Summoner School 3 -- Chapter 2 (Patreon)

I slammed on the brakes and turned the wheel to avoid the spike strip. The backend of my brand-new Ferrari Roma slid out in a fishtail while my pulse raced like a horse at the track. I could almost feel the silver spikes as they brushed against the edge of my tires, but my slow speed helped me to stop before they actually stabbed into the rubber.

“What the fuck?” I whispered and leaned over Atlesia to see what the hell was going on.

There were nothing but empty fields around us. The dark earth had already been plowed for the winter, and the nearest farmhouse was on the other side of a long driveway. Lights from my subdivision glittered like stars in the night sky, but they were almost a mile away, and the detour had brought us further out into the countryside than I usually traveled.

“It looks like nails for building,” Atlesia said and pressed her face to the tinted window. “Why would someone put one of those here? Does it help to keep the animals from wandering too far?”

“Not usually,” I said and inched the car closer to the side of the road. “Something is going on. You should stay here while I check it out. And don’t use your magic.”

“I won’t,” she said with a worried frown. “But what if it’s something magical that’s coming after us? The human realm would be the perfect place.”

My girlfriend had a point. Magic wasn’t expressly forbidden in the human realm, but being burned at the stake was a pretty good deterrent. The witch trials hadn’t actually killed many actual magic users, but it was still frightening enough to keep most species away from the crazed non-magic users and their pitchforks.

“I have some of my animals with me,” I reassured the flower nymph and then squeezed her hand. “I’ll be just fine. Besides, humans can overlook a random wasp attack since the flying bastards are meaner than a cobra, but plants growing all on their own are harder to get past.”

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll be your backup, just in case.”

“Perfect,” I said and then kissed her hand, opened the door, and climbed out of the still running sports car.

Cold air washed over me the second that I was free from the warm interior and heated seats. The temperature had dropped rapidly once the sun went down, and a few puffy white flurries drifted down to cover the asphalt. There’d be black ice soon enough, but for the moment, I’d still be able to make a quick getaway if I had to.

Stories of modern highway robbers flashed across my mind as I walked over to the spike strips. I’d heard about some thieves that would flag unsuspecting people down and then take all of their money when the good Samaritans stopped. The spike strip and electronic detour sign was a bit more involved, though, and I couldn’t understand why anyone would set it up so far out from the city.

It would definitely make it harder for anyone to catch them, but there were hardly any cars on the road, and my neighborhood wasn’t exactly flush with cash. My grandmother and I had barely been able to pay rent for my apartment and the nursing home before I’d started fighting in the illegal underground arenas, and the Victorian manor had all but fallen apart. Some of the other houses were in better condition, and there were plenty of big homes, but they weren’t exactly mansions.

“I don’t see anything,” Atlesia said as she rolled down the window.

“I don’t, either,” I said and inched closer to the spike strip.

All of the metal nails were made of bright silver that winked in the little bit of light that came from the moon. Clouds drifted across to cast shadows on us, and I instinctively checked my pocket to make sure that the amulet wasn’t hot. It hadn’t reacted much since the underground arena, but I hadn’t been anywhere since then where the shadow creatures had been spotted.

“This feels like a trap,” my girlfriend said.

“It is,” I said and started toward the edge of the road. “Keep your eyes open. It’s probably just somebody that wants to take my car. Maybe the salesman gave his buddies a heads-up.”

“Why would they do that?” the flower nymph frowned and leaned further out of the window. “It’s not as if you wouldn’t be able to trace it back to them. And killing us would bring your police around, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah,” I said and then knelt down at the end of the spike strip. “But the thought of easy money makes people dumb.”

There was a weird symbol etched into the metal that tickled the back of my mind. I was almost positive that I’d seen it before, but the memory escaped my grasp like it was nothing more than mist. There were too many sigils and spell puzzles that I’d memorized over the last few months for me to identify it right away, and the one on the spike strip wasn’t one that I used frequently. It was close, though, and that meant that we might not be dealing with ordinary humans.

One hand slipped into my pocket to wrap around the quartz that held the wasps. If someone was about to attack us, then I wanted to be able to defend myself. I doubted that they could be more ferocious of an enemy than Rarus, the school bully, but it would’ve taken at least two people to lay the long stretch of metal and nails across the road, and that meant that I needed to be ready for anything.

Rarus the Minotaur was a stronger opponent than almost anyone that could pop up from the empty fields around us. His muscles and height gave him an advantage in a fight, but the bull-man was also adept with water and earth magic. It was no secret that the bully was powerful, but we’d come to an uneasy truce over the last few weeks.

I’d seen the damage that Rarus could do in the underground arenas, and had felt the full force of a punch when the bully was acting as my mentor in the battle magic program. If I could survive a fight with Rarus, then I could take whoever wanted to come after me in the human realm. I just hoped that it wasn’t the shadow creatures, because it would take all of my stored mana to summon the will-o’-wisp, and there was no way that any passing humans would write the glowing creature off as a figment of their imagination.

“Do you see anything?” I asked Atlesia.

“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “There are weird shadows around the edge of the roads, but they aren’t moving. I haven’t seen anything shift since we arrived.”

“Right,” I said and glanced over my shoulder.

The flower nymph had better night vision than I did, so if she didn’t see any creatures scurrying around, then there probably weren’t any. The robbers could’ve just put up the spike strip and hoped that we’d hoof it back to the house to call AAA. It was late enough that a tow truck would take at least an hour to reach us, and if we were back at the house, then the thieves would have plenty of time to come and steal the car.

I squinted in the light from my headlights and studied the spike strip. There were wires underneath it that looked electrical, so it was possible that only one person had set up the trap. All they’d have to do was wait for me to go over the nails, and then a signal would be sent out to let them know that it was time to come retrieve their prize.

“I think that I can get around this spike strip,” I said and stood. “There’s no sign of anyone else. Whoever did this is probably waiting nearby for us to drive over it. We’ll just avoid it and then lock the Ferrari in my garage.”

“Won’t they have your address?” Atlesia asked.

“If the salesman is in on it, then yes,” I said with a shrug. “But they’re probably human. The barrier will keep out anything magical. And I can take on a few humans with guns. Nothing like a fistful of wasps to the face to make any robbery not worth the effort.”

I walked closer to the car but didn’t go around to get in. The symbol still bothered me, and warning lights had started to go off in the back of my mind. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck like hackles on a wolf, and my instincts said that we weren’t alone.

“Something is here,” my girlfriend whispered with a flirty smile like we were talking about what we’d do when we got home.

“I know,” I said. “I still don’t see anything, but I can’t shake the feeling that we’re being watched. Can you sense any magic?”

“There’s something,” the nymph said and casually reached for the door handle. “But it’s faint. And weird. Like it’s somehow not right.”

“The amulet isn’t hot,” I frowned and glanced back at the spike strip. “I’m starting to think that this wasn’t put out by robbers.”

A beam of light shot out of the darkness behind me and disappeared on the other side of the road. Heat from the attack stung my ear like it had been made of fire, but the damned thing had looked just like a laser in a sci-fi movie. I spun away from the car and toward the spike strip as the sound of something charging erupted into the still quiet.

“Andrew!” Atlesia gasped and immediately swung open the door.

“Stay back,” I warned as another laser shot over my shoulder.

This time I got a clear look at it, and a shiver ran through my body as my mind raced. It was just like something from a sci-fi movie, but I’d never seen a spell that could do anything like that. Even the will-o’-wisp hadn’t used one, and the creature was practically made of light.

I instinctively activated the quartz with the wasp and threw it toward the field as I spun around to face whoever had taken a shot at me. The lumps of shadows still hadn’t moved, but the wasps seemed to sense my attackers before I could spot them, and the angry insects swarmed like a cloud over a nearby ditch.

A man’s voice rose above the sound of recharging laser guns and was soon joined by another. They must’ve had some kind of invisibility shield, because I still couldn’t see more than an outline of them from where my wasps buzzed around them and stung them as many times as possible.

“Where are they?” Atlesia asked as she jumped out of the car.

A burst of flames erupted into the air and turned my swarm of wasps into nothing more than smoldering embers. The insects fell to the barren field while the shadows that we’d seen started to move.

I watched the spot where the wasps had been, but kept an eye on the box-like structures that lifted into the sky. The familiar sound of electricity buzzed in the air, and highway lights blinded me for a second as they flashed on. It was like a construction crew had decided to jump us and steal the Ferrari, but every instinct told me that whoever it was wasn’t after the car.

“I don’t know,” I answered my girlfriend. “Just be ready for--”

My sentence trailed off as a shield flowed from one set of lights to the others on the other side of the road. It shimmered blue and white like the ones that I’d seen used at school during sparring practice, and irritation swelled in my chest. It had been such a nice night, and now some magical bastard was about to come and ruin it.

At least the fake road lights would make it seem like the county had just sent someone to fix the potholes. That would keep my nosy neighbors in their houses with the windows shut, and they were far enough away that the sounds of fighting wouldn’t be able to compete with their TVs. I’d be able to beat the crap out of whoever it was without anyone knowing that there was a magical fight, and I had to grin at the idea that my attackers had set it up so nicely for me.

“Andrew,” Atlesia whispered from right behind me. “My glamour. It’s gone.”

I glanced over my shoulder to see that the flower nymph was right. Her pale green skin practically glowed underneath the spotlights, and her turquoise lips were too natural to be a lipstick. I cursed under my breath and hoped that the glamour would come back once we knocked down the shield, but it did let me know that whoever was attacking us knew that we had magic.

“It’s fine,” I reassured her. “No one is out right now. And if anyone is, then they’ll think we’re cosplaying. No big deal. Let’s just figure out who’s shooting at us.”

There hadn’t been another laser beam since the lights had lifted into the air, and the shield was too similar to the ones that we used in the battle magic program to be a coincidence. If it was the same, then that meant that any attacks used inside wouldn’t be able to escape, and nothing on the outside could get in. It was normally an advantage for a magic user, but all of the equipment was made out of metal and had wiring like it was electronic, which shouldn’t be possible.

Magic and electricity didn’t work together. At least, it wasn’t supposed to. The closest any of the other species had come to using human electricity was the gnomes with their steam-powered gadgets. If there were humans that could combine the two, then they’d be deadly, and I couldn’t risk Atlesia’s life.

“Andrew Hall,” a man said as he entered through the shield.

The man wore a black jumpsuit made of neoprene and leather like he’d stepped out of the future, and it took all of my self-control not to laugh at the ridiculous outfit. There were welts underneath his arms from where my wasps had stung the guy, but the helmet that obscured his face had also protected his eyes from the attack. There was a silver gun strapped to either side of the man’s hips like we were in the wild west, but blue light the same color as the lasers glowed from the tips of the weapon.

“I’d greet you, but I don’t know your name,” I said and shifted so that Atlesia was behind me.

“And you won’t,” a woman said as she and three other neoprene-wearing goons stepped into the shield.

“Andrew Hall,” the first man said again and squared his shoulders. “You are in direct violation of the Human Salvation Act. Under directive 316, we are here to enact justice. You have betrayed your own kind and must suffer the consequences of your actions.”

“I… what?” I asked as I shoved both hands into my pockets.

The amulet might work inside of the shield, but the MIB freaks in front of me might be able to follow us through before the gateway closed, and there was no way that I’d bring them with us. The only places that I could think of escaping to were my house, Ira’s, or the school. Of course, all of those locations were protected, so if the neoprene-wearing weirdos did try to slip through, then they’d be smothered, or flat-out ejected, by the barriers.

“You are in violation of the Human Salvation Act,” the man started again with an irritated tone. “You have betrayed your own kind. Under directive 316, we are hereby enacting your punishment. The penalty is death.”

“You and your unnatural companion,” the woman sneered with a glare at Atlesia.

“Who are you calling unnatural?” my girlfriend snapped. “I’m a flower nymph. If anything, you humans are unnatural.”

“Thanks, babe,” I chuckled, but my eyes never left the man in front of me.

The other three MIB agents stood like they were soldiers behind their leaders. Each one of them had a gun like the lead guy, and they glowed as if they were already charged and ready to shoot us. The heat from the first laser had singed the top of my ear, and I had no intention of taking a direct hit from one of the futuristic weapons.

“I have no idea what you guys are talking about,” I said with a shrug. “My girlfriend and I are just out for a nice date night.”

“Your girlfriend is a hostile,” the woman snapped and reached for what looked like the hilt of a knife.

The silver hilt extended with a flick of the woman’s wrist, and a blue light like the one from the laser guns raced along the edges of a blade. I watched as the other soldiers pulled out their weapons, but the leader gave a subtle shake of his head, and the others holstered their guns. The female agent stepped forward like she expected me to move, but that wasn’t going to happen.

“We don’t want any trouble,” I said and squeezed one of the wasp quartz in my palm. “There are humans nearby. And I think we all know how they’ll react to a magical showdown. The shield can only hide so much. And I’d hate to have to kill anyone.”

“We won’t be the ones dying,” one of the other soldiers said.

The voice sounded like it came from a teenager, and I squinted at the helmeted face as I tried to make out any details. There was no way to tell how old any of them were with the masks and the neoprene suits, but the leaders had enough rasp in their voices that they had to at least be adults. If the other three were kids, then that would make my life a little more difficult. I was sure that Atlesia and I could knock them out without killing them, but those laser guns were deadly, and it might come down to an us or them scenario.

“Why does anyone have to die?” I asked with a casual smile. “Look, you clearly know that we have magic and that Atlesia is a nymph. We’re students at Magia Schola, and I’m part of the battle magic program. You won’t be able to win against me.”

“You are an abomination to humanity,” the leader snarled and drew his gun. “You are a traitor to your own kind. Magic is the root of all evil. Only those of us who are pure of its maniacal calling deserve to exist.”

I stared at the five of them like they’d lost their minds. The guy’s speech sounded like something straight out of a white supremacist handbook but with magic. I half-expected them to pull out giant crosses from beneath their neoprene suits and tell us that they were part of an inquisition against witches.

There was no way for me to talk us out of this situation, not if they were fanatics, and that meant that I’d have to fight them. I glanced over my shoulder at Atlesia and saw rage in her eyes. It clearly wasn’t the first time that the flower nymph had heard something about being an abomination, though it had probably been an elf that had called her that in the first place, and hearing it from a human was bound to be even more agitating.

“I’d really rather not do this,” I sighed and rolled my shoulders. “How am I supposed to explain your corpses to the cops?”

“I could just have my plants consume them,” Atlesia said in a sugary-sweet voice laced with poison.

“I won’t let a hostile abomination threaten me!” the woman snapped and ran forward with her knife in the air.

I activated the wasps before the woman had taken a few steps, and a new swarm of stinging insects flooded the space beneath the shield. Screams erupted as my insects went after anyone in a neoprene suit, and the younger one immediately tried to shoot the small creatures with his laser gun. One of the others tried to use what looked like a miniature flamethrower, but one of the wasps went right through his glove, and the agent dropped the weapon like the sting had hit a nerve.

“I’ve got her,” Atlesia said as she stepped out from behind me.

My girlfriend was more like a sweet ray of sunshine than a hardened fighter, but she’d reminded me more than once that some plants were carnivorous, and the look on the flower nymph’s face said that at that moment there was nothing she’d like more than to tear that woman to shreds. I almost felt bad for the agent, but that lasted half a second as she tried to slice into Atlesia’s arm.

The strike managed to burn the flower nymph’s forearm, but the green-skinned woman had already released one of her quick-growing seeds. It was like a live-action Batman movie with Poison Ivy, and vines erupted through cracks in the asphalt to hold the agent in place. My girlfriend had her opponent under control, my wasps had the three stooges in the background, and that only left the leader.

I called forth my sparrow-squirrel and sent the little creature after the helmeted man. His laser guns flashed as the guy tried to shoot the small animal, but it was faster than his aim, and it was the perfect distraction for me. I rushed forward and slammed my fist into the guy’s gut as hard as I could.

A grunt came through the thick glass of the helmet as the man folded around my fist, and a grin spread across my face. The MIB weirdos were human after all, and their suits did nothing to protect them from a direct hit. I could see weird symbols stitched into the collar of the man’s suit, but those reminded me of the magical barriers and would be completely useless against hand-to-hand combat.

The leader brought one of the guns up to shoot me in the face, but I spun around behind him and then kicked out one of his knees. A crack echoed over the sounds of fighting as his kneecap shattered against the road, and adrenaline pumped through my veins as I knocked the laser gun out of his right hand. That left only one weapon, and the agent’s movements were slower as the guy tried to stand on his broken leg.

A pained gasp came from Atlesia, and I glanced over to see that the woman had managed to break free from the vines. The temperature had dropped another few degrees as night took over, and more white flurries flowed through the shield to make our surroundings into a snowglobe. It would be harder for the flower nymph to use her seeds if it was too cold, and my girlfriend wasn’t as skilled with her fists as I was.

“It’s time to stop playing,” I said and then brought my elbow down on the top of the leader’s helmet.

It felt like I’d hit a brick wall, but the guy crumpled to the road like a sack of potatoes. His gun went off as he landed on it, and blood trickled out from underneath the agent from the self-inflicted wound. I didn’t wait to see if the guy was still alive as I ran to give my girlfriend backup.

One of the three stooges had managed to pick up the flamethrower and was in the process of burning all of the wasps. All of them had lumps under their neoprene suits from where they’d been stung, and one of them collapsed and started to convulse like he was having an allergic reaction to the venom. My sparrow-squirrel went after the biggest threat, and a stream of fire shot through the dome as the kid tried to hit the bird hybrid.

I was almost to the woman when her head popped up like a prairie dog’s, and she looked over to see that the leader had been knocked out. The agent’s entire body tensed as if she just realized how hopeless the situation was, but I had no mercy left for the MIB weirdos, especially when I saw Atlesia’s wounds.

“Retreat!” the woman said and pressed a button on the side of her helmet.

The shield disappeared in seconds, and the lights from the side of the road went off in the blink of an eye. It took me a few seconds to adjust to the sudden darkness, but the agents must’ve had something in their helmets to help them, because they’d already retrieved their leader. All five of them hobbled toward the barren field, and I started to follow.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” I snapped.

A ship that looked like it was straight out of the X-Men movies hovered over the fields, and a set of stairs descended to let them down. Giant laser guns were strapped underneath the aircraft and moved to point directly at Atlesia and me. There was no way that we would survive a direct hit from one of those things, so there was nothing we could do but let the neoprene-wearing freaks leave.

“I’m going to kill them the next time that I see them,” I said as the ship vanished.

The sound of engines revving up flowed all around us, and then we were blasted with hot air as the ship flew off. I glanced at the lights to make sure that they weren’t about to blow up, but they looked like normal roadside halogens, and even the spike strip had retracted into a tiny silver toolbox.

“Are you okay?” Atlesia asked as she came over to me.

“Yeah,” I said with a forced smile. “Are you?”

“Yeah,” the flower nymph said. “Just a few scrapes. That woman was a pain in the ass.”

“They all were,” I said and started toward the car. “There was a symbol on the side of that spike strip that I swear I’ve seen before. And what the hell were they talking about? It’s like they were some weird government agency or something.”

Something glinted in the headlights, and I bent down to pick up one of the laser guns. It started to glow and grow hot as I looked at a sigil etched into its barrel, and I threw it toward the field just in time to see the toolbox and lights melt like lava into the dead grass beneath them. In seconds there was nothing left of the MIB weirdos except for our memories and scorched earth.

My mind raced as I tried to remember where I’d seen the symbol on the gun before, and it hit me like a bolt of lightning. It was the same one that my new neighbors had right behind their ears. There was no way that I was wrong about it. The mark had been too weird for me to forget because it almost looked like a spell.

But those soldiers had said that they didn’t use magic.

The only thing that I knew for sure was that those assholes wanted me dead.

And somehow my neighbors were linked to them