Summoner Summer Camp - Prologue

The following book was coauthored with Adam Lance. We do not know when it will release. Some content in future chapters will be slightly altered to fit Patreon's guidelines.

Prologue

Tizmira “Tizzy” Cottontail’s foot thumped against the stone floor at approximately twelve beats per second as she waited outside Professor Starfall’s office. The ancient Pigpimples castle was positively noisy with par-for-the-course end-of-term madness, but all Tizzy could feel was the sickly dread pooling in her stomach like spoiled minotaur milk.

Her small hands twisted the hem of her blue school robes. Blue was the signature color of summoners, an affinity she was proud to possess normally, but not today. As she chewed her bottom lip nervously, one of her antlers caught on the animated tapestry hanging behind the bench for the third time that afternoon. The embroidered unicorns whinnied in protest at her as she yanked her head forward with a frustrated grunt. The prince riding the pink one gave her the finger.

“Stupid antlers,” she lisped. “Stupid transfiguration. Stupid embroidered prince. Stupid teacup that wouldn’t stop hopping.”

The memory of her last exam still haunted her like—well like a ghost or something. Maybe like that one in the third-floor girls bathroom that wouldn’t stop loudly moaning in the stall beside hers whenever Tizzy had to tinkle.

Even now the image played in her mind on repeat—the transfiguration exam one, not the toilet ghost. The high-ceilinged classroom had fallen silent as every student watched her attempt to transform a stag beetle into a teacup. The result was a six-legged abomination that hopped across Professor Starfall’s mahogany desk, spilling scalding tea over everything and leaving a trail of stains on an open textbook.

Professor Starfall’s rainbow-colored hair had practically stood on end at the sight. The beautiful elf woman’s face had twisted in horror. Tizzy could still hear her scandalized gasp: “Miss Cottontail! This is the most disastrous transfiguration I’ve witnessed in three hundred years of teaching!”

That seemed unfair. Last year a wizard in class 4A turned a pile of bird poop into a bigger pile of cow poop. He was trying to turn it into a spinning top. To this day, Tizzy had no idea how that blunder even happened.

Tizzy’s bunny ears drooped in self-pity. It wasn’t her fault she couldn’t focus on the stupid theory. Back in the Forest Biome of Everafter, jackalopes didn’t need to transfigure anything. They needed to be quick and clever, cuddly and cute, all things Tizzy excelled at naturally. Why wasn’t there a cuddliness exam? Or an exam that tested how many times she could wiggle her butt in ten seconds.

One hundred ninety-two!

The massive oak door to Professor Starfall’s office swung open with a creak that echoed through the vaulted stone corridor. The sweet scent of pine wafted out. It was a smell she liked quite a bit at the best of times, but these were decidedly not said times.

“Miss Cottontail? You may enter now.” Professor Starfall’s melodic voice had none of its standard warmth today.

Tizzy hopped to her feet with a bounce. She straightened her robes and tried to smile, though her nerves made her front tooth dig into her bottom lip. When she entered the office, she was greeted by the familiar sight of Professor Starfall behind her enormous desk carved from a single piece of ancient elderoak, imported from Everafter.

The displays behind her were filled with perfectly transfigured objects from other students’ exams earlier that same day. Jars of glowing ingredients lined the shelves, and animated figurines danced along the windowsills. The office smelled of pine, parchment, and ink. Tizzy’s nose twitched.

“Please sit,” Professor Starfall said with a weary sigh.

Tizzy plopped into the plush velvet chair. Her bunny feet dangled a few inches above the floor, so she swung them back and forth nervously, as one does. The chair molded comfily to the form of her pert little butt as enchanted furniture often did at Pigpimples.

“Am I expelled?” she lisped, her large green eyes filling with tears that threatened to spill over at any moment.

Professor Starfall removed her spectacles, revealing eyes that swirled with the resemblance of a starry sky—a trait of high elves from the Celestial Meadows, part of Everafter’s Prairie Biome. “Of course not, Miss Cottontail. Though your performance in Sophomore Transfiguration has been... concerning.”

“I’m sorry! I try to focus, I really do,” Tizzy explained, her fingers nervously wringing in her lap. “But my mind just hops around like—”

“Like a jackalope?” Professor Starfall finished with the barest hint of a smile.

“Yes!” Tizzy exclaimed. “Exactly!”

The professor’s face grew serious once more as she pushed three scrolls across the desk. Each bore a large, glowing red ‘F’ at the top, accompanied by the names of three different subjects: Sophomore Transfiguration, Healing Magic, and Dark Arts.

“You have failed three classes this semester,” Professor Starfall said. “I’ve discussed your case with Professor Moonshadow and Professor Lickett-Goode. We all agree that you have potential, but you lack discipline.”

Tizzy’s eyes welled with globby tears. “Please don’t make me go back to Everafter!” The thought of returning to the thicket empty-handed made her chest tighten. “It’s so crowded and boring, and there’s only like twelve jackalopes left and they’re all girls and—”

“Miss Cottontail,” Professor Starfall interrupted, raising a slender hand. “You’re not being sent home. But you will need to attend Summer Camp again.”

Tizzy sniffled, her nose twitching rapidly. “Again?”

“Yes. Again. This will be your second remedial summer.” The professor gave her a stern look. “And hopefully your last. If you can’t pass these courses, Miss Cottontail, we may have to consider whether Pigpimples is the right place for you.”

“No! I’ll do better! I promise!” Tizzy lisped with earnest determination.

“See that you do.” Professor Starfall gathered the scrolls, which rolled themselves up with a soft whisper. “You’ll be staying in Cabin 7 this summer, or so I’m told. Report to the lake tomorrow morning by nine o’clock sharp.”

As Tizzy stood to leave, voices drifted in from the hallway. One she recognized as Professor DaFoe, who taught Non-Latin Incantations. The other had the distinctive husky tone of Lady Katherine, the newest and most mysterious member of the faculty.

“I have confirmed that the new male student will be joining us this summer. It’s been years since—”

“Shhh! Not so loud. We don’t want even more rumors spreading before—”

The voices faded as they moved away from the door. Tizzy’s ears perked up so straight they were vibrating with curious excitement. They were talking about that new male student again. That was interesting. Male students were rare enough at Pigpimples, where female monsters made up nearly eighty percent of the population. Men, even monsterkin and elven men from Everafter, rarely possessed the gifts of Wizardcraft. She wondered if it was someone she’d heard of before.

“Miss Cottontail?” Professor Starfall’s voice snapped her back to reality. “You’re dismissed.”

Tizzy scampered out of the office and down the corridor, her furry bunny feet barely making a sound on the ancient stone floor. Suits of armor creaked as they turned to watch her pass, and the animated portraits of former headmasters murmured gossip as she bounced by.

The courtyard was bustling as students prepared for the end of term. Dragonlings swooped overhead, carrying messages between towers. A few centaur students clattered across the cobblestones with ingredient satchels bouncing against their flanks. All normal.

Less normal: near the distant lake, a group of instructors waved their wands in complex patterns. With each gesture, wooden structures materialized—the summer camp cabins, assembled fresh each year from raw magic.

Tizzy spotted a familiar face and bounded over to greet her. “Bekkah! Bekkah! Guess what?”

Bekkah turned, her rainbow-colored wings fluttering with excitement. The fairy’s iridescent butterfly wings caught the light as she turned to meet Tizzy. “What? Did you pass?”

“No,” Tizzy said with a momentary pout. “But I heard something amazing! The teachers were talking about a new male student coming to summer camp!”

“The new boy?” Bekkah’s wings buzzed faster, scattering shimmering dust that smelled like candy. “That’s unusual. I heard rumors, of course, but new students typically start in the fall.”

“Yeah, and they were being really secretive about it,” Tizzy added.

Bekkah’s eyes widened. “Interesting. Secretive means powerful, I bet. You think he’s an elf?”

Tizzy nodded. “Probably.”

“What’s so amazing?” came a sultry voice from behind them.

Tizzy turned to see Asenath approaching. The sphinx girl’s black lioness tail swished gracefully behind her as she caught up to them.

“I overheard the teachers talking about the new male student coming to summer camp,” Tizzy explained.

Asenath’s feline ears perked up. “In summer? That’s unusual.” Her tail curled with interest. “I wonder what species he is. You think he’s a freshman?”

“If he’s starting in summer, probably not,” Bekkah said.

Tizzy nodded her agreement.

Asenath adjusted the gold bangles on her wrist. “Speaking of summer camp, did you two fail any classes?”

Tizzy and Bekkah exchanged guilty glances.

“I failed three,” Tizzy admitted, lisping. “Transfig, Healing, and Dark Arts.”

“Four for me,” Bekkah said with a sigh. “At least some of them overlap with Tizzy’s list.”

“I only failed two,” Asenath said proudly, smoothing her black tank top beneath her open robe. “Healing and Rituals, though I got really close to flubbing my combat summon.”

“Why don’t they just let us take the classes in the castle during the summer?” Tizzy asked. She gestured out toward the instructors building the cabins by the lake.

“Professor DaFoe explained it last year, I think,” Asenath said, leaning against a statue of Merlin that occasionally offered unsolicited advice on urinary tract infections to passing students. “The castle accumulates potentially dangerous magical residue during the school year—excess mana discharge, failed spells, magical accidents, whatever. The janitorial staff needs the summer to purify the building so that it doesn’t become a problem when classes resume in the fall.”

“Plus,” Bekkah added, “it’s tradition. And you know how old monsters love their traditions.”

A low whooshing sound caught their attention. Looking up, they saw a small paper airplane zooming toward them, trailing sparks of blue magic. It circled Tizzy’s head twice before dropping into her outstretched hands. Two more identical planes arrived seconds later, landing in Bekkah’s and Asenath’s grasps.

“Summer camp assignments,” Asenath sighed, unfolding hers carefully. Her yellow feline eyes scanned the parchment. “Cabin 7 for me. Great.”

Bekkah squealed as she read her own. “Me too! Cabin 7!” The girls shared a quick embrace.

“I’m in 7 too,” Tizzy lisped, nose twitching with excitement, a smile lighting up her large eyes with joy. “At least we’re all together!”

“Well, there are only two cabins for summoners, so odds were pretty good,” Asenath said, but the sound of new footsteps grabbed the girls’ attention before anyone could react.

They turned to see Kasirah approaching. The valkyrie’s white wings were folded neatly against her back, and her pale hair was the color of snow.

“Make that all four of us,” Kasirah the valkyrie sighed as she walked up, holding up her own notice that had just arrived. “Cabin 7 for summer remedials.”

“You too, huh?” Asenath giggled.

“Yep.”

“Guess it’s not that big a surprise. So who’s our fifth? I hope it’ll be this mysterious new boy,” the sphinx mused. “I wonder if he’ll be in one of the blue cabins with us summoners.”

“I think I heard his name’s supposed to be Reggie or something like that?” Bekkah said, squinting as she tried to remember. “Weird name. Wonder where he’s supposed to be from.”

“Who knows?” Kasirah said, her muscular shoulders rippling as she adjusted her wings. “Maybe he’s from one of the distant biomes of Everafter. There are some isolated pockets of elitist elves with their own naming traditions.”

“This’ll be exciting!” Tizzy bounced on her bunny feet, lisping happily. “Maybe he’ll have really different magic from what we’ve seen before!”

“I think his magic is supposed to be pretty strong,” Asenath said. “One of the cleaning imps overheard Ms. Applebottom talking about it with Ms. White.”

“Only thing I think I heard her say is that he’s tall,” Bekkah added with a giggle. “Like, taller than most of the male teachers.”

“Probably just rumors,” Kasirah said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Boys always get talked up before they arrive.”

“Either way, I’m gonna get mating pressed by that boy,” Asenath growled.

The others cringed. “You’re all talk,” Bekkah sighed. “You’ve never even held a boy’s hand.”

“Would you shut up ?!” The sphinx blushed and spread her hands defensively.

Later that evening, the Great Hall was full of students talking about end-of-term and summer vacation plans. Floating candles provided lighting to the vast room, and the enchanted ceiling was made transparent to show off a perfect twilight sky above them. The long tables groaned under the weight of a feast that catered to every species’ dietary needs, from raw fish for the selkies to blood pudding for the younger vampires.

Tizzy pushed her vegetable stew around her golden plate while half-listening to the conversations around her. Fragments of gossip floated through the air like the enchanted and mysteriously obese pigeons that delivered dessert menus.

“They said he’s got some rare kind of magic—”

“Professor Applebottom herself scouted him out—”

“It’s probably just another rich elven snob—”

Tizzy’s mind wandered as she nibbled on a carrot cake (her favorite, obviously). She pictured the mysterious new student, wondering what kind of creature he might be with such a strange name. Would he be friendly? Would he look down on them for being in summer camp? Would he be good at magic?

The idea that he might actually be in her cabin hadn’t even seriously occurred to her.