Susie pulled the curtain open. Eliza was in a loose hospital gown and covered up to the shoulders by the clean white sheets. Lee pulled his chair in closer to her, frowning as he took in the paleness of her face.
The sound of an approaching argument heralded the arrival of new visitors. Lee guessed who they were even before he could make out their voices clearly.
“Rather unfortunate,” said Gen. “Though it sounds as though they accomplished their objective.”
“That’s it?” snapped Harper. “That’s all you have to say for yourself?”
The two instructors entered the infirmary. Harper immediately crossed the room to stand next to Eliza’s bed. Her blue eyes met Lee’s, and for a moment, it almost seemed like she was going to pull him into a hug.
“Are you alright?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” he said. “Eliza… isn’t.”
“There’s no need for that kind of pessimism,” said Nurse Susie. “She’ll wake up. Just give her some time.”
Harper set her hand on Lee’s shoulder. Gen slowly made her way deeper into the room, letting one hand rest on the hilt of Savoire Solaire which she wore on her waist.
“With Kuh-Matton cleared, we’ll be able to bring confirmation to Kukachuk and his tribe to secure the arrangement we worked out. If anything, this is a cause for celebration.”
The room didn’t feel particularly celebratory to Lee. Harper approached Gen, drawing within a few inches of the other woman.
“Don’t you ever presume to give my apprentice orders behind my back again,” she said, slowly.
They stared each other down for several seconds, the stress and tension quickly building to nigh unbearable levels. Nurse Susie deflated the moment with a small cough.
“I feel as though it would be in Eliza’s best interest if there were fewer people within the infirmary. She needs space to rest and breathe.”
Gen smiled and slowly walked by Harper as though unfazed by the situation. Harper exhaled and gave Lee’s hand a small squeeze.
“I should go, as well,” she said. “Come see me tomorrow after your class, Eldon.”
“Of course.” He put his hand on top of hers, hoping the others weren’t as aware of the tenderness in her expression as he was. Harper pulled back and left the infirmary, followed shortly after by Toma and Willow.
“I would normally kick everyone out, but I’m aware of how close you and Ms. Willis have grown to each other,” said Susie. “Why don’t you watch over her for now? I need to step out to run some errands.”
“Yeah. Of course.”
Susie departed, then it was just Lee and Eliza. He ran through the scene in his head from the beginning… Eliza reaching for the pillar, fingers outstretched. Then the red energy, the pale woman, and his own desperate attempt to separate them with a spell.
He jerked his head up. Eliza’s eyes were open, though only as tired slits. She smiled as she noticed him noticing her and let out a small sigh.
“Did I miss much?”
Lee breathed out his own relief. “Nothing but a bunch of people worrying about you, myself included. How are you feeling?”
“Like somebody smashed my head into a stone pillar.”
He winced. “Uh, that may possibly have been me. What do you remember about what happened?”
Her bottom lip was still cracked, and she gently probed it with her tongue as she seemed to think about his question. She opened her mouth to answer and then hesitated.
“Nothing,” she said.
“Nothing?”
“I remember looking at the pillar and being surprised about how warm it was. I remember reaching my hand out, and… that’s it. Then I woke up here.”
“That’s more or less what happened,” he said. “When you touched the pillar, a field of crimson energy surrounded the pillar. I had to push through it, and then… Well, Eliza… I saw some kind of entity or demon that looked like it was trying take hold of you.”
He waited for her to react but her eyes remained indifferent and tired.
“I didn’t know what to do,” he continued. “All I could think of was to cast my force spell in an attempt to save the day.”
“Oh. Thanks, I think?”
Lee slid his chair in closer to the bed, pushing a few strands of Eliza’s auburn hair out of her face. Toma and Willow hadn’t seen the demoness either. It was completely possible it had just been an apparition like the ghosts, unable to manifest within or affect the physical world directly.
A sinking feeling took hold in his stomach as the edge of an idea entered his awareness. He looked at Eliza with his eyes, but also with his mystic sight. If he’d done the same to Nurse Susie, her white robes and cotton-candy-pink hair would have dissolved into the red skin and black wings of a succubus.
He wasn’t sure what he was expecting to see with Eliza, but there was nothing. Aside from a busted lip and a likely concussion, she was unharmed both physically and supernaturally. Lee’s relief was no small thing.
“I think I’d rather sleep in my own bed tonight,” she said. “Could you help me up?”
“I could.”
She rolled her eyes. “Will you help me up?”
“I think you should stay here for now, just to be safe. I’ll stay, too. There’s one upside of you being in the infirmary, at least. No gender-based curfew restrictions.”
“Fine.” She smiled despite the tone of her voice. “Be that way, if you must.”
“Do you need anything?”
Her face reddened a touch, and Lee became insanely curious about what she might ask for.
“A kiss, to start.”
“I’d be more than happy to.”
He leaned over the bed and gently pressed his lips to hers. He tasted a bit of saltiness from the aftermath of her bloody lip, but it didn’t bother him.
“One more thing,” she whispered.
“Shoot.”
“My family is coming for Primhaven’s open house the day after tomorrow. It might upset them to hear about this.”
“You’ve kept my secrets well enough. I think I can manage one of yours.”
Eliza smiled, but she was still blushing. She put her index fingers out, touching them point to point with thoughtful, hesitant precision.
“Also. Could you… be my boyfriend for the day they’re here?”
“Uh… sure? I mean, I wouldn’t mind. That actually sounds like fun. But… why?”
“It’s complicated.” She shrugged and shook her head. “I have just told them so much about you already that my mother and sisters have it in their heads the two of us are, well… an item. An exclusive item.”
“Ah. I hear you. Is your dad also going to be there?”
“Yup.”
“Doesn’t your dad sort of dislike me, a bit?”
“Yup.” Eliza leaned her head in a bit closer to hers, a slight pout entering her expression.
“So how would he react to this particular bit of deception?” asked Lee.
“Nothing makes him happy, really. It’s the women in my family I’m concerned about. They’re, well… you’ll see.”
“Fair enough.” Lee grinned, feeling a bit excited, though he wasn’t sure why. “Consider me your boyfriend.”
“You don’t have to start right now.”
“Don’t I? We should get some practice in while we have the chance.”
The infirmary bed wasn’t huge, but he managed to shift halfway onto it. They kissed again. Lee slid his hand under the thin sheet, groping one of her breasts through the even thinner gown she had on. No bra, either, which made the experience a hell of a lot more compelling.
The sound of Nurse Susie clearing her throat cut their excitement off at the knees.
“Lee, I’m afraid I have to send you back to your room,” she said with a sigh. “Nobody appreciates young love more than I do, but it’s a matter of being the responsible adult.”
She didn’t sound like she truly believed what she was saying, whic
h made sense. Lee was hard-pressed to say how many times he and Susie had engaged in similar shenanigans within the infirmary. He didn’t bother adjusting his hard-on as he stood up, grinning at the way the succubus’s eyes locked onto it with laser focus.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then,” he said.
Both Eliza and Susie nodded and then responded, or at least began to. Susie clamped a hand over her mouth, looking abashed for once.
“I’ll be in class, I promise,” said Eliza. “I really am feeling better. Especially now.”
She batted her eyelashes at him, and like the good fake boyfriend he was, he leaned over her and planted a kiss on her forehead.
CHAPTER 27
“Lee,” whispered Tess. “I know you’re awake, Lee.”
He was, but he was also sleepy. He mumbled something that even he couldn’t make out.
“I miss you,” she said. “We’ve both been so busy lately. You with your arctic adventures and me with mothering my sweet kitten.”
Lee grunted his agreement.
“I want to make sure you know that you’re still on my mind. So, if you would please pull me into your mystic stream.”
He managed it after a few tired seconds. He felt Tess’s hand slide across his bare stomach, fingers toying with the edge of his boxers’ waistband.
“You might have to take a shower after this,” she whispered.
She pulled his underwear down, and he sensed her shifting underneath the sheets, followed shortly after by complete, utter bliss as her lips and tongue enveloped his erection.
He was still half asleep, only making the sensation that much easier to sink completely into. It was unreal just how hot and soft and utterly perfect her mouth was. He didn’t deserve Tess. She was the sweetest, cutest, most thoughtful ghost to ever awaken him at sunrise with sensual naughtiness. The only one, too, but that was beside the point.
“Oh…” he muttered. Tess let out a small, pleased hum that resonated through the nerves of his cock like a strummed chord.
She kept at it, sucking him off with slow, dutiful movements. She asked for nothing in return, and still half asleep, he had no energy to do more than groan and ride the tide of the pleasure she inflicted.
She was right, he realized, a second too late. He would have to take a shower. And get a change of sheets.
Totally worth it.
Tess snuggled up next to him as he basked in the remnants of his post-orgasmic pleasure. He hugged her head against his chest and ran his fingers through her hair.
“Good morning,” she said in a singsong voice.
“Great morning. You’re right. I’ve missed you these past few days.”
“It is what it is. It’s like I said, we’ve both been busy.”
She pulled back, caressing his cheek and staring into his eyes.
“I never got a chance to tell you about everything that happened yesterday and last night,” he said.
He quickly related the events to her, including Eliza’s request about being her boyfriend for a day.
“That’s so sweet of you,” she said. “Don’t worry, I’m fine with it. I’ll go see Eliza and let her know as much too when I get a chance.”
“How will Harold ever manage without you?” he asked.
Tess scowled at him. “You joke, but he really hasn’t been feeling well. He’s been sleeping a lot, too much even for a cat.”
“He’s probably fine.”
Tess looked less than reassured. Lee shrugged.
“I could grab some soft food for him from the dining hall,” he suggested. “Maybe he has indigestion?”
“If you don’t mind, that would be wonderful.”
“I would do just about anything for a chance of having you wake me up like that again.”
Tess grinned. “Maybe I’ll have to start doing it more often. Only when you’re nice to me, though.”
“I’m always nice to you.”
“Lee Amaranth, that’s not even close to true.”
***
Alteration class that morning was focused on one of the discipline’s few offensive spells, the magic missile. Despite having a name that sounded like it was ripped straight from a tabletop role-playing game, it was a remarkably effective weapon in the right hands.
Lee’s hands were apparently the wrong ones. He stood next to Tess at the head of a casting lane in the Spell Range, watching the pink magic missile sphere he’d just created strike one of the dummy targets with about as much force as a plastic whiffle ball.
“I’ve told you in the past that alteration magic was never my specialty,” said Tess. “This isn’t exactly an unexpected outcome.”
“I have to wonder if you even have a specialty.”
“Hey!”
Lee sighed. “Sorry, I just feel like I’m a bit lacking in magical versatility.”
“That’s never bothered you before.”
“No, but it was never so obvious before.” He folded his arms. “Even Toma has started experimenting with new, interesting spells. Feels a bit like I’m lagging behind.”
His thoughts turned to channeling instead. He’d managed to get a significant value out of it with Thumper and comparing his pathetic magic missile to her uninhibited ice magic made him wonder if perhaps he needed to play to his strengths.
What sort of damage would Naka do to one of the dummy targets if he sent her charging horns first out of a conjuration portal? What about Brie, the slime girl, if he channeled her to engulf an opponent’s face? Then there was Widow, who on top of being creepy as all hell, could use her webbing both for entrapment and mobility.
He did have options, however weird they might be.
“My turn.”
Instructor Daniels had paired them off at the start of the exercise, and Eliza, recovered from her stay in the infirmary, had been sharing his casting lane. Lee stepped aside as she moved to the edge of the line and fell into the alteration stance.
She didn’t take as long as he had, flinging her first magic missile forward with casual ease. Whereas Lee’s spell had barely affected the training dummy, hers hit with the force of a cannonball, knocking the metallic head off with a resonant crash. The hex magic on the dummy pulled it back together after a few seconds as though someone had begun rewinding reality.
“I think you win this round,” said Lee.
“It’s not a competition, but thanks.” She flashed a proud grin at him. “Here. Let me show you what it looks like when I cast one at full strength.”
He watched as she took a slow breath and focused her will. An odd flutter of distortion briefly surrounded her, like the way the air might waver under the effect of extreme heat. Eliza unleashed her spell, and for a split second, her aura turned the same bright crimson Lee remembered from the pillar in Kuh-Matton.
The effect of her magic missile was nothing short of complete destruction. It hit the training dummy with so much force, the segmented pieces broke into smaller ones. Lee watched the hex magic feebly trying to undo the damage, sections of metal piling up and falling apart like a dry sandcastle refusing to stick together.
“Um…” Eliza took a step back. “Whoops.”
“Jesus. That was impressive, to put it mildly. Are you feeling okay?”
“Mostly. I felt this weird flush of heat when I cast the spell. I’m not sure what just happened.”
She stared at the wreckage of the training dummy in total bewilderment. Lee set a hand on her shoulder.
“Maybe you should rest for today?” he suggested.
“I’m fine. Really. Class is about to end, anyway.”
He wasn’t sure he believed her, but he was even less sure of what he could do about it. If the pillar had affected her somehow, imbued her with some unbound force, the situation was beyond his skills as a mystic to diagnose and treat.
She looked alright. Better than alright. He grinned as her pretty green eyes met his and fell into boyfriend mode, stealing a quick kiss.
“I t
hink I might go lie down for a bit, I guess.” She shrugged. “Come see me after?”
“Of course.”
Instructor Daniels dismissed the class, and most of the students departed. Lee slowly walked across campus alongside Tess, thinking and trying to digest the situation.
“You should keep a close eye on her,” she said. “Talk to Harper, too. She might have some insight.”
“Maybe. She’s going to be busy with the exhibition Gen has opted her into. She did want me to come see her after class, though.”
He started toward her quarters in the Elemental Tower. Head Wizard Odarin intercepted him before he’d made it more than a few steps. Willow was with him, and he gestured for Lee to follow.
“Ah, Initiate Amaranth. I need your help with something.”
“I was actually on my way to—”
“Lead Instructor Laughton asked me to find some students to fold the informational pamphlets we’ll be giving out to the families attending the open house tomorrow.”
“You want me to help fold pamphlets?”
Lee liked Odarin, and he didn’t want to say outright that the task was beneath him. It was though. It really was.
Odarin pushed a stack of unfolded fliers into his hand and saluted him before he could mount his evasive maneuvers.
“How did he rope you into this?” he asked Willow.
“Damned if I know. I figured I’d try to use a spell to fold them all at once or something.”
“Would that actually work?”
“No, but it beats dumping them in the trash.”
CHAPTER 28
They found an empty lecture hall and sank side-by-side into a pair of desks. Willow made a feeble attempt at using her wind magic to do the folding, but it only made a mess. Lee tried to assuage the boredom of the task by taking a closer look at the actual content of the pamphlet.
The front was an artist’s depiction of Primhaven, which had the effect of making the college look sanitized and somehow less impressive than the real thing. Bullet points below listed out the college’s extensive class criteria, famous founder, and centuries of providing “arcane educational excellence.”
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