The Academy [BOOK ONE COMPLETE]

Fek grinned like an idiot when I walked up to the table. “Did Ferne tell you anything about the door?”

“Forget the door. It’s bad news,” I said and reached for the chair, but Grit bounced up and grabbed me into a hug. I patted her back as she kept hugging me, not saying anything. “Hey, all good?”

“You’re the one to ask,” she mumbled. “You infected Minnelil with death.”

“That’s what she told you?” I asked, glancing at Minnelil who was pressing a hand on her mouth, hiding a laugh. She moved one chair to the side to leave a spot for me between her and Grit.

Grit patted the back of my head and something in her palm snagged on my hair, making a scratching noise. “She went to see you and came back almost as white as me. Can you do me too? I need the credits.”

I groaned and pushed her off. “No! Sit down. It was Jextor’s fault. ”

“The Chancellor did put things in perspective for me,” Minnelil said. “His enthusiasm is infectious.”

Grit wrinkled her nose and squinted her eyes into tiny slits. “The Lecturer has perhaps managed to teach me something of value as well, if we stretch the meaning of the words teaching and value both.”

“He’s going to turn you into a newt if he hears you talking like that,” Fek said.

“Yeah, nice impression,” I said. “How has it actually been?”

A huge smile lit up Grit’s face. “It’s been great! The research was interesting, but now we’re putting together things for the ritual. He was going to do it all himself, but with everything happening, I get to help out. Ritualwork is another advanced class. The council would implode from envy if they heard.”

“Oh, they have and they did,” Fek said. “Frederik has been looking real haggard after all their meetings. They’ve had three since the attack.”

I nibbled on my food. It was stew this time, full of vegetables and garlic, but almost no meat. Still good. “What has been going on after that? Everything went straight back to normal?”

“Pretty much,” Grit said. “People got scared, but things are supposed to be scary here every once in a while.”

Fek waved a hand. “Everyone got credits. Some people are saying it was all staged or Falar having a tantrum. Coratorus handled it.”

I slammed the table with my hand. They startled and I took a breath before saying anything. “Bullshit.”

Minnelil rubbed my back with her hand. “We weren’t there. What do you mean?” she said carefully.

I checked around to make sure no one else was listening. “It was me and Fek and Clickens. I held the door shut,” I said, pointing a finger at Fek. “You kept at least a dozen people safe and Clickens took apart half of the skeletons. The skull took control of what was left, but did you see the pile of bones? That was us.”

“Well, Frederik shot apart a couple,” Fek said, shrugging.

“My point is that people should stop acting like everything is fine and someone will always save them! No one will, so everyone better do much better than accidentally casting a spell at the person being useful,” I said, holding up my hand between us. The blown-off fingers had pale rings of skin circling the spots where Marcus had put them back on.

“I already did a lot,” Fek said. “And didn’t set anything on fire.”

“We weren’t there,” Grit said.

“You’re not getting the poi—”

Minnelil leaned her forehead on my temple and shushed me. “Lina, we do. I think we do. It was the reason why Jextor started to push me to try channeling Null and why I took it seriously. We didn’t work much on any of the admin for the past couple of days.”

“That might be why Falar is letting me work on the ritual,” Grit said. “He said that making a mistake on the rune perimeter might end up killing us all and that he won’t check if I do it right.”

“Man, I’m glad that I’m stuck with Hector instead,” Fek said.

“Don’t be so sure,” I muttered. “I’d bet good money you’ll be roped in one way or another.”

Fek sighed, stirring the stew with his spoon. “Yeah, I know. No good deed goes unpunished, eh?”

“They do have the rest of the dorm participating already,” Minnelil said. “Jextor says you will be the lynchpin of the ritual. The rest of us are there only to help you and keep you safe.”

I blew on the stew, even though it wasn’t hot anymore. Them keeping me safe. I didn’t trust the faculty, but maybe I could trust Grit and Minnelil. Perhaps even Fek. The thought made no sense, but perhaps everything didn’t need to. “Thanks,” I said. “I know. Take care of me.” My voice almost broke before I reached the end of the sentence.

“We will,” Minnelil said.

She hugged my head to her shoulder, resting her chin on the top of my head. I let her do it. People could see, but she could do what I did, take care of herself now. If she filled herself with the Null and told someone to relax in her whistling voice, they would probably die. The thought felt like freedom. “Take care of yourself too,” I said.

“Nah, I’ll take care of her,” Fek said. “And Grit can take care of me. So everyone’s covered.”

“No! Why do I get you?” Grit said, pulling her face into a desperate grimace.

“Minnelil gets Lina. Want to change?”

“On second thought, fair,” Grit said, sighing. After a moment she frowned. “Who’s taking care of me?”

“Nah, you have common sense. Lina taking care of you would just make things worse.”

“She has arranged for me to meet Falar quite a few times,” Grit said, pouting.

“Exactly what I mean,” Fek said. “Anyway! Everyone ready? Let’s go to the Beach?”

“Isn’t it glass?” I asked.

“Well, a bit. But Hector said the Chancellor will fix it. He loaned him a hammer.”

I groaned. Minnelil giggled and her shoulder shuddered in time with the laugh, bouncing my head. This was perfect. Was this how normal people lived? I sniffled and wiped my face on her robe. “Thanks,” I whispered as quietly as I could.

Fek took one look at her and rushed to his chest. “I’ll just grab my towel and head out.”

“If you’re heading to the Beach, you might want to take sturdy boots too, sonny,” Shalameth said.

Fek bowed to her and rushed out. She must really unnerve him. She, or the news she might be bringing. Clickens was curled up in her lap. It had no eyes to close, but it looked like it was sleeping. The dark fog curled around the cat, making it look less skeletal. Shalameth played with the smoke, twisting it around her fingers lazily.

“So, what is it?” I asked, sitting down on my bed. “Anything new while I was locked away?”

“Straight to business, I see,” she said. “Very well. There have been no new missives from Tenorsbridge yet, but it has been just a couple of days, taking into account the time difference. The attack reorganized our priorities, so not much progress has happened on our side either. Except Firgl has been making preparations to get you permission to enter the border area to search for a graveyard. What an appropriate solution for a necromancy student, hmm?”

My jaw tightened, but I had been through a lot in the past days. I had real problems. Imaginary ones could wait. “I guess. Think he’ll get the permission?”

“He will. It’ll be billed as an academic research expedition, part of your studies. The only problem is that you’re going to need a chaperone. The council is debating the issue.”

“The one here or in Tenorsbridge?”

“Both,” she said. “The council in Tenorsbridge will grant the permission after debate. They can’t deny you. Even if it would turn out your line comes from Kerthar, forbidding you would look petty and scared. They are sensitive to such perceptions.”

I wished Clickens was in my lap instead of hers. I massaged my knuckles with my fingertips, pressing hard. “How about the one here? What are they debating? Why are they involved in general?”

“Oh, the council always is. We need the official field trip status for the permission to be granted for this excursion, but it comes with obligations. Certain members of the council feel spurned by the previous trip, and I assume they are being nudged to voice that displeasure.”

“I get it,” I said. Lombarte was making a fuss over there, and another Lombarte was making one in here.

“A compromise will be reached. It will be to your benefit. Whatever you find can be confirmed by the company you have.”

“I get it,” I said again. “It’s fine.”

It wasn’t, but there was nothing I could do about it. I had drawn enough attention by having the teachers intervene constantly on my behalf. Frederik might be able to do something, but I already owed him. If Lombarte was putting pressure from the outside, it was possible that Frederik’s parents were telling him how to handle the situation too. I should keep my nose out of it.

Whoever they picked couldn’t be that bad.