Canaan Club - 29. Chapter 29

Two days later, in the basement of the Adam Society basement fitness center after classes, there was a second area, a wide, empty space for one exercise in particular.

“How about this!?” Rafe shouted as he charged at Bogrut, the tenth-year ogre he and the others met before they stumbled upon the back-to-school party.

The olive-green giant easily caught the sharp right hook with his left, pudgy hand. The small crowd that ogled on had their jaws dropped to the floor as what sounded like a clap of thunder shook the machinery and the walls. In Bogrut’s right held his bo staff, about to whack the blond upside the head. However, Rafe launched a series of punches, which the ogre smirked through as he parried them with a single arm.

With extreme skill, when there was a moment of opportunity, Bogrut maneuvered his staff so it now held between his left elbow and side. He quickly shot out his already-reared back right fist as Rafe did the same. However, before the first-year’s fist could break a bone in his nose, the ogre somehow fell back, letting his opponent’s knuckles soar overhead.

Rafe wasn’t to be deterred by this seemingly impossible dodge, refusing to succumb to surprise. Instead, he lashed out with an angry kick to the giant’s chest. It had enough force to make him grunt as he went skidding back. The superhuman didn’t stop there. His eyes glowed red before letting loose twin beams of red bio-soul energy, striking the tenth-year in the stomach and enveloping him in a cloud of exhaust.

“How’d that taste?” Rafe taunted.

He and Bogrut had been tossing jeers left and right for nearly three hours now while they duked it out, onlookers captivated and utterly dumbfounded by the freshman keeping up with the senior.

“Tasted like spice beetles covered in paprika, but Bogrut has tasted hotter!”

Suddenly, the ground under Rafe’s feet trembled slightly, and he looked down in confusion before the bottom end of Bogrut’s bo staff sprouted. The blond had no time to react before the end collided with his chin, snapping his head back as he was knocked away.

Shit. He forgot the big beast’s little weapon – Magor – could do that. Joe was currently eating his heart out on the sidelines having fanboyed over the ogre’s weapon when he briefly demonstrated what it could really do.

Rafe thought he heard a girly, excited squeal when the half that struck him detached from the ground, as if an invisible force uprooted it, and connected itself to its other end. Bogrut leaped after the stunned superhuman, spinning his weapon like a rapid windmill.

“The tryout results are now posted on the Ironward website,” Andre’s voice carried all the way from the corner.

The omé was still relegated to watching, but he promised he was retaining the mini-lessons his best friend was trying to hammer into his head.

“Moment of truth at the union with Lin and the others,” Rafe spoke even as he fought, launching another pair of lasers at the ogre, who blocked it with his bo staff.

“There’s a free-for-all going on for the first-years who made it through,” Joe grinned, wiping the corner of his mouth jokingly. “If everything goes right, Daer and I will be able to refill our barren fridge with takeout. We’ll be able to last the whole month.”

Bogrut smirked as he and Rafe traded blow for blow. “Bogrut have no doubt Goldilocks and chums made final choosing. Goldilocks will crush competition under his foot after Bogrut gets through with him!”

The ogre, finding another opening in Rafe’s assault, buried a fist into the superhuman’s chest. Or, at least, tried to. His younger opponent was able to block most of the damage with his left forearm, though, it did send him quite a distance back, nearly knocking down the appalled spectators like bowling pins.

“I’ll spear their hearts with a staff of my own, too,” Rafe smiled roughly at Bogrut. “You’ll get all the credit, big dude.”

A loud, belly laugh exploded out of the ogre, marching over to the superhuman to give him a good-natured slap on the back. Rafe winced, but the pain only made his grin widen. He was hurting all over from fighting a foe much stronger than he was for one hundred eighty minutes, but he was definitely going to feel a lot better and more powerful by the time the afternoon came around.

“Bogrut knew he liked Goldilocks much!”

-POI-

Not much later, the four assembled with their human friends in the main building cafeteria, which appeared to be a hot spot today as masses of students gathered in cliques while their eyes roamed almost feverishly over their WardNavs.

The first-years and humans congregated in a corner away from the thick of the madness. There were cheers and hollers of appraisal, the participants’ close friends congratulating them on being accepted into Combat.

“Rexy, babe. You here to give me a celebratory kiss?” Rudy puckered his lips at the rainbow-haired second-year.

She rolled his eyes, her lips curling in amusement. “You didn’t even sign up for the tryouts, so no.”

Just as she finished that sentence, a cacophony of miserable wails and curses sounded off in front of them. The group of disappointed older students scattered, revealing a distressed bird shifter, her drooped wings betraying the shock and dejection in her eyes.

It was obvious she hadn’t made the list.

The gang remained in pensive silence until Lindsay shook her head and began flipping through her WardNav.

“Nervous?”

At that, Rafe snorted. “Not in the least. I know I made it.”

“Confidence. I like it,” Rudy nodded in approval, along with several of the other humans.

Andre gently elbowed his blond friend and snickered. “Arrogance. That’s your middle name, dude.”

Rafe smirked back proudly. “And don’t you forget it.”

The round of chuckles did well to ease the tension. And it was all but evaporated when a beaming smile lit up the indigo girl’s face a minute later.

“Well, it’s warranted because you all got the gig!”

Joe did not hesitate to jump from his seat and pump his fist up, shouting, “Fuck, yeah! We all got it! Even though I got my ass kicked, they still let me in.”

The others whooped for joy as well, rattling their chairs and drumming their hands against the table.

“Y-You’re serious?” Daeran stammered, utterly shocked. “Even me?”

Why he didn’t expect to get in, Rafe could not begin to even guess.

“Yep. Raphael Gold, Joe Sloane, and Daeran Davidson,” Lindsay pointed each of them out. Even flipping her device around to show the concrete proof. “All three of you listed right on top of each other.”

“You’ve been holding out on us, bro,” his roommate slapped his back, laughing uproariously. “I knew you could fight. You wouldn’t have signed up if you didn’t, but you really do know how to use your powers.”

“That’s right. I told you, they won’t judge you based on if you win or not. They want character, willpower, and intelligence. You gotta know what to do with the power you have. I don’t know much about fighting, but I do know that having brains is always key.”

And they must have found something special in the jittery freshman. He was an awkward, timid fellow, but he could surprisingly fight well and had a load of power to back it up. Between Rafe and Joe, they must’ve seen the duo as equals who could push each other into new heights of strength at an efficient pace.

“Those black magic rituals definitely did the trick, did they?” Rudy crossed his arms, a satisfied smile on his face as he asked no one in particular.

“He’s kidding, by the way,” Sam felt the need to reiterate.

“That’s okay. You probably prayed for a miracle, didn’t you?” Joe grinned at her, to which she blushed and quickly looked away from the noirette superhuman.

“I knew you guys could do it,” Andre told Rafe, tapping his shoulder.

“You’ve been praying to Satan for me, too. Or maybe it was those good-luck twinkies you’ve recently taken to cramming your gullet with.”

“The twinkies. Definitely the twinkies.”

“Time to get stuffed, amigos!” Joe waved at them, signaling for them to follow as he led them to the cafeteria line.

As promised, after showing the management proof of their acceptance, they were allowed as much food as they wanted without any charges to their student account, which included the participant’s friends. In the middle of lunch, Lindsay checked the list again when another name piqued her interest.

“Oh, hey! It looks like even-

Though, before she could name any names, the doors to the eatery slammed open, and in, with a gait of superiority and gratification, strode Frodd. Gone was the dark cloud that hung over his head for the past couple of days, replaced with the entourage of first-year students behind him, chattering excitedly as they followed their barbarian leader.

“Hark!” the redhead broadcasted aloud. “Though the mighty has been bankrupt of victory this time, he rises up again for his chance to conquer in abundance!”

This statement elicited a round of applause from the younger students while their older peers looked on in either confusion or amusement.

“His tune certainly shifted,” Rafe blinked. “Which means-”

Joe’s smile widened in realization. “He did it! Awesome. His guys have to be ecstatic about this now!”

“Honestly, I wouldn’t put my money on it,” Rudy shook his head. “Guys like those have such a big stick up their asses, they’ll shit-talk ya no matter what you accomplish.”

“A-fucking-greed, man,” Rafe nodded. He felt that statement.

“That guy he faced doesn’t seem to be on here,” Andre, who also happened to be checking over the list, said. “Mahogany, right? Yeah, he’s not on here.”

“Shit, I hope he’s around here somewhere. I’d kill to record his reaction.”

“You wanna bet if he destroyed his own room?” Lindsay snickered.

Rudy chuckled as he magicked several ice cups and dropped them into his plastic cup of soda. “I’d bet you how many times he’s destroyed it by now.”

As they betted upon the state of anguish the fourth-year sasquatch was currently in, Frodd happily approached their round table, seating himself in the last available seat in between Andre and Lindsay.

“My friends! My dear friends! I did it! I sit there right with ya flutered on triumph’s teet!”

“Triumph’s what?” Rafe raised an eyebrow while Andre giggled next to him.

Joe leaned his long body over to shake the barbarian's hand. “I’ve never seen you so happy. Congrats, bro. So well-deserved.”

“Right back at ya! It’s evident you guys made the cut, yes?”

“Sure did. About to fill ourselves with free, unlimited food and everything!”

Frodd’s grin broadened.

On the other hand, it was pretty nice to see the guy in good spirits again. He said the weirdest shit when he was jovial.

“Then might I suggest we start a club of our own?” the barbarian gazed at Rafe, Joe, and Daeran specifically. “We might be wee freshmen, but I bet us combined could shake up a few of the older teams.”

“We can do that?” Rafe asked.

Rexel, who was half-busy swatting Rudy’s hand away from stealing one of her french fries, clarified. “Well, yeah, but not until the end of the year. Think of your first year on the combat team as a trial run. They need to see if you’re good enough to even start a team. Your second year will be a trial run for the team, and they’ll either approve or reject.”

“Nothing’s totally official until the third year,” Lindsay finished.

“Too bad you won’t survive by then.”

And there when the mood, souring into the oily depths of enmity.

“Fucking great,” Rafe rolled his eyes hard.

“Asshole alert,” Rudy whispered under his breath.

Zoel snarled at him as he stood right behind Frodd’s chair. “I heard that, monkey! What’s all the commotion about? I don’t see anything special or exciting about being at the bottom of the barrel.”

“You would know that, wouldn’t you?” a saccharine smile graced Lindsay’s face as she addressed the gamma. “After being there for so long. And the fact that you’re still there.”

Rafe smirked along with her. “Yeah, tell us all about it.”

“Fuck you both. To be honest, I expected you to get accepted, blond supermonkey. I mean, you did give me a bit of trouble when we scrapped.”

“A bit, huh?”

The older wolf grinned cruelly as his sights speared the top of Frodd’s head. “But I can’t for the life of me figure out why they added you, savage. You lost your battle, didn’t you?”

Frodd didn’t bother to turn around as he responded lowly. “I got in fair an’ square. It wasn’t about winning. It was about skill and smarts.”

“Well, you lost. So, I’m not too impressed with your skill. Nor should anybody. If anything, it was more of a… pity vote.”

The hostile atmosphere deepened, and there were multiple gazes of rage directed at the ninth-year. Rafe even heard a subdued growl rumble in Andre’s chest, an unusually heated stare aimed at the higher-up. He was always so typically and needlessly reverent to those with a superior status.

Frodd, however, didn’t cower from the older student. Instead, a tight, wicked smile stretched across his face, shaking his head before continuing to eat. It was as if the jibe rolled right off his back like water. Rafe, despite not being the victim of the insult, couldn’t keep his calm.

“Fucking bastard! Go be a piece of shit somewhere else!”

“Yeah!” Joe jumped in. “Nobody needs you stinking up the place any more than your presence already does!”

“A barbarian that can use magic like he does isn’t an ordinary sight. They would have been dumbasses not to accept him,” Lindsay smiled at Frodd, who grinned back appreciatively.

“Preach, sista!” Rudy cheered.

Rafe added his own compliment to Frodd’s well. “Beat my head in the first go around. And I had a handle on you. Maybe you’re here because you’re a little bitch and you’re trying to scare him out of fighting? Yeah, that’s gotta be it.”

By now, Zoel’s face was red, a vein pulsing in his forehead like an earthworm. “How about I show you-”

“Nothing. You won’t be doing anything. Stand down.”

Now that voice, they haven’t heard in a while.

All eyes turned to see Deyja, dressed in a black academy uniform and her noirette hair down in waves across her shoulders while being as pale as ever, sashaying toward them.

Zoel was shocked by her presence, taking a hesitant step back. “D-Deyja!? What are you…?”

The vampire shook her head in disappointment, placing her hands on her hips to stare down at the wolf. Despite her being a foot shorter than he was, it felt like she was looking down on him. “Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic, Wulfrot. Picking on a bunch of kids. And for a while, so I’ve heard. Even after they dumped your drunk ass home safely, you still can’t help but compensate for the little mess you got going.”

The whole cafeteria, Rafe just noticed, kept quiet as they waited for the gamma wolf’s response. It was quite a pleasant sight to see him get another piece of humble pie, but it was nearly voided by the fact that Deyja was far from innocent herself.

After a bit of stuttering, Zoel finally found his voice again, pointing a crooked finger at her chest. “You... shut the fuck up, mosquito bitch! You don’t know shit!”

She just shot her head back and laughed, the sound nasty and full of spite. “Oh, Zoel. My sweet, stupid summer child. I know everything that goes on around here. I’d say one too many rejections have bruised that poor, shriveled-up thing of an ego. Too crooked and useless.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Rafe caught Lindsay suddenly flinching as if the barb was meant for her. But it wasn’t, right? That was a small-dick joke, and that seemed to be the limit for its rightful target. Zoel roared before lunging, claws out and ready to shred the vampire to pieces.

Although, before he could totally get into her space, Cain abruptly zipped into existence and latched a hand onto the collar of the gamma’s leather jacket. Zoel’s legs swung up, the soles of his boots missing Deyja’s nose by a hair. The bloodsucker didn’t move an inch, remaining still and smug. Radulf and Kodan were there as well, flanking the alpha wolf and trying to settle their teammate down.

“Enough of this,” Cain spoke, bored but glaring at the vampire across from him. “We’re supposed to be having lunch together. You know, as a club-bonding experience like our therapist said?”

“They have a therapist?” Joe muttered.

Rafe shook his head. “I’m honestly not surprised.”

They all had issues.

Deyja lifted her hands in surrender, feigning innocence. “Hey, don’t look at me. I’m not top chief over here. If you weren’t so lax and had a better handle over the collars of your dogs, then we’d all be one white picket fence family already, now, wouldn’t we, sugar?”

“We don’t need aggravatin’ them, either, sweetie,” a bitter smirk spread across the alpha’s normally blank face. “They’re barkin’ at local kids, and it won’t be long until we get a noise complaint. Get it?”

The vampire’s grin threatened to split her face in half, something sinister brewing in those red-orange eyes. “Then we let them make the complaint, honey. It’s only a matter of time before they come knocking on our doorstep. We’ll have a… ‘cordial’ discussion on why they needn’t bother.”

There was something growing in the air as the two ninth-years argued back and forth. Everything around them intensified to the point Rafe swore he saw a nearby fork beginning to levitate.

“Are we really witnessing a marital spat between two of probably the most powerful students in the school?” Rudy questioned as he ogled the pair, then promptly gasped. “Holy shit! Wait! Are they actually married!?”

Andre’s nose twitched every couple of seconds, attention darting around the wide room. “Not sure, but the place just got heavy. They're trying to dominate each other.”

It certainly felt suddenly… stuffy.

“But they’re just talking,” Joe was mesmerized.

“Bite the bitches head off, man!” Zoel flailed in Cain’s grip, trying to coax his alpha into fighting.

“My, my, it’s stuffy in here. Is the thermostat past room temperature again?”

The tone shifted once more as Mr. Gylarcan made an appearance, sharply dressed like always and bringing in that enigmatic air that surrounded his person. Deyja and Cain backed off each other almost immediately, spinning around and leaving in the opposite direction. Cain dragged a livid Zoel with him as his wolves followed along silently. The crowd began to disperse as well, and at the same time, Lindsay got up from her seat and started packing.

“Lin?” Rexel called to her, puzzled alongside the others. “What’s-”

“I, uh, just remembered. I need to do some touch-ups on my Foreign Planets project before I forget. You know how my mind likes to wander.”

She spoke fast, a hint of panic laced in her voice. Whatever Deyja just said had spooked her bad.

“Well, now?”

“You okay, Lindsay?” Andre asked.

A smile Rafe instantly knew was fake adorned her lips as she pushed in her chair. “Just fine. I’ll see you guys later. And congrats on making it in!”

“Wait, Lin-”

However, she was already off, nearly springing out of the cafeteria, leaving her group of bewildered and concerned friends behind.

“Does she… usually run off like that?” a dumbfounded Joe blinked.

“It’s not the first time, but it is the first in a while,” Rexel responded, sounding worried.

Rafe saw Andre open his mouth, knowing he was going to propose going after her, but before he could, Mr. Gylarcan cut in, walking back toward their table with a black to-go container with the Ironward emblem on top in his hand.

“Ah, there you are! Good morning to you all, and congratulations on being selected for our combat teams. I know I just can’t wait to see what you all are made of.”

“Thank you, sir,” Joe replied for them, albeit a little uncertain.

“Though, I might have to interrupt the commemorative feast. Mr. Gold and Mr. Watson. I have a couple of individuals on hold over the phone who are quite eager to get ahold of you.”

Rafe and Andre gave each other a confused glance.

If it had been Beau and Toby calling, their cell phones would have been ringing.

But if not them, who else knew they were there?