Chapter Eleven

 

 

Imara got out of the car with a groan, and Mr. E perched on her shoulder. Kitty grabbed her books and headed off to finish her homework elsewhere.

When Imara came through the doors, she paused and blinked. “Wow, this is a little more active than I thought it would be.”

Edgar Demiel was tied up on the floor and gagged. Bara was baking cookies, and Reegar was going through a pile of books that had been spilled to the floor.

The security officers were taking a statement from Bara while she baked to calm down.

Imara checked her watch, and she nodded. A quick photo and an email later and she introduced herself to the security officers.

Reegar growled, “Get him out of here.”

Imara nodded. “Good evening, officers. I see there has been an intrusion.”

Bara sniffled. “It was horrible, Imara. I heard a noise upstairs, and that guy was there, tangled in my loom. He ruined three weeks of weaving! I am never going to get my ninety-five percent in that class now.”

Imara kept her face concerned. Bara’s drama courses were paying off.

The security officers kept making notes. One asked, “Who are you, miss?”

“I am Imara Mirrin.”

“Do you know who this man is?”

She looked at Edgar and bit her lip. “I think he is in one of my classes. I haven’t been formally introduced, but I am pretty sure we are related.”

The officers looked confused by that. “What is his name?”

“His last name is Demiel.”

Both officers lowered their notepads. She gave them a bland look. “And I am Imara Mirrin Deepford-Smythe Demiel. He broke into my house, and I don’t know what he wanted. I will assist Mage Reegar with pressing charges for any broken materials, and compensation should be issued to Bara for the destruction of her weaving project. It does look good on him, doesn’t it?”

Edgar was flushed and furious, writhing from side to side.

The notebooks came back up. “What did he try and take?”

Reegar scowled. “He was rifling through my books.”

One of the officers thought to ask, “What class were you in with him?”

“Stealth Magic. Don’t worry; his deadline was forty-five minutes ago.” She smiled and inclined her head.

The officers had tensed, and then, they smiled at each other with a smug air.

Imara knew that Edgar was going to fail the course, but she also knew he would get off without any consequences. Her checks on Demiel history showed that they were primarily bullies who liked to throw money around.

Just as they were hauling Edgar to his feet, with the gag still in place, the door opened, and Hyl arrived. He smiled at Imara and paused to stare at her brother. “What is this?”

Bara sobbed and set the cookie batter down with a thud. “HebrokeinandwreckedmyprojectandtoreitupandthrewbooksaroundandnowtheyaregoingtolethimgobecauseheisaDemiel.”

Hyl grabbed Edgar by the shoulder, his Mage Guild uniform neat and tidy, and his eyes twinkling. “Did he use magic to break in?”

Reegar nodded. “He did. He used a spell to break through the glass, but he still managed to do a lot of manual damage.”

“Using magic during the commission of a crime is a serious offense.”

He pulled the gag from Edgar’s mouth. “Did you use magic in the commission of a crime?”

“It was my assignment. I had to!” Edgar was nearly foaming with fury. “She has a stone stolen from my house! Check her!”

Mr. E jumped down, so Imara could remove her robes and hand them to Hyl. There was no way that anything could have been hidden in her gown. She undid her belt and handed it to him.

He checked everything, handed it to the security officers to check, and he looked to Edgar. “So, that is one lie.”

“It was her assignment! She had to! Ask her! She was at Demiel Hall tonight. She had to have stolen it, or she is going to fail.”

Hyl raised his brows at Imara. “Were you at the hall tonight?”

“I was. I was surrounded at all times and left promptly at midnight when requested. It was a little cold blooded of them actually.”

He nodded. “You have completed your courses?”

“I have. I have emails, a voicemail, and a photo indicating that my course is complete and was complete before this evening.”

Hyl grinned. “Excellent. Well, I will take this young mage and have him up on charges of magic outside of scholastic purpose.”

Edgar’s eyes were wild. “It was an assignment.”

Hyl looked at him blandly. “It was stealth magic. What sounds stealthy to you about your actions this evening?”

Imara watched as her tutor left her hall with the officers trying to figure out how to get on the guild’s good side.

Bara started to scoop out the cookies, and she grinned over at Imara. “How was your family?”

“Half nice, half horrible. What kind of cookies?”

“Chocolate and peanut butter. I kept some of the dough without chocolate for Mr. E. He looks like he has been hard at work keeping you calm.”

Mr. E jumped on the table and perched up like a prairie dog. Bara made tiny balls of dough for him and set it out on a plate.

Reegar sighed. “You were right; he is after the demon codex.”

Mr. E paused and looked over at Reegar.

Imara moved forward and petted her familiar. “It is a book belonging to Reegar. Part of his collection, but I am fairly sure that Edgar would not bring it back after stealing it. That book in the hands of the Demiels is a nightmare.”

He calmed and continued consuming his treat.

 

A call brought Kitty over for a post-mortem of the evening and some cookies.

They all sat around the table while Reegar continued to work on the dents and dings his books had taken.

Kitty munched a cookie and smiled. “So. What is your general impression of your family?”

“They are half good, half bad, and not to be trusted. I think I will stick with my mom’s side. Her folk are broke, but they have character.” She looked at Bara. “I mean, aside from Luken. He’s great.”

Bara raised her cup of hot cocoa in a toast. “To Luken!”

Kitty and Imara followed suit. “To Luken.”

They all sipped hot cocoa and sat back at two in the morning.

“When do you go to your final class?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

Bara frowned. “You need to get some rest. You have had a stressful couple of days.”

“Yes, ma’am. See you in the morning.”

Mr. E ran ahead of her, up the stairs and into her room. Her wards were still in place against members of her own bloodline, and she dropped to her bed, trying to ignore all of the insults she had absorbed that night.

Don’t worry. You are still beloved by your family. Your true family and that gathering is expanding daily.

Thanks, little dude. Sorry you are saddled with me when I am all weepy.

I have had worse mages to deal with. I am truly enjoying myself for the first time in centuries. Keep doing what you are doing and get some sleep.

Imara did as she was told.

 

The tiny class was a sullen and sombre place. Professor McClairie looked them over. “I told you when this term began that stealth magic is a difficult skill to learn. It is nearly impossible to get the skills together in one short term. Out of the ten of you, only one student managed to exhibit the skills and technique necessary for a passing grade.”

Imara was shocked.

“This is not an unusual occurrence, but it was surprising that the student I thought least likely to succeed found the most success. And the object that was drawn was removed, presented and then returned. Unlike most of you, this student took the day of the event literally. The assignment was completed before dawn.”

Her classmates were looking like they had been struck with hammers. One asked, “You can do that?”

The professor nodded. “The day begins one minute after midnight.”

The professor had folders in his hand, and he went through the students and handed them out. Imara read her name, opened the folder, and her shoulders slumped in relief at the passing grade. Over ninety percent was nothing to sneer at.

Edgar was sitting at the far end of the room, and he got to his feet, stalking toward her. Mr. E hopped off her shoulder and landed on the folder.

He was nearly in front of her when the professor stepped in front of him. “You didn’t manage it, Edgar. Get over it. Enroll again next term, and if you display any emotional development, I will consider it. Right now, you are a pathetic rich brat.”

Edgar snarled and pulled his fist back. Imara blinked, she hadn’t thought that he was the bully in the family, but it seemed that the twins were both assholes.

The professor caught the fist, and he clenched his fingers. Edgar grunted and then began to whine as he was forced to his knees.

“I didn’t care for Desmond when he tried and failed this course, and I don’t care for you. I know you only took this course to attack your sister here, but it is a shortsighted plan. Get your own path in life. Following orders puts you in unpleasant situations and deprives you of self-sufficiency.”

Imara gathered her things and tried to leave, but they were blocking her exit.

Edgar looked over at her with anger in his expression. “She ruined everything.”

Imara piped up, “If you are referring to your mother, our mother, she was going to leave the moment that she fulfilled the contract. Desmond is an ass.”

“You grew up with her!”

She rolled her eyes. “Not this again. I grew up in a group home. I just met my mother, our mother, after I arrived here at college. The contract didn’t let her keep me. Read it if you don’t believe it. No issue of the Demiel line was to remain in her custody. So, she stuck me in a series of orphanages and homes run by her extended family. I grew up knowing that I was alone and that I was not allowed to be with my family. I tried to go and meet you all on your terms, and you tried to break into my fucking home while I was with your twin. He doesn’t know how you cock your head when you are getting mad, by the way. He can’t fake being you.”

He scowled. “I don’t believe you.”

“Ask her. She will take a call from you. Read the contract. It is available online at the mage contract archive.”

Edgar blinked, and she saw the abandoned toddler in his expression. He would have been two when Mirrin left.

“Or don’t. Just don’t consider me a threat. I won’t consider you at all.” She climbed on a desk and slithered behind her brother and the professor. She was out the door with her familiar and on her way home in seconds.

 

She slapped the folder on the table, and Reegar came by to take a look. “Excellent. That is one of the highest scores I have seen.”

“You have seen others?”

“Of course. Stealth magic is a hard skill to learn, but a few have an actual knack for it. The hardest part is the professor keeping track of all the temporal trackers that he has out. McClairie is a master at temporal magic.”

“Wait, there was a tracker on me?”

“Yes, it is in the notecard he gave that outlined your assignment. It tracked your every move, marked the acquisition of the artifact and, also, marked its return.”

She stared at him. “You knew?”

“Yes. I thought it would make you nervous to know about it. It doesn’t matter anyway. It is a standard tracking spell.”

Imara sighed and looked at her marks, the credits and knew that there was only one class that would give her the credits she needed to finish quickly.

“What are you thinking?”

“My next course. There is only one thing it can be, but it is going to be really dangerous.”

I can handle it. I mastered welding after all.

She wrinkled her nose at him. “Spell Crafting 501. I have managed soul casting, shape shifting, sky breaking and now stealth magic, along with business and ethics courses. So, if I can get spell crafting under my belt, I will be able to get a broad-spectrum magic license. I will have way more skills than I need, but I will qualify for an immediate license. It is that, or they have to kill me.”

Reegar grinned. “You have a fascinating career path in mind.”

“Yeah. I know. But it just feels right. When it feels right, it feels right.”

“What will you do for staff?”

She grinned. “I think that I will pick people with skills I can use, but any of my friends are welcome for work experience when they graduate.”

Imara sat back and looked at Reegar. There was no one better to ask. “So, what do I need to know about writing spells?”

Reegar beckoned, and a stack of books began to pile up on the table. More and more came in a huge cascade. “Start here.”

She blinked. “Do I have to lift them? I can do that now.”

He laughed, and she smiled as she prepared to take on the skills that would set her free to live her own life for the first time.

Don’t be scared of the future. I will be with you every step of the way.

Imara laughed. “Riding on my shoulder and eating my snacks.”

That is what a familiar is for.

Grinning, she pulled the first tome in front of her and started to read while her other hand finished the registration for the next term. It took three hours for the confirmation to come back, but her path was set. She was going to learn how to craft a spell.

It had better be a good one.