UNKINDNESS

For once, Arcane Studies is a flurry of whispers and black-backed paper birds as I enter the classroom. The folded paper wings rustling furiously as they flap to and fro across the early morning space. No doubt carrying some truly illicit gossip.

Tsk. What, are we thirteen? I scoff dismissively as I take my seat, a paper raven darting past me to the left.

I should be supremely pleased that someone else is the subject of ridicule and scorn. That some other wretched sod has replaced me as the newest shiny babble of scandal. But…this constant churning in the pit of my stomach. It’s unbearable. I wouldn’t wish it on even the most deplorable of fiends. For it’s like I’m an alchemic ingredient being ground to nothing but dust by a pestle in a mortar. 

Another raven darts by so close I can feel its wingtip catch on my hair. And that awful scraping beneath my skin gets worse.

What if… What if it isn’t about someone new?

I snatch a paper bird out of the air. Crushing it in my fist until the spell breaks and the paper creature stops struggling to complete its task. 

A hush falls over the Arcane classroom, and dread seeps into my magik-infused bones. It’s about me, I just know it. But I’m too afraid to look. 

“Is that a note?” Professor Art Burke questions so abruptly my hand tightens around the paper raven on startled reflex. 

My gaze darts to his. “No, sir.”

“Did you just lie to me, Mr. Astaroth?”

The classroom is deathly silent. Everyone knows that I have.

His dark eyes narrow. “I think you should read whatever is so vitally important that you feel it must disrupt my class.”

“I’d really rather—”

“Now, Mr. Astaroth.”

There is no escaping whatever is contained within this paper bird. And so I unfold the crushed paper and read. My breath catches because it is beyond deplorable that anyone would spread such a falsehood

“Aloud, Mr. Astaroth.”

I look up at Professor Burke. Then slowly cast a glance at my fellow mages. “I’d…I’d rather not.”

The professor’s gaze is cold and unwavering. “And I think you will. Stand and read it so everyone can hear what you deem of such vast import.”

I drop my eyes slowly to the crumbled paper. “‘The real reason Zalan Astaroth was cast out of Astar Academy was because he… Because he…’” My voice trails off into nothing. 

I don’t want to read the rest. It’s full of lies, and I don’t want them coming out of my mouth. But he’s going to force me no matter what I do. That’s just the sort of person he is. 

The sort of people they all are.

I swallow hard, forcing the bile back down my throat. “‘Because he was caught polishing a professor’s wand.’”

Snickering breaks out all around me, and more than a few gasps. While one naive mage asks why wand maintenance would warrant expulsion and disownment. 

My grip on the heinous lie of a paper bird tightens to the point that it begins to rip.

“Mr. Astaroth, boosting one’s notoriety is one thing. But this is beyond—”

“You think I wrote this?!” I counter furiously, cutting him off. I’m so angry my throat feels like it’s squeezing itself shut. 

“And just to make things perfectly clear. The reason I left Astar Academy is no one’s business but my own,” I announce as I crush the black paper bird into a ball. “But I can promise you it wasn’t for misconduct with a professor!”

“So you say,” Reginald Smoot comments under his breath.

I whirl around and hurl the wad of paper at him. “And someone’s sexuality should never be the punchline of a malicious joke!”

“Mr. Astaroth, take your—”

I swing around to face our professor, temper flaring. “I told you I didn’t do it!”

Professor Art Burke looms over me. “And I’m taking you at your word, Mr. Astaroth. That you are not the author of this disgraceful rumor. Now. Sit. Down,” he orders.   

As I retake my seat, the Arcane Studies professor stalks back to the front of his classroom. 

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Chapter 26 – Unkindness, ExSpelled © 2026 by Kat Vancil

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