Arcane Dropout

by Edmund Hughes

  “You’re beautiful,” he said. He stared at her, feeling a well of emotion in his chest and letting it get the better of him. “Who were you before, Tess? Who was Theresa Holloway?”

  It was a simple question, but a loaded one. Asking a ghost about their past was like poking a finger into an open wound and probing around. But he had to know. He couldn’t help himself from wanting to see all of her, from hearing all of her story.

  “I… I was young,” said Tess. “I was naïve. I was pretty.”

  “You’re still pretty.”

  “You know what I mean,” said Tess. “I was used to getting attention and being popular. Having my pick of the boys, if I wanted it. I liked pranks back then, too, though they were harder to pull off.”

  “Did you have a family?”

  “Yeah, I did.” Tess grinned, flashing those perfect dimples. “I grew up in a small hamlet in England with my mum and dad. I had two brothers and three sisters. It was so busy back then. I was kind of just one of the bunch until, well, until I started showing the Potential.”

  “How old were you?” asked Lee.

  “Thirteen, around the usual age.”

  “Did your parents send you off to a magic school immediately?”

  “Uh…” Tess hesitated. “Yeah, they did, ha ha.”

  Something in her tone of voice told Lee that she was lying, but he didn’t push the point further. She didn’t have to open up to him all at once if she wasn’t comfortable with it. She was talking about people decades dead at the least, a life that she could only remember and never go back to.

  “How did you die, Tess?”

  He couldn’t stop himself from asking the question, even though it was just about the most insensitive thing a person could ask a ghost. Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe it was the mood of the night.

  “You’ll be the first one I tell if I ever find out,” she whispered.

  Lee didn’t press her further. He took her by the hand and fell back into the moment, walking up the road toward Primhaven through the cozy cold with unhurried steps. There were few other people out, despite the perfect weather, which made the figure which stood blocking the road all the more ominous.

  Lee’s hand went for the silver file in his pocket, but he recognized that they weren’t staring down the specter an instant before his fingers made contact with the makeshift weapon.

  “Initiate Amaranth,” said Harper.

  She wore a simple black coat over her instructor’s robe, and her golden braid hung loose over one shoulder. Neither of those things caught Lee’s attention, at least not compared to what she held in her hand: a small, burned-out, pink glowstick.

  “Your story was inconsistent from the very beginning,” said Harper. “I chose to bide my time, hoping that you’d make a mistake and reveal yourself in a manner that lent proof to my intuition.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Lee. He tried to keep walking, stepping quickly, and turning so he would pass by her. Harper shifted, putting herself back in his way. He could see her face, the thin line she’d pulled her lips into, her narrowed eyes. He could see the danger there.

  “Why did you come here?” said Harper. “You’re no mage. Tell me the truth.”

  “You’re insane,” he said. “This is ridiculous.”

  “So be it,” said Harper. “I didn’t expect you to admit anything of your own volition. You’ll be coming with me now. There are ways in which you can be made to reveal who your masters are.”

  Harper reached a hand out as though to take his wrist. Lee slapped it away and scowled.

  “I’m not going anywhere with you,” he said.

  Harper fell into her elemental casting stance. There was a slight breeze in the air, and it sent her golden braid dancing to the side. Lee didn’t move, knowing that doing anything that might trigger her casting reflex could be enough to get himself killed.

  “If you won’t come with me, Initiate Amaranth, then I’m afraid I have no choice,” said Harper.

  A fireball appeared in her hand. She hesitated, letting it dance against her palm, as though hoping the threat of it might be enough to change his mind.

  “Lee!” cried Tess. “Stop using your mystic stream and I’ll see if I can throw her off balance. I might not be able to possess her, but at the very least I can get in her way.”

  He almost considered doing it before remembering what should have been obvious. They were just outside of Gillum, far from Tess’s range around the school. If he pulled his mystic stream in, she would likely fade from existence permanently before she could make it back to the area she’d been bound to.

  “You’ve left me with no other option, Lee,” said Harper. “I won’t kill you, but this won’t be pleasant.”

  Taking a spell from Harper would amount to the same thing. He would likely be knocked unconscious, and Tess’s fate would be forfeited. Even as Lee considered what would happen if he surrendered, he found himself realizing that it was just another path toward the same outcome.

  He suspected the illusion magic Harper had in mind to make him tell his secrets would also reveal him for what he was, and he didn’t see an ending for that scenario that didn’t conclude with him undergoing dream weaving, forgetting all about the school, his sister, and now Tess.

  He felt Tess grab his hand. There was one other option, and it scared him. It was something he’d never done before, never even considered as a real possibility in the time prior to his tenure at Primhaven. It was an option that involved opening himself up completely and testing the fiber and limits of his trust for another person. No, not a person. A ghost.

  If he was wrong, if Tess’s sweet and earnest nature was just an outward shell intended to lure him in, then his fate would be far worse than anything Harper or the Primhaven faculty or even the sinister specter could do to him. He would be at the mercy of her each and every whim.

  Lee rolled the dice. He focused his will in a manner that he’d never tried before, but had always been aware of as a possibility. It felt similar to the sensation of opening up his mystic stream, except this time, he opened it completely.

  Tess let out a small gasp. He felt her arms wrap around his shoulders as she gave him a soft, surprised hug from behind. He placed his hand over hers and focused his will, simultaneously forming and accepting the new pact that would exist between them.

  And not a moment too soon. Harper had thrust her arm forward. The fireball left her hand with a hissing crack. Lee slammed his forearms into an x-shape and let out a desperate shout, focusing on the spell shield in the same way Instructor Daniels had explained.

  A barrier of spinning blue spheres appeared the instant before Harper’s fire spell reached him. The air thrummed with energy as the magical projectile struck the field and dissipated into a puff of smoke and energy. Lee stared at the point of impact, slowly shaking his head in disbelief.

  He let the barrier drop and almost laughed. Harper looked even more surprised than he currently felt. Her mouth was open, and she moved her lips as though trying to speak but failing to properly form words. She brought a hand up and pressed it to her face before finally recovering and folding her arms.

  “A spell shield,” she said. “How did you cast that?”

  Lee felt his confidence return in spades, helped by the fact that Tess was standing next to him, flashing a dimpled, triumphant grin.

  “What do you mean, how?” he snapped. “The same way anyone does. I was nervous the other day, hence the glowsticks and the trick I did with my telekinesis to fake a shield. I should have just tried harder to cast it the normal way to begin with.”

  Lee took a step forward and around her, fully intending to end the encounter before Harper regained her equilibrium. Unfortunately, he wasn’t quick enough.

  “No,” said Harper. “Stop where you are. Your story still doesn’t add up.”

  She reached her arm toward him, clasping her free hand just above her forearm. A set of purple conjura
tion bindings flashed into existence around Lee’s wrists, pulling him into the air by his arms.

  “Hey!” he snapped. “What the hell?”

  “There is something off about you, Lee Amaranth, and I don’t care if I have to strip-search you to find out what it is.”

  Harper cast another conjuration spell, and Lee felt his pockets turn inside out as she used the telekinesis he’d become so adept at faking against him. Harper floated his wallet, the silver file, and the photo of Zoe he always kept with him into the air in front of her.

  “What…” She blinked, looking just as shocked as she had a minute earlier when he’d cast the spell shield. “Why do you have this?”

  At first, he thought she was talking about the silver file, but that wasn’t what she grabbed as she released her spell, letting most of his stuff fall to the snow. Harper held the photo of Zoe between her thumb and forefinger, her free hand pressed tightly against her mouth.

  “I’m not allowed to have a photo of my own sister?” shouted Lee.

  The bindings released. Harper kept staring at the picture right up until Lee marched up to her and snatched it out of her hand. He didn’t bother to say anything else as he picked up his stuff. Harper didn’t stop him, and he hurried by her, running back to Primhaven and doing his best to ignore his bleeding nose.

  CHAPTER 28

  Toma wasn’t back in the dorm when Lee returned, which was both what he expected and a major relief. He needed some time alone with Tess to talk with her. Paradoxically, as soon as they were alone in the room, he found himself lacking any idea of what to say, or how to approach the discussion.

  “Thank you,” said Tess.

  He still had his mystic stream up, though it was far easier to maintain while they were within Primhaven.

  “Look, it’s just a pact,” said Lee. “It’s no big deal.”

  Tess was smiling at him in a way that made him simultaneously love and hate her.

  “It is a big deal!” she said. “I never actually thought you would go through with it, and certainly not so suddenly like that. I still can’t believe it…”

  “Come on,” said Lee. “It’s not like we’re married now or anything.”

  “Of course not,” said Tess. “It’s far more intimate than a marriage.”

  Lee groaned and leaned back, spreading out across his bed. Tess seemed to take that as an invitation to straddle him. He rolled his eyes and tried to keep his expression annoyed even as a smile sneaked across his face.

  “I don’t mean in terms of fidelity, or routine, or anything like that,” said Tess. “You can still sow your wild oats.”

  “Nobody uses that phrase anymore,” said Lee. “Please don’t make a big deal out of this, Tess. I only did it because every other way that encounter ended was with me losing my concentration and dropping my mystic stream, which would mean you’d…”

  He trailed off. Tess took his hand into hers and lifted it up, placing it over her heart. Which was also against her breast, but Lee did his best to pretend not to notice that.

  “You did have a choice,” she whispered. “You picked me. I wish you could feel what I feel right now.”

  His smile grew a little larger even as he rolled his eyes at her corniness. “Please don’t turn into a lovesick teenager. I prefer the Tess that’s running around playing pranks and fawning over the snow and cute animals.”

  “She hasn’t gone anywhere, I can promise you that,” said Tess. “All I’m saying is that now, we’re actually in this together, Lee.”

  “We weren’t before?” he asked.

  “Well, no,” said Tess. “I just thought you were a cute boy in distress. I didn’t figure out that you could actually see me until after I’d helped you pass your admissions exam, remember?”

  “Fair enough.” Lee sighed, feeling tired and wondering how much of the night he’d come to regret, come morning. “Damn. I can’t believe that just happened.”

  “This is good for both of us, Lee,” said Tess. “You’ll be able to cast some basic spells now, probably almost everything you need as an Initiate. You don’t have to worry about getting kicked out of Primhaven.”

  Lee nodded, though he would have found that fact a lot more comforting if it wasn’t bound so tightly together with a new danger. He hadn’t just formed a pact with Tess. He’d given her a master key to his body. She could possess him. She could enter his dreams. He’d even heard instances of mystics having powerful ghosts they’d formed pacts with begin affecting their conscious experience.

  And yet, for some reason, none of that really worried him. He trusted Tess, which felt strange. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d trusted anyone, let alone a ghost.

  “It isn’t all about me though,” said Lee. “You’re getting as much, if not more, out of this pact as I am.”

  Tess grinned at him, and he couldn’t help but find her enthusiasm infectious.

  “Because of you, Lee Amaranth, I can finally see the world,” she said. “I won’t have to stay here at Primhaven, as long as you build the pact up in the time before you leave. I won’t have to hibernate when my residual essence runs low. I’ll be with you from now on. I… I hope we can keep getting along like we have been.”

  Her smile faded a little, and it was as though Lee could see her insecurities momentarily poking out. He’d given her a master key, but by the same analogy, Lee had a noose tied around her neck. He could draw from Tess’s energy and abilities to cast minor spells if he wanted, or to suck her dry and be rid of her. He took her hands into his, squeezing them reassuringly as he banished the thought.

  “I’m happy with this, Tess,” he said. “Really, I am. It may have been spur of the moment, but you’re right. It’s what we both needed.”

  She smiled at him, and he gave her a quick kiss before sighing and lying back down.

  “You know…” said Tess, in a singsong voice. “There are other perks to having me around.”

  “There are?”

  She was still in his mystic stream, and he felt the hem of his shirt slide, followed by the zipper of his jeans being pulled down.

  “This is just one of many perks, Mr. Amaranth,” said Tess. She fished his cock out of his boxers and grinned at him as she slowly began stroking it, her mouth inches from the tip.

  “Well, technically, this is a perk that you already gave me once,” said Lee. “Remember in the infirmary?”

  “We got interrupted, so you only got to enjoy the start.” Tess planted a cute, puckered kiss onto the tip of his tool. “Wouldn’t you like to enjoy the finish?”

  He nodded dumbly as he watched Tess lean her head forward and start to slowly suck on his cock. Calling it a perk was an understatement. Lee wondered if appreciating the fact that the pact between them meant that she’d be around and available like this made him superficial or perverted. He wasn’t sure he cared if it did.

  He let himself enjoy it, watching Tess slowly bob her lips and mouth up and down. He cupped her cheek, gently encouraging her to descend lower and take more of his length into her sweet, wet mouth. Oddly, the thought of Tess and her insistence on being a “proper lady” popped into his head. She still had on her earrings and her cocktail dress, and it was a juxtaposition of elegant dirtiness that almost pushed him over the edge right then and there.

  As with the last time, Tess seemed to enjoy watching him watch her as she worked. She managed to smile despite most of her mouth being engaged in lewdness. Lee cupped her cheek and slowly nodded his head. The pact had brought them closer together, and a primal part of him wanted to celebrate that fact by defiling her every which way he could.

  And then, of course, a fucking knock came at the dorm room door. Lee rolled over, pulling Tess to the side with him without ever breaking the contact of her mouth against his tool. He pulled the sheet over them, which was necessary, given that he was mostly naked from the waist down.

  “Lee?” called Eliza. “Are you asleep?”

  “Uh, no,” said Lee,
instantly regretting it. “I’m awake.”

  He was awake and engaged, and Tess was still sucking. If anything, she seemed to redouble her efforts as Eliza stepped into his dorm. The light was already on and she smiled when she saw Lee in bed.

  “Toma had too much to drink,” she said. “He’s sitting on the steps of the founder’s statue, crying and insisting that he’s alright. I thought it might help if you went to talk with him.”

  “Can you, uh, give me a few minutes?” asked Lee.

  Tess had slowed down the movements of her head, but the shifting of her lips and sliding of her tongue had snowballed into an all-out sexual onslaught. It was as though her frustration at being interrupted the last time was spurring her on to make sure that Lee finished, even if it put him in a compromising position with one of his friends.

  “Well, I don’t think he’ll get into too much trouble,” said Eliza. “If he decides to go anywhere, it will probably be back here, anyway.”

  She slowly walked over and sat down next to where Lee was lying on the bed, her butt settling mere inches from the illicit act underway beneath the sheets.

  “You don’t mind, do you?” asked Eliza. “There’s... something I wanted to ask you.”

  “Eliza, maybe…” Lee took a labored breath, gripping the back of Tess’s head with one hand. “Maybe we could talk tomorrow?”

  “I feel like I need to say this tonight,” Eliza whispered.

  Tess pulled her head back, briefly rubbing her soft cheek along the length of his shaft before taking it back between her lips.

  “Lee,” said Eliza. “You’ve been... so nice to me, in the time that we’ve both been here.”

  Tess went deeper than she had before, pulling nearly all of Lee’s length into her mouth in a way that made it impossible for him to focus.

  “You’re mean,” he whispered.

  “What?” asked Eliza.

  “Uh, I said…” Lee took a somewhat labored breath. “I know what you mean.”