Chapter 9 - The Endless Garden

July 6

After the craziness of the previous week, I was finally happy to have settled into a bit of a routine. I would wake up to a fresh breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and orange juice. After providing Filomena with her daily offering of my magic, I would head out with Groundskeeper and work until evening.

At first, I was nervous about being separated from Filomena, but apparently Ms. Proctor was giving her lessons on how to be a familiar in between proctoring entrance examinations. I had been completely shocked to learn that Filomena was a princess, but she told me not to worry about it and that, while she was under contract with me, she was first and foremost a familiar.

Each evening when we returned home, Filomena and Ms. Proctor were waiting for us with dinner. The first day I had been so exhausted that I barely managed to stay awake through dinner. Groundskeeper had laughed at that, slapping me painfully on the back. I flinched at each hit, and she had apologized after Ms. Proctor scolded her.

Ms. Proctor had taken some clothes that were about my size from the lost and found for me to change into that first night, since I had basically nothing with me. The beige tank top announced to the world that “Oysters do it with their tongues” and the dark green flannel pants didn’t fully cover my ankles. The next morning, we were able to go to my old home, and grab my clothes, and various necessities. Filomena had held my hand while I entered the abandoned house. One other oddity was the letter from the board summoning me in one month's time for the required work review. This was something that was required by the work study bylaw, but Groundskeeper and Ms. Proctor told me not to worry about it.

Other than that, my routine was set, and today was much the same, but apparently Groundskeeper only worked in the Endless Garden for the first week of each month, so this was our last day. The rest of the month, she worked on the large list of maintenance tasks that had piled up over the years. According to Ms. Proctor, there had originally been 25 Groundskeepers when Anton Bearlisp first started the academy, but over the years they had died out to various accidents and mishaps until now there was only the one.

I had wondered why they hadn’t simply hired more, but the sad look in Groundskeeper’s eyes made me hold my tongue. It seemed to be a topic best left untouched, at least for now.

I shivered, and pulled my jacket close to try and stave off the early morning cold. There was only a slight lightening on the horizon to promise another hot day. Groundskeeper led the way down the path to the Endless Garden, where endless weeds awaited.

“Do you remember how to cast the light ball spell?” Groundskeeper asked, looking at me.

I nodded.

“Good, go ahead and cast it until the sun comes up. We’re probably going to be working a little later tonight in order to finish everything up.”

“Groundskeeper,” I paused mid step, “If the Endless Garden is really endless, how could we finish tending it?”

She let out a loud laugh, “It’s not actually endless, kid. That part of it is an illusion. If you know what you’re doing, you can reach the end of it. I’ve actually been helping you not get caught in the illusion. We’d never get anything done otherwise.”

“Then how-”

“Don’t ask me how it works, kid,” she laughed, “I can’t really make heads or tails of it. Ms. Proctor tried explaining it to me once, something about stabbing a pencil through a rolled up ball of tin foil. If you really must know, ask her.”

“Right.”

“Ah, don’t look so down, we’re nearly through with the real parts of the garden. ‘N I asked Ms. Proctor to make us a big meal tonight, so look forward to it. Now cast your light spell, and start weeding that bed over there while I trim up these hedges.”

I focused my attention on my outstretched palm in front of me. Just like Ms. Proctor had taught me, I imagined energy from my core filling an imaginary circle made of complex sigils on my palm. I could feel the now familiar warmth of magic in my chest moving through my body. It was still a struggle to properly imagine my core, so my control was lacking. I had been assured that with regular practice it would become easier. I just needed to trust the process.

Slowly at first, but gradually increasing in speed, an ethereal brightness filled my palm. It slowly coalesced into a ball shape, and wobbled into the air. It was faint, but I pushed to increase the magic flowing into it, until it was finally as bright as a dim light bulb. I cut off the magic, and it fizzled away.

“You forgot the timing sigil again,” Groundskeeper said, hacking away at the leafy wall with large shears.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. Just do it again.”

I took a deep breath, and visualized the energy from my core entering the circle again. This time remembering the sigil that controlled how long the spell lasted. With a kind of popping sensation in my head, the spell was complete. It is difficult to describe what it felt like having the ball of light there. It was kind of like having an extra eye. I could move it, and it responded though it wasn’t quite as intuitive as you might think. It definitely took a little getting used to.

Once I became more comfortable with the odd feeling, I began hunting through the thick growth of the flower bed for weeds. Some of them were quite nasty, so I was wearing thick leather gloves. They were a smidge too large for me, but I was able to work without getting cut up.

Hours passed with no sound except for the snapping of Groundskeeper’s shears, and the rustling of leaves in the wind. When we had a large pile of clippings and weeds, Groundskeeper would take the wheelbarrow away somewhere else.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Where do you take the weeds, and clippings?” I finally asked to alleviate the boredom.

“Huh? The compost pile.”

“But couldn’t you just magic it into nothingness or something?”

“Sure, but why waste valuable gardening materials? The compost helps keep all the garden beds healthy.”

“A compost pile?”

“Sure it turns the garden waste into nice healthy dirt.”

“Wouldn’t the piles have to be massive to accommodate the entire grounds?”

“They are. We use the scraps from the kitchen too, and you wouldn’t believe the raking we will have to do in the fall.”

With that, she disappeared from sight, and I resumed my task.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” an angry voice came from behind me.

I spun around too quickly and landed on my butt, “Weeding?”

The man that was looming over me was older, and had a nasty expression on his face. His gray, balding hair was slicked back in a severe style that made his expression of disdain even scarier.

He tugged on his brown tweed suit jacket, “Oh, really? And just who gave you permission to do that? You know if you don’t have permission this is just defacing academy property. You could be expelled.”

“I’m working with Groundskeeper, she told me to pull the weeds from this bed. She’s emptying the wheelbarrow right now. She should be back soon.”

“A likely story. Let me guess, you secretly planted some weedberry, and have come to collect it. You’re certainly not the first student to try it. You have the look of a delinquent. Oh, your deer in the headlights act might have fooled some people but not me.”

“I’m not doing anything wrong, I swear I’m just-”

“Save it. We’ll see what the Vice Dean of Discipline has to say about this.”

“I’m Groundskeeper’s assistant.”

“You fool. Groundskeeper doesn’t have an assistant. While it’s sad, it is a fact that everyone knows. If there were a change in that, no doubt the faculty would have been informed.”

“I’m part of the work study program?” I tried.

“We haven’t had a work study program since before I became a professor. Nice try. Get up, and follow me.”

“No, please, I-”

“No?! You indecent little worm. You would be insubordinate to me? A member of the faculty? Truly there is no depth of depravity you would not stoop to.”

With a flick of his wrist, a staff appeared in his outstretched hand. He slammed it into the dirt, and chanted something under his breath that I couldn’t hear. He stopped, or at least I think he did, all sounds around me seemed to dull like my ears had been stuffed with cotton. A transparent deep pink bubble appeared around me, and I began to float above the ground. I tried to yell, but it too sounded muted.

Crap! What’s going to happen to me? Am I going to get in trouble? Am I going to get Groundskeeper in trouble? Ah, if only Filomena were here, I bet this stupid old man would listen to her. She’d make him listen. Why don’t I know a spell to deal with this?

Suddenly a voice entered my head in a disorienting echo, “Don’t even think of trying to cast a spell in there. This barrier nullifies all spells. And don’t think of trying to call your familiar, they can’t hear you right now.”

The unnamed professor made his way through the paths of the Endless Garden with me floating behind him. I was trying to think of a way out of this mess when I had an idea. When Filomena and I had been trapped by my uncle, we had found a non-magical solution, was that a possibility here? I took a mental inventory of what I had on me: work gloves, work clothes, work boots, and a large pocket knife that Groundskeeper had given me so I could cut through any of the tough Taho vines I might find.

That was it, the pocket knife. I pulled off my work gloves and dug out the knife from my pocket. I gently pulled the blade out, and pushed it into the surface of the pink barrier. At first it simply stretched against the point of the knife, but then with a deafening blast of air, it popped.

I landed face first on the ground, the knife thankfully pushing into the soft grass, instead of me. I couldn’t hear much of anything through the ringing in my ears, but I think someone was yelling.

“You -ringing- stupid -ringing ringing- trying to -ringing- killed?”

Finally the ringing started to diminish and I was able to focus on what was happening around me.

Groundskeeper was there, the wheelbarrow on its side, and she was laying into the professor, “-you decided to just kidnap my assistant out of nowhere? Do you have any idea how upset Ms. Proctor would be if something happened to her? I don’t even want to think about it. Didn’t she tell you who she was?”

“Well, yes, but-”

“Let me guess, big bad all-knowing professor decided he knew better didn’t he?”

“That’s just-

“Quit interrupting. Max is my assistant, leave her be or face Ms. Proctor’s wrath got it?”

He simply nodded. She put him down. I hadn’t realized until that moment that she had picked him up bodily by his lapel.

“Now get out of here. I don’t want to see you again today,” the professor ran off, and after a deep breath she turned to me, “Hey, kid, you okay?”

I nodded, still somewhat dazed from the sudden popping and fall.

“Sorry about that, Professor Cherrysprat has a permanent stick up his- well, never mind that. He’s the oldest professor here so he thinks he knows everything and can do whatever he wants.”

She helped me to my feet.

“Thanks for stepping in.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it. I saw you burst that spell with the pocket knife,” she laughed, “Pretty clever.”

“I wasn’t sure it would work.”

“You might be surprised just how vulnerable most spells are to so-called mundane counters. Anyway, we’re almost done in the garden, so let’s finish up.”

I nodded, and we continued the day’s work. It turns out that we were not almost finished, and didn’t return home until it was well past sunset. I was sore, but that didn’t matter as soon as I smelled the delicious meal that was waiting in the cottage.