Mixed—Chapter two: Purple stone?

I grabbed my uniform jacket and stepped outside into the crisp morning air. The campus footpath was empty. Too empty.

A stone whistled through the air toward my head.

“Extravaganzis!” I snapped.

The spell caught, freezing it mid-flight. I reached out and plucked the glowing green shard from the air.

A laugh echoed from behind me. Of course. Juniper.

She hurried over, her long black hair streaming behind her, red eyes glinting. First, she stared at the floating stone. Then she grabbed it back, clutching it tight. For a heartbeat, her Luminor flared red—then flickered down to its usual dull purple.

Juniper. The only one with purple. Meaningless. Useless. The school’s laughingstock.

But I never thought so. Purple meant freedom—no destiny written in stone, no forced bloodline rules. You could choose your magic. Your path. Your life. If I’m honest, I envied her.

She tucked the stone away

We were only fourth-years. But like I said, I’ve always been ahead of my class.

Juniper gave me a small smile before hurrying off, whispers trailing in her wake. I adjusted my glasses and made my way to class—early, as always. The classroom was silent, waiting.

Waiting for something I wasn’t sure I wanted to face.

“Okay, class!” the professor clapped his hands, a bright smile masking the edge in his voice. “Today we’re learning about mixed stones. Mixed stones only appear when a perfect incarnate white—or an almost-perfect incarnate—mixes with a common stone. Blue, green, purple, red, black… the non-perfect folk.

“Or,” he went on, pacing the front of the room, “when a powerful being such as black mixes with a common. Make sense?”

My Luminor pulsed suddenly, the green bleeding into a faint, shimmering yellow. I clenched it tight under the desk to hide the shift.

I raised my free hand. “Excuse me, sir?”

“Yes, Ryder?” His eyes flicked to me, curious.

“How do you know if you’re… mixed?”

“Your stone shifts!”

“Shifts?” I echoed. “Like colors?”

“Yes, my intelligent boy!” He actually beamed at me. “It shifts based on what you’re feeling at the time. Now, being mixed isn’t all great—you’re everything and nothing at once. Every known mixed has been killed or is still being hunted. They rarely have anyone, because if a black, white, or yellow mixed with a common, their leader would kill them both. And if there was a child…” He shuddered. “For all we know there could be a hidden mix among us right now. If you meet one, report it immediately.”

Across the aisle, Juniper’s eyes flicked to mine, then away.

My chest tightened. Am I mixed?

My Luminor flickered purple. My stomach lurched.

“Professor,” I said slowly, counting off the colors on my fingers. “Hypothetically speaking… if a stone shifted red, black, then yellow, then purple—what would that mean?”

The professor’s smile faltered. His face darkened. “Very specific question, boy. But… I’ll answer it. That pattern would belong to a very powerful—or very dangerous—being. Their mood alone could make the stone shift.”

I rested my head on my arm, staring at my Luminor glowing faintly under the desk. Its colors still swam in my mind.

“My intelligent boy.”

I glanced up. “Yes, Professor?”

“I’ve heard a rumor,” he said, adjusting his spectacles. “That you attempted a sixth-year spell. Is this true?”

Heat crept into my cheeks. “Y-yes, sir.”

A sly smile tugged at his mouth. “Then, will you demonstrate for the class?”

My pulse quickened. Every eye turned toward me. “Y-yes, sir,” I muttered.

He tossed a stone fragment into the air, aiming it straight toward me.

“Extravaganzis,” I whispered.

The shard froze mid-flight, suspended in front of me like a caught breath. The spell had worked—clean, effortless.

Gasps rippled across the room.

The professor blinked. “Remarkable. Normal stones can only cast it with force, shouted for the magic to take hold. But you… you whispered it. Ryder, you may need to move to the advanced classes.”

I straightened my glasses, forcing my expression to stay calm. “Sir, no disrespect, but I’d rather stay here.”

His brows lifted. “You would refuse advancement?”

“I’d learn more this way,” I said carefully. “With older students, they’d notice things quicker. Here… I can keep up my practice.”

The professor studied me, suspicion flickering in his gaze, then nodded slowly. “Very well. You may stay, then. Just a suggestion.”

I dropped my eyes back to my desk, fingers curling around the Luminor hidden beneath. A suggestion was safer than attention.

The dining hall buzzed louder than usual that evening, the air thick with stories of the Trials. Plates clattered, voices rose, and every sentence seemed to carry my name.

“…did you see him? Whispered it, just whispered—”

“—beat Darius, no way, must’ve been staged—”

“—Pillar almost cracked under him. I swear it—”

I hunched over my tray, picking at bread I wasn’t hungry for. My Luminor sat heavy in my pocket, pulsing faintly, like it knew the attention was dangerous.

Kael slid into the seat across from me, grinning wide. “Ryder, you legend. You’ve got half the academy rattled.”

I adjusted my glasses. “Or hunting me.”

He frowned. “Hey. Don’t do that thing where you overthink everything. You’re talented, and they’re jealous. End of story.”

But I knew it wasn’t that simple. My stone flickered all day, restless. Yellow, red, black—colors no Green should ever touch.

On the far side of the hall, Seraphina Deynar laughed too loudly at something Elias said. Her golden braid shimmered under the lamplight, but her eyes weren’t on him. They were on me.

Juniper passed behind my chair, balancing her tray. For once, the usual jeers didn’t follow her—students were too busy arguing whether her victory in the Obscura Riddle was real or just luck. She brushed my shoulder gently, almost by accident, and whispered:

“They noticed.”

I stiffened. “What?”

Her red eyes flicked toward Seraphina. “She saw it. When your stone shifted.”