Summoner school 3, p.1
Summoner School 3, page 1
Would you like to see chapters of my books before they come out? Do you want to see cover art sketches and vote on which poses should make it to final production? Would you like to see even sexier versions of my covers? Would you like to get my audiobooks at a deep discount?
Of course you would! Join my Patreon here to get all these awesome benefits (or search for my name on Patreon.com).
You can also join my Facebook group right here. Then you’ll know when my books come out before anyone else.
Chapter 1
“You should get one of the bright yellow ones,” Atlesia said as she skipped beside me.
I followed my girlfriend’s finger to a yellow Ferrari SF90 Spider that looked like it had decided to become the sun instead of just reflecting its light. It wasn’t the look that I was going for, but the sleek lines were so nice that it did tempt me for a few seconds. I really hoped that the dealership didn’t have a yellow Ferrari Roma laying around, because it would be hard to tell Atlesia no when she was so excited.
The cold air nipped at my cheeks and nose as a breeze wound through the parking lot. Winter break had finally arrived for Magia Schola, and I’d saved up enough money in the underground fighting arena to buy the car of my dreams. It had taken a little while for Atlesia to find a glamour stone powerful enough to hide her nymph blood, but it was worth it to have my girlfriend with me.
Atlesia’s aunt had given us the rock but only after an exhaustive search of the old nymph’s property. She hadn’t used it in years and couldn’t remember where it had been stored. There had been so many boxes that it had taken almost a full month to go through them all, and the damned thing had been tucked away behind a wooden panel. It was sheer dumb luck that I’d leaned against it and dislodged the board.
I’d been ready to give up and go to my gnome friend, Tins, to see if he could find one, but Atlesia had insisted that we use her aunt’s. It made sense because their magic was similar. We didn’t have to work nearly as hard to adapt the glamour, and the chance of the magic coming unglued was lower.
The whole glamour process was like watching someone put on a Halloween mask. Golden light slid over Atlesia’s hourglass frame and turned her pale green skin a light beige like she’d been kissed by the sun. Freckles were sprinkled across her nose, and the turquoise color of her lips had turned a deep wine. The spell had left the lavender color in her hair, but I swore that the bob haircut was just a little longer. The nymph’s dark brown eyes were already human enough to pass, so those had remained the same too. She looked gorgeous, but I kind of missed the flower nymph’s bright coloring that made her look like a walking plant.
“I think that I’ll get a black or red one,” I laughed and pulled my eyes off of Atlesia’s cute human-like freckles. “Maybe blue. But I don’t think yellow is really my style.”
“Okay,” the nymph said with a smile so bright that it outshone the Ferrari. “Do you think that you could give me a driving lesson? I’ve always wanted to try it. My aunt used to talk about humans and their vehicles. She was there when they made the first ones.”
“We can probably arrange that,” I said. “But we’ll use the Sonata for those lessons. It’s still new, so everything should work just fine. And it’s a lot easier to replace than a Ferrari.”
“Got it,” she said. “These do look really nice. The ones that we passed weren’t nearly as sleek and pretty. These remind me of orchids.”
“They are beautiful machines,” a salesman said as he popped up between two Ferrari Stradales.
I’d gotten used to people just appearing out of nowhere since my grandmother had sent me to Magia Schola. Not that she’d warned me that it was a magical college, or that I came from a family of human casters, but the last few months had been such a whirlwind of new things that a random guy in a suit and slicked-back hair wasn’t enough to set my teeth on edge. Besides, I had one of the gems with my jackalope in my pocket, so if something magical did attack us, then I’d be ready.
Of course, we weren’t supposed to use magic in the open in the human realm since they had a tendency to burn first and ask questions later, but I’d learned it was better to be safe than sorry. Especially with the shadow creatures attacking the cities in all of the magical realms. The elves had taken the brunt of the attacks, but the evil mage behind the shadows had sent them out to the fairies and even the giants’ territory to claim mana.
My other girlfriend, Sarya the elf, and I had even seen the headmaster with the hooded mage at one of the illegal fight clubs. Sarya had been shocked that the powerful mage would align himself with someone who killed people and stole their magic, but the guy had always given me the creeps, so it wasn’t too much of a stretch to believe that he’d be part of some conspiracy. We’d still made our exit before either of them noticed that they’d been spotted, and the underground arena was still in an uproar after I summoned a will-o’-wisp to win my battle.
The creature had damn near turned me into a mummy when I summoned it for the first time, but I’d had enough mana stored for the spell to keep myself alive. It helped that my opponent and his summoned griffin had been a better meal than me, so the will-o’-wisp had eventually submitted itself to my will. I’d brought it out a few times since then to practice, and each time it was a struggle to convince the magical being to let me direct it through our psychic link.
“Are you in the market for a Ferrari?” the salesman asked, and I snapped back from the rabbit hole that my brain had gone down.
My friends and I had worked hard to figure out the master plan since we’d seen the headmaster with the hooded mage, but so far we hadn’t made it further than them gathering mana. I’d read every book that I could get my hands on about stealing mana and evil mages, but those were hard to come by, and they were even rarer as panic raced through the realms like a wildfire in California. It was all that I could think about, outside of schoolwork, but it was nice to have a break for the day, and I needed to get my brain on board with that.
“I am,” I said with a bright smile. “I was thinking of buying a Ferrari Roma.”
“That’s a wonderful choice,” the man said as a hungry look flashed over his face. “We have a few very beautiful options right this way. Will you be financing?”
“I’ll be paying with cash,” I said and motioned to the backpack slung over my shoulder.
The salesman looked from me to Atlesia and then to the backpack. I’d be suspicious, too, if some nineteen-year-old kid came in with enough cash to pay for a car worth a quarter of a million dollars. A string of emotions washed over the man’s face like he was debating whether he should ask me about it, but then seemed to remember the commission and decided that it was none of his business.
“Cash is always supreme,” the salesman said with a shrug. “I heard you talking about the yellow Spider. I don’t have a Roma in that particular color, but I do have one in a gorgeous powder blue.”
“That sounds lovely,” Atlesia said and squeezed my hand tighter. “Do you think that we can look at that one?”
“Of course,” I said. “Lead the way.”
“Yes, sir,” he said and offered his hand for me to shake. “My name is Scott.”
“Andrew,” I said as I shook his hand. “And this is Atlesia.”
“It’s so nice to meet you both,” Scott said. “Now, are you completely set on the Roma? Or can I interest you in one of the Spiders or Stradales?”
“I want the Roma,” I said. “I’d like to have this wrapped up within the hour. We have a full schedule, and we’re only in town for a couple of days.”
“Of course,” the salesman said with a glance at the bag. “I’ll show you the powder blue, and if you like it, then we’ll start the paperwork. Things move a lot faster with cash in hand.”
“Thank you,” I said with a smile.
Scott led us through the lines of new cars until we reached the powder blue Ferrari Roma. The sleek lines were exactly like the picture that I’d had as the background to my laptop for the last three years. It smelled like it was fresh from the assembly line as the car salesman opened the door to show us the interior and let me slide behind the steering wheel.
Soft black leather covered the seats and dashboard, and my heart raced as I started it up. The engine purred like a giant cat while the touch screen lit up to show all of the cool features. My pulse raced as I ran my hands over the steering wheel, and it took all of my self-control not to giggle like a schoolboy.
I still had to negotiate the price, and the hungry look on Scott’s face was a warning that the salesman would try to jack that up. The Ferrari Roma had been my dream car for so long that I knew exactly how much each of the upgrades would cost, and there was no way that I’d be paying any extra. I had cash and that would give me a little more wiggle room for negotiations.
“I like it,” Atlesia said as she slid into the passenger seat. “This leather is very comfortable.”
“It is pretty nice,” I said.
The flower nymph was more adorable than inherently sexy the way that Sarya was. Atlesia’s bubble butt and button nose were more like the girl next door where the redheaded elf was elegant and regal. Still, the nymph looked amazing sitting in the passenger’s seat, and I was eager to take her out in it.
“Did you want to see any other options?” Scott asked in a hopeful tone.
“No,” I said with a shake of my head. “We’ll take this one.”
“Yes, sir,” he said. “Let’s go inside and get the paperwork started.”
I climbed out of the car as I made a silent promise that we’d be back for it as soon as possible, walked around the front, and laced my fingers through Atlesia’s. She practically skipped on the way toward the glass building, and my attention was instantly drawn to her breasts as they bounced beneath her hot pink halter top. I’d been surprised that the nymph had actually brought clothes that covered her stomach, but the real kicker was the boots.
They reminded me of those basic white girl Uggs that had become a meme. The brown color worked well even with the hot pink halter, and Atlesia had paired it with blue jeans. It was the most covered that I’d ever seen the flower nymph since most of her kind tended to wear as little clothing as possible, and she very rarely wore anything on her feet. It disconnected her from the earth and the source of her powers, but my girlfriend had insisted that if she was going to be disguised as a human, then she should wear their clothes.
“Alright,” Scott said as he led us into an office. “Let’s go ahead and get this started.”
The next hour was spent in negotiations as the salesman and I danced around the price of the Ferrari Roma. He tried to jack it up an extra twenty thousand dollars, but I’d been prepared with a list of prices and even managed to talk him down an extra five thousand dollars below that. The paperwork was signed and the keys were handed over while Atlesia stared out of the window at the powder blue sports car.
“Are we finished?” she asked when Scott and I shook hands.
“We are,” I said with a grin. “And we still have plenty of time to go see the greenhouse before our dinner reservation.”
“Yay!” the flower nymph exclaimed and clapped her hands excitedly.
“Do you have a car here?” Scott asked as we walked out.
“No,” I said and shook my head. “We took an Uber here. Thank you so much for all of your help today.”
“Of course,” the salesman said. “Don’t forget to come in for your scheduled maintenance.”
“Will do,” I said as Atlesia and I slid into my brand-new Ferrari Roma.
Scott stepped out of the way as I cranked the engine and listened to her purr. All of my dreams were finally coming true, and it was thanks to my magic and the underground fighting arena. It was technically illegal since the fights didn’t always stop when someone couldn’t cast spells anymore, but I’d only had to kill one opponent so far, and the money was amazing.
I’d already paid to have a team of gnomes come in and fix up my grandmother’s Victorian manor. It had started to fall apart after my grandpa died and grandma moved to the nursing home to treat her brain tumor, and the magical barriers that grandma had put up needed to be reinforced as well. The gnomes had even added an extra room just for me to practice summoning since the old lady hadn’t had anything like that.
Grandma had stopped using magic once she married my grandpa. That’s when her life started. At least, that was according to both of them, but I’d found out about a few secrets that the old woman had hidden over the years.
And I was pretty sure those secrets involved the hooded man behind the shadow creatures. Especially after the teleportation amulet that she gave me started to get hot any time the monsters were around. Professor Ira Lovelace had helped me to open the seals around it. But then Sarya, Atlesia, and even my roommate, Mike, had to jump in and lend us some mana so that we could work together to close the seals before we were pulled into the purgatory realm. And only the members of the council were supposed to have access to that.
I’d asked my grandmother about it, but the old woman had pretended that the brain tumor was acting up and she couldn’t remember who I was. The journals that were stored in that attic were a mixture of ancient elven, English, and somewhat modern elven slang that only her generation of mages would understand. It made translating what was inside of them a pain in the ass to read, but the ladies had been helping, and even Mike had worked on some of it.
“Andrew?” Atlesia asked as I idled at the edge of the parking lot. “Are we still going to the greenhouse?”
“Yeah,” I said and flashed a smile, flicked the turn signal, and then made a right. “Just thinking about those journals. And the underground ring. I’m sure that my grandmother knew the headmaster and that hooded mage.”
“We’ll figure it out,” the flower nymph said and reached over to squeeze my arm. “Sarya and Ira said that they’d look at the journals over the break.”
“I know,” I said with a shrug. “It just feels like we’re running out of time. And my dreams keep getting worse. It’s like they’re trying to tell me something but everything is coming through a prism and gets jumbled. But tonight is about treating you to the human realm. We’ll go to the greenhouse, the restaurant, and maybe a walk downtown so that you can see what a human city looks like.”
“Everything will be perfect as long as I’m with you,” she said and then clapped her hands excitedly. “Do you think that they’ll sell any of the plants at the greenhouse? Sometimes I can buy them from the nymphs that I visit. Mike’s sister let me have some of her healing calendula, but Franny wouldn’t take any payment. It’s one of the things about tree-people that I admire. They openly share everything. Well, Franny did have some hesitation since it’s her life’s work, but she was nice enough to give me a clipping.”
“Mike’s mom definitely shares everything,” I chuckled and turned toward the greenhouse. “She fed us so much that I thought that I’d burst. I can’t believe that she doesn’t even eat regular food and can cook like that. She even gave me some of the recipes. Not that I’m at that level.”
“I’ll gladly test all of your food,” Atlesia said. “And I can help. My mother taught me how to cook. Although, I have to admit that I just prefer to go to the school cafeteria. The chefs there are amazing.”
“They are,” I nodded as I pulled into the parking lot at the greenhouse.
The glass building was attached to a museum and an acre of land that was turned into a giant maze during the summer. Frost covered the grass outside of the greenhouse, and I could just barely spot the snow-covered hedges beyond it. The museum would be open for another few hours, but I’d already bought the tickets to the greenhouse online, so all we had to do was flash the purchased tickets at whatever guard was hanging out at the entrance.
“It’s bigger than the one we have on campus,” Atlesia said and leaned forward in her seat. “Not as big as the ones in the nymph cities, but that’s to be expected. Do you think that they’ll have exotic flowers?
“Maybe.” I climbed out of the Ferrari Roma, walked around, and opened the door for my girlfriend.
The car looked even better with her lavender hair right next to it, and I knew without a doubt that the powder blue had been the right choice. It would probably attract more attention than I really wanted, especially from my new neighbors, but any version of a Ferrari would have that effect.
“You’ve never been here before, have you?” my girlfriend smirked up at me.
“No,” I admitted with a shake of my head. “Before I met you and Mike, the last thing on my mind was plants. Unless it was flowers to brighten my grandmother’s room.”
“I bet she’s going to love the elven realm,” the flower nymph said and broke away to do a little twirl like a ballerina. “I’ve always loved the capital with its wisteria and roses. There are so many beautiful flowers, and some only grow at night. Do you remember the ones at the solstice dinner at Sarya’s family’s palace? They were glorious. If we hadn’t been listening for rumors about the shadow creatures, then I would’ve snagged clippings from every one of them.”
“I don’t think Sarya’s father would approve of that,” I said and flashed the ticket at the guard who waved us in with a bored expression. “He’s the head of the magical council. You can’t just go around stealing from him.”
“Sarya has broken into his office several times,” Atlesia pointed out.
“She’s also his daughter,” I shrugged. “She gets a pass. As long as her jerk of a brother doesn’t find out.”
“I guess you’re… Oh, my Gods! Do you see those lilies?” the flower nymph bounded toward a section of bright orange lilies with black spots. “These are a species of tiger lilies. I love these so much, but I haven’t been able to get them to grow for the last fifty years.”
