Page 26 of Group Studies
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I threw up again the following morning, though this time it could be from nerves. Although we weren’t doing anything out of the ordinary until tonight. The plan was to sneak out to an outcropping of rocks along the barrier where Ashe was pretty sure he could cast a concealment spell that would fool the Institute's cameras. And I would get my scales.
The day dragged by. Ashe walked me from class to class, even the ones we didn’t have together, making sure I ate. It was overkill, but between Alrick and Saffron, we both needed the security.
Beryl sat at his new table during both meals. Like always, I didn’t see him looking at me, though I received three terrible magic puns. I took a detour to the cosmetology wing to give Gabe another payment on my hair. Another week, and he’d have enough for me to grow it back.
I wasn’t just excited about my hair anymore. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were the cheapest and most filling thing available. Even rotating types of jelly, they were getting old fast. I didn’t even have my morning break from them anymore with my upset stomach. I needed operation DUMP to work.
Eventually, I ended up back in my Shell. With my turtle and Beryl’s sweatshirt both pressed against my stomach, I studied the spells I’d found. I badly wanted to text Nitis for an update, but I didn't dare.
I managed a short, restless nap before my alarm buzzed against my skin for our nighttime escapades. We agreed to meet outside as there were fewer cameras. I pulled on Beryl’s hoodie, my GS shorts and sneakers. After peeking down either side of the hall, I pushed past my fear and walked as fast as I dared to the closest exit.
Ashe stood straight, waiting for me in the cool night air. He raised an eyebrow at Beryl’s faded gray hoodie but didn’t comment. Without a word, I followed him away from the Institute.
“This is way too easy,” I said quietly when we stopped. “The MA have eyes everywhere. Even Roisin’s knitting club got moved so an MA agent could observe it. Derek…” I started to say before changing to something that wouldn't start a fight. “Derek and his friends won’t go anywhere alone, just in case. And yet we sneak out here?”
“I’m fucking amazing at sneak. What can I say?” Ashe’s eyes twinkled before growing serious. “Assuming twelve-hour shifts, only a third of them can be on duty at one time.” He raised his hands in the air. “Math.”
I rolled my eyes and pulled out my potion bottle. “I need you to charge the potion as well. If you can heal, you’ve got the juice even if you’re pretending not to.”
Ashe’s scarred eyebrow went up a little higher. “Observant little Shit-ten, aren’t you?”
“I’d be angry,” I said, chuckling. “But the combo of shit and Kitten matches me a little too well.”
He smiled so hard the two little dimples poked out of his beard.
I handed him a very brown potato totem I’d carved during dinner and the potion which would bring out my inner dragon.
Despite my bold words, I still worried I asked too much of him. “Do you need to pull some life force from me?” I paused. “I mean, I’m asking you to do three pretty big spells back-to-back, and Natural Mages have access to all three branches of magic, right?”
“They do.” Ashe frowned. “And nope, that’s not how I drink my coffee.”
I nodded and danced from foot to foot while he charged my potion. He handed me the slightly glowing bottle back before his fingers sliced through the air, casting the spell which should hide us. Once hidden, I stripped without ceremony.
Ashe shifted, torn between giving me privacy and keeping an eye on me.
“Not used to naked women?” I asked.
“I’ve seen a lot of buck-naked women, Kitten,” he assured me. “None quite as fucking beautiful as you, though.”
“Har, har,” I said, even though his words made my stomach flutter.
Not wanting to drag this out, I chugged the potion, accidently bumping the empty glass bottle on my other clasp as I pulled it away from my mouth. The clinking rang loud in the night.
A feeling of lightheadedness overcame me. I tilted to one side. The familiar sensation of swelling split my skin everywhere except where the clasps cut off my wrists down to my fingers. Although much smaller than last time, I still grew and shifted everywhere except my hands.
Bone aching pain ran up my arms from my wrists as most of me became a translucent six-foot crystal dragon. However, my hands didn’t shift. A ring of blood-red magic distorted my view of the clasps, but not the pain. I throbbed, and the crystal of my dragon arms cracked, sending shooting agony up my limbs. My hands swelled into veiny circles and turned an ever-darkening purple.
I whimpered and mashed my dragon snout against nothing as pain like I’d never felt before became my world.
“Fuck, God damn it,” Ashe rushed to me. “I thought you’d accounted for this.”
The numbing spell on the clasps glowed but didn’t help. My disconnected nerve endings screamed, and my hands started to turn black.
“Fucking shit,” Ashe cursed.
My heart beat faster. If I was going to lose my hands, I didn’t want to see it. Blotting out the world, I tried to imagine life without them as red hot pain became the only thing I could focus on.