Shadow Academy, chapter 19

Standing in the middle of the arena, the class paced or stood in place as we waited for Maeve to show, me rocking on my heels.

She always showed at the last possible second before being late and gave us a spectacle when she entered. Pretty sure she liked the shocks and awes.

Elys stood rigidly next to me, arms crossed.

Some to the older students had joined our sessions recently, the head of the Academy declaring it.

It was interesting, although most of them were nice, or nonchalant. Maeve punished the jerks right away by forcing them to spar her. Nobody made a snide comment toward us younger since.

None of the zyllahs who'd ambushed me attended, bringing me a sigh of relief. I wasn't ready to confront them yet.

Taryn strode to me, "Is he your bodyguard now?"

"No, he's just being him."

Elys turned his head. "If I were his bodyguard, I'd be getting paid."

"And I would have asked for it."

Taryn smirked. "I mean, it doesn't matter to me, but it reflects poorly on you, Nyght."

"He is not my bodyguard." I huffed, hands on my hips.

She grinned at me, then walked back to her own group.

What was her deal with me? I wouldn't go so far as to call her a friend, but she seemed to be on my side when it counted.

Flying into view, Maeve's bronze animal form landed in the center of the arena, a couple of the shifters bowing. Neither Elys or Wren appeared compelled to.

Maeve shifted, her angel skin the same stunning color. "Good morning, class."

We all greeted her.

She crossed her arms behind her back, "Now half the class will be learning something I think should be taught at the beginning of their time at the Academy, but due to recent events," she gave me a side look, "I and a few of the other instructors have decided to teach you now."

I rubbed my hands together, my right shoulder pulsing.

"Yep, time to learn how to use those stamps."

Immediately, about half of the students fell back, pairing and resuming to master combat techniques, all with disgruntled expressions.

My heart panged for them. It wasn't fair. Everyone should be allowed to possess a stamp, even if it meant creating their own.

Maeve faced the rest of us, but kept her gaze on me. "Now, I'm sure you have felt the urge to use your armor during times of danger."

I smiled sheepishly.

"That's good, it means your armor is working properly."

"But how do we use it, Maeve?" Wren crossed her arms.

"That is what we're teaching, you stamped ones."

My stamp itched to be released form its symbol form.

Maeve pulled out a wand type device from her pocket, "In case you didn't know, when your Houses gave you the stamp, they didn't activate it, which is why none of you have been able to use your armor, but this will turn it on."

Maeve touched the right shoulder of every stamped angel with it, grinning at the reactions of my classmates. They either jumped, like Gabe and Wren, or jerked away, like Taryn and Elys.

When she got to me, I didn't react like them, the armor instantly unleashed itself over my body. I jumped back, turning to face my instructor.

"You must be more attuned to your armor."

As she continued on, I inspected my new armor.

The base color was silver, which surprised me. My House must have chosen the colors for me. The accents and the Nyght star on my chest were the deepest black I'd ever seen, a stark contrast.

I felt my Academy clothes beneath it, but the fabric didn't obstruct the movement of the armor with each movement I made.

When Maeve finished, she stood in front of us again. "The rest of you, just will the armor on you."

One by one, each stamped student revealed their House symbol.

Elys' armor was the reverse of mine coloring wise, only the black background was more charcoal. His white stamp was a pair of wings.

Wren's was similar to mine, but with streaks of pink in the silver and her symbol was a long black nesryn branch with thorns on it. Made sense, Blakthorne after all.

Taryn's was purple and silver, the Valentyne symbol unclear to me. Guess that suited their dreamwalker power though.

Gabe had dark red with dark bronze accents, a stylized tree on his chest. The Underwood House excelled at woodworking, my House owning a few of their pieces

The armor was like a second skin, my forearms feeling the inner softness of it. I touched the outside, my hands bare, marveled by how smooth it was.

When everyone finished ogling their armor, Maeve drew our attention back to her, unleashing hers.

The bright blue base color, the accents and the Sereday sun symbol being an orange pink that changed when she moved was stunning, to say the least, and it matched her bronze skin and amber eyes perfectly.

Maeve held herself proudly, "Now, this is a precious gift, so respect it and use it wisely."

We nodded.

"Okay, now you are going to figure out that fighting in the armor has unexpected perks, one of them being it can create weapons for you."

oohs and ahs filled the air.

Elys held out his right hand, a knife materializing. "That's cool."

Not having brought my whip, since it was a hand to hand combat class, I pictured the chain in my hand. The armor complied, its version of the chain almost the exact same.

Wren gawked at us. "You two suck, she didn't say make weapons."

"That's awesome," Gabe grinned.

'She didn't say anything,' Elys glanced at me.

I grinned.

"Okay, Nyght and Gryphonson, that's enough, I'll be teaching you how to fight in the armor."

I let it reintegrate.

Maeve had us spar with different people. The armor made me much faster than I thought possible for a zyllah. I ran into several people, including the non-stamped students, apologizing every time.

Wren snickered at me until I plowed into her, knocking both of us to the ground. Luckily, the nanites protected me from her hits as I stood, brushing the dirt off me.

She grumbled at me as I smiled before returning to my partner.

By the end of class, students glared daggers into my back. I didn't blame them as we ventured to our next class.