Friends

It took Adam almost the entire lunch hour to track Cora down.

Just as he was beginning to think her parents must have kept her home from school, he finally spotted a group of students out near D block. There were four of them, and unlike most cliques, they looked like they were all from different grades. Besides Cora, whom Adam guessed was in the grade above his own, there was a tiny seventh grade girl with long curly hair, and two older boys, one of them so tall and wide he was bigger than any teacher here. The other was a lanky, scruffy looking kid that Adam had seen hanging around the popular crowd from time to time. They all watched him approach with cautious looks on their faces, and Adam noticed how they kept glancing sideways at Cora, as if waiting for her lead. Cora didn’t take her eyes off Adam, and as he drew closer, she held out a hand signalling for him to stop. He did.

“We’re supposed to stay away from you,” said Cora angrily. Adam took a step back instinctively, as if she’d shoved him. He had not expected such a cold response, and he’d be lying to say it didn’t hurt. She’d saved him yesterday, brought him to her home, fetched Iris to heal his broken ribs. Didn’t that mean anything? Didn’t it make them - well, maybe not friends, but not enemies either. Adam had thought she cared about him. Stupid, he thought viciously. She’s not your friend. You don’t have any friends. He took another step backwards, and started to turn around. He wasn’t sure what sort of look was on his face, but it must have been a pitiful one, because Cora quickly added, “sorry, but dad’s orders you know, and god forbid Dorian Aetos doesn’t get his way.” There was that anger again, and something clicked in Adam’s mind. She wasn’t angry at him. She was angry at her father.

“Why?” Blurted out Adam, frozen in a half turn away from the group.

Cora let out a shrill laugh and shared a grin with the other three, a silent but clear message - is he being serious? “Gee, I wonder,” she said out loud in mock consideration. “Maybe he just didn’t like you?” The other three burst into restrained laughter. “Or maybe,” she continued, barely holding back laughter herself, “it’s because your little Nightmare could show up at any second and he doesn’t want his baby girl getting hurt, what do you think?”

Adam felt blood rush to his face, painting his cheeks bright red. He also felt a surge of panic that Cora was talking so openly in front of the others. But none of them seemed confused at all about what she’d said. They know, he thought. That must mean…

“You’re all makers?” He asked, speaking softer than he’d meant to.

The lanky boy grinned. “What, you thought Cora’s family was the only one in Wakehurst, did you? I’m Ridley Lockard, the big guy is Moan Tane, and this little runt is Genevieve Lakely.”

“Gen, and I’m not a runt!” said the tiny girl forcefully, and Ridley raised his hands in mock surrender.

“Who prefers Gen, and will no doubt grow taller than even the big guy here,” finished Ridley with an easy wink at Gen, winning a look of satisfied approval from her. Adam found people like Ridley fascinating. The way they could pluck at the heartstrings of people. A few simple words, some gestures and a wink, and they could take one emotion completely out of your head and replace it with another. The rational part of him knew it was just good communication and finely tuned empathy, but to Adam it always felt like magic. It even worked just like a spell - say the magic words, make this movement - the only thing missing was the magic wand.

“I’m Adam Ledger.” He felt his cheeks flush red again as they all rolled their eyes at each other.

“Yeah, we know,” said Ridley, “you’ve made a bit of a name for yourself - it’s all anyone can talk about. The return of the Wildfire.” At that final word his expression changed. The devil-may-care attitude slipped from his face, and something close to awe replaced it. Then it was gone, leaving Adam to wonder if it had ever been there at all.

“What do you want, Adam?” asked Cora.

The question caught him off guard. He had come here for a reason, but he hadn’t expected to find her with a bunch of other makers. Not one for conversations at the best of times, speaking to a group was far beyond his comfort zone. His face, now a permanent red it seemed, began to glisten with sweat. “I don’t know. I just couldn’t sit around doing nothing I guess… I thought… maybe you’d feel the same way?”

This time it was Cora’s face that changed. Where there had been impatience, even disappointment, now there was thoughtful scrutiny. It was clear she hadn’t expected him to say that. Which begged the question, what had she thought he’d come here to say? Did she think he wanted her protection, or for her to speak to Dorian on his behalf, or even just to speak to her because… well, because he was a boy and she was a girl… a pretty girl at that. Adam knew his cheeks must’ve been a deep shade of purple by now.

“I’m going after it!” He blurted out, mostly out of desperation to stop the train of thought inside his head. “I’m going to stop it. Before it hurts anyone. Anyone else I mean…” He trailed off lamely, feeling like a little kid who’d just announced to his parents he was off to slay an imaginary dragon. Same old Adam Ledger, fantasising about being something he wasn’t. Pretending to be a hero, but only when he was safe enough to go unchallenged. As soon as any real danger appeared he’d do what he always did. Run. Hide. Fall to pieces. Wait for someone else to pick him up and drag him to safety, just as Cora had done for him yesterday. Because that’s why he was here, after all. That’s the real reason he’d gone looking for her. He’d wanted to do something heroic, but his instinct had driven him to find someone else to do all the heroics for him. And what could possibly be less heroic than that?

Adam felt the strong desire to run away, and he was just about to act on it when the big guy, Moan, spoke in an oddly soft voice, “funny, we were just talking about - ouch!” Cora had slapped him on the shoulder to shut him up. “What? We were,” whispered Moan. Cora gave him a look that efficiently explained that if he valued his life he should stop talking. Moan did value his life. But he’d already said too much.

“You’re going after it too?” Adam didn’t need an answer, he could tell by the look on Cora’s face that it was true.

“Of course I am,” said Cora with a wavering note of aggression, “and you’re not. Just do what Dorian told you to do, okay. Forget any of this ever happened.”

“I can’t.” He tried to say more, to explain how his eyes were being drawn to every shadow, how he flinched as people approached him in the halls, how the passing of time was increasing his anxiety like pressure in an industrial boiler, and if he didn’t find a way to vent it soon, the cracks would return and the Nightmare would be joined by another. But in the end it all came down to the same thing, so he just said it again. “I can’t.”

The bell rang. Lunchtime was over. Adam was staring down the barrel of two back to back classes and then the school day would end, and he would do what? Go home? He thought about the porch steps and what it had been like to be home alone all evening and knew that he couldn’t do that again. One more night like that and the Nightmare wouldn’t need to find him, he’d already be insane. Cora was his last hope. If he couldn’t convince her to help him, he might as well head straight to the beach after school, and let the currents carry him out to sea. “You said Dorian told you to stay away from me, why would he do that?” The flash of anger behind Cora’s eyes told him he was on the right path. “He thinks you’re the one that made the Nightmare, did you know? That you’re the Wildfire.” Ridley, Moan and Gen were giving each other nervous looks now, but Adam and Cora only had eyes for each other. “But if he really believed that, why tell you to stay away? Why try to protect you?” Adam let the questions linger between them, and watched Cora more intently than he ever had before. The anger that had seemed so cut and dry had now taken on a whole new depth. It was not the arrogance of a teenager who didn’t like being told no. It was a mask, a thin veil, and beneath it was something as familiar to Adam as his own face. Cora was afraid. “He wants you to go after it, doesn’t he?”

Cora broke eye contact, looking down at her feet instead. When she met his gaze again, there was a new emotion in the mix, another old friend of Adam’s. One of confinement, of being trapped with no way out, of powerlessness and desperation like the walls are closing in around you.

“He’s forcing you.” Adam’s voice was barely more than a whisper, but Cora flinched like he’d shouted at her.

“He’s not, that’s why he told me to stay away. It’s just a game with dad - just another test. He says no, so I have an excuse. So I can refuse. But he’s challenging me, and as he always says; there is no greater certainty than the outcome of challenging an Aetos.” Cora spoke feverishly, managing to both defend Dorian and vilify him at the same time. “He believes in me,” she finished with gusto, perhaps thinking it would put an end to their doubt as well as her own, but all it did was make Dorian’s manipulation of her clearer than ever. He didn’t need to force Cora with words. He’d built their relationship on a bedrock of conditions, and now the fear of failing his expectations was so strong it could drive her right into the waiting arms of a monster.

“But you didn’t make the Nightmare. I did.” Silence fell. In the distance, the sound of hundreds of students making their way to their classrooms created a jumble of white noise that only made their own silence more obvious. Cora stared blankly at Adam, and he could see how furiously her mind was working behind those dark eyes. Dorian could believe whatever he wanted, but they both knew who had made the Nightmare. If Cora wanted to accept her father’s challenge and make it out with her sanity, then she would need all the help she could get.

“Meet us after final bell.” Cora gave him a long, hard look, filled with a haphazard mixture of doubt and hope, then nodded to the other three and they walked off together towards the main body of the school.

Adam watched them go, thrilled that she’d accepted his help, yet anxious about what that might mean. Just before they were out of range, he realised something and called after them. “Where?”

“Here,” Cora called back, pointing at the miserable looking D block behind Adam. Then they disappeared around a corner and Adam was alone again. He stood there for a few moments, his heart and mind both racing. He had no idea why Cora wanted to meet in D block, but as all after school activities had been cancelled, including detention, at least it would be empty. And whatever Cora had planned, he was certain it would be better than anything he could’ve come up with. He felt a sense of relief for the first time since he’d left the House of Aetos. Someone who knew what they were doing was taking over. Someone with experience in these sorts of things. Adam had always been more comfortable following than leading, and he’d sought out Cora in the hopes that she’d offer him the one thing he could never seem to offer himself. A direction to follow. A plan of action. Feeling a slight grin creep onto his face, Adam jogged off in the direction of his next class, knowing he’d probably get in trouble for being late, but not quite able to care.

His afternoon classes drifted by in a haze, with only small snippets making their way into Adam’s awareness through the heavy fog of his daydreaming. Over and over again he imagined how this afternoon would play out, with increasingly elaborate situations, always ending with Adam becoming best friends with the other makers. A few of the more daring ones even had him saving Cora’s life, and ended with him holding her tightly in his arms - arms that happened to be much more muscly than they were in real life.

With each new daydream, Adam carved his expectations deeper and deeper into his mind. It was no longer about stopping the Nightmare. That was just a means to a greater end, an end that was entirely focused on winning over Cora and the others. He felt giddy, intoxicated by the idea. The more he imagined it, the more it felt like it had already happened, like he was making it real with his imagination alone. With a strong rush of adrenaline, he remembered that maybe he was making it real. He was a maker after all, and a Wildfire at that. Was it possible that when he met them at D block they would greet him like old friends? As if the hours they’d just spent together battling the Nightmare in Adam’s imagination had really happened? He still had enough grip on reality to not know for sure, but even the idea was enough to send him into a spiral of delusional thrill, diving back into his daydreams with all the enthusiasm of a chronically lonely person who’d just discovered a magic potion to make others fall in love with them.

The final bell rang, and Adam practically leapt out of his seat, leaving his final daydream unfinished, right at the moment he was about to swoop in and save Cora. Weaving his way through the crowd of students heading towards the front gates, Adam made his way deeper into the school, towards the infamous D block.

When he got there, there was nobody in sight. The fever that had taken hold of him began to break. He suddenly realised that if Cora had wanted to slip away without him knowing, then telling him to come to the very back of the school would be the perfect way to do it. She could be anywhere by now, her parents could have picked her up, or she could be on one of the school buses. Even walking, she would be far enough away from the school that he’d never catch her. The euphoria he’d been feeling was almost entirely gone, leaving behind a bitter aftertaste of shame and disappointment. Then he heard something coming up behind him.

Adam spun around and there they were, all four of them. Only Ridley seemed to be in high spirits. The rest wore grave faces and walked like they were forcing each and every step. Adam felt his expectations resurface, and smiled at them warmly.

“If you’re not going to take this seriously, then we shouldn’t do it at all,” said Cora, shattering his hopes that any of the bonding they’d gone through in his daydreams had affected them. The smile slid off his face like running water.

“I do - I am… taking it seriously.” Adam wished in that moment that he could share just how important this was to him. That he could bundle up his feelings into a neat little package and send it across to each of them, so they could experience firsthand just how serious he was. Just how much this meant to him, and how badly he wanted it to go well. But there were no words that could do it justice, and he knew if he tried that he’d fall so short of the mark that it would do more harm than good, so he said nothing, and vowed to show them how much he cared through his actions.

“So, what’s the plan then?” asked Ridley, so perfectly nonchalant that Adam looked expectantly at Cora, certain that she would have a go at him too, but she didn’t. She just turned towards him, and nodded towards D block.

“I’ll explain inside.” Following Cora’s lead, they all headed towards the frosted glass doors. Anger erupted inside Adam, along with something else, something that felt dirty, and degrading. He realised he was jealous of Ridley. The lanky boy clearly had something that he didn’t, and it allowed him to get away with things that Adam couldn’t. It didn’t take long to pinpoint exactly what that thing was. Ridley had Cora’s respect, and Adam knew, in that moment, that he would do anything to have it too.

The frosted doors were locked. For a second, Adam truly believed that would be the end of it, that the first hurdle - a small metal bolt between two doors - would really stop them in their tracks. Afterwards, he realised he only thought that because it would have been enough to stop him, if he’d been doing this alone. But Cora simply reached out a hand towards the lock, and a faint mist seemed to cover it for a moment. Then she gripped the handle, twisted, and the doors opened with hardly a squeak of complaint from their rusted hinges.

The five of them stared down the corridor. The lights were still on, and they flickered ominously along the low ceiling. “Do we have to do it here?” asked Ridley with disgust. “This place gives me the creeps.”

“It gives everyone the creeps,” said Moan, his scared voice contrasting heavily with his enormous size.

“Not me,” piped Gen, but the inflection in her voice gave her away.

“Do any of you know anywhere else that’s going to be deserted all night?” asked Cora. “Didn’t think so. D block gives the teachers and cleaners the creeps too. No one’s going to step foot through these doors until classes start tomorrow.” Then she immediately proved herself wrong by stepping through the doors, although Adam had the good sense not to point this out to her. Recognising a chance to earn some of the respect he so desperately wanted, he stepped through right after her, and the small nod of approval he got as she looked back over her shoulder was one of the best moments of Adam’s life.

The others reluctantly followed. Adam didn’t need to ask where Cora was leading them. He knew where they were going. The familiar plywood door of classroom D13 came up on their right, and Cora kicked it open, adding to its collection of dents, cracks, and scrapes. Cora went straight over to the empty teacher’s chair, and jumped into it, causing it to roll and spin until she got it under control. Then she propped her feet up on the desk, and faced the rest of them, who were all standing awkwardly before her, except Ridley, who was already lounging on a chair of his own.

“Alright, here’s the plan. D block only has that one entrance, and the corridor is the perfect place for an ambush. We’re going to turn it into a deathtrap, then get the Nightmare to walk straight into it. Any questions?”

Loads. But since no one else seemed to have any, Adam didn’t want to be the first to ask. He held his tongue for a respectable few seconds, then his resolve broke, and he blurted out, “how are we even supposed to get it to come here in the first place?”

“That part’s easy,” said Cora, though the look on her face made Adam sure it would be anything but. “It’ll come when its maker calls it.”