Chapter Fourteen

Milo’s bear hug woke me before the morning sun. Work hadn’t been hitting him with heavy cases, and he’d spent nearly every night of September at my place. His arms tightly squeezed me, keeping me pinned with my back pressed to his chest, my butt against his crotch. And to really keep me from moving, he had one leg wrapped over both of mine. It was comforting; here, I eased out of my slumbering dream state, awakening only to Milo’s mind. My eyes were heavy, groggy, ready to drift back to sleep in the warm embrace, maybe even scoot against him and rouse some frisky morning thoughts.

I was too tired, though, too comfortable, so I dozed off momentarily. An actual moment, too. I closed my eyes for a blink when Carlie’s paw started patting my head. She rubbed her face against mine, purring and offering the most affection in the world.

Shit.

My eyes sprang open. If she was acting this sweet, that meant I’d dozed off way past her feeding schedule and my alarm.

“Just a few more minutes.” Milo strengthened his hug, trying to cuddle me into submission. “You won’t be late. Clairvoyant guarantee.”

With a bit of telekinesis, I loosened his grip and slid off the bed. “Not taking that chance. I’ve got the auxiliary gym reserved for the day, and I can’t afford to lose any time.”

Milo huffed, snatching my pillow and hugging it in my stead.

“This is really all your fault, you know.”

A month had gone by, and it’d proven difficult to find time with Milo’s acolytes, my students’ schedules, and booking the auxiliary gym. Milo kept his acolytes busier than I realized. It also didn’t help that he’d pitched my proposal to Guild Master Campbell, which she springboarded across the academy. Thanks to my noble idea, every damn teacher with a second-year homeroom wanted to pencil in time to have their students train with pro-witches, so that meant fighting even harder than usual to schedule the auxiliary gym.

“The next time you steal one of my ideas, try not to fuck me in the process.”

“But I love fucking you.”

I glowered.

“It’s for the betterment of the city, of everyone.” Milo smiled, giddy at the idea of what he saw.

Potentially saw. Something glorious wrapped in some vision where my telepathy only glimpsed fragments of his thoughts on how this simple streamlined idea carried a ripple effect that might truly change the foundation of how academies and guilds interacted. Of course, it was just Cerberus offering up all their acolytes to work alongside the students at Gemini, but that’d change soon enough. After all, if Cerberus offered up acolytes for good PR, it wouldn’t be long before other guilds followed suit. Soon, pros would be helping facilitate training at every academy in the state, maybe even making their way down to a few non-academy facilities from private, charter, and public schools. If that happened, if industry professionals actually took the time to help kids harness their magic, it could very well change an entire generation of casting.

Carlie weaved between my legs, nearly tripping me on the way to the bathroom. “Fine. I’ll feed you first, fat cat.”

I didn’t waste a second getting my students to the auxiliary gym, even with Milo’s thoughts syncing to mine in the distance. He worked on cases, planned for meetings, kept the press guessing what was next for the globally ranked enchanter, and a thousand other things, but nothing in his mind rang with urgency. Nothing called to me like it had months ago when my telepathy first expanded, seeking him out in the sea of minds across the city. It was genuinely nice not to constantly fret about some horror lurking around the corner, so I looped my telepathy onto the minds of my students, which helped keep me grounded in the here and now.

Since I’d reserved it for the full day, even after the acolytes left to work on cases, my homeroom could continue training. Hopefully, this would help them apply what they’d picked up from these ongoing lessons. And I could pull aside the few who were already shirking off on their coursework.

I rolled my eyes at Gael and Melanie, each completely aloof about their studies. They were lucky to have such a knack for decent, half-assed work turned in at the absolute latest possible deadline. Seriously, even champions of procrastination would admire their slacker ways.

“Speaking of slackers,” I mumbled. “Just a friendly reminder, make sure to bring in your permission slips if you want to attend the upcoming field trip.”

“Thanks for the reminder.” Gael fished a crumpled, overly folded, half-ripped permission slip out of his back pocket. “Totally not the last one to turn in my form this time.”

He grinned, handing me his paper.

“If this is another forged signature from that rooster of yours again, I’ll make sure you never see the inside of a guild—field trip related or not.”

“Bawk!”

I flinched. Fucking familiar.

“It’s definitely one hundred percent parent signatures.” He pointed to a jam smudge, then redirected to the signatures that’d been smudged after spending god only knows how many days in his back pocket. “They both signed and everything. See?”

“Fine.”

Inside the auxiliary gym, I divided my students up and sent them right off to work with an acolyte. Having the extra helping hand was perfect, and it allowed me to focus on the different components each kid needed to work on during the visits. While they went to work, I pulled up notes I kept for tracking their progress as they trained.

I made my way to Acolyte Novak’s group first since she’d taken it upon herself to work with the largest group.

Kenzo joined Lena’s group, where she planned a lesson on maintaining branch fluctuations in a constant ebb and flow. It was her specialty, making her already powerful branch nearly invincible in combat. Kenzo still had quite the chip on his shoulder after being shown up by Lena. Every week, the acolytes came to work with my students, whether for one period or an extended afternoon homeroom, and Kenzo continued training to counter her branch, convinced he wouldn’t be outdone a second time.

It didn’t even matter if I assigned him to work with Acolyte Novak that day or not; he made it a priority to hone in and search for her hidden magics. Static popped in the air, nullifying Lena’s magic. She seemed to enjoy Kenzo’s efforts, taking a certain delight in how he searched for her frequency tucked across the auxiliary gym. Every time he cast a hex, she sent out hundreds more microscopic bubbles, which he went to work snuffing out, aiming for a hundred percent proficiency.

“We’re going to be working on consistent casting flow,” Lena explained, not missing a beat between her own fluctuating branch magic as she gestured for Kenzo, Layla, Katherine, Carter, and Melanie to line up. “You five are the most suited based on your casting frequencies and the particulars of your branches. Enhancing your endurance for longevity regimes will go a long way in improving your stamina.”

“I practice maintaining my branch every day,” Layla said, texting Amani—I could tell from the way she pursed her lips and the cutting surface thoughts she had only one friend who would truly understand. “I know full well the limits of my therianthrope form. You might need to revisit Mr. Frost’s notes on me.”

Hmph. Seemed Layla didn’t reserve her snotty comments for just my lectures.

“Maintaining your branch in full effect leaves you depleted after about fifteen minutes, correct?” I asked.

She shrugged, more focused on her texting conversation.

I waved a hand, shaking Layla’s grip on her phone until she understood there’d be none of that right now, and stuffed it in her jacket pocket. “You won’t be expected to improve the duration of your fully formed therianthrope shift. That’s not what Acolyte Novak’s lesson is on.”

“Exactly,” Lena interjected, ready to lead her lesson and wanting no assistance from me on the matter.

Sure, Enchanter Evergreen forced her to work on this like a case, wasting her ‘very valuable’ time. But if she was going to do this, she planned on doing it the best, which meant independently and with the highest success rate between herself, Ellie, and Hayden. Geez—she was as bad as Kenzo when it came to being a perfectionist.

“Therianthropes can learn to do minor shifts, augmenting only the animalistic features they require for a situation,” Lena explained. “Finding ways to isolate which components you change and when they will improve your proficiency with shifting and allow for longstanding endurance is important.”

This clicked for Layla, finally engaging her in the lesson. Often, she’d transform just her hands into their clawed form. It helped sharpen the direction of her telekinesis or intimidate men she didn’t know, asking her how she was doing, what she was doing, and where she was heading, among other prattle she didn’t tolerate.

“I get it.” Fine hairs covered Layla’s hands as her nails transformed into thick, black claws. “There. Mastered. Am I done with this little lesson?”

“Not bad, but not very useful either.” Lena crossed her arms. “A therianthrope’s tracking skills are some of their most beneficial attributes to the guild industry. Yes, the brute force of a therianthrope is an added benefit, but it doesn’t do any good if the witch fizzles out halfway through a case.”

Layla fought a snarl.

“Focus on partial shifts,” Lena said. “Such as just your eyes, your ears, the olfactory system of your nose—any of these can heighten your senses tremendously without overexerting yourself.”

Layla attempted to redirect her casting by shifting just the parts of her body that heightened her senses while Lena maintained an unamused expression. But I caught how her mind was briefly distracted, sending her bubbles throughout the auxiliary gym and avoiding Kenzo’s pursuit. He was tenacious, as always, which kept Lena hard at work, even if she pretended Kenzo’s casting barely fazed her.

“While Layla ponders over the lesson, let’s get you started.” Lena eyed Carter up and down.

Her eyes rested on the honorary Cerberus emblem pinned to his blazer. Some of my homeroom students still prided themselves on the successes they had the first semester of their first year, wearing those emblems on their uniforms daily—namely, Caleb and the Gaels. I was more impressed by the trans flag pinned next to Carter’s emblem. He hadn’t hidden his identity last year, willingly sharing with those he trusted, but now he seemed quite comfortable taking pride in himself, so much so that thoughts of joining the Gemini LGBTQ+ Club flitted across his surface thoughts. A showman like Carter would definitely bring a spark of life to the organization.

Lena got Carter situated on a training course to distribute his vitality to different muscles in his body. Admittedly, the continuous flow she’d picked would help strengthen the parts of his body that he drew telekinesis and levitation from.

“ Nice observation, Acolyte Novak. ”

She scowled, partly from my intrusion and partly because it seemed a default expression for her. “As for you two, it’s time we made you less reliant on your support tools.”

Katherine did her best to remain calm and composed. “What about Kenzo?”

Melanie, on the other hand, couldn’t hide how nervous Lena’s scowl made her. “I think, based on my branch, Acolyte Reed would be better.”

“No,” I interjected. “She’s not doing any review on support items.”

A nice mini-lesson Acolyte Reed offered during a previous visit. Honestly, I still preferred dividing Melanie’s training from Layla since she tended to goof off in favor of impressing her friend, but Lena didn’t seem to tolerate talking or distractions when here, so I figured keeping Melanie in this group couldn’t hurt.

“Precisely,” Lena said, annoyed by Melanie’s request and my continued interruptions. “I want you two focusing on ways to channel your frequency into your support tools without making contact.”

Katherine clutched her grimoire tightly. “That’s not how my branch works.”

“I know exactly how Spell Craft works.” Lena telekinetically yanked Katherine’s grimoire and Melanie’s zippo lighter away.

It was a useful lesson. Root magics like sensory and banishment allowed all witches to cast their energy outward. Any witch, no matter their branch, could funnel their magic anywhere with the correct training and understanding for their frequency.

After she got them started, Lena made her way toward Kenzo. Each stood tall with crossed arms, unmoving—taking shallow breaths and resisting the need to blink like that somehow played a role in their casting. It didn’t. Not a single word passed between them, and even their thoughts were difficult to hear with the echoes of static brought on by Kenzo’s disruption circulating throughout the gym.

“ You know, Kenzo, you’ve gained an incredible understanding for feeling Acolyte Novak’s casting in the air, coordinating your disruption. ” I linked to Kenzo’s mind, ignoring the blatant profanity at the sheer audacity I believed he required a compliment from me. “ But it’s important to remember that your branch, while versatile, may not be suited to fend off her arcane magic. It’s not a lack of effort on your part—you know that. ”

“ Say your peace without the fucking pat on my head so I can focus. I’m not a damn child. I don’t need the buffer speech. ” Kenzo ground his teeth, practically snarling from the shift in Acolyte Novak’s bubbles and how he was forced to endure conversation with me. “ You’re rambling worse than branchless right now. ”

“ Just remember you have more at your disposal than your hex. ”

Lena’s branch wouldn’t be bested despite Kenzo’s precision. Her bubble burst carried its own mixture of hex magic, nullifying and striking back at Kenzo’s disruption. Arcane branches were difficult to compete against, no matter how commendable and capable the other branch user might be. It was a valuable lesson Kenzo had no intention of listening to as he harnessed his spark of disruption further.

I left them alone, content Lena had this lesson more than under control. Obviously, I welcomed the assistance of other instructional guidance, but I didn’t want to simply unload my homeroom students onto others, like some cheap tactic to abandon them or my duties to improve their skills—though I’d noticed other teachers indulging in the break that came with having access to acolyte’s visiting to offer professional lessons.

I bet Milo didn’t account for folks leveraging the system to shirk their duties in his potentially positive futures. I sighed. Actually, he probably already accounted for that. Damn clairvoyants.

Making my way toward Acolyte Reed in the forest terrain, I found their lesson already underway.

Jennifer hovered in a seated position, legs crisscrossed and hands on her knees.

Ellie pressed a hand against Jennifer’s back, straightening her position. “You’re still allowing too much channeled magic to flow toward your branch. Deep breath and redistribute.”

Jennifer opened her eyes, glaring so foul Ellie nearly yelped. Unlike Lena, who had a drill sergeant approach, Ellie very much represented a butterfly of creative expression who sought to flutter about offering positivity and acceptance to everyone. Ugh—she would’ve been one of those teachers.

Kindness was good and well, but students often took advantage of weak-willed consideration, always seeing how far they could push the boundaries. In this case, Jennifer ignored the parts of Ellie’s instructions that she didn’t want to attempt.

“ This would be easier without Tara and Gael. ” Jennifer furrowed her brow, fighting against the two polar opposite emotions yanking at her branch magic. Between Tara’s ocean of sorrow and Gael’s inferno sun of joy, she really had her work cut out for her when it came to Acolyte Reed’s dampening exercise.

“Why aren’t you using your sensory and banishment in conjunction with your other roots?” I asked. “It’d help with the lesson.”

Jennifer turned her glare toward me, to which I returned with my own.

“ Eep, ” Ellie thought, fighting the external shout and allowing it to ring through my head.

So irritating.

Feeling a bit snarky, I sent those emotions Jen’s way, knowing sass was her least favorite thing to latch onto her empathy. “Perhaps I can release some wisps, offer you a target for this training. Unless, of course, you’re content with—”

“Targets would be wonderful.” Jennifer ground her teeth. “ I can picture Frost’s shiny fucking forehead when I strike those damn wisps. ”

Ouch. How big did she envision my forehead in her mind? It was like a billboard. I shook my head, allowing my shaggy bangs to cover my face.

“Miss Reed?” Gael raised a trembling hand.

“Yes.”

“Is it okay if I go to the bathroom?” He grimaced.

Ellie deferred to me, unsure she had any authority to say yes or no on bathroom policies.

Gael didn’t need the restroom, but he desperately needed a break. He’d prioritized the objective of Reed’s lesson, but the shift in his channeling shrank his spikes, making his skin tingle. It was an ache he often gave into, yet he wanted to learn how to ignore it. He wanted to be an enchanter, one who fought through the pain and saved the day.

“Go ahead, Gael.” I didn’t have a bathroom policy. Even when students just wanted a breather to goof off in the halls of Gemini, I usually allowed it. Life was exhausting enough, and classes were tiresome when confined to eight consecutive hours of productivity.

“Thanks.” Gael shuffled past Tara and rushed out of the auxiliary gym before releasing his repressed channeled casting. The sensation of relief struck, sending an effervescent sigh through the air.

He needed this lesson on repressing branch flow since the constant flux of his branch affected his overall root performance, but I didn’t want any training to break Gael or the positivity he brought to our homeroom.

“Nice work, Tara.” Acolyte Reed studied Tara, who continued meditating while channeling as much casting into her roots as possible.

“ How’s this much magic still sitting in her branch receptors? ” Ellie thought. “ She might have an endless supply like Hayden. ”

I frowned. Great. Another hurdle tossed toward Tara’s already difficult branch overlap and newly developed fourth branch. The Infinite Light wasn’t just some catchphrase for Hayden’s glitter magic but a reference to his rare magical trait known as infinite draw, where a witch’s channeling never waned. The receptors had no limitation on casting capability. Well, no limitation on his branches or roots. A witch’s body always had a breaking point.

Having no answers for Tara, I allowed her to continue her training with Reed and approached Jamius, who channeled his casting into his roots alongside three copies.

Unlike the others in Reed’s lesson, Jamius didn’t struggle with a constant flux of magic drawn by his branch, but he did struggle with properly distributing that magic. Every time he created a duplication, he created them with full access to his roots, which in turn ate away at his access to his magic. Each copy chiseled away at his proficiency. Thanks to Reed’s branch, she saw the actual threads he pulled from when manifesting them and assisted in locking them during this exercise, giving him a feel for his root casting receptors. Of course, he’d eventually have to master this skill independently.

“I was brought into this world to fly,” a copy cried. “Why can’t I fly?”

“You can levitate.” Jamius shrugged. “That’s basically flying.”

“Oh? Is that so?” the copy floated toward Jamius. “So, I guess that dirty fanfic you’re writing is basically a novel, wouldn’t you—”

Jamius clapped his hands, and his copy exploded into a puddle of water.

“He was a traitor and got what he deserved,” a second copy said.

“Concurred.” A third copy nodded, hand on his chin as he attempted his most sophisticated expression. “A thought has occurred to me. We were both brought into this world with only sensory at our disposal, yet there is nothing to sense in the nearby atmosphere.”

“Ah, yes.” The second copy mimicked the third’s behavior. “That thought was also thought by me.”

These two were clearly some of Jamius’ more annoying duplicates.

“What do you think it means?” the second asked.

“It means we were created without purpose,” the third answered. “The world is a lie, life is pointless, we are simply cogs in the machine.”

“Can you guys chill for like a minute?” Jamius sighed.

“A minute? You mean a whole thirtieth of our lives?” the third copy let out an exacerbated gasp. “It might be a mere sliver to you, but I intend on living my life to the fullest.”

“But you have no purpose,” the second chimed in.

And the third copy started crying.

“I’m gonna give you a minute with yourselves.” I backstepped.

Jamius sulked. “ This is why I don’t limit my roots when creating them. They get so damn whiny. ”

Interesting and tragic how Jamius’ duplicates carried such an existential crisis in their short-lived existence.

Flying through the thicket of trees, I exited the forest terrain and made my way toward the rock terrain where Acolyte Russo had allowed his group to take a break. Though I hadn’t caught Hayden’s lesson, it didn’t look like he bothered with any of the objectives I laid out.

Gael grinned, internally boasting how impressive his roots had gotten despite flat-out refusing to train the one root magic I wanted him to focus on today: his levitation. The rooster crowed, probably bragging too in some fucking bird language only Gael comprehended.

While those two stuck to the ground, Yaritza played on her phone during the break. Based on the scorch marks lining the boulders in the terrain, it was clear she’d prioritized her branch training even though Acolyte Russo’s group was specifically designed to focus on root casting.

Yes, Yaritza’s levitation and telekinesis were solid, mainly in conjunction with her branch, but her sensory and banishment were mediocre at best.

Ignoring the nonsense of their surface thoughts, I allowed them to enjoy their little break while I had a word with Hayden, who was already locked in a deep conversation with Caleb. It seemed even Caleb slacked on his root training, favoring the only thing he liked more than casting lessons—studying. With a smile on his face and notebook in hand, Caleb had pulled Hayden into a discussion that already overwhelmed the young acolyte.

A hundred different questions floated around Caleb’s head, linking to the handful he’d already asked and the notes he’d jotted based on Hayden’s answers. Each answer seemed to only add more follow-up questions which, based on Caleb’s history of curiosity, would turn into an endless discussion.

“Shouldn’t you all be focusing on root training?”

“Definitely.” Hayden smiled, big and goofy, with a bit of glitter shimmering around his face. “But these three were doing such a fantastic job, I thought they deserved a little break before round two.”

This fucking acolyte and his holly jolly bullshit cheer. It was extra annoying, given how fucking genuine it was. Seriously, how could someone be this positive and uplifting all the time? My head hurt just glimpsing his sparkling surface thoughts.

The whole point of Russo working on roots was because he might’ve actually been able to help Yaritza finetune hers, Gael attempt levitation, and Caleb master his perfected banishment, all of which I’d floundered at helping them achieve.

“The scheduled break isn’t for another hour; they’re more than capable of enduring until then.”

“Agreed, but you should’ve seen how hard they all pushed themselves.”

“It was nothing.” Caleb continued writing, questions percolating the more they simmered in his mind. “Honestly, I wish I could keep up with your casting rollovers. The way you switch between your roots so quickly. Not to mention your branches, which you didn’t even use…”

“My roots are actually better than my branch casting.”

“Because of your medical limitations?”

“Um, yes and no? I don’t know.” Hayden shrugged. “It probably has more to do with the fact they didn’t develop until I was sixteen.”

“Really?” Caleb’s eyes widened.

I prepared to interject and end this Q&A until Caleb’s hope blossomed, superseding the countless questions he had. Even as he worked to finetune his roots, Caleb secretly yearned to develop a branch of his own. It was something I’d never seen surface in his thoughts, but the desire was there, fresh and bright and hopeful. Caleb wanted to be great and knew if he had unique magic, it’d guarantee his success.

“Docs explained my branches laid dormant for so long in order to compensate for the stress on my weak heart.” Hayden’s grin was inviting, making Caleb return with a happy half-smile. “I relied on my roots to carry me through while I was an academy student. Although, I did have a little fun showing off my branches when my third year rolled around.”

Caleb wondered how that must’ve felt, surprising everyone with two branches, showcasing amazing root proficiency, and finishing top in his class.

“Yeah? Bet they were shocked.”

“At first.” Hayden’s grin turned into a forced pouty face. “Only problem was when they finally did emerge, they weren’t very strong—well, I mean, you’ve seen them in action.”

“Oh.” Caleb scrunched his face, his expression quizzical, ready to ask a dozen questions about clarification.

“I think the point Acolyte Russo is making is that while his branches are unique and strong- ish , it was his root proficiency that landed him a solid internship and an offer at a guild.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” Hayden smiled.

“So, how did…”

I sighed, almost resigned to let this play through since Caleb’s curiosities wouldn’t yield until he got his fanboying out of the way. Since joining Enchanter Evergreen’s team, Caleb had researched everything he could on Hayden Russo, Ellie Reed, and Lena Novak. Hayden had been the most forthcoming thus far, Ellie’s responses left Caleb more confused, and Lena intimidated him almost as much as Kenzo.

“Enough questions.” I glared at the both of them. “Back to training.”