Arcane Dropout 2 Read online

  Arcane Dropout 2

  Edmund Hughes

  This digital book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this title with another person, please purchase an additional copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. All other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or persons is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2019 by Edmund Hughes

  Kindle Edition

  Contents

  Arcane Dropout 2

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  CHAPTER 32

  CHAPTER 33

  CHAPTER 34

  CHAPTER 35

  CHAPTER 36

  CHAPTER 37

  CHAPTER 38

  CHAPTER 39

  CHAPTER 40

  CHAPTER 41

  CHAPTER 42

  CHAPTER 43

  CHAPTER 44

  CHAPTER 45

  CHAPTER 46

  CHAPTER 47

  CHAPTER 48

  OTHER BOOKS BY EDMUND HUGHES

  CHAPTER 1

  Lee felt an odd rush of claustrophobia as the bindings snapped into place around his wrists, ankles, and neck. The sensation of the magic against his skin was neither hot nor cold but rather devoid of a placeable variance, like the air at true room temperature.

  He gave his arms a pull, testing the strength of his restraints. Each one pulled outward, maintaining its tautness in a manner that kept his arms stretched to either side. They weren’t connected to anything, which felt unnerving to notice and think about. After about five feet of chain, a small sphere of magical energy known officially as a tether gave off the same neon-indigo pulse as the chains.

  “Very good,” called Instructor Eileen from across the lecture hall. “Hold the spell for another ten seconds, then release.”

  Lee watched as Eliza smiled at her teacher and then shot him a conspiratorial grin. She’d been the first in their group of three to attempt the day’s spell, and of course, she’d managed it on her first try.

  “It’s not too tight around your neck, is it, Lee?” she asked.

  Lee made a couple of choking noises, stuck his tongue out, and rolled his eyes up into the back of his head. Eliza gasped, and he held the face for a couple of seconds, only stopping when he heard Toma chuckling in the background.

  “Quit being so childish. I’m serious!” said Eliza.

  “You’re too easy,” said Lee. “Anyway, the bindings are fine. They aren’t exactly a fun experience, but I’m not in pain or anything.”

  “Good.” Eliza exhaled, and Lee felt the bindings dissolve into ambient arcane essence. He rubbed his neck as he made his way back over to his desk, sitting down on top of it rather than in a chair.

  “If you would, initiates, please switch casters and targets.”

  Instructor Eileen was Primhaven’s unassuming conjuration instructor, and she heavily emphasized hands-on practice over magical theory. She was tall and pale, with a thin build and wispy black hair. She insisted on using her telekinesis constantly, oftentimes gesticulating with a floating ribbon in place of her arm.

  “Toma?” said Eliza. “Do you want to go next?”

  Toma grimaced and tapped his hands on his desk. Toma had been Lee’s closest friend during his first month at Primhaven, as much due to their matching circumstances as their compatible personalities. Toma was short in stature, with short brown hair and a charming but snaggle-toothed smile.

  “I don’t even want to try,” said Toma. “I suck balls at conjuration.”

  “Toma,” said Eliza. “If you don’t at least attempt it, you’ll never pass.”

  “But if I attempt it and fail, I’ll lose even the small, delusional bit of hope that I currently have,” said Toma.

  Eliza glared at him and glanced over at Lee, shooting him a plea for help with her eyes.

  “Toma,” said Lee. “If you can figure the spell out, it’ll be worth it. Imagine the practical uses you could put it to. It’s the ultimate defensive weapon.”

  Toma sighed, drummed his fingers on his desk, and finally stood up. “Fine. But you both are cracked if you think it’s going to work for me.”

  “He’s so confident,” said Lee with a generous roll of his eyes.

  Eliza served as the target, and Toma stood across from her, clasping his wrist as he assumed the conjuration casting stance. He took a few deep breaths as he gathered his focus and will, which was a challenge, given how abuzz the room was with activity as their fellow students attempted the same spell in their own groups.

  Lee’s attention shifted to Eliza, as it often did when he found himself getting bored. She was pretty in the classical sense, with pale skin and full lips. Her hair was the color of fresh fall leaves, and the curves of her body were enough to provide a pleasant plumpness in the chest of her initiate’s robe while staying in balance with her trim waist.

  Toma let out a loud exhalation as he attempted to cast his binding spell. A single magical handcuff closed around one of Eliza’s wrists, but the tether was faint, and it didn’t resist her much as she pulled her arm against it.

  “That was a good first try,” said Eliza.

  Lee heard a muttered joke from the direction of Kristoff’s group, followed by a round of jeering laughter from him and his friends. He glared at them, feeling genuinely angry as he saw Toma’s face redden with shame.

  “Ignore them,” said Lee. “Or, better yet, imagine using this spell to hold one of them in place for ease of punching. How’s that for motivation?”

  “Similar to how you clobbered Kristoff in your last duel?” asked Toma.

  “It was more of a beatdown than a clobbering, but yeah.” Lee made sure his voice was loud enough to carry to Kristoff’s group as he grinned and shifted forward on his desk.

  “Speaking of which,” said Eliza, “my practice duel is this afternoon. You both should come and watch.”

  Lee nodded. “I wouldn’t miss it for the—”

  “Initiates,” said Instructor Eileen, “please keep your focus on the task at hand. If any of you has yet to attempt the spell, do so now.”

  Eileen’s telekinetically manipulated ribbon pulled outward toward Lee’s group like the needle of a compass. Eliza shrugged, and Toma moved to sit down at his desk.

  “Ah, my turn, then,” said Lee. “Just have to, uh, stretch out my shoulder a bit first.”

  He slowly stood up, scanning the room for a certain somewhat unreliable ghost, but didn’t spot her. Tess was prone to distraction, especially when it came to the time Lee spent in class.

  “Here, I don’t mind being the target again,” said Eliza. “Whenever you’re ready, Lee.”

  “Sure, sure.” Lee slowly began cracking each individual
knuckle. Eliza rolled her eyes and folded her arms. He managed a solid thirty seconds of stalling before it became too much for his friends.

  “Just try it already, Lee,” said Toma. “You’re good at conjuration. At least I had an excuse.”

  Lee shrugged. It was easy to seem good at conjuration—or at least telekinesis—when your girlfriend was a moderately powerful ghost. He scowled as he looked around again. Where the hell was she?

  “Sorry!” Tess almost crashed into him as she phased through one of the nearby walls. “I’m here, I’m here. Dear me, I’m not late, am I?”

  Lee couldn’t do much more than briefly raise an eyebrow at her without attracting the attention of his friends, who were blissfully unaware of mystic entities. Tess was panting, and with her hands on her knees, she took a second to catch her breath.

  Outside of Lee’s mystic stream, Tess looked like any other ghost, though she ranked a fair bit higher than most on the cuteness scale. Her body was ethereal blue in color and mostly see-through. She was petite, with long, glossy hair that looked perpetually windblown and a smile that brought out dimples in her cheeks. She’d taken to wearing more modern clothing over the past few weeks and was currently dressed in a t-shirt and yoga pants.

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” said Tess. “I tried to stick near the classroom, like you wanted me to, but Instructor Mattis had some of her reindeer on campus. Have you seen them before? They’re huge! Anyway, one ran by me, and I was oh-so-curious how it would feel to ride on the back of it, so I grabbed onto its antlers and… It was amazing! It was so much fun, Lee! You have to—"

  “Alright,” said Lee. “Now that I’m finally ready, I’ll cast the spell.”

  He assumed the conjuration casting stance, gripping his wrist with his free hand and lifting his palm to point outward toward Eliza. Tess looked slightly annoyed at being interrupted, but she gave him a nod, and Lee felt her opening herself up to him.

  Primhaven was a school for mages, and Lee was a mystic. He didn’t have the Potential, the inherent ability to cast spells from arcane essence. Because of that, his only option to keep himself from being discovered and memory-wiped was to form a pact with Tess, a former student and mage. The pact allowed her to lend her spellcasting ability to Lee when she was near enough, though he was more limited in how often he could cast.

  “Okay,” said Lee. “Here we go.”

  “Just concentrate, Lee,” said Eliza. “You can do it.”

  Lee exhaled, focusing on applying the spirit essence lent to him by Tess into the spell pattern Instructor Eileen had been teaching them. He had a strong will, and he felt the instant the conjuration binding burst into being.

  He also felt the instant that everything went completely wrong.

  CHAPTER 2

  Lee stared at Eliza in horror, unsure of what he’d done wrong. The conjuration bindings looked secure enough, and they gave off the same neon-indigo glow that Eliza’s and Toma’s had earlier. They were just attached to all the wrong places, as were the chains.

  Instead of connecting to her wrists and ankles, the manacles had secured high on her thighs and shoulders. The chains wrapped around her body instead of pulling straight outward—two twisting in circles around both of her breasts, while a third ran straight up her legs and up the cleft of her buttocks.

  “Lee!” cried Eliza. Or at least that’s what Lee thought she was trying to say. Another chain was pulled across her open mouth, effectively muzzling her.

  Eliza was bound in a manner that had more in common with a BDSM session than anything appropriate for the classroom. Lee gaped at her for a couple of seconds before glancing down at his casting stance and trying to figure out a solution.

  “Hold on,” he said. “I can fix this.”

  He tried to focus his will and straighten the bindings in the manner that Instructor Eileen had taught them to do when securing a resistant opponent. The chains across Eliza’s body tightened, squeezing her breasts and rubbing firmly against her crotch. She let out a small, shuddering moan and her cheeks turned bright red.

  “Whoa.” A perverted smile spread across Toma’s face. “Can you teach me how to do that? For, uh, practical purposes.”

  Lee shot a look at Tess, who was nearly doubled over with laughter. He tried again to untangle the bindings from their current lewd state. Eliza shuddered and brought one of her hands, which were still free, down to the chain caressing her crotch in an attempt to hold it still.

  “Release the spell, Initiate Amaranth,” said Instructor Eileen. “I have no idea how you managed to bungle it in such a way.”

  The spell almost felt like it had a mind of its own. It gave Eliza a second, rougher squeeze, the chains around her thighs pulling her legs open. Eliza moaned and leaned her head back. Lee closed his eyes and reeled in his will, only then managing to dismiss the conjured bindings.

  She immediately collapsed into a pile on the tile floor. Lee hurried to her side and set a hand on her shoulder.

  “Eliza,” he said. “Hey. Are you okay?”

  She caught her breath and glared at him.

  “I’m really sorry,” said Lee. “Honestly, I don’t know what—”

  Eliza slapped his hand away and stormed out of the classroom. Instructor Eileen seemed to be doing her best to avoid having to deal with the situation, and she busied herself with helping another group, though most of the rest of the class’s attention had been firmly fixated on the scene.

  “You’re cracked, Lee,” said Toma. “She’s going to be pissed at you for days.”

  “That’s not what I was trying to do,” he said. “It almost feels like someone sabotaged my spell.”

  He crossed his arms and shot an accusatory glance in Tess’s direction. She shrugged and did a rather weak imitation of innocence.

  There wasn’t much time left in the class, and as soon as it was over, Lee split off from Toma, claiming he had to use the bathroom. He waited until he’d made sure all the stalls were empty before turning to face Tess and pulling her into his mystic stream.

  “Would you care to explain to me just what the hell was going on during that spell?” he snapped.

  Tess looked as though she was doing her best not to laugh. She looked like any other mischievous teenage girl while she was under the effects of Lee’s mystic stream. Her hair was dark brown, and her cheeks had a dusting of freckles that made it even easier to tell when she was trying to suppress a smile.

  Lee did his best to ignore the way her tight clothing playfully presented the petite curves of her breasts and butt. She was cute in a way that tempted him to start undressing her with his eyes, while simultaneously being cute enough to make him feel bad about it.

  “To be honest, I’m not really sure either,” she said. “I used to play around with my conjuration bindings back when I went to Primhaven. I never got the chance to use that particular version of the spell on anyone. At least, up until now.”

  “So you didn’t do it intentionally?” asked Lee.

  “Of course not!” said Tess. “I wasn’t trying to sabotage you, I promise. I think it has more to do with the way my influence affects your casting.”

  Lee ran a hand across his forehead. He stared into the bathroom’s wide mirror, leaning forward against the sink.

  “What does that mean, exactly?” he asked.

  “Well, at the very least it means that you should probably try your spells outside of class first,” said Tess.

  “Eliza is never going to forgive me,” he muttered. “It was in front of the other Initiates, too. She’s already had a hard enough time fitting in.”

  “I think Eliza would have been fine with it, in a different context,” said Tess. “She’ll forgive you.”

  Lee sighed. When he’d first arrived at Primhaven, he’d never thought that he’d end up staying at the college and thereby needing to keep up his ruse for so long. He was no mage, and he’d only come to find out what had happened to Zoe, his wayward sister who’d been missing for
the past five years.

  He’d been at Primhaven for nearly a month, and in that time he’d made friends. He’d become an apprentice to one of the instructors, even. He’d gotten comfortable, and as much as he hated to admit it, having his conjuration spell backfire so spectacularly was a much-needed reminder of who he was and what he really needed to be doing.

  “I suppose I should head to the Spell Range,” he muttered. “Eliza mentioned that she was doing her practice duel today. It’ll give me another chance to apologize to her.”

  Tess’s amusement finally wilted as she heard the tone of his voice. She pulled in closer to him, frowning, and taking Lee’s hands into hers. He could feel her touch while she was in his mystic stream, and in almost every way other than being invisible to people other than Lee, she was basically normal.

  “I do feel bad,” said Tess. “I’ll try to be more focused next time. I can’t promise it won’t happen again, but I’ll try my best.”

  She squeezed his hands. Lee smiled as he noticed the concern in her expression.

  “You’d better, or you’re fired,” he said.

  “What? You can’t fire me!”

  “I can, and I will,” said Lee. “I’ll put out an application for a new Associate Ethereal Manager of Spellcasting and mail you your last paycheck.”

  “You aren’t even paying me!”

  “Exactly.”

  “Lee Amaranth, you’re such a meanie,” said Tess with a scowl.

  He grinned at her and leaned in to sneak a quick kiss. She turned her face, giving him her cheek instead. He tried again, kissing the other cheek, and then again, before laughing and seizing her by the waist. He lifted her up onto the sink, cupped her cheek, and gave her a long, sensual kiss.

  “You wouldn’t really ever fire me, would you?” asked Tess.

  “Hmmmm…”

  “Lee!”

  CHAPTER 3

  Lee took the long way to the Spell Range, walking arm in arm with Tess and enjoying the fair weather. Primhaven’s campus was climate-controlled through magical means, an oasis of green grass, flowers, and fruit trees in the middle of the otherwise-frigid northern Alaskan tundra.