Wiggin Academy and the Forbidden Curse

Darkness surrounded Mako even though she knew her eyes were wide open. The air was cool against her clammy skin. “Am I dead?” she murmured with a groggy voice.

“Don’t be so dramatic,” another voice spoke beside her in the dark.

Mako was ripped out of her thoughts. She looked to her side where she found Professor Wiggin resting back on a chair with his long legs spread out ahead of him. “Are we both dead?” she asked him. Professor Wiggin’s glower told her well enough that they were both very much alive. “Where is everyone?” she asked. “And what time is it?”

“Slow down, kid,” said Professor Wiggin. “It’s just after midnight, and you’re at the Academy’s infirmary.”

Mako pulled out from under the thin blanket. Her back rested against the pillow, which was aching left and right. “I’ve probably spent more time in this infirmary than anyone is this entire school ever has,” she observed dryly.

“Well, no one else thought to go barging into another dimension to fight off an evil fugitive either,” Professor Wiggin retorted.

Mako exhaled heavily. “They escaped, Professor.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he voiced. “They can’t do anything harmful without the book of forbidden curses.”

“I couldn’t defeat him,” Mako spoke into the dense silence of the night. “Neo was too strong-”

“For now-” Professor Wiggin interrupted. “The only reason you weren’t able to bring him down was because you lack combat skills, that’s all.”

“I lack a lot of things,” she mumbled.

“You definitely lack intelligence, patience, responsibility-” Professor Wiggin began openly listing.

Mako rolled her eyes. “I get it-” she tried to stop him.

“But-” he gazed into her eyes- “I’ve never met a more honourable and strong kid like you before.”

Mako smiled bashfully. “You really think so?”

Professor Wiggin nodded. “You did good for a first timer,” he praised. “Highly trained alchemists would not have been able to do what you did.”

“Thank you, Professor,” she said. It wasn’t hard lightening her mood up when Professor Wiggin commended her. “I bet you’re really impressed that I’m your student now?”

Professor Wiggin frowned. “You’ve caused me more trouble than it’s worth.”

Mako chuckled, when suddenly, they were interrupted by muffled voices in the distant hallway. On the stone walls, danced the light of a small flame. Right away, Mako knew that it was her friends.

“What are you two doing here?” asked Professor Wiggin.

Aiden and Penelope appeared with a small flame in Aiden’s hand, which lead their way through the dark school. “We came to check on Mako,” answered Aiden.

“You could’ve came in the morning,” proposed Professor Wiggin.

“We didn’t want to,” shrugged Penelope.

“Aiden, Penelope,” said Mako, grabbing their attention.

“Mako!” Penelope ran over and hugged Mako tightly enough that it hurt, but Mako didn’t mind at all. “We were so worried when you didn’t wake up.”

“How are you feeling now?” asked Aiden.

Mako rubbed the back of her neck. “I feel fine,” she smiled, “I’m very hungry though.”

“Of course, you’d be hungry,” remarked Penelope. “You did have a gaping hole in her gut-” Mako touched her bandaged stomach as Penelope dug through her pockets- “I have cookies. Do you want some?”

“It’s the middle of the night,” remarked Aiden. “Why do you have cookies in your pocket?”

“Haven’t you ever heart of midnight snacking, Aiden?” asked Penelope. “Eating at night is a privilege.”

Professor Wiggin got out of his seat with a yawn. “Don’t stay up too late, you three,” he said before he left them to their own accord.

Penelope climbed up onto the bed and joined Mako to eat the cookies. Aiden sat at the foot of the bed with Penelope but didn’t eat. They sat alone in the infirmary with no one else around them. All the teachers, nurses and students were fast asleep by now. So, the three kids knew that they wouldn’t be disturbed here.

“How did you find Professor Wiggin earlier?” she asked them.

Aiden reluctantly gave in and grabbed a cookie for himself. “We couldn’t find him at first,” he said.

Penelope nodded with a sigh. “That’s why we took so long,” she told Mako. “We ran around the entire school. But then, we thought of an idea.”

“What idea?” asked Mako.

“We sent a Willow to Professor Wiggin,” answered Aiden.

“More like fifty Willows,” clarified Penelope. “We got a reply to come to the headmaster’s office.”

“We found them both there,” said Aiden, “and we told them everything. We then used the key Yaga gave you to make it back in time.”

“Well, you guys saved me,” believed Mako.

“How did you fight off Neo anyways?” asked Aiden. “It must’ve been hard to fight such an opponent.”

Mako looked down at her bandaged hands, that had burn marks shrivelling them up. “I tried my best, but it wasn’t enough,” she said. “He was too strong for me.” Aiden and Penelope exchanged a weary look. “He even told me that he could get rid of my alchemy.”

“What’d you say?” asked Aiden.

“I told him that I didn’t want to,” said Mako. “My powers aren’t a curse to me anymore.”

Penelope laid her hand on Mako’s knee. “Don’t beat yourself up,” she said. “You did everything you could to protect Yaga, that was the mission, and you succeeded.”

“Penelope’s right,” added Aiden. “None of us could have done what you did.”

Sitting on the hospital bed, aches crawling over her entire battered body merely convinced Mako that she needed to work harder. She wasn’t going to take this as a failure, but instead, it was an obstacle testing her abilities.

Aiden and Penelope left before sunrise to their dormitories. Mako slumped back on the bed fidgeting with her bandages and wondering when she’d recover, so she could start training once again.

The school year was coming to a close. Mako and the rest of her classmates trained every day before their exams began once again.

Aiden, Penelope and Mako were exhausted by mid-July. All of their exams had finished, and they walked out of their last class with peaceful smiles knowing that it was all over. Now, it was time to prepare their luggage to get ready to go back home for Summer break. Although, the three weren’t really excited about going home just yet.

All of the students around them were hollering in the great hall because they were excited to go home after such a hard year. The year for the freshmen had been hard too, no one knew that better than Mako, Aiden and Penelope. But they were the only three that were wretched to leave the school- even if it was only for two months.

“We should be happy,” alleged Penelope. She ate her sandwich with her head flat on the table. “No more homework, assignments and exams. We should be celebrating like everyone else.”

Mako’s head was resting on her arm. “It’s not fun back home,” she said. “Plus, I don’t get to train. We’ll have to wait a whole two months before we can start training again.”

“Can’t you train at home?” asked Aiden.

“No-” Mako pouted- “my neighbours would freak out if they saw me training in my backyard.”

“Oh, right,” mumbled Aiden when he realized her situation.

“We’ll just have to wait it out,” believed Mako.

“Did you finish packing, Aiden?” asked Penelope.

“Yeah,” he said when he gave them a side glance. “Let me guess, you two haven’t even started.”

Mako and Penelope both let out a grunt. Mako didn’t want to leave the school and Penelope was just too lazy. After lunch, they made their way into their separate dormitories to finish packing their belongings. Aiden practically had to drag the two girls to get the butts off the bench. In less than thirty minutes, Mako and Penelope had finished packing all of their stuff they had brought with them to get through the first year.

“I can’t believe the first year is already over,” said Penelope.

They all carried their belongings to the front of the school, where they were required to bring them by midday. They just returned after putting their luggage with the rest of their classmates’ things. Apparently, the Wiggin Academy shuttle bus was going to get loaded tonight. So, first thing tomorrow morning was when all the kids at the school were being escorted back to their houses.

“I remember not wanting to come here,” said Mako.

“Why?” asked Aiden, and Penelope was curious too.

“I didn’t think I’d have such a good time here,” she shared. “Besides, who’d want to train a black-smoke student.”

“But that’s not what happened,” said Penelope. “You got an awesome teacher.”

Mako grinned. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if I hadn’t.”

“That reminds me,” mumbled Aiden. “I’ll catch up with you guys later.”

“What’s wrong?” asked Mako.

“I had to do something to do,” said Aiden before he ran off. He even passed Professor Wiggin without a second look.

“What’s with him?” Professor Wiggin asked the girls.

“No idea,” said Mako. She looked up at her teacher. “Did you need something, Professor?”

“No,” he said as he joined them. “Did you kids finish packing?”

“Yeah,” answered Mako who yawned right after Penelope.

“What about you, Professor?” asked Penelope. “Will you be heading somewhere for vacation?”

“No,” said Professor Wiggin as he lit a cigarette. “I’m going to take it easy and stay back here. I need a boring break after such a hectic year.”

“Do all the teachers stay back too?” asked Mako.

“Not all of them,” said Professor Wiggin. “Some teachers live here permanently and some go back to their families.”

Mako and Penelope spent the rest of the day with Professor Wiggin. He needed their help to fix up his office because he still hadn’t gotten the chance to unpack everything. Aiden joined them later too.

The school’s chaos had died down after everyone ate dinner and went back to their dormitories. Penelope and Mako separated from Aiden and went to sleep in their own dorms. The moon was still as bright and the sky glimmered with blinking stars. Mako looked out the comfortable view in front of her. She wondered what it was going to be like returning home after a year? With those thoughts, sleep lulled her into the cycle of endless dreams.