The Shadowseeker - Victor Kloss Page 0,43

of Magic champion, and her admiration for Charlie's quick aptitude for the game convinced her to come with them back to her parents.

“That was frankly quite brilliant,” Ben said, slapping Charlie's shoulder as they climbed the hill back up to the Institute. “I thought you'd lost it when you sent your two battle mages into her dragon.”

“That was one of my finer moments,” Charlie admitted, thrusting his chest out a little. “It's just unfortunate I didn't spot the winged assassins creeping past my entire royal guard.”

“Doesn't matter; we got what we came for,” Ben said, with a shrug.

By the time they had put their handbooks back into their lockers, it was almost 3pm. The day was still dreary, but Fridays were always extra busy, and the buzz around the place more than made up for the weather. Ben and Charlie had to dodge left and right going down the stairs, where they saw Natalie waiting, alone for once.

“So what's the plan?” Ben asked. To his surprise, they followed Natalie out of the Institute and into their favourite café on the hill.

“Apprentices aren't allowed to stay overnight at the Institute. They say it's too dangerous.”

“How is it dangerous?” Charlie said, bits of his cake falling from his open mouth.

“I have no idea. My parents are the same, though – they are very firm in never allowing me to stay there. At 8pm they do a security check of each floor, both magical and physical. It's pretty thorough, so hiding would be pointless. I know some friends who've tried it and got in trouble.”

“Promising,” Ben said, munching on a biscuit. “So what's the plan?”

“There is one way to stay in. It's magic proof and impossible to find. The only problem is that it's not very nice.”

When Natalie told them her plan, Charlie gave an unrestrained groan, contained only by their sound bubble spell. Ben too wasn't happy. He put down the biscuit he was eating, suddenly finding he had no appetite.

“There has to be another way,” Charlie pleaded, putting his two palms together.

“Nothing that would give us such a high chance of success.”

“Anything in the 80% range? I'd take that.”

“No,” Ben said, slapping a hand on the table. “Charlie, stop being ridiculous. We'll do it. Just tell us what to do.”

Natalie looked at her watch. “Well, our first move doesn't happen for another hour and seventeen minutes.”

With time to kill, they wandered into Taecia Square. Ben perused the shops and almost lost track of time browsing the spellshooters on offer at the peculiarly named “W” shop, which offered magical goods of every type. He had plans on getting a good spellshooter, though he had no idea how he was going to afford one.

When 5pm came, the three of them headed up the hill towards the gates of the Institute.

“The guards are still there,” Charlie said, noting the two sturdy-looking Spellswords standing either side of the entrance.

Natalie glanced at her watch. “Not for long.”

Sure enough, both guards suddenly left their positions and headed back into the Institute.

“Okay, now! We've got less than two minutes before the new guards come out,” Natalie said.

They walked quickly up the remainder of the hill and through the gate. Ben kept his eye on the front door as they passed into the courtyard, praying they wouldn't see the two replacement guards emerge. It was still five hours away from their planned excursion, but according to Natalie, now was the only time the guards left the gates open.

They made it just in time. The new guards took up their positions seconds after they entered the Institute.

“First hurdle jumped,” Ben said, smiling. “Where to now?”

There were still a fair number of older apprentices, as well as Institute members at work. The Institute never truly closed.

“They do the security check at 8pm,” Natalie said. “That's when we need to be in our secure hiding place. Until then, I think we should just find a nice quiet place where we won't get in anyone's way.”

“The library?” Charlie suggested hopefully.

Ben rolled his eyes, but Natalie nodded. “Good idea. There are so many nooks and crannies, no one will disturb us there.”

“We could even catch up with some of our studies,” Charlie said, looking more enthused than he had for a while.

“You can; I'm not,” Ben said.

“I might find it a bit hard to study right now,” Natalie admitted. “But I don't mind trying.”

The library was filled mostly with Scholars so involved in their own research they didn't even turn their heads when Ben,