Dear Diary,

I’m not really sure how to write this as so much happened so fast.

I’ve been doing my restoration practices and am feeling…eh…70% back to normal.

I even answered Dad’s call the other day. He wanted to let me know that he disapproved of my aiding Cooper who apparently has had some shady dealings in the past. I wasn’t surprised but there was no point in telling Dad I didn’t know - he’d just say that I would know if I took up Law Magic like I should have. Besides, Cooper was hardly my biggest issue - he was practically gleaming next to working for Gallo. Not that I ever, ever want Dad to know about that.

It was awkward and mostly silent on my part. After a long sigh that I’m sure was supposed to make me feel bad but mostly made me want to end the call soon, Dad made sure I was coming home for the holidays and asked if I was feeling ok. He sounded tired. I wanted to ask him if he was working on the Z case but figured that would be pushing it.

Anyways, yesterday, Kate reached out to see how I was doing. I figured I needed to thank her for the shirt and tee and offered to go out for drinks with her. I still have a paid tab after all.

I shouldn’t do things like that - ask people out for drinks. I’m not good at it. I mean, sure she said yes and seemed genuinely interested in hanging out with me for some reason, but it went bad so fast. I don’t know why I didn’t expect it.

We’d already had a couple drinks. Kate was bemoaning her internship with her dad’s magic firm which seems to mostly consist of going to luncheons, dinner parties, and other social events to network. It sounds horrible and I’m glad I don’t have to do things like that. I’m pretty sure I said as much which made Kate laugh. Apparently the fact that someone who works with dead bodies finding something supposedly as normal as socializing horrible is funny. I suppose I see the humor in it but honestly, it comes down to the fact the dead don’t expect much. The living however are landmines of expectations that I’ve never been able to guess at.

If that had been all, it would have been a decent night. However, a group of guys stepped up to pay their tab and saw us.

Stewart, Nico, and Lark.

I don’t know if Stewart or Nico spotted us first but I heard them tell Lark and point to us pretty openly. I should have followed my instinct to leave then.

Gavin Lark stepped between us and the door and said something about finding it strange to see me there. Kate pointed out that Lyre is where most Latimer students and graduates hang out. I don’t know if she was being purposefully oblivious to Lark’s tone but she called for two more drinks, making it clear we weren’t going anywhere. I wonder if she learned this from socializing for her dad’s firm.

Lark said something about being surprised to see Kate hanging out with a freak like me (hell, I wonder about this too, dude so its hardly an insult) and that he figured that I was too stuck up for slumming it with the rest of the Latimer students. Stewart piped up. “She’s not so high and mighty now, though. Couldn’t even get into Crane.”

Lark laughed but it was a harsh barking sound. “I guess being teacher’s pet only gets you so far.”

I think I laughed a little then. The idea of any student being Professor Sulak’s teacher’s pet was just absurd. The head of the necromancy department was practically heartless. Then again, Lark would probably slap that label on anyone making better grades than him.

I think my laughter caught him off guard but before I could point out my analysis, Kate spoke again. “You’re just still sore that Bernie turned you down first year.”

I don’t know who was more confused or shocked, me or the guys. As much as I racked my brain (though the alcohol wasn’t helping) I couldn’t recall this. I almost said she was drunk but she went on.

“At the end of spring term. I didn’t mean to spy on the two of you in the labs hall,” she said to me apologetically. “I needed to get past but I saw the tension between the two of you and decided to wait. Lark was saying something about being sad you two wouldn’t be in charms class together because you tested out. You said something about not wanting to sit through a class when you didn’t have to and that you were pretty sure the office was still open if he wanted to try testing out as well. Lark then said he wasn’t clever like you were, which is true, but then asked you to go out with him. You said you had a meeting with some professor on the other side of campus from the offices but that you could walk out of the labs together if he wanted. That you would be rooting for him to test out and if he hurried he could get there in time. I didn’t see your face but I saw Lark’s when you left and he hung back. I’m pretty sure he was crying.”

I think I wrote that right. Its all a little fuzzy now.

Puzzle pieces clicked together as Kate explained and Lark’s face turned as red as a beet. I mumbled something about not realizing he was asking me OUT out, not like, romantically. Then again, even if I had…I wouldn’t have wanted to. The idea of dating any of these guys never appealed to me. Perhaps it was for the best.

Things might have been fine after that but for Nico and Stewart. They started laughing…hard. Like drunk, doubled over, couldn’t breathe laughing. This only made Lark redder until he kind of exploded.

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I didn’t really understand what all he was saying until the end. “I challenge you, Vitale, to a rite of honor!”

Magic duels are ridiculous and prove nothing unless you’re both battle mages seeing who can handle the pressure. Besides, I have nothing to prove here. Hadn’t Lark won? He got the job at Crane along with Nico and Stewart. He was obviously doing well…and likely hadn’t spent weeks recovering from magical burn out, dealing with shady cops and even shadier mobsters. I bet he doesn’t have a pet gnome or a growing plant hoard. I was about to tell him to leave me alone when Kate stood up.

“Tonight! I will be Bernie’s second. Yours?”

Lark took a moment to look between Nico and Stewart and chose the latter.

I stared at Kate, trying my best to form the words to ask her what the hell she was doing as she and Lark sorted out the time, place, and ritual focus.

“Necromancy of course. Whoever can bring up the oldest dead is the victor.”

The guys left and Kate sat down grinning for some damn reason. “Drink up. We’re gonna have an exciting night!”

After, we went to my place to get my gear. Kate was enamored with my plants and gnome. She asked if he had a name and then squealed when he started tapping on the aloe pot with his hat. I told her he was Nevermore and explained how he got there after the garden situation. I asked Kate why she kept volunteering me for shit and she looked genuinely apologetic.

“I just can’t stand how those guys treat you. You’re the smartest, most talented person I know.”

I pointed out she was valedictorian. She laughed at that and said something about knowing how to pass tests wasn’t the kind of smart she meant.

By the time we got to Latimer Tombs, I was resolved to see this through. Outside the gate, Kate took my hand in hers and said some words of encouragement I didn’t quite get because I was too focused on how warm and soft her hand was. It made me feel warm all over and I think it's mostly because of the alcohol.

Before we went in, I was thinking about Lark’s challenge. It wasn’t just a necromancy rite. He said it was the one who brought forth the oldest. This was hard to do of course but the thing is, how would we know the oldest inhabitant? The tombs were notorious for walls of bones without name or date.

I asked Kate if she knew any location charms. She took off a necklace that had been tucked in her shirt and handed it to me, explaining it was an heirloom from her mom. A pendulum charmed specifically with finding spells.

It was pretty but nothing particularly gorgeous about it - a plain gold chain and teardrop pendant without carving or gemstone. However, once it hung in my hand it thrummed with power. Whoever set this charm up knew what they were doing.

We went in. The guys were already there, set up around a sarcophagus in the back. I recognized it as that of Jean-Paul Dumais - the oldest marked grave in the tomb. Pretty easy. I guess he figured since he arrived first and called dibs he won…if he could actually pull it off.

I ignored him and focused on the pendulum. It swayed and tugged me past the boys and to a wall of skulls. Each one is nameless other than the engravings on their heads. The one the pendulum tugged to still had its jaw at least but otherwise didn’t look any different than the others.

I gave Kate her necklace back and picked up the skull. It came away from the wall relatively easily and none of the others fell so, at least there’s that. I half expected an avalanche of bones.

Lark looked worried but Stewart snorted something about no one being able to rejuvenate a skull without its body. Nico was giggling but at this point I suspect he’s on something though I don’t know enough about drugs to guess what.

I ignored them and got to work. From the sound of Lark hushing Nico, he was working too.

The problem with bringing back something without all of its parts, and something that had been dead so long, is that it's hard to anchor the spirit to the body. You have to force a square peg through a round hole kind of at that point and just hope the spirit won’t fight you too much.

My nerves ached from the force considering I’d only just recovered and then only practiced with plants. This was stupid. Probably more stupid than working for criminals. I might have given up but Kate was looking at me all wide eyed and confident, I kept going even as I acknowledged the stupidity of it.

It took hours. When I was done I was covered in cold sweat and Kate and Stewart both had coughs and runny noses from hanging out in the tombs. Nico looked like he passed out some time ago and was curled up at the base of a nearby sarcophagus. Lark looked just as worn out as I was. Dumais knocked around and moaned in his sarcophagus.

He did well. It's no easy feat to bring back someone that long dead. No idea what he was saying as I don’t speak French fluently but from what Stewart was saying and translating to Lark, it didn’t sound like the dead guy was happy.

My skull clattered to life as well, speaking first Latin then Old High German. It took a minute to sort things through but he was asking for wine. I tried my best to explain to him that we didn’t have any and he didn’t have a body anyways or a tongue or a nose. He clattered along the floor, angry and still demanding wine.

I finally gave up and said I would get him some wine if he would tell me what year he died. It took some figuring but Kate and I finally pinpointed it to the reign of Frederick the Wise in the late 1400’s. He’d been carried over by a necromancer along with some other skulls in hopes of gaining their knowledge. That explained why it had been relatively easy to anchor him - someone else had already marked that path for me. Well, most of the dead here at Latimer likely had some student or teacher bringing them back at some point. It would likely be difficult to find a head or body here not tampered with.

I won the rite by about 300 years, give or take. Lark conceded. I told him he did well bringing back Dumais but mostly we were both exhausted. Stewart put Dumais back to rest and I cleaned up my stuff. The skull, who called himself Foldger, clattered on.

Kate and I took him back to Lyre and ordered a bowl and bottle of their cheapest wine. We soaked the skull in it and he sighed and waxed poetic about fine wine. I didn’t bother telling him it was the cheap stuff. He seemed happy.

I carried him home, bowl and all. Kate slogged along with me, both of us exhausted but Kate all grins over my win. I tossed Foldger on the table and was in the process of thanking Kate for letting me use her necklace when she was suddenly very, very close to me. She said something but I couldn’t make it out over my heart hammering in my head. Then, she kissed me.

I don’t know if I kissed her back. I was so thrown off by everything happening, I just stood there. When she stepped back, I said thank you like a complete idiot. She smiled and left.

I am never drinking again.