A/N: So, despite the summary hinting at a much longer story, this is currently just a one-shot that I jotted down and haven't been able to get out of my head. I would love to make it a whole story some day, but as of now I have a lot of other stories I'm working on (on a different account), and this is kind of back burner. I do think it would be a fun world to explore, though- so hopefully I will finish this someday.
It was a well-known fact in Wizard City that some neighborhoods were safer than others. For instance, on Ravenwood campus and the areas nearby, you were about as safe as anyone in The Spiral ever was. The most commotion to ever come from the bright and bustling streets of the Commons, Olde Towne, or the Shopping District was the occasional incident of two wizards getting into a bit too heated of an argument, or possibly some minor vandalism involving a new student trying out casting Earthquake on a flowerpot or something. Firecat Alley was boisterous, though basically harmless except for the frequent reports of pets disappearing. Colossus Boulevard and Cyclops Lane regularly caused a ruckus, but with the increased security around those areas, things normally stayed pretty well under control. No, most people learned pretty quickly (if they weren't outright informed by the instructors immediately after arrival at the Academy), that the areas to watch out for were the darker corners of the city: the shadowy corners of Dark and Haunted Caves, the gritty streets of Triton Avenue, or the gloom of the Sunken City.
It was precisely this fact that made it so unsettling to find a murder on Unicorn Way.
"I do appreciate you coming so quickly, young Searunner."
Elias found it difficult to take his eyes off the morbid scene before him simply for how jarring and incongruous it was with the pleasant scenery of Unicorn Way. Even still, he tore his gaze away from the body and looked at his aging headmaster. "Of course, Headmaster Ambrose," Elias said, his voice a little flat from the shock of it all. "I must admit, this is… not what I was expecting when you told me there was a 'distressing matter of the utmost importance."
Professor Ambrose nodded solemnly, his one visible eye clouding over with worry as he leaned on his staff. "I would be most concerned if you had reason to suspect such a thing. This sort of crime is unheard of in Wizard City."
Elias nodded and gulped down the revulsion he felt rising in his throat.
Death itself was, of course, not foreign to Wizard City. Magic was a dangerous game and many wizards fell each year, but those deaths were almost exclusively the result of lost duels or- barring that- simple natural causes. This death was not the result of magic. Nor old age. The angry, jagged puncture wound in the chest where an athame had gone in and torn the flesh was witness to that.
Squeezing his eyes shut to block out the unfamiliar horror of it, Elias tried to force himself to think of the rational questions that should be asked. "Do we know yet who it is?" He cast his gaze back down to the lifeless, staring eyes of the young man laying in the grass at the edge of the creek in a pool of his own dried blood.
Ambrose sighed a long, mournful sigh. "Gamma tells me it was a new wizard from this year's starting class. An ice student by the name of Eric SteelBane. His body was discovered by the guards at the day's first change of watch, which means that it must have happened sometime between the hour of midnight and the first light of dawn." The old man furrowed his brow thoughtfully. "Probably closer to dawn, as I can't imagine what a student would be doing up and around in the middle of the night."
Elias looked up and to the side, rolling his tongue around his lips. "I'm sorry, Headmaster- I don't know where to even start looking into this."
Ambrose did not seem surprised by this, and simply nodded slowly. "It is indeed most troubling." He hummed and stroked his long, full beard. "I trust you to give your best to help the Wizard City Guard and I to investigate this, and fully anticipate that you may discover the solution before we do." The white-haired headmaster gave Elias a warm smile, in spite of the deep concern still evident on his face. "You have certainly done as much so far in your time here, young wizard."
He knew that Ambrose's words were meant to be encouraging, so Elias gave a small smile in return. In reality though, he felt so far out of his depth on this- this raw, visceral, and gritty act of seemingly random violence that had stained Unicorn Way's idyllic paths. It was so messy, so estranged from his experience in the relatively regulated duels of magic he had experienced thus far.
That's why he was grateful when Ambrose continued: "If I may offer one bit of advice though, it would be to talk to your old classmate- Miss Mindy Pixiecrown." The Headmaster raised the eyebrow over his monocle and looked Elias in the eye. "She graduated several years ago, but has nonetheless maintained an active role in Ravenwood's school of Ice Magic. She has a good rapport with the students and may be aware of things that even professor Greyrose is not."
As usual, the old man's advice rang true and solid in Elias' ears. He knew Mindy was a favorite, especially amongst first-year thaumaturges. Not to mention the fact that Elias would do almost anything to get out of Unicorn Way and away from the pale and lifeless corpse in front of him. "Thank you, Headmaster," Elias said respectfully. "I'll go see her right away."
As he stepped gratefully back through the tunnel into the Commons Elias dodged a new student as they zipped by on a broom mount, then pulled out his spell book and flipped to the page for messages. Taking his pen, he scrawled out a quick note to Mindy: Hey, I've got a question for you- do you have a minute we could talk? Elias watched as the words glowed faintly and then seemed to evaporate into the page, whisked away by magic to similarly appear in their recipient's book. Expecting that it would take Mindy a few minutes to get the message and reply, he was in process of shutting his spell book when he saw her answer burn into the parchment: WOW! So good to hear from you! Of course I'd love to help! I'm at my castle. Just come on over- I'll make us some drinks and we can talk!
Elias laughed softly to himself at the girl's enthusiasm- a trademark characteristic of hers ever since she was a wide-eyed novice in her first year at the school. He pulled out his wand and, with a quick and practiced motion, waved it in the air and opened a portal to his old friend's castle.
Mindy Pixiecrown had always been a little unusual. When she had arrived in Ravenwood around the same time as Elias, her wide-eyed naivete and optimism had been readily apparent and had endeared her to the professors of the academy (barring the ever-cynical Cyrus). With her naturally cheery disposition, many thought she would likely enroll in the School of Life, or possibly as an unusually non-aggro pyromancer. New students were of course free to sign up for whichever school they wanted, but the different branches of magic did have a way of attracting particular personalities. Ice wizards tended to be serious, solitary, and highly focused. Mindy Pixiecrown was… none of those things.
Sure, she had graduated the School of Ice with honors and gone on to become a relatively successful thaumaturge, but she lacked the kind of singular mindset many of her classmates had. While others had been practicing Frost Giant and bolstering their defensive spells, Mindy had branched heavily into numerous other fields such as farming and pet rearing. She was a misfit, but one who had the favor of her instructors, earning her the name of "teacher's pet" with many jealous or just plain mean-spirited students of those years. Mindy always tried to ignore it and keep up her bubbly persona, but Elias had known that it got to her sometimes and he had gone out of his way to be a friend to the girl.
The swirling of the portal was dissipating, and Elias felt his feet touch down on the grassy slope leading to the Spiral door of Mindy's castle. As his vision cleared, Elias looked around and scoffed lightly. Even Mindy's property seemed at odds with her line of magic. A bright, sunny Royal Playhouse with a neatly cultivated garden and numerous pets frolicking on the front lawn? It was a far cry from the expectation of some Polarian estate or Icy fortress of solitude that many thaumaturges ended up with. As he started across the property, Elias could hear sounds coming from the river behind the castle. Pausing briefly to scratch a bunny behind the ears, he made his way towards it.
On the narrow strip of beach that edged the river were a couple of beach chairs under the shade of an umbrella, with a wicker table between them on which sat a half of a coconut shell with a straw sticking out of it. On the other side of the chairs, a blue and white striped towel was spread on the warm sand. Not seeing any sign of Mindy, Elias scratched his chin and looked around just as a splash came from the water. He turned and watched as his former classmate surfaced from the river, inhaling deeply as if she'd just swam a distance underwater. For a moment, Elias stood dumbstruck. The swimsuit Mindy was wearing was definitely not the full-length, barber-striped kind that was supplied by the school as mandatory dress code for students taking part in water-based activities on campus. Those suits had reportedly been instituted in the early nineteen hundreds and not updated since- supposedly to make sure that all aspiring wizards "were able to keep their focus on their studies, and not on youthful passions and whimsy", but everyone knew that the real reason was plain and simple inertia. Water sports (or really any kind of physical activity) was not exactly something Ravenwood spent a lot of time on.
What Mindy Pixiecrown was wearing, though, was a blue and white bikini that was quite flattering against her dark skin. Swimsuits of that kind had to be brought to the Spiral from earth, and then carefully concealed from the staff of Ravenwood- or, at least, some of the more old-fashioned members of the staff- to avoid having them confiscated. During the time Elias and Mindy had both been enrolled in Ravenwood, it was common for the students to connive ways to smuggle in suits with the newer recruits who still maintained enough connection with their families to venture back to earth for holidays and such. The trick had been finding new wizards that were willing to do it, since getting caught trying to bring such items into Wizard City would result in punishments ranging (on the sliding scale of Lydia Greyrose to Cyrus Drake) from an "Oh deary me!" and a motherly scolding, to detention, multiple hours of extra homework, and two weeks of community service in the shopping district. If obtained, the forbidden swimsuits could not, of course, be worn to school-sanctioned activities, but they were popular for the wizards to wear to private parties hosted by students at their personal castles.
As the water drained down Mindy's face and the young woman pushed the wet strands of dark, curly hair from her eyes, Elias suddenly realized with a touch of guilt that he had been staring. He quickly cleared his throat and looked away. "Mindy- it's been a minute!" he said in what he hoped was a casual tone.
"I'll say!" Mindy chirped, beaming a smile at him as she reached for a towel. "I was SO EXCITED when I got the message from you!" she gushed as she began to dry herself off. "I feel like I've hardly seen you recently, what with all the big important things you've been doing and me still continuing my research for Lydia here in Ravenwood."
Elias shrugged as he tried to downplay his part in the events of the last few years. "Meh, it's not been so big or important what I've been doing."
Mindy actually laughed at that. "Don't be so modest, silly!" She wrapped her towel around herself as she spoke. "You've been off saving the spiral, defeating Malistaire, battling Morganthe." Mindy finished her towel wrap, and Elias tried to ignore the way she tucked the tail into her cleavage to finish it off, keeping his eyes dutifully on her face instead. "Meanwhile I've been… what? Tutoring students and growing Evil Snow Peas?" She laughed and gave a lively smile. "You know what they say- it's all relative."
Elias shrugged and raised an eyebrow. "Speaking of relative- how's your uncle?"
Mindy wrung out her hair and then walked up the sandy slope towards the rest of the property, motioning for Elias to follow her. "Uncle O'Doyle is well. He's thinking about retiring from the guard soon, and either getting a job in Ravenwood administration or possibly moving to Marleybone." She led the way to the theater in the corner of lawn, her bare feet padding across the checkered tiles inside as she moved behind an L-shaped bar in the corner and pulled out a drink shaker.
"Really?" Elias asked, raising a surprised eyebrow and resting his palms on the bar. "Moving to Marleybone sounds like, I dunno- the opposite of retiring." He watched Mindy as she combined a few ingredients in the shaker, capped it, then cast an ice spell on it that made the container instantly frost over.
"Not if he gets a job on Regent's square!" she said with a smile, and began to vigorously shake the drinks up. "I would be a bit sad not having him close by anymore, since he's my only family in the spiral, but it might be good for him to have a change of scenery." Uncapping the shaker, Mindy poured out it's contents between two half-coconut shells, plopped a drink umbrella in each, then handed one to Elias. "Either way, it sounded like you had more to talk about than just me and my family!" She leaned towards him, resting her arms on the counter. "What's up, Searunner?"
Elias took a sip of his drink. It was delicious. "Do you know an ice student by the name of Eric SteelBane?"
Mindy thought for a moment. "Hmmm, yes I do! He's one of this year's batch of students starting up." Her brow furrowed and she caught Elias' eye, looking suddenly worried. "Why- is there something wrong?"
Elias' mouth pressed into a tight line and he looked away for a moment as he grappled with how to break the news. The fact that a student had been killed in cold blood wasn't something he wanted to have to tell anyone, but it felt somehow doubly hard to tell Mindy and her unwavering optimism. "He seems to have been murdered sometime early this morning," he finally said. "On Unicorn Way."
Mindy's face instantly darkened, and several moments passed in uneasy silence. Just as Elias was beginning to wonder if the young woman had gone into shock she spoke in a hushed tone, "By the Titans…"
Elias gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry."
Shaking her head vigorously, Mindy downed the rest of her drink in a few large gulps and then ran a hand through her dark curly hair. When she looked back at him, her hazel eyes were wide and afraid. "What happened? Was it magic?"
"It doesn't seem so," Elias said, grimly shaking his head. "It was done with an athame, and seemed…" he cringed, wondering how detailed to get in his report. "…sloppy. Like it was done in a hurry or something. I'm so sorry, Mindy- I know this must be hard news to get, but do you know of anyone who may have had a reason to kill Eric SteelBane?"
Mindy's gaze was distant and haunted looking as she shook her head slowly, and Elias couldn't help feeling a bit bad about being the one to deliver the upsetting news to her even though he knew she would hear about it one way or the other. "No," Mindy said. "No, I- I can't imagine why someone would do such a thing! I mean, sure Eric may not have been the-" she grimaced, seemingly hesitant to speak ill of any of the students, "-the most well-liked person in class. But I think it was just a personality thing where he would annoy the others, not some horrible, horrible feud that would give anyone motive to kill him!" She shuddered involuntarily. "I'm sorry, Elias- I'm not sure if I will be much help in this. I simply can't imagine why a person would kill poor, poor Eric! The only thing I could suggest is to talk to the other ice students who have been in class the last few days, and see if any of them know what Eric was doing on Unicorn Way that night!"
Elias chewed his lip, then nodded. That was, to be fair, a very good idea. "Thank you Mindy- I'll do that." He put the straw to his lips and drained the rest of his drink, then set the coconut shell down on the bar. "Thanks for talking with me!" he said, giving her his best smile. "I'm sorry it wasn't under better circumstances. We should catch up again soon. Maybe at my place- I've got a great bathhouse for swimming and relaxing."
Though she still looked absolutely shaken, Mindy gave a weak smile at that. "Yeah, yeah that sounds nice. Just give me a shout, Searunner."
Nodding his goodbye, Elias left the theater and walked up the short grassy hill to Mindy Pixiecrown's Spiral Door, where he opened a portal back to Ravenwood to search out Eric's classmates. As he was pulled through the Spiral amidst a swirling, churning tunnel of colors and then deposited inside Bartleby, Elias felt a nagging sensation that something about this murder just didn't quite add up. Landing in the inner chamber of the World Tree and walking through it to the heart of the Academy, he found himself studying the many, many students of all ages and years and wondering if one of them could have been capable of such a horrific crime.