by B. C. Palmer
“The mark is just until the investigation is concluded,” Emira told me after she’d cast the tracking spell. It showed up as a pale blue glyph on my wrist. “If you’re cleared, it will be removed. If you run off or try to remove it, you’ll be secured until we’re finished. Understood?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said. I wasn’t about to run off and get locked up in a magical jail cell.
She looked us over a final time. “You four should get cleaned up. Go.”
We filed out of the office, and while we most certainly all needed a hot shower and some rest, we didn’t have to discuss going to the clinic.
Tisha greeted us with a hushed tone when we arrived. “Lucas is waking up, a little at a time. I can’t explain it. Whatever was affecting him just disappeared.”
“It was Sinclaire,” I said, moving around her to approach Lucas. “He’s… gone. His magic went with him.”
“The headmaster?” Tisha sputtered. “But, why would Professor Sinclaire—”
“Chalk it up to general evil,” Serena said.
I stroked Lucas’s cheek with the back of my hand and kissed his forehead. “It’s all okay now,” I whispered. “And I’ve got someone who I bet you’re going to want to see here. You’re going to want to wake up soon.”
“What about Nathan?” Hunter asked the healer.
Tisha shook her head. “I’m sorry. There’s nothing physically or magically wrong with him, but he’s still unconscious. The… substance you found on him must have been an ectoplasmic manifestation of some kind. The samples evaporated, so we haven’t been able to do a proper analysis. It could just be that all he needs is time to rest. If you brought him through a portal, well… there’s no telling what he experienced wherever he was. We have him restrained for now. Just in case.”
“Just in case?” Isaac pressed.
Tisha spread her hands in apology. “It’s territory we really haven’t covered in a very long time,” she explained. “But in many of the recorded instances of prolonged survival in other planes… I’m not making a prognosis for Nathan but the outcomes have not historically been positive.”
“So he might be… not himself,” Hunter said, his voice strained.
The pain in Hunter’s voice dug into my heart. He suddenly had Nathan back, but they could all lose him once more. I wanted to go to him and make promises I couldn’t keep. I didn’t, though, because I knew Hunter wouldn’t appreciate being accosted in front of everyone.
“We really won’t know until he wakes up,” Tisha replied gently, and touched his shoulder. “It’s clear that you care for him. The best thing for now is to leave him in our care. We’ve got Dean Bolton and his apprentice coming around tomorrow to see about making contact with him.”
“Not sure I want Banyon poking around Nathan’s head,” Isaac muttered.
Hunter quieted him. “Banyon’s a talented dreamer. If he can help, let him.”
Lucas’s eyes fluttered. He opened them halfway, saw me, and for a moment the rest of the world was quiet. “A-Amelia?”
“He’s awake,” I told the others, and kissed Lucas on the lips. Tears burned in my eyes and trickled down my cheek and onto his. I wiped them away before I wiped my own eyes. “You’re back. How are you feeling? I…”
Lucas reached as I trailed off and pulled me back to his lips. Then he slipped his arms around my shoulders and held me tight. A sob wracked him. Then another. I held him as he let it out, and Hunter, Isaac, and Serena gathered around us.
“I thought I would be there forever,” Lucas wheezed against my neck. “It was horrible, Amelia. Hell. Worse than Hell.”
I shushed him quietly, holding tight until his arms finally loosened. “It’s okay now,” I said. I knew, without a doubt, that I had made the right choice in going along with the headmaster. If this was how Lucas felt after only hours wherever Sinclaire had sent him, I could never have forgiven myself if I had condemned him to a lifetime of suffering. “It’s over. Sinclaire is gone. And—”
“It’s Nathan, Lucas,” Isaac said. “He’s in another room. Amelia brought him back.”
Lucas blinked up at us before his face twisted with some mix of relief and guilt. He began to cry again. “You were right,” he said to Hunter. “You… Hunter, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Hunter shifted like Lucas had pushed him. “Lucas… it doesn’t matter now. We’ve got him back. Neither of us really knew.”
Lucas exhaled a long, shaky breath and closed his eyes. I wiped his tears and combed my fingers through his unwashed hair. Even like this, he was beautiful to me. “So,” he asked, “what now? Where is Nathan?”
We explained the situation, and when Lucas was caught up on what happened he wanted, first, to see Nathan, and then to take a shower. Nathan was in the same condition we’d found him in. Unmoving, breathing evenly. Not even his eyes moved under his lids—wherever he was, he wasn’t dreaming. But despite the lack of activity, Tisha assured us that his vitals looked fine. Steady heartbeat, blood pressure stable, meridians clear and clean.
“I’ll stay for a bit,” Hunter said when Isaac and I agreed that Lucas needed to get washed up and into his own bed.
“I’ll keep an eye on this one,” Serena assured me. “You go on. You look like shit warmed over. Catch up later? You can tell me the whole damn story, because I’m guessing there’s a lot I’m missing here.”
I accepted a hug from her, and promised to do that. It would mean there wasn’t a single person in my life who wasn’t wrapped up in this whole mess but… maybe that was okay now. Maybe it was over.
The rest of the year breezed by like a vacation after all of that. Finals weren't nearly as insane as I thought they were going to be, especially nothing as dangerous as summoning. And, while people some students who didn’t know the full story missed Sinclaire, there were already talks of his replacements and gossip about why he had left so mysteriously. The boys and I kept our lips sealed—it was better that way, they said, and frankly I didn’t relish the thought of going over it again and again.
The boys took to sitting with Nathan in shifts, and for once we started spending our evenings together just… hanging out, instead of plumbing an evil book for eldritch secrets. Hunter seemed content to wait to ask Nathan about his research when he woke up. Sinclaire had shed some of the last bit of light really needed, but there were a few unanswered questions still—like why he’d tried it in the first place.
Nathan was in no hurry, however. By the time finals week was over, he’d barely shown any evidence that he was going to ever wake up. I tried not to lose hope, and the boys remained certain that it would happen. It was just going to take time.
Summer was upon us. Other than a handful of seniors working on their thesis projects, the student body was invited to stay at the school or go home. Most chose to go home.
“I’m gonna be in Iran,” Serena revealed when we gathered in the courtyard the day before the final party of the year, which marked the official end of the term. “I’ve got this friend of a friend, says there’s a djinn who throws the wildest parties on the continent. Plus, I kinda wanna see what that big djinn dick is like.”
“Shameless,” Isaac murmured. But there was affection in his tone.
“One hundred percent,” Serena confirmed. She looked at me. “You’re welcome to come. Got plenty of room, we can party all over the Middle East, raise a little hell?”
“I think I’ve raised more than enough hell this year,” I said. “Ah… I guess I haven’t really thought about it. Laura’s estate is still… I should probably go home, try to get the house in order. Decide if I’m going to keep it or not. There’s a lot to go through that I wasn’t ready to process before. I think now, maybe I am.”
Clearly, that was a mood dampener. Serena grew quiet and squeezed my knee. Isaac and Lucas exchanged looks of something dangerously close to pity.
“It’s not like I’m planning to go wallow in my grief,” I told them. “These are practical things tha
t need to get done. There are repairs to do, and boxes to sort through. I’ll be fine, really.”
“Perhaps,” Lucas said, “you’d be better off… with company?”
“What,” I said, “like… like taking you home with me?”
Isaac chuckled. “That makes it sound like we’re pets.”
Serena chucked a dandelion at him. “Did you get the impression you weren’t, pretty boy?”
I bit my lip when Lucas and Isaac both gave me an appraising look with matching, sly smiles. “I’d be happy to have the help, if you want to come,” I admitted. “But I’ll be putting you to work.”
“Oh, I have no doubt about that,” Lucas murmured. He was more or less back to his old smug self. “I assure you, there’s very little that Isaac and I aren’t up for.”
“I can second that,” Isaac said. He leaned in to kiss me before he stood. “Well. Hunter’s been with Nathan most of the day. I expect he’ll be spending his summer here. I should relieve him for a little while, let him get some fresh air. See you all for dinner?”
We set our plan, and he left. Serena got up a short while later to go. “I’m helping set up the cottage. I’m sure I’ll see you sexy bitches there later.”
“That may be,” Lucas said, laughing as she sauntered off.
It left just the two of us.
“You keep asking how we’re all doing,” Lucas said when we were alone. “I know I’ve asked before, but… what about you? You survived your first year at Rosewilde. How’s it feel?”
I hadn’t quite finished working my way through that yet. I turned away from him and leaned back to lay my head in his lap. He stroked my hair, smiling down at me as I put words to some of what I’d been feeling the last few months since Sinclaire’s office. “I guess… I’m excited to come back. Sort of.”
“So you are coming back, then?” he asked. “Being forced to open a portal to the Abyss didn’t ruin the whole experience for you?”
“It almost did,” I admitted. “But I have a feeling there’s more to all of that. What Sinclaire said about my parents, about me… I’m definitely nervous about continuing on this path. But I think it’s the only way I’m ever going to get all the answers I need. Some of those, I’m hoping to get from Nathan but…”
“I know,” Lucas said. “Believe me. Hunter is still certain he’ll wake up but I’m beginning to wonder… he spent over a year in the Abyss.”
“I hope he does,” I said, staring up at him. I touched his cheek with my fingertips. “Really. I know how important he is to you.”
“He is,” Lucas agreed. “But you know that doesn’t mean you’re less important, right?”
I trailed a finger over his lips and chin. “I know.”
In that moment, I wanted to say more. We’d been through a lot together, very quickly. It had gotten to the point that I couldn’t quite imagine being here without Lucas, Isaac, and even Hunter. Funny how your whole world can turn upside down and inside out, all of physics and chemistry and every other science can prove to be totally mistaken about the fundamental nature of reality—and yet the things that seem smallest in comparison never changed. We hadn’t said “the L word” yet and I still wasn’t sure if that was because we weren’t ready or there were other things still up in the air.
I thought it, though. And I felt it. And maybe Lucas could see it in my eyes because he smiled a little wider and bent down to kiss me slow and sweet. “Whatever happens next,” he said, “I promise you that we’ll be there with you for all of it. Now. Come on. Get up, and let’s see if we can convince Hunter to enjoy at least a little time with us before we leave.”
“That,” I said, “sounds like worthwhile challenge. And probably an impossible one.”
He helped me up and pecked me on the lips again before he tapped a finger against my lips. “Luckily, my dear,” he said, “you’re a magician. Impossible is well within your wheelhouse.”
Hunter
“I’m glad you could come,” Amelia said as we approached the cottage. “You needed a break.”
“So Lucas informed me,” I muttered.
Amelia took her hand off the door. “I browbeat you into this,” she said, and sighed. “Look, if you really don’t want to—”
“It’s all right,” I said. “I’m sorry. The fresh air is confusing. I just have to reacclimate. I said I would come, and I meant it.”
She squinted up at me. “Hunter Webb,” she mused, “was that a joke?”
I breathed in the night air and exhaled it in a rush. “No, actually; I don’t think it was. We doing this or not?”
Amelia shot me a devilish grin that I decided I liked on her. She was determined that I would do something besides sit by Nathan’s bedside waiting for him to wake and doing a damn good job of covering up her own hard-earned trauma. If she could do it, then I figured I could as well. Plus, Lucas and Isaac wouldn’t let it go.
She pulled the door open and we joined the fray. The music pulsed against me the moment we walked into the house. The first room always had the reputation for being boring, but it seemed more packed than last year. Maybe it was because of the reminder of mortality or Sinclaire disappearing. No one could say. I regretted coming for a moment, even though I knew I wasn’t just here for myself. Amelia deserved to have fun after the year she had.
“Hey, you’re so big you can cut through the crowd,” she whisper-shouted over the music, her hands holding onto my arm. “Oh, there’s Serena!”
She waved as Serena threw us a wink and moved with a mission toward the doors which would take her to other parties. Serena had said something about wanting to go bigger than when she partied with the local magicians and homemade rice wine in Kota Kinabalu during a lunar eclipse. Amelia turned back to me, her lips stretched wide in a smile. “And, there she goes. Just you and me, I guess.”
Desire raced down my spine, followed quickly by a jolt of guilt to my stomach. Something must have shown on my face as her smile dampened a fraction before she forced it back to brilliance. “You can bail any time you want. I’m just glad I got you this far.”
I swallowed, my tongue too jumbled to talk, and nodded. What was I supposed to say? Hey, so Nathan is back but he’s in a coma and I have no idea if he’s sane. I think I still love him, but I also can’t stop thinking about you.
“I’m not going to bail,” I promised. “Come on, let’s get drinks.”
I pressed through the crowd and felt Amelia hook a finger through my belt loop so we didn’t get separated. My face burned and I was grateful for the dim lighting. I wished Lucas and Isaac had come as well but they’d insisted on staying with Nathan, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to relax at all if I knew he was alone. Entirely calculated, knowing Lucas.
By the time we made it to the bar, I could have sworn we were in a time loop. Every time the crowd pushed us or made us stop, Amelia would press up against my back. Every time I had to hold back a shudder. One drink, I promised myself. Then I could go back to the dorms, take care of the hard-on I knew I’d have, and pass out before Amelia ever made it back.
“I think you were made for this,” Amelia said as she leaned up against the bar. She tweaked my nose with a grin. “It must be the growly disapproving look you shoot everyone in front of you.”
I shrugged and looked back over the crowd. Anywhere other than where I wanted to look, which was definitely down to the view her dress offered of her cleavage. No doubt a summer gift from Serena.
“So what’s good here?” she asked, and I gritted my teeth. She waved down the phantasmal bartender, one of Rosewilde’s signature spells, dreamed up after a golem went on a rampage. “Last time I came to one of these I didn’t quite make it to a drink. Got stuck in the blue party.”
I answered, nearly shouting as the music was turned up. She frowned as she clearly didn’t hear me. I bent down, my lips nearly against her ear, and spoke again. “Anything and everything.”
She turned her head just enough to look at me. Her lips were
right there. A small movement and we’d be kissing. I realized I was staring at her lips and pulled my eyes back up to hers. Contrary to Serena’s, Isaac’s, and Lucas’s opinions, I wasn’t blind. Nor was I made of stone.
I dropped my eyes back to her lips and she tilted her head back in a silent invite.
“What’ll it be?” The magical bartender spoke, its voice easily cutting through the cacophony. It was part of the magic—he could always hear and be heard.
“Oh,” she turned back toward it as I straightened once more, “something good but isn’t going to give me a hangover? I’m new to this whole magical drinking thing. Hunter?”
“I’ll have the same,” I said, knowing it would hear me.
It slid over two tumblers filled with a drink the color of absinthe, if absinthe glowed in the dark.
Amelia held hers up, clinking it gently against mine. “To surviving my first year as a magician.”
“To narrowly preventing the end of the world,” I answered. “Well done, Miss Cresswin.”
Amelia beamed up at me before she tossed the drink back with a familiarity that suggested she wasn’t at all experienced with magical cocktails. I followed suit, my mouth puckering at the sweet and sour apple flavor combined with the fizz of magic.
Amelia waved for another round, and I groaned. At least I could sober myself up before I went to bed. And I couldn’t leave her here, not after we’d basically just arrived. This time the drink was a sapphire blue and it went down with the feel of cool ice.
“Magical drinks are fucking awesome,” she said, looking at the empty tumbler in awe.
The song changed and Amelia’s eyes went wide with excitement. She tugged at my shirt toward the dance floor. “Come dance with me.”