The Sorcerous Prince - 2. Chapter 2: The Park and the School

Candavorum, Texas

Monday morning came with sunshine and temperatures in the lower 80's. The rain had persisted for the entire weekend, but today the sun was out in full force. As Prince Mihai walked to school with Carissa Levesque in tow, his dread grew with every step. “Today will be a good day,” Carissa cooed, interrupting Mihai's dread fest.

“Yeah, whatever,” he replied gloomily.

“Why do you let him get to you?” Carissa inquired.

“Because he's always on my case,” Mihai snapped. “I mean, he seems to think that I'm some mortal and that I'm a disgrace to his kind.”

Carissa smiled. “You're nothing of the kind. You will ascend soon. I just know you will! There's nothing you won't be able to do. You're a prince! What is he? He is definitely nothing like his father, the honorable retired Colonel Curtis McDermott.”

“No doubt he'll do something great. After all he is Keegan McDermott, Pyrokinetic Extraordinaire.” Mihai had never been friends with Keegan. They hated each other from the moment they met. Mihai had a great deal of respect for Keegan's father, but Keegan had always been his rival, even when they were both younglings. “I don't even have any powers.”

“It doesn't matter, Mihai. He is not the heir to the throne. You are! Besides, legend has told of one of the greatest emperors of all time. His name was Diederik the Great. He did not ascend until he was sixteen, and he was the most powerful emperor. He even killed The Demon King of the time, one who had reigned in The Underworld for over a thousand years. Maybe you'll be like him!” Carissa believed more than anything that Mihai was meant to be the greatest wizard of her time. It was a sentiment she shared with Mihai's mother. “Did you know you are his descendant?”

“Yes, I know that, and he was one of the greatest wizards ever. Do you think my father hasn't told me about him before?” It was true that Mihai's father, King Frederico had always told him stories of his ancestors. It seemed that the only imperial figure to have any mystery to her at all was Empress Guadalupe, the current ruler over the magical world. Jevartus was the capital of the Empire of Magic on planet Hebalon, and though Mihai was a direct descendant of earlier emperors and empresses, he had never been told much about Empress Guadalupe. Yet he was sure that he was related to the woman. He’d always wondered if she was his father's sister and thus his aunt or if she was his father's cousin. Either way, there appeared to be a volatile relationship there, and his father had always mentioned the woman with disdain, but Mihai had never known why.

“I wasn't suggesting that you hadn't heard of him,” Carissa whispered. “It's just that there could be some parallels between you and him. He was the most powerful emperor in history, and he was like you. Maybe you're going to be a great emperor someday.”

“What is it with you talking about me like I'm some beacon of hope for the world and a great king or emperor in the making? If I don't ascend, I will never even be King of the South, and you damn well know it.” Mihai was furious. Carissa believed in him, and he did not even believe in himself. He believed it was true as some of his classmates at school said, that he was a failure, and that he was unworthy of being called a prince.

“I predict that you'll never have any powers at all. You're nothing but a wizard-born mortal,” a familiar and most unwelcome voice said haughtily.

“Shut the f**k up Keenan,” Carissa spat. “Nobody asked you.”

“Someone had to state the obvious.” Keenan cackled with delight, and so did his girlfriend.

“Yeah, he's pathetic.” This time it was another girl but not Carissa. The girl had dark brown hair with bleach blond highlights and blue eyes.

“Well if it isn't Melody Vincent, the biggest whore at Candavorum High,” Carissa quipped.

“f**k you c**t!” Melody yelled.

Carissa pretended not to hear the vile words of “the whore” as she turned her attention back to Keenan. “Wow Keenan, your girlfriend is really classy. She must have attended a year of charm school. You must be proud to be dating such a fine woman.” Keenan simply glared at her. He had been dating Melody Vincent for a month.

“Well c**t, you've done pissed me off now.” Melody hated Carissa Levesque more than anyone. “I think your little boyfriend here should be hanged from a tree.” As it just so happened, they were walking through the park that was just a block from the school, and there were plenty of trees. Aiming her wand at a large oak tree, she shot a blue beam. The tree uprooted itself and approached the group.

“What the hell are you doing!” Mihai demanded as a branch of the tree wrapped around him. The tree branch was squeezing him tightly as Melody's power showed him its full might. “Let me go!” Although there was nothing he could do, the tree seemed to loosen its grip. Mihai glanced at a location about 100 feet away from Carissa and his unfriendly school mates. A familiar blond Adonis had his hands aimed directly at the tree and appeared to be using some kind of powers. 'I didn't know Fabian was gifted,' he thought to himself as the tree slowly loosened its grip. Finally, he was freed from the trees grasp, but he did not fall. Instead, he felt himself slowly descending to the ground. Carissa was busy fending off a fire snake, most likely created by Keenan, who was a renowned pyrokinetic. He wondered if Fabian was the one slowly lowering him to the ground, but he was more concerned with the fire snake that was way too close to his friend.

Carissa could only use general shield charms to protect herself from Keenan's spell. Fortunately, Melody seemed to have been temporarily disabled by Fabian. Carissa had seen Mihai's feet touch the ground, so she could now concentrate on combating the fire snake. Carissa's power was not elemental, so she could only use small water conjuring spells and shielding spells as protection. She could see the snake growing exponentially and was starting to get scared. But then she heard a scream from Keenan, and the snake suddenly disappeared. Fabian and one of the guards were approaching them as Fabian continued his assault on Keenan. It was as if his skin and muscles were tightening around his bones. Melody was passed out on the ground and completely unaware. Fabian was soon standing in front of Keenan, smiling as Keenan sank to his knees in pain. “Let this be a lesson to you, young sorcerer. Mihai is the future king whether you like it or not. You might also want to be aware that I could have you arrested for attacking the prince and one of his personal bodyguards.”

“What are you doing to me?” Keenan demanded.

“Well, I happened to be the one of the strongest of The Gifted, and I am a potential familiar. What I have done to you and your slut is disabled your spells and used my telekinesis to basically squeeze your bodies.”

“As a potential, you're not supposed to attack a sorcerer, and you damn well know it,” Keenan grumbled.

“I have the authority to attack anyone who goes after the prince, and that includes you. Now get your whore and get the f**k out of here before I kill you both. Get out of my sight!”

By that time Melody was finally coming around, and Keenan lifted her off the ground. He wasted no time getting himself and his girlfriend away from Prince Mihai and his guards. “It's a good thing we left early,” Mihai pointed out as he faced Carissa. Finally, he remembered a piece of news about her that Fabian had just revealed to him. “Why didn't you tell me you were my bodyguard?”

“Your mother told me not to tell you,” Carissa replied firmly. “It is for your safety and mine. Now, thanks to Fabian, my cover is blown.” As she mentioned Fabian she glanced at him. Fabian was seemingly unaffected by her statement as his usual smile had once again crossed his pretty face.

“You should have been honest with me!” Mihai cried. “I thought you were my friend!”

“You are my friend, Mihai.” Nothing about her tone suggested that she was being anything but honest with that statement. Mihai had always known when Carissa was sincere, but he hated when people hid facts from him. Then he thought about what Lothario and his mother were hiding from him. Supposedly, he was at the heart of a prophecy, but he had no idea what the prophecy said or who made it. He knew so little. He hoped the answer would come soon. He also thought about what his parents and others had hidden from him concerning Empress Guadalupe. He knew that his dad knew her. He had to know her, but any time he mentioned her, he seemed bitter and unwilling to talk about her. It was as if nothing was as it should be, because everyone was lying to him, and he was sick of it. There was a family secret. Of this he had no doubt at all.

His father was not just The King of the South either. More times than not, it was his mother who performed the duties of the monarch. His father had imperial duties along with the royal ones, and he traveled all over North and South America. At this time his father was in Brazil trying to prevent a wizard war between the magical armies of Brazil and Argentina, by far the largest kingdoms in South America. A wizard war would surely garner the attention of the mortals there, and while the mortal governments knew about magical people, they were not too keen on the idea of magical governments warring in their lands. It was an implied agreement, and even though the witches and wizards were likely to win a war against the mortals, there would still be thousands of casualties, and it would likely be two mortal governments working together to destroy them. Wizard wars had taken place before, but it was mostly under the ocean. Magical battlefields were made, and the two magical governments would fight there. This was the agreement between mortals and wizards, and it was up to Mihai's father to keep it that way in North and South America. It was a tall order indeed. That was not all he did, but there were always factions in disagreement.

Mihai loved his family, but the secrets had been way too frequent for his own taste. He missed his dad a lot, and he had always been uncomfortable with his mother's activities while he was gone. She was a good woman, but she had her flaws, even though she tried hard to hide them from her son. It was not, however, in his best interest to discuss it with her. While there were requirements where familiars were concerned, she went well beyond, and he knew everything, more or less. Even the queen underestimated Mihai's ability to figure out what she was doing.

A thought soon occurred to Mihai. Lothario had been absent. He had no idea why. He had been with them when he left the house. “Where's Lothario?” he asked Carissa.

“I've been hiding,” a voice whispered in ear.

“Why would you hide from me?” Mihai demanded.

“You should know why, Your Highness,” Lothario suggested. The look in Mihai's eyes strongly suggested that he wanted an explanation regardless of whether or not he should have known the answer. “Oh, very well, Your Highness. I am more susceptible to wizard magic than I am to demon magic, so I left.”

“Lothario, you are such a f**king coward,” Mihai yelled indignantly. “If not for that shield from the gods, I would have been vaporized the other day, because you dodged demon magic! What good is having a fairy who doesn't protect me from danger?”

“I'm very sorry, Your Highness,” the cowardly fairy cried. “I'll try harder next time. I'll think of something. I'm just scared of Keenan.” Prince Mihai made no reply. Rather he turned his attention back to arriving at school on time, which was in serious jeopardy as it was.

Candavorum High School had a prince and several students whose parents were members of the nobility. All parents and teachers had agreed at a PTA meeting that any student who had some kind of title would not be addressed in such a way while at school. Furthermore, they were subject to the same treatments and punishments as other students. There was one exception. They were allowed to receive private instruction in magic as they often needed more magical knowledge to protect themselves against threats. The PTA had brought up the subject just before the start of Mihai's first year of high school.

Prince Mihai was an excellent student. While he had not yet ascended, there was another sign that he was likely magical. Younglings developed mentally much more quickly than mortals. By age two, he already knew the alphabet and was ready for school by age three. This was not at all unusual either, and he had always been at the top of his class. He was ready for high school material by the time he was twelve. He was now a high school senior and would most certainly graduate at age sixteen. Since Mihai had not ascended at that age, he only went to school for a half day.

Mihai had taken classes in art, self-defense, and music (both band and choir), which were the only non-magical classes offered in the afternoon. He was also one of only a few students in those classes. However, he had decided to not take any his senior year as he was hoping that he would finally ascend and be able to have a private instructor for magic. He also would have enough credits with the classes that he was taking.

The first half of the day was always what mortals would call core classes. He was taking Calculus and Advanced English on purple days; he was also taking Western Civilization and Physics I, on gold days. Western Civilization included witches and wizards in Egypt, Greece, and the Roman Empire as well as mortals and were college-level. They counted towards college credits as well as high school ones. That day happened to be a purple day, so he had his easier classes.

Calculus was his first class of the day, and it was one hour and thirty-five minutes long just as the other three. Mihai normally sat in the back of the classroom. Most classes had fifty students, but this one had only twenty. Carissa took the class with him just as she did with all of Mihai's classes except Advanced English as she happened to be taking Speech instead. Of course, Mihai was now convinced that this was only so that she could keep an eye on him. He was still irritated that she had neglected to mention the fact that she had secretly been his bodyguard at school. He also wondered why Carissa had never shown him her gift. He had no idea what it was, and whenever he asked her, she flinched. Apparently, she did not wish to share the information. She would only say that she could not use it on a magical person unless he or she was obviously affiliated with demons. He also wondered whether she could have used it to defeat Keenan earlier, but he was certainly not going to ask.

Carissa continued apologizing, but Mihai's focus suddenly shifted to someone else in the class. Sitting across from him in the row ahead of him was a familiar guy with wavy dark brown hair and green eyes. Though Mihai could only see the left side of his face, he could not help but stare. The guy's skin was slightly darker than Fabian's and his lips not quite as full. He also appeared more Germanic than Slavic. Nonetheless, Mihai was enthralled by him. Konstantin Bayer was, in Mihai's mind, a god. He had been crushing on Konstantin for a couple of years now. Unfortunately, Konstantin had often ignored Mihai, much to his dismay. It was not as if he had not been friendly to Mihai, but he seemed to be a bit of a loner and very much the prim and proper son of a noble. Mihai also happened to know Konstantin's father quite well as he was the Duke of Austin, Adelric Bayer.

“Mr. Rousseau, I suggest you pay attention!” Mrs. Debra Umphenour, the Calculus teacher, yelled. The teacher's admonishment caused Mihai to stop staring at Konstantin in an instant. “And you, Miss Levesque, you can talk to Mr. Rousseau some other time. This is not social hour.” Carissa had already stopped talking when the teacher was yelling at Mihai. “Now that you two are ready to pay attention, we will continue our discussion of the limit of a sequence.” Mihai loved Calculus and usually did not spend so much time daydreaming about Konstantin, but today he could not help himself. Between Fabian and Konstantin, Mihai was seemingly always horny.

Carissa and Mihai managed to finish the rest of the class with no further outbursts. However, this meant that they were still having issues. Carissa always liked to smooth things over as soon as possible, but there was a real trust issue this time, one that would likely not be solved any time soon. Mihai had always had difficulty trusting people as he sensed that everyone hid important pieces of information from him. The prophecy seemed more and more likely to be about him, and he wanted more than anything to know what this would mean for his life He tried to listen to Mrs. Umphenour's lecture, but he found his thoughts drifting to it.

The Shield of the Gods was a rarity. He could think of only one other person who had been protected in this way, an ancestor by the name of Queen Orla, who was from his mother's side. She had protected her palace in Bordeaux, France and defended against a large group of the demons' Vampire Legion, simply by walking through the palace on July, 15, 1453. The group had been closely tied to The Demon Queen, who just so happened to be the mother of the current Demon King.

Queen Vivian had told him about Queen Orla's experience many times. It was a story of legend in the de Bordeaux family. The vampires had entered the castle while the queen was sleeping. With their lightning speed, they easily overtook the castle guards. As this was before the uprising that created the Vampire Mafia, an estimated 90% of vampires were either slaves of the demons or those subservient to the demon-friendly Vampire Council. Thus, the attack was supported by thousands of vampires, of which at least 1,000 entered the Château de Magique that night.

When ten vampires entered Queen Orla's bedchamber, The Shield of the Gods surrounded her entire bed, and because it was made of sunlight, the vampires were all turned to dust. The Shield of the Gods became centralized around her as she sprung from her bed, and in hall after hall and room after room, vampires died as she made her way to the entrance hall of the château. Yet there was not a single scorch mark from her trail or the spaces above her. Over 800 vampires died for the second and final time that night while the rest fled in horror, some with visible burn marks.

The Shield of the Gods was one of the most powerful forces ever seen on Earth. No known force could penetrate it from the outside. Most discussion of The Shield of the Gods was considered to be discussion of wizard legend (which was similar to the idea of urban legend in the mortal world). Most doubted the story of Queen Orla, but he never had. His own experience with The Shield of the Gods was amazing, even if it paled in comparison to Queen Orla's destruction of the Vampire Legion of France. He believed in its power more than ever, and he wondered if he would indeed see it again and manage to do something as great as his ancestor.

Queen Orla's ordeal had led to the Vampire Uprising of 1453 and ushered in the creation of the precursor to The Vampire Mafia, The Vampires of the Wizardry. She had even met with a group of the remaining vampires who wished to be free of the demons, and soon there were thousands more vampires ready to join the cause. It had been a pivotal shift that had made life for magical people much better, because vampires attacked less and less frequently. Mihai desired greatness in skill, and he wanted to make an impact on the world. 'Will I become the greatest hero the magical world had ever seen?' he asked himself in thought. 'Only time will tell.'

Advanced English was Mihai's second and final class of the day. He had an essay due on Wednesday, but he had already finished it over the weekend. The subject was The Samhain Festival and its benefits and hindrances in magical society. There had been a long-standing festival to celebrate the harvest, which was not a bad thing. However, it was also a time in which the lives of mortals were sacrificed to the gods in order to gain power by dark wizards and witches. This practice had long been considered taboo as most wizards and witches believed that humans were supposed to be protected. Luckily, there were no dark witches or wizards allowed in Candavorum, a rule that both the mainstream magic practitioners and dark practitioners had agreed upon.

In the essay, students were expected to include research and their own life experiences to discuss whether or not the ritual sacrifices should be allowed at all. The mainstream witches and wizards often sacrificed animals during the festival even though some felt that the practice of any kind of sacrifice was wrong. Mihai happened to be among those who wished to ban all sacrifices even though he knew dark practitioners would simply ignore the law and sacrifice mortals as they pleased.

Mr. Adam Perkis was the teacher of Advanced English. He had always believed that students in his classes should not only learn the rules of English but also learn to think critically while applying those rules. Mihai was one of his favorite students. Prince or not, he knew there was something special about Mihai regardless of the fact that he was the Heir Apparent to the throne. He knew that Mihai could think for himself and had expressed opinions that his teacher knew were not shared by his parents. He knew that Mihai believed in progress while still protecting many of the traditions of magical society. Just as Mr. Perkis expected, the first thing Prince Mihai did upon entering the classroom was purposely walk toward his desk with the essay in hand. Prince Mihai also happened to be the first student to arrive. “Thank you, Mr. Rousseau,” Mr. Perkis said with his trademark charm. “I'm really looking forward to your essay.”

“Thank you, sir,” Mihai replied, blushing at Mr. Perkis' remarks. Mihai really liked Mr. Perkis. It was too bad that Mihai was his student and still considered a minor. Mr. Perkis was a handsome man with olive skin and black hair. His eyes were like the color of mohogany and were a pleasing contrast to his hair. Mihai would have loved to get to know his teacher in a much more personal way. “I um... I should get to my seat.” Mr. Perkis could not help but notice the crimson flush of Mihai's face, and he let out a slight chuckle as Mihai made his way to the back of the classroom.

Mr. Perkis had to leave the classroom momentarily. At the door he passed by Keenan. Keenan smirked, knowing that he could possibly get away with getting his retribution. “Well, it looks like no one is here to save you this time.” Pulling out his wand, Keenan produced another fire snake. The snake slithered across the fireproof floor and approached Prince Mihai. Suddenly there was a jet of water spraying upon the fire snake. “What the hell!” Keenan yelled as he found the source of the water. Teddy Hoover, Keenan's best friend had extinguished the fire snake, despite the fact that he was Keenan's best friend. “Why would you do that!”

“You shouldn't attack Prince Mihai with fire,” Teddy stated firmly. “He doesn't even have any powers. He's actually quite pathetic. Besides, you shouldn't get to have all the fun.” Teddy looked in Prince Mihai's direction and fired another jet of water out of his wand. The blast hit Mihai in the face, and soon he was wet from head to toe.

“What the hell do you think you're doing, Mr. Hoover?” a distinctive baritone voice said, causing the walls to shake. “You are not to use your powers in my classroom, especially not on another student. You and Mr. McDermott will report to the office immediately. You are probably both going to be suspended.”

“What did I do?” Keenan whined. “I was just standing here.”

“Do you really think I wouldn’t know about the fire snake you produced in MY classroom?” As Mr. Perkis yelled, the walls began to shake once again. Unfortunately for everyone, Mr. Perkis' power was usually revealed when he was angry, though not in its most powerful form. “Now, both of you report to the principal's office IMMEDIATELY!” Mr. Perkis turned to Prince Mihai. “I'm very sorry about that, Mr. Rousseau. Since you've already turned in your essay, why don't you go home for the day?” This was most unusual. While teachers had the power to grant students leave from class, it was rarely given. Mihai felt humiliated. His classmates did not give him any respect at all. He was to be the next king, and yet there was always someone there to degrade him. Mihai could see the silver lining as graduation day was only seven months away. He would mostly miss his studies and some of his teachers. Aside from Carissa, most of his classmates paid him little attention.

Less than an hour after leaving the school, Mihai was in his bedchamber and in dry clothes. It was not long before there was a rap on the door. Mihai was hoping to see Fabian enter the room. Instead, he had a very unexpected visitor. A man with ash blond hair and dark blue eyes entered as soon as he had permission. “I thought I might find you here. Carissa told me that she heard that you had an embarrassing incident at school today, and she called me to see if I could come over and check on you. Are you alright?”

Mihai looked at Baron Charles Levesque and smiled despite his gloomy mood. “I'll be alright. I just don't understand why Keenan and his friends are always picking on me while others just watch in amusement and whisper about me. I've done nothing to them. He's hated me since the first day of kindergarten. I don't understand why his dad didn't teach him respect. He was a colonel!”

“Sir Curtis McDermott is actually Keenan and Tommy's uncle and adoptive father, Your Highness.” Mihai's eyes widened in disbelief, and his mouth dropped open. “Yes, Prince Mihai, their parents died years ago. Keenan was only three years old when it happened, and Tommy was two. They watched their parents be slaughtered by demons, and it still affects them to this day. I have no idea why they single you out in particular, but I know why they act out. Curtis and Adrian have had a hard time raising them, and they have limited income now, because people are usually unwilling to hire blood wizards. They are thought to be tainted and dirty because of their vampirism.”

“I know it must not be easy for them, but I've done nothing to them at all,” Mihai growled defensively. “Everyone thinks that my life is easy. They have no idea how much pressure we deal with in our duties. I never had a choice. I am royal by birth, and I'm even part of the imperial line.”

“People are bound to be jealous nonetheless, Your Highness,” Lord Levesque cautioned. Mihai smiled at the handsome baron’s words and simply nodded. Now he had a better understanding of the McDermott brothers, and he wondered if there was a way to improve his relationship with them. He knew it would not be an easy task, but he knew he would have to try.