Chapter 26
I was hoping for quiet time with Vesta, maybe attempt a nap, but Jensen grabbed us before we could get out of the cafeteria. She had Agent Mahar with her.
“Craig, Vesta, you remember Agent Mahar, right?”
“Yes ma’am. Agent, welcome to Arcane.”
“Agent Mahar,” Vesta said with a nod.
“Thank you,” Mahar said, dark eyes drilling into me.
“I’m headed to your old stomping grounds, Craig, and I wanted to make sure you would assist Agent Mahar with anything she needs,” Agent Jensen said.
“Of course,” Vesta answered for both of us.
“And will be on hand if I need a consult?” Jensen continued.
“Absolutely,” I said.
“Now, quick question. Why heads?” Jensen asked.
“A delicate touch as always,” Vesta said.
“It was reflex, but using the full sphere of Apport requires the least amount of precision needed and happens to be a guaranteed stop,” I said.
“And you tracked their brains before you removed their heads,” she said in more of a statement.
“Yes.”
“Okay. That’s it for the moment.”
“Good luck,” I said.
“Yeah, good luck,” Vesta agreed.
“I wish I could borrow some of your Uncle Mack’s luck, Vesta, but I should be fine,” Agent Jensen said, turning away from us. Agent Mahar looked at us with clear fascination before moving off with her boss.
“What do you want to do now?” Vesta asked.
My brain was in neutral, a state I wanted to maintain.
Left alone, it would engage in rerunning the morning’s events, the deaths of eight people and my automatic killing reflex.
This is going to sound horrible, but I was actually more bothered by the idea that I had killed the vampires on automatic pilot than by the concept that I had ended their lives.
The way I saw it, they attacked my school, my peers, and therefore me.
Their threat level was the highest, so my response was, to use a fancy word, commensurate.
Not a great thing to have to do, but I had to do it, nonetheless.
It was the fact that I done so on an unconscious level, instinctively, reflexively , that bothered me. Scratch that. It terrified me. What if I had a bad dream and just took Cole’s head in the night or started putting objects in people’s hearts or something?
“Stop that,” Vesta said. “You heard what Nika said. You can sense truth just like any witch or were or vampire. Her words were truth. You have safeties built in, just like I do. Imagine if I didn’t.
Not to brag, but the city of Burlington could blow away in a giant tornado, or burn in a sudden, explosive fire if I didn’t. If any of us didn’t.”
“Okay. I hear you. Let’s watch a movie so my brain is occupied.”
“Okay, but here’s the real brain twister of the day… what movie?”
“Easy,” I said. “We start with the classics. We’re in college. Therefore… Animal House.”
“Ah, classic,” she said, surprised. “Where?”
“Common room? Best couches. Omega could maybe spare a drone for projection duty?”
“Omega could,” the AI said from my nano bracelet.
We moved into the common room on the first floor. Absolutely no one was there. Commandeering the best couch, we snuggled and started to watch John Belushi’s comic genius writ large.
A few minutes later, some kids peeked in, spotted the movie, and then found seats.
Another group came in, then another. I ignored everyone at first but after the fourth set of kids settled down, I looked around.
Cora was there with her roommate, Mina. Wulf wasn’t watching the movie but was reading at the back of the room.
Cole was there with a group of his friends, as were some of our witch friends.
The common room could hold maybe thirty people.
Very quickly, it was full. On my second glance around, I found Hepzibah and Erika sitting at a study table, drinking coffee and watching all of us.
Some kids fell asleep, some read textbooks, most watched the movie without comment.
The movie finished and a kid yelled out Old School.
Omega obliged and we watched another college movie about middle-aged guys starting a fraternity.
Halfway through, right in the middle of an utterance of Blue, you’re my boy!
, the FBI technician Mara stepped in to the room, found where we were sitting, and moved to Vesta.
“Miss, there’s a woman here to see you. She’s… different.”
“Blindingly hot?” Vesta guessed. Mara pulled back, visibly surprised.
“Ah, yeah.”
We got up and headed for the door. Cole, who had clearly heard the word hot, started to follow but Erika stopped him with a glance.
When we got out the main entrance, we found a blond woman facing a semicircle of guards and FBI types.
She was beautiful but I didn’t think she was more so than Vesta.
But based on the people staring at her, something was going on.
Agent Mahar turned our way as we approached, and then so did the woman.
“Oh, baby girl, look at you! All grown up!” the blonde said.
“Eirwen, I presume?” Vesta asked.
“As requested,” she said, brushing back her tresses. A sharp ear tip poked through.
Mahar cleared her throat.
“Agent Mahar, this is my fairie godmother, Eirwen, Co-Queen of the Middle Realm of Fairie,” Vesta said.
“And you were expecting this visit?” Agent Mahar asked, glancing back and forth at the elf queen.
“I asked for her help with glamour. Craig and I need really good disguises,” Vesta said, nodding at me.
Eirwen turned her attention to me and frowned.
All around me, the intents of the guards and agents read as nervous, attracted, and slightly shocked at her beauty.
Mahar was mostly curious but also not completely immune from the effects of Eirwen’s beauty—or maybe magical beauty is a better descriptor.
Eirwen’s intent, though, was odd. Twisted.
Curiosity mixed with mischievous temptations and a complete lack of compassion.
When she looked at me, though, she went still and her internal climate shifted to cold curiosity alone.
“What is the matter with him?” she asked Vesta.
“Nothing. Why?”
“He is not reacting. You are not reacting,” she said to me.
I glanced at Vesta and then back at Eirwen. “Reacting to what?”
“Not what? Who. Me.”
I looked around at the people watching us. Stunned expressions on most faces and all eyes on the elf.
“Is it magic then?” I asked her.
“Vesta, who is this?” Eirwen asked.
“Well, godmother, a lot has happened in fifteen years. I grew up, noticed boys, and found this one milling about our cafeteria helplessly. I decided to keep him. He’s my beloved.”
“Beloved. Two-natured phrase. Nothing to do with witches,” Eirwen said, frowning at Vesta.
“I’m half werewolf on my mom’s side… remember?”
“Vesta, if this visit is on the up and up, could you maybe take Her Highness here to one of the classrooms?” Mahar asked. “She seems to be distracting my guards.”
“Hmm, you are a cool one,” Eirwen noted, studying Mahar.
“Let’s go this way,” Vesta said, turning down the hall. “Craig, lead the way.”
“Right,” I said, venturing out in front while my intent meter stayed focused on the elf.
She was majorly peeved—at me.
I turned around after opening the door to a room, walking backward into it. “What’s the issue?”
“You are not falling at her feet in response to her personal magic,” Vesta said with a grin. “Right?”
“Exactly,” Eirwen said. Then she darted forward, hand open to grab my arm. I dodged easily. She moved again. Missed. Missed again. And again. I was crowded near the wall, and when she moved, I blocked her arm with the edge of my hand and darted away into the middle of the room.
“You touched me!” she said, face angry, hands on her hips.
“Self-defense, so you better not call out sexual harassment. In fact, I should. Pervasive and unwanted. The unwanted was implied by my dodging.”
Eirwen looked at Vesta in bewilderment.
“It’s an Earth thing,” my wolf girl said. “Now about those glamours?”
Fifteen minutes later, the door opened.
“What’s all this then?” Erika Boklund asked from the doorway.
“Nothing that I can begin to understand,” I said.
“Oh, I remember you,” Eirwen said to Erika. “What a beauty you still are.”
“Thanks, but I’m holding iron, so I’m not affected.”
“Neither is Craig, although he doesn’t have any iron,” Vesta said. “And he touched her.”
“Hey? Whose side are you on?” I asked.
“That is interesting,” Erika said, looking at me like her favorite lab rat. “Craig, would you let her touch your arm?” Erika asked, her expression interested, like teacher–researcher interested.
“Okay, but there better not be any harassment claims,” I said, holding out my arm.
Eirwen put her index finger on the back of my hand, eyes focused hard on me. I felt a tingle and then nothing.
“Okay, now what?” I asked.
“How do you feel?” Erika asked.
“Confused mainly. She’s teaching Vesta the glamour thing, but I can’t make heads or tails out of it.”
“I told you, you need all four elements,” Vesta said.
“Actually, Craig I was interested in how you felt about Eirwen while she was touching you?”
“Ah, not befuddled, if that’s what you’re getting at. No brain melt or anything. Just a little tingle at the touch and then it’s gone.”
“Hmm. Humor me a moment,” Erika said. “Take off your shirt, please.”
I glanced at Vesta, who just nodded, her own eyes curious. My flannel came off, leaving me in a black Arcane t-shirt. “That one too, please,” Erika requested, arms folded, eyes focused in what I recognized was her serious teacher mode.
I pulled off the shirt.
“Hmm,” Eirwen said, head tilted slightly.
“Omega, can you scan from all angles?” Erika asked.
Three drones slipped down from the corners of the ceiling, spacing themselves around me. “Ready.”
“Touch his hand again, Your Highness, if you would,” Erika said.
“Just his hand?” Eirwen asked with a pout. Nonetheless, she touched my hand again.
“Wow,” Vesta said.
“What was that?” Eirwen demanded, all playfulness gone.