Nick went over the wall. He needed a few more coins to use the market. He doubted

  he would run into a monster in the city walls. Killing one of those with his two spells

  might get him enough to buy a bird.

  He needed to run into someone who needed a shooting so he could take spirit money

  off of them. Five hundred should be enough to get him a bird. Once he threw it up in

  the air, it might help him locate the monsters under the main building. There had to

  be a hidden tunnel somewhere. Once he knew where it was, he could attack and clear

  the area, and then ask some magician to seal it so no more monsters came out of it.

  If he couldn’t find the entrance in the building, maybe he could find the other end of

  the tunnel on the outside of the school.

  There might not be an entrance. Some monsters could tunnel and seal the tunnel

  behind them. If the goblins had teamed with something like that, there might not be

  a tunnel. The monster might just open a passage to drop off a search party before

  sealing everything up again.

  That mean they were leaving the goblins to be killed by any magician who saw them

  looking around.

  He wondered how many of the students were combat capable.

  The goblins might try to massacre everyone in their beds if they couldn’t find what

  they were looking for in the halls.

  Nick wanted to find them before it got that far.

  He had already caused a lot of trouble for Crow. If he could stop this, it might be

  enough to make them even again.

  He normally wouldn’t care, but he had gone back on his word, twice. He should have

  done what he said, instead of looking for ways to get around the rules, and goading

  his teacher.

  Once he had everything straightened out, he was going home and picking up his life

  again.

  Where could he get the money? The streets had people moving, but none stood out

  to him as good targets. He didn’t want to just hurt someone because he could.

  He needed someone that no one would mind suffering a less than lethal blow. He

  might need more than one depending on how much he could grab from them.

  He also had to remember to only use the thunder cracker. His other spell from the

  dead monster in the forest was the long shot. If he used that at close range, there was

  a better chance that he would accidentally kill the target.

  He didn’t want to do that, and he didn’t want the Academy staff looking for him

  because he had done something like that.

  He heard voices ahead. This might be his chance. He skulked forward, looking for the

  source of the argument he could hear. Someone might need his help, and he might be

  able to get what he wanted from whomever he had to shoot.

  He hated having to get close. He preferred to stand back and keep monsters beyond

  arm’s length.

  Nick found a woman being harassed by a group of men. They were smiling in a way

  that said there would be trouble if she said no. One of them had his hand on her arm

  as a sign of restraint.

  Did he want to warn them that he was going to put solidified air into them?

  He decided to wait. Maybe he was overreacting.

  “Let go of me,” said the woman. “I have to get my supplies home so I can work.”

  “That can wait until tomorrow,” said one of the men. He stood closest to Nick. He

  smiled at the fearful expression he had earned.

  That was why Nick shot him first.

  Nick stood in a shadow at the head of the alley. The men had surrounded the woman

  at a crossway deeper into the alley. The man Nick shot had been standing with his left

  side exposed to Nick. He went down with a scream and blood seeping inside his pants

  leg.

  The group looked around, trying to figure out what happened. None of them had seen

  Nick. He picked his next target, a man blocking the lady from leaving. He put a

  charge into that man’s leg. The man went down, clutching his injured thigh.

  The paw hadn’t given him any type of throwing spells. Still, if he could make the

  group break up, he might be able to get enough for a bird, maybe two.

  He needed to make the downed targets give up, or otherwise fall apart so he could

  claim the loot from them. That meant killing them, or getting close enough to hurt

  them so the spells and spirit money jumped out of their bodies for him to pick up.

  He would love to use his talent without having to do anything like that.

  Unlimited charges might carry him through any future battle without having to slow

  down and hunt cover to get more for his spells to feed on.

  The crowd broke apart for the woman to break free and head for the mouth of the

  alley. One of the men tried to catch her arm to stop her. Maybe he wanted to use her

  for a hostage, maybe a shield. That didn’t matter to Nick.

  The moment he reached for her from behind was the moment Nick realigned his

  shooting position and put a charge through his kneecap. He fell over with a cry.

  The rest of the men broke and ran. Most ran down the alley to an exit at the other end.

  The rest ran at where Nick stood. He stepped back to let them pass.

  He didn’t need to fight them all if they decided to flee.

  Nick walked into the alley. He frowned at the damage he had done. He supposed he

  would be kicked out of the school when the teachers found out. He wasn’t going to

  tell them before he did what he had to do.

  He asked each man if they surrendered. They said yes, trying to bind the bleeding

  holes in their legs. One by one, they seized up and pieces of spells broke from their

  bodies.

  He gathered up a faster small spell thrower, some spheres that cleared the way for

  him, charges and one big charge box, and a few thousand in spirit money. He hoped

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  that would be enough to do the rest of his plan.

  He needed to get a rope to get back over the wall. Once he had that, everything else

  would be used to get birds to locate his enemies under the keep.

  If he could settle that, maybe Crow would stop being mad at him.

  He didn’t know why it mattered, but she had been right. He had broken his word, and

  did things he shouldn’t have done. Finding the secret door and solving that might fix

  the rest of their relationship.

  Then he could leave without feeling like he was the one to blame for the last two

  days.

  Granny Bitter might put him on the coach herself.

  Crow would probably still want him to fight in the tournament. He didn’t see a reason

  to do that if he could stop the monsters from roaming loose in the halls. He supposed

  they would give her advice on how to handle the rest of it without him.

  After all they liked Felix and Calvin better than him anyway.

  Nick checked the rest of the loot he was going to have to leave behind. A lightning

  strike lay on the ground, but it was useless to him. It wouldn’t punch through any

  cave to strike a target below ground.

  The equipment he had would have to do the job. Once he was done, he would let

  Crow know so she could say something to Granny about where the door was, so more

  powerful teachers could go in and clean out anything he left behind.

  He might not be able to get them all on the first pass. He had to do what he could and

  back up. If he could get any monster in the open while he had cover, that would be

  good as far as he was concerned.

  Nick decided that he would walk to the market by the gate to buy the rope he needed.

  He would use that to get back over the wall. Then he would use the market inside

  the academy to do the rest of his scheme. If he lucked into some more money while

  he was doing things, that would be a big help for the rest of it.

  He walked away from the alley as guards appeared at the end of the street. He focused

  on getting to the other side, and into an alley to get to the edge of the city. He tried

  to be calm, but the guards might be able to hand in a report to match up to him.

  Hopefully they would think the actions taken belonged to an older magician, and not

  some misfit.

  He worked his way toward the gate, looking out for anyone who might be trying to

  follow him. He had some general skill at being sneaky, but knew that anyone with the

  right spell, or skill, could trail him without him knowing it.

  More watchmen started flowing into the neighborhoods around the wounding. They

  would start branching out to start talking to potential witnesses. Some of the people

  would not know anything or admit they knew anything. He couldn’t hope that an

  investigation wouldn’t turn his description up as they tried to figure out what had

  happened.

  He made his way through the next few streets pretending to be with one group of

  people, then another. That carried him to the market in the wall. He activated it and

  stepped inside. He bought a rope and a bird. He stepped back out on the street.

  He turned his attention back to the academy walls. He tried to act casual as he headed

  back to his hunting ground. When he threw the bird up, there was a chance that it

  wouldn’t point him in the right direction. He had to be ready for that.

  The rope would get him over the wall. In fact, if he anchored it on a roof, he could get

  enough extra height to drop into the central keep’s towers and use a window to get

  inside.

  That would defeat the purpose and show off more than he should.

  An expedited flight was all he needed to do at the moment.

  Maybe he could show off for the others before he left.

  He threw the rope down in an alley between two decrepit buildings leading up to the

  wall around the school. He wondered why this part of town looked so run down.

  Maybe Granny would know. He nodded as it reached to the top of the wall. He

  grabbed hold and let it shoot him over the wall. He glided to a landing on the grass.

  Now he had enough for another bird inside the school. He checked the building with

  his sphere of influence. Magicians and students were still casting spells. He would

  have to wait until things quieted down before he started on the next part of his plan.

  He would have to leave the rest of the misfits out of this. He didn’t want them getting

  in the way, and he didn’t want them in danger if he could avoid it. He doubted any

  of them had really ever chased a monster before.

  And he had enough regret without adding on more because he had taken the twins

  into the underground with him, and they wound up dead. It was better to face the axe

  alone in his opinion.

  And he wasn’t sure how much help the others would be in any case. And he would

  have enough problems protecting himself without worrying about them.

  He saw that Crow was in her room. He decided the best thing to do was slip by. He

  knew she would see his marker, but hopefully she wouldn’t ask any questions. He

  definitely wasn’t taking her into danger if he could help it.

  Another visit from them would ruin the rest of his night. It was better to keep the

  angry spirits at bay until he was beyond their touch.

  He slipped into his room and closed the door. He didn’t know where the others were,

  but he supposed they were in their rooms getting ready for the morning. When he was

  done, maybe he would have some good news to make the rest of their stay a little

  quieter.

  He sat at the desk provided for his homework and looked out the window. He

  watched the moon to give him an idea of when he should leave. As soon as he

  couldn’t see it anymore, he needed to start hunting.

  If he was exceptionally lucky, he might be able to find the other end of whatever the

  monsters was using to get inside the main building. If he could seal that off, they

  would be forced to do like he did and come in over the wall. That would make it

  easier for the teachers to get rid of them.

  He was familiar enough with fire magic to know what would happen if a bunch of fire

  magicians decided to start throwing energy at a threat.

  He might even see some fireproof monsters depending on how smart the monster

  organizer was.

  The moon through the window told him it was time to take the next step.

  He went to his window and jumped out. He activated glide to keep from breaking his

  legs on impact. He headed for the market inside the school.

  Once he used the first bird, he wanted to be able to use another if he needed to.

  He made his way to the central keep. He wondered why the security was lax. Maybe

  the thought of someone breaking into a school of magicians was something people

  didn’t consider.

  He didn’t see any wealth laying around. Maybe it was generally agreed that the

  walled keep inside the greater keep of the city should be left alone. He supposed there

  was some kind of local reputation that he didn’t know about to scare people off.

  There were places back home that Sister Ann warned the orphans away from because

  they were more dangerous than they looked.

  He crept through the halls toward the market. He decided that maybe he should turn

  on his listening so he could pick out any search party before they heard him.

  He entered the market and changed his hearing. He stepped back out and listened. He

  couldn’t hear anything yet. He threw out the bird and saw a bunch of spots appear in

  his sphere of influence. He nodded at a large group of dots away from the dorms and

  towers.

  He grabbed another bird from the market before he started toward the marks in his

  sphere.

  He walked toward the spots. He looked for ways down. There should be some kind

  of door from the main halls to the area below the castle. And he didn’t have a lot of

  time to find it.

  A bird only lasted for a little bit of time, and he could only carry one. Once he threw

  the second one, he would have to go back to the market to try to get a third, or look

  around where the bird indicated there should be targets.

  And he didn’t have enough spirit money to buy another one.

  He wondered how many street bullies he would have to hurt to get the resources for

  enough birds to do what he needed done. He didn’t want to be stuck at the academy

  that long.

  The bird ran out as he found what looked like a staircase behind a set of armor on a

  stand. Did he want to go down the staircase and see what was at the bottom? He

  didn’t remember the area being on the tour earlier in the day.

  He still needed to complete the next step of his plan. Once he had done that, he could

  retreat back to his room and rest up for the morning.

  If things went really bad, he could send a message to Crow to tell her what happened.

  She would probably love that.

  And the twins were better than him.

  He started down the staircase with the Roarer ready to shoot. His distance spell was

  slower and took more effort than just spraying a room with fifty blasts of energy.

  He heard noises at the bottom of the staircase. He hoped he wasn’t about to run into

  fellow students that were wandering the castle like he was.

  That would be embarrassing.