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  >Perspective: Peter<

  Almost immediately as I wake up, I can tell something weird is going on. As I mosey over to the shower, I feel a weird clicking sensation in my head. It felt almost rhythmic, like a metronome. At first, I pay it no mind and check my phone. 7:10. No messages from Charlos, for once.

  Then I step out of beat. I don’t do it intentionally, just on accident while showering. It's as if one second I'm standing outside the shower stepping in, and the next, I'm nearly falling into the shower. It's weird, but I've had brain farts before. I keep hearing the metronome in my head.

  I decide to start singing in the shower. I'm not normally the type of person to do this, but I theorize that I probably have a song stuck in my head, and singing it might get it out. Still, I couldn't guess what it is. I don't listen to a lot of music, but

  My brain stopped again. I can tell because the water suddenly…shifted. Something definitely changed, but…I don't know what.

  ….What.

  It cut off my thoughts, and even my communication with my demon? Huh?

  Suddenly, there's a

  “Yo. Peter. You still in the shower?”

  Guess Michael's already up.

  “Uh…yeah. Gimme

  “...huh? Dude, you just…stopped.”

  “Uh, yeah. Really out of it today. Head keeps trailing off…”

  “...uh huh.”

  Doesn't seem like he believed that, but that's all I know about it.

  “...well, when you're done, come out soon. I got 9 AM Physics to get to, and it's already like 7:45.”

  “...alright.”

  7:45?

  I came in here a few minutes ago, and it was like 7:14! How did I waste half an hour in the bathroom?!?! What’s going on?!?!

  No, no. Calm down. Michael’s probably just exaggerating, or he misread the time.

  I finish up in the shower, then check my phone. To my horror, in the usual font, I read

  Thursday, June 11

  8:02

  What?!?! How?!

  ‐—--‐—---------------------------------

  So I'm standin’ in the kitchen, drinking a cuppa coffee. With creamer and sugar, obviously. Not a maniac like the other two in the room. Jan's on the sofa drinking straight black coffee like a sociopath while Reid's drinking decaf at the kitchen table. Peter finally leaves the goddamn bathroom that he's been in for like an hour, when Jan turns to him.

  “Oi. Southpaw.”

  “Oh. Good morning, Ja-”

  And they stand up and march towards him, beginnin’ to tear into him. “Don't act like you've done nothing wrong!! What kind of subhuman scum takes 45 minutes in the shower while there's 3 people who need to use it?! I know you don't have a lot of classes today, but that's all the reason to NOT waste our time, you moronic toad!”

  Can't say I remotely disagree, but that was harsh.

  “Sorry! I really didn't mean t”

  …something happens. His eyes glaze over, and he stops movin’ entirely. It's like he's not even a living thing.

  “Wh- don't just space out! Goddammit!”

  “Hold on! Something's wrong with ‘em!” I burst out.

  At that point, Peter taps back in.

  “Ah! Sorry, had a brain fo”

  …and he's back out.

  “See? You don't just space out when you're in the middle of a sentence! Something's totally off!”

  “Like what?” Jan laid off the(still frozen) Peter and turned to me. “What do you think his little game is, huh? Explain it!”

  “That, uh…” I stop in my tracks. It's not completely unfamiliar, but I don't have a real clue what's going on with Peter.

  “Isn't it obvious?” Reid, of all people, spoke up. “He got hexed by Rocco.”

  “Rocco…Rocco Beat.”

  Wait a minute.

  “Don't be ridiculous. When would he have heen hexed? He's been here all morning!”

  I instinctively jump up.

  “Yesterday, when he shook Peter’s hand…SHIT! I didn't stop crap! Just a touch, and he already got him!”

  “Hm? What happened yesterday?” Jan and Reid both turn, now interested.

  “Yesterday, before Composition, I walked in on Peter and Beat shaking hands! That must have been when it happened!”

  “Wait.” Jan stops me in my tracks. “But you have Composition during third period. That means the Hex must have been lying in wait, completely unnoticed by Peter or his demon, until this morning.”

  “And?! That's not unheard of!!!”

  “But a slacker like Rocco, being that capable in secret? There's obviously a weakness somewhere…”

  “Of course there is. I'm not THAT good.”

  “Yes, but what could it b-”

  Everyone immediately jumps in surprise. Including Peter, who instantly freezes midair and falls over.

  “Yeesh, that's gonna hurt in a sec.” Rocco stands in the center of the room sucking on a lollipop.

  Jan is first to speak, their hands in a karate stance. “You. How did you enter this space?”

  “Door.” Rocco gestures to the door. Jan turns. Sure enough, it’s wide open.

  I begin stretching my knuckles.

  “What the hell did you do to Peter, ya freak?!”

  Rocco removes the lollipop and points it at me. “First off. Rude. Second off, hexed ‘em, as you can tell.”

  Peter bounced up in one fell swoop. Didn't know he could do that.

  “Third question, how do I turn this thing off? It's annoying.”

  Rocco begins to grin.

  “Well, that's just the thing. YOU can't do anything about it. But I can. So, here's what we're gonna do.”

  Rocco crosses the room, walking to stand directly in front of Peter.

  “Look, new guy. I think we got off on the wrong foot. So, how's about this. I have a question for you, and if you give me a good answer, I'll call off the Hex for good.”

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  Peter stands unfazed, staring down Rocco. “Alright. What do you wanna know?”

  “Why are you a sorcerer?”

  This…seems to surprise Peter.

  “Heh. Bet that wasn't what you expected to hear, eh? What, am I right?”

  I cut in. “Look, man. No one wants to hear your philosophical bullshit at 8 in the frickin’ morning.”

  Rocco turns to me.

  “Maybe, maybe. But, you should know. I'm not the only guy around here who wants to ask him that question.”

  “What's that supposed to mean?” Jan stepped closer to Rocco and Peter.

  “Nothing, nothing.” He turned back to his current victim. “So, champ, what's the answer? Why are you a sorcerer?”

  Peter looked… well, the guy didn't look actually rattled so much as slightly unnerved.

  “C'mon. If you're gonna be busting your ass fighting hell beasts, you gotta have a good reason for it, right…?”

  “...”

  “Seriously, there's gotta be something significant to you about all this. I heard about you from a little birdy. You had a good life before you came here, didn't you?”

  “...” Peter clenched his jaw.

  “Friends. A sports career. Good grades. And you threw it all away just because you met an old friend? What kind of person does that?”

  “...”

  “And you just keep moving on like none of that even to you. I mean, God, that's cruel, ain't it? Just using people and things as a way to kill time until you die.”

  “...” Peter clenched his fist.

  “So what's the sitch, eh? What's so great about killing demons that you threw everything you had away and joined us?”

  “...”

  “Can't even say…? Quiet people…have a way of pissing you off. Don't you think so…?”

  “Personal space, asshole!” Peter punched Rocco square in the face, causing him to stumble backward a bit…but not fall over. Peter's pissed off face gave way to shock, as Rocco turned back to look at him…almost entirely unharmed.

  “Man….use more Spirit when you punch a dude. Shit's useless around here otherwise.”

  Jan stepped forward.

  “Still, good you got something to rile up in there somewhere. I was thinking you'd be totally brainless, or act like you're immune to getting pissed off. That's the sorta thing that makes you a bad sorcerer.”

  “tch…” Peter looked more pissed than I'd ever seen him before.

  “Heh. Doesn't matter, anyways. You're gonna need more than that to be any good at this,” Rocco sighed. With that, he returned the lollipop to his mouth. “Welp, I s'pose-”

  Jan was standing directly in front of Rocco almost out of nowhere, staring icy bullets through his head.

  Rocco steps back, unnerved. “Woah, woah, chill, ice kid. I was boutta. But first, I gotta lay down a final threat first. Ain't you ever seen a good villain intro?”

  Rocco began to make his way towards the exit.

  “First off, I'm gonna need my answer. ‘Personal space’ doesn't sound to me like a compelling enough reason to go through hell. I'll give you time to think it over, though.”

  He turned directly to Peter.

  “5:30 PM at the training court. I’ll be there. And I'll turn off the Hex until then, but not fully. But, at 5:30, I'll be turning it back on. That leaves you two options. That is, if you don't wanna be stuck constantly freezing and skipping through life, heh heh.”

  “...what do you want?”

  “Option 1, you give me a good answer, and I lift the hex. We can all go home and be buddies or something. At the very least, I won't bother you any more than I have.”

  “Option 2?” Before Peter could be answered, Jan spoke up.

  “When you entered, you mentioned that this ability had a weakness. If we exploit that, your shitty trap has no ground to stand on. And we could find it easily with a full day of time.”

  Rocco laughed. “Rightamundo, Silver. So, I might as well let you in on the secret, eh?” He took a breath, and smiled evilly. “It's distance. My technique is currently tied into the fabric of the barrier that forms MagMet campus. So, I can control anyone…as long as they're on campus.”

  The hell…? What is he getting at?!

  “So, as long as you're off campus…you don't have anything to fear, right? Just get as far away as you can from here! You don't have a reason to be here, right? Just leave!”

  I step forward, Reid’s glare barely holdin’ me back from leapin’ the damn sofa at him. “The hell's your game, man?! What'd he ever do to you?!”

  Rocco steps to the door, but doesn't turn around. Instead, he stops. “...Some of us…aren't good enough to be sorcerers. As far as I can see it, your boy's one. Until he can beat that in my eyes? He's barely worth the energy I'm investing in this. But, I owe someone a favor. So,” he said, finally turning to Peter with an uncharacteristically ominous glare on his face, and the lollipop pointed directly at his target. “You better have a damn good answer ready for me, Southpaw.”

  With that, Rocco turned back around and walked out.

  —---------------------------------------------------------

  I end up skipping a lot of classes today. Naturally, I’m not planning on messing with this weird time curse forever, but now my head’s spinning. The way forward wasn’t exactly clear.

  I lie on my bed, pensive about what to do this afternoon. The way I see it, there’s only 2 paths forward. Either I come up with an answer that’ll get this mohawk freak off my back, or I go home.

  Now that I think about it, just heading out doesn’t seem so bad. I’m not sure I’d be ready to square up with literal demons, and sorcerers don’t seem much easier, given all the crazy powers. Besides, it’s not like I have any connections here. It’s just somewhere Lucas told me to go, but I still don’t KNOW Lucas. Least, haven’t in years. Maybe I could just sneak out today, register back at Brown, and go back to normal. Well, not quite , not with the demon in my head, but it’s better than dealing with all of this.

  What’s that supposed to mean?

  Since when could you do that?

  Since when?!

  And what are you going to do if I just leave anyways?

  Enough.

  …uh, yeah?

  Wouldn’t that kill you…?

  …So I’m in a cosmic hostage situation until I die.

  …and will you TELL me what that goal is, at least?

  Why not?

  Wonderful, wonderful. So I’m in a hostage situation until I do some ominous task, and I can’t know what I need to do or some mysterious shadow guy will hear. Great, great. Not even mentioning the second time-skipping curse hostage situation or the VOICES IN MY HEAD.

  All of a sudden, there’s a knock on the door.

  I open it, and it’s Michael. “Yo. You comin’ down for lunch?”

  “Not hungry-”

  “Didn’t ask if you were hungry, just if you wanted to come down for lunch,” Michael cut me off and grabbed my arm. “And it wasn’t really askin’, anywho. Come on. You’re not gonna figure out a good answer by just sitting around here all day. You’re coming with me, and the team’s gonna think of somethin’.”

  Despite my protests, he dragged me off…

  —----------------------------------------------------------------------

  In the cafeteria, there are a number of students chatting and joking. Some have their Spirit braced as they eat, seemingly as a training exercise. Others summon their demons and have them eat too- wait, am I supposed to-

  Okay, phew.

  Jan and Reid are sitting at a table in the corner. Jan eats a small salad while Reid politely chows down on a full rack of ribs, with several other carcasses on her plate. Michael sits down opposite Jan, placing down a massive tray full of a wide variety of foods, and I sit next to him. I at least grabbed an apple as I walked in, but I don’t exactly have an appetite right now.

  “Alright, Squad 5 meeting is a go,” Michael whispered. Jan swallowed a bite of food, and glared at him. “You don’t need to act like this is a covert operation. It's lunch.” “Hey, we need to be somewhat serious here!” Michael shot back.

  “In any case, we need to think about our next move logically.” Jan took another bite of salad, then began to speak again. “Peter. You haven’t felt any hint of Hex since Rocco broke in today, right?”

  “Hex?”

  Jan took more salad. “The type of ability Rocco used. Essentially, a spell placed on another person.”

  “What does it do?”

  “It depends on the user’s Technique. Essentially, the ability their sorcery manifests as. Rocco’s ability is rather irritating to deal with, so direct confrontation is suboptimal.”

  Michael chimes in.“Yeah, I fought the guy once. Got my ass kicked.”

  “You did win.”

  “Those ain’t mutually exclusive.”

  Now I ring in. “What does it do?”

  “Well, I don’t remember all the rules of it. The fight was freshman year, but if I remember correctly…ah, well. Nevermind that.”

  I sink back into thought. If we figure out how the ability works, how does that help us anyways? There’s no guarantee we can break it even if we know how it functions, and we already know it’s weakness is range. Running low on options, I change the subject.

  “Michael…why did you become a sorcerer?”

  “Eh? He looks confused.”

  “That…was the question Rocco asked…” Reid finally speaks up.

  “Oh, right. Thanks, Reid. What, you giving him a straight answer?” Michael responds. “You’re welcome,” Reid shyly mutters before returning to demolishing her ribs.

  “I haven’t decided.” I tap my fingers on the table. “But, it seems like my best bet.”

  “Hm. Well, I can’t say I know why you did it, and I’m not gonna pry, but as for me?” Michael finally digs into the mountain of food in front of him, and then responded with food in his mouth. “It’sh cush I wanna helf feefull.”

  “...huh?” I can’t make out a word he’s saying like that, but I’m not gonna word it like that.

  ”O.” He swallows. “It’s cuz I wanna help people. Demons and rogue sorcerers are scary, and they’re threats not a lotta people can deal with. But sorcerers can.”

  “...yeah, but why not become a cop?”

  “You kidding me?” Michael laughs. “Cops barely do anythin’ to catch rogue sorcerers, and they can’t do anythin’ to demons. Sorcerers can catch both.”

  “Hm.” Helping people…noble enough. More thought out than I’d expect from Michael.

  “How about you, Reid?”

  Reid seems caught off-guard, and takes a second to think.. “Oh! Um...well, it’s not the worst thing in the world, I guess.”

  “Is that all? Perhaps Rocco should have targeted you.” Jan takes another bite of salad.

  “Hm…maybe.” Reid drops her gaze a bit, and Michael comes to her defense, pointing a finger at Jan. “Hey, you don’t need to be rude, Jan! What’s your answer, anyways?!”

  Jan takes another bite of salad, swallows, then answers. “There’s only one answer as to why people become sorcerers. To become stronger.”

  “What kinda philosophy is that?”

  Jan smirks slightly. “Think about it logically. If you’re weak, you can’t help anyone. And for the weak, sorcery is a hellhole. Only the strongest sorcerers can disguise their strength with justification. The rest only seek to get strong enough to meet that justification.”

  Michael groans and turns back towards me. “Ignore them. They’re weird sometimes. Still, does that help?”

  I shrug my shoulders. “I guess.” I’m not sure it did, but I got to know my roommates a bit better, at least.

  I eat my apple and return to my dorm.

  —----------------------------------------------------------------------

  I find myself staring at the wall of my room’s ceiling, wondering what to say. I’ve been mulling over everyone’s perspective for the past hour or so, but I still can’t think of anything. Weirdly, it’s as if my head’s gone completely blank, or like, there’s so little to say that I can’t say anything at all.

  I decide the best thing to do right now is take a nap. I set my phone’s alarm to 5:00(taking note of the time: 4:10). From there, I lay down, close my eyes, and fade away…

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