Pact Web Serial Wiki
Register
Advertisement

A list of students who attended the Blue Heron Institute Summer of 2020 alongside the Kennet Trio.

America Tedd[]

Main article: America Tedd

16, a "Goblin Witch Princess". Rooms with her sister Liberty.[1] Has the sides of her head shaved, dresses "pretty normal" in Verona's estimation.[2] Gives off a dangerous vibe which Verona speculated might be magical in its intensity.[3]

She and her sister disrupted a Dollmaking class when their doll became murderous; they laughed and cheered it on as it battled the teacher's dolls restraining it.[4] She was able to cast something which made the doll vomit and weakened it.[5]

Amine Roscio[]

Main article: Amine Roscio

Apprentice of Durocher. Part of Zed's social circle. Godslayer. A senior frequently found in the study nook of the school.[6]

Braxton Hart[]

Main Article: Braxton Hart

Goblin King. Although technically a senior student, and he's rented a workshop for projects, he's in jail as of the start of the 2020 summer term.[7]

Beau Austin[]

14, Necromancer (Echo Drummer).[1]

Brie Callie[]

Main Article: Brie Callie

Associate of Zed's empowered by the Hungry Choir.

Chase Whitt[]

Main Article: Chase Whitt

Member of the Belanger Circle, the one who brought Nicolette into the Circle as her sponsor. Slightly overweight, and with a swoop of black hair. A member of a prominent non-Belanger family.[8] 17.[9]

Corbin Kierstaad []

14, Dabbler specializing in Subversive Practices.[1]

Damaryon Steyn []

14, Summoner (Eastern Approach)[1], Dabbler.[10]

A scion of an extremely weak Practitioner family,[11] trained only in basic Summoning, Damaryon stumbled upon the Ronin Oni Mages Mike Storey and Davion Reese. The boys had found a locked box inhabited by an Oni and were releasing bound Others and feeding them to the box in exchange for knowledge. The box ultimately broke and released all the Others, many of which had been bound because they were dangerous, all transformed into Oni.[10]

Mike and his friends had a disorganized, offbeat, inexperienced approach to things, wielding quirky but not particularly strong magic. They reminded other students of the Kennet Trio, albeit less powerful.[11]

Daniella Rowsome[]

15, "Abyss Drinker" and Elementalist.[1] Related to Dean Rowsome.

Davion Reese []

15, specializes in Oni Knife Throwing.[1]

Reese was a friend of Mike Storey, who recruited him to help free bound Others and feed them to an Oni in a box Mike had found in exchange for knowledge. They were eventually joined by weak Practitioner Damaryon Steyn. After a year the box ultimately broke and released all the Others, many of which had been bound because they were dangerous, all transformed into Oni.[10]

Davion and his friends had a disorganized, offbeat, inexperienced approach to things, wielding quirky but not particularly strong magic.[11]

Dom Driscoll[]

2020 freshman. 10,[12] a beginner City Mage and Historian.[13][14]

Easton Songetay[]

14, War Mage and Summoner.[1]

Elizabeth Driscoll []

A Historian doing a project on city planning. Senior student.[7]

Eloise Miraz[]

Main article: Eloise Miraz

Ulysse's fiancee. Part of Zed's social circle through Ulysse.

Erasmus Wilkins []

Main article: Erasmus Wilkins

15, Duality Host bonded with a being named Aslaug.[1]

Estrella Vanderwerf[]

Main article: Estrella Vanderwerf

17, leads her family after the adults were killed by Witch Hunters. A skilled Faerie Magic practitioner focusing on the Winter Court.[15] Next year she might be teaching classes.[16]

Eugene Legendre[]

16, Sealer and Goblin Exterminator.[1]

Fernanda Whitt[]

Main article: Fernanda Whitt

Generalist, Emotion Manipulator.[1] 13 or so but acts younger and spoiled. Wears her hair in a ponytail, has glittery makeup, pretty.[17]

Was being strongly considered to marry Zach Nichol before her family got a bump in status from Chase and decided the Nichols were no longer worth it.[18]

Fiona Mace []

13, Astral Projector, Body Jumper.[1]

Hadley Hennigar[]

A "Gore-Strewn" who "Death refuses to claim", she studies War Magic and Elementalism among other fields. Hunts Witch Hunters for "sport".[19] Eldest sister of Kellen, Sawyer and Mccauleigh.[1]

When the Kennet Goblins attacked Bristow's camp, she was among those covered in sticky goop, but freed herself by invoking a powerful war-cry.[20] However she failed to catch them or do any significant damage; War took back it's gift and more, causing her to faint and get covered in an even worse goblin goop trap.[21]

Howie Legendre []

15, Exterminator and Sealer.[1]

Jarvis Staples[]

16, Focuses on Contract Practices and Summoning.[1]

Jessica Casabien[]

Main Article: Jessica Casabien

Partly self-taught, not tied to any of the teachers. A generalist with some focus on the Ruins. Part of Zed's social circle.

Jorja Leos[]

2020 freshman, 10. Straight black hair, pale, wears mismatched clothes.[22]

An already-powerful Caller who channels a powerful urban drug-spirit[22][14] named the Drugstore Cowgirl.[23] She has a bogeyman familiar to help mellow out its influence[23] which looks like a large, blank-eyed man in a trenchcoat who seems to glide over the ground,[22][24] or a dog in animal form.[25] Looking to learn primarily from Durocher.[26]

To Avery's Sight she is covered in black handprints, with one holding her eyelid down, with black veins radiating from them.[22] In the Spirit World she appeared to have bright pastel pellets dusting her.[27]

Judah Greer []

Senior, Technomancer.[7]

Kassidy Knox[]

14., trinket-specialized Collector[1] from a minor family of Collectors.[28][29]

Dark-haired, wears a bowler hat and exaggerated makeup.[28] Round-faced.[30]

Bristow tutored her in Collecting.[31]

Friends with Yadira and Raquel. The Musser family once stole a bunch of magic items from the Knox family after a deal went sour, which remains a sore spot for them both.[29] Had a nightmare about Kennedy taking everything in her life, even her belongings and family, leaving her with Durocher.[32]

Kellen Hennigar[]

15, Gore-streaked Undying Archer.[1]

Laila Throop[]

Main article: Laila Throop

14, Large-scale Curse specialist.[1]

Lane Gudbrand[]

16, Spirit & Wraith Gardening.[1] Possible relative of Gudbrand from Pact.

Liberty Tedd[]

Main article: Liberty Tedd

15, Goblin Raider Princess.[1] She's filed her teeth down, and wore a top with an old bloodstain on it.[2] Gives off a dangerous vibe which Verona speculated might be magical in its intensity.[3]

She and her sister disrupted a Dollmaking class when their doll became murderous; they laughed and cheered it on as it battled the teacher's dolls restraining it.[4]

Maddox Willan []

16, Spellbinding, Soulbinding.[1]

Maximilian Palaisy[]

15, Valkalla (Ghost Weapons).[1]

Mccauleigh Hennigar[]

13, Gore-streaked Dancer.[1]

Noted to stick close with her siblings, but has nightmares about a red-lit room in her house filled with screams and trying to escape to Alexander's lessons.[33][34][35]

Melody Kierstaad[]

13, Dabbler, Longevity Practices.[1]

Mike Storey[]

15, Spirit Sword / Oni Sword Fighting.[1]

Mike was an amateur lockpicker who, practicing on a locked box, found it inhabited by an Oni. He helped it by releasing bound Others and feeding them to the box in exchange for knowledge, recruiting Davion Reese to help him, and eventually being joined by weak Practitioner Damaryon Steyn. The box ultimately broke and released all the Others, many of which had been bound because they were dangerous, all transformed into Oni.[10]

Mike and his friends had a disorganized, offbeat, inexperienced approach to things, wielding quirky but not particularly strong magic.[11]

Milly Legendre[]

A knight of seals. She and her family go around sealing powerful evils, maintaining the existing seals and fighting Warrens incursions; unglamorous work she compares to "magic janitors".[36] She hopes to find a more pleasant focus at the Institute, but worries she'll flunk and end up a lowly goblin exterminator. She's been helping her family seal the Warrens since she was 12, and has no high school education.[37]

Myles Sutton[]

14, Alchemist; Restoratives Specialist.[1]

Natasha Scobie[]

15, Snowfall Elementalist,[1] has an animalistic familiar named Lallie.[38]

Nicolette Belanger[]

Main article: Nicolette Belanger

A young member of the Belanger Circle. Friends with Zed.

Omarion Chant[]

Graduate. Calendar Ritualist working in one of the workshops.[7]

Raquel Musser []

Main article: Raquel Musser

13, 'Soft' Implement Collector,[1] possibly employs the same family secret as Reid.[39] However it has been noted that she isn't close with her family[40] and that Musser women don't get the full benefit of their family Practice the way the men do. She's Reid's cousin but raised by her uncle Mr. Musser, his father, after her mother was cast out of the family.[41] She's been said to crave the power and love given to Reid, the heir.[42]

Bristow tutored her in Collecting. She likes and respects him, despite having to handle his tendency to get distracted and ignore that he was meant to be teaching her.[31]

Hangs out with Kassidy and Yadira.[29] The Musser family once stole a bunch of magic items from the Knox family after a marriage deal went sour, which remains a sore spot for them both.[29]

Reid Musser[]

Main article: Reid Musser

Employed unique family secrets to have two Familiars (Blackhorne and Drown) and nine Implements.

Son of Abraham Musser, a school founder. Travelled the world since age 15. A senior, he rooms in the Western Wing.[39] Musser's heir and the golden child of the family.[42]

Salvador P. Martin []

14,[1] very shaggy hair, bad skin, bright smile.[43]

Shaman; Spider Breather,[1] which involves forming a hallow in his body without actually dipping into Host practices, so that he can use the spider as ammo.[44] In Dollmaker class he kissed his doll[45] which grew giant spider legs.[46] This may be why he and his family are termed "fancy" shamans by his friend Zach.[43]

Best friends with Zach.[43] He's much more into the "hot girl totem" idea than Zach himself.[47][45]

Sawyer Hennigar[]

14, Gore-streaked Gunslinger.[1]

Seth Belanger[]

Main article: Seth Belanger

An 18-year-old member of the Belanger Circle, attractive.[48] Wavy hair.[49]

Alexander's distant nephew.[50][51]

A senior at the school[52] although he's graduated.[53]

Described as a former troublemaker who's deciding on a course in life.[53] Banned from smoking joints in Alexander's office due to harassing Nicolette.[48]

Silas Vanderwerf []

16, Fae Magic (Winter).[1]

Likely did a Ritual related to Winter Fae that freezes and manipulates Connections within his immediate vicinity, which can have a huge social advantage.[54]

Sol Ferguson[]

Main article: Sol Ferguson

Full name Solarisse Blaze Ferguson.[55] 12. Lucy's height, thin. Fine, messy blonde hair which he sometimes imperfectly gels up.[56]

"Elementalist of the Great Blast",[1] he has an elemental circle tattooed across his hands so that he can create an explosion by holding them together.[56] He got his tattoos at just 10 years old.[57]

Tends not to hang out with the older kids, as he's the only 12 year old at the school and roomate to the 10 year old Dom Driscoll.[56]

Extremely embarassed when his mother came to the school and used him as an example in her class.[58] He described her as "scary", but not in the same abusive way as Talia's mother.[59]

Talos Leos[]

One of Jorja's older brothers, Caller.[14][22] He channels a drug lord named the Glass Prison, and has a bubbly naiad familiar named Helei that he rescued to balance out its bad vibes.[23]

Tanner Gilpin[]

One of the boys of the Belanger Circle. He came into power through finding an auspice as an innocent, a sign of things to come and became Aware.[60][61] From there, he eventually found practitioner families, and was recruited by Bristow for a project, only snatched up by Alexander,[62] with the project subsequently collapsing.

He's intelligent and a quick learner,[60] being able to rival Alexander in event prediction.[63] Good looking boy who has taken fashion cues from Alexander.[64] Considered good-looking and actually takes care of his appearance.[65]

He still retained links with Bristow even after taking a place as Alexander's apprentice.[63] Was set the task of finding Alexander when he seemingly vanished but with no success.[66][67]

Tymon Leos[]

Main article: Tymon Leos

Oldest brother to Jorja and Talos (who he shares a room with.)[68] Caller,[14][22] he channels the power of a drug lord named the Black Gutter. He has a familiar named Dreg, an Alchemist Vestige which takes the form of a rat or swarm of rats.[69]

14, with black hair. Lucy finds him cute.[68]

Talia Graubard[]

Main article: Talia Graubard

2020 freshman, eleven,[12] brown hair with blonde highlights.[70] A beginner Dollmaker.[14]

Accompanied everywhere by her familiar, a Canopic Doll named Effy that her mother threatened to replace her with. They were raised together, but - both fearing they would be the one her mother found wanting - Talia secretly awakened and they performed the familiar ritual together.[71] It's roughly the same height and proportions as her,[14] but can't become an animal.[72]

She has a little sister with an animated stuffed elephant, too young to attend.[14][70][73]

Ulysse Miraz[]

Main article: Ulysse Miraz 

Apprentice of Durocher. Chosen. Part of Zed's social circle.

Wye Belanger[]

Main article: Wye Belanger

A graduate, but still participates in the school as a senior. Alexander's first apprentice, he runs the Belangers' private investigation service. Sleeps in the Western Wing.[74]

Xerxes Wilkins[]

Main article: Xerxes Wilkins

17, Duality Host with a being named Bloody Money.[1]

Yadira Kennedy[]

14, Western Kitsune/Oni Practices[1] from a minor branch of a prominent Oni Mage family, perhaps the first family to re-establish relations with the Oni after the war.[28]

White with straight blonde hair, but wears it with chopsticks in it sometimes.[28]

Hangs out with Kassidy and Raquel.[29]

Zachariah Nichol []

14.[1] Of a height with the Kennet Trio, a little chubby, shaved square head. Nondescript and not particularly unnatractive in Verona's estimation.[75]

Totemist (Hot Girl Totem),[1] he specializes in carving "hot girl" spirit totems for sale.[47] Awakened very young at four and very confident with the basics of the Practice.[68] He and his family are fairly basic, weak Totemists (Shamans); he had to work and save to attend the BHI.[47][43] They focus on Eastern traditions, on producing totem statues that attract certain spirits.[76] He carries a key-ring-like collection of small statues - a bookish old man (Tutelary), lion-dog (Komainu), a Gargoyle/Grotesque, and his signature Hot Girl.[45]

Best friends with Salvador.[43] Salvador is pushing him to focus on the "hot girl" angle, but he's not especially comfortable with it.[47][45] Was being strongly considered to marry Fern Whitt before her family got a bump in status from Chase and decided the Nichols were no longer worth it.[18]

Zed Sadler[]

Main article: Zed Sadler

Apprentice of Ray Sunshine. Friendly with the Kennet Trio.

A senior at the school.[52]

References[]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 1.31 1.32 1.33 1.34 1.35 Students in the Eastern Wing

    Dom Driscoll, 10, Beginner Historian
    Sol Ferguson, 12, Elementalist of the Great Blast

    Eugene Legendre, 16, Sealer and Exterminator

    Howie Legendre, 15, Exterminator and Sealer

    Salvador P. Martin, 14, Shaman; Spider Breather
    Zachariah Nichol, 14, Totemist; Hot Girl Totemist

    Beau Austin, 14, Necromancer; Echo Drummer
    Easton Songetay, 14, War Mage and Summoner
    Myles Sutton, 14, Alchemist; Restoratives Specialist

    Davion Reese, 15, Oni Knife Throwing
    Damaryon Steyn, 14, Summoner, Eastern Approach
    Mike Storey, 15, Spirit Sword / Oni Sword Fighting

    Jarvis Staples, 16, Contract Practices, Summoning
    Silas Vanderwerf, 16, Fae Magic, Winter’s Bidding
    Maddox Willan, 16, Spellbinding, Soulbinding

    Lane Gudbrand, 16, Spirit & Wraith Gardening
    Maximilian Palaisy, 15, Valkalla, Ghost Weapons

    Talos Leos, 13, Caller of the Glass Prison Spirit
    Tymon Leos, 14, Caller of the Black Gutter Spirit

    Talia Graubard, 11, Beginner Dollmaker, Enchanter
    Jorja Leos, 11, Caller of the Drugstore Cowgirl Spirit

    Xerxes Wilkins, 17, Duality Host with Bloody Money
    Erasmus Wilkins, 15, Duality Host with Aslaug

    Corbin Kierstaad, 14, Dabbler, Subversive Practices
    Melody Kierstaad, 13, Dabbler, Longevity Practices

    Kellen Hennigar, 15, Gore-streaked Undying Archer
    Sawyer Hennigar, 14, Gore-streaked Gunslinger
    Mccauleigh Hennigar, 13, Gore-streaked Dancer

    Yadira Kennedy, 14, Western Kitsune/Oni Practices
    Kassidy Knox, 14, Trinket-specialized Collector

    Fiona Mace, 13, Astral Projector, Body Jumper
    Raquel Musser, 13, ‘Soft’ Implement Collector

    Daniella Rowsome, 15, Abyss Drinker, Elementalist
    Natasha Scobie, 15, Snowfall Elementalist

    America Tedd, 16, Goblin Witch Princess
    Liberty Tedd, 15, Goblin Raider Princess

    Laila Throop, 14, Large-scale Curse specialist
    Fernanda Whitt, 13, Generalist, Emotion Manip.

    Lucy Ellingson, 13, Wild Pract. Faerie Swordfighting
    Verona Hayward, 13, Wild Practitioner, Dabbler
    Avery Kelly, 13, Wild Practitioner, Finder - Bonus Material: Student Guide
  2. 2.0 2.1 America Tedd had the sides of her head shaved, wore a sleeveless white tee and baggy black jeans, and a fair bit of eye makeup. All considered, for a self declared ‘goblin witch princess’, her outfit seemed pretty normal. Verona could only imagine what her outfit would be like if she gave the combination of Toadswallow, Bluntmunch, Cherrypop and Gashwad any say over what she wore, or if she wore stuff to appeal to them. She’d probably come out of it looking like an extra in a post-apocalyptic film. Liberty, America’s younger sister, was similar, but wore a tank top with an old bloodstain on it, and when she smiled and cheered for the doll it was apparent she’d filed her teeth down. The braces that had been on those teeth were mangled. ‘Goblin raider princess’. - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.9
  3. 3.0 3.1 It was the look in their eyes, and the sheer fervor with which they got into the craziness of the dolls and how things got out of control that put Verona off. [...]

    The Tedds made her feel like she’d felt like she’d felt in John’s house, with Lucy at gunpoint. It felt like things when the Hungry Choir stuff had gone crazy and Brie, who she hadn’t known was Brie, was screaming and crying, convinced she was going to die. It felt like she was in the same room as her dad, while he was melting down in the worst way.

    She wondered if part of that was some effect they wore, like they’d earned their stripes and now they had a bad vibe that most people could feel, intimidating others.

    She had zero idea if that was true, and her Sight couldn’t see anything on them, aside from more bloodstains, but imagining it was true helped her to deal with it. - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.9
  4. 4.0 4.1 Leaving a Mark 4.9
  5. The older Tedd sister said something Verona couldn’t hear, and touched finger to lips and moved it away like she was blowing a kiss, but her expression twisted, and it was her middle finger.

    The Gothic doll the Tedds and their groupmate had made vomited onto a doll that was trying to grab it. It seemed to break the connection between the doll and its power supply, because the doll collapsed.

    Maybe not so subtle.

    America Tedd casually spat out a bit of something green, chewing what she didn’t spit out.

    [...]

    Off to the side, the Tedds’ doll seemed to run out of steam. It didn’t look like it was cut off from its power supply so much as it was getting more and more tired, and slower. It was pinned down by others until it sagged, fell over, and belched out another bucketful of green slime, covering its front and face. - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.9
  6. Amine Roscio
    A rare case of our esteemed Mrs. Durocher inviting someone on as an apprentice. Amine took the name of a true god and forced it to unmake its two divine sons before unmaking itself. A perpetual resident of the study nook. He attends Advanced classes. - Bonus Material: Student Guide
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Special Students
    (Graduate, Workshop, Itinerant, etc.)

    Elizabeth Driscoll, Historian
    Currently leading a special project, ritual city design

    Braxton Hart, Goblin King
    Paid for workshop for 2 years time, currently serving a 9 month jail sentence. Workshop is not to be disturbed.

    Judah Greer, Technomancer
    Apprentice of Raymond Sunshine, using one workshop as a relay point for quick world travel, doing preliminary work for special project that is to begin next year.

    Milly Legendre, Dabbler, Sealer, Exterminator
    Residing in the rear of Workshop C while taking Advanced classes, for privacy and to be closer to certain projects; is doing contract work for other students to safeguard sensitive special projects.

    Omarion Chant, Calendar Ritualist
    Graduated student, rented one workshop for a year. - Bonus Material: Student Guide
  8. He swayed a bit, and his eyes were visibly red even by candlelight. Alcohol and drugs lowered defenses, which was part of why she couldn’t indulge. Chase hinted at his motives in how he looked at her, and in the faint frustration he evidenced. His hair was a bit messy, and his shirt was unbuttoned. He’d been a guy who had been good looking, and could be again, but for the time being, was about thirty pounds overweight, wearing pants that didn’t fit. He thought he was being subtle, unbuttoning his pants to alleviate the pressure on his waistline, and using his belt to keep his pants up, but the ‘v’ of the zipper pulling open at the top betrayed his ploy. His hair remained styled, an older-fashioned swoop of black hair at the brow, his chin shaven, his clothes business casual, even in ‘leisure’.

    “Sir,” she said, acknowledging him, as though he’d spoken.

    He continued to study her, as if he could decipher something about her that would answer his frustrations. He was her sponsor. The one who had brought her into the circle. Alexander, in turn, was the one who had brought Chase in; Chase had been brought in because he was very, very good at dealing with certain kinds of Other, owing to his family ties, and because of the politics of it. Making Chase an apprentice and teaching him all sorts of things about Seeing made for strong ties with Chase’s family. -Excerpt from Stolen Away 2.z
  9. He had expected something very different when he had found her. Leverage against Alexander, maybe. More power. A grateful girl a year younger than him. Instead, Chase had had to go to school, he’d left her here to act as eyes, ears, and hands on things here, and Alexander had started to barter with her, making her more Alexander’s apprentice than Chase’s.-Excerpt from Stolen Away 2.z
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Talos nodded as he continued, “They found a box, fancy and locked. One of them, Mike, is a lockpicker. He grabbed the box with the idea he’d use it for practice and see what was inside. But when he looked through the keyhole, an eye looked back at him. It whispered things to him. It promised to teach him ancient ways of fighting. And it did. Oni style. [...] It could only teach him so much, apparently. To unshackle its own knowledge he was asked to free some other unfairly trapped Others. He ended up recruiting Reese, because one of the projects required getting onto someone’s property in a minor heist type thing. And they did that for a year. Steyn was a dabbling summoner before, from a super minor family practice, and he stumbled onto them and got onboard. They transferred about twenty Others and moved them to the box, and for each success they each got taught a new trick. Box eventually broke, the Others escaped, and they were all different. Practitioners had to step in.” - Excerpt from Gone Ahead 7.1
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 “You had that disorganized, offbeat approach that they did. Wide eyed about certain stuff that’s everyday for us. Except then you started throwing around power like it was nothing. These three? They’re not strong, two of them aren’t even from a family dynasty.”

    “I wouldn’t call Steyn’s family a dynasty either,” Melody chimd in. - Excerpt from Gone Ahead 7.1
  12. 12.0 12.1 Are the other newbies as young as her?”

    “Yeah, kinda? Dom and Talia are ten and eleven, I think.” - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.4
  13. “You’ve been coming here a while?” Avery asked.

    “Three years. Dom is from a family of historians. They study patterns in history, to see if any accidental rituals emerge.”

    “Accidental rituals?” Verona asked.

    “I don’t know how much to explain, because I don’t know how much you know, and I’m not the best teacher. Uh, when non-practitioners do stuff, they can still create rituals. We call them accidental or emergent rituals. If you find a big enough or ancient enough one, you can tweak it or harness it. City layouts forming diagrams that influence economy? Big money, potentially. Patterns in, I dunno, wars followed by baby booms? That could potentially be a whole generation that’s special. They came here to deal with Ray, the guy I’m apprenticing under, so I’ve got the scoop there.” - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.4
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6 "Tymon and Talos’s younger sister Jorja joins us, already an adept caller of a greater Urban spirit. She should be recognizable or even familiar to those of you who attended guest lectures with their mother. Dom, as anyone familiar with the Driscoll family knows, is a beginner city mage and historian, and we’re excited to see if he takes after his big sister and parents. I’m also very pleased that a long-time colleague of mine finally has a child old enough to send to classes here. Talia Graubard is a beginner Dollmaker." - excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.5 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":1" defined multiple times with different content
  15. Estrella Vanderwerf
    Estrella leads her family practice at 17, after all family practitioners over the age of eighteen were executed by the Montreal Witch Hunters. The Vanderwerfs have long dealt with the regimented Winter Court of Faerie, and Estrella puts practitioners with three times her experience to shame as she keeps track of hundreds of plots, many of which have run for centuries. She heads a special Senior project - Bonus Material: Student Guide
  16. “She’s the BHI’s best contact when it comes to Fae. Next year she might start teaching classes.” - Excerpt from Vanishing Points 8.6
  17. Mrs. Graubard was taking her time getting around to them. It looked like she was stuck with a spoiled brat, who Verona judged was about the same age as the three of them, but acted younger.

    “That would be Fernanda,” Zach said. “My mom and her mom were kind of conspiring to have me and Fernanda spend time together, a bit ago. Our families are on more or less the same level. Or were. Not a lot of power, no big library, not a lot of contacts, none of that.”

    Fernanda had her hair in a ponytail. She wore a top that left her shoulders bare, with little flappy short sleeves that extended to the arms, and skinny jeans. Whatever makeup she’d put on had a tiny bit of glitter to it, from how the light caught on her shoulder.

    “She’s pretty,” Verona observed. - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.9
  18. 18.0 18.1 “She is. And it’s more like they were feeling things out before starting to talk arranged marriage,” Zachariah said.

    “All of this practitioner stuff is stuck centuries in the past,” Lucy muttered.
    “It really is,” Zach said. “You’re new to it, but try living it, and going back and forth from regular high school to your dad telling your kid sister that he’s not sure if he wants the family to break tradition and bring the family’s women into the practice.”

    Lucy made a face.

    “Yeah,” Zach said. “Exactly.”

    “It doesn’t sound like it went anywhere,” Avery said. “The marriage?”

    “It didn’t. Her brother got a bump in status, and her family stopped talking to our family. The talks about the two of us stopped being as frequent, then stopped all the way.”

    [...]

    “I think you dodged a bullet, Zach,” Avery said.

    “I’m not one hundred percent sure the bullet’s dodged,” he replied. “Depends on how well her big brother does. If he elevates their family, I might be in the clear.” - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.9
  19. Hadley Hennigar
    Eldest of this generation of the Hennigar clan, Hadley does not shy away from the family practice of the Gore-Strewn. Death refuses to claim her, but War certainly seems to have his hold on her. She gets her sport targeting Witch Hunters. That she’s still with us as the loudest student in the Western Wing is a testament to her talents. She attends Advanced classes, emphasizing war, elemental and price-based fields - Bonus Material: Student Guide
  20. Hadley, hunched over, did her best to straighten up, as she was weighed down by the gunk.
    She screamed, loud and fierce enough that Lucy had to cover her ears. Some of the construction materials slipped from where they sat. Small branches and leaves fell from the tree. The blades she was carrying glowed red, like they’d been in a furnace, and her eyes did the same.
    [...]
    The scream tore away the gunk and crap, freeing Hadley, and stirred up dirt, covering gunk around her. Veins stood out on her arms and neck and took on that red glow. - excerpt from Gone Ahead 7.2
  21. Hadley made her way back, holding her arm out, knife in hand. And that knife was embedded in a limp, bloated body. The body struggled a bit. [...] Hadley dropped her arm. The corpse dropped to the ground, splitting open. Lucy had to focus between Sight and sight to see. The vest. The monocle. The little pig-like ears.

    But it wasn’t Toadswallow. A pig’s corpse, roughly his dimensions, wearing clothes like he did, and badly decaying, to the point that skin was slowly tearing from gravity alone. Insect life, a slurry of insides, and a morass of rodents fanned out from the split belly of it.
    “He got away?”
    “He got away,” Lucy whispered.

    Snowdrop sneezed. Avery squeezed Lucy’s arm.

    Hadley Hennigar swayed on the spot, then collapsed, face-first into the corpse-thing. Lucy cringed, and Avery made a face.

    Some of the other students hurried forward to grab her, but hesitated to get close to the thing, covering their faces.

    “If the gore-strewn can’t achieve the violence that they bought their extra time with, then they suffer an equivalent or worse fate,” John said. “Trying to avoid that fate hurts their practice.” - Excerpt from Gone Ahead 7.2
  22. 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 “Jorja’s the third sibling to come. Her older brothers are already here.”
    Zed pointed them out. The girl was ten, with hair about as straight and black as hair got, to the point it looked like it was wet, with the way it lay against her scalp. She was pale, and her clothes slightly mismatched for age, size, and type. She was the one who had run over to greet the boy, with the large, gliding Other following behind, always moving slowly and not catching up to her until she stood still for a little while, which was rare.
    To Avery’s sight, there were black handprints all over her, with the finger of one handprint hooked into her eye and pulling her eyelid down. Black veins webbed out from the handprints.
    “Callers. That’s caller with an a, not an o. Slang for them is Druid or Draoidhe, but I’m not sure how PC that is,” Zed confided. “Most druids tap into the big, old nature spirits. her family taps into more urban things. The black gutter, the glass prison, the chemical lightning. Each kid picks one of these big, unrestrained lord spirits in the same general category, and then sort of taps into it for big, unrestrained, nasty practice.”
    “Spirits of drugs?” Avery asked.
    “Yeah,” Zed said. “My gentle verdict? Avoid.”
    - excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.4
  23. 23.0 23.1 23.2 “My brother calls Glass Prison, and rescued Helei, a naiad. A more bubbly and pleasant companion to help keep his spirits up. Jorja taps Drugstore Cowgirl, and she took a bogeyman. Uhh… doing the opposite of Talos, kind of.” - excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.6
  24. A ten year old girl ran over to hug a boy of about the same age. Behind her was a guy that was six feet tall, hunched over, with an expression like stone. He wore a black trenchcoat that was very weirdly fit around his body, buttoned up from ground to neck, the bottom of the coat grazing the ground and hiding his feet. He also had baseball cap that seemed to small for him, set askew. His eyes were entirely white, except for the narrow pupils, which didn’t rove or move to look around at anything. He followed behind her, the movements of his legs not visible, his head not bobbing with any steps. Like he was floating. - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.4
  25. Avery watched as Jorja’s familiar, which had been the floaty guy with the backwards baseball cap, now a terrier, followed the movement of birds through the air. - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.7
  26. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named :0
  27. The room’s appearance shifted, to become something very much like the spirit world Lucy had visited together with Verona and Avery. The floor was covered in an inch of water, littered with flower petals. She could see the nose of the ‘mask’ she wore in spirit, and her hair was far longer, pale pink tendrils blowing across her shoulder.

    Other students changed as well. Avery had the deer mask. [...] Jorja had little pastel pellets littering her hair and shoulders, in stark contrast to how dark her clothes and hair were, and how grim her expression was. - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.6
  28. 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 The girls sitting behind them were a white girl with chopsticks in her straight blonde hair, a girl with an expensive looking sleeveless top with a high neck, and a brunette with an unironic bowler hat, dense freckles, and wild eye makeup that included sky blue eyeshadow and heavy eyeliner. A bit Clockwork Orange. They looked just a bit older.

    [...]

    “We know. And Verona and Avery,” Chopsticks said. “I’m Yadira Kennedy, that’s Kassidy but we call her Kass, and that’s Raquel Musser.”

    Kass was the bowler hat girl. Raquel had the nice top. “I notice you left my last name out of the introductions. Classist,” Kass said.

    “Is it classist if I’m being practical? Your family doesn’t matter.”

    “Be nice in front of the new practitioners,” Raquel said, closing her eyes for a moment.

    “So Yadira Kennedy… the Kennedys are a big family?” Avery asked.

    “A good size,” Yadira said, smiling. “We’re not the Kennedys, but we have a presence. After the Oni Wars, my family was the apparent first to successfully re-establish a working relationship with the new Others out East.” - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.1
  29. 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 “You’re a collector? Two of you are collectors?” Verona asked.

    “You studied us, did you?”

    “Isn’t that normal?” Verona asked.

    “Kass picked up a family practice,” Yadira said, since Kass and Raquel weren’t volunteering anything. “Collectors pick up magic items and arrange them in tableaus and diagrams, transfer power between them. But it’s very cutthroat. A lot of the time, if you need something to complete a set, you have to take it from someone else. Without getting into details-”

    “Oh, why not get into details?” Raquel asked. “Sparing her feelings?”

    “-these two became unlikely friends.”

    Kass retorted, “Raquel’s family and their friends made like they wanted a marriage to unite collections, then reneged, took my family’s shit and killed my grandfather when he tried to stop them.”

    “He was an abusive scumbag, Kass. You shouldn’t expect the marriage to go through when that comes to light.”

    [...]

    “Are they like this all the time?” Lucy asked.

    “No,” Yadira said. “No, this is a new-ish thing. At least at this intensity.” - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.1
  30. “Ow. Okay, first picture. Round face, except maybe that’s how Alpeana draws faces.”

    “Na, tis round. Black locks, wore a bunnet.”

    “Bunnet? Bonnet? Hat?” Avery asked. “Kass? Part of Yadira’s crew.” - excerpt from Gone Ahead 7.3
  31. 31.0 31.1 “What’s up?” Raquel asked. “You guys smell like blood, you know.”

    “Maybe eat, nap and shower,” Lucy murmured to Verona.

    Avery talked while walking backward, “I wanted to ask, you’re a magic item collector, right?”

    “I got some training.”

    “Was that training with Bristow? Or was Kass’s?”

    “Uhh… yeah? I awoke at ten, spent a year with family, got training with him for a year after. Families as big as mine find it useful to have at least one person with the know-how for magic item handling in-house. Why?”

    “Trying to figure out how things connect here,” Avery said. “How was it?”

    “He rambles, but he’s a good guy. Knows his stuff. If you end up studying with him, either as an apprentice or as a student in classes here, be prepared for him to get distracted for chunks of time. When I was apprenticing, it was new tech, errands, passion projects. Try to keep asking what you should be working on next, so you’re ready if he forgets about you for a bit.” - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.1
  32. For Kass, it was set at the end of term. Kennedy got everything Kassidy tried to strive for, including letters of recommendation from teachers, from Bristow, boys, and even things from their room that Kass had brought, including a stuffed animal and some magic items. When she complained, teachers and the family that came to pick them up told her to quiet down and be civilized.

    Culminating in Kennedy getting into her family’s car and everyone driving her off, leaving her on campus alone with Durocher. - Excerpt from Gone Ahead 7.3
  33. “Then a lassie, youngest o’four. Ah’ll hain ye th’ drawin’.”

    “That’d have to be Mccauleigh Hennigar, wouldn’t it?” Avery asked.

    Probably. There could be other students who are youngest of multiple siblings, who just don’t have those siblings at this school. About our age? In the same room as two other siblings?” Lucy asked.

    “Aye.”

    “Mccauleigh, then. We haven’t seen much of her, despite the similar ages. Sticks pretty close to her siblings.”
    [...]
    For Mccauleigh, it was being home, with a red light shining under an ominous door. People’s voices in various rooms, and Mccauleigh chased Alexander’s as Alexander talked about all sorts of practices. But each time Mccauleigh completed the circuit of maze-like rooms, that door with the red light shining out from the other side was open a bit wider, Mccauleigh a bit more nervous about slipping past, even crawling under furniture and passing through other rooms to avoid passing the door.

    Until there were no escape routes, and the door was wide open, the sounds and screams from within too loud for Mccauleigh to hear Alexander’s voice.

    Then every step, no matter the direction, took Mccauleigh a few feet closer to the door, then inside.

    “Alexander was her way out?” Verona asked.

    “Maybe,” Lucy replied, making eye contact with Verona. - Excerpt from Gone Ahead 7.3
  34. “You know Mccauleigh. A little older than you. About the same age as them,” Hadley said, pointing at Lucy. “Mccauleigh is cool.”

    Verona moved her focus to the very corner of her gaze, looking in Lucy’s direction, and saw Lucy doing the same.

    Not that they could do anything about Mccauleigh and what they knew there. Alpeana had seen Mccauleigh in dreams, having nightmares and doubts about the family, apparently. - Excerpt from Gone Ahead 7.8
  35. At the head of the line, she saw the three younger Hennigar children. The boys Kellen and Mccauleigh, and the girl Sawyer. Gore streaked in various arrangements. - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.7
  36. “Milly Legendre.”

    “Avery Kelly.” Avery shook her hand.

    “Lucy. I’d shake your hand but mine’s covered in conditioner.”

    “Cool last name,” Avery said.

    “Meh. If you asked around you’d probably hear something like how my family’s a bunch of magic janitors.”

    “Janitors? What do you do?”

    “I’m a knight of seals. If something too big to kill gets defeated around here, they’ll call my family and we’ll put up a barrier around it. Or on it, depending. Which is a once every few years type thing. The rest of the time, we travel around, checking the old barriers aren’t growing legs or wearing out, and corking up any warren holes.” - excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.6
  37. “I don’t want to take up the family practice,” Milly said. “It’s so dull, and when it’s not dull it’s traumatizing. I’m hoping to find something else I’m good at.”

    “Sounds hard,” Avery said.

    “If I’m not really good at it, then I’ll get either dragged back or kicked out, and I’m not sure which is worse. If I got kicked out, no high school education or anything, then I’d probably end up a goblin exterminator.”
    [...]
    “Sounds like you know a lot about it,” Avery said, diplomatically.

    “Have to. My dad’s had me doing it for the last three years. Ever since I was twelve.”

    “What if the goblins don’t deserve it?” Lucy asked. - excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.6
  38. “Lallie?” Verona asked.

    “She’s very human, with no antlers, fangs, claws, fur, or bloody screamy bits. She’s so cute, and small, and very chill. Which isn’t the best pun, considering who her master is.”

    “Get dressed,” [...]Lucy said, [...] “That was a cold pun? Vanderwerf? Winter Faerie person?”

    “Yeah!”

    “Scobie, then. Snowfall elementalist?”

    “Nah,” Snowdrop said, blatantly stealing from Lucy’s plate.

    “Were you getting along with the familiars? - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.4
  39. 39.0 39.1 Reid Musser
    Reid takes after his father, a school founder, but does not necessarily follow in his footsteps. He has been traveling the world since he was fifteen, studying in its various forms. Reid keeps a collection of nine Implements and two Familiars, Blackhorne and Drowne, a trick that owes to close-held family secrets. He attends Advanced classes and helms one special project in the workshops. - Bonus Material: Student Guide
  40. “You guys are really close,” the chopsticks girl said.

    “Pretty close,” Avery said. “Is that weird?”

    “No, not weird, that’s the wrong word,” the chopsticks girl said. She had just a bit too perfect of a way of pronouncing words and inflecting that Lucy couldn’t help but notice.

    “Some siblings aren’t as close and trusting as you three seem to be,” the girl with the nice top said.

    “She’s speaking about herself and her family,” Bowler Hat whispered loudly, hand cupped by her mouth. The girl with the nice top gave her a push, so she fell sideways onto the bench. - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.1
  41. “It’s my job to keep these two from puffing themselves up too much,” Kass said, indicating the other two on her bench with a swish of her thumb. “They talk fancy and dress nice but they lean too much on the family name. You aren’t defined by the family you come from.”

    "You’re a little bit defined by the family you come from,” Raquel said. “If you try, you can be the best bits of it.”

    “You’re going to have to try awfully hard, Raquel,” Kass said, sitting back against the bench. “You’re not a boy, and only boys get the best of what the Mussers have to offer.”[...]

    “Was it your dad that was a school founder?” Avery asked.

    Raquel looked over, still clearly very pissed, and pissed in a way that made her look hostile even as she turned to Avery. “Uncle. But he raised me, more or less, after my mother was removed from the family.”

    “That’s pretty heavy,” Lucy said.

    “You aren’t lying. And, I’ll say this, there’s way more to things than gender, like me beng a niece, and not his actual kid,” Raquel said. - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.1
  42. 42.0 42.1 “It’s a story you see a thousand times, in a certain class of practitioner, probably non-practitioners too,” Silas said. The fact his name was Silas caught on Avery’s attention, like it was very fitting for a few reasons. That it sounded almost like ‘silence’, and he maintained a volume that was quiet, precise, and controlled. That it started and stopped with ‘s’ sounds. Like a snake’s hiss, his words slithered through the conversation, while that creeping chill extended along connections. “The chosen heir gets all the privilege, all the attention, love, hope, and expectations. Meanwhile, there’s someone who gets the opposite. No privilege, no power, no inheritance, no hope or expectations. But they want it. The kid who has it doesn’t care, and the kid who doesn’t have it craves it. That’s Raquel.”

    “Not very flattering,” Verona said.

    Silas chuckled softly to himself. His voice had a cool edge to it. “It’s not good or bad. Whether it flatters or doesn’t flatter is up to her. If she can recognize what’s happening and use it, it’ll be very flattering.”

    “Exactly,” Jarvis said, sounding far less insidious. He was more the kid who sounded like a wannabe lawyer or businessman. Casually confident, just full enough of himself that he was a bit rigid. “Consider it a win-win. If she remains where she is, within the Musser family, she’s still a point of contact, eager for opportunity and other routes to climb by. And if she somehow rises above the expectations Mr. Musser has in her, you’re now the friend of someone powerful who is in a position to reward you for your support.” - excerpt from Cutting Class 6.9
  43. 43.0 43.1 43.2 43.3 43.4 “My family’s nothing major,” [Zach] said. “We had to really stretch to even get me in. But my best friend is attending.”

    He looked over at the other table. His friend was a really shaggy-haired kid with a bad complexion who had a bright smile that shone past the shag and skin. He had joined a group with three girls around their age, Fiona, Melody, and Raquel.

    Zach frowned at his friend, who was too preoccupied with his groupmates to notice.

    Which, like… Zach was at a table with three girls, but he seemed more miffed at his buddy abandoning him than he was at having his own share of female company.

    Verona rolled her eyes, flipped through the book, and asked, absently, “You’re a totemist?”

    “Fancy way of saying shaman, which can be fancy. Sal’s family does it fancy. Not for my family. But I’ve got good fundamentals.” - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.9
  44. Salvador was the spider breathing shaman, which apparently meant he stored an awful lot of free, minor spider spirits within a hallow in his throat and upper chest.  Not to host them, but as ammunition, the kind of thirteen year old who’d lurched into puberty with wiry hair on his arms and face, pimples, and gangly limbs. - Excerpt from Vanishing Points 8.5
  45. 45.0 45.1 45.2 45.3 “I’ve got-” Zachariah started, but his voice wasn’t strong. He held what looked like a keychain, with things that weren’t keys on it. Each of the things was a figurine, about three inches long, carved stone. He rested his wrist on the back of the bench, figurines dangling.

    “I see… bookish old man-”

    “Tutelary Statue.”

    “And lion dog?”

    “Komainu.”

    “And gargoyle?”

    “Grotesque. It’s a gargoyle only if it has a spout.”

    “And naked lady totem.”

    He wrapped his fist around the charms, hiding them, and brought them to rest on his chest, as he lay on the bench.

    “It’s not me,” he said. “I did it for a joke, and to stay sane while carving my… I dunno, I’ve done easily a hundred carvings over the years. Then my dad said I should ride the wave of success, whatever form it took.”

    “If it’s funny, why not go with it?” Verona asked.

    “The joke got old for me a while ago,” he said, arm draped over his eyes. “It’s not me. I’m not that guy. Salvador is that guy.”

    Lucy turned to look over at Salvador, who was kissing the doll his group had put together. - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.9
  46. Salvador’s group had brought his doll to life. It stood up in the circle, cracked, and hairy, foot-long spider legs had sprouted from the cracks. The doll’s body dangled, suspended by the legs around it, its head bowed and its arms reaching out blindly. - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.9
  47. 47.0 47.1 47.2 47.3 “In the student guide, you were down as ‘hot girl totems’, right, Zach?” Verona asked.

    “I didn’t realize that would get put out there for everyone to see. They do that a lot. Salvador says it’s so we know who to talk to when we’re networking. I did it for fun. I figured if I had to spend hours carving something, it’d be a babe, right? Way better than an old dude or monk reading a book. [...] I made one, mostly for fun, and it sold. Other people expressed interest. So that was what I did for most of last year. I’m not sure if they have as much oomph as a tutelary spirit or komainu, but Salvador said I should put it down when filling out the form.”

    “Ah,” Lucy said.

    “Salvador thinks I should go all-in on it. [...] I’m taking a break from making statues. I made some to sell to help cover tuition, so… think I’m going to wait six months before making more.”

    “What do they do?” Verona asked. “And you’re dodging the question.”

    “You’re asking about buying them before you know what they do,” Lucy said.

    “Bachelor practitioners buy ’em, and it’s not because I’m that great an artist,” Zach said. “They might make it easier to find a date that’s willing to come to your place, I guess?”

    He looked increasingly awkward as he got into it.

    “Might make it hard to get a long-term girlfriend,” Lucy observed. “Giant… are they wood? Naked?”

    “I give them clothes. Technically. And I do both stone and wood.”

    “Would you do a guy?” Verona asked. “Skimpy loincloth?”

    “I don’t – no. I don’t know,” he said. “Can we drop it?”

    “Dropped,” Lucy said.

    “If you can’t talk about it, you probably shouldn’t go all-in like Salvador wants,” Avery commented. “All I’m going to say.”

    “Yeahhhh,” Zachariah replied. - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.9
  48. 48.0 48.1 “This,” Alexander said, reaching down, plucking the joint from Seth’s fingers, “is making you stupid. No more, when you come to my study. I’ll have to reconsider what errands I send you on. Tanner? You’ll take over until I’ve worked out where Seth may go.” Tanner nodded once.

    “It’s best you retire to your room, Seth.”

    Even dressed nicely, Seth looked like the distillation of a sullen eighteen year old as he worked his way to his feet, the chair not moving for him and the desk right in front of him. He uttered a single, “Sir,” and then left the room. -Excerpt from Stolen Away 2.z Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":8" defined multiple times with different content
  49. “We’ll take the library as a study space? Beginner class, Ray will teach here. Seniors, if you have any questions or requests, Mrs. Durocher will make herself available for the morning, and Seth will be making himself available to get anything you need.”

    Seth was apparently one of Belanger’s apprentices, a surly looking teen with wild hair. - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.6
  50. “He’s using you,” Seth hissed into her ear. [...] “I know. Now please let go of me. Your uncle Alexander is already upset with you for disrespecting him, attacking one of his apprentices. I don’t think it’s a good idea to repeat the process.” - Excerpt from Stolen Away 2.z
  51. He was related to Alexander. Alexander had the institute in part because he’d bartered with family, getting the power as a kind of loan to get it started, then bartering again to get the good words, references, and contacts to bring people in. If Alexander’s distant nephew got in any real trouble here, it disrupted that whole engine. - Excerpt from Stolen Away 2.z
  52. 52.0 52.1 “Where are the seniors going?” Avery asked. Some of Alexander’s group, Lucy noted.“They come here to collaborate on private projects and take the occasional advanced project, and ask visiting teachers for input. That’s three groups of five or six students, I think, then Seth, a few others.”

    Zed included, it seemed.

    Lucy wondered what those projects included. - excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.6
  53. 53.0 53.1 Seth Belanger
    Seth, once one of the biggest troublemakers at the BHI and the nearby towns, is now a graduate. He serves the Belanger circle and assists with special projects on request while deciding on a course in life. - Bonus Material: Student Guide
  54. To Avery’s Sight, the connections from their huddle here were strained so tight that they almost vibrated. Between student and school. Friend and enemy. Between them and the two groups who wanted them on their side.
    [...]
    Connections. Avery could see that Silas Vanderwerf’s connections had a tint to them, and as she focused on it, she could see that the very rigid, intense connections had more of that tint. A fine creeping of black frost on the dark bands that extended from Silas and along the band, toward everyone he was interacting with. Her looking at the frost seemed to thaw it- but it also drew Silas’s attention. As if they’d always been there, but were turned sideways so she couldn’t see them, new bands extended from Silas’s eye level to the point she was looking at, then back to her. The frost was quick along that line. His eyes locked to hers, pupils narrow.

    Under the guise of adjusting her top, aware she was still sweaty and sorta gross from the weekend spent in the workshop room, Avery reached for one connection, seeing if she could loosen one of those new connections. The edge of it cut the side of her finger, like sliding her finger along the length of a piece of paper. The chill at the band, even though it hadn’t crept all the way to her, made her finger go a little numb.

    She turned off her Sight and the pain changed from being something physical to something like a glimmer of bad feeling when she thought back to an embarrassing moment, threading through her arm like a flinch, then into her stmoach. She wanted to retreat before that more intense frost got to her, but she didn’t want to look weak.
    [...]
    “So he studies Winter Faerie, right?” Verona asked.

    They walked down the road to the town. Away from campus, toward the students who had escaped campus for a bit.

    “Rigid, inflexible, imperious,” Lucy said.

    “So this connection thing you’re describing,” Verona said, looking at Avery. “He wasn’t doing anything that pushed it?”

    “Nope,” Avery said.
    [...]
    “There’s some practices that you do, and they’re rituals that change how things work,” Verona said.

    “Like the Paths.”

    “Like that, sure, but more… I dunno. More like you get benefits just for doing the ritual, and you don’t have to go anywhere. Maybe you deal with some people. Some of it was in the collector stuff we looked up.”
    [...]
    “Yes,” Verona said. “So my guess? Silas has this. And Faerie love the social manipulation and subtle crap. So how does that work with something like a Winter Faerie?”

    “A creeping frost over connections?” Avery asked.

    “What does frost do, though?” Verona asked.

    “Chills? Makes things more rigid?” Avery suggested.

    “Or it’s a prelude to freezing them,” Verona said. “Imagine. A big ritual, and it locks things down? Imagine that this kid is spending time around people, establishing a relationship as… I dunno. A friend, an enemy, a boyfriend, a student, and then freezing those relationships.”

    “What’s the advantage in doing that to us?” Lucy asked.

    “I think there’s a huge advantage in knowing exactly where you stand with people,” Verona retorted. - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.9
  55. “This is the first year I get to teach a class with my son attending. Sol!? Where are you? Looking through the benches, Sol? Sol! Solarisse Blaze Ferguson, I hope you’re in this class!” - excerpt from Vanishing Points 8.4
  56. 56.0 56.1 56.2 She remembered reading the student guide and feeling sorry for Sol. The only twelve year old. A bit too young to fit in among the teenagers, pushed into a younger age group by the fact his roommate was ten. But he was Lucy’s height, lanky, with superfine blond hair that looked a bit like it was always suffering from bedhead or light static. He’d put some gel or something in it but he did that thing that guys did when they were first doing their hair and concentrated on the parts at the front that they saw when looking in the mirror, ignoring the back. He was wearing a shirt with a stylized graffiti orange-on-black pattern on it, and had tattoos at his hands- a half circle on each hand, each filled with diagram stuff. - excerpt from Vanishing Points 8.4
  57. Lucy made a ‘hmmm’ sound, before venturing, “I don’t think I’d want to get on the wrong side of the kind of woman who tattoos a twelve year old so he can blow stuff up by putting his hands together.”
    Sol sighed. “Yeahhhh. I was ten, by the way.” - excerpt from Vanishing Points 8.4
  58. Vanishing Points 8.4
  59. “Is this a Talia type of situation?” Verona asked. “Scary mom?”
    “Very scary, but not at all like Talia’s.”
    “Huh.” - excerpt from Vanishing Points 8.4
  60. 60.0 60.1 Tanner had come into the circle through talent. He’d found an auspice, an almost literal sign of things to come, writing on a wall that told of coming hardships, and through that entry point, had lost his innocence and found his way to contact with Others, then to the practitioner community. Alexander had taken him under his wing to avoid letting other Augurs have him. He picked things up fast and was good at politics. Alexander sent him on a lot of ‘errands’, networking and doing business with other families. Tanner had meant something very similar to what Seth had said, but he had the common sense that let him get away with it. - Excerpt from Stolen Away 2.z
  61. Tanner Gilpin
    Tanner became Aware after discovering words written on a wall, telling of things to come. He was taken in as apprentice and few if any would disagree that his talents reward the decision. Another graduate, oft sent away on tasks for the Belanger circle. - Bonus Material: Student Guide
  62. He also tried to start one centered around the young Aware, like his apartment complex, using the power to make it a bigger draw for other, similar Aware.”

    “Tanner, one of Alexander’s other apprentices, was supposed to be a student there,” Nicolette said.  “Tanner was aware, after he entered a neighbor’s house after a fire.  He saw words scrawled on the wall, telling the neighbor he was going to die in the hospital. [...] He went back after he heard about him passing, and the words had changed, [...] He took an axe to the wall and took it home.  After he’d moved up in life, using the words, got into a good school, got a nice paying internship at sixteen, at a big headhunting and talent sales company, the words started getting vicious.  Telling him scary things that would come to pass a day later.  The landlord and head of the small private school found him.”

    “And I took it upon myself to talk to Tanner about opening up his ability to see the future,” Alexander said.  “Awakening him.  Unfortunately, with a centerpiece of the diagram occupied elsewhere, the house of cards that was the second school became unbalanced and collapsed.” - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.8
  63. 63.0 63.1 But Tanner was pacing, and next to Alexander, Tanner was the best at seeing things coming.
    [...]
    “Tanner?” Alexander asked.  “I know you and Lawrence have a history.  He sent you a Christmas card.  You talk from time to time, and you talk to Reid Musser, who talks to his father, who talks to Bristow.”

    “Yeah.  He’s offered me a position with a powerful family, residence at a conflux of power.  If he becomes headmaster, I’ll have continued attendance here.  If not, then there are a few opportunities elsewhere.”

    “And a girl,” Alexander said.

    “He introduced me to two young women.  I’m fond of one.”

    “Both very fine ladies, from what I could see.  Clever, talented in their respective practices, and pretty.  I would discourage you, about the work, the residence, and the marriage prospects, but I can see why you’re tempted.”

    “Discourage?” Tanner asked.

    “Elaboration is a kindness reserved for the loyal, Tanner.  But let’s put that aside.  Two of my five apprentices will walk away.  Any others?  Seth, you seem agitated.” - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.z
  64. Tanner was legitimately attractive.  Whatever dress code Alexander had encouraged among his apprentices, it worked for the guy, he’d gotten a nice haircut and it worked for him with everything swept back except for locks of hair that were very good at locking, all twirly-downy, he had narrow eyes and a sharp chin, and cut a sharp figure.
    [...]
    I guess Tanner’s the one you’d have to worry about, if any of us, and I wouldn’t worry that much about Tanner.  He focuses on other sorts of things.  Events more than places. - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.3
  65. Tanner was legitimately attractive.  Whatever dress code Alexander had encouraged among his apprentices, it worked for the guy, he’d gotten a nice haircut and it worked for him with everything swept back except for locks of hair that were very good at locking, all twirly-downy, he had narrow eyes and a sharp chin, and cut a sharp figure.
    [...]
    I guess Tanner’s the one you’d have to worry about, if any of us, and I wouldn’t worry that much about Tanner.  He focuses on other sorts of things.  Events more than places. - Excerpt from Vanishing Points 8.5
  66. Vanishing Points 8.1
  67. Vanishing Points 8.4
  68. 68.0 68.1 68.2 The guy wasn’t bad looking. Fourteen or so. He was rumpled from sleep, with a crease at the side of his face, had a sleepy look that, if she remembered last night right, was perpetual, and tended to the skinny side. Nice face, and hair that probably looked nice while it was tidy but was a black halo of bedhead right now. He wore a long sleeved shirt and plaid pyjama pants, with flip-flops.

    Something about the fact that he was the first boy she’d seen who wasn’t like, ready for school, Booker aside, and that she wasn’t fully awake with her defenses up, and everything? Her brain did a mental that’s a boy he’s a boy somersault.

    She extended a hand, on impulse, and then kicked herself for doing it.

    But he stepped forward, across the hall, and shook it, smiling, like it was normal. “Tymon. Sharing a room with my little bro.” - excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.6
  69. “Someone’s paying attention. Yeah. With another one of the newbies, and their familiars. Talos and I have ours.”

    He put a hand over to the side, and what looked like six rodents all scampered up his arm, one or two ducking under the cuff of his long sleeve, seeming to disappear into his arm with the lump under the sleeve going away, before crawling out again at the collar and shoulder. They merged together into a single, black mouse with patchy fur and pale yellow eyes, with one tattered ear.

    “This is Dreg.”

    Right. They were the callers of these great spirits of drugs or whatever.

    Maybe not boyfriend material. They’d been told to be careful and steer clear.

    “Is he the spirit you call?” Lucy asked.

    Tymon laughed, suddenly enough it startled her.

    “No,” Dreg rasped, speaking with an adult’s voice. “A good familiar is a partner, something you can control, or something you’re willing to be controlled by. Things as large and wild as Black Gutter do nothing except drown you out.”

    “Dreg is a vestige. Was Aware enough to dip into some Jekyll and Hyde type alchemy, eroded away a good chunk of his Self. Only a fragment of the person was left, other stuff took up residence.” - excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.6
  70. 70.0 70.1 Verona could use that to identify Talia, who had brown hair with blonde highlights framing her face, standing beside a doll that was the same height and proportions as her. She had her hands on the shoulders of an even younger girl, who hugged a stuffed elephant. - excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.5
  71. “My mom made Effy on the day I was born,” Talia said. She didn’t look so bothered to be in front of the class. Avery only liked to be in front of people when playing sports. “She said if I wasn’t satisfactory as a daughter, Effy would drag out my guts, put them inside herself, take my blood and skin to seal up the doll joints, and replace me.”

    Avery looked around the room, to try to judge why people weren’t freaking out, but the most she saw was serious concern here and there.

    “Hmm,” Ray made a sound.

    “The way a canopic doll works, especially if it’s raised alongside someone, given a birthday every time I had a birthday, with parts replaced to match my height and shape and stuff as I grew up, ummm, when it harvests, it can become human, after. She could become me.  I awoke on my own, secretly, then I talked to Effy, and neither of us were sure if my mom would keep me or Effy. So we agreed she’d be my familiar. That way my mom would have to keep us both or destroy us both.”

    “Very clever,” Mr. Sunshine said.

    Talia smiled. “My mom thought so. Things have been so nice ever since. I think she was proud I thought of it.” - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.7
  72. “The power finds its balance. Talia would naturally give Effy some of her power over time, until they were even. Then they would recover together. Eating well, sleeping well, and taking care of needs as human or Other help that recovery. Can Effy become an animal?”

    Talia shook her head.

    “The partnership of master and familiar is often a reprieve for the Other. Temporary freedom from needs, demands, work, or anything else. If Effy required a regular supply of blood and oil, as some dolls do-”

    “I don’t.”

    “But if you did, Effy, then you wouldn’t require it while you’re a familiar. You get your sustenance from your master or partner. If you had a lifespan, it would be put on pause. Of course, needier others have a heavier drain on their master.” - excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.7
  73. A man with longer, wavy hair he’d partially straightened, with red sunglasses, was sitting on the stairs, talking to a younger girl with a stuffed elephant that was moving its head around. - excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.4
  74. Wye Belanger
    First apprentice to Alexander, Wye has graduated but returns for classes, to teach beginner Augurs, and to touch base with Alexander as Wye handles the hands-on portion of the Belanger private investigating. - Bonus Material: Student Guide
  75. “You seem to know what you’re doing,” Avery said.

    “I’ve been doing this since I was a kid. I got awoken at four.”

    Four.

    Zachariah nodded.

    “So jealous,” Verona muttered.

    Zachariah was a weird guy. His head was buzzed to the point he was nearly bald, and he had a very square head. Verona struggled to find anything to really mark as notable about him. appearance-wise, beyond that. He was padded around the edges, heavy-cheeked, and a bit older than the three of them, but matched to them in height. He wore cargo shorts and a tee-shirt with a graphic of some woman from an animated show she hadn’t heard of. But as nondescript as he was, his attention was mostly focused, and he seemed assured about all of this stuff.

    Being a practitioner since he was four made it make more sense. - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.9
  76. “So what does a totemist do?” Verona asked.

    “Mostly we stick to Eastern traditions,” Zach said. “But people get the wrong ideas when we talk about statues. You think of statues walking around, when really, we’re making big, visible signposts for the spirts to follow. Put the right statue in front of a house, and raise the prosperity of the house.” - Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.9
Advertisement