Free Mage of Shadows by Chanel Austen

to just forget about her. Join Archanos, try not to stir the pot when it wasn't necessary. Didn't I already have enough problems? Why bother?
    The officers milled about, distorting my view of the outline that had replaced Emily's body. I didn't see Officer Rodriguez, though I spotted her partner from the morning at the door. He stopped us as we were heading out.
    "The library is closed 'til further notice, boys." Officer Wilson said with a grim smile, "We were just about to play it on the announcement system. Also, classes are cancelled for rest of the afternoon and the evening as well."
    That was a relief to me, since I had been considering skipping to sleep. Now I didn't have to deal with a guilty conscience… it was just this morning that I had vowed to improve. Couldn't really do that if I was skipping classes.
    We nodded our mutual understanding and sidled around him without another word. However, instead of heading home we both took a direct route to the cafeteria building. The fact that classes had been cancelled had energized me temporarily, making the rest of the day seem so much shorter. After eating with Swann, I could go back to my dorm and rest over the weekend.
    A stern-faced Eliza flashed through my mind for a moment and I repressed a smile. Of course, I would also be studying this weekend. A few long days of studying never looked so good after two days of hellish magical mysteries.
    I had to suppress a wince that had nothing to do with pain as I handed my last twenty to the girl at the register after placing my order. I had come to the university with five hundred dollars cash no more than three weeks ago, now I was getting dangerously close to zero. I couldn't recall a single moment where I had spent money needlessly either. A good deal of it had gone towards paying for textbooks, most of which I hadn't even bothered to open except to skim a few pages.
    Other than that twenty, the only money I had left was the forty dollars I had stolen from One and Two-Bit the night before. The idea of using that money left me feeling particularly squeamish, but it didn't seem like I would have much of a choice. It didn't seem like that would last me very long either, with the rate I spent money on campus. Frugality was never my strong suit.
    Morosely I came to the realization that I would have to call home and beg for more money soon. Hopefully it would be my mom who answered, not my father. It was always easier to wheedle money from her than it was him. No doubt my father would think it a fantastic tale that books had cost me over three hundred dollars from his 'hard earned money.' Even if my mom answered, I would still get a lecture about finding a job and becoming independent, and a reminder that it was my idea to move away from home to go to college.
    It wasn't enough to have supernatural problems, I thought sourly, I had to also deal with first world problems. If it came down to it I wasn't sure what would be harder; squeezing money out of my father or finding Emily's murderer. Even when you added the fact that I was trying to join the coven that probably had a hand in her death…
    Getting money from my father would probably still be harder.
    I trudged over and joined Swann at a round table near the back of the student center's eating area, which very much resembled a cafeteria in its set up. However, it looked a lot nicer than my high school's cafeteria with muted grey carpeted floor, floor to ceiling windows, and a high ceiling that rose above the second floor, opening it up to viewing from the first.
    Jimmy had picked a particularly crowded area to sit, with three of the four tables near us containing small knots of students partaking in avid conversation. It was easy to hear the topic as well; everyone was talking about the death in the library. Emily's blatant murder was already cementing a place in school infamy.
    There had been maybe twenty people present when Emily's blood had moved, and maybe half of them had