My Path to Magic 2: A Combat Alchemist by Irina Syromyatnikova Page A

what the psychopaths' motivation was? My own future concerned me more. All the required signatures for my alchemical thesis were collected; the last credits I would obtain on Thursday; my new security amulet with controlling magic was successfully tested on my motorcycle. The only problem left unsettled was my combat magic practice. Did they forget about me or what?
    On Thursday I went to the police headquarters again. I intended to sit next to the officer on duty as long as it would take - until any of my superiors would show up! The building was nearly empty. I wasn't aware that Satal caught by the tail an insanely important artisan, and the entirety of Redstone's NZAMIPS combed the southeastern suburbs for the last three days. I thought I confused weekdays or forgot about some police holiday. Suddenly a noisy company in variegated uniforms showed up on the stairs: policemen, NZAMIPS staff, and even an army officer. They frantically swung their arms and swore. Then one of the policemen spotted me and yelled: "Here he is!"
    I pressed against the wall and prepared to throw a combat weaving at them. They would not catch me alive!
    "He is a Satal's student!" the policeman explained.
    Everybody knew what kind of magic the senior coordinator taught. People abruptly stopped talking and stared at me from a safe distance.
    " Ehh…Is it true?" the army officer asked me.
    "What are you asking about?"
    " Are you a magician?"
    "Yes!" I did not deny the obvious. Perhaps, it would help them to come to their senses sooner.
    They stirred in excitement. "Come with us quickly! We need your help."
    "Where to?"  I was suspicious.
    " They took hostages at Finkler Elementary School," the policeman shouted. "We can't find any magicians in here!  Where are they when we need them most?!"
    Clearly , I was not the only one asking the same question!
    I let them seat me in a car with an impatiently whining engine. I hoped that at least one of my superiors would show up at the place where the hostages were kept. And when all the mess was over, Satal would find a minute to talk to me!
    Finkler Elementary School, located in a poor neighborhood of Redstone, was a plain four-story building, squeezed in between unpretentious low-rise brick houses. It had no yard - the police cordon was set right on the sidewalk. Idle spectators watched the show right from the windows of their apartments across from the school: I saw their curious faces among pots of early-blooming flowers occupying their windowsills.
    Luckily , there were no journalists yet. I grasped right away why the police needed NZAMIPS: a reddish-yellow haze of averting spells hung on the doors and windows of the school's ground floor.
    " Are these our spells? Or the terrorists'?"
    "Theirs!" the policeman in ch arge of the siege spat out. "And the school's security guard is one of them!"
    Nice. I thought for a moment whether the hostage-taking was a long-term plan or impromptu. "Do something!" the policeman growled.
    Law enforcement reacts very nervously when their foes use magic against them.
    I listened to the noise in the school: people rhythmically chanted inside. Yes, something must be done quickly: it looked like the terrorists were in the middle of some ritual. I suspected that the school watchman enforced the protective perimeter - I couldn't quickly find a breach in it. I decided to improvise.
    " I warn you that I haven't received the magician's seal yet. Are you okay with this?" I said to win a moment to think.
    " F*ck you! Shit! F*ck!"
    What a lexicon cops use!
    "Same to you," I replied calmly and turned my back to him to examine the perimeter. Initially it was designed only to inform the guard of any intrusions, but then someone (a white mage, who else?) twisted the structure of the spells, so that now the barrier would provoke a horrible pain in any living creature which dared to touch it.
    Clearly, the school administration used a "transmaster" to control the perimeter, trying to save