Arcane Dropout Read online

  The amusement faded from Tess’s face, and she looked momentarily crestfallen. She stayed like that for a couple of seconds before perking up again, raising a finger as though queuing a question.

  “I was modestly talented with magic before I…” She trailed off. “What I mean is, if you did form a pact with me, I could become powerful enough—even as a ghost—to cast minor spells.”

  “Not happening, I already said that,” said Lee.

  “I’m just throwing it out there,” said Tess. “You might find what you need here in the archives. You might see the need to leave after that, anyway. I’m just saying, if you did, for whatever reason, need to stay at the school under this pretense…”

  “I wouldn’t leave without at least bringing you on one date,” said Lee. “I’m the definition of chivalrous. I’d make it the best date you ever had, trust me. Now, about this door that I need you to open…”

  “You had better hold to that,” said Tess. “I’m expecting flowers, and chocolates, and lots of whimsical strolling.”

  She finally stepped toward the door, rubbing her hands together and leaning her head from side to side. Lee released his mystic stream, returning her to her ethereal state. Tess pressed a hand against the wood, pushed it forward, and—

  Light flashed as a spell triggered, flinging Tess across the room, despite her ghostly nature. She let out a pained gasp as she landed, one arm twisting underneath her awkwardly. Lee ran over to her and crouched at her side.

  “Tess!” he said. “Are you okay? When you said it was more complicated, I didn’t realize—”

  “I... thought I could just sneak around it.” She let out a small cough and pulled herself up. “I’m alright, but bless you for being so concerned. You should probably hide, though.”

  “What? Why?”

  Tess pointed a finger past him. Lee turned his attention around to the window by the door they’d come through. One of Lead Instructor Mattis’s squirrels was peering through from outside, staring right at them.

  CHAPTER 10

  “Over here!” called Tess.

  Lee’s default strategy upon being nearly caught trespassing was to stay totally still. The squirrel had let out several chirping hisses before running off, however, and he got the sense that there was no way for him avoid detection out in the open by acting like he was a piece of furniture.

  Tess had hurried over to the side of the room and was gesturing an ethereal hand at a small closet in the corner. Lee moved as quickly and silently as he could, stopping alongside her.

  “What’s this?” he whispered.

  “I’m pretty sure it’s a closet for books damaged beyond repair,” whispered Tess. “Or at least it was in my time.”

  The sound of the library’s main door being unlocked made the decision for him. Lee opened the closet and slid into it, pressing his back against a pile of old, disheveled books that ran from floor to ceiling. Tess joined him inside, though once he’d closed the door, he realized there was barely enough room for them both.

  This was somewhat of a problem with her still in her ethereal state. Touching a ghost outside of a mystic stream was one of those feelings that, even for someone familiar with it, was high up on the list of unpleasant sensations. It was somewhere between licking a battery and having a tooth drilled, except more spread out.

  “Tess,” Lee whispered. “I’m going to have to pull you into my mystic stream. Try not to move.”

  Lee exhaled, triggering his mystic stream. Tess was in front of him in the closet, and as her body gained form, he felt a sudden cushion of warmth and softness mushed against his abdomen—and his crotch.

  “Oh goodness, Lee!” said Tess. “Is that a fencing cane in your pocket, or are you just happy to—”

  “Shhhh!” he hissed.

  The library’s main door creaked as it opened, and slow footsteps echoed through the empty chamber.

  “Relax,” said Tess. “Seriously, relax. They can only hear you,. So as long as you don’t make any noise, you should be fine.”

  Her body was tight against Lee’s, and there wasn’t even an inch of space behind or to either side for him to adjust himself. He heard Tess make a not-displeased-sounding noise and felt her tiny butt push back and forth against his crotch.

  “Mmmm,” said Tess. “Too bad I’m not facing you or I’d collect one of those kisses you owe me.”

  Football. Mowing the grass. Lying in a freezing-cold tub of water without a cute ghost girl’s butt threatening to make him pop a boner. Lee cycled through every trick he’d ever used to keep his arousal under control, while Tess seemed to delight in the effect she was having on him.

  “Is there room for you to put your arms around me?” whispered Tess. She took one of his hands and pulled it to her front, letting it settle just underneath one of her breasts. “There is, see? There’s even room for me to reach back.”

  The footsteps drew closer. Lee tried to hold his breath, but he ended up sucking in air loud enough to be audible as he felt Tess’s soft, hot hand sliding underneath his robe and into his pants.

  “I told you I like to play pranks,” she whispered. “I call this one ‘let’s see if Lee can be quiet while I’m teasing him.’ It’ll be fun, I promise.”

  Tess leaned her head back against his shoulder and twisted at a slight angle, giving her hand room to slide further in. Her fingers grazed Lee’s cock, tickling at first, then feeling good enough to make him hate her and her stupid prank.

  “It’s thicker than a fencing cane, that’s for sure,” she whispered. “More fun to touch, too.”

  Lee had to bite his tongue as Tess’s soft fingers and palm began to stroke up his full length. He was as hard as he could ever remember being, and he couldn’t believe that it was because of a ghost. There was a certain element of inherent shame in that fact that only a mystic could truly understand.

  He was forced to consider the potential for a much deeper level of shame as the footsteps slowly drew closer to his hiding spot. He imagined Lead Instructor Mattis opening the closet and discovering him, aroused and exposed, and he felt like cringing out of existence.

  The pumping movements of Tess’s hand continued, and she moved against him with the rest of her body, too. If she wanted to play with fire, so be it. Lee let one of his hands slide up and over one of her breasts through her dress. Her nipples were springy and nicely sized, like pencil erasers, but larger. Like gumdrops, almost.

  The footsteps passed Lee by, and given how close Tess had brought him to his limit, that was a miracle in more ways than one. He waited until they faded completely and the creaky library door had been pulled shut before breathing a sigh of relief.

  “Hehehe,” giggled Tess. “That was so much fun. Here, this closet locks from the outside. If you drop your mystic stream, I’ll slip through and let you out.”

  Lee continued groping her breast. He let his other hand slip down to the bottom of her voluminous dress and pull up the hem. Tess took a sharp breath and shuddered against him as he cupped one of her buttocks.

  She was naked underneath. There was nothing stopping Lee from feeling the smoothness of her thighs, the silky soft strip of hair running up her crotch, and the hot folds of her slit. He gently slid a finger into Tess and felt her gasp in response.

  “My turn,” he whispered. “Oh, what’s this? You aren’t wearing any panties, Tess?”

  “They’re... called bloomers,” she whispered, with labored breath. “And…” Tess cleared her throat. “There’s no need. I’m a ghost, it’s not like I have to.”

  “Really?” whispered Lee. “But what if somebody decides to take advantage of you?”

  He lifted her up slightly, pressing her forward against the closed door and letting the tip of his erection tap at her hot entranceway.

  “If some guy just, for example, pulled you into a tight closet and slid your dress up—”

  Lee pulled her downward, sliding partially into her.

  “You’d be defenseles
s.”

  He thrust completely in, almost shivering at the raw pleasure of it. He’d never had sex with a ghost before while in his mystic stream, but it felt no different from being with a living woman. If anything, it felt even better.

  “Oh!” moaned Tess. “I—oh, Lee!”

  “How’s this for a prank, Tess?”

  He pumped into her harder, pinning her body between his cock and the door with each thrust. He pulled the front of her dress down, freeing one of her breasts completely, which he began groping in earnest. Tess let out a high-pitched squeal as he gave her nipple a soft pinch.

  It was hot, it was illicit, and it felt incredible. Lee was taking revenge on the cute, mischievous ghost, punishing her for her earlier teasing in one of the few ways he felt like she’d understand. Tess moaned as he pumped into her harder, finally letting out a climactic, breaking cry as her body briefly seized against the door in orgasm.

  Lee only had a few more thrusts in him, but he made them count, delving deep into her with each one. He hugged Tess tight as he came, trying not to think about the mess he’d be leaving behind in the closet. Good thing it was for unrepairable books, he thought, through the lingering fog of his pleasure.

  He released his mystic stream at some point after they’d both caught their breath, but only for long enough for Tess to let him out of the closet. After pulling her back into it, they stood across from each other, both awkwardly avoiding eye contact.

  “Well,” said Tess. “It doesn’t seem as though you’ll be getting into the archives tonight. That’s a shame.”

  “I’ll find a way in, eventually,” said Lee. “It might take a little longer than I thought, though.”

  Tess nodded slowly. The tension Lee felt between them was weird, almost unbearable.

  “You should probably be getting back to your dorm, if you don’t wish to end up on the Head Wizard’s naughty list,” said Tess.

  “Yeah, I probably should.” Lee shrugged. “So… let me know when you want that date, alright?”

  Tess flashed a dimpled smile at him. “One per month was what we agreed upon, I believe.”

  Lee rolled his eyes. “What we just did counts as one, doesn’t it?”

  “Lee Amaranth, you have so very much to learn about women,” said Tess. She laughed and ran off, pulling out of range of his mystic stream as she called after him, “But I did have fun tonight!”

  CHAPTER 11

  “So, are you going to tell me just where the hell you disappeared to last night?” asked Toma.

  Lee leaned up on his bed, glancing away from his phone and over at his dorm mate. They still had a half hour before the initiate orientation began, and he’d been whiling away the minutes by trying to load a few webpages through Primhaven’s notoriously slow Wi-Fi. Toma was sitting on his bed, and he’d set the Japanese light novel he was reading down as he asked his question.

  “I felt sick,” said Lee. “Had to run to the bathroom.”

  Toma looked skeptical. “You didn’t get back to the dorm until pretty late. It’s a little hard for me to believe that you were in the bathroom that entire time.”

  “I was still a little light-headed after, so I went for a walk,” he said.

  “That’s plausible, but unlikely,” said Toma. “I’m not cracked, Lee. I can tell that there’s more to this.”

  Lee chuckled. “If there was, trust me, I would weigh whether or not to tell based on if it would be useful information for you to know or if it would just make more trouble for you. That’s what friends are for.”

  Toma looked like he was going to press the point, but he hesitated, and after a couple of seconds, he grinned as though something of what Lee had just said resonated deeply with him.

  “Fair enough,” said Toma. “But next time, let me know if you’re in a situation where you need to ditch me. A simple heads up will do. It’s a matter of survival.”

  “Saying that I ‘ditched you’ seems a tad dramatic.”

  “It’s accurate though, isn’t it?”

  Lee rolled his eyes and lobbed one of his pillows in Toma’s general direction. Toma caught it and pushed it onto the floor.

  “I’d retaliate, but I know better than to start a pillow fight with someone capable of telekinesis spells,” he said.

  It took Lee longer than it should have for it to register that Toma was talking about him.

  “Ah, yeah,” said Lee. “Better be careful.”

  “I wonder what this orientation is going to involve,” said Toma. “I really hope it doesn’t end up being—”

  A sudden, surprised screech came from the dormitory common room. Lee, Toma, and most of the other male initiates rushed into the shared area to discover Kristoff standing outside his door, hair and face covered in mashed potatoes. A bowl with a string attached to it had apparently been positioned over his door, rigged to tip as soon as someone pushed it open.

  “Who the fuck did this?” barked Kristoff.

  A couple of laughs, some stifled, some not, came from the other teenagers. Kristoff scanned the room with narrowed eyes until his gaze settled on Lee.

  “Amaranth!” he shouted. “You think this is funny? It was you, wasn’t it?”

  “Lee hasn’t left the dorm all morning,” said Toma. “I can vouch for that, and so can anyone who’s been sitting out here.”

  “I didn’t see anything,” said one of the other boys. “Maybe someone on the second floor set it up?”

  “Ridiculous!” said Kristoff. “Someone obviously is to blame for this trickery!”

  “Maybe it was a ghost?” said Lee.

  Kristoff glared at him, but he didn’t even bother looking back. Instead, he moved through the common room, glancing around and feeling oddly disappointed when he didn’t see Tess watching and giggling from somewhere nearby, as he’d expected.

  “If you want to pick a fight, Amaranth, I’d be more than happy to oblige you,” said Kristoff. “How about we—”

  “How about we what?” asked Lead Instructor Mattis, as she pushed her way into the common room. “Go ahead, Initiate Gusman. Finish your sentence.”

  Kristoff’s face reddened, and he seemed to remember the potatoes that were still caked over his hair and forehead. He disappeared back into his room, and Mattis flashed the slightest of smiles.

  She wore her black and gold robes, and a small owl with grey and white plumage was perched on her shoulder. Her hair was tucked into the neckline of her hood, though a few brown and green-streaked locks hung loose across her shoulders.

  “Gather your things and come with me,” said Mattis. “The orientation will begin early this morning.”

  Lee only took the time to pull on his blue and grey robe before heading outside to join the others. Instructor Mattis had already gathered the female initiates, and she began leading the group across the college grounds.

  It was a warm day with a mild breeze, both of which seemed to emphasize how little Primhaven’s weather had to do with the naturally frigid local climate. The sky overhead was overcast with dark splotches, but Lee would have put money on the snow never making it inside the magical field that insulated the campus, even if it did begin to fall in earnest.

  “All of you had your introduction to the Ewix Center last night,” said Mattis as she began leading the initiates to the east. “Aside from containing the dining hall, where options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served throughout the day, it also houses the gym, the computer lab, the mixed lounge, and the steam baths.”

  The last one was enough to make Lee glance over at Toma, and he chuckled when he saw the slightly red-faced and not-so-slightly perverted expression he wore.

  “Directly to the east of the Ewix Center and just above the women’s dormitories is where you’ll find the Spell Range, for casting practice,” said Mattis. “This is essential for all of you as initiates to understand from the very beginning. Magic is dangerous, and all experimentation should be done in the appropriate place.”

  The
Spell Range reminded Lee of a firing range except with more thought put into its design. It was broken up into massive, curved sections, each subdivided into a number of closed lanes where spells could be safely cast at metallic copper target dummies down at the other end. There weren’t any mages within the ones that Lee could see, but he could still hear the sound of a distant commotion as they made their way deeper into the range.

  “At the center lie the dueling chambers,” said Mattis. “As initiates, you’ll need special permission before entering one without an instructor.”

  “Even if we have someone in mind to duel?” asked Kristoff. He shot a look in Lee’s direction that was hard to miss.

  “Especially if you have someone in mind to duel,” said Mattis. “There are four chambers in total, one on top of another, which you can access by using the stairs winding along the outside of the tower, though it’s unusual for more than one chamber to be occupied at a time.”

  “I can hear noise from inside,” said Eliza. “Is someone dueling right now?”

  “Feel free to take a look,” said Mattis. “The windows are made of crystal glyph glass, so you needn’t worry about any stray spells coming your way.”

  The entire class of initiates moved to take Mattis up on her offer at once, rushing toward the comparatively limited window viewing space looking into the first-level dueling chamber. Lee was one of the lucky few to find a spot, and he winced at what he saw within.

  Instructor Harper was one of the arcane combatants. She stood near the center of the chamber, arms held up in a pose that looked somewhat like a stance for martial arts. Her golden hair was in its usual, intricate braid, and she wore black yoga pants along with a baggy grey sleeveless top that reminded Lee of the loose A-shirts gym rats wore to show off their muscles. It left the edge of her black sports bra visible underneath, but Harper was moving before he could appreciate the sight.