Chapter 4

October 3, 1990

It was 20 minutes past curfew. Coralis, Victoria and Maribel felt antsy and restless. They sat in class for the entire day, studying various theories and histories, but no practice of any kind. Moreover, Coralis and Maribel had to stay in detention for an hour after classes ended for the day: at lunch, they decided to race each other on their flying stick and lost track of time, arriving late for their elemental history class. Their roommates were doing their homework, but they were done with theirs, so they decided to sneak outside and go for a walk around the building, just to stretch out a little bit. They figured if they stayed within the shadows, they wouldn’t be seen by anyone, and they wanted to try out a night vision spell.

It didn’t take them long to reach one of the backdoors. Coralis was about to pull a piece of paper to jam between the ledge and the lock, so that the door wouldn’t lock behind them and they could go back in using the same door, when she noticed that someone already put something to block the locking mechanism: they weren’t the only ones sneaking out at this time. The girls looked at each other and shrugged.

“I wonder who else is out there,” whispered Coralis. “Hopefully it’s an older student who could give us some other useful tricks to do around this place.”

“Yeah, I would love to be able to sneak in the library after hours,” giggled Victoria.

They started walking, trying to keep within the shadows of the wall, away from the lights. As they turned a corner, they saw two boys chatting, each holding a flying stick. They both had very dark short hair and looked very similar. Staying close to the wall, the girls discreetly walked toward them, curious about what they were up to. When they got close enough to hear what they were saying, they stopped to listen. They were talking about different flying techniques to get faster speed and that piqued Coralis’ interest.

“Are you about to race each other?” said Coralis. She stepped out of the shadows and walked toward the boys. She couldn’t help herself.

“Hmm not exactly, but maybe we will. We’re practicing for the flyball tryout this week,” said the one to her left. “Never saw you around. Who are you?”

“Flyball? I keep hearing about it in class, but haven’t watched a match yet,” said Coralis. Looking behind her, she saw that Victoria and Maribel also stepped out of the shadows, but didn’t walk closer. “I’m Coralis, and these two are my friends Victoria and Maribel. We’re 1st-year students, that’s probably why you never saw us before.”

“Oh yeah, that’s probably why, I’m Erik,” he lifted his free hand toward the other boy next to him, “and this is Henry, my twin brother. We’re both on our 3rd year here. We don’t really have to practice for the tryout, because we’re already part of the team, but we’re helping the coach to select two attackers.”

“You said something about racing,” said Henry, with a smirk on the face. “What do you know about racing on a stick?”

“I’m still very new at all of this, but I love flying on a stick and… well… racing. Hmm, I got into detention earlier for racing my friend Maribel at lunch… I got to admit… the detention sucked, but it was worth it.”

“Oh, that was you?” the two boys said at the same time. They looked at each other, and Erik continued, looking back at Coralis. “We did see two people up in the sky at lunch, who seemed to be racing each other. Honestly, we almost took off on our stick to join the race, but the bell rang. Were you the one ahead?”

“Yes, I won,” said Coralis, with a huge grin on her face. She took a quick glance behind her and noticed her friends got closer and weren’t far behind them.

“Want to race me?” said Henry.

Coralis pulled a keychain out of her cloak’s inner pocket. She closed her eyes and squeezed it, and it transformed into her flying stick. She loved that trick the seller at the shop taught her: being able to easily turn her flying stick into a keychain and back. That way, she could take it anywhere with her and always have it with her when needed. Like right at this moment.

“I was born ready!” she said, smirking. “From where to where?”

“We don’t want to get caught anymore than you do. The school usually overlook us being out at this time because everyone loves flyball, but we can’t get away with everything. What about this: from here, straight line to the most North-Eastern corner, then turn left, up to the large purple tree with white leaves, go around it clockwise and back to that most North-Eastern corner. From there, fly back here, but pick up some elevation, so that you can fly above the school rooftop, where no one can see us, circle the perimeter of the school building anti-clockwise, then head back here. First one to drop their feet back on the ground, on this spot, wins.”

“Deal!” said Coralis, stretching her hand to shake Henry’s.

She could hear her friend giggling behind her. These guys were 3rd year students playing a sport involving flying sticks, so she didn’t actually think that she could win, but she couldn’t resist the challenge. She was never able to resist any type of challenges, until she moved to the home she was staying at when she started school.

They kept going back and forth: he was ahead of her at first, then she caught up to him and took the lead. They were flying next to each other when they were circling the purple tree. Coralis was flying between Henry and the tree. Within the flyball team, Erik and Henry played defence. In a playful mood, Henry tried to check her against the tree, to see if she would lose her balance, but she caught the glances he was giving her and the smirk on his face. She closed her eyes and forced herself to drop below him, willing the stick to freefall instead of going ahead. She managed to drop a meter down before continuing ahead, while Henry bumped the side of the tree instead of her.

“Holy gods from above,” said Erik from the ground. Maribel couldn’t stop grinning and Victoria’s jaw was wide opened. “Did she say she never played flyball before?”

“I don’t think she knew anything of our world before coming here. She’s full-blooded, but has to go to those introductory classes for those who were raised with humans,” said Victoria.

“I don’t care how many detentions that’s going to get me to teach her about flyball after classes, but that girl needs to sign up for the tryouts,” said Erik, while keeping his eyes on the race between Henry and Coralis. They were next to each other again as they reached the school rooftop. Coralis was ahead when he lost them as they turned the corner. “She needs to play flyball, we need her on our team.”

“I thought I could beat her because I’ve been racing my brothers all summer before starting here,” said Maribel, “but I couldn’t keep up with her. It’s not that she’s that fast, but it’s like trying to keep up with a bird who’s been flying its whole life. She’s like a natural on it.”

“I wonder if her dad was a wind mage. I don’t think she’s a water mage like her mom,” said Victoria.

“You don’t know what type of mage she is?” said Erik, looking at them.

“It’s complicated, she doesn’t know herself, but we think she’s a wind mage,” said Victoria, hoping she didn’t say too much. She knew her friend didn’t like talking about herself. She didn’t really understand why, but knew Coralis was very private and barely spoke about her past. She liked her new friend, so she didn’t want to ruin everything by saying something she wasn’t supposed to.

Coralis and Henry reappeared from above the school rooftop, Henry slightly ahead of her. He jumped over his flying stick before landing and landed on the ground 3 seconds before Coralis landed. Erik looked at Coralis with wild eyes. She might have lost the race, but to him, that was a small detail. In his eyes, he found their lead attacker. Glancing at his brother, he knew that his brother agreed with him.

“I know you said you have been racing Maribel at lunch, but have you played flyball before?” asked Erik to Coralis while she shook hands with Henry.

“I keep hearing about flyball from my friends, roommates and classmates, but like I said earlier, I never watched a game, so no, I never played flyball before. I don’t even know the rules. From what I understood, it seems a lot like hockey, but riding on the stick instead.”

“Dude, you need to come to the tryout tomorrow. We will teach you. I swear you are going to love the sport, flying the way you did,” said Henry, glancing at his brother. “I know I won our race, but you made me sweat for it, and that’s saying something. I’m 12 and been playing flyball for a year. You’re what, 10, considering you just started your 1st year? You shouldn’t be remotely that good.”

“We can easily convince coach to let you try out,” said Erik. “The school has two flyball teams: The Brazen Bolts, which is our team, and The Mighty Bulls. We often play against the teams of the Imperial Elemental School. The other team isn’t looking for new attackers, but ours is. You need to come tomorrow after class to the tryout. I heard a little bit about the sport called hockey, but I don’t know the rules, so can’t really say if it is similar or not.”

“Besides, I won the race. We may not have bid on it, but by default, I get to decide what you must do, as the loser. I say, as the loser, you must come tomorrow to the flyball tryout,” said Henry.

Coralis looked at her friends, then back at the boys. She didn’t know a thing about flyball, but she wanted to know everything about it. If these boys thought she was good enough for the tryout, then she didn’t see why she wouldn’t try it out. She had made up her mind about it before Henry pulled the winner card.

“All right, I’ll do it. We need to go back to our dorm before we get caught, but sure, I’ll show up to the flyball tryout tomorrow after class.”

The next day, she met with her friends Victoria and Maribel near the flyball field after class. When she got back to her dorm the previous night, she fell asleep right away and didn’t get into trouble during the day. She made sure that she wouldn’t get into any detention. She really wanted to go to the tryout. She knew there was a chance that it wouldn’t work out, but given the opportunity, she wanted to seize it.

The boys had no trouble convincing the coaches to let Coralis tryout, even if she was only a 1st-year student. No candidate exceeded anyone’s expectations. Their team were still looking to recruit two attackers: they saw one that had good potential, but nothing extraordinary. The other team already had their attackers and they didn’t care about letting a random 1st-year tryout. The coaches told her what she would need to do. When it was her turn, she jumped on her stick, flew the parcourse, avoided the obstacles and defenders, caught some balls sent her way, which were of various sizes, then jumped off her stick to land back on the ground where she started. Larry, the boys’ coach, looked at Henry and Erik, with the ‘where did you find her’ look painted on his face. Henry and Erik just shrugged.

Before she left the field with her friends, Larry got up and went to talk to her. He had to have her on his team. She was like a raw talent to him. He was looking for two attackers: she had to be one of them, he knew that.

“Look, the flyball tryouts officially end tomorrow evening, and practices will start next week. I need two attackers. I don’t care who else shows up, I want you on The Brazen Bolts: such a talent at your age, I can’t pass. The twins can teach you the basics this weekend, just show up Monday evening at practice, please.”

“Hmm sure, I’ll be there.”

As soon as Larry was out of earshot, Maribel and Victoria shrieked in excitement.

“Oh Holy gods from above, you’re part of OUR FLYBALL TEAM”, said Victoria.

“I knew you were talented when flying on a stick, but to make one of the flyball teams as a 1st-year?” continued Maribel. “My brothers will be jealous that I’m your friend.”

Maribel had two older brothers: one of them was a 4th-year student and the other one was a field agent for an environmental division of the European Bureau of Elemental Energy. Her entire family were avid flyball fans, so were Victoria’s family. Victoria’s father was human, but he enjoyed watching flyball games, even if he hated that he couldn’t talk about the sport to his friends.

The following months, all Coralis could talk about, was flyball, especially at the dinner table. Maribel and Victoria didn’t mind, because they grew up surrounded by flyball fans and enjoyed the sport. They were in fact quite proud to be Coralis’ closest friends.

Flyball rules were simple. Each team had six players on the field, up in the sky: three attackers, two defenders and one goaltender. On both sides of the field, there was a large net, which was 3 meters wide and 2 meters high. On the front end of the players’ stick, there was a magnetic strip. The attackers would either fly with the ball stuck on it, or throw it to another attacker, while the opposite team defenders would either try to block the attackers or intercept the ball.

Each time an attacker managed to throw the ball into the net, their team would score between one and three points. The goaltender was allowed to intercept the ball and throw it back to an attacker. A flyball was divided into three periods of 30 minutes, with 20 minutes intermission in-between. During the first period, they used a ball as big as a basketball and each goal was worth one point. During the second period, they used a ball as big as a tennis ball and each goal was worth 2 points. During the third period, they used a ball as tiny as a ping-pong ball and each goal was worth 3 points. In the middle of each ball, there was a metal core.

Coralis stayed at school for the End-of-Year holidays, so did Nadilla. Elemental weren’t celebrating Christmas, but celebrated the year ending. They wrote to each other back and forth. Nadilla made some friends and was happy for Coralis. She had heard of the flyball sport and watched some games at school. She hoped that one day, she would get to watch her cousin play. If Coralis’ school ended up playing against hers in an inter-school tournament, Nadilla knew that secretly, she would be rooting for Coralis’ team.