Improbable Ally (Magical Arts Academy Book 4)

by Lucia Ashta

  “When will more magicians arrive?” Count Vabu looked to Mordecai, the one who’d composed and sent the invitations to potential teachers and protectors.

  “I’m not sure. I haven’t received responses from any of them. You and Prudence are the first to come.” He paused. “By the way, how did you arrive that the SMS didn’t attempt to keep you from us?”

  “We portaled.”

  The vampire said it as if it were nothing, as if people traveled by materializing out of nowhere all the time.

  “That was quite the awful experience,” Madame Pimlish said.

  “Oh? Did the SMS intervene?” Mordecai, eyes sharp, leaned forward in his chair. “I hope they didn’t hurt you.”

  “The SMS didn’t do anything, but the vampire here certainly did.”

  Count Vabu grew rigid. Given his previous reactions to her dramatic complaints over his legs getting tangled in her hair, I suspected he was reacting to her calling him a vampire. I was guessing it wasn’t a polite thing to do.

  As usual, Madame Pimlish was concerned only about her own feelings. “He gave me a serious fright, flying at me in bat form the way he did. He attacked my head and wouldn’t leave me be.”

  “I did no such thing.” Count Vabu’s words could carve stone. He communicated his next words only with his cold eyes. Enough already, ridiculous woman, and if you call me vampire one more time, you’ll regret it. I made a mental note never again to so much as think of him as a vampire.

  Madame Pimlish opened her mouth to retort, then didn’t. I’d fully expected her to continue her tirade, but it seemed she’d heard Count Vabu’s unspoken words as clearly as I had.

  Count Vabu stared her down, then turned to Mordecai. “We portaled here without any interference from the SMS. However, I don’t see how we’ll be able to use the method to get the students here, not if you don’t know exactly where they’re located ahead of time. Though I see no reason why it shouldn’t work for the teachers.”

  “Not all of them will know how to portal,” Arianne said. “It’s not a common skill.”

  “In that case, I offer myself to go retrieve them.”

  “Thank you, Vladimir. That might work well. But how do we get the students here then?”

  “We don’t,” Gustave said. “Everything comes back to us abandoning the recruitment of new students, and the effort to attempt to train them. The other matters are simply too pressing.”

  “The future becomes the present,” Nando said, surprising me again that he would get involved in a discussion that clearly wasn’t ours. I was always a bit reckless, but not Nando. Already it seemed that the Magical Arts Academy had changed him. “I believe it to be unwise not to prepare for the future simply because it complicates the present.”

  “It’s not about it complicating the present, it’s about it endangering the present.”

  “From what you’ve all told us, the idea of training new students is to prepare for peace both within the magical world and between it and those without magic. No matter what happens in this battle, there will still be a need for another generation of allies. That’s us.”

  “Well said, my boy,” Mordecai said. “We continue recruiting new students, and teaching those we have.”

  “But we have no idea how we’ll manage it!” Gustave protested.

  “We have no idea about lots of things.” Mordecai stood. “That’s never stopped us from succeeding before.” He looked to Marcelo, and the younger man nodded, kissed Clara on the cheek, and whispered, “Get some rest. I’ll be back soon.” Then he moved to join Mordecai.

  “Come now, Gustave, Vlad, all of you, Prudence, if you wish. We have a brother to rescue, students and teachers to get here, and a battle to win. Let’s get to it.” With a swish of robes, Mordecai stalked from the dining room, with Marcelo and Count Vabu at his heels.

  Gustave looked at his sister. “Go, mon cher,” she said. “I’ll be right behind you.” He nodded, stood, and left the room.

  Madame Pimlish fumbled with her hands in her lap a few times before rising and following him out.

  Arianne turned to address the rest of us. “Get some rest, darlings. Isa, will you help settle Marie in?”

  “Of course, but what about Gertrude?” I regretted the words as soon as I said them. I got the feeling it would be wise for me to avoid doing anything Gertrude might interpret as provoking. I felt her eyes on me, but refused to meet them.

  Arianne smiled. “I know my granddaughter, and she’ll be on my heels as soon as I leave to join the others.” Which meant Brave would be as well.

  I nodded, and chose a better response. “I’d be happy to assist Marie however I can. Walter too.”

  “Wonderful, darling. You and Nando can help them feel at home.” She pushed her chair back. “Tomorrow morning you’ll begin a full day of classes. You have much to learn.”

  That was the understatement of the century. I wondered if we’d actually make it through a day of classes without interruption. Odds weren’t high that we would, not so long as the SMS was targeting us.

  “Good night, darlings.” She smiled then glided the length of the table. Gertrude and Brave popped up right behind her. “Please join us, my little darlings.”

  I looked at Nando, whose eyebrows were raised in question. Was she talking to us?

  But when the shiny green and opalescent firedrakes, Mathieu and Sylvia, waddled into line behind her, and Sir Lancelot flew to Brave’s shoulders, I knew we were the only ones excluded from the planning meeting.

  The room grew heavy with silence until an array of servants ushered in to begin clearing the table.

  Marie, Walter, Nando, and I exchanged charged glances. How on earth had we ended up here, embroiled in this mess?

  “Well, this is definitely not how I figured this day would end when it started,” Walter said.

  I barked out in laughter, before trying to convert it into a more ladylike sound. “I’ve been thinking that for days.”

  “I have the feeling we’ll be saying that for many days to come,” Nando said, pushing his chair back. “We might as well get some rest while we can. Who knows what might happen next?”

  The thought both frightened and exhilarated me. I couldn’t wait to see what would come to pass.

  Chapter 2

  Our first class of the day was with Madame Prudence Pimlish, which all but guaranteed it would be an experience like no other. I was surprised to find Gertrude in the front row, with Brave in the seat next to her, looking eager for the lesson. Surely someone who regularly changed into a cat didn’t have much to learn from a beginner’s transformation class, but what did I know.

  I sat in the second row of seats, as far away from Gertrude as I could. I wasn’t sure what it was about her, but I always considered it wise not to irritate her.

  “This should be fun,” Nando said from the seat to my right, where he sat next to Marie, with Walt on her other side.

  There were only six of us in the class, but I supposed that wasn’t an entirely terrible start to an academy, considering the inconveniences that limited the growth of our inaugural class.

  “All right, pupils,” Madame Pimlish said from the front of the classroom, where a chalkboard had been placed in front of a shelf of books. “Let’s begin. Today we’ll attempt your first transformation.”

  “Uh, Madame Pimlish?” Nando said.

  “Yes, you.” Apparently she wasn’t one to waste time with memorizing our names.

  “Well, do you mean that we’ll actually try to transform ourselves into some animal or something?”

  She pegged my brother with a look of irritation. “Of course that’s what I mean. What else would ‘attempting your first transformation’ mean?”

  My palms started to itch, and Nando swallowed visibly. “Uh, I’m not sure, well....”

  I didn’t think I’d ever heard Nando stutter like this. But then, we’d never been told we were about to become animals either.

  “Spit it out,
boy. Tick, tock.”

  “We haven’t even tried our hand at a basic spell yet, how can we possibly attempt to transform into animals with any kind of safety?”

  Thank you, Nando. Safety. If she isn’t going to think of our safety, we have to.

  Madame Pimlish took three steps toward us. With her small stride, it wasn’t too close, but it felt as if she were peering right into our faces. She crossed her arms over the front of her dress, patterned with big, garish flowers. “What do you mean, ‘you’ve never even done a basic spell’?”

  He gulped. “We haven’t. Not one. We haven’t heard a spell either, or seen one in a spell book.”

  She flung her hands into the air, upsetting her orange ringlets. “What kind of magical academy is this?”

  “A beginning one,” Brave said, and I took a moment to admire the often-silent young man. He’d spoken with perfect calm, yet with strength, which wasn’t easy when faced with the rising pitch of Madame Pimlish’s voice.

  Madame Pimlish flicked a glare at Brave, but whatever she saw there had her moving on right away. “So none of you have seen a spell? Never even tried one?”

  “No, just Nando and Isa,” Gertrude said.

  What about Marie and Walter? I turned to them, but both were looking straight ahead, their faces free of disagreement. So Gertrude was right, which led me to wonder, how did she know this about them? Since I’d settled Marie into the dormitory, I hadn’t seen her speak with Gertrude at all.

  “Good,” Madame Pimlish said. “Four of the six of you know how to do basic spells at least. Those odds favor us moving along then.”

  What? No they don’t!

  “How can we be expected to move forward without the basics?” Nando asked.

  “Because,” Madame Pimlish said a little too harshly, “this isn’t a school for the dim-witted or the slow. We have an enemy to vanquish, or have you not heard? We’re out of time already. You’ll have to catch up, or fail. We don’t have the privilege of holding your hand every step of the way.”

  I sputtered mentally at the unfairness of her statement, and before I could think better of it, I spoke. “I don’t imagine Lady Arianne will want us doing advanced magic, which I’m sure is dangerous to the performing magician, if we were to get anything wrong.”

  Oh, I shouldn’t have said anything. The look Madame Pimlish was giving me suggested that she was far more dangerous than the risk of any poorly performed transformation.

  “I’ll forgive your impudence only because I assume you don’t know of my reputation. If you don’t even know a basic spell, then I can’t expect you to know about me, now can I? I am the most skilled witch in transformations across the world. There’s no one better at it than me. Which means it’s an honor that I’ve agreed to join this cause here at the academy. Lady Arianne will be most pleased with whatever I decide to teach, however I decide to teach it. She’ll be grateful to me for imparting my wisdom to the younger generations, and I’ll do so in the exact way that suits me. Now, is that understood?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Nando and I said at once. We knew when to admit our defeat and not make things worse.

  “Good. Because I’ll put up with no more interruptions.” With that she twirled on the heels of her small shoes, which reminded me of tiny pig’s hooves even when she was in human form, and scrawled across the board in big white letters, TRANSFORMATION.

  “Transformation is the art of metamorphosing into an animal form. That’s the basic definition of this advanced magical art, which is only mastered by the most skilled of magicians.”

  I forced my eyes to remain still and not to roll. She’s telling us only the most skilled can do it, yet she wants us to? Ridiculous.

  “One must possess a firm understanding of how the elements interact with our spells to perform this kind of magic, because what we basically do in every single mutation is adjust the expression of the four basic elements through the manifestation of our physical form.”

  I hoped she was going to simplify it a whole lot more than that. Already my brain was struggling to keep up.

  “The four elements are, of course, earth, air, water, and fire. As human beings, we possess a bit of each within us. The proportions vary with every single person, as we’re all unique. Which means that when we transform we must adjust our spells not only to take into account the animal we’re becoming, but also adapt it to suit our unique makeup. Simple enough, right?”

  I didn’t bother answering, I just looked at Nando. He seemed flustered and desperate to figure it out, whereas I’d already almost entirely given up on this class. If she didn’t want to be bothered to teach us the basics, then I wouldn’t stress over not understanding. I didn’t even know how to figure out the elements within a spell, let alone in the animal I was supposed to be turning into!

  Marie was leaning forward in her seat, her attention pinned to our voluptuous teacher, which meant I could see Walter clearly. He leaned back in his chair, looking entirely annoyed, and seemingly not bothering to hide his ennui.

  “Here. How about I give you all an example to get us started off?”

  Sure, because starting with a simple lesson or a few pages in a book wouldn’t work better? I bit down on my sarcasm; it wasn’t helping things.

  “That would be splendid,” Gertrude said, her voice free of attitude. I wondered some more what her story was, not that it did me any good.

  Madame Pimlish smiled magnanimously. She liked an eager audience. “What I’m going to show you is quite special. I don’t perform transformations for just anybody, even though I’m asked all the time.”

  “I’m sure you are.”

  Madame Pimlish beamed at Gertrude. “What animal shall I become? There are so many options.”

  “Does that mean you can transform into any animal?” Gertrude’s voice held awe, and I didn’t blame her. The idea was incredible. I could barely fathom that someone might be able to do such a thing.

  “Basically.” Madame Pimlish smiled again. “It’s taken me many decades of practice, during which I’ve mastered nearly every single one of them. There are just a handful that evade me.” She seemed to lose herself in thought for a moment. “But not to worry. I’ll get them.”

  She whirled back to the board and wrote ANY ANIMAL. I didn’t think that added a thing to our discussion, but she obviously did.

  She turned back to eye Nando and me. I couldn’t help but feel that she believed we were deficient in some way. I understood that was ludicrous, as we shouldn’t be expected to know something we’d never been taught, but I sank down in my seat an inch all the same.

  “Maybe it would be better to begin with a basic transformation, since some of you claim not even to know basic spelling.”

  Claim?

  “I’ll transform into a squirrel. That one’s easy enough. I’ll go slowly and speak the spell out loud, something you should never do out in the field. As magicians, our magic is our power. You chant your spells as softly as you can while still making your magic work. We never reveal our secrets; they can be used against us. Another reason why you’re so lucky to have me as your teacher. No one else gets to see, and hear, me doing this.”

  Then she composed herself and started speaking softly.

  I enjoy drinking tea in the sunshine.

  I like listening to music in the moonlight.

  I love my body as a woman,

  but with this spell I now become a squirrel,

  until such time as I wish myself back.

  Her voice led up to a crescendo, and when she finished chanting, she swirled her arms around her body. In a flash of light and color, and burst of sound, she disappeared from sight.

  Gertrude and Brave leaned over their desks to see. Those of us in the row behind them stood.

  There she was! A squirrel, complete with a long, bushy tail.

  “That’s extraordinary,” Marie whispered. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  I had, and I got the feeling Marie would s
ee plenty more of it as she spent more time at the manor.

  “She was pretty smooth about it.” This was Walter, and I was surprised the reticent boy should express admiration.

  “It’s hard to believe people can do this kind of thing,” Nando whispered so that only I could hear, but Marie turned to him, and I thought she might’ve heard too.

  I might not like too much about Madame Pimlish. She seemed to go out of her way to be obnoxious. But I wouldn’t deny that she was skilled. I gaped at the squeaking squirrel, whose nose seemed to be moving constantly, sniffing out the air.

  The squirrel squeaked intently. Then another flash and poof followed, and suddenly Madame Pimlish was standing in front of the classroom again, not even one of her ringlets was out of place.

  “That was amazing!” Gertrude exclaimed, sounding nothing like her usual taciturn self.

  “It absolutely was,” Marie said.

  Madame Pimlish smoothed her dress, which hadn’t even wrinkled in the transformation, looking very pleased with herself. “As you might have gathered, it’s all in the way you cast your spell.”

  I exchanged a wide-eyed look with Nando. Hadn’t her spell been about sipping tea and enjoying music? What did that have to do with squirrels?

  “You have to learn a certain kind of, hmm, finesse with your spell casting. You’ll each have your own spells for every kind of magic. It takes lots of practice to get as good at casting as I am, so don’t get frustrated if it takes you a while. You need to learn how to compose a really good spell, but once you have it, you can use the same one over and over, as many times as you wish. It’s smart to begin keeping your own spell book, so that once you come up with your own spell, one that works, you don’t have to do it again. But then, I’m sure you already knew that. It requires a significant investment of time to create spells for every common animal, and I transform even into those which aren’t common.”