We stood outside the administration wing, still invisible but feeling more exposed than before. Brandi had said nothing since we left and I didn’t want to break the silence as my own thoughts were racing and jumbled. That Magnus was an actual person and that she was still in the abyss should have been the most shocking thing we learned, but it wasn’t.

“This explains a lot,” Brandi said. She faced the windows, her hands clasped behind her back. She looked almost as if she were surveying the school grounds. Her head turned a bit to see me out of the corner of her eye. “I mean the whole power thing. The invisibility spell is only supposed to last a few minutes, we are on twenty. I think any magic seeded by you is more powerful just for that.”

“I don’t get why,” I said and looked down at my hands. “I don’t really feel any different, other than the bonding stuff with you, I mean. I’m just… me.”

She walked over and stared up into my face. “I felt it when we bonded. I knew it wasn’t normal, but I didn’t know what to think of it. Now there are three powerful witches who all agree that we could be dangerous. That’s something to consider, I think.”

“You planning on leaving me?”

She punched me in the chest and her boney knuckles stung a little. “Ass. I’m your witch and you’re my mage. Only way you’re getting out of that is if you die and I might just figure out some magic to keep even that from separating us.”

“Why? You didn’t seem so keen on me before we got here.”

She shrugged and then got up on the tips of her toes to kiss me quickly. “I’ve always thought you were cute, just an idiot. Don’t get the wrong idea, I’d never have acted on the thought, too much baggage, but I’m thinking I can put that behind me now.”

“You’re a strange girl,” I said. “How long does this spell last if I gave it more power?”

“Another fifteen minutes, I think. It doesn’t really have a timer, just a feeling.” She rocked on her heels. “So what do you want to do with the leftover time? I’m sure a man like you could come up with something interesting.”

“What do you mean by that?”

She rolled her eyes. “A guy is invisible in a school full of girls. I mean, hell, I’m even thinking of something to do and I’m not that into most girls.”

I canted my head, trying to follow her thoughts, and then it hit. “We can’t do anything like that.”

“Oh yes we can, it’s almost dinner so there should be lots of cuties in the baths.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hall while I struggled to get free. She was far stronger than her frame would suggest and before I knew it she pushed open the door to the girls’ dormitories and led me down the long hall to an arched door at the end. She turned the handle and with my hand in hers, she led me into the common room. There were a few girls here dressed in their uniforms, but ties and buttons were undone as they read, chatted, or did homework.

We didn’t stay long as Brandi pulled me to another door and down another hallway, this one made of wood with a thick runner carpet down the middle. The sound of running water and giggling women reached my ears. We stopped before a wooden door with a blue sign on it that said, ‘Bath’.

“Woah, hold on a second,” I said as Brandi moved the slide handle across. “We can’t go in there.”

“Sure we can,” she said and renewed her grip on my hand. “You need more witches so you might as well know what they look like naked before we bring them onboard, right?”

“You sure this isn’t more for you than me?”

She reached down and cupped the crotch of my pants. “You’re already half hard at just the idea. It’s only for me as far as me wanting to see you come in a room full of girls that left you out to dry.”

“You want to do this now? After everything we just learned?”

“Even more so because of what we learned. If you are something to fight over, then I want us to be able to fight for ourselves. That means more witches. I need you to convince these girls you’re worth being with. Though, like I said, it’s mostly revenge for not stepping up when you were challenged.” She pulled me into the room and closed the door.

Inside, the steam laid as a heavy cloud across the ceiling. It wafted from the tubs and a haze laid across the large square baths which had a surprising amount of naked women in them. A few girls were sitting on the edges, a shaving blade in hand that they were running across their legs. Others sat and relaxed in the clear waters, their bodies a tinge of red from the heat of the water. Still others were talking in groups, their hair wrapped in towels with their lower body exposed for all to see. It wouldn’t have mattered normally, but I was now there and all I could do was move my gaze from breast to slit of each woman there.

“Oh, lots more than I expected. See anything you like?” Brandi whispered to me as she pushed me along the slick floor. We came to a bath that stood a bit lower than my waist, the blue tile sprinkled with water. I could feel the heat from the bath and it made my clothes stifling.

Brandi pressed up against my back and reached around to unzip my pants. Her hands delved into the opening and before I could protest she had my dick out in the warm air, her hands soft around my shaft.

“Already this hard? I think you do see something you like. Who is it? Her?” she pointed toward a girl that floated in the bath toward us, her red hair like tendrils in the water. It took a second to realize that I knew them. It was Natalie. “Oh, it’s twitching. I guess you still have a thing for her.”

“We shouldn’t be here,” I said as her hand worked slowly up and down. “We can go back to the room and do something together.”

“Nope, we’re here and I want you to come to these girls.”

“Why?”

“Because…” she trailed off as she moved to my side and grabbed my hand. She pulled it under her skirt and I could feel the wet spot in her panties. She gave a slight groan as my fingers rubbed over the wet fabric. “The idea of it is doing this to me. Just relax and let it happen.”

She squeezed and worked over my shaft. I already came three times, but it seemed I still had some left in me as my eyes took in all the surrounding women. I kept returning to Natalie who just floated in the water, her breasts breaking through the clear blue with hard pink nipples on top of the small mounds. She was smooth shaven and as she drifted her legs would separate some to show the slit between them. I had only seen her naked once when she bathed in the river and I stole glances at her, but it was too far away to make out much. Here I could see everything there was to see about her and she was floating closer.

“Such a focused face,” Brandi said and then I felt the warmth of her mouth on the head of my cock. It was a shock to my system that almost sent me over the edge, but she only stayed for a few strokes before she popped off and continued to use her hands. “I bet it annoys you to know she bonded with a mage a few hours after getting here. A bit whorish if you ask me. The mage, not her. He probably fucked her a bunch of times already. Can you imagine that? That little pussy of hers stretched around a cock as she cried for more?

“Wouldn’t it be nice of that was your cock buried inside her? I bet if she knew how powerful you were she’d hop on you like she were a dog in heat. Just pounding away on you, up and down. Up and down.” She laughed as her dirty talk had the intended effect and I had to force myself not to go over the edge. “Tell me when you’re gonna cum, okay? You’re close, right?”

“I’m close…” I mumbled and heard her give a muffled giggle. Her hands were much better this time, far more in sync with each other and with Natalie floating in front of me, there wasn’t anything that would stop me from shooting strands into the water. A part of me hoped some of it would reach Natalie.

“Look out below!” a voice called, and I turned to see a girl in the middle of the air, the large ears on the top of her head were down and her fluffy tail wagged hard as she fell toward the bath. The girls gave a cry in surprise. The lanky girl hit the water with a slap and the water in the bath splashed out to cover the other girls and Brandi and I.

The animal girl pushed herself up from under the water with a gasp of air and shoved away her short hair from her eyes. “Well that was something, right? Biggest splash yet.”

“Amber, you idiot,” one of the girls in a towel shouted. The others around her that got soaked also shouted curses her way. Even Natatlie sat up in the water with an annoyed look, but it slowly disappeared as she turned to face Brandi and I. Her face took on a horrified look and she backed away in a splash of water.

“Anyone else see that?” she asked, her voice high and tight.

“See what?” a girl with large breasts asked as she readjusted her now soaked towel. “What are you going on about, Nat?”

“There — standing right there in front of me. They’re… they’re like ghosts.” A heavy silence fell over the room and it was during it we realized they were staring right at us. The water had given us form so they could see us even while invisible. Brandi cursed under her breath and I grabbed her arm, pulling her with me out of the room. I slammed the door shut and an echo of a scream followed us as we ran into the common room and out into the hallway leading back to the main part of the building.

I didn’t have a destination in mind, but we soon found ourselves outside in the chilled October air. We collapsed onto the grass and stared up at the sky while trying to get air back in our lungs. There was no sound between us except our breathing for about a minute and then we both broke out in a fit of laughter.

“That was awesome,” Brandi said as she got to her hands knees and crawled over. She plunked down on top of me, knocking most of the air I had gathered out again, but I didn’t complain. She was wet, but warm, and it was nice to be so close to someone. “Too bad you didn’t get off, that would have made that entire thing even better. I guess I’ll settle for making all those bitches think their bathroom is haunted.”

“You really think they’re gonna believe that?” I asked, and she nodded. “I guess we did make convincing ghosts.”

“Yeah,” she reached down and pushed my softening member back into my pants, after which she gave it a brief squeeze before putting the zipper back up. “I guess I gave you an intense case of blueballs. I’ll take care of it later, promise.”

I laughed. “I figured I’d be the horny one in any relationship I got into around here.”

“Yeah right, you haven’t been listening to Sheria and her girls talk about the things they’ve done for the last three years. I was playing with myself more than a few times a week because of that,” she said without a hint of embarrassment.

We laid there as the sun drifted below the horizon and night rolled in with a sheet of twinkling stars above us. The air grew chilly, but that drew us closer together. It was strange to lie with a girl so close. I had spent all of my life sleeping along in cold and dirty places. To have someone beside me to warm me and just be present was something new. Something nice.

I looked over to Brandi as she lifted her head from my chest and looked toward the pathway to the school. I looked over as well and it took a moment to find what she had heard.

Coming up the path was a group of people dressed in black cloaks. They carried weapons that glowed on their own and when the moonlight fell just right something gleamed under their cloaks that I could only guess was some kind of armor. There were many that were being helped up the walkway and there were those that were carried on wooden stretchers, the white of bandages almost entirely taken over by the red of their blood.

The doors to the academy banged open and the light from inside spilled out as a silhouetted group of people rushed down the steps and to the group. When they met, voices jumbled together and shouts filled the air. It wasn’t long before the group was ushered inside and disappeared behind the heavy doors. The night fell silent once more.

“I guess those were the 7th delver group. They really found some trouble,” Brandi said as she pushed from me and sat so she could hug her knees to her chest. “I wonder if what they ran into had anything to do with Magnus.”

“I don’t really want to think about any of that stuff right now,” I said through a yawn. “I think it best we go grab something to eat and then head to bed.” I heard a small grumble from where she was seated and a surprised squeak escaped her. I chuckled and sat up. “I guess I’m not the only one that’s hungry.”

“Shut up, we missed lunch,” she said as she rubbed her belly and then got to her feet. “Come on, we can sit together and figure out if your bed is big enough for two.”

“You’re sleeping in my bed?”

“Duh. It’s what witches and mages do once they’re bonded. If we had a few more witches, we could create our own room, but with just us it probably wouldn’t be enough to make it stable. I bet we could make it appear, though.”

“Hey, I’m not complaining, just was surprised.” I got to my feet and together we headed for the mess hall, but as we started up the stairs I couldn’t get rid of the feeling of being watched. I looked behind me and into the dark of the courtyard and found no reason for. I dismissed it and continued inside.