Chapter 5

I can never, ever, ever let anyone learn this.

Catra’s icy thought rushed through her brain faster than she could process it – a momentary flicker of paranoia making her glance over her shoulder, nervously. Fortunately, for once in her life as the Golden Guard, her underlings were following her instructions ... even if it was somewhat unexpected in the case of Scorpia and Entrapta. Those two were doing their job, leaving her unobserved...

Leaving her secret...

Safe.

“And then when Prince Glitterding burst through the painting with a sword!” Catra whispered. “And Hectae drops the ‘forsooth, he doth lived!’ line?”

“It was so cool!” Amity Blight squealed, her purple eyes glittering as the two girls walked together past the lockers of Hexside. “Did you catch the lead up to it, it’s so subtle.”

“Lead up?” Catra asked, her brows twitching up.

“Yeah, when Prince Glitterding’s ‘body’,” Amity said, twitching her free fingers, her other arm looped around the book-stack she was holding to her chest. “Falls onto the dust, the description says that it leaves no mark. Because-”

“Because it’s an illusion, duh!” Catra gasped. “I read that book thirty times, I just got that!”

Amity giggled. “I caught that, first pass, I called it, I called it.”

“Wow,” Catra whispered.

“You know, I’ve never met anyone whose even heard of the Azura books, Elisabeth,” Amity said, smiling shyly.

Catra blushed and brushed some of her brown hair behind one of her ears – adjusting her fake glasses with the same gesture. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Amity’s cheeks were beginning to practically glow pink. Catra ducked her head forward, hiding her ruthless grin. Got her, she thought. Then her ears twitched. She could hear smug voices and laughter coming up behind her. She turned a bit and peered over her shoulder – and saw that a triclops that might as well have ‘queen of school’ printed on her forehead. Save, well. She had an eye there.

“Amity, what are you doing hanging with this dork?” The triclops said, sneering. Catra flicked through her memory and slotted name to face: Boscha. That was who Amity had called her. Catra had seen notes on her in one of the dozens of reports and files that she had snoozed through in her role as the Golden Guard, and not a single one of them sprang to her mind now. She supposed she’d have to wing it.

Amity pursed her lips. “Elizabeth here is a new student. I’m just showing her around, Boscha,” she said.

“Y-Yeah,” Catra said, shrinking slightly and shifting behind Amity, peeking over her shoulder. It felt strangely familiar to do that. She gulped and tightened her grip on her schoolbooks as Boscha sneered and shook her head.

“Just leave her to the losers like Bow or Glimmer,” Boscha said. “She’s a cat-demon, you know what they’re like.”

The other girls surrounding Boscha giggled.

Catra felt her claws snick into the book. Cardboard and paper curled under razor sharp edges as her knuckles suddenly whitened. She felt short of breath. Sick, even. She gulped. What is happening to me? She thought, her breath coming short and quick. Boscha stepped closer, and Catra heard her voice echoing from a distance.

“They’re all...”

Black and white. The memory was in black and white. The painful sparking. The stern voice. Now, Miss Weaver, we’re just trying to help you. She closed her eyes.

“ ... just basically one step away from being wild witches, everyone says it,” Boscha’s voice – not following the expected pattern, snapped Catra back to the present. Her skin prickled with sweat and she wheezed softly, remaining behind Amity and ducking her head forward. She breathed in and held it, trying to keep herself from collapsing.

They’re not like that here, she thought. They’re not like that here. They’re not like that here.

She breathed out, feeling her claws relax from the book, while Amity said, her voice icy cold. “Like Eberwolf? A coven head? Hm. Interesting supposition, do you want to maybe stop talking out of your backside and let me finish hanging out with Elizabeth here?”

The rest of the girls oohed, softly, while Amity blinked – a faint shocked expression flickering over her face, as if she hadn’t expected herself to say that. Catra’s mind worked quick. She put her hand on Amity’s shoulder, carefully making sure her claws were firmly retracted. “H-Hey, it’s okay, we can just go,” she whispered, trying to put just the right level of aww please protect me patheticness in her voice. Amity frowned and squared her shoulders, while Boscha shook her head, her scowl growing fiercer.

“Amity, I think you forget whose on top around here,” Boscha said. “Who here is the captain of the grudgby team? Who is it who doesn’t get to play at all anymore? Oh, right!” She said. “I can push around anyone I want.”

“There’s more to life than grudgby,” Amity said, frowning.

“No there isn’t,” Boscha said, then grinned. A wicked idea clearly flickered through her eyes as she smirked wider. “See you two at P.E.”

She stalked off, her girls following after her, giggling and whispering to one another. Catra’s ears twitched as she hastily hid her school book so that Adora didn’t see her markings on it. Amity shook her head a bit, then turned to face her. “Sorry about that. Boscha thinks the whole world revolves around her.”

Catra smiled, shyly. “A bit like, uh, Hectae’s evil twin, huh?”

“Totally,” Amity said, smiling. “Besides, P.E this week’s just cardio, it’s not like she can do anything to us in Cardio.”

Catra nodded – though she was already fairly sure she knew wha-

Adora. You called Amity ... Adora ... in your head.

She blinked at the thought.

“Are you okay?” Amity asked.

“Y-Yeah. Fine. Sorry. Just.” Catra flushed. “Bullies are ... are kinda scary.”

“Don’t worry,” Amity said, smiling slightly. “I’m not about to let the first member of, uh, uh ... the ... the ... Azura Book Club, get, uh, bullied! Out! OF school! The club that exists, right now! I decided!” She blushed, harder. “Lets get to class!”

“For P.E today, I’ve decided we’re going to ... shake things up!” The P.E teacher, a big burly looking demon with a cheerful demeanor and a grudgby ball between his meaty palms. “How about some amateur grudgby, everyone?”

Called it. Catra thought, while Amity glowered at Boscha, who stuck her tongue out at her. Then Catra spotted someone in the far end of the crowd of students.

A shock of blond hair.

Pointed ears.

Adora. She frowned, hard, while Boscha stuck her hand into the air. “I volunteer to lead one of the teams!” she said, immediately.

“Very good,” the P.E teacher said. “Who wants to captain the other team?”

“I guess I’ll do it,” Amity said, squaring her shoulders and stepping forward. She bit her lip, while the P.E teacher had her flip a coin and catching it from the air. She slapped her palm down and both her and Boscha leaned over.

“Snails,” the teacher said, nodding. “You pick first, Boscha.”

Boscha grinned, then pointed out one of her fellow grudgby bests. Amity bit her lip, then pointed at Adora. “Uh, you, new girl.”

“M-Me? I ... uh, sure! I’ve, uh, played ... sport! Before!” Adora said, looking like she was stepping out into traffic. She glanced at her ... her two ... Catra’s eyes narrowed. That was Bow Porter, and that glittery hair had to be Glimmer Park. Glimmer Park had a lot written about her in the documents – none of it conclusive. If it had been conclusive, then her entire family would be in the Conformatorium right now. And seeing them standing around Adora ... seeing the way Adora glanced at them, the way Bow gave her a thumbs up.

So, she’s picked friends, already, huh? Catra thought. Her eyes flashed and she tightened her grip behind her back. Well, I have a new friend too. And-

“Elizabeth?”

She jerked her head around, noticing that Boscha had picked another – and Amity was pointing at her.

Catra brushed her hand through her hair, trying to look demure and innocent. She walked forward, while Adora scowled. “Hey, Elizabeth,” she said, stressing the name, hard. “Have you ever played, uh, grudgles before?”

“N-No,” Catra said, meekly. “B-But I have w-watched a lot.”

Amity, glancing between the two of them, frowned and whispered. “Do you two know each other?”

“N-No, we’re just new students, and ... did I do something t-to make you mad?” Catra asked.

Adora blinked. “I- no! I ... just ... uh...” She stammered, looking guilty – which made Amity look at her suspiciously, frowning intently.

The P.E teacher coughed. “Blight. Pick your next player.”

The picks went off – with Bow and Glimmer being drafted to Amity’s side while the rest of the class ended up on Boscha’s. The two teams were given the field and Amity gestured everyone in, whispering softly. “All right, what’s your spell specializations?” she asked, firmly.

“Portals,” Glimmer said, nodding.

“Good, we can use your for logistics and flanking,” Amity said. “Elizabeth?”

“I-I can cast a lot of anything, but, um, I have to d-do it a special way,” Catra said, gulping.

“What kind of special way, Cat-” Adora caught herself. “Elizabeth.”

Amity’s expression grew even more icy. Inside, Catra wanted to purr. Instead, she tried to look as icy, blank faced, and struggling to control her emotions as she could. “W-Well, if you have to know, I’m n-not a ... I’m a magicless demon. I have to cast using special glyphs and runes. I-It takes a bit of extra effort, but I s-swear it’s good.”

“Uh-huh,” Adora said, her voice suspicious.

“Stop badgering our transfer student, Adora,” Amity said.

“I’m not badgering!” Adora said, sounding surprised. “J-Just ... there...” She looked torn between wanting to say three things at once – and Amity ran right over her, pointing at Bow.

“Illusions, right?”

“And archery!” Bow said.

“How can archery be any use in a grudgby match?” Amity whispered.

Bow grinned at her. “You’d be surprised!”

“All right. Glimmer, you move Elizabeth out of danger. Bow and I will spoil any attacks with abominations and archery. Adora ... you seem like a tough girl. Can you get the ball through the hoop as many times as possible?BAmity asked.

“Can do,” Adora said, nodding. Amity frowned at her, then nodded. “All right. Break!”

The team shuffled back, then got into positions. Catra drew some runeing paper and a stylus from her belt. She had to play this very carefully. The ball was knocked into the air by a blast of fire, Adora yelping and jerking backwards in shock. As the ball arced through the air, two players from Boscha’s team rushed left, already casting spell circles. Plants exploded from the ground, thorns trying to wrap around Glimmer and Amity and yank them out of the way. Glimmer vanished with a spray of sparkles as Bow’s bow snapped into existence with a poof of illusory magic. He knocked and fired an arrow – and to Catra’s shock, the ball was knocked off course, then landed before her.

“How!?” She squeaked, her glasses almost falling off.

Bow, grinning, rushed past her and then waved his hand – and six Catras and twelve balls, each of them running in different directions, appeared at once.

“The illusion was that I wasn’t armed!” he said, cheerfully.

“Park! Did you bring a bow and trick arrows to school again!?” The P.E teacher shouted from the sidelines. Catra shook her head and saw plant vines whipping out, cracking into the air again and again with a series of loud snaps. Each snap caused one of her illusions – even the one that was balancing a ball on her head and bouncing up and down happily – to puff into smoke. She started to run forward, then slammed her glyph onto the ground. Ice hissed into existance as she hopped onto it, skidding around two of the players – only for Boscha to start hurling fireballs at her.

Then Adora sprang up and punched Boscha in the jaw.

Boscha staggered and rubbed at her mouth. “Ow!” She exclaimed, while a whistle blew fiercely, the P.E teacher bellowing.

“Foul! Unlawful physical contact!” he shouted, then pointed his finger at Adora. “I don’t know how you do things in the Pits, but here, we don’t mix martial and arcane classes! Five point penalty for Amity’s team.

“B-But ... she ... throwing fireballs!” Adora said, sounding like she was a kitten who had been bapped on the nose. Boscha glared at her as the team started to reset. Bow and Glimmer were looking concerned, whispering to one another, but Amity’s expression was pure ice. Catra walked in close – her head ducked forward ... and whispered, so softly that she was pretty sure only Adora could hear her.

“Hey Adora,” she purred. “Having fun yet?”

“I’m going to expose you,” Adora hissed.

Catra flinched away from her, then ran back to the team – and left Adora blinking and looking even more lost.

The rest of the game didn’t provide any further chances to humiliate Adora or make her look like a bully. Boscha, true to her word, was a goddess on the court. In a different circumstance, Catra would have already been trying to work out how to get her into the Emperor’s Coven. But even she wasn’t exactly able to plan ahead when it took every bit of her concentration to avoid being both flattened and revealed. She had to dodge, but only just barely, each time. She had to help the team win – but not so much so that people would notice her skill. And she had to fumble and use only simple glyphs, or else people might wonder.

In the end, she felt more worn out than she would have, had she been actually trying to kill someone.

Boscha’s team still won thirty to two.

“You were saying, about grudgby not being everything?” Boscha said, sneering at Amity as Amity’s team stood, splattered in mud and muck, with Glimmer nursing a burned arm, and Bow wincing as he stood on his jarred ankle. “Hmm?”

“School’s rules, you lost at grudgby, you gotta own up,” the P.E teacher said, cheerfully.

“Fine. Sorry,” Amity said, woodenly.

“There we go,” Boscha said, her voice dripping with smugness, while the teacher shook his head, then waved his hand.

“Go on, hit the showers, kids,” he said, casually.

They started to amble off, Bow wincing with every step. “Well,” he said, grinning. “That was pretty fun. Uh, you did a great job for a first timer, Elizabeth.”

“T-Thanks,” Catra said. Then Bow’s eyes widened. She flicked her gaze, following the line of his sight – and saw that her shirt had ridden up along one of her sleeves, revealing the faint edge of the Emperor’s Coven symbol she had inscribed in her arm. She yanked her sleeve down subtly, but it was too late. Bow was looking over from her to Adora, and then back to her again. But by then, they had reached the showers and Catra scratched her claw gently along her finger. She didn’t need to draw blood – just leave a little white mark. The mini-invisibility glyph flashed unnoticed under her hand and when she removed it, the symbol was gone. She sighed, as Amity walked into the girl’s shower.

“See you, uh, later!” Adora said. “Just ... gonna go into a ... a ... public showers. With girls. And C- Elizabeth.” Her face was turning red. Bow headed off to the boy’s showers, while Glimmer walked in ahead of Adora – and gave Catra a chance to smirk at her.

“What’s the matter, Adora?” she crooned softly. “I remember in camp, you said you weren’t gay.” She turned to face her. Her voice was soft. “Know what they did to me?”

“I-I...” Adora gulped, then flinched as Catra glared at her.

“They don’t Taze twelve year olds because they like girls in this world,” Catra hissed, her eyes narrowing.

“Did you think I wanted that to happen to you!?” Adora whispered back, putting her hand on her chest. “Kat ... Kat I ... I wanted to protect you.”

“And yet, somehow, you never did,” Catra said, her voice colder than icewater. She didn’t quite look into Adora’s eyes. She looked, instead, at her throat – at the sleek connection between shoulder and head. The visceral sense memory of hazy fantasies flashed into her mind. Despite never having doing it, she could remember the feeling of pressing her lips to that throat. She snapped her glare up. “And now that I don’t need you, you finally show up.” She snorted. “How pathetic are you, Adora?”

Adora didn’t have an answer. She just watched as Catra turned and walked into the showers.

The warmth of the air hit her face like a comforting caress and she glanced around at the stalls. She shivered from her head to her toes as she saw Amity Blight’s pale body in one, her back to her, her hair already slicked down. The Boiling Isles’ relaxed attitude towards homosexuality was only matched by their utter lack of puritanism around sex – and never before had Catra so appreciated it. She licked her lips slowly and the urge to slip up and offer Amity a back-rub was ... was...

Can Elizabeth Meow Meow Applesauce get away with that? She thought.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Adora walking into the room, her face wooden. Adora was barely seeing anything, or else she’d have probably had her head explode. Or, maybe...