Free Mark of Four by Tamara Shoemaker Page B

“Quiet, please, class. Mr. Houser has a question.”
    Alayne moved her gaze to Daymon’s tall frame. A bubble machine sat in front of him. His bubbles rested calmly in the shape of a smiley face. As Professor Grace called on him, the bubbles began to drift into meaningless shapes again.
    “Professor, could you explain the difference between Throw-Casting and Shadow-Casting?”
    Alayne snapped upright. Daymon knew, he knew , exactly what Shadow-Casting was. He knew the fear that accompanied the term whenever it was mentioned. Sure enough, tension buzzed as every student held their breath, their glances nervously shifting to the windows and door. Stop being such a troublemaker, Daymon .
    His blue eyes caught hers for a fleeting moment. Barely concealed rebellion seethed just under the surface. Oddly enough, the inner struggle seemed to be directed at her. Animosity spilled through his narrowed gaze. Granted, they’d had their tiff in Basic School, but would that really carry over here? He’d saved her life once, but with the way he looked right now, she wondered if he would choose differently if the same situation were to happen again.
    Professor Grace had gone pale. “Mr. Houser, Shadow-Casting is not a course that Clayborne Training Facility has ever, nor will ever, offer. Why do you ask?”
    Daymon shrugged, a half-smile appearing on his face. “I heard Andova was talking about offering it as an extra-curricular, and just wondered why we didn’t.”
    A short, inquisitive red-head next to Jayme blurted out a question without raising his hand. “What is Shadow-Casting?”
    Several voices burst out in unison. “You don’t know ?”
    “Did you grow up in a cave?”
    “How could you not have heard of Shadow-Casting?”
    Professor Grace clapped her hands for order. “That’s enough, class.”
    The red-head cast a flushed countenance downward as Professor Grace faced him. “Mr. Hill, please raise your hand to speak in the future. For anyone who may not know, Shadow-Casting is a very, very dangerous shifting of the elements. We will not go fully into it here; but briefly, it is the practice of taking control of the elements within another person’s body and bending those elements to control what that person does. It breaks every moral law and can cause terrible destruction as the elements within the body are compromised. If a Caster is not extremely careful, any one of the four elements will be thrown off-balance, and the Casted person can lose every water element or every fire element in their body, freezing to death, or melting into essentially nothing. Lack of the air element obviously will cause the person to smother, and without the earth element, the person’s bones, skin, and basic molecular make-up will dissolve.” She paused and looked around the room, the weighty silence blanketing them all. “Andova does not offer the class as an extra-curricular or in any other form, Mr. Houser, as the practice is against High Court law. If anyone told you that rumor,” her voice showed that she doubted it, “he or she was spreading a false one.” She took a deep breath.
    “One week ago, CommonEarth watched as a notorious Shadow-Caster, Simeon Malachi, attempted to take control of the government of the most powerful Continent in the world. We all saw the horrendous scene that took place when a Justice fell victim to the Shadow-Caster’s wrath.” She closed her eyes briefly and shuddered. “May we all be protected from such a fate.” She swallowed. “Class dismissed.”

Chapter 6
    A layne and Jayme waved goodbye to Marysa after lunch and headed for the chute to their Points of Motion-Stop class. As they took their seats in the back of the classroom, Alayne breathed a sigh of relief. “I don’t think Daymon’s going to be in this one with us.”
    Jayme glanced sideways at her. “Yeah, he’s kind of a jerk, isn’t he?” He pulled out his textbook and dropped it onto the table just as Professor Grady