Academic Magic

by Becky R Jones

  “Yeah, it felt like one massive bad mood in there the other day. How do you stand it?”

  Sarah frowned. “Well, I do feel much better once I get out of the building, so I try to focus on that and find excuses for leaving the office as often as I can, but it seems like it’s getting harder to escape it sometimes.”

  “What do you mean?” Zoe probed.

  “This might sound strange but sometimes it feels like I have to get farther and farther away from the building before I actually feel better. Like there’s a cloud around the building and I feel like crap until I can get out of it. I guess the bad mood aura is affecting me more than I realized.” Sarah’s expression was troubled and annoyed.

  If Sarah can feel it, does that mean everybody on campus can? I would think so. Taking a long pull off her beer, Zoe began working her way through the puzzle. She mostly accepted the idea of magic and other impossible ideas. Fairy tales, monsters and magic were the staples of her childhood reading. That love of the otherworldly had drawn her into real research on magic and witchcraft. Sarah was staring into space drinking her own beer.

  Zoe stared into her beer thinking hard. The researcher in her was already organizing the problem. Based on Sarah’s description, the source of the dark energy, whatever or whoever was causing it, was growing stronger.

  She looked up at Sarah. “How long do you think this…I dunno…bad mood?…vibe?…has been around?”

  Sarah also stared at her beer glass turning it around and around on the table. “About six to eight weeks ago, right around the start of the semester, I guess. I think it has something to do with the president’s new project. I just hope this thing is completed soon so that people will stop being so stressed and angry all the time.” She sighed and took a long drink of her beer.

  Sarah was getting down again so Zoe changed the subject. “Hey, does Meredith Cruickshank act that way toward all the support staff? Arrogant and condescending?”

  Sarah laughed. “Ha! Yeah, and she’s not the only one. We call them the “holier than thou” faculty…HTTs. There are several who think that having a Ph.D. confers some sort of moral and general intellectual superiority over the rest of us. You might have noticed that Melanie encourages it. I am this close,” she held her thumb and forefinger about a quarter inch apart, “to quitting that job.” Her tone was hard, and she looked like she would give notice right then if she could.

  “In defense of faculty, we’re not all like that,” Zoe laughed. It was clear who Sarah was talking about. It was one reason she made sure she was always polite and thanked anybody in a staff position. Secretaries could make life far easier or far worse for a faculty member.

  Sarah smiled. “No, you’re one of the good ones. But, it’s the weekend. I have another day before I have to return to hell.”

  Looking at the clock on the wall behind the bar, Zoe jumped. She had to get home if she was going to do any work on her own project before going to Mark and David’s house for dinner and a lecture on mages and magic.

  “I gotta run. I’m going to Mark and David’s for dinner tonight. But I’m glad we got together and chatted. Let’s make sure we do it again.”

  As they stood on the sidewalk, Sarah said, “Thanks for letting me vent, I’ll be fine. But, if you hear of another admin position in any other department, let me know. Getting out of Shelby would be fantastic.” She smiled, gave Zoe a good-bye hug, and walked up the block.

  Walking slowly towards her own house, Zoe couldn’t help but wonder if Sarah was involved in whatever was going on in Shelby. She certainly looked exhausted and sounded worn out. Could Sarah be faking that? That seemed like a lot of effort. Besides, she just didn’t get a bad feeling around Sarah.

  Back at home, Zoe sat down on the couch for a moment and collected her thoughts. She probably should make notes so that she would remember the conversation for George.

  Flash jumped up next to her and tapped her on the arm. “What are you thinking about?”

  Moose chimed in from the floor. “And, when’s dinner?”

  She stared at the cats. Wait a minute. Not only could she talk to the cats, but now she could get understandable answers from them. The research project could wait.

  “Did I tell you guys about the student who came into my office and then vanished?”

  Both cats stopped their cleaning routines and sat up.

  “No, you have not mentioned that incident. What happened?” Moose’s voice took on a serious tone. This was new.

  Zoe filled them in on Declan’s visit to her office, and both cats paced around the living room, a sure sign of stress. She finished telling the story, and they jumped back up on the sofa next to her.

  “We will think about this and get in touch with the squirrels and maybe even the crows,” Flash said.

  “We need to determine what exactly this human, or supposed human, Declan is really,” Moose added. He lay down on the floor, putting his head on his paws.

  Zoe stared at him, taken aback. George had said that Declan was a magical being but not a mage. Now, Moose’s comment implied that Declan might not be human. She pulled a face. I’ll have to worry about that later. Massaging her temples and clearing her head of all thoughts about Declan, Zoe brought the conversation back to the witchcraft that was currently infecting the campus.

  “What do you guys think is going on in Shelby Hall? I do think Declan is somehow involved if only because his academic advisor is Meredith Cruickshank and he works in the provost’s office.” She threw the question to the cats.

  Flash raised his head and gazed at her, his eyes mere slits. “If I had to guess, I’d say they’re trying to raise a demon.” He glanced down at Moose who picked his head up enough to nod.

  “We’ll ask the squirrels and crows when we ask them about this Declan kid...right after you feed us dinner.” Flash eyed Zoe.

  Zoe goggled at the two cats. “We might be facing someone trying to raise a demon, you as much said you don’t think Declan is human, and you’re worried about dinner?” She glanced at the clock on the fireplace mantel, “It’s your lucky day. I am going to Mark and David’s for dinner, so I’ll feed you before I leave.”

  Flash put on a downtrodden attitude. “We do better with food; we can think better.” He finished with a pitiful mewl.

  Zoe laughed. “Seriously, before I feed you…what do you mean you have to contact the squirrels and crows? Are they, what did Mark call you guys, Watchers? Here in the city as well? Besides you two, I mean?”

  Moose jumped up onto the arm of the sofa. “Yes, squirrels, racoons, and cats are the Watchers everywhere and work with mages, although not all mages are nice people. Crows too, but they are mercenary and will work for witches or mages. It’s not called a murder of crows for nothing.”

  Zoe shook her head. Everything was getting muddled up in her brain.

  “Okay. Wait a minute. Watchers – you guys – what exactly do you do?”

  Flash gave her a wide-eyed pathetic look. “But…food?? I’m better at answering questions when I have food.”

  “Answers first and I’ll give you extra treats tonight,” Zoe offered the bribe.

  “Fine,” Moose sat down on the arm of the sofa. “Watchers patrol their designated neighborhood or area like a college campus. We can feel magic and we let a mage know what’s going on if whatever we notice is new or feels bad. Now can we get some dinner?”

  “In a minute. Why are you two here? I mean, there are squirrels all over this neighborhood,” Zoe tried to piece things together.

  Flash jumped into her lap. “Because we didn’t have an easy connection to the college until you moved in. So, we came here. Is that good enough? Now can we get food?”

  “Just one more thing,” Zoe started. Both cats lay down and closed their eyes, pretending to sleep. “C’mon guys, real quick…are all witches bad? I know that Wiccans believe that what you send out returns to you three-fold and that’s why they try to do good in the world. And, based on my research,
those accused of being witches five hundred years ago might have been somewhat unusual in their behavior, but were otherwise perfectly normal people.”

  Moose cracked open one eye and produced a huge, unhinged-jaw type of yawn. “Wiccans are nice people, but they don’t have any real power. True power for a witch comes from consorting with demons and other evil entities. You study witchcraft, you know how it works. Now I’m out of strength and can’t answer any more questions.”

  “Okay, okay,” Zoe nodded slowly, and the cats jumped off the sofa as she stood up. Mulling over Moose’s comments, she walked into the kitchen trailed by the two cats. It was true that medieval authorities believed that witches consorted with the devil and his demons and used the powers given to them by demons to control or kill others. Her research project was taking on an immediacy it never had before. There was possibly something in the historical record on how to counter strong witchcraft; she had better find that out and fast. There was no time for the usual academic niceties. Besides, she didn’t think that real witches and demons would really care about properly sourced and cited analysis.

  The drive to Mark and David’s house, in one of Philadelphia’s inner ring suburbs took only about half an hour, but that was long enough to provide time for creating at least some coherence out of the metric ton of information that had been thrown at her in the last week or so. About a million questions were flying around in her head demanding answers. But, to get answers she had to pare down the number of questions and make sure she asked those that actually had answers. It was just like any research project; you couldn’t just throw questions into the ether and hope that something stuck, you had to figure out which questions to ask. That was the difficult part.

  She pulled into their driveway, got out of the car, and scanned the familiar neighborhood with new eyes. The house was small but set on a larger lot. They had talked about adding on to the back of the house for a couple of years now but still had not done anything about it. I suppose David can’t stand to give up any yard area to a building. Walking up to the front door she was amazed at what she was truly noticing for the first time. There were lush plantings across the front of the house, and everything looked healthy and strong. It’s like walking through a beautiful meadow just going from the driveway to the front door.

  Mark let her in. The wonderful smells drifting through the house announced that another fabulous dinner was on the way. Zoe’s mouth started to water. David was not only a wonderful gardener, but also an excellent cook. Zoe had been trying to figure out a way to move in permanently, so she could eat David’s food every day. Mark was a lucky, lucky man.

  She walked into the kitchen and hugged David.

  Putting down his tongs, he gave her a strong hug in return. “Hey there. Mark told me what’s been going on. How are you doing with all of that?”

  She grimaced. “I’m okay, I guess. It’s a lot to take in. I was trying to figure out how to ask you guys about things on the way over here. I dunno. Talking animals…mages…you guys are mages…vanishing students…most of the time now I think I’m coping and adapting. But then, sometimes it’ll feel like I’m watching a movie and I’ll go home, and everything will be the way it was last week.”

  “Well, she hasn’t gotten crazy….er,” Mark chuckled. Zoe rolled her eyes at him.

  “Yeah, I know. It’s a lot to take in.” David grinned. “Aww, boo-boo, it’ll be okay!” he said with an exaggerated coo and reached out to give her another hug.

  Zoe laughed. “Aw, shucks! You’re the bestest!”

  They sat down to the as-fabulous-as-promised dinner. Conversation was replaced with the sounds of a delicious, perfectly cooked, steak, with a mushroom sauce and vegetables, being devoured.

  “So, did you see Sarah today? How are things for her? What did she have to say?” Mark surfaced after a couple minutes of concentrated eating.

  “Well, she looks like crap. Tired, circles under her eyes, stressed. She said the bad feeling has been growing since about the beginning of the semester and it coincides with the beginning of some project created by the president. She also told me that it takes longer to get out from under the bad feeling when she leaves the building. She has to walk further before she feels better. She says she’s fine, but she desperately wants to get out of there.”

  David looked at Zoe. “What did it feel like to you when you were over there the other day? Mark said George told you guys he thinks strong witchcraft is going on.”

  “Yeah, he did; and my cats think it’s a coven working on raising a demon. Mark did tell you I have talking cats, right? Anyway, it feels poisonous over there. Like I imagine breathing completely toxic air would feel. I couldn’t wait to leave, and I felt almost giddy as soon we got past the border or line or whatever you want to call it.”

  Zoe paused to take a bite of grilled steak. “But if Sarah’s right, and it’s taking her longer to get away from the oppressive feeling, doesn’t that mean that whatever or whoever is getting stronger?”

  Silence fell. Finally, Mark said, “Yes, I’m afraid that’s what it means. It also means that we have to move sooner rather than later.”

  “One more thing,” Zoe looked at David. “Did Mark tell you about my vanishing student?”

  David nodded. “Yeah. That’s weird. I have some time this week, so I’m going to dig around in the archives I’ve collected and see if I can find anything. I thought I knew a great deal about mages and magic, but I guess not so much. It’s hard when you can’t really discuss anything outside of a few friends and family members.”

  David’s comment caught Zoe off-guard. That was strange. George said that he had ways of telling a mage from a non-mage, and Simon apparently could hide himself from other mages. Couldn’t mages find each other and share information? When she first found out that George and Mark were mages, she had pictured something very similar to a group of faculty all in the same discipline. Eventually, everybody knows, or knows of, everybody else. David was implying that this wasn’t the case. Hopefully, he could find out more about what Declan Jin was in these archives he mentioned.

  Zoe shrugged. “Okay, so we can’t do anything about any of that right at this moment. And, Mark promised to tell me how all this…whatever…magic…mage stuff works. So, start talking you guys.”

  David laughed. “Okay, okay. How much do you know?”

  Zoe took a bite of steak and thought about it. “Well, George told me about the Elements and that mages are usually specialists, so to speak, in one of the Elements, but that there are some who are more like generalists and can work with all four Elements. Now you know everything I know about magic. Which I only learned about a few days ago…” she trailed off.

  Before either of them could respond, she voiced the bewilderment she’d felt ever since Rowantree first spoke to her. “I’ll be honest, I never, in a million years, would have believed that my research could actually cover real phenomenon and not just odd or uneducated beliefs of medieval peasants.”

  David’s expression was sympathetic. “I know. It’s a lot to take in. Do you want to hear how my magic works?”

  “Yes, please,” said Zoe. “What does it feel like, how do you work it, could somebody standing next to you figure out what you were doing if they didn’t know about mages?”

  “Well, one, it feels like a connection with the earth, two, I feel that connection and manipulate it, three, no unless they’re also a mage. That’s the short answer.” David smiled. “The long answer is long…I think the best way to describe it is to paraphrase Obi Wan Kenobi…it’s a force that runs through plants, trees, dirt, things that live in the ground, that sort of thing. Unlike Obi Wan, I can see it, and I can shift it as needed. Does that make sense?”

  Zoe nodded. “Sort of.”

  Chin in hand, David stared at the table. “It’s not really like the force in Star Wars, it’s more like…I can feel when things that don’t normally live in the earth are in there or are moving through; if they’re neutr
al, good, or bad I can feel that in the reaction of the things that live in the earth.”

  “Okay.” Zoe turned to Mark. “You’re up. Give me the best short or long answer you have.”

  Mark thought for a moment. “I don’t have a good Star Wars analogy, but I feel air and lack of air as a change or move away from normal. I can feel the currents change direction when they go around something and I can shift air currents and move them in a direction I choose. I can add air in or pull air out of a space and I can use it to move objects around or carry sound to me; sort of like a small, personal, directed tornado. Like David said, I can tell when another mage is actively working.”

  David took over the explanation again. “Friends who are Fire and Water mages say the same thing. There is something tangible for your Element and you are able to take that connection and use it to manipulate the Element. Strong emotions also affect your Element. For example, if I get really angry all of a sudden, plants might start moving as if there’s a wind, or loose dirt might fly around. Other mages who share your Element are especially sensitive to working with that Element. But I can feel when Mark’s doing something, but it’s just sort of a general energy change. Of course, as you know, he’s not really a subtle guys so there’s that…” he smiled at Mark.

  “Hey! I resemble that remark!” Mark exclaimed, drawing a snort of laughter from Zoe.

  “Damn, you guys. This is a lot to process!” She stared back and forth between the two men.

  “It is. Which means we all need some dessert! Chocolate cheesecake sound good?” David proclaimed as he got up from the table.

  “Yes, please!” said Zoe, momentarily distracted from thoughts of magic and witchcraft by thoughts of what she knew from experience would be an amazingly good cheesecake. The three of them cleared the table and Zoe used the break in the conversation to ponder what she had just learned. It wasn’t that she thought Mark and David were pulling her leg…but still…Zoe fought disbelief at the explanations and information they’d given her. She had had a conversation with a squirrel. Magic was not any more impossible than that. She digested all the information, making connections with other random pieces floating through her mind. David’s comment about other friends who were mages prodded her memory. Standing in the middle of the kitchen she started thinking out loud.