by Oxford, Rain
“What’s so interesting?” I asked when Darwin opened a thick, black, hardback book to read while eating. He normally talked nonstop throughout the entire meal.
“Remember that Langril asked me to stop by his office? This is what he wanted to give me.”
“I thought he was going to give you a powerful item.”
“It’s a book. That can be pretty bloody powerful. I don’t think it’s going to help me on my test, though. It’s on demon summoning and similar rituals… unless I wanted to summon a demon to eat the council. Too bad I don’t have the magic to do that.”
A catcall drew our attention to Nathan and Drega in the middle of the room. Nathan made a dramatic display of attacking Drega with magic, which fooled half the room when Drega burst into sparkles. Darwin and I laughed. We knew how it worked, so we weren’t shocked and horrified like the students who really thought Drega was gone.
“What just happened?” Henry asked, more confused than worried.
“Drega’s fae power is that he can disappear. When the rest of us were learning to make fake fire in our illusions class, Nathan learned to make sparkles. They put the two together and it must look pretty spectacular to anyone who isn’t in our class or doesn’t know about Drega.”
Now Henry looked very confused. “Did it go wrong?”
“No. Drega’s gone, and there are sparkles on the floor,” Darwin said as if Henry was slow.
“He’s right there, and I see no sparkles anywhere.”
Darwin’s mouth dropped open. “You can see through the illusion?”
Henry shrugged, losing interest. Addison sat next to him, though he didn’t acknowledge her in any way. As if testing the waters, she put her hand on his arm. He didn’t remove it. “It’s my last semester here,” she said. He nodded carelessly and her expression fell. She removed her hand.
When Henry, Darwin, and I went out so that Darwin could practice using the amulet, I updated them on the sick students, particularly on them attacking Hunt. Darwin offered to track down the backstories on all the students on the list and find out who put dry ice in the pool, but I told him to focus on his test. He didn’t like that idea.
Chapter 5
“How many of you have a will prepared?” Professor Nightshade asked when class began. Everyone gaped at her. “Well, what do you want to happen to you when you die? Cremation? Burial? Have you even thought about it?”
“Some of us are from countries that don’t give you a choice,” one student said.
“Good point. How many of you have heard of the process of mummification?” A couple hands went up and Nightshade grinned. “I hope none of you have a weak stomach.” She then went into great depths about the process, to the point where several students had to step out into the hallway.
At the end of class, she told us we would continue on Monday with Anubis weighing the heart against a feather.
In Elemental Configuration, Watson gave us each a chicken egg and sent us out into the woods. We had to protect our own egg using one element in defense and attack others with a different element. The last five students with a safe egg got a free day while the rest of the class had to write a report on where they went wrong and how they could do better.
“Are they alive?” Jackson asked the professor on the way.
“No, I took them from the kitchens, which is why there were no eggs for breakfast today. Thus, there is no reason to feel bad about crushing them.”
“Unless you really like eggs, in which case wasting them could be upsetting,” one of my classmates said.
“Would you rather go back to reading about elements?” Professor Watson asked.
Much of what he taught us was how to use elements in our everyday lives… sort of. Since many wizards couldn’t operate a washing machine, he taught us to do it by hand using magic in an overly elaborate way. Three students were sent to the infirmary after nearly drowning from that lesson.
Most of the activities, like making clay pots and using the elements in gardening, seemed useless, but the actual practices could be applied to life-or-death situations. It wasn’t until he sent us out on duels, obstacle courses, or competitions like these that we realized how much we really learned.
We all broke off on our own to claim territories. It was a warm, wet day and there were many puddles and slippery patches in the mud. It was actually perfect for what I had in mind. Watson’s conditions for these activities were often questionable, but he was serious about them. Once I couldn’t hear anyone around, I ducked down beside a tree and unleashed my power to search for any nearby minds. There were none too close, so I got to work.
I focused on the essence of earth, since I couldn’t use water in this attack. Fortunately, the dirt was already soaked. Whether I was using it or not, I wasn’t controlling the water in the mud, so Watson wouldn’t consider that cheating. I imagined a creature forming like the one Langril made, only with less power. This was the easy part; the body.
After a while of intense concentration, particles of mud slowly rose from the ground. This was encouraging, which made the process smoother and faster. As it took a blobbish form, I reached for it and lightly pressed and pinched the mud to shape it into a bear-like creature. Although I couldn’t really form eyes, I did my best to give it a face. To complete its body, I pushed a small stone into each of its clubbed hands. Against a person, it was harmless, but it was certain death to an egg.
Move along, people. No personal issues to see here.
Despite the fact that I wasn’t controlling the water in it, the element was necessary to make this work. I imagined the creature absorbing the power of earth and water, but I also imagined it having a simple, functioning mind. Unlike the one I created before, this wasn’t meant to be a warrior. I wanted something more akin to a dog.
When it was ready, I pushed part of my power and will into it. Although the professors taught us to manipulate elements using candles, daggers, cups, etcetera… I never saw the need for it. They were focal tools, according to my uncle, but they didn’t mean to me what they did to wizards who grew up with this stuff. Perhaps I could do without because I didn’t know what I was missing.
Unlike Lohem, this creature wasn’t powerful and didn’t need a name. It was more like a simplistic golem. “Find other eggs like this and take them. Don’t hurt anyone,” I said, setting the creature down. I felt a sense of acknowledgement pass through the link between us. The creature then seemed to meld into the ground and was gone.
I dipped the egg in a small puddle just deep enough to submerge it, and then focused on cold. I kept the serenity of water in the back of my mind while also visualizing the molecules of the water solidifying into the crystalized structure of ice. I imagined it becoming colder. There were more memories in my head of fire and heat than ice and coldness, but at least I had some.
I thought of when a friend dropped ice down the back of my shirt, when I had to hold an icepack to injuries, when I drank something cold on a hot day, and when I used to play out in the snow. I remembered when Astrid found me after her grandfather locked her up, and how pale she was in the cold.
I realized then that I was shivering and I could see my breath. It was almost odd that I didn’t feel cold in my chest like I could heat when I was creating fire. I pressed down on the frozen mass that had been a puddle moments before. Since it held the weight, I tossed some leaves on it. Then I spent a few minutes looking for an egg-sized rock and found a perfect decoy, which I put in my shirt pocket.
With my egg safe, I went for a casual stroll. Sure, several of my classmates attacked, but that was my intention. About half an hour into the walk, my instincts warned me of danger strongly and suddenly enough that I nearly stumbled. Dena, an unassuming young woman who never offered her opinion or argued with other students, was sitting on a thick tree root with her shoes off. She had long blond hair in a thick braid and gentle, light brown eyes. Her thin, fitted silver dress was long enough to drag the ground and had steel-gray Cel
tic ribbons around the waist.
She stared at me without a word, but before I could even turn back, a wolf literally appeared between us. It was not a real wolf; it was about five feet tall and its fur was gray and silver with a luminous quality, as if its undercoat glowed. The creature snarled. While most animals could be calmed with magic, this was not a living entity with its own mind.
“Walk away and she won’t hurt you,” Dena said.
I nodded, but didn’t move. “Is she like a familiar?”
“She’s an elemental I created.”
“What’s the difference?” I didn’t actually know whether my own little creature was a golem, an elemental, or something else. I knew the undines and the gnome that helped me were nothing like Ghost or Flagstone.
“You can create or call an elemental, and the process is similar, but they are both very powerful entities of nature. A familiar is a being born of this world predestined to be bonded with a wizard. They are in no way lesser to their wizards. Their natural strengths and abilities are designed to accommodate for their wizard’s weaknesses, and they can even have opposing personalities given that the wizard’s personality frequently endangers him or others.”
“So all familiars are born as familiars?” The entire times she spoke, I was staring at the wolf. I wasn’t sure what to do if it attacked.
“Most don’t know they are familiars, but yes.”
“What happens when they meet their wizard?”
“If the wizard hasn’t called their familiar, it’s almost impossible to know for sure until the wizard calls on them. They may have an odd friendship or even a stronger connection depending on how powerful the wizard and familiar are.”
“How do you know so much about familiars if you haven’t called yours?”
“My father’s familiar and my mother’s familiar are constantly trying to kill each other. We’re supposed to call them in our fourth year… but I can’t with an elemental. Unfortunately, I’ve had her too long, so she kept getting more and more powerful. I can’t send her away now.”
“Would you want to if you could?”
Dena nodded. “She makes me tired.”
“I’ll ask around and see if anyone can help,” I said. I could use the amulet.
* * *
Half an hour later, I heard a loud whistle, made my way back to my egg, and sent a silent signal to my earthen creature. Just as I unburied the clump of ice, the creature returned. Like a proud, excited puppy, the creature projected images of himself stealthily stealing the eggs of the other students and putting them in an old towel on the floor in the greenhouse like it was a nest. He also took an entire box of eggs from the kitchen.
I laughed and told him he did a good job. Still pleased with himself, he vanished and I felt his presence dissolve entirely. By the time I reached the edge of the forest, the students who lost their eggs were all either complaining about getting shot at with fire or that their egg just vanished out of thin air. Dena, Jackson, and two others were the winners besides myself. Watson frowned as I handed him my egg in a block of ice, but it was unbroken and safe nonetheless. I had just enough time to return the “saved” eggs to the kitchen before my next class started.
* * *
I returned to my bedroom exhausted, soaked, and shivering. Darwin, who was studying at his desk, gaped. “What happened to you?”
“Professor Nakari happened. Given our location, she decided we needed to learn to fend off a tsunami. She sent us out to the lake and broke us into two groups. One side had to make a tsunami and the other had to send it back.” Despite the fact that the sun was still up, I stripped and crawled into bed. “Also, Mack wasn’t in class.”
“Did a shark get ya?” he asked, indicating the bite on my left thigh.
“Professor Nakari didn’t realize there were kappa, and kappa apparently don’t like being dropped on people.”
I was about half a second from falling asleep when the door opened. “Devon, you’re needed in the–”
“Go away!” I told Addie. “If I have to get up, someone is going to die.”
“Two more students are sick.”
* * *
I stood in the infirmary, trying not to wipe my eyes in exhaustion. “The first three are in comas and the second two are very sick. Nathan was already aggressive when Keigan brought him in. I sedated him, but Caleb was okay.”
“So far, we have four wizards and one shifter. Was Conner aggressive?”
“Not before he went into a coma. He was the last of the first three to get sick and the first of them to go into a coma, though.”
“Maybe he didn’t have a chance to get aggressive. Maybe Caleb isn’t aggressive because he’s a shifter, or maybe he hasn’t reached that point yet. How is Hunt?”
“He’s not sick at all. Keigan and I finally came up with a potion to slow their fever, which can buy us a few days. Without it, I’m almost certain that Len, Kristen, and Conner would be dead in a few more hours. I’ve come at this every way I can; it’s not a sickness. I mean, it may be a sickness, but it’s not viral or bacterial. This is the work of extremely powerful magic, either blood sacrifice or contagion.”
“Contagion as in, hair, skin, nails, blood, etcetera?”
“Yes. The wizard would need something connected to the victim. Even a strand of hair would work, but there aren’t that many powerful people I know who could do this.”
“It has to be someone close.”
“It would also have to be someone who really knows their stuff. Killing someone with magic is rather easy. This is far more vengeful than that.”
“Off the top of your head, who could do this?”
“Logan and Keigan for sure. Vincent, possibly, but I doubt it. None of the other teachers. They would have to know old magic, so not even anyone on the council would know it. Whoever it is would have to be extremely hateful.”
“What about bad guys we know? Felicity? Gale? The shadow walkers who possessed the golems? The shadow man… Krechea?”
“Krechea would have the know-how, but not the power. His shadow walkers could only possess the golems because the key is missing. Besides, Logan, Vincent, and Keigan are keeping him occupied.”
Krechea’s shadow walkers? The puzzle was beginning to come together. Krechea was a leader of these shadow walkers, who possessed the golems to kill Hunt. They had the power because the key to the tower was missing. I could buy that if the key was as much an item of power as the way to open a door. According to Baldauf’s book, the tower was like a portal. Is it a portal to some kind of Hell? Thinking of my uncle’s letter, I also wondered if it was some kind of portal in time.
“I thought Krechea was powerful,” I said.
“He is there, but not here. I didn’t know Gale or Felicity, but Logan said Gale is human and Felicity is dead.”
“Gale is human, but he had the amulet.”
“Ask Logan about it, but I doubt any of Gale’s victims were powerful enough, even combined. He would also have to know how to do this, which I find doubtful. I don’t even know how to do this to someone.”
“They all have fevers?” I asked. For some reason, that felt extremely important.
“Yes. Len’s fever is up to one-oh-five.”
An unwelcome thought occurred to me. “What about a dragon? They’re ancient, powerful creatures with a long history of magic. Could a dragon do this?”
“If you’re referring to April, then no. She wouldn’t know how or have the power. If you know an older, more powerful, malevolent dragon, it might somehow be possible.”
* * *
We were once again sitting outside in the forest, hoping Darwin would figure out how to use the amulet. It was Henry who insisted we do this every single day. I wanted to go to bed, but I knew I needed to be supportive of Darwin.
“We may need to do something about the prankster,” Henry said thoughtfully.
“The hissing roaches in the women’s bathroom were hilarious,” Darwin argued.<
br />
“I am referring to the invisible dog that keeps biting people when Dena is around.”
“That’s not an invisible dog; that’s a wolf elemental she called.”
Darwin gawked at me. “You can see it?”
“Yeah. You can’t?” I asked Henry.
“Elementals aren’t illusions,” Darwin explained. “People can see earth and water elementals sometimes, but air and fire elementals are only visible to those who truly understand the element. It’s one of those projective/receptive things.”
“What element is the wolf?”
“Well, they’re not naturally occurring elementals, so the person who creates a wolf elemental can be doing it for whatever element they need. Because you can see it and others can’t, I reckon it’s air. She probably created it for guidance.”
“She’s having trouble getting rid of it, so I think we should use the amulet to help her.”
Henry shook his head. “It would make more sense to have her go to Hunt or one of the teachers. She should learn to control her powers, which she can’t do if we interfere.”
“You’re interfering with me,” Darwin said.
“Get back to work,” Henry told him, scowling.
Darwin stuck out his tongue before making an exaggerated display of concentrating. After another half an hour of getting nowhere, I fell asleep leaning against a tree.
I was dreaming… again. I also knew it was going to come true if I didn’t stop it. In my dream, Astrid was lying in an extravagant bed. She was gorgeous, but strangely creepy as she was dressed in an old-fashioned white nightgown. I sensed his approach, not from his eyes, but from my own… yet I wasn’t there.
The amulet that hung around his neck, hidden by his thick, black, leather jacket, was the reason Astrid didn’t wake up. Without her supernatural senses in her favor, Gale was far too quiet. He pressed his gun against her forehead and cocked it. The sound woke her and her eyes snapped open.
