Bougainvillea bushes may look pretty, but they are a flaming mosquito fest, especially at night. Did I mention they have wicked sharp thorns as well?
As a hiding place it was sucktastic. Yet here I was, the fool mage, lurking behind the fuchsia bougainvillea bracts cascading down the south side of the six-story boys' dormitory building.
I was peeking through the gaps between the flower bracts looking like a freaking stalker, but there was no other way.
I hadn't been able to find a way to meet up with the Osiris twins for the past few days and I was starting to get desperate. The only sure place I knew that I could eventually run into them was the dorm where they stayed.
So here I was in front of the boys dorms an hour after I had left the Primate Compound.
Unfortunately, Rules were strict for boys and girls dorms due to multiple previous infractions where males and females snuck into each others' dorm rooms at night. All the action had caused a ruckus resulting in more than one incident of indecent exposure.
There was also that infamous child being born to one girl with the genetic markers of FOUR FATHERS. That feat had always blown my mind until I heard that it had been magikally done as an experiment, no less, by some ingenious mages who had too much time on their hands.
And so because of that one incident, I was reduced to hiding inside a thorn thicket rather than standing outside by the entryway like any normal person should be able to do.
Ugh, bougainvillea is so nasty.
I shuddered and stood as still as I could, trying not to fidget. If it hadn't been for the generous slathering of lavender oil that I had rubbed on myself, along with a bit of thaumaturgical magik boost to amplify its effects, I would have been sucked dry of blood.
There was a swarm of mosquitoes that lived in the vineyards nearby and came out en masse at night, attacking everything in sight.
It was so miserable, I even tried to send out a mental message to the blood suckers that I was, in no way shape or form, a type of snack food. Unfortunately, they weren't that smart and ignored me.
In desperation, I prodded a couple of sleeping swallows awake. They were good sports and tried to eat as many as they could around my general vicinity, but even they gave up after awhile and fell back asleep among the branches.
As twilight slowly stained the landscape with shadows of purples and deep reds, the offensive bougainvillea bush muddied into one glob of uniform grey.
The cicadas and crickets were out and about, their symphonic rattling and chirping sounds filling the air with that familiar call of summer.
Within the span of a baby's breath, the sun had slipped behind the rolling hills taking with it, the light of day.
By the time nightfall had settled onto the land, the only bright spots left within the Academy were the isolated pools of lights coming from the scattered iron lamp posts.
All else was dark and comforting.
It wasn't long before a group of young teenagers came up over the bend, their chatter announcing their arrival well before they were even visible.
They made their boisterous way in through the main entrance, held up by two huge stone pillars carved into effigies of the gods of Tuesday and Thursday, and then disappeared inside the double doors.
A few more groups of boys went by. Then a few more. I scanned the groups, looking for a couple of tall redheads, but no cigar.
The huge torchiere pavilion lights came on as the darkness deepened from muted lavender to midnight blue. Tiw and Thor, the two pillar gods, began to glow with a golden inner radiance, no doubt, magiked into being by the groundskeepers.
After another ten minutes, there were only small groups of boys in twos and threes passing through the entranceway. Then two last stragglers. Finally, the courtyard that faced the boys' dormitories was once again quiet.
I was starting to wonder if I had missed my target for lack of adequate light, when from beyond the bend in the hillside, I could hear the familiar whoosh of the windsurfers.
Bingo!
I stepped out from behind the bougainvillea bushes and waited for them to appear.
"Connor—Corwin!" I called out, waving my arms desperately hoping that there was enough light for them to see me. I did not want to be mowed down like I almost was earlier in the week.
This time, the Osiris twins saw me and slowed their advance. They twisted their legs, brought their boards up against the natural flow of the air to check their speed and then came to a perfect stop within a few feet from me.
Then they dropped from their hoverboards.
"Nana! What's up?" One of them asked. I smiled and motioned for them to come closer. As they came towards me, my eyes grew larger and my head tilted back farther and farther.
I was only five-feet tall so I was used to looking up at people, but these guys were giants! They had to be over 6 feet because they towered over me.
I had to stop myself from backing up and running away. Up close, they seemed less like gangly teenagers and more like the adults that they were.
Surfing all day must build some serious body mass because they were seriously ripped! Their muscular frames in the ubiquitous black mage bodysuits exuded intense magik energies.
The energies roiled around them like a living thing, creating powerful vortexes that churned and spun around their immediate vicinity.
Their red hair was almost black in the darkness, and this late at night, the evening shadow around their squared chins was prominent, making them look like two-dimensional drawings instead of living, breathing mages.
"Wow, you come home late," I tried to sound casual and unaffected.
"Yeah, we had a bit of an emergency this morning and it dragged on until just now." Connor arched his back and yawned. "Oh, man, I'm exhausted."
Corwin rubbed the back of his neck. "We're all tired," he glared at me. "Whatever you need from us, make it fast."
I glowered at him. "What's with the attitude?"
"What's with the hassling?" He retorted.
"I'm not hassling you. I just wanted to ask you a question!"
Connor waved a dismissive hand at his brother, "Ah, don't let his grumpy self get to you. What's up Nana?"
"Not much," I tried to sound a bit more pleasant. "I haven't seen you guys in awhile, and since we happened to run into each other the other day, I thought I'd come by and say hi!" I grinned, hoping it would not look too macabre.
"Hey, Nana." Connor looked strangely contrite. "Listen, we're sorry we almost ran you over before. We had that huge emergency that we had to take care of and—"
I waved my hand and cut him off mid-sentence. "No worries. That's not what I came here for." I smiled again, hoping to connect with them at a more friendly level. "It's been over a year, hasn't it? I wasn't sure you guys would even remember me."
"Why would we not remember you?" Connor said with a bright grin. "We sat behind you for an entire semester, trying to get you to talk to us."
Corwin turned away in disgust, his magikal auras swirling about him in vigorous whorls of barely suppressed irritation.
"I did talk to you." I blushed. "Well, a couple of times, I think."
"Ha!" Connor laughed. "As I recall, the few words you said to us were, 'Stop following me around!' and 'Get your big feet off my book bag!"
I laughed. "Was I that rude? I'm really sorry."
"No need to apologize." Connor shook his head. "We shouldn't have been teasing you so much, but you know how it is. Class gets boring. Pretty girl in front of you…"
Corwin stretched his long arms over his head in a bored, almost irritated manner and gave a huge jaw-breaking yawn. "Ugh! We don't have time for this."
I rolled my eyes and murmured under my breath. "…some people…"
"Cut to the chase. What do you want?" Corwin gave a sidelong glance at me.
"Nothing," I sighed. This was turning out to be a bad idea.
"Well obviously it's not nothing because you're out here in the dark, talking to a couple of guys you barely know so do us all a favor and either tell us what you want or go home and stop bothering us." Corwin crossed his arms and stared me down.
"Well? What is it going to be?"
In the light of day, my plan to waylay two guys and ask for help seemed reasonable enough, but now that I was faced with the actual situation, I found myself almost frozen solid. When did it get this hard to talk to two ex-classmates?
I swallowed and tried again. "Guys, I sort of need your help. It's a bit of a sticky situation, and I can't talk about it here. Can we go somewhere else?" I motioned for them to follow me.
"This better be good," Corwin sighed.
A few steps to the right of the boys' dorm was the rose garden which surrounded the chapel. It was magnificent by day, with its scattered marble statues of cherubs and Greek gods and goddesses frolicking among riotous blossoms the size of huge jewel-tone saucers.
By night, not much of the visual impact was left, but the scent of evening rose was almost overwhelming. Usually, lovers tended to use this place for rendezvous but that wasn't what I had in mind.
I had more important things to discuss with the Osiris twins.
I led them over to the large stone water fountain hoping that the sounds of cascading water coming from the lions' mouths would mask our voices so that we could talk in relative privacy.
The look on Corwin's face was disheartening, to put it mildly, so I focused my attention on the much more affable Connor.
"You guys are wizards, right?"
"Yeah. And?" Corwin crossed his arms across his chest.
"By any chance, did you guys ever take the Demons class?"
"Uh—yeah. What's it to you?"
I gave an inward sigh. My plans to direct the conversation at Connor was incinerating to ashes as Corwin kept jumping into the conversation.
"Does the class talk about conjuring demons?"
Connor held up a hand to stop Corwin from diving into the conversation. "Why do you want to know?"
"Can you guys open up a book for me?"
Corwin glanced at Connor, their deep blue eyes meeting and exchanging wordless thoughts. Then they both turned to look at me.
Suddenly, Corwin took me by the elbow and pressed close to my face. "What book are you talking about, woman?"
"I—I'm not sure. It says Demons on the front. I ca—I can't open it." I stammered trying to avoid his eyes. Being this close to a guy with such fierce deep blue eyes was unnerving.
"Why do you even have a Demons book?" Corwin hammered at me. "Did you charm the pants off some poor wizard and then filched it?"
"How rude!" I exclaimed.
"Cool it Corey," his brother intervened. "Listen up, Nana." Connor turned to me in earnest. "I don't know what book you're talking about here, but let me give you a bit of advice. If it says Demons on the cover and you can't open it, consider yourself lucky. You don't want to know what's inside. You wouldn't be able to handle it. Trust me."
I nodded. "Okay, okay. I got it."
"Where—" Corwin asked pointedly, "is this book?"
"It's not with me," I lied, wracking my brains trying to figure out how much to tell him.
"I'm only going to ask you one more time. Where is it?" Corwin's fingers bit into my arm.
"It's...it's with this group of boys." I twisted my arm from his grip. "They stole it without knowing what it was. But don't worry!" I raised my hands as I saw Corwin's eyes grow larger and fiercer.
"They don't know how to open it either. That's why I was hoping you could help…or at least confiscate it if it's that dangerous…" I trailed off miserably as I saw the thunderous look on his face.
"Nana." Connor slid between me and his brother. "How in the world did they get this book?"
I quickly detailed what happened earlier in the day, starting with the books in the box and the bats, but when I got to the part where I was describing the purplish Victrola-looking thing, they both interrupted me.
"Wait, what is this thing you're talking about?" Connor asked.
"Where is it?" Corwin interjected.
"At Elder Alley, about two blocks away from the classroom where I was supposed to deliver the books."
"Take us there," Corwin ordered.