Just like that, school was over for the day. I made my way outside of the library, curious to see if Wendy would sneak up on me again. When nobody was there, I debated what I wanted to do next.

Kalli noticed my antics and snickered at me. Are you upset that your new friend didn’t come to pick you up?

I flinched at the sound of her voice in my head.

No, I just wanted to make sure that she didn’t try to surprise me again.

That excuse didn’t even make sense to me. Did I want to see Wendy? I was confused. Kalli didn’t say anything else, so I lingered at the door to the library. Back at my old school, I always spent as much time as possible there. It was my sanctuary. While I could go back to the dorm, I wasn’t sure what I would do once I got there.

I closed my eyes and tried to see what Kalli was up to. As usual, she was surrounded by other students. I didn’t know any of them. They appeared to be stretching and getting ready to run or something.

What are you doing?

Kalli stopped what she was doing and looked up. Some of the kids from the martial arts class get together after school to do something called cardio. They invited me to join them. Why do you ask?

I tried to work up the courage to ask her if she wanted to study with me.

I was just wondering if…never mind. Have a good workout.

She stopped stretching. Out with it. What were you wondering?

I don’t know. I just thought you might like to do something after school. You’re busy though. Have fun with your new friends.

My face burned as I tried to hide my embarrassment. My social awkwardness was rearing its ugly head. I turned to the library to find a cozy place to hide. Picking the perfect spot was a ritual for me. I needed enough room to spread out and be comfortable while at the same time remaining hidden from prying eyes.

Kalli felt my discomfort and sent me reassurance. This exercise shouldn't take too long. I’ll come find you afterward, okay?

I smiled.

Sure.

I was happy that she wanted to hang out. Kalli could tell too. I continued wandering the library, looking at books as I went. Kalli was running. The books in the library were nothing at all like the books I was used to in the regular library.

My assumption had been that books about the awakened world would be mixed in with normal boring books that typically made up 75% of the libraries I had been to. This library was very different.

All of the books felt like they were written in another world. The awakened world might as well have been one. I selected book after book as I searched for the perfect hiding spot. The Academy library didn’t disappoint in that category either. I discovered a hidden alcove behind a dusty bookshelf that I had to crawl to get into.

The tiny room with a single table and comfortable armchair felt like it was made just for me. I sunk into the chair and deposited the treasures I had found on the table.

Magical Contracts and their Ethical Uses

Bloodlines: Finding your heritage

Vampires over the centuries

I took the first book off of the stack and examined it.

Magical Contracts and their Ethical Uses

Strong emotion from Kalliphae let me know that she was paying attention. Mel. Huff. What is that book? Huff huff. Are you researching… Huff. …my contract? Wheeze.

I paused for a moment to see why the girl was struggling. I found her running around the perimeter of The Academy. She was struggling to keep up with a group of boys that were a year or two older than her.

I’m not researching. I just found some books that looked interesting.

Kalliphae stopped running to gather herself. If you are going to look into my contract, I want to help. You don’t have to do all of the work by yourself.

I swallowed hard. It wasn’t that I wanted to do it alone. The need to bury myself in a book was just a natural reaction to the crazy day I was having. I flipped open the book.

Table of Contents

Introduction History of the magical contract Types of contracts Verbiage that binds A clause for everything Hidden fine print Magical signatures Consequences of breaking a contract Fulfilling your duties What happens after

I looked over the list and decided to start with the history.

Magical contracts were first invented by wizards during the enlightened era as a means of enforcing to gentlemen’s agreements through the use of magic.

The first known contract to still exist dates back to the year 2545 B.C. between the great Djedi and the Pharaoh Khufu. The ancient papyrus containing the contract gives the family of the wizard Djedi access to certain magical artifacts in perpetuity in exchange for magical upkeep on the Pyramid of Cheops.

This contract provides a basis for a quid pro quo contract type. Over the years contracts have greatly evolved to include everything from purchase contracts to marriage documents that constitute the merging of two familial bloodlines.

I flipped through the book and stopped at the chapter on consequences.

Failure to adhere to the terms of a contract can have a variety of consequences. The most typical is for the contract to void itself should one party fail to meet the requirements.

Magical enforcement allows the author of the contract to take measures to ensure that the terms of the contract are met. This is particularly valuable when one side renders their end of the contract before the other. Should the second party default on the contract, the offended party will have recourse which is enforced by the contract.

Any repercussions built into contracts must typically be approved by a governing agency acting as a third party. This is done to prevent contracts from being used to enslave people.

One of the most popular clauses in contracts is the usage of the ghosting curse. Once bound by the ghosting curse, the contractee must either fulfill the terms of the contract or run the risk of being ghosted for a specific amount of time. Ghosting prevents the cursed from being able to interact with anyone but the person that they are contracted with. Completion of the contract will result in the curse being lifted.

The clause I was specifically looking for was the effects of a contract across worlds. Unfortunately, the book didn’t talk about distance being a limiting factor on contracts at all.

I took a moment to look in on Kalli. She had finished her job with her classmates and cleaned herself up. I vaguely noticed she was showering while I was reading. Rather than coming to the library, the girl had made her way up to the restaurant that we had noticed on the 6th floor. She was still with the group of friends that she made in the martial arts class.

She noticed I was paying attention. I’m sorry Mel. My new friends wanted to show me this restaurant and I couldn’t just say no. Would you like to join us?

I looked at all of the boys and girls surrounding the pyromancer that I didn’t know. I made an excuse not to go.

It’s okay. I’m not really hungry right now. I think I am going to work on some homework.

Kalli seemed hesitant, but she reluctantly agreed. Okay. I’ll meet you after dinner.

My stomach protested loudly. I hoped Kalliphae didn’t feel it, but I suspected that she did. Deciding to get in some practice at the make-out room, I scooped up the books and made my way to the front desk.

The librarian looked down at me and said, “Library card, please?”

I shook my head, “I don’t have one yet.”

She sighed, “Fine. Student identification card then.”

I shook my head again, “I don’t have one of those either.”

She nodded, “New student and already in the library? Okay, fine. Sign this.”

She slid a parchment across the desk at me. I gave it a cursory glance and asked, “What is this?”

The librarian grinned, “It’s a simple contract. If you fail to return the books you’ll get an itch to return it.”

I frowned at her, “What do you mean, an itch?”

The woman shook her head, “You’ll see. Just return them within a week and you’ll be fine.”

Once I left the library, I thought about ghosting myself as I slinked across campus. I would have done it had it not been for the fact that I was unsure that I could unghost myself afterward. Fortunately, nobody paid much attention to me as I made my way to the peace and quiet of the make-out room. Kalliphae was enjoying some delicious food from the buffet on the 6th floor.

My stomach growled again as I ignored the line for food in my dorm when I passed through the hall. Kalli seemed rather popular with the boys from her class. I didn’t feel like eating. I just wanted to make it to the hidden room and get in some practice.

When I got there, I was met once again with a locked door. I grunted as I tried the lock.

Great. I forgot to get a key again.

I was staring at the door and debating whether or not to edit it when a familiar voice came from behind me, “Oh my. What do we have here? All alone at the make-out room? Let me get that door for you.”

I froze as the girl with the green hair slipped under my arm and unlocked the door. She winked at me and pulled the door open, beckoning for me to follow her inside.

Kalliphae also noticed what I was up to. What are you doing, Melvin?

I sighed, knowing how it looked.

I came down here to practice my wind magic. It’s just a coincidence that she showed up.

Kalli was getting distracted by her friends once again. I could hear them talking. However, she ignored them and focused on me. Why would you choose that place to practice?

I shrugged.

I couldn’t think of any other place where I could practice in private.

Kalliphae struggled with my answer as a boy I didn’t know offered her a delicious-looking dessert. She managed to reply. Oh. Isn’t that just convenient?

I sucked in a deep breath and marched into the room. I smelled it before I saw it. Wendy sat in the middle of the room on a blanket with food spread out on the floor around her.

She smiled and announced, “I heard your stomach growling. You just have to try this food. It’s from my favorite restaurant, Tomagi’s Sushi.”

I was drooling as I made my way over the blanket and sat next to the girl. She had set out two bowls of ramen along with an assortment of sushi rolls. In another basket, there were different tempura fried vegetables. Reaching out, I asked her for permission, “Are you sure it’s okay if I have some?”

Wendy nodded vigorously, “Sure. Help yourself.”

The burst of flavor in the ramen made me immediately understand why it was Wendy’s favorite restaurant. I asked, “Did you have this waiting in your bag?”

She was suddenly interested in one of her fingernails as Wendy answered, “I might have made a special trip to pick this up.”

The tempura made a loud crunch as I bit into it. I asked, “Why did you do that?”

Wendy helped herself to her extra-large cup of tea and changed the subject, “Enough about me. What did you come down here to do? You weren’t planning to meet someone down here, were you? Is Kalliphae coming? I can leave if you like.”

I shook my head, “No. It’s nothing like that. I came here to practice my wind magic.”

The aeromancer’s face lit up in excitement, “Very good. Let’s see it then. Show me what you wanted to practice.”

I looked longingly at the food and stuffed a tuna roll in my mouth before getting up. Wendy laughed and informed me, “Don’t worry. It’s not going anywhere. You can eat until you’re stuffed after you show me your magic.”

Begrudgingly getting to my feet, I walked over to the other side of the room and thought about what I wanted to do. I knew the basic wind spell, Sviszt. That spell turned my lungs into magical weapons. I decided to start with a low-powered version.

“Sviszt”

Wendy whistled appreciatively as I blew a gentle breeze through the room. I tried my best to memorize the way I made the mana materialize as wind. Non-elemental mana flowed through my body before a small amount was allocated to my lungs which the words then transformed into wind element. The ball of green mana rapidly expanded as it left my mouth and exploded out in front of me.

I rubbed my chin thoughtfully as I tried to decide what to do next. My goal was to unravel the meaning of the spoken language of magic. Someone had bundled magic up into convenient words that did all of the heavy lifting of spell casting.

The way it worked was the mage spoke the word, then the magic took control of the mage’s mana. The magical word then transformed the mana into the element that it need to be and gave it further instructions on how to behave.

While it would be easy to just use what was already there, I wanted to see if I could control the magic. Executing an existing spell using my mana would give me the freedom to create new spells and use my mana in unexpected ways.

Wendy yawned and asked, “Whatcha thinking about, pretty boy.”

I turned bright red and spluttered, “I’m, uh, trying to figure out how to use my mana to cast the spell better.”

Kalli was walking through The Academy. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking and she didn’t say anything to me. Was she alone? I redoubled my efforts on my experiment doing my best to not answer Wendy’s question.

I focused on transforming my mana into a wind-aspected as it flowed through my body. It took a while for the green mana to connect to my core, but once it did, I had a familiar invigorating feeling as the wind flowed through my channels.

I need to streamline that. It took far too long.

A voice that I had almost forgotten about responded. The way you transform your mana is very inefficient.

I nearly jumped out of my skin.

Byakko! Where have you been all afternoon?

The tiger yawned in my ear. I have been here all along. I do not feel the need to comment on everything you do.

Do you have a suggestion for a better way to transform my mana?

Byakko chuffed at me. Do you truly need to transform all of your mana for such a small spell? Just filter the mana you immediately require. Everything else is wasteful.

I thought about what he said and nodded. Deciding to move on to the next step, I allowed mana to enter and fill my lungs as I took a deep gulp of air. When I expelled my breath, the wind exploded around me, blowing my head back and sending me to the ground.

When I sat up, I saw that Wendy was covered in ramen. It looked like a hurricane had hit the room. The sushi and tempura were scattered around the room. One of the bowls lay shattered in a corner. I clambered to my feet and ran over to the girl, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t expect it to do that.”

Wendy raised an eyebrow at me, “What was that? You didn’t use a spell.”

I ignored the question as I looked at her soaked dress that clung to her body, asking, “Can I get you something to help you clean that up?”

She looked down and laughed, “It’s fine. Watch this.”

“Sviszt”

She pulled her dress away from her body and blew on it like it was a hot meal that needed to be cooled off. I watched in awe as her breath made her entire dress flutter. The soup that had been in the fabric and likely on her skin dripped off of the dress and down to the floor. By the time she finished, she was dry and presumably clean as though the accident had never occurred.

She winked at me and said, “See. Good as new. Now, you owe me an explanation about how you just did that.”

Just then Kalliphae burst into the room. She was out of breath and dripping with sweat. She blurted out, “I’m sorry Melvin. I got held up. I hope you didn’t wait long.”

Wendy stood up and the two had a temporary standoff. Wendy looked away first and sighed, “Well, I was just on my way out. Hopefully, you can explain that to me tomorrow in class Melvin.”

Before either of us had a chance to say anything else, like a sudden summer breeze, Wendy had gone.