I half-jogged back down the hill to the Hydroponics Lab by the Secondary Courtyard and managed to reach the octagon-shaped greenhouse in only ten minutes.
The ten-story glass building gleamed in the morning sunlight, reflecting the blue skies and white puffy clouds as if a piece of the heavens had been planted directly on earth.
Alan Charon was standing behind the white kidney-shaped front desk facing the entryway doors when I walked in through the door. The ten mezzanines encircling the glinting curved glass walls rose up all around him in sparkling glory.
Good morning sweetie," he grinned. "Wow. I've seen you twice in one week. Can't stay away from the Hydroponics Lab can you?"
"It's not the Hydroponics Lab I come to see, Alan. I'm here to see your pretty face." I laughed as I crossed the black granite floor.
Today, Alan's green hair had been tied up into a cute man bun, with the bun itself sprayed a petal pink color. His pale celadon green skin contrasted well with the black mage bodysuit he wore today.
He waved a hand in protest. "It is a crying shame sweetheart, but you're several years too late. My husband would never let me start something up with you."
"Awww what a shame." I grinned. "How's Daniel?"
"He's good, but he's been working a lot lately." Alan grimaced. "The Astrology department is busy nonstop. He didn't even get home last night until four in the morning, can you believe that?"
"Wow. What in the world does an Astrologer need to do at 4 am?"
"Oh you know, the usual stargazing stuff that can't be done until after sunset. I have no one to blame but myself for marrying a man whose work is watching stars at night."
"Isn't Daniel working directly with Professor Jonesbarry?"
"Yep. They're working on some super important star charts—at least that's what I was told."
"Professor Jonesbarry was telling me the same thing right before the Council of Mage meeting last Monday." I pursed my lips. "He said something big is about to happen, and it is showing up in every star chart and star-scry-visuals he has been analyzing. I wonder what it could be."
Alan shook his head. "I don't know. But even if I do...what can I do? I'm just a glorified florist," he chuckled.
"Is that why you're in basic black mage battle gear today? Are you preparing for a fight with the flowers?" I joked, but Alan did not laugh.
He pressed his lips together. "It's a bit rough out there right now. We just have to be ready for anything. And besides---" He looked me over. "Aren't you in Overlord gear too?"
He looked me up and down. "I'm kinda a little jealous. The Overlord bodysuit is cut in the same style, but it has some serious pockets everywhere to stash stuff and the curlicue design at the top looks way cooler than our basic mage bodysuits."
I laughed. "Only you would look at design and styling on battle gear, Alan."
He harrumphed. "Why not? Style is everything. Why would we want to go to battle looking ugly?" He touched the pink petal man bun with a delicate hand.
I laughed. "If I had half your looks..."
"If you had half my looks, you'd be a hybrid Topazian-celadonian and half your body would be green." He waved a hand in protest. "That would be super tacky my dear. You look gorgeous just the way you are."
I scratched my head. "Well, whatever's going on hasn't affected the school at least. They sent everyone home on Monday but all the summer-school kids are back in class again."
Alan shook his head. "They should just keep the kids at home right now. It's too dangerous…"
"Would they be safer in their individual homes rather than together as a group at the Academy?"
He sighed. "Not really. Especially since most of the kids' parents have been called out for reserve duty so they would mostly be at home by themselves. The classes at least have teachers there to watch over them…speaking of which, I got your order ready right here, darling."
Alan reached under the counter and brought out a willow basket filled with some type of small plants that had little white flowers growing on short stalks. "Here you go. Six bodega bamboos."
"Are these dangerous?" I peered at them suspiciously. Nothing ever came out of the Hydroponics Lab that was benign. At least these things didn't have mouths with sharp teeth.
"No no, not these, Inanna. They don't do anything at all. They're just super sturdy weeds for Professor Pomello's kids, something that her students couldn't kill."
I took the plants from his hand and he walked me out to the door.
"You're my last customer for the day so I'm gonna walk out with you Sweetie."
"What? But it's barely ten in the morning!"
"I got called in to do reserve duty. I only came by to fill this last order for you because I know Professor Pomello needs it for her kids."
I stared at Alan, and without missing a beat, we went back to chatting nonsensical for a few more minutes. Then I said my goodbyes and left the green house with the plant basket.
The fact that this ultra celadon fashionista was wearing the basic black mage bodysuit because he had been called in to do reserve duty was the largest warning bell for me.
No matter what his external appearance happened to be at any given time, he was still Conjurer First Class and he was definitely dressed for battle.
***
It was still fairly early, the heat had not intensified yet so the walk to Professor Pomello's classroom was not as uncomfortable as it was the day before.
Eucalyptus Alley was surprisingly quiet this morning. The normal windsurfer yodeling in mid-air was absent and so was the normal chatter and laughter of the younger students.
It almost felt like the periods in between classes when there were no students around, except we were in the middle of summer session and classes were supposed to be in full swing.
The noise and revelry of four days ago had quieted down to almost nothing.
I was a bit early so the Transmutation class had not yet begun. The door was closed and a group of young students were standing outside waiting for Professor Pomello to arrive.
As I approached the kids, I recognized the little redhead with freckles and big green eyes. She saw me and ran up, grinning like a banshee.
"Hi! You're my brother's girlfriend, aren't you?" She called out. "I saw you on his hoverboard this morning!"
"Well—" I barely even had a chance to respond when she glommed onto my arm. "That makes you my older sister, doesn't it?"
She laughed, jumping up and down. "I'm so excited. I've never had a sister before! Your name is Inanna isn't it? Can I call you Nana?"
I laughed. "Of course you can. I've never had a sister either."
"My name is Lauren but everyone in my family calls me Rennie. Since you're my new sister, you have to call me Rennie."
"Thank you Rennie," I laughed, "but you know I'm really not your brother's girlfriend."
"You don't have to say anything." She held up her palms. "I know my brothers very well. Neither of them will ever allow any girl to ride on their hover board unless she's their girlfriend. Trust me, I know them very well!"
She put her hands together into the shape of a heart. "You're my new sister and that's that."
I laughed. She was so adamant that I did not have the heart to argue the point. And anyway, she was so stinking cute I could not resist her insistent familial claim.
Of course, Professor Pomello chose this moment to show up at the classroom door.
Instead of her usual bright colorful floral print smock dresses and funny spectacles, she was wearing the basic mage black bodysuit, sans glasses.
Her normal blonde bouffant hairdo was gone. In its place was a cool sleek chignon resting at the nape of her neck.
For the first time since I'd known her, Professor Pomello looked stunning. It was almost as if her previous persona was simply something she used to hide her real self.
In her mage bodysuit, she looked like a serious mage—someone who could kick someone's rear to the other side of the moon.
She turned to look at me and then at the basket of plants in my hand.
"Don't tell me you're still here. Didn't I tell you to go follow your passion?"
"She can't go anywhere, she's my new sister!" Lauren insistently clamored, hanging on my arm even tighter.
"New sister?" Professor Pomello turned and stared at the little red head with sudden clarity. "I see."
She turned back to me. "So you ARE following your passion. I just didn't realize it had to do with one of Lauren's brothers."
I shook my head. "Professor Pomello, it's really not like that."
"Say no more. I completely understand." She smiled wickedly. "Which one of them are pursuing you?"
"Both!" Lauren interjected with an excited laugh. "They both gave her rides on their hoverboards!"
"Of course they did," Professor Pomello agreed as she led the students into the classroom.
I shook my head. Professor Pomello and Lauren almost seemed conspiratorial.
"Today, we are going to have some fun. Inanna has brought for us these lovely bodega bamboos and we are going to transmute them into living self-breathing air masks that you can try on yourselves. Now each of you break off a branch like this…"
I waved a hand at Lauren and took off. I had another job to get to.
My next job run was Professor Farley's class. He was the levikinesis teacher but his real job was something else altogether.
Levikinesis was a serious field of study, but Professor Farley was a bit of a flake. All he ever really wanted to do was to windsurf all day long. That didn't mean he was not a good levikinesis teacher.
He was actually one of the best in the field.
To accommodate his idiosyncrasies, instead of replacing him with someone who might or might not be a better levikinesis teacher, they made him into an amazing coach for the boys' windsurfing team.
Since Professor Farley did not want to be too far away from where the surf was, he had the Levikinesis building built upon a small hill jutting out from the edge of Topaz Mountain.
The Levikinesis building was a bit of an afterthought, thrown together out of Professor Farley's idea of what a surf shack was supposed to look like.
The word 'shack' was not too far from what it really was.
It was a low-slung building with rusty windows and a weather-beaten door that only got that way due to some drastic measures by a couple of Professor Farley's students who had beaten it to death to achieve that patina of 'weather-beaten' that he wanted.
It was painted with a layer of aquamarine paint and then 'aged' with magik to achieve that slightly yellowish mottled color that only truly old things develop.
The Levikinesis shack was a good fifteen minute walk from Pomello's class, so by the time I got there, it was a bit past 11 am.
If I made good time, I could actually eat on time for once.
Professor Farley was standing on top of the golden hill with a large group of windsurfers. This must be his group of younger students because other than a handful of older teenagers at the lead positions, none of them were older than eight or ten.
They were all dressed in their mage black bodysuits and surfer's high top shoes. They also wore their basic black backpacks on their backs. It looked like they were going on a trip somewhere.
As I got closer, it looked as if they were in a series of geese formations.
"OK boys. Are you ready?"
A chorus of "Yes sir!" came from the group.
From his fingertips came the beginnings of a breeze. With a single shout of Command, he cast his energies into the deep blue sky.
"Dajiadohlikai!"
Suddenly, the wind picked up and a gale force of something akin a thunderstorm began to whip Professor Farley's long hair into frenzy.
Standing near the group, I barely had a chance to hold back my own hair before it began whipping into my face, stinging my eyes with its force.
My jaw dropped. That was a simple 'Go' Command. How was he able to command the wind with such a basic spell?
"Ready? On my count…Three…Two…One…Go!"
And with the word 'Go', the boys all ascended as one, in perfect unison. Within a matter of seconds they had shot up into the air and in minutes, they had all disappeared into the northern sky.