29. Mavrik
Mavrik
The Shadow Also Rises
My feet are bouncing without my control.
I try to lock it down. Put on my stoic face.
But the opportunity to train someone has me giddy.
Thea jogs up, a glistening of sweat on her face that I can’t seem to look away from.
A few of my shadows leave and greet her, wrapping around her like they belong.
“You okay?” she asks. Stupid Mavrik. Stop staring.
“Yes, sorry,” I tell her sheepishly. “Still not used to my shadows liking someone else. Ready?”
“Always,” she says with more gusto than necessary and we start stretching.
“Okay, so you’re a smart fighter.” That’s an understatement. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone fight like her. Always three steps ahead. Taking hits like she doesn’t even feel them.
“But you’re lacking in strength.” She scowls at me. “I’m going to show you how to use that to your advantage.”
Too soon the evening sparring class arrives and we pack up our things.
“Same time tomorrow?” she asks as we walk towards the library.
“Sure,” I say like I don’t care. She leaves and heads to her nook that she claims is some secret location. The shadows found it the first day I saw her here. Followed her. They give me small glimpses as she walks through the bookshelf and away. Zair isn’t inside. She pulls off her shirt.
“Stop.”
They continue. I wave my hand through them.
“Freak.”
Ah. Right. This is why people think I’m crazy. Flapping my hand and talking to myself. I head towards my usual table tucked away in the corner and flop down.
“You know…” A voice I hate comes from behind a bookshelf as my sister steps out. “It is so hard to defend you when you’re over there flailing.”
“Since you put so much effort into defending me.”
She scoffs.
“How much money do you have left this month?” she asks.
“It’s the fourth.”
“So all of it then. Great, I need some.”
I exhale though my nose. “Your birthday was Friday, didn’t you get extra.”
“Only an extra $500. My party was huge and spent it all and then had to tap into my normal monthly just to cover it,” she whines.
“Not my fault.”
“Didn’t you get a birthday bonus too. You didn’t do anything, so you still have it.”
“I had a party,” I tell her a little indignantly.
Her laugh echoes in the library and we get shushed.
“You don’t have friends, shadow boy,” she says through her laughter.
“No Mavis, you don’t have friends.” She stops laughing. “Anita made you pay for her to have a party on your birthday. I might not have friends, but I got gifts and a cake and I didn’t pay for any of it.”
Her expression is warring between hate and anger. Despite everything I feel pity for her.
“I’ll send you $100 so you don’t starve.” Standing, I walk away like I’m looking for a book. When I get back to my table, she’s gone. A small present sits on my chair.
Is it a trick?
Will it explode or stink or worse?
I shove it to the bottom of my bag and focus on my school work so I can get to my dorm.
The room is already set up to record but I have nothing planned.
I’m tempted to post an eye contact video because I’m tired, and also because it’s so weird to me seeing my real eye color.
They’ve been black in person for so long, I forgot they were silver.
I drop my bag at my desk and the calculator Thea got me catches my attention.
I ruffle my hair, put my headphones in and half mask on.
I scroll through my phone till I find the song I want and turn the camera on.
I walk to the wall and picture Thea’s smile while we trained.
How she’d looked with the glistening of sweat. Her in her nook.
This is dangerous.
It will get me views.
I start to dance. Just grooving to the song, then slowly I take my shirt off, and flex my stomach muscles. I picture her here, watching me and I’m thankful the mask will hide the smile. I dance more seductively, my thumb hooked in my sweats and pushing down.
The song ends before I do anything worse. I don’t even watch it before uploading. I caption it ‘for firefly.’
My bed squeaks as I collapse on it and pull the mask off. Like the loser I am, I finish my thoughts. Thea makes me feel seen, and even though I know she doesn’t think of me that way, the feelings don’t stop. The desire doesn’t stop.
I want to say it’s because she’s the first girl to ever give me attention. But my DM’s are full of women throwing themselves at me.
I have no interest. Never have.
The next morning I have 30k likes. I read the comments, all talking about how much sexier I look. How they could see the smile. Asking who is firefly.
During sparring, Thea faces off against a fae who’s nearly twice her size. I pull out my phone and record the fight, the punch she lands on his jaw would knock out a nightblind. It really is something amazing.
After longer than I expect he lands a punch that knocks her out cold.
As soon as coach brings the smelling salts she’s back to laughing.
She skips over to where Zair and I are sitting and asks me if I got it recorded, then insists on watching it and me breaking down where she could improve.
Zair attempts to heal her but she keeps getting distracted and turning away. Like she can’t even feel the fat lip.
When it’s Zair’s turn he asks me to record him fighting with a wolf shifter, Jack.
Zair is the stronger fighter and instead of fighting physically he uses his air manipulation to mess with Jack.
He wins by locking him in a bubble of air and with Jack disoriented from the lack of smell, Zair knocks him out.
Who would’ve known that werewolves were useless without their noses?
I guess Zair, the guy is best friends with one.
That night Thea meets me to train again. She asks me a thousand questions as we go through our warmups. About my childhood, about food, about dreams. It might’ve been a distraction because as soon as I tell her it’s time to spar she has me on my back, her thighs on either side of my chest.
My shadows didn’t warn me.
They let her.
Good shadows.
When I get back to my dorm I try my best to recreate the moment in my head. How I felt with her on top of me. I upload it with the text ‘fireflies POV.’
When I go to do my laundry I find Zair. We talk for a few minutes before I get an idea.
“Can you do me a favor?”
“What’s up?” he asks.
“Mavis gave me a present.” He raises an eyebrow. “I’m a little worried it’s a trap. Do you think you could do that air bubble thing in case it explodes or stinks or something.”
His lips quirk and he follows me towards my room. I didn’t think this through. No one’s ever been in my room. No backing out now. I unlock it and pretend I’m not embarrassed.
“I like what you’ve done with the place,” he says. My ears get even warmer as he looks over at the recording setup. Then he looks to the Manchester poster on the wall.
“Do you play?”
“I used to,” I say a little shyly and grab the present from my desk. “Ready?”
I wait as he makes the bubble around it before I carefully unwrap it.
I stare.
What does this mean?
“See you at breakfast.” The door shuts behind Zair. But I can’t look away from the picture frame and the photo of my family.
Taken two weeks before the shadows ruined my life.
The last time I was loved.