Sorcery and Scholarships
By Ian Isaro
Version 1.02b
Copyright 2011 Ian Isaro
ianisaro.blogspot.com
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This is a work of fiction, hence the names and events are products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. The use of product trademarks is not sponsored by or associated with the trademark owners.
The Dying War
Sorcery and Scholarships
Wizardry on Caffeine
The Rainbow of Doom
Digital Necromancy (forthcoming)
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Epilogue
Wizardry on Caffeine
About the Author
Chapter 1
She had every intention of casting the spell, but her cell phone wouldn't stop ringing. If she was more cautious, she might have turned it off and focused on bending the laws of time and space. But if she was more cautious, Aki wouldn't have been attempting this in the first place.
Pushing aside the wrappers and styrofoam cups made just enough room on the coffee table. Aki brought out her arcane devices: copper wire and a Coke bottle. Finding the glass bottle had been a pain, but apparently only certain kinds would work. That, or she was a dupe of Coke's paranormal marketing department.
Aki set the bottle with the opening down and focused. As usual, it felt like nothing was happening. Even when things worked, there was always a moment when she doubted. Was she sitting in her dump of an apartment, jobless and unpleasantly single, muttering to herself about magic?
She shivered with a sudden tingling - her cell phone vibrating. Aki snatched it up and was just about to turn it off when she saw her mother's name. Several deep breaths later, it was safe to answer.
"How are you, dear?"
"Fine, Mom, I'm in the middle of-"
"Why haven't you called?" As usual, her mother had no concern about fulfilling every parent stereotype available.
"I love to be surprised by the sound of your voice, Mother."
"That's sweet." She hadn't expected her mother to catch the sarcasm, but Aki still sighed. "But you should call too. We want to hear from you more often."
"I've been busy lately."
"Oh, have you gotten a job? I knew that application was going to work out, it just-"
"Not yet, Mom."
There was an ominous pause. "I'm sorry to hear that." Not angry, just disappointed. No one had ever been angry at Aki, they just gazed at her sadly and shook their heads."What are you doing with yourself, then?"
"That's..." She looked at the useless mess of trash. The bottle and wire were as much a waste of her dwindling savings as everything else. Most likely she wouldn't be able to pay rent next month and here she was shooting for the moon. Literally. "That's complicated."
"You just need to apply yourself, dear. There's a very nice man I'd like you to meet named-"
"Do you want me to work for him or date him?" More than anything, one day she was afraid that she would agree. She would give in and enter some lifeless job or relationship. Everyone would tell her they always knew she would turn out well and she would kill herself one day at a time.
"Don't speak that way to me." Her mother's voice was brittle, but Aki barely noticed, staring at the growing light in the bottle.
"Gotta go, Mom, sorry."
She ended the call, cutting off the first yell. Though she'd pay for it later, Aki didn't care. She tossed the phone aside and cupped her hands around the bottle. The glow was blue and yellow, which was what it was supposed to be.
Careful not to bump the table, Aki pulled the copper wire closer. One end around the lip of the bottle, the other going into the slot she'd chipped out of the coffee table. Just like the diagrams she'd gotten off the internet. As she finished there was a jolt that left the back of her head aching. Why were only the painful parts of magic easy to feel?
But she didn't care, because when her vision cleared she was looking at a moon sprite. The coffee table had become as clear as glass, but the reflection was not her own. The creature looked human except for blue hair floating haphazardly and pointed teeth that flashed in a grin.
"Did you call me here to put some kind of curse on your mother?"
It seemed to be able to see her, so Aki raised an eyebrow. "Why, do you get that a lot?"
"I don't get many requests because nobody keeps me captured for long." The hair was moving faster now, lashing to the sides as the sprite looked around. "I'm only still here out of curiosity. This place is kind of a dump, isn't it?"
"Yeah, but you're going to change that. I've been getting by on amateur hexes while trying things like this that will actually mean something."
"Pity this isn't going to hold me." The sprite rapped her knuckles on her side of the table and the bottle shuddered. "What are humans calling it now? Aethomancy? You're using the entirely wrong kind to keep a pixie trapped, much less a sprite."
Hope shriveled and began to die. Aki rubbed her eyes and hoped the sprite wouldn't think she was an idiot. She was, though - until that point she hadn't even realized there was more than one type of aethomancy. No wonder all the advice was contradictory.
"Aw, are you going to cry?" Though the pointed teeth made the smile unsettling, the smugness of it was worse. The sprite leaned closer to her side of the glass. "You should take your mother's advice, you know. You're lucky she hasn't disowned you."
"Not you too!" Angering one of the fey was always a bad idea, especially one that wasn't bound, but Aki was past caring. After everyone else in her life, she wasn't going to take it from a damn sprite. "She hasn't disowned me because I'm an only child. Once I'm barefoot in the kitchen and dropping out grandchildren, she'll forget I exist."
"Dropping?" The sprite's eyes turned cloudy in confusion. "You mean humans don't procreate by weaving moonlight and rainbows?"
"You're a terrible liar."
"Yeah, but most humans still fall for it." Another one of those vicious grins, all trace of confusion gone. "Don't you know how terrible and alien we are?"
Nothing she'd read had said anything about moon sprites being assholes. But since the sprite wasn't trying to get out, Aki decided she should learn what she could. "You're as alien as rabbits, judging from the fact that you screw like them."
"Oh, your wit stings me." The sprite glanced around her apartment again. "I'm guessing you're not getting any sex at all. If a guy came here he'd be swallowed alive by the trash."
She'd had enough. "And your sex life is all moonlight and rainbows, is it? From what I hear, it's more like alcohol and low standards." There was an unearthly hiss from the sprite. "Act smug while you can, because when you're done you'll just go back to your little fey ghetto to-"
The glass shattered and Aki was thrown backward. She instinctively flung her arms in front of her face; when she lowered them the table was only wood. Not only was the light gone, there was a crack running all the way down the bottle. Aki knocked it over irritably. It didn't help.
She tried to tell herself
that she was closer. She knew the spell worked now, she just had to use it more carefully, maybe target something smaller. It sounded hollow even to her. The sprite had just proved again that she didn't know what she was doing. Working at a gas station would be more productive than this ridiculous dream.
But she had spent too much time wallowing in misery. Aki pulled herself to her feet by the ratty couch and took a few unsteady steps. It was too easy for her to stop functioning, and that was what she was afraid of more than anything. Watching television might make her feel better, but she'd get up twenty years later with an empty life and no future.
Besides, she'd sold the television a few months ago. She had bought ingredients with it, convinced she could save money by cooking her own food. Most of them were moldering in one corner of the apartment.
If she still had nothing in a month, what would she do? She contemplated locking herself in her apartment until she was forcibly evicted, but knew it was an idle fantasy. Most likely, if it really came down to it, she would move back in with her parents. That would hurt, after she had felt so triumphant moving out of the house and into her own apartment.
Aki realized that the place actually meant something to her. She might dislike coming home and being alone, but the fact that she could was important. If she lost that, she would lose the will to keep fighting.
Somehow she managed to stagger into the bathroom. She should clean up the glass, but it could wait. A hot shower might clear her head, assuming the hot water was working. As she passed, she examined herself in the mirror. She looked like she always did. More tired, maybe.
Once she had tried a spell to keep her hair from tangling so she wouldn't have to brush it out. It had changed color and a lamp had started talking to her, disturbed by the anthropomorphic elements of its existence. She was just glad she hadn't tried the spell to reduce the amount of sleep she needed, and since then hadn't tried to incorporate magic into her daily life.
"Evening."
Aki yelped and spun around. There was a man leaning against the doorframe, and that was all she needed to see. "What the hell are you doing in my apartment?" She knew she could hurt someone with magic, but there was no sense of power and it left her feeling vulnerable. Besides, she didn't like how dark his eyes were.
"You left it open."
"Yeah, single women never make sure their doors are locked."
He waved a dismissive hand. "Supernaturally open, I mean. Anyone can just teleport in here."
"My wards didn't work?"
"Oh, is that what those were supposed to be?"
"Is this supposed to make me feel better? That's like blaming me for not tank-proofing my home." Other than the intrusion, though, he hadn't been aggressive. If he had wanted, he could have waited until she was showering. She didn't relax her grip on the magic, though she didn't know what good it would do against someone who could teleport. "Get out."
"Now now, is that any kind of thing to say to someone who's here to save your life?"
"Considering what you've done so far, it seems pretty appropriate." The words came out before she'd fully considered what he was saying. While it was an unlikely line, a threat to her life was one of the few legitimate reasons for breaking into her apartment. Had the disaster with the sprite made her a target?
Since the immediate danger had passed, she let herself look at the stranger more closely. Narrow black pants like were popular with the fey, and a grey t-shirt with three stylized eyes staring out at her. He had a surprisingly handsome narrow face. His hair fell in the kind of random formation that had to be perfected every morning and had blue highlights that she doubted were dye. The power in his eyes made them seem like pools of endless darkness. She could easily fall into them, almost like-
Her eyes narrowed sharply. "You have some kind of glamour on, don't you?"
He grinned. "No, I'm just that sexy."
"Some kind of date rape spell?"
"Only my natural charm."
"I'd be more inclined to believe you if you hadn't just gone out of your way to prove you're so much better at magic than I am. But I suppose if you intended that you wouldn't be acting like such an idiot."
"Well, men can act like idiots when they're hitting on women." His smile vanished. "But while you're lovely and all of that, I'm here for business. Your life will be in considerable danger unless you listen carefully. Are you willing to trust me?"
"Maybe if you tell me who you are."
"Laxir." He extended a hand and she stared at it.
"That's a name. So who are you?"
This time when he smiled, there was no trace of warmth. "I don't believe I need to tell you that."
"Wasn't this about trusting you?"
"Truthfully, you couldn't understand my answer." Laxir took a step back and smiled wryly. "Perhaps we should have this conversation somewhere other than the bathroom."
Absurdly, Aki felt embarrassed. She resisted the urge to place herself between him and the gunk around the sink. He was already moving away, back into the apartment's main room. Without checking to see if she would follow him, he kept talking.
"Would it earn your trust if I was clear instead of mysterious? You will shortly be receiving a letter." He turned, his eyes intense. "It will lie and tell you of a great opportunity. I, on the other hand, will try to be more honest. This could work well for you, but only if you enter with the proper amount of understanding."
She pulled herself away from his eyes and folded her arms. "If this is your best effort at being clear, I'm not impressed. What exactly is the deal with the letter?"
"It will be an invitation to attend a prestigious institution. The name is Axis University, not that it would mean anything to you."
"Is it a Nazi school?"
He stared at her until she dropped her awkward smile. "While I understand your association, you need to realize that there are billions for whom the second World War means nothing."
"Sorry, geez."
"You may be less irreverent when you learn Axis is devoted to the study of the arcane. While I don't know the letter's exact contents, I assume it will include some generic flattery and then inform you are eligible for a partial scholarship."
Aki had to remind herself to breathe. She knew there were a few universities like that, and Yale had a reputation for a paranormal department, but she had never dreamed of being allowed in. Once she had even tried to apply and been told she was inadequate. But if someone wanted her enough to give a scholarship, maybe she had a chance to do more than petty spells.
"See, this is what I wanted to avoid." Laxir broke her from her dreaming with a hand on her shoulder and it took her a moment to realize he was touching her and pull away. "I'm not going to tell you to refuse their offer. That would be unwise. But if you go into this all starry-eyed, you'll be eaten alive."
"Why are they sending the letter to me? Did my research attract attention?"
"Hah. No offense, but-"
"Too late."
"-there are a surprising number of people at your level of skill, many of them approaching this more as a hobby than anything."
Swallowing her elation, Aki tried to think about the situation calmly. "Then if I'm not exceptional, why are they giving me a chance to study with them?"
"Oh, but you're exceptionally unexceptional. The issue here is potential. You have a chance to do something more than muddle through hedge magic."
"But you think I'm in danger unless I go in skeptical? What, are the faculty a bunch of witches fattening up students to eat them?"
This time when he laughed he actually seemed amused. "Just remember that their students are tools to them, nothing more. If you're paying attention, you'll find out what they want soon enough. You stand to gain a great deal if you can remember they do not have your best interests at heart."
"And you do?"
"Hardly, but you'll find my interest to be much less personally harmful."
Aki thought through everything that had b
een said. Despite herself, she was inclined to trust him. If the letter came and was as he said, all he had done was give her information. Unless he sent the letter himself, but that just made his plan ridiculously convoluted. It was easy to believe a magic university would create enemies for itself.
Still, better to ask. "Why are you doing this? They'd find out if you approached every single student, so why did you come to warn me?"
Without warning he caught her hands up in his, his face so close to hers she could feel his breath. "Because you're the most important person in the world to me."
Her breath caught and she hated herself for it. There had to be some kind of glamour, but it was too subtle for her to sense. It was more difficult to pull away from him than it should have been. If he'd laughed at her it would have made things simpler, but he seemed almost serious.
"You want a less melodramatic answer?" He took a few steps back and then shrugged. "The moves at the beginning of the game shape everything that follows, even if you start small. Let's just say I'm interested in you."
"What do you mean by that?" she almost said, but she bit her tongue. Judging from the way his eyes danced, he seemed to know.
"Take your pick. They'll be at your door soon enough." Then he was gone, with as little warning as he had arrived. There was no flash or even a sense of power, but she had an ache in the back of her skull. If she could figure out that trick, she wouldn't have to spend money on the subway.
Abruptly she was alone and felt ridiculous. She could easily have been standing in her bathroom, daydreaming dangerously handsome men and a brighter future for herself. When she looked around, she saw the rundown apartment of someone who had nothing. Burned wire and a cracked bottle and delusions. Best to take her shower and forget all about them.
There was a knock on the door.
Chapter 2
The earth tore apart, unleashing a gout of flame and the screams of a thousand tormented souls.
Blake didn't bother looking away from his phone. The entrance was flashy, yes, but he was at the end of a tricky stage. The app developers hadn't bothered to include a pause button and he didn't want to lose again. From the edge of his vision he saw someone dressed in a black robe, backlit by the flames.
"You have been chosen!"
"Just a minute." Since the game only required one hand, he used the other to gesture for silence. The flames and screams faded, leaving no trace. Only special effects, then. Blake had turned the sound up just for the occasion, so the app released a series of annoying beeps as he played.