Oath Of The Witch: An Urban Fantasy Action Adventure (School of Necessary Magic Raine Campbell Book 4)

by Judith Berens

  Librarian Decker emerged from the nearby stacks and his poppy blew raspberries at the books for some inscrutable reason only magic poppies might understand. “What has your interest today? Are you still reading about different dragon species?”

  Raine shook her head. “That was a little thing because of what happened during the Louper quarter-final. Besides, I have to be careful. Since I spend less time here, I can’t read as much about any single subject.”

  The gnome chuckled quietly. “Less time? I suppose you do, but you still spend far more time than almost any student in this school, and more time than large numbers of students combined, including your friends.” He leaned over to look at the book. “Wishes? Please tell you haven’t gotten involved with someone with a wish. They can be dangerous.”

  “No, nothing like that.” She laughed, a little embarrassed. “I was trying to find if there is some way to help Sara’s magic fully awaken. There’s so much knowledge here, I thought maybe…” She shrugged and blushed. “Maybe I could find an answer.”

  Librarian Decker nodded slowly. He didn’t want to discourage the girl but also wanted her to not waste her time chasing impossible dreams. “Unlocking and improving magical potential isn’t so simple, Raine. If it were, Oricerans would have cast spells on each other until everyone was so powerful even the Fixer’s spell books and artifacts would seem like toys.”

  “Are you saying it’s hopeless?”

  “Nothing’s hopeless. There are artifacts that increase individual magical power and rituals to feed energy into people in different ways, but these are rare, hard to find, and often dangerous.” He raised his hand and an image of a seed appeared. “Potential waiting to manifest isn’t something to be ashamed of, Raine. It’s always there.”

  “I know that, but Sara’s so down this semester.” Raine rolled her eyes. “Her family are being complete jerks to her about it.”

  “Her time will come, and they’ll regret what they’ve said and done.”

  The seed split and a small green shoot poked from it and continued to grow and thicken. Leaves appeared and soon, multiple closed flowers appeared on the plant. The flowers opened, each a different color.

  “Just be there for her,” Librarian Decker suggested. “And let nature take its course.”

  A loud crash sounded, and the gnome turned with a frown as his poppy growled. Joe and a few others made their way toward the source of the noise.

  Jordan the Wood Elf lay on the ground in a pile of books from a nearby shelf and wore Arc Eighty-Eight glasses. He stood, rubbed his thigh, and winced. “S-sorry. I…uh, bumped into it when I was…well, then the books fell.”

  The head librarian held his hand out. “Give me the glasses. Since this is the first time you, in particular, have disrespected my books, I won’t send you to the headmistress.”

  “Just my luck.” He removed his glasses and groaned. “Stupid Maeve. I tried to tell her I couldn’t come in here, but she doesn’t get it.”

  Raine was surprised to hear Jordan mention the tutorial fairy. She had assumed that once you had played the game for a few hours, you never saw her again.

  As the gnomes demanded that the young man help them restock books, she looked at the one she had and wondered if it were a waste of time. The professors might not want to interfere with the family’s wishes, but Librarian Decker had helped the students before and risked getting into trouble for it. If even an ancient gnome didn’t know an easy way to help Sara, maybe there really wasn’t anything to do but wait.

  She slammed the book shut and grumbled under her breath. Hap getting Sara’s hopes up made her even angrier now. Next time Raine saw the ferret, she would give him a piece of her mind.

  There had to be something she could do, though, some other way to support her friend. She gasped when she thought of something. Maybe it was time to move something else along. Not every problem in life required a wish to solve it. Sometimes, they merely required a little friendly intervention.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Raine poked her head through the doorway into the Entrepreneurs Club room. Philip sat at a table and studied a small doll. He’d mentioned it briefly a few days before as one of the freshman’s projects that he tried to help with. It was supposed to dance by itself. He thought it didn’t fit the potential market at the school, but he still wanted to encourage the student.

  The wizard looked up from the table with a surprised expression. “Oh, Raine, what are you doing here? We don’t see you in this room much.”

  She closed the door behind her and headed toward the table, half-wondering if she should use a silence bubble to conceal their conversation. With an inward chuckle, she decided it was too paranoid and settled on merely talking quietly.

  “I have a question for you, Philip.”

  He set the doll down. “About?”

  “Do you plan to ask anyone to the Spring Formal?”

  He blushed and looked away. “I…uh…you know, have lots of prospects right now. I’m evaluating them, trying to figure out who would be best. That kind of thing. Just like in entrepreneurship, I have to consider all the variables.”

  Raine rolled her eyes. Boys could be so silly at times. “You already know the kind of girl you like. You’ve told us.”

  “Yeah, so?” Philip kept his eyes averted as if the wall was suddenly the most fascinating thing to look at in the world.

  According to Agent Connor, the average person wasn’t good at lying. They believed they were, but their face and body would always tell the truth. Spells and polygraphs weren’t necessary as long as an FBI agent paid close attention. The trick, he’d told her, was that when confronted bluntly with the truth, a reluctant criminal or witness would often run too hard from it in an effort to conceal it. It was almost too easy to catch people in lies.

  “You like Sara, don’t you?” Raine leaned forward, her eyes narrowed as if interrogating a captured suspect. She’d have to be both the good cop and the bad cop.

  “Sara? What? No.” Philip scoffed. “I mean, I’m not saying she’s ugly or anything, and she’s cool and stuff, but no, no. We’re only friends. Why would I want to date Sara? The thought has never even crossed my mind.”

  “I only talked about the dance. Not dating. But while we’re on the subject, what’s the first word that comes to mind when you think of her?”

  “Beautiful—I mean p-paintings!” Philip sputtered, his face now deep red. “Beautiful paintings,”

  Raine straightened, a triumphant smile on her face. Meddling to help her friends wasn’t such a bad thing, and it was obvious they both liked each other. Not everyone would be like Evie and make the first move, especially when Sara was still worried about her magic.

  The witch pointed at Philip as if accusing him of a crime. “You like Sara, and you want to date her. Admit it!”

  He sighed and looked down, defeat written on his face. “Okay, I do. I don’t know what happened. I always only thought of her as Sara. I’ve always thought she was pretty and strong and talented, but for some reason, during break, I sat there at a soup kitchen serving food, and I thought, ‘Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if Sara were here?’ And it all clicked into place.”

  “Aww. That’s so sweet.”

  “You’re killing me here. This is real-life, not The Notebook.”

  “I should hope so. I want a better ending for you guys.” Raine checked over her shoulder to make sure no one new had joined them. “She still has her head in the sand because of her magic. It’s obvious that she likes you too. We all can see it. Haven’t you talked to the guys about this?”

  “I don’t want to. I mean, Cameron’s got you. William’s got Evie. Adrien doesn’t care about anything that’s not Guardian stuff. It’d be weird. I’m a dude, and we don’t talk about our…you know, feelings, the same way that girls do.”

  “You are now, and I’m telling you Sara likes you.”

  Philip picked the doll up from the table. “Do you know why I added that Cl
oud potion to Evie’s cookies last year?”

  “Because you wanted to sell a lot of cookies?” Raine shrugged. She stopped herself from laughing. The boy was sharing his feelings and he didn’t need to feel like he was being mocked.

  “I knew her cookies were good and I knew they would sell.” Philip narrowed his eyes on the doll. “But I worried that they might not. A little voice in the back of my mind said, ‘Hey, why not be sure?’” He tossed the toy onto the table. “At least I’m friends with Sara right now. If I go and ask her out and she turns me down, then what?”

  “I don’t know what to tell you, Philip. Cameron’s my first boyfriend. I’m no dating expert, but I know my friends, and I know Sara likes you.”

  Philip locked gazes with her. “And what if you’re wrong?”

  “What if I am? Sometimes, you have to take a chance.” Raine nodded at the doll. “Isn’t that what it means to be an entrepreneur? To take a chance?”

  He offered her a small grin. “You’re right. It is.”

  “You can do this.”

  “I can do this!”

  The door opened, and a senior club member entered. The new arrival, a tall boy, looked from one to the other with curiosity.

  “You know what you have to do, Philip.” She waved and headed toward the door.

  Philip waved back and his excitement swelled. Raine was right. He could do it.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Everyone filed out of magical history, but Philip waited in his chair and watched Sara from a few tables away. He’d waited for his opportunity for days because the Spring Formal was less than a week away, but despite Raine’s pep talk, he still wanted to find the perfect opportunity. Sara hadn’t looked at him any differently, so he assumed Raine hadn’t said anything.

  He cleared his throat, stood, and headed toward her as she finished gathering her things. The others had already left.

  “Hey, Sara,” he said with a practiced smile. He hoped he looked as good as he had in the mirror.

  “Hi, Philip.”

  “Can I walk with you to your next class?”

  She seemed surprised, but she nodded. “Sure.”

  They stepped into the hallway with a good distance between them and the other students.

  Philip hummed a few bars of a song to kill time as he worked up his courage. “The Spring Formal’s coming up. That’ll be awesome. I’ve got this cool outfit—black leather, a huge ruff. A few different King Philips in Spain wore them, so I guess that’s kind of my theme, being a King Philip.”

  Sara laughed and the sound set him at ease. “I didn’t even think about trying to look up a royal with my name. I love my dress. It’s beautiful.”

  “I’m sure it is, just like…uh, I’m sure it is.” He forced another grin. “This whole thing was Raine’s idea, you know, the glamor of the royal court, but I’ve really enjoyed helping to plan it. I’m not so sure I’ll be on Student Council myself next year.”

  “Oh? Why’s that? Are you also planning to do FBI training?”

  “As if. Nah. I want to think about time. They let us go into town starting next year. I figure I could start doing charity work there, but I need the time to do it.”

  “Wow.” Her face brightened. “I know you work hard and help other people, but I don’t always see it. I feel bad that I forget that. You’re so kind and caring. You cover it up with jokes and stuff at times, but…” She blushed and turned away. “It’s nice that you’ll use free time to do charity work.”

  “Not only charity work,” Philip insisted. “Also…other…things.”

  Sara’s brow lifted in curiosity “What other things?”

  “So, um…I was thinking that I spent all this time helping plan the dance.” He swallowed and looked the kitsune in the eyes. “It’d be a shame if I didn’t actually dance at the dance.”

  “Yeah, that would be a shame.” Her cheeks reddened.

  “But you need someone to dance with. Well, at least at that kind of dance.”

  She nodded. “It would be hard to dance by yourself.”

  “So I wondered, if you didn’t already have someone who asked you, if…” Philip took a deep breath. “If you’d like to go with me to the Spring Formal.”

  Sara’s breath caught as she stared at him for a moment and said nothing at all. She’d wanted this, but she also couldn’t push back the part of her that said Philip wasn’t into her. Everyone had paired off, and she was the leftover girl of their social circle. Adrien made it clear he was dedicated to being a Guardian, and she suspected the elf would end up with some elf knight girl or something like that.

  On the other hand, Sara liked Philip. He was cute, kind, caring, and loyal. She’d wondered a few times what it’d be like to date him, but she had to be sure what this was.

  “Take me to the dance as a friend,” Sara began, “or as a date?”

  The question hung there between them for a long moment and she nibbled her lip nervously while her heart threatened to pound out of her chest.

  “As a date,” Philip declared. “I like you, Sara. As more than only a friend. I could list all the reasons, but I think it’d embarrass us both and we need to get to class soon.”

  “You’re saying you have that long a list?”

  “Yeah.”

  Sara blinked and averted her eyes. “Fine.”

  “Fine?” Philip responded with a confused frown. “Fine what?”

  “I’ll go with you to the Spring Formal, as your date.”

  Giddy happiness washed away the frown on Philip’s face. “Great! I can’t wait to see your dress. We’d better get to class.”

  Sara smiled softly. “Yeah. We should.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Philip unloaded his treasure trove of snacks on the coffee table in the movie room, everything from piles of Twizzlers to bags of chip. Several bowls of fresh popcorn sat on the table, along with red cups and bottles of soda.

  Cameron and Raine chatted beside one another, as did William and Evie. Sara sat quietly, a smile on her face as she watched Philip.

  He wasn’t sure if they were officially dating, but she would go to the dance with him and that was enough.

  Evie murmured something to William and stood to head over to the DVD player. “I decided to lighten it up after Les Miserables last week.” She shot a glare at Adrien and he shrugged in response. “Don’t worry, Adrien. I picked a French film.”

  The elf raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

  Everyone had been surprised that he’d brought a musical, but then not so surprised once they watched the actual movie. Noble and tragic sacrifice were very much Adrien in a nutshell.

  Evie fished the DVD out of the case and slipped it into the player. The menu screen for Amelie popped up with a smiling Audrey Tautou. The light but evocative main theme played.

  “Amelie?” Adrien sniffed disdainfully. “It’s a little whimsical for my taste, but it’s still a quality film. I have to say it’s held up better than some of the other French dramedies from that period.”

  Raine couldn’t figure anything out about the plot from the image of the smiling, pale, dark-haired woman on the DVD menu. “What’s it about?”

  “Love, identity, understanding connections between people,” Evie explained, eagerness in her voice. “Really, it comes down to a woman trying to direct the lives of those around her and how, as she does it, she learns a lot about herself and how to find her own happiness.”

  “Does this have a depressing ending?” Sara asked and looked worried.

  “No, not at all.”

  Cameron and Raine both perked up. Depressing horror films were one thing. It was what was expected, but depressing films in other genres were harder to take. Everyone had yet to decide how they felt about The Notebook.

  Philip clapped and hurried over to a chair beside Sara. “Then let’s get whimsical, dudes!”

  The elf gave him a tight smile.

  As the credits rolled, Philip found himself staring at the
smiling Sara. She really seemed to enjoy the movie and fortunately, he had another way to make the night and movie even more interesting.

  Philip cleared his throat. “Have any of you heard of the Amelian Society?”

  Everyone shook their head. Sara looked at him with curiosity.

  “I didn’t get it before seeing the movie. It’s something my dad told me about.” He pointed at the TV. “He said they were inspired by the gnome prank that Amelie and her friend pull on her dad. Actual gnomes who join the Amelian Society travel around to different places on Earth and Oriceran. They take pictures with old-fashioned Polaroid instant cameras in different places, all dressed like garden gnomes. They take the pictures and mail them around to other gnomes.”

  Several of the teens had wondered why such old-style cameras were still sold, and it now made more sense.

  “I don’t understand,” Sara said, her brow furrowed. “They simply go and take pictures? They’re gnomes. They can take the Starbuck trains or even use portals to travel around.”

  Philip shook his head. “That’s the thing. Part of being in the Amelian Society is you can’t use magic to travel from place to place. It’s considered cheating.”

  Raine shook her head. “I still don’t get it. Is it like a contest or a sport or something?”

  “No one really knows except the Amelian Society. And they’re very secretive. They used to deny that they even existed until a few years back.” He shrugged. “And only gnomes are allowed to join. Some people say it’s simply a giant joke by bored gnomes. Other people say it’s a cult or a fraternal society. There are even some people who claim it’s not actual gnomes but that somehow, when the gates opened, the movie brought garden gnomes to life.”

  “That’s not possible,” William scoffed. “Even with magic, things don’t simply come to life.”