We swung by the dorm and picked up Izzy who was more than happy to fill him in on the types of snacks I eat and the vast amounts of them. He followed me around at the cafeteria buffets and kept shooting me glances as if wondering if I was messing with him. It had to be that I was still young—especially to fairies who matured at thirty—because I’d constantly read fairies ate a ton.
“I’ll be back for seconds,” I told him. “Sometimes thirds.”
“I’ve seen her go for fourths and fifths,” Mel drawled as she joined us. “Take her as a few hobbits and remember that she was severely neglected growing up. She spent many years starved, so she’s got a lot of catching up to do.”
“I understand. Thank you. I’ll speak with Irma and see you for your routine in the morning. If you could start journaling what you eat…” he trailed off when I shot him a look of horror. “Take a picture of your trays before you tuck into them?”
“That, I can do. I’ll try and send texts with snacks. Drinks with calories?”
“Yes, for now. Juices especially.”
“Got it.” I realized there was something I should have asked. “How much is Geiger paying you to do this?”
The serious and hard man chuckled, finally giving me more than a smirk or some subtle amusement. “You are paying me gobs, Ms. Vale.” He strutted off with his tray after dropping that bomb.
“I approved it, and he’s worth it,” Mel muttered as we headed to our normal table. “The guy is a legend and it’s not known, but he’ll double as protection. I saw him placing wards on the witch and warlock dorm. It’s all or nothing with him, so the full package is totally worth his skills and knowledge.”
“Hey, you don’t have to sell me on him. He’s detailed and all over it like your dad.” I did a double take when her thoughts said Instructor Larson was probably better than Trigger Rothchild, which I hadn’t expected. She quickly explained in her mind that it was because of Larson’s extensive magical knowledge and all of his power, but yeah, the man was seriously lethal and could take things to another level.
It wasn’t Mr. Rothchild’s fault that he couldn’t. But it was just like Mel to always be fair and acknowledge that, even if it was only in her head.
I took my pictures, ate tons, and hurried for a shower before heading to Physics 101. As I knew, it was going to be a lot of evil math that I wouldn’t be friends with, but I was pretty sure I could struggle through.
Magical Advancements 101 was going to be fascinating, and I was ready to dive right in and read all the material. Others didn’t seem to have the same opinion and thought it a blow off class. They seemed to have that same opinion of Professor Campbell from their thoughts, which was a shame since she was a good teacher.
I simply had other issues with her since she had been completely into Dr. Craftsman and pursued him the whole time we were together. Every time I’d seen her over the summer, his name was on her lips. She wasn’t trying for him again, but she still cared too much, and that was obvious from the way she would comment about trying to help him and the way everyone shut him out.
And today, her thoughts were on him as she started the lecture. She was glad he almost seemed more like himself, and he was looking forward to something. It was nice for him that he could get back into the semester, and it would push him past whatever had happened that he wouldn’t talk about with her, no matter how hard she tried.
That was about when I shut off my telepathy. I hadn’t meant to listen that long, but I had flinched, wondering if he was looking forward to me being in his class… But that sounded utterly self-absorbed. He had to seriously know it was over, right?
Please let me be right. I felt like an overfilled water balloon most days, and if anyone tried to push more in me, I was going to burst all over the quad.
When class was over, I stayed back to ask a private question, waiting until she was finished talking to another student to approach her.
“What can I do for you, Ms. Vale?” she asked as she packed up her materials.
“I wondered if there was any flexibility on the paper topics? I did a lot of research over the summer into advancements, and there are others I want to research. I was hoping there might be a chance for some crossover, even if you don’t cover them specifically or they might be covered in later classes.”
She stopped what she was doing, glancing at me then. “Some of the research was for your traps.” She smirked when I didn’t reply. “If I made the exception, I’d want to see those and—”
“No,” I immediately shut down.
She blinked at me in shock, probably given how flexible I’d been with teachers going over the line with me, but also the harsh tone I used. “Whyever not?”
“Those are weapons in the wrong hands, Professor Campbell. I trust you, but someone gets it from you, or the knowledge how I did it—I’m not going down that rabbit hole. I won’t even show them to Dean White, and she’s been my magical advisor on several other projects. I’d love her help because I think she could guide me how to use a ton less magic to make them, but it’s dangerous.”
“How are spy traps dangerous?”
“I caught council spies in them,” I reminded her, thinking she was a bit too naïve on our world and lived in her fancy lifestyle bubble. “I’ve been ordered
