Zeph Malston: The Aether Mage

Zeph, Semara, Bianca, Ivy, and Lili were sitting in the limo on the way to school. Semara was stuck driving today, and Bianca was curled on one of the seats sleeping. That left Zeph sitting in the back with Ivy and Lili in an odd situation. Ivy had a blank look on her face like she was deep in thought, while Lili was trying to do something weird with a magic ball of frost in her hands.

It was strange, riding in silence, and Zeph was getting bored. Since Lili was concentrating so hard on her spell that she didn't even notice her eyebrows were scrunched up and her tongue was poking out, Zeph decided to talk to Ivy. He was thinking about bringing up her odd behavior yesterday anyway.

"Ivy….hey Ivy." He had to raise his voice to get her attention.

"Oh, sorry Zeph. I was just thinking about something," she said.

"Yeah, I could tell. Anyway, about yesterday," he saw her face turn red, "You were acting pretty odd. I just wanted to let you know that it was making me uncomfortable."

"You're right," Ivy looked down. "I'm sorry about how I acted yesterday. I lacked self-control, and I promise I'll be better in the future."

"Is there any reason you were acting so weird? I mean, I know you occasionally stare at me once in a while, but you've never been so… creepy about it before." Zeph asked.

"Well, it's hard to explain." Ivy paused for a while trying to think of an easy way to explain her family's condition.

"She's cursed to be obsessed and pervy," Lili said after sighing and dismissing the ball of snow floating in the air. Their talking was ruining her concentration so she quit trying to get her new spell to work.

"Lili!" Ivy screamed.

"What, it's true. Remember all those things your mom was talking about yesterday?"

"Hold up!" Zeph said before the two girls could start arguing. "What's this about a curse."

"Well…" Ivy started to explain the spell that affects her family to the best of her ability. Zeph listened and waited for her to finish, while Lili would interrupt every once in a while to give her opinion on how it was affecting her best friend. "So it makes me more honest with my feelings and encourages me to act on how I feel. That's why," she looked at Lili," It doesn't turn me into a perv."

"Aaaah," Lili nodded in understanding. "So that just means you're a perv naturally, and the curse keeps you from hiding it."

A loud snort was heard since Bianca couldn't hold her laughter in anymore. The fox girl rolled in her seat holding her stomach while. After a good minute, Bianca sat up and decided to join their conversation. "Yup, she's a perv just like her mom and her grandma."

"I am not! I just had a lapse in judgment yesterday. After Zeph pulled me into that hug, I had trouble keeping my feelings in check." Ivy shouted.

Zeph sent Bianca a glare. He blamed her for that little incident and had a plan to get her back already in the works.

"What, it's not my fault she can't control her hormones," Bianca said shamelessly.

"Great! Ivy said she's sorry for being a stalker, Zeph forgives her, we can move on from this uncomfortableness and you two can help me with my spell." Lili said, trying to take command of the situation.

"Just a minute there frosty, that's not all I want to talk about." Zeph looked at the two girls. "What is this I hear about Ivy calling dibs on me in school?"

Instead of Ivy or Lili, Bianca answered. "That was my idea."

"What?" Zeph asked.

"Well, we all knew you didn't want to be pestered by a bunch of girls. So I told Lili to spread the word that if any girl wanted to get to you, they'd have to go through her first. Since everyone could tell Lili has zero romantic interest in you, they assumed it was Ivy that asked her to do it." Bianca rubbed his shoulder. "There, feeling better?"

"Somewhat."

"I'm sorry Zeph, I'll get a better hold on myself. If I do anything that makes you uncomfortable just tell me," Ivy said as she remembered some of the embarrassing things her mother did because she couldn't keep her d.e.s.i.r.es in check. "I definitely don't want to end up like my mom," she muttered.

Zeph saw how down the half-elf seemed. "Alright, I can see you really mean it. So I'll forgive you. But if you do something I don't like, I'm blasting you with cold water," he said half-jokingly.

"Yay!" Lili shouted in mock excitement. "Now help me with this spell." She created a smooth orb of frost in the air.

"Okay, but why are you trying to rush a new spell this early in the morning?" Zeph asked while he was studying Lili's spell.

"Last week, Rebecca challenged me to a cooking contest. The winner is going to be decided at lunch. Since I can't cook to save my life, I've decided to use magic."

"That sounds interesting," Zeph said.

They discussed Lili's spell for the rest of the ride to school and continued while making their way towards the classroom. Their group of friends already had three seats saved for them. After he sat down, Zeph heard a few people talk about Ashley's absence. There were a few kids trying to get the information out of Jasper, but he wasn't giving them anything. When he saw Zeph, he just gave him a nod.

Drew, always the observant one of the group, noticed the small interaction. "I guess that means you know something about what's going on with Ashley?" he asked Zeph.

"Yeah, I'm sure everyone's heard about what happened to her," Zeph said.

"The news just said that there was some kind of accident at her home." Drew told him.

"That's right. Since she can't stay at her place anymore, Grandpa is letting her stay with us for now. Sorry, I can't really say more about it." Zeph apologized.

"That's fine," Stacy said. "Are you guys ready for lunch?" she said changing the topic.

"I'm ready to win," Rebecca said haughtily.

"We'll see about that," Lili rebutted.

As the children continued to talk, Ms. Davis walked into her noisy classroom. Instead of yelling for the children to calm down or slam her desk to get their attention, she waved her hand forward while squeezing her thumb and forefinger together. Instantly, the noise stopped. "Thank you silence spell," she said to herself.

______________________

When lunch came around, Rebecca and Lili separated from the group and told them to have a seat. Everyone else sat in a row in so they can judge the culinary concoction that the two competitive girls created. Zeph was sitting next to James and decided to see if the redhead was doing okay.

"What's the matter, James? You've been acting out of it all day," the young lord asked.

It took James a moment to respond. "It's nothing to worry about Zeph. Just some family stuff." Then the boy went back to thinking and staring at the wall.

'Must be important if he forgot to call me Malston, like usual.' Zeph was about to ask James another question but was interrupted by a covered plate being placed in front of him. Rebecca was handing out her dish for them to judge.

"Alright everybody, take off the cover and feast your eyes on my masterpiece," Rebecca said.

When Zeph lifted the cover, he saw a well-designed sandwich. It was an immaculate white square of white bread with no crust. The center was made of layers of vegetables meat and cheese. Vivid green and red from the lettuce and tomato were offset by the softer colors of the meat and cheese. It was a simple clean looking dish. In fact, Zeph was surprised that Rebecca could make a sandwich look as high class as she could.

"All that bragging and you made a sandwich?" Drew said in disappointment.

"What, I'm cooking against Lili. I could have given you guys a cracker and still win." Rebecca joked.

"That's pretty mean Becks," Stacy said. Though she did have to admit that it might be true.

"Don't care. Hungry," Brent said as he picked up the sandwich and took a bite. Everyone else followed his lead and started eating.

Rebecca smiled as she watched everyone eat it. "So what do you guys think? Good, right?"

"Uhm, yeah," Brent said as he finished eating.

"Good job Becks," Stacy gave her a thumbs up. Rebecca didn't notice how forced her smile looked.

Zeph chewed that last bit slowly before swallowing. "Yeah, that's definitely… a sandwich alright." He said awkwardly.

"It's good right. The vegetables were fresh and everything. I helped my mom pick them this morning." Rebecca said proudly.

"Well that explains why I tasted dirt," Drew whispered.

"What was that?" Rebecca tilted her head.

"Nothing, just talking about how tasty it was," Drew answered, trying to cover up what he said. Rebecca smiled at him.

Lili put several empty bowls out in front of everyone with some spoons. "Okay, are you guys ready for some dessert?"

"Uhm… Lil, you know these are empty right?" Stacy asked innocently.

"Just watch and be amazed," Lili said while pointing her hand at the bowls and created a magic circle. Everyone watched as the bowls were filled with a familiar desert.

"Is this what I think it is?" Drew asked.

Brent brought a spoonful to his mouth. "Mmm. That's ice cream."

"Wait seriously?" Rebecca looked at the bowls in surprise.

"Yeah, it's pretty good too," Zeph said while he ate some.

There wasn't much talking after that as everyone decided to finish off their food. Things weren't looking good for Rebecca. She could see that everyone was obviously enjoying themselves. Lili had a smug look on her face as she was confident in her victory. The two competitors watched as their friends and judges whispered to each other. After a bit of deliberation, they had an announcement.

"Why do I have to do this," Zeph said while he stood up.

"Cuz you're the lord, duh," Drew answered.

"Fine." Zeph looked at Rebecca and Lili. "After discussing the two dishes. We have come to a conclusion. Lili, the ice-cream you created was very tasty and surprisingly smooth. The fact that you made it with magic was very impressive." Lili's smile grew wider. "Rebecca, your sandwich was elegant and well crafted. However, you forgot to wash the fresh vegetables. This lowered the quality of the dish and there was the distinct taste of dirt in the sandwich." Rebecca's eyes widened in relative horror. She just made her friends eat dirt. "Since this was established as a cooking contest, the winner is…" Lili was ready to jump for joy. Zeph finished his sentence. "Rebecca!"

"What!" both girls shouted.

"Rebecca wins," Zeph repeated.

"Why?" Lili complained.

"Easy, you didn't cook. You used magic," Zeph said while smiling innocently at Lili.

"But she didn't either. She just made a sandwich." Lili complained.

"Not true. If you take a look at the meat she used, you would see that it is in fact grilled chicken. That means Rebecca cooked." Drew explained.

"Nooo.!" Lili fell on her knees.

"Yes!" Rebecca yelled and fist pumped.