Henry looked towards the teacher, quite dumbfounded.
"This guy's an asshole." A smile crept along Henry's face; a teacher similar to him was like a match made in heaven. He might have some good odds of surviving the second trial after all.
Kleo had an angry look on her face.
"Imagine we are all geniuses. How do we survive?"
The teacher cleaned the whiteboard while contemplating.
"Let me describe this in basic terms for you. If you're a genius, you have to adapt."
Mr. Wilson began drawing on the whiteboard.
"When you are in Rylah, you need to focus on your and your team's survival. I say team because survival in Rylah is impossible without others. All you need to do to survive in Rylah is know how to use your abilities and know how to find food. If you've got that, you can survive."
There was only one thing Henry needed to know.
"How do we know how to use our abilities?"
Kleo and Edith turned, looking at him, now realizing it was indeed Henry in the back of their class.
Mr. Wilson sighed.
"I'm not teaching you." He sat down, putting a textbook on his head to block out the light.
"But then how will we know how to use them?" Kleo nervously asked, realizing that their teacher was still an anti-teaching teacher.
The teacher spoke through the book.
"I don't know. Just focus, mess around, mess up. That'll probably work. Now don't bother me."
***
The "class" finished, and everyone made their way out. Henry made his way to the lunch hall for dinner.
Henry entered the hall, finding it bustling with people. Some sort of event was being spoken of; Henry kept hearing whispers of "I wonder what rank I'll be." He grabbed his dinner and sat in his usual location. Though it was pretty barren, he saw quite a few people looking at him, making gross and mean faces.
'What did I even do? It's been two days. I'm surely not that evil.'
Henry contemplated while eating his food. A voice came over the intercom.
"Hello, students! This is your headmaster speaking. As many of you know, today the rankings are being made public!"
The hall erupted into cheers. Everyone was quite excited by this.
A large screen turned on in the middle of the hall, showcasing all students in placement of power. At number one was Aaron... and at the bottom was Henry.
"What!" Henry was off-put. Why was he at the bottom? Though those thoughts were changed when he remembered his answers when being questioned about his Veil.
'Well... yeah, that makes sense.'
Henry went back to eating his food, well-tuning out the useless gossip around him.
***
After dinner, Henry made his way back to his room, sitting at his desk to examine the Fool's Watch with more care this time.
Looking over the watch, Henry's suspicions were confirmed: the watch was indeed Ryan's. The only question now was how his sister had it. Mementos usually have some sort of capabilities, but it seemed this one didn't. Henry put the watch on his wrist, and it tightened perfectly around his wrist without any input from him.
'Neat.'
Henry fiddled with the watch, coming to the understanding that besides its self-tightening capabilities, it was just a normal watch. Though it seemed to be broken, the time stayed on what Henry presumed was the time Ryan had died. A morbid thought, but knowing cruel fate, it was most likely the truth.
Henry summoned the Nedal; a fog engulfed his entire body as he sat there. Henry was able to see perfectly through the fog, though it made things a bit cloudy at a distance. Attempting to control the fog, Henry was able to make a small amount of it move towards his desk. Attempting to condense the fog into a ball, Henry found something that defied all logic. The condensed fog was able to physically interact with the objects on the table. First, he knocked over a few pens, then he hit the table, which caused it to make a small cracking noise.
'Interesting, maybe I could use this as some sort of weapon.'
Henry attempted to pile up more fog in one area, causing a tense pressure to build up in his head.
"Just… a little more." Henry concentrated before all the fog disappeared.
Henry sighed before feeling something warm on his face. Going to the bathroom mirror, Henry saw that his nose was dripping blood.
"Shit." Quickly, he cleaned it up, but that was bad. It seems that if he overstrains himself, he could sustain injury. Best not to do that anymore.
Henry made his way to bed, lying down to sleep. As he stared at the ceiling, he thought of all the unanswered questions he had.
Before Henry knew it, he had been at the academy for three weeks and was now coming up on when the second trial would begin.
Opening his eyes, Henry got up and began his morning routine. In his foster home, he had been unable to come to a solid routine with people stealing his stuff and him having to move rooms, but it felt nice at the academy. He woke up at the same time, went to bed around the same time, and did things all when he had the right time. It was a Thursday, the day before he and all the other students would enter the trial.
Washing his face, Henry looked closely in the mirror.
'Dang, I'm starting to look pretty good. Hope I don't die tomorrow.'
After getting dressed, Henry made his way to the lunchroom. He was ready to eat as much as possible, just in case he didn't get food in the trial.
Henry sat in his usual spot, which had become a synchronized peace with Edith. They hadn't spoken since their trial conversation weeks prior, but their silence was a type of peace for both of them.
Taking a bite out of a large sandwich, Henry was interrupted by a surprising voice.
"Henry, can I ask you something?" It was Edith. It was as if Henry was jinxed by thinking about them not talking.
Henry quickly swallowed his food, almost choking.
"Yeah."
"Do you think anyone will team with me if they find me in the trial?"
Henry thought about it for a second.
"Probably. Who knows, though." After this, Henry went back to eating, and Edith kept her head down.