The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy
Chapter 0487

"Well, I did," Alvez says, smirking a little at his upper hand. "She can create it."

"Your mom can make...storms?" Tony asks, a little wide-eyed, leaning over to look at Jesse.

"She can control all the weather," Jesse says casually, sending Tony a wink. "She's a badass. Plus, I always get snow on my birthday. Because I'm her favorite."

I grin, suddenly remembering all the birthdays we spent having snowball fights in Jesse's back yard even though he was born in the autumn - far too early for that sort of thing. "Cool," Tony says, genuinely impressed.

"If we could concentrate," Alvez says, looking around at all of us with a sigh. "What I mean to say is that Clark should not have to rely on a crutch." He concentrates specifically on me now. "You should be able to create a ball of flame in the air by itself - absent of any fuel to heat. With elemental magic like yours, you should be able to supply the heat, the fuel, the oxygen, and the spark - all yourself. Can you do that?"

I scowl a little - because honestly, I was very pleased with myself for being able to start my little pyromaniac fires just like this. This next step sounds...much more challenging. "No, sir," I say, slumping down a little in my seat. "I can't do that yet."

"Well then we still have work to do," Alvez says, giving me a sly grin. He turns his attention to Tony next. "Your magic seems to be more bodily, but how much have you experimented with it? You can breathe underwater, but does your lack of a need for oxygen extend to other airless environments? Can you survive without air?"

"And where would you suggest I go to experiment with that?" Tony asks, dry. "The moon?"

I laugh but Alvez just gives Tony a dark look that freezes my blood and makes my laugher quickly drain away. "Oh," he says. "I'm sure we can think of something.

The room is awkward and silent for a moment as Tony and Alvez stare at each other, clearly in a deadlock.

Rafe, ever the diplomat, clears his throat. "All right," he says, breaking the stalemate and turning everyones gaze to him. "What about the rest of us?" he says, gesturing towards himself and Jesse and Jackson. "What do we do while the magical prodigies experiment with their abilities?"

"We continue to work on drawing yours out," Alvez says, his eyes singularly on Jesse and Rafe now - a fact which neither Jackson nor I miss.

Jesse scowls a little, I think a bit disappointed in the answer - because it certainly didn't get him anywhere last term.

"In the meantime, I will take Davis's advice and schedule individual meetings with our...magical prodigies, as you call them," Alvez continues, turning his gaze back to me. "I think a little bit of private tutoring will be very productive indeed."

I glare back at Alvez now, getting sick of his constant desire to use these lascivious looks to intimidate me. And even more sick of how well they're working.

"Maybe Tony and I should work together instead," I snap, glaring back at him. Then I turn my gaze to Tony. "What do you say, Davis? Be each other's private tutors and leave our professor free to explore his research, which I'm sure takes up a great deal of his time?" "Sounds good to me!" Tony says, giving me a sharp nod that lets me know that he, too, has no real interest in time alone with Alvez.

"Cool!" I say, giving him a grin. "But if you want to do that, you should probably know that I'm a girl."

Everyone around me goes immediately tense at my blunt confession - Alvez maybe excepted, though I'm not looking at him right now. Nope, instead my whole concentration is on Tony, who goes satisfying pale as he sits stark straight at his desk.

"Wait," he says, "wait, what?"

I grin, pleased that my efforts at secrecy seem to have succeeded in this class, at least.