Confessions of the Magpie Wizard Book 3: Dissolution (Chapter 62 & 63)

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Chapter 62

Once class let out for the day, I considered making a beeline to Maggie’s classroom. I wanted to get the lesson in the dark arts wrapped up, after all. However, something seemed subtly off. I could not put my finger on it, until just the faintest whiff of vanilla hit my nose. I didn’t call Kiyo out right away. We were in the middle of a busy hallway, after all. The fact that she was there as soon as I was out the door told me she must have left Mrs. Perera’s room early, which was disturbing. I didn’t want her getting in more trouble, and just as pressing to me, I didn’t want her getting me in more trouble.

I sent Maggie a vague text saying I would be late and speed walked down the hall. I casually glanced over my shoulder, focusing my Mimic Sight. I didn’t dare leave it open for long, since it was already a strain on my magic reserves. The quick scan showed there was a magical signature following me without a person attached.

I took the stairs up a few floors, coming out at the school’s batting cages. As always, they were completely abandoned. I think the only person who used them regularly was Hiro.

In the complete silence, I could hear the padding of feet from behind. “Kiyo, we talked about this.”

“I was just gonna surprise you,” she said as her form wavered back into sight. “What’s the problem?”

“This is getting awfully close to your old ‘recon’ habits,” I said. “You promised you would stop that, remember?”

“It doesn’t count when it’s you,” she said with a nervous chuckle. “Right? Boyfriend/Girlfriend Contact.”

“Tell me when you’re going to do that,” I said. “Rose was disturbed this morning. You promised her you wouldn’t sneak around out of sight month ago.”

Her brow furrowed. “What’s your problem? You never complained about it before.”

“No, I certainly have,” I replied. “Maybe I let it go for too long, but other people are starting to notice it. You’re falling back into bad habits, and we’re both under more scrutiny.”

“Well why shouldn’t I follow you? What were you going to say to Rose that I shouldn’t know, huh?” She strode over, face defiant and her hands on her hips. “It’s all true, isn’t it?”

“What’s all true?”

“Everyone’s saying you two are sneaking around with each other,” she said. “Paul said you went on a date when she was in a bikini.”

“You of all people know that’s nonsense! For one, that was just her exercise outfit. You see them every morning.”

“So what, the bikini part is wrong, but the date part is right?”

She was giving me a headache. “No! We ran into each other and we went for a bite. That would never happen. You were there when she told me off, remember?”

“Yeah, because I was in recon mode,” she said. “All the more reason I should use it. It lets me fact check.”

I grabbed her by the shoulders, perhaps more roughly than I ought to have. “No! You shouldn’t need to ‘fact check’ what I tell you! Don’t you trust me?”

Her eyes went wide. “I… I want to, but something’s different lately with you. It felt distant this morning when you kissed me.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” I said. “We just…” I decided to be indirect. One couldn’t be sure who might wander in. “We just had our special night, remember?”

She frowned, struggling to find the words. “Yeah, but… I don’t know why, but that felt like a goodbye. Like you wanted me gone.”

I held her tight against me. “Never. No matter what, never think that again.”

“Then why does it feel like there’s something going on you’re keeping from me?”

Because you’re a sharp girl. “You’re always talking about the boyfriend/girlfriend contract. I’m going to invoke that. I need you to trust me. It will all make sense at some point, but for right now, know that everything I do is for you.”

“Do you mean that?” she asked, returning my embrace for the first time.

“Of course,” I said. It was technically true, after all. That was my deal with Maggie; whatever we did, Kiyo could not be affected. “Now, I’m afraid that duty calls.”

“You’re taking a study session with Ms. Edwards pretty seriously,” she said.

Inspiration struck. I could cover for myself and allay her fears. “Very well, you got me. I’ll let you in on my scheme.” I shot her a smirk, banishing my lingering melancholy. “I don’t want you leaving me behind. I hear in second year, the upper classes do more large-scale training together, practically every day.”

Kiyo’s eyes shone with excitement. “Wait, really?”

I put a finger to my lips. “Keep it to yourself, okay? It’s supposed to be a bit of a surprise.” It was complete bunk, but it was less painful than the truth.

Her smile nearly threatened to split her face. “Awesome! It’s going to be like we’re in class together again!”

“Exactly. It’s a loophole in our ban from being stationed together. That’s why I’m running myself ragged with Ms. Edwards. Everything is for the big prize. We have less fun time now, but it’s going to pay big dividends next year.”

“Shoot, I should take Mariko up on that study hall offer,” she said. “I’m going to get every point I can on the exams, just in case.”

“That’s the spirit. Now, am I free to go?”

She shook her head, sending her side ponytail bobbing. “Nope, gotta pay the toll.”

I kissed her so hard that I had to catch my breath afterwards. By Our Father Below, she was not going to think this was a perfunctory kiss! She wore a dreamy look as I strode out of the room. “You can keep the change for that!”

“Y-yeah,” she managed, sliding down her knees.

I felt a pang of guilt as I left. Before, I would have kissed her for the fun of it, instead of just trying to shut her up. It made the act feel tawdry.

Oh, well. One does what one must.

********

Maggie’s lessons in the dark arts had gone swimmingly, unfortunately. The tutoring sessions were a necessary evil, since there was not an artful way to refuse. Still, I did not care for the idea of leaving a human behind me with a working understanding of the Horde’s best spells. She was an ally, but like Kiyo, Hiro, and the rest, that was temporary.

I also saw why the Headmaster had snapped her up as soon as she had fled from England. She had mastered Ruhspont more quickly than expected, and that was one of the more mechanically complex spells in my repertoire. I suppose if you have a motivated student, it’s hard to be a poor teacher. Their natural drive will drive them along, no matter what roadblocks you threw in their way.

Which is why I had decided to change tactics. I wanted to butter her up, after all. This lesson was about Bahadur, or Bloody Lance, one of my old standbys, and one of the more satisfying demonic spells. There’s something delightful about sending a concentrated bolt of red chaos straight into an enemy’s chest. It is what I had used to melt Haru’s arm, and that had put him in a coma for weeks.

“No, no,” I said, adjusting the angle of her right hand. “If you do it like that, you’ll curve the bolt.”

“Strange, I thought you liked curves,” she said, flashing me a smirk. It was unfair that the Enemy had given her such an electrifying smile. I could almost forget how much she had fouled up my whole life. Almost.

“Not when they’re liable to blow a hole in the wall,” I retorted. “Your hands are in the proper positions,” I said. “Let’s give it a try.” I had set up a circular Svalinn’s Mercy as thick as I could manage as a floating target a few body lengths away. It was overkill, more like the energy I would invest to stop a shell from a tank, but we didn’t want her punching through it. It drifted languidly above the students’ desks, blissfully unaware of what was about to happen to it.

I had expected Maggie to begin reciting the raw spell. After all, I had only given her the formula the week before.

“Bahadur!”

Demonic runes sprang to life around her hands, collapsing into a ragged bolt of energy that flew straight at my shield. It was a pitiful little thing, to be truthful, barely the width of a pencil. However, it was disturbing to see a human using the spell at all.

“Is that all it does?” asked Maggie, her voice full of disappointment.

“It isn’t quite so easy, is it?” I asked in return, trying to downplay her achievement.

She looked down at her hands as though they had betrayed her. “I don’t understand. If that had been a Magic Bolt, I’d have smashed your target to smithereens.”

“That’s the rub with demonic magic,” I said. “Humanity is good at breaking things down scientifically, but demonic magic is as much art as science.”

She arched her eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”

“Think about what demons prize,” I said. “Passion. Self-satisfaction. Glory. The magic can reflect that. At the higher levels, they aren’t entirely fueled by magical energy. Spells often have a feeling that goes with them that enhances the magic beyond its normal limits.”

“And what should I be feeling for Bloody Lance?”

“It’s a combat spell, so hatred does the trick,” I said. “That’s easy to generate in a fight. Think about something that really disgusts you, and try-”

“Bahadour!” She put her back into it that time. The Svalinn’s Mercy actually warped around the impact, something I had never seen the defensive spell do before.

“You’re a fast learner,” I said, trying to cover my shock.

“It’s nice to put my resentments to use for once,” she said. Her red hair had slipped out of its severe bun, and she went to adjust it.

“Yes, between brother Maus and the rest.”

She pulled out a pocket mirror and inspected her appearance. “Let’s not mention that cheater,” she said, satisfied by what she saw. “And you I think that’s enough tutoring for now. At least, enough for me. How about we get you prepared for your exams next week?”

She strode over to her desk. I wasn’t sure if the exaggerated sway of her hips was for my benefit, or simply a habit.

“About that,” I said. I weighed my words carefully, reminding myself that I had to make her think it was her idea. “You’ll recall our plans to bring down the Tower. Who says the exams even need to happen?”

Maggie’s narrowed her cold, blue eyes as she picked up a tablet. “What are you getting at?”

“Everybody’s distracted now, right? Either with the written tests themselves, or the War Games right after. This is the time to strike.”

“Out of the question,” she said, walking back over to me. “We want to strike terror into the heart of the League, but we don’t want to completely disrupt the classes like that.”

“Come again?” I asked, cocking my head. “No matter when we bring the bloody thing down, it’s going to put a bit of a hitch in the class schedule!”

“Obviously,” she replied. “But I’m not going to cut off everybody’s first year or keep the second-year cadets from graduating.”

I threw my arms open, feeling utterly flabbergasted. “Think about the big picture, woman! This is about the future of the Holy Brotherhood! Why do you care about how well Takehara can fill in a test sheet? Do you somehow think you’re going to still be teaching afterwards?”

“Of course not.” She shook her head. “Let’s focus on your lessons. Leave the strategic thinking to me.”

“No, I’m not willing to leave this alone. You’re a teacher,” I said, sitting on the corner of a desk. “Break it down for me so I can understand.”

“Very well. Listen carefully, this will be on the test,” she said, her voice dripping with condescension. “The Holy Brotherhood used to be an above the board political party, and we want to be again. We have about a tenth of the wizards in the Wizard Corps backing us, and a larger part of the regular military, but that isn’t enough for a proper coup. No, we have to force concessions, and we have to be realistic with our demands.”

“I’m following along so far. What do you think is realistic?”

She began counting off on her fingers. “Guaranteeing us seats on the League Council. Enforcing our demands to cut down on luxuries that waste military resources. Legalizing the party again, full pardons for all Holy Brotherhood members sitting in prison, and their reinstatement into the Wizard Corps or League Military.”

“That’s awfully… prosaic. What does that have to do with not cutting off the War Games?”

She reached out and patted my cheek. “The world needs wizards, little Magpie. You’re all going to get shuffled around to new schools, and we want to make sure that you’re on the front lines as soon as possible.”

I lightly batted her hand aside. “You make it sound like I’m still going to be attending class.”

“Of course,” she said. “We’re going to keep your identity secret when we do this.”

“That’s fine for me, but what about you?”

She leaned back in the chair, smirking smugly at me. “I’m going to be on the League Council. The Brotherhood’s leadership will have no choice but to choose me. I’ll be the Holy Sister who brought our movement back from the edge of extinction. I’m going to be in the history books.”

I ground my teeth. I wanted her to take ownership of the plan, but I couldn’t let her shut me out like this. If I lost my seat at the planning stage, I’d have no way to push the plan to happen before Dante left Japan. Knowing Girdan and Fera, this was my last chance. The attack had to happen quickly.

“And what if I want to ride your coattails into the big leagues too?”

“You’ve made it quite clear you don’t want to ride anything of mine,” she said, a note of hurt in her voice, though it was undercut by the wry grin on her face.

“Very funny,” I said.

“I like to think so,” she replied.

“I see how it is,” I said. “I come up with the plan, I help you find the energy to pull it off, and then I can come along for the dangerous mission, but then I get no reward?”

“You never have to worry about your lies again. I’ll forgive you. We can make sure you get whatever posting you want once you graduate. I’ll even write you up a letter of recommendation.”

I swallowed nervously. Her plan sounded reasonable. If I were really a demonkin pretending to be Soren Marlowe, that would be an excellent deal. Reasonable was completely catastrophic for the devil Malthus, though. By the time she was ready, Dante was going to be long home, and my window of opportunity would be shut forever.

I leaned forward, trying to use my advantage in height to menace her. “And what if I’m not ready to vanish into obscurity? You inducted me into your little movement, and I’ve been doing your dirty work ever since. If we pull this off, you’re going to be a very powerful woman, and I want my share of the winnings!”

She cocked her head at me. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Absolutely,” I said. “We’re tied at the hip, you and I.”

“Then you won’t mind being tied a bit longer,” she said. “Now, get out your spellcasting textbook. You bombed your test on creating magnetic effects last week, and that’s going to be on the exam.”

I wanted to argue further, but I could tell she wasn’t going to budge. If I were going to make her move on my schedule, I would need to be sneaky about it.

“That was on page one hundred twenty-seven, right?” And if I were forced to take the exams, I really did need her help on that subject.

Chapter 63

Nagoya, Japan

Wednesday, August 17th, 2020

“Are we supposed to be here?” asked Rei as we slid into Headmaster Tachibana’s lab. The cluttered space was almost ominous, lit only by a few beams of light shining through the blinds and the magical glow of some half-assembled fabricata on the bench.

I rolled my eyes. “My d- Ms. Yamaguchi, you want to be a Holy Sister, right?”

“Absolutely!” She was surprisingly muscular; the way she gripped my hand almost hurt.

“Then don’t worry about doing what you’re supposed to. Worry about getting caught.”

Rei’s serious face wore frowns well. “What if the Headmaster shows up?”

“I’ve seen to that,” I replied. I decided to keep that close to my chest; Rei could already implicate Maggie and I, but there was no reason to reveal more of us if I could avoid it.

*********

When I visited her after class was out for the day, Mrs. Perera had been more than happy to help.

“I’ll bring that tub of lard over for dinner with me and my husband.” The wizened old woman had cackled after I had finished explaining the plan. “The way Mr. Perera babbles on, Yosuke won’t be out of there while the sun’s up.”

“Splendid. And you aren’t to breathe a word of this to Maggie.”

She leaned forward, her wrinkled lip curling back. “Oh? Can I ask why?”

“We have different opinions on the timetable for our attack. She wants to take her time, while I think we have a great chance to use the War Games to our advantage. I want to make sure that everything is ready to go when she sees reason.”

She cackled again, a mischievous gleam in her eye. “I’m glad somebody around here has some urgency! I’d like to actually live to see the Brotherhood rise again.”

“What are you talking about, ma’am? You’ll outlive us all.”

“You’re a shameless flatterer,” she said, nudging my stomach with her cane.

“And you still like it,” I replied. I felt a brief pressure on my ass. “Is that really the best use of your time affinity?”

“It’s my favorite,” she said. “Now go on, I’ll buy you the time you need. It’s my specialty.”

*********

“What are we looking for, exactly?” asked Rei. She seemed nervous, and I supposed I couldn’t blame her. She had struck me as an inflexible thinker. It would take time to get her used to breaking rules.

“We’re after the Headmaster’s notes about his Peace Bond Mk. II,” I replied as I scanned a shelf covered in binders. “Specifically, we want an older version.”

“Where are they?” She seemed overwhelmed, not quite sure where to start looking.

“If I knew that, I wouldn’t need your help, now would I?” Not that she was my first choice, but she was all I had. I took Rei by the shoulder and pointed her towards a pile of papers. “Start there. And here.” I handed her a piece of chalk. “Make sure you make some mark on the table at the corners of the pile.”

“What’s this for?” she asked, taking it gingerly.

“It’s so he doesn’t think anything is out of place when we’re done.”

She peered up at me. “Won’t he notice the chalk lines?”

“Fast chalk. It will vanish when the right spell is cast on it. It’s an old demonic formula that we’ve reverse engineered.”

More accurately, they were a gift from Dante. He had a surprisingly complete collection of demonic tools from Fera, and he had smuggled me a few of them in a care package from “Granny Hattie.” Having some actual resources to pull on was a pleasant change of pace.

She looked on the piece of enchanted chalk with a newfound admiration. “Devils are clever, I have to give them that,” she said, before going to work.

That we were, though not in the way she thought. I had an ulterior motive in bringing Ms. Yamaguchi along. I wanted her fingerprints spread around the lab. It was a bit of an insurance policy in case Maggie caught wind of my scheming and I needed leverage. I merely had to whisper a few words in the right ear and Rei would be caught, which would be dangerous for Maggie.

I struck paydirt. After a bit of poking around, I stumbled across the notes from late July, showing the fabricata circuitry for the transmitter and receivers. The notes in red ink made it clear that this design was too sensitive, and liable to freeze the wearer in place, as Kiyo and I had learned during our tests. I snapped a few photos, making sure I could read them clearly on my phone. They were soon joined by the images of the newest model. I could never have designed the complex fabricata myself, but even I could spot differences.

Like many tinkerers, Headmaster Tachibana seemed loath to toss out anything. Where a carpenter would have a box of scrap wood, he had a drawer full of discarded fabricata pieces. The Peace Bond was built on a modular structure where he could swap pieces in and out, and he had been through even more iterations than I had imagined.

I compared the thick cards of wood and metal circuitry with the image on my phone, being careful that I put each back where I found them, until I was sure I had a match. Human miniaturization never failed to astound me; I was able to fit the patch in my pocket, though it was a big snug. A blank piece of wood took its place at the bottom of the stack. I had never seen him do anything with the drawer except throw junk fabricata into it, so I was confident my theft would go unnoticed.

“Alright, my d-… future sister, that’s everything.” There was no response except the shuffling of papers. I had been so caught up in my search that I hadn’t noticed she was still reading the pile of papers. “Rei?” She was utterly engrossed in her reading, and only a violent shake to the shoulder brought her out of it.

“Ack! You scared me!”

“I’m glad I didn’t put you on lookout duty. What was so bloody interesting in there?”

“Oh, uh… do you really want to know?” She looked away, a blush forming on her cheeks.

“I’m not in the habit of…” I trailed off as I caught sight of the notes. “Disciplinary action due to fraternization and being absent without leave, Kiyo Jones to be transferred to…”

I felt my own face burn as I aligned the stack of papers up with her chalk lines. “Yes, I think that’s quite enough of that. Kreiteluv.” The runes spun around my fingers, evaporating the chalk without a trace. “Is there a reason you kept on reading?”

“I wasn’t sure if he would mix his notes together?”

“You can look me in the eye, Rei,” I groused.

“Can I? I see you flirting with Mariko and Kiyo all the time, but I didn’t realize you had taken it that far. Every night for months?”

“You’ll find we Holy Brothers aren’t all talk,” I said. I’ll admit, I enjoyed making her uncomfortable, as oddly haughty as she could be at times.

A loud creak filled the lab as the door inched open. I’m surprised I didn’t hear Rose coming from a mile away, the way she was chattering away on the phone.

“Yes, mum, I’m ready for my exam. Yes, really. I’m going to a study session once I take care of an errand. Look, I’m not like I was in Iceland! I know better now! I can be responsi…” Her green eyes widened as she noticed Rei and I. “Sorry, I need to go.”

“Rose, how lovely to see you,” I said, pasting a smile on my face. “What brings you here tonight?”

Rose relaxed when she saw how comfortable I was. Acting like you belong is always the best way to allay suspicions. “I wasn’t able to get in here and unload my excess magic earlier,” she said.

“Unload your magic?” asked Rei.

Rose walked over and struggled to pick up one of the heavy batteries. I hopped in and gave her a hand, lugging it over to one of the workbenches. “Thank you, Magpie. Rei, my magic reserves are a bit too high. I don’t even have a use for most of that energy, and it likes to bubble up occasionally, so, I’ve been donating some to the Headmaster for his projects.”

Rei nodded. “Oh, so that’s why the random storms stopped. I wondered.”

Rose shot her a sour look. “Yes, there’s a reason I haven’t told everybody about it. How are you two doing tonight?”

“Oh, splendidly,” I said. “Rei, did you find that tool Ms. Edwards asked us to fetch her?”

“Huh?”

My grin only wavered slightly. I’d have to tell Maggie she had no talent for infiltration. “It was a fabricata wand.” I spotted a half-carved stick out of the corner of my eye. “She said it was going to be a redwood, about as long as my forearm. It’s something special they’ve been working on together.”

Rei was useless, but I could always count on Rose. She pointed right at it. “You mean that one right there?”

I turned, trying to look a bit clueless. “Hm? Oh, yes, there it is. Thank you, we’ve been at it for ten minutes.”

Rose chuckled. “I swear, what would you do without me?”

“Let’s hope we don’t have to find out. Come along, Ms. Yamaguchi. We wouldn’t want to keep her waiting.” Before she could object, I put a firm hand in the center of her back, forcing her forward. “Later, my dear.”

“Oh, are you coming to Mariko’s study session tonight?” asked Rose. “That’s where I’m going next.”

“Unfortunately, I…” I trailed off. Was that such a bad idea? I had what I came for. Swapping out a panel on the Peace Bond would change the protective barrier into an instant trap. And how many more nights would I have with them? What could it hurt?

Me, I realized. It could hurt me. I was planning to do something awful to them all. A little emotional distance could only help.

“Sorry, I’ll have to take a raincheck. I’m helping Ms. Edwards out with a special project.”

Rose’s face fell, but she nodded. “Don’t take too many. We all need to pass if we’re going to be in class together next year.”

“Of course.” In a strange moment, I reflexively bowed to her. It’s funny how much you can acclimate without realizing it; I really had gone native, and not just those damnable feelings of guilt.

I felt a little less awkward when she returned the gesture. She grabbed the leads of the battery and began chanting the spell. Our mission accomplished, Rei and I set off.

I was in a fantastic mood. I had another piece in place for my schemes, and Rose was none the wiser. All I had to do was figure out a way to make sure the loose-lipped Rei didn’t mention anything to Maggie and I was home free. She did not seem to pick up on many basic social cues, which would make her simultaneously easier and harder to manipulate.

I was so deep in thought that I ran into Paul near the ground floor elevators. Literally. Maybe I wasn’t one to talk about situational awareness after all.

*******

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