Sara couldn’t hold it in anymore. She burst out laughing.
The Tricksters all stared at her for a few seconds before they looked at Headmistress Berens. A few seconds later, she vanished.
Sara continued to laugh for several seconds before she wiped away a few tears. “You know what your problem is?” She waved to the trees. “By the way, thanks, Christie.” She grinned at the confusion-stricken Tricksters. “Sometimes, a good trick isn’t super-fancy or doesn’t require potion swaps. Sometimes, it’s merely a matter of setting up the right place, time, and expectations.” She winked.
Kenneth dropped to one knee. The others all did as well, and they bowed their heads.
“You’ve outdone us, Sara,” he declared solemnly. “You saw through us at every point and defeated us in the First Annual Trickster Prank War. We declare you the victor.”
“I knew we should have gone against each other,” Jillian mumbled.
He stood, and the others followed suit. “Are you sure you don’t want to join us?”
“I don’t think I really have time to be a full-time Trickster, but this was fun, and it taught me a little something about myself I didn’t already know.” Sara shrugged.
“Then, as the current leader of the group, I declare you an Honorary Member.”
She walked over to Kenneth and extended her hand. “I’d be honored to be an Honorary Member.”
Philip eyed Sara incredulously the next morning at breakfast. “So you like pranks now?”
Sara swallowed a bite of her lemon donut. “I don’t know if it’s the pranks as much as the challenge in thinking through what they were planning. It’s almost like…I’ve got it. Remember when we watched the Ocean’s 11 remake? It spoke to me. Pranks are like setting up a heist, except without all the crime.”
“The Light Elf character made no sense in that movie,” Adrien grumbled. “Especially since he had access to portal magic. I mean, why not simply portal to and from the vault instead of using the illusion spell?”
“I thought they said the casino owner set up anti-portal wards.”
“Then how were they able to portal out later?”
“It’s a movie, dude.” Philip chuckled. “They always get something wrong in movies.”
“Forget the movie.” Raine eyed Sara. Her newer FBI trainee instincts tingled and rather liked the idea of a challenge of a counter-heist in the form of stopping pranks. “Maybe next year, we should all get involved. You could do pranks, and some of us can do some or simply try to stop them. Cops versus robbers. That kind of thing.”
Sara grinned and rubbed her hands together. “I’ll talk to the Tricksters. I’m sure we can figure something out.”
Philip and Cameron exchanged concerned looks.
William snickered.
Evie shook her head and chuckled. “I’m glad there’s only one April Fool’s Day each year.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Raine wandered down the kemana street, Cameron at her side. As Evie and Sara discussed their thoughts on pineapple on pizza, Raine looked from person to person and tried to think like an FBI agent.
She found a lot of Agent Connor’s recommendations didn’t work as well in the kemana. For one thing, every species had different body language, and it was hard to decide if the Kilomea she watched was nervous about something or if he always looked that way.
The agent had told her to trust her instincts. They were the same instincts that led her to investigate the druid disappearances shortly after her first trip to the kemana, even though she was still new to the world of magic. The more she could soak in about magical culture during her time in school, the more effective she’d be as an FBI agent in the future.
Evie giggled at something William whispered in her ear, while Adrien walked beside his friends, his hands loose at his side and ready.
It was something Raine noticed more and more as of late—how prepared the elf always was. She wasn’t sure if it meant he was more on guard or if she had become more observant.
“Are we still going to Bubble and Fizz?” Cameron asked.
“I don’t know.” Raine pointed to a new magical instrument shop down the street. “Maybe we should go there.”
“Do you want to learn to play an instrument?”
“They’re magical instruments. Maybe they play themselves.”
“Doesn’t that defeat the point?”
She smiled. “Not if you simply like music. I—” She stopped as a blur of scarlet with a tail appeared and rushed into a nearby alleyway.
Cameron followed her gaze. “What’s wrong?”
“I think that was Hap. You know, the ferret?”
Three Willen in red coats ran into the alley a few seconds later.
Adrien snorted. “This was bound to happen.”
Raine jogged toward the alley before she even realized what she’d decided to do.
Cameron hurried after her and soon, the rest of her friends followed.
“What are you doing?” The shifter frowned. “We shouldn’t get involved. It’s not our fault he conned the wrong Willen.”
She continued toward the alley. “I can’t stand by as a future FBI agent and let a crime occur, even if the victim is a criminal. That’s not right.”
The teens arrived at the front of the alley. Hap was hemmed in by a large stack of wooden crates with his back to an alley wall. The three Red Coat Society Willen surrounded him, their clawed hands up.
“You cheated us, Hap,” one of them shouted, the tallest of the trio. “We can’t unload those potions to anyone.”
“I can understand some disappointment, my friends,” the ferret replied. “But you still have a product. You paid me money, and I gave you potions. How is that cheating you?”
“They’re trash potions. The warmth potion only lasted for five minutes.”
Hap’s beady little eyes darted from one of his foes to the other. “If you were topside during the winter, five minutes would seem like a long time. Trust me.”
Another Willen withdrew out a tiny yellow vial from a coat pocket and threw it at Hap. It bounced off and landed on the ground. “You said these were high quality. The healing potion you sold me wouldn’t even heal a cut when I tried to demonstrate it. How am I supposed to sell a healing potion that won’t even fix a cut?”
“My fine fashionable friends,” he said, his paws out. “I think we all need to take a deep breath, relax, and reconsider. From what I hear, your issue is with your down-market customers, and that’s a problem not of product, but of salesmanship.” He shook his head and waved a finger. “I see the problem now. I might have overestimated your ability to connect with the customers, but don’t worry. That problem is solvable with a little help.” He hooked his paws on his vest. “Now, normally, I charge for my sales seminars, but because I like you three, and I think you’re real go-getters, I’m willing to offer you a seminar for free. The value of the seminar alone is almost as much as the money you paid me for the potions.”
The tall Willen stepped forward. “Don’t you think you can cross the Red Coat Society and get away with it, ferret.”
“Stop right there!” Raine shouted.
Both captive and captors turned toward the students.
“Buzz off,” the tall Willen shouted. “This isn’t your business, tailless.” He hissed but being tall for a Willen still made him short, even compared to a human toddler, so the intimidation was less than effective.
Adrien walked forward and summoned a sword. “We’ve chosen to make it our business, Willen.”
Raine summoned a light orb. It was harmless, but she hoped the Willen assumed it was an attack spell. The last thing she wanted was any fighting. That’s why she’d intervened.
Cameron let his eyes turn yellow so the three Red Coats knew exactly what they were dealing with.
Sara walked forward past Raine. “You’re planning to hurt him, aren’t you?”
The tall Willen shook his clawed finger. “He thinks he
can cheat us, so he will pay.”
“Good. Make him pay.”
Hap scoffed. “I thought we were friends, Sara. I must say, I’m disappointed, upset, and saddened at your behavior. Typical furless. No loyalty. Your brains are too cold for loyalty.”
“You don’t understand.” Sara folded her arms. “Refunds are part of business, too, Hap. You have to pay them by giving them their money back.”
“I can’t give them their money back. If I do, how am I supposed to survive?” The ferret mirrored the kitsune’s body language and mustered as much defiance as he could with his tiny body.
Adrien released his sword and watched. The others all relaxed and let Sara handle it. They trusted that she knew what she was doing.
Sara looked at the Willen. “If he gives you your money back, will you promise to leave him alone?”
The tall Willen exchanged glances with the other two and nodded. “And what if we don’t promise?”
Cameron’s eyes remained yellow. “Then we’ll have to solve this another way. Wolves don’t lose against rats, last time I checked.” He added a low growl to drive his point home.
Raine tried to keep her face unruffled. She hoped Sara could defuse the situation.
“Fine,” the tall Willen replied. He turned to Hap and held out his hand. “Give us our money, and we’ll consider it even, Pierce.”
The ferret unfolded his arms slowly and dug in his vest to pull out a surprisingly large money pouch. From what the teens could tell, it shouldn’t have been able to fit inside his vest pocket. He handed the pouch over and his whiskers twitched the entire time.
The Willen took it and spun around. “Stay out of our way if you know what’s good for you, ferret. Your tailless friends saved you today, but they might not be there the next time you cause trouble.”
The Red Coats wandered past the teens and out of the alley.
Hap sat and leaned with his back against the wall. “I’m broke. Thanks for that.”
Sara snorted. “I think it’s better to be broke than have them beat you up.”
“I could have—” Hap shook his head and took his hat off. “No, you’re right. You did me a big favor, Sara, when you didn’t have to. Don’t think that Horatius A. Pierce ever forgets when people do him a favor.”
Evie stepped forward. “What about the potion? Magic enhancement? You said before you knew a supplier.”
He donned his top hat again and stood. “At the risk of again getting beaten up, I’ll admit that I’ve heard rumors of that sort of thing, but I don’t have it, and I don’t know anyone who does. Let’s be real, my friends. If I had something like that, do you think I’d run potions from alleys and unload them on dumb Willen? Sorry, Sara.”
The kitsune actually managed a smile. “I already gave up on you a while ago, Hap.” She pointed toward Raine. “You should thank Raine. I don’t know if we would have done anything if she hadn’t insisted.”
The ferret bowed deeply to Raine. “Then I thank you in particular, young lady. You’ve inspired me today.” He stood and took a long moment to get his hat just right. “All of you, consider me transformed, reformed, and a new ferret. No more DPS. No, ma’am. Not at all. Horatius A. Pierce will find himself honest work.” He marched past the teens and hummed quietly. “If I ever do go back into independent product distribution, I’ll be sure to give you all a discount.”
Cameron snorted once he left the alley. “Do you believe any of that?”
“People can change,” Evie said. “So why not ferrets?”
William and Philip both shrugged. Adrien shook his head.
“I don’t know.” Sara stared out of the alleyway. “Losing all that money might be a lesson in itself.”
“I also don’t know.” Raine knelt and picked up the tiny potion the Willen had thrown. “But I couldn’t stand by and not try to stop them.”
Cameron took her hand in his. “Let’s go check out that magical instrument shop before you decide to save someone else—and next time, warn me before you run off.”
She blushed.
At dinner, Raine found herself happy that she’d saved Hap and sad that the magical instrument store did not, in fact, have any self-playing instruments. The delicious chicken carbonara served by the pixies did a lot to make up for that disappointment.
She closed her eyes as she chewed and enjoyed the rich flavors. “Sometimes, I wonder how much magic they put in here. They say they don’t use much other than for cooking, but it’s hard to believe it’d be this good without a few spells.”
Evie shook her head. “These meals are normal, except for preparation. Tori and the other pixies take a lot of pride in making good food without having to rely on enchanting the ingredients…most of the time.”
Sara took a few mouthfuls of her meal before she set her fork down. “I want to thank you all for earlier. I know I simply started talking there, and it could have made things worse.”
“There’s no way you would have made it worse.” Philip snorted.
“It might have been nice to be able to teach those little red-coated thugs a lesson,” Adrien said, his voice filled with more than a little irritation. “But stopping trouble is always better in the long run.”
Cameron put his arm around Raine. “Yes, it is.”
A loud thud sounded as a girl in Arc Eighty-Eight glasses burst into the dining hall.
“We’re under attack,” she shouted. “They’re all over. Vimanas with lightning cannons. Dragons! Land Kraken!”
Confused and frightened murmurs rippled through the dining hall despite the noticeable absence of roars or lightning outside. Raine wasn’t even sure what a land Kraken was.
Several pixies emerged from the kitchen, led by Tori and with annoyed looks on their faces.
“We have to do something.” The Arc girl waved her hand around. It was clenched around nothing and she held something only she could see. “They’ll take us all down. We have to counter-attack before it’s too late.”
“It’s only a stupid Arc Zombie,” shouted a student. “We don’t play your game, you idiot.”
Laughter erupted throughout the dining hall.
Tori and three other pixies descended on the girl.
“No Arc Eighty-Eight allowed in the dining hall,” the head pixie said and shook a tiny finger. “I have to confiscate those glasses.”
The girl swung her hand and almost hit Tori, but the pixie dodged and fluttered higher, a flummoxed look on her face.
Evie scrambled out of her seat. “You leave Tori alone.”
William jumped up as well.
“Don’t you understand the danger we’re in?” the Arc player shouted. “They’re coming. It’s not only a game. The school will be burned to the ground.”
The scattered laughter turned to concerned murmurs as students were now confused as to what was going on. Even if they didn’t believe the girl was right about the invasion, they were concerned about her erratic behavior. None of them had seen anyone behave like this in a long time, if ever.
“You need to calm down.” Tori hovered out of the girl’s reach. “You’ll hurt yourself.”
The girl screamed, fell to her knees, and clutched her head. “No, no, no. You can’t do this. You’re supposed to help me. You can’t do this.”
“Calm down.” The pixie flew a little closer, worry etched on her face.
The girl screamed once more and fell to the ground. Concerned chatter filled the dining hall.
Evie gasped and knelt by the girl and the pixies gathered around her. “She’s still breathing.”
Raine headed toward the door. Whatever was going on, they needed more help and none of the professors nor Agent Connor were in the dining hall.
“Raine,” Cameron said, hurrying after her. “Where are you going?”
“To get the headmistress.”
“Communication. Remember?” Cameron sighed and shook his head.
“Sorry.” Raine pushed out of the dining hall and looke
d around. There was no sign of any invading dragons, vimanas, or anything else. She didn’t know what was going on. All she knew was that Headmistress Berens needed to know.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Mara stared at the Arc Eighty-Eight glasses on her desk. “We’ve missed something here. Something obvious.”
Xander sat in a chair in front of the desk, as did Bruce. The wizard pointed to the glasses. “Whatever this is, it’s not dark magic. We’ve both examined the glasses, and it feels nothing like that. I thought it might be a curse, but if it is, it’s been created in a way I can’t even begin to understand or explain.” He didn’t bother to hide the frustration in his voice.
The headmistress let the unspoken implications hang in the air. She didn’t know how much Bruce knew or understood about Xander’s background, but the wizard’s seduction by dark magic gave him a unique insight on campus to its threats and potential. If neither she nor Xander understood the magic on the glasses, it wasn’t a good sign. To begin to unravel a spell, a magical first needed to at least have some small inkling of how it had been performed.
Mysteries might be fun and interesting, but not when children’s lives were on the line.
“What’s the status of the girl?” Bruce asked. “I might not understand the magic itself, but the process of investigating a crime remains the same. And this is starting to smell like a crime to me and not simply some sort of magical industrial accident.”
“Emily’s unconscious and hasn’t responded to healing or waking magic,” Mara said and tore her gaze away from the glasses.
“In other words, she’s in a coma.” The FBI agent’s face turned even grimmer than before. “We have a kid in a coma, and we don’t even know how she ended up there.”
“Exactly.” Mara gave him a grave nod. “We’re contacting her parents while we do our best to apply spells and potions, but none of them seem to help, and that’s all the more reason why we need to figure out exactly what has happened to her.”
Oath Of The Witch: An Urban Fantasy Action Adventure (School of Necessary Magic Raine Campbell Book 4) Page 16