Chapter 19

In the evening, Jennifer asked to see Laurel in her office.

“I’m so impressed with you, with the research you’re doing,” Jennifer began. “It’s truly remarkable. I wonder, though, if you’ve thought of where to go from here?”

“What do you mean?” Laurel asked.

“I figure you’ve got enough data now that you could publish your ideas - possibly anonymously - and walk away, if you wanted. The mage community would pick up the ball and continue to refine your spermamancy while you go and live whatever sort of life you want.”

Laurel frowned at Jennifer’s suggestion.

“That’s one option,” Jennifer re-asserted. “Another is that you go back to college, work on your degree, get a boyfriend or two, and casually continue to refine your spell here and there as time and your sex life allow. But you’ve got a lot work still before it’s a practical technique. That approach could take years, and you might find splitting your attention frustrating, particularly when complications like breakups slow you down.”

Now Laurel had a different frown - one she wore when thinking through problems.

Jennifer went on: “Or you could dedicate yourself to this project. You could stay here, maybe, post your findings, collaborate with the independent masters, and go all out. You’d have to ‘date’ a lot of men - most likely non-mages, although I suppose you could try get volunteers from magical families by spreading the word. Either way, you would be sucking a lot of dicks for the craft.”

“The final option, as I see it,” Jennifer concluded, “is to try find a patron in one of the big covens. They’re tyrannical busybodies but they’ve got a lot of resources. Who knows, maybe they would get into a bidding war for you. They could set you up with an endless supply of anonymous volunteers: picture a hospital-clean glory hole, with rubber gloves and surgical scrubs. But you’d have to play by their rules, with meetings and deadlines and confidentiality agreements.”

Jennifer could see Laurel thinking, but she clearly hadn’t connected the dots to the big issue yet. “Most of those options will earn you quite a reputation as a slut - in the mundane world, or magical, or both. People will say horrible things about you, some of which will be true. You’ll probably be called a boyfriend-stealer or home-wrecker. People will discount your research, saying it’s just an excuse for wanton behavior. That reputation will follow you through your whole life, and some will spill over onto your friends and family. What you’re doing is amazing, but there will be significant costs.”

“I have to think,” Laurel said. Jennifer nodded. As Laurel began to leave, she asked, “Would my mom be ashamed of me?”

Jennifer shook her head. “She would be so proud.”