Arcane Dropout 2

by Edmund Hughes

“Eldon,” said Harper, through gritted teeth. “Get out of my way.”

  “So you can do what?” he snapped. “Go kill my sister?”

  “So I can get to the bottom of this,” she said. “Regardless of what that entails.”

  She shifted, facing him with that same unbridled fury. One of her hands snapped outward, pulling his arm out of the way. Lee caught her by the wrist, leaning in closer.

  “You’re still injured,” said Lee. “The House of Shadows already beat you once. This time, they would eat you alive.”

  “I didn’t ask for your opinion.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “Let go of me.” A dangerous gleam flickered across Harper’s eyes. “Now.”

  “Make me,” said Lee.

  She pushed against him. Lee pushed harder. He pressed his chest against the uninjured side of her body and pinned her wrists against the door. The movement brought his nose in close proximity to her neck, and Lee inhaled the heady scent that was Harper.

  She bucked her hips against him. Lee leaned forward there, too, pressing his midriff to hers. She stared into his eyes, and the contact of their bodies let him feel her breathing as it accelerated, fueled by the wild emotion of the moment.

  He kissed her. It made sense, even though it didn’t. Lee was mad at her, mad at the world, mad at the fact that there didn’t seem to be an outlet for his anger. The instant his lips touched hers, it was as though he’d found exactly what he needed.

  “Quit trying to stop me,” whispered Harper as the kiss ended. Her breath was humid and quick against Lee’s face.

  “I’m just trying to get you to think clearly.”

  The key word there, Lee realized as he kissed her again, was trying. All thought vanished as the two of them fell further off the edge. Harper kissed him back aggressively, moving her mouth against his with hot urgency. He let go of her wrists and touched one of her breasts. A tiny moan escaped Harper’s lips, and it was as though a spark had jumped onto the remaining fumes of their adrenaline from earlier in the night.

  She pushed him hard in the chest. Lee thought it was a rebuke for taking things too far until she hurled herself forward, pulling him into an embrace and kissing him again. They fell onto her bed, tugging and pawing at each other’s clothing.

  Harper pulled his shirt up and over his head, and Lee did the same with her blouse. She unzipped his jeans with rushed movements, as though they were in a race against time. Lee was already hard as he kicked his boxers off and he felt her eyes taking appraisal of his erection as he slid his hands into the elastic waistband of her sweatpants.

  She helped him pull them down by wiggling her hips from side to side, which was one of the most unintentionally seductive acts he’d ever experienced firsthand. Harper wasn’t clean shaven, but she was trim, and the hair felt soft and silky as Lee climbed on top of her and began sliding his cock into place.

  She set her hands on his waist, and even though Lee was in the dominant position, he could feel her leading him with small, instructive movements. He kissed her again. Harper pushed her tongue into his mouth and undulated her hips, urging him on. He pulled her bra down and discovered that her bust was a fair bit larger than it appeared when hidden by her clothing. Her nipples were pale pink, with small nubs that emphasized the round plumpness of her breasts.

  Lee found the angle and thrust forward. Harper was clearly as turned on as he was, and his aim rewarded him with a burst of hot, wet, and surprisingly tight pleasure. They kissed again. Her legs wrapped around him. Lee began to move in earnest, thrusting with enough strength to make her bed’s headboard thump against the wall.

  It wasn’t as though lust had washed away the rest of his emotions. He was still frustrated with Harper. Frustrated by the way she seemed so deaf to his valid concerns. Frustrated by how hotheaded she could become at the flip of a switch. He squeezed one of her plump breasts, digging in his fingernails ever so slightly, expressing that frustration as he continued to pound her with his cock.

  Harper moved in a similar fashion, pulling with her legs and bucking her hips in a manner that made it seem like she was countering his sexual onslaught, rather than just responding to it. Lee leaned forward to kiss her. She gave his lower lip a small bite and pulled her fingernails along his back. He shifted to kiss her neck, and she jerked to the side with a sudden motion that landed him on his back with her on top.

  She took full control, catching Lee’s hands as he reached for her waist and redirecting them to caress her breasts. She set her hands on his chest and bounced up and down, staring into his eyes with an intensity that usually only came out during their training sessions.

  This was a different kind of training, a lesson in the invisible balance of power that only existed between a man and a woman. Lee was normally the more dominant one during sex, but he had a powerful suspicion that regardless of what he tried with Harper, she’d always manage to get the upper hand, at least for the time being.

  She rode him hard, bouncing on his cock with furious, urgent movements. She was just as rough during sex as she ever was during their sparring. She pinned his wrists at one point. Lee pulled his hands loose and attempted to flip her back underneath him only to have her pin him a second time, this time with the addition of an intense, passionate stare that made his face feel hot as he held it.

  She was quiet, and only the intensifying sound of her breathing let Lee know when she was close. She leaned forward over him until their faces were close together. Lee finally took a measure of control back, groping her awesome butt and spearing upward as he also pulled downward. Finally, a tiny gasp escaped Harper’s lips.

  He smiled, feeling more pleased than he should have at the fact that he made her come first. Harper shuddered, and then began wiggling her hips in a manner that seemed almost like she was trying to take revenge. Lee leaned his face against her breasts as the pleasure became too much.

  She slid off him as he shot his load, sitting slightly forward along his crotch in a manner that led to him spoiling her bedsheets, rather than hitting his preferred target. Harper looked exhausted and she collapsed into bed next to him, closing her eyes.

  CHAPTER 36

  “This was a lapse in judgment on behalf of both of us,” said Harper. “For simplicity’s sake, it’s better if it doesn’t happen again.”

  She’d come back to herself a few minutes after the deed was done, pulling her clothing back on and, thankfully, making no move to rush out the door. Lee had put on his jeans but couldn’t find where his t-shirt had landed.

  “I agree,” he said.

  He shot a glance at Tess, who gave him a rather indifferent shrug. She’d already made a point of establishing that she wasn’t the jealous type, but he still had some concerns about her essence absorption. The last person he wanted to be inadvertently siphoning essence from was Harper, his teacher and more often than not, his partner in battle.

  There was also the much messier fact that Harper had been Zoe’s girlfriend, and her reaction to Lee’s earlier revelation all but proved that those feelings weren’t dead. There was still the chance that he could find a way to pull Zoe back from the brink, and he wasn’t interested in having to make any awkward disclosures about what had gone on behind her back while she was away.

  “It’s still so hard to believe,” muttered Harper. “I never gave up hope on finding Zoe, but I always assumed that it would make more sense than this. That she’d been abducted, forcibly kept from reaching out to the people she cared about. The idea that she just left, without saying goodbye…”

  “We don’t have the full story. With that said, the feeling is mutual. It’s hard for me to imagine the Zoe I remember walking away from her old life like that.”

  Harper nodded. She slowly walked over to her room’s window and stared down at the college campus below.

  “I wonder, sometimes, what would have become of me had I not joined the order after hurting Michael,” she said. “Or, if I’d left before the lesson
s taught by the Instructors began to take hold. I told Zoe about what I did to my brother. I still remember what she said. She told me that we were all just the result of the choices we make, and the regrets we carry with us. Zoe… has made her choices.”

  “That’s a little extreme, isn’t it?” asked Lee. “This isn’t absolute. She’s still alive, still making choices. We can find a way to talk to her, to make her hear us.”

  He almost brought up the note he’d found left in his room, but the memory of Harper on the verge of storming out the door to confront Zoe was too fresh for him to risk it. He hadn’t decided yet whether he would attempt to make it to the meeting she wanted, but he wasn’t interested in letting Harper decide for him.

  “I’m a member of the Order of Chaldea,” said Harper. “By betraying it, Zoe betrayed me. I hope very dearly you never have to discover what it feels like to experience a betrayal like that, Eldon.”

  She was still standing by the window. Lee came up behind her and set a hand on her shoulder. She set hers on top of his knuckles and gave a small, reassuring squeeze.

  “You should get some rest,” she said.

  “Right back at you.”

  ***

  He fell asleep almost as soon as he made it to the bed in his dorm room. A heavy knock at the door woke him up the next morning far sooner than he’d have preferred. The feeling was apparently mutual, as Toma let out a massive groan and threw a pillow at the door.

  “It’s the weekend,” muttered Toma. “Aren’t cruel and unusual punishments supposed to be illegal?”

  “There will be an assembly in the dining hall in fifteen minutes to address yesterday’s events,” called a voice from outside.

  Lee sat up and yawned. Tess was on the edge of his bed, wearing one of his sweatshirts that she’d made an ethereal copy of at some point along with black leggings. He pulled her into his mystic stream on a whim, suppressing a smile as she slid over to give him a quick kiss on the lips that he couldn’t respond to properly, not with Toma present.

  “I still can’t believe yesterday happened,” muttered Toma. “I thought I’d wake up this morning and realize that it was all a dream.”

  “It definitely happened,” said Lee. “Your date wasn’t too upset, was she?”

  “Jenna was fine. If anything, she was even more into me after the chaos.” Toma flashed a grin. “Though I was hoping to do a little bit of spelunking last night, if you know what I mean.”

  “Uh, spelunking?”

  “You know…” said Toma. “Threading the needle? Plugging in the controller? Tying off the ol’ fisherman’s knot.”

  Tess started giggling and Lee couldn’t keep a smile off his own face.

  “There’s no way that last one is a thing,” he said. “It doesn’t even sound pleasant.”

  “A fisherman’s knot!” said Toma. “Oh, come on. It’s when a girl, well, I shouldn’t have to explain it. Picture what it would look like in your mind.”

  “You’re cracked, Toma Fujino.”

  “Quit stealing my word.”

  Lee got dressed, and he and Toma left to join the other male Initiates in the common room. Many of them still looked shaken by the events of the previous night, and there was a nervous tension in the air that forced their voices to soft murmurs and whispers.

  One of the college’s post-graduate mages led them out of the dorm to join the line of students heading into the Seruna Center. It was raining, which took Lee by surprise, as he hadn’t realized that the weather within the campus’s climate shields was capable of that kind of variance.

  The students mingled as they walked. Eliza found her way over to Lee and Toma, smiling broadly as she fell into step between them.

  “Hey,” she said.

  “Hey,” said Lee.

  “You seem remarkably peppy, all things considered,” said Toma. “What’s got you in such a good mood?”

  Eliza shrugged, her smile broadening a bit as she looked at Lee. He felt Tess elbowing him in the ribs and realized that he’d kept her in his mystic stream without realizing it.

  “If last night had gone to plan, I bet she’d have an even wider smile,” said Tess. “Though there’s always tonight. Or sometime this afternoon.”

  Lee cleared his throat. “What do you guys think this assembly is going to be about?”

  “It might be the faculty announcing that we’re all being sent home,” said Toma.

  Eliza’s cheeriness faded and she dropped her gaze. Lee furrowed his brow and glanced at Tess, who looked similarly unnerved by the possibility. He hadn’t asked her about the strength of their pact recently. If he was forced to leave Primhaven immediately, would the connection between them be strong enough for him to bring her along? Had they been building it for enough time?

  “Let’s hope that’s not the case,” said Lee.

  “I’m just guessing,” said Toma. “Anything is possible. It’s hard to know what Mattis and Odarin will decide. They’re both a little unpredictable, though in different ways.”

  CHAPTER 37

  In the morning light, it was impossible to miss the extensive damage that had been done to the Seruna Center. As many windows were broken as were still intact. The foundation had been unevenly split down a line that ran almost diagonal through the event hall and surrounding hallways, creating a mismatch between the walls and ceiling. It was all due to Odarin’s geomancy, and Lee couldn’t help but wonder what the repairs would entail as he made his way down the hall, avoiding the larger shards of glass and debris still littering the floor.

  The dining hall was already packed with students when they arrived, but Lee, Toma, and Eliza managed to find seats at a table that included Jenna, Toma’s date to the ball. The chamber was full of anxious energy, with hundreds of people asking the same questions and receiving the same non-answers.

  The instructors stood arrayed across the far end of the room, with Mattis and Odarin nearest to the center. Harper’s black-and-gold robe hid her bandages, and her hair was twisted into its usual complicated braid. Her gaze passed across Lee momentarily, but she didn’t give any sign of taking an unusual amount of notice in him.

  “Quiet,” called Mattis. “If you would all quiet down, please. We have much to discuss regarding the events of the previous evening.”

  A hush fell across the dining hall so absolute that it felt like the chamber was holding its collective breath. It was a vulnerable sort of silence, the kind that reminded everyone how quickly the Equinox Ball had devolved from a joyous event into a threat to the lives of the attendees.

  “At approximately nine-thirty yesterday night, a rogue group of spellcasters known as the House of Shadows entered Primhaven through a means we haven’t yet determined,” said Mattis. “They attacked the college during the Equinox Ball with both sleep potions, which they placed in the punch and food, and sleep spells. This is why some of you may have gaps in your memory from the previous evening.”

  She waited a beat, letting the effect of her words sink in on the room. There was a factor to hearing it said aloud by the most serious instructor on campus that stressed the gravity of the situation.

  “While several instructors were injured, no students or post-graduate mages were harmed or killed, contrary to some of the rumors that have been running wild. Whatever it is the House of Shadows wanted, it did not involve the full-scale destruction of the college.”

  This time, the room didn’t stay quiet. Murmurs and whispers broke out in the space left by her declaration, like a herd of cows through an open gate. Several students spoke up in even louder voices.

  “How can you know that?” shouted Kristoff. “People could have gone missing or died in ways we haven’t discovered yet!”

  He wasn’t entirely wrong given the secret situation with Gabby, but the cowardice in his voice irritated Lee. Mattis ignored him, holding her hands out to the sides to quiet the crowd as though working a spell from a casting stance.

  “We took a full attendance in the ti
me directly after the attack,” said Mattis. “We’re all still here. Several instructors and at least one student remained awake for the entire duration of the attack, so those of you harboring visions of a conspiracy involving dream weaving can put those ideas to rest.

  “To reiterate. Yes, Primhaven was attacked. Precautions are already underway to shore up the college’s defenses. Several mages from the Order of Chaldea will be arriving through the Arcane Way over the next few hours to guard the campus. As such, there will be no mass evacuation of the college for the time being.”

  Mattis had weathered the crowd’s reaction admirably, but this last declaration had people rising to their feet, shouting and gesturing in fear and outrage. It wasn’t everyone. Lee and his friends stayed respectful. Kristoff and his friends were shouting, some of them banging their fists on tables, as were several students from the upper classes.

  Lee felt as though he understood their reaction, at least in part. Primhaven’s reputation within the arcane academic world was more akin to a trade school or a community college with a shoestring budget. Many of the students barely swallowed the bitter pill of attending it in the first place, let alone being present for potentially life-threatening circumstances.

  “This is nonsense!” yelled Kristoff. “We’re clearly in danger. If you won’t return us to our homes, we’ll find our own way back to safety.”

  “I’m sure your parents would be so proud to hear that you dropped out of college because you were too scared to keep attending your classes,” shouted Lee. It only added to the clamor throughout the room, but he still deemed it a worthwhile contribution, judging from the way Kristoff began to sputter and swear.

  “Tess,” he whispered.

  “Shoelaces?” she replied.

  “Yup. Tie them together and also to his chair if there’s enough left over.”

  Mattis was waving her hands, trying to calm the situation down. She looked like she was on the verge of losing her patience as she brought her hands up into the illusion casting stance. A massive illumination orb appeared high in the air, briefly blinding anyone who’d been looking toward the front of the chamber. It exploded into tiny, fading stars of arcane essence and the silence finally returned.