“So what do apprentices get?” I repeated, waiting for the trio to speak.
The Mage Council examiners regarded me as if I were a bug that had crawled out of a movie theater seat, replete with stale popcorn and spilled soda. It was not the gaze of congratulations, which was rather interesting considering I should have passed.
“You were right,” Mohammad said to Caleb.
“I told you.” Caleb hocked a thumb toward me. “Though it seems that Mage Tsien has been holding back on me a little.”
“By… thirty points, I would say.” Nicholas sniffed. “It does not bode well for us trusting the warlock.”
“Mage,” I grumbled while rubbing my bum. I kept my head down though, since the one thing I really didn’t want them to grasp was how I’d soft-balled the entire test. I could have continued counter-spelling longer than I did, and I definitely could have continued to deal with the spells. While my Mana shortage was real—hard to hide that fact—how fast I was losing it and how fast I could regenerate it was something I was trying to hide still. After being tricked once, I wasn’t going to be dumb enough to reveal all my cards.
“Not if we don’t say so,” Nicholas said, glaring at me. He looked at my staff for a second, considering the piece of wood in my hand, before he turned to the others. “Your judgment?”
Patricia glanced at the spell globe then at me once more and nodded. “He has passed every test we have set. He is at the apprentice level at the least. A full Mage of the sixth circle.”
I blinked, knowing there were seven circles, with those in the inner circles—the lower numbers—the most powerful. Caleb was considered part of the second circle these days. In that sense, I’d skipped the entire Apprentice level—or seventh circle—to become a journeyman. But it’d be at least one more circle before I could be considered a full member. In their view.
“Perhaps, but we are judging more than his academic ability,” Nicholas said. “He lacks discipline and the right mindset. His work is sloppy, if prone to brilliance. Though, I would venture, much of the latter is due to his jinn. Otherwise, he is middling at best.”
I narrowed my eyes but turned to Mohammad, who had started speaking. “Brilliance that we could harness. The theories he expounded upon in his essay are interesting. Both Beckett’s Theorem of Fundamental Formulas and Obibje Principle of Sevens were quite illuminating. I do not believe the combination Mr. Tsien recommended would work as well as he thought, but perhaps if we combined the Ozmas Principle—”
“Enough. No one wants to hear you prattle. Are you for or against his inclusion in our ranks?” Nicholas snapped.
“Well, he has passed our tests. I think, in that sense, we should at the least let him know our conditions,” Mohammad said.
Patricia nodded firmly, making me frown as Caleb stepped forward to speak.
“What conditions?” I said suspiciously.
“I told you the Council would have requirements of you. If we are to acknowledge you as one of us, if we are protect you, certain matters must be agreed on.” Caleb took a breath and forged on. “You’ll need to swear a binding oath to be loyal to the Council. And that, on your death, you would hand over the ring.”
“And no more hiding of your secrets.” Nicholas crossed his arms. “You will share everything that your jinn teaches you.”
“A binding oath?” My eyes narrowed. “I’m assuming you’re talking a blood oath?”
“No. A soul oath,” Caleb said.
I hissed, and even Patricia looked uncomfortable. I wasn’t surprised she was uncomfortable considering what a soul oath actually consisted of. Like its name, it bound me by my soul—the center of my being—rather than my body. Those oaths were nearly impossible to break, and when they were broken, they left the oathbreaker a shattered creature. Monsters were created when soul oaths broken, because the mind didn’t break—just the things that made us human.
“You can’t seriously think I’ll agree to that,” I said.
“If you desire our help, you will.” Nicholas said, stopping Caleb when he tried to say something else. “You have little choice here.”
“Pretty sure no is still valid.”
Nicholas snorted, his gaze flicking to my ring then my face. “You could not even stand five spells. If I wanted to take that ring—”
“You’d fail.” I shook my head and turned, walking to the car. I paused when a thought struck, my eyes narrowing as I turned around. “You are going to drive me back, right?”
“Henry, you need to consider your position more carefully,” Caleb said, concern in his voice. “This might not be what you want. What I wanted. But the Council has made it clear that they want more from you.”
My fist clenched as I looked at the all-too-smug Nicholas and the prideful Mohammad before turning to the conflicted Patricia. They thought they had me in a corner. That I had no choice but to accede to their demands. And truth be told, they were right. Lily’s protection might stop over-Leveled assholes like these guys from attacking me, but it did nothing to stop them from sending waves of appropriately Leveled assholes. And unlike a game, I wouldn’t gain much experience from protecting myself from them, because my Levels were tied to my ability to both physically manage and understand the magic that was input in my body.
Angry or not, I was in a corner. They were right. But… “I already did. I’m not taking a soul oath. No way, no how.”
“Then they’ll kill you,” Caleb said.
“So be it,” I said. “No one’s immortal, eh?”
“Bold words. But know that if you walk away now, when we speak again, your deal will be even worse,” Nicholas almost snarled.
“Don’t worry. I won’t be.”
“Foolish child…”
I didn’t bother answering and walked out, deciding to stop being childish and arguing. I stalked forward until I reached the edge of the enchantment, which had yet to turn off. For a moment, I waited to see if they’d turn it off, and when they didn’t, I pushed my staff against the enchantment. My eyes narrowed as the enchantments on the staff flared to life, pulling at the shielding wall. Information about the enchantment flowed into my mind via the analyzing runes in the staff. My eyes narrowed as I searched for the gaps, then when the next pulse from the shield cycled through, I inserted an adjustment.
A moment later, the enchantment opened up, splitting aside for me to walk out. Behind me, I heard a few indrawn breaths, but I refused to look back. If they’d been willing to bargain, to help out, perhaps we could have come up with something. Instead, they’d decided to hold my feet over the fire and see how much I’d squirm. Well, bugger that.
Alexa looked up when I came over, her eyes narrowing when she took in my distressed demeanor. She spun her spear around, watching the riding stable. There was no need to say anything, not with how things had gone.
When five minutes came and went and Caleb didn’t come out, I groaned softly and fished out my phone.
“Looks like we’re taking a carshare back,” I said, glancing at Alexa’s spear. “They won’t attack us. Can’t.”
“Fine,” Alexa said, opening the sedan’s back door and fishing out her duffel. She looked at me and flashed a grin. “Shotgun.”
“Hey! You can’t do that until the car’s here,” I said, having finished booking our ride back.
“Nope. Called it.”
“That’s—aargh!” I threw up my hands and waved down the driveway. “Let’s go wait on the main road.”
Together, we walked out. I couldn’t say for sure what Alexa was thinking, but for myself, I was debating how on earth we were going to survive.
***
“To sum up—the government has pulled back a couple of blocks. The Druids and the other pagans have left. So will the Mage Council. The Templars and the rest of the Orders are going to leave now that the Council has made their position known. And none of the other quieter guardians, those who want the ring, are going to stick around, not without the big boys in play,” Lily said, ticking off on her fingers. We were back in the living room, after I’d explained what had happened with the Mage Council and my decision. “That sound about right?”
“Yeah. I doubt they’re going to leave entirely, just in case I manage to level…” I turned my attention to Lily. “Can we do that?”
“Do what?” Lily said, raising an eyebrow.
“Can we raise my level? Hit 100, like, in a week or something and release me from the spell?” Even as I finished speaking, I realized how bad an idea that was. Exactly what did I intend to do even if I did get a higher level? It wasn’t as if that higher level, artificially inflated or not, would do anything but release the wish.
“A bit. Not all the levels, but we could flood you with more experience,” Lily said. “I’m not sure why…”
Alexa pointed at me. “We should get you to train. Properly.”
“Properly?” I said, blinking.
Alexa nodded. “No more random silly quests, no more hunting for the best clothing or carving silly sticks. You train and level and increase how much Mana you can wield.”
“Training montage?” I said with a slight smirk, only to get smacked on the arm by Alexa.
“Idiot. This isn’t funny.” Alexa said, shaking her head. “But we should also talk about leaving.”
“Our lease isn’t up,” I objected immediately, thinking about my poor damage deposit. Our damage deposit. Huh. I wondered if the Templars would want their share back?
“We’re talking about getting killed, Henry. Focus,” Alexa snapped, and I sighed.
I pointed at the wards we had. “But the house is warded.”
“You know those won’t last forever. If they really wanted us dead, they could breach the wards,” Alexa said. “Staying here, we’re just a target. If they all leave…”
I nodded, looking at my hands. She’s correct that there really isn’t a better option than leaving. If we can run and hide—if being the operative word—we had a chance of lasting. Lasting long enough to… to what?
“Henry?” Lily said, cocking her head.
“How did your other owners manage to not get killed?” I said, frowning.
“Well, first, they generally hid my presence,” Lily said. “And then, well, most didn’t ask for magic. Money—when wished for properly—was easy enough to offer them. Power was harder, but it could be arranged. You have no idea how many political marriages I managed to arrange. But for the ones who wanted or needed magic, I was more of a research assistant, you know?
“Then, well, they became the most powerful Mage in their surroundings. And with the way news and rumors got distorted, no one was going to travel for weeks or months to check out a bad rumor. Or fight someone who could be more powerful than them just for the chance of getting an artifact that was better than the one they had already. Maybe.”
I sighed, rubbing my face. “So you’re saying air transportation and phone lines are killing me.”
“Sort of? It’s not as if a lot of my owners weren’t killed because they had me,” Lily said. “My last couple of owners before you never let anyone know of my presence. They hid my power and barely used me as more than a research assistant. So we’re in new territory here.”
“Yay,” I said desultorily. “I always wanted to break new ground.”
Alexa snorted, then poked me in the shoulder. “It doesn’t matter. We just have to get you strong enough that you can fight them off.”
“What? You mean the entire world?” I said.
“Or you could look for someone who’s strong enough to do it already,” Lily offered.
“Like?”
“Well… ummm… Mer’s stuck. Hecate… well. You aren’t the right sex. Abe’s sleeping somewhere. The Eight won’t talk to you. Umm….”
I didn’t know who Lily was speaking about, but what she was saying was clear enough. None of the people Lily knew who could have protected us were going to. Which meant I would have to do it myself.
“Well, if we’re going to go, we should figure out how. And where.” Alexa flashed me a half-smile.
I sighed. “You have a plan, don’t you?”
Before Alexa could say anything, we were rudely interrupted. The screech of a tire-burning turn was the only notice we received before a truck barreled toward us. My eyes widened as I stared at the incoming vehicle, watched as it struck the windows and living room’s outer wall. Watched as my wards, never meant to handle a vehicle driving straight at us, flared to life and tried to keep the vehicle out.
And failed.