Chapter 57.4

For the first hour or so, she carefully copied over her notes detailing all the runes that made up the Lysander Circle. As tedious as it was, this process was necessary for starting to pick apart all the different facets of the magic that went into the circle. Frustratingly, despite having built a connecting bridge between their plane and Purgatory through this circle, she still didn’t fully understand all the magic that made it tick. Were any of the runes redundant? The runic language of magic had considerably evolved since these circles were created, and it was hard to know without seeing every step of that evolution.One thing she knew for sure was that this circle, along with all other circles on campus, had been created to enforce a barrier between their plane and all the others. Everyone called this elaborate web of circles a Planar Gate, but that wasn’t technically accurate. It was more like a solid wall that Wellington’s cultists had broken down, but comparing it to a gate often made her explanations easier to understand to those without magical training.

This was Tessa’s favorite part about studying magic. Having a goal in mind, iterating on ideas and experimenting with application as she tried to narrow in on what language was necessary to make it happen. Every few minutes she found another rune that felt unnecessary for her goal, and she adjusted the rest of her notes accordingly.

Over the course of the second hour, she began to include Chloé more directly. Tessa slid to the outskirts of the circle, directed her ghostly friend to stay inside, then she would activate the bridge as if she were trying to send Chloé to Purgatory. This wasn’t possible, of course, due to her condition, but it gave Chloé a chance to examine all the different runes that flared to life in the presence of Tessa’s magic. Not only did this help Tessa eliminate more redundant runes, but it also helped her understand just how sensitive Chloé was to the magic of the world around her.

Tessa’s tattoos enabled her to see Earth’s leylines: foundational streams of magic that crisscrossed the globe, akin to currents in the ocean. This mainly gave her the means to look for large-scale disruptions to the natural flow of Earth’s magic; a task expected of nearly all witches as they attempted to keep magic a secret from the world at large.

If she fully engaged her magical tattoos, Tessa was capable of detecting trace amounts of magic around her, but only barely. She often needed to have direct contact with the magic in question, which is why much of her early investigations on campus had relied on simple trial and error.

Chloé, however, found it incredibly easy to observe the formal magic that witches used and placed into runic symbols. She couldn’t see the leylines, which at first confused Tessa, but in time she’d pieced together the explanation. Chloé, whose very essence was permanently suspended between planes, was only capable of seeing magic that crossed the planar barriers. The leylines were fairly weak, as they existed purely as representations of Earth’s latent magic. The magic used by witches, however, necessitated stronger sources, which meant drawing that power from other planes of existence, and Chloé was likely seeing that process in action.

“Alright, it looks like…” Chloé paused for a moment as Tessa pushed more magic into the circle, “this one here. I’m not seeing anything,” she said, placing a finger on one rune in particular.

Tessa nodded and scribbled another note in her journal. “Ooh, interesting, I wouldn’t have guessed that one…” After a few more minutes of double checking her notes, she nodded happily to herself. “Honestly, I think that might be it for today. I got a ton of information, and it’s all thanks to you, girl!”

Chloé blushed slightly as she buried her chin in her hoodie. “I’m just happy to help! Do you think I’d be able to do something similar with the Cafeteria Circle? That’s the one that connects to The Wilds, right?”

“I mean, I suppose it’s possible?” Tessa said, closing her notebook. “But, honestly, I wouldn’t get my hopes up. This circle happens to connect the two planes you’re suspended between, and that’s just not true with the cafeteria. Besides, magic from The Wilds is a whole different ball game. Like, it’s basically been precision designed to not make sense to us.”

“Aww, that sucks, but I get it,” Chloé said. She started packing up her things as well as the girls prepared to leave. “It’s a shame you can’t just ask them to let us in!” she said with a quiet laugh.

Tessa froze, Chloé’s words ringing in her head, and her eyes went wide. “Holy shit. Chloé! You’re a genius!”

“Wait, what?”

“I’ve been treating the cafeteria circle like I did this one! I was trying to build a bridge, to force open a connection to The Wilds, but that’s never going to work! The most powerful creatures there are the Fae, and they’re all about rules, decorum, and politeness. I don’t need to force open the lock, I just need to knock on the front door!”

“Oh, I-I mean, I was joking but… you actually think that will work?” Chloé asked.

“It’s the only thing that makes sense! Fuck, Chloé, you’re amazing!” Tessa, ecstatic about her breakthrough, pulled Chloé in for a massive hug before kissing her on the cheek. She ran out of Lysander Hall as quickly as she could, excitedly pulling out her phone to text a barely-sensible string of messages to Imani.

Above her, the multiple leylines that converged over Aurelius University thrummed at the height of their relatively limited power, spurred on by the light of the full moon.

Loud, obnoxious buzzing joined with an annoyingly mellow jingle as Tessa’s alarm sprang to life. The music escalated in volume until it eclipsed the vibrations completely, and Tessa groaned with frustration as she struggled to find her phone. She slapped her side table, then checked underneath her pillow, before finally opening her eyes to find that her phone had fallen to the floor in the middle of the night.

All-consuming, absolute exhaustion threatened to suffocate her as she forced herself out of bed. It almost felt like being hungover, though without the accompanying nausea she was so accustomed to.

Her head pounded as she stood up. There was no alcohol to protest, it was instead screaming in indignation at how little sleep she’d gotten, and how much espresso she’d chugged to keep herself going. After cracking the mystery of the Cafeteria Circle, Tessa had been so inspired that she’d stayed up for most of the night trying to piece together the runes required to form a traversable connection with The Wilds.

As miserable as she felt right now, it had been totally worth it. Together with Imani, she was almost positive they had the solution, and it would only take an hour or two to retrofit the Cafeteria Circle.

Tessa spent the next half hour dragging herself around the apartment; brushing her teeth, reapplying her makeup, and starting a fresh pot of coffee in the hopes of surviving the rest of the day. Riley and Sydney, thankfully, recognized she was in poor shape and made sure not to engage her with any conversations more complex than “Good morning,” or “Here’s your coffee.”

She even managed to fall asleep against the kitchen counter while she waited for her morning elixir, which was a telltale sign she’d pushed herself too far.

Grabbing her coffee, Tessa downed nearly a third of her drink before setting it down again. It was a little too hot, but that was okay; it would at least help to wake her up before the caffeine kicked in.

On the counter, her phone buzzed again as a text came through.

She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before opening her phone, and her heart skipped a beat as she saw a message in the AV Club group chat.

Caleb: CODE YELLOW DEMALI PARK ENTRANCE

Adrenaline took root, shocking her to her senses. Taking great care not to alert her partners, she quickly spun a lie as she ran for her shoes and winter jacket.

“Fuck! Late for class!” she yelled as she pulled herself together.

Sydney gave her a silent look that appeared halfway between “Aww, you’re going to miss breakfast,” and “Since when do you care about being late to class?” Thankfully, neither was said, and Sydney simply grabbed Tessa’s thermos and walked it over as Tessa pulled her thick wool beanie over her head.

“Don’t slip and die!” She said playfully.

“Thanks! I’ll see you tonight!”

One last kiss, then Tessa was out the door. She silently thanked Nick for buying her a closeable thermos as she sprinted across campus. While the occasional student flashed her a curious look, she paid little mind to the opinions of strangers.

Halfway across the Quad, her phone went off again.

Caleb: SECOND CODE YELLOW

When she finally made it to the main entrance of the Demali Forest Preserve, she found Caleb nervously pacing back and forth near the treeline. His thick leggings, track shorts, and sports jacket indicated he’d likely been out for a morning run. Nick was beside him, an arm around his shoulder as the two guys talked between themselves.

“Tessa! Over here!” Nick called out.

“What’s going on?” she asked, attempting to catch her breath.

“More of those wolf creatures you showed us at the meeting,” Caleb said. “Two came through in quick succession, but Amara and Vee got here pretty quickly and chased after them. They went—”

Caleb turned around to point, but as he did, a pile of brush nearly a dozen feet into the trees rustled and another wolf appeared. It didn’t so much leap out of the brush as it did fall out of it. Snow scattered as it landed on its side, and by the time it had jumped to its feet the strange camouflage began to take effect.

“I’ll get it!” Chloé shouted. She appeared for a brief second just beside Caleb, causing him to flinch in surprise, before flying towards the animal.

“I’m never gonna get used to her…” he said, grabbing a nearby tree for support.

“God, that’s already three in a row,” Nick said. “Thankfully all of you made it here pretty quickly. Is it weird that so many are falling through at once?”

Tessa took another swig of coffee before responding. “Eh, yes and no. If the overlap is localized to a single spot, that technically means it’s possible for any number of creatures to fall through. If this whole wolf pack was running together, then this isn’t necessarily surprising.”

“How are you guys gonna catch them all?” Caleb asked. “This park is huge, and they’ve camouflage and—”

Another noise caught their attention, and all three of them turned towards a large pine tree situated roughly fifty feet away. The branches started shaking as needles shook free, and the disturbance quickly traveled towards the ground.

Tessa ran towards the tree, preparing herself to finally fight one of these wolves. She saw a large shape collide with a thick branch closer to the ground, accompanied by a pained gasp. This last collision knocked loose a thick sheet of snow on the tree, which fell onto the ground below just seconds after the creature landed. The wolf was buried within seconds, and Tessa took advantage of this distraction to engage her magic and widen her stance.

The small pile of snow shifted as the creature tried to free itself. The more it struggled, the more Tessa saw the figure underneath, and it only took a second for her to piece together that this wasn’t a wolf.

Once it had completely freed itself, the figure jumped to its feet, and Tessa finally got a good look at him.

This creature was, in actuality, a man. Easily more than six feet tall, his dark brown eyes flicked between everyone present with predictable suspicion. His features were both soft and clearly defined, almost as if he’d fallen directly off a runway in Paris. Thick, black hair framed the sides of his face, tickling the bottom of his chin as he looked around, and Tessa noticed a faint scar that ran from his left cheek to the bridge of his nose.

He wore incredibly simple clothes, themselves created with an unusual blend of dark fabrics and leathers, including small accents made from natural materials such as bark and leaves. More than anything else, Tessa couldn’t help but notice his unusual physique: despite obviously being in fantastic shape, his waist was unusually thin, which seemed all the more strange when compared against his broad, muscular chest and shoulders. Had Tessa not seen his face first, she would have assumed this person to be a woman.

The stranger’s eyes eventually settled on hers, likely because she was the closest. His posture quickly improved, revealing him to be even taller than she initially suspected, and a surprisingly kind smile appeared on his face.

Then, even more strangely, he placed a single hand on his chest and bowed.

“My most sincere apologies for this intrusion, my lady. I seem to have lost my way, and intend to return home as soon as I am able. In the meantime, I humbly ask for permission to travel in your domain, and offer you familiarity in exchange for your hospitality. You may call me Tadhgán, Miss. May I ask by what name you are known?”