Return of the Runebound Professor

There were still a few hours before the meeting. If they were going to cause chaos, Noah couldn’t see that possibly happening without one particular person who seemed to be the literal embodiment of it.

They needed Lee.

It was tempting to ask Ulya to use her puppet to go get her, but the woman had been asked to be a messenger so many times that Noah actually felt a little bad about it. He needed Ulya to actually like working with them if he wanted her properly on their side.

That’s fine. She’s not the only messenger I’ve worked with.

“Mascot, you here?” Noah asked.

Ulya sent him a strange look. “Who?”

“Hold on,” Noah said, holding a hand up to forestall any questions. He glanced around the relatively empty room. There wasn’t any sign of white fur or red horns. Not yet. “Come on, Mascot. I know you’re somewhere around. You were lurking around this morning. You know something’s up.”

There was no response. Ulya looked at Moxie with a concerned expression. Noah ignored her. The cat was screwing with him. He rifled through his bag, but there wasn’t any jerky left in it. Lee had picked him clean at some point.

“Hey, do you have any food?” Noah asked.

“Here,” Moxie said, pulling a strip of jerky out of her own bag. “Is Mascot really going to go for a random piece of meat? He isn’t Lee.”

Noah shrugged in response, taking the jerky from her and waving it around in the air above his head like a flag. “Only one way to find out. Come on, Mascot. I need you to help mess some shit up.”

Ulya’s eyes widened. A ripple of energy tickled Noah’s domain and he glanced over his shoulder as a purple disk yawned open – well within the reaches of his domain. Mascot popped out, bounding off his shoulder and snagging the jerky from his hand.

The fluffy cat landed on the table across from him and turned in a circle to stare into his eyes, the strip of jerky slowly disappearing into his mouth.

“What in the Damned Plains?” Ulya asked. “That was the cat I was petting!”

He went right through my domain. Point taken, you little bugger. You’re still somehow stronger than I am. Where in the world did you come from? Are you really just a manifestation of the Fragment of Renewal?

Mascot meowed and licked his paw. A flicker of annoyance passed through his red eyes and his tail thumped against the table impatiently.

“I think you should tell him what you want,” Moxie suggested. “Preferably before he pisses over the tablecloth.”

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“I was hoping you could get Lee for me. The rest of the students as well, if possible,” Noah told Mascot. “We’re going to be causing some chaos in the meeting today. I figure you already knew that, though.”

“How would a cat know anything?” Ulya asked, squinting at Mascot. “What kind of monster is that?”

Mascot sank into a portal that formed in the table, vanishing without a trace. It was impossible to tell if he’d decided to comply with Noah’s request or not. Something told Noah that the cat would do as he asked – there was nothing Mascot enjoyed more than chaos.

“An odd one,” Noah replied. “Be grateful. Now you don’t have to go run and find her yourself. I figured you were fed up running errands for other people.”

“You summoned a monster with Space Runes purely so I wouldn’t have to run off and deliver the message myself?” A flicker of appreciation passed through Ulya’s features. “I can’t tell if you’re supremely lazy or just trying to make sure you stay on my good side.”

Noah gave her an unabashed shrug. “I treat the people on my side well. Can’t say the same for everyone else. Now, we need to figure out our plan. First off – Ulya, this part is easy. Pretend you don’t give a shit about us.”

“That should be easy.”

“I figured,” Noah said with a wry grin. “Moxie, I think your best role is the one you normally play.”

“And that is?”

“Mediator. Between Lee and I, there will be enough of a shitshow to make everyone think we’re all insane. We need something that keeps us grounded. That’ll be you.”

“Oh. That is my normal role.”

“Which is what I said. In the meantime, Lee and I will keep literally everyone’s attention so occupied that there won’t even be a chance for Marley to try to challenge Emily properly.” Noah chewed his lower lip. There were a lot of ways he could cause chaos. He didn’t want to go so far as to completely go overboard, though. “Are there any things we should make sure not to do, Ulya?”

“That is a very broad and concerning question. What do you mean?”

“I can’t imagine people are going to like us much after this, but I want to make sure we don’t go so far that we get kicked out of the program,” Noah said. “Are they going to lose their shit at the slightest indecency like most nobles?”

Ulya thought for a second before shaking her head. “No. Everyone in this program is a warrior. They’ll be more hardened and difficult to throw off than average mages. As long as you don’t kill anyone or make a complete mockery of yourselves, you’ll be fine. They respect ability above all else.”

“Perfect.” Noah rubbed his hands together. “Then all we have to do is wait for the others to arrive.”

“Assuming Mascot actually went to get them,” Moxie put in.

“Yeah. Assuming that.”

***

Lee and the students showed up just about twenty minutes later. There was no sign of Mascot with them, but there was no doubt in Noah’s mind that the cat was lurking nearby, waiting to throw his own wrench into the system.

“Mascot led us over here,” Lee said, glancing around the empty room. “Is something going on? I didn’t think the advanced track meeting started for a while.”

“Yeah,” Noah said with a nod. He gestured for them to all gather closer, then filled them in on everything that had gone down since the meeting with Verrud. There was no need to hide information from any of them, and they all deserved to know what they were up against.

Emily didn’t look too surprised at their findings. Determination etched itself into her features and, once Noah had finished with his debrief, she gave him a nod.

“I won’t lose to Marley. I can hold my own.”

“This isn’t just about that.” Noah’s eyes drifted over to Isabel, who met them with a knowing look. She’d known what was up the moment he’d mentioned that the Herron family was involved. “It’s about all of us. And, fortunately, I have a plan. I’ll just need everyone’s help to pull it off.”

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