Trans Witch: College of Secrets Read online

  "I don't know what good that gift is if I don't know how to use it. It hasn't led me to Penny yet."

  "Don't be too sure. You've got that coin, and you've got us helping you, and they haven't caught you yet. Time may be running out like you say, but you've got that much going for you." He paused, then tilted his head. "Hey. Do you think you could try using that gift, on purpose?"

  "I don't know how," said Lily.

  "Yeah. Well, remember what the professor said. Your kind of magic comes from the heart, not the head. What does your heart tell you?"

  Lily pulled the coin pendant out from inside her dress and pinched it between her fingers. She closed her eyes and let her thoughts wander. She wished Penny were here, she'd know what to do. The penny in her fingers warmed, and the warmth spread out through her body. A buzzing noise came to her, not through her ears, but as though her whole body vibrated, like her cat Monty when she settled into a chair to read a book. She could feel the weight of the book in her hands, and the comforting presence of her cat in her lap. She sensed the presence of her wife nearby. At the same time, she knew Monty did, too. He leaped from her lap, and she heard his feet trot across the floor. When she opened her inner eyes, she saw Monty leap into Penny's lap. She also held a book. A massive, leather-bound book. Lily couldn't quite make out the title.

  Then, as Monty jumped into her lap, Penny disappeared, leaving the book hanging in mid-air. Then, the book floated away, faster and faster, until it placed itself in a bookshelf with a thunk.

  There came a heavy knock on Aiden's door. "Professor Lily Shelley! This is Secretary Sample. I know you're in there. Come out right away!"

  Chapter Eighteen

  Lily's eyes popped open; her vision vanished in an instant. Someone had seen through her disguise! Maybe even followed them here! She looked into Aiden's wide eyes. Her young friend held up his hands and shook his head. The room had no windows, nor did it have other doors.

  "I don't suppose you have a hidden portal, or another way for me to poof out of here?"

  The knocking came again, much heavier this time.

  "No, sorry, nothing like that!"

  "An illusion, maybe? Can you make me invisible?"

  Aiden shook his head.

  "Don't they teach you anything useful in SOAM?"

  Sample's gravelly voice called through the door. "Please, don't make us batter down the door. I warn you, the cost of repair will be deducted from your paycheck, Professor Shelley! And it won't go well for Mister Adams, defying the Administration's request."

  "Fine! I'm coming!" yelled Lily, taking off the disguise bracelet, sticking it in her purse. On a sudden impulse, she took out the small potion flask and stuck it in her bra for safe keeping.

  "Professor S!" hissed Aiden. "What are you doing? I don't think they're coming to give you your schedule for next week!"

  "I know," said Lily. "I don't want you to get in any trouble over me. I'll figure something out."

  "I'll gather the others in the Quartet. We'll help you."

  "No, I have to do this on my own," she said, standing and crossing to the door. "You've all done so much for me. I appreciate it. I'd say I won't forget it, but I can't make any guarantees," she said, jerking a chin at the door.

  "But Lily—"

  Before Aiden could protest further, Lily opened the door.

  Secretary Sample stood outside, flanked by the two ogres.

  "Good evening Kertoh, Maldink," said Lily. "So lovely to see you both. Oh, hello Secretary. To what do I owe the honor of your presence?"

  "I think you know," he said, his eyes weary. "Come with me, the Dean wants to have a word with you."

  Aiden leapt up from his chair to stand next to Lily.

  "In private," added the Secretary.

  Aiden scowled, and said, "You watch yourself, okay?"

  Lily nodded. "I'll try."

  As she was marched through the halls and through portals, Lily looked for any opportunity for escape. Once, she tried to slip down a side hall, but was stopped by a meaty ogre hand upon her shoulder. Sample snorted and muttered under his breath.

  All too soon, they reached the same conference room Lily had been frog-marched to the previous morning. Again, Dean Wheeler sat a few seats away from her, wearing her bright smile underneath dead eyes.

  Lily said nothing, waiting for the Dean to start things off.

  "So. You have been snooping around my campus, wearing a disguise?"

  "I don't deny it. You had me followed?"

  "Yes. Are you looking for something?"

  Lily sighed. "You know who I'm looking for."

  The Dean sat back in her seat, steepling her fingers. "I told you, she's not on campus. You won't find her."

  "In that case, it shouldn't hurt for me to look anyway, should it?" said Lily, putting on a smile to match the Dean's.

  Dean Wheeler frowned. "You will cease this search, now. It's disruptive, and I won't have you mocking my authority."

  "I will not!" said Lily. "I'm not one of your students or minions, I'm not going to take your bullying, no matter how nice a face you try to put on it. My wife is missing. I have to find her, Dean Wheeler, whether I have your blessing or not!"

  Secretary Sample reddened and harrumphed.

  The Dean nodded her smile returning. "I see. Then you leave me no choice. You're fired, Professor Shelley."

  "What!?"

  Dean Wheeler continued. "And I'm barring you from admission as a student, since it's obvious you can't follow simple rules."

  Lily tried her best to keep her voice calm, but it shook as she said, "That won't stop me. SOAM is part of Moraine University, which makes it public property!"

  The Dean allowed the tiniest sliver of a smile to touch her lips. "Except you won't remember SOAM. There were three options when you stumbled in here. You've lost the privilege of the first two, so that leaves only having your memory erased and powers stripped."

  "You can't—"

  "Once again, I assure you, I can," said the Dean. "Maldink, Kertoh, take this person to Professor Hartman's office.

  "Right yeh are, Boss lady!" said Kertoh.

  "Upsey-daisy!" said Maldink, pulling Lily's chair out with her in it.

  Lily glowered at the ogres but stood up. To Dean Wheeler, she said, "Before I go, I need to know. What does the Administration have against the Fourth Facet?"

  Dean Wheeler scowled. "What do you know about that ancient history? It's simple enough. SOAM was founded as a college for wizards. That is, we teach our students to use their minds to apply metaphysics. There's no room for the softer, poorly defined magics of witchery here. We are engineers here, not artists."

  Lily shook off Maldink's attempt to grab her arm. Still looking at the Dean, she said, "If that's so, why are certain subjects banned here? Why not allow independent study? Or have electives? I think something about the Fourth Facet scares you, Jackie. I think Penny figured out what scared you about it. She got too close. And then you had to make her go away."

  Dean Wheeler pressed her lips together and then said, "That makes no sense. If I wanted her to go away, why wouldn't I just wipe her memory, as I am about to do with you, and send her back out into the mundane world? She's not here, Lily. You won't find her in SOAM. I hope you have better luck in the mundane world."

  As the ogres escorted her out the door, Lily called back, "If I disappear too, it's going to look awfully suspicious, Dean!" The threat felt hollow and empty even as she spat the words at Dean Wheeler.

  The door shut behind them, the ogres walked on either side of her, staring straight ahead. Lily tried stopping in her tracks to see if they'd notice. Unfortunately, they did. The ogres picked her up by her armpits and carried her along. She struggled and yelled for help. The students in the area stopped to gawk. The ogres pushed past, but a crowd grew.

  "Put me down!" cried Lily.

  "What's going on here?" came a high-pitched male voice.<
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  It was Naille, standing in the ogres' path.

  "We're takin' her to Professor Hartman," said Kertoh. "Boss Lady said to."

  "Lily, are they hurting you?" asked the elf, peering up at her.

  She nodded, still squirming. "What do you think? They're about to pull my arms out of their sockets!"

  "Put her down." Naille's voice held no question, only a firm command.

  Maldink said, "But the Boss Lady—"

  "The Boss Lady has rules to abide by. And the harm of any person within SOAM's borders would be disastrous for her career."

  "So?" asked Kertoh, his grip loosening upon Lily's arm.

  "So, if the Boss Lady catches trouble, everyone who works for her will catch trouble," said Naille. "Most especially any ogres who caused that trouble. Do you understand?"

  The ogres looked at each other, over Lily's head, then dropped her. Several students rushed forward and caught her when she started to fall to the ground. Lily rubbed her arms and took a step back from the Dean's enforcers, among the helpful students.

  "Yeh gotta promise ta stay where we can see yeh," said Kertoh.

  Naille stomped a boot on the wooden floor, producing a much louder thud than Lily expected. Evidently the ogres were surprised too, because their heads whipped around to look at the elf.

  "I'm not done with you yet!" he cried. "If I ever catch you abusing students, faculty, staff, or visitors within SOAM, I shall make certain that you are punished within the fullest extent of the charter!"

  Lily wasted no time; while the ogres' attention focused on Naille, she reached into her purse and slipped on the disguise bracelet and took three steps backwards, behind onlooking students, who also stared at the little elf in disbelief.

  The ogres muttered apologies, hanging their heads in shame.

  Naille caught Lily's eye and winked at her, then said to the ogres, "Now, be off with you."

  Then, he vanished.

  Lily blinked and looked around the area, but the elf was nowhere to be seen. The students looked around them just as Lily did.

  Maldink passed his meaty hands through the air where Naille had just been standing to rebuke them. "Hey! Where'd the little guy go?"

  Kertoh looked behind them to where Lily had been standing, and bellowed, "Forget the elf! The lady's gone!"

  As the ogres yelled at each other, the crowd backed away from them. Lily blended in, backing away with them. Then Maldink threw a punch at Kertoh, knocking him flat on the floor. Kertoh howled and scrabbled to grab onto Maldink's legs, causing him to hit the floor hard enough to splinter it.

  The doors behind Lily opened. Secretary Sample stood in the doorway, and Dean Wheeler squeezed past him. She squinted around the atrium and went for the glasses hanging around her neck.

  Lily took this as her cue to exit. She made her way through the crowd in a hurry, but still trying not to draw attention, no matter how much she wanted to break out into a dead run. Among the portals on the far wall stood a door with a window through which she could see streetlights, headlights, and taillights. She made a beeline for that door.

  "That's her! There she goes!" cried Dean Wheeler, somewhere behind Lily. "Stop her!"

  The heavy thud of ogre feet pounded the floor, growing closer with every step. Students yelled and screamed, and Lily imagined them diving out of the way of the monsters.

  So much for my disguise! Lily gave up any semblance of stealth and began to run for the door. One student, the jock from Alchemy class, got in her way, but Lily used her greater weight and lower center of mass to her advantage, knocking the young man to the floor as she ran past.

  As she hit the crash bar of the heavy wooden door to the outside, Lily felt a giant hand close on her clothing. One of the ogres dragged her backwards. Lily shrieked but managed to struggle out of her cardigan and slipped out the door into the cold November night.

  The bellow of the ogre startled pedestrians on the Moraine University sidewalk. Cars honked at each other as a few hit the brakes because of the sound. In the back of her mind, she wondered if the geas would have a way of camouflaging the monsters if they pursued her. She had no time for that now. She pulled out her phone and opened the Ryde Kyng app, mashing the "request ride" button repeatedly.

  As if it had always been there, an electric blue SUV appeared in front of Lily, on the curb. The passenger door flew open. T.K. Bask sat behind the wheel.

  "Get in me car, ye great fool!" cried the gnomish little man.

  Lily dived into the passenger seat and found that the seatbelt whipped itself across her and buckled as the door slammed itself shut, and the vehicle sprang forward.

  "Where to?" asked the driver, dodging cars that hadn't seen him coming.

  "Well, it's just that I was being chased—"

  "Ne'er mind that now! Where to? Ye need a destination or ye can't be under my protection, lass!"

  "Uh, okay. Home, then!" said Lily, peering through the side-mirror as the ogres shoved cars aside and galumphed down the street.

  "Hope 'tis!" cried T.K Bask, and as he hit the accelerator, cars blurred, and they seemed to go through traffic as though the cars were only holographic projections. "Ye've made a lot of trouble fer yerself in a day, lass," said the little man, his tone far calmer now.

  "You're not kidding," said Lily, slumping back in her seat.

  "Good on ye ta remember ta call on me fer help. But now ye owe me, I'm afraid," said the Ryde Kyng driver.

  "Yeah, you're getting the biggest tip when we get there," said Lily.

  T.K. Bask laughed and shook his head. "Nah. I trade in favors ye see. I did ye a great favor, savin' yer hide back there. Now, I get ta ask ye a favor."

  "What kind of favor?"

  "Any kind of favor," grinned the driver.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Lily held up her hands between herself and the driver, shaking her head in protest. "Listen, you're very nice, but you're really not my type—"

  "Nae, not tha kind of favor, lass," said T.K. Bask. "Y'see, they call me the Transit King, though I have to admit, me powers aren't what they used ta be."

  Lily studied the gnomish-looking man. "Are you some kind of fairy?"

  "Do nae use tha word! Tis an insult among me kind, though it is accurate. A favor for a favor, tha's me way."

  "Okay. What do you want from me, then, Transit King?" Lily asked, watching her words. She'd read too much about fairies to give him too much to work with.

  "I've an auld friend, ye see. Them's that pursue ye, they keep her under lock an' key. In a place as no one knows. Me, I happen ta have the key," he said, handing her a key made of what looked to Lily like green glass. She slipped it into her purse.

  "And you want me to free her?"

  "When ye see her, ye'll know her."

  "Is it my Penny?"

  The Transit King shook his head. "Nae. But our purposes cross all nice-like. Which is why I'm askin' ye for the favor. When ye get the chance, would ye free my friend?"

  The SUV pulled up in front of Lily's house and the Transit King killed the engine and turned to look at her, eyes pleading.

  "I mean, I'd be glad to help out," said Lily. "But who is it?"

  T.K. Bask lowered his eyes and sighed. "I may not tell ye that."

  "Okay then, where is she?"

  "I may not tell ye that, either," he said, examining his gnarled fingers.

  "So, you want me to find someone you won't name, who's held in a place you can't tell me about and free her?"

  The Transit King lifted his gaze to meet Lily's. He nodded. "Tha's the favor I'm askin' of ye."

  "Ellen said that ride sharing's too expensive, and I'm starting to agree," said Lily, smiling.

  The Transit King laughed and slapped her knee. "I prefer ta think of it as scratchin' each other's back, ya know?"

  "And if I can't find her?"

  The Transit King grinned. "Do ye think ye won't?"

 
"How should I know?"

  "Wha's yer heart say about tha?"

  Lily closed her eyes and looked inward. She found herself whirling in a tornado of chaotic emotions. At the very eye, she spied a gleam of bright green. A triangle, with a keyhole.

  She opened her eyes and looked the Transit King in the eye. "Okay, T.K. Bask. I'll find her and free her when the opportunity presents itself."

  The little driver bounced up and down in his seat, grinning with his whole body. "Thank ye! An' remember this; if ye free her, it'll be more than just her that's freed, ye ken?"

  "It must be the curse of magical beings to talk in riddles," grumbled Lily as she opened the SUV door.

  The Transit King laughed, holding his belly with his hands. "Oh, lass, ye'll kill me yet. I can't wait for ye to start talkin' in riddles like tha rest of us! By the bye, ye may wish ta take off tha little disguise bauble, or yer neighbors might jes call the police on ye!"

  Surprised, Lily took off the bracelet, and let out tension she hadn't realized she'd been holding in. She stepped outside the vehicle and said, "Oops, I almost forgot! Thanks. May I call on you again if I get in trouble?"

  The Transit King shook his head. "Nae, tis a shame, but until ye fulfill your favor, I can nae grant ye any more meself. Though if ye regular ride, me rates are as fair as anyone's!"

  "Well, I appreciate the help. Farewell for now," said Lily, shutting the SUV's door. The Transit King pulled away immediately, and when Lily blinked, the car was gone.

  Lily sighed and walked up to her door and let herself inside.

  Monty bumped into her legs repeatedly as she made her way across the living room. She exclaimed, "Okay, so I was gone longer than usual today, I'm sorry! But if you trip and kill me, you'll have to find someone else to feed you!"

  After she'd fed her cat, Lily sat down at her kitchen table and looked at her phone. Several messages from Ellen had come in. Her sister was concerned. She had been by the house and found Lily still out. She'd sent Zach out looking for her. Zach had found Aiden looking for her in her classroom, and now Zach was worried about Lily too.