Way of The Wand

Unlike his older sister Daila, Kano tried to stay away from the thirteenth floor as much as he could. His Mum’s office was on this floor, and since he didn’t like distracting her from her duties as principal, he often did his best to steer clear of the entire floor.

But then, one of his friends had informed him Jira came to the school. He knew she must have left by now, because there was no way she could handle staying around here for long, but something terrible had to have happened for Jira to come to Airad in the first place.

Why hadn’t she called him? Why hadn’t she given him a heads-up about her visit?

Kano had questions, and if anyone had answers, it had to be his Mum.

He pushed open her big door with one shove and stepped into the expansive office.

The heavy chair behind mahogany desk was empty.

He cursed under his breath. Where had his mother gone?

She’d left her door unlocked, which meant wherever his Mum went, she’d be back soon. In the meantime, he entertained himself by looking around the office he hardly got to see. His eyes wandered from one edge of the room to the other: from the golden curtains draped over the windows, to the frames on the wall, pictures of Daila, Jira and himself while they were little, and then to the stack of cabinets on the far edge of the room that held everything from trophies to souvenir trinkets.

He soon got bored with standing around and decided to take a seat. He ignored the two chairs meant for visitors opposite his mother’s mahogany desk and went to sit down on her leather chair.

Warm and comfortable, unlike the seats they used in their classes.

Kano eyes were drawn to the piles of books and documents on the desk: memos, application forms, letters, and student files. Since there was nothing else to do, he decided to look through some of the papers. Kalinda would be pissed if she found out but what else was he supposed to do?

When he reached the bottom of the pile of files, he felt something small and hard under. He reached under and pulled out a little black book, his smirk dimming in recognition.

“Mum’s diary,” he muttered to himself. He hadn’t seen this in a long time.

Back in the days when she still retained her gift of foresight, his mother used to write down the whatever details of her dreams she could still remember when she awoke.

Some came true, some didn’t. As his Mum explained to him, she tried not to put her faith in her predictions because “There was nothing more unreliable than half-remembered dreams.”

What reason could his mother have to have pulled this book out from wherever she hid it? Nostalgia perhaps. It had to be. Jira’s visit back to the school must have brought back memories harkening back to the days when Kalinda still possessed her gifts.

Kano reached out for the black diary and as the tips of his fingers grazed the book, the Kalinda stepped through the door.

Kano jumped up from his mother’s seat.

“What are you doing at my desk Kano?” Her voice was stern with disapproval.

“Nothing Mum,” Kano said, stepping aside and letting her pass to take her rightful seat. “I was just waiting for you. Jira was here, and you didn’t send for me?”

Kalinda picked up her little black diary and tossed it in a locker under the table. “That’s because she came to see Chidi, not you.”

“Is she okay?”

“She is now,” Kalinda replied. “Apparently Tomi’s parents pulled her out of school and Arron tried to have her kidnapped—”

“What!”

Kalinda nodded to confirm Kano had not misheard. “Not to worry though, she seems to have sorted out her issues.”

Kano’s forehead creased as his eyes narrowed. If Jira and Chidi had talked privately as he guessed they would have, then his Mum shouldn’t have such intricate details of what transpired between them, unless…

“Mum, did you spy on Jira and Chidi?”

“I wouldn’t call it spying.”

“Mum! You can’t do that!” Now it was his voice that bore the tone of chastisement.

Kalinda glared at him, scolding him for using that kind of tone with her and Kano shuffled his feet in some kind of apology.

“I didn’t just do it,” Kalinda said, “I got away with it.”

More words of chastisement scratched at Kano’s throat, but he made sure not to let them out. He optioned instead to let his disappointed look communicate his displeasure.

Kalinda read his look and rolled her eyes. She wasn’t sorry she’d spied on them. Like Kano, she’d also been curious—not curious, worried— as to why Jira had come to Airad.

Jira hated Airad, that was no secret to Kalinda. Jira’s sudden appearance was all the hint Kalinda needed to guess something was wrong. And Kalinda also knew if she simply asked Jira to tell her what was wrong, Jira would probably reply by telling her to go to hell. She had no choice but to resort to spying, and now her son was judging her for it. It wasn’t easy being a parent.

“Well, if you would hold off judging me for a second, I have to call Arron Tartian and give him a piece of my mind for trying to kidnap my daughter. Maybe instead of hating me right now we can hate him together.” She finished with a wink, and Kano scoweled.

Kalinda brought out a connector calabash and a vial of spirit salt from a locker under her desk.

The water in the calabash rippled as a pinch of spirit salt disturbed the surface.

A moment later, the water bubbled upwards into the shape of Arron’s head.

“Ms Kalinda,” Arron’s baritone voice spoke from the head of water, “to what do I owe the honour?”

“I didn’t call you to honour you, you son of a bitch. You tried to have my daughter kidnapped.”

Kano stifled a laughter, not wanting his Mum to transfer her aggression to him.

“You must pardon me,” Arron said, “but I have no inkling what you’re going on about.”

“You don’t have to play dumb with me Arron, I am all too aware of how stupid you are. I just need you to tell me why you tried to have Jira kidnapped.”

“I assure you Kalinda, it was a mild misunderstanding. Jira was never in any real danger. Besides, I didn’t know she ran to mummy with her little problems. I thought she was trying to be all independent.”

Kalinda scoffed. “Read my lips Arron. If you ever try something like this with my family again, I’ll destroy you.”

“Is that a threat?”

Kalinda put on her meanest face. “I am a Rakha; I don’t make threats. I just say things and they happen.”

She let a heartbeat pass before saying, “Say hi to that mother of yours for me,” in a completely cool and chill voice.

“You mean the woman you just indirectly called a bitch?” Arron’s voice retained its harsh tone.

“If your mother has a problem with that, she knows where to find me.”

With that, the water collapsed back into the calabash.

Kalinda exhaled her hardest and then turned to Kano. “I didn’t know you were still here.”

Kano folded his arms over his chest. “You said everything’s okay with Jira now, right?”

“Seems like it,” Kalinda answered. “She left in high spirits, and we both know what that means.”

“Good for her.”

“Good for her?”

Kano shrugged. “Good for her,” he repeated.

“You do know that’s bad for us, right? I mean whose side are you even on Kano?”

Kano shifted uneasily on his feet. “To be honest Mum I told you I wasn’t down with your plan from the start.”

“You know nothing of my plan.”

“I know everything about your plan,” Kano argued. “You think if you win, Jira’s going to come back here in shame, but that’s not going to happen. Whatever the outcome of this tournament, Jira’s never, ever, going to study wizardry. You need to accept that.”