A Study in Spirits Read online

  A Study in Spirits

  College Fae, Volume 2

  Byrd Nash

  Published by Rook and Castle Press, 2020.

  Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Books by Byrd Nash

  Title

  Sneak Thief

  Back to School

  Daddy's Girl

  Fresh Starts

  Debts Come Calling

  Party Girls

  Gatecrasher

  Between Friends

  Truth and Consequences

  Rules of the Game

  After Hours

  Spook in the Stacks

  Stark Truth

  Helping Hands

  Petit Four

  Unmasking

  Dumpster Diving

  Book Depository

  The More You Know

  Labyrinth

  Chain of Command

  Exposed

  A Griffin's Justice

  Epilogue

  College Fae Series

  Author Notes

  Glossary

  Knight of Cups preview

  Wicked Wolves preview

  Acknowledgments

  License Notes

  Copyright © 2020 Byrd Nash

  http://www.byrdnash.com

  Cover Art by Original Book Cover Design

  https://www.originalbookcoverdesigns.com/

  Publisher: Rook & Castle Press, Tulsa, OK

  All Rights Reserved.

  ISBN 978-1-7348938-0-9

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events in this book are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places or persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental.

  Byrd Nash

  Publisher's Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  provided by Five Rainbows Cataloging Services

  Names: Nash, Byrd, author.

  Title: A study in spirits : college fae sophomore / Byrd Nash.

  Description: Tulsa, OK : Rook and Castle Press, 2020. | Series: College fae, bk. 2.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2020901460 (print) | ISBN 978-1-7334566-9-2 (paperback) | ISBN 978-1-7348938-1-6 (paperback) | ISBN 978-1-7334566-8-5 (ebook : Kindle) | ISBN 978-1-7348938-0-9 (ebook : epub)

  Subjects: LCSH: College students--Fiction. | Magic--Fiction. | Fairies--Fiction. | Animals, Mythical--Fiction. | Fantasy fiction. | Bildungsromans. | BISAC: FICTION / Fantasy / Contemporary. | FICTION / Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology. | FICTION / Coming of Age. | GSAFD: Fantasy fiction. | Bildungsromans.

  Classification: LCC PS3614.A724 S78 (print) | LCC PS3614.A724 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6--dc23.

  I don’t want just words.

  If that’s all you have for me, you’d better go.

  F. Scott Fitzgerald

  Dedications

  Come ti vidi

  M’innamorai,

  E tu sorridi

  Perchè lo sai.

  Falstaff, Giuseppe Verdi

  To my Youngest

  who provides such good ideas

  Other Books by Byrd Nash

  The Wicked Wolves of Windsor and other Fairytales

  College Fae Series

  #1 Never Date a Siren

  #2 A Study in Spirits

  #3 Bane of Hounds (Fall 2020)

  #4 Coming in Spring 2021

  Fae Magic Adventure Series

  #1 Knight of Cups

  Sophomore Year, Fall Semester

  Leopold-Ottos-Universität Geheimetür

  Bewachterberg

  Sneak Thief

  Breaking into the library in the middle of the night was easy. Escaping? Not so much.

  The main library of Leopold-Ottos-Universität was once the abbey of a monastery. Viewing it in the dark, its antiquity was imposing, perhaps even threatening. The towers made dark spear-points stabbing into the night sky.

  This did not daunt Emma. Since accepting the job posted on the message board, she had spent the last few weeks examining the building inside and out. She had a map of the entire floor plan in her head. Knew the routines of the staff and the cleaning schedule. Had located the few security cameras.

  No one would be here at this time of night.

  No one that had an honest purpose.

  Keeping to the shadows of the oak trees, she moved to a garden wall, crouching behind the brick structure. It put her at one of the back doors.

  In the door’s portico, Emma tugged at her earring, and it fell into the palm of her hand where it changed from an ornate antique key shape to a dwarf flying squirrel. Its fur was gray with tips of brown and black, with a white belly, and a tail that wrapped over the top of its body.

  Jumping from her fingers, it extended side skin flaps to glide. It landed on top of the door lock, its tiny claws gripping the wall keypad securely.

  The tsukumogami, a Japanese spirit, had a talent for opening anything — whether that be a locked door or a secret. Within seconds, it had the door latch releasing, the light on the pad going green.

  “Good job.” Emma picked up the dwarf squirrel and gave its head a stroke before gently pocketing it. She slipped inside the building.

  She made her way through a long narrow hall and up a short flight of stairs. Her path took her by the old cells where monks once lived. Now the space was used for staff offices.

  From here, she entered the main library area, once the nave of the original abbey. The library was one of the oldest structures on the Geheimetür campus, and here you could experience the glorious architecture of the 12th century. But Em had no time to admire the vaulted ceilings, columns, and stained glass.

  She had a mission.

  “The security here is pathetic,” the girl said with a chastising shake of her head for such foolishness.

  She brought the flying squirrel out and placed it on her shoulder. The tsukumogami cautioned her, “There may be other defenses. Older ones. More dangerous.”

  “I’m not underestimating the library, but ghosts won’t bother us.”

  Crossing the vast expanse of the nave, the young woman entered another hall, this one dark. She turned on a pencil flashlight and, using its microbeam, continued walking softly through the deserted library.

  It was close to three a.m. She figured the job would take about an hour. Maybe even less. If they were as sloppy about protecting their data files as they were the physical structure, this would be easy.

  It didn’t take long to find the computer she wanted. The research librarian’s desk not only had an electrical outlet but was also the best location to access the library’s network hub.

  As she sat down on the cold stone floor, the flying squirrel scampered down her arm, onto the desk and over to a bookshelf. It rapidly climbed the spines of the books to reach the top of the shelving unit.

  “Keep a lookout,” Em whispered, “but don’t explore too far. This won’t take long, and I’ll need your help soon enough.”

  She pulled her laptop from its sling backpack and powered it up. After examining the research librarian’s computer, Em pulled out the network cable and hooked her machine into the system. Her fingers flashed over the keyboard, and a network authentication immediately popped up.

  “Psstt, I need you,” she hissed. From the top of the bookcase, the squirrel peered down at the girl. Spreading the flaps on the side of its body, it sailed down to land in her open hand, where it transformed into a security stick.

  Em immediately inserted it into the USB port. On her
screen, the warning changed to a login prompt. She typed in a password provided by her client.

  “Gotcha,” she murmured. With access to the system, Em started the programs she had written to search the network. She hummed quietly to herself.

  The library was still; Em liked late nights and early mornings for this reason. If the university taught classes at midnight, she would be their star student.

  As she expected, Em found the docs she was looking for without any trouble. There was no guarantee these would be the math tests given this semester, but seeing that the professor was a tenured old fogey who repeated himself every year, it seemed likely.

  While the information transferred, Em started researching other lines of inquiry she thought might be amusing. Until it wasn’t.

  “Shhhh,” she hissed in surprise. In response, the tsukumogami, still plugged into her laptop, opened up a chat window on the computer screen.

  Yes?

  Em typed, Do you see that? Is there a systems update going on?

  Checking. No. Nothing scheduled via the LOTTOS in-house message system.

  Files are disappearing fast!

  Noted. Speed is automated. Not human.

  I don’t like this. Someone else is here.

  According to the green bar on her screen, the file download would finish soon.

  “C’mon, Obake, hurry up,” she muttered, leaning forward as if her physical presence could make things go faster.

  Sensitive to noise, Em heard the snap down the hallway. She immediately lowered the laptop screen to reduce the shine of its light. Em placed the machine to one side and silently unfolded her crossed legs. She gave her eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness of the building’s interior before peering around the corner of the desk.

  Holding her breath, she waited to see if the noise would repeat. There! It sounded like someone had placed something on one of the library’s book carts. She heard the squeaking of wheels as it moved.

  Perhaps it was a ghost? Stories of specters in the stacks were prevalent, although she thought they were urban myths told to scare first years.

  Regardless, it was time to go.

  She picked up the computer, noting the download was complete. Obake ejected itself, landing in her hand, where it reverted back to a dwarf squirrel. Em returned the tsukumogami to her shoulder. The small creature grabbed her ear lobe and changed back to the earring in the shape of an antique key.

  She pulled out the cable connecting her to the LOTTOS library, plugging everything back into place. Em slid the laptop back into her bag. Slipping her arms through the sling strap, she rotated her book bag, so it was on her back.

  Peering around the corner of the desk, she didn’t see anything.

  The tsukumogami whispered, “Not human.”

  Well, LOTTOS was the only university in the world that openly admitted the fae to its program, so she shouldn’t be surprised, but it still unsettled her. Doubly so as she was here without permission, and it was dark.

  Whatever it was, she didn’t want to meet anyone in the library at this time of night. Explaining her presence wouldn’t be easy. And if the thing didn’t have permission either, it might want to protect itself.

  Whatever it was, she planned on avoiding it.

  On hands and knees, she scuttled across the aisle before gaining the shelter of the row of bookcases. She’d take a new exit. Running, her old sneakers were quiet on the marble floor.

  But Em must not have been as quiet as she thought for, passing the second hall, she felt a cold shiver on the back of her neck.

  “It follows,” confirmed Obake.

  Crap. She was starting to regret grabbing those test questions. Em had agreed to the request after verifying that LOTTOS was primitive in upgrading their technology. As she expected, breaking in and getting the information was a breeze.

  Yeah, the job paid well, but it was turning out not to be as easy as she thought.

  Especially if this creature was their security.

  Whatever was behind her could now be heard: tap-tap of feet and a sound like fanning of book pages, followed her progress.

  Em didn’t want to risk using her pencil beam flashlight; it would give away their location. But it made crossing the expanse of the room awkward. As it was, her hip struck a chair left in the aisle.

  She paused, waiting to hear if whatever was following noticed. But as Emma halted, something grabbed her ankle. The girl may have been only wearing sneakers, but she stomped down hard and fast with her heel, meeting something fleshy. At her blow, it released her.

  Without a second thought, she ran, turning on the flashlight to guide her way.

  Whatever was behind her was not so quiet now — it shoved the library tables out of the way, making the wood legs screech as they scraped against the floor. She could hear its panting, feel its heaving bulk behind her as it moved, almost like a dog was chasing her.

  She did not pause to look.

  Em swung her sling pack around, so it lay across her stomach. It wouldn’t be able to grab her bag. Thank goodness she had short hair — no long ponytail or braid to catch.

  She ran towards the fire door located around the corner from the vestry. As Em burst through it, the alarms sounded. She didn’t care.

  She raced down the sidewalk of the quad, running flat out, air burning her lungs.

  “We can stop,” said the tsukumogami in her right ear. “It didn’t follow us out of the building.”

  Em took a huge deep breath, trying to put out the fire in her chest. The rush of adrenaline made her hands shake, and her legs felt weak. She leaned against a tree, panting.

  “Did you get a look? What was it?”

  “Didn’t recognize it.” The tsukumogami was from Japan, so it wasn’t surprising it didn’t recognize the unnatural in Bewachterberg, a country south of Germany, near Switzerland.

  “Well,” Em said, patting the earring, “if that cheater wants these test questions, he’s going to pay double for hazard pay. That was too scary for me.”

  From the circular window in the peak of the building, two ghosts watched Emma walk down the quad until she was out of their sight.

  “Perhaps we should ask for help?” suggested the male. He had died in his thirties and wore more modern garb than his companion, an older woman in a long dress of the previous century.

  “From who?” the woman replied in an exasperated tone. “You saw how that girl ran from it.”

  “But she is only a student,” he reasoned. During his lifetime, he had been a teaching assistant and had not thought much of undergraduates. “Maybe someone from the administration could help? Or the fae?”

  “I’d rather die all over again before asking the fae for help.”

  “Rodger’s gone,” the TA said, referencing one of their comrades. “Hasn’t been seen for weeks since that thing arrived. Are you truly willing to make that sacrifice just because you’re stubborn?”

  The benefit of being a ghost was you could disappear when people irked you.

  Alone, he looked out over the commons again, his expression more mournful than usual.

  They needed help. If she wouldn’t ask, he would. Before the thing downstairs devoured them all.

  Back to School

  On his return to Bewachterberg, Logan promised himself that his second year at Leopold Ottos University would be absolutely drama free. He broke this pledge within an hour of arriving in Geheimetür.

  During the summer, he had subleased his apartment to Celia Rivers, a fae naiad he had met last school year. The arrangement worked for both of them. It fulfilled Logan’s lease terms while he was in the States for the summer, while Celia was able to complete a nursing internship that she needed for graduation.

  His train pulled into the Geheimetür station, and Logan texted Celia. He’d be home soon. She replied with a couple of happy emojis, adding she had already moved her things to her new place.

  Logan smiled at the photo of a cake the house brownie had ma
de in celebration of his return.

  The brownie had been a surprise bonus last school year. Belonging to the fae Sept, the Kindly Ones, she looked after the housekeeping. Her presence was one of the main reasons Logan had agreed with Celia using the apartment. The brownie required a nightly gift, and Logan didn’t want to lose her.

  At the station, Logan grabbed an electric-powered cab for the last leg of his journey. Most of Bewachterberg ran on sustainable energy, for no gas-powered transports were allowed in Geheimetür.

  This modern idea was in stark contrast with the city’s centuries-old buildings and narrow, winding streets. It was one of the many paradoxes about Bewachterberg that Logan had learned to accept. Since the country had been magically hidden from 1890 to 1989, it was an old city out-of-step, behind or ahead, with the rest of the world.

  Logan gave the cab driver his bags to load up in the trunk. He kept his violin case, setting it on the seat beside him. The vehicle silently pulled away from the station, and Logan watched the old Gothic buildings pass them by, his thoughts not on the architecture but the events of the last year.

  He had arrived last year as an exchange student at Leopold-Ottos-Universität Geheimetür. In Bewachterberg, the fae walked openly. Logan was fascinated by them, for he had little experience with these strange creatures of lore and legend.

  In his naive ignorance, Logan had fallen in love with a beautiful siren. Only afterward did he realize what a fatal mistake he had made. With the help of some new fae friends, the siren’s enchantment was defeated.

  When he left for the summer, Logan hadn’t been sure he would return. Yet, the months at home dragged. A generous tuition waiver from the university convinced him.

  Logan exited the elevator to the sound of a loud argument in progress. Alarmed, he saw Brigit’s father standing outside his open door shouting at Celia Rivers, standing inside.

  Adding to the discordant chorus was a heavy Scot brogue: “Awa’ an bile yer heid! See you? See ma fist? You’re all bum and parsley!”