I woke up to my phones alarm going off. I had dozed off after deciding that sleeping was better than reading. The articles while interesting wasn’t enough to keep me from dozing off. I hadn’t gotten enough sleep. I blinked away the sleep as Victoria’s phone’s alarm went off along with dozens of others. At first it was the one I heard before. But the “bad weather” alarm cut off and an air siren started blaring out of every phone on the bus. Most kids where already on their phones and saw the alert as it popped up, while others quickly grabbed for theirs.

Those that saw the alert paled and began looking outside the window. The others soon joined them, and I quickly looked at my phone.

The first alert read, *WARNING: HORDE OF GAROYLES DETECTED NEAR RAVENPORT. THOSE WITH C GRADE ABILITIES OR ABOVE ARE REQUIRED TO LEND AID IMMEDIATELY. *

The next one that triggered the siren was, *WARNING: OVERLORD GARGOYLES DETECTED. THOSE WITH C GRADE DEFENSES OR BELOW ARE ADVISED TO TAKE COVER IMMEDATELY. THOSE WITH B GRADE ABILITIES OR ABOVE ARE REQUIRED TO LEND AID IMMEDIATELY. *

From everybody’s reactions, I was guessing we were close to Ravenport and I joined the others looking out the window. But while I was searching the sky, the others were watching the fields along the road. A boy’s scream made me jump. ‘Fuck, can’t he read the room,’ I thought as I whipped around. I only saw a dust trail that was fast approaching the highway and felt the bus lurch as the driver stomped on the gas, but it wasn’t made for speed, unlike the car and trucks around us. They zoomed around us and even road the soft shoulder of the road just to get ahead of us.

As the cloud got closer, I could see quadrupeds galloping inside it. But that was because of how the highway bent, they weren’t as fast as we were, and I thought we were going to get away when the bus came to a screeching halt. My body hit the seat in front of me as the bus went from eighty to zero and I heard groans showing I wasn’t the only one caught off guard. I picked myself up and looked out the front of the bus. Only to see the cars and trucks that had just passed us had also stopped. There was smoke further up, but I couldn’t see what was causing it.

Ms. Mirth looked at her phone, stood up and shouted, “HEY, I’m going… Quiet… Shut the fuck up Keith… ahem, like I was saying. I’m going to go out and protect the bus. You are not allowed off the bus. Do you hear me?” It was only after we agreed, did our driver let her off. I could see that she was nervous but trying to hide it. An unnerving silence filled the bus as she left. The dust cloud came closer as we watched the other teachers and some seniors getting off the other busses. They spread out trying to protect the stopped vehicles but there weren’t enough students to cover all of them and none of the other drivers got out to help either. Instead of helping, a few took out their phones and pointed then out the windows.

Those that got out of the bus didn’t cast right away because most people had a limit on how much they could do magically. So like us, the people outside watched the gargoyles rushing toward the stopped vehicles. The gargoyles were as big as horses but looked more like werewolves with bat heads. There were only a few with wings. They flew behind the horde and seemed to be directing them. A senior stood below my window and saw him cast. He held his hand in front of him, his pinky touching his pointer finger and said, “Hard as earth, flexible as the grass.” He was casting the earth skin spell I knew, but his result wasn’t the same. Rocks seemed to grow out of his body and his five’ eleven frame swelled and soon looked like the earth golem I saw on the field yesterday. I didn’t get to wonder why his spell worked better than mine. There were several high pitches clicks and chirps and then the bus rocked as if something big landed on the roof.

With an ear-piercing screech, stone claws punctured through the sheet metal the bus was made out of. That’s when the chaos began. Most of the students screamed and ran toward the door. I watched as some try to cast protection spells, but their voices were thick with panic, and they failed. Maybe they didn’t have anything that could protect them. I hesitated but finally began to cast. Fuck my secret, lives were on the line, including mine. I started with ‘Herculean Strength’. They were mostly stone and that was all I had that might hurt the thing clawing its way through the roof. The bus rocked several more times as I concentrated on casting. I could see it snarling in at us but with every swipe sparks would absorb most of the force it was using. I didn’t know how long the bus’s protection would hold but I still risked casting “Stone Skin’. A horse sized monstrosity came crashing through as my voice finished the last syllable. The short casting time is what saved me because as it crashed through the roof its thick clawed arms thrashed about.

Its body was wedged in between two seats, but their metal frames bent and distorted as it moved so it wouldn’t be trapped very long. I wasn’t ready as its back legs broke free and I barely got my arm up to block its swipe. I felt the impact and pain, as it ripped away a patch of rock, that was now my skin. My body, even made of rock, was still too light and I was pushed back a step. It retracted its limbs to swing again, and I jumped up onto my seat. Then as its arms lashed out, leapt over them, and hammered my fist into its body. I heard a crack. But it kept moving and its backswing sent me sailing into the back emergency door. The windows in it shattered, but I mostly hit the metal and managed to not get thrown out. I shook off the pain and got up at the same time it dislodged itself. Its blood-shot eyes were tracking me and with a high-pitched chirp lunged over the seats at me. Its massive body barely fit over the seats. Out of desperation, I grabbed the emergency exit bar. It all happened in one motion, I ripped it off and jammed the jagged metal into the gargoyle’s chest. Its fang filled mouth gave a high pitch keeling wail that made my ears ache as a stench filled the air.

The bar had punctured into it and orange-red blood flowed out. But its body didn’t stop and hit me like a boulder. Its weight crushing me into the door. The rocks that made up my skin cracked and fell away. It didn’t attack. I didn’t know how long it’d stay that way, but the bar had been ripped from my hand by its momentum. Was it dead? I didn’t wait to find out and jabbed my tiny fists into its chest. I heard cracking noises, and I wasn’t sure if it was the things body or my hand. It hurt to hit. I ignored the pain and the fact that I was having trouble breathing. I just kept hitting it in the same spot over and over. I didn’t stop until my fist broke through its tough stony hide and felt more of its blood flowing out.

I laughed with joy as it crumbled to the floor. ‘Ha, ha, ha, I lived!’ I thought and then my world spun. I was pulled out one of back door windows and onto the road. I hit the ground hard. One of the winged versions looked at me as I stared up in horror. Maybe it was because I was on the ground looking up, or maybe it was that it was on two legs, but the one I killed looked tiny in comparison. It didn’t chirp or click but roared its anger and brought down one of its massive four arms. It came to fast, but I still tried to roll out of the way. As I did, I saw Mr. Rodgers appear behind it. He rushed over, doing over seventy miles an hour and used that momentum to punch it in the back. His fist came through its the front of its chest. It looked confused and then crumbled into stone, blood, and a glint of silver.

I blinked and Mr. Rodgers was gone as if he was never there. I didn't stand around either. The horse sized gargoyles were everywhere. Dozens of them were clawing at cars and if they managed to get through would grab those inside. I picked myself up and nervously looked around once before I wiggled my way back into the bus. Once I was inside, I grabbed my discarded bar. The other students were still near the front and were taking turns creating barriers so the monsters couldn't see into the bus. But the area they could block was small, so they huddled up into a clump.

I sat back down and was waiting for the next attack that never came. Other than them impacting against the bus, which caused me to jump every time, they never tried to get inside again. Instead, I saw Ms. Mirth had jumped over thirty feet up and grabbed onto one of the fliers. It tried shaking her off but instead of succeeding, she timed her release to sail into another one’s back. I saw her rip away its wings before she, and it, went crashing out of sight.

Quick rescue workers showed up after that and the remaining flier was shot out of the air using a combination of a wind spell and ‘Fire Lances’. They used the air magic to supercharge the fire and soon the flying gargoyle was reduced to a smoldering, charred pile of stone. Without their leaders they lost their cohesion and scattered. Safe, I sat back in my now ripped up seat. I didn’t know how bad my injury was, but it didn’t feel insignificant. I couldn’t take deep breathes without it feeling like somebody was stabbing me. My healing spell, while strong, was made to revitalize small areas that I could touch. I didn’t think it would fix something deep inside me, but still tried.

I was so focused on my injury that I didn’t see the others coming back. Victoria and Janet both asked, “Are you ok?” While Ann and several other girls’ voices rose above them as they exclaimed, “You can use magic?!” at the same time. I gave a slow nod and did my best to not move my body. My healing spell wasn’t helping much, and my pain increased as the adrenaline wore off. My only consolation was that nobody tried moving me. They kept talking but I wasn’t up to answering. I just closed my eyes and waited for the rescue workers to get here. They asked me a few more questions but when I didn’t answer the other students began talking among themselves.

“Did you see Mr. Rodgers? I didn’t know he was so strong,” a male classmate said. I could hear the awe in his voice.

“Yeah, but he couldn’t maintain it. Ms. Mirth had to rescue him so she’s stronger.” A female student countered.

Others were talking about some of the seniors, the rescue workers and monsters that just attacked us. Between all the conversations I got to piece together what happened and who did what. What was amazing was how fast paced the battle really was. The gargoyles hit hard and fast. There were some casualties, but most of the undefended people were pulled away. It almost sounded like a pirate raid. Were monster’s really that smart? That thought was so terrifying.

A gentle warmth broke me out of my thoughts. I opened my eyes to see the senior, that had manifested the wings of light during the pep rally, standing in front of me. Both her hands were glowing as she said, “You have several broken ribs. I can ease your pain, but I don’t have access to Bio magic to shift them back into place, so I don’t dare heal you. If I do, they’ll have to re-break them.”

I understood. Most light magic promoted healing in some way. And while Bio magic could do similar things, it wasn’t as good and generally was used to alter the body in different ways. Because of that most doctors had access to both attributes. “Easing the pain is enough, thank you.” I kept my reply short. Just because I couldn’t feel it the pain, it was still there. I didn’t want to do more damage to myself by ignoring the injuries.

The police and EMT personnel soon arrived but because there were so many injured and I wasn’t that bad off, I was transported to the local hospital with several others that had minor injuries. I laid on the gurney while others sat on a padded bench. Most of the people with me were sporting long lacerations that the monsters’ claws had left behind. For all my injuries, I managed to escape being cut so I was ignored by the EMT who was diligently cleaning and wrapping the others’ wounds as the ambulance sped us to the hospital. I was placed in the ward with several people and told to wait.

I must have dozed off because the next thing I knew I heard a doctor telling me, “Ok, that should do it. You’ll be a little tender for the next couple of days. Try not to do any heavy lifting or sports until next week.”

“I will.” I sat up and didn’t feel any discomfort.

“Good, there’s a teacher waiting in the lobby to take you back to school.” He pointed to a sign outside the ward that had four different locations inside arrows that pointed the way to go. It wasn’t that complicated, and I made my way out to the main lobby. Ms. Mirth was facing away from me and was talking on her phone while looking out the lobby window. I made my way over and caught her replying, “I agree. It doesn’t make sense. Something made them leave their nests… Uh huh… yup… Definitely targeting; oh Stephanie, you’re done. Take a seat over there. There is still one more student I need to pick up.”

There were two other kids sitting in the area she had pointed at. Both were tall, broad-shouldered teens from our school. Their uniforms were torn and covered in blood, but their bodies were fine. ‘Very fine,’ I thought. I realized I was staring, I quickly looked away. Ugh, what the hell was wrong with me? I sat in a seat a space away from them and after pushing away my X-rated thoughts, sent my mom a message letting her know I was fine. Her reply didn’t come back immediately, which showed she hadn’t been told yet about the attack.

I then sent a text to Victoria, [Check to see if Janet’s father’s boss still needs a babysitter.]

Victoria reply came back in a few minutes, [I understand. You were so brave!] followed by [Ok, I’m waiting for her reply.] A half hour later she replied one more time, [She said yes. You sure you’re up for it?]

[Yeah, I almost died. What if it happens again? I need to do something.]

[It’s Friday night. Can you do six?]

[yeah, Thumbs up .JPG]

[I’ll let her know]

Hours passed and I finally figured out why the senior's spell was better than the one I had. It boiled down to a few things. The first was that while I had the spells, I was using them at a basic textbook level. To put it another way, they had no personal augmentations. I felt kind of stupid because Mr. Schmell had mentioned something along that line the first day I had arrived. The saying that 'knowledge is power' was very real in this world and the more you understood about how your spells worked the more you could do with them, making them all semi-unique.

The second was practice. Even if a person had talent, it only went so far and those that exercised their skills became better at using them. The last one, ignoring a person's base talent, was creativity. Envisioning how a spell worked sometimes amplified how it manifested. I was guessing that the golem kid must have used advanced physics and envisioned large stones growing out of his skin while I had pictured my skin becoming stone like. But the sites that mentioned all of this didn’t share their “how to’s” for free, so I wasn’t positive.

The sad thing was all that was kindergarten level knowledge. It was told to little kids to motivate them to learn, and I had no idea it was even a thing. Sighing, I realized I had a lot to learn even with all I knew and decided to do something I didn't want to; tell my mom a version of what happened to me. I now knew I wouldn't be able survive in this world without more power.