Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Davin’s brisk jog down the dormitory corridor was briefly interrupted by a sarcastic, mocking, sing-songsy, voice that said, "Oh Mister Wizard?"
He came to a stop, gave a dejected sigh, and let his head slump forward. Sky Waterford. Of course.
"Yes Sky, what can I help you with," he asked stiffly.
"Well, I thought it was more like, me helping you," came the sneering reply. Davin turned and looked at the blond elf learning in the doorway of his dorm room with an eyebrow raised insolently. "After all, I pay you good money to make sure my papers are correct before I turn them in."
This was true. Davin stopped just short of breaking any actual rules by only showing where the answers were not correct. Technically this fell under the heading of tutoring, and you could request compensation for tutoring, but Sky obviously thought that this arrangement wasn’t entirely legal and Davin wasn’t about to tell him otherwise.
He wished but just once this stupid little punk with throw a punch. But bribes and cajolery were more Sky’s style.
"So what is it you want exactly." asked Davin.
"Isn’t it obvious? Finals are coming up, and... Weeell," he said in a mocking casual tone, "It would be nice to have a copy of the final examination paper." He smiled as if he had just handed Davin a bomb with a bow around it.
Davin just stared for a moment then laughed right in the elf’s stupefied face. "You seriously think I’m going to help you cheat on the final exam?" He shook his head and continued giggling. "That is so sweet of you, to think that you mean that much to me."
Sky just stood there looking startled, then his face twisted, turning crimson. "If you don’t, I’ll tell Merriwether about our little arrangement," he snarled.
Davin rolled his eyes and smirked at the elf. "You mean our tutoring sessions?"
"Is that what you’re calling it?" Sky said . "It seems like I’m paying you an awful lot just to tutor me."
Davin thought about revealing to Sky that there was no rule against paid tutoring sessions, but the amount of money Sky was paying him was a little higher than average, which might seem suspicious. Besides, he was running late as it was, so he pretended to look a little worried. His shoulders slumped and he said, "Fine I’ll see what I can do. Now I really have to get to class." He turned and started away.
"You better," came the elfs jeering voice. "Or I’ll let my ’Friend’ Grady Carey handle you."
This made Davin stop.
Under normal circumstances most people probably would have been afraid, but Davin had lived under the threat of physical violence for most of his life so the idea that an orc, like Grady Carey, could make him afraid was laughable. But the thought that a confrontation might require him to resort physical violence... he wasn’t sure he was prepared for that.
So, he nodded his head dejectedly, without looking around at the pompous elf. "I want those papers by tonight," said Sky, gloating, and shut his door.
’So, business as usual,’ Davin thought as he walked across the quad. ’Someone wants something from me, and they threaten me or bribe me. No one cares about what I want, what I need."
He watched as a cute half-elf girl, her less prominent ears no less attractive, walked with her friends a few yards away across the quad in the opposite direction. Davin didn’t know who this particular girl was, but it didn’t really matter. She wouldn’t take notice of him unless she needed help in class or something.
He wished someone would take an interest for something other than his magical and academic skills. It was like being a software engineer that people only talk to when their computer had a problem.
His thoughts continue to be somewhat melancholy during professor Meriwether’s class where, as the professor’s Teacher’s Assistant, he ran the overhead projector from his laptop, as usual. The power point he’d put together from the Professor’s notes was quite interesting, especially a couple of the places where Davin had fixed some of the professors formulas, which the Professor hadn’t noticed in time. That got a chuckle out of most of the students, and earned Davin an exasperated glare from the professor.
Each of the other three lectures went the same way that day. Davin’s mind really wasn’t in the work. The encounter with Sky seem to have bothered him more than he thought. Finally when the days last class had let out, around 11:30 Davin started packing up his laptop to leave.
"Hey there. Everything okay Dav?" The professor was packing up his briefcase, and preparing to head out for his vacation, but when Davin didn’t answer, just stared ahead distractedly, he said, "Good job on the Power Point by the way, but I’d appreciate a little warning next time you fix my mistakes." He said the last part a little pointedly, but with the hint of a smile.
That got through the haze in Davin’s head. He smiled and gave a little grunting laugh. "Yeah, sorry. I’ve um... been a little distracted."
"You haven’t been playing that ’World of WarCrap’ again have you? I can’t have a single goddam year in this class without somebody asking how to polymorph somebody, spam fireballs, or summon demons. It’s a travesty."
Davin laughed a little again, and shook his head. "I’m not having this argument with you again. You can’t avoid the fact that people are going to troll you. They troll me all the time... but that’s not it. I’m... I... I just... " he stammered, then came to a halt.
The professor checked his watch, but then covered it with his hand, almost ashamedly. He looked at Davin sympathetically.
"Okay, I’ve got a couple minutes," he said. "What’s up. Hey, is it something about that weird terrorist attack this morning?"
"Terrorist attack...? "
"I was so afraid they were going to shut down the airport, but I confirmed the flight on my iPhone before this last lecture. But I’m sorry, go ahead. What’s up?"
Davin took a second to collect his thoughts, find the thread of his issue. "It’s hard to explain. Do you ever... I mean... sometimes I feel like no matter what I do, I’m only ever going to be Davin the Wizard. Like the only value I’ll ever have is that I know magic. I feel like there’s no one who actually knows or cares about Davin. Just Davin."
The professor nodded and appeared to think about this for a minute. "You’ve been studying magic, magical theory, physics, chemistry, all different kinds of maths as long as most masters students. But more than that, you have a gift for it like nobody I’ve ever even heard of. Someday you’re going to be famous. Like Hawking famous. Einstein, Sagan, or even Neil DeGrasse-Tyson famous." He was saying all this in an offhand this-should-be-obvious tone of voice. "People are going to write biographies about you, you’re going to be fine. You just need to take some chances every once in a while. Take a risk. Do something interesting. Barring treason, rape, or murder, there’s not much you could do to screw that up as long as you keep working at it. " He glanced at his watch again as he said, "You want historians to say ’He spent his days playing World of Warcrap for eight hours a day? Sorry, night. " He patted Davin on the shoulder. "Look kid... Davin. If you don’t want people to know you for something other than magic, then go out and do something other than magic. Or crappy video games that take over your life." He picked up his briefcase and started toward the lower door of the lecture hall, then paused.
"Oh, by the way, I don’t remember if I told you, I’m leaving you the car." He tossed Davin the keys.
Davin’s caught them, before his brain had caught up. Then suddenly his eyes went wide. "The Stingray? The 73 Stingray?"
"I got another Stingray? Yeah the 73. And there better not be a scratch on it, I’m counting on you."
Davin nodded mutely, not trusting himself to speak, and the Professor turned and started back to the door again. "Tahiti, here I come! Don’t forget, you’re keeping my office hours tonight. Till five. Finals are coming and people are going to have questions."
"Uh yuh... yeah. Yes! Got it professor."
The professor waved over his shoulder, the door closing behind him.
Office hours went about as expected. Each person who had an appointment had a half hour, and everyone wanted more. He answered questions, advised study plans, gave his opinion on the subjects of papers, and generally helped people prepare for finals.
In a turn of good fortune the last appointment only lasted about five minutes, just someone needing a clarification of something, and when he went outside into the hallway, and looked around, there was no one around.
He went back into the Professor’s office and looked out the window. He could see the Stingray in the parking lot, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized there was nowhere he wanted to drive it. He thought he might just take it for a drive, even if it was just over to Indianapolis and back, just to see the countryside. It would be dark before he would be able to get very far, so he wouldn’t see much. Maybe tomorrow...
Just as he was thinking this, the phone rang. Professor Meriwether kept an old fashioned rotary phone in his office, partly out of respect, to remind himself that even the newest and best stuff will eventually become old and busted. But his rotary phone, big, brown, easily five pounds, still did exactly what it was supposed to.
He picked it up on the second ring. "Professor Meriwether’s office."
A husky female voice on the other end said, "Yeah, let me speak to the professor."
Didn’t sound like a student, and certainly not his wife... thoughts raced through Davin’s brain. ’Take risks indeed eh Professor?’ he thought. "Um... he actually left for Tahiti - with his WIFE - about five hours ago. By now he’ll be at Boston International. Sorry," he added, almost as an afterthought.
"Shit," came the other voice. She sounded a little too upset, maybe even a little desperate.
"Uh... well I’m his TA, is there something I can help you with?"
The voice sighed. "I suppose I’ll have to take what I can get. No other professors of theoretical metaphysics in the house tonight?" Her voice moved away from the phone for a second. "Hey cut it out, you don’t know where that thing’s been. Dammit you’re like a bunch of drunk fuckin’ apes." She came back. "Sorry kid. Look, are you any good? Do you know much about magic and stuff?"
Davin’s mind went back to his conversation with Meriwether. ’Risks,’ he thought to himself.
"Uh yeah. Yeah, you might say that."
"Okay well, you’re really our only choice, so I hope it works out." There was a bunch of clattering in the background, and other voices, and a little bit of echo, as if the phone had moved from outdoors to indoors. "Here’s the deal you come out, give us your expert opinion, I’ll pay you a thousand." Davin forced himself to keep quiet, but his eyes went wide. "If your information proves useful, I’ll even toss in another thousand."
Davin was quiet for a moment, then nodded. Then he realized that she couldn’t hear that over the phone. "Uh- yeah.... sure I can do that. Where are you?"
She sighed, sounding a little relieved. "You know where the Storage Park is on South State Road 63?"
He nodded, and said, "Storage Solutions. Yeah my second cousin’s dad owns that with a buddy of his. Which unit?"
There was a pause on the line. "You watch the news kid?" Her voice was incredulous.
Davin started... "Er... not... not too much today, it’s been kind of a busy day."
Davin got the impression she was nodding now. "Huh. Then let’s just say you won’t have any trouble figuring it out." The line clicked and went dead, and Davin frowned at it. Then he turned and looked out the window at the Stingray again, and smiled.