#i stg viney took control here

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Shortcuts Ch 7

Author Note: With this chapter, we cross the halfway point in this fic. I will be sticking to the initial intended length, which is 12 chapters and an epilogue. Thank you everyone who has been reading so far!

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Emira only ate lunch in the school cafeteria a few days a week. Most days she preferred to spend her time wandering the halls, conspiring with Ed, or doing anything else besides socializing with her peers.

Today was different. Emira had just spent her morning wrangling some falsely animated brooms that tried to flood half the school with water. They were extremely persistent, and it took the help of the entire illusion track to finally destroy them. One almost escaped, but they managed to catch it. Emira could not remember working harder at anything in her life and was famished by the time lunch rolled around.

She was too hungry to do anything but sit and eat. So that’s what she did. Emira bought a fairly large sandwich and sat down at one of the tables to enjoy it. She chose a spot that was sparsely populated; since Ed wasn’t around there wasn’t anyone specific she wanted to sit with. He had vanished after they stopped the last broom, muttering to himself about tweaking the spell.

Emira put it out of her mind as she dug into her lunch. Some students were talking around her, but their voices blended together to form white noise. For a few minutes, she ate in relative quiet.

She had finished about half of her sandwich when that abruptly changed.

“Hey.” A familiar voice called from behind her, a female voice she hadn’t expected to hear. “Are you busy right now?”

When Emira turned to look over he shoulder, she saw that Viney was standing behind her. She looked tense, as if unsure of her words. Emira tried to turn her body more, so she could speak to Viney without straining her neck. She still held her sandwich, half eaten.

“Not really, I’m just eating lunch.” Emira raised her hands slightly for emphasis. “What’s going on?”

The corner of Viney’s lip rose in a hint of a smile. “I’d like to introduce you to Puddles.”

Considering what had happened the previous Sunday, Emira should’ve seen it coming. At least she didn’t have any food in her mouth to choke on in surprise. “Oh, right now?” She asked, realizing from how Viney’s jaw tightened at the question that it was a misstep.

“If you’re free.” Viney replied in a slightly lower tone, bringing the conversation back to where it started.

“I am.” Despite having only eaten half her lunch, Emira barely noticed the hunger anymore. She was too excited to finally meet Puddles the griffin. She quickly wrapped the rest of her sandwich in a couple napkins, then cast a spell to surround it in a bubble like layer of magic. That way she could put in her bag and finish it later. Once that was done, she stood and gathered her bag and tray. “Lead the way.”

Viney nodded, the smile having returned to her face, and walked towards the cafeteria exit with Emira close behind. They stopped at a bin to return her tray, then left the cafeteria.

“We’re headed to the grudgby field.” Viney said as they walked down the hallway, towards the back of the school.

That was a bit confusing. “Not the beast keeping building?” The beast keeping track had its own building out behind the school, since the beasts could be too large or hard to contain for a standard classroom. They had most of their lessons out there as well as areas to keep the beasts.

Viney shook her head, not looking back at Emira. “It’ll be easier at the field.”

It was tempting to dig for more details, but Emira knew that she shouldn’t. Instead she let the topic drop, following Viney out the back doors of the school and over to the grudgby field. The stands were empty, as expected during lunch. They were the only two students around.

They stopped at the outside of the field, out of the range of the random shifts the field could have. Viney moved a few steps away and turned back towards Emira, then lifted her hand to spin her finger in a magic circle. Immediately, Emira heard the caw of a griffin in the distance.

A few seconds later, the beast flew in. She had come from the direction of the beast house, which wasn’t far away. She had a grey and brown body with massive white wings and huge talons for claws. Emira could only stare at her bird like head as Puddles landed next to Viney who, in an astonishingly cute way, turned to coo compliments at her and pet her head. Puddles nuzzled into her hand like a dog, chirping a few times.

Viney then looked over at Emira, who still hadn’t moved. “This is Puddles.” She said, gesturing towards the griffin. “Puddles, this is Emira. We’re friends, so be nice to her.” Oh, she had called them friends. It warmed Emira’s heart to hear that. Puddles chirped as if it understood, at a different pitch than before. “Would you like to pet her?” Viney turned back to Emira and asked, and Emira’s warm heart was suddenly stone cold.

She was perfectly fine with looking at her, but no she did not want to pet the griffin. She and Ed had almost been eaten by a slitherbeast recently and Emira had no desire to repeat the experience. She liked having both of her hands attached to her arms thank you very much.

“I, uh, I’m not sure.” Emira managed to say, taking half a step back.

“She’s very friendly.” Viney insisted, walking towards Emira. Puddles followed her, of course she did. “And way softer than she looks.” She didn’t look soft at all.

“She doesn’t bite, does she?” Looking at that beak, the answer had to be yes.

Viney shook her head no. “She doesn’t.” She turned to Puddles and told her to sit, which she did, then closed the rest of the distance between herself and Emira. “How about we do it together? I promise, you’ll be safe.”

That was better, but only slightly. Emira took a deep breath. “Alright.” She conceded. It would probably be fine, especially with Viney being right there with her. She had just been petting her, so it should be safe. She kept telling herself that, to try and convince herself.

This drew a smile to Viney’s face. “Lift your right hand.” She said, moving to Emira’s right side. Emira followed the instruction, holding her right hand at chest height. “Keep a flat palm, fingers together. Go ahead and step closer.” As she said that, Viney stepped slightly ahead and placed her right hand against the back of Emira’s, likely to guide her. Her touch sent Emira’s already accelerated pulse through the roof.

Emira took a shuddering breath and followed the directions. She stepped even closer to the beast, with Viney’s hand following her own closely. When they were close enough to touch the beast, she stopped. Then she reached forward, guided by Viney, to gently pet the side of Puddles’ neck. The entire time Puddles didn’t move, she just sat waiting.

She was soft, Viney hadn’t been lying. Emira pet her again, still gently, and thought maybe Puddles wasn’t so scary after all. Or at least, wasn’t as scary to friends of Viney. The pair then stepped back, and Viney released Emira’s hand. Puddles watched them with large unreadable eyes.

“I think she likes you.” Viney said with a grin. Emira wasn’t sure where she got that information from, but was willing to accept it.

“Glad to hear it.” Emira replied as Puddles blinked at her.

“I’ve been working on that new spell with Puddles too, if you remember from before?” Viney asked, opening her bag to take out a notebook.

Of course Emira remembered. “The spell to help Puddles learn to heal, right?”

Viney nodded enthusiastically. “That’s the one. I’ve been working a lot on it. Here, let me show you what I’ve got so far.” Had she figured out the spell? That was quite impressive.

Emira watched closely as Viney examined her notes and then cast a spell circle that glowed bright white. She then cast a second spell that made one of Puddles’ talons glow the same color. When the glowing light faded, Viney gave the griffin a command.

“Puddles, heal.” She said, gesturing to her own unblemished arm. Puddles immediately took action, lifting the previously glowing claw to press it lightly against her arm. It flashed with light on contact, which likely would’ve healed a wound if one had been there. When the glowing faded, Puddles pulled away and put it’s claw back on the ground.

“That’s incredible.” Emira could barely believe what she was seeing. Sure, Viney had told her about it before, but seeing it in action was completely different. “You’re very talented.”

Viney shook head at this. “Not talent.” She replied bluntly. “Hard work.” She gave Puddles a hand signal, telling the beast to again sit on the ground. “Besides, it’s not even close to done yet.”

It certainly seemed complex, but it looked to have worked properly from what Emira could tell. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Just a few things.” Viney chuckled lowly. “I have to keep the magic open until healing activates, it only works for one charge, and it’s only half as effective as a regular healing spell.” She seemed to rethink what she was saying midway and changed tracks, looking away from Emira as she did. “It’ll get there, I just wanted to show you the progress I’ve made since we talked about it before.”

“Well, I’m impressed at your progress.” Emira replied, nodding at the pair.

“Thank you.” Viney looked back at Emira with a smile, this time accepting the complement instead of turning it down.

The two shared a few more words of small talk, before dismissing Puddles and heading back to the school. Lunch would soon be over, with classes resuming shortly.

In her classes later, Emira wondered if there was an illusion spell that could enhance the magic Viney performed. She had heard something about that before, illusion spells that could increase the potency of other magic, but couldn’t remember where she’d seen it.

This called for a trip to one of her least favorite places.

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End note: This chapter got a little out of hand. Viney has a will of her own I swear.

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