by Avery Cross
“Think he likes you.” The shopkeeper bustled out of the backroom, his long black beard trailing to his waist. “They’re fickle, they are.”
“They’re just paper, aren’t they?” she asked.
“Paper with some very old magic in them,” he told her, and I fought back a huff of annoyance. “They’ll let you know when something’s wrong, with the weather, with a relationship perhaps.” He winked at me.
I shook my head behind Briar’s back.
“Interesting,” she said quietly, glancing at the crane. “But I’m afraid I’m a poor student who can’t afford anything right now. Just window shopping.”
The shopkeeper frowned. “Well, that’s a shame.”
Briar’s eyes flickered with a hint of bitterness as she reached up to lift the crane off, but I stopped her, pulled out my wallet, and handed the man a hundred. Her eyes widened as the man took it.
“Wait, Zach,” she hissed. “What are you doing?”
“I’m looking after your mental wellbeing, as your mentor.” Not even sure why I did it myself. “You know I’ve seen your quarters. You have nothing personal there, nothing fun. He can be the first thing for your new life.”
She smiled so brightly, for a second, I forgot about all the crap happening back at Academy, and why we were here in the first place. The crane nudged her cheek and stayed on her shoulder as we left the shop, heading toward the diner.
“What should I name him?” she asked after we were seated at a booth near the windows.
“Don’t know. Never had a pet before.”
“Never? Not even a fish?”
I shook my head. “No pets. Parents weren’t home much, and I don’t think they thought my brothers and I were responsible enough.”
She burst out laughing. “Seriously? You’re ‘Mister we have to obey the rules’ and all that crap? Really?”
“I was a wild child, what can I say?”
“I doubt that.” She watched her crane fly from her shoulder to the table, looking out the window. “What was it like? Growing up in your house?”
I leaned back against the booth, smirking as I remembered my years growing up. At first, I hesitated to tell her about my happy childhood, but she leaned closer, appearing genuinely interested.
“I’m the youngest of four to start with. And all three of them are already in the military, working on their careers.”
“Your dad’s in it too, right?”
“He was,” I said sadly, but proud of who he’d been. “He was a general, but died a few years ago, natural causes. Highest rank a Pierce has achieved to date, though we’ve always been a part of the military. Whereas my mom’s side was more into being diplomats.”
She squeezed my arm in comfort, and I smiled down at her.
“It’s why my parents said they had such heated debates. Military and government under one roof don’t always mix well.” I remembered the last disagreement they had that ended with the back wall of the house being blown out by mom’s temper.
“They fought a lot?” she asked worried.
I tilted my head. “No, I mean from the outside, it probably seemed that way, but my parents loved each other. They just both had tempers and as I’ve said—”
“Emotions are tied to our summoning abilities,” she finished for me. “See? I pay attention. What do your brothers do? Aura readers?”
“I’m the first spirit in my family in generations.” I glanced out at the street again as the sun set fully and night started to take over the mountainside. “Adam, the eldest is air, like Mom. Nick and Luke are both earth like Dad, and then there’s me. Right now, Adam is stationed farther south, he’s part of the clean-up crew, you could call it, and the other two, twins, they’re involved in some top-secret ops missions that I’m not allowed to know about.”
“Really? What would be top-secret?”
I glanced around the diner, but no one was paying much attention to us. “There’s dark magic in the world and always someone, or a group of someones trying to use it against the innocent. It’s a never-ending fight. They find ways to… neutralize the problem.”
“Assassins?”
I chuckled, thinking of those two being assassins. “Without the suave demeanor, yeah, something like that.”
“Must’ve been nice to grow up in the same house all your life with your family.”
“I’m sure you had some good times,” I said quietly.
She shook her head.
“None?”
As if sensing her sadness, the paper crane turned from the window and fluttered to land on the back of Briar’s hand. She ran a finger gently over its head, and I was tempted to go sit beside her so I could put my arm around her shoulders. But I couldn’t get myself to move. Once upon a time, I was good at flirting and making that first move. With Briar, I was too damned worried about what she’d think of me. Hunter would be having a field day making fun of me if he could see me failing now.
“The last place I was at was probably the best,” she told me. “The old lady, she was nice enough. Cared about the kids she took in.”
“How many were you with?”
“Five others. Sometimes more, but we tended to move around a lot. It’s where I met Jake.”
“The guy who was texting you?”
She screwed her lips to the side and nodded. “He keeps checking in with me, sending me pictures of him… and his girlfriend. But it’s alright, I’ve realized he’s not exactly my type.”
“Good, that’s good,” I said, louder than I meant to
Her brow rose. “Yeah, yeah it is good.”
“What is your type then? If you don’t mind my asking, for mentor purposes only, of course.”
“Uh huh,” she mused. “Zach, about the other week—”
The waitress returned with our food, and she never finished what she was telling me.
We dug into our late dinner instead, turning the conversation back to my family and what I planned on doing after graduation.
She was easier to talk to than Hunter, and before I realized it, we’d been sitting in that same booth for three hours, eating pie, and just talking. Hearing her laugh was a welcome change, and I was fine with staying a bit longer, when movement outside the window caught my eye.
“Zach? What’s up?”
Even the crane was tilting its head, studying me before it flew toward the window. There on the other side of the street standing beneath a streetlight was the robed man. The hood was up covering his face, but I knew it was him.
And I felt his glare aimed directly at us.
“We have to go,” I said quietly, laying enough cash on the table to cover our bill and rose. “Now.”
She was still squinting out the window when her eyes widened, and she held out her hand for the crane. It obediently flew to her, then hopped up to her shoulder as we hurried out of the diner and down the sidewalk. Her hand held onto the crook of my elbow, and I hated this night couldn’t have turned out to be a bit more on the romantic side.
“He’s following us,” she whispered, and I picked up the pace.
The car was in sight, and by the time we reached it, the man stood directly across the street. He leisurely lowered his hood and those dark eyes brimmed with fire. My gaze was locked onto his, and a burning heat passed through me before Briar tugged on my arm, and I blinked, breaking contact.
We got into the car, and I floored it out of Silent Heights, leaving the strange man far behind us.
“Who the hell is he?” Briar asked, voice shaking.
“Don’t know, but he’s not military.”
“You sure? Looked pretty damned deadly to me.”
“He’s not, but those tattoos… we have to figure out what they mean.”
“You’ve tried the internet, right?”
I shot her a look. “Those won’t be online. The magical world is very careful with keeping any useful information off the web.”
“Well, midterms are next week, and then we’r
e off for a few days. We’ll have some time.”
“Unless he comes after us.”
I hadn’t meant to say it aloud, but the words just came out. Ivan wasn’t the only one following us it appeared. The ride back to Academy was silent, both of us lost in what was going to happen if either Ivan or this other man caught up with us.
I’d meant for tonight to be carefree and fun, but now I was more worried than ever, especially about Briar. She was in a hand-to-hand class, but they were still learning the basics. If this man came after her, she’d have to be ready. Somehow, during our search for the missing students and figuring out who this man was, I was going to have to teach her how to defend herself.
Just in case.
I carried the two paper cups of coffee into the catacombs, vacant of all students except Briar and me since our short fall break started up. After the robed man spotted us in Silent Heights, I’d come down to this mostly forgotten part of the library and reinforced the barriers around it, ensuring us some more time and privacy. I also added a few alerts at the bottom of the stairs as well as farther along, so we’d have some warning if someone did approach.
No students would be coming down here anytime soon, and as far as I knew, the professors were all enjoying their short break as well. I’d have some serious explaining to do if any of them did come down here and wonder why I was casting such powerful blocking spells, with my mentoring student in tow.
When I passed through the magical barrier, making my hairs rise on my arms for a few seconds, I walked to the table we’d pulled over to the hearth to keep back the chill in the dank space. I spotted Briar, holding her head in her hand, but her eyes were closed. I removed the lid of one of the coffees and passed it under her nose.
“Mmm.” Not opening her eyes. “That smells fantastic.”
“Fresh, too.”
I set it down, and she stretched and yawned, thanking me through it all.
“Welcome. Find anything?”
“Box number 27 is also a bust,” she muttered, closing the file before her. She sipped her coffee. “And I pulled a few more books that might have some promising leads as far as the tattoos. Haven’t looked through them yet.”
“Leave it to me.” I chugged half my coffee, managing to burn my tongue, then pulled the stack of old leather-bound tomes closer.
They were dusty, and I brushed them off, wiping the dirt and grime on my jeans. Briar grabbed another box off the floor and reached inside for more files. We worked in silence, minus the crackling of the fire. I chanced a glance after the first book was a bust, and smiled when I noticed she was still wearing my sweatshirt. She’d gotten cold earlier, and I’d gladly handed it over.
She’d wrapped her arms around herself and sighed at the warmth, and I’d considered attempting our first kiss again, but nah, I didn’t do it.
After another hour passed, my neck was cramping.
Briar made a confused noise, digging into the box for more files.
“Find something?” I asked, trying not to get my hopes up.
“Maybe… not from thirty years ago, though.”
“What is it?” I came around to her side of the table, watching as she pulled out more and more files. “Shroud?”
“Just hang on a second.”
She covered the entire table with files, all from six years ago. When they were spread out, she started to flip through them to the back pages where their graduation was listed, as well as what they went on to pursue. Some, she closed and flipped over, but five were left open-faced, and I moved around the table, looking for whatever it was she saw.
“Why are these special?” I finally asked when she flipped the last one over.
“This isn’t the whole class,” she told me, “but none of these students have graduation dates.”
I bent lower, scouring the page in front of me. “That’s odd.”
“Very odd, considering every single other file I’ve looked at does. Why wouldn’t they?”
“Students do drop out sometimes,” I suggested.
She shook her head.
“I’ve found those files, and they clearly state that they are dropouts, followed by several pages of legal documentation. And those all varied from first-years to fourth-years. All these? They were seniors. There are grades started for their second semester, up to the mid-term and then nothing.”
I read over the names, but none of them stuck out. “We need to take these files, keep them somewhere safe.”
“And do what next?” she asked. “This still isn’t really proof.”
“No, but it’s something odd, and it’s a start…” I trailed off as I picked up one the files and stared at the face of the student. It was a young man, but I swore I’d seen him before. Those eyes stood out, and when it hit me, I dropped the file.
“Zach?”
I pointed at a photo. “Look familiar?”
She squinted at it then her eyes widened. “What the hell. That’s the guy with the tattoos. He was a student here, and if he was that man, then he didn’t go missing, right?”
I had no answers for her, not tonight. “Pack up the files and hide them in your room.”
“Why mine?”
“Ivan is less likely to try and get into your quarters, trust me. And I want us to search for these names, see if they pop up anywhere. Obits or police reports.”
She pulled her laptop from her bag and booted it up, starting with the first name in the stack. But after typing in each name, nothing appeared in the searches. “It’s like they just dropped off the face of the earth.”
It could be much harder to track down witches and warlocks since many lived in magical communities and worked within our military, so I wasn’t too surprised there was nothing to go on, but it was still suspicious. After she closed her laptop, she tucked the files away in her tote bag and packed up the rest in a box. I could tell she wanted to keep searching through that year, but at least one of us needed to get some sleep.
“Why don’t you go get some rest?”
“Aren’t you coming?”
“Nah, not tired, and I want to find those damned tattoos.”
She did that crooked frown I liked far too much and sighed. “Alright, but just for a few hours. I’ll come back down with some more coffee. Want your sweatshirt back?” she asked and started to remove it, but I shook my head.
“You can hang onto it. It’ll be chilly outside anyway.”
She slung her tote over her shoulder, tucking her hair behind her ears. “Alright. I’ll see you in a few hours.” She stood there for a moment as if unsure of what she was going to do, muttered a curse under her breath and before I had a chance to process what was happening, she stood on her toes and kissed my cheek. Then, she was walking away, and I was too much of an idiot to go after her for a real kiss.
Soon, I’d kiss her right, soon.
Tonight, I was going to find those tattoos.
After another two hours of searching, I was cursing vividly, shoving aside another useless text. That’s when I spotted a rolled-up parchment I hadn’t noticed Briar pull off the shelf. It was very yellowed and brittle around the edges. Carefully, I picked it up and unfurled it.
A second later, I was on my feet staring at every symbol intently, not willing to believe what I was seeing.
“Necromancer,” I whispered, comparing the tattoos I’d sketched to the ones in ink on the parchment. “He’s a necromancer?”
Why had he been talking to Ivan out in the open like that?
Necromancy was outlawed over five hundred years ago, for good reason, but that student, Dresden, he’d been covered in those symbols. Either he was one of those idiots who got tattoos because they looked cool… or he was a necromancer, and Ivan was into much darker shit than I assumed.
I pulled out my cell to text Briar what I found, but my battery was dead. Rolling the parchment gently, I left the catacombs and raced upstairs, not slowing for anything until I was outside the doors, and leaving the mai
n building behind. I expected the dorms to be quiet seeing as it was nearly midnight, but the halls were filled with students. I pushed past them, trying to catch bits and pieces of conversation to figure out what happened, but everyone seemed confused.
Someone said Hooke was in the building, as well as Professor Dray, who taught the water summoners. Why were they here this late at night?
“Briar,” I whispered and ran faster, though if something was wrong with her, I’d expect to see Professor Woods or Tapps.
I was out of breath by the time I reached her door and knocked.
It took a few minutes, but she finally opened up, Nyala behind her on the phone, looking pretty upset.
“Did you hear?” She stepped outside, but left her door open.
“No, what’s going on?”
She pointed down the hall to where more students were gathered outside a room, but I couldn’t see whose. “Someone’s dad died.”
“What? When?”
“I think tonight. Nyala’s friends with the girl’s roommate, that’s who she’s talking to.”
I tried to see over the heads of the other students, but there were too many, and an eerie hush started to fall over the hall as the door suddenly opened, and Hooke emerged, holding up his hands to hush the few students still whispering to each other.
“As I’m sure some of you have realized by now, we are being faced with a terrible tragedy tonight,” Hooke said. “General Thomas Addie, father of Patricia, was found dead in his office at 2300 hours this evening.”
A gasp erupted up and down the hall, and Briar gripped my arm hard. It had to be a coincidence, right? That a general was found dead a few weeks after I saw a necromancer around campus. Hooke let the students whisper for a few more minutes before he held his hands up again for silence.
“As details are released, we will, of course, keep you up to date, but for the moment, I ask that you all take care of comforting Patricia. She will need our support until she leaves us to join the rest of her family in mourning. We’ll all be thinking of him and hope they catch whoever would commit such a heinous act.”
Hooke said nothing else, turned, and headed for the stairwell.
