Arcane Dropout

by Edmund Hughes

  “Sounds good,” said Lee.

  He still had an arm around Eliza, and he felt her draw away from him slightly.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I’m a little nervous after what happened last time. Can one of you make sure that I... don’t have too much to drink again?”

  “Of course,” said Lee. “That’s what friends are for.”

  He felt bad for her as he considered how terrible the outcome of her last trip into town had been. She’d been one of the popular girls, friends with everyone, and then after “drinking too much” she’d basically been exiled into the realm of the outcasts. A selfish part of Lee liked the fact that he and Toma had her for company, but the part of him that remembered his job of a mystic felt awful for not managing to resolve the situation when he’d first seen her being possessed in the bathroom.

  The threat was still out there, and it was still his responsibility to handle it. Lee’s right hand drifted down to the pocket of his jeans, where he’d been keeping the silver file that’d been subbing in for his kris dagger. He’d need to be ready to fight the specter if it appeared, regardless of where or when it happened.

  “I need to change if we’re heading into town,” said Eliza. “Can we meet back up in, say, an hour?”

  “Works for me,” said Toma. “I have to go get my wallet. I left it in the dining hall. Or possibly the library. I’ll see you guys later.”

  The two of them split off, and Lee continued toward his dorm, alone, but not alone. He walked slowly, letting Tess skip her way up to him before pulling her into his mystic stream and taking her hand into his.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “What?” Lee raised an eyebrow at her. “I should be the one thanking you.”

  “You helped me pull a prank, Lee,” said Tess. “I dare say that it was the most fun that I’ve had in a while.”

  “Well, let’s see if we can do better,” he said. “I’m heading into Gillum with my friends. Would you like to tag along?”

  “Lee…”

  “I know you can’t travel that far out of Primhaven normally, but I’m pretty sure if I keep you within my mystic stream while we move, you should be fine,” he said. “We’ll only be there for a few hours. It shouldn’t be too much trouble for me to keep it up.”

  “You’d do that for me?” asked Tess.

  “Yeah, I would.” Lee squeezed her hand and lifted it up so he could kiss the back of it. Tess grinned at him and started swinging her arm back and forth.

  “Skip with me!” she said.

  “I can’t,” said Lee. “People will only see me doing it, and they’ll think I’m—”

  “Who cares?”

  Lee rolled his eyes, shook his head, and relented. He skipped all the way back to his dorm, feeling like an idiot. A stupidly happy idiot.

  “What should I wear?” asked Tess. “Oh, I know!”

  She disappeared into Lee’s closet, stepping back out an instant later dressed in a burgundy cocktail dress with slits in the chest that showcased her modest cleavage.

  “That dress isn’t from your time…” said Lee.

  “I can wear clothes that aren’t from when I died, Lee,” said Tess. “How boring would it be if I couldn’t?”

  “It’s a little much for Gillum, Alaska, isn’t it?”

  “It’s going to be our first real date!” said Tess. “I’d encourage you to dress up for it, too, but something tells me that you’ve been fashionably stunted from a young age.”

  “That’s insulting,” said Lee. “But accurate.”

  Tess reached underneath his dorm bed and pulled out a pair of black high heels, which she began squeezing her feet into. Lee had never seen a ghost change clothing before, inside or outside of his mystic stream.

  “Where does your clothing come from, though?” he asked. “I’ve never quite understood this aspect of ghosts. How do you get each actual piece of the outfit?”

  “Like this!” Tess reached a hand up and seemed to pull an earring with a teardrop-shaped ruby the same color as her dress out of thin air. She put it on, grabbed another one from nowhere, and then stood up. “How do I look?”

  It was a question that was both easy to answer and impossible to answer. Tess had also put her hair up, tucking the brown braid and stray locks into a neat bun to leave her neck and shoulders bare and beautiful. She’d put on a few small touches of ghostly conjured makeup at some point in the process, and everything from her red lips to her subtle eyeliner was absolutely perfect.

  She was radiant, like an eager bride on her wedding day. She was too elegant to be called cute, and too cute to be called elegant. She was stunning to a level that went to waste on a ghost, though he felt like he would have thought the same thing if she’d been a regular mortal, too beautiful to be contained within an aging body.

  “You look…” Lee stood up, taking her hands to pull her in a little closer. “Uh… yu look… you know, we could just stay in. I’m sure Toma and Eliza could manage on their own.”

  He ran a hand down her side, letting it come to rest on one of her buttocks as he planted a kiss on her neck.

  “Mmm, I’m sure you’d like that, Mr. Amaranth,” she said. “But what I would like is to be wined and dined like a proper lady.”

  “And what I’d like is to strip that dress off you and play with you like a—”

  “Uh, Lee?” said Toma. “Who are you talking to?”

  Tess squealed and hid behind Lee, though of course, it wasn’t necessary. He turned around and smiled awkwardly.

  “I, uh, was practicing,” he said. “Yeah, let’s go with that.”

  “I don’t think you’ll need much practice if it’s Eliza you’re gunning for,” said Toma with a smirk. He came over and started giving Lee good-natured elbows to the ribs. “Just say the word and I’ll give the two of you some, ahem, ‘alone time’.”

  “Oh shush,” said Lee. “Come on, she’s probably waiting for us by now.”

  CHAPTER 26

  It was hard to tell much about her outfit with her jacket on, but from Eliza’s makeup, Lee got the distinct sense that she’d gone through the same primping process that Tess had. Traces of blush were visible on her cheeks, and her autumn hair was glossy and straightened.

  “Ready?” she asked, smiling at Lee.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Let’s do this.”

  They set out into the cold that lay directly beyond Primhaven’s gate. It was surprisingly warm for the early evening, and small, lazy snowflakes fluttered on the air, indecisive in the way they seemed to hover rather than fall straight down.

  “It’s snowing!” said Tess. “It’s so pretty!”

  Lee tried to be circumspect about letting Toma and Eliza walk ahead of him, pretending to tie his shoelace to give himself space. Tess had added a long winter jacket and earmuffs to her outfit as soon as they’d left campus, though Lee was sure that the cold didn’t affect her in the same way it did humans.

  “You were outside when I first saw you,” said Lee. “Snow can’t be that much of a novelty to you.”

  “I know. I just like to do this!” Tess stuck out her tongue and waited patiently for a snowflake to land on it.

  “And I like to do this.” Lee grinned as he stood up with a snowball in his hand, chucking it low to glance across the bottom of Tess’s jacket. She let out an offended gasp and set her hands on her hips.

  “You are a child,” said Tess. “You’re lucky I’m mature enough to know better than to retaliate, lest I give myself away to your friends.”

  “We’re going to have a snowball fight eventually, Tess,” he said, still grinning. “I’m going to completely dominate you.”

  “You think so, huh?” She furrowed her brow and stepped forward, jutting her chin up at him as she got in his face. “I’m a ghost, Lee. I don’t think you have any idea how much time I’ve spent training my aim when it comes to throwing things.”

  They spent a few seconds staring each other down with purposefully e
xaggerated glares.

  “Hurry up, Lee, or we’re leaving you behind!” called Toma.

  “We’ll have to take a rain, er, snow check on that particular match,” Lee said to Tess. “Come on. Let’s skip.”

  “Really?”

  “We’re on a date, aren’t we?” asked Lee. “Can you manage it in high heels?”

  Tess nodded and grabbed his hand. Lee grinned, enjoying her excitement, along with the confused expressions he saw on Toma’s and Eliza’s faces as he caught up with them.

  Gillum, much as Lee had established on his last visit, managed to be both a sight to behold and rather unimpressive. The town didn’t have any historical landmarks or tourist traps, but it was a place that felt as though effort had been put into it. Each house or building was unique in its appearance and paint job. There were no run-down or foreclosed structures. It felt like a place that was lived in, a place full of people who knew one another.

  They headed straight for the Frostfire Tavern. Lee felt a flutter of worry at the possibility of running into the same doorman who’d previously thrown him out, but a small, elderly woman was the one on duty. She flashed a crooked smile at them and welcomed them in, not bothering to check IDs.

  It was still early, and there were only a dozen or so people in the taproom. Lee, Toma, and Eliza took off their jackets and found seats at the bar. Lee made sure to keep the stool to his left open for Tess to occupy, though there was unfortunately no way for him to guarantee that someone didn’t wrangle it away from her later without him giving away her presence.

  “What should we have?” asked Eliza. “I was drinking ‘Hoffman’s Ale’ last time, so that’s the only thing I’ll veto.”

  “How about cinnamon shots?” asked Lee. “We just came in from the cold, after all.”

  Toma and Eliza both shrugged. Lee got the bartender’s attention and placed his order. A minute later, three shots of a reddish-brown liquor sat in front of them. Lee nudged Tess with his elbow, but she shook her head.

  “I don’t really like straight shots,” she whispered.

  Lee gave her a pleading look. Tess rolled her eyes and pulled a second, ethereal shot out of the one he had in front of him, taking advantage of the power of his mystic stream.

  “Ready?” asked Toma. “Down the hatch.”

  All four of them tipped back their shot glasses at the same time. Tess coughed. Eliza let out a small, shivering squeak.

  Lee reached his hand up to his nose, feeling a small trickle of blood running down his lip. He tried to wipe it away before the others noticed, but Toma shot him a concerned look.

  “Whoa, you okay?” he asked.

  “It’s just from the dry air,” said Lee. “No big deal.”

  “Here, use my handkerchief,” said Eliza, passing over a square of grey fabric.

  “Thanks,” said Lee. “Really, it’s fine. Happens all the time.”

  Tess leaned against his side, putting an arm around him. “It doesn’t, though, does it?”

  Lee didn’t say anything. That seemed to be answer enough for her.

  “Is this because of the toll that holding your mystic stream up for so long takes on you?”

  She was right, but Lee only shrugged in reply. It’d happened once or twice in the past, but only when fights against specters had gone on for an unusual amount of time. He had assumed that it was because of how much he was exerting his body on top of the strain of using his mystic abilities, rather than because of the mystic stream specifically.

  “Maybe we should head back?” asked Tess.

  Lee gave a small shake of his head and leaned in close so the others couldn’t hear. “And cut your date short? I don’t think so.”

  She seemed conflicted by his answer, but she leaned her head against his shoulder, briefly pulling him into a hug from the side. Toma and Eliza were talking loudly, their conversation, or rather, argument, lubricated by the cinnamon shots.

  “It’s not sexist if it’s accurate,” said Toma. “When I say that Kristoff screamed like a little girl, it’s because that’s what he sounded like.”

  “In this context it’s definitely sexist,” said Eliza. “You can say that he screamed like a child, and that would be fine.”

  “But he didn’t scream like a child,” said Toma. “He screamed like a little bi—h, never mind.”

  “You can say bitch around me, Toma.”

  “Really?”

  “Absolutely,” said Eliza. “It will give me even more fuel for my argument, since bitch in this context would be just as sexist.”

  “A bitch is a female dog! That’s more animalist, or whatever.”

  “Lee?” asked Eliza. “You agree with me on this, right?”

  She batted her eyelashes and leaned in closer to him. The positioning pressed one of her breasts against his shoulder, and it took her several seconds before she realized and pulled back, blushing fiercely.

  “I was too busy punching Kristoff in the face to form an opinion on what his squeals sounded like. Sorry,” he said. “Hey, I’m actually getting hungry, so I’m going to order us some food. It seems like you can only order from the tables, though, so I’ll go reserve us one.”

  He got up before his friends could offer a counter proposal, and Tess followed after him. Toma and Eliza fell back into the swing of their argument, and he smiled at how comfortable they’d become with each other as friends.

  Lee took the risk of pulling a chair out for Tess as they sat down, not seeing anyone watching to ask the relevant question. Tess grinned at him, but her attention seemed to flicker from person to person, taking in the full experience of being in a new place.

  “It really has been a long time since you’ve been out of Primhaven, hasn’t it?” he asked.

  “Longer than I can put into words,” said Tess. “Mercy me, I almost forgot about this sort of thing. People just coming in, sitting down, and spending money. How fluid it all is, it’s a wonder in its own right.”

  “I bet it is,” he said. She looked more than a little out of place in her elegant clothing, but if anything, that just made it harder for Lee to take his eyes off her. “Let’s order some food. It’s all dive stuff, but there’s plenty of variety. What are you in the mood for? Chicken tenders? Hamburgers?”

  Tess furrowed. “What’s a hamburger?”

  “Oh, you have to be messing with me,” he said.

  “I was never all that much of a fan of pork or ham,” said Tess.

  “No way! I refuse to believe that you don’t know what a hamburger is.”

  A slight smile betrayed Tess’s otherwise perfect acting job. “It says it comes with French... Fries? Is that some sort of gourmet food?”

  They went with the chicken tenders in the end, along with jalapeno cheese poppers and fries. It didn’t take long for the food to arrive, and Lee immediately dug in. Tess ate with dainty movements, leaning her head against one hand and staring at him with a far-off expression.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “I just can’t remember the last time I had this much…” Tess trailed off, and she suddenly sat up straight, looking worried.

  “What?” asked Lee. “Is something wrong?”

  He tapped a finger to just below his nose and, as expected, it came back bloody again.

  “Ah, damn it,” he said. “I’m going to end up drenching Eliza’s handkerchief with blood.”

  “Oh, somehow I don’t think she’ll mind,” said Tess, in a slightly suggestive tone.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I think you know,” said Tess. “Or maybe you don’t? It does kind of seem as though you have blinders on when it comes to this sort of thing.”

  “You’re saying you think she’s into me?” Lee rolled his eyes. “You’re as bad as Toma.”

  “She is definitely sweet on you, and just so you know, I don’t mind,” said Tess. “It’s actually similar to how I feel about Nurse Susie. If the two of you did end up indulging in the hanky panky,
then—”

  “I refuse to believe anybody has ever seriously used that terminology,” said Lee. “Not in the modern era, not in your time, not ever.”

  “My point is that I would also get a little something out if it,” said Tess. “I could siphon a bit of her arcane essence. It could be fun for us both.”

  “Uh, I’m not sure how I feel about that,” said Lee.

  “Just throwing it out there,” said Tess. “I’m not comfortable doing it when it’s just two random people between the sheets, but if it was you and someone else, then…”

  She trailed off, which Lee thought she’d done for effect until he saw the look on her face. He brought the handkerchief back to his nose and scowled down at the table.

  “We should head back to Primhaven,” said Tess. “This is taking too much of a toll on you.”

  “And ruin your date by cutting it short?”

  Tess reached across the table, taking his free hand and intertwining her fingers through it.

  “Lee Amaranth, nothing could ruin this date.”

  CHAPTER 27

  Toma and Eliza put up a minor protest when Lee announced that he was leaving, but he pointed them toward the food, taking advantage of their hunger to smooth out his departure. He left the tavern hand in hand with Tess, almost tripping over himself as he looked up at the sky once they were outside.

  The Northern Lights were out in full force, lighting up the night like a magical neon ribbon of green and blue across the sky. Lee could only stare upward in awe. It looked like the handiwork of a mad artist, a stray canvas stroke of color, except it was slowly undulating, dancing in front of the stars.

  “Wow…” muttered Lee.

  “It’s my turn to see what you look like when you experience something rare,” said Tess. “Watching the aurora borealis has been a ritual of mine. They’re still visible from Primhaven.”

  “It’s so beautiful,” said Lee.

  Tess shifted so she was in front of him and leaned in slightly. “Isn’t it?”

  He took the hint and kissed her, savoring the moment, wishing it could go on forever. He ran his hand through her hair as their lips parted, hugging her against him.