Jason Graves; Warlock's Apprentice Ch. 1

This is the transcript from an episode of my Podcast, From the Mind of Maro. I'm a huge Harry Potter fan but sometimes I wonder what if the series had an overall more mature tone and theme to it. That's basically how this story came to be. If you enjoy this story and want more, feel free to check out my podcast itself on Spotify, Itunes, Iheart and Spreaker.


Chapter 1: The Inferno


Dante Alighieri wrote in his “The Divine Comedy” that there were nine levels of Hell, each one containing a different punishment for a different sin. If that’s the case, he must have forgotten to write about the secret tenth level; high school. These thoughts passed through the mind of Jason Graves at least once every school day for the last five months, since he began his freshman year at Mason Junior High.

As he sat alone at his lunch table, picking at the pitiful excuse for what passed as a meal at this school with his fork, he dreaded the remaining classes he still had to suffer through for the rest of the day. Mostly because of whom he shared said classes with. He knew that every school across the globe had its share of students that only seemed to live to make everybody else miserable, but there was no way they could possibly be worse than the ones at Mason.

It wasn’t bad enough apparently that he was a freshman, which of course, automatically put a target on his back for the older students to harass him for that simple fact alone. But even a good chunk of the other students in his own grade gave him hell on a daily basis. Exactly why, he couldn’t say. Maybe it was because he was the kind of kid who preferred to keep to himself rather than socialize. It might have been his appearance, with his pale skin, slick, greasy hair and somewhat slouching posture, with thin, lanky arms and legs.

Or, and in Jason’s mind this was the most likely reason of all, they were simply just born to be bullies. That was certainly how it seemed, with their propensity for sports and inability to solve even the simplest of problems without resorting to violence. Need your homework done by tomorrow? No problem! Just threaten one of the other students who have more than two functioning brain cells to do it for you!

That was just how things worked in the world. Jason had learned that lesson long ago. To paraphrase an old cliche, you were either a sheep, or a wolf. And Jason felt like he was the only sheep stuck in a pen filled with wolves. Which was why he laughed internally whenever he heard or saw someone talking about these so-called “Stop Bullying " campaigns that all these schools were supposedly enforcing.

If that wasn’t the biggest joke of the millennium, he didn’t know what was. The fact of the matter is, no matter what the faculty of any school may try, they just can’t stop bullying as a whole. For one simple reason: most people are just inherently cruel. Jason had never done anything to provoke any of his tormentors, and yet they still seemed to make it their life’s mission to try and see which one of them can drive him to suicide first.

Besides, if they actually wanted to do anything about bullying, they wouldn’t punish the victim of said bullies for fighting back and then let the actual perpetrators off with a slap on the wrist, if they were even punished at all. Suddenly, Jason was snapped out of his line of thought as he felt something cold, wet and sticky being dumped onto his head and running down his face onto his tray.

“You looked thirsty, so I thought I’d give you a drink!” Came the voice of perhaps the worst out of all the school’s bullies that had made Jason their prime target, Ethan Jones. He wasn’t a particularly large or intimidating guy, but what he lacked in appearance, he more than made up for in malice and cruelty when it came to his pranks and insults. As far as the pranks were concerned, nobody could definitively prove he was responsible, but everybody knew it was him. The sheer sadism of his pranks was legendary. Not even the teachers were safe from his infamously sick sense of humor. Such as the time he and some of his cronies had dumped dog diarrhea into Ms. Thatcher’s car. Even to this day, she still hadn’t completely gotten the smell out of the upholstery.

Or worst of all, there had been the previous year at the middle school spring fling dance. Ethan and his friends had taken a page straight from the novel “Carrie”, and rigged the votes for their target, poor Jennifer Quinn, to win the contest for the title of Queen of Spring. But when their victim stepped up on the stage, she suddenly found herself drenched in skunk oil from above. Nobody ever figured out how they managed to get enough of the substance to fill a bucket, or prove they were the ones behind it, as usual.

For weeks afterwards, Jennifer reeked so bad that she couldn’t even attend school due to no one being able to even be in the same room as her because of the stench. Her family moved out of town to a different school district not long afterwards. Some say the stories of what happened at the dance followed her to her new school, and she had quit all together from the mockery and humiliation. Others say she hung herself to escape the endless ridicule. Neither story was ever confirmed or denied, but the story of The Stink Queen persisted for many years afterwards among the students of Mason High.

Jason, despite wanting nothing more than to put his fist through Ethan’s face at that very moment, simply stood and and moved his tray and belongings to a vacant table at the other end of the cafeteria as Ethan’s posse of lackeys laughed, along with some of the other students.

He knew there would be no point in retaliating. Then he would be the one who got in more trouble, while Ethan would likely just get detention, which he ended up in every week anyway, and did absolutely nothing to get him to stop being the giant douche-nugget that he was to Jason and anyone else he deemed a target for his abuse.

Wiping off what he could of the soda that Ethan had poured on him with some napkins, Jason took one last look at his meal, seeing it had now become soggy and sticky from the spilled soda, and deciding he wasn’t really going to eat it anyway, he dumped the remains of his lunch in the trash before returning to his spot and pulling out a book from his backpack. He tried to focus on reading for the rest of the period, doing his best to ignore the snickering and gossiping of the other students at the scene that had just transpired.

After lunch came gym class. Because it wasn’t enough to be tortured mentally on a daily basis, once a week they were subjected to physical torment as well. When the coach announced they would be playing dodge ball, Jason actually felt a minuscule amount of relief. Dodge ball was one of the very few physical activities he actually excelled at.

Not the throwing and hitting other players part, of course. Every time he tried that; they would always catch it without fail. But despite appearances, Jason was very quick and nimble, with excellent reflexes. The upside of this was it made him very hard to hit at sports such as dodge ball. The downside was, it made the other students all the more determined to actually hit him.

So every chance they got, they would bombard him with ball after ball, forcing Jason to be on constant alert. Like an action movie hero dodging bullets, dodge balls whizzed by him as though in slow motion. With just a step here, or an adjustment in positioning there, he avoided them all with uncharacteristic ease and grace, almost like an elaborate dance. It eventually came down to where Jason was the only remaining member of his team still standing, whereas three were left on the opposing side, one of them being Ethan, of course. There was about ten seconds left until the end of class, so Ethan and his teammates took aim as though they were a firing squad and launched their rubber-coated projectiles towards Jason simultaneously.

In under a blink, Jason saw a sort of gap between the incoming missiles and twisted his body in such a way that they flew right past him, his torso and limbs matching the gap perfectly. A shrill whistle echoed through the gymnasium. “Alright, class dismissed!” Said Coach Higgins, and everyone began to trek single file to the locker rooms.
As he changed out of his gym clothes, Jason was approached by Ethan. “Pretty fancy moves out there, Graves. I guess those ballet lessons are really paying off!” That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Jason whipped around to face Ethan and said, “Hey Ethan, did you ever blow bubbles when you were a kid?”

Ethan, expecting a much different response, just looked confused. Hesitantly, he asked “Why?” Jason couldn’t help but smile. Ethan fell for his trap, hook, line and sinker. Now he just had to go in for the proverbial kill. “Because he’s back in town and he wants your number!”

At this, the entire locker room burst into hysterical laughter. For a brief moment, Jason felt a wave of euphoria and triumph flood throughout his body. He successfully humiliated his arch enemy in front of the whole class! But, of course, as with any good moment in life, it didn’t last for long.

Ethan, recovering from the shock of his target actually having a snappy comeback to his insult, said “I bet you’re not so brave when you’re not in school, are you, Graves?” Jason’s joy immediately receded. He knew what was coming. “We’ll settle this behind the liquor store at five. Be there, if you got the stones. And bring a first aid kit, you’ll be needing it.”

Jason finished changing and made his way to his next class, Chemistry. Along the way, he contemplated the mess he had just gotten himself into. There was a sort of unwritten rule among the students, that if you were challenged to a fight, and didn’t show up, you were automatically labeled the loser and a coward. What was worse, that stigma would follow you through the rest of your school days, into college and even into adult life. The other students would see to that.

Not that Jason had much of a reputation to uphold, but still, his life was crappy enough as it was. He didn’t need it to get any worse. He entered chemistry class and tried to focus on the assignment. As he tried to get his bunsen burner lit, it was then that he noticed that, as though the universe itself held some sort of vendetta against him, Ethan Jones had been assigned as his partner and was sitting directly across from him.

Jason tried to ignore him, but of course, Ethan just couldn't resist taunting his prey. “Sacred about our little meeting later on?” Jason said nothing. He was not going to let Ethan get to him anymore today. “I hope you have good insurance, because I’m gonna put you in traction for the next decade.” Jason was still trying to get his burner lit, doing his best to fight the urge to punch Ethan in the face here and now.

Then Ethan finally crossed the line, when he said “Or more likely, you won’t need insurance. Since your mom probably makes quite a payday, working on her back every night and all.” That was what pushed Jason over the limit. His steadily building rage finally reaching its boiling point, he prepared to give Ethan a well-deserved broken nose.

But then, at that very moment, something strange happened. The entire time Ethan had been taunting Jason, he had been leaning across the lab table in front of him, his face almost directly above the bunsen burner Jason was trying to light. Before Jason could even clench his fist, the burner ignited, sending an enormous flame shooting upwards directly into Ethan’s face and touching the ceiling.

Ethan howled in agony, clamping his hands over his third degree burned face as he fell backwards off his chair. In the commotion, the flame spurt had set off the school sprinkler system, instantly soaking the entire room and all the students. What happened next could only be described as a series of catastrophes for Jason. The fire department and ambulance arrived in response to the alarm, carting Ethan off to the hospital. When all was said and done, he claimed Jason had deliberately shoved the burner in his face.

Jason was promptly expelled from the school, despite his protests that it had all been a freak accident. But of course, since Ethan’s parents had threatened to sue if Jason was not punished, it didn’t really make a bit of difference. Needless to say, Jason’s parents were furious. Not at him, but at the school for not even bothering to investigate the situation to find any proof that the incident had been intentional.

The following day, as Mister and Misses Graves were looking into finding another school for Jason to attend, there was a knock at the door. Mister Graves answered to find a man dressed in a dark suit and tie with a bald head and long black beard at the doorstep. “Can I help you?”

“Yes. Is this the Graves residence?”

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

“My name is Professor Magnus. I represent a special kind of school for gifted students. May I come in?”

Curious, Mister Graves allowed the man inside. The family sat together on the sofa in the living room, while Professor Magnus sat on an armchair across from them. “I am the head of The Magnus Foundation, a sort of private school for exceptional pupils such as your son.”

“Where is this school, exactly?” Misses Graves asked, “I’ve never heard of it.”

“It’s quite the distance from here. But I assure you, your son will be in good hands. Many of our alumni go on to become very successful, thanks to our curriculum and exceeding standards.” “What will this all cost?” Mister Graves asked, “For you, not a thing. We are prepared to offer your son a full scholarship, everything from room and board to supplies will be taken care of.”

“This all sounds too good to be true.” Jason said suspiciously, and Professor Magnus chuckled. “Yes, I can understand your hesitation. But I assure you, this is a hundred percent genuine. This is a once in a lifetime offer, however. The choice on whether or not to take it is yours.”

Jason looked to his parents, and could instantly read the looks in their eyes, silently pleading with him to seize this opportunity. “Alright. I’ll do it.” He finally said. Professor Magnus smiled. “Excellent. You won’t regret this, my boy. Shall we go now?”

“Wait a minute!” Jason objected “Aren’t you going to give me time to pack my things?”

“Don’t worry about that. You will find everything you need has already been prepared and is waiting for you at the school.” Saying goodbye to his parents, Jason followed Professor Magnus out the door, down the walk and to the curb, to see no cars anywhere in sight. “So, where did you park?”

The Professor chuckled. “We never use such primitive things as motor transportation.” “What do you mean? How did you get here, then?” Jason asked confusedly.

“In good time, my boy. First, we need to find a spot away from any prying eyes. Follow me.”

The two of them walked down the suburban street into the inner city, when they came to an out of the way alley. “Take my hand.” Professor Magnus said. Jason did so, and the both of them instantly vanished. If anyone had been looking, they would have seen them disappear in the time it took to blink, leaving no sign that they had ever been there at all.

Jason didn’t know it yet, but he had just begun on a path that would alter the course of his life forever. And perhaps, the course of the world as a whole as well.