Charm School (The Demon's Apprentice Book 4)

by Ben Reeder

  “Okay, go,” I said. “I’ve got this.” She whispered something, then turned and took off across the water, her feet making broad round impressions on the surface. Once she was away, I took my wand out and knelt on the sandy beach.

  “What are you doing?” Stewart asked as I etched a broad circle in the sand with my fingertip.

  “What I do best,” I said when I finished the first circle. “Making shit up as I go along.” I drew a second circle that would have intersected the first if I’d made it overlap. Instead, I stopped the lines at the edge of the larger circle and drew in some water based sigils.

  “That’s a…is that a summoning circle?”

  “Yup,” I said as I touched my wand to it and intoned “Circumvare.” The blue main circle lit up, then the red one that I was standing in. The result was almost immediate.

  A tall, slender column of water shot up from the base of the circle, slowly forming into the form of a woman. I felt its will press against the circle, testing my own willpower and evidently finding that it couldn’t just beat its way out. As tests went, this one was kind of mild, but I was willing to accept that as long as it could do what I needed it to.

  “What is it that you desire, human?” the elemental asked after a few moments. I raised an eyebrow at that, since most lower order elementals were a little more limited in the vocabulary department.

  “I need you to make the surface tension of the water strong enough to support our weight in a path that leads to the shore. Once we are there, you are free to return to your home. There is alcohol on the island that you are welcome to as payment for your services.”

  “A simple enough task,” the elemental said. “But I do not need libations. My daughter does not heed my call. Find her and tell her I am waiting for her.”

  “I can’t guarantee that I can complete this task,” I said. “I don’t even know who she is.”

  “You have seen her, only you didn’t know it. Promise me that you will tell her when you recognize her.”

  “I promise!” The ethereal wind hammered me for a moment, and the elemental seemed to change shape, sprouting two arms that spread as if in benediction.

  “It will be done,” she said. I bowed my head and released the circle. Moments later, a section of the lake seemed to freeze in place.

  “Come on!” I said as I ran toward the water.

  “What if it doesn’t work?” Stewart asked.

  “Can you swim?” I asked as my foot touched the surface of the water…and stayed above it. It was fairly easy to see the path of the altered water, since it didn’t move and it didn’t reflect light the same way as the rest of the lake’s surface. It felt like running on a thick gym mat, and I could hear the water under it sloshing with every step. Running across the surface of the lake, I tried not to think of what might happen if the elemental decided to renege on her end of the bargain. It was known to happen if an elemental wasn’t satisfied with their payment, and I hadn’t had much to begin with. I put on a little more speed, and Stewart managed to keep up, but I was glad when we hit the far shore. Solid ground never felt so good. The three boats were pulled up along the shore, and I could hear the sounds of people moving through the woods.

  “All right, you’re up,” I said when I heard Stewart’s feet hit the shore behind me.

  “Okay….okay…yeah,” Stewart panted, then headed off into the brush. I followed him, and it wasn’t long before we were catching up to the slowest of the Highwaymen. Then we came upon the rest of them clustered near the trees. A pair of Sentinels were standing between us and the school.

  “Crap,” Stewart hissed.

  “What about the other way in?” Lance asked. Stewart nodded and took the lead, edging away from the school until he got to a ridgeline. Less than a hundred yards further on was a door set in the side of the ridge.

  “Masks, everyone,” Stewart said. I hastily tied mine on. “Lance, give Ginger your hat. Ginger, keep your head down.” Once the last of us were ready, Stewart approached the door.

  “Who goes?” a thin, reedy voice demanded from the top of the door.

  “Commander of the Shadow Regiment,” Stewart said. “Who challenges me?”

  A pale green sprite dropped down from above the door, his wings glowing as he spread his arms to the side and back while bowing his head. “I am Pij,” the sprite said. “I’m sorry to have inconvenienced you, sir.”

  “You were just doing your duty, Pij,” Stewart said. “Move aside, now, and let us pass. But speak to no one of our passing. We’re on important business, secret business. I can count on you to be discreet, correct?”

  “Of course, sir,” Pij said, his head bobbing. “Not a peep from me, sir!” He drifted to one side, and Stewart led the way through the door.

  “Are you sure he’ll keep his mouth shut?” I asked as we made our way through the tunnel.

  “They haven’t let us down since my grandfather was here,” he said. “The school was founded by members of the Regiment, so in the eyes of the sprites, we’re the same as faculty. One thing to remember, though. Always wear your mask if you’re going to invoke the Regiment. As long as we have them on when we deal with them, they’re sworn not to reveal our identities, even if they know who we are.”

  “Important safety tip,” I said. “Thanks, Egon.” He laughed and went on. Once he reached the school’s utility tunnels, he stopped and faced the rest of the group.

  “We split up from here. Standard excuses should work, but since the Sentinels are making a sweep, we can also use that as an excuse if we’re caught off our floors. Half of you are Hall Captains, invoke that if you feel it necessary. Whatever you do, do not betray the Regiment. Brother to one,” he intoned at the end.

  “Brother to all,” everyone answered, even me. Ginger gave him a long look over her shoulder as Lance led her and a couple of others down a separate tunnel.

  “What’s the deal with you and Ginger?” I asked once it was just Stewart and me.

  “Lance’s girl?” he laughed a little too quickly. “Nothing.”

  “Calling shenanigans on that,” I said. “Back on the island, her eyes were on you when she was telling us the Sentinels were doing a sweep, and when we split up, that look she gave you was pretty damn direct, like she wanted to be going in a different direction.”

  He stopped and turned to face me. “Damn, Chance, you don’t miss a damn thing, do you?”

  “More than I’d like,” I said. “Stop stalling and spill.”

  “Okay, look you can’t tell anyone this, okay? So, last summer, Lance broke up with Ginger. Everyone thought it was so he could date some European bitch. But it turned out to be a family thing. A cousin of hers talked her parents into getting Lance’s parents to force him to break things off. So, while they were split up, Ginger and I got together for a while. But she really loves Lance, and they worked things out. We’re still close, and Lance doesn’t know a thing. And it has to stay that way.”

  I help up a hand and nodded. “I get it. Is it always this complicated with you?”

  “Most of the time. Okay, so if anyone sees us, I saw the Sentinels, and I came and got you because of last night, okay?” I nodded, and we slipped in through the door in the basement. The first floor was quiet, save for the sound of people in the day room. We glanced in from across the hall and saw Hoshi and a few of the other scholarship kids watching a movie on the television. A couple of the kids were playing around with energy strings and planes, spinning the glowing filaments and making the flat sheets appear and disappear between their fingertips. I gestured for him to go on, and slipped into the room.

  I’d been watching for a few minutes, fascinated by how they could make cubes and spheres just shimmer into existence with a gesture, and after a few minutes, I thought I’d give it a shot. I pushed the energy down my arms and into my fingertips, then tried to cup my hand to make a sphere, but all I got a misshapen blob.

  “You gotta pull your hand back when you pop a ball, B.
B.,” one of the guys said from beside me. “It’s like makin’ a bubble. Throw it out there, let the magick do its own thing.” He put his hand up, then moved it forward and back, like a snake striking. I mimicked the movement and he nodded. “Now, pop it there at the end, yeah like that! That’s it, B. B.!” he said when a wobbly sphere emerged. “Now try the cube. Do your hand like this,” he held his up with his fingers at a right angle to his palm, “and put your thumb here, yeah, like that. Now pop it like that.” He opened his hand, then snapped it into the shape he’d just showed me. I tried it and got a shapeless mass.

  “Cubes are a lot harder,” I said.

  “Naw, you just gotta see it right. Balls, they just happen, but when you’re makin’ a cube, you just gotta see this point over here,” he said, with one finger opposite his thumb. “The other one is here,” he pointed to the bend where my finger met my palm. “Everything meets out here.” He pointed to the imaginary point out in the middle of the air. Suddenly, it made perfect sense to me. The two opposite points on a cube determined everything else, if you assumed ninety degree angles. The next time, a decent cube showed up in front of me.

  Once I had that down, I could spin it, warp it or even throw it. Compared to the rest of the folks in the room, I was a klutz, but it was fun.

  Hoshi finally pulled me away from the energy manipulators and dragged me to the couch he and Kiya had appropriated. Desiree sat perched at the end, her round cheeks blazing at something. Judging by how she kept not looking at Hoshi or her roommate, I was pretty sure what had her blushing.

  “So,” she said at Hoshi’s goading, “My um, my parents invited…well, they said I could invite any of my friends out tomorrow for lunch at their shop?” Hoshi gave me a pleading look, and I fought down the urge to laugh.

  “I was heading in tomorrow anyway,” I said. “And I’d love to meet your folks. We could all hang out.”

  Her smile lit up her face, and she leaned back into the couch. I felt a little bad, because it served as a cover for my original plan to go buy stuff for charms and a replacement TK rod. But I found myself honestly looking forward to meeting Desiree’s family and seeing their shop.

  Finally, people started drifting out of the room. Some of the guys stopped by the couch and made a casual farewell, and prompted Hoshi and Kiya to get up. Which of course, meant that it was also time for Desiree and I to head out.

  “Would you walk with me back to our hall?” Desiree asked. I nodded and we followed Hoshi and Kiya as they walked hand in hand.

  “Still don’t get what B.B. means,” I said.

  “Big Brother,” Desiree answered. “Everyone saw how you tore out of the study room the other night when Stewart was attacked. You looked like you were going to kill whoever was doing it.”

  “Well, maybe not kill,” I said.

  “Yeah, kill,” she said. “I was in that room. I felt what you were putting off. And everyone here knows you have blood on your hands.”

  “I keep hoping people will forget about that,” I said. “It’s not like I try to remind them.”

  “That’s why they remember.” She turned and headed into the girl’s side of the building, leaving me to consider that little revelation. Suddenly, I needed to hear Shade’s voice in the worst way.

  Chapter 10

  ~ Witnesses are messy. They rarely get it right, but no one cares. ~ Altara Geminos, assassin

  The livery carriage emerged from the brick tunnel into Squattertown. It was a pleasant surprise to see the neat stone and wood buildings instead of scrap metal and wood lean-tos. The streets and the buildings followed the curves of the landscape, leaving very few straight lines, many either built around trees or beside them. A few even incorporated tree trunks into the architecture, or used the tree limbs to support upper floors.

  A handful of sprites and fairies flitted overhead, and I spotted the occasional brownie along the roadside. But more than anything, I saw humans or hybrids. After seeing so many other races wandering the streets of the Hive, it was odd not seeing them here.

  The carriage stopped at a station, and the five of us got out. Junkyard’s nose was up and he immediately started looking around, for once not marking anything. Even my nose was having a hard time keeping track of the scents in the air. I got out, then turned to offer Desiree my hand. She took her red skirt in one white gloved hand before offering me the other and stepping down smoothly. Without missing a beat, she turned and offered Hoshi her hand. He made an awkward curtsey as he stepped down, somehow making jeans and a blue polo shirt look more dressy than it was. He turned and mimicked Desiree’s gesture, which Kiya waved away with mock-dignity. She stepped down as smooth as you please, managing to look more like a normal person than any of us in khaki shorts and a white button down shirt, her braids a dark veil across her shoulders.

  “We’ll take Apothecary Lane over to Talismongers Way,” Desiree said, pointing to a side street. “It isn’t the shortest route, but it will take us past more shops.” We followed her as she led the way down the winding street. True to its name, Apothecary Lane was mostly alchemical or herbal shops. A few blocks later found us turning right onto Talismongers Way.

  Only one word did the street justice: sparkly. Gems and raw stones were on display in windows, silver and gold necklaces dangled from awnings. Booth after booth filled the spaces between shops, offering supplies for the more hands-on, do-it-yourself approach, while the established shops tended toward the convenience of completed work. I stopped at a stall to haggle with a shrewd little man for a silver bracelet, then headed a few booths down to pick up some charms and gemstones from an even shrewder gnome for one of my Enchanting class projects. I also found a self-heating kettle for Mom, and an amulet that would animate a stuffed animal for Dee. Hoshi, on the other hand, picked up a little heart amulet and promptly gave it to Kiya. My fingertips brushed the vial on my chest as she smiled and kissed him.

  “Aren’t they cute?” Desiree said softly. The smile on her face looked genuine, and it was infectious.

  “It’s not natural,” I said.

  “Says the boy dating a werewolf,” she laughed. “They’re really good for each other.” I looked at her, and wondered for a moment why the Universe was so unfair. Desiree was genuinely pretty, and she was the kind of girl a smart man should have wanted to be with. But most people wouldn’t see past her weight. They couldn’t see the grace in her movement, hear the smart, caring girl I’d come to know, or see the intensity she put into everything. Even watching her roommate kiss one of the most sought after boys in school, she seemed honestly happy for them.

  “Just so long as he doesn’t get any prettier,” I said, trying to cover the sudden turn in my mood. “Then he’ll be bad for her self-esteem.”

  “Don’t,” Desiree said, shaking her head. She looked at me with a wistful smile.

  “Don’t what?” I asked.

  “Don’t feel bad for me,” she said. “I’ve never been all that interested in boys. Or girls, either.”

  I narrowed my eyes at her and cocked my head a little. “How did you know what I was thinking?”

  “I didn’t. I knew what you were feeling. Frustration, anger, pity…and a little bit of attraction. Aww, thank you.” She leaned forward and kissed my cheek, leaving a slight tingle in the wake of her full lips. “It’s okay, Chance. I just don’t find all that many people attractive, I guess. Gram says it’s pretty normal for cambions to uh, bloom late that way.”

  “Well, at least I’m not the only person not on the hunt,” I said.

  “Come on,” she said as she grabbed my hand and pulled me down a side road. “I’ll show you something I do like.” We came out by a sign that read Blackkettle Ave. and my nose was inundated with the smell of spices and cooking meat. A low haze hung just above our heads, and I could see bundles of herbs dangling outside a few shops, while another displayed enough cutlery to embarrass Jack the Ripper. Boxes of red, green, and yellow produce in various shades were piled on tables out in
front of buildings and under equally colorful awnings.

  “Food?” I asked, more than a little confused. “Who doesn’t like food?”

  “No, you dork,” Desiree said as she held a hand up. “Cooking!”

  “Ah. I was afraid we were about to walk right into a stereotype or something.”

  “The fat girl substituting food for love?” she laughed. “No, but I do know my foods and moods. It’s not all just chocolate and wine.”

  In front of us, Kiya laughed. “Ain’t that the truth!” she called back over her shoulder. “But you can’t go wrong with chocolate.”

  Beside me, Desiree closed her eyes and took a deep breath in through her nose, then let it out with a contented sigh. “This is what I want to surround myself with, this smell, every day. I want to start a magickal confectionary shop, and sell memories and moods baked into the best dishes you’ve ever tasted.”

  “Is that even possible?” I asked.

  “It is for me,” she winked at me and took a sideways step as she held up her gloved hands and waggled her fingers. “Empathy can go both ways with me. It’s another reason I wear these all the time.”

  “What about…?” I started, putting my hand on my cheek where she’d kissed me.

  “With mental shields like yours?” she said and made a dismissive sound. “It’s like licking a brick wall. I can feel what’s going in in there, like being able to see a light bulb in a cage, but I can’t feed on it or change it with a little kiss unless you let me.”

  “Well, if you ever need to, I’ve still got a lot of excess anger you can snack on.”

  She stopped and looked at me with narrowed eyes for a moment before breaking into a smile. “You’re the first person who’s ever said that and meant it,” she said. “With most guys, it’s a come on.”

  I tapped my temple. “I have a big bunch of nightmare fuel up here I’d really like to get rid of. Better it helps someone in the process.”

  “Either way, it’s good to have a friend who means it. Come on, I can smell Gram’s French Onion Casserole from here. She turned and trotted to catch up with Hoshi and Kiya, leaving me to follow. Junkyard followed her without waiting for me, so I ended up bringing up the rear.