The Academy [BOOK ONE COMPLETE]

I sniffed the air. The Null was thicker here, stickier. It would take longer here, even with Fek radiating warmth like the spring sun in the middle of the room. The winter still clung to the corners of the room. “Lombarte said something about your mother,” I said after a moment.

He didn’t say anything, so I continued eventually. “My parents are dead too. And now they are saying I might be a Kertharian.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” Fek said. “We knew a Kertharian family, near the coast to the west. I hope they’re okay.”

I shivered.

“I haven’t seen them in years. Even before… everything. Anyway. They were the first to notice I might be good at this stuff,” Fek said, sniffing.

“The Kertharian schools of magic,” I said quietly.

“Their whole family could all channel. Kwarr showed me how.”

I shook my head, squeezing my eyes shut and opening them up again. “We don’t need to talk about this,” I said. “Any of this.”

“It’s okay,” Fek said. “My arm is getting tired. Do you think I could take a break?”

I patted the floor next to me. When he dropped his hand, the runes winked out, sputtering like a fireplace with a bucket of water thrown on it. “You shouldn’t have drawn it so high,” I said, pulling out the instructions to draw the runes myself.

“Yeah, shoulder started to get sore. You know there’s a whole course on the ergonomics of magic? They teach you how not to sprain your fingers and stuff?”

“That’s dumb,” I said, tracing the lines into the air. Both runes were like spiderweb, complicated and beautiful. The runes lit up, driving the darkness further so that I could breathe easier, even though my shins and toes were still cold.

“Actually pretty important, Minnelil says.”

“She would, wouldn’t she?”

Fek grinned and plopped down to sit next to me. He was about the same size as me, which was unusual. Usually guys were larger.

“You’re not tired at all?” I asked. Holding the runes lit felt like walking briskly. I could keep it up, but not forever.

“Oh, I’m going to eat like a horse and sleep like a log after this,” Fek said. “Can’t you make it brighter? I’m getting sad.”

“Sorry,” I said, pulling my knee up so I could rest my elbow on it. Holding a hand up was surprisingly tough. “You don’t like that?”

“Who likes being sad?” Fek asked.

“What if I’m used to it?” I asked in small voice.

“I hate it.”

I tried to push more mana into the runes, but it only made them flicker and warble, the magic bubbling like water about to boil. I smoothed my face and let my shoulders drop.

“I really do,” Fek said. “It’s dumb. The worst. Unfair.”

“Sure,” I said. “I do, too.”

“You think Hector will be here soon?”

“Nah, he said he’s going to mop up all the rooms and the corridor. We’re pretty far,” I said.

“This does feel like pretty far.” Fek sighed. “Sorry. I’m supposed to be the fun guy of the group.”

“Grit’s the fun guy,” I said.

Fek scoffed. “She’s not even a guy.”

I snickered and it made the runes light up brighter. I wished I had brought Clickens. I wondered how it would have reacted to this place. We sat in silence. The Null pushed closer, but I kept it at bay as well as I could. A bead of sweat rolled into my eye.

“She died when I was fifteen,” Fek said suddenly. “Just some disease. Maybe a doctor could have helped her, but we didn’t have enough money for a proper one. No way.”

“You don’t need to,” I said.

He wasn’t looking at me, instead holding on to his knees with his arms wrapped around them. “Dad took us on the road after that. He said he couldn’t stay in the house after.”

“Fek, it’s fine,” I said.

“Shut up,” he said. “I haven’t told anyone and I’m going to now, but I might not, so shut up.”

I nodded. I could have patted him on the shoulder, but I wasn’t sure if that would have been the right thing to do, and my hand was holding the runes anyway.

“We travelled around for a while. He worked on the roads. Merchant caravans brought us with them, and he fixed stuff for them to pay for protection and shelter. The city paid for fixing the roads. I tagged along.”

I wanted to ask where his dad was now, but I wasn’t dumb enough for that. He wasn’t here, that much was clear.

“He reminded me of home and I reminded him of mom, so I left. He never came north. Didn’t like the cold. So I ended up here and Jextor spotted me.”

“Damn,” I said.

“Yeah, but it worked out. The food here is great and I got into so much trouble with the caravans.”

“You don’t get into trouble here?”

He snickered, wiping his nose with his wrist. “You’re the one to talk.”

“Fair,” I said. “Damn, this rune is getting heavy.”

“Oh, yeah, people say that’s how it feels. Jextor laughs at them when they do. I don’t get it either. Want me to take over?”

“Yeah, this place too grim for me to handle it.”

He nodded and stood, patting the back of his robe.“That’s why I’m here,” he said with a grin.

Dust rose in a cloud and made my nose tickle. I sneezed and the runes flared and went out. “Thanks, Fek” I said. “It’s this place. It makes you think dumb stuff. We’ll be fine once we get out.”

“Thanks, Lina.”

---

“Huh, you’ve been busy,” the janitor said. “Did you put up an extra light?”

“Yeah!” I said, jumping and trying to touch the ball of light hovering in the air, but it was too high.

“I made the place too happy,” Fek said. “She’s a bit out of it.”

“I’m not,” I said, stepping in place and pumping my arms in front of my chest. “Dammit, Fek.”

“That’s what I always say too,” the janitor said. “Good job, kids. I think we’re done for today. It’s soon dinnertime.”

“Oh, right! I’m famished!” I shouted.

“Maybe you could run a lap around the place? You could try to find some Null to sniff?” Fek said. “They’ll say I broke you if I bring you back like this.”

“She does look pretty excited,” the janitor said. “That’s what doing a good job feels like. Good for you wizardly-types to try it out sometimes.”

“You get like this too?” I asked, forcing my hands stop swinging around.

“Not in the last two decades or so, but I remember. Come on, now. You’ve deserved a proper meal.”

“We didn’t even get to see the locked door,” Fek whispered to me as the janitor turned back toward the exit, wheeling his cart around.

“It would have been locked,” I said.

“When has that ever stopped us? Hey!” Fek called at the janitor walking before us with his cart. “Can we go check out the door?”

“I guess, It’s not far from here. Just a door, though, so don’t get your hopes up.”

“Maybe that would be enough for the council to give us the credit for finding the place,” Fek said. “Let’s go!”

“Fiiiiine,” I said. “But if I get a weird vibe about it, we’re leaving.”

---

“We’re leaving,” I said.

“It’s just a door,” Fek said, reaching a hand out to it. “Like Hector said. Look, an ordinary—“

“Don’t touch it!” I snapped.

The wooden door was smaller than all the facade doors in the Academy. It felt like the coarse brown planks of the door were the only thing keeping the corridor from tumbling into nothingness. My gaze got stuck on the cracks between the door and the stone wall. I shivered as I imagined seeing something in there, but I couldn’t look away.

Fek shrugged. “I guess it does feel a bit odd.”

He stood so close to the door that I wanted to scream.

“The Principal closed the door himself,” the janitor said. “He said it was too important to leave for anyone else to do. Falar sulked for three days.”

“Hah!” I said, blinking and shaking my head. “Uh, still, we should go.”

“No! What’s on the other side?” Fek said. “You can’t drag us here and just make us leave.”

“You dragged us here!” I shouted.

“Dunno. I’ve never been on the other side,” the janitor said. “It does sort of press on your brain, doesn’t it?”

“Imagine how much fame we’d get if we got to the other side,” Fek said, reaching a hand out.

I slapped it down. “Don’t push it. Let’s go and eat.”

The janitor nodded toward the exit. “When she’s the voice of reason, you should listen.”

“Fair,” Fek said. “Dangit.”

“I resent that,” I said, shrugging. “But fair.”

---

“Grit’s probably not going to be here,” Fek said as we stepped into the Dinner Hall. “Falar is going to drive her like a mule. I bet she’s loving it.”

I squeezed my eyes shut to drive out the mental image. “Stop it.”

“She even went and got the nightgown after all.”

“Stop iiiit.” When I opened my eyes I saw Minnelil sitting at the faculty table with Jextor. She was leaning away, hands in front of her chest like she was preparing to defend herself. Jextor swung his arms around as he shouted something about warding theorems or something. “Oh, I’ll go say hi.”

“What about me?” Fek said.

“Go tell Frederik about the corridor,” I said, waving at the blond doofus sitting on the other side of the hall. “I bet he’ll be impressed.”

“That’s a great idea!”

“Hmm,” I said. I still didn’t like how Frederik had talked about Lorn. Lorn was a spineless weasel, but that didn’t give some rich ponce the right to call him a nobody. But it had got Fek off my back. Looking at the terrible door had washed off most of the effect from having Fek bathe me in life and excitement, but my heart still beat fast and I felt twitchy. Having to keep spending time with him would have left me a wreck. Talking to Minnelil would be relaxing—

“Student!” Jextor roared at me, waving a hand so enthusiastically a knife slipped from his hand and thunked into the ceiling.

Minnelil had a fork hovering before her open mouth, looking like her life had just flashed before her eyes.

“Forgot you were here too,” I said, watching Jextor’s knife vibrate, blade half-buried into the wooden ceiling.