Nick looked around his room. It was on the second floor. He could maybe get to the

top of the wall if he timed things just right. Then he could drop down the other side

and be on the street. He wanted to check the position of the magic market before he

turned in for the night.

He felt that he could use that to buy things inside the Academy building if he had

enough spirit money. He might be able to put together a kit he could use to get out of

the city and on the way back home.

He figured that Carol and the others would love to stay in the big city. He couldn’t

blame them. They had more of everything in the city, and could work less.

Back home was where he felt special. At the school, he was one of many children

sussing out the system and trying to avoid the lumps it was handing out. He would

rather be on familiar ground.

And if he ran into the Lords of Death, he was sure he could do something to protect

his town.

He didn’t trust the teachers at the Academy to have his interests at heart.

He still picked up some soft dashes. They were in the central keep, and the other

wings on the other side. He shrugged at what they could mean.

Someone might be showing off over there.

Nick opened his window as gently as he could. He looked around the yard and saw

nothing. He would have to sneak back in, but it was a small price to pay.

He swung his legs over the sill and pushed away from the window. He made a gesture

with his hand. His fall turned into a floating descent that let him absorb the impact

with a small effort. He looked around. No one was in the yard, and he didn’t see

anyone in the windows.

It looked like a clean escape.

Now he just had to get back into the central building they had left earlier, and find the

market. Then he could take as long as he wanted to order things.

Nick found the door unlocked. He walked inside and headed toward where the

indicator was pinned on his sphere of influence. He paused when he was where it

should be, but it wasn’t there. He looked at the sphere again. The marker was below

him.

He needed to find stairs leading down. Once he had that, he could find the market

with some careful searching.

There was a couple of places back home with a market, but he only needed them

when he was deep in the forest hunting. One stood a small distance from the

orphanage. If he had the money, it was close enough to use in case of an emergency.

A couple of monsters had got through the wall around his village. He had killed the

first with the thunder cracker. Fighting the other one, he had been able to get a

magical attack, and used that to fling his enemy into the air.

Master Slown and Sister Anne had asked him what happened. He had lied and said

lightning must have done for the monster.

He wasn’t going to admit that he had launched twin streams of blasts into the monster

and chewed it up. He would never hear the end of anything.

“They say the Academy has a monster problem and people shouldn’t walk inside it

alone at night,” said Crow. Her white hair and pale complexion glowed in the small

torchlight.

“I don’t remember asking you to come along,” said Nick. “Who’s they?”

“They said that you should go back to our quarters and let others deal with the

monster colony,” said Crow. “I can see that you don’t want to consider that at all.”

“I’m looking for something,” said Nick. “Why are you here?”

“I had to answer when you snuck out,” said Crow. “If something bad happens to you,

you will attract even more problems to the school. Please, can we just go without

problems?”

“Hold on,” said Nick. He found some stairs leading down. He followed them until it

looked like he was on the right hall as the market. A few more minutes of searching

showed him a blank wall where an arch should be.

“They say something is here, but they don’t know what it is,” said Crow.

“It’s a market,” said Nick. “Can you keep watch, and keep out of sight?”

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“How do I do that?,” asked Crow.

“This will only take a second,” said Nick. “I can’t really buy anything, and come

morning anything I could get will be gone. I just want to make sure this works like

the ones back home.”

“They say there are features that you haven’t looked at that will help you,” said Crow.

“Do they know which ones?,” asked Nick. He didn’t think Crow’s mysterious them

knew anything, but he was willing to listen for a second before dismissing her. She

already seemed to know more than she should.

“You can cut on the listening device,” said Crow. “It will give you a warning about

whom is in the area with you.”

“Really?,” asked Nick.

“Yes,” said Crow. “They also said you can party with others and let them know what

you think inside your sphere of influence.”

“I have never done either of those things,” said Nick. He realized he could have asked

Carol to party and then he could talk to her about this castle of doubtful characters.

“Anything else?”

“They say there is a room to one side where you can work on your main spell,” said

Crow. “It’s called Showroom.”

“How do you know any of this?,” asked Nick.

“They tell me things,” said Crow. “I use that to help others when I can. I don’t know

why I am here, but I do know that the teachers and the Lords of Death are looking for

a particular person with particular scars like mine.”

She raised the front of her tunic to show a pattern of markings in a circle over her

stomach. She dropped the tunic.

“I have markings like that too,” said Nick. “I don’t know where I got them from. I

have always had them.”

“It’s a seal,” said Crow. “They don’t know what it seals, but something is inside of

me, and probably you too. And that means the Warlord is looking for us.”

“We’ll have to stay out of his clutches,” said Nick. “Let me do this, and then we’ll go

back to our quarters. We can hash out what we can with Granny Bitter in the morning.

Maybe she will give us a straight answer to our questions if we brace her with the fact

we know we possess something inside of us.”

“I think we should keep this to ourselves,” said Crow. “As soon as word gets around,

all of the other students will be at risk, including your friend from the fire magician

table.”

“So we wait and see what happens?,” asked Nick.

“Patience is our friend,” said Crow. “Eventually we will have to fight to keep

ourselves safe. That is when we will have to leave and wander the world.”

“They tell you that?,” asked Nick.

“They don’t have to,” said Crow. “I will wait for you.”

Nick pressed the wall, keeping the indicator on his mental map. The wall opened and

he stepped inside. He didn’t know if it was a mental trick, or if he had stepped inside

another space, but the wallboard faced him with the items for sell on it. He quickly

went over everything. He could get the same things here as back home. The prices

were a little lower too.

He spotted the Showroom that Crow had mentioned. He walked over and looked

inside. All of his spells were on hooks in the wall. Another shelf of something called

fixtures stood next to it. He walked over and picked one of the fixtures up. He

received a mental message of what it was for, and which spell to add it too.

Better versions of fixtures could be had if he could use the spells often enough.

He doubted he would be able to do that unless open war broke out at the Academy.

Below the weaponized spells, and fixtures, were things marked equipment. Those

were the things that made him faster than normal, gave him better reflexes, allowed

him to track his enemy, and other skills.

He couldn’t use any of this yet. He didn’t have the money to buy a spell off the wall

with the right fixture, or the equipment or body skills. When he could get the money,

he could buy what he wanted.

He walked back out into the main room. There was a side niche. He walked into that,

and saw a switch for enemy hearing on the wall. He flipped it to open.

Below that was a chart with six lines. His name was on the first line. He picked the

letters for Crow from a roll bar under the second line. He saw his sphere of influence

put up a number two next to the market. He decided to save the rest of the party lines

for later.

Four more lines would get him most of the misfits if he wanted to let them join him,

but one of the twins would be out of the action.

He didn’t feel right just cutting one out. That would just cause hurt feelings. It was

better to wait, and just add whomever on a temporary basis, and then subtract them

when he no longer needed them to do things.

He stepped out of the market. The hall still looked empty except for Crow. He heard

some kind of mumbling. A mental designation said Corpet. Another voice reached

him. This one said Captain Blooge.

He couldn’t see them, but felt they had to be close. He made a silence gesture at

Crow, before pointing back the way they came. He wanted her safe outside the castle

before he did something stupid.

She shook her head. She pointed toward the center of the castle. He raised his hand

and pointed in the same direction. Something lit up for a second as he marked

movement. He closed on the ping, wishing he had enough money to buy a faster

weapon from the market.

Several more pings lit up ahead of them. He didn’t know what was going on. He

looked at Crow. She nodded. She was using his system to mark the enemy.

He made a face. He hadn’t expected that. He also had never invited anybody to

partner with him either.

He crept closer. He didn’t want to shoot without a clear picture. Putting a hole in a

teacher would not be good for him leaving the Academy and going home.

He frowned when he found a small swarm of goblins. He couldn’t kill them all with

the thunder cracker. He didn’t have enough stopping power. He still had to do

something. If they got loose in the student rooms, there would be blood spilled.

He took aim at the one that seemed to be giving orders. He steeled himself. This

wouldn’t be like the quick exchanges in the forests around his village.

He willed his spell to operate, and keep operating. Pressure tried to jerk his hand off

his targets as he ran through his charges in a matter of seconds. He had a bunch of

wounded, but no kills. He dropped back behind a decorative suit of armor and willed

his spell to recharge, loading the spare twenty strikes in a few seconds.

Some of the goblins were down, some charged him in the hopes he wouldn’t be able

to finish the job and kill them at close range.