Eventually, they were allowed down into the cafeteria to eat dinner.

The five of them gathered around a circular table in the middle. They each picked at food or stared at the table surface. A few mages in the grey robes that signified campus security hovered back by the cafeteria walls like chaperones at a school dance.

Jacob tried not to picture the body because it kept reminding him of Jimmy and he really didn't want to cry in front of the others. He rubbed his hand over the little cuts Camilla had dug in his forearm and looked around the cafeteria nervously. The conversations that had taken place furtively in their chat were being expressed more vehemently in person.

"The last time they tried to stop the time dilation spell mid-flow was back in the 80s. They sent it out of whack and when they all left the next day a year had passed in the real world." Camilla shook her head. "It was a mess."

"Then why do they use it?" Jacob hissed. He couldn't be the only one who thought this whole situation was ridiculous, but maybe that was because the others were just so used to magic bullshit. The time dilation had seemed quirky the day before, but seriously, trapping everyone on campus for four months? What the hell? "It's insane to trap us all here for four months."

"It's not insane, Jacob," Camilla said. "It's safe."

"Safe?" Jacob hissed. He glanced around at the other tables, for some reason nervous that if he criticized what was happening he'd be dragged off by one of the campus security guards and never seen again. The other students were whispering, shooting nervous glances around. It was like a gulag. "How the hell is this safe?"

"It usually is!" Camilla said. "Nothing like this has ever happened before. Tisdale is the safest place on earth to study magic."

"It's like the Fort Knox of magic schools." Blake nodded in agreement.

"Okay, maybe the pocket dimension makes sense. I get you can't just go cast a bunch of magic in the real world, but why the time dilation? Why trap us in here?"

"We need the time dilation in order to learn magic."

"Why not just have a two-month term? Being trapped here isn't worth it!" Jacob said.

"But it usually is, moron!" Camilla said. "Two months isn't enough time to learn the foundations of magic. You wouldn't know!"

Jacob sat back. Maybe she was right. Maybe he wouldn't know. The four of them knew acres more about magic than he did, and none of them seemed to think the whole set up was insane. Maybe he was just being paranoid, like his parents. As Thiago would have said, maybe Jacob was just smoking crack.

"My father has been pushing to integrate training at Tisdale into a regular school curriculum and just have students go here year-round instead of normal high school," Archie said, eyeing Jacob carefully. "It would mitigate the need for the time dilation machine."

"But there's problems with that too. There's too much to learn at once." Camilla said.

Archie raised a self-important hand. "I do not wish to argue about it, Camilla. I just wanted to inform Jacob that there are people who think as he does."

They lapsed into silence and picked away at their half-forgotten, tepid food. Jacob slopped some mashed potatoes in his mouth and tried to logic his way through why the others weren't going crazy. He supposed if Tisdale had been around a hundred years or whatever and nothing like this had ever happened, then it would seem fine, right? If their security was as watertight as everyone seemed to think it was, and no one had ever been murdered on campus, then the time dilation wouldn't seem like an issue.

But now it was.

"I just can't get over that a student got killed," Blake whispered. "And by a vampire. Like she just got murdered. Right here at Tisdale."

"Are they sure it was a vampire?" Grace looked up from her ice cream.

"That Ishaan guy seemed pretty certain," Jacob said, half-glad to have something to talk about instead of just stewing in his own paranoid thoughts.

"Yeah, sounded like he'd know what he was talking about. Can't imagine what he's been through." Blake muttered.

They all grunted in agreement.

"What else is gonna leave puncture wounds like that anyway?" Jacob said, only half realizing he'd spoken out loud.

"True."

Jacob frowned, realizing he was running on a totally random assumption of what a vampire was. "Are vampires like people vampires or monster vampires?"

"People vampires," Camilla answered. "They avoid the sun, but they look pretty much like humans, but faster, stronger, quieter."

"Are they magical?"

"Yes. The nature of their power is magical, but they're not mages like us. Their ability to use magic has manifested in a different way. They're like werewolves and a couple other hybrid creatures. They kill people and drain their magic via their blood to fuel their own magic."

"Good lord, Camilla! Why do you know all this morbid detail?" Archie exclaimed.

"My dad used to hunt them."

"Really? Could he perchance help us here?" Archie asked.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

Camilla grimaced. "Never thought I'd wish for my father to come crash my first-year at Tisdale. What has the world come to? But, no, he's getting ready to go on assignment in the magical world. In a month I won't even be able to message him."

"Who's going to catch the vampire then?" Grace asked.

"They'll probably bring in someone from the Brotherhood of Saint Cypria," Camilla said.

"Those guys?" Grace screwed up her face. "Aren't they a cult?"

"Kinda. But they do hunt vampires."

"Who are they?" Jacob asked, feeling totally out of the loop, as usual.

"They're an offshoot Christian sect that deals with magic," Archie said.

"Oh."

Grace whispered something in Camilla's ear.

"I think we're going to head back to our dorm," Camilla said.

Archie stood up. "I will accompany you."

"Alright, Archie. Bye, Jacob."

Jacob looked up. "Bye. Stay safe."

The trio walked off.

Now that Camilla was gone he also didn't feel like he had to stick around anymore. He'd never really gotten a chance to ask her for her number, which was not really his fault because the morning had been crazy.

Jacob glanced at Blake, but the tall boy had leaned back in his chair and was staring up at the ceiling. He wanted to go for a walk and get some fresh air, but that was entirely out of the question. Christ, four months trapped in this place with a vampire roaming around. He was going to go insane with anxiety, he could already see it. Sleepless nights. Long evenings as the sun went down, that low dread as the day dwindled.

He had to do something. He'd promised himself he wouldn't be weak and useless anymore. He'd promised himself he was going to learn to protect himself, learn to control his life. But how? What could he do? He wasn't a vampire hunter. He knew next to nothing about them.

Maybe that was a place to start. The library would have books on them, right?

"Blake?"

"Hmm?"

"Would you come to the library with me?"

"Why?"

"I need to get my textbook for Magical Basics... and I want to do some research on vampires."

Blake looked sharply over at him. "That's actually not a bad idea. Now?"

Jacob shrugged. No time to start like the present, right? "Yeah."

"Let's do it."

They both tentatively got up. Jacob found he was beyond terrified to go outside, even though the sun was still up, but having Blake there made it a little better. They made their way to the doors leading out of the cafeteria.

"Hey!" A sharp voice called, freezing them in their tracks. "Where are you two going?"

A bulky campus security guard with buzzed hair jogged over to them.

"We're going to the library," Blake answered, saving Jacob from having to speak.

"Oh." The campus security guard's face softened. He nodded sharply at them. "Stay safe. Keep an eye out."

Jacob and Blake left the cafeteria. Outside the sky was in the golden hues of late afternoon. At some point, someone had lined the path from the Richter Building with glowing white orbs similar to the one that had been following Claire around. Every path Jacob could see criss-crossing campus had a line of them bobbing up and down above it. It reminded him of the Chinese lantern festivals he'd seen on TV.

A pair of students were crossing between the Vanderbilt Building and the dormitories. Another small group was walking along in the distance and a campus security guard paced the lawn outside the dormitories, long grey coat brushing the tops of the grass, but other than that, it was a ghost town.

The library was a stalwart granite building that looked like a prison. Jacob pushed the big double doors open and went in, followed by Blake. The smell of coffee beans filled his nostrils. Fireball Roast lay off to the left, walled in by glass windows. It was empty, locked down for the time being. To the right was a glass door with a sign above it: Dynas Library.

Jacob went in.

A small, wood-floored reception area had been carved out near the doors. Beyond it, rows on rows of bookshelves stretched back into the dim corners of the building. Electric lamps mounted on the walls that looked like they belonged along a Victorian street filled the air with a soft, evening glow. Jacob had spent a lot of time in the local library when he'd been a kid, but this place dwarfed it.

It was very quiet.

An older woman with her grey hair tied back in a bun and thick glasses sat behind the wraparound reception desk. She looked up as Jacob and Blake walked in. Her glasses were so thick her eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head.

"Um, do I need a library card?" Jacob asked Blake.

"Yeah, man. I already got mine, so I'll go get started finding some books while you get that sorted."

"Sounds good."

Blake broke off into the innumerable stacks. Jacob approached the woman at the reception.

"Hi. I think I need a library card."

She smiled. "Are you a first-year?"

"Yeah."

She sat up and rolled her chair over to her computer and typed a few things in. Her name tag read Mrs MacDonald. Here he was, asking for a library card while there was a vampire lurking about campus. Insane. Surreal. Almost like he was watching someone perform a farce with his body.

"Name?"

"Jacob Caibo."

Her keyboard clacked. "Okay... Yes, here we are. First-year, and... Oh my God, you're a white mage? Really?" She looked at him, eyes bug wide.

"Yeah, that's what they said."

"Hmm. Well, you learn something new every day, don't you? Did you know that President Russell is a white mage?"

"No, I didn't." Jacob had heard President Russell's voice over the intercom throughout the day. He was a white mage?

"The only living one in North America, until you. Now, let me just get your card printed here. You'll need it for after-hours access."

"When is that?"

"12:00 am to 6:00 am. You can use books here, but to check them out you'll need to scan the book and your card. If someone is at the desk they can help you with it, if not, you're on your own. Although you won't need to worry about any of that until they lift the curfew."

"Okay, sounds good."

A bulky machine plopped out a little card with his name and student number on it. Mrs MacDonald grabbed it and gave it to him. "Do you know what you are looking for today?"

"Yeah." He pulled out his phone. "It's a reading for the Magical Basics class. Pre-Casting Fundamentals by John Redden and Carla Dauphinee, chapter 2." He decided not to mention the vampire books.

"Of course, we have dozens of copies. Its call number is AR-1015." She smiled. "You seem like a smart young man, and since it's your first time here, you might as well see if you can find it on your own. It'll save you time down the road, trust me. I'll give you a hint: It is on this floor."

"How many floors are there?"

"Three."

"Do I have access to all of them?"

"Of course. You can also use the computer directory to search books by section."

"Okay. Thanks." Jacob left and entered the stacks. He walked through the aisles, half-searching for AR, half-enjoying the familiar sight of so many books and the scent of dust and leather and old paper. Christ, but there were a ton of books in here. Hundreds and hundreds on each shelf. And two whole other floors? There were this many books related to magic? He didn't think he'd be able to read them all in his entire life.

He checked the spines of a few. Collected Essays on Magical Theory. The Colour of Magic. Crossing Realms: How Portals Actually Function. He supposed the stuff on how to cast a fireball wouldn't be up at the front.

He found the book fairly easily. There was an open section of the library with a grid of study desks. There was only one other student there, and it wasn't Blake, so Jacob went in search of his roommate.

He tried to not be paranoid and wonder if the vampire was hiding in every row of the library stacks. It was difficult. They wouldn't let them in here if they weren't sure it was safe, right? But how could he be sure the vampire wasn't around the next corner without looking?

His phone buzzed. It was his mom, asking how his first day had gone.

Jacob laughed out loud, fully aware he looked insane.

Fine, mom. Just fine. I'm really having a fun time at this biology camp.

It was going to be a long four months.