“Oh great and powerful one,” one of Rebekah’s so-called friends jokes to her, “Did you forget where the bathroom was?”
I shake my head. Anyone with two eyes could tell that she didn’t go to the bathroom. Heck, some people with one eye could probably, too. She decided to have an impromptu meeting with Lisette. All of the magister’s did, every once in a while. That’s what I call it when they go off to the Smoking Trail for some relaxation. Mostly because, as far as I can tell, Lisette is always there. Not that I care about that. I find my vices tend to be different sort. I sip my coffee, the distinct bite of the Jameson providing a flowing warmth down my throat.
I’ve moved on from targeting the Maestros. They are easy enough to deal with now that I’ve finished my research. Hell, by the end of the first month here, I had them all worked out. But unfortunately, most of my actual classes the first semester, as well as all but one of my upcoming classes, aren’t taught by one of the Maestros. One of the problems of being in such a small Magisterial Seat. Also one of the advantages, I suppose. After all, the information flows much more freely than it might in a more rigid setting, and there is much greater familiarity between student and teacher. That being said, there is far too little information on these children who are teaching me than I would like. They’re hard to figure out. Take Rebekah here. She’s unpublished, as far as I can tell. She finished her Apprenticeship under a proper Greatest Maestro, in Paris. Studying mysticism through music. She was here because, quite frankly, the guy thought she was terrible, or so his encrypted emails with the other Maestros would indicate. Now, she’s my music teacher. Why I decided to take the damned viol out of my box, I don’t know. What I do know, is I’m stuck with this waste of a Magister who will likely finish her dissertation, become a full Maestro, and pollute the education of whatever Villa she’s assigned to.
I take a breath, though. It isn’t her fault, I remind myself. Not everyone is built for this lifestyle. And, to be even more fair, look at her so called friends. None of them give two craps about her. I mean, to be completely honest, I’m closer friends with Phillipe, and I’ve threatened to burn off his genitals more times than I can count. (Metaphorically, that is. Literally, it has only been two-hundred-and-thirty-seven times.) Knowing that she is alone isn’t particularly helpful. There isn’t any exploit there, unless I could somehow find people interested in actually being friends with that, for discretion’s sake, individual. Her friends are getting me nowhere. They wouldn’t know anything useful, not really.
As though on cue, my cell buzzes. I glance at it as I pick up. Speaking of friends who don’t know anything. “What is it, Jason?” I ask, my voice it characteristic lack of pleasantness.
“Your door’s locked, and you promised me some of your sort of courage before our meeting with Magister White.”
Crap. I forgot about that. Or, more specifically, I forgot that today was the day before the semester begins in earnest. That meant, for some unknown reason, Magister Amanda White, my scientifically minded advisor, wants all of her advisees to meet with her. At the same time. I think she wants us to be friends with the older Magister Apprentices or something. I don’t know, nor do I care. “Give me a couple, I got an early start to the morning. Be back in a minute.” Another lie. It implies I slept last night. To be fair to me, though, I’m pretty sure Jason knows I did not, in fact, sleep last night.
I make it back to my dorm room in under a minute. Being in shape is useful, even for people who are learning to manipulate reality. Jason was already in my room. He got bored of waiting and opened the door. I stole his lockpicking set during finals week of last semester, that makes conventional methods unlikely. Probably with magic. A glance at the outer handle moves the probably to a definitely. Traces of dried vegetation. “You should clean up after yourself better,” I say as I walk in, brushing off the handle.
“If I cared what you think, I might,” Jason replies. I like Jason. He is a tad cagey, a complete idiot, jokes around way too much, and is high all the time, but I still like him. Or, at least, don’t dislike him. The sort of person you can rely on to never be useless, but also never be a real threat to any goals.
I press the button to start up my coffee maker and open up my sock drawer. Jason sits down, waiting patiently for me to pour him something to drink. I slip down the back of my sock drawer and pull out the whiskey. In a school filled with mystical people doing magic to hide things, no one ever looks for the old school secret containers. I pour Jason a glass as the coffeemaker beeps. There’s a knock on my bathroom door.
“Therese. It’s me. I was wondering if I could have some coffee and conversation?” Abeni asks through the door. Always polite with me. I think she might be afraid of, or at least unnerved by, me.
I pour myself an Irish coffee and pull out a mug for her. “Sure, for the coffee. Jason’s getting drunk, so if you don’t mind talking in front of him, conversation is okay, too.”
“It almost sounds like Little Therese has a friend,” Jason mocks.
I shrug as Abeni enters the room, and say to him, “More than you, anyways.”
Abeni sees the cup and pours herself some coffee. “You’ll never guess what happened last night.”
I will. Jason says, “Did Therese finally have some fun with her life?”
I look at him, confused. What I do is fun. Finding weak points, vulnerabilities, and pressing them until I get what I want is very fun. Abeni answers for me, “Therese has fun. No, Batu invited me out. Like on a date date.”
I knew that. I set that up. Batu was a d-bag who wouldn’t have without some, let’s call it gentle prodding. “No way,” I say in response, barely a hint of surprise in my voice. Jason looks up at me. I can tell he knows I knew. But to Abeni, that hint of surprise means I am shocked. I barely show emotions, as far as most people can tell. And I never show surprise. It only makes sense for people to assume I show surprise in small doses. Jason, unfortunately, has seen me surprised. I get violent. I also find it best to avoid that reaction on most occasions.
“Yeah, I know, my thoughts too,” she continues, “But it was sweet and romantic, and everything I wanted from him.”
I nod along as she gushes. Despite not having a romantic bone in his body, Batu make a good boyfriend for Abeni, and their relationship, such as it was, made both of them better. That is why I prodded him into action. As Abeni finished her gushing, she suddenly looks between the two other people in the room. “Wait, there’s nothing going on here, is there?”
Jason shakes his head. “Nope. In all her wisdom, Magister White has decided to drug test us before every semester, meaning this month I’ve had to be sober. Isn’t that fun?” He finishes off the glass and gets up to pour himself another.
“Why? That seems a bit, I don’t know, excessive.”
I smile. “It is, but technically she’s allowed to with our student agreement. And why is some genius decided to throw her a surprise party, clearly while high because they didn’t talk to me first.”
“To be fair,” Jason defends himself, “That’s all Lisette. I just helped.”
I nod at him, a forced smile on my face. “I know. I’ve had a talk with her already.”
“You talked back to a Magister?” Abeni asks me, slightly shocked. I had. I also made an agreement with her. She needs Batu to achieve his potential, and I need Abeni to become powerful enough to move back to Europe in a position of usefulness.
My forced smile becomes a genuine smirk as I reply, “Yeah. I wouldn’t recommend someone who isn’t me do it.”
“What makes you so special?” Jason asks, even though he knows exactly what answer I’ll give, and he suspects the actual answer as well.
“Magic,” I say, then with a look at the clock, I add, “It’s time me and mister sobriety here get to our meeting. Enjoy your day, Abeni.” I slide the bottle back behind the false wall, then do a magic-looking flourish with some muttering. Helps make people assume I’m using magic to hide it. Opening the door to my dorm, I gesture for Jason to get a move on. Jason, saddened by the near emptiness of his second glass, downs it, places it on the chair, and stumbles into the hallway. Giving Abeni a slight bow of my head, I follow, closing the door behind me. Abeni would leave without messing with anything. Be that fearing or unsettled, whatever she feels about me had it’s uses.
Jason looks over at me as we enter the courtyard. “You made that happen,” he says, “Lisette said she had a problem with Batu, and you went and fixed it.”
I smile as I look back at him, making my best but-I’m-just-an-innocent-teenager face. Jason continues, “And don’t tell me you were surprised. When you got surprised last time, you threw a knife at my face.”
I nod. “And you deserved it. Surprise isn’t my best reaction, so I avoid it whenever possible.”
I take another sip as we stroll across the courtyard. Around halfway, the third member of this self-destructive trio joins up. “I see you’ve helped him indulge, Ter.”
“You do love tempting fate, Isaac,” I joke.
He simply smiles wider. “Someday you’ll admit you’re my friend.” I won’t. He isn’t. But he may yet prove useful, so I don’t deny overtly. In any case, his best friend is the influential and powerful Alina, so it is best not to get him too riled up.
“Of course I’ve helped him,” I say instead, “Isn’t that Amanda’s whole purpose for keeping us in classes together? So we can help each other out.”
A few playful shoves later, we enter the library. Amanda sits in one of the study rooms, with six of the ten people already in there. Jason lets out a chuckle and whispers to us, “Not last,” with a fist pump.
I give him a shove as we walk into the room. Then, with a nod to Amanda, I say, “Magister, sorry we’re late. I lost track of time.” We aren’t late. We’re on time. But we are also nearly last, which is what the apology is actually for, just phrased in such a way that no one else realizes it, necessarily.
“It’s no worry, Therese,” Amanda replies, “You aren’t actually late. The same cannot be said for Marshall, unfortunately.” She is in an oddly giving mood. Something fantastic must have happened over break. She didn’t get laid, I know that. I don’t have eyes in her and her friends’ house, but my eyes around it tell me that. This morning, I saw her still working on her dissertation, so it isn’t that. But she is nearly done, I slowly realize. She got her openings for a job. She likes wherever she is going to be a Maestro at next year.
I furrow my brow and mouth to her, ‘Where?’ She waves me off. She’ll tell me after the meeting. Good enough. Hopefully somewhere powerful. Useful.
“So, as you all know, I’ll be graduating at the end of the semester. That means you will all, unfortunately, be assigned a new advisor. I’ve basically finished everything but my dissertation and defense, so I plan on being a tad more hands on this semester, making sure everyone has a plan to present to their next advisor, in case they’re useless.” I could see everyone’s eyes mentally rolling. It isn’t as though she had been the best advisor to most of us. I mean, us three first-years didn’t care much, but she couldn’t have been that great for the third-years who had three full years under the self-absorbed genius scientist.
As though on mental cue at my thinking of self-absorbed geniuses, Marshall strolls in. Amanda smiles a very unhappy grin in his general direction. “Thanks for joining us, Marshall. We were just discussing some changes in how I’m going to be guiding all of you. Now, everyone, take a cup and pee in it.”