Chapter 1
“Announcement, class,” the professor called out before waiting for the undergraduate students to cease their bubbly discussions of grades, coursework, and the best brand of chewing gum. “We’ve just received word that an Exalted Grand Magician will visit the college next week. Flyers will go up on the notice board sometime today with volunteer opportunities.”
Octavian had been dutifully reviewing the class material and silently protesting that Spearchew Gum — notorious for being sugar free with 25 disgusting flavors — could even be considered for the best chewing gum. He immediately forgot his arguments when he heard the news. One of the most elite and powerful magicians in the world was going to be visiting the magic college of Balanee State University?
That was completely unheard of.
Since the university’s founding fifty-three years earlier, only one Exalted Grand Magician had graced the campus, and that was the university’s required sponsor, Exalted Grand Betha Franklin, who had died a year earlier after a long battle with an incurable illness. Since then, Octavian had heard that the university had sent invitations to thirty Exalted Grands to request sponsorship. It seemed that one of those requests was finally answered.
Things aren’t always as they seem, though. In this case, the university had not contacted this particularly peculiar Exalted Grand Magician, a man known only as Teacher, known for being rather unknown.
While other students whispered, planned their outfits for the upcoming visit, and called dibs on as yet unannounced volunteer opportunities, Octavian kept his attention on the day’s lesson: the signaling pathways that activated and inhibited apoptosis and resulted in the necessary process of cell death. He took careful notes on a visual interface provided by Notebook, the magic computer marble that he kept on a chain around his neck. But he couldn’t deny the curiosity and excitement that came with the opportunity coming next week.
After class, he headed to the lab he worked in, taking a detour to check the college notice board. It was mostly empty, sparsely populated with flyers for tutoring, writing workshops, and research opportunities. This was where Octavian had learned about his current position. He was supposed to be characterizing the chemical properties of different polymers that should improve the fire resistance of an item. Instead, he spent a lot of time washing dishes and wondering whether he’d be able to get into a decent graduate school with this level of research experience.
Octavian knocked on the office door of the researcher he worked for.
“Grand Ayad,” he said when ze didn’t look up from zir marble computer’s visual interface.
Ze smiled and waved Octavian over. Perhaps unsurprisingly, zir screen was focused on the upcoming visit of Exalted Grand Magician Teacher.
“Did you hear?” Grand Ayad asked.
“Yeah, just now in class. Everyone’s excited,” Octavian replied.
“We should especially be,” ze said, moving the browser window aside. “His area of research overlaps with ours.”
Octavian sighed internally at the use of the word “ours”, since he hadn’t been able to do much actual research in the lab. At least he was getting paid enough to cover some of his living expenses.
Grand Ayad pointed at the Exalted’s list of specialties on the website of the International Council of Exalted Magicians.
“Bioengineering. Robotics. Electroengineering. Magicoengineering. Wow, he’s done a lot.”
Ze turned to Octavian.
“You should volunteer while he’s here. You never know what doors a visit like this will open up. I’ll definitely be applying for an interview with him.”
“Interview?” Octavian asked.
“When a member of the ICEM visits, they typically conduct interviews with researchers that match their interests. So academics are pretty used to throwing together a short proposal when these visits are announced. It could lead to funding or collaborations. Like I said, you never know.”
“That sounds exciting,” Octavian said with his best fake smile.
“It is.” After a pause, ze added, “I’m sorry. Did you need anything?”
“No,” Octavian lied, no longer wanting to bother zir with questions about getting more involved with research. “Just wanted to let you know I’m here for the next few hours. I’ll be in the lab if you need anything.”
It took about an hour to get the glassware into the autoclave, after which Octavian went again to check the notice board. Students surrounded it, and as he descended the stairway, he could see that all the volunteer spots were full. Dejected, he turned and returned to the lab.
When he lay his head onto the pillow that night, he fell almost immediately into sleep. He had beautiful and imaginative dreams about the ocean, the sky, and a pair of talking pigeons that didn’t seem to understand the meaning of the word “no.”
The next day, he would learn that Grand Ayad was shortlisted to speak with Exalted Grand Magician Teacher for 15 minutes, that he was not invited to that meeting, and that he would be asked not to work in the lab that week in a very kind but very unapologetic way.
However, this night was full of hope and wonder, and also the hope that a wondering mind could teach him something that the pigeons already knew, how to ignore the word “no” as if you don’t know the meaning of the word.
