by L Cross
“I don’t understand what’s happening! It should have worked!” Santiago was full-on screeching now.
“Dammit, give me that!” I tore the book from her hand, shoving the warlock’s staff at her. Lucky for both of us, she had a tight grip and the ghoul, though enraged, was still just a pile of wasting-away muscle and flesh. Easy enough to hold at bay so long as the warlock staff held.
“What are you going to do?” she screeched, barely audible to human ears.
I slammed the book shut and with a two-handed grip, slammed it against the ghoul’s face. It landed with a satisfying thwack.
Its head was turned nearly all the way around its neck, but I didn’t stop hitting it again. And again.
The last blow that landed, the head ended up hanging off its shoulders. Enough of it was taken off to count as a beheading, because mists swirled around us, and the lights of the simulation room brightened.
The instructor, Professor Mondale, eyeballed the downed ghoul. “That’s one way to use the book.”
I shrugged, shoving the now-squishy book at Santiago while grabbing the warlock staff back from her. Her look of disgust at the book, which she held with pinched fingers, mirrored what I felt.
I pulled the staff from where one end was buried in the ghoul’s middle and it came away with a gooey, squelching sound. I crouched down to wipe as much of the grossness off as I could on the ghoul’s ragged clothes.
The rest of the class circled around us in a ring as I stood.
Professor Mondale addressed the other students who observed our exercise. “Okay, class, what do you think Santiago and Drake did well?”
“Good resourcefulness,” Kat de Costa piped up.
“And witty one-liners,” Dara Rossi added.
I swallowed a laugh. My suitemates were always so supportive.
The instructor nodded. “Yes, I do agree. Tell me, Drake, what made you call up the warlock’s staff?”
I shrugged. “I figured that I could get the most versatile range with a staff: I could grow it, as I did. I could use the elemental powers to charge the stone at its handle.” The crystal orb at the end of the staff was what I’d intended to power up with Santiago’s misguided spell casting. “And, if all else failed, I would have been able to use it as a wand to channel energies directly into the ghoul itself. At least that was the intention,” I quickly added since I didn’t have the chance to do the last part.
“Yes, I recall hearing that was the plan. Did any of that happen?” Professor Mondale asked.
Santiago remained silent, so I continued. “Not quite.”
“And why not?” he pressed.
I knew what the instructor was trying to get at. I wasn’t the only person here. I had a partner, and we were in the field, simulation or not. Her bumbling and rule-following nearly ruined the exercise. If we were in the actual field, and not in a controlled exercise, this could have been deadly.
But, I wasn’t the type to throw shade on others. I could only speak to what I did. So, if Professor Mondale wanted me to blame Santiago for ruining my plans, then he’d have to wait a while. “I figured a more direct method would be more...impactful.” I nodded like a meditative sage.
The class giggled, and even the instructor smiled. “I see how impactful it really was. But tell me, did the execution of your strategy fulfill the requirements?”
At this point, Santiago had gone completely mute and would likely stay that way for a while, so I just answered. “The requirements were to use the Book of Shadows to conjure up a magical object, cast a spell, and defeat the ghoul. We conjured this warlock staff, a magical object.” I lifted it up in my left hand, pointing to it with my right. “Santiago recited a spell. Thank you, Santiago.”
The girl was still catatonic, though she at least managed to blink a few times at the group at large.
“And, as you can see, the ghoul is defeated.” I indicated the motionless ghoul. “So, in conclusion, yes, the exercise did fulfill the requirements, sir.”
The instructor worked not to smile as he crossed his arms. “Indeed, it seems the exercise did fulfill the requirements. And, might I add, in record time.”
Professor Mondale conjured up an hourglass with a sharp clap of his hands. It floated in midair in full view for the class. Barely any sand had flowed down to the bottom section.
“Seven minutes. Great job. It might not have been the expected way to get the job done, but as you can see, it still got the job done. Thank you for the demonstration, Drake and Santiago.”
A polite round of applause at our show-and-tell rippled through the class. The warlock staff disappeared from my grasp, and Santiago gave up the Book of Shadows to the instructor.
I took my place by Dara and Kat, who high-fived me. Lucia Santiago was still looking at the ground, stiff, with her arms folded. Ghoul goo from the book was smudged on her clothes.
It might have been a controlled-exercise, but it was still a real ghoul with real ghoul squishy bits. I was worried about Lucia, but decided to talk to her later.
The instructor waved his wand in the air and the exercise room morphed back into our lecture hall.
“Now then, let’s continue our study on ghouls. Who can tell me the difference between ghouls and zombies? Anyone?” Professor Mondale pointed his wand at Kat. “De Costa, I know you know.”
Kat smirked, flipping her purple and blue hair off her shoulder. “Both like to devour flesh, and both are raised from the dead. But, zombies are just reanimated flesh in general, whereas ghouls are specifically demon-controlled.”
“Exactly! And why is that distinction important?”
As the instructor went on his lecture, picking from eager hands, or pouncing on students who hid behind their books, I couldn’t help but look over toward Lucia. Her arm would usually be the first one up, her hand waving in the air, begging to be picked.
Yet, she wasn’t even taking notes.
When class was over, I wanted to talk to her. I told Kat and Dara they could head on out to lunch, and I’d catch up with them. My stomach protested the wait.
“Good job, Drake,” the instructor said.
“Yeah, thanks,” I replied as he gathered his books and vanished, presumably to his next class.
Lucia piled her stuff in her bag.
“Hey, you all right?”
“No. I completely bombed in there.”
“Dude, you heard what the instructor said. We passed! Record time!”
Lucia zipped her bag close, levelling a molten gaze at me. “You. You passed. You finished in record time.” She slung her heavy bag on her shoulder and rushed past me.
Well, then. Couldn’t be friends with everyone.
I caught up with my friends, and together we made our way back to our dorm. Pizza was the name of the game, and Chinese was being delivered soon. “Thank all the gods! I’ll need to clean up all this ghoul-goop from me. Is Hanami coming soon?”
Our fourth suitemate, Hanami Saito, was a year older than us, and had advanced-level classes. She was training to be a merlin, and soaking in as much knowledge as possible. The current merlin, who happened to be the first female merlin in history, was her role model.
Hanami was almost always in a class, but when she did hang out with us, she was always getting us into some kind of adventure.
“She’s doing an all-dayer on campus, trapped in some lab or field assignment, one of those,” Kat said with a flutter of fingers. “Said she’ll get dinner on campus, then catch up with us so we can roll out together.”
“Cool,” I said, shoving a slice in my mouth. It was hot, cheesy, greasy perfection. “It’s nice to see someone who is obviously so smart and advanced also know how to have a good time.”
“You still bothered about Lucia?” Dara asked me. She was a Summer Fae who looked more like a strapping Valkyrie. Tall, red-hair, with a creamy complexion, she looked like she could tear you apart with her bare hands, but was more likely to hug you, braid your hair, and sing you songs.
Part of her deal was being an empath who just wanted everyone around her to be happy. Her gifts also meant there was no use lying around her.
She’d know. And she’d be pissed.
I gave a recap of my conversation with Lucia. “Yeah, she didn’t seem all right. Something about how she just deflated...bothered me,” I said.
Kat tore the crust off her pizza, and dipped it in a cup of ranch sauce. “Well, why don’t we invite her out tonight, once Hanami gets in. It’ll be good for a girl to blow off steam before the real classes start.”
I liked that idea. The academic school year didn’t start until Monday. No need for a girl to stress out during the on-boarding portion and placement tests.
The Chinese food was finally delivered and we chowed down until we couldn’t eat anymore, shoving the rest in the fridge for dinner later. Kat and I needed to head downtown to our weapons class while Dara would be heading to the Park for her herbs lessons.
Dara actually looked a little more jittery than usual.
“You’ll be fine,” Kat told her. “If anything you’re going to be a shoe-in for that class.”
“I just hope my mandrakes turn out all right. I was trying something new. I really want to impress them.”
“Is there an advance-advance placement in herbs?” I asked. Dara was already a pro at potions, it was hard to imagine her struggling for anything.
Since I was the new kid on the block, I didn’t quite know all the ins and outs of choice classes or professors. I just knew that there were prodigies from legacy families like Hanami whose entire futures were mapped out for them. They were shoe-ins for whatever program or class they wanted to be in.
Others were from the magical community and had the choice to attend whatever school they wanted, magical or otherwise.
And then there was me.
A recruit.
Most recruits were highly-adept or sensitive humans. They were the mystics or spiritual types who had “feelings” that there was more to this world. They usually had an untapped potential to use magic as a tool that the Mages would be able to draw out of them. Like a craftsman who would apprentice and work on his or her trade.
Finding people with raw magic in the non-magical community was rare, since most would be identified as an infant and taken to Avalon.
I was a special case.
I never had any of those “feelings.” It wasn’t until I survived a run-in with a pack of minotaurs, and then survived a face-off with a troll that I realized there was anything more to this world. I had no idea that I came from a magical background. At all.
Thanks to my parents and the current Merlin for my general ignorance.
They thought to protect me from danger by wrapping me up in metaphysical bubble wrap. The problem was that a bubble didn't stop other things from trying to pop them open one by one, especially when I started to miraculously see the creatures.
Yeah, apparently that was the other thing. Sight. With a capital S.
That was usually a big clue on whether or not someone had a magical ability or inkling. I didn't seem to have the Sight when I was little, and so my parents thought I hadn’t inherited any of my father’s magic.
Why I started to get all these latent magical abilities so late when most people would have started as teens along with all the joys and wonders of puberty, I had no idea. Not only that, but I was also able to leap frog my peers and fit in just fine to the point that I was being considered for apprenticeship as a newly-found recruit.
That was part of the reason why I had a meeting with the Merlin after my weapons class.
For now, I wanted to push it out of my mind and focus on weapons. Just like all other placement classes during on-boarding, how we performed dictated which classes we were able to take, and more importantly, who our mentor would be.
Who I mentored with seemed to be almost as important as my ranking as an apprentice.
"There isn't an advance-advance placement, but the person with the best scores in the class would be the one most considered to be Professor Rosevale's Apprentice for next year."
"You already know that you want to be her apprentice?" I asked. I didn't know all the professors here, and I didn’t want to jump on the first one that was nice to me just because.
"She's the best! Plus, she helped to mentor my mom when she went through the Academy, too. I would be devastated not being her apprentice.” Dara waved at us as she bounded toward another group of girls waiting to cross the street toward the park.
Now that it was just Kat and me, we took a more relaxed pace downtown. Even though Kat didn’t grow up in the magical community, she still had the Sight and was recruited to join, just like me.
“Bus? Subway?” Kat asked.
“Let’s go subway. It’s getting too people-y here on the surface.”
"Do you have a mentor that you're hoping to get?" I asked Kat.
"Nah, I just figured whoever wanted to choose me as an apprentice was good enough for me."
"Oh good. I was beginning to feel like I was behind. It's not like I know all of the professors or anything."
"And that would be a problem for you? You'd want to know all of the professors?"
"Well, I mean to choose the right one, right? Doesn't our entire career path rest on what the mentor will do?"
Kat laughed. "Yeah, if your mentor is the Merlin and your career path is to be the second female Merlin in Avalon history."
I smiled despite the anxiety twisting my gut. "Well Dara seems to be all in for Rosevale to be her mentor."
"That's also a little different. There aren't many Fae living on this side of the veil in the magical community. I think for Dara it's a way to be a little more connected to the family that she doesn't really have contact with."
Well, I couldn't really fault a girl for trying to connect with her roots.
"Well, I guess that makes sense. So what are you looking for, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Honestly? I'm just looking for a mentor who doesn't want me to die and will try very hard not to make that happen." It grew a little quiet between us as we weaved through the crush of people. Man it would have been handy to have the advanced skills of the mages where they could appear from out of mists.
I'd be lucky not to step in front of traffic if that were to happen to me.
"Why, what is it you're looking for, Tu?"
My suitemates got into the habit of using my mom's baby name for me. Tu tu.
What was I looking for? Damned if I knew. A month ago, I didn't even know there was a magical community let alone a world beyond.
Magic and monsters lived only in my favorite books.
At least that was what I'd believed until a pack of minotaurs chased after me one night and tried to gore me.
Regardless of what I believed, monsters were real. And the only way I could defeat them would be to know more about them.
"Dude, to be honest? I'm looking for everything. Every damn thing."
I couldn't be the only one who felt that way, either.
Lucia Santiago went to the basement of the New York Public Library. She patted at the lions lazing on the stone pillars that guarded the secret entrance of the Archives. That was enough for the mists to roll away, and she was able to walk down the stairs.
This has been her normal routine ever since she was recruited here.
She used to think that she was doing better than all the rest with all the book learning and arcane things that she was able to memorize.
But.
As soon as it became clear that there would be a lot more field tests, it got really hard.
She wasn't made for that.
But, she wasn't about to be kicked out of the academy. She just needed to find something that will help her out just a little bit.
And she thought she saw a reference to it in the bowels of the archives.
The solemn air was full of floating dust motes. The beams of light they were dancing in were nowhe
re near the fragile books.
Not like the Mages would have allowed anything to tarnish these precious works.
"Ah, Ms. Santiago," a voice like a young child rang out clear. From the shadows emerged a young girl whose long blonde hair fell straight like a sheet to her waist. It was held back with a plain black headband. She wore a plain white collared shirt with a V-neck sweater vest with a matching plaid knee-length skirt. White knee-high socks and black Mary Jane shoes completed her look. "It's nice to see you again. Would you like me to start a study carrel for you?"
"Yes, Archive. I would love that."
"Very well." A flash of light appeared and a small study booth complete with desk lamps and the amenities to help her out for a long night of studying. "What information would you like to start with this time?"
Lucia Santiago slipped her heavy bag off of her shoulders, massaging the knot of muscle that was tight underneath there. "Let's start with demons, please."
"Any specific area? Conjuring? Possession? Bargaining?"
She gave it some thought. "How about anything to do with controlling a demon?"
"Very well." Before the Archive faded to return with the information Santiago requested, she added, "Oh, and please let me know when it's seven o'clock. I have someplace to be tonight."
Lucia took her familiar place in her study carrel, and arranged her notebooks and papers in the order of her class schedule. One by one, the records that the Archive fetched for her appeared at the corner of her desk.
One of the books--ratty and worn--stood out from the pile. “Archive, what is this book?”
The young school girl tilted her head to the side, as if seeing the book for the first time. The deep gaze that met Lucia’s eyes was cold and fathomless. She might have looked like a child, but there was no mistaking her for one.
“It holds information that pertained to your search. Will that be all?”
Lucia dismissed the Archive with a little more decorum than usual. She wanted to remain in her good graces, powerful magical being and all.