Surviving Plagues (Artemis University Book 3)

by Erin R Flynn

  “Probably unwise to poke at an unknown adversary, Ms. Vale,” Professor White chastised as she took the drone from me.

  I snorted. “I find it bad for people’s health to provoke me.”

  Her lips twitched at that and I took it as a win.

  “Okay, time to get ready for class.”

  “Wait, we have to go to class still? We should have drawn it out to get another day off,” someone complained.

  “Forget that. No way I’m understanding any of geometry just off slides. And we have presentations in English. I’m not pushing back into our break because of this crap. I want that full, glorious break,” I shot back.

  “Classes will be held as scheduled,” Headmaster Edelman said on his weird announcement magic. “Professors, please be accepting of some tardiness for first period but mark absent if past halfway of class. Also allow eating for recharging and the cafeteria will allow it today as if a weekend. Thank you and well done, everyone.”

  After that it became a flurry of trying to get ready. The cafeteria was already all over it, turning what they’d made—or then cooked up—into meals to go and a lot more breakfast sandwiches than normal.

  I grabbed a bunch of everything and headed back to our room since I’d taken my shower first. I could fly through one and all three of us had to go. Our suitemates looked less than thrilled I hadn’t gotten any for them, but they had been waiting for Izzy and me to shower… Did their legs not work to go to the cafeteria then?

  Not my issue and I made it just in time to Runes 101.

  Not wearing a skirt, which Craftsman absolutely noticed from the double take he tried to hide. I sat in my normal seat and chowed down, not even trying to hide how many containers I was eating to refuel, smirking at him anytime he looked at me.

  “Yes?” he called out when there was a knock at the door. He did another double take when Ryfon, the head of the hobgoblins on campus, came in with one of the cafeteria staff.

  “The falcons were asking for some of our soup stock reserves and to make something for their unsettled stomachs since that wasn’t their normal diet,” he explained. “Also any dragons that want soup, please come get it.”

  “Yes, thank you,” Craftsman agreed, waving for any to go ahead.

  Ryfon took a large soup container and came up the stairs towards me. He handed it over along with a spoon. “Edelman said you used too much magic for a young one so I added some extra herbs and rechargers for you.”

  “Thanks, Ryfon, I’m okay, really.”

  “Yes, well, we need you in top shape as this clearly won’t be the last of the attacks.”

  No, probably not. I thanked him again and dug in, loving the hot, loaded soup on a cool late fall morning. I’d never had oxtail soup and the meat just fell off the bones, the milky broth so good I could have had gallons of it. It must have been something frozen they reheated as it took hours to cook most soups. Then again, he’d mentioned their reserves.

  But cooking oxtail took a while too. Oh whatever, it was yummy.

  “Ms. Vale, I need a word with you,” Craftsman said when the bell rang for the end of class.

  I packed up and tucked all my containers away in the tote I’d brought them in. I headed down and waited until the last student was gone to give him a questioning look.

  “You’re wearing jeans,” he hedged, giving me the same look back.

  I smirked at him. “Yes, well, I thought you made it clear it was a good idea to think about how much we’re eating. You’re right, maybe we’ve all been a bit spoiled and should have a bit of a diet on what we eat.”

  His eyes flashed challenge, which amused me. “So it’s like that?”

  “I think it is,” I purred. “Have a lovely day, Doc.”

  “Fine, I’ll play. I want a three-page paper for next class on when it’s appropriate to use a water rune and the importance of staying focused in serious situations.”

  Oh, it was on. He was the one who had started messing around and he was going to turn it around on me?

  Fine, game on.

  I nodded I heard him and left, dumping my containers back at the cafeteria so they could wash them and use them again. I also had a quick word with Irma and sent Mel a message before English.

  It was hard to sit through two more classes when I was brimming with excitement, even using my phone to order some items that would help my fun. I met up with Izzy at the cafeteria and made sure to pick a table closer to where the teachers sat after I loaded up my tray.

  “Dr. Craftsman, I have your lunch ready for you,” Irma told him when he set down his bag by the professors like he was going to get a tray.

  “I’m sorry?” he asked, turning to look at her. “I didn’t request anything.”

  “Oh, I know, but I was told you were going on a diet,” she said as she set the tray on the table. “You were saying certain students ate too much and should watch that before they became as big as dragons, right?” Her coloring changed from dark red to something calmer when several of the teachers choked on their food. “You would, of course, lead by example of a healthy twelve-hundred-calorie diet so I handled it.”

  “Yes, clearly you did, thank you,” he drawled, taking in what looked like a grilled chicken breast with a tiny portion of rice, a side of steamed veggies, and what looked to be a serving of gelatin.

  Probably sugar free. Nice.

  “I’ll make sure everyone knows what your new diet entails and has it ready for you.”

  He swallowed loudly, knowing better than to upset the hobgoblins or be a jerk to them. “And how long am I on this diet for?”

  “As long as needed,” she answered.

  “Of course.”

  “Oh, here, the children wanted to help,” she added, lifting Darfin—who was my buddy—so he could set down an ice cream bowl.

  That wasn’t filled with ice cream.

  “Mudball,” Darfin announced proudly. “Mean teachers get mud to eat.”

  “Yes they do, dear,” another hobgoblin praised before they headed out.

  The look Craftsman gave me was less than amused before he gazed back down at his meal. He sighed, resigned to his fate, and sat down. “I don’t even get any sauce or dressing?”

  “I think you’d currently get snot as a topping,” Campbell chuckled. “What did you do to them? You called a student fat?”

  “I certainly did not,” he growled. “I was teasing Vale that I was surprised she didn’t want to boil the frog legs the way she’s always thinking about food.”

  “And?” she pushed, clearly getting there was more to it.

  “That it’s a miracle she’s not the size of a dragon with the way she eats,” he finished, wincing when every female teacher gave him a look he was stupid.

  “I’ve got twenty on Vale,” Nelson said.

  Another teacher snorted. “I’m not taking that bet. She’ll beat the crap out of Craftsman.”

  “Oi, thanks for the backup, mate,” Craftsman snapped.

  He shrugged. “You stepped in it. Even I know not to say things like that to women. You’re lucky it’s not someone you were dating. If I said that to my mate I’d be out on my ass.”

  Craftsman winced again and I saw the look Campbell gave him, as if wondering if she’d dodged a bullet by him not being interested in her. It was a mix of pity and disappointment and Craftsman saw it… And she wasn’t alone.

  “Here’s your new workout plan,” Mel said as she dropped a folder on the table on her way to get a tray.

  “My what now?” Craftsman asked, blinking up at her.

  She frowned. “I thought you were on a diet and wanted to deal with that pudge I saw when you were shirtless at the house?”

  I almost died. I seriously almost died because I had not said that.

  “Are you having a laugh?” Craftsman demanded as people at his table snickered.

  She rolled her eyes at him. “Oh please, you’re not blind and guys check themselves out just like girls. You barely have any
lines on your stomach and your upper body needs toning too. That means more than hitting the weights. You need to do some damn cardio.” She glanced from him to the others who were losing the battle with laughing. “What am I missing?”

  “Lots,” he sighed. “What did Ms. Vale tell you?”

  She raised an eyebrow at him. “To give you a hand on getting in shape because you would need it for the fight you picked.” She flinched when the table burst out laughing. “You’re doing sparring over break, right? You wanted to work with her on fighting with magic before the Power Playoffs. This is so she doesn’t kick your ass all over the place. Did I get the message wrong?”

  “No, she’s clearly winning the fight already,” he drawled, muttering under his breath at a volume I couldn’t hear but it set the teachers off all over again.

  Mel still looked confused. “You’re not thinking of going toe to toe with her without prep, right? She runs six miles a day and has a whole routine of more. There’s no way you could take her without training.”

  That was it, the teachers all died, most leaning into each other, and Craftsman flushed bright red.

  “Seriously, what am I missing?” she asked, glancing over at me finally. Her eyes lit up with understanding at whatever was on my face. “Whatever you did, concede now. Apologize and beg forgiveness. Seriously. You don’t want to pay the debt for whatever you did, so apologize and cut it off.”

  “Ms. Vale is that bad getting revenge?” Professor Campbell asked.

  “No, she’s dedicated, which is worse, way worse.” She looked at Craftsman’s tray and frowned. “Did you fat shame her or something? Wait, you weren’t stupid and picked on how much she ate?”

  “Ding, ding, ding, ding,” I sang, raising my hands in a touchdown gesture. “He said I was probably hungry fighting the frogs or hoping they tasted like chicken wings, annoyed I was wasting food.”

  Mel snickered, pinching the bridge of her nose as she tried to keep it together. “Oh, you’re fucked, mate. She’s going to eat you and spit you back out. You’ve got a fight planned, all right. Idiot.” She walked off and Craftsman grumbled something else the teachers thought was amusing.

  Game on.

  Darby got in on the poking of Craftsman as he sat down across from me. “How about we go out after studying today? I found a chicken wing competition and the pictures are fantastic. Fifty wings in under a half an hour and it’s free, plus a dollar for every wing you eat over that and you have a full hour for that. I think a T-shirt for your new collection too.”

  “Sounds fun.”

  15

  I was ahead of where I needed to be for finals so a night out sounded perfect. I got cleaned up after we studied at the library and decided to see if I could make Darby’s mouth water more than the food.

  I threw my hair up in a messy high ponytail that had chunks hanging out of it. Then I went with a light blue fuzzy miniskirt and crop top sweater set that matched my eyes. It looked a bit cliché sorority event outfit but I thought I pulled it off well.

  I topped it off with some white open-toed heels and my leather jacket since it was cold and called myself ready for a date. I texted Darby I’d meet him on the quad so we could head to the portal before taking the stairs down.

  Someone was smiling down on me when Craftsman was standing outside the witches dorm with several other of the witch or warlock teachers and advisors. It looked like they were inspecting the building and looking for any damage the amphibian attack might have done.

  He looked like he swallowed his tongue when he saw me but then his nostrils flared. “I didn’t think Mr. Moore was cleared by the headmaster to be a suitable escort for a trip off campus. I believe it unwise—especially now given you seem to be at the center of these attacks—to not take your safety more seriously.”

  “I agree, which is why I invited Sean and Marshall to sit the next table over, as I’m pretty sure they could each kill fifty wings in half an hour as well,” I answered. “I’d bring you a doggy bag but I don’t think that’s allowed in your diet.”

  “Enjoy your evening, Ms. Vale,” Professor White said, shaking her head at us.

  “Thanks. I looked the place up online and they also have a massive burger challenge so hopefully the food is good and we can go back.” I batted my eyelashes at Craftsman. “If you need a running buddy I go every morning. Well, not that I think you could go the full six-plus miles, but I’d slow down a mile for you if you needed.”

  “Ouch,” someone snorted.

  “I think I could handle more than a mile,” Craftsman threw right back.

  I shrugged. “Mason was running with me in bear form the middle part to let his bear play. Or Darby and Izzy are still doing cardio around the quad in the morning. Though they’re up to several laps so you might want to walk them.”

  “Don’t you have a date to get to? Assuming you finished that paper you were to write for me on the proper usage of a water rune other than soaking a teacher.”

  “Already written. I found lots of ways to use a water rune. I spent a full paragraph explaining how it could help someone pull their head from their ass or wash their mouth out if they say something mean.”

  “For the love of…” He sighed, heavily, like he knew he was bested.

  I threw back my head and laughed as I headed off to my date. The mood was fun as the four of us met up at the portal, Sean and Marshall promising to behave and not crash our date.

  There were worse people to get stuck with babysitting me and even if I was only a ploy to get campus in an uproar, I wasn’t stupid enough to not take the threat seriously.

  Darby was also blown away by my outfit, making sure to touch me as often as he could even if it was only our legs under the table. “Am I evil if I hope for the chance to rub your stomach if it hurts later?”

  I chuckled as our drinks arrived. “No, but if you’re good maybe I’ll let you do it anyways and see if I’ll purr for you.”

  His lips twitched. “You are wearing something fuzzy after all.”

  I was at that.

  I blew through the fifty wings in no time without even trying to rush and ordered another fifty with different sauces. They arrived and I ordered fifty more just to be on the safe side since they took a while to cook. I realized it was their wing night and they had them ready, just got tripped up since there were seven people trying for the challenge.

  Marshall and Sean easily beat the half-hour time limit as well and the wolf shifters kept going. Though they stopped after another fifty each so it was a nice night of some pocket money for another night off.

  “What’s the record of how many eaten?” Darby asked the server when she brought my next round, putting me at two hundred if I finished the plates.

  “Two-twenty, but they had to give thirty bucks back for the wings they didn’t eat,” she answered. She smiled at me. “You’re making better time.”

  “I was just hungry,” I admitted. “And they’re good. I don’t like doing the ones where you have to inhale the food.”

  “I wish I could eat like that and look like you,” she chuckled.

  “She works out, a lot,” Darby defended.

  “So do I, honey, but not all of us have the metabolism to still look that good.”

  “Fair enough,” he agreed. “I just wanted to say it wasn’t just her metabolism.”

  “You’re the one who defended his date on YouTube, right?” she asked, glancing between us. “And you were the date. I didn’t even see it. What are you guys doing all the way over here?”

  “Just taking a small break from school before finals,” I fibbed, knowing it was around Thanksgiving so that could work.

  “Cool, there are a lot of food challenges in the area you should check out while you’re here.”

  “We’ll do that,” Darby agreed as I dug into my next plates. He frowned after she left and I nodded. We hadn’t thought about people recognizing us after that video. There were so many viral videos that it was hard to keep
up with them all. “It might be time to go to certain areas close to each other instead of jumping around.”

  I shrugged. “She’ll probably forget it after we leave.”

  “Yeah, but you never know and discretion is always best to keep safe.”

  I smiled at him. “You just want to have fun being smart and use the excuse to map out a whole bunch of places on the hopes of more dates.”

  “There is some overlap in goals,” he agreed, smirking at me when I snickered.

  I was going to stop at two-fifty, but after thinking about what Izzy said was the next plague, I went for three hundred for the fuel for my magic. If there was going to be a lot of runes for lice I wanted to be ready. If it was gnats… We needed a plan for that too. Fire. Fire would probably be best, right?

  Marshall and Sean were ready to go when we finished up so we headed back since it was a school night and we’d had so much going on. Once we were back on campus we said goodnight and Darby walked me to my door… To find a note on it from Izzy.

  Staying over at Mel’s so you guys can do your own thing. Don’t have sex on my bed.

  -Izzy

  “Well, she’s subtle,” Darby drawled.

  “You like her,” I chuckled as I took the note down and let him in.

  “I do. Normally I find that bubbly type person annoying but she’s very bright. A lot of stems from nerves and growing up around judgmental people. Something I understand all too much.” He closed the door behind him and locked it before coming over to me. “But I don’t like her how I like you, agra.”

  “What’s that?” I asked, leaning against him when he hugged me.

  “Sort of like the Irish way to say sweetheart,” he murmured, his tone hesitant as if telling me it might be more than that and not something he was ready to say yet.

  “It’s pretty,” I sighed, trying to not make it a big deal. “You can undress me but we’re not having sex yet.”

  “No, not yet,” he agreed, kissing my neck. “I was hoping maybe over break when we could have all the time we wanted and not worry who heard or having to get up for class. It could just be about us, me being with you.”