I didn't sleep much that night. Seth was pretty restless too, and jerked awake a couple times. That was weird for him, it usually took a shoe to the face to wake him before morning. Isaac was a little bit of a dick about it but wasn't too bad.

Seth was fretting over those guys hunting for Booth. I didn't think it was something to be upset over. Just avoid the city for a bit and stay on campus. There was always the possibility of reporting it too. I wasn't sure how law enforcement worked here, exactly, but I imagined there was a professor around somewhere who'd champion a student. I was a bit concerned that it might not be Booth he was having nightmares about but the attack itself.

I curled up on Seth's face to reassure him while he was sleeping. It was a warm and comfy spot too. I don't think he appreciated it though since he kept moving me.

Anyway, morning school was boring. I couldn't wait for the afternoon stuff. Circle Tower today followed by the Menagerie. I had some planning to do before either of those so it was just as well I didn't really care about the differences in using graphite, lead, or chalk in certain base circle types.

It was drizzling out when we headed for the Circle Tower. Annoying, but it didn't really faze me the way I thought it would have. The water rolled off the longer hairs in my coat and I felt dry. Except my face. That was the annoying part.

Seth was more annoyed than I was. He took a couple of deep, calming breaths before casting a wind spell to keep the rain off. When I felt just a little twinge of pain through the link I realized why. He really hadn't cast much all week, and whatever that berry had done to him it was still lingering a bit.

That and his spell was ineffective. It blocked the light rain coming straight down, but the way it circled the air, Seth was getting it under his chin instead. Yeah, using unstructured spells for something not completely thought out had drawbacks. Or maybe the wind wasn't behaving for him again. The wind changed directions a few times before Seth just dismissed it. I think he ended up wetter than if he'd just let the rain fall.

I made the noise that meant 'I'm leaving', and nodded at the tower. When Seth looked at me I flicked my ear in 'tell me more'.

He paused for a moment and then looked around. Most people were darting through the rain, so there was no one nearby. "You're going to search the tower. You want to know what things you should look out for. You plan to do that while I'm in class?"

I nodded. It only took him a second to put it all together. I knew he was a smart kid.

"I have no idea where or what we could find or should look for. A pile of papers or research isn't actually going to help us much. I won't know how to use it. We'd need finished stuff, what they give to other people that don't do research."

That's right. Professor Marjorie was doing the research, but she had bosses. Maybe I should be looking for them? I flicked my ear again.

"I don't suppose I could talk you out of this? You could get me in trouble."

I scoffed. Cats make a marvelously dismissive scoffing noise. There was no way I'd let anything snap back on Seth.

Seth sighed. I felt him fiddling with the familiar link. "Please don't, Mau. You almost got hurt in the Wind Tower when you wandered off. Please just come to class with me?"

Hoo, that's some heavy guilt. Could this wait? Could we wait until after Seth's probation was completed before scoping out the tower? I didn't think so and shook my head. Whatever evidence Arnold claimed he had could get us in more than school trouble. And I was pretty sure there would be more victims soon.

I tried to send reassurance through the link. I solemnly swear I'll not get caught. Seriously, this was just a little bit of recon. I had no intention of actually swiping anything. I just needed the lay of the land and a mental blueprint of the place. I didn't plan to do more than that. Not yet, anyway.

"I thought not. There will be privacy protections. None of them should be lethal or dangerous because this is a school and people go in and out of the tower all the time. There are exceptions, but they are rare."

Yup, the coliseum was just such an exception.

"Don't go to the higher floors. I don't know what floor is too high so be careful. Stay out anywhere you see barrier symbols. Do you remember them from Laur's class?"

I nodded.

"I figure if they want barriers on the inside, it might be to keep something inside, so stay out." Seth picked me up and brushed the rain off my fur. "Be careful. Please."

I climbed up from his arms to his shoulder and rubbed my wet body across his face. It was fine because he was already wet. I also got my muddy paws prints on his clothes. I didn't mean to do that part, so I made some reassuring grumbly noises. Sorry kid, I don't know how to purr. And don't worry so much, I'm a professional. With no memory of actually doing my job.

I didn't actually follow Seth into class. You can't see someone leave if they never arrived. I walked along the hall with purpose. Familiars were common enough and sent on errands all the time so most people wouldn't pay any attention.

What was I expecting to see here? This was the Tower of Life, Death, and Healing. Maybe plants and shit. Animals maybe? Ah, don't forget, this is crazy magic land, so probably something weird. Talking trees and zombie fish or something.

The first floor was the common area, with some conference rooms and libraries. Honestly, the Celestial Tower was more impressive than here. I decided I wasn't a fan of 'dainty' as a decorating style. I went up to the floor Seth's class was on.

There were more workroom-like classrooms on this floor. Boring, and not helpful. Oh well, map it and go up. After climbing to the sky in the Last Tower, I wanted to be sure I could use the elevating platforms myself. I'm never doing stairs like that again.

The third floor had classrooms too, but they were smaller and had weirder stuff. Instead of potted plants I saw what might be a windchime made of bones. The next one had jars of pickled … things. Most were small animals of various types, but there were also mushrooms, leaves, and rocks. Because rocks needed pickling, clearly.

This was the floor where I found the air ducts, similar to what the Wind Tower had but smaller. They had symbols on them too, and many of the symbols I saw were active. That was not going to be a viable avenue of exploration.

After a quick canvas I went up another floor. I felt like I was getting to the edge of the students-allowed zone. Here I found the first offices and what I guessed were research labs. I would open each door a crack, take a three second glance around the room, and close the door. I'd then walk to the next room while cataloging everything I'd seen in my mind as if I'd taken a picture.

It was easy to peek in. The doors opened for me with a magical nudge from my skull key ring. The hallways were curved so I didn't need to worry too much about being spotted. When people were present, I just kept walking with purpose. No one looked twice at me.

I'd find a lab room with wonky stuff in it and the room next door would be an office. This was fine until I found one with an active experiment going on.

Two older students were using three foot feathers to prod a severed hand around a glass terrarium. The feathers sparked with electricity and the hand was crawling away on its own. There was a body laying on a table at the far end of the room. A sheet with symbols on it covered the body and I could see a diagram on the table where the sheet didn't cover.

There was a third student, or maybe a young professor, standing at a counter with a pen in hand. The door closed.

What the fuck. Necromancy is really a thing.

You know, world, I was kidding about the zombie fish? What shit.

I sat outside the lab for a moment, trying to get a grip on this new reality. I shouldn't be having these types of surprises anymore. Fucking crazy land.

I knew death magic was a thing. I'd seen it already. I don't know why I didn't connect that with the idea that necromancy was a thing that would happen in a tower with the reputation for healing.

I needed a second look. I knew it was risky but I needed to get a better understanding of what the fuck they were doing. I peeked in for a few more seconds.

"Four days after binding and the soul does not instigate movement on its own. There is no sign of lingering intelligence," the professor said as his pen scratched across the paper. The three of them watched the severed hand as it scrabbled away from the electric feathers. "Animation of the flesh and locomotion appear to be at the same speed as previous days. Don't just poke it, guys. Command it to do something."

I let the door close silently.

Okay, so my moral compass was a little askew at times. I knew that. Necromancy though. Wasn't that usually considered a universal evil?

I did wonder if there was a connection between the soul binding they talked about and the soul binding that happened between me and Seth. Soul magic was clearly a thing.

Maybe this field of study was related to the demons people had talked about? Did demons use necromancy? Soul magic felt like demon related shit to me.

I decided I wasn't going to pass judgment on this. Murder was bad, but maybe necromancy was much more gray. And we were in a school. Someone with authority had to know this shit was going on and thought it was okay.

I know. Naive. But it'll get me through today and I've got enough on my plate.

I moved on down the hall. I was here to find out where Professor Marjorie's lab or office or something was. I was not here to get sidetracked by creepy wackadoodles.

Thank itty bitty cherries I found what I was looking for in the next room.

I heard footsteps and decided I wanted a longer look, so I darted into the room and let the door shut. I was sure this was the right office. A long table along the wall was heaped with books and papers. There were five stacks of books of various heights. Pinned to the wall was a rubbing of the tree carving from the coliseum. It was unfilled. I guessed the notations on it described what each section meant when lit up by someone's mana.

There were pencils all over the place, and Marjorie's bag was hung on a peg by the door. There was the vibe of organized chaos going on in here.

Definitely the right room.

The footsteps from the hall stopped right outside the door. Shit.

I was under the table and behind a stack of books almost instantly. There was also an air vent down here that I could slip into if necessary. It was blowing slightly warm air.

I recognized the guy that came in. It was Jay, the slow and monotone research assistant guy that gave Seth an overview of mana and power loss.

He looked around the room and then started moving stuff. He took a stack of papers, divided it up and shuffled it. He then mixed those in with other stacks of papers. He took some books out of the piles and moved them to other piles. He dropped one book behind a filing cabinet. He checked the drawers on that cabinet. Only one opened, and he then moved around a few things in that drawer.

On a shelf above the desk, he pulled a couple jars down and erased the labels on them before putting them back. He messed with the tools and devices on the desk.

He picked up a pile of tree images and flipped through it. He took two out, and cast a copy spell on them. The copies he made were slightly different from the originals. He shuffled those back into the pile and took the originals with him. Then he took Marjorie's bag off the hook. He pulled ink bottles and papers out of it, and put other papers and random books in it. He then dropped it in the middle of the floor and let it spill everywhere.

The room quickly went from organized chaos to disorganized mess.

Jay gave a last look around and then left the room.

Well then. I had thought Professor Marjorie was absent minded and disorganized. Perhaps bordering on incompetent. Instead she was the victim of sabotage.