Academy of Sorcery: Term 2: Fallen Master

by Alexa B. James

  “No,” he says firmly. “I’ve alerted Headmaster Orville, and I was up most of the night making calls to every magical organization and individual I know, both in Jacksonville and all over the country. A lot of people are looking for him, Jade. We’ll find him.”

  “Really?” I ask, tears pooling in my eyes as I search his steady, warm eyes.

  “Really,” he assures me. His eyes drop to my lips, and I know he wants to kiss me and comfort me as much as I want it right now.

  “Why would they do that?” I ask. I could have asked why he’d do that, but I know why. “What motivation do others in the community have for helping a random, untrained freshman student they’ve never met?”

  “You’re the High Priestess,” Rocco says, as if that explains everything.

  “Jade, you do know how special you are, don’t you?” Darius asks, giving my knee a gentle squeeze. “You’re not a random, untrained freshman. You contain the magic of all life on earth. You’re one of the most powerful people in the world, and definitely the most powerful sorceress. Not everyone knew that yet, but we had to tell them how important this matter was.”

  “Now everyone knows?” I ask.

  “We did tell a significant number of people,” Darius says. “Of course we asked for their discretion, but you should know that it may be leaked to the press.”

  “The press?” I ask, gulping and staring at the blank TV screen, imagining film crews like they have on the reality shows coming here, hounding me on campus.

  “Awesome,” Rocco says, a rumble of laughter shaking his shoulders. “Good thing I asked you out before it happened. Now I can say I dated the badass Jade Silva before she was famous.”

  “Shut up,” I say. “I don’t want to be famous.”

  I feel all weird just thinking about it. It was bad enough getting all that attention on campus from other students.

  “Don’t worry,” Darius says, his kind eyes finding mine. “No one is allowed on this campus without an invitation. We’ll make sure you’re protected while you’re at the Academy. Nothing has to change. But we needed people to know how important it is to find your father.”

  “Yeah, I guess,” I mutter. I hate to admit it, but he’s right. Why would a bunch of powerful wizards and witches look for a random human if I wasn’t important? The simple answer is, they wouldn’t.

  Ironically, they wouldn’t have to be looking for him if I didn’t have such dangerous magic to begin with.

  “What do we do now?” I ask. “I can’t just sit around while my father’s in danger.”

  “I’m afraid that’s exactly what you’re going to have to do,” Darius says. “Or at least continue going to your classes and studying as usual. The worst thing you can do is go running off campus again. If they want something from you, they’ll contact you. We need to be ready for that.”

  “Like, for a ransom?” I ask. It sounds so outlandish. We don’t have any money. No one would kidnap my father for a ransom.

  But that’s exactly what it sounds like. I may not have money, but I have magic.

  “What do you think they’ll want?” I ask, swallowing hard. There’s one sure way to get magic out of me, but the thought of having to seduce some creepy kidnapper to get my father back makes me want to hurl.

  “If it’s Lilith, we all know what she wants,” he says. “Speaking of which, I did some research on that creature that attacked you last night. It appears to be a demon of some sort.”

  “That didn’t look like any demon I’ve ever seen,” Rocco says.

  “What does a demon look like?” I ask, looking back and forth between Darius and Rocco.

  “Like a regular person,” Darius says.

  “Like Topher Stephens,” Rocco says.

  “What?” I squeak. “You invited a demon onto campus?”

  Professor Darius lifts a hand. “Demons aren’t inherently evil any more than the rest of us,” he says. “And yes. Who better to teach the Dark Arts than one who has so much experience with it?”

  I suddenly feel sick. I’ve been with Topher way too many times, sometimes alone. If he’s an agent of Lilith or Lucifer…

  “You should have told me,” I grumble.

  “Why does it matter to you?” Rocco asks, narrowing his eyes at me. “You won’t be learning Dark Arts for another year.”

  “It… Doesn’t matter,” I say at last. I’m not about to rat out my friend, and if I admitted what I’d been doing, they’d probably find out Elowen had been doing it, too. Even Topher deserves my loyalty until he proves otherwise. He’s risking his job by teaching me, and he’s never done anything wrong. Until he does, he deserves the benefit of the doubt just like Elowen. After all, I always scold people for their prejudices against necromancers. If I automatically suspect Topher because he’s a demon, I’m no better.

  Besides, what possible reason could he have to want my father gone? He already has access to me.

  “So what’s up with the mutant demon?” Rocco asks, turning back to Darius.

  “Basically, a demon is like… Like a soul without a body,” Darius explains. “It needs a host. It possesses a host, usually a human, and takes that form.”

  “Like a parasite,” I say.

  “Yes,” he says. “It’s their nature. They can’t change what they are any more than you or I can. That’s what they require to live, just as we require a body.”

  “Our own body,” Rocco says with a grimace.

  “Yes,” Darius says. “Unfortunately, they cannot live forever in one host. Eventually, it will need to move to a new host. How long they can stay in one host depends on how strong they are. You can usually see signs when they begin to use up the reserves in their host.”

  “You don’t think…” I trail off, swallowing hard before forcing the next words out. “You don’t think one of them possessed my dad?”

  “There’s no reason to suspect that at this point,” he says. “If he shows up acting very strangely or completely different, then we can explore the possibility. But it would be easy to get rid of it before it became too entrenched.”

  “And there’s no way Topher could have possessed him?”

  “As long as Topher’s still around in his current form, we know he hasn’t possessed someone else,” Rocco assures me. “Besides, Headmaster Orville can control demons. He’d never let him hurt anyone on campus.”

  “Well, that makes me feel a little better,” I admit. Although I’m not sure how much control he has over Topher, since he’s doing something illegal in teaching me Dark Arts before he’s supposed to.

  “Topher is a typical demon,” Darius says. “The creature that attacked you, I believe, is a demon that has been in its host for far too long. It has used up every bit of life in that body, but it hasn’t found a new host, either because it’s been bound to that host by magic, or because its not strong enough to leave and possess someone new.”

  This time, a full-on shudder grips me. “It was trying to possess me?”

  “It was probably trying to kill you,” Rocco says. “That’s the only way it could possess your body, since it’s not strong enough to possess a living person with a strong soul. It would snatch your body the second your soul departed for the spirit world.”

  “Should we really have a teacher on campus who could possess someone?” I ask. “I mean, if he’s strong, couldn’t he possess some other student. Or one of you?”

  Darius shakes his head. “He’s still got a few years left at least. He’s only just starting to show signs of aging.”

  “His eyes,” I say with a shudder.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Though it feels wrong in every capacity, I go on with the rest of my day, and then the next. I can’t think of a single thing to do to help my father, which breaks my heart. But until we have a clue, until someone contacts us with demands or someone from the Society of Supernaturals calls with information, there’s not much I can do. So, I go to class, where I’m worse than useless. Even Asher’
s lovestruck sighs about Mr. Stephens don’t lighten my mood. Not when I know my father is gone, and Mr. Stephens is a demon who might have something to do with it.

  I don’t really think that. Still, it’s hard not to associate demons with evil since, well, that’s what they’re associated with. Maybe Elowen was right all along. Maybe dark magic is evil, and by learning it, she’s becoming evil. Maybe we both are. Because when I think of the things I’d do to the person who took my father, to anyone involved, I know there’s a hell of a lot more in my heart than sunshine and butterflies.

  After classes, I go back to my dorm. I can’t bring myself to train with Mr. Stephens, and even if I wanted to, my guard is back. They may be warily accepting of having a demon on campus, but somehow I don’t think that would extend to me taking illegal private lessons with him. Not seeing him means I barely see Elowen all week, though. By Friday, I miss her too much to avoid the Dark Arts hall any longer. I shoot her a text and head over, telling her to meet me in her room with Mr. Stephens. It’s the only way I can think to see him without my guards barging in and kicking his ass.

  When I step into her room, she’s sitting on the edge of the bed, fidgeting with the trim on her duvet. Mr. Stephens stands at the window, his back to her and the door, probably watching Ryker, who guards me from afar today while Thorn has close guard duty.

  “Hey, how are you?” I ask, rushing over and taking a seat beside Elowen.

  “I’m okay,” she says, her shoulders tense. She glances at the window, then back to me, her eyes anxious. I shouldn’t have asked her to bring him here. Damn it. Now she’s all nervous from being alone with him, I’m wondering if he did anything inappropriate before I got here, and neither of us can speak freely.

  I turn to Mr. Stephens. “How come you didn’t tell us you were a demon?”

  His shoulders tense, and for a second, he doesn’t move. Finally, he turns from the window. “Because of that,” he says, nodding to us.

  “What?” I ask, glancing at Elowen. Her face is pale, and her mouth is hanging open in an O. Her brown eyes are wide and terrified.

  “You’re a… A demon?” she asks, seemingly on the verge of hysteria.

  “Yes,” he says calmly.

  “And you didn’t think we had a right to know that?” I ask.

  He shrugs. “If it became relevant, I would have told you. It didn’t affect what we were doing. You came to me ask me something, and I shared what I knew.”

  “You’re right,” I admit after a moment.

  “No,” Elowen says, shaking her head slowly back and forth. “No, it’s not right.”

  “Are some demons evil?” Topher says, spreading his palms. “Of course. Maybe even the majority. We have dark magic, and that’s how it manifests. That’s our persuasion. That doesn’t mean we go around murdering babies. We can’t help what we are any more than you can help being a necromancer and the High Priestess.”

  “Right, okay,” I say. “I get it. I’m sorry. It was shitty to stereotype.”

  “Elowen?” Topher asks, eyeing my friend.

  “I—I have to go.” She stands from the bed, but I grab her wrist.

  “You can’t go out there,” I hiss. “Thorn’s out there.”

  “He knows I’m here,” Topher says quietly.

  “Of course he does,” I say, rolling my eyes. They knew Elowen was living with me last semester. They can either hear through walls, or they know by some magical way.

  “Are you okay?” Topher asks Elowen, almost gently.

  I look back and forth between them, a new suspicion dawning. Were they seeing each other more often than when I was around? Have they been training all week when I haven’t come?

  “I don’t know,” she says. “You’re a demon?”

  “If you can’t believe that I’m not inherently evil, then be assured by the knowledge that Dr. Orville is a Demon Master,” he says, reaching for her hand and then drawing back without touching her. “I can’t act with malice toward any student on campus, even if I wanted to.”

  Elowen swallows and searches his face, shrinking back a little. “Really?”

  “If I was any danger to you or Jade, don’t you think one of the most powerful sorcerers in the Academy would have barged in here and run me through with a sword?”

  Thorn doesn’t have a sword, I think, but I don’t volunteer the information. I don’t know how much Topher knows about them, or me, or anything, really.

  “How do you know that Thorn knows you’re in here?”

  Topher smiles a little, his creepy black eyes moving to me. “I read minds a little.”

  Holy shit. A telepathic demon? That cannot be safe.

  The corner of his mouth twitches. “Some people broadcast more than others.”

  “What am I thinking?” I challenge. “Wait, no, don’t answer that. What is Thorn thinking?”

  Topher smiles again and shakes his head. “I’m not really supposed to do that.”

  “Do what?”

  “Tell other people what someone is thinking.”

  “Then what’s the use of telepathy?”

  “Well, it comes in handy for knowing when to keep my mouth shut about what I am.”

  “Oh,” I say, giving Elowen a meaningful look. I don’t need to read minds to know she’s freaking out. “I’m sorry. I admit I don’t know much about demons. I’ve only heard things, and they weren’t especially good things. I based my reaction on that, not anything you’ve done.”

  “I get that a lot,” Topher says with a small, sad smile. “It’s not easy to make friends with people who see you as a parasite.”

  “So you’re a good demon,” I say, pulling Elowen down beside me. Maybe this is for the best. After all, if a demon can be good, surely a necromancer can be.

  “I’m not sure how good I am,” Topher says. “Everyone has good and evil inside them.”

  “You must have the darkest magic,” Elowen whispers. “How can we trust you?”

  Topher shrugs and sinks onto the bed on her other side. “Your magic can affect who you become if you let it. I just have to fight harder to remember that than others. But somewhere inside, we’re all the same, no matter what magic we have and what kind of being we are. We all want to be accepted, and happy, and loved.”

  I narrow my eyes at him. Now I’m sure there’s something going on between them. I can’t believe she didn’t tell me.

  Topher leans over and pulls a wallet from his back pocket. He flips it open and shows us a black and white photo that’s so faded I can barely discern that it’s a group of people. “That’s my second family,” he says. “There were no pictures when I had my first.” He flips the photo to show a newer one, this one more recent, maybe a hundred years ago. The colors are exaggerated and dated, but I can make out a man with brown skin and black hair standing in front of a fireplace with a woman, each of them holding a baby. “That’s my third one. After that, I decided not to do that again. Too hard on them. I might last until they grew up, but one day, I’d have to disappear again. So that time, I told them why. I told them what I was. Let’s just say it did not go over well.”

  “You’re, like, really old then?” Elowen asks, her eyes wide.

  “I’ve had a lot of incarnations,” he says.

  But it’s not really an incarnation. It’s more like an infestation. I mean, he freaking possesses people and takes over their lives.

  I catch his eyes flicker toward me, and I curse myself for thinking that in his presence.

  “Well, that’s about all I wanted to tell you,” I say, standing. “Just that I know what you are, and I wanted to know why you hadn’t told us.”

  He glances at the door and then back to me. “If you have more questions, or need anything else I can offer, you know where I’ll be.”

  I realize he’s being cryptic because Thorn is there. If Thorn knows he’s seeing Elowen, it might not sound so strange that I’d be upset. I’m not sure if I should tell him, but considering all three of
us could be in trouble for it, I decide to let it go. Right now, it’s not hurting anyone. If Topher does something evil, I’m not going to protect him, but all he’s done is teach me something I asked to learn, sticking his neck out for me. Now I realize it was probably because he liked my friend, but still. That’s hardly evil intent.

  “Thank you,” I say. “I’ll be sure to do that. Now, I’d better go. You coming?”

  “Do you want me to go, too?” Topher asks Elowen.

  She looks down at her lap and shakes her head almost imperceptibly.

  “Okay,” I say. “I’ll leave you two to talk it out. Call me later?”

  Elowen nods. She’s got some serious explaining to do. I can’t believe she’d keep this from me—and from Asher. Well, I guess that one makes sense. But it’s not like he’ll hold it against her that Topher’s not gay. She’s going to have to break it to him eventually, and sooner is better than later.

  That’s not my business, though, so I slip out the door to find Thorn standing in the hall, his hand on his weapon and his posture alert. He relaxes visibly as I close the door behind me.

  “I guess you heard all that,” I say, rolling my eyes.

  “Yeah.” He frowns at me, searching my gaze. “You’re mad?”

  “It would’ve been nice to know you were spying on me all this time,” I say, starting for the stairs. “I’m sure I would have censored some of the things I’ve said if I knew you could hear me through the wall.”

  “Our job is to protect you,” he says. “Keeping you safe comes before keeping you happy.”

  “Well, it’s good to know where your priorities lie.”

  Thorn takes my arm, his grip firm but gentle. “I said that’s my job,” he says. “I didn’t say I don’t care about you being happy. Obviously I do.”

  “What does that mean?” I ask, narrowing my eyes. Suddenly, all I can think about is the day after finals when I went into my room with Professor Darius. Could he hear what happened? And he didn’t say anything because he wants me to be happy?

  “It means I stood guard so you could go on a date with my friend,” he says, his voice hard. “Even though I had to watch you laugh, and talk, and kiss him.”