The Hexbound, its ruined face sagging, used the time to stride toward her, closing the distance, its arms swinging in wild punches. Very shortly she was going to be within its arms’ reach. She must have been rattled, because instead of shooting at its head, Gypcie fired her pistol repeatedly into its body. The bullets had no effect beyond punching gory holes in its torso.
Click. Click. Alarm filled me as I realized that once again Gypcie’s bullets were gone.
We were at an impasse. There was no way we could beat all of them. Our preparations had been for one powerful target, not three, and definitely not at close range. We needed to immediately get the familiars under control, or we would be overwhelmed and beaten. An idea dawned on me.
I focused my Will and drew myself out of Time.
Streamers of all the possible courses of action projected themselves onto my view. Where was the reality where my idea would work? I glanced back at the wraith and shuddered. A black, malignant mist erupted from its body, seeping through the boundaries of Time. I was paralyzed with fear for myself as I saw all the probable actions where I was not successful, and the wraith ended me with anima exhaustion. That was just distraction at the moment. First I needed to help Gypcie manage the familiars. I refocused and sorted through the streams frantically, playing them forward one by one looking for success.
I needed a reality where the Hexbound and Igor would willingly run into the north library ward. Given their recognition of the danger, that was doubtful. Was there one where the north ward started to fail long enough to lure them through? Unlikely at best for a few hours, but I played each looking for the right combination of events.
Pressure started to build within me as Reality attempted to force me back into my own Time. I grunted and resisted the pull. I just needed a few more moments. There wasn’t one streamer that successfully ended in Gypcie luring the familiars through the north ward of the library. She could get safely away, but in every case the Hexbound and the Igor stopped short of immolating themselves on the ward. That left me alone in the Media Room with the wraith until the familiars realized the trick and came back in. I didn’t need to spool forward any further to see how that would end. Fear spiked as I felt the pressure building to pull me back into Reality again. Resignation filled me. If Gypcie ran into the library, at least she would be safe.
I felt a tearing and a popping, and suddenly I was back in my Time.
My head swam with the force of the expulsion.
We were still at an impasse. There was no way we could beat all of them. Our preparations had been for one powerful target, not three, and definitely not at close range. We needed to immediately get the familiars under control, or we would be overwhelmed and beaten.
Swallowing hard, I mustered my courage and turned to face the wraith. Then, a better idea dawned on me.
“Run, Gypcie. Run to the doors at the east entrance to the library!” We had unbarred and unlocked those doors earlier, and the Hexbound and Igor would not be able to see that entrance was warded until it was too late.
I hollered at her as the Hexbound moved into closer range and struck her across the face with a swinging arm, stunning her for a moment. She shook her head to clear it, then turned on her heels and dashed out of the classroom door, leading the Hexbound out behind her. The one-armed familiar, smoking and sizzling, followed suit, shuffling after them.
“NOOOOOO!” The wraith screamed as its minions ran from the room, caught up in the chase.
I held my breath in anticipation. Would they fall for it?
I couldn’t see what happened, but I could hear a sizzle and pop as the two struck the ward in the east entrance to the library, and Gypcie’s crow of delight.
Yes! I pumped my fist with exhilaration.
The wraith grabbed its scythe from the air and turned on me with breathtaking hatred.
“YOU ARE A FOOL, IN A LONG CHAIN OF FOOLS,” it shrieked, and extended its long finger at me, a mist of black energy pouring toward me. It connected, and blood began running from my nose and eyes. I doubled over in pain under the force of its attack, my ears ringing.
Gypcie ran back into the room, grunting in pain, hit by the same spell as it jumped between us. I looked at her face and saw tears of blood streaking down it, her skin gray, her eyes wild.
The wraith lifted its weapon, and locking us both in place, swung its scythe in its deadly arc. I struggled upright under the strain and made a decision. It was time to destroy the wraith once and for all, even if it meant my own pain and anima exhaustion. This was our last chance.
I cast maleficium with a vengeance, once, twice, three times, blood loss and corruption overwhelming me with anger as I raced to sap its remaining health before the scythe could connect with my body. Gypcie struck it repeatedly with Mjolnir, her hand a giant hammer and her hair sparkling with electricity, as lightning danced across the wraith’s form.
It screamed and started to shake, its body phasing in and out of Reality as our combined damage took its toll. The wraith dropped the scythe to the floor and retreated toward the mirror.
“Noooo!” Gypcie and I shrieked in unison. We couldn’t let it escape. I stumbled forward toward the mirror.
“Down!” Gypcie screamed, and I dropped to the floor, rolling to the right.
With the follow-through that any little league coach would be proud of, Gypcie pulled her arm back and pitched her cell phone across the room, shattering the mirror and her phone. I was torn between terror and elation. She had stopped the wraith’s retreat, but how would we ever get a picture of it now?
The wraith stopped short and turned back to us, grabbing its scythe. I was crouched on the floor. Gypcie stood with her right arm forward, still committed to the action of the throw. For a heartbeat, all three of us were frozen in place, watching for the next move.
Then, with a primal cry, the wraith turned and fled toward the projector, moving out of combat range, as it grew smaller and smaller, disintegrating into particles as it leaped into the mirror in the mechanism there.
My jaw dropped as I watched in horror and alarm. It was escaping! How had we overlooked the mirror in the projector?
I looked at Gypcie who looked back at me stricken. We both looked at the back wall and saw the image of the wraith melded with the jungle swamp on the screen.
Time stopped for me.
There it was.
Trapped in a picture.
I drew in a sharp, pained breath and scrambled to my feet, running for the power button on the projector before the wraith could realize its error and try to escape again. Stubbing my finger into the button I switched the projector off, trapping the wraith on the slide. For good measure, I ran to the wall and unplugged the damned thing there as well.
Gypcie popped open the cover on the projector and took out the slide. She held it up to the phosphorescent lights hanging from the ceiling and showed me. We could see the wraith’s form there in the slide, trapped for eternity. Or at least it was there as long as no one ever projected the image again. And, trapped in the slide, Mal’un could not report back to Adrammelech. Eons could pass before another wraith was sent to call in the blood debt.
I put my hand on her shoulder and nodded. It was done.
Bleeding and exhausted, neither of us felt much like talking. We gathered up the dead spectrometer and the broken cell phone and left the classroom to take the slide to Headmaster Montag.
“I can’t believe you threw your cell phone,” I said, as we walked past the ward to enter the Administrative Office.
Gypcie stopped short inside the doorway and looked down at the shattered screen in her hand with regret.
“It was the only thing I could think of at the moment. I knew we couldn’t let it escape again,” she said attempting to swipe her finger across the cracked screen. “It still sort of works. Sort of. Gran Rose paid 600 dollars for this phone. She is going to be pissed.”
“I think she’ll understand,” I consoled her. “After all, you did just
save the headmaster.”
“We saved the headmaster. Maybe this will be enough to qualify for graduation.”
“I can’t wait to go to London,” I said, clapping my hands with glee. “We’ll have so much fun there together.”
Gypcie cocked her head at me. “Wedd, I’m not going to London.”
Shock filled me. “What?”
She chuckled at me wryly. “I don’t want to be a Templar. I was raised by an Irishwoman. Do you think there’s any scenario in which it would be okay for me to go to work for the English? Gran Rose would disown me for sure.”
“But where will you go if you don’t come with me?”
Gypcie looked at me for a moment, gravely, willing me to understand. “My ties are here in the States, Wedd.”
Realization dawned. Once again I was guilty of breathtaking adolescent self-involvement. I was so fixated on my own plans that it had never occurred to me to ask Gypcie what her plans for the future were. I had her packed in my suitcase and was fully ready to uproot her life to another continent.
I looked down, shame flooding my cheeks with color. “I’m sorry, Gypcie. I never even thought to ask your plans. Will you forgive me?”
She nodded. “I got a letter of interest from the Illuminati. They’ve offered me a chance to qualify as one of their agents in New York. I’ll be reporting to Kirsten Geary. She’s tough, but she’s the best in the business.”
She flipped through the apps on her phone and showed me a text from a New York number, explaining that she’d been keeping in touch with Ms. Geary for the past few days.
It read: “Ugh, I remember seeing this in H.J.'s file. No one's past is perfect, but still, this causes a bit of a PR nightmare. Guess who gets to smooth it over with the Peacock King? This is why I get the big bucks. Ciao-ciao.”
I felt pretty stupid and sorry for myself. Not only did I not know my best friend’s plans, but I had assumed that I was the only one with the opportunity with one of the big factions. It was clear from the text that Gypcie was in regular contact with the Illuminati and had started to form a relationship with Ms. Geary. That was more than I could say for myself. Sure I had high hopes of coming to the attention of Richard Sonnac, but those were more fantasies than anything tangible.
And how was I going to get along without Gypcie by my side? We had been inseparable for weeks. My eyes started to water at the thought.
Still, we had the slide to present to Headmaster Montag. We moved toward the back portion of the offices and found the headmaster, Carter, and Ms. Usher still gathered in the corner. They looked up as we entered.
“Hello,” Carter greeted us.
“What news from the Colonies?” Ms. Usher quipped, smiling at us.
Gypcie held out the slide to Headmaster Montag, while I explained that we had successfully captured the wraith on celluloid.
Headmaster Montag took the slide in his blue-gloved hands and walked over to a small lamp on a desk pushed against the east wall. He held it up to the light and nodded.
“It appears you have been successful. I feel obliged to thank you,” he said. “It's an...odd feeling, slightly nauseating.”
Ms. Usher blinked, then recovered. “Well done, girls! You’ve saved the Headmaster from the blood debt. We here at Innsmouth Academy owe you a great deal. Over the coming months, we’ll get things back in order and bring next year’s prospective students to interview. The regents of the Academy will mop up the blood, file the Act of God insurance claims, rote-learn their alibis. They'll cover it up, they always do. But you have saved H.J. from certain pain and dismemberment, and that deserves a resounding ‘Brava!’”
Carter echoed, “Brava!” and they both hugged Gypcie and me, while Headmaster Montag looked on awkwardly.
“I hope you don’t expect…any uncomfortable gestures of physical affection,” he said.
We assured him that we were just fine not receiving anything of the sort from him. I shuddered briefly to myself at the thought.
“To honor your success,” Ms. Usher continued, “we’d like to present you with a small token of the Academy’s thanks.”
She reached down and slid back a panel on a tall bookcase on the south wall and took out two small boxes and handed them to Gypcie and me.
I opened the small plastic box and inside found a ring, nestled in a velvet-like cushion. It was an Innsmouth Academy Alumni ring, with a bright blue stone set in silver. The academy logo was etched on either side of the setting. I tried the ring and found it fit comfortably on the middle finger of my left hand. I admired it and looked up to see Gypcie doing the same with hers.
“Does this mean?” I asked tremulously.
“Aye. You’ll both graduate,” Ms. Usher said, beaming. “We won’t be able to have a big ceremony as we’re kind of lacking…resources at the moment. But, you’ve earned it. Wedd, you’ve shown significant progress in blood magic with your spontaneous manifestation of a sanguine coalescence, and Gypcie has finally harnessed the ability to use her elite level spells in Elemental Magic. The successful capture of the wraith proves to the Headmaster and me that you’re ready to move out into the world and seek entrance to your respective factions.”
Gypcie and I squealed with delight and jumped up and down, hugging one another. Ms. Usher grinned at our happiness, while Carter clapped. Headmaster Montag looked on alarmed at the display of emotion, but we made certain we didn’t accidentally bump into him in our happiness.
“I’m so excited for you, Gypcie,” I said. “You’ll do great in New York City. I’ll bet Kirsten Geary is nice.”
She nodded, her eyes shining. I swallowed down my own regret at not having had a direct contact yet from the Templars. But, it would work out. I could call my mom and see if she could help me arrange for an interview, now that my graduation was secured.
“Oh, one more thing, Wedd,” Ms. Usher said, reaching back into the panel on the bookcase. “Something arrived for you via a Council of Venice courier earlier. Here it is.”
She handed me a vellum envelope, stamped with a red wax insignia. I looked closely at the seal and saw the four-armed cross of the Templars stamped in the wax. My body flooded with joy and anticipation, and I broke the seal.
Ms. Blodwedd Mallory
Innsmouth Academy
Solomon Island, Maine USA
Mr. Richard Sonnac
Temple Hall
London, England UK
Dear Ms. Mallory,
I suspect you've done a great deal to inspire next year's syllabus. Wraiths and Yazidi Death Curses 101, complete with slides. Assuming, of course, that next year has a syllabus. Or that there is even a next year at all.
My, the headmaster's gloom and doom is infectious. I admit, my faith in the education system is at an all-time low. Slides and projectors in the classroom, indeed! Students don't require visual aids, they require discipline. What next, I wonder, texts on Anansi tablets? Atrocious.
Nonetheless, I have faith in you. And you, by all accounts, still have faith in the world. Hold on to it with all you have.
Make haste to wrap up your commitments in Maine and pack your bags. I’ll see you in London in a few weeks. You have much to do in very little time to be ready to face the dark forces at work in the world now.
R. Sonnac
Legends of the Secret World Website, Mailing List, and More
First of all, thanks for reading To Sir, with Love!
If you enjoyed this novel and want to read more of Wedd’s adventures as she travels to London to become a Templar, stay tuned for the next installment of the unofficial Legends of the Secret World in early 2019, London Underground. If you’d like to stay in the loop to learn about more book releases and other cool stuff as it develops, visit the webpage at http://www.blodweddmallory.com. Don’t forget to subscribe to the LotSW mailing list. I promise never to share your email address and to only send you emails on the stuff you want. You can unsubscribe at any time.
You can also check in with Wedd
by liking the Legends of the Secret World - Blodwedd Mallory Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BlodweddMallory.
Reviews and word-of-mouth are critical to the commercial success of any self-published novel and would-be novelist. I welcome your support should you choose to leave a short review on Amazon and help spread the word about this series of forthcoming books set in The Secret World and Secret World Legends universe.
And, if you’ve never played The Secret World or Secret World Legends, get on over to http://www.secretworldlegends.com and sign up to play this terrific Funcom game for free! To Sir, with Love is only one mission of the hundreds available to you in game. There are more than 100 hours of story to discover, investigate, and explore. Create your faction agent, whether you prefer Templar, Illuminati, or Dragon. Remember, dark days are coming. Join the battle against the forces of darkness today!
About the Author
Blodwedd Mallory is the Secret World alter ego of Amber McKee, a Utah-based writer, editor, and Jill-of-all-trades.
Over the course of her career, she’s been a newspaper reporter, movie reviewer, bartender, tarot reader, magazine editor, advocacy trainer, instructional designer, service delivery manager, and more. Now, she realizes what she really probably should have been all along was a video game developer. So, she assuages that pain by creating urban fantasy fiction books based on her in-game experiences of an urban fantasy/horror video game. Go figure.
She lives with her hubby and three Chihuahua rescue pups in a formerly haunted house.
Dedication
To my mother, who has believed for a long time that I could write a book if I put my mind to it. And to my grandmother Irene, who gave Blodwedd her last name.
To Sir, with Love: An Unofficial Legend of The Secret World (Unofficial Legends of The Secret World Book 1) Page 14
