“Yeah, new shoes, maybe some more sweats and stuff, too.” I nodded in agreement as I spoke. “I’ll ask my aunts and uncle, see if they can wrangle me a pass.”
“Cool! Shower, then ask, then meet for dinner?” Joanna said enthusiastically.
“We’re still meeting for study time after dinner, right?” Felicia bit her lower lip, a worried expression on her face.
“Hell, yeah!” No way was I going to attempt my homework with all the help I could get. “I’d like another go back over the flashcards and stuff.”
“Oh, good,” Felicia replied, looking relieved.
Sergeant Carter approached us. “You girls going to stand there yakking or you going to get going so we can close this up?”
We jumped and looked around guiltily. Cripes! We were the last ones other than Carter to be seen.
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
“We’re going now!” Joanna squeaked, grabbing Felicia’s elbow to tug her along as we beat feet out of there.
One second the door and its wall were set within the outside sky, and the next, we were through it. I turned to glance over my shoulder as I heard the gym door close behind us, the hairs on my arms standing up as I took in how the gym was now merely a building with four walls and roof again. “So weird,” I said softly.
“Yeah, you don’t see many places like this,” Felicia replied. “Kinda unsettling. The door there is spelled to a pocket universe. That takes some powerful magick.” She shivered. “Fae magick.”
“I thought the Fae were all gone.” I tried to keep the skepticism from my tone, but didn’t succeed very well.
Joanna tugged me by my hand, urging me to start walking with her again. I complied. “This door and the outside of the gym would be modern replacements for the physical outer constructs that the original Fae would have left behind,” she said as we hurried back to our rooms as planned.
“Yeah,” Felicia chimed in, “They liked to use natural materials, and their doors would have been made of wood which would need replacing every so often.”
I tried to wrap my mind around this. I’d seen doors replaced back in the human realms, of course. My uncle once had to replace the back door of the kitchen, and Marla’s dad replaced their bathroom door after a leak ruined it and the floor. Both times, all that had taken was a trip to the hardware store where they bought a replacement door off the shelf and some new hinges. They’d hung the doors after fitting them in place and screwing in the hinges. Marla’s dad had also used a thing he called a planer to take thin slivers off the top and one side of the door to make it fit the opening better. Somehow, I didn’t think this was quite all that was involved with replacing a magick door. I also was far too tired to get into a discussion that would no doubt include magickal concepts that would fly over my currently still ill-informed head.
“Oh, that makes sense,” I said instead. “A thousand-year-old door of wood would be pretty fragile.”
“Yup,” was all Felicia said, popping the p as she did so.
George appeared at the foot of the stairs as we entered our dorm. George meowed plaintively, clearly wanting my attention. I scooped the rascal up. She butted her head against my chin, purring loudly.
“We’ll go eat as soon as I have a shower,” I assure her.
“Brrrt,” George vocalized.
I firmly grasped the handrail, grateful for its support as I forced my weary legs up the three flights of stairs.”
“Well, look at what the cat dragged in,” Lydia said from her spot in front of the fire. She snickered. “Get it, cat? Dragging in?”
“Yeah, now can we forget it?” another girl I didn’t know asked. I tried to place her. Ah, yes, She was in my mathemegrams class.
Lydia flushed.
“Just leave it, Lydia,” Rina said, glancing at me. She tilted her head towards our room, letting me know it’d be best if I kept going. “You’re going to end up expelled if you can’t get yourself under control. You remember what they said.”
Lydia made an angry face. Yeah, I didn’t need to stick around to watch her have one of her tantrums. I boogied on out of there, my friends hot on my heels, only separating as we each went to our rooms.
“See you in a few,” I called out to my friends cheerfully as I opened my door. Once inside, I grabbed some comfy clothes. We were going to study with the guys again, and I couldn’t help but think of how to put together Laurent always appeared. I sighed, putting the plain gray baggy sweatshirt back, swapping it out for a much cuter one I’d gotten last year while spending a birthday gift card. It was a soft fleecy fabric with long sleeves that covered my hands to my knuckle. A reinforced hold for my thumb allowed free movement to grasp things. The hood had a pair of cat ears on top. It was still a nice, comfy, loose fit, but cute. I paired it with a pair of soft skinny jeans. I eyed my wedge heeled sneakers, but common sense won out. My calves and feet were aching, and they really would not thank me for putting those on tonight. My ballet flats it was, then. I grabbed some clean underwear and a towel, shoved everything into a bag, and hurried to the shower.
Joanna and Felicia were already there, waiting for me outside.
“I just saw Laurent,” Joanna informed me. “He said they’d wait for us in the royal garden just outside the door to the cafeteria, the one on our side.”
I didn’t have to ask who all they were.
“Cool,” I said, pushing open the door to the girls’ showers. I quickly chucked off my sweaty clothes and found an empty cubicle. Within moments, hot spray rained down my body, I stood under the spray, head bowed, letting the heat sluice down my back. Man, that felt good! I re-angled the showerhead, turned around, the water now hitting me lower down my back, soothing my aching muscles. I felt my glutes and thighs start to loosen. It was time to soap on up. I didn’t waste any time, quickly lathering up and allowing the showerhead to rinse the suds off while I washed my hair. I told myself it was because I was hungry, but if I was honest with myself, I was also looking forward to seeing Laurent. He’d turned out to be so different than I’d first thought.
Once he allowed himself to be honest with me, that is. That stupid business when we first met still rankled. I told myself that one day, we’d be able to look back and laugh. Right now, though, what with Lydia still being an immature brat that made it her business to get on my last nerve, things were still too raw about his aloofness and how he’d tried to get me to hide George. And for what? To delay the inevitable reveal of my ancestry for a whole couple of days? My jaw clenched.
Damn it, now I was getting mad all over again. I turned my face back into the spray, forcing myself to relax once more. Happy thoughts- meeting Joanna, Felicia, and Jacob; discovering the ghost cat was mine and I’d not be going to some weird-ass school all by myself; finding Marla wasn’t pissed at me for not returning home; Rina sticking up for me that first time; Laurent apologizing so sweetly; the feel of my hand in his and the comforting way he’d give it a gentle, reassuring squeeze when he knew I needed it, like the first time we went into the cafeteria as a couple and approached the royal table.
I sighed. He’d fucked up, sure, but he certainly was making up for it. He wanted to be with me. Me, and not just because of my magick. I squashed down that niggly voice in the back of my head that said being a locii and strong in Fae magickal ability far from hurt. I was done being insecure. I turned the water off and stepped out of the shower, into the mini changing area. I toweled off and quickly dressed.
“Your hair’s still wet,” Felicia noted.
“Yeah, I washed it,” I said while observing that my two friends’ hair looked tousled but one hundred percent dry.
“Don’t you have a Zorbee?” Felicia pressed, holding up one of those microfiber hair turban towel things.
“Um, yeah, my aunt got me one, but no way am I going to wear it to the cafeteria. It’ll be alright, my hair will air dry.
My two friends stared at me as if I was out of my mind. Then a look of sudden comprehension pass
ed over Joanna’s features, and she giggled. “No one told you that the Zorbee is charmed, did they?” Joanna plucked Felicia’s Zorbee from her fingers and advanced on me. “Hold still, this will only take a minute.” She placed it on my head, twisted the tail end about, and fastened the loop over the large button. “Zorbee dee, zorbee dah-ah, the water be all gone. Zorbee dee, zorbee dah-ah, now my life can go on,” she sang.
I narrowed my eyes. Seriously? That spell seemed awfully familiar somehow. I forgot about puzzling it over further, though, as Joanna’s nimble fingers unfastened the towel, and perfectly dry hair fell free. I reached for the Zorbee in amazement. “Oh, wow! It still feels dry!”
“Yup, back to nature the water went,” Joanna beamed at me.
“It goes to wherever freshwater is needed most. If you’re at the beach, you need to use a Zorbit. That way, the saltwater goes back to the sea.” Felicia took her Zorbee back and stuffed it into her bag. A quick visit to our rooms to stow the bags, run a brush through our hair, and freshen our makeup, and we’d be ready to go. That wouldn’t take long, none of us were into full faces of elaborate makeup. A bit of eyeshadow, a quick brush of mascara, and some lip gloss was pretty much it. Less than ten minutes later, we were on our way, George trotting ahead of us, tail held high.
My heart gave a small leap as it recognized the strong shoulders and back beneath Laurent’s dark, short locks and elegant neck. I stopped. Wait, who was he reaching for? I stood in shock as Joanna and Felicia also came to a halt beside me. It was Charles. Charles who slid his arms around Laurent’s waist like a lover and accepted Laurent’s kiss. From behind them, slightly to one side, I spied Brent staring back at me in surprise, his lips kiss swollen.
“Oh, shit,” Joanna breathed, throwing me a worried look.
The couple broke apart in surprise at the sound of her voice.
“What? What did I miss?” Jacob demanded, joining us.
I blinked back tears. Laurent had told me that he had an intimate bond with the pair, which allowed their magick to merge. I just hadn’t thought it would look quite so … so romantic. Or that my nipples would harden, and I’d find myself wishing to be the filling to their sandwich, all while feeling as if I were intruding. This felt incredibly awkward.
Laurent reached a hand out to me. “We were powering up for tonight. Thought we could run some simple locii exercises after finishing our homework.”
“Yeah, right,” Felicia sneered.
I gave him a watery smile. “Next time, warn a girl, hmm?”
His gaze flicked down to my sweatshirt, which was unable to disguise the twin points of my nipples. I really should have worn a bra.
He raised his eyes back at mine, a knowing expression on his face. “I’ll make sure you’re invited,” he said.
Felicia’s mouth dropped open.
“Damn, it suddenly got quite hot out here,” Joanna said, fanning herself.
“Let’s get before I lose my appetite from all the pheromones,” Jacob said, catching on. “You two, umm, four, can find a room later and finish your business.”
I glanced at Charles. He was looking at me with an apology in his eyes. “Yes, I think we four will definitely need a room. It seems I need a lesson on powering up as a locii for a triad.” Charles’ eyes widened as he took my meaning. This was my life now. No way was I going to chickenshit out at the first hurdle.
Brent stepped forward, grasping his lover by the elbow. “Great, let’s go eat and then get to it.” He blushed. “Get to studying, I meant.”
“Yeah, we know what you meant,” Jacob muttered.
Laurent pulled me to him, brushing a soft kiss against my temple. “We won’t do anything you’re not ready for,” he breathed in my ear. My heart melted. That was why they’d gone on ahead, to do this. They hadn’t wanted me to feel overwhelmed and maybe get the wrong idea.
“I’m fine,” I promised.
He looked deep into my eyes and nodded. “Okay, then. Whatever you say.”
I sure hoped so, anyway. Yeah, give me the time we’d use eating dinner and doing homework to the reality of what I’d agreed to. It was just a kiss, right, for magickal bonding purposes? He was my boyfriend, not Charles’. Charles had Brent. I just needed to chill. I mentally bitchslapped that niggly voice that began to whisper doubts again. I wasn’t a kid anymore, playing games. I was an adult, dealing with magickal rules and adult relationships. I had this.
Chapter 11
“Okay, now, see the diagram in the book?” Laurent said, addressing me.
We were in the main building, in the open area designated for magickal practice. The decorative columns gracing the space held wards to keep any serious accidents from decimating the place. I stood, feet braced slightly apart, and my book open in one hand. This was it, this is where I found out if the hours of studying basic mathemegrams and the Fae phonetic alphabet had done me any good.
I began drawing the design in the air with my forefinger, reading the words of the spell. George blinked out, but I didn’t let that bother me, I’d already had it explained that as my familiar, she’d go to into the astral plane to help direct the magickal ether from that side, and that would render her temporarily invisible. She’d rematerialize once back on our plane. Lines of pink magick began to appear, the mathemegram construct made visible by them. I was doing it!
The leaf I’d plucked after dinner from a bush in the royal garden floated into the air. It began to glow the same pink as my magick, and as I watched, a thin branch began to sprout from the end of its stem. I was so surprised at accomplishing that, I lost my concentration. The mathemegram faded, and the leaf and puny limb dropped to the ground.
“Oh, no!”
“Mreowrr.” George reappeared at my feet, looking at me with what could only be sympathy.
“Hey, that’s really good for the first time!” Jacob assured me.
“It really was,” Laurent agreed.
I yawned, feeling pooped all of a sudden, my limbs a bit leaden and heavy. Carter’s earlier comments about needing to build physical stamina suddenly didn’t sound quite as needlessly sadistic as they had before. I felt absolutely noodly.
“Can we try one more thing before we work on the rest of our homework?” Brent asked. He looked at me apologetically. “We’ll need you for this, but all you need to do is draw the shape in sync with us and imbue your will while Laurent speaks the casting.”
“Umm, okay,” I replied doubtfully. I hoped moving my finger in sync worked out a lot better than the mess I’d made of square dancing lessons we did in the sixth grade as part of our P.E. I’d stayed out of step, half a movement behind everyone else, and made a terrible tangle. The piece de resistance had come the day my Grand Right continued on as everyone else was doing a Left, and I clocked Peter Wright in the gut. I was allowed to sit out the rest of that P.E. activity, relegated to go help the school librarian reshelve books for forty-five minutes instead. I straightened up, resolute that I’d do my best. “What page do I need to be on?”
“I think it’d be best if we just did the same spell,” Charles said.
Relief swamped me. I’d done this diagram once already, so maybe this wouldn’t be as horrific as I feared. The Royal Trio took their place within the circle formed by the floor tiles, letting anyone using the space know where to stand to be fully warded, facing me. George sat at my feet, ready for us to begin. The guys joined hands, Laurent in the middle.
“How is Laurent going to draw?” I asked.
He gave me a crooked grin. “I just do the verbal casting, funneling towards you through the bond we’ve begun, while you draw so you can focus our combined powers.”
Okay, this sounded way more complicated than I’d hoped.
“It’s okay,” Joanna called out to me. “You’ll know what to do as you’re doing it.
Her words of encouragement did not inspire me with much confidence. Still, we were within a warded circle, so what was the worst that could happen? The leaf turning brown and
crinkly? I nodded, resolute. “Okay, let’s give it a whirl.”
Charles and Brent lifted a forefinger, each with a ring on. They didn’t need a book, and neither did I, I realized. If I just kept my attention on their hands, I could simply copy their movements. It would definitely make things easier in my exhausted state to not have to balance a heavy book one-handed. “Just a sec,” I said. I closed my mathemegram book and handed it to Joanna, who gave me a nod of encouragement. Too bad she also had a worried look in her eyes. Ah, well, when this failed, she wasn’t going to be super disappointed at least. I retook my place. “Okay, I’m ready,” I said, holding up my forefinger, ready to sketch the air.
Breach and Charles closed their eyes, and their hands began to move in unhurried motions that turned out to be surprisingly easy to keep up with. The rings began to glow as their auras flared.
Laurent began reciting the Fae words from memory, he too beginning to glow. Well, someone had obviously been busy studying away from the group! Just as well, as he couldn’t hold a book and the guys’ hands at the same time. Blue lines filled the air, arcing towards me, and diffusing into a soft cloud as they reached me. I felt a tingling warmth, the same as I had in class the day of the testing. I relaxed, letting it fill me.
My pink lines began to shade into lavender. The leaf and its stubby branch rose up into the air, going above our heads. I didn’t dare look at it, knowing that if I did, I’d lose track of the hand movements I was copying and the tenuous link of magick I could feel flowing. I distantly heard our friends gasp from where they were watching in the back of the classroom. We sketched the full mathemegram. I stared at it, willing the lines to remain unbroken. Laurent’s voice ceased, and the Trio looked up. Noticing the look of satisfaction on their faces, I glanced, eager to see what we’d accomplished. My jaw dropped.
“Holy shit, is that a tree?” I craned my neck, trying to see around the mass of roots overhead. Yup, that was most definitely a tree. A really, really big one. Crap! “Um, guys? What do we do with it now?”
Discovery of Magick (Dark Light Academy Book 1) Page 10