Ferryl Shayde - Book 2 - A Student Body Read online

  A Student Body

  Ferryl Shayde II

  BY

  VANCE HUXLEY

  This is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or places, events or incidents, are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  No part of this eBook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author.

  © 2017 Vance Huxley

  Published by Entrada Publishing.

  Printed in the United States of America.

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Acknowledgement

  Chapter 1 Mending Fences

  Chapter 2 Welcome Back

  Chapter 3 Fallout

  Chapter 4 Visitors

  Chapter 5 A Bloody Bargain

  Chapter 6 Too Many Possessions

  Chapter 7 Meeting with Magic

  Chapter 8 Revelations

  Chapter 9 Creature Rampage!

  Chapter 10 Firstseed Firefight

  Chapter 11 Open House

  Abel’s World

  Ferryl’s World

  Bonny’s Tavern – Rules and Characters

  Dedication

  To my Noeline and to the Joy of my life

  Acknowledgement

  Thank you to my editor Sharon Umbaugh,

  for turning my words into a book worth reading.

  My thanks to Rachel at Entrada for

  all her hard work and encouragement.

  Mending Fences

  The dark red, glistening sack-like creature with thin tendrils groped at the leaf litter on the ground, rearing up as if looking at Abel. It had been inside Henry, controlling him to attack Abel until Abel trapped it. Now Abel felt a strong urge to help it, but the ward tattooed on his arm flashed ice-cold as it stopped the magical compulsion. “Should I use fire or wind glyphs to destroy it?”

  The dryad, stood by its tree, pointed a twiggy limb. “We usually drop a branch on anything smelling like that. No fire inside the wood, please.” Abel raised both hands, concentrating on imagining wind glyphs in each palm before feeding magic down his arm to activate them. Once again, the sack-creature tried to control Abel, but he launched the two small, tight balls of air. The sack ruptured, splashing the foliage with blood before the creature itself bubbled and disappeared back into pure magic. Abel turned to deal with Henry, laid on the ground nursing a broken arm and staring about in mounting terror.

  As he took the first step, the scene vanished.

  ∼∼

  Abel Bernard Conroy, only just sixteen and barely a warlock, opened his eyes as the dream ended. He groaned, and not just because the bruises from the fight still hurt. At least he’d finally beaten Henry Copples, so there’d be no more bullying. He’d even managed to cast the glyphs, the magic spells, without Ferryl Shayde to help him.

  Abel touched the tattoo of a furry cat-woman on his left bicep, now empty and lifeless. Ferryl, a faded sorceress, had left it to possess a schoolgirl, though Jenny had agreed at the time. She’d been bleeding to death in Abel’s arms after he dragged her out of a heap of scaffolding. Jenny made a binding magical bargain: life in return for hosting the sorceress for twenty years.

  He touched the strange purplish spikey flower tattoo next to it, his ward against magical attack. Neither were real tattoos. They were magically burned into the bone according to Ferryl, and they’d certainly hurt enough for that. As usual his ward felt calm and reassuring, his own magic welcoming him, but it missed something. Or rather, it missed someone, the real reason for Abel’s groans. Kelis.

  Kelis, one of his two best friends and his only female friend, had been the first person Abel told about magic. Immediately after explaining, Abel drew a copy of his flower as a ward, magical protection, underneath Kelis’ arm. Unfortunately, that created a link, one that might have been why a New Year kiss became six wonderful weeks. Ten days ago, they’d broken the link, then ended their relationship after Ferryl explained that Abel might have magically bound Kelis to him.

  The sorceress insisted that even if they didn’t want it broken, the link left a dangerous gap in their magical defences. If an attacker gained access to one of them, bound them, the other would have no defence and would be bound as well. Afterwards Kelis and Abel had agreed to stay just good friends for a while. They weren’t supposed to kiss or even hug, not until they were totally sure every trace of the link had gone. Now Abel had spent four days refusing to see her, talk to her, or answer emails and texts.

  ∼∼

  Abel stopped going around in circles inside his head and sat up. Two ugly scaled creatures, brownies, stopped collecting mud from his boots and scuttled warily out through the too-small crack under the door. A hunting pictsie hesitated, snatched an earwig in its extravagantly fanged jaws, then somehow slid into the hairline crack between the skirting and the wall. Once again Abel wondered why the ugly magical creatures, mostly blotchy browns, appeared as cute little humanoids in all the stories. Maybe it was a joke by magic users because magical creatures were invisible to all other adults and most children.

  Abel winced as muscles stretched, limping to the bathroom for a shower. Eventually he tottered downstairs, to find a note from mum saying she’d gone shopping.

  After eating some cereal, Abel took out his phone and turned it on. Four days of texts scrolled down across his screen, a good few from Kelis. There were at least as many from Rob, Abel’s other real friend. Abel had ignored him as well, despite Rob calling round to try and see him. Abel turned the phone off and took a deep breath to brace himself. This needed more than a phone call or text. He had to go to see Kelis at home, then Rob. At least that wouldn’t be difficult, there were only three streets and a village green in Brinsford.

  On the way Abel noticed rubbish spread around two of the wheelie bins and used a wind glyph to squish a scavenging Thornie. He checked for spectators first, because when a magical creature died it bubbled back into pure magic and became visible to everyone for a few seconds. Abel shouldn’t have had to squish the Thornie, not if the goblins had been doing their job. The goblins were allowed to stay in the old church and forage in the village rubbish bins on condition they left no litter and kept creatures like Thornies, Hoplins and rats out of Brinsford. Right now, seeing Kelis worried Abel much more than skiving Goblins.

  Abel’s steps dragged as he came up the drive to Kelis’ door, though at least she hadn’t changed the access number on the big iron gates to keep him out. The big, posh two story house showed no sign of the night her dad had finally cracked, and gone from occasional abuse to beating and kicking his wife and daughter. He hesitated, then rang the bell.

  “Who is it?” Abel floundered for a moment. He didn’t know what Kelis had told her mum or what sort of welcome he’d get.

  “It’s Abel, Mrs. Ventner. Will Kelis speak to me, please?”

  “Come in. Are you feeling better? Kelis said you were injured, something at school and then a fight? Kelis and Rob are in Bonny’s Tavern. You know the way.” The door lock clicked, so Abel opened it.

  “I’m still sore, but better thank you.”

  “Good. Your mum must be relieved.” Abel made his way cautiously through the house to the Tavern, formerly the library. Mrs. Ventner sounded cheerful, so presumably Kelis hadn’t told her what actually happened at school. Kelis herself wouldn’t be that happy. He approached the door, dithering in front of the flower in a shield sign with ‘Bonny’s Tavern’ above it.

  Bonny’s Tavern, invented by the t
hree of them, was the mythical setting for a new board game that would hopefully sell well enough to make them all a fortune. Abel knocked, tentatively. Nothing happened for a few moments, then the door opened to reveal a curious Kelis. Her expression smoothed, wiped of all emotion as she looked Abel up and down. He tried to think of what to say, but Kelis got in first. “Guess what the cat’s dragged in, Rob?” She looked Abel over again as he tried not to squirm. “At least you aren’t covered in Jenny’s blood, like the last time I saw you. I suppose we should let you in, though unless you talk fast it might not be for long.” She stepped to the side and Abel limped in, eyes downcast so he missed the sudden concern on her face.

  Rob sat in an easy chair, scowling as he saw who it was. He stood up, shaking his head. “I’m leaving because Kelis might get violent and I hate the sight of blood. If you survive I want my turn.” Abel watched him go, dumbstruck because Rob, his only other real friend, hadn’t seemed too bad last night. He’d even smiled when he brought the news about Jenny being alive and well, and learned about Henry finally getting thumped.

  Abel turned to Kelis. “I’m sorry. Really, really sorry.”

  Neither voice nor look seemed impressed. “For what? Letting Ferryl possess Jenny, acting like a complete ass for the last four days, getting into a fight with Henry, binding me, or breaking the binding?” Her voice softened just a little at the last, but not much.

  “Guilty on all charges.” Abel almost took a step towards her, but he daren’t in case a touch reactivated the link. “But very especially the acting like an ass. I shouldn’t have turned off my phone and computer.”

  “I could live with that because of all the crap Henry and Seraph are spreading.” Crap was a massive understatement. A chosen clique of the senior students, headed by Seraph, ruled the rest of the pupils at Stourton Comprehensive through a mixture of threats, ridicule and occasional violence. Seraph had added Abel, Rob and later Kelis to her roster of victims from their very first day at the school, causing pain and embarrassment wherever she could. From Kelis’ next words the queen of the seraphims had used the current lack of real information about Jenny to demonise Abel. “Some of the idiots from school tried to warn me. Apparently, you are a dangerous nutter at the least, and maybe a murdering rapist. I told the others, the ones who know about magic, that the blood came from Ferryl healing Jenny.” Kelis still had her hands on her hips, but her voice wavered a little over the next part. “But you could have spoken to me? You didn’t need a phone or computer for that. I’m only two streets away.” Abel cringed from the hurt in her voice.

  “It was all too much. The calls, and not knowing if the police would turn up or even if Jenny had survived. That’s not an excuse. I should have come around. I wanted to but I daren’t because, you know, how mad you were about the possessing. I didn’t know Ferryl would do that, just that she’d heal Jenny, and then it was too late.” Abel whispered the next bit. “And I wasn’t sure why I had to see you. I really wanted to come but well, with the link thing…” Abel daren’t look up at her eyes. “But I should have tried, stood at the other side of the room or something.”

  “Fair enough.” Kelis threw up her hands. “Well no, not fair, but what about the last one on the list? What on earth were you doing fighting Henry on your own? We are your friends, best friends. That means when there’s trouble, we stick together. Idiot! Look at the state you’re in.”

  Abel risked a glance at her and wished he hadn’t. Kelis stood over a hundred and eighty centimetres tall, between skinny and very slim with high cheekbones, piercing green-blue eyes, and straight almost-blonde hair falling down well past her shoulders. Stood like this, head up and glaring at him, she looked just like her game character the sorceress K’liss Windcatcher. A little stab of pain in his heart reminded Abel of why he shouldn’t dwell on how it made her look drop-dead gorgeous, to him anyway. He kept his voice quiet, wanting to explain without arguing. “It wasn’t on purpose. He was inside the wood, where he shouldn’t be able to go. The magic boundary should have stopped him.”

  “Even so, if you hadn’t been skulking about on your own instead of us going together as usual we’d have been able to help.” Her face showed momentary puzzlement, then cleared again. “No matter how he got there, we’d have squished him.” She raised her hand as if to cast a glyph. “You know we both wanted the chance.”

  Abel mustered a small smile. “It’ll be easy now. He’s got a broken arm and probably three broken fingers.”

  Kelis had opened her mouth to continue, but shut it for a moment before answering. Now she definitely looked curious. “Really? Rob said that, but I thought he was winding me up.” She looked Abel over more carefully. “He said Henry hit you, more than once from the bruises. Why didn’t you zap him first?”

  “He’d got magic, some sort of glyph on his chest. He’d also got some gross thing inside him that he puked up. He reckoned when he kissed Claris it slithered down his throat and it was promising him all sorts of stuff.” Abel shivered slightly. “If it wasn’t for the dryad he might have got me.”

  “Henry kissed Claris? Seraph’s henchwoman? Maybe he deserved something nasty in his throat. The dryad helping you might be karma, payback because we found it a home.” Kelis took a long step forward, then hesitated. “How bad? You I mean.”

  “Bruises, a lot of them and I’ve wrenched my knee. Nothing broken this time.” Abel hesitated, then pushed on. “The knee is from when I picked up Jenny.”

  Curiosity banished, Kelis frowned at him. “Yes, Jenny. At least she lived, and I’ve had time to think about the possession. As a choice it might be better than death. We’ve got to keep an eye on her, so Ferryl doesn’t do anything Jenny wouldn’t like.” She hesitated. “If we can.” This time her face showed just a little concern. “It’s a pity Ferryl never taught you that, the healing.” Too fast for Abel to react she bent forward and kissed him. Very quickly and gently but only on his cheek, on the livid bruise and scratches where one of Henry’s punches had connected.

  Abel opened his mouth but couldn’t think what to say, because even on his cheek the kiss woke up an echo of that warm, lovely feeling so the link probably wasn’t broken. He wished he knew if Kelis still felt it. Eventually he managed, “We can’t do that, kissing.”

  That brought a small, wry smile from Kelis. “I didn’t think that would matter, just on the cheek.” Unfortunately, that still didn’t tell Abel if she’d also felt something. “That stupid link is why I can’t risk a hug as well, which is your own daft fault for drawing that flower. You are a prize idiot, Abel Conroy, but an idiot who has always looked out for me so I can forgive you most things. Not hiding away and cutting me off; I’m still mad at you for that. Now, why don’t you sit down and give me the gory details. Just sit far enough away that I can’t hit you when you get to the stupid parts?”

  Abel stifled his sigh of relief. Kelis was still mad at him, but she was talking and sort of making jokes. He could settle for that, because he really was an idiot. “Which details? I told you about Jenny when we came home, before, um, well, before.”

  “Yes, um, before. Before crawling into a hole and locking the trapdoor. You didn’t say much anyway, just that Ferryl left the tattoo and possessed Jenny. You said that involved kissing a dying girl and getting drenched in blood, but were more worried about losing all your magic at the time. What actually happened?” Kelis flopped into a chair. “Wait, get a drink first and we’d better have Rob in here as well.” She raised her voice. “Rob? Come back in. I’ve stopped beating on him.”

  While Abel picked a soft drink from the selection in the small fridge, originally part of Mr. Ventner’s concealed bar but restocked for teenagers, Rob poked his head round the door. “Does that mean you aren’t throwing him out?” He looked from one to the other. “I was betting evens on you starting up the soggy stuff again, even if it isn’t allowed.”

  “You know why we can’t.” Abel knew he’d blushed bright red, and Kelis had two spots of red
on her cheeks. “I thought you might have taken your chance to move in on Kelis.”

  “No way.” Kelis smirked before aiming a haughty glare at Rob. “A Glyphmistress could easily enchant a Barbarian, but I prefer a challenge.” The familiar banter about game characters relaxed all three a little, until Rob and Abel were seated and Kelis tapped the table with a finger end. “Now we both want to know just how big an idiot you’ve been, and if we can sort it out.”

  Though even after working it through several times, none of them had any idea what the thing inside Henry had been, nor what Jenny’s explanation of her healing would be. The last Abel had seen she had a broken arm, though it had straightened as he watched. She’d stopped coughing up blood before limping away on a foot that had been crushed to pulp when a lorry-load of scaffolding fell on her. Her torn clothes and all the blood would have needed some sort of explanation but it wouldn’t be possession.

  The vast majority of people wouldn’t believe her, because they’d no idea magic even existed. A few knew all about it and if one told the church an archbishop, probably Vicar Creepio Mysterio, would come to investigate. He’d bring God’s SAS, the Church Militant, and kill Ferryl. Eventually the three of them settled for trying to corner Jenny or Ferryl, whichever she was, to find out what the possession actually meant. Abel felt sure Jenny had agreed, but she’d been choking to death on her own blood so she hadn’t asked for the fine print.

  ∼∼

  Abel walked home alone, leaving Rob and Kelis to talk about and probably slander him in private. He wasn’t happy about Kelis being angry, or Rob, but he couldn’t be completely sad. A little bit of him felt happy, because from several things she’d said, Kelis had been most upset about him not talking to her. Maybe, when the month was up and he could kiss her again she would still like that, and him, without the magical connection. He really hoped so, especially that the connection really would be gone by then or he’d never get to kiss her again.