Alexandra (Patreon)

Miss Ashford looked over her class with a touch of pride and a smile. They had done remarkably well over the last hour cleaning and scouring all evidence of the classroom having been the center of a year’s worth of messy magic classes. She loved her job, but everyone needed time to work on their own projects and decompress which was why she was looking forward to having her summer to herself. She swept her gaze over her students, trying to fix the faces of her favorite students in her mind as after today she probably wouldn't see any of them for years, if ever. There were always a couple of special students each year that she would miss at least until she got to know the next group of students.

She clapped twice then spoke in a voice that carried to the back of the room with the ease of long practice. "If I could have your attention please. I have a few end of the year announcements then we can cut the cake!” She grinned as the noise level dropped to almost zero within a couple of seconds of her mentioning cake. “As you all know, this is the last day of classes and I’ll miss you all very much.” She took a couple of seconds to enjoy the fact that the students were sitting quietly waiting on her next words. “That being said, I’ll be seeing a number of you tonight for orientation. The rest of you will be with one of your other teachers.” She grinned as several hands went up. “Hold your questions until tonight as I can’t answer most of them until you graduate. Well that and I don‘t really need someone getting cursed because you delayed us from eating the delicious cake I baked.” She gestured toward the table behind her where her pointy eared assistant was standing behind the large chocolate cake with a knife and a large stack of plastic plates. “We still have a half an hour of school left so let’s grab some cake then you can sign yearbooks or just socialize for the rest of the time. There will be plenty of time for questions tonight. Please line up alphabetically and my lovely assistant Lily will cut you a piece of cake.”

Lily winked at Miss Ashford then looked over at the first person in her line. “Just tell me how large of a piece you want.”

Alexandra Douglass frowned as she carefully tried to avoid bumping into any of her fellow students as she worked her way toward the front of the line. While she liked cake as much as the next growing hyperactive student she could clearly see over people’s heads that there was more than enough cake left for everyone to have at least two large pieces each. She stopped as a short pudgy blonde teenager stepped in front of her. “Excuse me.”

He turned and stared at Alexandra’s chest for a second before he tilted his head and took a step back so that he could actually look her in her bright blue eyes. Now normally staring at a girl’s chest would be considered rude but in this case he could probably be forgiven because her breasts were at his eye level and she had been standing rather close to the girl in front of her when he had stepped in between them. “Ah… sorry but Ab is before Al…” He lost his train of thought as the fact that Alexandra was nearly a foot taller than him and was strong enough to physically move him finally registered.

Alexandra looked down at her schoolyard friend with amusement dancing in her eyes. While he wasn‘t her best friend and they had never seen each other outside of class she had gotten to know him decently well over the years. “Last I checked your name was Matt…”

The brown haired girl waiting in line in front of Matt snickered as she turned and looked at Matt. “That’s what I thought as well.”

“I changed it…” Matt trailed off.

She chuckled, “Yeah? When?”

“Just a couple of minutes ago… Abomination sounds much better for a codename than Matt. I mean we‘re going to college in the fall after all...”

Alex shook her head, “Did you actually go and visit the Chamber of Names and pick your new name or did you just see the large delicious looking cake and decide to cut?”

He gulped. “I ah…”

“That’s what I thought. You know the rules, without officially claiming a name you’re stuck with your first name as your callsign.” She knew that most apprentice magic users would never willingly reveal any more of their name than their first if they could help it. Not because it gave anyone mystical power over them but because it made it a lot easier to track you down outside of the protections that the school granted.

“Fine.” Matt sighed as he cast a last mournful look at the cake before moving to where he should be in the line.

Alex smiled as she took a step forward so that she was behind her girlfriend, “It wasn’t a bad try, but still, Abomination?”

Abby snickered as she collected her piece of cake from Lily. “Unless you count his ability to sniff out food like a bloodhound, I think you have more claim to the title of Abomination than he does.”

Lily chuckled as she looked up at Alex‘s bright blue eyes and said, “It could be worse, you could be short.”

Alex chuckled as she collected her large piece of cake, “You’re not short.” No one would call the teacher’s assistant tall at five foot five but she was about average for the class of sixteen year olds.

Abby snickered, “Nope, she’s just freakishly tall.”

Lily grinned, “Thanks.”

Alex rolled her eyes as they headed back to their table. She was used to her best friend teasing her about her height. She was pretty sure that it was only because she was the only person in class taller than Abby. “I’m not that tall… my dad has at least six inches on me…”

Abby snickered, “Have you measured yourself lately? It’s probably down to about three or maybe four inches… and what does he do for a living again?”

Alex sighed as she gave the same answer she always did, “Basketball.” While Abby knew he was actually a part time chemistry teacher for the local high school near her house she didn‘t want to share that information with the rest of the class. Still, he did actually coach basketball on the side so it wasn’t like she was completely lying or anything. She really didn’t like lying at all but one of the first things they taught in magic school was not to give out any information that could be used to find out your real name or the location of your unprotected family. Not so important for people like Abby whose parents were magical and could protect themselves but rather important for people like her that didn’t have magical family members or at least none that she knew about.

“See, they’re all freakishly tall.” Abby smiled to take the sting out of her comment.

Alex ignored the joke about her dad’s height with practiced ease as she asked a more important question, “What can you tell me about the orientation tonight?”

Abby grinned mischievously as she stared at her friend’s long red hair as she watched her eat her cake. “What makes you think I know anything about it?” She took a bite of her cake savoring the flavor and the frosting.

Alex finished chewing her bite of cake before responding, “Because your family have been magic users for hundreds of years.”

Abby finished her bite of cake then leaned closer to Alex and whispered, “I’m not supposed to say anything but my brother said something about a twelve foot long test…”

Alex laughed. “And judging by the fact that your tongue isn’t twisted up in knots I’ll assume that you’re joking.”

Abby sighed dramatically as she leaned back in her chair. “I really hate that spell.”

Alex glanced around at the other students who were all enjoying their cake, “I guess I’ll find out tonight what they‘ve been hiding for the last eleven years.”

“Lots,” Abby admitted.

“Is there anything you can tell me?” Alex asked hopefully.

“You’re cute.” Abby took another bite of her cake.

Alex chuckled, “I know that. I meant about orientation.”

“I think girls are cute.” Abby stuck her chocolate covered tongue out at Alex in a suggestive manner.

She rubbed her face with her hand, “I walked into that one didn’t I?”

“You sort of did.” Abby snickered as she reached over and lightly tapped Alex on the nose with her index finger.

“Fine, never mind about tonight’s orientation. What are you planning on doing this weekend and can you make it to my tournament?”

Abby shook her head. “Sorry, Raven is out of town for a couple of days and Mom wants some help around the Hold.”

Alex glanced around the room at the various other students as she whispered, “Trouble?”

“Just the usual, rumors of warlocks and monster hunters,” Abby replied in a whisper as she looked around the room fixing the details in her mind. “Cheer up, you’ll do brilliant as always, even without me there to cheer you on.”

“Thanks, I’ll make sure someone records my fights.”

“Thanks. Don’t worry, we have to pick up our books at some point…” Abby trailed off as she felt her tongue twitch as the tongue twisting spell prevented her from saying anything about the college having a book shop. “How about I call you tomorrow after the tongue twisting spell is taken off and we can make plans.”

Alex chuckled. “That works, I’m going to miss watching your face twist up like that, it’s amusing.”

Matt smiled was he walked over with his second piece of cake, “What’s amusing?”

Alex responded without missing a beat, “Abby.”

He looked at Abby then back at Alex and shrugged. He had long since gotten used to their strange friendship. “So, is anyone else excited about summer break?”

Alex grinned as Matt tried to change the subject to something safer than how a girl looked, “I’d be more excited about it if I had next year’s textbooks to read already.”

Abby laughed playfully. “Unlike my insane friend here, I’m looking forward to sleeping in.”

He would be glad when he could sleep in and not worry about getting up early. “Sleeping in sounds nice.”

Alex glanced around at the rest of the class filled with people she only half knew even after spending the last three years with most of them and another eight years with a couple of them. Her expression twisted into a frown as she realized that if the statistics were right then one in five of her classmates would turn warlock after school and kill or at least try to kill their fellow magic users for power. “I’m not sure I’m ready to graduate, I’m going to miss this place.”

Matt finished his second piece of cake then wiped his mouth clean with the back of his hand, “We’ll see everyone at college, right?”

Alex said, “Yeah, but it’s not going to be the same, we’ll be off on our own projects and busy with things…”

Abby shook her head. “You’re not getting rid of us that easily.”

Matt chuckled. “I really should visit the name center and pick up a better codename.”

Alex didn’t mind going by Alex at least until she found an alias that appealed to her. “Maybe so… are you thinking of picking up a new alias Abby?”

“Nah, I like Abby well enough though I’m thinking that I might scope out what type of codenames are floating around once we get to college and pick something shadow related if I can find something I like that isn’t taken.”

“I guess I’ll have to see how things work out. Alexandra Goddess of Magic has a nice ring to it.” Alex snickered. “Yeah, okay that just sounds way too arrogant.”

Abby grinned at Alex. “You’ll always be my goddess.”

Matt said, “You’re better than I am with magic.”

Alex looked at Matt‘s empty plate, “I don’t know, the way you can make cake vanish is a magic all its own. Speaking of which, I should go grab a second piece before we have to leave.”

Matt defended himself, “It’s really good cake.”

Abby glanced over at where Lily was dishing up cake. “Grab me another piece if you can, please.”

“Sure. Say cheese.” Alex grinned as she used her camera to get a quick picture of Abby and Matt sitting together.

Abby smiled as she scooted closer to Matt and smiled brightly at the camera. “Cheese.”

Matt smiled at the camera but kept his mouth closed.

0o0o0

Abby glanced away from the six foot circle embroidered on the tapestry that was hanging on the wall of the entrance hall and over at Alex. “You’ll call, right?”

Alex laughed as she pulled Abby into a hug, “We’ve been friends since kindergarten, girlfriends since you kissed me under the mistletoe at the Christmas dance, you’re not getting rid of me just because we’re going to college in the fall. I’ll give you a call this weekend and we can sort things out.”

Abby forced herself to smile as Alex let go of her and turned back to look at the large tapestry hanging on the wall. “Good point, I’ll see you on the flipside.” She reached out with her magic and energized the rune covered circle embroidered on the tapestry causing it to darken and twist with shadows.

Alex sighed as she watched her friend step into the tapestry and vanish. ‘There’s something you aren’t telling me Abby. Ah well, I guess I’ll figure that out tonight.’ She spared a glance at the rest of the students that were heading home through the tapestry gates. Most of her fellow magic users had run from the class in order to go enjoy their summer as soon as the bell rang. The rest had waited for the rush to finish so that they could chat with friends from different classes before heading back to their normal lives for the summer. She checked to make sure that her digital camera was still hanging around her neck and that her bookbag contained everything it was supposed to. “I guess this is goodbye…” She picked up her bookbag, reached out with her magic and charged the tapestry the same as she had every time she’d traveled to or from school though it felt somehow more final this time as she knew that she wouldn‘t be coming back after tonight. She smiled as the rune covered circle glowed with purple light showing that it was properly attuned to her. She ducked then stepped into the circle. She smiled as she stepped out of the runic circle that was embroidered on the tapestry hanging on her bedroom wall. She was sort of hoping that the portals to get to the college were larger. “I’m home!”

Marie Douglass called out from the living room. “We’re in here.”

“Are you decent?” Alex asked hopefully.

Marie laughed. “More or less.”

Alex walked over and set her book bag on her bed then headed for the living room. She smiled at her mom Marie and her mom’s girlfriend Alisa as she walked into the living room. “Hey, at least this time you‘re mostly covered.”

Alisa looked over from where she was working on massaging Marie’s shoulders. “How was your last day of high school?”

Marie smiled up at her daughter from where she was sitting on Alisa’s massage chair in her workout shorts and bra. “Did you get any good pictures?”

Alex chuckled as she remembered a couple of her favorite pictures. “I got a couple pictures of my friends and a few of the classroom to share. As for my last day, it wasn‘t as bad as I thought it would be.”

Alisa asked, “Did you learn any interesting spells today?”

“On the last day? Of course not, but I got a lot of practice with my cleaning spells. I’d forgotten how much Matt liked cake.”

Marie laughed for a few seconds before she responded, “Most people like cake. Speaking of food, how long do you have before you have to be back for the orientation?”

Alex looked down at her watch, “An hour and twenty.”

“I guess that means that you’ll want some food before you go?”

Alex rolled her eyes, “That would be nice, I’m still a growing girl.”

Alisa chuckled as she continued kneading Marie‘s shoulders, “I’m in the land of giants, I swear. I knew we should have put a stop to feeding you after you got taller than me.”

Alex stuck out her tongue at Alisa.

Marie chuckled, “She’s been taller than you for a while love.”

Alisa pouted. “Four inches and she’s only sixteen. She’ll probably grow another couple of inches before she stops growing. It’s not fair.” She knew that at six foot one she was decently tall but she felt short compared to the rest of her family.

Alex shrugged, “Blame Dad for being almost seven feet tall.”

“I can still beat him if I wear heels.” Marie knew the only way she could actually beat her husband in height would be if she was wearing six inch heels while he was barefoot but that was why she liked heels so much.

Alex winced. “I still don’t understand how you can stand heels. Give me boots any day and I’m happy but heels are pure torture.”

Alisa grinned at Alex. “That’s because when they were giving out fashion sense in heaven you skipped to the line for weapon skills.”

“You know… I far as I know there isn’t a heaven or hell for that matter,” Alex complained good naturedly.

“Just a saying love.”

“I know…” Alex glanced toward the kitchen then back at her mother, “So whose turn is it to cook?”

Alisa quickly replied, “Not me. I‘ve got to finish Marie‘s massage then pick up Daniel.”

“How come Mom isn’t doing that?” Alex asked curiously.

Alisa gestured toward the half finished bottle of wine on the table. “She got into the wine already.”

Marie snickered. “I forgot that Daniel’s car was still in pieces in the garage and that he needed a ride.”

“If Dad would just let me fix the stupid thing with magic.” Alex wasn’t sure why her dad was so stubborn about his car even if he’d had it since high school.

“As much as he complains about the thing he likes working on it, now that it‘s summer he should have plenty of time to actually fix it,” Marie replied with amusement.

Alex held up her hands in surrender with a smile on her face, “As long as one of you is around to take me to my martial arts tournament on Sunday, I don‘t care if it takes him the whole summer to fix the car.”

Alisa chuckled merrily. “I’ll give you a lift if nothing else.”

Alex said, “Thanks. In that case I’ll make dinner.”

Marie smiled as she enjoyed her massage, “Good, I’ll make something for dessert later to make up for it. I‘m still a bit wound up from court today.”

Alex shrugged half heartedly. She wasn‘t all that concerned about having dessert right now especially after two pieces of cake but she probably would be hungry after her orientation. “What do we have ingredients for?”

“I think Daniel said he was planning on making tuna and noodles.”

Alex smiled as she thought about her dad’s tuna and noodles recipe. “I can do that. How did court go?”

“It went great. We nailed the bastard for fraud in addition to his other crimes thanks to the documents we pulled out of the unsorted mess that the defense attorney handed us. If he’d just given us what we wanted to start with he would have done better. You should have seen his face when we found more stuff to charge him with.”

Alex laughed as she headed for the kitchen, “He was actually guilty, right?”

“Yeah, we didn’t get him on some of the charges but we made the rest stick.”

“That’s great Mom.” Alex was glad that her mother wasn’t nearly as crazy or focused outside the courtroom as she was inside of it. She was pretty sure that she got her competitive tendencies from her mother because her father wasn’t nearly as intense outside of learning new things. She was half convinced that her father knew more magical theory than half her classmates, despite not having any magic, because he found her old magic textbooks fascinating. She looked at the time and realized that without a little bit of cheating she would probably have to eat and run. She raised her voice so that it would carry to the living room, “How much pasta do you want?”

Alisa called out from the living room, “Enough that I don’t have to cook tomorrow?”

Alex responded playfully, “Lazy good for nothing aunt.” She filled a large pan full of water, tapped into her pool of mana and used a trickle to bring the water to a boil. She set the pan on the burner and turned the gas on to keep it boiling. While she could have kept the pan boiling with magic it required more concentration than she felt it was worth especially when her mind kept wandering to the upcoming orientation. She pushed her nervousness away as she concentrated on making one of her favorite meals.