Caster's Spell (A Mage Tale Book 1) Page 23

"Good job, Wes."

  "Too bad you couldn't win."

  "I thought yours was the best, for sure."

  "Hey can you show me how to make that fire tornado?"

  "Yeah, what's it called?" They surrounded him.

  It was a far cry from the initial statements he was met with nine months earlier. He smiled and thanked everyone. "Yeah, sure. We can meet some time later this week."

  "That's enough of that," Axel said as he snatched him out of the crowd. "Come on, we gotta meet Mouse."

  "Alright." Wesley followed the bald boy away from the other magi, but they were both stopped in their tracks at the sight of four students rounding the corner. "Caldwell."

  The cruel Wizard looked at Wesley with wide eyes and a tight fist.

  Axel slipped the Centorian Ring onto his finger, whispering, "Got any source left?"

  "Nope," Wesley admitted.

  Liam's goons reached for their scepters, but the noble put his hand out in front of them. "No," he said. "I won't be getting expelled for him. And besides, Elegro's bound to be around here somewhere."

  Wesley went to move to one side of the corridor to allow the Wiccan boys to pass, when someone tapped him on the shoulder.

  "Hey."

  He turned around. "Freddy?"

  "Here." His classmate held out a closed fist. "You deserve it more than I do."

  "What's this?"

  "You definitely had the best fight, takin’ on Cameron." He dropped a scroll into Wesley's hand and then Freddy looked passed him. "Hey, you're hanging out with nobles now too? You gotta be the coolest guy I know. Hey, Liam."

  Liam snarled and stormed past them.

  "Hm... that was weird. Well I'll be seeing you then," Freddy said and turned the corner.

  Then after a long minute of no conversation, Axel asked, "Why wouldn't he fight?"

  "I got somethin' on him."

  The Earth Sorcerer laughed, "Really?"

  "Yeah, I don't think he'll be doing anything to me anymore," Wesley said as they started walking to meet Sri.

  Sabotage

  "A day late!" shouted a stressed Wesley on the morning of June second, angrily waving around a letter that he had received five minutes earlier. "What do you mean I'm ‘a day late’!?"

  "Look at the envelope," said Cameron. "It's dated for the first. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the master appointments. I thought you got it."

  To further promote preparation for the Final Exams, every student had the opportunity to set up private tutoring sessions with any master in the school. They were all supposed to receive letters the day before, signaling that they could start scheduling.

  "Why would they do this?" Wesley whined and pulled at his hair.

  "Why else?" Cameron sighed.

  "Do you think I have time?"

  "All you can do is try," Cameron advised.

  "You're right." Wesley headed for the door. "I'll see you later."

  He ran downstairs and into one of the class buildings. He let his feet carry him, knowing every turn of every corner, navigating his way to a very familiar door. "Master Rosen!" he hollered, barging into the man's office without knocking.

  "Wesley?"

  "I gotta schedule an appointment," the boy said loud and quickly, before leaning forward on his knees to catch his breath.

  "Wesley."

  "I got my letter late. I didn't know until today."

  "Wesley, listen to me."

  "I don't have a lot of time. How many can I schedule with you?"

  "That's what I've been trying to tell you," Master Rosen said. "I don't have any openings. I'm booked for every day of the month."

  "What!?"

  "Don't worry. I'm sure if you hurry, you can still get an appointment with some of your other core class masters. And if you don't, you can always schedule with a master you don't know. There are plenty of us on campus, we're not allowed deny any student who asks, and we all have a mandatory amount of time set aside for the G-class. You'll find something. I have faith in you."

  Wesley rolled his eyes, not angry with Master Rosen, but more annoyed with the unnecessary situation.

  "Kay, bye," he said as he hustled out of the room.

  Where now, where now? He asked himself, before the perfect candidate shot into his mind. He'd have to dash through four corridors and across a courtyard to the get there, but being tired was the least of his worries.

  "Hey, Wes," called Axel standing just outside of Master Conley's class, as he saw Wesley rushing in his direction.

  "Can't talk," Wesley said as he past. "Gotta get appointments!"

  One more corner and he was home free. He saw Sri coming out of the door.

  "Hi," she said, expressing an undeserved gracious look with a twinkle in her eye that the boy had become accustomed to, but still didn't understand.

  "Can't—Appointment." He rushed into the room before the door closed behind her and slid to a stop for the second time of the year. "Master Tesla!"

  "Mr. Savage," she said with a delightful smile. "How can I help you?"

  "I... need... tutor," Wesley spoke huffing for breath.

  "Oh, I'm sorry, hun. Sri just scheduled my last opening." Her hand slid forward as if to console him from across the room.

  "Aww," Wesley griped in frustration.

  "Well, I'm sure you can—"

  "I know, I know," he said. "Sorry, Master Tesla, I gotta go."

  "Good luck," she called after the sprinting boy before her door swung back shut.

  Who now? he thought while blindly traversing the halls.

  He past Axel again, who was at the time attempting to charm a young lady, but without putting forth much effort. "Hey Wes, didja try—"

  "Can't talk—Appointment!" he shouted uncontrollably as he rushed to his new destination, a class that was rarely full of desks, with a hardwood floor.

  "Master Dyonysius! Do you have any times available for private tutoring?" he asked before looking to see if she was even in the room.

  "As a matter of fact I don't," she said from his left, dancing with a F-class Fire Sorceress. Then she pointed with a wink. "But I like that passion."

  "Thanks anyway." Wesley turned and dashed out of the room.

  He had another person in mind, thought up during his long run to Master Dyonysius's room, just in case she was full too. He hurried down the hall and up to the second floor to Master Chulu of his old Water Sorcery class.

  "My schedule's full," the master said as soon as Wesley opened the door.

  He went down to Master Powell. "No can do, my friend. Have ya tried ya core mastas?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "All o' dem?"

  "Well..." He never considered the cold, sharp-faced, red-headed, former judge, Master Conley. By all good wisdom, it seemed a bad idea. Who in their right mind would willingly submit themselves to his nightmarish gaze?

  "I t’ought so," he laughed. "You should be on your way."

  Wesley turned.

  "Oh and give Masta Conley my regards."

  Wesley walked, defeated with a sunken head and hunched shoulders, down to the first floor and across a courtyard to the Lockhart building. When he approached the door of Conley's dueling class, Axel was still there waiting for him, this time without the girl.

  "Yo," Axel called.

  "Hey," Wesley let the word fall out on a heavy breath.

  "I've been trying to tell you that no one we know has any open time slots, except for Conley. I hear no one ever goes cuz he never says 'yes'," he finished in a whisper. Then he smiled, devilishly. "You should ask."

  "Oh thanks," Wesley said, putting a wrinkle in his brow as he reached for the handle. He paused and looked back. "Are you comin' with?"

  "Heck no," the Earth Sorcerer laughed. "Nah, my family has a few private tutors comin'."

  "There really is no bottom to that sack of cash, is there?"

  "None that I can see." Axel slapped his back and pushed him into the room.

  "Hey, you jerk
!" Wesley shouted as he stumbled onto the floor of the dueling hall.

  "Excuse me?"

  A shiver shot up his spine when he heard the master's cold hollow voice. He fought to keep his eyes from the floor and tried to answer, but didn't know how to explain.

  "Can I help you?" asked Master Conley, sitting at a desk on the opposite end of the room, but without a rising intonation in his voice, as if making a command. He straightened a stack of papers, lining the edges perfectly parallel with his obsessively orderly desk and stood up, insuring that his chair slid directly backwards, without any sideways movement.

  "Um... I was just wondering..." Wesley's voice, as frightened as he, fled the scene.

  After giving the boy ample time to finish his sentence, Conley stepped away from his desk and led, "You were wondering..."

  Wesley opened his mouth, but his voice was still on a holiday.

  "Calm down, Warlock. I'm not goin' ta burn ya," the master said, stopping just before Wesley.

  Burn!? Don't people usually say "bite" in these situation? Wesley meant to ask, but his voice wasn't quite back in the room yet.

  "Enough of this." Conley leaned forward, with his fists at the small of his back and said in a calm yet demanding tone, "Speak."

  "Do you still have any available time slots for G-class students?" Wesley said faster than he had ever spoken.

  Master Conley stood up tall and turned. "I see."

  He marched towards his desk.

  "Master?" said Wesley.

  "I've got time available for students of all classes. Hea', look for ya'self." The hard-faced man waved his hand and a giant burning square, with thirty small, numbered boxes in it, appeared in thin air. "That's my schedule."

  "Whoa," Wesley said, feeling the waves of heat brushing against his face.

  "Pardon me?"

  "N-nothing, sir." He turned to face the master, trying to remain as hard-faced as the Sorcerer who had returned to his seat.

  Then after some more uncomfortable silence, Conley asked, "Anything else?"

  "Um... no—I-I mean, yes."

  "Well, which is it?" Again, his voice was flat.

  "I, um, would like to schedule some appointments, please... if... that's okay." Wesley leaned back, as if to avoid being harmed by the master's rejection.

  "Point to a day."

  "What?" asked the boy with no ability to hide his bewilderment.

  "Point to the day and say a time. You do want appointments, correct?"

  "You mean, you'll take me?"

  "I'm an instructa. Teachin' you is my responsibility. Now go ahead and point, but if you do, you betta make that appointment and you will not be late. Understood?"

  "Yes, master," Wesley said and aimed his index finger, wondering if he was signing his own death-warrant.

  New Incantations

  "So what do we got?" asked Axel, sitting in Cameron’s living room, Sri reluctantly at his side.

  "Well..." Cameron started from across the coffee table, taking in as much air as his lungs could bear. "I've come up with a plan on how to catch the final two: the Earth Sorcerer and the master.

  "Based on what Wes told us about how Rosen revealed the three sentinels, I've done a little research and, with a whole lot of improvising, made a curse that should allow us to faze-shift between the upper and under class realms."

  "Well how do you know it works?" asked Sri.

  "Well in theory, matter as we know it is mostly empty space. By existing near each other, but slightly out of sync, more than one molecule can take up the same amount of volume, which is exactly how the upper and under classes are to one another. We should be able to slightly change our matter to be in sync with the other realm and be there," Cameron snapped his fingers, "like that."

  "But how do you know it works?" Sri repeated.

  He was hesitant to admit, "I really don't."

  Axel leaned forward, toward Cameron. "And if it doesn't work?"

  "Changing wavelengths is tricky business. We could end up in Siberia, at the center of the Earth, another planet, the face of the sun, maybe even another universe—I don't know."

  Sri laughed, but not hysterically, as if only to show Cameron the absurdity of his plan. Then after a long pause, she said, "Let's say it does actually work. What is the plan?"

  "The next step is yours."

  "What?" asked the girl. She leaned forward like the oversized boy beside her.

  "Well, given our anatomical make-up, people can't become wind, or earth or fire, without dying," said Cameron trying to build some momentum. "But there have been a few very talented Sorcerers who managed to become one with their medium: water. We need you to do the same."

  Sri made the same disapproving laugh. "I can't do that."

  "You're one of the best Water Sorceress's I've ever met, and I'm not saying that for flattery. You may not have a lot of source yet, but your control is outstanding." Cameron looked straight into her eyes. "As an Earth elemental you'd be worthless, but with water... I know you can do it. And we need you to do it."

  "You think too highly of me. I don't have as much control as they say and that's an incantation that maybe three people have mastered in all of history. Uh-uh, no." She closed her eyes and waved her hands, like fanning away a bothersome fly.

  "I know you'll do it, because I've already rustled up the curse you'll need to form when the time is right... and I know that you care about Wesley’s safety every bit as much as we do."

  "I can't believe you just said that to me," said Sri, knowing full well that he was trying to guilt her into following his plan. She pursed her lip for a moment. Then in what—for her—could be considered an outburst of anger, which in reality was just a slightly more assertive tone, the Sorceress looked up. "Your plan better be absolutely perfect, Cameron Elegro."

  "Good," the boy laughed. "Now I'm pretty sure this will work: you'll be the first to faze-shift into the upper-class realm and," he reached into his bag, revealing a stack of sticky-note paper, each with the same mark at the center, "once there, you'll put one of these up on the wall above the doorway in every restroom on campus."

  "Are you kidding me?" asked Sri.

  Axel chuckled and finally let himself sink back into the couch.

  "Not even close," said Cameron. "It's important for the next step. You'll have to freeze ice in this shape exactly."

  He slid his notebook across the low table and then continued, "And it'll likely tap you of source."

  Sri picked it up and studied it more than closely. "It's so complex."

  "Noted, but that's what you'll have to do to turn yourself into water."

  "So this is it? How did you find this?"

  "Well... let's not get into that."

  Her brows lowered, attempting to cast a shadow over enormous brown eyes. "Cameron."

  "Okay, well the people who've done it in the past never wrote down their methods, so... I had to ad-lib a little, but I'm ninety-nine point nine percent sure that it's the right curse."

  Sri squeaked in an attempt to groan. "Even if it is, it's too complex. I can't learn a curse like this in a week?"

  "Day," Axel coughed, knowing that they didn't have time to spare.

  "Why didn't you give this to me earlier, like say... two months ago?"

  "Because I didn't have a plan earlier," Cameron admitted. "But I do now and it's entirely dependent on your contribution. I need you to learn that curse and I know you can do it."

  The Sorceress sighed a heavy breath and waved for him to continue telling his plan.

  "Well, these little guys," he pointed to the stack of sticky-notes, "are linked to Axel's and my source, so after you set them, you'll still be at full power. Hopefully that's enough for your transformation. These curses are something I whipped up as a project last semester. They coerce the minds of anyone who passes under them. I tweaked 'em to make people talk about the incident. Now Sri, this is where it get's a little hard. I want you to get into the piping systems. From there
, while blended with the rest of the water, you'll be able to hear every conversation in the restrooms."

  "And then?"

  "Then we wait."

  "'Wait'? How long do you expect me to stay in the pipes?"

  "It shouldn't take too long. Everyone has to go, right? And if you don't get anything during the day, just come back and try again the next," said Cameron, still behaving as though his plan had no radical elements.

  The girl covered her face with her hands, attempting to escape into the darkness of her palms. Then after another long pause she asked, "What exactly am I looking for. Sifting through that much chatter is going to be impossible, if I don't have something simple to listen for."

  "True," said Cameron. "A name is all we need from you. You get us a name of at least one sentinel that was in the area and we're home free. Can you do this for us?"

  She stared up at the ceiling and thought long and hard. And all she could come up with was how moronically crazy the boy's plan was. "You know, I used to think you were smart."

  The Wind Sorcerer giggled. "A common mistake."

  Axel waited until well after the girl left to bring up a question that had been lingering over his head throughout the whole of the conversation. "So what will we be doin' while she's in the other realm?"

  "We're gonna try to get our friend to do something he doesn't want to do, without realizing he's doing it," Cameron said. "I'm happy you waited until now to ask. I'm really not lookin' forward to seeing Sri's face when she finds out about this."

  "So we're takin' Wes to hunt for the source."

  "Somethin' like that." Cameron stood up and stretched and then stepped in the direction of the door. "Let's go. Wesley's due to finish his first session with Master Conley soon. S'pose to meet him in the courtyard." Then he stopped and looked back. "Don't worry, I sorta got a plan."

  "Sorta?" Axel rushed after him. "How can you 'sorta' have a plan?"

  "Haybusa!" Wesley called and the falcon appeared in plain sight under the bright blue sky. While it was still late spring, the weather had taken on midsummer conditions. The heat felt almost unbearable, only further intensifying all of his tutor’s moves.

  Master Conley looked up at the diving bird and aimed his fist. He opened his hand and the conjure exploded into flames, then fell to the earth.