Pixels And Poltergeists: An Unveiled Academy Novel (Penny and Boots Book 3)

by Amy Hopkins

  Teeth grazed Penny’s earlobe as the offended snake let her know what she thought about Penny’s purse idea.

  Cisco tapped the plastic buttons absentmindedly. He snatched his hand back when Boots darted forward with an angry hiss. Her face struck his wrist, knocking it away from the machine.

  “Boots!” Penny grabbed Boots and tried to shove the writhing snake back into her bag. “What the hell has gotten into you? Sorry, Cisco.”

  “It’s fine.” Cisco rubbed his arm. “She didn’t bite me. She probably just knows how bad I suck at Space Invaders.”

  When they were settled at a table, Penny let Boots emerge from her backpack. The serpent slowly crept out toward Cisco and nuzzled his arm apologetically.

  “What was that all about?” Penny asked gently. She had never known Boots to strike out like that.

  Boots responded by rising up and baring her fangs at the arcade machine.

  “It’s a game,” Penny told her firmly. “There aren’t actually aliens in the box, dumbo.”

  Boots flopped onto the table, turning away from Penny in a huff.

  When Tony himself delivered the coffees to their table, Penny asked him about the arcade game.

  "It was a deal I couldn't refuse." He shrugged. "A guy in a suit came in, paid me $1500 to let him install it, and said I can keep all the profits." He spread his hands at Penny's frown. "I know, I know. It's too good to be true, and it'll probably come back to bite me in the ass later. I needed the money, though. It's been quiet around here lately."

  Penny resolved to ask Bacchus to make a casual appearance at the small café. The god owed her a favor for tipping him off about some trouble that was brewing in the courts regarding food licenses for magically conjured beverages, and simply showing his face at a venue would have customers frequenting the shop for weeks to come. From there, Tony's friendly staff and awesome coffee would be enough to sustain things.

  The door chime jingled as a group of customers wandered in, and Tony hurried back to the coffee machine.

  "It's gotta be a scam," Penny murmured to Cisco. "Doesn't it?"

  Cisco shrugged. "Sure, but I don't see what they're after. The machines don't take credit cards, so there are no skimmers installed. And it's old, like, Eighties old."

  "Oh, you know that because you were around back then?" Penny teased.

  "The Eighties are cool again. I'm cool. Therefore, I know all about the Eighties." Cisco frowned. "Though I haven't come across that particular game before. What is it called again? Polybius?"

  Chapter Four

  When Penny arrived at her Australasian mythology class that evening, it was empty. She quickly pulled out her phone and brought up the email the Academy had sent with her schedule.

  "Classroom four, six PM, Thursdays with Professor Steele.” Penny glanced at the room number and her watch to confirm the details as she read them out. “I'm in the right place. Why isn't anyone else here?"

  "Because you're the only student enrolled."

  Penny spun toward the voice, an overwhelming rush of comfort enveloping her at the sound of a familiar accent. Not quite Aussie, but Kiwis are practically family.

  The professor for Australian Mythological Studies reminded Penny of her English teacher in high school. Grey hair pulled back in a tight bun, fine lines at the corners of her mouth, and a ‘don’t fuck with me’ glint to her eye.

  Despite that, Steele smiled. “I know. I don’t look like much. Still, would have been nice to have more than one student enrolled in the class.”

  “I don’t think it’s personal,” Penny quickly assured her. “There was a lot to choose from.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about it.” Steele unlocked the classroom and pushed open the door. “Seeing as it’s just us, where do you want to begin?”

  “Well, how about here?” Penny loosened the top of her backpack.

  Boots emerged, sleepy-eyed from her afternoon nap. She tested the air with her tongue and perked up at seeing the professor.

  “Oh! I’d heard rumors about your little friend. She’s a rainbow?” Steele leaned down to scratch Boots between the eyes, and the snake gave a smooth purr. “Wow, a real live Dreamtime legend. She sounds like a cat!”

  “Sounds like a cat, ego like a cat…” Penny ignored Boots’ offended cough. “I’ve read everything I can on the Serpent and on the Dreamtime. I took this class, hoping you’d know more than the books.”

  Steele gave a small smile. “Dear, I spent six years in your country. For most of that, I was living out bush with the caretakers of the land. I learned things you won’t find in any book, so I daresay I can help. But let’s start by seeing what you already know, hey?”

  Despite Steele’s gentle manner, she grilled Penny relentlessly, asking her questions about the stories and legends she’d researched, the symbolism she’d investigated, and more than anything else, about how it all linked back to Boots.

  She asked about Boots’ behavior, her diet, her sleeping habits. She even examined Boots, asking her to perform tasks like stretch out into a line or find the pink ball in a box of multicolored ping pongs. Boots completed each task with enthusiasm.

  “Incredible,” Steele breathed. “What about water? Healing? What magic have you seen her do?”

  “She can suck up loads of water and expel it,” Penny told her. “That’s about it, I think?” Boots gave her tail a haughty twitch. “Not that a rainbow firehose isn’t spectacular in its own right,” Penny teased.

  In response, Boots turned her head away from Penny and slithered over to Professor Steel, who sat cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by ping pong balls. The snake flopped into her lap with an offended snort.

  “She understands you so well.” Steele jotted another note down as the snake wrapped herself into a tight coil. “And she exhibits almost human emotion.”

  “Almost human?” Penny cocked an eyebrow. “You haven’t seen her response when I tell her to get her own bowl of milk. It’s like I’ve insulted her newborn child!”

  Steele added another note with a flourish. “Has she bred?”

  Penny blinked. “No. Can she?”

  “There’s no reason she couldn’t.” Steele leaned back in her chair, fingers steepled beneath her chin. “Has she ever been given the opportunity?”

  Penny looked at the serpent, who lifted her head and cocked it to one side. Like a puppy, Penny thought. Or a curious child.

  “I don’t even know how old she is,” Penny admitted. “Most snakes take a while to mature enough for that, don’t they?”

  “She wasn’t born the day you found her, Penny,” Steele corrected gently. “She’s an ancient being, from a land that not only accepts her but one she was literally made for. Over here? She’s away from her own kind and from the legends that created her.”

  “She’s got me.” Penny bit her lip and tried to sound less defensive. “I didn’t mean to bring Boots here. She snuck into my luggage. I’m not even sure how she made it past customs without anyone noticing her.”

  “Ah.”

  Though the professor made a show of dropping the subject, Penny was left feeling discomfited by the exchange even as the topic of conversation moved onto more mundane things, like drop bears, bunyips, and Maori gods.

  When the lesson was over, Penny headed back to their room despite her growling stomach.

  She gently placed Boots on her bed. “Can we talk, Boots?”

  Boots stretched lazily, then rose up to flick a tongue on Penny’s cheek.

  “Are you happy here?” Penny asked.

  Boots nodded eagerly.

  Penny couldn’t resist reaching out a hand for Boots to nuzzle. “Are you lonely?”

  Boots snorted, a sound she had perfected over the previous months despite Penny’s conviction that, according to serpentine anatomy, shouldn’t be possible. Boots twisted away, leaning over to Penny’s bedside table. With gentle teeth, the snake picked up a photograph propped against a ballerina ornament. She dropped it in Pen
ny’s lap.

  A soft smile touched Penny’s lips as she looked at the image. “I know we have some amazing friends here.”

  It was a polaroid, taken at Paddy’s. She, Cisco, Amelia, and Red had all posed with whiskey shots on Saint Patrick’s day. Boots had draped herself over Penny’s shoulders for the photo, and Paddy had somehow, despite being on the other side of the room moments before, photobombed the shot, his green hat and an empty glass taking up one corner of the frame.

  Penny set the photo on the bed and gently pulled Boots’ face to look at her. “They’re not serpents, though. Don’t you miss your own kind?”

  Boots shook her head. Then, she bumped her head on Penny’s chin before lowering herself to the ground.

  As Penny trailed Boots down to the dining hall, she tried to reassure herself that Boots wouldn’t lie to her. Still, a germ of unease had settled in her gut, and Penny knew it wouldn’t be banished easily.

  Four days later and Penny was still stuck on Professor Steele’s words. Glass noticed her mood during the fitness class Monday evening, calling her out after she landed a frustrated right hook on Jason’s jaw during a sparring session.

  “Jason, go to the first aid room. Penny, you’re out for the night.” Waving away her stricken apology for hurting a fellow student, Glass added, “Six AM tomorrow, here, for a catch-up lesson. You can get out whatever is bothering you against someone who doesn’t block hits like a drunken four-year-old.”

  “Hey!” Jason turned as he reached the doorway. “I’m still here, you know.”

  “No point being offended at the honest truth.” Glass waved him away, then eyeballed Penny. “Go on, take the evening off and come back tomorrow. Don’t be late.”

  Some of Penny’s frustration had worn off after that class, and when Penny arrived in Glass’s training room the next morning, she walked in with another apology on her lips.

  “Don’t say it,” Glass warned her. “He deserved it. You were itching for a fight last night, but his head was in the damn clouds. Distracted by some girl, probably. We’re not here to give each other manicures. He deserved what he got.”

  “Oh.” She’d been too wrapped up in her own angst to notice at the time, but now Glass had pointed it out, Penny realized Jason had been more distracted than usual.

  “How do you want to do this?” Glass tipped his head toward the wall of weapons.

  Penny ran her eyes over the selection. “I haven’t had a good sword fight in a while.” The practice would do her good, and the added weight of chainmail armor—a prerequisite for fighting with the medieval weapons—might help her wear out the last of her jitters.

  Glass nodded his acceptance. He walked to the armory cupboard and dragged out a suit for Penny. As she dressed, he donned his own equipment.

  “What’s got you so riled up?” he asked. “Wait, scratch that. If it’s boy trouble, or hell, if it’s girl trouble? I don’t wanna know.”

  “It’s snake trouble,” Penny admitted. She stopped talking to pull a coif over her head. “Professor Steele kind of insinuated that Boots shouldn’t be here, that she’s better off with her own kind. Not that I had a choice in the matter—she came of her own accord.”

  But did she do that because she really wanted to, or just to make me happy?

  “And what did Boots have to say about that?” Glass asked. He stood, rolling his shoulders to adjust to the weight of the armor.

  Penny mimicked his actions, feeling comforted by the heavy mail draped over her torso and head. "She said she’s happy here.” Boots had made a big show of snuggling up to Amelia at dinner and even gave Cook a kiss on the cheek before they left the dining hall. “She says she’s not lonely.”

  "Then why do you care?" Glass plucked a short sword from the stand and tossed it to Penny. "Do you think Steele is a threat?"

  Penny caught the sword easily and twirled it in a circle. "A threat? Come on, Glass. It's not like she's going to steal a mythological creature and try to smuggle her home."

  Glass pulled a second sword free, hefting it in his hand to test the weight. "Then my question stands. Why do you care?"

  "She said Boots should breed!" Penny backed into the middle of the room, knowing that if she turned her back on Glass, he would take advantage of it even before their sparring officially began.

  Glass laughed. “Jesus, Penny, you sound like an overprotective mother who doesn’t want her kid to buy a motorbike.”

  “I do not.” Penny knew she was beginning to sound petulant. She gripped her sword tighter and prepared to unleash her growing irritation on Glass.

  "Saying she’s mature isn’t exactly an insult,” Glass continued. “There are people on the streets calling Mythers the spawn of the devil. I don't see you getting all riled up about them." Glass moved into position.

  Penny sank back into a defensive stance, holding her sword at the ready. "I don't have to sit through classes with those losers."

  "You're deliberately missing my point." Glass struck without warning, the metallic clang of sword against sword echoing around the chamber. "Why. Do. You. Care?"

  Penny grunted, parrying another strike. He had her on the back foot. She defended herself three more times before she found an opening. Penny thrust with her sword and Glass knocked it away easily. "Because I liked her. For about fifteen minutes, anyway."

  "Why?" Glass followed his question with a flurry of sweeps and jabs.

  Penny stumbled backward, already breathing hard. "She’s from New Zealand. That's practically home. And she is a specialist in the mythological branch that created Boots. I thought Steele could tell me more about her, help me understand her. She wasn't supposed to suggest that I send Boots away."

  “When did she say that?” Glass allowed her to regain her balance before striking again.

  Penny grunted as she blocked a blow aimed at her knees. “She didn’t.”

  "So you're mad because… Ah Hell, I don’t even know what your problem is. You’re putting words in her mouth and making assumptions based on your own misplaced guilt." Glass stepped back, allowing Penny to catch her breath. "You should be pissed, but not at her."

  Penny huffed a quick breath. "When you put it like that, I feel like an idiot."

  Glass lifted a shoulder. "You're not an idiot, but if you keep letting emotion fuck with your judgment, you'll pay the price eventually."

  Penny raised an arm to wipe the sweat out of her eyes. Thwack. The flat of Glass's blade slapped against Penny's ribs, bruising them through the heavy mail.

  "Ow! You bastard!" Penny stepped back, dropped her sword, and ripped the coif from her head, signaling the end of the match. "I learned my bloody lesson. Did you have to break a rib to drive it home?"

  Glass smirked. "You didn't learn a damn thing. You're angry at me now, aren't you? You know better than to take your attention off an opponent, and you know better than to trust someone without a logical reason for doing so.”

  “Fuck you.” Penny grinned to show the professor she held no hard feelings. “How about we try some hand to hand?”

  “Giving up already?” Glass taunted. “I thought you needed the practice.”

  Penny groaned, knowing he was right. She took a deep breath. Her ribs complained, but not too badly. They’re not broken. No excuse.

  “Fine. Let’s get it over with.” She dropped the mail coif back on her head and picked the sword back up. “Bring it.”

  Chapter Five

  “Do I want to see the other guy?” Cisco pushed open the coffee shop door for Penny, wincing at her black eye and the thin scratch on her cheek.

  “Sadly, Professor Glass is fine.” Penny grinned wryly. “The only damage I did to him was a busted knee. I made a real mess of it, too, bad enough that he sent me for the Asclepius staff.”

  “What, and he didn’t let you use it?” Cisco let the door fall closed behind them. “What an asshole.”

  “He offered, I said no.” Penny shrugged. “I only have a few bruises. It wouldn’
t be worth it.”

  Cisco frowned. “The staff is a bottomless pit of healing power. It’s not like it runs out.”

  “It’s not the only thing that’s a bottomless pit right now.” Penny pressed a hand to her stomach. “I skipped breakfast, then spent two hours working my ass off in the defense room. I could already eat a horse. The last thing I need is a magically-induced appetite boost.”

  “Oh. Then I guess we’re ordering meals?” Cisco grinned and plucked a menu off a nearby table. “I was going to offer to pay, but I don’t have enough for an actual horse.”

  Penny snorted. “I passed your mum on the way out. She was muttering something about ‘young men begging for lunch money in their twenties.’ I can pay my own way, thanks.”

  “That’s a bit over-dramatic,” Cisco replied. “All I asked is if she had a couple of quarters. I even gave her a dollar back. She made a profit!”

  “Oh, for the game?” Penny glanced over at the arcade machine. Pixelated spaceships danced over the screen. “Can we eat first? I wasn’t joking, I really am starving.”

  Cisco laughed. “Fine!” He dug his wallet out of a back pocket. “I meant it, by the way. Today’s my shout… As long as you stick to burgers and coffee, not entire beasts of burden.”

  "A burger sounds perfect. Just get me the biggest one they've got, with a side of fries. And maybe a Coke?" Penny fished around for her own purse. "Here, let me give you some money. I was only teasing before. I don't actually want to send you broke."

  Cisco put a hand up, refusing her offer. "Go find us a seat, I've got this."

  Penny wandered over to the game and watched the scrolling screen. A triangular spaceship floated at the bottom, shooting beams of white at opposing ships and exploding them in a shower of red dots. The demo sequence ended, and a list of names scrolled up from the bottom.

  1. Trevor White….. 52,559

  2. Trevor White….. 47,331

  3. Maximillian Bucks….. 30,000