“Handle me?”
“Your concerns, obviously.” Campbell huffed, then blocked the door of her office with tight steps into my space. “No, it wasn’t a mistake. No, I don’t care that you’ve got years of education. No, I’m not a spiteful bitch, despite the rumors. No, you can’t change my mind. No, I don’t care whose cock you’re sucking. No, the Global Guild doesn’t have an opinion or say in the matter. Plus, you’re just a consultant. No, there’s literally nothing you could say or do to take on the role of a mentor. All the spots are filled thanks to our wonderful liaison, Mrs. Whitehurst.”
Campbell’s thoughts continued spiraling through her vindictive speech again and again. The words etched into her mind, making it impossible for me to glimpse anything else.
“I have experience with—”
“With classroom instruction, yes, yes, yes. Wonderful. You’re welcome to return, if you like.” Campbell’s thoughts danced with the idea of breaking my enchanter contract early, then cycled through the same repetitive “no” speech she’d concocted to block my telepathy.
“You can’t seriously think I’m underqualified for this.”
“I think you sweet-talked our top enchanter into weaseling you into an elite position at a highly coveted guild,” Campbell said with an icy stare. “I also think you’re too inexperienced to handle the seriousness of mentoring.”
“You’ve got three enchanters who literally just got promoted a week ago,” I said in reference to Milo’s former acolytes. “They’re mentoring.”
“They’ve been working within Cerberus’ protocol for some time now, they understand my expectations, and they can handle working alongside the most demanding enchanter. Surely, you realize just because you’re screwing Milo, it doesn’t mean you can get everything you want. You’re not ready for mentoring.”
“That so?” I glared, delving deeper into her mind.
Beyond the speech she’d looped in her thoughts lay phony insults about screwing my way into this position, about quitting guild life more than a decade ago, about being an incompetent teacher. She hurled any and every staged thought she could muster to keep me from glimpsing the truth of things.
“Milo told you not to make me a mentor?” I seethed.
Campbell stared wide-eyed and stunned. “Goddammit. Stay out of my head.”
With that, she stormed into her office and slammed the door to ignite the wards. It sealed her mind from my magic, but I’d already learned the truth.
I sent my telepathy surging through the crowd, zipping between every festering thought until I linked to Milo. He was in mid-conversation with his new intern, Gael, when I assaulted his mind with demands for an explanation.
“Why the fuck are you preventing me from mentoring?” I thought. “Who the hell gave you the right?”
Milo smirked, holding a finger up to pause his chat with Gael while rolling his eyes back slightly to fake a vision. “You did, Dorian. You told me point-blank you didn’t want any distractions from your mission to find and eliminate the Celestial Coven. It is because of that we’ve kept you off all Cerberus cases so you can prioritize your Global Guild work.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I snapped, my voice carrying loudly to those nearby, and my thoughts slamming a bit aggressively against Milo’s mind. “You should’ve told me. Should’ve said something. Anything.”
“I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”
“Too late.” I turned to leave, to escape the guild flooded with excitement and reminders of all the students I used to work with day in and day out.
I wasn’t needed here.
I remainedicy toward Milo the entire week while he acted extra sweet, which only further pissed me off. That and his need to call it my “frosty” ways whenever someone noticed me being cold. Ben even clammed up some due to my petulant attitude, so I had to put my anger on hold while at home. I didn’t want the kid suffering my wrath just because Milo was an absolute asshole. But at work, I remained distant.
Not that he or anyone noticed. They were all preoccupied with their new interns, with their overzealous acolytes trying to remain in the spotlight, with their constant flow of casework. I, on the other hand, had nothing to occupy my time. No cases. I couldn’t even continue my Celestial Coven work until a manifestation found a new lead, and despite them scouring the entire world, it became harder and harder to track The True Witch, Theodore, or any crumb of a lead on those wicked witches.
So, I spent most of my days in the training chamber. Cerberus Guild had several nice workout facilities, and their training chamber allowed for isolated control over branch exercises, physical endurance, and root practice. Plus, thanks to state-of-the-art technology and top-tier magic, it was the quietest placein Chicago. The minds of the city hummed softly here. My tether to my manifestations went nearly silent.
I flew around the empty chamber, hurling waves of telekinesis at the enchantment targets. Only about half of them glowed with a precision strike, which meant my technique still lacked. Hell, maybe Milo and Campbell were right. If I still moved about with the root proficiency of a second-year student, then how could I hope to mentor anyone?
“You’re still keeping too much focus in your core,” Milo’s chipper voice echoed into the chamber room. “It’s altering your telekinetic blows.”
“And if I lessen the weight in my core, then my levitation will flounder and my aim will be off,” I responded with gritted teeth.
“Not if you harness the thread of that telekinetic blow and follow through to the end,” Milo said. “Trust me, I know a thing or two about blows. Blowing. Blowies. Plus, my precision strikes are always on point.”
With that, Milo twirled his fingers to send a stray strike of telekinesis throughout the chamber room and hit each and every target I’d missed. He didn’t even put the same weight behind his strike, yet still managed to fully activate the enchantment markers and complete the training module.
“Shouldn’t you be working on a case or something? With your intern?”
