Alex's continued adventures (Patreon)

Cael yawned as he reached over and grabbed the ringing phone off his nightstand. “Yes…?”

“Are you awake?” Devon asked curiously.

Cael yawned as he sat up. “Mostly, what’s up Devon?”

“Not too much, I found some interesting new magic users at school.”

“The computer game recreation group you were talking about yesterday?” Cael asked curiously as he tried to wake the rest of the way up.

“Sort of, I think they’ll be a useful resource when I start building my realm, but no, the interesting people are the two freshmen girls that hired the club to help with building a pocket city.”

Cael swung his legs over the side of his bed. “Anything interesting?”

“They put together an aspected realm with an arena filled with monsters to fight,” Devon replied with amusement.

“That’s actually impressive. What’s it aspected to?”

“Shadow, you’d like it.”

“Nice, so they’re using it to practice their summons?” Cael asked curiously.

“Not really, they’re fighting the existing monsters with magic.”

He yawned as he stood up. “That sounds dangerous.”

Devon snorted. “Yeah, they tied everything but the bare bones of the world to the arena monsters. If you defeat the monsters then a new part of the realm gets built. There are some damn scary monsters in there as they didn‘t cap the power level of the monsters.”

“That’s insane…” Cael thought about all of the things that could go wrong without capping the power that you fed into your creations. They had a whole section in most newer books that dealt with realm building about why it was not worth the risk. “I can’t believe you’re sticking around.”

“The girls that created the realm are cute and the salvage off the monsters isn’t bad,” Devon defended himself.

Cael laughed. “That explains it. How come you’re calling me rather than hanging out with your new friends?”

“I was sort of hoping that you could come and help destroy some monsters with us, make some new friends and all that.”

Cael sighed. “I would if I could but I’ve got to watch Ivy today because of that whole mess with vaporizing her new pet abomination.”

Devon snorted. “Bring your sister along.”

Cael laughed as he walked over to his closet to grab a shirt. “You want me to bring Ivy to a world where she can get dozens or more samples of extremely dangerous creatures to play with… did you hit your head or something? Because that just sounds insane.”

“You owe her for destroying her last pet,” Devon replied smugly.

“I’m sorry but a twitching shape changing creature pulled from a H.P. Lovecraft novel doesn’t make a good pet!”

Devon snickered. “Ivy said it was cute.”

Cael snorted. “I don’t care what she says, it wasn’t cute. In fact, I’d say the world owes me for dealing with it before it became a problem.”

“Oh please, what’s the worst it did, move around and give you an evil glare and talk about ruling the world?”

“You didn’t have to have the damn thing looking at you, blasting it was a public service,” Cael grumbled as he grabbed a shirt out of his closet and pulled it over his head.  

Devon chuckled. “Think of this as a chance to make it up to her, it’s better than having her mad at you and building spider monsters or something horrible to stick in your bed.”

Cael shivered as he considered what types of creatures his sister could make while annoyed, “Fine, I’ll see if she wants to go, just don‘t tell her your suggestion for revenge. Where do you want us to meet you?”

“How about at the ice cream shop on campus that we ate at the other day?”

“That works, I’ll call you back in the unlikely event that she doesn’t want to come.”

Devon laughed. “No chance of that.”

“Probably not.” Cael chuckled as he hung up the phone then headed down the hall to invite his sister.

0o0o0

Abby smiled as Devon closed his cell phone, “Do we have another helper?”

Devon slipped his cell phone in his pocket. “Likely, he’ll call back in a couple of minutes if he can’t come. I said we would meet him at the ice cream parlor.”

“That works, if nothing else we can grab some ice cream for Alex and Matt.”

He took a last look at the conference room that served as the temporary summer location of the computer recreation club. There were a number of doorknobs stuck to the walls of the room that lead to various other realms that the geeks had created and wanted to show off. He tuned out the group of geeky magic users pouring over books and maps at the conference tables that lined the side wall as he asked, “What’s the story with those two?”    

“What do you mean?” Abby asked curiously.

“I’m just sort of surprised that you’re friends. I mean don’t get me wrong but you and Alex seem rather driven and Matt doesn’t.”

Abby chuckled as they walked out of the conference hall and headed toward the plaza where the ice cream parlor was. “Matt’s nice enough he’s just not really that great at magic.”

“He seemed okay to me when he was helping take out the monsters.”

“As I said, he’s okay… but that’s all he will likely ever be. He’s got average power levels and he knows it. He’s done a lot with computers and wants to put his focus on things that he can excel at rather than going crazy because he lacks the power or focus to be a battle mage.”

“Technomancer then?”

Abby said, “Maybe, it would be a good fit for him. What about you?”

“Battle magic all the way,” Devon replied smugly.

“I’m more of a stealth monkey,” she admitted.

He chuckled. “Taking that whole queen of darkness thing a bit far aren’t you?”

She grinned cheekily, “I figure I might as well do what I enjoy.”

“What about Alex?” He asked curiously.

“What about her?” She looked curiously at him out of the corner of her eyes as they walked along.  

“Is she good at stealth?”

Abby laughed as she thought of her friend trying to sneak around anywhere. It wasn’t that her friend was awkward or clumsy, far from it but she had a sort of presence that was hard to miss. She wasn’t sure if it was magic or not but people always seemed to pay her friend a lot of notice though it could just be because she had always been on the tall side or the fact that the magic users they ran into couldn’t feel her magic. It probably didn’t help that her friend was very striking as well. “Nah, she’s got a number of talents but sneaking isn’t really one of them.”

“Clumsy?”

“Nah, people just notice her. Though I can’t say that I blame them.” Abby grinned as she thought about her cute girlfriend.

He watched the various other students that were wandering around as they headed toward the ice cream shop. “I can see where that could be a bad thing or a good thing depending.”

“What about you? You have plans to be the next great high mage?”

Devon sighed. “Not really, I just want to survive the next four years. You?”

Abby smiled as she saw the ice cream parlor. “I plan to have fun.”

0o0o0

Ivy glared at Cael as he walked out of his room wearing a nice pair of black jeans and a black t-shirt that had large green letters on it that said, ‘Prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse.’ “I’m still pissed at you.”

Cael sighed. “I know but honestly that thing was a creepy pet.”

“That was sort of the point,” Ivy complained.

“What?”

She sighed in frustration, “I was going to sell the damn thing, you ruined a gig.”

He winced. “Why didn’t you just say you weren’t keeping it?”

“Because it was way more fun messing with you.”

“How much were you going to sell it for?”

“A hundred dollars.”

He frowned as he tried to figure out if his sister was lying to him or telling the truth. “Do you have any proof?”

Her slight smile could have been innocent or not. “What about a self addressed stamped envelope that says the same thing, it’s dated from last week.”

He shook his head. “Easy enough to fake with magic.”

“Mom knew it wasn’t a pet, that’s why she didn’t care that I had it.”

“I guess that makes more sense than Mom letting you keep the creature.” Then again, their mother had let his sister keep enough strange and terrifying pets over the years that her judgment about what made a good pet was more than a little suspect. “Fine, if Mom confirms that then I’ll give you money for it. Do you want to get out of here? I’m buying ice cream.”

She glanced at the television that was playing some old monster movie she was using for ideas then back at her older brother. “Where?”

“Devon wanted me to help him destroy a bunch of monsters to help some people out.”

Her eyes lit up with delight as she asked excitedly, “Monsters?”

“Yeah, I wanted to go see what had Devon bouncing around like an excited monkey rather than his normal cynical self. Mom said I had to drag you along if I left the house for more than nine minutes.”

She scowled. “I don’t really need a babysitter, besides I could totally whip up a monster in less than nine minutes.”

He glanced at a small gash on the railing that had been created when one of her unsupervised experiments had escaped the den or her ‘lab’ as she liked to call it. “See, that last part is why you’re not allowed to stay home by yourself. Once you can prove that you’re not going to unleash some monster from the deep on the neighborhood then maybe Mom will let me off the hook.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh please, Sensei lives on the water, you honestly think I’m stupid enough to unleash something that he would notice? To heck with that.”

He chuckled. “So do you want to come or not?”

She looked down at her pajamas then back up at him. “Yeah, let me get changed.”

“Sure.” He didn’t want to show up at the school with his younger sister wearing pajamas.

0o0o0 

Ivy grinned as she looked at the ice cream parlor. “Now that is a building with style. I think I‘m a bit jealous that the high school doesn‘t have anything this neat, not to mention the whole Hawaii thing.” The ice cream parlor on the outside looked like the rest of the buildings if you ignored the ice that covered the windowsills and the snow on the roof that survived despite the fact that it was eighty five degrees out. A light dusting of snow covered the building’s sign as well though you could still easily make out the words ‘Ice Cream Parlor’. Looking in the window she could see dozens of people eating ice cream inside. “It looks a little full.” 

“Yeah, we can go in, grab our cones and sit out here.” Cael held the door open for Ivy.

“Okay.” She was glad that it didn’t take more than a couple of minutes to grab their ice cream cones then head outside where it was nice and warm as it was a bit too crowded inside.

Devon smiled as he and Abby walked up to the table where Cael and Ivy were snacking on ice cream cones outside the ice cream parlor. “Glad that you could make it.”

Abby waved, “Hey.”  She tried to not stare at their shirts as she walked up. His zombie shirt made her want to snicker while Ivy’s shirt made her laugh. Her shirt was white with red letters on it. “My pet ate my homework, my goldfish, my aliens, my science experiment and my sanity… I love it.”

Cael chuckled. “If you meet any of her pets you’ll understand.”

“They aren’t that bad.” Ivy’s smile missed innocent by a couple of miles.

Devon said, “This is Cael and his younger sister Ivy, guys this is Abby.”

Ivy looked at Abby. “Nice to meet you. I hear you need help clearing some monsters.”

“Yeah, we could use the help,” Abby agreed.  

“I get to keep samples right?” Ivy asked hopefully.

Abby shrugged. “If you help kill it then yes you get to keep samples. Alex will be taking samples from her kills as well so you can probably do some horse trading for samples.”

“Great.” Ivy smiled brightly.

Abby gestured back toward the exit, “Shall we?”

Devon glanced at the ice cream shop. “Don’t we need to grab ice cream for Matt and Alex?”

She shook her head, “Nah, Matt could stand to lose some weight and Alex can always grab some at home.”

“That works for me,” Devon admitted.

0o0o0

Alex gasped as she recognized the young man walking into the arena’s entrance hall with Devon and Abby. “Cael?”

Cael was more than a bit surprised to see the girl he had shared lunch with at the tournament, “Ah, hello…”

“What are you doing here? You’re a magic user?” Alex half asked and half demanded.

He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Guilty as charged.”

She frowned as she realized that she could sense his magic now but hadn‘t been able to at the tournament. “How come I can sense your magic now?” She glanced at Devon then back at Cael. “I really should have asked about the name of your friend.”

Devon shrugged. “If I had known you knew each other then I would have mentioned it. How do you know each other anyways?”

Alex snickered. “I met him at the tournament.”

Devon started laughing.

Cael glared at Devon. “Don’t go there…”

Abby frowned as she glanced between Alex, Devon and Cael. “What’s so funny?”

Devon glanced at Cael then at Abby, “He said he got beat by a six and a half foot tall red haired god of fighting. He never mentioned that it was a girl.”

Ivy snickered. “You should have read his diary, I mean journal. He talked all about her.”

Cael looked down his nose at his sister. “I don’t have a journal or a diary Ivy.” He turned to look at Alex. “As for your earlier question, during the tournament I was wearing a charm that hides magic potential. It’s a bit temperamental and it doesn‘t work if I use any magic but it‘s still useful against most magic users.”

“Most but not all.” Ivy snickered.

Alex looked at Ivy. “You can see through it?”

“Anyone with a greater path for sensing stuff can pretty much see right through it. Most people aren‘t that lucky though.”

Abby whistled softly. She might not need a trinket to hide her magic but she knew how much they cost when you could find them for sale. Her grandfather occasionally made them when he wanted the down payment on a new house or a new sports car. “Expensive…”

Cael shifted uncomfortably. “Yeah, it’s been in the family for years.” He glanced at Alex, “So how did you avoid me being able to tell you were a magic user?”

Ivy tapped her sunglasses. “I’m curious about that as well because I have a greater blood path for sensing magic and I’m wearing enchanted sunglasses and I still can’t sense anything from you other than that you have magic.”

Cael stared at Ivy. “Really?”

Ivy frowned as she looked at Alex. “Yeah, really. Actually it‘s not so much sense as sort of see a faint glow around her with my glasses. If I wasn’t looking for it or was in better lighting I doubt I would have even noticed it.” She took a couple steps back from Alex. “And now I can’t even see that.”

Alex shrugged. “Just a natural ability. It makes trying to teach people how to pull off a particular effect rather annoying.”

“I bet.” Devon glanced between Abby and Ivy. “So can you sense Abby?”

“Sure.” She lifted up her glasses. “Without my glasses I can barely sense her.”

Abby chuckled as she walked over to stand in a shadow. “Anything?”

Ivy blinked as Abby vanished from her magical senses. “Nothing.” She dropped her glasses back into place. “Almost nothing, that’s creepy.”

Abby smirked. “Nice ability, I’ve never ran into anyone outside of my family that can sense me while I’m in shadows. What about you Cael?”

Cael focused on Abby. “Not while you’re in shadows.”

Abby grinned as she held out her hand and tapped into her mana pool. She created an invisible ring out of magic. “Can you sense that?”

“No but I can faintly see it.” Ivy smirked as she tapped her sunglasses.

Cael frowned. “I can't, that’s rather annoying.”

Ivy took her shades off and handed them to Cael. “Try that.”

Cael put the shades on and looked at Abby’s hand. “That’s better, I can see a faint outline of magic but nothing more.” He turned to look at Alex. “I still can’t sense Alex’s magic. I can tell that she has it now by the glow around her but it’s faint.”

Devon glanced at Cael then Ivy. “I think that’s the first time I’ve ran into someone you couldn’t sense.”

Cael shrugged. “First time for everything I guess.”

Ivy held out her hand toward Cael. “As interesting as this is can I have my glasses back?”

He handed her glasses back without complaint. “Sure.”

“Thanks.” Ivy put her sunglasses back on. “Can we destroy our first monster now?”

Alex looked at Cael then glanced at Ivy. “I’m game if Cael doesn’t mind.”

He shook his head. “Ivy can take care of herself.”

Alex nodded. “Let’s go then.”

Abby glanced around. “What happened to Matt?”

Alex shifted uncomfortably. “He got his leg ripped off by a giant scorpion‘s claw. I conjured him a crutch and sent him to the nurse’s office.”

Abby stared at her. “You let him fight by himself?”

“Of course not…” Alex trailed off as she started laughing.

Abby sighed in relief. “You’re joking about the giant scorpion aren’t you?”

“No, just about him getting his leg ripped off. His armor spell stopped most of the damage. I helped him hobble to the door and one of the club members was nice enough to take him to a priest in one of their game worlds to get fixed up.”

Abby glared at Alex. “You’re not supposed to scare me like that.”

Devon chuckled. “That was evil.”

Ivy laughed as she looked between Cael and Alex, “Can we keep her?”

Cael chuckled. “We’ll see.”

Abby asked, “How come you didn’t just heal him?”

“I offered but he wanted to have it fixed by a professional, personally I think it was just an excuse to get to see Dark Flame’s realm.”

“That explains it. Still that does bring up a good point, lack of medical care while we’re here. We have the inn mostly working, several working lights scattered around town, I think it‘s time we looked at getting the doctor‘s office up and running.”

“That’s a good idea.” Alex headed over to talk to the man behind the counter about the next fight.