The Rookie Spellslinger

By Patricia Harrington-Duff

Succeeding in her quest might be a monstrous mistake.

 

Alexandra isn't a monster magnet. Honest, not at all, no matter how willingly magical critters obey her or how often fanged things creep from the shadows to follow her home. They're usually not man-eaters, after all! But she's tired of her outsider status, both in her own half-human family and at the academy of magic.

Alex has a plan to remake her reputation. An impossible plan. A plan so crazy that even the power-hungry Lord Mayor wants a stake – just in case. All Alex has to do is unlock the long-sealed workshop of the legendary spellslinger Corsair . . .

 

Her human allies have their own devious agendas. Her greatest assets may be her Dwarvish best friend and the very "monsters" she wants to repudiate. And Corsair? Less dead than advertised – and more treacherous. Friendship, honor, identity, it's all on the line for Alex. Will success be the biggest mistake of her life?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Patricia Harrington-Duff
• Release date: Jul 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9798988089902

Patricia Harrington-Duff

Patricia Harrington-Duff is a software engineer specializing in space missions. She writes to indulge her love of tales of adventure, misfits, and magical mayhem. She lives in Maryland with her husband, two children and a cat that needs his emotional support humans.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Monster Magnet

Alex’s apprenticeship in Master Sly’s Ghoul, Rodent and Venomous Eggplant research facility came with one obvious perk - guaranteed clear passage through the halls of the Wizardry Guild. Other students squeezed to the side like they were avoiding the plague. She didn’t have to elbow her way through the crowd to get to class, or get her nose stuck in the smelly armpit of one of the taller boys. The Wizardry Guildmaster himself couldn’t have strode through the building any faster. She supposed that had to count for something. As for other advantages, well, Alex couldn’t think of any.

To be fair, the students were actually making way for the grunting ghoul she was shepherding before her. It was barely the size of an eight-year-old and bobbed as it moved forward on splayed legs that were all muscle and tendon. Its wrinkled grey skin was mostly bare, with a smattering of coarse body hair striping down its back and a stiff hair ruff around its knees. Why did ghouls have knee hair, anyway?

Ahead of her, a pair of girls in swishing dance dresses hadn’t noticed her approach until the ghoul grunted. The girl with the pink hair-bow glanced over her shoulder and shrieked.

It’s the Monster Girl! Hair-bow girl tripped and fell over her friend as they scrambled to escape. As they turned, Alex recognized the second girl from her Practicum class. Curly hair, sequined purse, usually giggling in the front row of class with the popular girls. What was her name?

Oh, please, stop being ridiculous; we’re all wizardry students, snapped Alex, making eye contact. It’s just one small ghoul and it’s leashed. Besides, it’s already had a juicy sewer rat for breakfast. And they don’t eat humans. Usually.

Curly-hair shoved her purse out in front of her like a sequined shield, her eyes bugging out, and the two girls retreated into the crowd.

Alex cast a glance over her shoulder. Students were still racing this way and that, squeezing by on the other side of the corridor. She sighed. Amazing that she could be surrounded by so many fellow students and yet feel so very alone. When she scored the internship, Alex thought it would come with some level of acceptance. It was proof that she belonged here in the Wizardry Guild, wasn’t it? Why did she always feel like the outsider? These were the moments when it helped to have her little pet Greeneyes curled up on her shoulder, ready to give her a nuzzle or chirrup of encouragement. He looked like a ball of mottled teal fuzz with owlish eyes, peering out through the locks of Alex’s unruly hair. But Greeneyes had the attention span of a toddler and was off chasing squirrels or birds or whatever else caught his fancy.

Alex tugged on the magical leash and poked the ghoul’s shoulder with two fingers. The professor had given her a prod to use, but with her natural monster talent, she had better control if she touched the thing. She could sense its mood that way. Right now, it was still drowsy and not likely to fight her orders. Good. She only needed to get it around the corner and down two flights of stairs to the lab. She had to remember to keep her mental orders short, specific, and literal. Ghouls could understand walk forward, but they didn’t get sarcasm.

Alex prodded her charge a few steps further and to the next corridor. She hesitated briefly at the chain hooked across the opening. The wooden sign hanging from the chain was pockmarked with dents and what could be tooth marks. Alex had been afraid to ask Professor Sly what had gnawed it, but the message was still legible. The first line was in large black block letters:

DANGER – STUDENTS FORBIDDEN

FROM PLACE OF THE DOORS

The second sentence was scribed in cheerful lime-green calligraphy.

Warning: Death, Insanity, Unexplained Disappearance of Random Body Parts and

Bad Weather May Occur Near Corsair’s DOORS.

Authorized Personnel Only

Professors’ Lounge – Past DOORS on the Left

GRAVE Research Lab – Don’t go there

The utility staircase leading to the Lab lay beyond the Doors and the Professors’ Lounge. Alex was authorized, but this passage always gave her the uncomfortable feeling that she was trespassing. She glanced about, but the other students were too busy dashing for their own classes to be watching Alex. She ducked under the chain, tugging her fanged grey-skinned charge to follow.

The right wall was close-fitted masonry interrupted by a wide shimmering screen of lavender, in a rectangle so precisely defined that it looked like a slab of fondant icing sliced with a knife and plastered in place. Alex often dreamed about Corsair’s Doors, but never in a way that made any sense. She’d be in the grand marble throne room of a castle, or walking on a riverbank, or crawling through a cavern, and yet somehow know in the depths of her dream that she was really in this corridor, facing the mystery. Why didn’t she ever dream the way the hallway really looked?

Alex stopped short. A skinny freshman boy in the striped shirt of a baton team recruit was standing before the screen. Her ghoul raised its snout and sniffed the air. Then she noticed Ian Vesper near the far edge of the panel. Ian, captain of the team, with his dimpled grin and cocky strut, pointing at the round black button on the wall.

Ian! What gives? Alex’s voice sounded much louder than she intended.

Ian looked over and gave her a smirk. Baton Team initiation, Weaverson. Tom here is going to prove he’s got what it takes by lasting five minutes in front of Corsair’s Doors. Take your boyfriend someplace else!

Alex groaned. Oh, no you don’t. Listen, kid, don’t fall for this. Ian is famous for pranking people. The best you can get out of this is detention. Ian isn’t affected because he’s a Blocker, but there’s a reason that the Guildmaster has a shield over the hidden doors. The best wizards in Derelon and ten years of advanced students haven’t yet defeated the locks. You won’t be allowed access until you’re at least a junior. And then only with protection.

The skinny kid pulled himself up as tall as he could muster and stuck out his chest. I’m not just any freshman, I’m a legacy. My dad was one of the first to try to break through the doors. I know all about them!

I’ll bet your dad left out a few crucial details, said Alex, as she coaxed the ghoul around them. And if you’re trusting Ian to have your back, you’re taking a glass half full view of an empty water bottle.

A single chime sounded, signalling the two-minute warning. Double chimes would start the next class. There were shouts and laughter and the sound of madly running feet passing by the Corsair corridor. Yet Ian and his recruit were both still near the lavender screen.

Alex paused when she reached the professors’ lounge, reluctant to leave them. She didn’t really want to get involved. Every rule-following instinct in her body warned her to finish her job and get the ghoul down to the lab. But that’s exactly what Ian always counted on, wasn’t it? Bystanders not being willing to challenge him. That knowing smirk on his face just made Alex’s teeth grate.

Do I need to fetch one of the professors? she called. Alex opened the door to the lounge, but the room was empty. She’d have to go to one of the classrooms.

Ian turned his back on Alex. His voice was mocking. What’s it gonna be, Tom? Are you a starter or not?

Tom straightened his skinny shoulders, took one big step forward, and slapped at the black button.

Oh, fragglesnot! Alex’s heart jumped. She might have frozen if it weren’t for the hard, snarling yank as the ghoul made a bid for freedom. It cost her a precious couple of seconds to get the creature under control. Alex looped the ghoul’s leash to the door handle of the teachers’ lounge to free her hands, and turned.

The lavender screen had disappeared. In its place, the wall was inset with a wide black marble arch, flanked by carvings and intricate inlays. Within the arch, the surface was recessed. The space looked like it should be outfitted with double doors. Instead, it featured a smooth off-white surface like a sheet of ice. It would have been disappointingly plain, were it not for the reek of magic, old magic, long seeped into the very pores of the stones. Even at this distance, the power was heavy, like a weighted blanket dropped across Alex’s shoulder.

There was writing on the wall beside the arch. Alex had heard that each year’s coterie of advanced students wrote notes on the side wall detailing the spells and attempts they had made. Alex couldn’t tell, as her eyes refused to focus on the letters. They twisted and distorted in her vision.

Invisible tendrils unfurled in a slow creep that was detectable in some hard-to-define way, like a brief sniff of an unfamiliar spice, or the way a draft of cold air sends a shiver down one’s back. It tickled the mind, tantalizing. Alex wanted to savor it so that she could identify just what that spice was. She knew better. Instead, she closed her eyes, trying to clear her head.

Double chimes echoed – the next session had started. The spell broke for Alex. At least, the first spell. She snapped open her eyes, focused on the floor so that she wouldn’t directly view the arched wall, and scrambled toward the boys.

Tom stood petrified, his eyes wide and glassy, his face pale, one hand still touching the wall. He was barely breathing.

One minute, announced Ian cheerfully. Good thing I can’t feel this magic, isn’t it? One of us has to track the time. Three minutes and fifty seconds to go.

Alex shoved Ian aside to reach the freshman, pulled him away and turned his head to break his view of the arch. Tom! Tom, wake up. Breathe.

A bald man rounded the corner, pushing a janitor’s bucket and mop. What’s all this yelling? What are you students doing here?

Good, an adult. Maybe Alex was off the hook. She turned to the janitor, but he looked over her shoulder to the wall beyond. His eyes widened as he took in the white glow. And then the bald man froze. Sir? Alex snapped her fingers in front of his face with no response.

Tom collapsed in a heap on the floor and let out a sound like a balloon losing its air. Alex grabbed his shirt and started dragging him toward the lounge. Distance mattered; she needed to get him away from the arch. That also meant closer to the ghoul, but the kid was in no condition to protest.

Weaverson, you’re such a spoil-sport, grumbled Ian. Come on, nobody’s ever died of the stare-fest.

No, the deaths have all been from the hallucinations. That’s the next wave of spells. Or so I’ve heard. Let’s not wait for those to start, Alex shot back.

A low bass gong sounded, somewhere behind the blank space that should have been Corsair’s Doors. It was soft enough that they felt the vibration through the floor as much as they heard it.

Ian’s jaw dropped. Woah, I felt that! he exclaimed. He took a step back. But - but I’m a Blocker. I’m supposed to be immune to magic.

The low tolling sound came again, and a throbbing headache hit Alex between the temples. The next wave was starting. She left Tom on the floor just out of the ghoul’s reach and wobbled her way back toward Ian, leaning against the far wall for support.

The bald janitor hadn’t left, but he wasn’t going to be any help. His eyes now had the same glazed look as Tom, and he sank to his knees.

Ian, we need to reactivate the screen. Hurry! Just hit the button. A wave of nausea hit Alex. Good thing she hadn’t had lunch yet. The memory of breakfast made a bid to come back.

Ian hadn’t just heard the gong. He was eying the bottom edge of the blank slab where the entrance should be with unease, as if he’d seen something move there. Uh, yeah, about that. Just realized I’m late for class. Seems like you and Baldy have got this, Weaverson, so I’m just gonna, ummm, you know . . . Ian sprinted away like his shoes were on fire.

Alex groaned. The button. Just push the button. Her head was throbbing and the floor seemed to be rocking beneath her feet. She knew that was due to the effects of the gong spell. Well, she was pretty sure that was the cause. The button had to be right ahead of Alex, but her depth perception was shot. She lurched forward with her fingers spread out, feeling for the button. Her eyes found nothing, but her thumb caught the edge. She jabbed at it.

A snap reverberated. The lavender film dropped down. Instantly, the reek and weight of magic muted, like the dampening of a drum. Trembling, Alex collapsed against the wall beside the black button, now visible. Her eyes could focus again. Still, she’d probably have a headache for the rest of the day.

Near the professors’ lounge, someone else was feeling better as well. Tom sat up and rubbed his eyes. Wow, the wall was so bright. What happened?

Alex looked over. Are you okay? she called.

Sure. Then Tom turned in the other direction and screamed. The ghoul’s oversized yellow eyes were looming over him. It twitched its leathery grey ears and opened its mouth, revealing rows of razor teeth.

Then it belched directly in Tom’s face.

The freshman fainted dead away.

Alex had undisputed squatter’s rights to her favorite outdoor table at the lunch patio, with a view of the duck pond and the winding flagstone walk to the Arts building. The price was loneliness.

Why was this year so much worse? It wasn’t her half-werecat heritage. Her sister Lianna had every drop as much were-blood, and yet Lia was outgoing, charming, and always the center of at least three intersecting friend groups. For the first week of school, Alex brushed off her pariah status. She was more of a loner anyway, happy with the company of her dwarvish friend Zani and that of the monsters she attracted – well, the friendly ones, anyway. And she always had Greeneyes for company.

So what if her magic first manifested as a natural monster-summoning ability? There were other wizards with stranger talents. Besides, coming from a family of artists, different was a synonym for creative and therefore highly desirable.

As a scholarship student, Alex was required to hold an internship. Alex just wanted to excel, to be accepted. What was wrong with being famous and admired, even powerful? That internship with Professor Sly and his GRAVE Lab had seemed like a good fit. On the surface, it was. Problem was, Professor Sly couldn’t care less about Alex’s future – his tunnel vision was focused on his precious research ghouls. Worse, every student in the Academy now knew that Alex was a monster magnet.

On the way to her table, Alex paused. The Beauties clique were huddled together around Carla, their beribboned queen. The curly-hair girl was seated at the end of the picnic bench. Sharmain? Yes, that was it. As Sharmain looked up, Alex gave her an uncertain smile. Sorry about the ghoul earlier, she said. My mama’s an amazing baker and I’ve got some extra cinnamon cookies. If you’d like one – Alex opened her lunch sack.

Sharmain glanced over at the leader of the clique. Carla shook her head, ribbons flying, and declared, We don’t have any extra seats today. Sharmain looked away. The rest of the girls shifted, spreading out along the benches.

As Alex turned toward her own table, she heard the whispers behind her. Can you believe the Monster Girl wanted to sit with us?

Alex sat. She stared at her lunch sack for a few seconds before opening it. Well, at least she had cookies, that was some consolation. Mama had drawn a little heart on the paper wrapping, and Alex smiled. As she pulled out her sandwich, she saw another folded paper and pulled that out eagerly. Yes! Papa had left her a note, probably a joke or puzzle. He’d been doing that more often lately since Alex had told him how much she loved finding his notes. Today it was an anagram. Alex unwrapped her sandwich and worked on the answer to papa’s anagram as she ate.

A gust of wind shook the maple trees, and a parrot dropped through the leafy canopy, spread his iridescent green wings and settled to the table.

Mr. Beak! Hello, have a cookie. Alex gave him her biggest smile and fished a cinnamon round of her sack. I haven’t seen you on campus much lately, but I’m never sure if I should be looking for the parrot-you or the sort-of human-you or the ferret-you.

You are a gem, Alex Weaverson. The parrot’s voice was scratchy but quite clear. I’m only teaching one class this semester, shape-shifting of course, but I was forced to suffer through a meeting of the Academy Board of Directors this morning. Three hours of listening to the guildmaster, Feathers Florian, drone on. And on. We were all sworn to absolute secrecy on pain of death. Therefore, it will take at least half a day before any newsletters have the details to publish, Mr. Beak ruffled his wing feathers. Giselle’s Gossip pays the best bribes, so they’ll likely get the scoop.

What would be worth paying bribes for? asked Alex, leaning forward.

Beak clicked his beak. I haven’t the foggiest. I slept through most of the meeting. Ugh! Most definitely a two-cookie day.

The parrot stuck his beak into the lunch sack and Alex giggled. Oh, all right, have as many as you like.

I’m working on a new form as well. A dwarvish teenager. What do you think? asked Mr. Beak. The parrot hopped down to the bench on the other side of the table and waved one wing. He still had a scrap of cookie in his beak. A brief swirl of yellow light encircled him. His body puffed out and expanded unevenly with the swirling magical threads, wing feathers merging and darkening, tail feathers shrinking, beak folding in on itself, frame widening. When the transformation was complete, a young man stood on the other side of the picnic table, a bit shorter than Alex and shirtless, displaying his muscular build and broad shoulders. He swallowed the last bite of the cinnamon cookie.

You’ve got the features looking like a human boy, said Alex. If you’re supposed to be a dwarf, you need wider cheekbones, a square chin, bigger arm muscles. And your skin is the wrong shade, it needs to be lighter than mine, perhaps with a touch of olive in the palette.

Olive? Oh, fiddlesticks. Let me – As Mr. Beak flipped a wrist to adjust his skin tone, he stepped back from the table, far enough for Alex to realize that it wasn’t merely a shirt he was missing.

Alex choked on her sandwich and spat out a bite. Clothes! Mr. Beak, I’m sorry, but even dwarves have rules about displaying their privates in public. And, oh dear, but you haven’t got that part quite right either. She was laughing so hard that tears squeezed from her eyes.

The yellow band swirled again about the dwarvish boy, and he dwindled to the familiar green-feathered parrot. A few details to work out on that one, it seems, said Mr. Beak, ruffling his chest feathers.

I heard you had a disciplinary visit to the Administration Office this afternoon. Something about unauthorized mucking with the doors to Corsair’s workshop. Are you in trouble?

Apparently not. You’d think that a student being put into mortal danger would be an issue, said Alex. "You know, last week I