Chapter 15: To Seek and To Find

Shuddering, the earth trembled with the first step that the obsidian-carved woman took, her hand swinging through the sky as she struck out at the world beneath.

“Seek, and you will find! Maybe not what you thought you were looking for, but an open mind will often find itself surprised!” Doctor Maistwell paced back and forth in front of the class, who were neatly seated in four rows, pens held at the ready. Tufted brown hair shot through with grey stuck out from underneath a slouchy green cap atop his head, and he wore a wrinkled brown suit with patches clumsily sown onto the elbows. Despite his rumpled appearance, Maistwel was a favorite among the students, mostly for the fact that he wasted long periods of class going on aimless tangents, and forgot to collect half of the homework he assigned.

“Now class, today we’ll be starting on Chapter Six of Clarifying the Mystical, specifically dealing with spells that pertain to location and searching for something. Please open up your books and we’ll get underway.”

The shuffle of pages and an occasional sigh filled the room, but Briddy stayed alert, her eyes eager to follow the elderly man as he bobbled his way towards his desk, pulling something out of the drawers. He withdrew a round sphere of opaque lavender the size of his head and placed it on the desk, patting it as though it were a favorite pet.

“Now, the most common use of these kinds of spells is in scrying spheres like these, which can go by many names depending on where you originate from. No matter what you call them though, the incantation remains the same. Miss Vasily, can you tell me what it is?”

Briddy’s head shot up from her furious note-taking, and she took a moment to clear her throat before answering. “Sefir?” She said and was answered with a deep nod. Maistwel was one of her favorite teachers, simply for the fact that he treated her the same as any other student; with ambivalent acknowledgment once he remembered that they were there. When she had remarked in their first class that she was unlike Nolan and Adelaide, the elderly gentleman had taken her comment into stride, nodding and moving on to the next student on the roll without a judgemental reply.

“Just so.” Doctor Maistwel gave the orb another pat and murmured the word that his pupil had just said. The purple sphere lit up from within, revealing a twisted iris of silver in its center that seemed to grow brighter as the stone rose, bobbing in the air near the Doctor’s head.

Briddy and the class watched as a series of images shone out of the orb in a ray of light, expanding as they struck the empty wall behind the teacher. Two people sat behind a desk, one holding a sheaf of paper as their mouth moved in a silent report. After a few moments of soundless talking, the image faded to show a sigil of bisected sun, its rays reaching upwards. “And yet, this spell that lets us see things from far away through some conductor fastened from the crystallized remains of a monstrosity can also be utilized in closer proximity, such as in security spells for different establishments.”

The Doctor held up a finger as if to warn his students of something dangerous. “However, the problem with these spells is that they give you a wide range of sight, which can be problematic when you’re looking for something specific. If you want to be able to control such spells as Sefir at long distances, you first need to fine-tune your mastery of being able to pinpoint small things in your surroundings.”

Turning towards the class, he blinked a few times before jabbing his finger a few times in a seemingly random pattern before it came to a stop. “You there, tell me the incantation for a basic searching spell.” Doctor Maistwel ordered.

“Tuck Sanlaurant, sir.” Briddy heard her friend remind their teacher, “And I think the answer is Lokehmi.”

“Yes, that’s the one!” The Doctor snapped his fingers twice, resuming his pacing across the room while images continued to flicker from the scrying sphere that had been left to run. “Now, I can see in your faces- yes young man, I saw that grimace-” He directed the statement towards Warrin, who slunk down in his seat “That some of you believe something so fundamental to be a waste of your time. Lokehmi is one of the first spells you learn once you are able to put power behind the words used to shape the clay of reality, but it is also one of the more complicated incantations due to the amount of focus it takes to do it properly.”

Maistwel paused, his head tilting to the side in thought before he spoke again. “You know, it reminds me of a time that I was on an expedition for the Teradish Coalition, looking to see if we could identify a rare species of Mirebee near the Southern Pits, and of course, all we had to go off of were the descriptions of a few local workers and any fool knows how that can go…” He launched into one of his infamous stories, but nobody in the class tried to stop him, the students taking the chance to relax, doodle, and even pass messages quietly while Maistwel waxed on about his glory years.

Briddy took occasional notes, noting the different spells that he had used to help subdue the swarm after his field team had managed to locate the hive. By the time he reached the point where they had begun sorting through the frozen monstrosities, Maistwel looked over his class to find that they were mostly disengaged. Pausing, he cleared his throat, sending a ripple through the room as the student’s heads shot up. “Ah, where was I?” He asked, squinting at them.

“You were about to dissect one of the Mirebees, sir.” Parvati supplied, looking up from the illustrated feathers she had drawn around the border of her notes.

“Yes, yes, before that. The lecture.” Doctor Maistwel frowned, slightly wrinkled skin pulling taut as he tried to remember. “Oh! The usage! Well today, your objective is simple.” He waved his arm in a wide arc. “Forset.” Once his arm had completed the sweep of the room, he snapped his fingers. “Vegahn.”

In one moment, both the desks and the floor vanished from underneath the class, leaving them to be supported by an invisible force and nothing else, much to their collective dismay. Below them, where the stone floor had been, a yawning chasm stretched down into endless darkness, unending and massive. As yelps and exclamations rang out across the classroom, Maistwel raised his voice above the din to further his instructions.

“Find and pop the bubble that contains a knick-knack with your name attached! Strepet!”

Underneath their dangling feet, the darkness peeled itself back, curling first in the corner near the door, then furling across like a seal being removed from a jar. Where the darkness had been, a huge pit was revealed, sunken more than eight feet into the floor and filled to the brim with these large, blue “bubbles” that Maistwel had referred to. Round, translucent, and roughly the size of a melon, each one contained some small object that was hard to see from where the class still hovered, looking down in trepidation.

Briddy had enough time to take in the bubble pit and look up at her teacher before Doctor Maistwel chuckled, “Have fun now!”

With a flick of his wrist, the invisible force holding up the class vanished, and they barely had time to yelp in surprise before they were falling into the spheres below. Bridget resisted the urge to clench her eyes shut, instead forcing herself to look towards where they were landing, and throwing up her arms to brace for impact. Instead of the rough landing that she expected, her body hit the spheres, lightly bouncing off of them as the orbs gave way under her weight, sliding out of the way like they were made from a flexible material.

She let out a laugh of relief as she sank between the globes, the muffled thuds of her classmates landing around her no longer a cause for concern. Maistwel might be slightly off his rocker, but all else aside, he did try to make learning magic fun.

After a few minutes of slipping and sliding around, her feet found the stone floor, now sunken much lower than it had been before, but still better than a yawning chasm that would swallow her up. Looking around, the bubbles surrounded her on all sides, easily moving when she pushed them, their surfaces puckering in with a bit of slight pressure when she picked one up. Looking inside, a small glass grasshopper winked up at her through the blue film of the sphere, a large cream tag attached to it with red string and labelled ‘Try Again!’.

She turned, pushing more spheres out of the way, taking in her surroundings with silent calculation. There had to be thousands of these ‘bubbles’ in this pit, each with their own knick-knack and tag, effectively nullifying any plans she might have had about searching the mundane way.

Heavy and warm, a hand dropped onto her head, gently ruffling Briddy’s hair, and she jumped with a small shriek as she turned to see who had touched her. Tuck stood there, a reassuring grin on his face as he held up one of the spheres he had pushed his way through to find her.

“How did you get over here so fast?” Briddy demanded, smoothing her rumpled hair back down and resecuring it with her silver clip.

“Searching spell?” Her friend replied, giving her a cheeky smirk “The assignment we were just given?”

They both looked up at the covering of orbs over their heads, in the direction where Maistwel had still been floating as his students fell into the pit below.

Bridget swallowed, nodding once. “Right. I should’ve guessed.”

“I’m glad these weren’t made of glass.” Tuck mused, squeezing the globe that he held in his hands, its surface flexing inward. “Would’ve made for a nasty landing.”

“Is that one yours, then?” Briddy nodded towards the sphere in his hands. “That was quick.”

Tuck looked up, a small crease of confusion crossing his face as he processed the question before shaking his head. “I just like the trinket in this one.” He held out the bubble to her, a small shadehound pup carved out of dark material sat within, a bloodwood tongue partially hanging out of its mouth. Another tag was tied to it, this one saying ‘Not me!’, but the overall effect was still adorable to Briddy.

“That is rather cute.” She admitted, pressing a finger into the orb’s flexible surface as though to pet the creature.

Tuck offered the sphere to her with one hand, but Bridget shook her head, glancing down at the white-gold band that winked up off his finger.

“I’ve noticed you wear that before.” She said, nodding towards the stone. “Is it important to you?”

Looking down at the ring on his finger, a small, warm smile tweaked the corners of Tuck’s mouth before he looked up at her. “You could say that.” He rotated his hand slightly, so the black stone was facing upwards. “I’ve promised myself to someone for after we graduate from here.”

Briddy examined the dark, beautiful gem, barely visible concave facets of crystal layering into one another in an inverted pyramid that seemed to stretch endlessly into the center. “Is that a mirror-sapphire?” She asked, looking back up.

“Yeah.” A small flush appeared on her friend’s cheeks. “He… he shouldn’t have, but he bought it for me. On a whim, or so he said.”

Letting out a whistle, Briddy shook her head. A gem like that could pay for an entire household’s meals for at least a year, and even then there would be plenty left over. “It is gorgeous.” She admitted.

“Thank you, I-” Tuck cut himself off as the orbs to their right began to shift, smacking against each other and sliding out of the way as someone pushed their way through.

A head popped out, dark curls bobbing with the movement as Warrin’s friend looked around, bright blue eyes flicking between the two people in front of him. “Hello.” The boy said, an impish grin spreading across his face. He had an angular jaw and a slightly protruding nose that did nothing to take away from the air of mischievousness about his entire being.

Briddy cocked her head to the side, examining the intruder before responding. “Hi?” She said, looking over at Tuck, who seemed just as surprised.

“I was trying to follow my searching spell, but I guess my focus must’ve been somewhere else.” He tipped a wink at Briddy as he stepped the rest of the way through the spheres, smoothing his green and grey uniform once he was out.

Suspicion narrowed Bridget’s eyes as she looked the boy over once more, a name floating to the surface of her memory. “Asher, right?” She ventured. “Gail’s spoken about you.”

He glanced over at her, a sly look in his eyes. “I’ve heard plenty about you as well, Bridget Vasily.” The words came out in an amused tone, but Briddy felt herself go on guard all the same.

“Right. Niles. I forgot he’s close with your group.” She murmured, looking away. Whatever had heard, it couldn’t have been anything good, and she began preparing herself for more hatred and rejection.

Instead, a small chuckle escaped Asher as he looked over at Tuck, who was tossing his orb from hand to hand, and then back over at her. “Not what I was talking about, but I wouldn’t worry about Niles either way. He’s always found someone to hate and complain about, so you’re not special.”

Briddy looked down, nudging one of the globes with her foot. Somehow, that didn’t make her feel any better.

“At least, in that regard,” Asher added, and her eyes shot back up in time to catch his grin of satisfaction as he turned to Tuck. “We should probably get started on the actual assignment though, eh?”

“Yup.” Tuck agreed, bobbing his shaggy blonde head.

Briddy watched as the two boys cast the spell, each taking a different approach to how they did it. Tuck glanced around, taking in the multitude of orbs around them, softly murmuring “Lokehmi”, watching as a steady stream of red particles appeared, creating a small path that slithered through the air towards his right. Asher, on the other hand, closed his eyes, his chin drifting downwards as he firmly intoned the word, his garnet stream shooting quickly towards a point not too far off from Tuck’s.

Breathing deeply, Bridget prepared herself to do the same, trying to shut out the different shouts and incantations of the spell flying about around her. Here went nothing.

“Lokehmi.”

The tendril that leaked from Briddy was a dull, rust-colored trickle that barely reached five paces away from her before faltering into nothingness. Loosing a small growl of frustration, Briddy raised her hand to try again.

“It helps if you hold what you’re looking for in your mind’s eye,” Asher remarked, looking over at her. “Though do try to not get distracted by fascinating classmates.” He topped the statement off with a wink.

Briddy shrugged off his comment. closing her eyes, casting her mind about for the image of a cream tag, with her name written in black letters and fastened with that scarlet string. “Lokehmi. Lokehmi!”

After the second repetition, the stream of magic that shot out of her took hold, wiggling through the air in a crimson ribbon of tiny motes that pointed her off towards the right.

“Nice.” Tuck bumped her shoulder with his, giving her a grin. “Let’s get this ball rolling then, shall we?” He tossed the bubble that he had been playing with back into the mass of spheres around them, and Briddy affectionately shook her head at his joke.

Asher snickered, leading the way as the trio began digging their way through the pit, shoving orbs out of their way and occasionally coming across other groups.

“Ah, there!” Tuck said, darting off to the side towards an orb that contained a small cube that seemed to consist of many small squares, each decorated with an individual symbol. A tag with his name clearly labelled was tied to the top with string, and he scooped up the sphere under one arm. Asher had already turned away, his garnet stream slithering upwards to a globe high over his head.

“Mind giving me a boost?” He looked back towards Briddy and Tuck, who swooped down to let Asher stand on his broad shoulders. They quickly retrieved the curly-headed boy’s ball, which held his name on a tag that was attached to a purple glass leaf. As they began following Bridget’s trail, a cry rang out nearby.

“Ow!” A familiar voice whined, and the trio changed course, pushing their way through to a small section of the bubble pit where Gemma was sitting on the ground, clutching her shoulder with a pout.

“You need to not throw those things, Warrin!” She whined, pouting out her bottom lip.

Looking over at her with a wide, unrepentant grin, Warrin said “You know that didn’t hurt Gemma, these things aren’t even fully solid.” As if to prove his point, he chucked a globe toward’s Briddy’s group, who had just pushed their way into the area. Tuck leaned forward, and using his globe, smacked it out of the air before it could get close to any of them. Without hesitation, Asher chucked his globe at Warrin’s head, and before Briddy could blink, an all-out war bubble war began.

More students began appearing – having followed Gemma’s plaintive whines– and were quickly drawn into the conflict as spheres began flying, aimed towards whoever was closest. Briddy looked around, dodging behind Asher as Parvati threw a bubble towards her midsection, and picked up a few globes worth of ammunition. Before she could launch a counterattack, Gemma’s voice wailed “DOCTOR MAISTWEL, THEY’RE FIGHTING!” and all sphere-based combat paused as their teacher slowly floated downwards, suspended still by that unseen force.

Bridget swallowed her frustration, lowering her orbs and waiting for Maistwel to admonish them for going off task.

“Well now, what’s this about a fight?” Doctor Maistwel peered around the guilty group, some of whom attempted to hide their spheres behind their backs.

“They started it!” Gemma pointed towards Briddy’s group.

“Hmmm…” Maistwel looked at them, tapping a finger on his cheek. “Well then, are you winning?”

“Not yet, sir,” Asher replied, his scoundrel’s grin unabashed.

“Well you’ll have to keep at it then, I suppose.” The Doctor shrugged, floating back upwards. “Have at it, kids!”

Bridget had to stop her mouth from hanging open, which she knew was mirrored by Gemma, but the battle resumed around them, shrieks and taunts flying as often as the spheres. There was no way that the assignment would get finished at this rate, but for once, she found that she didn’t care about completing the lesson. As she threw a bubble at the back of Tuck’s head, a laugh escaped her lips; for once, she was just Briddy, a girl having fun.