The Woodward Academy, Year 4

Chapter 9: February

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

As David emerged from Hughes Hall, having just completed his TEM class, he was confronted by Kippy, who had clearly been waiting for him.

"David Stroud, you are to report immediately to the dean's office."

David's eyebrows went up, but he nodded. "I'll be there as quick as I can."

Kippy popped out of existence, and then David conjured his book bag away into his Conjuring Room. He'd planned to spend some time studying, but clearly he was going to be doing something else.

When David arrived at the office, Tracy just motioned him toward the door. She had a worried look on her face, which puzzled him. He'd never seen her rattled. He knocked on the door to Dean Lengel's office.

"Come in!" said the voice. David opened the door slowly. He had never heard Dean Lengel's angry-stern tone of voice before.

"You wanted to see me, Ma'am?"

"You get in here and give me back my fish! This is no longer funny, Mr. Stroud."

David came fully into the room and closed the door behind himself.

"Dean..." David stopped, then reconsidered. "Emile, I didn't take your fish. Why would I do that? Better question, how could I do that? Your office is always either occupied, locked, or guarded by Tracy."

"And you're a conjurer. Put him back," she said, her voice still quite rigid.

"How long has he been missing?" David asked.

"An hour and a half!"

"I've been in TEM for the last ninety minutes," David pointed out. "And I wasn't late to class. Were you out of your office at any point around that time?"

"No. But it wouldn't matter, if you'd conjured him away!"

"But I didn't. And I doubt anyone else did, either. Which means, since no one could have stolen him, that he must be in here somewhere."

"I've looked everywhere!" she insisted.

"Well, not quite everywhere," David objected.

"Oh? Where didn't I look?" she demanded.

"You didn't look wherever your fish is," David said with a smile. She frowned mightily in response.

David studied the situation. Any water that had splashed from the fish's departure had long since dried up. He thought for a long moment, then pulled out his mirror.

"Who are you calling?" Dean Lengel asked.

"My roommate... Only he's not answering," David said after a moment, grumbling. Thinking for another long moment, he raised his finger in remembrance, and dialed again. This time, he asked for Flo.

"Hey, David!" Flo said brightly.

"Hey, Flo. Say, in your Animperium classes, did they ever teach you a spell for finding an animal?"

"Sure. You can't control the little buggers if you don't know where they are..."

"What's the spell?" he asked.

She showed him, and then he thanked her and signed off.

David put away his mirror, pulled out his wand, and then moved to the middle of the room. He flipped the tip of his wand in a very rapid circle and said, "Talalya az allatote." A blue ring appeared in the air, with a pointed projection along its circumference. The projection spun rapidly, until it came to a stop, pointing at...

"It's pointing at the fish bowl!" Dean Lengel said in annoyance. "The fish is obviously not in his bowl!"

David looked carefully, lining himself up with the pointer on the ring before it faded. Finally, he said, "It's not pointing at the bowl. It's pointing..." he said, walking over, "to the fern."

"I've checked that damned plant a dozen times," she replied dismissively.

David peered through the heavy branches of the fern, but did not find the fish caught among them. Next, he pushed the leaves aside and studied the pot itself. At first glance, there didn't appear to be anything, but David kept looking, and finally he saw something.

"Do you feed this plant using plant food sticks?"

"No, I use a potion of plant food and water."

David nodded. "I think I found your fish."

"Where?" she demanded.

David stepped slightly aside, but kept the leaves parted.

Dean Lengel looked. "There's nothing there but dirt!"

"Do you see the hole?"

"Yes..."

"Well, if you didn't make the hole, and I didn't make the hole, something else did."

David pulled out his wand again, pointing it at the hole, and said, very quietly, "Sem." He waited, and slowly but surely, the fish came wiggling out of the hole. It floated up into David's hand, where it dropped.

The two watched as the fish shook off the dirt that had clung to its body, flipped over twice, and then, using its fins to push off, it jumped off David's hand, arcing through the air and plunging into the water of his bowl with virtually no splash.

"Well, what the hell!" Dean Lengel said in astonishment, looking at the fern plant. "Why would he bury himself in the dirt?"

"Well, he is a mudskipper," David said. Dean Lengel looked at him quizzically. "A fish that can breathe air," he explained. "Maybe he needs more privacy in his bowl, and he was going to the fern to hide out."

"Oh." With that, Dean Lengel's body shrank, as she sank in on herself. Her goby turned a light shade of pink. "I'm very sorry, David. I shouldn't have accused you of messing with me. I should have known better by now. It's just that I'd get all stressed out when he'd go missing, and..."

David thought she might actually be near tears. He stepped over and hugged her, and she hugged him back.

"It's okay," David said. "It had to be unnerving, to just look over and see him gone. Hell of a thing, I buy you a gift to help you relax, and all it does is stress you out all the more."

Dean Lengel chuckled, then she gently pulled away from David, who let go of her easily, but didn't move away just yet.

"Forgive me?" she asked.

"Of course. But it'll cost you lunch."

Dean Lengel chuckled. "You're on."

David turned to see that the goby's color had changed from pink to a deep crimson.

David scratched his head mentally at that, as he had thought that crimson in the fish meant arousal in its owner. He wondered if it might have another meaning as well, but didn't have time to consider it, as Dean Lengel finished straightening up her desk, and then led him out of her office, to head to the cafeteria.

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

David caught up with Ellie as she emerged from her Technomandy class.

"Hey, Ellie," he said.

"David, hey!" she replied brightly. The two kissed warmly for a long moment.

Ellie's friends did not stop, but said, in a good-natured teasing tone, "See you later, Ellie," They didn't wait for a response, which was not forthcoming, anyway.

When the two finally separated, David asked, "What was that about?"

Ellie grinned. "They love to tease me about dating an upperclassman. I think they're just jealous."

"Oh," David said with a chuckle. "You know, technically, I won't be an upperclassman until next year. Only the 5-through-8's are considered upperclassmen."

"Eh," Ellie said dismissively. "Why spoil their fun?" she asked with a grin. "So, did you need something?"

"I was wondering what you wanted to do for Valentine's Day... er, I mean the Festival of Love and Lights. That is, if you want to go with me in the first place..."

"Haven't got anyone else to go with," Ellie said with a smile. "But... I don't really want you to go to a lot of trouble, either. I mean, we're dating, but we're not dating, if you know what I mean."

David nodded.

"Maybe, instead of going out, we could just spend the night... in?"

"And naked?" he asked quietly.

Ellie blushed, but nodded enthusiastically.

"Hmm. Well, that's certainly doable. If that's what we're going to do, then maybe it's time to advance your training a little more. I think I've run out of positions I can safely teach you, so I guess it's time to move on to something else."

"Ooh," Ellie said, her curiosity piqued. "What are we going to learn?"

"It's a surprise," he said with an evil grin.

"Will I like my surprise?" she asked.

"There's really only one way to know that," he said. "But you'll have to wait until the Festival."

"Aw," Ellie said, pouting.

"You're cute when you pout. You wanna go to lunch together, or you gonna catch up with your friends?"

"Nah, I'll eat with you. Maybe I can catch up with Gwen on what she's doing."

"It's likely they've already eaten, given their schedules."

"Oh. Oh, well. You're fun to talk to, too."

"Gee, thanks," David said with a grin.

Ellie kissed him in contrition, and then they went to lunch.

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"Prof. Edgars?" the man asked, stepping into the classroom.

Prof. Edgars looked up from what he was writing on the board. "Yes?"

"Sorry to interrupt. I need to borrow David Stroud for the rest of your class."

Prof. Edgars motioned to David. "Please get notes from someone else, David, as I will not be going over this material again."

David looked to Olissa. She said, "I've got you covered. Go on."

David nodded his thanks to her, packed up his books, and headed out.

Once they were in the hall, the man introduced himself. "I'm Seth Tupper. I work in the Security office."

"Nice to meet you. Is there a problem?"

"There's been another theft. Before we went to look, the dean had informed us that you were to be involved in the investigations."

"Have the Rimohrs been called?"

"They've been notified, but they told us they wouldn't come down unless we found some useful evidence. Apparently, they've got some case they're working on or something."

David nodded. "Okay, well... where was the theft this time?"

"Pegasus Dorm."

"Well, that screws that theory," David said.

"Theory?"

"We'd thought they were avoiding Pegasus Dorm for a reason, that maybe they lived there. Obviously that theory is a wash. They might still live there, but they weren't really avoiding it, they just hadn't hit there yet."

Seth nodded.

"Do we know what they took?"

"No, I haven't been down there yet. I came and got you first. Why are you so interested in the case?"

"Because someone's trying to pin it on me. First, with no clues as to how they're getting in, and then when they stole my Incorporeus potion. I would not be surprised if they found a way to try to hide the stolen items in my room."

"That... would be hard to explain away, wouldn't it?"

"Quite."

The two rode down the rock lift to Pegasus Dorm. The theft took place on the top floor, which was different from the previous burglaries, which had always been on the lower two floors.

"Another pattern destroyed. I'm beginning to wonder if this is a copycat," David said to Seth.

"Ugh. We don't need that. How would you prove it?"

"Catch the bastard who's doing it."

"Right."

The two arrived at the room, to find four boys sitting around the table in their dorm room, just waiting.

"Good morning, boys," Seth said.

"Not particularly," one of them replied.

David chuckled.

"Okay, could you all step out in the hall, so we can talk?"

The boys came out of the room, leaning against the wall.

"What did they take?" David asked. Seth had out a notebook to take notes.

"My seeing crystal, for one thing," one boy said.

"He took a radio I brought from Earth," another said.

"Why did you bring a radio, here?" David asked.

"It was one of those old-timey ones. It was mostly a decoration, but I put a mirror in it, so it did actually play music."

David nodded. "Anything else?"

The other two explained that they had each lost valuable items. Seth dutifully wrote it all down.

"Have you guys disturbed the room?" Seth asked.

"We might have moved a couple things, to see what was gone, but we didn't clean up or anything."

"Okay, let us get to work, to see if we can find anything."

David got no further than the door. He noticed that the door jamb was badly scraped up.

Turning to the boys, he said, "Has this always been like this?"

"No. We figure he tried to get in that way."

David looked at Seth, then shook his head. He examined the door itself, which had similar scrapings. Ultimately, he saw that the vent grating on the door had been bent, spreading apart two of the slats so that something - David had no idea of what - could be inserted into the opening.

"Look here," David said to Seth. "He probably poked something through here, then fished it up and opened the door."

"But what would he use? The door handle is round."

"I don't know. When we find him, we can ask him. This isn't our guy."

"You sure?"

"These right here are more clues in one small spot than our guy has left at all five previous thefts put together."

"Right. Well, let's keep looking, then."

After about a half-hour, David called Joe.

"Hey, David. What's up? You find anything at that burglary scene this time?"

"Yeah, we did. This isn't our guy, Joe. There's all sorts of evidence all over the place here. I think maybe the guy was trying to be a copycat, but he sucks at it, if he is."

"You need us up there?"

"We don't have the authority to arrest anyone," David confirmed. "And you'll have to process the evidence, anyway."

"All right," Joe sighed. "Give us an hour or so."

"Right."

-----

"Hello, David. It's not like you to be late..." Prof. Zoroaster said.

"Sorry, sir. I was assisting the Rimohrs." He handed over a note that proclaimed that, which Vivian had written for him, because her handwriting was much neater than Joe's.

Prof. Zoroaster read the note quickly, then nodded to David to take his seat, and continued on with his lecture.

"The thief again?" Olissa asked in a whisper.

David shook his head. "Someone else, trying to hide his crime inside the other guy's work. He left all sorts of clues."

Olissa nodded, then they both returned to listening to Prof. Zoroaster.

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"David Stroud?"

"Hello, Agent Wilson. What can I do for you today?"

"You need to come with us to your dorm room, please."

David looked at his friends, who were at the lunch table with him. "Okay..."

As the Rimohr agent, along with Joe and Vivian, led David out of the lunch room, David saw a vicious gleam in Aaron's eye.

Hmm. Wonder what he's so happy about.

While they were walking across the terrace, David asked Agent Wilson, "Can I ask what this is about?"

"We got an anonymous tip that said we might find several stolen items in your dorm room."

"Anonymous, huh?" David said, his voice heavy with skepticism about the veracity of such a person.

"We have to check out all such tips," Agent Wilson said.

"Oh, I know that. I just think I know who the 'anonymous' person is. Joe, did you process those fingerprints from yesterday?"

"Yes. They weren't yours, obviously."

"Got a copy with you?" he asked.

"Why, strangely, yes I do," he said with a grin.

They entered Phoenix Dorm and made their way to David's room. Agent Wilson was about to enter, when David grabbed his coat to stop him. Agent Wilson whirled, thinking David was attacking him, but when he saw that David was completely passive, he settled quickly.

"What?" Agent Wilson demanded.

"Have you guys been in here already?"

"No. School policy requires you to be present when your property is searched."

"Okay, well, someone has been, other than me and my roommate."

"How do you know?"

"See that bent slat on the vent grating?"

"Yeah?"

"It wasn't there when I left this morning. And it is exactly the kind of damage that yesterday's thief created to get into that room."

"Which you were aware of, so you could have simply done the damage yourself," Agent Wilson said.

David shrugged, and then opened the door for them.

All four people entered the dorm room. David went and sat at the table, to stay out of their way.

"Which room is yours?" Wilson asked. David indicated the one on the outside end of their room. Wilson nodded and opened the door to go in. It took mere seconds before Wilson came back out, holding several items in a magical field, so he didn't touch them. He floated them over to the table.

"Care to tell me how these got in your room?" Agent Wilson asked.

"The thief planted them, obviously," David said. He was worried, but only because he didn't think Agent Wilson believed him.

"Can you prove that?" Agent Wilson asked.

"Well, I can give you some logical reasons why it wasn't me. Can I prove who put them here? No."

"Okay, tell me what your reasons are."

"First off, I have no reason to steal anything. The stuff on this table is worth, what, a thousand granas at most?"

"Far less than that," Wilson said.

"My wealth grows by at least twice that in the amount of time it would take me to go to the store and purchase these things, just from the interest. The trouble simply isn't worth it.

"Further, I'd bet you twice your salary you don't find my fingerprints anywhere on any of that stuff. You will probably find someone else's, though, given that he didn't bother to hide them yesterday.

"I'm assuming that the person who's framing me - poorly - is trying to suggest that I am the thief, the one who has been committing all the other burglaries. If that's the case, how did I suddenly become so utterly crappy at doing my job?

"Furthermore, if I am the one who has pulled all of those jobs, why are the only items found here the ones from yesterday's theft? You've had no reports of anyone fencing anything, so theoretically, I should still possess all the stolen items. Where are they?"

"You have them hidden," Wilson suggested.

"And we come to the last point I was going to make. I have a personal vault at the bank, where I could hide all sorts of things. Why the hell would I leave evidence like this lying around in an amazingly obvious place?"

"Okay, those are all really good points, that any defense aide would bring up," Wilson said.

"Oh, one final question. In the last twenty-four hours, the only person who has been in my bedroom is me. Not even my roommate has been in there. So how did this anonymous caller know the stolen items were in my bedroom, unless he put them there?"

"How do you know your roommate hasn't been in there?"

"Well, for one thing, he spends all his time with his girlfriend. But I keep my door closed, and he has no reason to go in there. I suppose you could ask him if he's been in there, but he'd be admitting to being a thief if he did, since I know I didn't steal the items."

"Agent Wilson?" Garibaldi said.

"Yeah?"

"He's right. Not a single one of his fingerprints anywhere on these. All sorts from the person yesterday, though."

"You're sure those aren't from one of the guys who live there?"

"Yes, sir. I eliminated all of them yesterday."

"Okay." Agent Wilson turned to David. "You make good, solid points in your defense. I don't think you're this stupid, and other than location, there is nothing to point to you. In fact, the trace which is still on you eliminated you as a suspect in yesterday's theft."

"So either I am smart enough to have an accomplice, but too stupid to not hide the loot in my own room, or..."

"Or it was planted, yes," Agent Wilson said with a grin. "Any thoughts on who might be trying to frame you?"

"One," David said.

Agent Wilson nodded. "I will want to see your personal vault."

"Whenever you like."

"Let's get that taken care of now. Garibaldi, Columbo, you finish processing those items."

"Yes, sir."

"We'll be back shortly."

-----

By the time the Rimohrs had finished questioning David and Jim, who vehemently denied going into David's room or calling in any tip, it was dinner time. The Rimohrs were walking David to Byron Hall, because that's where David's one suspect was.

"How do you plan on getting him to allow us to fingerprint him?" Agent Wilson asked.

"If I tell you, then it becomes something I'm doing at the behest of the state. I don't know what Callamandian law says about the state forcing someone to give over evidence against themselves."

"I see," Agent Wilson said with a grin.

David stepped behind Agent Wilson as they entered the lunch room. Joe, knowing what David was doing, lightly gripped David's arm, to make it look like he was being led. David very quietly directed Agent Wilson past the correct table.

"Finally got your ass, Stroud? It's about time."

"Your time is coming soon, jack-off," David told him.

"Did you hear that?" Aaron said, rising from the table. He leaned forward, pointing at David, while his left hand was flat on the table. "He's threatening me!"

In a flash, David spun. Joe released him instantly. David grabbed Aaron's right hand, slamming it hard onto the table, where Aaron spread out his fingers to reduce the pain. At the same time, David pressed Aaron's left hand firmly into the table top.

"What the fuck are you doing? Are you guys going to let him assault me like this?"

"Oh, believe me, you low-life piece of prembat shit, if I was going to assault you, you wouldn't have time to whine about it."

David grabbed Aaron's wrists, forcing him to lift his hands straight up. He then shoved Aaron just hard enough to force him back into his seat.

"There's your sample," David said to Agent Wilson, motioning to where Aaron's hands had been on the table.

"Cute," Joe said approvingly.

"Just for the record," Agent Wilson said, "We can compel someone to give over things such as fingerprints, as long as we have other reason to believe they are the suspect."

"Oh. Oops," David said, smiling. "But this way was more fun."

"Right," Agent Wilson said. "Garibaldi?"

"Perfect match, right middle finger and left index."

Aaron, who had been sitting, befuddled, during this exchange, finally said, "Perfect match to what?"

"The evidence you kindly left behind while you were committing burglary," David said.

"I have alibis for all of the thefts. I was in class."

"For all of them except yesterday's, yes," Agent Wilson confirmed. "And yesterday's theft is the only one you're being charged with. That and attempting to implicate someone else in your crime."

"This is all bullshit! You find the stuff in his room, and you blame me?"

"How did you know we found the items in his room, Mr. Tisdell?" Joe asked. "No one has been given that information. Not even Dean Lengel. The only people who knew about our search were David, his roommate... and the person who made the call. And, as I am quite sure that you have never legally set foot in David's room, it begs the question, how did you know the items were there, in order to make the call?"

"I made no call!" Aaron said.

"Actually, you did," David said. "I saw the look on your face when the Rimohrs came to get me at lunch. You were grinning rather maliciously."

"Because I want to see you get what's coming to you!" Aaron said.

"And what would make you think that this arrival of the Rimohrs was any different from the last three times they've come to get me, which was to accompany them on their investigation? The only way you could have known this was different was if you had been party to what they were here for, and the only person that fits that description was the person who made the call. Ergo, you made the call. And, as Agent Wilson said, I have never let you in my room, so how would you know what was in there, legal or otherwise?"

Aaron was just smart enough not to try to come up with an answer to that question. "I don't have to answer to you."

"No, you have to answer to the magistrate," Agent Wilson said. "Aaron Tisdell, you are under arrest for burglary and malicious witnessing."

"Malicious witnessing?" David asked Joe, while Wilson used the handcuff hex on Aaron.

"That's what we call it when someone tries to put the blame on someone else for something they didn't do."

"Ah."

Agent Wilson turned to David, having finished with Aaron, who was now standing on his side of the table, in cuffs and looking very angry.

"Thanks for your help, Mr. Stroud."

"My pleasure, sir. How solid is this case?"

"Pretty damned good. I'd expect a conviction. You may have to testify."

David nodded. "What would be the punishment?"

"Revocation of license and deportation. We don't like thieves in Callamandia."

"Youch."

"You'd prefer a lesser sentence?" Joe asked.

"For this dickhead? No. He's not really smart enough to have a wand in the first place. I still don't know how he passed licensing."

"Fuck you, you undead freak!" Aaron seethed.

David shook his head. "I may be undead, but at least I'll still be a wizard this time next year. Take him away, boys," David said in jest.

Agent Wilson motioned to Aaron to walk toward the door. Aaron grudgingly complied.

"Nice work, David," Joe said.

"You guys did the work. I just told you what I thought."

"You were observant. That's the most important thing," Vivian said.

"Well, whatever. I'm just glad the bastard's gone. Convicted or not, somehow I don't think Dean Lengel is going to let him back into the school."

"Probably not. Well, we've got to get going. Take it easy."

"Yeah. Say hi to Zyla and Grace for me. See you next burglary."

Joe laughed, and then they both turned and left. David went to sit with his friends, and fill them in on all the details.

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"Argh," Olissa growled.

David took her hands, which were balled up in fists, and gently massaged them until she relaxed a little.

"You're trying too hard," he told her. "You're so laser-focused on the spot that you can't keep control of the block. You have to ease up a bit. Keep an eye on the spot... like it's Bispy. You don't stay laser-focused on him, but you always know where he is, right?"

"You know it," she said with a smile.

"Okay. So, the spot you're trying to send it to is like Bispy. Then, just move the object like before. You're doing the charm okay, it's just your control that's lacking. Give it another go."

"Okay..." Olissa said. She worked at it one more time. She almost got it, but once again, the block ended up embedded in the wall of the box it was trying to fit into. The fit was pretty close, but not so bad that she should be unable to do it.

"That was better. You're just going to have to practice. You need to relax some, and let things flow a little more."

"But this is hard," Olissa said.

"It is, but giving yourself a headache isn't going to make it any easier."

"Fair enough," Olissa agreed.

David looked around, then surreptitiously gave her a kiss on the cheek in support.

"I have to go help someone else now. Keep trying, but don't try so hard. What's the worst that could happen?"

"I screw it up," she said.

"And you're doing that already," he pointed out gently. "So if you're already achieving the worst that can happen, the only direction you can go is up. Relax a bit," he repeated.

"Thanks, David," she said.

"Anytime," he said, and then moved on to another student.

David worked his way through his half of the room. He was working with Gwen at this point. Gwen had been able to get the block into the box, but she had somehow flipped it over during the conjure.

"How the hell did I do this?" Gwen asked him in utter confusion.

"That... is a good question," David replied.

"And what's the answer?" she asked.

"Gwen, don't you know that when someone says something's a good question, they don't know the answer?"

Gwen giggled.

"Let me watch you do it."

David set the block on her desk, and then Gwen went through the steps to do the conjure again. Once more, the block ended up inside the box, upside-down.

"That's the damnedest thing I've ever seen," David said, mostly to himself. To Gwen, he said, "You've got the moves right, and the charm right, so the problem has to be mental."

"I'm mental, all right," Gwen said sourly.

"Come on, cheer up. It's supposed to be hard. What are you thinking about as you perform the charm?"

"Well, I was-"

At this point, Seth Tupper, the security guard, walked into the room.

"Prof. Blackstone?" Seth said. Everyone looked up at him. Several people were mid-charm, and a couple of blocks appeared over other people's heads. Chuckling was heard throughout the room as a couple surprised cries were uttered.

"Yes?" Prof. Blackstone said, indicating some annoyance at the startling interruption.

"Sorry, sir. I need to borrow David."

Prof. Blackstone nodded, and then motioned to David.

"For my next conjuring trick," David said to the class, "I'll make myself disappear!"

The others laughed as David walked over to Seth, and they left the room.

"Another one? Already?" David asked.

"Well, if you ignore the false one, it's been a few weeks."

"I suppose. The Rimohrs aren't joining us?"

"No. They said to call if we found anything significant."

"Fun. Which dorm was it?"

"Phoenix Dorm."

"Hmm."

"What?"

"Well, that's the third time they've hit Phoenix. I wonder why."

"Maybe that's where they live, and they're more comfortable there?"

"Possibly, but anyone who is living in Phoenix Dorm should feel perfectly at home in any of the others. After all, they've lived in all of them."

"True. I guess it's one of those imponderables."

"Yeah. I hate those," David admitted. Seth chuckled.

The two made their way down to the dorm. The crime scene was only four doors down from David's room.

"You guys ever gonna catch this bastard?" one of the girls asked David.

"We better," David said. "Did you guys notice anyone checking out your room, maybe following you around or anything?"

"No," they both said, shaking their heads.

"What was taken?" Seth asked.

"He took a very old talisman that my grandmother had given me," the first girl said.

"Was it valuable?"

"Priceless, to me," she said. "In monetary terms, probably two or three hundred granas."

"How about you?" David asked the other girl.

"They took my entire collection of crystals!" she said. She was clearly shaken by the experience. David put his hand on her arm to try to calm her down. That seemed to work a bit.

"How much have you two been in the room?" Seth asked the calm one.

"Just enough to see what was missing," she replied.

"Okay. If you'll both just wait out here, we'll take a look around."

The girls nodded, and leaned against the outside wall. David and Seth both examined the door first.

"Nothing here," David said.

"Just like all the others," Seth agreed.

"I think I liked Aaron's way better. It was more rewarding."

Seth snorted. "Just think how much gratification you'll feel when we nail this cocksucker."

"Yeah."

The two moved slowly and methodically across the room, starting at the doorway and working across. They each took a separate bedroom, and that's when David spotted it.

"Hey, Seth! Come look at this!"

Seth came in, and squatted down where David was looking. "What you got?"

"Dirt."

"That's it? That could come from anywhere."

"I don't think so. It's the wrong color to have come from the school grounds. You got a baggie or something we can put this in?"

"Yeah." Seth pulled out a small plastic bag, something obviously obtained from Earth, since it said "Ziploc" on it.

David used a spell to lift the dirt from the carpet and usher it into the baggie. Conjuring magic was not allowed in handling evidence, even though it would have been much easier for him to do.

"Let's talk to the girls," David said.

The two went out into the hallway. Seth let David ask the questions, because he didn't see what was so special about dirt.

"Have either of you been off campus recently?" David asked.

They both shook their heads negatively.

"How about boyfriends, acquaintances, anyone been in your rooms in the last day or so?"

Again, both of them shook their heads.

"Whose room is the one near the windows?"

"Mine," said the girl who'd lost her talisman.

"Are you in TEM?"

"No, that shit confused the hell out of me."

"When did you take it last?" David asked.

"In my second year."

David nodded. David held up the baggie. "Is there any reason you can think of for TEM training dirt to be in your room?"

"TEM training dirt?" Seth asked. David nodded.

"No, I don't know why that would be there. Are you sure it's training dirt?"

"No, not yet. We'll have to have it analyzed. But it's the same color and consistency, at least to the eye, as the stuff that Prof. Rutherford has in her classroom. It's significantly different from the dirt on the grounds, it's much looser and finer, and it's lighter in color, as well."

"So what's it mean?" the other girl asked.

"Well, if you guys didn't bring it in," Seth said, "and if no one else has been in your room, then it probably came in with the thief."

"Is it important?" the first girl asked.

"All clues are important," Seth said. "Just how important, we have yet to discover."

"We'll keep you informed if we find anything out," David said. He looked to the girl who was still a bit shaken up. "Try to take it easy. Is there anything you need?"

The girl was still a bit sniffly, but she shook her head. The other girl wrapped her arm around the girl's shoulders.

"I'll take care of her," she told David, smiling at him in gratitude for his concern.

David nodded, and the two men walked away.

"Looking for a girlfriend?" Seth asked with a chuckle.

"Being nice never hurts," David said.

"I'll get this dirt sent off to the Rimohr lab."

"I'd get some dirt from Prof. Rutherford, too, for comparison."

"This would tie in with the theft of the TEM 101 notes, wouldn't it?"

"Maybe. I can't help feeling like TEM 101 is too low-level for this thief. But I've got nothing to hang that on, so we just go with what the facts say."

"Right. I'll let you get to class."

"Uh, I think I've missed too much to bother. I'm going to dinner."

"Enjoy," Seth said, and then headed for his office.

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"Okay, all of you have attempted some very basic anti-anti-divination work, during your final exam in your first ADT class, when you had to attempt to read the card despite Prof. Dartson's interference. Most of you, frankly, didn't succeed.

"Today, and for the rest of this semester, we're going to talk about breaking anti-divination magic. This is especially useful for hydromancy and crystallomancy, but all of the disciplines can benefit from it, with the exception of astrology. The reason that it cannot help astrology is that there is simply no anti-divination magic that can be applied to astrological divination.

"There are many reasons that people use anti-divinatory magic, most of them relating to privacy. As such, there is a serious ethical question about the use of anti-anti-divination magic, what we shall, from this point forward, refer to as blockbuster magic. The issue is simply that, once a person has gone to that much trouble to protect their private life, what right do we, as diviners, have to bypass that protection? Anyone wish to offer an opinion?"

Seeing no one else offer anything, Olissa reluctantly raised her hand. When Prof. Zoroaster acknowledged her, she said, "If you think that a person is in danger, but you need to divine their life in order to either verify your concern, or to figure out how to protect them, then I think it's acceptable. Safety is more important than privacy."

"To you, perhaps," Prof. Zoroaster said, then grinned. "But you are right. This is one of the generally accepted principles of blockbusting: if a person's safety is thought to be in jeopardy, blockbusting is allowed so long as you then divine only that which is relevant to their safety. It cannot be used as a license to hunt through their details. Anyone else?"

David said, "If you believe someone to be endangering others, then divination can confirm or refute that belief, and perhaps protect the people they are targeting."

Prof. Zoroaster nodded. "This one is more universally accepted even than the first. The guilty have no right to privacy. Of course, you cannot prove they're guilty without first invading their privacy, which is why you should generally have a very strong reason to believe them guilty before turning to blockbusting. Anything else?"

There was silence in the room. No one could really think of any other reason that this forced invasion of privacy might be used.

"I'm actually pleased that you can't come up with more reasons to use blockbusting. It shows that you take what you're doing seriously. In fact, there are a few other situations you might get into where you feel it is necessary to use blockbuster magic. You will have to evaluate the circumstances as they arise. Just know that it is not considered a good idea to use it lightly, and other means should be attempted or at the very least considered before resorting to blockbusting.

"Now that we've covered the ethical concerns, we're going to talk about the mechanics of it. For some of you, this may be a difficult task, given your primary divinatory focus, but you should still be able to manage, at least marginally.

"Well, let's begin."

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"Yes, David, what can I do for you?" Dean Lengel asked when he entered her office.

"I have an unusual question."

"Ask away," she said.

"Do you have a way to display or demonstrate or whatever, the position of the dorms at a time point in the past?"

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean," she said.

"Well, as a for-instance, could you show me where all the dorms were last Tuesday at noon?"

"Ah, I see what you're getting at. No, I don't. I'm sure something could be created, but we don't have anything on hand. Why is it important?"

"I don't know that it is. I was just thinking about the thefts, and I was wondering if there was a pattern to the location of the dorms at the times of the break-ins. I've already struck out on finding a pattern to the actual times, the room numbers, and the specific dorm hit, so this is my next idea."

"How does finding the pattern help you any?"

"If I find the pattern, I will know where he might hit next."

Dean Lengel nodded. "Well, I'm sorry that I can't help you. Perhaps someone in the Spells Dept. would be able to come up with something. Try talking to Prof. Hall."

"Who? Oh, you mean Coach Hall?"

Dean Lengel smiled at him. "Yes."

"Sorry, none of the students call him 'Professor'."

The dean nodded.

"Anyway, thanks for the advice."

"Sorry I couldn't be more helpful," she said.

David glanced at her goby out of the corner of his eye. It showed the light blue of disappointment, so he figured she wasn't hiding some secret from him. Not that he thought she was, but it was always nice to get confirmation, even if it was from a fish.

"No problem, ma'am,"

"What did you call me?" she asked sternly.

David grinned in embarrassment. "Sorry, Emile," he said, balancing his gaffe by using her personal name.

"That's better. Have a good afternoon."

-----

"Ah, David! What can I do for you today?" Prof. Phillips said. When David had explained what he needed to Coach Hall, he had immediately sent him to Prof. Phillips.

"I need a bit of spellcasting assistance."

"Oh? Do tell," the professor said eagerly.

"I need to spell one of the school maps to show me the position of the dorms at a point in time in the past."

"What for? You trying to prank someone? Make them go to the wrong dorm?"

David grinned. "Hey, that would be kind of fun," he said, and Prof. Phillips smiled tolerantly. "But no. I'm working on these stupid thefts. I'm trying to find a pattern, and I was wondering if there was a pattern in the placement of the dorms at the times when they were burglarized."

"I see. So you need a map that would allow you to tell it what time you wanted to see, not just one that showed you a fixed time."

"Yes."

"Well, it shouldn't be too hard. How quickly do you need it?"

"I probably have a few weeks before the next theft, but the quicker, the better..."

"Right. I'll get to work on it, and let you know if I come up with anything."

"Thanks, Professor."

"No trouble. Glad to help."

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"Okay, David. This could be a bit tricky, but I don't expect it to cause you any real difficulty. I want you to turn around," Prof. Blackstone said.

David turned around, facing away from his professor. Behind him was a mirror, so he could still see Prof. Blackstone just fine.

The professor took a wooden block and set it on the table that was now behind David. He could see it clearly in the mirror.

"Okay, David. Without turning around, I want you to conjure the wooden block to the table in front of you."

David shook his head. "I don't understand, Professor. Why is this supposed to be hard?"

"Because you're not looking at the real block. If you try to conjure the block you're looking at, you'll fail, because it's not actually there. The mirror is the first step. If you can do this, we get rid of the mirror, and you have to conjure the object 'blind'."

"Oh, I see. Okay."

David closed his eyes for a moment to center himself, then opened them and stared at the mirror. He allowed his mind to imagine the path to the real object, and it took him only a couple seconds to feel like he had hold of it. At that point, he performed the conjure, and sure enough, the block ended up on the table in front of him, right next to the mirror.

"Good! Good work. I didn't think you'd have any problem with that, really. Now," Prof. Blackstone said, moving over to David, "we remove the mirror." Prof. Blackstone took the mirror down, and grabbed the block, as well. "Stay facing away from me," he told David.

David heard the professor moving around behind him, but dutifully kept his body turned so he could not see what was going on.

"Okay. I have set the block somewhere on the table. It probably is not in the same spot as before. The task is the same: conjure the block to the table in front of you."

David went through his preparations, and then began to seek out the block with his mind. He found that it was, in fact, quite difficult to find the block. He began to move his attention back and forth across the table, trying to seek out the essence that was the block of wood. Finally, he thought he had it, but it was much harder to localize something he couldn't see. He slowly narrowed in on it, and when he thought he had a good enough grasp, he went through the conjure.

The block appeared on the table in front of him soon thereafter.

"Excellent!" Prof. Blackstone said. He came over and took the block. "I'll tell you now, that takes about a week of class time for most students to pull off at all. And the next one is often their permanent stumbling block. Keep your back turned."

David nodded, still facing away. He heard something heavy land on the table, and then the professor said, "Okay, the block is back on the table. It is, however, inside of something. Your task is the same, but I only want the block. You are not to conjure its container. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," David said.

"Good. Give it a try."

David swept the table, looking for the block in his mind. Slowly, he began to localize. When he had the same grip on it that he had last time, he did his conjure. Unfortunately, the container object, a heavy wooden box, was conjured, as well.

"Whoops," Prof. Blackstone said light-heartedly.

"Yeah," David agreed.

"Not to worry. This is tricky. This is one of those stumbling points. There are a few of them in Conjuring. They're the points that people end up never getting past. I don't expect that will be the case with you, but we are going to have to work on this one until you get it right.

"So, are you up to another attempt?"

David nodded, and they carried on with their practice.

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"Hey, David... you look... fatigued," Olissa said when she saw him at breakfast.

"Didn't sleep well. Kept seeing conjuring stuff in my dreams. Last night's lesson gave me a headache."

"Sorry to hear that," Olissa said sincerely. "What were you trying to do?"

"Conjure an object I couldn't see out of a container I couldn't see."

"How the hell do you even begin to do that?" Simon asked in befuddlement.

"Apparently, I don't. Yet," David said with a grin. "I never did do it right."

"Try, try again," Gwen told him.

"Yeah, that's pretty much what Prof. Blackstone said."

The group kept chatting as they ate, but about halfway through breakfast, Prof. Phillips came over to their table.

"Good morning, folks," he greeted. The others replied in kind. "David, I have that map that you wanted. Just write a time reference in the box at lower left, and it will give you the display you want."

"Great! Thanks, Professor."

"My pleasure. It's been a while since I had to invent an enchantment. Good practice. Anyhow, you have a good one. Good luck on your search."

"Thanks again. Talk to you later."

Prof. Phillips nodded, and then left. David unfolded the map and set it on the table.

"What did you want another map of the school for?" Gwen asked. "This one doesn't even show you where you are."

"No, but it does something else I need it to do," David said. He pulled out his notebook, where he'd been keeping a journal of all of the theft-related information. He'd compiled a list of the dates and times of the thefts, and he, one by one, wrote them in the lower-left box on the map. Each time, the map changed, to show the position of the dorms at those particular times.

"Holy hell, how does it do that?" Simon asked, amazed.

"I have no idea," David said. "That's why I asked Prof. Phillips to do it."

The group laughed as David completed his list. Once he was finished, he put away the map, but stared at his notebook, where he'd made his notes.

"Anything?" Olissa asked.

"Not that I see right away," David told her. "I'll study it, and see if I can figure it out, but it's not making any more sense than anything else has."

"Good luck," Gwen said. The others murmured agreement.

-----

"Well, hello again, David. I'm seeing a lot of you lately," Dean Lengel said brightly.

"Yeah. Sorry to bother you again."

"You're no bother at all, David, you know that. What's on your mind today?"

"Well, I wanted to let you know that Prof. Phillips was able to create the map I wanted. It has, however, not yielded anything helpful so far. There doesn't seem to be a pattern there, though I'm still studying the information."

"Oh. Well, it was a good try, anyway."

"Yeah. I also wanted to ask you, do you keep track of who is on campus at any given moment?"

"You mean, who is physically here and who is not?"

"Right."

"No."

"Is there a way to do so, retroactively?"

"I don't think so. Why?"

"Well, my dorm room was burglarized before I got here, which means it was before the semester began. It either happened that Sunday, before I arrived, or it happened during the break at some point. I'm making an assumption it was a student, based on some of the things that were stolen, and if we knew who was on campus, when, then we could narrow down our suspect list."

"Oh, I see. Yes, that makes sense. But unfortunately, we've never even attempted to track the students in that fashion, and I'm not sure exactly how you'd go about it. I'm sure it is possible; the Rimohrs were able to put the magical trace on two worlds, after all, but I don't know how you'd do it, and it would probably be too difficult to be worth the limited usefulness. I'm sorry."

David shrugged. "Just had to ask. One last thing I wanted to know is who I should talk to in order to figure out who is not in class at a specific time."

"Okay, now that we can answer," Dean Lengel said with a smile. "Let's go over to the registrar's office. They'll have that information, including any reported absences."

"Great. That will be helpful. I don't know why we didn't think of it before."

"Think of what?"

"Eliminating as a suspect anyone who was in class at the time of the thefts. If we go on the assumption that one person committed all the crimes, then they had to be available for all of them. If they were in class, obviously they weren't available."

"Yes, that's very good thinking. You're good at this."

David shook his head. "If I was good at it, it wouldn't have taken me three months to come up with the idea."

Dean Lengel rested her hand on his shoulder for a brief moment, to show support, and then the two entered the Office of the Registrar.

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"So, you making any progress on the robberies?" Simon asked. The gang was sitting together at dinner. They were all interested, but Simon was the only one brave enough to ask. They knew that David didn't like being frustrated.

"They're not robberies. They're thefts. Robbery involves stealing directly from a person by force. You could also call them burglaries, but that's not really specific enough."

"Okay, fine," Simon said, grumbling at David's specificity, "Any progress on the thefts?"

"Some, but no, not really anything concrete."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gwen asked.

"Well, we managed to narrow down the list of suspects very definitely yesterday."

"How'd you do that?" Heath asked.

"Compared the theft times to class times. Turns out that the vast majority of people were in class during at least one of the thefts."

"Well, that's got to help..." Simon said.

"Yeah. Now we've only got 278 suspects."

"Holy shit. I thought you said you'd narrowed it down," Gwen said.

"I did. Before yesterday, I had 1903 suspects."

"What about the other clues, though? Don't they rule out any of the suspects?"

"No. First off, none of them are solid enough to rule anyone in or out. Second, the one clue we did have that was specific enough, is contradicted by this new evidence."

"How so?" Simon asked.

"Some of our clues pointed to a student in TEM 101. But yesterday's assessment ruled out every student taking TEM 101, by any teacher."

"Ouch," Gwen opined.

"Yeah. There is this bit of good news, if you want to call it that. None of you is a suspect anymore."

"We were seriously suspects?" Flo asked.

"Seriously suspects? No. But everyone was a suspect, since we couldn't rule anyone out. But each of you was in class for at least one of the thefts. Gwen, you and Ellie were doubly ruled out because of the theft last month. You were both driving to the school with me on the day it probably happened... and even if it happened earlier, you'd have had to be gone for an entire day to travel from Bellamy back to the school, and then back home again. I'd have kind of noticed."

Gwen chuckled at that, but nodded.

"Are any of your friends still on the list?" Simon asked.

"A couple," David said, not elaborating. He looked across the room, and was surprised to see Olissa kissing another guy. The kiss was brief, and then they separated, and she walked over to the table to join everyone.

After the greetings were finished, David asked, "Who was that?" He jerked his thumb over his shoulder to indicate who he meant.

"That's Elean, my date for the Festival."

"Oh. You been going with him long?"

"Haven't gone with him yet," she said with an embarrassed grin. "He asked me out to the Festival, and I said yes. I think he was scared. He's only a second-year."

"Ooh, robbing the cradle," Gwen said, teasing her roommate. Olissa blushed.

"I just hope he's better than that last guy," David said quietly. Olissa's eyes met David's, and she bowed her head ever so slightly in shame.

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"So, where you taking Ellie tonight?" Jim asked David.

"Right here, quite frankly," David said. Jim looked at him curiously. "She said she wanted to spend the night 'in' rather than going out."

"Ah," Jim said with a big grin. "Sounds like fun for you."

"Possibly. Where are you taking Sherry?"

"She's taking me, actually. She has some kind of secret plan she refuses to tell me about. She just says I'll enjoy it, and not to worry so much."

David chuckled. "Maybe I should tell her about your sex date..."

"Quiet, you!" Jim said, still embarrassed about that fiasco.

After a minute, David asked, "So, just how serious are you two?"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on, Jim. You've spent damn near every waking moment with her for the entire school year. If you weren't in class or sleeping, you've been with her. You even went home with her for winter break! I'm assuming you're getting some regularly, since you don't come back here bitching... I've got to wonder just how close you two are."

Jim blushed at David's recitation. "Yeah, I guess we are pretty tight. I like her, and she seems to like me for who I am."

David nodded. "And she's not bad to look at, either," he said with a grin.

Jim's face split from ear to ear with the biggest grin David had ever seen. "Damn straight!" Jim agreed.

"Well, good for you. I hope things keep working out."

"Yeah, me, too."

"When do you figure you'll be back here?"

"She suggested we would be out pretty damned late. But really, just keep your door closed, and what does it matter?"

"Well, we might want to take a shower when we're done," David said with a smile.

Jim blushed. "Tell her to bring a robe."

David laughed at that.

"Anyway, I gotta get going. When is Ellie coming?"

"That's a bit personal, don't you think?" David asked. Jim looked at him funny, then suddenly, realizing what he'd said, blushed crimson.

"I meant when is she going to arrive!"

"Oh, that," David said, grinning evilly. "In about an hour."

"Have fun," Jim said.

"You, too."

"Oh, I will. I will," Jim promised him. Then he breezed out of the room.

David sat at his desk. His homework was finished, and he returned to thinking about the thefts while he waited for Ellie to arrive.

-----

When Ellie showed up, David was staring out the window. He'd changed from his school clothes to some casual/relaxing clothes that Joe and Zyla had given him for Christmas. He opened the door, to find her wearing her usual uniform. She'd done up her hair into a pony tail, and he could smell a light fragrance coming from her.

David motioned her in and closed the door. He turned and embraced Ellie, kissing her for a long moment, but keeping the passion on 'simmer' for the moment.

When the couple finally came up for air, Ellie smiled at him. "I still love how you kiss," she said. David gave her a soft grin. "Where's your roommate?"

"Gone already. He won't be back until very late, he said."

"Oooh. So we have the room all to ourselves. What ever will we do?" she said, arching her eyebrows at him.

"Well, I don't know about you," David said with a light voice, "but I planned on screwing you silly."

Ellie's face broke into a very womanly grin. "Best plan I've heard all week," she said, and kissed him again. This kiss was more passionate, and her tongue slipped into his mouth. David's hands rubbed up and down her back as their tongues dueled. Finally, he broke their kiss.

"Let's go to the bedroom. Jailla hates looking at naked humans," David said, making sure Jailla heard him. Ellie giggled as Jailla turned around on his perch and lifted his tail, in the bird equivalent of mooning them both.

David led Ellie into the bedroom and closed the door. With the closer quarters, the mood shifted from one of light-hearted arousal to outright lust. Ellie pressed her body tightly against David, kissing him strongly. Her tongue demanded entrance into his mouth, which he granted. He didn't embrace her, but instead pushed her coat off her shoulders, letting it fall to the floor. With that gone, he set to work on her blouse, which was a nicely simple affair that he merely had to unbutton.

The blouse was soon gone, and the bra shortly thereafter. At that point, David slipped his hands around to her lower back and pulled her against him, holding her in place as they kissed.

Finally, the two had to come up for air. David enjoyed his view of her naked chest while she unfastened her skirt and let it fall to the floor. Her panties quickly followed it, and she stepped out of both, kicking off her pumps as she did.

"I seem to be all naked, and you're still fully dressed," she said. "Nice clothes, though. I don't think I've ever seen you wearing anything but your uniform, except in court."

"These were a Christmas present," David said. He was wearing a T-shirt and a pair of soft pants.

Ellie tugged on his T-shirt until it was free of his pants, then pulled it up his body and off. As she usually did, she stopped for a moment then to run her hand over his scar. Her fascination with it confused him, but it didn't bother him, so he didn't object.

Once Ellie was done with her examination, she reached down and pushed his pants down off his hips. They were held up by a drawstring, which wasn't tight enough to be a real hindrance to her. Once the pants were gone, she carefully pushed down his briefs, exposing the object of her desire.

"Come sit on the bed," she said to him softly. David did so, stepping out of his clothes piled on the floor. He had already been barefoot when she'd arrived, so he was as nude as she was.

As David sat down onto the edge of the bed, Ellie sank to her knees. David parted his legs to give her access as her soft hand gently encircled his shaft. He didn't need any prep work, as he was already fully erect. Ellie kissed the side of his cock, then began to lick up and down the sides, letting her tongue slide back and forth, keeping him fully aroused.

Finally, when she was ready, Ellie moved her mouth to the head of his dick and, with agonizing deliberateness, moved her mouth down onto his cock, her tongue in motion constantly. By the time she had taken him in as far as she could, David was having to seriously control his hips, to keep from ramming his dick deep into her throat.

Pausing for a moment, Ellie hummed on David's cock. David groaned in bliss and closed his eyes. Ellie started to slide off his cock, and then she set up a maddeningly slow, but intensely pleasurable, rhythm. It felt damned good, but she was going so slowly that she could control his arousal, and he wouldn't cum until she was ready for him.

Finally, she sped up just enough, and David instantly groaned out in warning. She knew what was coming, and when it arrived, she was ready, accepting his spunk into her mouth. David grunted repeatedly as he came, and when he was done, he still saw stars in his vision.

Ellie slowly released his cock from between her lips, and then she rose from her knees, until she was looking him in the eyes.

"Happy Valentine's Day," she said, smiling at him.

"Hmm," he said, pulling her to him and then falling back on the bed until she was lying on top of him. "Maybe I'll get the name of that damned festival changed yet!"

Ellie giggled as David then rolled them over, so he was on top of her. She spread her legs, giving him all the access he wanted, but he was in no position to fuck her yet. Instead, he slid down off the bed, until he was kneeling between her legs. She closed her eyes as his tongue made contact with her pussy lips and just enjoyed the sensations.

David's tongue slid over and between her lips, probing her entrance. As he forced his tongue into her opening, he took his thumb and rubbed it gently along the side of her clit. Ellie's hips jerked, and then she started to moan.

David wiggled the tip of his tongue inside her, and he continued to move his thumb against her clit. Ellie was heating up quickly, but David knew that, just like her pleasant torture of him, she would not cum from this until he was ready to let her.

Finally, after several minutes, David removed his tongue from her pussy and slid it up to her clit. As he began to lick her clit, he moved his hand down, and slid his middle finger deep into her pussy.

Ellie groaned at the feel of it, his tongue was sending tingles all the way up her spine. David kept his licking slow, using almost the entire length of his tongue. His finger slid in and out of her at a faster pace, but still he wasn't rushing. He kept this up for several more minutes, until he could tell, by her writhing and her moaning, that Ellie was right on the verge of her orgasm.

Finally, David sped up, rapidly flicking his tongue across Ellie's clit. His finger sped up as well, thrusting and twisting as it moved in and out.

In mere seconds, Ellie screamed out her orgasm, her juices flooding over David's hand. Her body bucked as her climax washed over her, and she thrashed her head from side to side.

David removed his tongue from her clit, but he kept finger-fucking her for a little while longer, prolonging her orgasm. Finally, he let her come down from her peak. He stood up, and then he gently pushed her all the way onto the bed, so she would be comfortable. Once that was done, he joined her.

Having just cum, Ellie was pretty well out of it, and David didn't try to talk to her or do anything more than rub his hand across her abdomen, occasionally cupping a tit and squeezing softly. After a few minutes, Ellie was a bit more coherent.

"Happy Valentine's Day to you, too," David said with a smile.

Ellie giggled. Then she said, "That better not be my whole present! It felt great, but we've done it before, and you promised something new!"

David ran his hand up along her face. "In a little while."

"What are we going to do until then?" she asked.

"Wait for you to calm down, for one thing," he said.

"I'm as calm as I want to get tonight," she replied.

"Is that so," David said, arching one eyebrow.

"Yeah," she replied, reaching down to feel his fully erect dick. "And you're as hard as I need you to be. So I repeat, what are we going to do until then?"

David rolled on top of Ellie, and in a second, his dick was sliding smoothly into her tight, wet pussy. There was little finesse this time, as they were both fully aroused and ready to fuck. Ellie rolled her hips as David thrust into her. He leaned down and kissed her, hard, as he continued to thrust into her, and her moans were lost in his mouth.

It wasn't long before Ellie was on the verge of another orgasm. David continued his thrusts, but sat up, breaking their kiss. He reached down and toyed with her nipples, tugging on them gently. That was enough to send Ellie over the edge, and she screamed out in pleasure once again. Her body shuddered as David continued to thrust into her, only stopping as her orgasm reached its peak. He withdrew from her carefully, letting her shiver through the final moments of her climax.

As Ellie was finishing up her orgasm, David took his dick in one hand, made a motion with the other, and softly muttered, "Sliska ilyko." He knew that what needed to be done, had been done, and now he settled next to Ellie, to wait for her to be ready for him.

In a minute, she turned to him with a very satisfied smile. "That was intense," she told him. "But still not new..."

David smiled. "Okay," David said, indicating he was ready. "But, you remember, you said you would try anything I brought to you, at least once, right?"

"Uh-huh..." she said, now looking a little worried.

"You may or may not like what we're going to do. It might, in fact, hurt, which I'm sure you won't enjoy. It will be uncomfortable at first, even if you turn out to like it in the end." David tried not to smirk at the pun; she wouldn't get the joke.

"Okay," she said, now seriously concerned. "What are we doing?"

"Get up on all fours," he told her.

She did, but said, "We've done doggy style before, though... It's not really my favorite position, but..."

David moved in behind her, and placed his hand on her lower back, just above her ass crack. He took his dick in his other hand, and he aimed it at her rosebud. When the head of his cock hit her asshole, Ellie stiffened.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Fucking you in the ass," he said, his tone straightforward and businesslike.

"Uh... I don't know about this..." Ellie said, unsure.

"Remember your promise," he told her.

Without waiting for further conversation, David pressed forward. He used the thumb of the hand on her back to keep his dick head in position, and he kept up the pressure. Ellie grunted in obvious discomfort, and she leaned forward slightly at first, but when David simply followed her, she didn't retreat further. When she started to push back at him, he stopped her.

"If you do this too fast, it will hurt a lot," he said. "Just let me do the work."

"Okay," she said.

"And you let me know if the discomfort turns to outright pain."

"I will."

David continued to push forward, and soon enough, the head of his cock was fully inside of her. He took both hands and put them on her ass, massaging it to help her relax.

"How does that feel?" David asked.

"Really... full," she said.

"Does it hurt?"

"It did, a little. Right now, I just feel like... well, like I've gotta poo. Sorry."

David chuckled. "I'm going to push in now. I'll go really slowly."

"Okay," she said, her voice nervous, but not as bad as before.

David gripped her hips gently, and leaned forward, allowing his cock to slide deeper into her ass. He pulled back, and slid in again, going further. He repeated this pattern over and over until finally his hips were resting against her ass cheeks.

"How do you feel?" David asked her.

"I'm... not sure," Ellie said. "It's a very strange sensation, but I kind of like it."

"Okay, well, I'm going to start moving now. If it hurts at any point, you tell me, but I'm not going to stop anymore, okay?"

"Okay," she said. The nervousness was almost completely absent this time.

David started slow, just rocking his hips back and forth, moving very little, until he felt she had grown used to the movement. Once he knew she was ready for more, he started to slide his cock in and out of her, keeping his motions slow.

"OH!" Ellie screamed as soon as he started that. "Holy shit!"

David smiled at her cry of obvious pleasure. He continued his motions, and Ellie was quickly trying to push back at his cock. He kept his hands against her hips, to prevent her from doing exactly that. He sped up his own motions, however, as she was clearly ready for a bit more.

Over the next few minutes, David increased his speed until he was actually fucking her ass just as fast as he would her pussy. She was crying out in joy, loving every second of it. Her screams were building in intensity until finally she screamed, "Oh, god, fuck me, David!" Her body shuddered strongly as her orgasm slammed into her. David bent over her and held her against himself as she thrashed, lost in the throes of climax.

After a very long moment, Ellie settled down. David eased his cock out of her ass very slowly, making sure not to cause her any discomfort. When he was out, he lowered her to the bed, and then he lay down beside her, to wait for her recovery.

It took quite a bit longer than usual for Ellie to be coherent. When she was, she turned over and looked at him, then threw her arms around him and kissed him passionately for a very long moment.

"I loved that!" she said enthusiastically, when they broke their kiss. "Thank you!"

David smiled, but he said, "I should warn you about two things. The first is, you're probably going to be sore tomorrow. Sitting in class may not be all that much fun."

Ellie giggled. "And the other thing?"

"Don't ever do this with someone you don't completely trust. If this is done wrong, it can not only cause pain, it can really hurt you. I mean, it can cause physical damage."

Ellie nodded seriously. "I can see how it could. But you... oh, god, can we do that again?"

David chuckled. "I don't think it'd be a good idea to do it again tonight, but we can certainly do it again at some point."

"Mm," Ellie purred, running her hand over his chest.

"Want to take a shower?" David asked.

"Okay. What if your roommate comes home?"

"You can borrow my robe," David said. "I'll just throw on underwear."

The two were soon in the shower, and David's cock was once again sliding deep into Ellie's pussy.

"Oh, fuck yes. That feels so good," Ellie said. "Not as good as in my ass, but... oh, shit, I love it when you fuck me."

David grinned and kissed Ellie passionately. It was a long time before David was ready to blow, and Ellie'd had another orgasm long before him. Finally, though, he felt the tingle in his balls.

"Gonna cum," he told her.

"'Kay," she said, panting.

In a second, David slammed his hips against her and loosed a torrent of cum into her pussy. Ellie shuddered through a small climax of her own, and the two grunted together in enjoyment of each other's bodies.

After a long time, the two separated, to actually wash off the remnants of their evening together.

Once they were done with the shower, with Ellie wrapped up warmly in David's robe, they sat at the table to chat. David offered her some juice from their food cabinet.

"This was way better than some restaurant or something," Ellie said.

David chuckled. "I'm glad it was a good night for you."

"I see what you mean about my butt being sore, though," she said, shifting her bottom in the chair.

The two talked for a while longer, then Ellie started to yawn.

"I guess I should go home, before I fall asleep at the table," she said.

David considered for a long moment, then said, "Unless you want to do one more new thing tonight."

"I'm not sure I'm up for anything else," Ellie said.

David shook his head. "You could sleep over," he told her.

Ellie's eyes widened at that. "You'd want me to?"

"Why wouldn't I? You're my girlfriend... sorta... and I like having a partner to sleep with. And it is something you'll need to be familiar with... trust me, sleeping in the same bed with someone is different."

Ellie nodded. "Okay, if you're sure it's okay..."

"It's definitely fine with me," David said with a smile. "Come on, you look ready to fall asleep right now."

Soon the two were snuggled down beneath the covers of David's bed. Neither of them was wearing any underwear.

"I like this part," Ellie said, her voice already a bit dreamy. She snuggled back against David, who slipped his arm over her and rested his hand on her stomach.

"Good night, Ellie," David said.

"Good night," she replied. In seconds, she was asleep.

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

Ellie had been a little embarrassed for Jim to see her leave in the morning, but she'd kissed David, anyway. She had to go back to her room to change for the day, as she didn't want to be seen wearing the same shirt twice in a row.

David made his way to breakfast, where he met up with the usual gang. After greeting them all, he started in on his breakfast.

After a couple minutes of listening to the chit-chat going on, David turned to Olissa and asked quietly, "How did your date with... shit, what's his name, again?"

"Elean".

"Yeah, how'd your date with Elean go?"

"Just fine. He was a perfect gentleman. Which, unfortunately in this case, means all I got was a kiss good-night."

David chuckled. He asked, "Are you... um... going with him now?"

"I guess," she said. "He seems nice enough, if a little shy."

David cocked his head and then nodded. "Good luck."

"Thanks."

"You might have to lead with him," David offered.

"I'm not good at that," she said.

"You did okay in our first get-together," David objected.

"You have no idea how hard that was for me."

David nodded again and let the matter drop. He went back to his breakfast, listening to the other conversation that was going on.

Near the end of breakfast, Seth Tupper showed up.

"Hey, Seth," David said.

"Hey, David. We've got... business to attend to."

"Another theft, already?" Gwen asked.

"No," Seth said, shaking his head. "It's something else. C'mon," he said to David.

David nodded, said good-bye to the others, and followed Seth out of Byron Hall. As they walked across the terrace, David asked, "So what do we have?"

"Last night, down in town, someone tried to sell off one of the stolen pieces of jewelry."

"Really? Who did the selling?"

"That's what we're going to try to find out."

"Right."

Seth and David rode down the lift and then walked over to Gorumshead. They went to a small shop called Second Chance Gifts. They entered and took in the atmosphere, which was much like an old bookstore in ambience. It was cozy and inviting, but also a bit dusty and cluttered. David figured the only one who knew where everything was, was the shop's owner.

"Good morning, gentlemen," the owner said. "Can I help you?"

"Hello. I'm Seth Tupper. This is David Stroud. We're investigating some thefts that have happened up at the school. The Rimohrs said you had someone in here last night who tried to sell you something?"

The owner nodded. "Yes, yes. He was a short man, perhaps a few inches shorter than you," he said, indicating David. "He wore a dark... and I think perhaps dirty... cloak. But I tell you, I think it was all a sham."

"How do you mean?" David asked.

"I think it was a disguise. Every time I tried to look at his face, I couldn't seem to focus on it. It was as if his features were obscured, but not in any way that you could describe."

"Were they... flattened? As if he had pulled something over his face?" David asked, thinking of a stocking mask. Normally that was used for robberies, but...

"No, no, nothing like that. As I say, it was something you'd just have to have seen to comprehend. I'm sure it was a magical charm of some kind. In order, I presume, to hide his identity from me. A sensible precaution, if the item was, in fact, stolen."

"Can you describe the item he was trying to sell?" Seth asked.

The man gave a detailed description of the item, which Seth wrote down. It seemed to correspond to one of the very first pieces taken.

"Why didn't you buy it from him?" David asked.

"Well, he didn't look trustworthy, so I wouldn't have ever bought anything from him, but more importantly," the man said, then pointed up to a sign hanging in the shop. It indicated quite clearly that, though all items in the store were used, he did not buy from the public.

"Can you say what the man wore beneath his cloak?" Seth asked.

"No. Something dark, but he kept the cloak wrapped around himself. As I said, he was working hard to keep his features hidden."

Both Seth and David nodded, and then they both thanked the man, and left the store.

"Does this tell us anything at all?" David asked.

"It gives us a height," Seth said.

"Assuming the guy wasn't morphed, glamoured, or simply crouching in his cloak," David replied.

"Yes, assuming all that. It also tells us that the person isn't planning on keeping the stolen items, or at least not all of them. They probably waited this long figuring that the item would no longer be recognized by the buyer."

David nodded. "Which makes them not completely stupid, although they'd have done a lot better to travel to Bolmont to try to sell it."

"Maybe they didn't have time."

"They had the entire winter break!" David said. "Come to that, why not sell it then? Take it home and sell it wherever they live."

"Maybe because that would narrow down the suspects too far, if we found out about it?"

"Maybe," David allowed. "This is nothing but a series of blind alleys."

"Welcome to investigating," Seth said with a chuckle. "Do I need to write you another note?"

David checked the time. "Yeah. I'll need it with Prof. Thropp. She will not be happy with me."

"Sorry about that. You sure you want to stay on this?"

"Oh, hell yes."

"Okay, your call."

"Say, did the Rimohrs get back to you about that dirt?"

"Oh, yeah. It was TEM training dirt. In fact, it was specifically Prof. Rutherford's training dirt. She's the only one that uses a special mix. Everyone else just amends the dirt from the grounds."

David nodded. "Not that it matters, as we've ruled out all the TEM 101 students, anyway."

"What if we go back and rule out anyone who has no TEM classes with Prof. Rutherford?" Seth offered.

"It's an idea, but I don't think we can rule people completely out based on that... just list them as less likely."

"Right," Seth agreed. "I'll check on that and let you know if it gets us anywhere."

"Works for me. Talk to you later."

"You got it."

David left Seth, stuck a pixie stick in his mouth and sucked on it hard as he walked to his E&C class, which was already half over.

Who the hell is this guy?

-----

"Ellie looked a little embarrassed this morning," Jim said to David as they were both studying that night.

"Yeah, well, she's not used to the morning after."

Jim chuckled. "I haven't been there yet," Jim said.

"Well, I noticed you weren't home when I got up. Didn't you spend the night in her room?"

"No, we caught a room in town. She's only a second-year, remember. She's got a roommate. That would just be... ew."

David chuckled. "So what was Sherry's big secret plan?"

Jim replied, "Oh, she just took me down to town. We had dinner and such, then we went to this nice little lake, about a mile from here, on the road to the centaur village..."

"I know the place," David said with a smile of remembrance.

Jim nodded. "Then we went skinny dipping, and... other stuff."

"Uh-huh," David said with a grunt. He could imagine the "other stuff".

"After that, we decided to treat ourselves, and go to the inn. Had to get up too damned early to make it back in time for breakfast, though."

David chuckled. "Ah, the dangers of love affairs," he said. Jim blushed.

"Do your homework," Jim said.

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"David, could you come up to the front, please?"

David groaned inwardly. He hated being used as a show horse in this class. He dutifully walked up to the front of the room, however.

Prof. Rutherford smiled at him, then spoke to the class as a whole. "I know that a lot of you are having trouble with this, and you think I've got some kind of trick up my sleeve, but that's not the case. David has received the same instructions as all of you. I admit that I'm surprised by the ease with which he has tackled this first assignment, but I want him to show you what's possible, even for a first attempt at real control. Up until now, we've done more coaxing than outright control.

"Okay, David, give us a nice ball of electricity, would you?" Prof. Rutherford activated the electricity generator, and then stepped back. Even under the best of circumstances, the only person who was safe from such an electrical ball was the wizard creating it.

David took a deep breath, and felt the electrical energy around him. This was something they had spent a week on, just learning to sense the electricity in the area. He could easily feel the electricity within the generator, and he reached out to it with his mind. He brought his arms up so that they crossed his chest, his right arm resting on top of his left. Then, when he felt that he had connected with the electrical field, he slid his hands along his arms, separating them slowly. As his hands slid, he dropped his left arm and raised his right until his right hand was over his head. In a circling motion, he spread his arms wide, then continued the circle, but closed up its diameter, until his right hand was on the bottom, palm up, while his left hand was on top, palm down, separated from each other by about six inches. As he had spread his arms out, an electrical glow had appeared in front of him. As his hands came closer together, the glow compacted, coalescing into a ball of electrical power that sparked and crackled. The other students stepped back, not wanting to be touched by that energy.

"Very good, David. Now, dispel it," Prof. Rutherford said, pointing to a steel plate at the side of the room.

David's hands were constantly in motion, pivoting around the ball of electricity in order to keep it in place and under control. At Prof. Rutherford's direction, he pivoted his hands so that they were on either side of the ball. At that, he turned to his right, so that the steel plate was on his left. He moved both hands, and thus the ball, to his right, cocking his right arm. Then, in a quick motion, he dropped his left arm and straightened his right, turning his body back so that his arm pushed straight out toward the steel plate.

The electrical ball left David's hand, and a bolt of lightning trailed behind it, remaining connected to David, until it hit the plate. At that point, the lightning on David's hand disappeared, and the ball engulfed the plate, its energy dispersing safely into the ground. The class clapped politely at David's performance.

"As you can see," Prof. Rutherford said, smiling at David, "it can be done, even if you think you can't do it. Even someone who's not an expert can create a very impressive, not to mention dangerous, ball of electricity. Of course, the strength of the ball will be dependent on the amount of electricity freely available to you. But in here, you should all be able to create the same sized ball that David did. You simply need to practice. I realize that this is almost impossible to work on outside of class. That's why we take an entire semester for something that really has very few different elements to it. There are only three basic forms the electricity you harness can take: a ball, a bolt, or a sheet. But, as you are seeing, it can be tough to do any of them. Just keep at it, and you'll get it in time. Now, let's get back to our practice.

"Thank you, David, for your demonstration. I know I keep calling on you for this. It's just because you're such a... hrm. I don't want to insult you."

David chuckled. "Go on and say it, Professor. It's because I suck?"

"No, you don't suck. You're fairly good at picking it up, in fact. But you are of average strength for someone who can use elemandy with any ease. So, when I show them your skill, it's something that they can really achieve, because your level of power is... well, achievable. I have some other students, not in your class, who I can't use as examples, because they're way too strong in elemandy."

David nodded.

"Anyway, I appreciate your tolerance."

David smiled. "Did I have a choice?"

She smiled back at him. "No, not really. But thank you, anyway."

David nodded, and headed back to his table to continue his practice.

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~

"Can you think of anything we need to change?" Prof. Whitaker asked David. The two were crossing the terrace together, heading toward the cafeteria to eat dinner while they discussed the student handbook.

"Other than the usual updates, I'm really not sure. It seems like it's fairly complete to me. Oh, though, you know, I think I would like to expand the section on vampires slightly. I had personal contact with some this past year, and I think we could give some better information than what's in there currently."

"Okay, sure, that sounds great. I'm always happy when we can provide more details. What about the layout?"

"It seems to be working. You did that survey-thing, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"And how did those results come out?"

"Very few negatives. Most of those were because the book is rather human-oriented."

"The school is human-oriented," David said.

"Yes, so that's not really an issue we can do anything about, short of providing a different handbook for each race."

"That's probably not cost-effective, is it?" David asked.

"No."

David nodded.

As the two continued to walk across the terrace, they saw a crowd gathered, and there was a great deal of yelling and commotion. It was clear there was a fight going on.

"Oh, dear lord, I'm going to have to deal with this," she said as they hurried over to the area.

"Need some help?" David asked.

"Yes. Help me get them separated and calmed down."

The two pushed through the crowd, to find two guys, one with a bloody nose already, the other with a black eye.

"Stop this nonsense!" Prof. Whitaker shouted. Some of the crowd left, but the two guys ignored her. When one of them lunged for the other, David stepped in, wrapped his arm across the guy's chest, and heaved him backward. The other guy attempted to get in some free punches, but Prof. Whitaker wrapped him in a reteni field.

David pushed his guy back. The guy was clearly ready to continue fighting, until David yanked out his wand and aimed it at the man's face.

"Stop," David said, "Or you get hurt, and I mean more than a bloody nose."

The guy froze, and then eased back on his stance, but he still wasn't happy.

"What the devil is going on?" Prof. Whitaker demanded.

"None of your business, bitch," The one she had in custody responded.

"Call her that again," David said to him over his shoulder, "and I'll be the one getting in trouble, for putting you in the infirmary for a week."

The guy kept his peace: David's abilities were well-known, especially to the students who had come up after him.

"To the dean's office, both of you," Prof. Whitaker demanded.

"You want me to mirror her?" David asked. "She's not going to still be in her office at 6:30 at night."

Prof. Whitaker nodded, and David did so. It turned out that she was in Alton Hall, talking with Prof. Stott, and so they headed that way, instead.

"Good evening, Mary. David. What's going on here?"

Prof. Whitaker said, "David and I were walking to dinner when we saw a fight in progress. I asked David to help me break it up. These two were going at each other like amateur boxers. I restrained one, and David took the other. Once we'd got them settled down, we brought them to you."

Dean Lengel looked at David. "She miss anything?"

David smiled. "Yes. One of them called her an inappropriate name."

"And then you threatened to put me in the infirmary!" the guy snarled.

"Yes, I did. I'd advise you to keep that in mind while you're talking to the dean, too."

Dean Lengel looked amused. Prof. Stott tried to stifle a giggle.

"What's the story, you two?" Dean Lengel said, talking to the guys now.

The two told their story, each giving essentially the same version of events. The fight had been over a girl.

"This is not how we settle things in this school, gentlemen," the dean said finally. "You will both receive a week of detention. You will wait here until maintenance comes to retrieve you."

Both men nodded, then glared at each other. It was clear this matter wasn't resolved.

"You need me anymore?" Prof. Whitaker asked Dean Lengel. When the dean shook her head negatively, she said, "Then I guess we'll head out. I'm hungry."

"I'll catch up with you, Prof. Whitaker," David said. "I need to ask the dean a question."

Prof. Whitaker nodded, and then headed off.

"Do I need to leave?" Prof. Stott asked.

David snorted in lighthearted derision of the notion. Turning to Dean Lengel, he asked, "I was wondering something on the way here after the fight. In this instance, Prof. Whitaker asked for my help, so I knew I was okay to step in, but, as Information Officer, do I have the authority to enforce discipline at all?"

Dean Lengel shook her head. "No. The Information Officer has virtually no authority at all, except when in the commission of his or her own duties. Had you been alone, the most you could have reasonably done was step in and stop the fight. But then, any student can do that. Then you would have needed to report it to me, for further action."

David nodded. "I had a feeling that was the case."

"Why are you worried about it?" Prof. Stott asked.

"Because this is hardly the first fight I've seen this year. This is the fourth one this semester, that I know of. It seems like it's becoming a real issue, and I'm just worried that I am going to end up having to get involved at some point. Before that happened, I wanted to clarify what my limits were."

Dean Lengel nodded. "A good idea on your part. And you're right. This is actually the fifth fight, though I'm not surprised you didn't hear about the one. We are looking at things to do to get the discipline problem under control."

"Okay. I just wanted to have that cleared up. I need to catch up with Prof. Whitaker. We were going to discuss changes to the handbook over dinner."

Dean Lengel nodded with a smile.

"Madam Dean... Sam," David said, nodding to both of them, then headed off for the cafeteria.

"And to think when he got here, all he wanted was to be left alone," Sam said.

Dean Lengel chuckled. "His loyalty to this school is very refreshing," she said.

"I think his real loyalty might be to the dean, rather than the school," Sam said, twisting Emile's tail a bit.

Dean Lengel blushed, but said, "You're not one to talk."

Sam chuckled. "So what are you going to do about the fighting?"

"We really are looking into something. It's not ready to be discussed. I'm still working with the security department on it."

"As long as you're doing something," Sam said.

"Trust me, I am as worried as David is, even without a crystal ball."

~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~
~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~~≈≡≈~~