Page 323 of Castings & Curses

She tried to refocus on what the instructor was saying, for Professor Bismark was demonstrating several features of their preferred riding mode, a trident type pitchfork that not only was a way to fly around, but also doubled as a magical staff, and under extreme circumstances, even a weapon.

She realized that she hadn’t been paying attention when everyone around her rose up about fifteen feet into the air and she was left land bound, looking up at their dangling feet.

“Someone hasn’t been paying attention, “Professor Bismark admonished her, looking downward with a disdainful look.

“You there, Antimony Crockett! Just recitefurca sursum!”

Moni did so and soon found herself hovering just above the aeronautics field, once again flanked by Broody and Shady, both of whom were rapidly becoming… well, the wordfrienddidn’t seem to cover the relationship between them. Moni felt so comfortable with all of them, Luca included. And not just because they’d all been naked together.

She flushed inwardly, remembering. Being nude and the center of attention felt like it had healed something within her. Maybe one of the broken places in her heart? The combined energy of all their bodies around her, rubbing up against her and touching her, unfettered by clothing, had somehow pulled her out of what she now recognized as a low-grade depression.

How odd that clothing blocks so much energy between people, she thought.

She paid attention for the rest of the flight training, especially the emergency maneuvers that involved backing the sharp end of the pitchfork into the trunk of a tree if having control problems. She also learned that, because their pitchforks were metallic they had high tech features and could be remotely controlled.

None of them believed it until Professor Bismark demonstrated it by taking a small, silver remote out of her robe pocket and sending them all first in one direction flying in formation, of course, and then the other.

As they remained several yards above ground, Moni willed herself not to look down. Flying hadn’t ever been her thing because she suffered mildly from a sort of vertigo. She was okay as long as she didn’t have to gaze down for any length of time. It was different riding on a broom or pitchfork than climbing a ladder, because when she was earthbound she never got dizzy. But up above Mother Earth, all bets were off.

“Hey, Moni,” Luca hissed at her. “Don’t be intimidated that our Forks can be remote controlled like drones. Look above your hands where they are gripping the handle, see anything?”

Moni squinted. She’d forgotten her glasses yet again, and anyway, she was just slightly nearsighted and didn’t need them. Not to mention she had an aversion to being afour eyes.

“There are some screws or rivets or something,” she hissed back.

“Yeah, well, the top one there blocks the remote signal if you press down on it twice! I studied this model in a Witchtech Owner’s Manual. But don’t—”

He was going to tell her not to touch it, but due to Moni’s inquisitive and impulsive nature Luca was too late. The next thing he knew, she had abruptly dropped from her place right beside him in the air and was falling to earth!

Funnily, time seemed to go into a slow motion mode, and though Moni could see the meadowland rising up from below her, she felt no sense of panic. But she was having a problem figuring out which of her repertoire of memorized spells to use to stop from crashing to the ground.

She began by reciting the Yellow Magic SpellSuspendi Motuseven realizing that she did not know how to focus the energy of the spell on herself rather than having it affect the other flyers or even the entire class, when she noticed that Luca had chosen to join her in her fall, his pitchfork in tandem to hers so that he could easily reach over and press another button on the handle that immediately stopped her plummet and caused her Pitchfork to rise up again and resume its proper place in the formation.

Luca was again beside her within two seconds, and she shot him a grateful smile as he seemed to laugh and waggle his finger at her.

The wind at that altitude was high enough to carry away any spoken words, but Moni read his lips as he mouthed,

“Such a naughty little witch!”

* * *

After class,Shady had an appointment tutoring a young witch who couldn’t get herExponentia CaeruleumSpell to work well enough to pass the upcoming finals in Novice Magic, but Broody, Luca and Antimony decided to spend the hour between classes relaxing in the Hellcat Café, one of three student coffee bar eateries, and the only one that served sushi.

As they manipulated chopsticks and dipped the tasty morsel in a variety of savory sauces, Moni decided to share her most recent discovery.

“I found my relative, the one I’d heard was working here at Pitchfork Prep Academy. He is one of the Professors, actually.”

“Let me guess which one,” Broody said, popping a Tako Nigiri and rolling his eyes briefly at the exquisite taste. “Might it be Professor DeSapientiae?” he guessed. “You look kind of like her, actually!”

Moni recoiled slightly, looking incredulous. “How can you evensaythat? You’re joking, right? You know they say she wears that turban thing on her head to hidehorns? Apparently, she is a freak, and her coloring is nothing like mine!”

“Well, she has great tits!” Broody said pleasantly. “Just like yours! And I, for one, can overlook a few extra bumps on the head for a perfect set of titties! I would totallydoher!”

“Your sexual leanings tend to be bizarre, Broody, always have been. After you met and started dating that one underclassman with two vaginas, Shady and I didn’t see you for weeks! You barely came up for air! I nearly lost my best friend!”

“What can I tell you, I’m a connoisseur of the Vag, among other things,” Broody said airily. “Anyway, so it wasn’t Professor DeSapientiae?”

“No, it wasn’t,” Moni snapped. “And as it turned out, he recognizedmebefore I foundhim.Professor Weasel is my long lost Uncle. He was not close to my father because they have different fathers, and on becoming an adult, he changed his surname to Weasel from Crockett. He seems pretty nice. He does have the Crockett chin dimple, I noticed. Very intelligent and he went out of his way to assure me that he had also been searching forme, off and on, after hearing about my parent’s bizarre accident in the high country. He said knowing I am his niece would probably cause him to be harder on me in class, so not to expect any favors. As if I ever would anyway. And he also told me to feel free to seek him out if I had any problems or difficulties. Which I thought was nice, that he wanted to be there for me in some way. It’s something I’m not used to and never expect. It feels kind of weird, in a good way, I mean.”

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