Trans Witch: College of Secrets Read online

  Reluctantly, Lily opened the door and was met by a rather handsome man wearing a blue lab coat, with a nametag matching the label on the door.

  "Yes? Hello? What is it you want?" snapped the man, flipping the pages of a clipboard, rather than looking at her. "I've got three attitude adjustments ahead of you, just so you know."

  "Um, hi. I'm here for the geas spell," said Lily.

  The man looked up from his clipboard. "Hmm. Late bloomer?"

  She nodded. "I had no idea—"

  "No one does. Very well, I'd best see you first, the attitude adjustments will have to wait."

  "I appreciate that," she said.

  He snorted. "I doubt that. No one really appreciates what goes into SOAM's geas spell."

  The man led her into a closet of a room, which was dominated by a throne-like chair. The arms of the chair featured brass wrist restraints, a cluster of wires, and a crystal skullcap dangling over the seat.

  "Please, sit," he said, with a flourish. "I haven't got all day."

  "I mean, I've only just heard of them," said Lily, fighting sudden anxiety urging her to flee the way she'd come. "Geas spells, I mean."

  "Yes, yes. It's all very exciting, isn't it? Can you scoot back a little further, please? Now, let's snap these restraints down, wouldn't want you to lash out during the procedure for any reason, now would we?"

  Lily's anxiety began to verge on panic. "Is this going to hurt?"

  Hartman nodded. "Everything in life worth doing hurts, doesn't it?"

  She blurted out, "Lily!"

  "Hmm?"

  "My name. It's Lily. You didn't ask."

  Hartman sighed. "Very well, Lily. Would you like something to bite down on, or are you feeling like living dangerously?"

  Lily wanted to scream. Instead, she closed her eyes and sought her center. She pictured a white light, like a force field, surrounding her and grounding out through her feet. "Yes, please," she said, through her teeth.

  "Splendid! I won't have to send you down the hall for stitches afterward. Probably." The man fitted a mouth guard to her teeth. Lily bit down. It tasted of rubbing alcohol and mint.

  Professor Wizard Hartman pulled the crystal cap down upon her head and said, "Now, do your best to relax. This won't take very long. At the end, it is crucial that you give your consent to the geas with an affirmative, or the whole thing will unravel. And believe me, if you think the spell is uncomfortable, you don't want to find out what unraveling is like."

  "Erryone goef frough thith?" said Lily, talking around the mouth guard.

  "Yep. Even me, once upon a time. Now, hold on, Lily."

  Hartman put on dark goggles, like a welder's mask, and flipped a large switch on the wall.

  Lily's world became an intense shade of blue she'd never experienced before. She bathed in nearly tangible fluorescent cobalt blue light. Lily was reminded of tanning beds.

  Then the color began to shift, sliding towards purple, then red, then a gold color that might have reminded Lily of the sunrise if she had been capable of rational thought at that moment.

  The colors had other qualities; each had a musical tone that rang through her mind like sitting in an orchestra pit while every instrument played the same note at once. Each of the colors had a flavor and scent that overwhelmed her olfactory senses with lemon, then chili, and then, well, blue. Her skin crawled with silken and abrasive sensations from head to toe.

  The spell overloaded all of her senses so that she lost her sense of time, of where she was, and even her sense of self. Reality stretched like taffy in this direction and that, then snapped back again, only to begin again.

  And then, all sensation stopped. In darkness and in silence, Lily seemed to float in a sensory deprivation tank. Her mind spun from the abrupt change, and her thoughts fought with each other to be heard, all at once.

  One voice, no louder than the rest, whispered, "Resist, Lily. Resist!". The voice stood out because it did not feel like her own.

  Time stretched on in a chaotic dreamlike manner, and she longed for release from the darkness, silence, and feeling of disconnection.

  And then, Hartman's voice came to her. "Lily—er— Professor Shelley, do you accept the geas of never speaking of the School of Applied Metaphysics with anyone outside of its barriers?"

  Lily's tongue swelled within her mouth, like a waterlogged sponge. For a terrifying moment, she worried she might not be able to respond, and would face the backlash Professor Hartman had threatened. "Mph moo!"

  His voice came from everywhere and nowhere, louder this time. "Please repeat that?"

  She spat out the mouthguard and said, "I do!"

  And then, what felt like a white-hot wire tightened around her left wrist, and she cried out in agony.

  But as soon as the pain started, it vanished. The restraints sprang open, and the bowl on her head retracted.

  She leaped from the throne, knocking Professor Hartman over in the process.

  She muttered apologies as she helped the man up off the floor. He spluttered and fumed but pronounced Lily officially and permanently under the SOAM security geas. Then, he snapped his fingers under her nose and her head spun—

  "There now, that wasn't so bad after all, was it?"

  Lily blinked at a smiling Dean Jackie, unsure how she found herself back out in the hallway all of a sudden. "It was terrible!"

  Dean Wheeler chuckled and touched her shoulder. "I know. Everyone says that but now it's over, and you don't have to think about it ever again! We'll still need to get you placed into a Facet, but that can wait. First, I have something to show you!"

  Lily, still a bit woozy, said, "Facet?" as Dean Wheeler took her arm and led her out of the faculty corridor and into a much larger hall.

  "Yes, the Three Facets of Wizardry are Drake, Basilisk, and Wyvern. Look at the tapestry, see the triangles?"

  Lily peered at a pennant hanging from the wall, her eyes more or less back in focus. Upon a field of green was an upright triangle, composed of three smaller triangles of red, gold, and blue. The red topmost triangle was stacked upon the top points of the other two; it held the heraldry of a round-bellied, small-winged traditional dragon, fire emanating from its nostrils. The yellow triangle to the lower-left contained a serpent with a dragon's head and narrow snake eyes. The blue lower right triangle was emblazoned with a creature with enormous bat wings and a long whiplike tail ending in what looked to Lily like a stinger.

  "So," Lily said, coming more to her senses, "you're all about dragons here."

  Dean Wheeler grinned at Lily. "How observant of you! Can't get a motif past an English teacher, I always say! The students are encouraged, but not required, to join the three Facets. They're like fraternities, each focused on a different realm of magics, and, ah, personal disposition. You shouldn't have to worry about those since you've opted out of furthering your wizardly education, but they can be quite important to the students. They can even be competitive about it. I know I used to be."

  Dean Wheeler stopped when they reached an enormous set of double doors. Lily imagined that if they opened, she could drive her Hyundai through them. Lily said, "So the thing you wanted to show me, it's behind these doors?"

  Rather than answer, the Dean muttered a few words and flicked her fingers at the doors. Without a sound, both doors swung outward towards them.

  Inside was a grand ballroom with rows of massive tables and chairs. Students sat at some of the tables and milled about talking with one another. Large trays of food floated around as though carried by invisible servitors, weaving between clusters of students and along the tables. Students casually selected plates and glasses off of the trays.

  Lily remembered a sushi restaurant she'd visited; all the food there had wandered by on conveyor belts, while the diners picked what they wanted from their seats.

  Red, gold, and blue pennants adorned the walls, each emblazoned with the appropriate fictional lizard. At least,
Lily thought they must be fictional. She no longer knew for sure.

  Globes of light floated just below the rafters of the hall, moving about like a sluggish swarm of enormous fireflies, causing the shadows in the room to mingle and change constantly.

  The aroma of the food made her stomach growl. With a start, she exclaimed, "Oh, what time is it? I have to meet my sister for dinner!"

  Dean Wheeler's face fell just a little. "You mean, you'd pass up this magical feast for dinner with your sister?"

  Lily's brow furrowed. "Well, of course I would! She's my sister!"

  The Dean nodded and sighed. "Perhaps another night, then. Since you've had your geas laid upon you, I release you, Professor Shelley. However, if you could check in with Professor Bucher in the Library in the morning, I would greatly appreciate it. I'll take care of the details of human resources for you, though there may be papers to sign."

  Lily nodded. "I will. Could you show me out?"

  Dean Wheeler shook her head. "No, I'm quite hungry, but I will show you the way." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a marble, which she tossed up into the air. It lit with a reddish glow and floated just over Lily's head. "Take this person to the English Building on Moraine campus proper!"

  The marble bobbed up and down once, then drifted down the hall.

  Lily watched in wonder for a moment, then said, "Thank you, Dean. I shall see you soon, I'm sure."

  "I'm sure," said the Dean. "Now go."

  Lily followed the glowing marble down the large corridor, past groups of students going the other way.

  "Hey there! Professor S!"

  Lily found herself facing a familiar student with a pink buzz cut. "Hello there, Hannah! I was just on my way out for the evening."

  Hannah nodded. "Okay, cool. I'll see you around!" She offered Lily a hand to shake.

  Lily accepted the handshake, and her hand came away with a coin in it. She gave Hannah a strange look and started to speak, but the girl shook her head and walked on.

  The small red light had moved on without her, so Lily dropped the coin in her purse to look at later. She hurried after the floating light, which slowed so that she could catch up.

  After a few turns in the halls, the light disappeared into a light-lined doorway; another portal. Lily wondered if she'd ever accept magic like this as commonplace like the students and faculty of SOAM seemed to do.

  She found herself in the same hallway where she'd followed the Queer Quartet into SOAM territory earlier. She breathed a sigh of relief and returned to her classroom. She grabbed her jacket off of her desk chair, then locked up and left the building.

  Pepperoni's was close enough to campus to walk, and since she needed some recovery time, Lily opted for that, rather than getting her car.

  As she walked, her mind swirled with thoughts of magic and a world she never suspected existed right alongside the University campus she thought she'd known so well for so many years. She passed buildings and statues and wondered which held portals to the wizardly ways under and around Moraine University. She wondered what might be right before her, but invisible. As students passed by, she wondered which of them might be enrolled in wizard classes at SOAM. Did their roommates suspect? Their families? Lily thought surely even the geas would leave holes in their stories that would arouse suspicions eventually to those who knew them well?

  "Where have you been!" cried Ellen as Lily entered the warm pizza pub. She'd never been a fan of the student graffiti that covered nearly every inch of the heavy wood seating, but tonight, it seemed to Lily to be a sort of traditional proprietary magic all its own, connecting her to the place's long history in the college town.

  The wonderful aroma of wood fire baked pizzas at Pepperoni's chased memories of the magical foods at SOAM from her mind. "Sorry! It turns out I'm a wizard, and I had to go through a nasty bonding ritual. But I turned down magical food to be here with you, sis!"

  At least, those were the words she tried to speak, but instead, she heard herself say, "Sorry! Some of my students needed my help, and I got tangled up in their drama. They wanted to take me out to dinner, but I made my escape, and now I'm here with you, sis!"

  Chapter Five

  Lily threw a dart at the board and knew before it landed that it'd be a triple 20. "Ha! That's Cricket, sis!"

  Ellen frowned. "I only had my 15's to go, too! Well, and the bullseye. And a 17. But whatever, you're on fire tonight!"

  Lily buffed her fingernails on her obnoxious dinosaur dress and grinned at her older sister. "It may look like magic, but I was taught by the best!"

  Ellen stuck her tongue out at Lily and tucked a lock of curly brown hair behind her ear and pushed her glasses up her nose. "Right. If I'm so great, how have you surpassed me so?"

  Lily shrugged. "Natural talent? Maybe I'm just lucky tonight? Maybe I'm loosened up by the half pitcher of Rusty Red Ale you supplied?"

  Ellen snorted and poured what was left in the pitcher into her glass. "Half? Girl, it's good you're in English because your math stinks. That was more than half you put away."

  Using a knife and fork, Lily ate a chunk of the Pepperoni's legendary deep-dish pizza slice on her plate. Once she had chewed and swallowed, she said, "Well, next one's on me however you slice it. Speaking of which, mushroom and onion? You must have read my mind! Thanks for ordering it while you waited on my slow butt to get here."

  "I mean, I was going to eat pizza and drink beer even if you stood me up, doofus. As for mind-reading? I know you. We've met. Only Penny knows you better!"

  Lily's heart skipped a beat. "Yeah. She did. I mean, does! Fart-burgers, I didn't mean that. I'm still holding out hope."

  "Hey. I know you're all about using words properly, but accidentally using past-tense doesn't change whatever's going on with Penny." Ellen took Lily's chin in her hand and tilted her face up to look her in the eye. "Don't be so hard on yourself. She'll turn up. I just know it."

  Tears stung the corners of Lily's eyes. She tried to fight them, but they flowed anyway. "It's just been w-weeks, Ellen, and it seems like n-no one's looking for her anymore but me. It's like they've forgotten about her."

  Ellen sat down on the barstool across from Lily. "Hey. Who helped you put up the 'missing' posters all over town?"

  "You did. Thank you, sis."

  "I've even got Zach stapling them up all over campus."

  "Yeah. He's a good kid."

  "Unlike his dad," said Ellen, rolling her eyes.

  Lily mirrored her sister's expression in solidarity. "I know, right? Why couldn't he have been the one to disappear?"

  "Bite your tongue. I need the child support checks."

  Lily shook her head. "You mean if he ever sent you any."

  "Yeah, well, theoretical checks are still possible. But listen, don't tell Zach—"

  "What's said at girls' night stays at girls' night!" said Lily. "Besides, I wouldn't want to lose my status as Zach's favorite crazy aunt."

  Ellen laughed. "You're his only aunt. That title is safe."

  "Well, he does call Penny his auntie, too."

  "Oh, right, sorry. Then here's hoping that you have your competition back soon."

  Silence fell upon the table as the two women ate the thick, savory pie. Lily signaled the waiter to bring them another pitcher of Rusty Red Ale. She considered her words for a couple of minutes before speaking again.

  "Ellen, I did get a lead on Penny today. I'm trying to follow it up."

  Ellen's eyes flew open wide and she waved her hands around in excitement. "What? Really? And you didn't lead with that? Oh my God, Lily!"

  Lily shook her head. "It may be nothing. Just some new people who saw her somewhere we hadn't looked yet. I'm poking around to see what I can find out. I don’t want to get my hopes up, to be honest. But it's the first new information I've had since the first week."

  "Oh, come on, you have to tell me more than that!"

  Lily tried to push out
every word as she tried to say, "It's this secret place on campus, it's not on the rolls."

  What came out instead was, "It's the philosophy department on campus, it's very dull."

  She continued by saying, "I even got a job there to help me snoop around. Some of the students there knew her. I guess she taught there, too."

  Ellen nodded, sipping her beer. "Mmmhmm. I knew about that. Thought the police would follow up there."

  Lily put down her mug hard enough to splash drops of beer onto her pizza. "You knew? Ellen, I didn't even know!"

  "Eh, you know those computer science types, they've got classes in logic. When you were just dating Penny, I took a peek at her University records, they said she taught logic in the Philosophy department in addition to algebra classes. She probably just didn't want to bore you with it."

  "You peeked at her records? You were checking up on her?"

  Ellen shrugged. "Yeah, well, I can't lose my status as Best Big Sister by shirking on my duties, checking up on people you date. I mean, who warned you about Vinny?"

  "Well, you did, of course. But I should have seen that Vinny was a big phony a mile away."

  "Yes, but you follow your heart blindly, dear. It's your best fault. You want to think the best of everyone. So, I've got to do the looking for you."

  "Couldn't you lose your job for doing something like that?"

  Ellen chuckled. "You don't work as an administrative assistant in academia for twenty years and learn nothing about how to work the system. It's fine, I'm careful, I cover my tracks. More to the point, I come up with plausible excuses in case I'm ever caught at it."

  Lily threw her hands in the air. "Fine! I can't stop you. I might as well exploit your superpowers, then; if you can root around in the records for Penny's work in the Philosophy department, let me know."

  "You can count on me!"