Random Acts of Sorcery (10 page)

Just by random luck, the week before court was going to be a pain academically. Cassie was going to have a chem test on Tuesday, a calc test on Wednesday, and her Social Studies project was due Friday. While it was a heavy load, it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle; the project was the real killer, but she already had all of her research materials, so it wasn’t like she was starting from scratch.

She tried to listen to Mr. Golding talking about some kind of experimental play in her first period English class on Friday, but she kept thinking about how she was going to budget her time for her other classes.

Tonight’s all chem study, tomorrow I have DG but I don’t need to study for calc that much so it’s fine, then Wednesday and Thursday can be totally devoted to finishing Soc. Oh, and I have a Health quiz on Thursday, but that’s a joke; I’ll just memorize my answers during lunch right before….

When her attention finally returned to Mr. Golding, she soon realized that her entire plan was screwed.

“…and remember, your Drama Projects are due Friday. See me after school if you need any last-minute suggestions on that,” Golding said, then the bell rang. Cassie was frozen in her seat with panic, so Mike poked her with a pencil eraser.

“You okay?”

She turned sideways in her chair to face him. “Weren’t our Drama Projects due in April?”

Mike smirked at her. “They were, until the midterm when Golding said he was moving them up because we were two weeks ahead. You forget?”

Yes, she had forgotten, and it was awful, because there was no way she could do both projects in the same week. Even though she had a head start on social studies, it would still be time-consuming, and writing English essays always took her a while. The Drama Project was a complicated endeavor involving comparing and contrasting different elements of six different plays, and if she was remembering right, it called for at least four essays.

Seeing the devastation on her face, Mike’s smile faded. “Hey, it’s not the end of the world. You can always pull an all-nighter, if you have to.”

Cassie bit her lip. “Right before court, though?” That was dangerous; she was giddy when she was sleep-deprived. If she went to court after pulling an all-nighter or two, she might say something they would all regret.

Coming to a decision, she began putting her books away. “I’ll talk to Golding after school. I bet he’ll give me an extension.”

Mike slung his backpack over his shoulder, looking skeptical. “I don’t know, he’s been talking about this project forever. He’s probably not going to be too sympathetic that you forgot. Besides….”

“Look, he probably knows that court is this weekend; maybe he’ll give me a break.”

“I’m going with you,” said Miri, popping up from out of nowhere. Cassie didn’t feel inclined to argue.

“Stay nearby, but let me talk to him alone, okay?” Miri nodded at that; Cassie had long since learned that just because Miri wasn’t immediately visible, that didn’t mean she wasn’t being guarded. It took some of sting out of needing to be watched all the time that Miri wasn’t always obvious about it.

The Buckleys were changing up their guarding assignments as well; sometimes, Miri was at the shop while another of the Buckleys stayed near the school. Cassie didn’t know why they were playing games with the schedule, but they were the professional bodyguards; she had other things to worry about.

The rest of the day seemed to crawl, while Cassie stewed in worry over whether or not Mr. Golding would see things her way. He had been a bit chilly to her recently, when he talked to her at all, but she couldn’t really blame him; he had been the target of a particularly nasty spell, and was obviously traumatized. While it wasn’t Cassie’s fault, he probably associated her with his suffering, and she couldn’t really blame him.

Still, he had always seemed like an eminently reasonable man, and she didn’t really see what difference a week’s extension on her project would make anyway. It was worth a shot.

However, when she approached Golding’s office after the final bell had rung, it was clear she wasn’t the only one with the same idea; Madison Clarke had somehow beaten her there.

“So, like, can I have an extension? I want to do the project, but like, I have no ideas for the critical lens essay,” Madison said. She was looking up at Mr. Golding like she wanted to jump into his arms. Cassie wondered if she really needed the extension, or if it was just an excuse to flirt with her favorite teacher.

Golding, however, barely seemed to be paying attention to her. Once Cassie approached the doorframe, she saw his eyes widen in alarm. “Ah, have you tried rereading the ‘Exploring the Critical Lens’ packet? I’m sure that will help you generate some ideas.”

“But I don’t understand the packet,” said Madison with a pouty expression. Cassie had to roll her eyes.
Oh, come on
.

“How about this: reread the packet tonight, and highlight any parts you don’t understand. Come back for extra help tomorrow, and I will be more than happy to go over it with you. However, I think you will find that you understand more than you think, once you get started.”

“Okay,” said Madison, turning to go. “I still might need an extension though!” Shooting a sly look at Cassie, she took off down the hall. Golding watched her retreating back for a moment and shook his head subtly, sitting down at his desk. He took out some paperwork and began filling it out, seemingly oblivious to Cassie’s presence.

“Don’t tell me that you don’t understand the packet either,” he said, addressing her without looking up.

“I understand the packet. But um, I need to ask for an extension too.”

At that, Golding did look up, with a quizzical expression on his face.

“See, there’s an important meeting of the Western Court this weekend, and I have a lot of other tests and projects and stuff, and I thought that the Drama Project wasn’t due until April, so….” She trailed off.

He looked back down at whatever he was grading. “Balancing school and extra-curriculars is your responsibility, Cassie.”

Cassie was taken aback by that. “Court is not an extra-curricular.”

“It doesn’t matter. No extensions on this
project, and you need to keep better track of your assignments.”

Cassie’s jaw dropped. She hadn’t necessarily expected him to say yes, but this degree of coldness was surprising. He seemed almost…vindictive. She narrowed her eyes.

“Look, I know you’re mad at Sam because of what he did,” she said, dropping her voice. “And it was wrong. But I had nothing to do with it.”

His pen paused at the mention of Sam’s name, but it was another moment before he looked up at her. And when he did, the intensity in his eyes took her breath away. “You think I’m angry at HIM?”

“Ah…well….”

He tossed his pen aside and stood up, hands on the desk. No more ici
ly professional responses now; now, she’d pissed him off. “I’m afraid of him. I’m angry at
you
.”

“But I didn’t do anything!”

He looked off to the side for a moment before continuing. “Do you know that there was a time, not so long ago, when I would have killed to have been invited to a session of the Western Court?”

Cassie opened her mouth,
then realized she had no idea what to say in response to that and closed it again.

“For years, I served Alphonse Liddell and his clan, and it was a long time before they even allowed me into their library. I never asked to be taken to court,
because if I did, they would have laughed at me. Still, when I found out that you had been made a familiar, I felt bad for you,” he said.

“You hadn’t chosen this life, the way I had. I thought maybe I could guide you, help you through the worst of the transition.” He seemed to be looking at something far off in the distance. “What I was too stupid to realize at the time is that you didn’t need my help. You were royalty from the moment you were made a familiar.”

This was all too strange for Cassie. He was jealous of her? Really?

“Have you been paying attention at all? Do you know what demons have tried to do to me?” Cassie had to remind herself to keep her voice down. “They fight over me like a chew toy, and other people get caught up in it! It’s awful.”

But he was lost in his revelry, not really hearing her.

“The fact is, you entered this world from the very top, and you have no idea what it’s like for those of us on the bottom. And yet you come to me for favors,” he said bitterly. “What will I get turned into this time if I say no, hmm?
A dog? A sheep?”

“For the last time, that was an accident.”

His sneer at that was downright malicious, anger and fear warping his handsome features.

“Sure it was. And when he gets angry at me for even talking to you and takes revenge, I’m sure that will be considered accidental as well.”

Cassie couldn’t believe the things that were coming out of his mouth. “He would never do that!”

“You know that’s not true.”

Cassie pushed her hair back off her forehead, tired and aggravated. It wasn’t that Golding didn’t have a point, but he was looking at everything in the worst possible way. Why wouldn’t he listen?

“Maybe this is hard for you to believe, but I still have my pride,” he whispered. “I’m not going to become just another obedient vassal for you and your demon. An
d if I die for it, better that—”

“John! I need you to just STOP—”

Then she felt a weird sensation, somewhere between a hiccup and an electric shock, and the atmosphere in the room had changed. Cassie looked down at the desk and gasped; it seemed that there was no end to Mr. Golding’s troubles.

At his usual table in the corner of The Daily Grind, Mike shuffled his most recent deck of Sorcery cards, annoyed.

Was the deck good enough to win a tournament? Yes.

Was it good enough to beat Ethan? Not a chance.

He had beaten the kid before, always at informal games at The Daily Grind, but his margin of victory was getting narrower and narrower. Lately, he’d been making excuses not to play because he was afraid he might lose to an 11-year-old, and he was tired of feeling like a coward.

Jay came over to the table and delivered Mike his regular white hot chocolate.  He looked over Mike’s shoulder at the page of recommended deck constructions that he had open on his laptop.

“You’re making a hardcore brown deck?”

Mike took a sip of his hot chocolate, then tabbed down on the page. “Maybe. I need something to beat Ethan. That kid is getting scary good.”

Jay needed to get back to the register, but not before dropping a new piece of information on his friend. “He told me he’s working on an orange-purple deck.”

Mike’s eyes widened at that. “Really? That’s crazy.” Then he did some quick calculations in his head. “And that’s going to hit like a freakin’ freight train.”

Before Mike could sink too deeply into the despair of anticipating his imminent defeat by elementary-schooler, Cassie surprised him by bursting into the shop. She was acting strangely, hunched over and hugging her arms to her stomach like she was protecting something. She was also moving fast, power-walking through the shop.

Mike called after her. “I thought you weren’t on today.”

“I’m not!” she exclaimed as she made her way to the break room door. Mike followed her, feeling slightly guilty. It always felt strange going behind the counter at DG since he didn’t work there, but no one had stopped him yet.

Cassie walked up to the round table in the middle of the break room and unzipped her coat. A familiar rodent hopped off her chest and onto the table.

Mike looked at his bespelled English teacher, eyes wide. “He really should have just given you the extension.”

“I don’t know what happened.” Cassie said, hunching over so she could look more closely at the rat. “We were arguing, and then he was like this all of a sudden. Sam wasn’t even in the room.”

“You mean
, someone else turned him into a rat again?” Mike said quizzically.

“I have no idea. I tried calling Sam but um, I don’t think he’s answering calls from me right now.”

Mike was about to ask Cassie why Sam was ignoring her calls, then remembered what little he knew about last weekend and closed his mouth.

Do NOT go there. I would not go there for a mill
ion dollars and all the Sorcery cards in China.

They both turned when Dwight walked into the room. He’d been on break when Cassie had arrived, but obviously hadn’t gone far.
“Oh God, not this again.”

“Can you call Sam?” Cassie asked. “I need to know whether or not he did this. Because I don’t think he did, but if it wasn’t him, then I’m stumped.”

“Why can’t you…” Dwight started, then noticed Cassie’s pained expression. “Ah, sure. I’ll call him right now.”

He pulled out his cell, hit a button and paced languidly. Mr. Golding mirrored him, pacing back and forth on the surface of the table with the kind of deliberate movement that made it obvious he wasn’t just a rodent. Mike had a strong urge to pick him up and pet him, but resisted. He didn’t think rats were normally supposed to be cute, but there was something adorable about his stuffy English teacher in that fluffy little body. Did rats normally have such bright, intelligent eyes?

“Hey man, you’d better get down here.” Dwight started. Mike heard something muffled on Sam’s side of the connection, then Dwight sighed. “Yeah well, you’d better. Because it’s about a certain rat.”

Sam must not have been far away, because it was barely ten minutes before he opened the door to the break room. His face fell when he saw Mr. Golding on the table.

“I was hoping Dwight was just being facetious,” he said slowly.

At his entrance, Cassie turned away from him and bit her lip. Mike suppressed a sigh.

Don’t go there. Don’t even go there.

Cassie wasn’t the only one unhappy to see him; at Sam’s entrance, Mr. Golding squeaked, jumped backwards to the far end of the table and began shaking like a leaf. This time, Mike didn’t fight the urge to pick the poor thing up. He was afraid Mr. Golding might keep backing away from Sam and fall off the edge of the table in the process. Holding the rat was a little like holding a vibrating cell
phone.

“I swear it wasn’t me,” said Sam. “I didn’t even think about this guy today, let alone try to curse him.”

Cassie crossed her arms, still not looking at Sam. “Did you put some kind of timer on the original curse? Like, maybe he reverts back to this form if certain conditions are met, or aren’t met?”

“No, it wasn’t anything that complex.”

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“I know you have zero faith in me, but at least give me credit for knowing how to curse someone,” said Sam bitterly.

Okay. This is going to a bad place, fast.

“We need to call Dr. Zeitbloom,” said Mike. “Figuring out stuff like this is practically his job.”

At that, Sam seemed to lose all his energy. He collapsed into the nearest chair. “I wish we could.”

Cassie and Mike exchanged worried glances.

“He’s taken off without a word. Eugene sent Billingsly to check his apartment and there wasn’t any sign of a struggle, but his phone says he’s out of range and he’s nowhere to be found. He’s just gone.”

Cassie’s eyes looked panicked. “There’s no way he just upped and left us, someone must have taken him. He could be….”

Sam just looked at the floor between his feet. “I don’t know, Cassie. I don’t know anything.”

Mike put Mr. Golding back down on the table; it seemed like the rat had calmed down once he realized that no immediate magical harm was headed his way. “Can’t you do some kind of tracking spell on him or something? Sorry if I’m talking out of my ass about magic, but that sounds like a logical thing to try to do.”

Sam grimaced. “You’re right, as usual, but the person who would know how to do that is Georgette, and the only one who knows how to contact Georgette is Serenus.”

“You could call some
one at court and ask for their—” Cassie started, then stopped herself as she came to a realization. “But it was probably someone from court who took him in the first place.”

“Maybe someone doesn’t want Dr. Zeitbloom around during the hearing,” said Mike, continuing Cassie’s thought. Sam just sat looking at the floor, at a loss.

Cassie put her hands in her coat pockets and looked at the rat on the table, expression serious. “Well, we can’t help Serenus if we don’t even know how to look for him. But we can turn Mr. Golding back, at least.”

Sam leaned forward and rubbed his eyes. “Not today, we can’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you think it’s been a fun couple of days for me?” Sam asked, and Cassie colored. “I don’t feel good, and I’ve been having a “bad magic day,” for lack of a better term. I don’t want to try turning him back when I might screw it up and leave him half-changed.”

There was silence for a few moments as everyone processed that. For once, Mr. Golding seemed to agree with Sam, because he shook his tiny head vigorously.

“You should know
, I was busy defending you when this happened.”

“Don’t do me any favors, Cassie.”

“You two, you’re getting carried away,” said Mike, looking back and forth from one to the other. Both Sam and Cassie were wearing expressions like death warmed over. “Okay, Serenus going missing is a big problem, I admit that. But the rat situation isn’t that bad. All Sam needs is some R&R, and in another day or two Mr. Golding will be back to normal.”

Sam continued his intense study of the floor. “I hope so, but I just don’t have a lot of confidence in my own abilities right now, Mike.” At that, Cassie
blushed bright crimson and began her own in-depth study of the floor tiles.

I kind of hate these two
right now
, Mike thought.

The door opened, and Dwight poked his head back into the break room. “Eugene’s here. What’s this I hear about another gang of vampires coming to my shop tomorrow night?”

Sam turned his eyes up towards heaven. “That’s right, I have even more good news for everyone.”