Return of the Runebound Professor

Lee’s face was softer, the hard lines of Noah’s chin turned curved. Lee’s formerly dark eyes were now a light blue. His – or her, Noah wasn’t sure anymore – lips had filled out and her eyebrows had thinned.

“What do you think?” Lee asked, lifting the ratty shirt and peering down into it. “Huh. That’s fun.”

Noah rubbed his forehead. “You’ve somehow made things even more confusing for me. I didn’t think I’d be asking this, but do Skinwalkers have gender? If you can just change shape at will…”

“We merge. Two Skinwalkers rip off half their bodies and squish ‘em together to form a new one. Then they reform their bodies. I’ve heard it’s not a particularly enjoyable process. I don’t know if Skinwalkers have actual genders, but I can’t say I was a huge fan of your body. This one seems nicer.”

That’s… odd. I could have sworn Skinwalkers need the body of the person to transform into them, but Lee’s just changing shape at will.

“I am going to choose not to take that as an insult,” Noah decided. “And suit yourself. If you’re done, we need to discuss a few things.”

“Do I get to buy clothes after?”

“You need money to buy clothes.”

Lee stared at Noah with wide, hopeful eyes. He grimaced. “Stop that.”

“Stop what?”

“The eye thing.”

“I’m just looking at you.”

“You look like a puppy begging for a scrap. I’m basically broke, you know.”

Lee scrunched her nose in distaste, letting her features return to normal. “Figures. What if we kill someone and take their money?”

Noah’s eyes narrowed. Lee held her hands up.

“Hey, it was just a suggestion. Don’t act as if you haven’t done worse.”

Noah sighed and shook his head. He paused as a thought struck him.

Does she have memories of Vermil? That could be incredibly useful. Skinwalkers get memories from their bodies, right?

“Say, do you happen to have any useful memories?” Noah asked casually. “Ones that would help you blend in.”

Lee gave him a disappointed shake of her head. “No. Skinwalkers get those from the remnants of the soul that’s left in the body, and you didn’t leave anything behind. Just a sack of meat.”

Lovely. I should have guessed.

“So, about killing people for money. If you’ve done worse…”

“I won’t argue semantics. We can try to get you some more appropriate clothes after I fill you in. We need a cover story as to what you’re doing with me.”

“You’re a teacher, aren’t you?”

Noah nodded. “Yes. Why?”

“I could be a teacher as well. I’ve never tried it before, but I just know I’d be fantastic.”

“I’m not sure I have the authority to hire new teachers, but maybe I could get away with saying I hired outside help – but what would you even teach? I was going to get to this later, but it’s a good point to bring it up – what Runes do you have, and can you teach anything to my students about them?”

Lee shook her head. Her hair whipped around and slapped her in the face and she narrowed her eyes. “Made that too heavy. One second.”

Her hair rippled and, though Noah couldn’t see any obvious difference in it, Lee nodded in satisfaction. “I don’t know if humans can use the Runes I have. I don’t use magic in the way that you do, though I’m capable of learning some of it.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Lee rubbed her chin. “It’s been a while since this was explained to me, but before I set off on my own, one of my donators – those are parents, in human terms, said that not all human Runes work for me. I’d imagine it works in the other direction as well.”

Noah leaned against a tree and let out a slow whistle. “I never even thought about that. So you’ve got Runes unique to Skinwalkers? Or just monsters in general?”

“No idea. I don’t know that I’d group myself in with other monsters, nor would they group themselves with me. Speaking of, why are we the ones that get labeled monsters? Humans aren’t that great. You kill stuff too.”

“Because we’re speaking in the human language right now, and every society is going to label their enemies as evil,” Noah replied. “You can come up with a different name if you want to, but let’s stay on topic for now. Can you say exactly what Runes you have?”

“Six Shift Runes and one Shadow Rune.”

“Shift Runes?”

“They’re the basis of what Skinwalkers use to change shapes.”

“I see. And, if someone were to ask you what you taught – what would you answer? You wouldn’t be able to say you had the Shift Runes.”

“This,” Lee replied, taking a step toward Noah. Her lips split into a charming smile and she batted her eyes at him. Then she blurred forward, her hand snaking for Noah’s neck.

Her distraction hadn’t actually caught Noah off guard, but her speed did. Despite being ready for her, Lee’s foot whipped out and knocked Noah’s legs out from beneath him. She slammed him to the ground, pressing her arm against his neck hard enough to restrict his breathing.

Noah summoned his Vibration Rune, but Lee rolled off him as soon as they hit the dirt. She slipped back to her feet and held a hand out. Noah paused for a moment before taking it and letting Lee pull him back to his feet.

“What the hell was that? I barely saw you.”

And why the hell didn’t the other Skinwalker I fought move this fast? They’re like completely different monsters.

“I’m not human,” Lee said with a smirk. “I’m much faster than you are. Stronger too. That makes me pretty good at physical combat. It’s very effective at killing mages that think their magic makes them immortal. So I’ve heard, at least. I never actually got a chance to test my skills out because I ran into the only mage that can’t die no matter how hard I stab him.”

“Lucky me.” Noah brushed the dirt out of his hair and gave Lee a once over before nodding. “Okay, yeah. I think people would buy that, especially if you give any demonstrations. I could use some lessons myself, to be honest.”

Lee’s grin turned predatory. “I’d be more than happy to demonstrate. I wouldn’t even have to be too careful, right? You can’t die.”

“I can die, just not permanently,” Noah corrected. “And I certainly don’t enjoy the experience. No using me as a punching bag.”

“Not even a little?”

“Only as much as needed to help me improve my hand to hand combat skills. If I judge that you’re a good teacher, I’ll pay you some of the money I earn. You can use that to buy what you want. How’s that sound?”

Lee rubbed her chin, then shrugged. “Deal. It’s still punching you, so it’ll be fun. What about your students?”

“If I judge you capable of working with others without putting them at risk, then yes, them as well. If not…” Noah trailed off, leaving the statement open ended. Lee nodded her understanding.

“Can we go to Arbitage now, then?”

“Not quite yet. There’s one more thing. In about a week and a half, there’s going to be an exam. A bunch of professors are going to come to the Scorched Acres with their students and hunt Slashers.”

“Yeah, I know what it is. Always made me hungry.”

“Well, I have an inkling that someone might try to interfere with my students – particularly Isabel, the girl. I want you to remain here and keep yourself hidden up until the test. Watch over Isabel and stop anyone that tries to interfere with her – but don’t help her pass. Can you do that?”

“You mean I have to sit around for another two weeks doing nothing?”

“Not two weeks. It’s less. And you’ve been doing nothing for a while, haven’t you? Here – I’ll take you shopping after the exam as a reward. No promises on buying things out of my budget, but keep it reasonable and we can get you some human things. Deal?”

Lee scrunched her nose in annoyance, then gave a curt nod. “Deal. If the professors catch me during the exam, I expect you to back me up. I don’t want to get killed for nothing.”

“I will,” Noah promised. “You’ll see me and my students several more times before the exam. Try not to show yourself unless something is important. I want to keep the surprises to a minimum in the near future.”

“I’ll stick to the shadows. I’m good at that,” Lee promised. “See you in two weeks.”

“Less,” Noah corrected, drawing his flying sword and tossing it to the ground. Lee just rolled her eyes and stepped into the shade beneath a large tree.

Noah couldn’t help but notice that she was very apt at coming off as human. If he didn’t know better, he would have assumed Lee was just any other woman he ran into on the streets – and a charismatic one at that.

Is that because they’re adapted to blend in with human society?

Noah shuddered. If people had noticed that there was a Skinwalker problem, just how many of them could be lurking about that nobody had discovered yet? He didn’t want to think too deeply about that. Some things were better off left unanswered.

The flying sword shifted as he turned his attention to it, sending Wind magic into the blade. He lifted off the ground and took off, heading back in the direction of Arbitage.

There was still a lot to do before the exam, and he didn’t have time to waste sitting around here when he could be sitting around somewhere on campus instead.