A Darker Shade of Sorcery - - (leveled readers .txt) 📗

sorcery and you’re already making boyfriends.”

“No dad, they’re not-”

Mr Sangel cut his daughter off, to Evan’s horror he came to sit down at the table opposite him and Jed and asked that question.

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“What,” he said menacingly, “are your intentions with my daughter?”

Evan just blinked, flabbergasted. Jed had to smother a snort of laughter.

“Answer me,” Cera’s father bellowed. “I’ll not have my girl gallivanting around with testosterone fuelled riffraff.”

Evan daren’t even breathe.

“Cat got your tongue eh?” said Mr Sangel. “Well boys, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave my-”

“We’re gay,” Jed bellowed suddenly.

Cera’s father did a double take. “Excuse me?”

“We’re gay,” Jed repeated, “me and Evan that is.”

Evan looked at Jed stupidly.

“Oh, well, er- that changes things.” Mr Sangel harrumphed.

Evan began to catch on. “Oh right, sorry, yeah we’re gay.”

“Yeah, we have no intentions,” Jed assured.

Evan noticed Cera trying her hardest to suppress laughter.

“Okay then.” Mr Sangel pulled his plate towards him and settled down to eat.

After a while he looked back up and said, “I do hope you don’t have a boyfriend Cera. You were wise to make friends with boys that are gay. Other boys always want more than friendship, you understand.”

Evan panicked when Mr Sangel’s eyes met his, causing him to drop his fork onto his trousers.

“Oh darling, you’ve got food all down yourself,” Jed fussed melodramatically,

“now let me, that’ll stain you know.”

He spat on his sleeve and proceeded to rub Evan’s breeches, near the crotch area.

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Evan’s cheeks flamed and Cera’s parents stared at each other whilst Cera disguised her giggles by coughing.

“There you go sweetheart,” Jed cooed as he passed Evan his fork back.

“Thanks-”Evan thought desperately for a word, “baby.”

Jed’s face almost broke as Evan said this, but he fought desperately to contain himself. He looked back at Mr Sangel.

It seemed, for the meantime anyway, he believed them.

Although Evan found Mr Sangel kept glancing at him in curious suspicion, as if he was studying Evan in some way.

*

“Elijah where are we going?” Brooke asked for the fifth time.

“Come on,” was the inadequate answer she received.

She struggled through the flow of pedestrians, holding the back of Elijah’s tunic as he guided her through the city. It felt like they were the only ones moving forward and everyone else was moving against them.

They passed merchants of all races, hawking their wares:

“Pixie perfume, pixie perfume, the finest pheromones anywhere.”

“Oni eggs, get your oni eggs, if you want a loyal monster to protect you, you need an oni egg.”

“Seelie sleep-away, just rub some in your eyes and it'll keep you awake for hours.”

It was still unnerving, all of it. But, strange as it sounded, Brooke was starting to feel at home.

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Elijah pointed out various city monuments as they went. “More examples of us copying Earth,” he grinned, pointing to the two-hundred-foot-high demon statue carved out of red stone. One of its green glass eyes housed a restaurant, the other a coffee shop.

“The Crimson Colossus,” Elijah pronounced, “inspired by the statue of Liberty.

And that’s our Big Ben.”

Brooke looked round to see to a clock tower carved out of blue stone.

“We call it Humongous Harry. We’ve got loads of other monuments mimicking other realms,” said Elijah.

Elijah had been leading her through winding streets for almost an hour. As they wheeled around yet another alley an Inn appeared, but Elijah kept on moving.

“Aren’t we going in?”

Elijah looked back at her, his expression serious.

“Not there. That’s the Midnight Behemoth, one of the dodgiest places in Veneseron,” he whispered.

Brooke looked over her shoulder as they passed. The seven storey building looked normal enough, by Veneseron standards, but then she noticed the sign. Above the inn’s double doors lurked a huge, glittering spider, so life-like she shuddered. She felt like the spider’s eyes were watching her.

She was about to turn away from the inn, and its macabre image, when a familiar face stepped out of its door.

Lok, accompanied by two belligerent orcs, strolled out looking left and right, as if not wanting to be seen. As she watched Lok he engaged in frantic conversation.

Brooke noticed the blade sheathed on his belt and his hand upon it. She hadn’t seen

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him since he'd been assigned a mission. Lok’s joking manner had vanished now, it didn’t suit him.

Lok moved from sight as Elijah guided her away. As Brooke wondered what Lok could be up to, Elijah stopped at last.

“This is it,” he pronounced.

They’d arrived at a translucent purple tower with several giant clock faces all with a variety of hands and numerals.

“Different races run on different time zones,” Elijah explained.

Brooke was surprised to see the interior was a network of caves, but with more stairs than she'd ever seen; the stone slabs snaking up the tower all the way to the top.

A purple river sliced through the middle of the cavern, weirder still were the giant bubbles bobbing on the river's surface.

“Bubble Spheres, you'll love this,” Elijah said, leading her to the lip of the river.

She saw a booth where a creature as tall as a Halfling sat. His body was humanoid, but covered in blue fish scales. His face was humanoid too, except it was furry and resembled a lion’s. He had gills and a mossy green mane.

“Merlion,” Elijah whispered “they’re the ferrymen. One ride to the Marine Motel please.”

The Merlion grunted, punching in several keys on a computer in the booth. As he did so the nearest bubble glided over to them.

“It's perfectly safe.” Elijah smiled at her expression. “I swear on Rueda’s left nipple.”

Elijah grabbed a tiny handle and pulled open the transparent door. Brooke only got in after him because she trusted him. The bubble sphere possessed two narrow benches either side for them to sit, which were also transparent.

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“What happens naaaaaaa-” Her question warped to a scream as the sphere shot forward at incredible speed.

In a matter of seconds the bubble had zoomed across the river, bounced down a waterfall and submerged itself underwater seamlessly.

Brooke stopped screaming when she realised Elijah was laughing.

“What the hell! Where are we?”

“Veneseron ocean.”

Brooke looked wildly from side to side. All she saw for miles was violet water.

She realised the sphere was still travelling at terrific speed, but now it felt like a normal taxi ride, just one through the ocean.

It was the most inexplicable feeling, and her eyes were drunk with the sights around them.

Naiads rode atop seahorses the size of stallions, galloping across the ocean bed. A school of orange dolphins circled a trio of two-headed sharks and far in the distance Brooke saw a creature that had to be larger than a blue whale. One golden eye the size of a Jeep flickered as their bubble sailed past.

Many underwater houses squatted on the seabed at various intervals. Each house was festooned with seaweed and garish coral and appeared to house the Merfolk, Selkie's and Siren's she'd learned about in Creature-Study.

Brooke was so immersed in trying to see everything, she didn't even notice the massive aquarium-like structure until their bubble shot into one of its tunnels.

The bubble arced upward and suddenly they were out of the sea and bobbing gently along a stream.

They stopped at another booth where a second bored Merlion sat.

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As they climbed out of their bubble and on to a glass pathway a large group of Mid-Realmers emerged from another tunnel.

“We need two spheres, two,” one said in a thick Brazilian accent.

“Next stop, Veneseron beach,” the Merlion gestured.

The group of Mid-Realmers crowded into the bubbles, four to each sphere. Elijah chuckled as they bundled in, shooting off back into the sea.

“I knew you'd like it.”

“That,” Brooke gazed at the ocean through the clear walls all around her, “was awesome.”

Elijah led her off into one of the many tunnels.

“The other paths go to the Marine Motel and this one ends up at the Miscellany Market, it has the best view I reckon.”

Brooke understood when Elijah stopped in the middle of the tunnel. It felt like she was standing at the bottom of the ocean. She was afraid the glass walls might crack at any moment, but she was too excited by the sights before her to let the fear take hold.

A cow-sized starfish whirred past, followed by a yellow stingray encrusted with a hundred eyes.

“What's this aquarium thing here for?”

“It's like a hotel for the sea races,” said Elijah. “Oh and a shopping centre too.

When you're an Apprentice your Creature-study class will go on trips down here.”

“I don’t know which part of Veneseron is the most amazing,” Brooke murmured.

Elijah smiled. “This realm has more secrets than we could ever find. Just last week I took a wrong turn in Dragonrock Keep and found a luminous bedroom where two kobolds were playing online computer games.”

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They both noticed one of the aquarium-esque chambers below their tunnel was full of Venators celebrating, crowding around one boy in particular.

“Ah, that’s Andy Warvek,” said Elijah. “I think the party’s because he’s finished his training.”

“Oh, what happens once we’ve completed training?”

“Once the masters deem an Arch-Realmer ready, they leave the Fortress to go on missions full time, otherwise known as ‘Roaming the Realms.’ Or they’re given specific missions that last years.”

Brooke exhaled heavily. The prospect of travelling through worlds packed to bursting with demons was terrifying.

For a long while they stood in silence, gazing at the splendour of it all.

“Remember your first day here?” Elijah asked out of the blue, breaking the tranquillity.

“Yeah?”

“You said you didn’t want to learn sorcery?”

“Oh yeah.” She smiled.

“Well, just shows how things change doesn’t it.”

Brooke wasn’t sure where Elijah was taking this.

“I’m glad I met you on your first day,” he said quietly.

“Me too,” she replied, noticing Elijah’s stare from the corner of her eye. She continued to gaze at the ocean.

“You’re just really, really nice.”

“Thanks Elijah, you too,” she said, nervous to where this was going.

“And…beautiful,” he whispered, leaning forwards and taking her chin in his hand.

She turned to face him at last, eyes widening, she hadn’t expected this at all.

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Elijah stared at her, his bright tawny eyes wide, his lips puckered.

Brooke’s suspicions were confirmed a second before it happened. Elijah leaned in, aiming to smash his lips against hers. She pulled back sharply, sharper than she meant to.

There followed one, tense, horrible moment, where they both froze; Elijah confused, Brooke surprised.

“Sorry,” she said sincerely.

“But-I thought,” the hurt in his eyes made her feel terrible.

“Elijah, I-I don’t know what to say. I thought we were just friends,” she said weakly.

“But,” he repeated, “but the vibes man, I thought you were giving off all the right vibes.”

Vibes. Vibes. What an