Reading, Writing and Necromancy

by Sarina Dorie

  “Yes.” He looked me up and down. “How did you know that’s what I suspected?”

  “Um… .” It probably wouldn’t do to say I had accidentally overheard his conversation with Jeb in the hallway of mirrors during the first semester when they’d been talking about Thatch. It had been right before Jeb had “rubbed Khaba’s lamp.’’ I suspected Jeb had done a lot more than rub the lamp tattooed on Khaba’s body.

  I hated having so many secrets.

  Josie cleared her throat. “I don’t disagree Thatch is a grade-A alpha-hole, but summon a demon? That’s a little much, even for him.”

  Khaba removed the crystal ball from his file cabinet and sat in his pink chair. “Thatch was friends with Clarissa’s biological mother. He was the one originally sentenced for her crimes before they knew she was involved. He didn’t argue on his own behalf. Jeb thinks it’s all because he was too addled and drained after what she did to him. I tend to think she would have killed him, rather than leaving him for dead and letting him take the blame, if he hadn’t been in on the plan.”

  Another reason Thatch must have resented me, the daughter of the woman who left him to be blamed for her crimes.

  Khaba set the crystal ball on his desk. “In any case, Jeb will be unconvinced by conjecture and hearsay. The first thing I’ll need to do is interview Invismo and use memory charms to help him remember. There still might be remnants of curses or counter curses on him. I can see if I’m able to detect the origins of the magic and the purpose. Afterward, I’ll have a better idea of what to ask Thatch.” He smoothed a hand over his bald head. “Our delightful alchemy instructor didn’t inform me you and Derrick knew each other when we hired you. He didn’t mention you were high school sweethearts, or that Derrick had been abducted by the Raven Queen.” Khaba waved a hand over the crystal ball. “Those are the kind of employment details I would expect to be informed of before hiring someone.”

  White light clouded the sphere. Thatch’s face appeared. He was laughing, but it was hard to tell with the absence of sound if it was a good-natured chuckle or a maniacal mwah-ha-ha-ha villain laugh.

  I leaned forward to gaze at Thatch. “If you start asking Thatch questions, he’s going to know Derrick isn’t invisible anymore. He might do something to Derrick.”

  Khaba shrugged. “Thatch is a Merlin-class Celestor. He’s clever, sneaky and highly skilled. Even if Invis—Derrick manages to sneak around without being spotted, Thatch probably has alarms and wards set up in case of a possibility like this. He’s got to suspect one of the major spells he had cast has been tampered with.”

  “Please don’t start asking Thatch yet,” I begged. “Question Derrick first. We can see if we can find evidence to prove Thatch is still working for the Raven Queen first. Or we might find he’s totally innocent.”

  In any case, I didn’t want to endanger Derrick. But Khaba was right. If Thatch was behind Derrick’s invisibility, it was only a matter of time before Thatch figured out I’d broken the spell. I didn’t know how long we had or what he would do when he did find out. We needed to know if Derrick was safe or if the Raven Queen would be coming for him.

  Somehow I had to prove or disprove Thatch’s involvement in something diabolical, for Derrick’s safety and for my own.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Stinky Pinky

  Josie, Khaba, and I exited from his office together, heading toward Derrick’s room. Khaba had used his crystal ball to determine where Derrick was—and he was back in his room—so we would soon resolve this issue.

  With Khaba’s Fae magic, we hoped to find answers to some of the missing pieces of this puzzle. Josie linked arms with me as we descended puke-green stairs.

  “Are you sure you have time for this?” I asked Josie.

  “I want to meet your boy—ahem—your friend from high school.” She glanced at Khaba.

  His full lips curled into a smile. “I’ll pretend I didn’t almost hear that.”

  I nudged Josie. “Not that I don’t want you to meet him, but aren’t you supposed to be covering detention duty today?”

  “This will just take a sec.”

  “Procrastination,” I teased her.

  I was so glad we were going directly to Derrick. Khaba would help me resolve this problem. It would be a relief to know Thatch’s intentions.

  Before we’d gotten to the main floor, I noticed the pungent smell in the air. It was musky like a wild animal, reminiscent of goat or bear. Cedar and decaying mulch were mixed in, and for the briefest moment I thought of Julian Thistledown, the green man who had tried to use my affinity against me.

  We exited the hallway, and before us loomed the largest mass of fur on legs I’d ever seen. The shaggy man—I thought it was a man—was taller than Thatch. The fur was chestnut, so thick and dense it was impossible to tell what gender it was, but the creature held itself like a man.

  “Howdy!” Principal Jebediah Bumblebub waved at us from behind the creature.

  The creature’s head came up to the top of Jeb’s hat, which looked more like a Stetson with a cone attached than a witch’s hat.

  The furball blocked my path to Derrick.

  Josie halted, her feet rooting into the floor as Jeb and the shaggy beast approached.

  “Is that a… .” I lowered my voice. It was considered rude to ask what a Witchkin or Fae was. “Sasquatch?”

  A squeak of noise escaped Josie’s throat.

  The pungent odor rolled off the giant animal in waves. I covered my nose and mouth with my hand, trying to block it out. My eyes watered at the smell, and I blinked back tears. As overpowering as it was, oddly, part of me liked the masculine musk underneath everything else. It was just a lot all at once.

  Khaba nudged me with his elbow. “Clarissa, you’re being rude.”

  “What?”

  “Remove your hand from your face,” he whispered.

  There was my Morty upbringing again. No one had ever told me it was impolite to try not to gag when I found myself staring at Chewbacca.

  Jeb waved to us. “Good golly, there’s some of my school’s finest. Y’all, won’t you say howdy to our school’s new History of Magic teacher.” He looped his fingers through his belt. It must have been a special occasion. Jeb usually saved his large W belt buckle for school events. And he’d curled his mustache into four loops today instead of two. His long silver beard hid most of his bandana.

  I had a feeling my quick excursion to see Derrick was about to get derailed.

  “I am so excited to be here!” The sasquatch’s voice was high for a man. Or maybe the voice was low for a woman. There was so much hair everywhere I couldn’t tell what gender the Fae creature was.

  “Jeb has been telling me all about your school’s—our school’s—programs. The moment he told me there was a yoga class, I was sold.” The sasquatch’s brown eyes looked to Josie. “It will be great working with you. This is my dream come true.” Bigfoot fidgeted before us like an eight-foot-tall puppy.

  Khaba held out his hand. “I’m Khaba. I’m dean of discipline at Womby’s. I’ll make sure you get a handbook with all our rules.” He looked the sasquatch up and down. “You might want to check rule five, the one for pants.”

  The sasquatch looked to Jeb, eyes growing wide.

  Jeb tugged at his beard. “Khaba, don’t you be such a stickler. I told Professor Anotklosh Johnson—”

  “Please, call me Pinky, sir. Anotklosh Johnson is my Fae name.” Pinky’s voice was nasally. I still couldn’t tell if Pinky was male or female. I kept trying to figure out if I saw breasts under the fur or any sizable mounds anywhere else, but I didn’t want to ogle and be rude.

  Jeb tugged on his beard. “Ahem, err, Pinky. I told Professor Pinky—what was I saying?”

  “You made the rules. I enforce them,” Khaba said. “Professor Pinky is going to need to wear pants while working in the building.”

  “Sasquatches do not wear pants.” Pinky’s brown e
yes settled on Khaba. “Clothing is a Fae construct used to oppress sasquatch people.”

  While the fashion police were having their argument, Josie clutched at my arm. Her eyes watered, and she stared at the floor. Miss Periwinkle hurried down the stairs and rushed past us, arms full of books. She looked young enough to be a student. I wondered if Jeb even knew she was the librarian. She was wearing her black Victorian dress with the high collar and cameo made of a skull, but her witch hat was absent.

  She tossed her vivacious long hair over her shoulder, flashing the kind of smile one might see on a Cheshire cat. A chill settled over my spine. I didn’t know what that sinister cunning in her eyes meant, but I had a bad feeling about it.

  “Okey-dokey. Well,” Jeb motioned to me. “This is Miss Lawrence. She teaches fine arts and crafts.”

  Pinky nodded. Before Jeb could introduce Josie, Pinky said, “Hi, Jo, nice to see you again.”

  “Hi.”

  “You two know each other? That’s mighty convenient,” Jeb grinned.

  Pinky smiled, revealing straight white teeth my late father would have been proud of considering he had been an orthodontist. “We used to teach at Zeme’s Academy for Plant and Animal Magic. How long ago was that? Three years ago?”

  “So that’s an Amni Plandai school?” I asked.

  “Mmm,” Josie said. Her face was pale. Maybe it was the smell.

  “I always wondered about where you’d went,” Pinky said. “You left so suddenly in the middle of the year. There were all these rumors that you had gotten ill. I’m so glad we’ll be teaching together again.”

  I kept listening to Pinky, trying to figure out some hint whether the sasquatch was male or female.

  “Mmm,” Josie said.

  “I’ll leave y’all to show Pinky around the school. I’ve got some business to attend to in the office,” Jeb said.

  “Sorry,” Khaba said apologetically. “Now isn’t the best time for a tour. Perhaps I could assist Pinky later. I have some dire school business to attend to.” He hooked his arm through mine, tugging me in the opposite direction.

  “I’ve got to get back to my office. Mrs. Keahi’s been pesterin’ me to answer all the letters that have been stacking up. She insists I take a looky at the bills.” Jeb turned to Josie. “Miss Kimura, can you take Mr. uh, Miss, uh, Professor Pinky on a tour?”

  Jeb didn’t know what Pinky’s gender was either. I tried not to laugh. Even with all that fur covering Pinky’s face, the confused expression was clear.

  Josie yanked her arm from mine and backed away. “I have to finish grading … stuff. Plus, I have detention duty to oversee. Sorry. Bye.”

  Pinky waved. “See you later, Jo. I’ll drop in on your classroom. I’d love to catch up on old times.”

  “Miss Lawrence? Please say at least one of my staff members is free.” Jeb fidgeted with one of the curls of his mustache.

  “I have business with Miss Lawrence,” Khaba said.

  “Mr. Thatch is free,” I said. Okay, so I did take a sliver of delight in unloading the stinky sasquatch off on Thatch. I grabbed Mr. Khaba, tingles of energy prickling my fingers. “I need to help Mr. Khaba with a security issue.”

  Khaba nodded solemnly. “A dire security issue.”

  Jeb harrumphed.

  Khaba and I started away. Jeb shook his head, not pleased. He spoke to Pinky, heading toward his office. I wanted to get to Derrick’s room so Khaba would be able to work his djinn magic. The guidance counselor shouted from the stairs behind us. I ignored Puck.

  “Is Pinky male or female?” I whispered to Khaba, who usually knew the answer to everything with his superior Fae magic.

  “Male?” he asked. The question in his voice gave me pause.

  “I guess we could ask Josie,” I said. Until then, calling Pinky it didn’t seem like the most respectful pronoun. Xe, I decided. I would ask Josie about xir later.

  “Oi! Miss Lawrence!” Puck called. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

  Not another interruption. I didn’t have time for this. I needed to talk to Derrick.

  Puck, a short man with wild blond hair, panted as he ran up to us. “I’ve been manually transferring all the teachers’ grades and comments onto the midterm report cards we need to send home to parents next week. I noticed yours are missing.”

  My annoyance turned to alarm. “What do you mean? I put them in your box weeks ago.”

  “You did, but they’re all blank.”

  This was a teacher’s worst nightmare.

  “They shouldn’t be. I remember doing them.”

  Jeb sidled up to me. “Miss Lawrence, bless your heart! Did you use disappearing ink? One of the students gave one of the old art teachers a pen with disappearing ink once. What a calamity that was!”

  “No! I used pencil. I put them in Mr. Puck’s box. My grades were done.” Panic rose up in me.

  Jeb tsked and headed toward his office with Pinky.

  “Do you have any backups? You’re going to have to redo them.” Puck waved me after him.

  It had taken days to fill in the grades from my book and write a comment in every single box by hand. I’d done a little each day that week. I was not a procrastinator. I was a good teacher. Why couldn’t Puck have told me this three weeks ago when I’d turned in grades? What kind of school sent out report cards a month after the end of the semester?

  Maybe this was how the world worked without computers.

  I looked to Khaba in desperation. “Can you fix this with magic?”

  “Why don’t you see if you and Puck can figure this out? I’m going to take care of … other business.” He gave me a meaningful look.

  In the counseling office, Puck showed me the blank report cards. This was worse than not saving a document on a computer.

  Gertrude Periwinkle passed by the open door of the office, a satisfied smile on her face. A sinking suspicion weighed me down.

  Son of a witch! She had done this. That sneaky librarian had gotten her revenge.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The Wrath of the Librarian

  I had underestimated the librarian’s penchant for revenge.

  Puck didn’t trust me to work on report cards without screwing them up. He made me bring my grade book to the office and fill them out in the counseling center. I sat at the intake desk where I imagined a secretary would sit if the school could afford one.

  I worked for hours, but I found it difficult to concentrate on grades when all I wanted to do was find Derrick. What if he was in danger from the Raven Queen? Thatch had said that without a permanent cure, Derrick was like a bomb that could go off at any moment. It was hard to believe Thatch would keep him around if he actually posed a threat to my safety.

  Unless he didn’t pose a threat and never had. For all I knew, it was all a fabricated story, like so many of the other ones Thatch had told me to persuade me to do something. I hadn’t forgotten how he’d tried to con me into believing he was my father to make me cry so he could collect virgin’s tears.

  I forced myself to focus on grades. When I rose to get lunch, I found Puck blocking my path. “Not so fast. You aren’t allowed to leave until all that is done.” His hair looked more wiry and wild than ever.

  “I just want to grab a sandwich and have a quick restroom break.” I stepped to the left.

  He shifted in front of me. “Not allowed.”

  “What do you mean that isn’t allowed? How can going to the bathroom not be allowed?”

  “You can use the faculty latrine.” He nodded to the hallway past the reception desk and offices.

  I trudged down the hall past the mailboxes. Puck’s office reminded me of a Zen garden with bonsai trees planted around rocks and a pit of pea gravel raked into artful patterns. Sunlight shone from an immense skylight. I wasn’t sure how he got work done in there without a desk. It certainly involved magic.

  The next room I passed was the room of school re
cords past. It was filled with file cabinets and went on into infinity. It was a lot like Mary Poppins’ purse, how it went on forever, but the outside of the room didn’t look any bigger. I imagined that took even more magic.

  I passed the conference room, the staff room with the steam-powered magic copier, and a few closed doors. At the end of the hallway was the latrine. Not a restroom, but some grody wooden room with flies buzzing around it. Why didn’t we use magic to make that shithole nicer?

  Josie stopped by to pick up mail at two. When she heard Puck was holding me hostage and hadn’t given me a lunch break, she brought me an apple. By five o’clock, my handwriting in the comments boxes was close to illegible, but I had finished.

  Silas Lupi came in to check his mail just as I was finishing up with the last report card. He whispered something to Puck about picking up Miss Periwinkle’s mail for her.

  When I was done with my torture session, I stepped out into the bright corridor, my eyes hurting. I still wanted to go see Derrick, but now it was dinnertime, and I was ravenous. No doubt, Derrick would be as well.

  I headed toward the cafeteria. I could get a tray of dinner for Derrick and myself and head back to his room. I planned to ask him if Khaba had been successful in drawing out memories.

  As I stepped through one of the Stonehenge archways into the busy cafeteria, students waved at me. Imani Washington came running up to me, her pigtails flopping with the bounce of her every step. She was petite and freckled like me, but her skin was dark and her eyes as brown as the earth.

  “Miss Lawrence, I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” she said.

  Why did people have to keep saying that to me today? Already it sounded like I was going to get sucked into another problem.

  Greenie, her best friend, a girl with viridian skin and leaves growing from her hair, joined Imani. “You need to see. He’s been cursed. He’s been acting strange for hours.”

  They tugged me in the opposite direction of the food.

  “Who has been cursed?” I asked.