Chapter 34
Things settled a bit for a few days. But then we got word of a special event on Friday night.
A mandatory seminar for freshmen and strongly urged for upperclassmen.
The magical seminar room, which was our biggest, was packed by seven p.m..
Gina stepped up in front of the school, and it seemed like it was the whole school, right at seven on the dot.
“I’m glad to see everyone here. We have some special guests tonight who aren’t always able to grace us with their presence.
They are all graduates of this school, and they are also responsible for surveying all three of the worlds we are actively colonizing.
Please welcome Mack, Veronica, Jetta, and Matthew. ”
I had deliberately avoided looking ahead to the reveal, so I was as shocked as anyone, maybe more so, when the four famous adventurers stepped up in front of us to a rousing applause.
Jetta and Mack looked great for their age, which had to be mid-forties, but their respective spouses looked much younger because of their supernatural genes. And Veronica Sutton was stunning.
“Easy there, champ,” Vesta said to me. “That’s my Aunt Ronnie you’re ogling.”
“No, you don’t understand,” I said.
“Oh, we understand,” Geniveve said. “She’s clearly a WILF but you’re taken, bucko.”
“No, that’s not it,” I objected, but then Gina turned to us.
“You all wanna maybe give your attention up here?” she suggested, looking mildly peeved at our talking.
“That’s okay, Gina,” Mack Sutton said. “We’re used to being upstaged by our niece. Right, Vesta?”
“I’m pretty sure no one has ever upstaged you, Uncle Mack,” Vesta said.
“Well, that’s kind, but this is a great segue for addressing the elephant in the room,” he said.
“What elephant?” Vesta asked.
“The plain skinny kid next to you,” Mack said.
“I’m the elephant?” I asked, frowning.
“Hush up, Dumbo,” my roommate Cole called from a few rows over. Most of the kids laughed.
“I believe she uses the term jumbo,” Taylah said.
“Okay, not how I thought the conversation would go,” Mack said.
His sister spoke up. “Well, our presentation was going to be on lessons learned from planetary exploration, but now we have a native of Golf Alpha sitting here and it kind of ruins the effect,” Jetta said.
“Not at all, ma’am,” I said. “Your videos and journals are required study material for every level of survival class on Greenacres.”
“Oh? Is that right?” she asked.
“Yes ma’am,” I said. “Our Survival teacher, Mr. Murphy, had us write papers on your survey experiences. You’re all pretty famous. In fact, he makes every class pledge to say thank you if we ever meet you, so… thank you.”
“He’s more polite than I had heard,” Mack said to Gina.
“He’s actually pretty snarky,” Gina said.
“He’s sitting right here,” I said.
“See,” Gina said.
“Ah. Got it. But also, your Survival teacher was named Mr. Murphy? Like Murphy’s law.”
“The irony was not lost on any Greenacres inhabitant,” I said.
He snorted and looked at his companions before turning back. “Did you write any papers, Craig… if I can call you Craig.”
“Yes sir, and yes you can, sir.”
“What did you write about?”
“I had to write four papers, but only one of them became part of the ongoing curriculum. See, we don’t have a lot a material yet, so students’ work sometimes gets used.”
“What were your papers?” Mack asked.
“Ah, one was an analysis of the odds against your survival with all the mistakes you made, one was on magical luck being the principal drain on your supply of charged diamonds, one was on the team qualifications that made your trip a success, and one was on you, ma’am,” I said, looking at Veronica, “and Water witches being the absolute best elemental type for exploring Greenacres.”
“Are you flirting with my wife, kid?” Mack asked, his face hard.
“Shut up and let him flirt… er… talk, Mack,” his wife said with a sly smile.
I felt my face get red.
“Dude, thermal flush,” Cole called out. Fucking werewolves and their infrared eyesight.
“Just kidding,” Mack said. “Which one got added to the curriculum? The one about our blunders?”
“No sir. It is consensus that there is no way not to blunder when exploring a completely unknown world. I’m pretty good at survival on Greenacres, but throw me in the Amazon and I’m going to make mistakes.
And that’s with prior knowledge from books and videos.
You all survived a very harsh world and the lessons you provided have been helping people ever since. ”
“So which was it?” Veronica Sutton asked, one brow arched.
“The one on you, ma’am. The greatest threat to survival on Greenacres is blood loss due to mechanical injury from falls or animal predation. Having a powerful Water witch who can clot blood in any condition with just charged diamonds was a game changer. Mr. Murphy agreed.”
“Hah,” Veronica said to her husband.
“Maybe we should just go over the other two planets?” Mack suggested.
“Boring,” a voice that sounded like werewolf Steve called out.
“Okay, we’ll talk about Greenacres,” Mack said with a laugh.
They did. In detail, with pictures and videos that I had never seen before and anecdotes I had never heard. It was fascinating and I ate it up.
“Are you starstruck?” Vesta asked me when it was done.
“You don’t understand how much we all study what they did,” I said.
“But which ones do all of you Greenies focus on?” Freia asked.
“Okay, so the two ladies are super popular. There’s a team Jetta and a team Veronica.”
“And you’re team Veronica, right?”
“I like dark-haired girls, okay?” I said.
“Well, they’re waving to me, so let’s go meet your heroes, but no hitting on Aunt Ronnie.”
“Vesta!” I hissed, glancing to see if they had overheard me, but there were too many kids talking to them for even the werewolf Matthew to have heard her.
We got down to the lowest level and Jetta came right up and hugged Vesta.
“So I heard you might have met someone here at school—a boy type someone,” Jetta said, looking at me. Then she glanced around. “Is he here?” she asked with a smirk.
“This is Craig, Aunt Jet. My beloved.”
Jetta’s own husband, Matthew arrived as she said that and he paused before holding out a hand to shake. “Big statement, Vee.”
“Truth,” she said.
He paused to take in her tone, then nodded. “I guess it is.”
Jetta looked at him with wide eyes, then turned to Vesta. “Congratulations,” she said, hugging Vesta again. Matthew hugged her too.
“Is she your beloved, sir?” I asked him.
“I am,” Jetta answered for him.
“But she’s not a boy witch,” Veronica said, appearing just behind Vesta and hugging her but keeping her eyes on me. Kinda judgy eyes they were, although she wore a smile.
“That seems abundantly clear,” I said, confused.
“Craig isn’t a boy witch; he’s a warlock,” Vesta said.
“Say again?” Jetta asked.
“He’s not a spoiled male slut,” Vesta said. “He’s barely even the same species as an earthbound male witch.”
“You, of all people, ought to understand how a male who grew up on Greenacres would not end up remotely similar to prima donna Earth witch males,” Vesta said to Jetta.
“There are maybe forty witches of any kind among the entire population,” I said. “None of them have magic to spare and everyone is pretty focused on just surviving.”
“And the only female witch your age absolutely loathes you,” Vesta said.
“Correct.”
“’Wait, what?” Mack Sutton asked, walking up. “This has to be a hell of a story.”
“It’s kind of long and you all probably have places to be,” Vesta said.
“Oh, a shot across the bow. Ronnie, did you hear that?” Mack asked.
“We have been rather busy with travel,” his wife said. “But we’re staying here tonight.”
“And having a drink with me,” Erika said, slipping up with one arm over Mack’s shoulder and one over Jetta’s.
“You were headed out?” Vesta asked, sounding disappointed.
“No, we’re using the guest suite. You wanna join us—no drinking though,” Erika said. Then she looked at Mack and laughed. “Just kidding. If you wanna give your niece a drink, I’ll look the other way.”
“We don’t really need a drink, but I would like to catch up with you all,” Vesta said, linking her arm through mine.
“I could get snacks from the cafeteria,” I volunteered.
“Like what? Potato chips?” Veronica asked. “We gotta watch what we eat,” she said, poking Mack’s belly.
“Um, I think Mrs. Flinders is on tonight and she’ll set me up with a crudité and a charcuterie board,” I said. “Maybe a couple of each?”
“Foggy Flinders?” Mack asked, incredulous. “She’s going to give you a charcuterie board? My ass.”
“Wanna put money on that, Uncle Mack?” Vesta asked. “Say a fifty? Craig is pretty charming.”
He looked at her, then me, then back to her. “Sure. Probably missed your last birthday so if I’m wrong and I don’t think I am, I’m covered.”
“We did not miss her birthday, miscreant,” Veronica said. “Frankly, I hope you charm the pants right off her.”