Surviving Plagues (Artemis University Book 3) Read online

  Plus, while the house had been in good condition, some of the rooms had needed an update or some TLC anyways.

  But picking the new finish for the floors that they would sand and put on via runes instead of a huge mess humans would do was much easier. Same with cabinets and all of it. Hell, they unhooked the old stove when it was safe and I watched the guy levitate it out to the garage.

  Yeah, much easier.

  “Want my two cents?” Natalie asked when she saw I was struggling. She smiled when I nodded. “It’s a bit too ‘country cute’ for you and Mel. You guys are more sleek and modern, which we can do without pulling out the nice wood cabinets.”

  She went over to one and wrote a rune on it. The color changed from a cherry stain to some sort of medium dark gray that made the wood look almost like a smoked wood. She changed the brass knobs to silver handles.

  Then she did a section of the floors in lighter gray that really showed the grain of the wood, and to finish she did a section of the wall not painted yet to be like a pearl color.

  Or that was how I thought of it. It wasn’t bright white but more white with hints of blue and gray and it looked fabulous with what else she did.

  “On the right track?” she asked.

  “Yeah, that’s awesome,” I agreed.

  “Good, then what else do you want different?”

  I pursed my lips as I thought about it. “The island. It’s so wittle in this big space. I want it bigger with more storage, a dishwasher, maybe a wine fridge, and seating for breakfast bar?” I reached up and touched the hanging thing for pans and stuff. “I hate this look. Maybe a few hanging sleek lights over the island to complement the recessed lighting?”

  “We can definitely do that,” she promised. “So we’ll need the island extension we can blend, the appliances—”

  “In the garage,” Mel said as she checked out the new idea for cabinet. “Yeah, I like this, Tams. It’s us and the right vibe for update but not overhaul the house.”

  She was looking over countertops when I noticed the guy was done with the primer. I drew the rune for air when I saw him opening windows and used a breeze over the walls to speed up the drying.

  “Wait until they do the cabinets,” Craftsman suggested. “They won’t have to sand much to get cherry off and your gray on.”

  “Won’t the sanding get on the primer?” I worried.

  “We’ve got a rune for that,” Mr. Higgins chuckled, leaning over and handing me the tablet. “You want that for the island?”

  “Yeah, that’s cool.” It was exactly what I said with a white-and-smoke-colored countertop. Perfect.

  “I’ll go set up the portal,” Craftsman offered, and headed for the garage.

  “Portal?” I asked.

  “We order from a place that knows what we are,” Natalie explained. “It’s just like Home Depot or Lowe’s for that stuff but we have supe stores of every type. We can portal over whatever they have in and just like a normal store, they’ll order more. They just don’t have to have every color so there actually is more selection and range.”

  “That’s sick,” I admitted before I hurried after Craftsman. I sighed when I found him frowning. “I was worried about that not working.”

  His eyes lit up with understanding. Yeah, the fairy magic might not let a warlock set up a portal on the property.

  He quickly schooled his reaction. “Okay, let’s get you your first lesson in portals.”

  I bit back a snort. Yeah, I was learning lots about portals and more than he knew. He walked me through what to do and say, promising once I got up the bones he could adjust what we needed.

  Good, because it was already complicated even with him doing all the physics and crazy.

  Except my Latin was shit, it seemed, and I kept pronouncing things wrong. I let out a frustrated growl and leaned against the wall to calm down, glad we were alone at least.

  “Fuck, love,” he whispered, staring at the wall with wide eyes.

  I turned and looked and saw a portal forming. Oh good, another crazy thing my magic could do.

  Did that get me out of magical physics? The human math one too?

  No way I was that lucky, right?

  In the end, it was the bare bones one he’d wanted me to do without having to say the Latin and stuff. Still, I planned on adding Latin to the list of things to familiarize myself with. I might not learn it all but it was embarrassing how badly I was pronouncing stuff.

  He adjusted the portal to what Natalie told him for the right store and moments later something was coming through to be delivered. Okay then.

  By the time Izzy and Darby arrived back with food, it looked like a completely different kitchen. Even the eating area, since I liked the table and chairs except the fabric of the cushions. Natalie fixed those and honestly now that they’d hooked up the appliances, once everything dried, that was one whole room good to go.

  Or so I thought.

  “We’re going to want a full inspection during magic breaks,” Mel said as we loaded up plates. “All new windows isn’t smart with magic but if there are windows that need refixing or restoration, that’s fine. I think we want some more fuses in the breaker for more electronics and whatnot. So if you could get us a list of your suggestions besides what we’re planning, that would be great.”

  I was in awe of how much she was an adult.

  We headed outside and I realized there was a point besides the drying paint and stain. She handed me her tablet as we sat. I blinked at it and then out at the patio and pool.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, really, Tams,” she chuckled. “That’s being spoiled, sure, but this needs to be your haven. You’re completely safe here and you need to embrace it. Stop making it their place and now it’s yours. Extend the patio and add in the gazebo for more covered eating and cooking area. I know we’re going to Spain for the summer but have this place ready to enjoy too.”

  Natalie looked over my shoulder and nodded. “That’s cool. If you also widened the pool you could have a raised wall there with fountains and even add in a hot tub that overflows into the pool. Those are seriously popular and really nice on cool nights.”

  “Maybe. I need a full tour of the house still and find out if there’s a damn pool inside since we didn’t know that answer,” I drawled.

  “There’s not,” Izzy answered, shrugging when I glanced at her. “I remembered you said that and couldn’t sleep. You have a sauna and full gym plus some closed rooms blocked with barriers. You said your cousin mated a fairy, right?”

  I swallowed my shock, wondering why she brought that up, but slowly nodded. Right, she wasn’t saying my “cousin” was but mated to a fairy would explain a lot of the fairy stuff if they found it. “Yeah, that’s what Claudia said.”

  “That explains it,” one of the guys chuckled, shaking his head. “I thought I’d lost my mind that I found a huge pile of fae dust in the garage.”

  Oh fuck. Okay, good cover, Izzy. I’d have to kiss her later.

  “The property has fae dogs that about gave Tams a heart attack,” Mel drawled. “Only fairies can control them but they’re nice to her, knowing she’s related to the one who lived here. We got some food they grab from the garage and apparently they now are leaving gifts.”

  “I didn’t pay attention to that,” I chuckled, shaking my head. I glanced at the guy. “You can understand why I’m not telling people.”

  “Yeah, they’d assume you’re a fairy and flip the fuck out,” he muttered, bobbing his head. “That’s a lot of money there, just so you know.”

  “She’s got something going with the hobgoblins so I’d think she’s giving it to them,” Natalie said, giving me a knowing look. She snorted when I flinched. “I’m nice to the hobgoblins too but they adore you. You’re up to something.”

  “Yes, but I have help and we can take the hit if people find out. You do not want your family in the know on this one,” I warned.

  Izzy snorted. “No, you don
’t. You know the people who treat the hobgoblins worst. We all do.”

  Natalie’s eyes filled with understanding. “You’re really awesome, Tamsin. Really awesome. You get money and power and all you keep doing is helping people or donating what you’ve got. You’re the newest to our community and you’ve done more good than I’ve seen any of those elites do combined my first three years.”

  I shrugged. “I like good karma.” I didn’t engage when Mel snorted.

  No, I didn’t really do it for the karma, but it was nice karma smiled on me sometimes anyways.

  2

  “Hudson Vogel is texting me wanting to know what I’m doing to you that you can’t respond to his messages,” Craftsman grumbled as he sat down. “Clearly giving certain students my number has backfired.”

  I rolled my eyes. “My phone’s in the guest room. I haven’t even looked at it. I know I’m a weirdo for not being glued to it but I’m not going to get into bad habits to fit in.”

  I swallowed my annoyance that Hudson was also in a time-out so he better not act like an ass.

  “His lack of faith in Dr. Craftsman might have less to do with you and more to do with the current rumor circulating about our popular professor,” Mel teased him.

  “What rumor?” I asked, glancing between them. “I’m always out of the loop.”

  “Because you hate being in the loop,” Mel drawled.

  “That he’s been giving ‘special attention’ to Holly and doing more than helping her study,” Darby answered.

  Craftsman’s eyes went wide, clearly not having heard the rumor either. He threw back his head and laughed so hard he almost fell out of his chair. He just started to calm down before laughing all over again.

  “The only thing funnier than the insane idea I’d ever go near that little twat is that she’d actually ever study.”

  “I can back him up on that,” Darby drawled. “She’s so lazy that I doubt she’s ever cracked a book.”

  “How does she pass then?” Mel asked, giving Craftsman a look that he better have the right answer.

  “Oh please,” I grumbled, rolling my eyes. “That’s not even the most out there rumor I heard lately. That place is ridiculous with the rumors.”

  “What did you hear?” Natalie asked.

  “That Mel only got her job after screwing Khan so he approved it.” I smirked as Mel choked on her food, sending a chunk of sandwich flying across the table. “Exactly. That place is crazy with the rumors. I wouldn’t believe any of it. Ever.”

  “I’m going to vomit at the idea of touching that man,” Mel groaned. “Who told you that?”

  I shrugged. “Some guy in physical training. I shut it down.”

  Darby snorted. “That’s one way to put it.” He glanced at Mel. “She told the guy he was high if he listened to that as you’d die of alcohol poisoning before that would ever happen, as you’d have to be so drunk it would kill you before you’d even consider the idea. She said it right by Khan to hear and he barked at her to go run another mile.”

  “Totally fucking worth it,” I sang, smirking as I reached for my iced herbal tea. “He should have told the guy it was ridiculous as he was standing right there to hear it. Instead he puffed out his chest like you would ever touch that fool or lower yourself to screw a boss for a job. Edelman jumped all over you for the chance to have you help out.”

  “Yeah, but forget Khan and—” Mel tried but I cut in.

  “That man hasn’t taught me one damn thing and I won the tournament in our class. What’s he going to do? Flunk me? He couldn’t even take me and he’s so full of his bluster that someone needs to knock him down a few pegs. He’s useless and here you’ve got Darby up a class in a quarter. Instead of being embarrassed he’s a shit teacher, he’s letting people talk like that in his class? Bullshit.”

  “Yeah, the ‘locker room talk’ he lets go during class is too much,” Natalie agreed.

  “I can’t believe I’m the only one giving him shit or saying it,” I sighed.

  “We can’t,” Natalie chuckled darkly, nodding when I glanced at her with confusion. “We’re scholarship students, Tamsin. We’re not allowed to complain.”

  “That is so messed up. There are other schools with scholarships, grants, or student loans and they’re not treated like this. It’s crap. It’s steaming huge piles of crap and disgusts me.” The next bite of my sandwich was bigger than polite. “There needs to be an advocate or group. You guys give a lot too and I don’t just mean tutoring. How many of you raise the school’s GPA average or standing?”

  “Like form a union?” Darby asked, his tone making it clear that sounded ridiculous.

  “Why the hell not?” I pushed back. “You’re supposed to earn that money with your grades to show you deserve it and the chance to be at a better school than you can afford. Fine, you need a part-time job, but being forced to tutor for that ‘free’ money is bullshit. Tutoring is the part-time job of most students who need jobs.”

  “Really?” Natalie asked, frowning when I nodded. “I didn’t know that.”

  I snickered. “There are sites just for it. Remote tutoring is a thing too with video chat and whatnot. If you can have online schooling, you can have tutoring. You guys are being treated way worse than you understand. It has to stop.”

  “How? A union is great in theory but they can easily get other students willing to work hard and keep their mouths shut,” Natalie worried.

  “She’s right. You need to not start with the students,” Mel muttered. “You need to start with the decent parents who donate and had no idea this was going on. Mrs. Vogel was not happy at what you said about the scholarship students. And you can’t blame some of them for not knowing when they’ve got their own kids and stuff going on. It’s not illogical to assume the schools behave.”

  “That’s true, I wouldn’t have thought it was like this if I hadn’t seen it.” There was no easy answer, that was for sure, but it was something to think about.

  “Now my understanding is you’re all staying in one wing so we can start on the other wing,” Mr. Higgins cut in, handing me what looked like a tablet but was really just a metal square with runes on it. “That will give us an idea of what you want for the master suite.”

  “Wait, Mel’s taking—”

  “No, you are. I’m taking the big suite in that other wing. Let’s just move on, Tams.”

  I wanted to argue if it wasn’t such a big thing then she could take the damn master suite. Then again, if I was in her place I’d feel really uncomfortable taking it too.

  Fine, fine, just fine. I had to step up and act like this was all mine even if I had Mel helping me.

  “Simply put your hand on the plate and it will show us what you want.”

  I frowned but did it, too curious to worry or try and work out how even runes could make it happen. My eyes went wide as I realized I really only knew the very basic runes.

  An image was displayed over a prism in the middle of the table, looking almost like a small rendering of an interior design program. I wasn’t consciously thinking of my dream room since I had no idea what that was.

  So it was some sort of array of runes that could take my personality like a quiz and come up with some ideas?

  “For the love of…” Mel let out a heavy sigh. “You cannot have some sort of Elektra apartment with a sparring area as your master suite, Tams.”

  I narrowed my eyes and realized what she was seeing, blowing a raspberry. “Yeah, okay. I thought there was a sex swing or something you got so annoyed.” I closed my eyes and actually wanted to duck my head as people burst out laughing all around us.

  “That would have scarred me for life,” Mel drawled. “It’s not a studio apartment. You’re thinking the wrong dream. We’ll do up the gym in the basement with a legion of dummies but you gotta be comfy and maybe a bit soft and girly for your room. It’s your first real room and we’re going to do it right.”

  “Don’t put so much pressure on her,�
� Natalie interjected. “She’s got enough with this whole place.” She gave me a soft smile as she pulled the plate out from under my hand. “Let’s start with what you hate. You see movies, read books, or even just other people’s rooms enough to know what you hate. Name one thing.”

  “She needs completely dark and light tight,” Izzy said, getting how we needed to start.

  “Right, good,” I agreed but then nodded. “I hate when people stuff the rooms with everything. I get when people live with their parents because it’s their only space, but I’ve seen pictures where there’s just so much stuff. You don’t need a whole living room in your bedroom.”

  “Good,” she muttered as she grabbed an actual tablet from her uncle. “You do have room for something there given there’s a half wall splitting the room that has a fireplace. What do you want for that? Gas or logs?”

  “Gas,” several people said together.

  I nodded; that sounded fine. “Can I have a reading nook? I know we have the library and study, but I want like a chill hermit area to read or study when I’m here.”

  “Perfect,” she mumbled, tapping the screen. “Bed?”

  I smiled, trying to hide it with my sandwich. “Really big. I always wanted one I could flop all around on if I wanted instead of sharing or a tiny cot.”

  “TV?”

  “No.”

  “Dressers or everything in the massive closet?”

  “I want to see the size of what I have first.”

  “Nightstands?”

  “Yeah, but nothing eighty million dollars where I’m going to freak if I spill water or forget a coaster. I want to not—I want chill if I’m supposed to feel me and sleep.”

  “Okay, and I had some ideas for the home theater since Uncle Marc said you had one or Mel wanted one.” She handed the tablet to me with some pictures she pulled off the internet of sample ideas.

  I flipped through five before nodding. I handed it over to Mel. “That’s us. Do the stadium seating but wide with a huge, comfy sectional on each one.”