The plane actually arrives early. By twelve minutes. Not sure why, we didn’t leave early, but I don’t mind. Not much anyways. Because hopefully since this is an international flight, this shouldn’t mean I have to wait by baggage claim for a half hour. Deplaning with the rest of the folks on this flight, I head over to customs. It should be easy enough. I am from America, go to school here, and am not bringing back much of anything. Leaving was a pain to explain, but coming back should be easy enough.
It is. I don’t even get randomly inspected. There isn’t really a conversation required at the passport place, I grab my bag, and get through customs no problem. Other than the furrowing of the dude at the desks brow and the inquisitive, “Swiss wine? Really?” which if I’m honest, I kinda expected. Once I’m through, I head out to the terminal. The one issue with arriving early is I’ll need to wait for my ride. Maybe. Though, there’s a chance they left early and are gonna be here soon enough. I grab a coffee at the only place that’s open outside of security, because airports are terrible places to wait around in. It’s an adequate coffee, not great, but I don’t particularly need great. I need something to drink and keep me alert from now until my ride arrives. I head out to the outer curb and sit down on a bench to wait.
It takes a bit of time. In spite of her omniscience, I suppose my ride didn’t know about my flight being early. Eventually, after about ten minutes, she does arrive. Pulling up in an off-white sedan, Ter gets out and pops the trunk. “Ter,” I begin, almost entirely to irritate her, “How goes things?”
“Don’t make me drive away,” she says, “Now, put the bags in the trunk and get in.”
Some others in the waiting area look askance at us. One of the ones who’s been waiting with me asks, “That your girlfriend or something?”
I can’t help but chuckle. As I put my bags into the trunk, I reply, “No way, she’s like seven. She’s my boss.”
Ter is staring at me blankly. Or, blankly to anyone else, probably. I can tell she’s starting to get annoyed at waiting, so I shake my head. “Fine, I’m moving.” I clamber into the car.
Ter follows me inside and we’re off before I even have my seatbelt on. “So, how was your summer?”
“Adequate.” Her voice is relaxed, which is never a good sign. I think she may have taken several steps forward in her maniacal plans of world conquest. Or whatever she has going on in her mind. I assume maniacal conquest, but that’s just because every fiber of her being seems to indicate that. She might just be planning to become a great magic baker or something benign like that. But that doesn’t seem quite right for her.
“Don’t you want to ask me about my summer?” I push.
For a moment, she takes her eyes off the road to look at me. “No.” All she says. One word. And she’s telling the truth. Either I don’t matter, which can’t be true because of all the time and favor-related things she put into my development. Or more likely, she already knows. Because I missed one of the mystical bugs she puts everywhere, or some spy she planted in the region to watch me.
“Fine, I’ll just tell people when I’m back. My friends will be interested, I’ll bet.”
She shakes her head, focused once more on the road. “Who will you be seeing first, Alina and Natalya, or Sierra?”
“Shut up,” I shoot back.
She gives the road her version of a half-smile, which is more like a thousandth of a smile. “But I thought you wanted to talk?” she sasses me.
“You haven’t told anyone, have you?” I ask, much more seriously.
She shrugs ever so slightly. “It wouldn’t be a secret if I did,” she replies with yet another variation on her usual philosophy about secrets and sharing. “That said, Alina either knows or will soon know. Her summer reinvigorated her perspectives on social interactions. And Irene will figure it out eventually.”
“How long do you think I have?” I press.
“That depends on you.” She is being honest, though avoiding the truth. Which is never a good sign. Means it’s either related to another secret she’s holding onto, or it’s real soon.
I shake my head. “I should keep an eye out then. You think Ali’s gonna tell anyone? I assume Irene would, but I’ll just make a deal with her.” Ter doesn’t react, so I’m betting that would work. I might have to show my hand a bit more, but especially since I’m close to Ali and friendly acquaintances or whatever she refers to us as to Ter, I should be able to keep it quiet until after I’m gone. I don’t know about Ali, though. And Ter’s silence isn’t helping matters. I’m sure if she was sure about Ali’s silence, she’d say something, albeit something cryptic. “What the hell happened to Ali this summer?”
“She remembered,” Ter says. There’s her cryptic self I’m used to. She remembered. So something about her upbringing, maybe? Oh well, I’ll talk to her. Figure it out and move forward. Also warn her that Ter’s been spying on her, but she probably already knows that. Or at least assumes that. Why she let Ter is another matter altogether, but that’s for Ter and Ali to discuss. Hopefully this will work out.
The rest of the ride is a while and quiet, though not slow. Ter doesn’t seem to understand what the left-hand pedal is for. In no time we make it back to town, and slide into the campus lot. “Well, this has been a time,” I say as we climb out. “Remind me never to let you drive me anywhere ever again.”
Ter nods. “Then next time you can take the train and get a ride or the bus from the city.”
We both pull our bags out of the trunk and head into our dorms. One last start of the year. And given that Ter and I generally don’t leave over winter break, one last time moving into the dorms.
Alone once more, I head to my new room. Phillipe isn’t in yet. Good. I don’t want to have to deal with him yet. Too much on my mind. I put down my bags then head down to the basement, to grab my boxes out of storage. About half of the Magister Apprentices here apply for campus storage. It makes it easier for those of us who don’t spend summers with family for various reasons or can’t easily transport the stuff to and from where they live to deal with moving from dorm room to dorm room each year. After moving my stuff back up to my new room, I go about giving Ter the show. I’m sure she already has all these rooms watchable, but if she wants my info, she’s going to have to put more work into it. Not that she won’t figure it out eventually, but you know, the little victories are important too.
Finding my old ritual box, I remove the blade. With practiced precision, I slide the blade through each of my palms, leaving a small opening on the front and back of the hands. I let the blood flow lightly, pressing my palms on each of the four corners of the room. Grasping the knife firmly, I begin the incantation of Shifting Flame. First my hands, then the knife burst alight in hallowed fire. Carefully and slowly, I slide the flaming blade into my neck, through my vocal cords. I push through the pain. I push through the inability to breathe. It is intense, but after a few times, the mind can get used to a lot. I keep pushing. My hands enter my neck as the blade makes its way out the other side. The lack of breathing starts getting to me. I feel a tad light headed. I keep pushing. Only when both of my hands are fully outside the back of my neck do I rip the blade back through. I take a breath in, then as I breathe out I slam the tip of the knife, still aflame, into the floor. A circle of fire bursts out echoing around the room, up the walls, across the ceiling but not leaving it, as though contained by the blood on the walls. Then it fades, leaving only the echoes bouncing about the room from corner to corner.
I finish unpacking then head out to the quad. I text the League, asking if they want to hang out for a little bit. Ali arrives shortly thereafter, without texting first. She got in a day ago and already finished unpacking. “Ike, how are you?” she asks, sitting down on the bench.
“I’m alright, I suppose,” I reply.
She looks at my hands. “Scratch yourself shaving?” she jokes.
I chuckle and shake my head. “Ter drives far too fast on the highway, so I decided to annoy her.”
“Probably not a great play, but you do what you will.” Ali is smiling, but something is off. Maybe it’s just Ter’s ominous warning, but Ali’s smile seems less happy and more cordial than normal.
I shrug. “I do it every year. She hasn’t tried to have me killed yet.”
“That you know of,” Ali counters.
I have to disagree with her there. “I’m sorry, are you saying that if Ter wanted me dead, there’s any chance in hell I’d live? Because I’m putting the money on she knows at least seven ways to kill me and four ways to drive me mad.”
Ali shrugs at me this time. “Don’t be paranoid, she can’t make you insane. You’ve been on that side of things for a while now.”
Nat arrives just before I can start trying to figure out what Ali knows. “So, how was everyone’s summers?” she asks.
I shrug. “Learned a bunch. Relaxed a ton. Drank wine. Got in good with both people who’re in charge of giving me a position and job next year. All in all, pretty great on my end. Ali?”
Ali smiles some more, though it seems to be relaxing some. “Well, I got to spend the whole summer at the Convention, getting to know everyone. You know, fancy people, fancy parties, old friends. The works.”
“Sounds… interesting?” I say, hoping she’ll elaborate.
Instead, she simply continues to smile. “Oh, it certainly was.”
Nat decides to chime in, breaking some of the tension. “I’m glad you both had fun this summer. I just learned from and helped out a Maestro, then relaxed by the beach.”
“What did you learn about?” Ali asks, just before I could.
“Stuff and things.”
“God, why is everyone I know so cryptic all the time,” I complain.
Nat looks at Ali. “Did he hang out with Therese earlier?”
Ali chuckles genuinely and nods. “Rode with her back from the airport.”
“The worst,” I say, shaking my head. “Jase would back me up if he was here.”
Ali shrugs. “Well, unfortunately for you, he should be getting in tonight.”
“Then tomorrow, he’ll defend me. Probably. Assuming you don’t uncrypicify yourselves between now and then.”
They both shake their heads at me, so I use this as my excuse to pout. “Well fine, I’ll just go out drinking with the people who get me.”
Nat shakes her head. Ali, on the other hand, chuckles a bit and smirks. “I’ll bet they do,” she says, with all the implication evident. She definitely knows already.
“See,” I say, “Cryptic.”
Ali cocks her head. “You want me to be more straightforward then?” she asks.
I shake my head and sigh. “Shut up,” I spit out, “That’s not the point.”
Nat looks between us confused. Ali shakes her head then waves me off. “Don’t worry so much. Go have fun,” she tells me. Hopefully the implied meaning there is that she won’t say anything, but I’ll follow up next time we’ve got some time without other ears around.
Taking a slight bow, I start to walk away, adding in, “Have a great evening yourselves, and tell Jase I said hi.”
“I really won’t,” Ali replies, “And you should be thankful for that.”
I chuckle as I head into town, and over to the Amber & Cedar, hoping everything will be alright this year.
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