by Viola Grace
“Get me on my feet. Mr. E will help me walk there. This can’t be done in the darkness. If I am not coming out of it, I want to make sure there are witnesses to my death that will record it. If it is Kemeer, he needs to be stopped.”
She squirmed out of Bara’s hold and sat on the edge of the chair. With a few deep breaths, she levered herself to her feet; Mr. E was draped around her neck, still purring.
Bara was frowning. “You need to sit. I am sure they will be here soon.”
“I am not. I will walk toward the infirmary, and if they turn up here, Reegar can tell them where to go.” She took a slow step and then another. Reegar watched over her as she moved at a slow pace toward the door.
Reegar finally announced. “I am not going to let you die on the lawn. Hold tight to Bara when you step out the door.”
His words were weirdly ominous, but Bara stepped to her side and held her hand as they stepped across the threshold.
A tunnel of light rushed to greet and engulf them. When the light faded, they were standing in the entry hall of the infirmary.
The folk waiting to be seen were drunk, drugged or had minor fight injuries.
Bara tried to get someone’s attention, but Imara had used up all her strength. She sagged against Bara, sliding toward the ground.
A deafening roar made all the conversations stop.
Imara smiled as the noise repeated and she hit the floor. In seconds, hands lifted her up and Bara was explaining the situation and the initial treatment that had been administered. She was rushed past the waiting area and into treatment.
“So, you had excellent urgent care, Ms. Mirrin. The idea was right, but the ingredients were no longer effective. They had degraded over time and could only give partial relief.”
The healer at her side made notes in her chart. “We don’t often see blood poisoning of this variety, but your friend was able to direct me to a familial match on campus. He agreed to donate a few pints for you.”
A shadow fell between her and the light. A male voice chuckled, “And they didn’t even give me a cookie.”
The healer cleared his throat. “I will leave you to get acquainted.”
She glanced to her left, and an IV drip was still providing her with blood. “I am guessing that you are one of the Demiel men?”
He extended his right hand to hers. “I am Luken Demiel. I believe we are twins.”
“Imara Mirrin, and yes, we are.”
“You know, it was the strangest thing. I was in the waiting room with a buddy who had picked a fight with the drummer from the concert and a woman came out and asked if there were any Demiels around. I raised my hand, and the next thing I know, I found out you needed help and I volunteered.”
“Just like that?”
He carefully settled on the edge of the bed. “Well, your familiar did put his claws to my throat and growl at me. I got the feeling that he would have taken the blood by force if he had to.”
Imara looked around and saw Mr. E, sitting watchfully on her thighs, his tail flicking.
“I have never been threatened by a kitten before. It was an interesting experience.” He smiled.
She saw an echo of her own face in Luken’s. “He’s an interesting individual.”
“I can see that. He is an inherited familiar?”
“He is. Our mother’s side of the family wasn’t fussy about gender when it came to the seventh child.”
Luken nodded. “My career path doesn’t require a familiar, so you are welcome to him. He is a little runty for my taste anyway.”
Mr. E got up on his tippy toes and hissed.
Imara extended her hand to him and stroked his fur, careful of the IV. “He is exactly what I needed, exactly when I needed him.”
His mind touched hers, and she reciprocated. She chuckled. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Chapter Ten
Exams rushed in around testifying and having Mr. E examined from nose to tail. Imara spent most of her time in the lounge and library.
Reegar had been visited by every necromancer in four counties, but none had been able to figure out how a man dead for nearly a century had created a gateway across the campus. It should not have been possible, but then, they didn’t take into account that Imara had charged up every bit of gay erotica in the building with enough power to make him nearly corporeal. That was a lot of erotica, but it had taken the heat off her activating ghosts on the campus.
Weeks of carefully nurturing her plants was now down to the final exam. Imara carried the tray of plants into the exam room along with the other students. The normal jovial atmosphere was tense.
Their instructor examined their trays and confirmed that the herbs they were holding were theirs and theirs alone. Each plant was tagged, each tag was enchanted and each pot was warded. They were as secure as they could be.
“When we started prepping for this exam, I told you that the goal was to create a formula to enhance power and health. Two of you have most of the proper ingredients. The rest of you are going to have an interesting day.”
Imara stood by her workstation as the door to the class opened and fifth-level potion masters walked in with their mortars and pestles.
“Al right, students. Pick the ingredients in the correct quantity and hand them to the potion master.”
The woman in front of her had quirked lips.
Mr. E started to whisper in her mind, and she followed his direction, plucking only a few leaves off each plant, holding them together before plucking more.
When they were done, she inhaled the fragrance and thought about it. Mr. E was silent.
She needed more mint. Her power ran hot, and she needed cooling.
Her potion master was grinning as Imara put the ingredients in the bowl. “Go to it, madam.”
Imara’s was the last potion master to get to work, but she muttered and whispered quickly. She was the first finished. “Done.”
She took the mortar and tipped it, dripping the liquid into a vial. There was barely a handful of drops in it.
The potion master corked the potion and handed it over. “There you go. Good luck.”
Imara set the small bottle in front of her, and she waited for the rest of the class to finish. The instructor came to her, opened the vial and nodded. “Exit the classroom and go to the left. When you are there, you will be taken to a cubicle where you can take your potion.”
“Yes, Magus.” She nodded and took the vial, holding it in her fist so no one could see how small the sample was. As she passed others, there were huge salads of herbs being crushed into potions.
She had her tiny sample, and she hoped it was enough of the right things.
Out the door to the left, there was a fey with familiar features and more behind him. He winked and gestured for her to be quiet.
“Come with me, student.”
She followed him to a cubicle, and he gestured for her to take a seat on the lounge while he perched on a high stool. “Take your potion whenever you are ready, student.”
She dragged in a deep breath and uncorked the vial. She was about to tip it toward her lips when she paused. Not all herbs were designed to be taken internally. Two of them were in her potion. She turned to the scar on her arm from the stabbing, and she poured the drops onto that mark. She rubbed it in and washed her hands with the last of it. A bright tingle ran through her fingers and worked in her arm. Heat and power started to pulse in her veins, and she sighed deeply. “That feels better. I was starting to feel it when it rained.”
“Pass. You have passed your Herbology course with a Excel grade. You are now able to take any mage or potion courses in the future.”
“Why?”
“Because you know how to listen to the plants and be wary of what they can do. Ignoring basic chemistry is how most potion mages suffer injuries. So, you are free to go. Enjoy the power and the health.”
“It will only last a few weeks.”
He grinned. “The power,
yes, but the health and any repairs made to your body will remain. Your arm looks much better.”
She glanced down at the stab wound, and her eyes watered when she could only see the faintest outline of the blade mark and that was still fading.
“Right. Thank you, observer. Have a good day.” She nodded and passed him, walking down the hall that he directed her to.
Behind her, she heard an explosion and shouting, so she was guessing that one of the other students wasn’t getting a top grade.
Whew. Thanks for the guidance.
I was only reiterating what you had been practicing. Quantity doesn’t mean more power, it just means less control. You knew that. You just needed reminding during the practical application.
Mr. E purred into her ear, and she giggled. Why do you do that?
It is why you chose this form for me. You need comfort, and a kitten is the best means to deliver it. I have no problem with that.
Your ego can handle it?
My ego can handle a lot.
Good to know. She left the Herbology building and headed for home. She had one more exam to study for, and it was going to make or break her career options.
Soul manipulation seemed to be what she was designed for, so she wanted to get an Excel in the Soul Casting course. It was simple; she had to park her anchor in Mr. E and send her soul to one part of campus, retrieving information that would only be found at that spot. Once she had it, she needed to return to her body and tell the class what she had seen.
She was going to need to practice a few times more if she wanted to be able to stuff herself back in her body with any kind of speed. Her issue was extra energy and bleeding it off in an appropriate manner.
Bara and Reegar were helping her practice, and Luken even came by now and then to lend a hand. Their relationship was a strange one, but they were both making careful strides to knowing each other.
If Imara didn’t know better, she would think that Luken and Bara were developing more than a casual relationship. She grimaced. It was a brain bender for another time. If they did get together, it wasn’t her business.
That night, she was going to scatter herself around the campus and try to stuff herself back into her body in under five minutes. This was going to require pizza, lots of pizza.
“Ms. Mirrin, you are up.” Magus Deepford tapped a folded document against her open hand.
Mr. E was at full attention on her shoulder. He was ready.
Imara took the stage, and she knelt in the control circle. Magus Deepford handed her the document. “Whenever you are ready.”
Mr. E jumped to his spot in the circle, directly in front of her, and he nodded.
She cracked open the seal on the exam, and it said, Find the person in scarlet on the third floor of the administration building and read their nametag.
She nodded to the teacher and stated, “Start the clock.”
She locked her gaze to her familiar’s, parked her soul with him and took the rest of her mind on a journey through the campus.
She found the offices on the third floor and flashed along until she located the man wearing the scarlet shirt with the nametag. She chanted the name to herself as she turned and headed back to the Wayforth building.
Her excitement had charged her, so she activated a few ghosts that Reegar had enticed for this purpose. They caught the extra energy and had a physical presence for a few hours, but it let her squeeze back into her body, pulling the link back from Mr. E’s protection and opening her eyes.
She wrote the answer for the instructor, her hand shaking. When it was done, she handed the paper over and said, “Time.”
Magus Deepford stopped the clock. “Forty-five seconds. Well done, Ms. Mirrin. Well, that is well done if you have the right answer.”
She looked at the answer and chuckled. “U R Name is the correct answer. Most students choose the woman in red, by the way.”
“It said scarlet, I went for scarlet.”
“I can confirm the well done. You have passed with an Excel grade.”
Imara’s shoulders slumped in relief. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. Now, get out of here. It is time for the next student. Mr. Dillwell, please take the stage.”
Mr. E jumped to her shoulder, and she resumed her place next to the others who had completed their exams. A few discreet high fives went around before Dillwell finished his exam. He did it in three minutes and forty-five seconds. It was a passing grade, and his relief was evident.
Ninya turned to her and asked, “We are going out to celebrate after this. Will you join us?”
Imara grinned. “I would love to but have some friends that I am getting together with. Thank you for the invitation; I am looking to be more sociable in the second term.”
She said her farewells and listened to Mr. E’s triumphant whoops and chortles as she left the lecture hall and headed for the open air.
She had passed. Every first course had been passed with high marks. She was ready for the new courses of the second term. She was a giant leap closer to her new life and being giddy with relief didn’t cover it.
She could hear the pounding of the music before she even reached Reegar Hall. The drab, grey building was pulsing with energy, and when she entered the familiar space, the laughter and high emotion of the specters she had over-charged was everywhere.
Bara greeted her at the door. “I am guessing that you passed?”
Imara nodded and hugged her friend. “I passed!”
“Good, then we aren’t throwing this party for nothing.” Bara hauled her into the lounge where Reegar and Lee were hosting a modest buffet with a huge Congratulations banner over their heads.
Luken walked toward her with a huge cake in his hands, a tiny sculpture of Mr. E had been depicted in sugar. A pathway had been drawn on the cake and the first five blocks after the start block had been marked with her grades. The end of the path was twenty marks away, and she dragged in a deep breath.
“Wow. Thank you.” She kept her senses trained on Mr. E, but he didn’t seem inclined to leap on this particular cake.
“Well, blow out your familiar and we can tuck in.”
She giggled and leaned forward to blow out the candle protruding from the kitten sculpture.
When the small plume of smoke curled upward, the specters and her friends cheered. Luken set the cake down and the party began in earnest.
Reegar and Lee started the dancing off, engaging in the moves of Swing as if they had danced together a thousand times before.
Imara kept the power flowing to the party as she sat and had cake with Luken and Bara.
“So, Luken, you are a third year?” She smiled at him.
He blushed. “How did you know?”
“Your aura. You have the mark of learning on you, but it is the mark made by picking up knowledge you didn’t particularly want. Mandatory classes.”
“Aura?”
“Well, soul print is more the thing. I can see power, emotion, energy, but only in a few situations when I concentrate.”
“Wow. Nice. I wish I had something like that. I am stuck with standard spell casting.”
Bara perked up. “Really? What is your favourite spell?”
Imara eased away from them with her fork busy providing her with all the cake she could want. It was damned good cake.
The ghosts were having a rave, and she was right in the middle of it. A few came to say thanks for the moment of clarity and others questioned her on her family lines. She found polite comments for all of them and eased out of the hall, taking in the evening air.
“It sounds like quite a party in there.”
Imara looked at the woman standing in the shadows. “It is. Would you like to come inside?”
“I have not been invited.”
Imara grinned. “It is my party; I am inviting you now.”
“What is it for?”
“I survived my first term at the college with excellent marks. If I can
maintain it, I can fast track myself into a career in a couple of years.”
The woman tilted her head. Imara still couldn’t see her.
“Is it wise to rush an education?”
Imara chuckled. “I won’t stop learning just because I graduate. I will simply have the prerequisites to pay my own way in the world. I need to work, and I want to work, but I have to get credentials to be able to do what I want to do.”
“You are a young woman with a path in her mind. Is that your familiar?” The laughter in her tone was unmistakable.
“Mr. E, this is a strange lady in the shadows. Strange lady, my name is Imara and this is Mr. E.” She could feel Mr. E stretching from his comfy spot draped around the back of her neck. He made a cute murp sound, and the woman chuckled.
“I am the Chancellor of Depford College. My name is Mirrin Deepford-Smythe. I am your mother and very glad to see you.”
Imara stared at the face that looked like she would in thirty years. “I am pleased to meet you.”
“Ah, my baby girl. You have no idea how happy I am to finally be able to touch you.” She extended her hand and Imara took it.
The delivery room, fighting to hold her daughter and announcing to her husband that their contract was at an end. The rush of emotions was intense and bittersweet. She knew that Imara would be fine. She had the luck of two families behind her. She would grow strong, and when she was an adult, Mirrin would find her again.
Imara staggered when her mother released her hand. “You gave me your memories.”
“I did. It was faster than explaining.”
“I think I get it. The Deepford-Smythes are broke?”
“Not now, not anymore. You brought luck to the family line the day you became a death keeper.”
She thought back. “Is that why the Dean of Students came on my first day?”
“Yes, your great-great aunt sent a letter and entailed her unclaimed estate to you. Didn’t they tell you?”
“No. It wasn’t mentioned in the documents.”
“Ah, well there is a trust that will kick in when you graduate. It is a nicely sized bit of funds with a chunk of property in downtown Redbird City. Is that really the fearsome familiar?”
