Page 23 of Monster's Pet

Aiden yawned. “I don’t know what it is, but I’m exhausted. Even more so than earlier this week when the ley lines first disappeared.”

“You must be using too much magic in your classes,” I said with a frown. “You need to be more careful. You don’t want to drain yourself sick.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“You sure? You’re flaming again.”

“Fuck,” he muttered, and he shifted back. “I don’t understand why I keep doing that.”

“You’ll figure it out.” I patted his arm.

He nuzzled into the top of my head. “I hope so.”

I offered him the last orange slice, but he shook his head. Not waiting for him to reconsider, I popped it in my mouth. “We should probably head to the pool now.”

“Two more seconds?” Aiden begged, holding me tighter.

“The faster we get this over with, the sooner we can cuddle while we do research in the library.”

“Tempting,” he replied dryly. Then he sighed and released me. “Okay, let’s go.”

I picked up my mess and carried it with me to the garbage can placed outside the pool. Normally, I’d have banished it, but I was feeling run down magically as well, and I didn’t want to waste any power.

There were still quite a few students in the pool, Professor Puddlemoan overseeing them. He barely glanced at us. “Get changed and jump in,” he said.

Once more, the lack of ley lines prevented the use of frivolous magic. Instead of transfiguring my clothes into a bathing suit, I brought my suit with me and changed in one of the small rooms attached to the pool area.

Aiden was waiting for me when I came out and I took his outstretched hand. We jumped into the water and swam over to where a few of our other classmates were hovering at the edge of the pool. There were others still swimming around below the surface.

“Show me how you plan to breathe underwater. You will be graded on efficiency, suitability, and duration. You,” he pointed at a student next to me, “you’re first.”

I didn’t pay attention to what he did, focusing instead on gathering my strength for my own turn.

“Next,” Professor Puddlemoan barked.

I touched my necklace, transfiguring it into a solid chain to remove the clasp, and then added the breathing spell onto it, working the spell into each link. The spellwork was delicate, needing concentration and power to weave it around each bend in the metal, but once I finished, it was a solid barrier that lay around my neck, giving me a day’s worth of air without any trouble or concentration on my part.

The professor examined my work magically and nodded. “You may submerge.”

Sinking below the surface without taking a deep breath first was a challenge. I had to practice many times before I managed it without panicking.

I stayed near the wall, waiting for Aiden to join me under water.

The view was a little distorted, and I kept getting distracted by Aiden’s calves as he moved, but it was hard to miss the moment he shifted, fire licking across his skin.

Or the sudden explosion, a muffled thump originating from the surface that rippled the water around me.

What was that?

Is the professor testing us on the surface, too?

My anxiety soared when Aiden climbed out of the water. I could see his blurry figure stomping around the edge of the pool.

I wanted to go to him.

How much longer do I have to stay down here?

Then I remembered that I could ask one of the other students.

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