3rd Day of Autumngate.
By nine in the morning, Krystal and Jesse had found themselves a pair of seats in lecture theatre one ready for their first class. It had taken some negotiation. Jesse wanted to sit right at the back, where no one would notice her and she could just quietly take notes and get on with learning. Krystal had wanted to be right at the front. They had, eventually, compromised by selecting seats on the left side of the theatre, on the opposite side to the doors, a little forward of halfway down the bank of benches.
Krystal spotted Felicia entering the theatre with a couple of her cronies. Clearly, the indigo had some talent, and she had been given some education to go with it. That was sort of to be expected. It was far more surprising that someone had managed to get Jesse into a classroom for long enough that she qualified for this class. The green dragon looked more and more uncomfortable the more people filed into the theatre. Luckily, Felicia decided to sit at the front, quite near the door, so that was one thing Jesse had avoided worrying over.
At nine sharp, the door to the theatre opened and the room fell silent as a man walked in. Krystal figured that this had to be Theodore Marin and he cut something of an odd figure. A handsome man, he apparently favoured an anachronistic look in this day and age: he was dressed in dark-blue robes with wide, embroidered sleeves, a red sash belt, and a cloak with red edges. He carried a staff with him, not an uncommon item for a practising magician, but not necessarily one you expected to see being carried into a lecture theatre.
Marin was tall; Krystal figured he was at least half an inch taller than she was. The robes made his body difficult to discern, but he seemed slim for his height, even if there was a suggestion of broad shoulders, and the way he carried himself suggested poise and fitness. And some arrogance: this was a man quite confident in himself and his capabilities. His hair was long and blue-black. It fell down to somewhere around his nipples in two straight bands coming out of a centre parting. It was just as long and straight at the back. At this distance, Krystal could not make out his eyes properly, but they were dark and, if he was an indigo, probably purple or a very dark blue. His face had a pronounced, strong brow and a straight nose, high cheekbones and narrow cheeks, and a wide mouth. He was handsome, but in a hard way. There was something about him Krystal found disquieting, but there was nothing there she could really put a finger on and her opinion seemed to be a minority one: the majority of the girls in the theatre were staring at their teacher with rapt attention.
The centre of attention turned and scanned the audience, his expression unreadable. ‘Good morning, young ladies,’ Marin said after a second. ‘I am Theodore Marin, your lecturer for this course which is General Magical Theory one three.’ He enunciated the two numbers very precisely and clearly. ‘This is a course for advanced, first-year study in magical theory. Anyone who has, by some mischance, found themselves in the wrong room’ – again the last two words were delivered in precise deadpan – ‘should withdraw now to save themselves embarrassment and me a considerable amount of paperwork.’
No one got up to hurry out and, after another second, Marin continued. ‘Very well. Since you are all relatively well-versed in the basics of magical theory, who can give me an example of a grade two sympathetic object on Vollett’s Sympathy Scale?’
Hands shot up and Marin pointed at someone in the front row. ‘A formal portrait of the subject,’ Felicia said.
‘Good. Another.’ Marin pointed to someone else.
‘A sample of the subject’s blood.’
‘Good,’ Marin said. ‘Someone else, how is the use of blood related to the Contagion Scale?’
‘Blood removed from the body is no different from any other material which has been part of the subject, but no longer is,’ someone supplied.
Jesse leaned closer to Krystal, her voice a barely audible whisper. ‘You know the answers to these, don’t you?’
‘Of course,’ Krystal replied.
‘Then why aren’t you putting your hand up?’
‘Because he hasn’t asked anything worth answering yet.’
The questions got more esoteric and fewer hands went up to answer them. Krystal heard Felicia answer another one: the indigo knew a bit about magic, that was certain. But then Marin’s voice rang out across the hall again. ‘Can anyone tell me the astrological correspondence most auspicious for the working of necromantic spells?’
Silence did not follow the question. Instead, there was muttering and Krystal knew why: necromancy was a forbidden art. But knowing the astrological correspondences was another matter. Most books on the working of magic did not mention when the necromantic arts were most powerful, but if you had read the right one… Krystal put her hand up.
‘You,’ Marin said, pointing across the room at her. Everyone turned to look and Krystal felt her cheeks heating.
‘Necromantic spells are easiest when cast under the sign of the Staff, between the eighteenth day of Midwinter and the fifteenth day of Snowfall,’ Krystal said.
‘And what other forms of magic are affected by that sign?’
‘Light and mind corpus spells. And any magic worked by indigo dragons.’
Marin nodded. ‘You’ve read Thoughts on the Nature of Magic?’
‘I… I’m trying to. It’s still a little advanced for me. The appendices are easy enough to look through though.’
Another nod. ‘Very few books contain that information. Good. We’ve established how much we already know. Now I shall proceed with teaching you the things you need to know, starting with the underlying theory of contagion.’
Marin picked up a stick of chalk and turned to the huge blackboard behind him, and Krystal settled down to take notes with a smile on her face. This was what she was here for.
~~~
Charlotte and Glinda had someone new in tow when they arrived at the refectory that evening. This was an attractive yet relatively nondescript girl with glossy, brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, a heart-shaped face with pouting lips, a perky nose, amber eyes, and a trim figure which possessed little in the way of breasts.
‘This,’ Charlotte said as the trio sat down with Krystal, Trudy, and Jesse, ‘is Xan. She’s in our class for magical theory, and she lives in fifty-one.’
The new girl flashed a smile. ‘Xanthe Wild,’ she said, ‘but people call me Xan.’
‘Krystal Ward,’ Krystal replied, ‘but friends call me Krys. This is Trudy Black, and the one hiding behind her fringe is Jesse Oakleaf.’
Xanthe raised an eyebrow. ‘Oakleaf? Isn’t there an Oakleaf family from Tangleroots?’
‘Th-that would be m-my family,’ Jesse replied. ‘I’ve heard of the Wilds too.’
‘Jesse is a little shy,’ Krystal supplied.
‘Yeah,’ Xanthe said, nodding. ‘I remember there’s one Oakleaf who spends most of her time in the forest. I spend most of my time in the forest too. I like my personal time.’
‘Krys is from Appleyard too,’ Jesse said.
‘I’m feeling left out,’ Trudy said. ‘I’m the only city girl at the table.’
Krystal reached out and stroked Trudy’s forearm gently. ‘Don’t worry, we won’t treat you any different for being weird.’
‘Thank you. I think. So, Xan, you’re a yellow?’
‘Uh-huh,’ Xan replied. ‘Here to study animal magic. Not that they’re letting me study any of the corpuses I need yet.’
‘Yeah. Krystal explained all about having a strong basis in general magical theory before we go on to specialisation. At least you know what you plan to specialise in. I haven’t a clue, so waiting to figure that out isn’t a bad thing.’
‘Now all we have to do is get through the first term without totally flunking,’ Charlotte said. ‘Oh, how’s Theodore Marin?’
Krystal gave a small grimace. ‘He’s… nice to look at and he seems to know the subject really well. I’m not sure how good a teacher he is though. Maybe it’s just first-lesson jitters, but he didn’t really seem to, well,
want to be there.’
‘Doesn’t sound great.’
‘No. To be honest, I don’t think I’ll have a problem. It’s almost like he’s pacing the lessons at my level, but some of the others might find it a lot harder.’
‘Like me,’ Jesse said. ‘I’m a l-lot better when it comes to plant magic. The general stuff is harder a-and Theodore Marin is definitely not setting the bar low on his lectures.’
‘If you need some help…’ Krystal said, shrugging a little.
‘Th-thanks, Krys,’ Jesse said, smiling. ‘I might just take you up on that.’
6th Day of Autumngate.
The knock on the door came about twenty minutes after Krystal and Trudy had got back to their room after dinner. They looked at each other, and then Trudy took her hand out of Krystal’s blouse and started for the door. Krystal hurriedly did her blouse back up. The two girls were still very much in the early stages of their relationship: more or less everything was physical and they could not keep their hands off each other. Everything was a novel experience and they had planned to try out several new ideas that evening, since it was Yellowday and there were no classes until Indigoday. They were also trying to avoid anyone else finding out what they were up to, so Krystal grabbed her copy of Thoughts on the Nature of Magic before Trudy opened the door.
‘Hey, Trudy,’ Charlotte said, sounding a little wary. ‘Uh, we’re not disturbing you, are we?’ That probably meant she had Glinda with her.
‘No,’ Trudy replied. ‘We were just… Well, Krystal’s reading, as usual.’
‘I do not read all the time,’ Krystal called out.
‘Just most of the time. Did you want something, Charley?’
‘Yeah,’ Charlotte replied. ‘Well, we were wondering whether you’d looked at that exercise Sareena Slate set for us?’
‘Uh, no. I was going to leave it for Royalday, but… Is it hard?’
‘Leaving your homework until the last minute is never a good idea,’ Krystal said, taking on a bit of a lecturing tone. ‘You didn’t tell me you’d been set anything. I’d have made you at least look it over tonight.’
Trudy turned and gave Krystal a mean glare: they both knew that they had been planning on something entirely different. ‘Have you looked at whatever Theodore Marin set for you?’
‘He told us to read chapter twelve of Elements of Magical Theory. I read and digested that two years ago. I might take a quick look at it at some point to make sure I’m remembering it right… But I am.’
‘No one likes a smart tail. Okay… Well, you two better come in and tell me what’s so hard about this exercise.’
~~~
An hour later, the trio were still working on their problem and Jesse had come over to go over the chapter they had been set to read. Krystal had given up on an evening of debauchery, though she was still hoping to be thoroughly debauched later.
‘You,’ Krystal said to Jesse, ‘just need some confidence. You’ve got all of this worked out, but you’re just not sure of yourself.’
‘Well,’ Jesse said, lowering her eyes, ‘yes. I th-thought that was obvious.’
‘Yeah, sorry. I guess it is, but you have got this.’
‘I wish we had this,’ Trudy said.
‘Told you it was a good idea to look at it early,’ Krystal said, smirking. ‘Imagine what you’d have been like on Royalday evening, panicking over getting it done for the morning.’
‘Yeah, yeah. I suppose you can do this in your sleep.’
‘Give it here,’ Krystal said, holding out her hand for Trudy’s notebook. Trudy handed it over and Krystal peered at the problem her friend had written out. There were some notes the three of them had put together under it which Krystal frowned at. Then she said, ‘Between midnight and three a.m. on the twentieth day of Highsummer.’
‘Okay,’ Charlotte said, ‘but how did you work that out?’
‘I’m not going to just do it all for you. You’ve got all the correspondences you need in your notes.’
‘Yes, but–’
‘You want to combine elements of which corpuses in your spell?’
‘Mind and movement,’ Glinda replied.
‘Which constellation governs mind and movement spells?’
‘The Dragon, but that’s any time between the nineteenth day of Highsummer and the seventeenth day of Autumngate.’
‘Yes, but you can increase the efficacy of one of the corpuses you’re using with another astrological factor, and that would be…’
There were three frowns until Jesse said, ‘The appearance in the sky of the Stellar Gate or the Traveller assists movement spells.’
‘And,’ Krystal went on, ‘the problem came with a three-night window, during which–’
‘The Traveller is only visible in the night sky between midnight and three a.m. on the sixteenth day of Highsummer,’ Trudy said.
‘The most auspicious time in that three-day window for the casting of a difficult spell of this type,’ Krystal said, smiling.
‘It only starts getting d-difficult when you have to w-work out why,’ Jesse said. ‘Th-though that’s really just down to s-sympathy.’
‘Yeah,’ Charlotte said, waving the statement away, ‘easy. I still haven’t really figured out the difference between sympathy and contagion.’
‘Most of the time, there really isn’t any,’ Krystal replied. ‘I mean, with something like the astrological correspondences, it must be sympathy because it’s pretty unlikely that a constellation has ever been in contact with anything down here.’
‘Unless you believe the story about the Dragon being the ultimate ancestor of the royal families,’ Glinda said. ‘Or that the Magister is an ancient magus exiled into the sky by the first Nightskys.’
‘The Magister is a planet. So, I’ll accept that a magus might have been exiled to it, but not that the entire planet is a magus.’ Krystal bit her lip for a second. ‘Of course, maybe the magus passed his association on to the planet… I guess that demonstrates how difficult it is to separate contagion and sympathy.’
‘It would be great if this was easier,’ Trudy grumbled. ‘Magic should be easier to learn.’
‘Well, it can be,’ Krystal said, ‘but you don’t want to go that way.’
‘Huh?’
‘There are demons and lost spirits that can make it far easier to learn magic. They can make a magus out of someone with no talent. They can act as a pathway to thaumolytic energy to make it easier to cast spells.’
‘But?’
‘But they twist your mind and spirit. The more you use them, the more influence they gain over you. It becomes harder and harder to shape the magic naturally, so you use the spirit more. It’s a cycle of corruption that almost always ends up with the magus being little more than a puppet for the spirit, and we are generally not talking about spirits who like cuddly animals and rainbows.’
‘Okay, so I’m better off with difficult theory problems then?’
‘Hard as it may be to believe, yes.’
‘Well,’ Charlotte said, ‘if we’re having problems next week, maybe you could have some sympathy for us, Krys.’
Krystal grimaced. ‘Just for that, you can do your homework yourselves.’
‘Don’t worry, girls,’ Trudy said, smiling a little deviously. ‘I’ll have talked her around before next Yellowday.’
‘Sure you will,’ Charlotte replied. ‘Just don’t give us any details of how.’
7th Day of Autumngate.
‘Do you think, um, that they all know what we’re doing?’
Trudy contemplated Krystal’s question for a few seconds, though she did not stop what her hand was doing between Krystal’s legs and Krystal had almost forgotten she had said anything by the time the answer finally came. ‘No. Not all of them. Pretty sure Charley does, which means Glinda probably does. Not sure about Jesse. She’s not an easy one to read, but she seemed to get that comment Charley made last night. I think she even smirked a little.’
&nbs
p; ‘So, n-not all of them, j-just all the ones we know.’
‘What does it matter?’
There was a pause while Krystal clutched at Trudy’s arm and the bedsheets, her back arching off the bed. And then the pause continued as Krystal gulped in air and waited for the stars to stop dancing in front of her eyes, which she thought was odd given that it was daylight. ‘I suppose it shouldn’t,’ she said. ‘I guess I’m just… embarrassed.’
‘Why?’
‘Because… Well, I’m not embarrassed about doing this with you. I’m not embarrassed about doing it at all. I guess… It’s private.’
Trudy licked her fingers, wearing a thoughtful expression as she did so. ‘Well, I think that our friends don’t really care. I’m pretty sure Charley and Glinda are doing something similar. Or they have anyway.’
‘You think?’
‘I think. Now, what do you want to do with today? You’ve no work to get done.’
‘Oh yes, I do. Laundry. I have laundry to do or I’ll be borrowing your underwear.’
Trudy smirked. ‘Well, considering, I think I’m inclined to let you more than I was. Anyway, you could always go without.’ She gave Krystal her best smouldering look and lowered the tone of her voice. ‘I wouldn’t tell.’
Krystal shook her head. ‘If we actually had classes together, that might be fun. As it is, I’m doing laundry.’ She pushed one of her hands under the sheets. ‘Of course, we don’t have to get up right now…’
Trudy let out a squeak. ‘Not right n-now. No.’
~~~
According to Charlotte, Silverday night was not one to be spent cooped up in your room. A young dragon should be out on the town on Silverday night, especially if that dragon was a student. It was time for a girls’ night out and she had roped Trudy in as local guide to suggest somewhere to go, and that had pulled Krystal in. Somehow, Charlotte had persuaded both Xanthe and Jesse to come along, though neither seemed very excited about it.
Krystal suspected that at least part of the reason Charlotte wanted to go out was that Glinda had a date and Charlotte had no desire to spend the night on her own. Glinda was playing the whole date thing pretty close to her chest: she was not mentioning who her date was or how she had met him. It was a him, but aside from that, she was saying nothing. She walked to the school gates with the rest of the group, flashed them all a grin, and then walked off at a brisk pace.
Misfit Magic (Misfits Book 1) Page 6