Vision Quest (The Demon's Apprentice Book 3) (3 page)

“If he does, you can slap a tail on my butt and call me Barf.”

Gage walked back toward us as he put the phone back in the pocket in his blazer, looking like he’d swallowed a live slug.

“Well then, plebe,” he said. “Let’s be on our way.”

“Isn’t that a West Point or Annapolis term?” Lucas asked.

“The Franklin Academy predates the military colleges by decades.
They
took many of their traditions from us. You must be his
cowan
friend, Lucas Kale. Where is Wizard Corwyn?” he asked.

“Flying back with my mom and my sister.”

“This is highly insulting,” Gage huffed. “I cut my vacation short to come all the way to this hell hole, the
least
he could do is be here to meet me.”

“You’re seven hours late,” I said. “You’re lucky we were still here to pick you up.”

“I ... I’m lucky?” he sputtered. “You have some nerve, speaking to me like that. You’ll show me some respect. My time is valuable, and you’re lucky to have me here.” By then the second cart had arrived, and the two men in coveralls were putting his bags on it.

“Whatever, Winnie,” I said as I took the front seat in the cart. “Get in or walk.” He got in. The ride back was quiet, not least because of the hundred-degree-plus heat. By now, Lucas and I were used to it, but Winthrop looked like he was about to melt. When we got to the cars, he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the sheen of sweat off his face before he started insulting the guys putting his luggage in the back of the
Falcon
.

“We’re not all going to fit in that little thing,” he said after Lucas and I gave the two porters a few bucks and thanked them.

“You’re riding with me,” I said as I went to the Mustang.

“I suppose it would be overly optimistic to hope that there was even a two-star hotel in this city,” he said as he got in.

“No clue. You’re staying with us at Dr. C’s place.”

“I am not sleeping on a couch or on some fold-out bed,” he started to protest.

“Dude, chill. You’ll be in the second bedroom,” I told him. “Do you bitch about everything?”

“I set high standards, and I don’t accept anything less than the very best from anyone.” He cut the statement off as if there was more he was going to say. I let it lie and started the Mustang, then pulled out behind Lucas. With the windows down, Gage lost a little of the wilted look to him, though he never got past slightly irritated.

“Where is he going?” Gage asked when Lucas turned off to the right.

“To pick up some stuff we were supposed to grab hours ago,” I said as we crossed over the Concho River. Dr. C’s place was only a few blocks away by then, so the awkward silence only lasted for a couple of more minutes. Junkyard was jumping and barking at the fence by the time we pulled under the awning and turned the engine off. I got out and went to the fence to say hello.

“Sorry we took so long, buddy,” I said to him as I reached over the fence and rubbed his ears. “You want some pizza tonight? Would that make it up to you?” He barked and spun in place before he came back to me and put his paws up on the fence. I smiled at the idea, since Winthrop had no idea what kind of torture he was in for later. Cheese and Junkyard made for a smelly combination, which was why I almost never let him have any. “This is Winthrop,” I said, nodding toward our guest. “He’s a guest, so no biting him.” Junkyard leaned toward Winthrop and sniffed at him, then tilted his head and gave him a sort of huff.

“What breed of dog is that?” Gage asked.

“Best I can tell, he has some Boxer in him, some Rottweiler, and a little Pit Bull. And he’s all mutt.”

“I agree. Fortunately, pets aren’t allowed at the Academy. Only familiars.”

“He
is
my familiar,” I said.

“You’re joking. No, I see that you aren’t. That … bandana won’t do. You’ll have to get a proper collar on him.”

“He won’t wear one,” I said. “And I won’t put one on him.”

Gage just gave a short laugh and said, “Your first day is going to be fun to watch. All that aside, can we get out of this infernal heat?”

I nodded and headed for the front door. The window unit was keeping the front room pretty cool, and he closed his eyes as the chilled air hit him. I headed for the door into the hallway on the right, then opened the door on my left. As hallways went, it was really more of a box, with doors on all four sides.

“This was Dr. Corwyn’s room,” I said as I flipped the light on. A twin bed took up the right side of the room, with a desk on the far wall next to a dresser that sat right in front of the door. Posters covered the walls, including Farrah Fawcett’s iconic red swimsuit photo. “You’ll be sleeping in here tonight.”

“Dear Lord,” Gage almost whispered. “Did I go back in time to the sixties?”

“Late seventies,” I said. “If you get the urge to boogie down or play that funky music, I’ll get the disco ball down from the attic for you. Bathroom’s the next door to the right here, and Lucas and I will be in the room across the way.” I stepped back and he followed me out of the hall and through the kitchen and dining room to the family room at the back of the house.

“We might as well get started,” he said as I sat down in one of the two recliners that faced the TV. “Show me the tools you’ve made so far.”

“Seriously?” I said.

“Very seriously. Cowans have no business dealing in mage affairs, so while he’s gone is the best time.” He sat in the other recliner and moved the old TV Guide off the end table that sat between them. I pulled my trusty TK rod from my pocket and resisted the urge to use it on him before I laid it on the table.

“Ah, the infamous telekinesis rod. May I?” he said, gesturing at the length of red-leather-wrapped copper. I shrugged and gave him a nod. He picked it up and took a moment to inspect the quartz crystal tip, then looked at the butt end of it, which I’d replaced with a polished garnet for a little extra push. After giving it a critical inspection, he set it down, then put his thumbs and index fingers together and muttered something under his breath. When he moved his hands apart, he kept his fingertips and thumbs touching to create a glowing green sheet of magick in the space he’d just created. Then, with another movement, he pulled his hands apart a few inches and the green rectangle expanded. When he opened his hands, the rectangle stayed suspended in midair. He reached for my TK rod again and held it up in front of the floating green energy sheet.

“Infamous?” I asked as he turned the rod slowly.

“Rumor has it you used it on Wizard Chomsky’s killer, and threatened Master Polter with it.”

“I’ve never used it to kill,” I said. “And the Council had taken it from me by the time Polter and I first met.”

“These sigils,” he said, as if I hadn’t just dispelled all the rumors about me, “fae, I presume?”

“Arianh-Rod’s designs, yeah,” I said. “I did the actual etching, though.”

“It’s a wonder it hasn’t blown up in your hands, then. The execution is barely tolerable. You butchered an exquisite design to the point where it is barely recognizable. Were you my apprentice, I would have destroyed this thing and made you re-do everything ten times. Do you have anything else?” He handed the rod back to me with a sigh of disapproval. I pulled the retrieval ring off my right hand and laid it down in front of him, then pulled my touchstones and my amethyst pendulum from my pocket.

“That’s what I have on me,” I said. He picked up the touchstones, then the amethyst, finally looking the ring over.

“Barely adequate … crude and limited … nothing more than a gimmick,” he said as he set the ring down. “Now the necklace.” He pointed at my chest, and I instinctively put my hand over the silver pentacle Wanda had given me. The points of the outward-facing crescent moons dug into my skin slightly, a somehow reassuring sense that it was still there.

“No.”

He did a double take and sat up a little straighter. His eyebrows came together and he took a breath.

“It’s a gift from a friend. And it’s sacred; as in touched by a Goddess sacred.”

For a few seconds, he just sat there, then slowly seemed to deflate. “Very well,” he said with a slow nod of his head. “What other tools have you crafted?”

“Mostly, I’ve been working on casting the TK spell without the rod,” I said. “But, there is this …” I said as I reached for my backpack. His eyes went wide as it flickered into view. I’d replaced the ever-so-slightly-illegal
neglenom
charm with a chameleon talisman. As long as it was still, the talisman bent light around it, so that you saw what was on the other side of it almost as if it wasn’t there. It still wasn’t perfect; you could see the edges of the bag as a slightly blurry or warped line, but most people never even noticed that. The look on his face was worth a bit of a smirk as I opened the bag to get what I was really after: a small mirror. I had etched runes around the edge of it in green enamel paint, with matching runes on the back side.

“Is your backpack … armored?” Gage asked.

“Kinda, yeah,” I said. “The original aluminum back plates got pretty banged up a few months ago, so Lucas and I replaced them with titanium. I bought the chameleon talisman, but this uses a spell of my own.”

“What does it do?” he asked as he took the curved mirror from me. I set the backpack a couple of feet away from me and let the talisman hide it again.

“Look at it in the mirror,” I said. He angled the mirror, then frowned as he turned his head to look at the place where he knew the bag was.

“The talisman is decent work,” he said. “How does your spell see through it?”

“Trade secret,” I said. “Those are all of the tools I made. Except for the talisman.”

“You said you bought that,” Gage said.

“I lied,” I said.

“Franklin students do
not
lie,” he said, his voice stern.

“You did when you said my work was crap,” I said. “Demons are pretty demanding masters … and they lie a lot. So, I know my work is good, and I know when you’re lying to me.” The front door opened and Lucas called out.

“I’m baaaack!”

“I’ll alert the media,” I said as I got to my feet. “Let’s get those speakers installed.” Winthrop gaped like a fish as I walked past him.

“We’re not done yet!” he said by way of protest.

“I am,” I said.

In a two-bedroom house that was built in the forties, there was only one place a guy could get some privacy to meditate: the roof. The sun was almost below the horizon by the time I pulled myself up over the last rung of the ladder and set foot on the cooling tarpaper, but my car now had a working sound system, and I’d even managed to get a short run in. Even with only three people in the house, I preferred the solace of Dr. Corwyn’s old retreat. Maybe spending an hour up here every evening for the past couple of weeks had conditioned my brain to see it as a quiet place. Or maybe it was because this was the only place I could talk to my girlfriend uninterrupted. Who could say? Even apprentice magi were inscrutable like that.

My phone was a cheap pay-as-you-go model that Mom could barely afford the minutes for. Texting took me forever on the little numeric keypad, and it couldn’t do all the slick things Wanda’s or Lucas’s phones could, but I could text and talk to Shade, and that was good enough. I slid the top up and followed the menu to the text screen, then slowly put in my message.

– Hey. U there? –

For a couple of minutes, I watched the screen. Every time there was a delay, my brain went into overdrive. Was she out with her parents? Was she laughing with a friend at her boyfriend’s dumb text? Was she going to text me back and break up? It was stupid, I knew none of my terrible fears were going to actually happen, but I couldn’t stop the thoughts from tumbling over each other in my head. Maybe she was just going to ignore me tonight …

– Hey, baby. Miss u. :) U coming home tonight? Want 2 c u so bad! –

I smiled as I read her message, fears forgotten and my day instantly better.

– Miss u 2. Had 2 stay 1 more day. Long story. Want 2 hear ur voice. Call? –

– Sure! 2 minutes. –

My smile got bigger and my stomach flipped as I laid the beach towel I’d draped over my shoulder down on the roof and settled on my back to wait for her to call. It took an eternity for the phone to buzz. My finger hit the answer button in a split second.

“Hey, beautiful,” I said.

“Hey yourself,” she breathed. “What are you doing?”

“Sitting on the roof, trying not to kill the stupid proctor from the Academy. What are you doing?”

“Sitting in the chapel we hid in last October. So, whatcha wearing?” Her tone was playful, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Sweat pants and a t-shirt. I’m all sweaty from working on my car.”

“I like you all sweaty,” she said, and I could feel my body react. “Now, ask me what I’m wearing.”

“Okay, what are you wearing?”

“Same thing I was wearing that night,” she said. Her voice went sultry, and I could feel the heat from it seep into my veins. Just the thought of that night still made my monkey brain sit up and take notice. I swallowed and took a deep breath before I went on, imagining her in the same pink t-shirt and sweats.