Micah Being Confronted By Advisees

I wrap up my Observation 115 class early. They should be working on their projects this weekend, and it’s not like giving them more time will help much. One of my advisees, a freshman named Julio, pauses and raises a finger to garner my attention. I nod in acknowledgement.

“A yes or no?” he asks. He has a question, though he thinks it’s a simple one at least. He’s wondering if I have time to answer.

I don’t have anywhere urgent to be. “Go ahead,” I reply as I gather up my notes into my bag.

“For the test on Monday,” he begins, slowly. So it’s a short question with a bit of explanation. “The guide says it covers everything discussed in class this month, but Wednesday was just a presentation of our projects’ bibliographies. Are those presentations going to be on the quiz as well, or just the intended material?”

Actually, a good question. Some of the other, less eager to get out of the classroom students wait around to get the answer. “There will be an extra credit question related to the bibliography presentations, but the main test does not include anything from Wednesday. Good question.”

“Got it,” Julio says as he finishes gathering his stuff and heads out, fully ignoring the complement. The others look somewhat concerned, though I don’t know why. It isn’t like that should be unexpected. Unless they think that I included the extra credit solely because the test is going to be difficult. Finishing gathering my things, I head out. I expect Julio will also show up at my office hours on Wednesday to go over everything he didn’t know for certain on the test. The kid is a good enough student, but obsessive about perfection. It’s going to burn him out if he doesn’t learn to temper that impulse.

Getting onto my bike, I begin my bike ride across town. Not to my apartment, but in a different direction, to this lovely little park. The park is nice, on occasion. Let’s me relax and think without all of the Hilarie and Course related work piling up for me back at my apartment. Too much work to do it too often, but it has been a bit of time since I last went, and I need it after last weekend’s fiasco in Brussels. The brisk, early spring mountain air feels good rushing past me as I bike through town. And, once I lock my bike up on the rack, I walk through the park towards the coffee shop.

The park seems less chaotic than usual. Not as many of the children and parents. There are two pick-up soccer games. One of them looks intense, and a bench pretty close by to watch without seeming overly creepy or into it. I take a mental note of the bench as I head into the coffee place.

Georgi greets me as I enter. “Micah. You’re a bit early. Still the usual?”

I nod. “The usual,” I say, counting out the cash and change and sliding it over.

Georgi takes the cash and hands over my cafe latte in a mug. I nod, take the mug, and turn to head outside. Bringing the mug with me out to the park, I push open the door walking backwards. Turning around to head to my chosen bench, I see three of my advisees, staring me down. I blame Heather, who is one of the three grinning gleefully about ruining my mini-vacation. Standing on one side of her is Yurena, clearly here because she wants to be, but not expecting anything to come of it. And on the other side is Felo, who is glaring daggers. He knows I hid something, but what, I wonder. I sigh, my shoulders falling. “What’s going on?” I ask.

Felo and Yurena pull out surveillance devices. Yurena is holding a bug, and Felo is holding a bug and camera. I don’t need to look closer. From the look on Heather’s face, she knows they’re the same make as the one she found. alLHands’s devices. I can’t help but wonder how much they know.

As though to answer my thoughts, Felo states, “You know who’s doing this.”

I shake my head and start to walk towards the park, pushing past them and sipping my latte. “What do you mean by that?” I ask, after taking my first sip. It tastes as good as ever, though does nothing to alleviate the stress of these three staring me down.

Rather than answer me, Felo pulls out a phone. Uncursed, somehow. Interesting. Opening up the gallery app, he presses play, and I watch a brief video of my computer screen. The light on it looks like evening, like when I’d be in my apartment. And the screen scrolls, revealing my message history with alLHands. It scrolls up and stops at the messages from a year ago, about infesting the kiddos. I can’t help but wonder how Felo has this video. How they took it. But he’s too angry to answer honestly.

“Speaking of,” Heather asks, still grinning, “What does your bestie say about me?”

I shake my head. Of course she would make that assumption. “That’s not my friend,” he says, “And why would either of us talk about you?”

Heather chuckles. “Because I’m awesome,” she offers.

Yurena sighs. Clearly she was brought in because she found her bug and wanted more information. Not a ringleader, but brought in to think it was her idea. “Look, it’s not like we’re that upset,” she shoots Felo a look, “But we caught you, and we need to know who this person is, why they’re bugging us, and what sort of risk it poses.”

I reach the bench and sit down. “I wonder, why does this matter so much to you?” I muse aloud.

Felo starts to make a snide comment, muttering, “Well, you’re the one-” but Heather cuts him off.

“Why do you care?” she asks quickly, to avoid whatever Felo is trying to say. So she’s in charge. He’s likely simply helping her out, angry at his own being watched.

Yurena shakes her head. “Sorry about them, I personally just don’t like people watching me. Figured anyone bugging me at a professional level would also be up in Heather’s business. They knew and were trying to figure it out, so I pushed them to meet with you,” she explains events as she understands. Heather’s gotten better at convincing people that actions are their own ideas since the breakup. Good for her.

I nod. “Thank you, Yurena. To answer your questions, I can’t tell you any details, but it will pose no direct risk to any of you. In fact, you three finding it may even prove helpful in the coming semester with regards to Magister position applications. Can’t tell you any more than that, I’m afraid.”

Yurena nods. Clearly a better situation than she expected. But I know she’s curious enough that it’s not satisfying. She just also knows as well as my other two advisees that I won’t be saying any more than that. She heads over towards the bus stop out on the corner. I look at the others, still flanking me. “You two can go away, too,” I offer.

Heather gives a little chuckle. “Well,” she replies with a smile, “If you won’t say more, I guess I’ll just have to accept that.” Then, the smile morphs into a mischievous grin as she reveals how far along their plans are, “After all, it isn’t like I can find out another way. Like say, tracking the serial numbers of the bugs to find where they were purchased initially, and tracing that two where they were stolen from, then following that lead back to some Magisterial agent or representative. That would be impossible, right?” she says. That tells me she’s already got that first step, at least. Though I doubt that Alina’s Left Hand left enough of a trail for even Heather to pick up.

“I appreciate the thought you’re putting into it,” I say, then with a grin, I add, “Now if only you put this much effort into your schoolwork or your relationships, you might be in a good place.”

Heather shakes her head. “Shut up,” she mutters, heading off. Leaving me alone with Felo.

Felo stands over me, silent and his anger seemingly fading the moment Heather has left. Odd. “That video,” I begin to ask, “It must have taken a lot of planning and time to capture. And from the messages, it was filmed at least a month ago. Why did it take you two so long to confront me about it?”

Felo’s stare was still angry, but cold. “I wasn’t going to, not with Heather or alone. You’re too self-important to say more than a perfunctory but meaningless statement.” Then, with a cold smile, he adds, “Like it will pose no direct risk to you. Which means it is a risk, you just don’t want to say any details.” Interesting. Heather seemed to want to confront me. I wonder if they aren’t actually working together on this. “But what’s done is done,” he continues, the smile dropping from his cold countenance, “And you can tell your dear friend that neither you nor they decide who is a danger. And while unlike you and Heather, I may not have any friends in the Americas, I know you only care about Magisterial mages. And there are only so many people in the Magisterium that are skilled enough at both scrying and illusions to install the secondary sensors without being noticed by the monitors, and of those, even fewer relearn their practice often enough to cycle signatures.” Then the cold smile returns and he adds, “And there are plenty of people from the American Villae who get drunk enough at the PMC to be willing to talk about their students, classmates, and or professors that they found interestingly obsessed with information control.”

He isn’t wrong. I didn’t even realize the scrying signature cycle, but it makes sense. How exactly he’s this far ahead surprises me. He’s starting to get scary good at this. Fortunately, there is one major flaw with his plan. Felo may well be the most unsettling and awkward person to be around in existence. “You expect people, even tipsy folk, to be telling their secrets to you?” I ask, “I am curious how that works out.”

Felo’s smile fades once more and he shakes his head. “Of course not. I’ve been told talking to me helps sober people up. But why do you think I let Yurena convince us to confront you about it?”

“What?” I’m confused. I thought she was a part of Heather’s team.

“You and I both know that your drivel will only serve to bug her with the vaguery, Only a matter of a couple months before she starts asking questions again. All I need to do is point those questions in the right direction.” Then he looks at me. “And we both know you’re not going to tell your friend, because whatever deal you have doesn’t extend to us, and you’re curious about how far Heather and I will actually get.” And with that he walks away.

Felo is getting better at working people, using his awkwardness to his advantage. Less than ideal for the Magisterium as a whole, but it might be helpful to Hilarie and our goals. Assuming his objectives are in an aligned direction. Either way, I need to make sure we’re careful around him and anyone associated with him in the future. Remember something. Julio is spending a lot of time talking about magic with Felo. I can’t help but wonder if that’s where the pressure of perfection is coming from. Because Julio is good, already ahead of the game, and taking an obnoxiously large course load. He’s going to be an agent if he makes it through his Apprenticeship. And if he manages not to break through that as well, he would make a very powerful weapon for any Magister or Maestro trying to manipulate the ranks. I need to pay attention, see if Felo is as good at judging the character of an apprentice as he is at noticing the details wrong with his surroundings, and at advanced counter-surveillance techniques. With a sigh and another sip of now lukewarm latte, I settle in to watch this soccer match and await its inevitable devolution into a fistfight.