"See you around Esther," He said giving a small wave as he headed back to his friends. They got up and left, most of them not having finished eating. They had come here just so he could apologize to me. Interesting. I saw Maeve's boyfriend among them and wondered which wolf he had been.
* * *
I had three classes today. I needed to get to Philosophy of Magic Early. We were heading out to a surprise location. I got to class before anyone else and Professor Atwater was preparing folders at his desk.
"Good morning Esther," He said, turning to greet me as I walked into the small classroom with sloping ceilings.
"Good morning Professor" I responded.
"Would you mind helping me a bit today?" He inquired pleasantly.
"Of course," I said smiling. This was my favorite class by far. "What do you need?"
"Well as you know we are going on a bit of a field trip today and I have these files of photographs. I was wondering if you could divide up the photos equally in each folder and hand them out to everyone as we get ready to depart."
"No problem," I said taking the folders from him. As soon as I looked at the first photo my stomach dropped. I could tell from the strange light in the pictures where we were going. The images of carved stone confirmed my suspicion. The secret location was the ruins inside the marsh. I divided the photos up as Professor Atwater had asked, examine the engravings captured in each. Students began arriving soon after and I handed each person a folder.
We walked across campus to the fen and my heart was pounding harder. Eventually, Sybelle, the redheaded girl I had met on the first day came to stand by me.
"What a weird place, huh?" She whispered. I understood the impulse to whisper, especially after what I had been through. There was something strange and solemn about this place.
"No kidding," I replied. We arrived at the clearing where the collection of standing stones was, along with the large stone wall. I couldn't help but glance around nervously. I tried not to act suspicious but I was more than a little nervous. I kept reminding myself that I was with a large group of people and my professor, who happened to be a well-trained mage. I was safe, but somewhere deep inside I think I hoped to see him again. The strange frightening man. There was just something about him. It was a strangely familiar feeling, but I suppressed it. I didn't need to worry about putting myself in danger again.
Professor Atwood began speaking. "Alright class, today we are doing something very special. We are at an ancient site of magical power. These stones are some of the oldest magical artifacts in the country. They have been here long before the school was built and in fact longer than even society as we know it. They are a great source of power and history. The school is built on sources of power, not only for the auspicious conditions it brings but also because these sites amplify power. They make it easier for us to teach magic when magic's effects are amplified. So then, each of you has a photograph of a series of glyphs from the formations. I would like you to find the section pictured and sketch it, then write up your interpretations of the meaning based on our previous lessons. There were groans, but I was glad for the distraction. A large assignment would give me something to think about.
* * *
My hand was aching by the end of class from sketching so many images. There were hundreds of glyphs and huge drawings on my section of the stone wall. Interestingly several images seemed to depict a man transforming into a beast. It seemed almost too good to be true. It had to have something to do with what I'd witnessed. I headed to Magical Correspondences in a much lighter mood. I had a mystery to solve now. Who or what was that creature I'd seen? Surely the answer was in my grasp. My second class of the day passed slowly as usual, though I was paying particular attention to anything that might help me decipher the photographs from the ruins. Maybe this class would be good for something after all. I was in a perfectly good mood by lunch. The events of the previous day not quite forgotten, but at least I had a goal now.
Ligeia and Maeve were meeting me at the dining hall. I filled them in on the plan.
"I think I can figure out who it was..." I explained excitedly.
"Do you think that's safe?" Ligeia asked.
I was still on a euphoric high from getting the first hint of a mystery to be solved. "I mean none of this is safe," I laughed. "We are at a magical school." For the millionth time since starting at the Mage's Academy, I was hit by the reality of my situation. I was learning magic, at a school for mages. Who knew this would be happening to me. Ligeia and Maeve were looking at me like I was starting to crack up, but I felt really good.
Maeve added, "She has a point. Plus, wouldn't it be safer to know what we were dealing with, in terms of creatures that haunt the woods?' Ligeia grudgingly agreed. I had a feeling that it was possible. It would simply be a matter of persistence.
I felt like I'd lived a thousand lives today. The afternoon was dragging and I was growing tired, but I had one more class. Practical Thaumaturgy was a sensitive class for me. I wavered between intense anxiety about sitting next to Kairn and deep anticipation about the same thing. He was always pleasant, but distant. Any inappropriate fascination I had for him, was not returned. But every time we did magic together, It became difficult to suppress my desire to know more about him. Our magic connected us in some deep way that I didn't quite understand yet.
I headed to class in an attempt to keep my emotions level. I tried to act as if none of it mattered and I wasn't obsessively interested in him. Whether I was successful, It was hard to say. I did take pleasure in one thing, however. We had been working on Hallows for a while, and Aria was failing miserably. It wasn't kind of me, but I was harboring suspicions that she was the one that had tricked me into going into the woods at the wrong time. A little schadenfreude on my part wouldn't hurt.
Kairn was missing when I first got to class and I battled disappointment. This hadn't happened before. So far we had only worked in pairs. Would I still be able to do magic without him? I was needlessly worried, however. He showed right before the bell rang. Lateness was uncharacteristic for him from what I'd seen. I didn't know what to make of that.
He sat down next to me, and his arm brushed against mine. It never failed to electrify my skin. There was a current passed between us. There had to be. He looked up at me, making real eye contact with me, for the first time that wasn't while we were performing magic. He looked like he had something to say, but changed his mind. He took out his notebook and went back to staring straight ahead. A thought crossed my mind. Everyone said that he was bound to something dark, dark and unstoppable. I had never seen anything truly dark until yesterday. The man that I saw in the woods was haunting, and yet somehow familiar. Could it be connected? Did the thing that Kairn was bound to make him ride around the woods in a terrible, frightening mask.
There was only one way to find out. I asked, "So Kairn, do you have a specialization in magic?" It came out awkwardly, but I was doing my best. Did he know I was trying to find out what he was bound to?
"You might say that," He said quietly. I waited. Was he going to leave me with that? He turned towards me again. "I suppose my specialty is balance. I am adept at managing magical extremes"
I wasn't sure what that meant. If he was bound to a demon that might certainly cause him to behave in extreme ways now and again. Was he trying to manage demonic tendencies? I wasn't sure.
"That sounds complicated," I suggested. He gave me a dark smile that didn't fully reach his eyes.
"Yes, I guess it is." He said, then changed the subject. "What about you? What is your particular gift?" His phrasing suggested that I had asked an invasive question and he was responding in kind. He wasn't wrong.
"I honestly don't know," I replied. "I haven't noticed any particular proclivities as of yet."
Professor Malus interrupted our conversation. "Kairn and Esther, can you demonstrate your hallow?" She had been walking around the class asking for pairs to show their work. We were next.
&n
bsp; "Of course, Professor," Kairn answered.
After showing her our golden hallow, she proclaimed, "Excellent work. You two make a great pair." I blushed unintentionally.
She added, "I think it's time for you to move on to something a bit more advanced. I'd like you to project your Hallow as large as you can until you can enter it. From there we will be able to begin casting spells." Professor Malus looked quite pleased as if it was entirely her doing that we were succeeding at all. She left us to begin casting a larger hallow. I hadn't realized we were meant to go inside the hallow. Would we be able to see out once inside? If not it would mean being alone with Kairn. It both frightened and excited me.
"Let's give it a try," I suggested. Did I sound too eager?
"Alright." He said, closing his eyes in an attempt to focus. We pressed our hands together, and this time I was ready. I knew what to expect from his touch. The powerful currents of energy didn't surprise me now, although they did exhilarate me. We formed the hallow. Its golden light was so bright by now that it could illuminate the classroom. Then we expanded it. I tried to hold my concentration only on the golden orb and nothing else. It would be easy to lose my focus and peer at him across from me, but I held fast. Soon we had formed a large enough hallow for two people to step inside. We were still focusing deeply when Professor Malus came over to us and began to give instructions.
"Now, hold the hallow in your mind and step inside. It may feel strange at first but you will become used to it." She explained softly, trying to allow us to remain focused.
It was lucky that we were focusing on the hallow. I wasn't able to second guess myself. I slowly moved into the orb, feeling it wash over my face and arms. It was strange, but not altogether unpleasant. It was like the warmth that whooshes through the body after a deep stretch. Once inside I found it much easier to maintain my focus. It was very odd. It was as if the hallow was able to draw on my magic itself since I was within. I waited. I could not see the outside. I waited for Kairn to enter.
Then something happened. It was so fast I almost did not catch. I saw something. It almost appeared to be the man from the woods. It was so fast like he had simply popped in and out of existence. Then immediately the hallow burst. I was knocked on the ground. Aria was the first to laugh, but also the only one. She and her partner had only managed a tennis ball-sized hallow. What Kairn and I were able to do was different somehow. And now I had another clue. Kairn had something to do with it. After the bell rang Kairn scowled and disappeared out of class. It was suspicious, but I still couldn’t help but feel hurt. I suppose he didn’t think I warranted an explanation for whatever was going on.
14
The reckoning came at dinner. It was crowded. Ligeia, Maeve, Eve and I all crowded at one end of a table which we shared with some second years. I heard the shouting first. It was definitely Aria. She normally tried to put on the sweetest face, but when she was mad you could hear it. She was screaming at Luke about something. I couldn't hear and he seemed to be screaming at her too. Then Aria stormed off.
"Did you hear what that was about?" I asked Ligeia.
"It sounds like they broke up." She replied.
"Maybe I should go find out," Maeve said. I normally wouldn't want to get mixed up in anything, but I was dying of curiosity. She went to the other shifters and whispered something to them. When she came back, Ligeia and I were waiting in anticipation.
"Well?" Ligeia said, sounding very interested.
Maeve's expression was wide and shocked. "They told me that Luke accused Aria of setting you up in the woods that day. He told her that it wasn't cool and then broke up with her. That was when she stormed off."
"I knew it." I almost shouted. "She was the one that set me up."
"I'm not finished yet," Maeve said. "Luke told her that he'd rather be with someone like you, Esther, than someone as coldhearted as Aria. He said he had more respect for you than he'd ever had for her."
Ligeia's mouth dropped and Maeve wiggled her eyebrows at me. Wow. That had to be a new one for me.
I groaned, "Ugh. This is going to make things between Aria and me so much worse."
"But what about Luke?" Ligeia pressed. I thought about Luke. He was a blonde-haired blue-eyed puppy dog. He seemed sweet enough, but I didn't like him in that way.
"I don't know, I don't think he's my type," I said.
"Oh is that right?" Ligeia said, "And just who is your type?"
I blushed hard. She was on to me, I knew it. "Nobody," I mumbled.
"Mmmhmm, it certainly isn't dark-haired bad boys rumored to be bound to demons is it?" She accused.
"Well, about that," I argued. "He's never been anything but pleasant to me." That was a half-truth. At least he hadn’t been specifically unpleasant to me.
"So you admit it then, he is your type?" She said, still not letting me off easy.
"Look," I said, "I have a theory about him. Let's talk about it back at the house." They agreed and we finished our meal and went back to Halewick House. We lit a fire and I began to explain everything I learned so far. Whatever he was, I was beginning to suspect that it was connected to the man I had seen in the forest. I had seen him again, just a flash of him, inside the Hallow this afternoon. All the pieces were fitting together. If I could only learn a little bit more about him.
* * *
Days and Nights passed and I didn't learn anything more about Kairn or the mystery at hand. However, at lunch one day, the Headmaster himself came to personally ask if I would meet with him. I couldn't fathom why he'd want to meet with me, especially now. It was getting closer to midterms and it was more important than ever that I study and remain focused. I followed him into his office. It was the same as I remember if only filled with more strange artifacts and books. It was exactly the sort of place you would imagine the headmaster of a school of magic would work. I sat down across from him and awaited his words somewhat impatiently.
"Esther," He began, "How have things been going for you since you've been here?" He asked.
"I think it's been okay," I answer. I don't mention that I almost got killed by the werewolves in the woods or that I suspect an ancient beast of some sort has been stalking the grounds of the school. "My classes have been going well, I think" I am satisfied with my answer.
"Yes, I have spoken to some of your professors and they have mentioned your excellent focus and intention to learn during your classes. I applaud your efforts, Esther." He smiled in a paternal way, though something inside me told me this wasn't the end of the story. He continued, "There is one thing that causes me some concern." His smile twisted sideways and he tapped his long spindly fingers against his desk.
"Oh?” I said. "I'm not sure what you mean?" I hesitated. Was I deficient in some way? Had I not applied myself enough?
"It's nothing that you've done per se, simply a matter of curiosity. In my understanding you are unbound, is that correct?" He asked.
"Yes, as far as I know," I answered. I'd never once been approached by anything resembling a god or goddess. "Is that bad?"
"Well, It is unusual, to say the least. The fact is, Esther, magic only comes by being bound to the gods, so the fact that you can practice magic without such a connection is very strange."
"I don't know why I can," I said. What was he getting at?
"To be sure, but my concern here is that your magic may be unstable without a bound deity to direct its flow. It may even be volatile."
"Volatile?" I choked on my words. It felt like a rebuke. I hadn't done anything wrong as far as I could tell. If my interactions with Kairn in Practical Thaumaturgy showed anything, it was that magic came easily to me. So this felt like a sharp admonition.
He must have seen the expression on my face because he changed course, "This doesn't mean you've done anything wrong, Esther, of course not. It just means that you have a bit more work ahead of you."
"How so?" I asked.
"Simply put, I think you should begin trying to find a god to pe
rform the binding with. It will be a huge support to you in your studies to have the power of a god or goddess behind you."
"I don't even really know how to begin?" I admitted. If I was being truthful, the idea of being bound to a god frightened me. However, there was no way that I was going to turn back now. Having begun to learn magic, I knew this was where I was meant to be.
"That is quite understandable, considering that most young mages don't have to go looking for a deity at all. I have already prepared something for you." He handed me a thick sheet of parchment. It was completely filled with a flowing print. "This is a summoning ritual that I've been saving, but I think it will work perfectly for your needs. What you will need to do is study this and when you have adequately learned it, you will need to perform it when you are completely alone."
I took the parchment from him and scanned it. It was very unfamiliar and called for things I had never heard of before such as dark resinous pitch. "So I'm supposed to do a spell?" I clarified.
"Exactly, it may take a couple times, but eventually you will be able to summon the deity to whom you are meant to be bound. Do you have any questions?" He asked quickly. I didn't want to seem incompetent so I said nothing.
"I guess not," I replied.
"Good, I'll check back in with you very soon, Esther. I expect a great deal of progress at our next meeting." He smiled. Why did it feel like a threat?
The walk back to Halewick was strange and heavy. I felt like I had a film on my skin that I couldn't shake off. It was like the feeling of shopping in an antique store when you touch many old and dusty objects and find that your hands feel sticky. I couldn't shake the sensation that something was sticking to me.
15
Practical Thaumaturgy was quickly becoming a favorite class. Today was the day that we were going to begin invisibility spells. I sat down in Professor Malus's class and took out my notebook. I was a few minutes early so I took the opportunity to study my notes. Invisibility was a natural extension of what we had been doing. I was quickly developing the skill of making a hallow, the sphere where magic was possible. Now it was a visible golden sphere but eventually, we could learn to hold a hallow perpetually no matter where we were. We were supposed to memorize the steps for invisibility before class. I had studied hard, but I couldn't help but feel a twinge of anxiety. The class began to fill in and after the bell rang I realized that Kairn was not there. He just never showed up for class.
Unbound: Mage's Academy I Page 7