“Alright, here goes nothing,” said Toma. “Fire blast. Fire blast. Let’s do this.”
He rolled his shoulders out before adopting the elemental casting stance, hands flat and arms up with a bend in both elbows. The copper suit of armor that served as a spell target looked almost bored as Toma slowly began to breathe and focus his efforts.
Toma slammed a hand forward and let out a low, strangled grunt. A burst of flame exploded in and over his hand, reminding Lee more of a firework with a short fuse than the intended spell.
“Ow!” cried Toma. “I think I just burned off all the hairs on my knuckles.”
“It was a good attempt,” said Lee sarcastically.
“Psshhh, let’s see you do better. We’re comrades-in-arms when it comes to our crappy spellcasting, remember? Which I’m grateful for. Otherwise, this would be embarrassing.”
Lee rolled his eyes and glanced over at Tess. She was watching a small spider crawl across the floor, near the line that demarcated the long-distance casting zone. He snapped his fingers, drawing her attention.
“Oh! Is it time?” She stood up quickly, rubbing her hands together. “Okay! Let’s do it. I have a good amount of essence, Lee, but it’s like I said. I’ve never been good with elemental spells. This won’t be pretty, and it won’t be efficient.”
Lee gave her a small, secretive nod. He spotted Harper watching him out of the corner of his eye, and as he adopted the elemental casting stance, she drew in closer.
“Here we go,” said Lee. “Let’s see what I can do.”
He pictured the spell in his mind, took a slow breath, and reached for the necessary essence through Tess. As always, there was a cold, fluttering sensation accompanying it. Lee’s spells came from the spirit essence that Tess could provide him after using her passive absorption ability on supernatural entities.
He extended his hand forward, palm first, while keeping his eyes locked on the copper suit of armor. He let his essence flow outward, picturing explosions, forest fires, and even the burning jets of a rocket.
A flame emerged from his palm, which was a small victory. The key word there, unfortunately, was small. Lee’s fire blast was more of a fire whimper. The flame only extended a few feet in front of him, but that wasn’t the first aspect of it that he noticed.
It came out in the shape of a snake, one of the lamias he’d fought, in fact. A snake girl made of pure flame danced in a spiraling circle. It wasn’t enough fire to do more damage than Toma’s spell, but the form of it was intricate and clearly visible for what it was, like a carefully carved miniature, or special effect out of a movie.
The flame blast dissipated after a couple of seconds and Tess let out an exhausted gasp. Lee was about to move to her side and make sure she was okay when Harper approached his casting lane.
“That wasn’t the spell you were supposed to be practicing,” said Harper. Her expression was strange, more confused than disappointed.
“Do I get partial credit?”
Harper shook her head and narrowed her eyes into their usual sternness. “No. On that matter, your grades in my class are abysmal, Initiate Amaranth. You need to start raising them immediately or you will fail my class, and subsequently fail out of university.”
Lee winced as Harper walked away. Toma had overheard the conversation and was busily attempting his own spell again, casting it over and over. Lee found the fact that even his spellcraft-challenged friend could still manage to brute force his way forward even more discouraging. He crouched down next to Tess, who was sitting on her butt, and pulled her into his mystic stream.
“Are you okay?” he whispered.
“Yes and no,” she said. “I really don’t like elemental spells. It’s going to take a lot of essence for you to pass this class, Lee.”
“I know. Did you see how my spell looked? The shape it took… it was the same as the lamias I told you about.”
“Their influence lingers in the essence you absorbed from them,” said Tess. “It seems like an issue that varies a tad between supernatural entities, but I’m not sure there is a way for you to avoid it.”
“Harper didn’t seem thrilled.” Lee sighed. “I wonder if she’s serious about failing me.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” said Tess. “You’re going to have to start putting yourself in position to get more essence.”
He nodded. He didn’t like it, but it was true. And with Toma watching Nurse Susie like a hawk, he’d have to get creative.
CHAPTER 14
“Initiate Amaranth, I would like to speak with you after class.”
A chorus of oohs sounded that made Lee feel like he was back in high school. They’d returned to the lecture hall after finishing at the Spell Range, and Harper had spent the remainder of class explaining the applications of the spell he’d failed to cast.
Toma shot him a pitying look as the rest of the students were dismissed. Eliza glanced over at him too, catching his eye for an instant before blushing slightly and looking away. He had to admit, Tess was right. He didn’t understand Eliza’s feelings.
“Look,” he said to Harper, once the room was empty. “I’ll keep practicing the spell, okay? But can you at least go a little easier on me?”
Harper was dressed in her gold-and-black instructor’s robes, which fit her body tightly enough to be distracting. One of her hands fidgeted with the end of her braid as she made her way over to his desk with slow, hip-swaying steps. She frowned, favoring him with an icy stare.
“How would it look if I showed you more leniency than the other students, Eldon?” she asked.
“I know it would look bad, but you know why I was struggling so much today,” he said. “I was up all night. I’d planned on doing the homework assignment for your class last night.”
“You should manage your time better in the future. With that said, I didn’t ask you to stay after for the sake of repeating myself. Lead Instructor Mattis wishes to meet with us about our prisoner.”
The mention of Gabby piqued Lee’s interest. He stood up from his desk and folded his arms, shifting from academic mode to apprentice mode.
“Is she upset about it? We didn’t exactly ask for permission before bringing Gabby on campus.”
“I’m not sure,” said Harper. “Let me do the talking and if she asks you any direct questions, consider your answers carefully. We need to maintain access to the girl, and any mention of Zoe or our suspicions unrelated to the jailbreak need to stay under Mattis’s radar.”
“Got it.”
They left the Seruna Center and headed north across campus, into the First Tower. Lead Instructor Mattis and Head Wizard Odarin were waiting on one of the upper levels in an old study that smelled of dusty books and parchment paper. Mattis didn’t look happy. Odarin was sitting in his chair with his eyes half closed and only seemed to wake up as Lee shut the door.
“Harper,” said Mattis, her voice clearly annoyed.
“Alora.”
Mattis stared at the other woman for several long, silent seconds. She was older than Harper, but also shorter and a tad plumper. Her hair was brown with a few locks of forest green intermingled throughout. She wasn’t an unattractive woman, but she rarely smiled and dropped her veneer of authority even less often.
“I would like you to explain exactly what was going on inside your head to make you think that bringing a rogue sorceress onto a college campus full of untrained initiates was a good idea,” said Mattis.
“We had her subdued,” said Harper with a shrug. “She was asleep when we brought her in. I cast the spell on her myself.”
“You mean that she appeared to be asleep. You took that fact for granted.”
“She wasn’t that powerful. My apprentice and I fought her and defeated her. A simple sleep spell was more than enough of a precaution.”
“You assume that she isn’t that powerful,” said Mattis. “It’s rarely possible to tell a caster’s strength from a single encounter. What if, hypothetically, she di
sguised her strength for the sake of being brought here in the first place?”
“That’s ridiculous. She had no idea we were from Primhaven when the fight broke out. Regardless, even if she had, she would have first assumed that we’d be handing her back over to the Warden.”
“But what if that is the case?” asked Mattis. “You said it yourself when we spoke earlier. We don’t know who she is or who was behind the escape. This is a dangerous situation, Harper.”
“Not with her locked within a hexed jail cell. She’s not nearly powerful enough to break herself out.”
“I’m not just talking about her!” snapped Mattis. “If she had outside help breaking out of prison once, what makes you think that they wouldn’t attempt it a second time? How many of our students might be at risk?”
Harper was silent for a moment, and Lee began to wonder if he’d finally seen someone put her in her place. It was almost like seeing a unicorn, though given what he now knew about the supernatural world, maybe even a less common occurrence.
“It’s all the more reason for us to start interrogating her,” said Harper after a long pause. “With your permission, of course, Alora. I do regret the… abruptness with which this situation played out.”
It was Mattis’s turn to hold her tongue. She stared at Harper, seeming to take a read of the other woman’s expression. A small smile crept across Mattis’s face.
“With the Head Wizard’s permission, I’m sure you mean.”
Harper flashed a similar smile. “Of course.”
“Huh? What?” Odarin shook his head and yawned. “Yes, yes… of course.”
He rubbed his eyes and nodded as though he’d been paying rapt attention.
“There will be ground rules for this, Harper, which I will not permit you to subvert. No torture in any sense of the word. You must also respect the law when it comes to usage of illusion magic to get at her secrets. Regardless of how capable you may or may not be when it comes to that school of magic, you are not a licensed illusionist.”
“I understand,” said Harper. “Can permission also be extended to my apprentice? I think it would be helpful for him to be able to meet with the prisoner without my presence.”
Lee’s eyebrows shot up at that, as did Mattis’s.
“Why?” asked Mattis.
“She seems comfortable with him. She might be more willing to divulge secrets to someone closer to her own age.”
“Fair enough. I’ll allow it.” Mattis nodded to Lee. “I expect regular reports on your and Initiate Amaranth’s progress, Harper.”
“I’ll keep you informed,” said Harper.
They left the First Tower and Lee walked alongside Harper across the campus grounds. She waited until they were a good distance away from the nearby students and buildings before saying anything.
“You’re wondering why I pushed for you to be able to see the prisoner alone, aren’t you?” asked Harper.
“I thought the reason you gave Mattis seemed, well, reasonable,” said Lee. “It’s a lot of trust you’re placing in me, though. I recognize that.”
Harper chuckled. “One of us has to be the good cop. I think you fit the role better. I think it would be best, here on out, if we visit her separately. I plan on heading to speak with her immediately. You should go around dinner time. Bring some sweets with you. I’ve already made sure that she’s getting regular meals. You bring her dessert.”
“Uh, okay.” Lee shrugged. “I can do that.”
CHAPTER 15
Harper split off, heading back in the direction of the First Tower and the hidden jail. Lee didn’t have any plans for the afternoon, so he decided to check up on the Nurse Susie situation, along with Toma’s surveillance.
He had only just stepped inside the Seruna Center when one of the third-year adepts ran up and got his attention.
“Instructor Escher wants to see you,” said the girl.
“The Alchemy Instructor?” Lee frowned. “Did she say why?”
“No. She’s waiting for you in the alchemy lab.”
Lee shrugged and headed off in that direction. He got his answer for the reason behind his summons as soon as he walked in through the door.
Toma was sitting at a desk in the front of the room, looking like a condemned man staring down a wrathful judge. Instructor Escher was standing over him with folded arms and a stern expression.
She was a young woman, no older than thirty, short, with dark brown hair which she always kept up in a tight bun. She had a petite, rather average figure, along with thick horn-rimmed glasses that she had a habit of fidgeting with.
Lee had been in her lectures enough times at that point to know that the long teacher’s switch that she kept on her desk wasn’t just for show, as she often used it to snap attention back to the front of the room by slapping it against various surfaces.
“Initiate Amaranth,” said Instructor Escher. Her voice was small, high pitched, but still very authoritative. “Do you know why you’re here?”
She was facing him, and because of that, she didn’t react to Toma pantomiming Lee a hint behind her. He motioned as though drinking something, and then tapped the splotches on his face. Lee had figured as much already but decided to play dumb, anyway.
“I have no idea,” he said. “I thought I was getting a passing grade in your class, wasn’t I?”
“A potion went missing from my desk yesterday. Toma says that he was with you during the time it disappeared and thus, couldn’t have been the thief.”
“Yeah,” said Lee. “That’s right. Toma was with me from the time we woke up yesterday morning until I left to do field work with Instructor Harper.”
Toma slapped his hand against his forehead and slumped back in his chair. Instructor Escher flashed a predatory smile at Lee.
“I know you’re lying, Initiate Amaranth,” she said. “If the marks on his face weren’t enough proof, the fact that one of my other students saw Toma taking the potion certainly is. By lying with him, you’ve also placed yourself in trouble.”
“So be it, then.” Lee shrugged. “He’s my friend. What did you expect me to say?”
Instructor Escher seemed to visibly consider Lee’s question. She shook her head after a moment and set her hand on Toma’s shoulder.
“Initiate Fujino, you may go,” she said. “We’ll discuss your punishment at a later time.”
“Sorry, Lee,” mumbled Toma. He stood up and left the classroom. Lee turned to follow him, but Instructor Escher cleared her throat.
“Not you, Initiate Amaranth,” she said. “Close the door, if you would.”
“Uh, okay?”
He shut the door and returned to stand in front of her, not taking a seat at one of the desks as Toma had. Escher began to pace back and forth behind her desk, and when she finally turned to face him, she was smiling.
“Initiate Amaranth,” she said. “Lee. I’ve heard some interesting things about what you’ve been up to. From Mattis, from Odarin, and especially from Harper.”
Lee wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he didn’t say anything.
“In exchange for holding my silence in the role you played in pilfering one of my potions, I would like for you to assist me in conducting my research.”
“No,” said Lee.
Escher stared at him. She blinked several times in quick succession, which her large glasses only seemed to emphasize.
“Excuse me?”
“Look, I’m already Harper’s apprentice,” said Lee. “I doubt I’d have much time outside of that to assist you. I also hate being blackmailed, and even if I didn’t, all you have over me is that I mistakenly thought Toma was with me yesterday when he apparently wasn’t.”
Lee turned and started toward the door. He wasn’t interested in ending up on Instructor Escher’s bad side, but it wasn’t as though the outcome would be much better if he let her strong-arm him into a commitment he couldn’t keep.
“Hold on!” said Escher. “This would be more l
ike a part-time job, not an apprenticeship. A once a week obligation.”
“I still don’t think I’m interested,” said Lee.
“Even if I told you it involved engaging and interacting with monster girls?” asked Escher. “You’ve encountered quite a few recently, have you not?”
Lee hesitated, his hand already midway toward the doorknob.
“That’s why I was eager to recruit you and not, say, Toma,” said Escher. “Do you know much about them, Lee?”
He had to admit, she’d done a surprisingly good job of capturing his interest. “No, I don’t.”
“They’ve always existed, as far as our records show. For most of magical history, they were uncommon and, generally speaking, rather predictable. We called them nymphs, we called them dryads, we called them mermaids, and so forth.
“Recently, there’s been an unusual upswing in monster-girl sightings. Not just the ones we can name, but new types that we’ve never seen before. Some within the Order of Chaldea suspect that they may even come from a single creator, a mad monster-girl scientist in a hidden laboratory, perhaps.”
“This is fascinating, but what does it have to do with me?” asked Lee.
Escher flashed a distant, scholarly smile. “Monster girls are rather emotional entities, in general. I have found a means through which I can bring them here to Primhaven, but I’m in need of help, for lack of a better phrasing, in keeping them engaged.”
Her tone was extremely suggestive, and Lee caught her meaning, if not her general purpose.
“No thanks,” he said.
He turned to leave again and was surprised to find Tess standing in his way, arms outstretched and brow furrowed.
“Hold on a second!” she said, anxiously. “Think about this! Monster girls have essence. Essence which I can easily absorb, assuming she means what I think she means. This is exactly what you were looking for!”
Lee gave a small shake of his head. It wasn’t that he found the idea unappealing. Escher was pitching it to him like a bank robber clumsily planning a heist. There was just too much that didn’t quite add up about the situation.
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