by Nichols, TJ
Terrance walked through the formal garden, out the front of the library. On the other side of the garden were the accommodation blocks. With the fancy hedges and winding pathways, there were plenty of hidden corners. Should he be worried about someone jumping him? Terrance seemed calm.
They passed a couple making out. A woman with earphones in typed away on her computer as she sat cross-legged on a bench. Angus sat out here on weekends, reading or pretending to study. In daylight it was a nice garden. Right now as the shadows deepened and darkened, he wasn’t so sure.
Terrance eventually stopped in a very secluded nook. “This will do.”
Angus went still. If Terrance opened up a tear in the void and tossed him through, no one would know what had happened to him. Just another missing person.
When he’d been dating Jim, there’d been a spike, and the media had been all over it, asking questions. Wondering if criminal gangs were taking each other out. Jim had said that the warlocks were rounding up petty criminals or people on the street and tossing them over. At the time Angus had assured Jim that couldn’t be the case. The college was investigating the disappearances with the police.
The media didn’t report on it anymore. Angus was willing to bet that people were still going missing and being sent over the void.
Terrance lifted his shirt with one hand and conjured light with his other. His whole hand glowed and soft blue light illuminated the scars on his ribs. “To put your mind at ease. I pay.”
Angus nodded. He was underground. But he still didn’t want to say too much, anyone could be listening.
Terrance let his shirt drop back. “I’ll get you passing your classes, but you’ll struggle with the theory for obvious reasons. But there are ways. I also have other things for you to learn.” He smiled. The light from his hand illuminated the nook they had taken over. “Sometimes we’ll meet here; other times I think it would be more convenient for you to come to my room. As a third-year student, I have certain privileges.”
Angus knew exactly what those privileges were, but that didn’t mean that Terrance was allowed to share them with another student. There was a reason why first-year students weren’t allowed to summon their demon on their own.
He kept his voice low. “You could get in trouble.”
“I could get in trouble for many things… what’s one more?” He smiled again, and Angus hated the way it made Terrance more attractive. “But before we go any further, I have a request.”
Right, Angus had known that the underground would want something. He wasn’t about to rush in this time. He’d already given up blood. What more did people, and demons, want from him.
“What?”
“Fix your relationship with your father.”
“Huh?” How was that any of the underground’s concern?
“He is powerful and in the upper echelons of the college. If you showed the error of your ways and an interest in becoming a warlock instead of fighting it, you could move closer.”
They wanted him to spy on his father. While they didn’t see eye to eye, this was asking too much. “I don’t know… can I say no?”
“You could, but you require our help too.” Terrance raised one eyebrow.
“Why do they want to know what my father is doing?” He knew his father was important… but was he that important?
Terrance shrugged. “I don’t know. I do what I’m asked. I’m not privy to the big picture. Best that we aren’t, as then it could be leaked.”
The college came down hard on traitors. The media loved to remind people of the trouble rogue warlocks caused. It was more likely college members seeking to keep the reporters looking somewhere else instead of at the real threat. He stopped his mind from racing in circles. He couldn’t believe the conspiracy theories any more than he could believe the college or the demons. He had to listen and work out what was real for himself. At the moment all he knew for sure was that his world was getting colder and Demonside was getting drier, and someone was summoning demons through the void to kill them for their magic.
Was his father involved in setting demons free or killing them for gain? Angus didn’t want to believe it, but if he wasn’t involved, he probably knew the people who were. Angus deliberated. Laughter and talking were filtering through the garden on the cold air. This was where all warlocks trained and received the stamp of approval for employment as warlocks. Without that, the only people who would employ him as a warlock were criminals.
Angus remembered why he’d never wanted to come here. The politics were too messy. There was a joke often told that was a twist on the college’s approval: College warlocks, the only ones who can be trusted.
When should you trust a warlock?
When their heart has stopped beating.
Most people thought the only warlock who could be trusted was a dead one, even if they were paying handsomely for use of their services. Wizards weren’t trusted either, but they had no demon stain, and they were cheaper so they generally received less scorn.
While he didn’t agree with his father, he had trusted him. And that trust had been betrayed when his father had let the retrieval squad seal his memories of Demonside.
“I need to take your answer back,” Terrance said.
“We aren’t exactly talking. I have no relationship with my father to fix.” When he called home, he spoke to his mother. His father was probably on campus sometimes or at the business headquarters across the road. He probably didn’t lower himself to mixing with students, and he certainly didn’t teach.
“So call him up and thank him for paying for the tutor.”
Angus lifted his eyebrows, then gave a small laugh.
Terrance joined in. “Good fun, eh?”
“Now as well as helping with your theory, I have a few other things to teach you.” He moved his glowing hand then, let the light go out. He leaned in close, close enough that his breath was on Angus’s ear. “I don’t need demon magic for the small stuff.”
“You use wizard tricks?” Jim had been dabbling, they had both been dabbling in the small magics that wizards could do. Finding things, lighting candles, making things float…. It had taken a lot of effort to do anything, and most of it had been fairly useless.
“Not tricks. I can gather the magic that has already bled across.”
He and Jim had tried sex magic once. It hadn’t been anything like what he and Saka had done. Was Terrance going to be teaching that too? That didn’t seem quite right… but then ritual sex was just sex, supposedly. Maybe he wasn’t doing it right as he felt something when he was with the demon. He liked Saka. The demon was smart, as well as being just a little more dangerous than Angus was comfortable with.
Intoxicated. That’s how he felt with Saka. Like he wasn’t fully in control, but he was having fun anyway, consequences could wait. Consequences always had a way of catching up.
He glanced at Terrance. “Why you?”
“Because they thought I stood a better chance of teaching some of the more delicate points of magic than a woman.” His hand was on Angus’s shoulder, but it just rested there and it didn’t demand any response.
Angus wasn’t about to admit that he had noticed that Terrance was rather attractive. Terrance had probably taken one look at him and thought “what a weed.” A freckly weed. Although Terrance had spent too long looking at him in the common room. Had he been watching him even then? “Did you pull the short straw?”
He wasn’t sure that he wanted to be doing that kind of magic with Terrance.
“When you’re in a circle and doing it right, it’s about the other person’s magic and their willingness to be open. I think we could have some fun studying.”
Right, another person who liked him for his magic.
He didn’t have time for a relationship anyway. And he was keeping far too many secrets to make it work. He should take what was on offer and enjoy it. He had with Saka. The one time there had been no magic between them had been enough to make
him want more just like it… but it hadn’t happened. He touched his thigh in memory of the knife marks. He still didn’t want to admit that he had liked that, the way Saka said he would.
“How many other people do you tutor?”
“A few, not all need the same help.”
He needed someone to talk to, an ally. Saka was a demon with his own agenda. Terrance worked for the underground, and they had their own reasons. There was no one he could really trust except himself. No one else needed to know that. He’d play along for the moment.
“I’ll call my dad.”
“Good.” Terrance took his hand away. “We’ll start tomorrow afternoon.”
“That quick?”
“With the easy stuff. You’ve got to know how to gather the magic within yourself and from the earth before you can go deeper. But if you want to catch up for recreation, let me know.” He grinned. “See you tomorrow straight after dinner.”
“Where?”
“I’ll find you.” Then he was gone into the darkness. Angus headed back to the library. He still had to do this theory assignment. Terrance was right; Angus needed to pull recent textbooks that supported the current beliefs and not go looking for reasons to doubt.
And not give people reason to doubt him.
Angus stopped when he turned the corner after dinner. He’d been waiting for Terrance to find him since classes had finished. Terrance had, but it was not the friendly kind of finding and more of the stalky kind of finding.
Terrance came around the corner and took a step back when he saw Angus casually waiting.
“How long have you been following me?”
“I saw you leave dinner and I thought….” He trailed away.
Angus shook his head. “Don’t lie.”
He was sick of getting lied to or only getting partial pieces of information.
As Terrance drew in a breath and stared back, Angus realized it probably wasn’t in his best interest to argue with the rugby-playing warlock.
Terrance sighed. “Since you came back. It’s one of the things I do. I watch those who are retrieved.”
Did he watch for the underground or for the college or both? And if the underground watched, then Angus was damn sure that the college did too.
“We can talk about this later.” Terrance gave a pointed glance at the other students walking by.
“Fine.” Neither of them needed people listening in. “Did you have plans?”
“Yes. And they involve you.” Terrance grinned.
From anyone else that might have been a pickup line, but Terrance was talking about magic, and that was all Angus was interested in. Mostly.
“Put your coat on. We’re going outside.” Terrance pulled on his coat and started walking.
Angus followed even though he’d have rather stayed in. It had been raining on and off all day. They went outside, where it was already cold and almost dark. Again Terrance led him through the hedges of the library garden. The light rain was keeping most people away. He pulled up the hood of his coat, but rain had already trickled down the back of his neck.
Terrance stopped at a bench mostly protected by a tree. “This should be fine.”
“For what?”
“For a little practical work.”
“We couldn’t do that inside?”
Terrance sat on the bench. “It’s easier to learn outdoors because there is more flowing around. Inside it gets trapped in corners and there is less flow.”
Kids with magical ability usually had favorite places, and those favorite places had a buildup of magic. What was here was very weak compared to what was across the void. He’d been able to gather it easily over there.
Angus knew he was looking unconvinced.
“You need to be able to use what is around you. And you need to be able to do it fast. Yes, you have a demon, but this is faster. In the time it would take you to work through a summoning, I could’ve already attacked you.”
“But I will get faster at summoning.”
“True. I don’t need to walk widdershins. I do it all in my mind, but this is still faster. Think of it as self-defense.”
“If that were true, then it wouldn’t be banned.” They were both keeping their voices soft. Angus was standing with his hands shoved in his pocket.
“If you have to use your demon for everything, then you are weak. They knew that. They don’t want warlocks running around who can draw up magic on a whim. It makes magic look easy and safe. It’s why they always take great pains to reiterate that wizards are pathetic.”
By the college’s definition, Saka was a wizard. There was nothing pathetic about his magic.
“You still didn’t answer my first question. How long have you been following me?”
“I did. You just weren’t happy with the answer. If you’d said another dangerous thing in the common room, I’d have shut you down.”
That explained the looks from Terrance. He’d known it couldn’t be anything else. “And who would’ve reported me?”
“I don’t know. But someone in your class would’ve been told to keep an eye on you—the college would have said it was in case you suffered any side effects from being taken. They would’ve made it sound innocent.”
Which was even more disturbing. Someone in his classes was making sure that he was okay and thinking they were concerned about his welfare when that was the furthest thing from the truth.
“So draw up energy and then what?”
“You haven’t done much yet, have you?”
“Tree growing?”
Terrance shook his head. “That’s just shifting the energy from the demon to you to the tree. You aren’t actually doing anything with the energy. The seed already knows what to do. You’re just feeding it. They’ll probably have you making light and then heat. They’re very simple.”
“Like fire?” Standing in front of a fire would be nice. He couldn’t feel his toes.
“No fire today. Draw it up, try and hold it in your hand, then change it from magical energy to light.” Terrance did all of that while he was talking, and he made it look as natural as breathing.
It wasn’t.
Angus could feel the magic, but it was slippery and so hard to gather. There wasn’t enough of it. There was a reason wizards used blood or sex to draw more magic.
He didn’t know how long he’d been trying when Terrance got up and put his hand over Angus’s. Immediately Angus felt the magic in his palm. He managed to hold it for a few seconds before it slid away.
“I suck at this.”
“Everyone does at first. It’s the hardest thing to learn. But once you can….” He smiled. Rain slicked down his dark hair, and his face was mostly hidden in shadows, but it was enough that lust took hold and Angus had to remind himself to breathe.
The magic reformed between their palms.
Maybe he was only good at one kind of magic.
That Saturday night Angus had been invited home for dinner. One groveling phone call was all it had taken to smooth his father’s ruffled feathers and to show that he was really trying to please.
It had left a bad taste in Angus’s mouth. He didn’t want to please. And he didn’t want to go to dinner. Yet here he was, ringing the doorbell and waiting to be let in. He shouldn’t have needed an invitation to have dinner at home. He wouldn’t have needed the invitation if his father hadn’t banned him from coming home until he’d turned himself into a warlock, and a good one.
That ultimatum had been what made Angus decide to fail the demon summoning. That hadn’t worked out as he’d expected. What would he be doing now if the college had kicked him out? Would he have turned to the underground anyway? Or tried to get into a medical college? He would’ve needed to find a job because he would’ve had all of his funds cuts if he’d been tossed out of college.
Or would his father have pulled strings to make sure Angus stayed in Warlock College?
He crossed his arms and pulled his coat tighter around him
. What was taking so long? Was his father giving his mother a list of topics not to talk about?
Just as he was about to ring the doorbell again, his mother opened the door and hugged him. She was shorter than he remembered, more like he’d grown. “I am so happy you and your father are speaking again. Are you enjoying college?”
“I am.” That wasn’t a lie. He liked history. But he liked the other things that he was learning on the side more. With Terrance he was learning to gather the magic that was around him and in him. He couldn’t do much with it, yet, but he was learning how powerful wizard magic could be.
He was also discovering the magic that was really in his blood. His dad had known that he’d never be able to ignore it, so had wanted him to be able to use it in what he considered a proper manner. In his father’s mind, sending his son to college had been the right thing to do. Most warlocks didn’t question what they had been told. Why would they when it was working for them?
His life would’ve been easier if he’d never questioned the use of demons for magic. For that he blamed Jim. Jim had been the one to interest him in the underground, and at the time, Angus had thought him exciting and dangerous.
“Good. You’ll be a fine warlock. Have you picked a specialty yet?” she asked.
“That’s at the end of second year, after they have sampled the different areas,” his father answered for him.
Angus’s heart clenched, and he forced himself to keep breathing, slow and even. He wasn’t supposed to remember seeing his father at the interrogation after being retrieved. He wasn’t supposed to remember anything about the incident, just that it had been horrible and that the demons had hurt him.
Every time he blinked, he saw the retrieval squad and his father sitting there as the woman dug into his brain.
“I have always been interested in medicine. I doubt that will change,” Angus added. He had always wanted to be a doctor. Now he’d end up treating those with an overinflated self-worth and bank account instead of those who needed genuine care. Maybe he could also volunteer at a clinic.
