Denouncement

by E A Foley

  The mood of the whole group changed. Excited energy surrounded Iris. Until Jaden said he had lunch plans and took off. Everyone else stayed. They worked on the air defenses and attacks Iris mentioned earlier.

  “That was awesome!” Thorin exclaimed as she walked him out to his car.

  “Glad you enjoyed it.”

  “You’re really hot when you boss people around.”

  He gave her that half-smile she knew he reserved for her. Iris couldn’t keep the warmth flooding through her body from pooling in her neck and creeping into her cheeks.

  “Aw, you’re blushing,” Thorin teased.

  “Shut up,” Iris gave him a shove.

  Thorin caught her receding arm and pulled her into a hug. He gave her a quick peck on the forehead and climbed into his car. “See you at rehearsal,” he called with a wave.

  Chapter 11

  When band rehearsal came the following night, Thorin did not. Though Iris had fun, as usual, it wasn’t quite the same. A trip to late night with the clarinets and a few other freshmen lifted her spirits. Sienna was all smiles and Brett didn’t show himself.

  Iris called Thorin the following day and left him a voicemail asking for a tutoring session before her midterms came the following week. He didn’t call her back. By the time Friday rolled around, she hadn’t heard from or seen him around campus or at band gigs all week. Her mood succumbed to her own negative thoughts about how he probably didn’t like her anymore because no one could like her. Her eyes shifted shades to a muted brown.

  When a knock came at her door in the Gallery late Friday evening, she was surprised to find Thorin waiting for her. “Hey,” she said and leaned forward onto her half-open door.

  “Hey yourself,” Thorin drew his brows together. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.”

  “You mad at me?”

  “No.”

  “Whatever. I know you’re lying. Something’s wrong. If you don’t want to tell me, then fine.”

  “What do you want, Thorin?”

  “Wow! You’re pissy. I was wondering if you could help me figure out how to turn that dream I had into reality. You know, asking things to morph into other things.”

  “Sure,” Iris tried to school her voice and eyes. She failed.

  “Dude, Iris, what the hell? I thought you’d be interested in solving a new magical puzzle.”

  “I am. It’s just . . . ” She looked away from him, put her hands in her pockets, and raised her shoulders.

  “I wasn’t around all week,” Thorin finished her thought.

  Iris refused to respond or make eye contact with him.

  “That’s it, isn’t it? You of all people should understand the desire to solve a magical puzzle.”

  “Is this how I get?”

  “Worse, actually. I have a phone. Call me next time.”

  “I left you a voicemail on Tuesday. You never called back.”

  “Oh right. Sorry. Text me, then.”

  “I was afraid you were mad at me or something.”

  “How could I be mad at you?” He lifted her chin a little and their eyes met. “So, you want to help me out with this or should I keep struggling?”

  “Yes, I’ll help. But I need help in calculus again.”

  “No problem. I’m free all tomorrow. How about I come by around ten?”

  “Sounds good. See you then.”

  Iris packed everything she’d need for studying the following morning so she and Thorin could head straight to their practice island as soon as he arrived. They worked on magic for an hour, then switched to calculus and back before taking a break to get lunch at the DC with Iris’s roommates. The morning went well, but by the time the afternoon hit, their frustration levels were peaking. Iris could get any small object to alter its properties into something similar. Thorin couldn’t get anything to change.

  “You’re being too demanding. Here.” She pulled a pen and a pencil from her bag as a last-ditch effort. “Try asking the pen to become a twin to the pencil. Perhaps seeing them both at the same time will help.”

  Thorin managed it, but barely. “Why was that so hard for me?”

  “Everyone’s different. You picked up on some of the more complex, not based in reality, stuff easily,” Iris said with a shrug. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. You’ve done it once, so that means you should be able to do it again.”

  Thorin let out a huff and tried changing the pencil into the pen. He managed it with ease. After another fifteen minutes, he could get objects to alter into things that weren’t close to one another.

  “I feel much better. Back to math?”

  “What’s the point?” It was Iris’s turn to be frustrated. “No matter what you say, it doesn’t make sense.”

  “Well unfortunately for you, you didn’t let me give up, so I can’t let you give up. Why don’t we try adding in word problems?”

  It did the trick for a few problems, but then Iris’s mind shut down. Nothing Thorin did or said could get it working again. His frustration at her filtered through into his tone which increased Iris’s frustration. It led to her leaving in a huff through a doorway to the secluded glade she’d been using as an escape from reality. When she cooled down enough to go back to her dorm room, her roommates were too afraid to ask her what happened which meant Thorin spoke to them.

  “I’m not sure what I did, but I’m sorry,” Thorin told her at rehearsal Monday evening.

  “You shouldn’t have to apologize. You were trying to help me. I couldn’t cope anymore so I left before blowing up at you for something that wasn’t your fault. I’m the one who should be sorry and I am.”

  “It’s all right.”

  “Thanks. Want to head into practice?”

  Thorin nodded, and the pair walked into the band room together. It took a few songs, but the atmosphere of the room and playing music lifted Iris’s spirits.

  “Good luck on your midterms this week,” Thorin waved when they parted after rehearsal.

  “Thanks!” Iris called before turning toward Zarina. “Hey, I think Sienna is ready, but I don’t have the time to talk with her until after my midterms this week. If she says anything or starts to freak out, can you let me know or feel her out and maybe tell her?”

  “Sure thing!”

  “Thank you so much! See you later.”

  Iris felt surprisingly good about her midterms in calculus and chemistry but not so great about her Japanese test. She’d been so focused on the other two subjects she’d almost ignored her Japanese homework and study time. She decided she should ask Matt if he’d help her study before the next round of tests.

  “How’s Sienna?” Iris asked Zarina at that weekend’s training session.

  “I don’t think she’s ready yet. We’re all going to late night again on Monday. You should come and see what you think.”

  “Sounds like a plan. Thanks. So,” she addressed the group at the beginning of practice. “Anyone have any questions or problems they want to address?”

  “I do,” Morrigan spoke up.

  “Sure. What’s up?”

  “Are there any updates about Brett? Just want to make sure everyone is safe.”

  “That’s very thoughtful of you. Nothing has happened. I haven’t seen him or felt him use magic recently.”

  “And your dreams?”

  “No mansion nightmares either. Thank you again for asking.”

  Morrigan nodded and fell silent.

  “All right. Anyone else?” No one answered, so Iris switched to teaching everyone what she and Thorin had been working on. Practice went well and everyone parted ways in high spirits a few hours later. They made plans for Morrigan to come up for a visit in a few weeks since she hadn’t been to Davis yet.

  The next few weeks flew by. Zarina was right about Sienna, she wasn’t ready to learn she was a magic user. Brett remained quiet as well. With less to worry about, Iris made it to a few office hours and study sessions in the three subjects that conc
erned her. She was confident they prepared her for finals.

  The only weekend she took off from studying was the one Morrigan came up for a visit. It was nice having all six of them back together. They’d told all the guys in their lives to shove off for the weekend and spent it showing Morrigan around campus and town. She, of course, wanted to stop by the dorm where Brett lived. It didn’t really serve a purpose, but it made Morrigan feel better. She’d always been protective of her friends and wanted to assess any possible threat herself. Besides that stop, everything else was pure fun. They even went dancing Saturday night and received a salsa lesson. Which Violet bragged to Cirrus about Sunday evening after Morrigan left.

  In the week leading up to finals, Iris’s dream came back. This time she walked down the hall on the fourth floor, checking for open doors. One of the center doors opened, and she ducked in. A light flicked on and she woke up. She had the dream, the exact same dream, three times throughout the week. It threw her off, but she was determined not to let it get the best of her. Unfortunately, everything came to a head on dead-day—the day between the end of classes and the first day of finals.

  Brett showed up at the library and sat across an aisle from Iris for three hours before waving jovially at her and leaving. He performed magic the entire time. She’d completed less than a tenth of the studying she’d planned on and instead spent her time concentrating on what Brett did magically to assure it wasn’t harmful.

  On top of that, she and Zarina agreed that Sienna was ready to learn about being a magic user, but they didn’t want to throw her off before finals. That led to a conversation about whether Sienna would freak out more knowing about magic or not which took an entire afternoon and wasted the rest of Iris’s study day.

  The worst part was Iris had two of her four finals on day one, a third one first thing in the morning on day two and Japanese the afternoon of the third day. She would have preferred more time to study over getting a longer break. At least she and Matt were meeting to study for Japanese the morning of the final. When the mansion dream reset to the beginning that night, Iris could have screamed.

  Somehow Iris made it through the following three days. She felt decent about her finals and knew she’d passed all four classes. Instead of heading to her dorm room to pass out for a few hours after her Japanese final, Iris searched out Brett. His aura led her toward the library.

  As Iris scanned the area out front, her eyes were drawn toward a woman with shoulder-width and length hair that looked like it was on fire the way the light played amongst the varying shades. She opened her mouth and raised an arm to call out to Sienna when she realized who she talked to. Brett. Fury replaced shock in an instant. Iris lowered her arm. Took a moment to calm herself enough not to punch the guy with a battering ram of air before walking up to the pair.

  “Hey, Sienna!” Iris said with as much cheer as she could muster.

  “Oh, hey Iris! How are your finals going?”

  “Just finished. You?”

  “Haven’t started yet. Got one this evening. Oh, this is Brett. He’s in my comp lit class.”

  “Brett,” Iris managed.

  “Iris,” he returned in cool tones after a moment. He had to unclench his jaw before he could speak. “Anyway, Sienna, I’ll see you at the final.”

  “Okay. Bye,” Sienna waved.

  Iris watched him leave. He looked back and glared at her. She returned the look with one of loathing.

  “Do you guys know each other or something?”

  “Yeah, we do. He went to my high school.”

  “Not a fan, huh?”

  “Not particularly.” She tossed her head and crossed her arms.

  “Good. He kind of gives me the creeps. There’s this vibe around him. It’s not pleasant.”

  “I know what you mean. So, ready for your finals?”

  “I’d rather them to be over with. I’ve been having these insane dreams I’ve been shoving to the back of my mind for weeks now and I really want a moment to analyze them.”

  “Cool. I love dream interpretation,” Iris lied. “If you want me to give it a go on your dreams, let me know. Like I said, I’m done with my finals already and I’ll be around.”

  “Really? That’d be great! Thanks. Well, I should head in and get a little studying done before my final. Bye.”

  “See you later.”

  Iris went straight to her dorm and climbed into bed. An intense pain in her neck woke her an hour later from the mansion dream. She had half a mind to go kick Brett’s ass but decided it was a bad idea. Instead, she went to the Gallery and knocked on Morrigan’s door. If anyone could help her come up with the right action to take, it was Morrigan.

  Chapter 12

  “Hey, Iris,” Morrigan opened her door on the first knock. It was like she’d been waiting for her.

  “Hi. So, I need some help. Do you have a minute? Or an hour?”

  “Yeah. I’m free the rest of the day. You want me to come up there or meet you somewhere?”

  “Why don’t we head to the island? I’d rather not have to worry about being overheard.”

  “Sure thing. See you in a few.”

  Iris left the Gallery and opened her doorway onto their tropical island a second before Morrigan opened hers. She launched into her last few days; the run-in with Brett and Sienna, waking from the mansion dream, and her desire to kick Brett’s ass. Morrigan listened patiently until Iris asked for her thoughts about what she should do.

  “Your first instinct to kick his ass is a bad one, so I’m glad you didn’t act on it. It is concerning that he’s been talking with Sienna, but from what you’ve said, she isn’t likely to get involved with him. With regards to the dream, do you always have that stabbing sensation in your neck or was this the first time?”

  Iris thought for a minute before admitting it happened every time.

  “Perhaps it only happens when Brett is using magic. Or following you with magic.”

  “I hadn’t thought about the following me with magic part. He did seem pretty pissed off that I interrupted him while he was talking to Sienna. Maybe he was trying to figure out if I was still with her or something?”

  “That would make sense. I still say don’t confront him. Keep watching him from a distance like you have been. Since you’re done with finals, you have lots of free time to trace his every move.”

  Iris followed Morrigan’s advice. She used the tiniest amount of magic to trace Brett’s travels across campus and made sure he saw her once a day. She smiled and waved at him the same way he’d done to her. She enjoyed seeing him aggravated. The backlash she experienced in her dreams and the constant pain in her neck was difficult to take after the second day but Iris persisted until Sienna shot her a text about discussing her dreams.

  After Iris explained magic to Sienna, she didn’t care about Brett’s actions. Sienna had been warned and was therefore safe in Iris’s mind. The dreams and the neck pains stopped the following day. It allowed Iris to get back to her life and gear up for the spring quarter and the biggest three weeks for the band in the entire year. She had to learn new music, new marching moves, practice songs she’d never played, build a float with the rest of her freshman class, and still make it to and keep up in all her academic classes. Sleep turned into a luxury.

  By the end of Picnic Day season, Iris was once more scrambling to catch up in her classes. She and Thorin hung out a lot at band functions, but that was it. Any spare time she had, which was minimal, she devoted to Sienna. Her training was broken and inconsistent, but Sienna was all right with it. She was also a devoted practitioner, so each time Iris taught her something, she was closer to mastery by the following lesson. Zarina stepped in occasionally, which Iris really appreciated.

  Iris intended to have a Saturday practice their first free weekend, but she moved it back to the following Saturday in favor of a study session with Thorin in the morning and Matt in the afternoon. She needed to catch up in both calculus and Japanese. Her engineer
ing class was going just fine, which surprised her. The morning ended with her leaving Thorin’s in a huff through a doorway to her room while the afternoon was a pleasant session of catching up on vocabulary, sentence structure, and speaking the language.

  She and the girls devoted Sunday to looking at apartments for the following year. They found a great four bedroom and signed the lease. Aerianna and Iris were going to share the master and everyone else had their own room. It was going to be amazing. It also meant they had a great meeting place for magic practice and extra training sessions. After calculating her part of the rent, Iris realized she needed an income. She researched and applied for a few lab jobs on campus that evening.

  Midterms came and went with mediocre results. Iris had no choice but to persist in her studying and look forward to magic practice on Saturday. It would be Sienna’s first one with the group.

  With all the meddling Brett had been up to in the last few months, Iris was on edge. She asked Morrigan to teach them a few aikido moves in the hope their advisory wouldn’t have any martial arts training and this would give them an option to resolve a conflict without magic. Morrigan took her role seriously. After the usual question-and-answer session and some magic practice, Iris turned the lesson over to Morrigan.

  “So defense is always key in martial arts. At least, in the ones I’ve taken part in. It’s about deescalating the situation and keeping yourself safe. However, things can change and more force may be required. Today, I’m going to show you a few moves that will allow you to defend yourself physically against an attacker. First—” Morrigan began.

  “Iris,” Jaden whispered in her ear and pulled her attention away from Morrigan’s lesson.

  She turned to see what he wanted, and he motioned her away from the group. Iris followed. “What’s up?” she asked in a quiet voice when he stopped.

  “What’s the point of this? Why learn self-defense if you can beat your attacker with magic? This is pointless and stupid.”