Patreon Only Side Chapter 1: First Meeting

Mila

The author closed the book on the pedestal in the campus church. “And that’s the end of the excerpt from my next novel. I guess it’s time for questions.”

Mila leaned back in her seat. Ever since she’d come to the US, she’d gotten into fantasy stories as a form of escapism. There could be action, adventure, and romance, but with the introduction of magic it was all removed enough from her real life to make it enjoyable.

Bradley Hunter was one of her favorites, his main series an urban fantasy starring a secret agent wizard.

He got the details right—the right sound of a knife entering through flesh, the right type of blood flow from different types of wounds, etc—and it made the story more believable, allowing her to feel immersed.

So, when she heard he would be doing a reading on campus, she dragged her mostly uninterested roommates along.

“Yes, you with the checkered shirt, what’s your question?” Mr. Hunter, a middle aged yet fit man with long unkept hair, pointed at the young woman in front of the microphone on the left side of the church, in front of the pews.

There were two microphones for question asking, one on the left and one on the right, but the young woman wearing the checkered shirt seemed distracted, looking back at a young man in the right side row but toward the back, even though she’d deliberately run up to the microphone before anyone else.

“Oh, sorry, sir,” the young woman stammered out, obviously nervous. “I just noticed the Curve-breaker in the other line and was realizing you might not have time to get to his question. Could I give my spot to him?”

Mr. Hunter smiled at him. “It sounds like you want a question to stump me. Sure, go ahead.”

The checkered shirt girl yelled over to the other side of the church. “Hey, Aalam, why don’t you ask your question first?”

The boy she was looking at was likely around eighteen or nineteen and had odd racial characteristics. Maybe a mix of middle eastern and latino descent? Mila had never seen anyone with that heritage.

And the boy looked startled, as well as incredibly nervous.

He looked over to the pews near the back, where a young woman with his same racial characteristics was sitting. She was obviously a bit older, but how much was a bit hard to determine exactly—probably 22 or 23—but Mila was mostly judging from the Harvard Law School pin on her bag.

She nodded at him encouragingly and, seeming reluctant, he moved forward.

Mila turned to her roommates. “Do you know what’s going on?”

Claudia, who was a business major, shook her head, but Nitya, who was in computer science, nodded. “His name is Aalam Alvaro and everyone in the sciences refer to him as the Curve-breaker. He’s nineteen, but already pursuing PhDs. Plural. When he was an undergraduate, he took most of the school’s science courses and, as the sciences like to grade on a curve while he’s a super genius, he’s responsible for a whole lot of students getting their worst grades ever.

“Last year I had an advanced programming class with him and I got the only C of my life. My dad was so pissed.” Nitya almost shuddered. “Probably the most impressive thing about him though is the patents. He already has three with the US Government and four more filed.”

“So, what’s your question, Aalam?” Mr. Hunter smiled warmly at the boy, who was obviously extremely nervous.

“Um, shields,” the boy said quickly, his words a bit hard to catch. “Given the size of the main character and the fact the shielding spell blocks heat, just molecules in the air moving faster, that means it has to block air pressure as well, the normal movement of molecules in the air. If that’s the case, the amount of force required is about equivalent to holding up two full grown elephants off the ground. Compared to the previous style of shield spell it seems horribly inefficient for blocking bullets.

“Is that why he seems to get drained more or does the heat blocking effect only block molecules moving at a certain speed? Or is there maybe a slight amount of matter summoned from somewhere to help create the spell?”

Mr. Hunter took a second, face contemplative, and Mila could tell he hadn’t considered how much of an increased energy cost would come from his story based decision. Then he made a really smart move for public speaking. He started to restate the question for everyone else, with the easy excuse that the boy hadn’t been speaking clearly.

“The question is whether Harold’s new shield spell, which would take considerably more energy than the previous version if it blocks heat as described in the books, is truly so inefficient or if it has some sort of sensing effect and only blocks air flow if the air is too hot. Or maybe summons some matter from the Beyond to create a more physical wall.”

Mr. Hunter nodded at the boy. “I can honestly say, being an English major myself, I hadn’t been aware of the implications.” Then he smiled. “But I’m rather charmed by the idea Harold’s similar lack of knowledge on the subject caused him to create a spell that wastes far more energy than it needs to. I think that might be a fun plot point. Though I might retcon how the shield spell works later instead.

“Thank you.”

The boy nodded as well, a slight smile on his face showing pride now mixed with his nervousness. Then he quickly moved back and sat next to his sister.

A little bit later the question and answer section was done and Mr. Hunter sat down at a table to sign books, a line quickly forming. Neither Claudia nor Nitya was a fan, so Mila let them leave first. Then she timed things just right so she was behind the boy and his sister in line.

“I’ll read the books, Aalam,” the older sister was saying, sounding exasperated, her younger brother likely having been trying to convince her for a while. “I didn’t hate that excerpt, and if he’s open minded enough to actually answer you honestly, there might be something there.”

“What type of novels do you like?” Mila interjected herself into the conversation and both siblings turned to look at her.

The older sister gave her the same type of once over most women did, but without the signs of anger or annoyance often present in women insecure about themselves. The boy, on the other hand, first looked at her chest, then her legs, then her waist, and only then at her face, then back to her chest. The dress she was wearing was low cut enough to show a decent amount of cleavage, so this was normal, but men usually weren’t quite so open in their staring.

“Mostly legal thrillers, I guess.” The woman wasn’t looking at her brother, so Mila couldn’t get a reaction of what she thought about his staring, but she had a guess lack of proper social decorum was normal for the boy. “I haven’t gotten to read much in the last couple years.”

“Makes sense.” Mila pointed at the pin on the woman’s bag. “Law school?”

The woman nodded.

“Well, Mr. Hunter’s books are mostly spy thrillers. And, if you took away the magic, they’d be quite above average in the genre. If you don’t mind the addition of magic and you want a bit more escapism in your stories, which the magic helps provide, they are pretty much perfect.

“If you don’t like spy thrillers or you aren’t looking for escapist fun in the novels you read, that’s when the books aren’t for you.”

The woman turned to look at her brother, who was still openly staring. “You see, Aalam. That was a good pitch.”

Then she noticed where her brother was looking and shook his shoulder. “Aalam, what were you just thinking about?”

Her brother turned to her, a frown on his face. “The biofeedback system isn’t going to work properly for everyone.” He pointed at Mila. “I didn’t take into account the possibility of such uneven fat distribution.” Then he looked at the ground and started mumbling to himself. “An alternative set of equations. But what about other variants. Is a full scan really required each time.”

The sister turned to look at Mila apologetically. “Sorry about him. He gets kind of lost in his own thoughts and doesn’t always realize he’s being rude.”

“Oh, no problem.” Mila had a bit of trouble maintaining her casual tone. He’d been checking her out. He was following the same pattern men always followed. He was definitely checking her out and not thinking about fat distribution. Or, maybe, they were kind of one and the same and he was doing both.

Mila was feeling a little more comfortable when the two in front of her got to the front of the line and the boy turned back to her. “You should really think about putting on some weight. You have quite a bit of musculature, but an unhealthy lack of fat not on your chest. I know it’s all the rage and all, but the human body is designed to have a decent reserve of fat as well.”

Then he went and got his book signed and Mila, thankfully, didn’t have to respond. She did, however, think about gaining a kilogram or two.