"Which biome am I most likely to find fire-sprites in?" Malachi read off the cue card. He pushed his glasses up his nose and looked expectantly out at the pairs of Magical World Club members. Malachi was a stooped, olive-skinned young man who chronically looked like he knew something you didn't.
Jacob raised his hand.
"Jacob." Malachi pointed at him.
"Ash crags?"
"Correct." Malachi marked off a point on Jacob and Darius's tally. They had three points. Emma and Riley's team was in the lead with five. The other three pairs had two. It was first to six.
"Nice," Darius said.
"Another acceptable answer would have been the much rarer boiler valleys," Malachi stated. He tapped the card against his palm, discarded it, and picked up another. "Okay, tricky one this time. Name three things that make it increasingly more difficult to navigate the deeper parts of the magical realm."
The room broke up into whispered discussion.
"Ah, shoot!" Darius hissed. "I remember them talking about this in class."
Darius, like most of the members of the club, was at the end of his second semester. There was only one other first-year here. A boy named Xavier Hudson, who also happened to be ranked one ahead of Jacob in the class. He hadn't shown today. Malachi had told Jacob that not too many first-years had serious interest in the magical realm simply because they'd never encountered it in real life or in class.
"I have no idea," Jacob said. He hadn't even known there were deeper parts of the magical realm. How would that even work?
"Riley?" Malachi said.
The room quieted.
"One is that the creatures get stronger because the barrier gets thicker, allowing them to hold more power and not crossover. Two is the terrain becomes less and less like Earth's. And three..." She glanced over at Emma, "...There's no food so you have to bring more the deeper you go?"
Malachi considered for a moment. "Alright, I'll give it to you. The food is actually a good point. That wasn't listed here but it should have been. The other answer was the increase in magical pressure. The deeper you get, the more pressure it puts on your magic. I'm told it functions like increased gravity." He tallied another point to Emma and Riley's team. "Welp, that's that. Emma and Riley win."
Chairs scraped.
Jacob had thought he was pretty knowledgeable about the magical realm compared to his classmates, but more and more he was realizing how little that actually meant. He'd been meaning to read up a little more on it, maybe ask Malachi for some suggestions, but he just hadn't had time. Classes were so intense.
"Next time let's do it like Jeopardy." Emma was saying.
"Okay, but I'll need some help making up those questions." Malachi nodded.
Jacob checked his phone. There was still a half hour left in club time, but he had to go meet Tanaka outside Harrison Hall.
"I gotta run." He said, picking up his bag.
"Alright, catch you later," Darius said.
"Thanks for coming!" Malachi called out.
Jacob waved back to the group and left the old classroom on the third floor of the Richter Building the club used. That had been fun. A good distraction, even if he hadn't been able to completely focus on it because of his impending escapade with Tanaka.
As he made his way over to Harrison Hall the light, carefree club vibe slipped off him like a shed skin. He was scared at what Tanaka and he were about to do, and yet also nearly bursting with jittery excitement.
He'd just... agreed to do illegal things with Tanaka.
That baffled him.
Forget the magically illegal necromancy, they were talking about breaking into a morgue and messing with someone's corpse. Hugely illegal, and incredibly immoral. A part of him kept wincing at the thought of his parents finding out. But they wouldn't. They were nowhere near him. He wasn't goofing off playing rebel by sneaking out of his house where there was a chance they'd catch him by proximity. This had nothing to do with his parents. There were actual stakes this time, actual consequences, though he was having a difficult time caring about them.
Did that make it better or worse?
What he and Tanaka were doing was good, even if the Academy might not see it that way. It wasn't like they knew everything. They weren't the ultimate authority. Now wasn't that a novel idea? For so long he'd thought the worst possible punishment a grounding, the highest authority that of his parents. What had Camilla's father said? "I don't expect you to grasp that now, but after the couple days you've just had you might be starting to get a glimpse that your parents aren't all powerful."
But, if that was the case with his parents, couldn't it also be the case with the Order? That they weren't the 'be all end all' authority, that—like his parents—just because they thought something was bad, did that actually make it bad? Where would he be if he still thought the way his parents did, if he was still afraid of jaywalking? Probably dead, if he was being brutally honest. He shivered. So why couldn't he do the same with the Academy?
Jacob shook his head. He was worrying over this way too much. He sounded like Blake going off on one of his philosophical tangents.
The bottom line was that here he was considering doing something against the rules. Again. It was different than with the rogue mage, though. He knew ahead of time that what he was doing was illegal. Would that have changed what he'd done against the rogue mage?
No. Knowing the consequences, knowing he'd have to go before this Council in December, he'd still do it all. It didn't matter that he'd had no choice. It had been the right thing to do. He'd saved lives. If the Order's rules had needed to be broken once for the greater good, they could be broken a second time for the same reason.
Outside, the sun had sunk down to the horizon, where it lay, peeking over the rim of the world like a great golden eye. The campus itself was dark apart from the tributaries of magical lights bobbing above the campus paths. Moths fluttered around the lone electric light outside the dorm's front entrance. For some reason they weren't attracted to the magic orbs. Jacob stayed within the light, peering warily out at the rolling campus lawns, wondering what niche the moths filled in the campus ecosystem, very aware that he was out here by himself.
A noise came from the bushes to his right. Jacob jumped and engaged his magic. He was ready. He'd done his homework.
Tanaka emerged from the shadows. He'd traded the metal band tee for a long sleeved black shirt. He flashed a feral smile at Jacob.
"Relax, kid."
Jacob grunted. He wished Tanaka would stop calling him kid. They were practically the same age. He might even be a little older. "I'm relaxed."
"Sure. Let's get this over with."
"Okay, follow me."
Jacob started down the path towards the campus clinic. Tanaka strolled beside him. The transfer student didn't seem at all on edge, but then again, maybe this sort of thing was natural for someone who fought Deputy Rangers. He couldn't believe he was actually colluding with this guy. Especially after he'd made him betray Camilla. What an asshole.
Only a few other people moved around outside, shadows on the paths. Even the common areas of the buildings they passed, glowing brightly, seemed deserted.
The campus clinic was a small complex on the far side of the campus with a direct access drive from the little town. He looked down the long, empty drive to the street.
"What's the plan?" Jacob asked as they approached the clinic's front entrance.
Tanaka shrugged. "This is your show, kid. I'm just here to do the necromancy."
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Jacob grunted and wracked his brain. Tanaka was watching him carefully, but he tried to ignore the guy.
"Okay, we walk in casual, like we belong." That usually worked in movies, right? "If anyone asks what we're doing we say we're uhh... looking for medical supplies."
Tanaka shrugged again. "Lead away."
Jacob cleared his throat for some reason, then walked up to the clinic and opened the door. His palms were sweating. Christ, he was nervous. Any explosive excitement he'd had earlier had melted away.
C'mon, Jacob, you've faced down a Dream Tiger and that rogue mage. This is nothing.
They entered a reception area. It was lit like all hospitals were, bright to the point of hurting your eyes. Antiseptic burned Jacob's nostrils, and magic tickled along his senses. He'd been flexing his magical muscle without realizing it.
Relax. Tanaka is relaxed. Just act like him.
Thankfully, the receptionist was gone, or off duty. Jacob moved quickly over to the clinic directory, a list embedded on one wall with arrows pointing to each area of the hospital.
Magical Emergency 1st Floor -->
<-- Magical Scanning 1st Floor
Surgery & OR 2nd Floor
Offices and Administration 3rd Floor
Long Term Care 4th Floor
Special Wards 4th Floor
No morgue? Had they come to the wrong building?
No. There was no storage or equipment or mechanical room or boiler room or generator or anything like that. Of course there wouldn't be. The signs were for guests, not people breaking in. There were three hallways branching off from the lobby, each identical and whistle-clean.
"It's probably in the basement, wouldn't you say?" Jacob asked.
Tanaka shrugged.
Could anyone be so useless? That necromancy had better be worth it.
A woman's voice came from down one of the branching hallways. Jacob leapt forward and took off down the opposite one. They needed a stairwell of some sort. He glanced behind him. Tanaka followed.
A doctor in blue hospital scrubs jogged across an intersection in front of them. Jacob froze. The doctor disappeared without calling an alarm. His footsteps faded.
Jacob took a deep breath. He'd been expecting something dungeon-like, with robed wizards strutting around carrying staffs, not just a normal hospital. He'd had his fair share of trips with his parents to Vancouver General for tummy aches and cuts that bled a little too much. This place was uncannily similar. But that seemed to be the general theme with the Order and magic related things.
He came to the intersection and peered around.
Magical Emergency --> Pointed the way the doctor had run. Voices drifted towards Jacob. Magic flickered, followed by a groan of pain.
"You two lost?"
Jacob's heart nearly stopped.
A tall young man in an ill fitting grey shirt and scrub pants stood behind them. Porter was written on his shirt.
Jacob froze up. He couldn't speak, let alone think of an answer.
"Yeah, we're just visiting a friend in one of the wards. Do you know which floor they're on?" Tanaka said.
"4th floor. You need me to show you the way?"
"I think we can find it from here," Tanaka said. "Thanks."
"No prob," The guy nodded to them then walked quickly down the way they'd come.
"What happened to playing it cool?" Tanaka asked.
Jacob closed his eyes. "He caught me by surprise."
"Sure. Let's get the lead out before we gotta come up with something a little more specific."
"Good idea."
There was a stairwell a little ways after the intersection. Jacob tried the door. It opened. They crept into the dimly lit stairwell and scurried down to the basement. The door opened up on another long hallway. This one was dark, made of concrete, and had shiny pipes and bundles of electrical wires running along the ceiling.
There was an elevator bay down the hall a ways. Jacob crept that way. Wouldn't be able to wiggle their way out of being down here so easily.
"There," Tanaka said simply.
A massive metal door that looked like it belonged on a bank vault stood next to the elevator bay. On a plaque next to it was written: Morgue.
A big silver padlock locked the door shut.
"Shit," Jacob said. It hit him just how poorly he'd planned this out. He'd just expected everything to go his way. What were they going to do now? Go rob a key off the administrator or security guard or whoever? No, that was too far.
He went over and rattled the lock, but it was sealed tight.
He turned to Tanaka. "Well, that's that." Maybe it was for the best.
Tanaka laughed. "What, did you just think we were gonna waltz into a morgue of all places?"
"Well..."
Tanaka sighed and shook his head.
Jacob bristled.
"I can pick the lock," Tanaka said.
Why was Jacob not surprised? "You'd do that?"
"I'm curious to see what we find."
"Okay."
Tanaka went over and placed his hand on the lock. Magic trickled out of him.
"Wait, you're picking it magically?"
"We're mages. Why would I bother learning how to do it another way?"
"No, I just didn't know you could do that with magic."
Tanaka shot him an amused look. "You gotta start thinking like a mage. In fact, why am I doing all the work? Let's see you do it."
"But I don't know how."
"Then I guess it's finally time to learn something actually useful. There's two ways you can do this. Mimic a lock pick by producing tendrils of Production magic, or change the composition of the lock with Decomposition magic. Since you don't know how to pick a lock with a pick, you're stuck with the Decomposition route."
"Okay."
"You gotta believe the lock is unlocked." Tanaka folded his arms.
Jacob went over and placed his hand on the lock and engaged his magic. Okay, this was just going to be like class today. Nice and easy. He reached out with his magic muscle, like an invisible hand, and imagined it becoming the lock. And...The lock is open!
Nothing happened.
"No no no no no," Tanaka grunted. "No good. You're using that stupid method that teacher was babbling about today: 'imagining your muscle as the object.'"
"Yeah?"
Tanaka groaned. "It's a really bad way to think about it. Adding in the middle man of your 'magical muscle.' Leave out the middle man. Forget about moving your magic into the object, or the object being absorbed by your magic. Think of it as if you just control the object directly with your magic."
"Okay..."
"Just engage your Decomp and concentrate on the object you want to change and just... change it. Believe that it is changed. Forget the magic. Try it."
It sounded so easy. Too easy. That you could just believe something changed and magic just made it change didn't seem like it could possibly be a real thing. But Jacob had yet to have much success with it.
He turned back to the lock. He engaged his magic again and used the colour trick to shift it to Decomposition. He reached out with it like an invisible hand, then paused and brought it back. Then, magic engaged, he focused on the lock and imagined it open.
Nothing happened.
"Better," Tanaka said. "You need some practice. Probably aren't thinking about the opening of the lock specifically enough."
The transfer student clamped his hand around the lock, flared with magic, and the lock clicked open.
"Jesus," Jacob muttered.
Tanaka pulled the lock out and dropped it on the floor with a clang. He heaved the morgue door open.
A wave of icy air made the goosebumps on Jacob's skin stand up. Tanaka dragged the lock with his foot and used it as a doorstop on the big metal door. Jacob quirked an eyebrow.
"You can't open it from the inside," Tanaka said. "We could fairly easily blow this thing off its hinges, but let's try and avoid the extra damage. In my experience, that will make potential interactions with the authorities a whole lot less friendly."
"How do you know so much about morgues?"
Tanaka gave him a look. "Necromancy, remember?"
Jacob swallowed and didn't press further.
The morgue was like a massive refrigerator box. Frigid and ventilated with shiny metal walls. Jacob tried not to think too hard about why. There was another door in the far wall, this one normal. Tanaka opened it and they entered a larger room. Tanaka flicked a light switch. Cold, clinical white light lit every corner of the room. Three long metal slabs for laying bodies out took up the centre of the room, and a row of little vault-like boxes were set into one wall.
Jacob reminded himself of the gravity of their task, then went over to the wall to find the body of Laura Tannehill.
A hand like a chill vise came down on his wrist and stopped him short.
"Stop." Tanaka said. He'd lost any of his casual attitude.
"What?"
"The Academy might let you off with a slap on the wrist or some volunteer work for breaking into the morgue, given your intentions, but they find out you knowingly aided and abetted me using necromancy, you'll end up in jail, regardless of intention. Once we do this, there's no going back. You understand? This is it. You'll have done something illegal. You can't recross that line in your life. Ever. But you also can't have this weigh on your conscience. You can't have second thoughts. If you cave in and rat me out I will come for you, your friends, Camilla, everyone you like. Understand, kid?"
Jacob ripped his hand free. He had just about had it with this 'kid' bullshit. "Kid? You think I'm some softy?" He could tell by Tanaka's expression that he thought exactly that. "I have a court date with the goddamn Council in December for breaking magical laws, you think I care about a little 'illegal' necromancy?"
The surprise on Tanaka's face was worth all the BS Jacob had had to put up with, and then some. "The North American Council?" Tanaka asked.
"The World Council, or whatever they call their stupid selves."
Tanaka's eyes widened. "What did you do, man?"
Jacob rubbed the bridge of his nose. This was why he didn't bring this up. "Deliberately fed a magical creature prey with the intention of making it more powerful."
Tanaka's face flickered. Jacob could literally see the newfound respect Tanaka had for him. How fucked up did you have to be for that to be the way you gained respect for someone?
"I had to, man." Jacob blurted, cutting off the inevitable question of: why? "I had to."
"Hey, whatever you had to do man. I know the feeling."
They stood there in awkward silence.
Jacob shivered. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with."
They turned back to the row of body lockers.
"It's in the leftmost one," Tanaka said.
Jacob went over and opened up the locker. He recoiled and pinched his nose at the smell. The locker slid out until the body, which was thankfully under a sheet, was halfway out.
"Do we need to...?" Jacob could barely finish the question. It would be all mushy and decomposed. Yuck.
Tanaka shook his head. "Remember what I told you about the trade-off?"
"Yes."
"Then get ready. Pay attention to the spell. You might learn something."
"What exactly are you going to do?"
"Commune with the dead person's shade. It's like a magical impression of them. They usually stay in the body until it's been buried or cremated or whatever. This one will be strong because it was a violent murder."
"Are they dangerous?"
"Maybe."
Jacob nearly jittered with nervous angst. Christ, it was actually happening.
Dark violet slashed across his sensation. Magic poured out of Tanaka. Jacob got a vague sensation of 'where' to cast a necromancy spell on the magical spectrum, and felt Tanaka direct it at the body—no, that wasn't right. At something in the body. But the rest was too quick for him.
The morgue darkened, the white light curdling to that same dark violet of the spell, as if someone had put coloured glass over Jacob's eyes.
The hair on his arms raised. Something was behind him.
He whirled around, and screamed.