Chapter 23
He would not be defeated.
~*~
The pair arrived back at the house. It had taken longer than normal as Seneca tried to hold his insides in, but he knew it was a losing battle. He had to get to a bathroom as soon as possible or he'd have a major problem on his hands and in his pants.
Yuzuki came out of the kitchen as Deliah opened the door, letting Seneca in before her. "Where were you?" she asked them. "I didn't know either of you were going to be out tonight,"
Seneca reached for the wall to steady himself before he started up the stairs without taking off his coat. Any extra movement was a bad idea, he just had to go and be gross in the bathroom. Being human was gross.
"I went to the library and Sen was at his teacher's place. They have book club once in a while, apparently," Deliah gave him a sidelong glance as she took off her coat and he made his way up the stairs.
Yuzuki stood next to Deliah. "You didn't poison him, did you?" she whispered in her ear.
"I'm sure you 'found' him like that," Yuzuki rolled her eyes and walked to the kitchen. "Did you happen to eat while you were finding him?" she asked.
"Actually, I could use a warm beverage if you're offering," she quietly called after her, walking to the kitchen as well.
Seneca walked up the first flight of stairs to the girls' level, and stopped to take a shaky breath. Everything hurt, he was shaking, and he felt clammy. Only one flight of narrow- and steep- stairs to go.
"Henry, I'm sorry I made you come out looking for Krista with me when you felt ill. No one should ever have to do anything when they're ill," he said to the air. He gripped the handrail and pulled himself up the stairs.
He'd been thinking of Henry for a few days now. It had been almost three years since his death and it was still a dull pain in his chest when he remembered the events of that night. But none of it ever had to happen again. That damn sorceress Illia was dead, he'd killed Blake himself, and Seneca's father had been killed by Gloria's mother, so everything was as it should be. Henry was the only thing missing, and he deserved to have lived. "I miss you buddy," he said, but then his stomach flipped and he decided he'd better make a mad dash to the bathroom instead of reminiscing about the past.
~*~
Gloria woke up with the smell of smoke in her nose and Aquilla's arm over her forehead. Aquila was one to throw arms during the night, and that meant that Gloria often had a hard time sleeping. Aquila slept like a rock every night, which Gloria was envious of. What time of the month was it? Was it near a full moon? Would she be able to see Seneca soon? It had been so long, it seemed, since she'd seen Seneca and she craved his attention. She wanted to feel safe and certain again, not attracted to someone she didn't know that well. Alex was walking temptation and danger, and she didn't need that, she decided. She needed to see her boyfriend, maybe her mother and father too, and that'd be better. She'd feel more centered.
At least she had Midshore to lean on and prevent her from doing anything stupid, right?
Very gingerly, Gloria slid her head out from under Aquila's arm and she crawled out of the tent. She could really use a shower, but the water would be freezing this early in the morning and she'd probably shiver all day. Better to use a scrubberoo spell and skip the dream of being satisfied with hot water.
Maria thumped the ground as she trudged her way around the camp, scrounging out something to eat for breakfast. She never was very interested in cooking at the homestead, she always wanted to be handed stuff. Stuff to do, stuff to sort, stuff to eat. She didn't really belong here, Gloria realized. Everyone else had an interest in animals or plants, Maria was here for... spirits? Maybe she was using the fellowship as an excuse to be away from city life and out in the older country where there were more haunted places? Were there any haunted places at all?
Having found a sleeve of cookies, Maria joined Gloria at the fire pit to warm herself. It was a chilly morning, and with the slight breeze it was even colder. Gloria noticed Maria's expensive shoes were dirty and caked with mud. A simple Scruberoo spell would fix that, but Maria had been told to not wear anything expensive, and she hadn't listened. Gloria wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of fixing her problems when she didn't ask for them to be fixed.
"It's already Wednesday, do you think Miss Midshore will help me to contact the spirits today?" Maria asked.
"I would think night time would be the best time for that, but I'm not sure. You'd have to ask-"
"Yes, I can do that with you tonight," Midshore huffed as she sat down. She seemed a bit more agitated than normal. "-But you'll have to follow my directions to the letter, are we clear? There are several categories and influences when it comes to spirits. Good ones, bad ones, mischievous ones, guiding ones. Dangerous ones. We will need to be careful,"
"Yes, ma'am," Maria said, looking embarrassed.
"I also need to give Aquila and Alex a lesson or two in magic. They are untrained and therefore dangerous. Young Alex seems more arrogant than Aquila, but we shall see. They could use teaching, and only a fool would pass up on training from a superior,"
"You're a superior?" Maria asked in wonder. It was the only time Gloria had seen Maria in what could only be described as awe.
Midshore eyed her with a friendly twinkle in her eye while keeping up the statuesque facade. "Young lady, when you've been restoring souls to their bodies and resurrecting the dead for as long as I have, it's very easy to call yourself a superior over those who have hardly practiced magic in their life,"
"Do you have superiors?" Gloria asked her, realizing that she'd never thought to wonder.
"There are a few higher spellcasters who set down the laws and creeds of our kind. Rhiannon is our head and she sits in on government meetings and ensures our freedoms. There are several spellcasters above me, but many more below,"
Aquila walked over to the group of women with a bowl of oatmeal and poured water from the kettle by the fire into her bowl to cook the oats. "Did I overhear correctly that you're going to teach Alex and I how to cast some spells?" she asked.
"Yes," Midshore confirmed. "You and Alex are woefully behind in your mastery of your powers. Have you had any training? I understand it was only within the last few years that spellcasters could be public about their powers, but did your parents find you a teacher or tutor?"
"No, we didn't have the money," Aquila shrugged. "My siblings had stronger power than I did and I didn't get along with my parents very well, so I didn't get training and I left home as soon as I could. I'm not sure why it's important though,"
"From what I've observed, and others agree with my conclusions, spellcasters need direction to meet their full potential, and different types of magic suit different spellcasters better than others. If you don't know which magic suits you, you could overpower a spell and cause serious damage,"
"Nah, that's not going to happen." Alex swaggered over and sat down next to Gloria. "I've been living with my powers my whole life, how could they overcome me? Sounds like superstition and fear to me,"
Midshore eyed him coolly and noted where he sat. "How much control do you have of your power, would you say?" she asked him.
"Probably a good hand on it. I can start a fire, or clean my teeth. I can find a hidden object pretty well. I think that's adequate, I'm not sure why I should be scared of myself,"
"Would you duel me?" she asked.
"Duel?" Alex's eyes widened. "What do you mean by duel?"
"A duel. First person to knock the other to the ground wins," Midshore explained. Seeing his hesitancy she egged him on. "Come now, I've got probably 30 years on you, putting me close to 55, no? How spry could a 55 year old woman be?"
"You sure don't look like you're 55," whispered Maria.
"Thank you, dear. It's the hair care. Alex, what do you say? Can a young, confident man knock an aging woman off of her feet in a duel?"
Gloria rolled her eyes, knowing very well how powerful and articulate Midshore was with her power. Alex raised his eyebrows and breathed in. "Well, it would be rude to turn you down, so sure. When and where?"
"Right now."
~*~
The sun broke open through Seneca's window. It was incredibly sunny, how could it possibly be so sunny? It had been cloudy for days and the day he felt his worst, the sun wanted to burn out his corneas. His mouth was dry and tasted like he hadn't brushed his teeth in a week, and his water cup next to his bed was empty. Lovely.
Staggering from the bed, the floor seemed to undulate beneath him like a ship at sea. He reached for the doorknob, pulling it open and feeling fresh air on his face. He hadn't realized that the air in his room was stale until that moment, and after quickly listening and watching for other people, he started to shakily peel clothes off of his body. He'd slept in his clothes. What was he, 11?
"And I needed a book from the library, that's why I was over there. Jeez, Yuzuki, would you drop it?" Seneca heard Deliah saying from the foyer on the first floor. "I wasn't stalking Seneca, I just happened to see him!"
"There is no library in that area of campus and you were gone for hours! Are you telling me that you'd walk to the other side of campus in the middle of the night for the scenic route home? That's ridiculous, Deliah! You need to let him go!"
"There's nothing to let go of! I was just-"
"Getting a book, right," Yuzuki answered. "I don't want to hear it anymore. Del-" she then spoke too softly for Seneca to hear, and he walked into the bathroom to shower and clean out his mouth. He threw his shirt to the floor and was just about to close the door when he heard more of the conversation.
"But I don't care that he has a girlfriend!" Deliah shouted. "God, I'm so tired of pretending to care!"
Seneca froze. He'd been turning Deliah down at every chance, he'd been trying to be kind about it. Even his coldness seemed to attract her and he didn't know what to do anymore. What could he do? He didn't have any campus friends besides his grammar teacher and it would hardly be appropriate to ask if he could stay with her. Could he afford his own apartment? He had a small stipend from this mother for things, but that wouldn't be enough to sustain him. When he'd left his mother's house to live on his own, he'd spent all of his money building up their house. He'd not had a job and just floated on savings and his room and board was paid for by his mother now.
She was trying to get him to forget about Gloria. To move on. His old friends were trying to squeeze themselves into his life and they were filtering in through his room mates. They were cunning, no question about that. They'd always been manipulative and teasing. Nothing seemed to bother them no matter how unkind it was. They once put a mouse in a girl's lunch box and laughed about it. They'd stolen a boy's clothes in gym class and not revealed them until they were hanging from the trees outside after school. How they'd had the time and skill to get them up there is still beyond Seneca, but he didn't like them. He'd not broken with them was because they were 'well bred', rich, his mother encouraged it, and if he hadn't gone along with them he'd have been a target of theirs as well.
What could he do? He wished Henry was here so that he could solve his problems. Henry was a good problem solver, always knew how to steer back to the correct course. What was the correct course? He should probably ask to be put in different housing.
He wished he could talk to Gloria, but what would she be able to do? What would Gloria do? She'd tell him to put on his grown up pants and not to hide. There was no use in hiding. And maybe Seneca should talk about his awesome, smoking hot girlfriend more often. Make sure everyone knew that she was amazing and a wonder to behold.
Seneca straightened his shoulders as much as he could before he felt stiff and he looked at himself in the mirror. He would not be cowed by a girl who thought she'd walk all over his boundaries. He would not be defeated.
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