CHAPTER 22

Whoever knew that Sheila liked playing games?

 

Pike sat at the base of the bookshelf, which fortunately didn’t end up collapsing on top of him. He was momentarily disoriented, and fallen books lay strewn around him on the floor. He had taken a solid hit across the cheek; a punch thrown by Mindie wasn’t quite the same as being hit by a flung bed pillow. Groaning, he adjusted his eyeglasses and touched a hand to his cheekbone. It felt a bit sore and would probably bruise for a while.

 

A hand reached out to him, offering him some help to his feet. “Here you go, bud.”

 

“Thanks Ryan.” He gladly took it and hauled himself into a stand. A glance over towards Mindie revealed her curious expression, and he explained with an easy grin, “Ryan and I live in the same dorm.”

 

Now that his dorm neighbor was back on his feet, Ryan took the opportunity to jostle him a bit. He threw an arm around his neck and playfully held him in brief a headlock, causing the shorter boy to flail. “That’s right! This guy was my first friend here at Halo Ridge.”

 

“I… see.” Mindie cleared her throat loudly and placed a flippant hand on her collar in a haughty gesture to herself. “Not to brag, but I’ve known Pike since high school—and he’s my best friend.”

 

She was totally bragging. For better or worse, Pike’s partner just naturally had that competitive edge in her. He wriggled out from under Ryan’s near-chokehold and tilted his neck from one side to the other to loosen up. Fortunately, it seemed to still be servicing blood between his head and the rest of his body.

 

Mindie crossed her arms as she faced him directly, a bright grin on her face. “Back in High Tower again? Is it a writing day?”

 

He was actually there to study for once, but that was just in the semantics. He rolled his eyes, playing along with the chance of banter. “Yeah, yeah, call me predictable. On the other hand, it’s kind of surprising to see you here.”

 

“Ha! I know what you mean. Talk about being out of my element.” She flicked a smug glance at Ryan. “I brought our up-and-coming golden boy here to learn the basics of what he got himself into, seeing as he transferred here and all that.”

 

“Oh yeah? You’re with the best person for just that then.”

 

Pike pointed his thumb towards Sheila, who had begun to gather up the fallen books on the floor. Prompted to act, he hurried over to start helping her retrieve them.

 

“Tita Sheila knows luminescence and chaos like the back of her hand,” he said, gathering up a couple of books. “I told you she was among the top-ranked Superstars at one point, right? Right alongside your mom?”

 

A small grin touched the professor’s face. “Pike naman, sobrang tagal na yan. (Come on, Pike, that was a long time ago.) I haven’t been an active Superstar in ages.”

 

“Okay lang (That’s okay), Tita She; you’re still my favorite.”

 

Sheila abruptly smacked his wrist as he reached to pick up another fallen book. “Ako nalang bahala. (I’ll take care of it.) Don’t you have class now?”

 

Recoiling from the smack on his wrist, Pike piled the ones he gathered and took out his phone to check the time. 1:57 PM. He had class at Central in three minutes, but he wasn’t too worried about being a few minutes late to a lecture with a hundred students in the audience.

 

Ryan was a different story. As he looked at his own phone, his eyes practically popped out of his head in horror when he saw the time. “Oh crap! I’m gonna be late! Coach Nor and Erika are gonna kill me!”

 

He bolted down the aisle and made for the exit. “Thanks again, professor! I’ll keep your lessons in mind!”

 

Mindie couldn’t help a sympathetic grin at the golden boy’s impending plight as he disappeared from view. “Hope nothing happens to him.”

 

“Don’t worry. Guys like him can get away with anything.” Sheila shook her head and turned to her nephew. “I don’t mean to sound like your dad, but you should still go to class even if you’re late, kiddo.”

 

“Heh. Okay, Tita She. I’ll come visit High Tower again soon.”

 

Mindie waved as her partner made his unhurried exit. “Message me later!”

 

Pike disappeared around the corner of the bookshelf-bordered aisle. There was a brief moment of silence while Sheila walked up to stand beside Mindie, and the luminescence professor looked at her as if seeing her for the first time.

 

“You’re Chiaki’s youngest, aren’t you.”

 

Mindie looked up at her with a questioning look.

 

“Pike tells me a lot about you, but I think this is the first time we’ve met in person.”

 

“I’m in your class, professor,” she said, with a bit of a laugh.

 

“You consider that a personal meeting?”

Her sharp, solemn tone stifled the words from Mindie’s response, cutting her laughter and leaving her tongue-tied. But before she could come up with something more in reply, the professor had resumed her focus in gathering the books at the base of the previously shaken shelf. She muttered to herself about how some of them didn’t belong up there, but elsewhere, and tossed them into her pushcart.

 

As she went about doing this, two students rounded the corner. They each had a borrowed book in hand and, upon seeing some librarian-looking woman busying herself by a book cart, dumped their books inside. The two were busy gossiping with each other to notice the High Tower helper. Or, more likely, their conversation was more important than acknowledging her. They passed by as unconcerned as they would be if they had just tossed away some refuse to the garbageman.

 

It only lasted a few seconds, but watching the scene unfold in front of her prompted Mindie to jar slightly. She scowled as the two students continued along their merry way.

 

“That was kind of rude of them. Don’t they know you’re a professor?”

 

“Not when I look like this.” Sheila tapped her eyeglasses, referencing her overall incognito appearance.

 

“Then why don’t you just dress the way you usually do? They’d recognize you right away and they sure wouldn’t have acted like that.”

 

A wry grin flashed across her face. “I’m sure you think I don’t know how you and the rest of my students feel about my class.”

 

Mindie found herself clamming up again. Having been given a serious look the first time she made a candid remark was uncomfortable enough, but being given a smirk as she was called out for something she couldn’t deny made her head rush slightly. It felt like she had just been reprimanded by her own mother. As her professor started to push the cart forward again, she drifted behind and began piecing back together some semblance of her composure.

 

“It’s a little game I play. When you’re a professor—or anyone of some status in the Department—people put on a mask when they deal with you.” Sheila scowled. “I’ve been unimpressed by the attitude of the Stars lately.”

 

She handed Mindie a book to put away in a nearby shelf gap. “Being a certified Star pretty much sets you for life. If you stay active, you’re guaranteed compensation by the Luminescence Department. There are only so many luminescents that exist, after all. Moreover, while the Department itself is based here in Halo Ridge, our reach and reputation extends across the world.”

 

The young Star took a quick look at the title she was given: The Best and Brightest: Become a Superstar Like No Other. It sounded like some kind of internet ad. Were there other clickbait titles like this one? She put it away.

 

“You are all valuable assets. If you do well, your renown is guaranteed to elevate you to places you can only dream of as an ordinary person. Incentives like that have a way of warping people’s priorities. At a base, we all seek to further ourselves first; all other thoughts come second.”

 

Sheila’s expression darkened, her eyes focusing on a distant, unpleasant memory. “And if something is in our way, we take the easiest way out—get rid of it.”

 

Another silence passed between them. While she knew these words weren’t directed solely at her, Mindie felt that same discomfort from just moments before. She briefly wondered if her professor was starting to exude chaos.

 

It was a thought that she dismissed immediately after it surfaced. Superstars don’t have it in them to become Shades. They were far too experienced to let themselves become consumed by chaos.

 

Sheila turned to Mindie with a real, almost apologetic smile. “Look at me, being a downer like an old hag. You should take more inspiration from your mom.”

 

The tension in the air suddenly vanished. It was jarring. Mindie blinked and fumbled out a response worthy of her bestie. “Uh—sure.”

 

“I caught up with her recently,” the professor continued. “She was the one who asked me to let High Tower be the place where that student you saw—the one with the stack of books?—can roam freely. She can’t go anywhere else on campus without her brother or a Department-approved escort for the time being.”

 

Sheila turned about and idly began to consider the number of books she had yet to put away. “I’m sure you’ll be a fine Superstar like her one day. Pike’s got nothing but praise for you, you know.”

 

Mindie beamed proudly at that. Best bestie ever, hands down. “You and Pike are pretty close, aren’t you.”

 

“Pike’s my very special nephew. And you’re pretty special to him yourself.”

 

“Huh?” She really shouldn’t have been, but Mindie was caught off-guard by that notion. She and her professor just weren’t on the same wavelength, it seemed.

 

“You know what he’s like, so you probably also know how being in his own little world has him a bit lacking in the social department. I don’t see him talk to many people. When he does, he has a tendency to hesitate, or second-guess his words.”

 

She picked up two books and weighed them in her hands—likely a way to jog her thoughts while she spoke. “But I didn’t see that when he spoke to you. He seemed quite comfortable.”

 

“Well yeah, I’d hope so.” Mindie spied a gap in one of the bookshelves next to them. After briefly scanning their titles, she moved back over to her professor and took hold of one of the books in her hand with a grin. “He’s my best friend, after all.”

 

Sheila let the book slip into her student’s hands and watched as she skipped over to the gap she had spotted. Her face fell as her fingers curled more tightly around the book she still had grasped.

 

“You really believe that, don’t you…”

 

Mindie shimmied her book into its proper place, then looked back. “Professor? Did you say something?”

 

“I just said, I’m glad Pike has a friend like you.” She lifted her face and showed her another grin. Then she tossed the book she had back into the cart and looked at the remaining pile, arms held in thoughtful akimbo. “Anyway, I appreciate your help. I can take it from here.”

 

Mindie hurried back over to her and looked inside as well. “But there are still so many. Are there other librarians that help you manage High Tower?”

 

“Yes, there are other members of the faculty who take shifts from time to time, but…”

 

The former Superstar stepped back and stretched. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she slowly extended her arms out to either side of her, as if she were about to perform a ritual.

 

But juxtaposing her slow extension, she suddenly clapped her hands back together. She became a bright purple ball of light, and three other glowing effigies spawned around her.

 

Startled, Mindie reflexively went luminescent, expecting her professor to drag her into an impromptu duel. It was actually a ridiculous idea considering they weren’t anywhere near a practice room in the Lumisphere, but the last time a Superstar suddenly went luminescent on her was her mom. She didn’t need to remind herself how that turned out.

 

Fortunately, this wasn’t a duel. The perspective from her yellow eyes revealed each glowing form in finer detail. They were all clones of the professor. Each of them started zipping about, grabbing handfuls of books from the cart and finding gaps among the myriad of shelves.

 

The last book was placed. The cart was empty. And all four glowing effigies vanished—three of them completely. The last one simply shed its radiant aura as Sheila returned to normal. She placed a hand on the cart handle and heaved a deep sigh.

 

“Holy…” Mindie returned to the physical world, baffled by what she just saw. Then, she shook her head to clear it back into focus, a grin spreading across her face that was both amused and bewildered. “Isn’t that considered inappropriate use of luminescence? I mean, you went lumi to save Pike from that shelf, but doing it to organize the library seems kind of irresponsible for a Superstar.”

 

“Former Superstar.” Sheila shrugged.

 

Then she flashed a mischievous smirk, holding a finger up to her lips. “Don’t tell your mom.”