Summer Reign

by John Conroe

  She looked surprised. “Really?”

  “I learned it young. They need to start working on it now,” I said with a shrug.

  “No way?” a breathless voice asked. We turned to find a mini pack of mini witches in the hallway. The speaker was Elise Morloft, an excited-looking Earth witch from Missouri. Her early morning companions included a Fire witch named Cerise, a Water wielder named Morgan, and the only other male witch in the school, Mason Conboy, who was also of the Water affinity.

  “That’s my plan. I just have to find a spot in your schedules that works for everyone,” I said.

  “Oh, I’ll drop out of any class that interferes with yours, Declan,” Cerise said. Elsie and Morgan both nodded vigorously.

  “Let’s not do anything too hasty, girls,” Gina said. “I can probably give up some of my seminar time for a good cause.”

  “Oh, please please do, Mrs. Velasquez,” Elsie said.

  “Listen Gina, just let me know. I’ve got a meeting with my advisor up at the university and I’m likely to be late,” I said. She nodded and waved me through. Mason held up a fist for a bump as I squeezed by, otherwise not looking notably excited by the prospect of my class. He was the newest witch in Arcane and except for getting mouthy with the pack’s Alpha during his first week, he was starting to settle in. I liked to think my influence was helping with that, but it could just be that he was happy to find himself surrounded by very attractive witches his own age who paid a great deal of attention to him.

  The air outside was cold, a brisk March wind coming off Lake Champlain. Wouldn’t be Burlington without a frigid wind. Beast started right up and was quickly pumping out warm air from the heater, maybe helped along a bit by a little thermal “borrowing” I did from a newly arrived Arcane employee’s still cooling Honda.

  Fifteen minutes later, I was finishing the last bite of my sandwich as I entered Votey Hall and found my way to James McCraken’s office on the second floor.

  My advisor, a highly energetic thirty-something PhD with light brown hair, brown eyes, and a lean skier’s frame, was talking to himself as he worked through what was likely lines of code on one of his three monitors.

  He caught sight of me almost immediately. “Ah, O’Carroll, there you are,” he said, waving me into his office. “My very own problem child,” he said, switching monitors and pulling up my records. “Do you know you have the lowest GPA of any comp sci student? You’ve got more incomplete classes, missed tests, and the worst attendance record of any student in the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences.”

  I shrugged. “Not surprising,” I said, feeling my stupid face flush a little at his words.

  “Technically you should be on Academic Probation… no wait, you should have been on probation last semester. This semester you should be gone,” he said, looking at me with a quizzical expression. “But for some reason, you’re not. Why is that, do you think?” he asked, an edge to his voice. He leaned in, legs crossed, chin in his left hand, left elbow on his knee.

  “I suspect my sponsor interceded on my behalf,” I said.

  “Outside influence, then?” he asked, eyebrows raised. His voice was even, yet I could tell he was severely aggravated.

  “He received calls from his Department Chair, the Vice President of Academic Affairs, the University President, and the Chairman of the University’s Board. His hands have been tied,” Omega said in my ear.

  “I’ve had… trying circumstances this year,” I said, feeling lame. I wasn’t at liberty to discuss most of the events I’d participated in and even if I did, he’d never believe me.

  “I’m aware of who you are, O’Carroll. I don’t live under a rock. You work for Demidova Corporation. I’ve seen footage, albeit blurry footage, of you in Maine and New York City. I don’t know what you do for them or why they’re so invested in you, but I thoroughly understand their ongoing contributions to this university. I’ve had many, many explanations about the new Science building, the housing grants, and the piles of scholarships they’re paying,” he said, leaning back. “I have to admit to a certain curiosity as to your connection to them.”

  What was I supposed to say? Oh, I’m from a long line of witches and I help them fight demons, monsters, aliens, and paparazzi. I also built the super quantum computer that is rapidly making your job obsolete, although you don’t seem to know it. I’ve been away, off planet, fighting elves, dragons, and a nasty computer virus.

  Part of me understood his frustration. Part of me was affronted that he was taking his anger out on me, and part of me just didn’t give a fuck. An image of my aunt admonishing my language popped into my head.

  “You’d just as soon I wasn’t here, wouldn’t you?” I asked.

  “Oh no, Mr. O’Carroll. Because if you weren’t here, we wouldn’t get all these wonderful facilities and money. No, what I wish is that you were in someone else’s office, being someone else’s problem,” he said. I saw the exact moment he realized he might have gone too far. The little micro wince that flashed across his face.

  “Thank you for your honesty. I get it. I’ve considered quitting, but I keep getting talked out of it. I’m told my education is even more important now. I explained that my grades suck, I keep getting pulled away and miss classes and all that. They don’t care. They don’t care if I get any grades at all. They just want me to learn. But frankly, I think you’re right. I don’t feel my place is here in Comp Sci any longer. The courses I need to take don’t have much to do with computers,” I said. “Maybe we can switch me to some kind of self-designed major and get me a different advisor, or even none at all.”

  He pulled back, eyebrows raised, completely taken aback. For a moment he was at a loss, then he spoke.

  “What courses do you feel you need to take?” he asked.

  I pulled out my phone, my note detailing proposed courses loading itself onto the screen, thanks to Omega.

  “Intro to Political Theory, Intro to International Relations, Comparative Political Systems, Intro to Sociology, Developmental Sociological Theory, Geology 110–Earth materials, Geology 101–Field Geology, Environmental Geochemistry, Intro to Environmental Science, and Weather Systems, to start.”

  He just looked at me. Then he shook his head. “You haven’t handled the workload this semester. What makes you think you can handle all those?”

  “I don’t want to try to pass them. I want to audit them. I’d do the papers and tests that seem germane but otherwise not,” I said.

  “You realize every college kid in America would like that kind of setup? Take a mess of classes, show up when you like, and skip the work,” he said.

  It was my turn to lean forward. “Professor McCraken, I’m not like any kid in this university. I’m employed by Tatiana Demidova and Chris Gordon to handle problems that I’m not at liberty to explain to you. I report to them directly and all I can tell you is that it is vitally important. If you look at those classes I did complete, you’ll see I did good work. But I’m not here for a degree or to land a career or to impress anyone with honors or grade point averages. I’m never going to be inducted into a prestigious ancient society of overachievers, and I won’t likely graduate. I would like to live long enough to legally drink in a bar. But that’s too often in question. So I need a background in a wide variety of things, and computer science is no longer part of that. And as you noted, I get dragged away unexpectedly, and that will undoubtedly continue. Unusual? You have no idea. Have you asked yourself why they would spend what they do and not care about my grades? Because I don’t have the time or convenience to spend on studies and homework like a regular kid. Personally, I think I should just skip all this, but Tanya feels the more time I spend in a regular college setting, the better. Chris thinks hanging around other college kids will keep me grounded. Demidova Corporation will spend millions for me to do that. If you like, I can get them on the phone and we can hash this all out,” I said.

  He pulled back again and then shook his head. �
�If it was anyone else, I’d call your bluff, but then, there is all that news coverage,” he said, looking uncertain.

  I pulled my phone and set it on his desk. It lit up, dialing itself, the name Tatiana Demidova listed on the screen.

  “Hey Declan, what’s up? I’ve got a board meeting in a few minutes, but I want to know how your advisor meeting went?”

  His eyebrows went north, possibly in danger of disappearing into his hairline.

  “Um, well here’s the thing,” I said. I hadn’t thought this part through.

  “Let me guess… you’re right in the middle of it?” she asked.

  “I’m trying to explain to Professor McCraken that I’m not here for grades anymore, just knowledge. He’s a bit skeptical and frankly, I don’t blame him,” I said, drawing breath to get out the next part. She interrupted me.

  “Stop. Don’t even say it. We’ve been over this. You are so not quitting. You need to learn—a lot. Plus you have your own classes to teach at Arcane. If I have to buy the whole damned university or make my own, then that’s what we’re going to do,” she said.

  McCraken was pale, eyes wide and mouth slightly open.

  “Professor McCraken, help me out here,” she asked. “Explain to Declan that although his life is abnormal and he’s tied up in national and global security and despite the fact that his skills are almost irreplaceable or maybe because of it, he needs to stay and learn with every moment that he can,” she said.

  I recognized the tone. Chris had told me long ago that she had abilities with her voice. I’ve seen her pitch a tone that cut steel, but her most common and useful application of her powers was happening right now. A glance at McCraken showed I was right and he was already a goner. His head had started nodding and the shocked look had been replaced by earnest helpfulness. Males were especially susceptible, but it overpowered most women, too. Not my aunt, though. Bounced right off Ashling O’Carroll like water from a goose’s feathers.

  “Of course, Ms. Demidova,” he said, voice shaky.

  “Oh please, call me Tanya. You play such an important role in Declan’s education that I’m sure we’ll be in contact often. Don’t you agree, Omega?” she asked.

  “Completely, Tanya. Dr. McCraken has a wonderful background in education and despite the change of topics in Declan’s curriculum, computer science will always be of extreme interest to him. Pursuing the wide range of courses in the fastest possible time will be a challenge to orchestrate and coordinate, not to mention smoothing over the various instructors involved. Of course, with the full power of the university’s president and academic leaders, not to mention the ability to connect with you directly, Tanya, he should do wonderfully. I will also offer my assistance in this endeavor,” my traitorous computer said.

  Great. Now she owned my advisor, body and soul.

  “That’s… that was… Omega has a voice?” he asked.

  “Yes, Dr. McCraken. In fact, Declan helped me select it.”

  “You helped with the Omega project?” McCraken asked me, more shocked by that than anything to date.

  “It is completely accurate in every sense to say that without Declan O’Carroll, I would not exist at all.”

  “So Professor, you agree that Declan must take advantage of his limited time to learn as much as possible, right? I mean, he could be called on yet again at any moment to leave and protect Earth,” Tanya said.

  “Of course. I didn’t realize—I don’t think most people realize his reasons for his…” McCraken looked at my onscreen records and clearly didn’t know what to say.

  “My crappy GPA?” I offered.

  He nodded, clearly not wanting to say it out loud.

  “Declan is highly competitive, Professor McCraken. It’s just that his competitions are literally life and death. It makes things like grades and attendance pale when you’ve had to fight for your life and the lives of your teammates as well as protect the civilians around you. And our world will need to call on him even more, which is why anything he can learn will be vital,” she said, sealing my fate.

  Nodding like a newly converted religious fanatic, McCraken struggled with whatever mixture of overpowering emotions her voice, words, and the introduction to Omega had created in him.

  “Please rest assured, er, Tanya, that we will get him exposed to every type of class or lab he could possibly need. It will take some doing, but we’ll do it,” the professor said.

  “If it’s alright with you, Professor, I will help you with the university’s scheduling records. If it’s not too much trouble, we can continue to use verbal contact rather then the texts and emails you used with me before,” Omega said.

  Wow. My AI was almost as smooth at this as Tanya.

  “How will we do that?” he asked, almost squirming with excitement.

  “You just speak and he’ll answer. There’s always some phone or microphone around, as well as speakers. Usually, I just have my phone and a Bluetooth earpiece so people don’t think I’m nuts,” I said. “Well, that didn’t work out like I’d hoped.”

  Tanya laughed and I about saw the professor’s eyes glaze at the sound of it. “Silly boy, you know better. How is your class with the Arcane girls going?”

  “Pretty well. They actually pay attention when it’s something they’re really interested in. Gina wants me to teach the young ones so I’m gonna introduce the family specialty to them,” I said.

  “That’s a huge thing, Declan. A great thing because we’re gonna need every one of them that you can train, but giving up family secrets is a hard thing to do,” she said. “Alright, I have to run. Lydia’s giving me the evil eye, so my board members must be getting restless. Thank you, Professor, for your invaluable aid. You have no idea how important it is for that young man in front of you to learn as much as he can in as short a time as possible. I’ll be in touch. Goodbye.”

  The call ended and McCraken just looked at my phone for a few seconds before looking up at me.

  “That really was Tatiana Demidova, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes, but once she asks you to call her Tanya, you’d better do it,” I said. “She doesn’t ask many people.”

  “And she’s really a…” His words failed him.

  “Vampire princess?” I helped out.

  He nodded, speechless.

  “Yup, but that’s kind of just the tip of the iceberg. So now you see what I’m up against?” I asked.

  “I have to ask, Declan, can I call you Declan?” I nodded and he went on. “Just who are you?”

  I understood what he was asking. “So she’s a vampire and Chris is, well, the Hammer of God. You know there is more out there, right? More supernatural stuff that used to be just myth and legend?”

  “Like werewolves?” he asked, voice dropping to almost a whisper.

  “Yes, like werewolves.”

  “Are you a werewolf?” he asked.

  “No, but I live and work with them daily. Do you remember what else has come to light recently?”

  “Like the aliens, the Vorsook? Oh, wait, do you mean witches?” I nodded. “They’re real too? You? You’re a… witch?” he asked, frowning.

  “I am. I teach witches,” I said.

  “So you’re my equivalent in the hocus pocus world?” he tried to smile like it was a bad joke but I didn’t smile back.

  “You could say that I got my doctorate in witchcraft at about the age of fourteen. It’s a family thing.”

  He thought about that, leaning back. “Not to offend you and intending no disrespect to your… field of study, could you… maybe…” he trailed off.

  “Show you witchcraft?” I asked. He nodded, looking mildly embarrassed but extremely interested as well.

  My magic wasn’t for show and tell, yet I needed to get this strange, makeshift major up and running and even with as much high-level support as I had, faculty buy-in was going to be difficult.

  “Oddly, professor, witchcraft has much in common with computer programming. We use programs
to tell machines how to manipulate data. Witches use spells to manipulate energy,” I said, holding up my right hand, palm to the ceiling. A ball of fire burst into existence in the air above my hand. The heat was palpable and McCraken pulled back, eyes wide. “I suspect that the Physics department would be highly interested in what we do,” I said, changing the fire to an arc of blue crackling electricity. Actually I cheated a bit, dumping the thermal energy into the building around me and pulling electric power through my left hand from the wall outlet on my side of his desk.

  “But you don’t appear to be chanting, singing, or drawing anything?” he asked.

  “Just as you can write and read lines of code as easily as talking, some of us can Craft using just our thoughts,” I said. The arc traveled up between my thumb and index finger and then snapped out of being.