The Academy [BOOK ONE COMPLETE]

“What is it? Should I go get some snow for your hand?” the merchant asked.

“Can any of you feel that?” I said. The wind wasn’t a howl anymore, but a scream. “I think the wards are breaking again.”

Hector stood up sharply, the relaxed expression gone from his face. “How do you know? You sure?”

“No, but that’s what it feels like,” I said. “Magic is flying all around the place.”

“Wait, I can try something,” Fek said, drawing a line of mana into the air. It didn’t fade slowly like the lines usually did, but turned into an angry squiggle with sharp angles, before falling apart. “Yeah, that’s not normal.”

The janitor walked to the flap leading outside, jaw tight. “Ang, can I leave the kids here? Did you get your tent enchanted properly, like I told you to?”

“After last time? I certainly did. And of course. I’ll look after them.”

“Thanks, you’re a solid bloke. I’ll owe you—hey!”

I pushed past him, opening the flap and looking outside. The wind blew straight up, lifting the snow into a wall hiding everything outside the Academy from sight. Like hell I was going to stay huddled in here, waiting for the wind to rip apart this flimsy tent with its flimsy enchantments. The Bursar’s office was on the ground floor, not too far from here.

“Kid, that’s not a good—“

“My name is Lina,” I said, throwing the flap aside.

I pulled my cowl deep over my head. I could feel the wards straining, the wind ripping at them. My hand ached, but I’d pay attention to it later. I focused on the tingle of magic, easier to sense now that the pressure didn’t muddy everything. At least the choker was good for something.

The janitor pushed out of the tent and grabbed on to his cart. He took a small crumpled packet from his shirt pocket and pulled out a cigarette from it with his teeth. “It’s too soon. And the wind is too strong. Something is going on, even I can feel it,” he said, sniffing at the air. “Grab on to the cart. It’ll keep you safe if the wards really fail. Where are we going?”

“I…” I started, but didn’t finish. I didn’t really know. My plan had been to beeline it for the Bursar’s office and stay there, but… “What do you mean, we?”

“You obviously have some idea what’s going on. I’m just a janitor,” he said, leaning over and lighting the cigarette on the impossible broom. The flash of power as it sparked sent snow flying away from us. My cowl was pushed off my head, my hair whipping in the wind. He exhaled a long stream of smoke, that got blown away as it reached outside of the calm area surrounding the cart. “So, where are we going?”

The currents of magic tugged at me, feeling like something was going to snap at any moment. I couldn’t believe what I was going to say next, but if there was someone here in this circus who could handle whatever was going on, it would be him.

“Let’s go find Falar.”

---

“Don’t let go,” the janitor said.

“You really think I would?” I said, watching the stub falling and falling below us, vanishing into the billowing snow.

The cart hovered up, kicked into the air by the janitor. He wore proper boots, like I did. They were blotched with brown and green stains, the blue overalls tucked into them.

“I’ll drop you off where all the faculty offices are. Even if you can’t find him, you should be able to find shelter there. I just busted the Chancellor out earlier, and he never remembers to lock his door, so try that one first. Don’t ask me why he needs busting out. The man’s a dumbass.”

“I heard that!” Jextor shouted at us, standing with his hands on his hips and grinning with his whole face. “Besides, you’re wrong. I just locked myself out. Any chance you could open the door for me?”

“Just a moment, Chancellor,” Hector said, touching down on the platform. He nodded at me. “The… Lina, thinks there’s something wrong with the wards. I’ll have to go make sure people stay inside and that the doors are closed, just in case.”

I let go of the cart and bent my knees to land safely on the platform. Jextor looked like he was about to help me get my balance, so I jumped away before he accidentally flung me all the way back down.

Hector fished a large key ring from his overalls, with just three keys on it. He stuck the smallest key into the lock, much too small to really fit a lock of that size, and turned it. “There you go, chancellor. I must go. Will you two manage?”

“Go, good man, go!” Jextor boomed, swinging his arm around in a wide arc.

Hector ducked below the arm and grabbed his cart again. “Good luck,” he said to me with a nod. Then he pushed the cart off the walkway, and it fell, wrenching him down with it.

“Dependable man, Hector,” Jextor said. “I felt the disturbance as well and came out to investigate. Wards are not my specialty, but I’ll rise to the occasion, hah!”

I felt the tingling snap a moment before the wind broke through for a moment. It was like a soap bubble had burst, but it had been holding back a bucketful of water. A second of snow billowed onto the platform, over my face, over everything. It started to melt and run down as sleet along the feverish wall.

“Oh,” Jextor said, water running down his bald head and neck, trickling down the collar of his robe. He grimaced, rubbing his head. “The wards are pretty frayed already. Lots of rising to do this time, I fear.”

“I’ll go get Falar,” I said.

Jextor nodded without a word, face serious maybe for the second time since I’d met him. I spun around, leaping to the next door, the one into Falar’s study. I hammered my fist on the door, banging as hard as I could.

“But he’s not there,” Jextor said.

“What?” I shouted over the wind.

“I said he’s not—“

The door clicked and Falar opened it. “I just didn’t want to be bothered constantly. What is the meaning of this racket?”

“You told me you’d be away for at least two weeks!” Jextor said from behind me.

“Shut up!” I screamed, shrieking over Jextor’s voice.

Falar flinched back, eyes wide.

I had been right up in his face, so that probably had been pretty loud. Heh. “The wards are failing. Or something. The wind is acting up.”

Falar closed one eye and wiggled his middle finger in his ear, grimacing. “Impossible. If I find out this is some juvenile student council prank, I will—“

A skeleton crashed into the half-opened door between us. It splintered, bones flying in every direction. I covered my face with my hand, white shrapnel pelting my arm.

The top half of the skeleton’s skull was stuck on the door, teeth chomped into the wood. Falar creaked the door open and peered out.

Five or six skeletons flew in a circle in the middle of the building, whipped around and around in a vortex of snow and bone. They were starting to mix together, so the exact number was hard to tell.

Falar pressed his lips into a thin line. “Let me guess. Jextor already went to ‘fix things’?”

I spun to take a look and saw him climbing the stairs, huge figure receding into the distance. “Yup. Maybe you can still catch up?”

“I will certainly try,” he said, stepping outside. He shivered and even with the collar in place around my neck, I felt the pressure rise. His face turned white, lips blue. “The reckless fool will get himself killed. Find Ferne or Marcus, I might need help.”

He kicked off the walkway, making the whole platform shudder and bend. I blinked and he was already half-way to the set of stairs, charging through the air. He landed on the stairs feet first, slippers slamming on the steps hard enough to make the platform rock again. “And then get out of the open!” he shouted.

---

Making my way around the walkways was becoming more difficult by the moment. The wards weren’t breaking evenly. I felt them give, and a second later a staircase two platforms ahead started shaking like in an earthquake, hammered by a wind pressed through a hole in the magical dam. The sound was an all-encompassing howl, a relentless, stretched boom. All the doors were locked. I felt ashamed for trying them, and stupid for feeling ashamed. This shouldn’t have been my business, but here I was, trying to find my way to the infirmary, like an idiot.

Someone fell on the other side of the building. Nothing I could do about that. Maybe they’d land in a pile of snow or on a zombie. The magic snapped ahead of me and I braked hard, digging my heels into the sleet.

The stairs leading down rocked and creaked as wind wrenched at them. It brought slivers of ice flying in a curve, some of them hitting the wall, others continuing upward to shoot somewhere toward the ceiling.

I grimaced. The infirmary was one level down.

Planks rattled as wind and ice rocked the stairs. They bent, twisting this way and that. No way I’d be getting down that way. The magic in the air contracted, then pulsed out, making every hair on my body stand on end.

I had tried to gauge the distance between the walkways before the fight with Lombarte, before ending up in the infirmary the first time. I was becoming a regular. I chuckled at the thought, or perhaps out of desperation as a gust of wind almost made me lose my balance. There were supposed to be some enchantments against falling off, weren’t there?

“Damn it,” I said, lowering myself down to all fours. I held on to the edge of the walkway and peered down. I had fallen longer distances, but never intentionally, never without something breaking my fall. No water, no grass to fall on this time. Just frozen planks.

What did he even need the potato-nosed mustache man for? On the other hand, I could stay in the infirmary, weather the storm in there. The thought was enough to get me moving. I slid my legs down, swinging toward the wall, gripping the edge of the walkway.

My fingers slipped on the ice.

Black wall rushed past my eyes, my legs kicking in the air. I barely had time to prepare for the landing, wrenching forward and tucking my chin into my chest. My feet hit the walkway first, and I crashed onto my back. The back of my head knocked on the wood, flaring my vision black. I gasped, all the air kicked out from my lungs. I lay there, gazing at the walkway above me.

It really was pretty high.

“Get… up…” I croaked.

The door slammed open, just missing my legs. “What was that?” Marcus shouted. “Something thudded… oh. What did you do now?”

The wind threw snow on his face.

“The wards…” I gestured at him, trying to make him help me up. I didn’t have the air to speak.

He reached down with one hand, wiping his face with his other. “The wards? What do you mean?”

The magic spiked again. I gasped. It was strong, and right here. Marcus stood reaching down at me, so I grabbed his wrist with both hands and wrenched, pulling him on top of me.

“Hey! Watch—”

The wind broke loose, rolling over us. The air was freezing, wet with sleet that froze the moment it touched anything. The door slammed shut with enough force that it would have probably cut off his arm and face, if he had still stood peeking out of it.

Marcus yelped, staring into my face with eyes wide, mustache tickling my chin.

I slapped my hand on his face and rolled him off me. “Up,” I gasped. “Falar said he needs you.”

“Falar? You sure it wasn’t a joke?” he said, rising shakily to stand, leaning into the wind.

I rolled over and fought myself up on all fours. Snow stung my face, blowing right into my robe through its neckline. “You git. Up top. The platform. Move.” I had to gasp between every word. One more question out of him and I’d throw him down.

He pushed a small vial of glowing, blue liquid into my hand. “Drink this. Get inside. If you’re serious about Falar, this probably is serious.”

I thumbed the cork off the vial as he turned around and started running. He ran directly at stairs where the magic was fraying, about to snap. “Stop!” I howled.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll—aaaa!”

He ran face first into a wall of snow that thundered in from the darkness, breaking against the black stone, flooding the stairs.

I downed the vial and stood up straight. The bruises stopped aching, the burn on my hand stopped tingling. If he was that clueless, he’d never get up by himself.

“Damn it,” I said. “Damn it!”

Just a reminder that there are now over 20 advance chapters available on Patreon. I also started a new The Academy by Night bonus content collection that has scenes suitable for adult readers. The first one features Chancellor Jextor summoning a succubus and the one that just went up has Grit attending a student party and meeting a fun girl there. Check out the teasers for both on Patreon!