“Orderly Dalia.”

“We’re here and ready for you to teach us!”

“Orderly Henley.”

“Hen, she/her.”

“Sparkler Sunshine – Fire, Water.”

A sombre person in the middle of the room with jet black hair highlighted with blue streaks coughs to get her attention. “Sunny, she/her.”

“Orderly Dean.”

“Just Dean.”

“Orderly Pritchett.”

“He/him,” he calls excitedly from the front of the room.

Ainsley makes a gagging face which causes me to snort a laugh.

“Is there a problem back there?” Docent LightFire sizzles in a scolding tone.

I shake my head furiously, my cheeks bleeding red. My rush of embarrassment causes my earth spark to go haywire. The collar starts its barking noise, and my heart shakes like an earthquake inside me. I press myself as far into my seat as possible, wishing I could just melt into the floor below me to avoid my impending doom.

The Earth Registry Guard comes up behind me and slaps their hand on the back of my neck. I can’t move, totally immobilized while they suck the spark out of me. Their hand weighs a tonne. It’s going to crush right through my spine all the way down like a spent soda can by the time they’re done draining me.

Ainsley jumps up from her desk, grabs hold of it like it’s a projectile, and hurls it at the guard. They whoop in pain, releasing me. Before they can descend on her, the other three guards pull the behemoth away. Awkward silence falls for several minutes until Ainsley retrieves her desk and slides it back over to where it was parked previously, screeching it across the floor with purpose.

“Orderly Ezra,” Docent LightFire goes on with the roll call like it’s business as usual.

“She/her,” a girl whispers from the front.

“Sparkler Fiona – Earth, Water.”

“She/her,” Fiona squeaks, raising a shaking hand, clearly affected by what just happened.

“Orderly Holden.”

“He/him.”

“Sparkler Camden – Air, Fire.”

“Cam, she/her.”

“Orderly Ivy.”

“They/them.”

“Sparkler Grady – Earth.”

“He/him,” I yip in the smallest voice I can manage. My chew toys are right up my throat.

“Orderly Kayden,”

“Kay, she/her.”

“Sparkler Tylan – Earth, Fire.”

“Ty, they/them.”

“Orderly Ronald.”

“Ronnie, he/him.”

“Sparkler Witley – Air.”

“She/her.”

I know seven of the Sparklers already. Ainsley, Cam, Fiona, Ty, and Witley were all part of our original pack under Nick and Elaina. Two of the charges, Bryson and Sunny, left Luke’s group in the Spark Chamber. They didn’t go back to the miserable sack. Charlie was in a different group entirely. Nine new sparkling charges in total.

“Thank you for your patience. The Registry Guards here today are all he/him, as is visible from the name tags on their uniforms,” Docent LightFire embers. “Now let’s address the elephant in the room.”

My cheeks bleed red again thinking she’s singling me out. Thankfully, my collar doesn’t start barking again, but someone else’s does. The Fire and Water Registry Guards dutifully swarm Sunny from either side, grabbing hold of her wrists to keep her in place while they suck the sparks out of her.

Everyone looks on in horror. Everyone but Ainsley. She’s a Pamplona bull. She hurls two textbooks at them with glorious precision. They meet their marks with resounding crashes. The guards grunt before falling to the floor between the desks. There’s a boisterous guffaw near the back of the room coming from the behemoth guard she nailed with the desk.

Sunny slumps down in her chair, her eyes glazed as is normal for what was stolen from her. The fallen Fire Registry Guard picks himself up from the floor and moves to his position at the back of the room, purposely avoiding eye contact with Ainsley as he goes. The Water Registry Guard quickly follows suit.

“The Registry Guards, unlike wielders outside the classroom, will only interfere in your studies in the event of an emergency. As we’ve already had two such emergencies, I think we can all agree they’ve justified their presence here.” She looks directly at Ainsley before continuing. “If possible, you should leave them to their work. They are, after all, trying to help you.”

“Will we get expelled if we kick their butts?” Ainsley fires back, hoping for the exit avenue.

“No, of course not.” Docent LightFire hisses a laugh like it’s the most ridiculous question in the world. “However, there could be undesired consequences if you don’t comply, such as an implosion that could harm the one refusing release or an explosion that could harm others.”

We’re freshMEAT. We have the spark, they want the spark, and there isn’t a doggone thing we can do to stop them from taking it. Because we need it out of us, or it’ll make its way out by force.

“Your spark has been sleeping your entire life. Now it’s awake, refreshed, and eager to burn brightly. We encourage wielders to push you toward control. They do this by taking the excess spark from you as often as necessary. That release might or might not be pleasant, but they do it for your protection.”

“And without consent!” Ainsley roars.

“Is there a specific reason the extraction needs to be so aggressive?” Fiona clanks, obviously still shaken by the violence.

“It’s predatory and abusive,” Ainsley snicks her agreement, though I’m pretty sure Fiona lumps her into the aggressor category.

“It’s tradition!” Pritchett yells from the front of the room, his nose shoved right up Docent LightFire’s haunch.

“Stow it, Prickett,” Ainsley clips.

“It’s necessary,” Docent LightFire backfires, “and we’ve learned a freer feed system for release helps a new charge gain control more quickly.”

So, basically, scaring us to death will ultimately kick our haunches into gear faster. Perfectly reasonable approach in an alternate universe maybe.

Docent LightFire looks at Ainsley again. “We encourage you to resist.”

“What’re the rules of engagement?” Ainsley slamfires, and everyone shifts around to gape at her like she has four heads. Well, she does come to think of it. She has earth, air, fire, and water.

“There are no rules,” she answers honestly.

There are several moments of silence before another alert goes off toward the left front of the classroom. Bryson cries out in terror as the Fire Registry Guard stomps forward with clear intent. Docent LightFire steps in his way, gripping Bryson’s hand in hers. Their jaw falls slack as she sucks the fire spark out of them.

My heart hammers in my chest as I start to panic again. We aren’t even safe from our teachers!

“You’ll eventually be able to stop a wielder from taking your spark,” she carries on like she hasn’t just gorged herself on some delicious BBQ Bryson.

I won’t, for a minute, forget any spunkbucket that takes my spark from me. I’ve already started a list, and she’s now on it.

We continue on for several hours with a short break in the middle where everyone huddles together to use the washroom, afraid to be alone. We learn all about signs to watch out for. First there’ll be emotional changes like irregular mood swings. Then we’ll start getting more physical reactions like headaches, shortness of breath, sweating, and nausea. Those will grow to heart palpitations, migraines, fainting, and subsequently can lead to heart attack or stroke. Okay, they really aren’t exaggerating about the dangers of resisting the release. That still doesn’t make how they take it from us any less barbaric. She also explains releasing it can bring pleasure too, but it’s only ever bringing pain if we resist it.

It seems that if we can’t fight the wielders off like Pamplona Princess Ainsley, the best option we have is to try to reduce the loss.

“I think we should regulate our release to them,” I growl as we’re walking to the Oculus for lunch.

“Like an offering?” Fiona clatters.

“We could line up by the doors,” Cam whirs.

“Two lines on either side of the main entryway,” Ty rumbles.

“We can hold out our hands,” Sunny scooshes. “They can just slap them as they walk by. A to-go meal.”

Witley huffs. “What if they get greedy and want more than a sip?”

“Then Ainsley can kick them in the fireballs!” Bryson blazes.

“I would,” Ainsley quickfires.

“What if they have a vagina?” Charlie burbles.

Ainsley shrugs. “I’ll kick them in the powder keg.”

I turn to her with hope in my eyes. “You’ll stand with us?”

“I’ll deal with the too thirsty ticks,” she reports, “but I’m a big blitzing no on the fast food handout.”

Everyone laughs, but no one’s really full of joy. We’re totally screwed. We can’t fight them off, and even if we could, it’s dangerous to do that.

I get it. I do. Sheaths, and charges by default, create the spark, but they can’t use it to do anything cool. Their efforts are limited to creating and containing the spark. Wielders, on the other hand, can use the spark to do cool stuff, but they can’t create their own. Basically, by using it, they lose the ability to create it. And, of course, it all hinges on matching elements. An Earth Sparkler can only create or use an earth spark.

Hey, Mom? See, I can listen. Recap: balance is important. It results in this weird symbiotic relationship that’s unhealthy as it exists today. Borderline toxic.

Do we need them? Yes.

Do they need us? Also yes.

Yet, this crap between us is not a balanced give and take. It’s imbalanced as tumorous balls. We need to sort that out. Bottom line: it’s time to take some control back. Oh yeah. I’m all about this. Totally here for it. Just not alone. Please, don’t let them catch me alone.