18. Chapter 17
Callum’s posters still hung on the bulletin boards by Thursday.
It’d been almost a week since he’d gone missing.
Nearly every other student who had disappeared had either returned on their own or been found.
Why hasn’t he? She stared at the posters hanging in Galraine, as if a clue would stick out to her, but there was nothing.
With a sigh, she walked farther down the hall, slowly passing by the different displays on her way to her Organic Alchemy class and, before climbing the stairs, a picture in the back caught her eye.
She stopped, getting closer to the glass.
The framed photo, partially hidden by another on the shelf in front of it, was a grainy black-and-white picture of a group of students with varying degrees of smiles.
Peeking out at the edge was one holding an award of some kind.
At the end of the back row was a gangly man glowering at the camera.
Something about him was familiar, even though he was a stranger to her.
A shiver ran through her as she stared into his pale eyes that almost reminded her of her father’s.
She swayed on her feet, and they followed her movements.
Ivy rubbed her eyes. She must be seeing things.
Photos didn’t move unless they were enchanted.
Most arcane wouldn’t waste their magic to do it unless it was for an art piece or important to them.
She stared, moving again from foot to foot, and this time, the picture stayed still.
Strange. But then again, she got trapped with countless pissed snapdragons on her second day at Arcania.
Maybe eyes following her from a photograph wasn’t as strange as she thought.
She climbed the stairs and made her way to the classroom.
Her class was taught by a substitute for the first few classes, claiming Professor Abbott had been severely ill.
Which was a shame because that was the professor Ivy had been hoping to get closer to.
In her research into regaining her parents’ magic, she stumbled across an old news article in the library records about a former professor at Arcania, Eingard Bremar, who had sought to publish a scientific journal on the theory of magical retrieval after it was lost. Professionals vastly discredited it, and the man who’d published it was let go, but apparently he’d taken a mentor, who was none other than Narcissa Abbott.
She grabbed one of the small lecture desks left at the front, hoping the professor would finally show up .
By the time she had pulled out her things, a clicking of heels against the hardwood floor came from behind her.
The door to the classroom clicked shut, and a woman, wearing a mid-length black skirt and a tight red turtleneck sweater, strolled down the aisle to the front.
Ivy shifted excitedly as the woman placed her bag on the professor’s desk and turned to smile briefly at the class.
Her long, shining brown hair shifted over her shoulders as she moved.
“Good morning, class. I’m Professor Abbott, and you have my sincere apologies for my not being here until the end of your second week.
” She pulled out the textbook, flipping through the pages until reaching the chapter they had read to prepare for today’s class.
“However, I’ve been told you all have gotten through the first week mostly unscathed. ”
Ivy was sure the professor meant it as a joke.
But after reviewing the syllabus for the class and lab, it’d be an intense semester.
She couldn’t help but think of the posters on the bulletin board.
Callum’s scream was still stuck in her head and how he may never know if his semester was easy or difficult.
She shook her head, pulling herself back to the class. Focus.
“Now, we’ll be picking up where you should all have left off with the foundations of alchemical structure.” Abbott turned her back to the class for a moment to move to the chalkboard to draw a diagram.
Over the next ninety minutes, Ivy paid closer attention than she had in any other class and answered a couple of questions, making sure Abbott knew her name.
She wanted to impress the professor, hoping she could get her hands on Bremar’s theory.
Or, at the very least, ask her questions about it if no physical copy existed anymore.
She had to try. Once class had ended and everyone began packing their things, she slipped out of her seat and stepped up to the desk.
“Excuse me, Professor Abbott?”
The professor glanced up from her notes, her red-painted lips smiling slightly, and her large hazel eyes looking at Ivy expectantly. “Yes?”
“I was wondering if you had any work-study positions open? I hope to have my own alchemy shop one day, and I’d love any extra opportunities to help me prepare for that.”
“I do,” Abbott said, crossing her arms on top of her notebook, the force pushing out a small red and black card to peek out from behind the pages.
“Since we’re already in the second week, I won’t bother with you having to apply.
I’ll need a lab assistant to help with inventory and cleaning on Sunday afternoons this year, if you’re interested? ”
“Yes, of course! What time should I be there?”
“Let’s say around one o’clock? I’ll also have my TA there to help me grade homework assignments and prepare lessons.”
“I’ll be there.” Ivy beamed, clutching her hands behind her to keep from bouncing with excitement.
“Thank you so much, Professor.” She turned away, grabbed her bag hanging from her chair, and left the classroom.
For the first time in—she wasn’t sure how long, really—there was progress in getting her parents the help they needed.
Her chest was light, and her feet bounced with each step she took as she made her way to the library to meet Maeve.
She strolled through the wide doors, the smell of old books and ink wrapping around her as she walked between the rows of desks.
She was to meet Maeve at the base of the stairs near the archives, but she was nowhere to be seen.
Ivy leaned against the post as she waited.
At the edges of her magic was a pull, like silk wrapping around her and tugging.
She peered in the direction it came from, already knowing it would be Ezra, who was shuffling into a row of bookcases on the second floor.
Was he even concerned that his roommate was still missing?
If he were, he certainly didn’t act like it.
All week she’d seen him around campus, going to and from classes with barely a look at the bulletin board or, hell, even checking with campus security.
He and Callum weren’t close, but if Maeve had gone missing, Ivy wouldn’t let it go.
She searched the library again, still not seeing Maeve.
Her class must’ve run late. She bit the inside of her cheek as she tried to ignore her magic goading her up the stairs.
Ezra stepped out of the row, pausing when their eyes met, and he clenched his jaw before turning back around.
Ivy gave in to impulse and climbed the stairs until she was marching down the same row.
She found him leaning against the windowsill at the end, his legs stretched out and crossed, with an open book in his hands.
When she approached, he didn’t bother to look up.
Instead, he turned to the next page in his book.
“Ignoring me now?” she asked.
“No, I’m waiting for you to tell me why you’re angry with me today,” he said with a heaviness in his voice that made her pause. A second later, he finally flicked his gaze to her for a moment before returning to his book. “I could feel it from the first floor.”
So he could feel whatever was going on with her—their—magic, too. She huffed and cocked her hip to the side as she crossed her arms. “Don’t you think it’s weird Callum is still missing?”
“Others are missing from the assessments, too.” He flipped a page. “Or do you not care about them?”
She clenched her jaw. “You know it’s different.”
He snapped his book shut, placing it on the small desk by the window.
“It’s been less than a week since it happened.
If you don’t remember, let me refresh your memory,” he said, pushing himself away from the windowsill.
Her eyes traveled the length of him as he took a step closer.
“There are hundreds of miles of forest around this school. In said forest, there could be caves, tunnels, beasts. If he’s lost in there, then it will take more than a few days to find him. ”
“How can you not care?” She stuck her chin up as she glared at him. “He was your roommate, for fuck’s sake.”
“And I’m not a detective,” he hissed. His brows curled together with frustration, his nostrils flaring once before he snapped his head to the side. His chest rose with a heavy breath before he turned back to her. “And neither are you. Why won’t you let this go?”
“How can I?” Ivy asked, her voice cracking. “A…a student died last year, and it was barely a headline after a few weeks. Now another one is gone and nobody thinks it will happen again?”
“You heard Wren. That was an acciden—”
“That’s bullshit!” Ivy raised her voice enough to get someone peeking around the corner at them with a scowl.
But she didn’t care. Her stomach roiled as her head swam with her theories about what happened to Briar, if she had gone missing in the same way as Callum, or any of the other students during exams, or… worse.
Ezra took another step closer, and cardamom, cloves, and coffee swirled around her. “I don’t know why you care so much bu—”
“She was my friend,” she rasped, snapping her gaze back at him. “She was my friend.”
His jaw tightened, his muscles moving rhythmically as her confession was, no doubt, warping his small mind. He brushed a hand through his loose curls. “So you are playing detective.”
“How dare you?” she asked. Ezra’s head jerked back, as if the question were a physical blow.
Her throat seized as tears threatened to bubble up.
“The police failed her. This school failed her. I—” She clamped her mouth shut, but it didn’t stop the thought from crossing her mind.
I failed her. She glared at him, and a raging fire blazed deep inside her as his face softened.
“Wait, I’m s—”
“Save it.” She interrupted. “I don’t want to hear it.
” She turned away from him, her magic protesting in her chest, but she ignored it.
All she wanted was to be as far away from him as possible.
She left the stacks on the second floor, and as she descended the stairs, Maeve was waiting at the librarian’s desk, wearing a wide smile on her face.
“Oh, there you are!” Maeve said with just a little too much excitement. The librarian at the desk brought her finger to her lips to remind Maeve to be quieter. “Sorry.”
She rounded the desk and nearly bounced her way toward Ivy, though as she got closer, her smile faded. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
“It’s no—” She stopped herself. It wasn’t nothing. What happened to Briar wasn’t “nothing”, and she was tired of keeping it to herself. “It would be easier to explain back at the apartment.”
As soon as they got back, Ivy unloaded everything.
Well, almost everything. She kept the letters she’d been receiving a secret.
Only because she wasn’t sure what they meant.
Was Briar alive? Was someone playing a cruel trick on her?
Or was there something darker happening?
Whatever it was, it was more than Ivy expected, and it didn’t seem fair to put her in danger too.
“I can’t believe he said that to you.” Maeve scoffed as she stirred some sugar into her second cup of tea. “What a dick.”
Ivy leaned her elbows on the small kitchen table, tapping her nails against her lukewarm cup. “Yeah, he’s pretty much the worst.”
Maeve sighed as she placed her spoon on the napkin next to her.
“I hate to admit it, but he has a point about Callum.” She held her hands up when Ivy grimaced.
“Hear me out first. If Callum ran into the forest, it’s possible he’s gone deeper into it rather than back to the school.
Even though Wren said the professor’s use the exams to control the number of anomalies happening on campus, their reach can only extend so far. ”
“But—”
“And we don’t know how many other students have gone into the forest before…
well, before what happened with Briar.” She reached across the table, placing her hand on top of Ivy’s.
Her eyes widened for a brief second before she refocused and shook her head.
“I can’t imagine she was the first, and Callum likely won’t be the last. Wren said they’d work with the police if he wasn’t found within a week, so we should see if she keeps her word. ”
“I guess you’re right.”
Maeve grinned softly before pulling her hand back. “It happens from time to time.”
“More like all the time.” Ivy chuckled. “Anyway, you were really excited at the library before I interrupted with all this. What’s going on?
Maeve’s face brightened, and she tapped her purple-painted nails against the table. “Oh! I got the work-study position! They’re giving me the closing shift two nights a week. It’ll be perfect for getting some paid study time in.”
“That’s great! I’m glad your volunteering time paid off,” Ivy said. She stood and poured her cold tea down the drain. “Professor Abbott gave me a position as a lab assistant on Sundays today.”
A knock sounded at their door, and Maeve pushed herself up from her chair. She opened it and, over her shoulder, was another student in an Arcania sweatshirt and lanyard.
“Hiya! Just delivering your exam team assignments,” the woman said with a cheery voice.
“There’ll also be some clues about the exam for you to prepare.
” She handed Maeve two blue envelopes, similar to the one she had received the night Callum disappeared.
A second later, Maeve came back to the table and handed Ivy the envelope with her name written on the front.
Maeve tore hers open as she bounced in her seat, but Ivy could only stare at it. Would there be a different message inside it from the person impersonating Briar? She flipped it over and pulled at the seal.
“Okay, so the exam is next Friday, put together by… Intellect and Nature,” Maeve said. A second later, she gasped. “It looks like we’re on the same team! And someone named Liam Price and—oh…”
Ivy watched Maeve’s excitement melt away, and her stomach twisted, as if she knew exactly who else was on their team. She pulled the letter out, the tension in her shoulders releasing slightly when there were no cryptic messages. But at the bottom of the list?
Ezra Thaler.