Cost of Graduation

Cost of GraduationRyan S

00:00 / 06:32

“Right, this is what we’re doing,” Erin said.

Erin, Owen, and Sean stood at the edge of the grove beside the Guardian Hedge. Its eyes and

tentacle twigs swayed, searching for troublemakers. At the center of the grove sat a mound that

had once been treated as holy by their people. But now it was used by the English to oppress.

The teenagers were equipped with the standard level-zero setup: two legs, two arms, red hair,

and no abilities at all.

If they became Graduates, they would become fairy-altered super humans, FASH for short, a

ranking system the English used to measure power that ranged from 0 to 10. All the teachers

were at the very least level 2 FASHs. Even the Guardian Shrub was a level 3 FASH, and none

of the students would dare mess with her.

Erin snapped her normal fingers in front of Sean’s face. “Hello, are you listening? We are

running out of time.”

“She’s looking at us again,” Sean said.

“She has thousands of eyes. Of course she’s looking at us,” Erin said. “She’s looking at

everything.”

Sean mumbled, “I wouldn’t say no to a thousand eyes. Makes me jealous, thinking of all the

procedures they did for her to be that strong."

“Just listen for a second,” Erin said, stomping her bare foot on the grassy ground.

Owen nodded. He was impressed. He could almost feel her stomp through the ground.

“What’s the plan, oh great master strategist Erin?”

Erin rolled her eyes. “My mother knows a guy.”

“Oh, she knows a guy, wink-wink. Fair play to her,” Owen teased.

“He’s a bit weird,” Erin said. “He’s feeding high-level FASH blood to a pet plant that he owns.

Bottom line, he gave me something to make us look like someone the Fairies would want to

give high levels to.”

“So we’ll be passing for English, then?” Owen said.

“Aye.”

“I don’t know about that,” Owen said.“My mom says blood techs are evil,” Sean said.

“Right, well your mom is a level 1 FASH that cleans English homes all day. We want to be more,

don’t we?”

“Suppose so.”

“Right.”

Erin held out her hand with three red beans in her palm. “He said it will hurt. So we need to

swallow them somewhere private.”

Owen laughed. “Joke's on him. Redheads don’t feel pain.”

Sean glanced back at the Guardian Shrub, surprised to see she had shifted to glare at other

conversations. “There aren’t many private places here,” he said.

“Do we have time? Graduation’s in a few hours,” Owen asked as he took one bean from her

open hand.

“I don’t know,” she said. “But we are out of options.”

They all agreed, and Sean took his from her hand.

They walked toward the compost area. Each went to a pile that was rarely used due to the

larger-than-average insect population working over the waste in that section. One by one, they

swallowed their beans.

After a moment of nothing, pain shot through the students as the beans sprouted and tendrils

wiggled through their stomach and intestines, causing them to drop to the ground and press

their knees to their chests.They felt their spines crack, their intestines reshaped by the tendrils.

After what seemed like an eternity, they pulled themselves up, dazed and shaking.

Carefully walking around the compost area, Erin saw the other students already lining up, so

they rushed to get in line. The whole time she felt like everything inside her was in the wrong

place, and somehow her organs felt weaker.

In front of them, waiting at the top of the mound was one of the Fair Folk. A male, tall, slender,

with pale skin, wrapped in a cloak of raven feathers.

As the students approached, he stuck out his fist with his thumb pointed to the left, without

ceremony or a word. The girl at the front of the line understood and silently walked to the left.This part of the graduation ceremony was considered pointless by most. Everyone was always

told to go left.

Student after student was sorted and told to line up on the left of the gaunt Fairy. Then Erin

stepped forward, trying to hide the shaking in her hands, and his fist quickly flipped to the right,

to everyone’s surprise.

Trying not to celebrate, Erin moved to the right, standing alone for the moment. When it was

Owen’s turn, he passed through to stand next to her.

This might actually work, Erin thought.

Finally, it was Sean’s turn. The only thing that moved was the fairy’s head, which tilted to the

side. His clawed thumb stayed pointed left. Sean looked confused and visibly sweaty before

finally stepping to join the crowd on the left.

After the last student was sorted, the fairy walked away mumbling, “better stock.”

After a few moments, two teachers approached the groups and led them in opposite directions.

“Well, you two are something surprising,” she said to Owen and Erin.

“Why?” Owen asked.

“Well, normally no one from… here… has the proper structure for decent upgrades. Your

mothers must have enjoyed their grafting a little too much.”

Owen clenched his fists, and Erin shot him a look.

“Bioroom one. Try not to make a mess,” she said as she walked away.

Without another thought, the two teenagers, with giant smiles on their faces, walked into the

dimly lit, dirty room. Along the walls were body parts of all kinds, in various colors, sizes, and

giant glass jars filled with wriggling things. In the center stood a wooden table that they were

meant to lie on. Beside it sat a table full of tools, saws, knives, and needles. Nearby were three

Fairies wearing black feathered clothing, each smiling ear-to-ear, watching them like a cat

watches a mouse. One mumbled, “Long femurs-s-s.”

Erin had finally made it. She was finally going to become an FASH. But part of her mind

wondered about what might be wiggling in the jars.