Arcane Dropout 4

by Edmund Hughes

  Primhaven University. A second-rate arcane college that attracted first-rate threats. A contrast of extremes in everything from its location to its teachers.

  Zoe. His free-spirited sister. Missing for years and unapologetic about it. A sibling, a sorceress, a success story of the few people who’d managed to set out on their own in the supernatural world.

  Harper. His teacher. His one-time lover. An enigma of resolve and emotion. One of the most powerful spell casters he’d ever met, respected and feared by all.

  Toma. Eliza. Instructor Escher. Instructor Mattis. Brie, Widow, Thumper. It was more than just details coming back to Lee. He felt the full weight of an entire life unpacking itself within his mind, neatly and automatically, like a pop-up tent of identity.

  “Whoa,” said Lee. “I think I’m going to…”

  He made it to the tiny metal trash can in the corner of the room before emptying his stomach. Tess made a small noise, but then proceeded to rub his shoulders and comfort him. He’d pulled her into his mystic stream. He was doing it automatically, again.

  “Did it work?” she whispered.

  Lee coughed and cleared his throat. “I’m going to assume it did. Though, I’m not sure I’d notice if anything was left out.”

  “I’ll help you remember, if that’s the case,” said Tess. She gave him a quick hug from behind and made another grossed-out noise as he coughed a final time into the trash can.

  “Anyway, we have to get moving,” he said. “Mattis… fucking betrayed me. I still can’t believe it. What’s happening at Primhaven? Are Toma and Eliza alright? What about the teachers?”

  He stood up and started rifling through his closet, assembling clothes and whatever other supplies he could find for traveling.

  “Everyone at Primhaven is fine,” said Tess. “I considered telling Eliza about what had happened when I left, but I thought it might only put her in more danger.”

  “That was probably a good call,” said Lee.

  “It was a long trip to get here,” said Tess. “I followed a road, but I didn’t have a map, and I couldn’t exactly stop and ask for directions. I was just going off a single conversation I overheard that mentioned you were being sent to Seattle.”

  “You walked all the way from Northern Alaska to Seattle?”

  “No, I hitchhiked,” said Tess, rolling her eyes.

  “How was that even possible for you? That’s so far beyond the normal range that you should be able to manage from Primhaven or from me.”

  She gave him a small shrug. “I don’t know. I really don’t. I just held on to the thought of reaching you, and onto, well…”

  Her hand settled over her heart.

  Lee grinned at her, shaking his head in amazement. “Thank you, Tess.”

  “Lee Amaranth, you are more than welcome,” she said. “Besides, I planned on charging you by the date. I figure one for each day I toiled to find you seems appropriate.”

  “That’s… what? Twenty? Twenty-one?”

  “Twenty-six.”

  “I’ll give you three,” said Lee.

  “That’s highway robbery!”

  “Down to two, now.”

  “Lee Amaranth, you’re so mean!”

  CHAPTER 10

  A thorough search of Lee’s room revealed what he already knew to be true. He was extremely limited when it came to useful supplies to aid him in his departure from Bryan’s apartment.

  Cash would have been the most useful, for obvious reasons. He was limited to the money he’d gotten from Bryan to do grocery shopping the previous day, which he now felt lucky to have not actually spent.

  He couldn’t just walk up to the bank and access his account, not without his debit card, driver’s license, or checkbook. He briefly considered having Tess help him steal a small amount of money before deciding that it was a dangerous path to tread down.

  Lee was also without a phone, now that Bryan had revealed his ability to track it. He gave his “older brother” careful consideration as he stuffed the last of his traveling clothes into a backpack. If he wanted to, he could probably sneak out without waking him up. But there was a lot to be gained through a slightly more direct approach.

  He raided the kitchen, taking some food with him, though he was limited to the stuff that would travel well. He found a roll of duct tape in the small storage closet by the entrance and took a butcher knife from the dishwasher.

  “I don’t like where this is going,” said Tess.

  “Relax. I promise I won’t kill him,” said Lee. “It’s entirely possible that Bryan isn’t involved. He might just work for the Order of Chaldea and have nothing to do with Shannara, Mattis, and my betrayal. It seems much more likely to me, however, that he’s in on it, too.”

  “Just be careful.”

  He listened outside Bryan’s room, setting his ear to the door to get absolute confirmation that the man inside was sleeping. As silently as he could, Lee opened the door and crept across the carpet. He realized as he came to stand beside Bryan’s bed that he really should have unrolled the duct tape in the hallway, as it was the loudest part of the process.

  He was quick with his movements, however. Bryan startled awake as Lee set a duct tape seal into place over his mouth. He held the butcher knife against Bryan’s neck as carefully as he could.

  “Don’t move,” said Lee. “Put your hands up against your headboard.”

  Bryan tried to say something through the duct tape. Lee pressed the knife a little closer, commanding his obedience. He went through a similar process with Bryan’s wrists, securing them as tightly as he could. Only when Lee was sure that there was no way for him to escape did he pull the duct tape covering his mouth loose.

  “Ow!” cried Bryan. “Jesus, Eldon. What the fuck are you doing?”

  “The duct tape goes back on if you can’t stay reasonably quiet,” he said. “Let’s have a little talk.”

  Bryan’s eyes darted around the room before settling on Lee. “We can talk, that’s fine. You haven’t recovered completely yet, Eldon. You’re having a bit of an episode right now.”

  “I remember everything, Bryan,” he said. “My name is Lee Amaranth. I was a student at Primhaven University, a college for mages. I’m going to ask you a few questions and I want you to answer them honestly.”

  “Eldon,” said Bryan. “You’re starting to scare me.”

  Lee chuckled and leaned forward, putting a small amount of pressure onto Bryan’s neck with the knife.

  “Good. Being scared will help you answer more freely. Bryan, who is giving you your orders?”

  “This is insane…” muttered Bryan.

  “Was it Shannara?” he asked.

  Bryan stared at him, and no recognition for the name seemed to dawn on his face. Undaunted, Lee continued.

  “What did she tell you to do? What does the Melting Pack want with Primhaven? What’s their plan?”

  Bryan shook his head, not answering any of the questions. He was doing a good job of acting, but Lee became more certain in his judgment with every passing second. He wasn’t just working for the Order, overseeing students who’d recently undergone the Cropping.

  “You’re making this difficult,” said Lee. “That’s too bad.”

  He brought the knife back, shifting to an underhanded grip, and then stabbed downward hard. Bryan screamed and threw his head to the side. At the last second, Lee arrested the motion, keeping the knife from making contact. A damp spot appeared between Bryan’s legs on the bed.

  “Maybe he’s telling the truth,” said Tess.

  Lee shook his head.

  “I’m serious,” she said. “What if they use dream weaving to make him think that he’s just a normal guy?”

  “That seems… needlessly complicated,” muttered Lee. He glanced at Tess, who shrugged her shoulders.

  In that split-second of lapsed attention, Bryan moved. When Lee turned back, Bryan’s body was illuminated by a white glow of supernatural energy. He shifted shape
s, morphing from form to form faster than Lee could react. In less than three seconds, a massive wolf was in the place of the man who’d once claimed to be his brother.

  Wolf Bryan’s new razor-sharp teeth made quick work of the one duct tape binding that’d withstood the transformation. Lee slashed the knife as the lycanthrope came at him, missing by a hair’s breadth. The speed of the giant wolf was incredible, above and beyond anything he could have anticipated.

  It let out a ferocious bark and snapped its jaws at his wrist. Lee managed to twist the knife to deflect the attack, but only just barely. The wolf landed but continued forward with its momentum, headbutting him in the chest hard enough to nearly knock him off his feet.

  He slammed back against the bedroom’s closed door, which groaned from the impact. He fumbled to get it open and then stopped. His own prediction of his odds of running away from a werewolf were not that encouraging.

  “Use your magic!” cried Tess.

  “Oh yeah,” he said.

  The wolf dove for his neck. Lee ducked and rolled, dropping the knife and shifting his hands into the conjuration casting stance. Left hand clasped on right wrist, he pushed his palm forward and focused his will along with Tess’s spirit essence.

  He cast his tried-and-true force spell. An invisible wall of kinetic energy tore through Bryan’s room, scattering pillows, discarded clothing, and of course, the wolf. The monster flew through the air on an unfortunate trajectory, slamming through the second-story window and into open air.

  The wolf let out an echoing yelp of surprise as it continued off into the distance, slamming into the wall of the next building before dropping to the alley below. Tess let out a small “oof.”

  “He’ll live,” said Lee. “Probably.”

  “At least you have confirmation now,” she replied.

  Lee nodded. It made him wonder how deep and insidious the conspiracy really was. His conversation with Susie before regaining his memories had left him relatively sure that she wasn’t involved, at least not knowingly. If Bryan was, however, along with Constantine and Mattis, it stood to reason that the Melting Pack’s tendrils extended into the Order of Chaldea at large.

  He rifled through Bryan’s room, though there was little beyond what he’d already discovered during his earlier search. He did find Bryan’s wallet, phone, and keys. He took the credit card and money from the first, appreciating the donation to his cause.

  It was tempting to take the phone, but Bryan had already proven tech-savvy enough to track one before, which made Lee wary. Using his keys to “borrow” the car was out of the question, given how it would also give the mundane authorities a reason to pursue him.

  He flushed the keys and dropped the phone into the toilet’s rear tank, feeling a bit mean in taking that cruel but necessary measure. Bryan would come after him, Lee knew that for sure, and it was better to limit his advantages wherever he could.

  He and Tess left the apartment, running the first few hundred feet down the street, traveling through the shadows in between the lamplights outside the apartment. His only goal, to start, was to get out of Seattle.

  He headed for the bus station, which was relatively empty, given the time of night. Between his own money and what he’d taken from Bryan’s wallet, he still only had just under $100. It was risky, but Lee decided his best option was to use the ATM.

  He didn’t have his own credit card, but he had Bryan’s. After withdrawing the maximum amount, he ditched the rest of the wallet through a sewer grate and got in line to buy his ticket.

  “That’s going to be really inconvenient for him,” said Tess.

  “True, but he did lie to me,” said Lee. “And try to kill me. I think it evens out on the karmic scale.”

  “Where are we going, exactly?”

  “Billings, Montana.”

  Tess stared at him in blank silence for a good minute. Lee couldn’t resist smiling at her.

  “Would you like to know why we’re going there?” he asked.

  “I figured you’d tell me if I waited long enough.”

  “It’s one of the cities I used to work in,” he said. “I’m in the mood to visit an old friend.”

  CHAPTER 11

  The cross-country bus ride was quiet, occasionally bumpy, and totally uneventful. It was a nice change of pace. Lee hadn’t gotten a chance to properly catch his breath after remembering who he was. He and Tess took a seat in the very back, where he could talk to her without developing a reputation as a mumbling madman.

  He kept her in his mystic stream as much as he could, putting an arm around her and letting her rest her head against his shoulder, no different from any other traveling couple. She hugged him back tighter than she probably needed to, and several times, Lee noticed her staring up at him and smiling, relief and satisfaction intermingled on her face.

  “I get the feeling you have a plan,” she said. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to know what it is.”

  “Sure,” he said. “We have a small advantage at the moment. I have my memories back, and I’m aware of the fact that the Melting Pack has infiltrated Primhaven. It’s critical information, but also kind of useless.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, I don’t have my phone,” he said, a little embarrassed.

  “I don’t have the best understanding of modern technology, but aren’t there public phones that you can use? Or even just borrowing a phone from someone?”

  “Yeah, so… here’s the deal.” He shrugged. “I don’t exactly remember the phone numbers of the people who might be able to make use of this information. Harper, Toma and Eliza, even Zoe. I had their numbers in my phone, but I never saw the need to, uh, memorize them.”

  “That can’t be the only potential means of communication.”

  “We didn’t exactly do much emailing at Primhaven,” said Lee.

  “So, let me get this straight. Even though you now have your memories back, you still can’t remember how to contact your friends?”

  “It’s just a practical issue that I don’t really have a way to get around,” he said. “But the upside is I don’t think contacting anyone other than maybe Harper would help all that much, given the circumstances. Even if I could call Harper, she’d probably just tell me to get somewhere safe and let her handle it, which I have no intention of doing.”

  “So what do you intend to do, then?” asked Tess.

  “If I really wanted to, I could make my way back to Primhaven. I know where it is now. It’s not as though I couldn’t travel there the same way I did the first time, in theory. No doubt Shannara and her followers will be expecting that, however, as soon as they hear from Bryan. If I want the option of getting back to the university, I need to take a stealthy approach.”

  “Uh-huh,” said Tess. She sighed, her patience for his explanation apparently running a tad thin.

  “I’m going to find the House of Shadows, and my sister,” said Lee. “They’ve already proven to be capable of getting into Primhaven under the radar. They might be able to lend me even more help than just that once I explain to them how Shannara and the Melting Pack were responsible for Gabby’s death. They broke into the school the first time in order to save her, after all.”

  “Good thinking, Lee,” said Tess with a yawn.

  The sleepiness was mutual. Lee dozed off after a while, enjoying an extended but rather light sleep. The bus bounced around a lot, and more than a few times he awoke on guard, defenses raised by an errant pothole struck at high speed.

  The bus ride was long, passing through the night and into the morning and afternoon of the next day. When they finally came to a stop outside the bus station in Billings, Montana, Lee’s body was tired and slightly cramped.

  He recognized where they were as they got off the bus. Billings was a small city with low buildings and cozy streets, more of a town than a real urban concentrate. One of his main contacts lived and owned a store nearby, which was Lee’s primary reason for coming back.

  He
was voracious after a long night on the bus, however. He headed for a small diner nearby. The special was sausage, an omelet, and home fries. He ordered a plate for himself and let Tess taste and pick at whatever she wanted off of it while he refueled.

  The food was cooked to greasy perfection, and refills on the coffee were free. Lee took his time, not knowing how long it might be before he got another chance to eat. They left in the middle of the afternoon, walking arm in arm along the sidewalk, at Tess’s insistence.

  “There it is,” he said. “Up ahead.”

  “Syrus’s Supernatural Emporium?” Tess furrowed her brow. The sign out front was heavily weathered, with paint chipping loose in places. The building itself was a sprawling, repurposed industrial warehouse, far larger than what the operation inside truly entailed.

  “Yeah,” said Lee. “I’ve known Syrus for a few years now. He’s a good guy, aware of the supernatural, but otherwise normal. He mostly just sells cheap charms, books, and fireworks. Oh, and porn.”

  “Of course,” said Tess, rolling her eyes. “Fireworks and porn. A classic combination.”

  “I know you’re being facetious, but truer words have never been spoken.”

  They were outside of the city proper, and the buildings around the Emporium were mostly abandoned, or at least under-utilized. Lee led Tess inside. There was a bell above the front door that announced their arrival. Syrus wasn’t at the counter, and the store was otherwise empty.

  Hundreds of different charms from different cultures and traditions lined the numerous shelves, everything from Native American dreamcatchers to Orthodox prayer ropes, to shrunken heads. Few of the items were truly enchanted, though Lee knew that Syrus did come by an actual relic every now and then.

  There were also several racks of porno mags and, as an accidental testament to how long the man had been in business, erotic VHS tapes. Lee chuckled and ignored Tess’s disapproving frown as he thumbed through a classic Playboy mag.

  “Syrus?” called Lee. “Are you home?”

  “Who goes there?” A deep, scratchy voice bellowed from behind the beaded curtain cordoning off the doorway leading to the back room. “Are you a customer, or are you here on business?”