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Simon
I don’t know how the Humdrum sent a fucking chimera. I don’t know how he sends anything, the bastard. Never shows his face in battle. Just sends his creatures to come and kill me instead.
It’s not unusual for him to send beasts to Watford. The Humdrum.
But this early?
That’s unheard of.
The first term of fifth year started a few days ago, and practically nothing’s happened. Just lessons. The Mage hasn’t sent me on any missions. My infernal roommate hasn’t been plotting (though, I’m not entirely sure on that one-- he’s always plotting).
So why would the Humdrum send a chimera to come and to set Watford ablaze?
Lord knows.
But, I can’t think about that right now. I can’t think about anything except getting to the woods, where the chimera is and defeating the damn thing before it can hurt anyone.
I’m running now, through the chaos that’s erupted across the grounds of Watford. Students and professors are screaming and shouting, ducking for cover and trying to get inside.
I push past them all and make my way down the courtyard, over the drawbridge, across the Great Lawn, and towards the Wavering Woods, where just above the trees I can see puffs of dark grey smoke.
I pick up my pace (I’m sprinting now) as I utter the incantation to the Sword of Mages under my breath. “ In justice. In courage. In defence of the weak. In the face of the mighty. Through magic and wisdom and good. ”
The sword materialises in my hand and I grip the handle tight as I approach the entrance to the woods, tentatively walking inside and through the trees, eyes darting around rapidly looking for the chimera.
It’s not hard to find. Or hear.
There’s the roar of a lion, the bleat of a goat, and a sizzling sound. Then I see it.
It’s hideous, with its three heads and serpent tail. Its wings are open as wide as they can be, and I can’t help but notice how much smaller it is than I had expected. (To be fair, I don’t know what I expected. But it certainly wasn’t this.)
The chimera spots me (with its goad head) and goes to attack (with its lion head) (this thing has too many damn heads). I throw my arms over my own head in defence, expecting a fiery stream to strike me, but it never comes.
“ Stop, Drop, and Roll! ” a voice yells, and I look up to see who it is.
“ Baz ?”
“Perfect timing, Snow,” he says, jumping back as the chimera lets out an intense roar.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you,” he says, and then it clicks in my head.
“ You set the chimera loose?”
He nods, and we both take cover behind a tree as the chimera flaps its wings, ready to let out another stream of fire.
“Why would you do this?”
“To frighten you. You were supposed to be scared and shit yourself, but you’ve ruined that for me, haven’t you?”
I sigh, and rake my hand through my hair. “What the actual living fuck, Baz? I thought you weren’t plotting anything!”
“I”m always plotting, you absolute fucking numpty.”
The chimera lets out another deafening roar as it spots us.
Shit.
It charges toward us, tongues wagging, like some satanic golden retriever.
“We shouldn’t be worrying about numpties right now,” I yell at Baz.
“I was calling you a numpty, not thinking about them, you knob!”
“Focus, Baz!”
I can see Baz strain not to bite back at me. He doesn’t like it when I get the last word. Instead, he shakes his head and points his wand at the chimera, shooting spells at it rapidly.
None of them do anything to weaken the beast, so I swing at it with my sword. I graze its wing, but nothing happens. It doesn’t look hurt or in pain. The goat head just howls (bleats?), and the whole thing lunges toward us.
“We’re not doing anything that’s hurting it!” Baz shouts. He turns and runs away from the beast and I follow him close.
“No shit!”
“Well, stop waving that blasted thing around and do it, Snow!”
“Do what?”
Baz stops in front of a giant rock and ducks behind it, grabbing my arm so hard it hurts.
“Baz!” I cry out, prying his fingers off of me.
“Do it,” he yells. “Fucking unleash. Now .”
“You mean go off?”
He nods aggressively at me.
“I can’t,” I tell him. “It doesn’t work like that.”
“It bloody well does.”
“You don’t understand, Baz, I can’t just turn it on--”
“Try.”
“I can’t, damn it,” I yell, swinging my sword around.
I don’t know why I’m still holding it. My sword. It’s proven to be pretty useless in this battle. I’ve tried to cut the damn thing open, but the chimera doesn’t seem to be corporeal. (Which is my rough luck, pretty much always. It seems like as soon as you start carrying a sword, all your enemies turn out mist.)
“Close your eyes and light a match,” Baz tells me. He reaches over the rock and points his wand at the chimera, firing off yet another spell.
“What?”
“That’s what my mother always used to say. ‘Light a match inside your heart, then blow on the tinder.’”
“That’s a whole load of bullshit your mum came up with!”
“Don’t talk about my mother that way,” he hisses at me, and for a moment I think he might curse me instead of the chimera.
“I’ll talk about your mother any way I want.”
“You. Will. Not.”
I can tell that Baz wants to say more, but a blast of fire shoots over our heads and he forgets that he was going to insult me.
I stand and jump out from behind the rock, sword raised and ready to attack, the chimera merely inches away. I make an attempt to hit its leg, but it swipes at me in defence, and sharp claws sink into my upper arm.
“Fuck!” I exclaim as Baz pulls me out of the chimera’s way.
“I knew you were an idiot, but are you actually incapable of thinking? That was idiotic, even for you, Snow, you gormless fucking git,” he spits at me.
I blush. “No,” I say, but the gashes on my left arm are telling a different story.
“You utter pillock, you do realise that it wants to kill you, right?”
“You should know, you’re the one who fucking commanded it to!”
“I didn’t know you’d be so incompetent,” Baz bellows, scoffing at me. “You can’t even defeat a chimera. What would the Mage say about his precious Chosen One who can’t save the school from impending doom?”
“Piss off, Baz! The Mage couldn’t defeat a fucking chimera on his own! You definitely fucking couldn’t.”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t!”
That catches me off guard. “That doesn’t mean I can! I fucking can’t , alright?”
Baz keeps yelling at me. His voice is like a drill in my head, and I can’t take it anymore.
He goes on and on and on.
About the chimera. About the Mage. About how I’m supposed to fix this problem, no questions asked. About how the weight of the entire fucking magickal world rests on my shoulders, as if I didn’t fucking know.
He’s pissing me off, the prat. He won’t stop yelling at me, and I’m starting to lose my nerve.
My magic fills the air, surrounding Baz and I (and the chimera). The scent of it gives me a headache, and I can’t think clearly. It’s suffocating, too, and I’m dizzy now. I think I might fall over if I’m not careful.
My mind is running in circles, circles and loops around my head. Thoughts are jogging around, trying to force me to break down, or to fucking unleash like Baz said.
I bite down on my lip and close my eyes, willing myself not to act like an absolute wanker. I try to breath, like Penny’s told me to, but I can’t. Nothing’s making sense any more and I can’t control what’s going to happen or what I’m about to do.
The last thing I see is Baz’s furious face.
And then I go off.
***
It’s much darker when I finally wake up.
Baz is laying a few feet away from me, and we’re both in a blackened pit. The boulder we were hiding behind is dust. The chimera must’ve turned to vapour. That, or it disappeared. Maybe it’s just gone…
I stir and push myself up, wincing in pain as I lean on my left arm-- I’d forgotten that the chimera had struck me there.
I see Baz moving as well, and then I hear him say, “What happened?”
“Dunno. I went off, I guess. I remember the chimera, then nothing.”
Baz is silent. “You alright, Snow?” he asks after a minute.
I nod, and then realise that he can’t see me. “Yeah, yeah. My arm’s hurt, is all. The chimera got it pretty good.”
I watch as Baz sits up and crawls over to me. He kneels next to me, tearing my shirt sleeve more (the chimera ripped it open with its claw) to get a better look at the wound.
“I can’t do much,” he tells me. “It’s too deep. But I can do this.” He holds his wand next to the wound and says, “ Put a stopper in it . ”
I touch my fingers to the cut, wincing still as my hand comes in contact with it.
“It’ll just slow the bleeding for a bit. Long enough to get it bandaged.”
“Well, thank you.”
He grimaces. “Don’t thank me. It sounds wrong.”
“Not as wrong as you mending my arm.”
Baz doesn’t say anything. Just stands up. “Come on, then. Let’s head back to the school. Everyone probably thinks you died.”
“Oh, shut it,” I say, getting to my feet.
It’s an awkward walk back to Watford.
Baz and I usually don’t walk together, so we don’t know what to do with ourselves. We’re trying to keep our distance, so Baz is few steps ahead of me, eyes glued to the grass as he walks.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see that fucking drawbridge. I don’t know what I would do if it were down-- I wouldn’t be able to stand another cold night with Baz, as we sit outside Watford because we didn’t make it inside the Wall for curfew.
We’re at Mummers House in no time, and I can’t help the relief that washes over me.
Back at last , I think to myself.
“Oh, and Snow.”
“Yeah?”
“Do my eyebrows look alright?”
I stare at him for a moment, confused. “Yeah?”
“You didn’t singe them off, did you?”
“No.”
He looks me over for a second, before saying “I don’t believe you,” and walking away.
“Simon!” I hear, and soon Penny is squeezing me in a bone-crushing hug.
“Pen,” I say, wrapping my arms around her.
“What happened to you?” she asks. “Why are you bleeding?”
“Chimera,” I tell her, sitting down on the ground, leaning against the exterior of Mummers House.
“Merlin. How ? Was it the Humdrum? What--”
My head still hurts and she keeps showering me in questions, so I stop her. “Not now, Pen.”
“Sorry,” she says, rubbing my back in small circles.
She’s quiet for a moment before saying, “Well, why don’t you go shower and change, okay? We can meet for dinner when you’re done.”
I nod. “That sounds great.”
She presses a kiss to my cheek and gives my hands another squeeze, before standing and walking away, towards the Cloisters.
I sigh and stand as well, and trudge up the stairs to mine and Baz’s room. He’s not there, thank magic.
I take my time in the shower. The hot stream on my back feels so good. I think I might fall asleep standing up.
Once I’m clean, I step out of the tub and change into a sweatshirt, and wrap a bandage around my arm. I don’t know how long I’ll have until I have to change it again. It’s still bleeding heavily.
I make the long trek to the dining hall, and immediately when I enter I see Penny waving to me. I walk over and sit next to her.
“Tell me everything,” she says and I launch into my story (whilst filling up a plate with food).
I tell her how I first heard about the chimera, one of the creatures the Humdrum sent. Then I explain how I raced to the woods to find it, where I found Baz as well, who revealed that it was him who sent the chimera. And then I say how I went off, and Baz and I woke up hours later, and chimera was gone.
“Nicks and Slicks,” is all she can manage to say.
“I told you he was plotting something .”
“Just because he was plotting something this time doesn’t mean he was always plotting. You’re being paranoid.”
“ What ?” I can feel the heat across my cheeks and the frustration welling in my chest. “Penny, come on! Fucking hell, he literally called for a chimera to hurt me. You can’t say he’s not plotting.”
“Simon--” Penny calls after me, but I’m already standing.
I’m afraid I’ll go off. So I leave, grabbing a plate of scones, then walking out the doors and back to Mummers House.
***
It’s midnight by the time Baz gets back.
I’m in bed with the lights off, staring out the (open) window, trying to forget the events from today.
I’m still exhausted, even though I’ve been laying down for a few hours now. My magic is still running, coursing through my veins, and it buzzes in my fingertips.
“Bloody hell, Snow,” Baz says.
I turn on my other side, facing away from him.
He keeps talking. “It’s freezing in here. Why do you always have to--”
I can’t take this anymore, this prat.
“Shut up, Baz! Just shut up!”
He does.
“I’ve had enough of you and your snarky arse for one day, so just fucking shut up and leave me alone!”
For a second I think he might break the Anathema and punch me or something, but he doesn’t. Just gets his clothes from his closet and goes in the bathroom to shower.
I’m shaking now, so I lay back down and close my eyes, trying to breathe and willing myself not to cry.
It doesn’t work.
I can’t help it when the tears start to fall, so I just bury my face in my pillow in a lame attempt to quiet my sobs. (This doesn’t work either.)
Fuck it all. Baz is right.
I’m a failure of a mage. All I can do is go off, and I can’t even do that right.
I can’t defeat dragons or selkies or gorgons or chimeras. I just blow them up. I doubt that’ll work on the Humdrum.
The Mage never should have chosen me to do all this. I’m not the right person to do this. I never have been, and I never will be.
I don’t hear Baz when he exits the bathroom. I only notice him as he sits on his bed, staring mindlessly at the floor.
I rub my eyes and sigh, sniffling a little.
I should stop crying before Baz sees. He’s sure to make a fool of me for it.
Except, fuck. He’s already seen.
He’s standing and walking over to me before I can say anything. He sits on the side of my bed, near my head, and whispers, “Shh.”
“Baz, what?”
“Shh,” he says again, and I don’t know why I listen, but his voice is in my ear, soft and soothing, so I do.
“What’re you doing?” I ask him, but he doesn’t respond. He goes to run a hand through my hair, but hesitates before doing so.
I let out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding.
It feels so good .
He’s got me relaxed now, and I feel like I can finally breathe again.
“Sleep,” he whispers.
So I do.
***
When I wake up, Baz is gone.
I don’t see him anywhere. Not in our room. Not outside, on the Great Lawn or on the courtyard. Not in the dining hall.
Penny scolds me for being late to breakfast, but I ignore her, grabbing a scone and taking a huge bite.
“Simon!”
“Sorry, Pen.” I take another bite of scone. “Hey, have you seen Baz at all?”
She shakes her head. “No, why?”
“I need to talk to him about something.”
“Nothing good ever comes from that,” she sighs, taking my hand and pulling me up from where I’m sat.
“Come on,” she says. “We have lessons.”
I want to protest, but I don’t. I still feel bad about storming off at dinner yesterday, so I don’t want to vex her further.
Did I dream that Baz sat on my bed last night, stroking my hair and whispering to me until I fell asleep?
I don’t think I did.
But knowing Baz, he’s sure to convince me I did.
I grab another scone before swinging my rucksack on my back and following Penny out the dining hall.
I don’t know what Baz thinks he’s doing, or what he’s plotting (because he is plotting), but I’m going to find out. I’ll make sure of that.
Baz
Fuck. He can’t ever find out about me. About this .