Academic Magic

by Becky R Jones

  Wardmaster continued. “Mages, much like academics, tend to have an affinity for and specialize in one of the four Elements and use it as the primary source and manifestation of their power. For example, a Water mage will be more powerful if she or he is near water, and even stronger if they are actually in water. Earth mages draw power through contact with the earth. Standing on the ground, as opposed to in a building, is best; it’s even better if one is barefoot.” He gestured around his office. “As you might have guessed by now, I am an Earth mage.”

  Zoe scanned the office, taking in details she had overlooked on previous visits. The room was filled with warm earth tones, the bookcases and desk were dark wood, and the chair in which she sat was upholstered in a leaf-patterned material. There were plants on the windowsill and a big philodendron resided on top of a bookcase that stood alongside the window, its light-seeking tendrils wrapped around the curtain rod and hanging down over the window.

  The desk was positioned so that anyone sitting at it had a view out the window and onto the central quad. It also provided an unobstructed view out the door into the hallway. Throughout the room there were different shades of brown and green, dark orange, yellow, and gold in pictures on the walls and the curtains over the window. The area rug that took up most of the floor space had a central design that depicted an oak tree with strong roots running deep into a green hillside. The rug was positioned so that sitting at the desk put one at the top of the tree, while anybody coming through the door was at the foot of the tree. Surrounding the tree, worked into the rug’s border, were a myriad of plants, several of which Zoe identified as native to Pennsylvania. She recognized mountain laurel, coneflowers, several types of asters, and ferns among many others she did not know.

  George’s clothing was consistent with the Earth-tone theme of the office. He was wearing dark brown pants with a beige and brown horizontally striped polo shirt. What other details and patterns in other offices and clothing choices she had missed? What would an Air mage put in their office? Empty oxygen tanks? She pulled herself out of her mental wanderings.

  “Is John Gardner an Earth mage by any chance?” The question popped out before she could stop it.

  George glanced at her. “What makes you think that?”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude. It’s just that…well, at one meeting last year we were discussing budget cuts and he was seriously advocating that the college stop maintaining the grounds. He said that mowing the lawns and trimming the bushes was harmful to the plants and a waste of money.” The far-fetched and ridiculous take on budget solutions had stuck with Zoe ever since. It was one of the stories she told with great relish for friends who asked her what it was like working in academia.

  George paused. “Yes, he is, and he’s one of the few that wouldn’t mind me telling you that.” He laughed. “John has strong feelings about what he calls ‘overcontrol’ of trees and other plants. There’s a reason he lives out in Lancaster county where his nearest neighbor is a couple of miles away. Most Earth mages, no matter where we live, have some yard area, and surround ourselves with plants. It’s almost unconscious. We are not comfortable without some plant life, some contact with the earth.”

  Zoe absorbed the information and the explanations. She glanced at the clock and jumped. Damn. It was almost 6:00 pm. Given the number of essays she had left to grade – it would be painful – she needed to get home. Not to mention that processing all of this information required some alone time.

  George noticed her glance at the clock and her reaction. “Oh, my. I didn’t realize the time. I need to get home. There are others who need to know what Rowantree said.”

  His expression became serious. “I know I don’t really have to tell you, but do not tell anybody else what we spoke about here. If what Rowantree says is accurate, and he’s not prone to exaggeration, then something pretty ugly is brewing on this campus.”

  Zoe nodded (all this nodding was turning her into a human bobble-head). “I won’t, but will you please keep me in the loop? It seems like Rowantree trusts me; I don’t know why, but I think that means I’ll hear more. I’d like to be able to get explanations from you if possible.”

  George nodded in his turn. “I will. But promise me you won’t take on anything yourself without telling me.”

  Zoe laughed. “What would I do? I don’t have any magic powers. I didn’t even know they existed until an hour ago. Besides,” she added hoping to lighten the mood, “I’m going up for tenure in a couple of years; you know I’m not going to do anything to jeopardize that!” She smiled and got up to leave.

  Wardmaster hesitated but settled for returning her smile. “Of course. Have a good evening. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Driving home, Zoe mulled over everything she had just learned. At stop lights she caught herself looking at the people in surrounding cars and wondering if they too, were mages. She was trained as an historical researcher, that meant looking for small details in manuscripts and other documents. What details was she missing in real life?

  She found an almost perfect parking spot just a block from home. In her neighborhood it was rare to have a driveway, much less a garage. She collected her bags from the back seat and started walking to the house. She stared at the familiar rowhomes with new eyes. Were all the plants in the window boxes and on the steps a sign that an Earth mage lived there? What about the window boxes with fancy pinwheel type decorations… an Air mage? Or just a family with small children? Or both?

  As she meandered up the block towards her own front steps staring at the houses, she spotted a woman walking towards her. Refocusing her mind on the here-and-now, she recognized her two-doors-down neighbor, Kim Smith. Not long after Zoe had moved in, there had been a block party and as a result she had met and become casual friends with several people on her block. It made living alone in a big city a little easier.

  “Hi, Zoe!” Kim called as she approached.

  “Hey, Kim. How are you?”

  As they met at the bottom of Zoe’s steps, Kim cocked her head and gave Zoe an assessing look.

  “I’m okay, but you look a little stressed. Too much grading?” Her tone was light, but she gave Zoe a calculating stare.

  “Yeah, I guess. But today was also just a weird day all around.”

  Kim raised her eyebrows. “Oh – one of those. Yeah, it feels like there’s something in the air. Well, if you need to take a break, I’m always up for a beer at the Faire Mount.”

  “Thanks, I may take you up on that this weekend. I need to get out of the house.” Also she needed to hang out with somebody who didn’t know squirrels could talk and didn’t care about the internal politics of Summerfield College.

  “Great! I’ll talk to you later.” Kim waved and continued down the street to her house.

  Zoe trudged up her steps and let herself into the house. Dropping her bags on the bench inside her front door at the foot of the staircase, Zoe headed upstairs and changed out of what she called “adult clothes” into something more comfortable for slouching about the house at the end of the day. She would never admit, even to herself, that owning a house and having a career made her an adult. Adults were responsible for all sorts of things; but at this moment all she was responsible for were the two cats who were currently demanding she pay attention to them. Flash, an orange tabby, was the more vocal of the two while Moose, a large grey Persian, who she suspected was part Maine Coon given how big he was, tended toward head-butting as a form of communication. The two of them had shown up at her back door about a year or so ago and, in the habit of cats, moved in. The cats followed Zoe upstairs and sat on her bed while she changed clothes.

  Heading back downstairs (a precarious walk with two cats weaving in and out of her feet), Zoe set about what was surely the most important task of the day…feeding Flash and Moose. They happily devoured their food, and she poured herself a glass of wine and wandered out into the living room. She considered cooking something for herself for dinner
, but she wasn’t that hungry. She plopped onto the loveseat, grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. How had she not noticed anything odd about George Wardmaster? What else was she missing in real life? What did George mean, magic was real? He hadn’t done anything strange. No hocus-pocus or abracadabra or anything like that. Was he truly a crazy old man and just good at hiding it? She stared unseeing at the screen while her brain sorted through the improbable information she had learned earlier in the day.

  The beauty of having animals share your house if you live alone is that you can tell people you talk to your pets all the time, when the reality is you are talking to yourself. Flash and Moose finished their meal, moseyed into the living room and jumped up on the couch next to Zoe; Moose settled on one side of her and Flash on the other. She turned from her blank contemplation of the TV screen to look at them, absently scratching Flash behind his ears.

  “Wait until I tell you what happened today. You won’t believe it.” The cats glanced up at the sound of her voice. “I learned that squirrels can talk, magic is real, and that my mentor is an Earth mage.” She sighed. Food would probably help, but she had zero energy or interest in preparing any dinner for herself.

  Staring out the front window, she missed the look exchanged across her lap between the two cats. Flash sat up and tapped Zoe on the arm. When she didn’t respond, he tapped her again this time with his claws out just enough to make a human sit up and take notice.

  Knowing he just wanted attention, Zoe blindly reached back and scratched him behind the ears again. He tapped her arm a third time and now the claws were fully extended and dug in a bit.

  “What? Don’t do that.” She turned around.

  Flash gazed up at her “I’m glad you finally figured it out.” He yawned and sat back down alongside her.

  Dumbfounded, Zoe gaped at Moose.

  Moose gazed back without blinking and meowed. “Don’t be ridiculous, we can’t talk,” he said. And went back to chewing on his toes.

  One talking animal in a day is weird and somewhat off-putting (Alder, Rowantree’s companion, hadn’t actually said anything, just nodded – so far, he didn’t count as a talking squirrel. It is amazing what the human brain can come up with). But three talking animals?

  “Either I’m truly crazy, or the world is turning upside down,” Zoe responded.

  “No, your conception of it was upside down before. Now you know how it really works,” noted Moose glancing up from his toe-chewing. She gaped at the cat. What the hell was going on? She put down the wine glass. Okay. Let’s get rid of that.

  Suddenly horrified, Zoe jumped and screeched at the cats. “You guys sit in the bathroom while I’m using it!”

  “You learn that we can talk and that’s your biggest worry? What’s the problem?” asked Flash

  “While I’m using the bathroom!!” Zoe exclaimed.

  “Just because we can talk like humans doesn’t mean we think like you do. I don’t understand why humans have all these hang-ups about their litterboxes. Quit worrying.” Moose stood up, stretched and walked towards the window.

  “What did the squirrels say?” he asked jumping up on the sill and cleaning one front foot.

  Trying to pull her mind back to some semblance of sanity but still worrying about the shared bathroom visits with the cats, Zoe recounted Rowantree’s warnings about Shelby Hall, her encounter with Sarah Riley, and her conversation with George Wardmaster. This was nuts. Conversations with animals were becoming almost ordinary. Either she was in the middle of a crazy dream, or her world had been fundamentally altered. There was a third alternative, that her mind had snapped under pressure. Nope. Not going there. Not yet anyway. The cats continued their dignity-destroying grooming routines.

  She finished telling her story. Moose and Flash paused in their cleaning routines and exchanged a look. Moose flicked his ears and launched into cleaning his tail. Flash sat down and began licking a paw.

  “Did you notice anything about Shelby Hall?” Flash asked in between swipes of his paw over his ears.

  “Just what I told you. Thinking back I realized that over the last week or so, I’ve been going the long way around the building when I go across campus. I haven’t had any meetings in there this semester, so I have no idea what it feels like inside. I suppose it’s possible that unconsciously I recognized the dark energies, or whatever, coming from it and avoided it for that reason.”

  Both cats again stopped their cleaning activities and gazed up at Zoe. With one back leg sticking straight up over his head and the tip of his tongue sticking out, Flash surrendered any claims to dignity. Moose was hardly better, having twisted himself around to get to his tail while maintaining his balance on the windowsill.

  “We’ll see if anything else is going on in the city,” Moose said. “But in the meantime…” they both eyeballed her expectantly.

  “What?” She braced herself for more improbably information.

  “There’s no dry food in our bowls. How are we going to get through the rest of the night?”

  Zoe sighed in relief and at the melodrama in the tone of the request and got up to put more kibble into their bowls. The cats followed her into the kitchen, weaving in and out of her ankles. She absently pulled out the dry food and grabbed their bowls.

  “I guess after having a squirrel talk to me, nothing seems impossible. And, anyway, everybody always talks about how their cats and dogs understand them,” she muttered.

  “Hurry up!” Moose and Flash looked up at her. Zoe sighed. Oh, this was only going to get better. Instead of meows that she could pretend she didn’t understand, the cats were going to start talking to her and voicing their nearly unending feline demands. Yay.

  In the middle of pouring food into their bowls, Zoe stopped and stared at the cats.

  “Wait. You can talk and you know the squirrels. Why did you guys show up here last year looking like pathetic strays?”

  “Would you have let us in if we looked well-fed and happy? We needed to be here,” Moose glanced up while at the same time keeping an eye on the progress of food into the bowls. Zoe had to admit that the pathetic looks and condition of the cats had contributed to her somewhat impulsive decision to keep them.

  She put the bowls on the floor. “Why did you guys come to my house and not someone else’s? And what do you mean you ‘needed to be here’?”

  “We’ll explain later,” Flash answered and dove into his food bowl as if he hadn’t seen food in weeks, despite having eaten just an hour or so ago. Moose simply started eating without saying anything. Zoe shook her head and put the bag of food away. She wasn’t going to get any more answers until later.

  Chapter Four

  The next morning, Zoe woke up surprisingly ready for any talking animals the day might throw at her. She didn’t have to teach today, but she wanted to go in to campus anyway. She had learned that she was more productive in the academic atmosphere of her campus office, rather than at home. It cut down on the procrastination. It also made it easier to start digging into mages and magic in her own century. She was certain her usual research sources didn’t say anything about twenty-first century mages. Did Wikipedia have anything about that?

  Arriving at school, Zoe parked on the opposite side of campus from her office; she would get a good walk in on a bright morning. The most direct route across campus from the parking lot to her building passed immediately in front of Shelby Hall. This was a chance for gauging whatever it was that was coming from Shelby. Grabbing her bags out of the back seat, she crossed the street and headed into the middle of campus. Ahead of her she spotted Mark heading for his office.

  “Hey, Mark!” she called, breaking into a jog, and catching up with him.

  “Hi, Zo. You’re here early for a day you don’t teach.”

  “Well, I woke up early and decided that I would try to make some decent headway on this new project. Academic research atmosphere and all that.” She hesitated and then took the plunge. “This is gonna sound weird, bu
t can I ask you something?”

  “Asking me if you can ask me something is gonna sound weird?” he joked.

  “No, funny man,” she shot back. “What I want to ask is gonna sound weird. Have you noticed anything…I don’t know…weird? by Shelby? Like…um…bad air, or even…um…bad vibes?”

  “Whaddaya mean, ‘bad vibes’?” They were almost at Davis Hall and Mark stopped and looked directly at Zoe.

  “Well, I dunno…it just feels weird and sorta strange when I walk right in front of it. Like it’s sending out a bad vibe. I don’t know. I told you it was gonna seem weird.” She sounded lame in her own ears.

  Mark’s face grew set and he held her gaze.

  “Yes, I have. But we’ll have to talk about this later. Can you stick around on campus until about two today? I’m done with teaching then.”

  “Sure, no problem. I’ll be in my office, just come find me.” All her questions and concerns from last night resurfaced but she damped down her anxiety.

  “Great. I’ll be there about two o’clock depending on students. See you later,” Mark called after her, opening the Davis Hall door. Zoe turned towards Cooper Hall and her own office.

  As she headed towards her own office, Zoe kept an eye out for squirrels on the quad. It was a quiet morning, but Rowantree and his friends were nowhere to be seen. Worrying about the welfare of squirrels was a new sensation.

  She reached the spot where the path branched. The right-hand option took you directly in front of Shelby Hall while the left-hand path took you out to the opposite side of the quad and then around the top towards Cooper Hall. Zoe took a deep breath, hoisted her bags further up her shoulder, and set off down the right-hand path. The first few hundred feet were perfectly normal, and she started to think she had imagined the bad vibes. A few steps later she quickly revised that conclusion. The air took on a damp moldy odor. All her worries from the past couple of weeks returned with a vengeance and her breathing became faster and shallower. She pulled her arms across her waist and lowered her head. The bright light of the autumn morning dimmed, and she knew nothing was going to go right today. She forced herself to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving past the building. Another few hundred feet past the far end of Shelby Hall, and the day became bright once again and she found the will to lift her head and unwind her arms. Zoe stood still for a moment, soaking in the sunlight. Damn. That was nasty. How do Sarah and the others deal with that all day? What is going on?