“Now it makes sense,” Trick said. “They were complaining about something called the covenant being changed. That they were supposed to have. They admitted that they were the ones who used fae magic to usurp the school’s hierarchy and put themselves on top. So you guys made a deal with the fae to restore the natural order.”

“Very well pieced together” a girl said, sauntering into view. “But we intend to do one better. We’re going to improve on the system. Make sure that no one can ever pset it ever again!”

Naomi looked the girl right in the eyes and said sternly, “Becky, have all of you learned nothing from what has happened here? Those nerds turned into bullies because of how they felt they were being treated. Was it right for them to lash out as they did? No at al! But what you are doing is exactly the same! And you want to make it even worse?”

“Serves them right,” one lumbering, massive guy growled.

“We didn’t have magic then! They were the ones to use it,” Becky said defensively. “And now that it is out, we should make sure that it never falls into the hands of other kids who would abuse them!”

“Then why not just make getting rid of the magic your aim,” Trick asked in an exasperated voice.

“Because we want things to return to the way they were,” Becky snapped.

“Which solves nothing,” Naomi shouted in turn.

“What would you know about it,” another boy asked, swinging a baseball bat and eyeing the paladin before him with unnerving confidence.

Tick looked at the boy’s weapon and wondered, How did he get that in here?

“Because we have seen what happens when people use these powers to fix their problems and fulfill their desires,” Naomi explained, her tone still aggressive. “We have seen a lot of people get hurt on many occasions because of this. The first time we encountered a Door was when some kids wanted to get back at their crushes for not liking them back!”

Many of the jocks looked shocked when Naomi had said this. But their reactions were not because they were surprised by the revelation of kids misusing the magic. Nor because they saw the blatant error of their way.

“How do you know that they are called Doors,” Becky asked dangerously.

Naomi gaped at her and then gestured to herself. Trick shook his head.

He said, “Becky, right? Look Becky, Naomi is telling the truth. We’ve been around this block a couple of times already. It is never as much fun as it sounds. And I guarantee that those fae are using you in some fashion or another. Besides, even if we had not had these encounters before, the bread crumbs left by someone in the school lead us to know what was going on before hand!”

The jocks began exchanging worried looks.

“Someone was a stool pigeon,” someone to the back of the pack asked.

What, are all gangsters now, Trick thought, barely amused.

“It doesn’t matter who blabbed,” the boy with the bat said, swinging it awfully close to Trick’s face. “After we’re done here we’ll find out who it was and make sure they don’t blab again. We won’t make any mistakes like those damn nerds did.”

Naomi planted Excalibur into the grassy floor, and then reached out and tugged the bat from the boy’s grip. “And this is why you should not have the powers that you want. You guys would be horrible for rebuilding the school.”

“It’s far better to just get over this, try to forgive and move on,” Trick agreed. “Being our age is already hard enough with relationships, popularity, getting good grades, dealing with stuff at home, friends, family, a scary future, and everything to let magic and monsters come in and make it even messier!”

“Wow, did you rehearse that TED talk,” Becky asked, rolling her eyes. “Because that was so inspiring.”

“And you are honestly insane,” Naomi replied with a snort. “Come on Trick. We’re just going to have to beat them all and remove the magic ourselves.”

“It’s not going to be that easy,” Becky countered. “Those idiots thought that it was enough to bind the fae to them in the form of magical items and a wish to shake up the order of things. But they misunderstood how a covenant works. It is an agreement to a specific end! We have made a new one with the fae, and until we complete it and they uphold their end, there is nothing you two can do to stop us!”

“Way to go countering the stereotype of who jocks are by doing your homework,” Naomi sneered.

“Come on Naomi, we aren’t going to get anywhere until we have stopped these idiots, too,” Trick said, resignation coloring his voice. “They’re just as lost as the others were.”

“Why do we always have to be the only sane people in the room,” Naomi asked as the jock surrounded them.

Trick had to admire the bravery and daring of these other teens. They had just seen their classmates try to take them on and lose spectacularly. It was clear that they thought they could win. And there was also a light of desperation in their eyes. They had been flung down from the tallest heights of popularity and school reckoning to the absolute lowest tiers, derided by the same people they once picked on.

The jocks wanted revenge and were willing to go to any lengths to get it.

I mean, they did summon an army of fae to help them set up a crazy dance competition to undermine the geeks.

That thought caused him to pause, and he then said, “Wait! Before we start pummeling each other, why do all of this at the prom? And why through dancing?”

“It’s one of the most important nights of our lives,” one girl answered.

“And we wanted to laugh at how badly those nerds would o when dancing,” another laughed.

“Okay, so you guys were just being short sighted and petty. Makes great sense,” Trick replied.

And with that, the fight began.

“Use your cloak,” Naomi snarled. “You’ll just get in the way!’

She didn’t have to tell him twice. With a crowd of easily thirty charging them both, Naomi would need all the room she could get for Ru-lah’s big body and massive strength. The kids with the gloves stayed to the rear and raised their hands to cast some spells. Trick became intangible and rushed through the crowd.

Some of them had seen his act before, most most had apparently not or did not understand how he had fought the geeks before. A load of the students freaked out when they saw him come through and after them. A good dozen hesitated and a few bolted entirely. This gave Naomi a small but necessary reprieve. She swung her blades around her and into the throng. There were flashes of light and sprays of blood.

The students tried to overwhelm her, but Naomi’s D&D avatar was formidbible. And with Trick distracting enough of them to mob her. Trick’s seconds caught up with him quickly, and he was passing through one student when he became corporeal again. The boy gave a short, anguished howl before exploding in a shower of guts, blood, and bone.

One girl fainted at the sight.

Trick did not hesitate for a second. He pulled out his knives and slashed two more students in the ribs. He then hurled one right at the jocks in the back. They had not yet figured out how to use the gloves. Apparently they thought that using magic was a very simple process. Unfortunately, Trick had forgotten that he was using Trickster’s incredible knife skills and the dagger went right into the eye of one boy, dropping him instantly.

And that was when the truly unexpected happened. As more jocks rushed into the fray, they were attacked on all sides by the rest of the prom goers!

Chairs were used as weapons. Girls pulled hair and dragged each other to the ground. Some boys threw wild haymakers at each other. One boy was using his martial arts skills to toss his opponents to the side. Someone topple the speakers onto a group of attackers, while another smashed the bowl of punch over another girl’s head.

Pure pandemonium reigned as the remaining students fought hammer and tongs to win.

Finally, enough of the football team had reached Naomi to latch onto her and throw her down.

“No,” Trick screamed.

He left the clueless jocks with their gloves to be jumped by other students. Empowered by the invincible-making jawbreaker World Eater had given him, he charged into the backs of Naomi attackers. They could punch him, but without feeling any pain, it was easy to keep his cool and slice they nicely with a dagger.

Trick finally took out his short sword and lobbed off one player’s arm. Another turned to meet him with Excalibur. Trick parried, but his sword shattered with one stroke from the magical blade. Another approached with naomi’s Sword of Heritage. But he had his left knee kicked out from under him and Naomi reemerged, grappling him from behind.

She easily broke his neck and retrieved her sword. The other guy turned to face her with Excalibur. She met his attack and easily blocked it.

“What the,” he gasped.

“This sword fought a god and won,” she spat.

Naomi put on the pressure driving him back. More students rose up to tackle her, but they were all burnt away in a flash of light. As their ashes fell to the grass, someone shouted, “Sorry! I missed!”

Trick turned to see who had cast the spell. It looked to be a girl. She was promptly whacked over the head by a folding chair. Three other students jumped onto her, fighting tooth and nail for the glove.

Trick slapped a passing kid in the face with flat of his broken sword. He fell backwards, yelping pain. He put some distance between him and the other jocks who were now fighting for their very lives against the rest of the school. Naomi had just gutted the boy who had stolen away Excalibur.

“Trick! Quick! Into the grove,” she called out.

“Why?”

“Just do it!”

He and Naomi then sprinted into the black shade of the magical trees. A few students tried to follow them, but they got tangled up in the chaos of the dance room brawl. Ru-lah’s size and strength, and Trickster’s agility and dexterity made it easy for Naomi and Trick to make their way into the grove.

The moment they entered, the sounds of battle became strangely muted. There was a pleasant, cool breeze that wrapped itself around them, ruffing their clothes and hair. It was very dark, with just some dim light from the odd, glowing fruits above. The air smelled of freshly overturned garden and sweet flowers.

As they drew deep into the shadows, Trick asked, “Okay, so what is the plan now? They’re murdering one another out there!”

“Which is what they deserve, quite frankly,” Naomi said fiercely. “They were going to kill us!”

“But there has to be a way to stop this,” Trick said, spreading his hands out in a wild gesture.

“I can’t think of anything,” Naomi said grumpily. “Short of killing them al. This is a disaster!”

Trick was about to say something else, when he felt his left palm growing very warm. There was burst of blue flames and a letter materialized in his hand. At first he was shocked, but then curious. He pulled the letter close. The lights from the trees

Were very dim and cast everything in strange hues of color, but he could just make out some writing on the envelope.

It was from his mother.