Stowaway

I was woken up, not by Alyssa or by the rowdy dragon in front of me, but by an explosion. The spell I had cast on the two quarreling earlier had worn off. I could only guess that it hadn't been immediate and that it had ramped up before the explosion.

But here I was, in free fall, only barely able to partially contain the explosion, which would have killed quite a few students on the bus.

The explosion had opened up the engine of the bus, which was puffing out fumes of smoke only my magical eyes could see.

To my surprise, I was not the only one acting. The bus driver kicked off the walls and opened a compartment just above her.

Several other students were using their own forms of magic to stop the bus from falling. The dragon dude was smiling smugly as if he were safe in any outcome.

They seemed weaker than usual magical beings, but I could not focus on that now.

Before I could act, the cloud of smoke was drawn in as the bus driver pulled a cord.

I was forced to close my eyes again as the shabby systems of the bus kicked on once more.

Even more, damage is being dealt to the engine this way. Making sure to cover my tracks this time, I released a pulse of magic power, and the cameras were disabled, but so was the bus, which had already started dipping downward as gravity took over again.

Magic runs through my blood, things like this should be simple, but every moment of my attention was put into my work as the bus returned to normal while I took control of its descent.

The forty-some-odd passengers crashed to the floor as we landed.

Horrible sounds of creaking and snapping wood sounded out as we collided with a tree, but the horrible sounds didn't end there. Cries of sadness rang out from one of the passengers.

I quickly checked around for anyone injured, but everyone was accounted for.

After a moment of shock, I realized they were crying over the tree's pain. A few of those on the bus had been birthed through nature itself.

That's right. I'm not dealing with humans right now.

"Everyone out!" It was almost a shrill scream that came from the bus driver.

Several students slowly piled out of the bus with confusion. I was also confused until I looked at a screen at the front of the bus.

We are not alone.

"Everyone, grab your weapons," she said as she pried open the damaged side panels on the bus and freed our luggage.

She then turned to me.

"And you, no magic, or I will fail you before we make it to the school."

The anger and clear tone in her voice made my mind go to war. I had already been caught before I had even begun.

"Got it," I responded after a moment fighting the urge to give in and apologize.

I had to punch myself in the leg as I almost summoned a weapon to fight with. In doing so, I quickly drew the attention of everyone who wasn't already watching me.

'Probably not good to show reliance on magic. I am sure I can think up something else to deal with these magical beasts.'

Every one of the students around me are magical in some way. To take that away is to take away their biggest win strategy. 'To threaten me with the chance of my membership means she surely knows I had plans. Right?'

'Best defense, fire.' I thought as I grabbed dryish wood from the trees that had been crushed by the surprisingly sturdy bus. 'Must have been enhanced even from the forging process.'

'Sorry about this.' I thought as I opened the storage compartment on the bus and Pulled out one of my suitcases.

In a moment, a few items appeared in my hands: an old shirt that I had packed and some oil that was meant for an oil lamp my grandfather had gotten me long ago.

I was going to turn but stopped because I heard a low and familiar groan.

I rushed over and pulled a few cases of luggage out of the bus, and I could not stop myself from shaking from what I saw.

"You!" I let out a surprised word before slapping a hand to my mouth kicking the suitcase next to me and veering my eyes toward everyone else.

"You are lucky you weren't mushed into a meat paste," I say in a quiet voice while turning my back to the rest of the others and putting a finger to my lips.

"Abram. What happened? I felt the bus crash off the road." she said groggily yet quietly enough.

I guess she doesn't want to be caught herself.

"Is everyone okay it felt pretty bad?" she said while trying to sit up in the storage only to hit her head on the roof of the storage compartment.

"Abram what are you doing over there!"

Of course, it all makes sense now. Why the bus crashed, why the bus driver was so upset at me, and why Abigail's suspicion arose earlier while I was leaving.

"Kid you better get back over here or you will be sent home before you get the chance to see what this opportunity truly means."

"Kid," I said dryly. Abigail's face shifts into confusion at the way I say that. "I am older than anyone here," I say under my breath as I reach out toward Abigail in front of me.

——————

"What just happened? Where are we? Abram say something." Abigail pleas as she looks towards me after finding nothing around us.

"You happened," I said.

I have never had to do this before and I'm sure she could hear the sadness in my voice as I spoke because she reacted.

"What do you mean? Sneaking onto the bus? Why are you acting so strange?" She stepped back caution apparent in her form.

"I have to fix this. The law against revealing magic to humans is severe."

"magic? The bus… I remember thinking it was moving weirdly, it felt as if it were floating. No… flying. I only thought for a moment that it could be magic."

"Nothing special right? Well, when it comes to things like this the gods are very strict." I walked closer toward her. "Each of those students out there will be stripped of their magical powers if their big secret is let out. So, if I don't remove your memories here-"

"What? What happens Abram?" Her face falls and panic settles in as my words only seem to break her calm outer appearance.

"They will kill you," I tell her before continuing. "Right now the bus driver only suspects that it was me who had stopped their powers from working, so if I get you out of here without a memory of the incident everything will be fine."

"No. Please no," she says with her head tilted down, her hair covering her face.

"Why? Listen I know what you are thinking, but it is not worth the trouble things will only get worse for you from here on if I don't do this."

I move closer before I am able to see clearly that she is crying.

This isn't as big of a deal as she thinks it is. She will magically arrive back home and forget that any of this has happened, and I will not have to watch my friend die.

But then why is she crying? I know that many people like the idea of the magical, of the fantastical like my mother did. These are not tears that come from that place though, so there is something else, something she is not telling me. She basically ran away from home, it could be that she doesn't want to go back, but from what I could tell she was happy back at the school.

"There is something that I could do," I said before continuing. "I mean I have not done it in a while, but it is pretty simple."

"Then do that," Abigail responded, the tormented expression on her face removed.

"Are you sure you might not remain yourself?"

"Why won't I?"

"Well, to put it simply I will be summoning a familiar to this place and it will share it with you. Without a proper ritual, I will have no control over what I summon, and you could easily be overpowered here."

"Here? What is this place, Abram?"

"Your own mind."

I have to say that I expected her to get upset at this notion and tell me to just send her back, but all that I got was a resolved expression that didn't care about the consequences.

"Do it."

I sighed. "Fine."

I don't know what exactly I was thinking, perhaps having to disappear from my peers over and over again had left some resentment or maybe my rebellious side wanted to cause some chaos without considering the consequences.

"Alright. Friend, I send out a beacon. Grasp it and join me in this world." Magic flowed from my body and seeped into invisible cracks in the atmosphere.

Things brighten in Abigail's mind and there is a shrill scream as a new presence invades her mind.

I want to peek and see what it is exactly that she is up against, but any more interference from me could cause the odds to tilt in favor of the summon rather than the host.

——————

"Abigail?" I call out as my sight returns to me.

"Yes, that is my name." Her voice replies, obviously different.

She was by my side now and not lying in the compartment of the bus. A lot had changed, her hair was now a deep and dark red, and her blue eyes had a soft glow behind their iris.

I don't know what I had expected, this is my first human summon, but Joltier, Grandfather's summon, his situation was very similar. I don't remember too much but I do remember him being more human in the past.

"I'm sorry, it seems that you have lost a lot of yourself."

"Not enough to still think of myself as Abigail. I was pretty strong."

"I thought I told you not to use any magic?" The bus driver said her voice filled with malice and seeping into my ear.

"Yeah? I thought you would be able to tell that everyone's powers are back completely." I said with just as much energy back to the bus driver.

She looked around at the rest of the students who were now engaged with a few beasts that had been brave enough to investigate the crash.

"I blocked the view of this island with a barrier, there is a visual satellite that was relaying information. I thought the school's security knew about the route that they were taking or did you go too far off track?"

For just a moment fear was visible in her eyes as she looked towards the bus. The navigation system is one of the things that was brought down in the crash. I should thank the gods that their sort of magical emp would allow a bit of freedom for myself.

"Who is this? I don't remember your profile saying you had company."

"This is my summon, Abigail," I say as I wave my hand towards her.

To my surprise, she takes my hand.

"Abram spent a lot of energy with his barrier, forgive me for intruding I just expected him to be in danger." She said before bowing to the bus driver.

I felt a sickening feeling in my stomach, something about watching her be replaced by something or someone else didn't sit right with me. She was already clever and ready to do anything to get what she wanted, but now she was reading things ahead and taking control of the situation. It feels like she is more like me.

"Alright Abram, do as you like, but I will be watching you." The bus driver said before walking to the students.

"I feel that you are weak Abram," Abigail said as she studied me.

She is a magical being now and in a sense is connected to me.

"Yeah. Let's just say you aren't my first or only summon, and I've spread myself rather thin in summoning you." "Come on. Watch and learn from the other students but save your questions for later."

She nodded and followed me still holding my hand.