Trans Witch: College of Secrets Read online

  "Couldn't she just check a book out indefinitely?"

  "Not if she wants to keep her job!" The Librarian winked at Lily, then turned to go.

  Lost in thought, Lily watched as Bucher retreated to her office. Wouldn't it be amazing if her nephew Zach discovered that he had magical powers too? His computer programming skills seemed perfect for a career in magical automation of tedious jobs like this one.

  Given how long it'd taken Ellen to adjust to her brother being her sister, that might take some time for her sister to accept. Or maybe not. Maybe finding out a family member was a wizard wouldn't be as difficult an adjustment for her? But then again, the geas would prevent Ellen from ever knowing, wouldn't it?

  Lily checked in a few more books, and then looked at her phone. She had no new messages from her sister. Ellen had sent her some rather testy texts after missing Lily in her classroom. Lily had sent her apologies and blamed it all on Wheeler being hard on her. Ellen had offered to take it up the chain or make Wheeler's life more difficult in other ways through the bureaucracy, but while Lily searched for Penny, she felt any premature moves against the Dean could only end badly.

  After a few more minutes of checking in books, a familiar face appeared at the check-in desk. Nearly done, she dreaded the task of finding the home for each of the books, given the literal labyrinth of shelves they came from. She frowned, looking at the spines of the books on the carts. They didn't have any Dewey numbers on them, so how would she even find where they went?

  "I have one more for you," said Naille the elf, handing her a red leather-bound book the size of an unabridged dictionary. Levis Digito Fatorum read the cover. The elf gazed at her longer than Lily found comfortable, then turned and walked away without another word.

  Puzzled, Lily opened the cover to scan the book in; a slip of paper fell out. It read, "Meet me at the Nothing. – Naille".

  Lily jumped as the note disappeared in a puff of green smoke. She glanced in the direction the elf had gone but didn't see him through the students milling about. "Okay, then, I sure hope you're as patient as you are mysterious," she muttered.

  As she stood, Snuffles appeared, as if out of nowhere, yipping and hissing with excitement.

  "Oh, I see, you know what the cart is for, hmm?" said Lily, scratching the strange creature's head. Snuffles bumped his opossum-like head against Lily's skirts and then galloped ahead of her, weaving between surprised students.

  Lily wheeled the book cart to the entrance of the stacks; the closer she got, the more the cart seemed to vibrate, as if with the same excitement as Snuffles.

  The fluffy creature waited just outside, but as she pushed the cart over the threshold, he bounded into the labyrinth with a yip.

  At the same time, one of the books on Lily's cart floated up and flew onto a shelf as swiftly as if it had been held at the end of a large rubber band. It made a satisfying snap sound as it found its spot between other books.

  "Oh, thank goodness," said Lily. "At least something's automated here."

  As she made her way through the stacks, other books repeated the process, floating to the right height, and then snapping into their home. Snuffles seemed to enjoy this, leaping up at the books as they flew. Or rather, he leaped just after the books found their spot. Lily decided that the energy of returning to a rest state must be part of the magical residue that Snuffles enjoyed so much.

  She wondered if it wouldn't be more efficient to line the shelves with a magical conductor, to ground out the books, rather than having to have Snuffles gobble up all the extra energy. Then, she heard Bucher's words again in her head, but then what would we have for you to do? She watched Snuffles prancing around in delight, electrical sparks snapping in his fluffy fur, and thought that maybe this wasn't such a terrible way to do things after all.

  Sooner than she expected, she reached the center of the labyrinth. At first, she saw only the circular area defined by the innermost bookshelves. Then her eyes followed the last book, the heavy book Naille had checked in, as it rose and flew into a shelf on the far side. Naille stood next to the bookcase where the book lived.

  She supposed she hadn't seen him at first because of the way the Nothing made her eyes slide off of the space it occupied. She took a few steps to the right so she could see the elf better.

  "Took you long enough," he said.

  "I had books to put away," she snapped. "What do you want?"

  "It's not what I want, but what you want. One of these books holds the key to what you seek," he said, sweeping a hand around in a circle to indicate the shelves.

  Lily put her fists on her hips and scowled. "Really? More riddles? Is this some kind of wizardly test?" She thought of the Ryde Kyng driver and his "auld triangle" riddle.

  Naille smiled. "Far from it. This isn't a puzzle for a wizard, it's one for a witch."

  Lily stopped and stared at the little man. "Just to be clear, men, women, and others are all wizards here at SOAM, right?"

  Naille nodded.

  "So, being a witch is something different?"

  Naille nodded again. "Those of us with longer lives remember the difference. There was a time when wizards and witches learned their craft here. Back before it was even called the School of Applied Metaphysics."

  Lily thought about what Bucher had said. "And books for witches still exist in this Library?"

  Naille smiled. "You begin to see," he said.

  "Okay, then, why aren't there witches today?"

  "There are," said the elf. "Despite the ban on their sort of magic. It's much more difficult to learn witchcraft without teachers and classes, but not even censorship may completely stamp out knowledge that comes from within."

  "Censorship?" It was a dirty word to an English professor. "So why is it forbidden to learn witchcraft?"

  Naille said, "The SOAM Administration of old decided that. This place where we stand is fairly safe to talk in private, due to the interference of the Nothing, but those of us who witnessed the change have been bound by our geas not to speak of certain things."

  Lily sighed. "Which is why you're talking in riddles."

  "Precisely," said the elf. "Which is why those who are born to follow that path must make their own way now. Perhaps you shall find the book you need. I suspect you will need help. I wish I could give you more help than I have. I fear you must act more quickly than you realize, because powers are stirring, and those who benefit from them remaining asleep will do anything to keep the status quo."

  "You're not the first to warn me to tread lightly," said Lily.

  "Good. Tread lightly, but tread quickly, because time is running out." Naille waved and then stepped into the portal to take him out into the main library floor, leaving Lily alone with Snuffles and her thoughts.

  Chapter Seventeen

  "So, I'm supposed to meet up with this bunch of people that call themselves the Fourth Facet at the old Planetarium later tonight," explained Lily, catching Aiden up on the events of her day. She wore her copper disguise bracelet but still glanced around her to be sure it held up. "I just have to stay clear of Wheeler until then, I guess."

  Aiden had been listening in wide-eyed wonder since Lily had begun her story at the Library. Now he led her through an atrium of portals, through a doorway outlined in orange. On the other side, he said, "Wow. That's a lot. What if you just went early?"

  Lily shook her head. "Not yet. I still need to gather whatever clues and help I can. How do I know if the Fourth Facet can help me? If they could, why wouldn't they have helped Penny already?"

  "True. Well, not sure what you'll find out in Basic Alchemy. Professor Stout's kind of a dingbat and I've never seen Penny hanging out there."

  "I guess we'll see. You sure I look okay?"

  "Relax. Nobody can see through that. Hannah and Cam did great."

  "Well, Murdock did. And Wheeler's got glasses to see through illusions."

  "We'll just make sure you don't run in
to them, then!" said Aiden, patting her on the back. "Unless Wheeler's combing SOAM looking for you, you're fine, Professor S!"

  Lily stopped walking and Aiden followed suit. "See? Right there. You should be calling me Claudia! This isn't going to work!"

  Aiden slapped the top of his head with a hand. "Aw crap, sorry Claudia. Me, of all people, getting someone's name wrong. Nothin' pisses me off worse than being called Yasmine!"

  Lily nodded. "Deadname?"

  "Yeah. Feels wrong to even say it out loud."

  "I get that. I didn't need to know your deadname, Aiden."

  He shrugged. "It's okay if you know. You get it."

  "Well, then, mine's—"

  Aiden interrupted her. "No, I don't want to know. Already screwed up your SOAM name once."

  "It's okay if you know though, I trust you."

  "I don't trust me, you know?"

  Lily smiled. "It's okay, really, Aiden."

  "C'mon, it's time for class," he said.

  Aiden led Lily into a vast tiered lecture hall. They took seats together close to the center, near an aisle. Lily peered at the lab bench down in front, covered in beakers and retorts and Bunsen burners. An immense green chalkboard stood behind it. "Looks like my freshman Chemistry class," said Lily.

  "Whatever you do, don't let Stout hear you say that," hissed Aiden. "It's a kind of trigger."

  "Trigger? For what?"

  The tapping and squealing of chalk on slate snapped Lily's attention to the front again. A piece of chalk moved itself to write, in enormous letters, "ALCHEMY IS NOT CHEMISTRY".

  "See?" whispered Aiden. "It's a whole thing with her!"

  The Professor of Alchemy herself limped into the room, clutching a walking stick, her coke-bottle glasses scanning the room. She repeated the chalkboard's message. "Alchemy is not Chemistry! Anybody want to tell me why?"

  A smattering of hands, mostly in the first few rows, went up.

  "You there, in shorts. In November. Show us you have some sense."

  A hulking young man in athletic gear looked around him and said, "Uh because Chemistry isn't magic?"

  Muffled giggles erupted around the lecture hall.

  Professor Stout held up a hand. "It's a basic answer, but a good one to start with. Alchemy is magic. That is, you couldn't make a potion or elixir with a machine process. It doesn't happen all by itself. It takes a wizard's force of will to finish the equation."

  The chalk wrote the word WILL in large block letters on the chalkboard.

  "Anyone else?"

  "Something about the Laws of Similarity and Contagion?" blurted a girl in pink in the front row, her hand still in the air.

  "You're half right! Ingredients are symbolic, that is, based on their properties in other contexts, so they're said to be governed by the Law of Similarity as you will find in other wizardly magics. But! The Law of Contagion says that certain wizardly magics are applied through touch, that is, contact with the intended target, as opposed to the Law of Intention, which is more general, but often less powerful in effect. Alchemy, in the form of potions, is most often ingested or applied to persons or objects. But rather than a direct Contagion, or contact, as the spell is being applied, Alchemy is a means of storing wizardly magics, to be applied by proxy by anyone."

  The chalk wrote, "Symbolic", and "Contagion by Proxy" on the board.

  "Doesn't that make Alchemy less direct, and less powerful?" asked an elf of indeterminate gender a few rows in front of Lily.

  "Who said that?" asked Professor Stout, searching the room for the source of the voice.

  The elf raised their hand.

  Professor Stout smiled. "Good. You're willing to question your teachers. You'll be an excellent wizard someday if they don't smack you down first. To answer your question, yes and no. A potion imbued by a spell of equivalent power will be less potent than directly casting the spell itself. However! We in alchemy have time on our side! We can take hours or even days to cast a spell as a part of an alchemical process, distilling our wills into something more potent than an off-the-cuff spell. Also! The spell can be released days, months, even years later, at our convenience. Not to mention! Even a mundane may use this stored spell at a later date. In a way, alchemy is the most egalitarian of the wizardly magics. You don't even need a wizard present to use its magic. It is an equalizer, in the way that's meant for firearms."

  Lily's penny pendant warmed, and she found herself raising her hand.

  Aiden hissed, "What are you doing?"

  "You, the blonde in the middle! What is it?"

  Lily stammered, "You keep saying wizardly magic. Is there any other kind of magic?"

  Professor Stout laughed so hard, she dropped her walking stick and had to pick it up before she could reply. "Oh, blondie, that's too good a question for Basic Alchemy. I'd say you should ask that in Metaphysical Logic down the hall, but the Librarian probably won't dare talk about it. Let's just say that wizardly magic comes from here," she said, pointing to her head.

  Despite the anxious knot forming in her tummy, Lily pushed the matter. "And the other kinds?"

  Professor Wizard Ophelia Stout took off her thick glasses and polished them on her blouse. She squinted up at Lily and said, "where else do you think magic could come from?"

  "From the heart?" asked Lily.

  "You're not sure?"

  Lily paused then said, "I'm sure it must."

  Aiden kicked Lily. She could feel his glare.

  Stout replaced her glasses. "Good example. You don't have certainty in your head, but you feel it in your heart. You know what we don't teach here at the School of Applied Metaphysics?"

  "Heart magic?" replied Lily, uncertain again.

  "Exactly. Can't be taught like this. Not allowed, neither. But it exists. You know, you remind me of someone I can't think of, but I don't think I've seen you in here before," Professor Stout squinted at Lily.

  "Just auditing. I'm new but too late to officially start classes this semester."

  "You're a smart little amphibian if no one ever toad you so before," she said with a grin.

  Lily sank into her seat and made no reply.

  Professor Stout cackled and launched into the rest of her lecture.

  "What is it?" whispered Aiden. "What's wrong?"

  "She knows! I gave myself away!"

  "Forget the rest of the lecture, we'd better get out of here!" Aiden ducked down and made for the aisle. After a moment's hesitation, Lily followed.

  As they exited, Lily heard Professor Stout say, "—and if you didn't read the assignment in the book, you won't have the froggiest idea what comes next!"

  She couldn't help but think the pun was also directed at her. Against her better judgment, Lily looked back to see Professor Stout peering over her glasses directly at her.

  Lily turned and followed Aiden, both moving at a jog.

  "What now?" asked Lily?

  "I dunno. We could go to Wyvern if you want?"

  "Is it safe there?"

  "Safer than here!" said Aiden. "Come on!"

  To confuse any pursuit, they passed through many portals before emerging in a long underground corridor, which ended in an elevator, which opened at their approach. Aiden ushered Lily in before him. Inside, Aiden pushed all the odd-numbered floors, then all the even-numbered floors, followed by the emergency alarm button. No alarm sounded, but all the lights blinked off, then on, then counted up in sequence. The doors shut and then opened immediately.

  The hallway was gone, and Lily saw what looked like a castle in the clouds. Lit with twilight neon pinks and purples, the clouds held the structure up; it went against everything Lily knew about physics. Windows nearer to her hung in mid-air, each showing a view that overlooked the Moraine University campus. Lily gaped. "What—"

  "Come on," said Aiden, taking Lily's arm to pull her out of the elevator.

  Lily's head spun with intense vertigo as she stepped out ont
o fluffy neon clouds. She cried out, even as her foot struck spongy flooring underneath the wisps of cumulus.

  Heads popped up over various cloudbanks, students peered at Lily after her outburst. She blushed, then laughed.

  "Way to go," scolded Aiden. "Now everyone's gotten a good look at us together! Could you at least try to be inconspicuous?"

  "Sorry! Did I mention this is all new to me?"

  "Yeah, I know. Sorry. I've just got a bad feeling, is all."

  Aiden led her towards the castle, which proved to be much closer than it appeared. As they passed windows, Lily whispered, "Where are we?"

  "Wyvern," said Aiden, his voice strained.

  "No, no, I get that. But I mean, where on campus. This looks familiar."

  "It should; Wyvern is on top of the Union Building towers. They're enchanted to make people avoid them. Everyone forgets those floors exist."

  Lily looked at Aiden, frowning. "Is it because of the geas again?"

  Aiden shook his head. "Not the geas, but a geas. It's a powerful enchantment that keeps out the mundanes."

  "Too bad it doesn't keep out the Administration, too," said Lily.

  Aiden chuckled. "Yeah, I wish. I think a lot of Wyverns wish that. Let's go to my room, and then we'll make a plan."

  The gate of the castle in the clouds led into more ordinary hallways exactly like Lily had seen in the Union building. The windows peered out upon campus from eight stories up. The lights of campus seemed like warm stars that had settled down upon the earth, mostly in orderly rows. She thought she could see the neon of Pepperoni's sign and wished she were there, rather than here.

  Aiden's room held bunk beds, two desks, and a plethora of anime posters and action figures. He offered Lily a chair, then straddled the other desk chair backward, leaning on the back as he spoke to her.

  "Lucky my roomie's out. He can be cool, but he's no good at keeping a secret."

  "What can we do, Aiden? I feel like things are closing in around me," said Lily, wringing her hands.

  Aiden nodded. "Trust your gut on that one. I hear you're gifted that way."