Chapter Eighteen
The empty spaces between the rows in the main library seemed particularly lonely to Aurie. During the first few months after Semyon's injury, the place had teemed with students desperate to make use of their time without magic. In every nook, there was someone whispering spells, sans faez, practicing their elocution. The place had the feel of a backstage before a play, where the actors rehearsed their lines in nervous anticipation. These days the library was like a morgue with only the Biblioscribe as her companion.
Aurie was returning a book to the rows, a thick tome called Colonial Creatures, about the beasties that mages of that age had encountered. Despite the title, the text had been rubbish, which was typical of the older books, since superstition and fear clouded scientific analysis of the creatures. Rare was the volume that could be trusted at face value.
She'd been trying to find information about the Riders, the creatures that hounded the young patrons in Semyon's dream state, but there was nothing that remotely resembled the abilities those creatures employed. It was almost like they'd never existed, or learned to hide in the populous.
The stacks were dimly lit, as the magelights that operated in the library needed a rejuvenation of faez, which was in short supply these days. Aurie walked through the rows, lost in thought as she mulled over her next question to the Biblioscribe. She'd exhausted her current lines of research about the Rider, and considered spending time on the other item she'd been investigating, her sister's girlfriend, Jade Umbra.
Aurie ran right into someone rounding the corner. She dropped Colonial Creatures and knelt to pick it up as the other person fled down the stacks. She saw long dark hair.
"Wait! Come back!"
With book under arm, Aurie chased the dark-haired girl around the corner. When the girl showed no sign of slowing, Aurie took a guess as to her identity.
"Isabella! Wait! I know where your room is!"
This slowed her.
Aurie caught up to Isabella. The petite girl clutched an over-sized book in her arms. Wild-eyed, she glanced every which way, as if she were about to be descended upon by murderous crows.
"I didn't know anyone was in the library."
Aurie patted her arm. "It's okay, you're allowed."
"I...yeah, that's right. I am allowed. Why was I worried about that?" asked Isabella with a nervous laugh.
The lack of magic had put a strain on Arcanium. Everyone was getting a little fried. Aurie knew that the professors had been discussing letting the worst students use a little bit of faez, as they didn't think a small amount would hurt Semyon, but no one knew how much was too much, so they'd decided against it.
"Whoa. Night Haunts and Deadly Apparitions, a Summoning. That's some pretty heavy reading," said Aurie, poking the spine with her forefinger.
Isabella looked away. "It passes the time."
"How's Deshawn? I haven't seen you two together much," said Aurie.
Isabella twitched and fidgeted. "You know, with everything, it's hard to...well, be together."
Aurie sensed how much being in another person's presence was bothering Isabella, which under normal conditions would have been suspicious, but inability to use magic had turned everyone into a serious introvert.
"I don't want to hold you here," said Aurie. "Anyway, it was good to see you. I'll see you at the formal."
Isabella scurried away, leaving Aurie as the lone soul in the library. Her next order of business was Jade Umbra. Aurie checked both the library and the internet for information about Pi's girlfriend, but came up blank. She tried to do a search for the name Jade only, in case the last name was a fake, cross-referencing with the lists of students in the Hundred Halls, but that was a dead end too. Even when she checked against the applicants who'd failed the trials and never made it into the Halls, she found nothing.
Aurie concluded her search, assuming that Jade Umbra was a fake name, and sent a text to her sister that she'd receive the next time she was within range of a cell tower. She headed back to her room to get ready for the Spring Formal.
Back in the fall, when the idea for the formal had been hatched, it'd seemed like a good idea, a break from the monotony, something to look forward to. But as the months had rolled on with no sign of improvement from Semyon, a certain dread hung over the Spring Formal like industrial smog.
Aurie wasn't even sure anyone would show up. Perhaps everyone would hide in their rooms. But she wasn't going to let that creeping malaise bring her down. Aurie put on a flimsy black dress that felt like she was wearing a handkerchief and gave it a spin, noting the way the bottom half flared up.
The pair of enchanted silvery high heels that she'd ordered off the internet claimed to be the most comfortable heels ever made, and after putting them on, she found it hard to disagree. Aurie didn't have much practice walking in them, but felt less like the newborn giraffe she'd expected, and more like a woman attending a star-studded gala.
When Aurie arrived in the Grand Chamber in the west wing, her heart dropped. The decorations were the cheap stuff found at the dollar store, and the space, normally impressive, seemed tawdry. Only a few students milled around the edges while a soulful R&B song played over the speakers.
Aurie looked for Isabella, who was supposed to be in charge, but she was nowhere to be found. She did find Deshawn standing off to the side with his hands in his pockets.
"You look handsome," she said.
He wore an expertly fitted suit with a dark purple shirt and black tie.
"Thanks," he said. "Wish this place looked as good as I do."
"Yeah, this wasn't what I was expecting."
He frowned. "Izzy sort of forgot that this was even happening. I had to order this stuff last second." He shrugged. "Not that it's going to matter. Doesn't look like anyone's showing up."
They stood and chatted for a while, and to their surprise, the other members of Arcanium started rolling in. Even the professors attended.
Professor Longakers wore his normal tweed jacket, but accented it with a bow tie covered in golden dollar signs. Professor Moonie sported a '70s style tuxedo with a frilly shirt and flared pants. Only Professor Mali wasn't in attendance, but everyone knew where she was.
What started off as somber, turned into a real dance party. When Isabella didn't show up, Aurie dragged Deshawn onto the floor. Before long, her calves hurt, but she kept going, afraid to stop and return to the dismal reality that haunted Arcanium. She shared face-splitting smiles with her fellow students as she gyrated across the floor.
Aurie was dancing with a group of girls from third year when screams erupted on the far side of the Grand Chamber. At first, Aurie mistook the noise for genuine excitement, then she realized it was naked fear.
Stomping through the middle of the dance floor, scattering students in its wake, was a towering creature that looked like a mean Buddha with tentacles coming out of its belly. Jacob Finders, a second year that had frozen in place, got caught by a pair of tentacles and was torn in half, guts spilling onto the wooden floor in a wet splash.
Under normal circumstances, a creature of this nature would be trivial for a room full of Arcanium students and teachers, but without magic, Aurie feared it would be a slaughter.
Before the creature could snatch up a fallen Xi Chu, Aurie blasted it with truth magic, knocking it backwards. The tentacled beastie screamed in rage, stomping forward. Forgetting that she was wearing high heels, she tried to run and slipped on the blood-soaked floor.
Professor Longakers threw a vial at the tentacle grasping at Aurie. The acid sizzled across the mucus-laden flesh of the beastie. It roared in response, giving Aurie a chance to scurry out of the way.
As it recovered and raged forward, Deshawn blasted it with a bolt of force magic, stunning it in place.
"Deshawn, no!"
He looked back, holding his hands out. "We have to. It'll kill us all."
A group of students, mostly fourth and fifth years, and the attending professors forme
d a ring around the beastie. Everyone who remained had a weapon or trinket that didn't require faez, but collectively they were still no match.
Xi Chu whistled a sling overhead, smiting the creature with a glowing rock that smashed into its huge blue eyes before reappearing in his hand to be reloaded.
"We're only making it madder," shouted Aurie.
Professor Longakers threw another acid vial. "It's a summoned creature. Does anyone recognize it?"
No one answered.
Everyone was coming to terms with the idea that they had a traitor in their midst.
Aurie saw a figure peeking around the far doorway, where the creature had entered the room. Even though she couldn't see her face, she knew who it was, and what had to be done.
"Hold it here," said Aurie. "I have an idea."
She ran out of the Grand Chamber. She could reach the other side if she went through the kitchens and the storage area. Aurie heard screams and the thump of impact through the walls.
Isabella tried to run the moment Aurie saw her. She fired truth magic at her feet, tumbling her to the ground. Aurie dove on top of her, pinning her to the floor.
"Why did you do that? Why did you summon that creature?"
Isabella looked back star-eyed, her mouth open slightly. When she saw the faint blue stain on her tongue, Aurie had guesses as to the nature of the betrayal.
"Where is the tome?" asked Aurie as she shook her. "Where is it?"
Either the girl was in shock, or she was forbidden from saying anything. Aurie climbed off the stunned girl, looking for signs of the beastie. There were claw marks on the wall. She followed them to an empty conference room, where the professors probably met for administrative meetings with Semyon. The table had been pushed against the wall, and a salt circle surrounded by flickering candles was in its place.
Aurie found the tome discarded to the side. She furiously paged through the book, looking for a description of the tentacled beastie. She found the summoning spell midway, the corner of the page bent from use. An order sheet had been shoved into the book's spine.
It appeared that Isabella had ordered a potion from the internet that soothed the aching mage. Aurie had no doubt that this company was owned by Celesse through a proxy, and had substituted the potion with something that had made her suggestible. Aurie wondered if they'd find instructions, or messages in her room, or emails.
Aurie set the order sheet aside and studied the text. Nothing would matter if she couldn't send the creature back to wherever it'd come from. The creature was called a Cthulhu-beast due to its similarity to the legend, though the text claimed no actual relation. To release the creature back to its plane of existence, Aurie needed a freshly slaughtered lamb, something called Hen of the Woods, and a handful of salt.
"Where the fuck am I going to find the first two?"
Aurie scooped up the salt from the circle and went back to the kitchen, hoping she could find the materials she needed there. The battle continued in the Grand Chamber. She hoped they were still keeping it contained.
She found a hunk of beef in the freezer. She poked the frozen meat with a fingernail. "You'll have to do. Now if I could only figure out what Hen of the Woods is."
Her skimpy dress didn't have room for a cell phone, so Aurie ran back to Isabella, who had her head bent between her legs, sobbing.
"Give me your cell phone."
Isabella looked up, eyes red from rubbing. She handed it over.
"Type in your password, I need it."
After a quick series of taps, Aurie brought up a browser and put Hen of the Woods in.
"Mushrooms?" she exclaimed when she saw the description.
Aurie threw the phone back in Isabella's lap, telling her, "You stay here until this is finished."
Isabella nodded obediently.
Aurie found some Hen of the Woods in the kitchen, grabbed the package of frozen beef, and ran back to the Grand Chamber. There were at least three motionless bodies when she returned. Deshawn was holding his right arm against his body as if it was broken. Professor Longakers was out of acid vials, and was using a chair like a lion tamer.
Aurie threw herself onto the ground, flipping open the book to the bent page. She lifted the package of frozen beef, whispering lies to it, telling the meat that it was really lamb, freshly killed with a curved knife. When warm blood leaked from the white wax paper, she knew it'd worked.
The meat went into a small circle of salt. Then she arranged the fanlike mushrooms at four corners of the circle.
As the words of the spell flowed from her lips, the rush of faez sent shivers of pleasure through her aching body.
"I thought you said not to use magic," Deshawn shouted over the battle.
Aurie couldn't answer She was in the middle of the spell and couldn't pause, or create more problems.
The beastie sensed it was being sent away and surged forward. A tentacle came flying at her head, only knocked away at the last second by a chair-wielding Professor Longakers. His bravery was rewarded by a second tentacle that knocked him backwards against the wall. He groaned in pain.
As the Cthulhu-beast marched forward, ignoring the attempts of the others to slow it down, Aurie finished the spell. The creature cried out as the summoning energies reversed course, throwing it back to wherever it had come from, ending with a satisfying pop.
With the creature gone, Aurie went straight to Deshawn. He was grimacing as he held his right arm awkwardly.
"It was Isabella. She was drugged with a potion. I'll explain later, but go take care of her. Make sure she doesn't hurt herself or try to run."
Deshawn was joined by Xi, who had survived mostly unscathed. They left through the far door, avoiding the mess of blood and mucus that had been splattered across the dance floor.
With the creature gone, the other students returned. Calls were made to the Aura Healers. Once Aurie knew that those alive would be cared for, she went straight to Semyon's room. She had to know if the use of magic had hurt him.
When she arrived, Professor Mali stared back grimly. "What happened?"
"Is he okay? I had to use magic."
"What? Why?"
Aurie quickly explained. The professor nodded the whole time.
"He jerked a few times. At first, I thought he was waking up, then I suspected what was really going on," said the professor.
"I'm sorry, it was the only thing that would stop that creature."
The professor nodded. "It looks like everything is fine down here. No harm done. You stay here with Semyon. I need to go up and survey the damage."
Aurie's heart was beating in her chest like a frightened jackrabbit. She paced around the room, coming back to check on Semyon repeatedly, thinking that her spell had done more than Professor Mali had let on, but after she calmed down, she realized he was fine. They'd survived the incident.
But how much longer could they hold out? There was no way they could keep the Cabal out for twenty years. Celesse and the other patrons would find new ways to infiltrate Arcanium, if they didn't just make an all-out attack when the defenses weakened enough.
There was always the option of transferring their patronage to Celesse, and that was probably the secondary purpose of the attack, to remind them how perilous their situation was. Aurie still hadn't told anyone about the offer that the Alchemist patron had made, and now, after so much had happened, she feared that if she did, they would abandon Semyon.
"I'm not ready to give up," she told the soul-torn patron. "If I give up on you, then the Halls are finished. But is it fair of me to tie the rest of them to that decision?"
No answer came, not that she was expecting one.
"Can't you heal faster?" she asked, beating her fist lightly on the edge of the bed.
Then she remembered that there was a way for him to heal faster, but it was fraught with danger. The Engine of Temporal Manipulation could be sped up, but she wasn't sure she was strong enough to withstand the effects.
The
Engine was sitting on a shelf behind Semyon's head, humming with eldritch energy, not yet vibrating enough that she would have to enter the dream state of Semyon, but close enough that she knew it was soon.
Aurie had the knowledge on how to turn it up. With a heavy heart, she traced the runes activating the brass cylinder. When they glowed with a terrible yellowish purpose, Aurie swiped her hand a third of the way across the tube, and the first three runes turned translucent with light.
Immediately, the vibration picked up until it was a tooth-rattling ache. She stared at Semyon Gray, lips white as she squeezed them together.
She didn't know how long it would be until she would have to go back in, but it would be soon. Soon.
Aurie was afraid she wouldn't be strong enough this time.
Chapter Nineteen
Everyone survived the Garden Network without puking. The Misfits were getting used to traveling. This was their fifth excursion, and the last three had gone much better than the first, when they'd triggered the defenses of the Smoke & Amber.
The City Library was desolate at 3 a.m., and lacked the security measures that might normally cause problems. Pi didn't take any chances, placing see-me-not enchantments on the rooms before they passed through them.
Nancy and Sasha carried an olive green army box, complete with military font reading "Magical Munitions" and "DANGER - NO FAEZ." Normally, the box would be too heavy for them, but they'd bulked themselves up with strength spells that made them look like they were about to enter a bodybuilding contest.
"Isn't this a little conspicuous?" asked Jade. "I mean, we're wandering through the streets with a box that clearly looks stolen and dangerous. We could have MWAT down here if someone calls."
"Remember those pins I told you to put on?" Jade nodded. "For anyone not wearing one, that box reads like gibberish. And if someone opens the box without one, it looks like it's filled with dance clothes."
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