Tessa Ch. 4

The next week was a blur of activity, and Tessa hated how much it felt like studying. After over a year of finding the perfect school/life balance, of knowing exactly how much work to turn in to get a passing grade, Brandon’s bullshit obsession with her was sapping away far too much of her free time. On top of that, she still had no idea why the magic leylines on campus were changing, and what her discovery under Lysander Hall meant.

Thankfully, her strategy seemed to be working. As the days crept on, and she piled more and more “research” into his shitty hideaway under the Science Building, he’d been mostly leaving her alone. As part of their agreement, she made sure to check on him every few days, and each time she was disappointed to see that he hadn’t bled himself dry yet. However, given how much of his own blood he’d spilled to draw runes all over the floor and ceiling, she hoped it wouldn’t take much longer before he dropped dead or decided to quit altogether.

It was also getting harder to think of good excuses for the polycule. Fortunately, she hadn’t missed any important dates with them, but her sudden passion for reading and studying had been the butt of endless jokes from Raine and Sydney.

The only thing she had to look forward to was Raine’s mysterious plan for the sixteenth. Whatever it was, they’d been planning it extensively for a while now. Sydney was going to spend the night at Riley’s, and the entire apartment was going to be available for Raine and Tessa. Above all else, Tessa hoped Raine was planning some kind of new kink scene. After days and days of dealing with Brandon, she was eager for a long night of stress relief.

Today, Tessa had skipped all her classes to again focus on breaking down the illusory wall under Lysander Hall. She’d been making steady progress over the last few days, even if dealing with Brandon had kept her horribly distracted. After hours and hours of almost literally bashing her head against the wall, she finally broke through shortly after noon.

She was ecstatic, but her good mood was soured when she finally saw what secrets had been hidden behind the wall. The wall extended out for another twenty feet or so, with flat concrete floors and plain white brickwork, but the most interesting part lay at the end of this passage. On the floor, taking up a massive amount of space, was the most intricate magic circle Tessa had ever seen. It was filled to the brim with archaic runes that she didn’t recognize, and the size dwarfed all the circles she’d seen back during her time with the coven.

Frustratingly, she didn’t have much time to start examining the circle. She wanted desperately to start taking notes, to trace the runes into a journal and start picking apart their meaning, but she was also painfully aware of how exposed the circle was at the moment. Tearing herself away from the circle, she turned her attention back to the illusory wall, or at least, the space where it had been previously.

Such illusions were normally rooted in magic runes encircling the magic, and she found those runes almost immediately. Thankfully, because of how careful she’d been picking apart the illusion, it was still possible to restore the wall to its original state. This process was much quicker due to all the time she’d spent breaking in originally.

Only once the wall had been fully restored was she able to properly dig into the magic circle. Kneeling at the edge, she sent a small pulse of magic into the circle to test its reaction, and surprisingly little happened.

Hm. That means it’s probably not a trap.

She scribbled something in her journal. Before continuing, she suddenly realized just how cold it was in this room. She didn’t have a sweater with her, but added a note in the margins of her journal to remind herself that one would be needed in the future.

Walking around the circle, she examined all the walls for any signs of additional magic, but couldn’t find anything. Whatever the phenomenon was, it seemed to be completely isolated to this circle.

Another scribble.

Taking a deep breath, Tessa stepped onto the circle to test her theory, and was relieved to find she’d made a correct assumption. The circle was not a portal, or if it was, it wasn’t active. She looked around the room again, now from the center of the circle, and confirmed that her perceptions hadn’t changed at all.

More notes.

The next hour was spent in this room, carefully picking apart what she could about the circle. She found a few familiar runes, as well as many that appeared to be predecessors to the modern-day runic language, but much of what she saw remained a mystery. With little else to go on, and her check-in time with Brandon drawing closer, she instead settled for copying over as many runes as she could so they would be on hand for future research.

Once she’d finished, she left the room and started off towards the Science Building. After crawling through the maze-life network of old pipes, she heard Brandon quickly shuffling books back into a pile on his desk in preparation for her arrival. A quick pulse of her own magic revealed that nothing significant had changed, the circle was still just as inert as ever.

“I was starting to think you weren’t going to show up. Don’t forget about—”

“Yeah yeah, you have a video and you’re blackmailing me with it,” Tessa said, interrupting Brandon’s threat. “Christ, I know you’re an idiot, but you don’t need to convince me this hard. Besides, some of us have actual social lives with people who enjoy our company. Just let me look everything over and I’ll get out of your hair.”

Brandon clearly thought he knew more than he did. Among all the various runes Tessa had instructed him to use, there were a few she didn’t recognize. However, since she knew he wasn’t smart enough to actually discover legitimate runes from all the books she’d given him, she didn’t bother to actually examine what impact these new runes would have. As she lazily walked around the cramped utility room, her eyes glued to all the blood covering the floor, her mind was mostly preoccupied with idle fantasies about what Raine was planning for tomorrow.

“Looks like everything is on the right track,” Tessa muttered.

“When do you think it’ll finally work?” Brandon asked.

“Planar mechanics are never quite that simple. You’re trying to bypass the world’s natural limitations, and since we’re working with blood instead of the proper reagents, there’s always a chance that—”

“I heard you the first time, Tessa,” Brandon snapped. “You’d better not be jerking me around. We both know what’s at stake.”

“Hey, even without runes, I know you can feel the magic at play here. All I’m saying is that we need time to hone in on the specifics, and that takes time. There’s a good chance you’ll be at this for months before we find the winning combination.” Tessa checked her phone, hoping to see a text from the polycule, but immediately remembered that this basement blocked all cell reception.

“Ugh, fine. If everything is on track, then just get out of here. I’ve got work to do,” Brandon scowled.

Happy for an excuse to leave, Tessa eagerly left the room and started back home.

—

Before long, the night of the sixteenth had finally arrived. Tessa had been a bundle of nerves all day, her mind racing with possibilities at what Raine had planned for her. The uncertainty of it all was honestly a turn-on in and of itself. After returning home from classes, Raine had instructed Tessa to get ready in her bedroom without peeking outside, as they needed to finish their preparations. Giddy with anticipation, Tessa double and triple-checked her makeup before she finally heard Raine shout out from the living room.

“I’m all set!” they called out.

Tessa opened the door and very nearly skipped out in excitement. Much to her surprise, however, the living room didn’t appear to be set up for any kind of kink scene. Instead, it looked like something out of a cheesy teen romance movie.

Their table had been covered with a long black tablecloth, and several tall candles sat in the middle, their flames casting the darkened room with a flickering warmth as they released a pleasant scent. Two plates had been set down, each holding a fresh, hot dinner that must have been made by Raine, as Sydney had been gone for hours. Lastly, Raine themselves stood next to the table, awkwardly fiddling with a cheap bow tie that hung from a button-down shirt.

“Raine, this is… you did all this?” Tessa asked, stepping closer.

With an adorably dorky smile, Raine met Tessa halfway and swept her up in their arms, passionately kissing her. “Sydney’s been helping me figure out some cooking stuff, and I’m pretty sure you like this meal, so I… ugh, I’m so nervous. It’s our anniversary, Tessa and I wanted to do something special for you!”

Tessa chuckled, a mix of genuine excitement and nervous energy present in her laugh. “I didn’t know you had this in you! I thought you were just planning some kind of scene, or something.”

Raine moved over the table and pulled a chair out. “Come on, sit! Dinner isn’t going to stay warm forever!”

Blushing slightly, Tessa nodded and joined Raine at the table. Together, the two of them happily dug into their meal, and Tessa was shocked at how good the food was. As obvious as it was that Raine had used one of Sydney’s recipes, she couldn’t deny how sweet it was that they’d bothered to learn in the first place.

They both talked about their day, complaining about classes and student drama as they fell into a comfortable and familiar routine. Tessa was happy to hear all about Raine’s classes, and especially thrilled that tonight had given her something to think about other than all her magic troubles.

Once the meals on their plates were gone, and Tessa had finished scooping up the sauce with her fingers, Raine got up and walked over to the couch. They leaned over the edge, grabbed something they’d hidden on the floor, then quickly ran back to the table. After briefly attempting to hide something behind their back, they pulled out a small box covered in elegant black wrapping paper and a frilly bow.

“Happy Anniversary, Tess!” Raine said.

With another laugh, Tessa grabbed the present. “Raine, I… you really shouldn’t have. You know I don’t put a lot of stock into things like this.”

“Oh, come on, everyone likes attention. Stop being a grouch and open it!” Raine slid their chair closer, practically bouncing up and down with excitement as Tess pulled open the bow. They unceremoniously ripped the wrapping paper off to find a simple brown box. As they opened it, they saw a collection of black tissue paper which served as a simple bed for a single, elegant switchblade.

Its handle was completely metallic and decorated with an oil slick effect, making the entire thing look like a dull, iridescent rainbow. As Tessa lifted it out of the box, she effortlessly extended the blade and saw the same design had been applied to the blade as well. She flipped it around a few times, appreciating the craft that had gone into it, and blushed with excitement as she saw Raine beaming with excitement. “Raine, this is incredible! It’s so well made!” Tessa said, closing the knife again and setting it down. She threw her arms around Raine’s shoulders and pulled them in for a kiss.

“I just figured your old knife is so beat up, maybe you’d like a new one!” Raine said.

After the two of them managed to pull their lips apart, Raine took the switchblade and happily told Tessa all about the process of getting it. They explained the research they did, the qualifications of the company that made it, and other minutiae about the purchasing process. Tessa loved hearing them gush about their interests, and she was honestly taken aback by how much thought Raine had put into this anniversary surprise.

Several minutes of excited ranting later, Raine finally took a deep breath and muttered, “So, uh, yeah. It was a lot of fun, and I’m glad you like it!”

“I love it, Raine,” Tessa said softly. “Tonight was incredible, you really outdid yourself.”

They briefly kissed again, then Raine gave Tessa an expectant look. “Is there, I dunno, anything else we should do before turning in for the night?”

Tessa smirked in excitement. “Oh, is someone feeling frisky?”

Raine cocked their head briefly. “Well, no, I was wondering if…” They paused, and something seemed to click in their head as they looked at Tessa. “Wait. Tess, did you not know today was our anniversary?”

“No?” Tessa said, confused. “You know I don’t keep track of stuff like that.”

“But… I thought you…” Raine’s breathing quickened. “You’ve been acting all secretive for weeks! I thought you were putting something together for tonight.”

“What do you mean, ‘secretive?’ I’ve just been busy with classes, you know I’m always skipping—”

“Bullshit!” Raine shouted, catching Tessa off guard. “We’ve been together a whole year, Tessa, and I know how much effort you put into avoiding your schoolwork! If you were honestly trying to catch up on your classes, you wouldn’t snap your book closed every time I walk into the room. You wouldn’t hide things behind your back and sneak away in the middle of the evening without telling me anything!”

On the table, Tessa’s phone started buzzing, but she ignored it. “Raine, please, take a breath and let’s talk about this.”

“I’d love to, Tessa, but you won’t let me!” Raine said, turning away before starting to pace back and forth. “Every time I try to ask about you, about your past, you shut me out! If we were any other couple, I’d suspect that you were cheating on me, but I know that’s not the case. We both fuck whoever we want, all the time, and you’d be bragging to high Heaven and back if you were just getting great pussy or whatever. What’s going on, Tessa?!”

“Raine, please, I… I can’t….” Tessa’s phone went off again, and again she ignored it.

Raine took a deep breath, and without turning around, they whispered, “I know you can do magic, Tessa. Is that what this is about?”

Tessa gasped. “What?! I don’t… that’s not…” Her shoulders slumped, and her voice quieted. “How?”

“Your nightmares, Tess. They’ve been getting worse, and when you’ve having them, the tattoos on the side of your head glow. A bunch of shit in our room starts floating around, and it always stops once you wake up.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Tessa asked.

“You obviously wanted to keep it a secret!” Raine said. “I didn’t want to force you into admitting something so crazy, so I’ve been trying to drop subtle hints, but you seemed determined to stay silent!”

“You don’t know what’s at stake, Raine!” Tessa shouted. “You don’t know how dangerous it is!”

“Because you won’t tell me!!” Raine shouted back. “I want to be a part of your life, Tessa. I want to help support you through whatever crazy shit you’re wrapped up in, but you’re constantly shutting me out!”

“It’s not like that, Raine. I just…”

“Is it me? Do you just not care about me?” Raine asked, their voice breaking.

“That’s not it, Raine, I swear.” Tessa stepped closer, placing her hands on Raine’s arms. “You’re amazing, you always have been. This isn’t about you.”

“It’s starting to feel like it is, Tessa,” Raine whispered. “I’m tired of you hiding things from me. Tired of seeing you disappear at all hours of the night without telling me where you’re going. At this point… either you’re going to tell me what’s happening, or you’re not. If you’re going to continue keeping secrets, then… I don’t think this is gonna work out.”

“Raine, come on, you don’t mean that,” Tessa pleaded, trying to pull Raine closer.

“Don’t I? I love you, Tessa, and I want to build something with you. Why do you think I put all this together? I want to celebrate what we have, but it’s getting really fucking hard to focus on that when you’re hiding such a big part of your life from me.”

Tessa’s phone started buzzing again, but she didn’t care. “It’s not normally that big a deal, but right now there’s—” She stopped herself, worried about telling Raine anything about magic.

“There’s what, Tess?” Raine asked, but Tessa stayed quiet. “That’s exactly my point! I’ve admitted I know, your secret’s out, and still you’re hiding things from me. I can’t keep putting myself through this, Tessa. Either you trust me, or you don’t. The choice is yours.”

Raine, please, don’t do this. You don’t know how dangerous magic is, how much work I’m putting in to keep you safe. If I tell you, you’re just as doomed as I am.

“I…” Tessa stammered.

The awkward silence clung to the air for several more seconds. “That’s what I thought.” Raine choked up as they spoke, tears sliding down their face.

Tessa’s phone buzzed again, finally frustrating her enough to pick it up. She quickly skimmed through all the texts, her eyes going wide as she realized what exactly Nick was blowing up her phone about.

“What is it?” Raine asked.

“It’s Amara,” Tessa muttered. “She’s missing. No one’s heard from her in hours, and Nick is freaking out.”

Raine took a step away, briefly walking towards the hallway before stopping. “You should go find her, Tess. Just…” They paused, their shoulders shaking as they tried to force the rest of their sentence out. “Just know that I won’t be here when you get back.”

In that moment, Tessa’s heart felt like it had been tied between two trucks driving in opposite directions. She desperately wanted Raine to stay, to keep being a part of her life, but she knew Raine would be in horrible danger if she allowed them to know all about magic. The only way to keep them safe was to keep them in the dark.

Why are you doing this, Raine? Why can’t things just go back to the way they were?

Her phone kept buzzing, and she finally caved to the urgency of the situation. Unless she was willing to overturn the most important facet of her life, the fact that magic needed to stay a secret, there was nothing she could do to stop Raine from leaving. For whatever reason, Amara needed help right now, and if that gave Tessa an excuse to think about something other than losing Raine, then fine.

As Raine disappeared down the hallway, Tessa slipped her shoes on and left, slamming the door behind her as she tried to fight back her tears.

—

When Tessa finally caught up with Nick and the other girls, they were all waiting outside Amara’s apartment. Nick seemed unusually flustered, pacing back and forth while Vee tried to calm him down, and Tessa forced herself to stay present in hopes of avoiding painful memories.

“Alright, I got the cliff notes, but what’s going on?”

“I’ve been away all week, and Amara and I were planning on hanging out when I get back, but now she’s not answering her phone,” Nick said quickly, his breathing panicked and irregular.

“So, it’s only been a few hours?” Tessa asked. “How do we know her phone didn’t just die or whatever?”

“Just… trust me, Tessa,” Nick said. “There’s something going on here, this isn’t like her.”

Although heavily suspicious that Nick wasn’t telling them everything, Tessa silently agreed to drop her interrogation. “Fine, okay. I’m assuming we checked her home already?”

Vee nodded. “Yeah, there’s nothing. No sign of where she might be, either, but it doesn’t look like she was planning on leaving. Her place looks totally normal; no bags were packed or anything.”

“Okay, I think I’ve got a good plan,” Chloé said, finally looking up from her phone. “I’ve divided the campus up into five different chunks. If we split up and look around, we’ll have the best chance of finding her. I texted each of you a list of locations, we should start looking around right away. When you’ve cleared a location, text the group chat, and we’ll keep working through the whole campus.”

Checking her phone, Tessa saw the texts from Chloé and nodded in agreement. “Got ‘em. I’ll let you know what I find.”

Everyone split up to tackle their own list of locations, with Tessa heading roughly towards the Arts Campus. Amara hardly ever spent time there, but since they were combing the entire University, it made sense to look everywhere they could.

Many of the buildings were already locked at this time of night, and Tessa skipped those for the moment. Amara wasn’t the type to break into locked buildings anyways. Instead, Tessa tried to focus on locations that were still open, places Chloé had indicated Amara had visited before or had friends that frequented them. After searching the entire Arts Campus, however, she still hadn’t found anything. The group text indicated that Vee, Chloé, and Nick weren’t having any luck either, and the search continued.

On her way back to the main campus, Tessa briefly passed by the Science Building, and she bristled with hatred as she thought of Brandon and his stupid blackmailing scheme. A moment later, however, she realized that this bristling wasn’t just emotional; there were strange traces of magic lingering around the building, magic that hadn’t been there before.

Fuck, what mess has he gotten into this time?

Picking the lock, Tessa clenched her fists and started downstairs, ready to make Brandon pay for tearing her away from the search for Amara. She stormed towards the basement, slammed open the door with her magic, and started winding her way through the maze of pipes. It took much longer than intended, and as she crept closer, she sensed a strange magical presence emanating from the back room. She also heard voices, one masculine and one feminine, arguing between themselves.

Once she was almost through the maze, she saw Brandon leave his stupid lair, and he froze up when he saw her, quickly looking back at the room before averting his eyes.

“Brandon? What the fuck is happening down here?” Tessa asked loudly, her temper barely restrained.

“Nothing! I just… I had a little accident with the runes,” he stammered.

“Don’t bullshit with me, I can practically smell the magic pouring out of that back room! Who were you talking to?”

“No one! I mean, myself! I talk to myself all the time!” Tessa pushed back Brandon, ready to rip him a new one for whatever bullshit he’d managed to fall into. “Hey, don’t go back there!”

Brandon quickly ran past Tessa, trying to interpose himself between her and the back room. “Okay, just, before you come in, I promise I can explain!” he stammered.

“Oh, I doubt that. Out of my way, idiot.”

Walking past Brandon, Tessa saw the same dingy back room she’d been visiting constantly the last few days. This time, however, the runes on the floor and ceiling were fully active, buzzing with excitement for some reason. In the center of all the runes, awkwardly standing still while she fiddled with her hands, was the very person Tessa had been trying to find all night.

“Amara?” Tessa asked, her eyes wide.

—

The next day was an absolute whirlwind of activity and revelation. Amara was a demon, somehow, and Nick had known the whole time. All of Amara’s bulky sweaters made perfect sense in hindsight, but Tessa also began panicking about the implications of having a demon on campus. Had she made the right call in freeing Amara?

Countless thoughts bounced through her head, and above all else, she was exhausted. She’d overexerted herself throwing Brandon across the basement, barely gotten any sleep at their impromptu sleepover, and she just wanted to collapse into her bed.

When she got home, however, she faced only bitter reminders about the fight she’d been trying to shove out of mind for the last 24 hours. Her apartment was barren, devoid of much of its previous life, and there was no hiding the fact that all of Raine’s stuff was gone. Their favorite blanket, their throw pillows, their backpack, everything. Tessa wandered through the apartment in a haze, tears welling in her eyes once more as she remembered her last conversation with Raine.

Some part of her, deep down, had hoped the fight was only temporary. That she would come home and Raine would still be here, ready to accept that magic was too big to know about. They would trust Tessa’s judgment, and things would go back to normal.

But that wasn’t the case. The apartment had been stripped of its prior joy, and Tessa’s heart grew more and more heavy as she shuffled slowly to her bedroom. Most of Raine’s stuff had been kept there, they’d been Tessa’s partner the longest, and they were also the most invested in decorating. With their departure, the bedroom now stood cold and barren, a stark reminder of just how much joy Raine had brought over the last year.

Tessa’s bed, however, had been made one last time. Atop the covers, lying in the middle of the bed, was a small box with a black bow on it.

Falling to her knees, Tessa reached out with her magic and opened the box up. Just as she thought, it held the beautiful oil slicked knife Raine had given her last night. She thought of their fight, of all the beautiful memories they had together, then shook with rage as she thought about how she’d just thrown it all away.

She grabbed her head, tattoos glowing bright under her fingers, and screamed as loud as she could. The knife rocketed across the room, burying itself in the wall as Tessa fell apart. She cried long into the night, completely unmoving.

She only roused when Sydney got home hours later. Her partner tried to talk to her through the door, but Tessa didn’t want to hear it. She locked her bedroom door tight, vowing to never again share her bedroom with a partner, and finally retreated back into the bed she’d previously shared with Raine. As the last vestiges of Raine’s scent filled her world, Tessa started crying all over again. She hated magic, she hated her coven, she hated Brandon, she hated everything.

Above all else, she hated herself. Raine was gone, and there was no one left to blame.