‘Huh, yeah.’
‘Where’s Glinda?’ Krystal asked.
Charlotte grimaced. ‘Needed to stay behind and check something with one of the lecturers. She said. She’s got another date tonight. I’m starting to think it’s someone on the staff here.’
‘Dean Scintilla Rainshadow would not like that.’
‘Nope. Probably why she’s keeping it so quiet.’
They were no more than ten yards from the hall’s front door when a groan from behind Trudy indicated that Felicia was coming to. Trudy stopped on the spot and lowered the indigo to a standing position, supported by Charlotte and Krystal. Just in time too as Felicia’s eyes flickered open a second later.
‘What… Where am I? Why am I looking at you?’ Felicia said, managing to put as much contempt into a pronoun as it was possible to do.
‘You’re just outside Nightsky Hall,’ Krystal said before Trudy could respond. ‘You collapsed from overexertion because you insisted on trying to do the monumentally improbable. And you can thank Trudy Black very much for her assistance in getting you back here before you go lie down and rest for at least another hour.’
Felicia turned her head to glare at Krystal and then shook herself free of her support. She stumbled, but she held herself up. ‘I could have done it. I should have been able to do it. Why would they give us a problem to do which was impossible to complete?’
‘You were supposed to figure out it couldn’t be done, or learn that some things are beyond you the hard way. I might have tried it myself if Jesse Oakleaf hadn’t suggested it might be too hard.’
Felicia’s eyes flicked over Jesse, who shrank a little under the glare, and then Felicia noticed her bag in Jesse’s hands. ‘My bag! What are you doing with–’ She was reaching out to snatch the leather satchel when Charlotte stepped between them.
Charlotte was wearing an expression of calm hiding barely restrained rage. You could see the anger leaking out through her eyes. ‘Now, listen, Felicia whatever-your-name-is. Krys is all about diplomacy and manners, and if you don’t get some of those manners right now, I am going to put you back to sleep with my fist.’
The indigo’s teeth ground for a second. She was tired and probably aching from what she had put her body through. There were none of her squad of cheerleaders around and she was outnumbered, and that was bound to make her nervous. She pulled herself together through willpower and breeding. ‘Thank you for your assistance in returning me to hall,’ she said. ‘Might I have my bag so that I may return to my room to rest?’
Jesse sort of leaned around the wall of Charlotte with Felicia’s bag. ‘H-here it is.’
To her credit, Felicia took the bag gently and then turned, heading for the door of the hall with the gait of someone who could barely spare the energy to put one foot in front of the other.
‘I can’t help but think we’re going to suffer for that,’ Trudy said. ‘Her father’s some big noise at the palace, head of magical security, I think. She’s used to being near the top of the pile wherever she is.’
‘Unfortunately for her,’ Krystal replied, ‘here she’s just one more student. I don’t think Theodore Marin cares one jot who her father is. But she did have one thing right: it was a stupid stunt to pull on a bunch of new students. Martine Bluedrake seemed to think it was nothing out of the ordinary, and I can see the point in doing it, sort of, but it was kind of stupid to actually let anyone try to work that spell.’
‘Pain is a great teacher,’ Charlotte said. ‘You make mistakes, you learn from them.’
‘Maybe. I wonder if Felicia is going to learn from her mistake.’
‘Which one? Overdoing it in lab, or pissing me off?’
Krystal grinned at the tall blue. ‘Either of them.’
‘She doesn’t strike me as the type to learn any lesson which is inconvenient for her,’ Trudy said. ‘Don’t count on her changing any because of today.’
13th Day of Autumngate.
‘You know you want to,’ Charlotte said, grinning at Krystal. ‘You just want to reach out and help us cloud heads sort out this problem.’
Krystal was unmoved. ‘Not until you’ve spent at least a couple of hours working on it yourselves. What’ve they got you working on?’
‘We have to work out the approximate energy needed for a spell Sareena Slate gave us,’ Trudy said.
‘Really? I didn’t worry about things like that so soon.’ Krystal shrugged. ‘As evidenced by Felicia Goldring’s example on Blueday, knowing how much power you’re going to need to control is not a bad thing. If you try to overdo it, your body tries its hardest to handle the stress, and if you’re lucky, the worst you get is exhaustion.’
‘And we have three complex rituals to formulate,’ Jesse said. ‘I-if you think it’s too c-crowded in here, I could work on them i-in my room and c-come back…’
‘Work where you’re comfortable,’ Krystal replied.
Jesse gave one of her timid grins. ‘I actually like working here. Even if you could use more plants.’
‘I just wish this place allowed pets,’ Xanthe said. She was there this week while Glinda was out on another date.
‘You have pets?’ Jesse asked.
‘Uh-huh, and it was a real wrench having to leave them all behind to come here. I only wanted to bring a couple.’
Krystal looked over at the yellow dragon, narrowing her eyes. ‘Like what?’
‘Well, there’s my rabbit, Jenkins, and my bluebird, Celest, and my cat, Georgina Fangkiller Swiftdeath…’
Charlotte looked up at that. ‘You have a cat and you called her Georgina Fangkiller Swiftdeath?’
‘Of course not. She named herself Fangkiller Swiftdeath, but we call her Georgina for short. And then there’s my wolf, Bloodfang Slaughterbeast. Uh, we named him that, but it’s ironic.’
‘I think I might know why they wouldn’t let you bring your animals,’ Krystal said, grinning. ‘Clearly that bluebird would’ve really messed the place up.’
‘I hear rabbits can be utter terrors,’ Trudy added.
‘Actually,’ Jesse said, ‘if you’ve ever come across the wolves you find in Tangleroots, you’d realise Bloodfang Slaughterbeast would need his own room.’
‘Big?’ Trudy asked.
‘Very big.’
‘Oh, Fang’s a sweetie,’ Xanthe countered. ‘He sleeps on my feet in winter and keeps me warm.’
‘That’s what boyfriends are for,’ Charlotte said. ‘Head in the game, girls, we’ve got numbers to crunch.’
‘Oh, that reminds me,’ Jesse said, getting up. ‘I got snacks. I’ll go get them.’
‘We get snacks?’ Charlotte asked. ‘We are definitely going to have to make this a regular thing.’
14th Day of Autumngate.
‘If I’m remembering it right,’ Krystal said as she climbed up the last couple of steps into the literary section of Cragscales’ shop, ‘you should find a copy of Advanced Theory for the Practical Magus right around here.’
‘Oh,’ Jesse replied, peering around at the various cabinets and shelves. ‘That’s good.’
‘But you’ll definitely want to look at the section on plant-related magic, which is a little further in.’
‘Oh…’
‘Some of the books looked a little advanced, but there’s never anything wrong with stretching yourself.’
Jesse sighed. ‘N-no. You’re right. Can you show me where they are in a minute or two?’ She started toward the bookshelves near the stairs, peering at the spines.
‘Sure. I remember where they are.’
‘A remarkable feat for someone who has seen these shelves once, Krystal Ward.’ Krystal turned to find Cragscales walking up the stairs. He used the handrail to help him climb, she noticed, and she wondered just how old the grey was.
‘I can usually remember things I want to remember,’ Krystal replied. ‘I usually want to remember where I’ve seen a book.’
‘A useful talent.’
‘Yes, it i
s. Might I introduce my friend? Cragscales, this is Jesse Oakleaf. She’s one of my friends from halls and my lab partner, and… Well, she’s a little shy.’
The grizzled grey peered at Jesse for a second. Jesse was trying to shrink into as small a space as possible. ‘One of the Tangleroot Oakleafs?’ Jesse responded with a nod. ‘I knew your grandmother, Josephine, when she studied at the school.’
That seemed to bring Jesse out of her shell a little. ‘Oh, G-Grandmother Josephine w-was the d-dragon who persuaded me t-to come here.’
A thin smile broke out on the old dragon’s face. ‘She was a wild one back then and I was a lot younger, of course. I’d had the shop a bit more than two centuries. The first year of the school, if I’m remembering it right.’ Krystal’s eyes widened a little: that timing suggested Cragscales was a very venerable dragon. He had to be over six hundred.
‘Grandmother Josephine is still a w-wild one,’ Jesse said, adding one of her patented timid grins.
‘Give her my regards when you next see her. I’ll leave you to Krystal’s guidance since she seems to know her way around.’ Nodding to the two girls, he began to thread his way off into the stacks.
‘He’s nice,’ Krystal said. ‘I think he encouraged Trudy to go to the school.’
‘I suppose if he knew Grandmother Josephine… Let’s get these books sorted out.’ Jesse turned back to the shelves.
‘Books? I thought you just needed the theory text.’
‘Yes, but if you’re going to show me plant books, I’ll end up walking out with more. I might not like books as much as you do, Krys, but plant magic is what I l-live for.’
~~~
Charlotte poked her head out of her room as soon as Krystal opened the door at the end of the corridor. There was an expectant look on the blue’s face which fell away almost instantly.
‘She’s still not back?’ Krystal asked.
Charlotte shook her head. ‘And I shouldn’t be that worried really. I mean, she’s an adult, right? If she wants to spend the night with her boyfriend, that’s not a problem, right? If she wants to spend the next day with her boyfriend too, well–’
‘Who are you trying to convince?’
‘She just didn’t say she was going to be away for so long.’
‘I’m s-sure she’s okay,’ Jesse said. Her arms were full of books, a couple of them quite large.
‘Yeah,’ Charlotte said. ‘Yeah, I’m sure she will be. Did you get enough books, Jesse?’
‘I j-just bought a few plant magic books. Really, Krys, Cragscales should be paying you commission.’
‘Huh,’ Krystal replied, ‘maybe I’ll talk to him about it. At some point, I might have to get a job to supplement my book-buying budget. The guild included some book money in the grant, but every time I walk into that shop, my fingers itch.’
‘I bet Trudy could suggest something,’ Jesse said.
‘Something for what?’ Trudy asked, emerging from her room.
‘A job Krystal could do for book money.’
Trudy wandered down toward the group gathered around Charlotte’s door, frowning. ‘Well, there’s waitressing, but you’ll get more of that in spring and summer when the tourists start coming in. I’ll have a think about it. You’d need something that was basically Silverdays-only and there’s not so much call for that in Concord City.’
Krystal shrugged. ‘Oh well, there go my plans to become rich working one day a week.’
‘Well, by the time you get out of school, you’ll probably know enough magic to become rich without working at all. You’ll just have to wait four years to buy your books.’
‘Can’t,’ Krystal said. ‘They call to me. I can hear them from here. “Krystal… Krystal… Come and buy me, Krystal.”’
‘Huh,’ Charlotte said, ‘some dragons can talk to animals, some can talk to plants, but Krys is the first one I’ve ever heard of who can hear books talking to her.’
‘It’s a talent,’ Krystal said, smiling brightly. ‘I’m not going to knock it.’
15th Day of Autumngate.
‘She’s still not back,’ Charlotte said.
‘It’s lunchtime,’ Trudy replied. ‘She could be back any time.’
‘I know. I know that, but… This just isn’t like Glinda. She’s the responsible one. It’s me that’s the screw-up.’
‘You’re really worried?’ Krystal asked.
‘Worried enough that I’m asking if you can do a seeker spell to find her.’
Krystal frowned. ‘Have you got something I can use? Hair, maybe?’
‘Uh-huh. Her hairbrush is in our room and, I checked, there are hairs in the bristles. I don’t borrow her brush. Ever. She’s got a thing about that.’
Looking a little reluctant, Krystal nodded. ‘Okay, I’ll do it after lunch. But I’ll need to be alone. It’s harder when there are other people nearby.’
Jesse gave Krystal a quizzical look, but Charlotte said, ‘Okay, if that’s what you need. Trudy can sit in my room for a little while, right? It shouldn’t take long?’
‘A few minutes.’
‘If you need some privacy to do it, sure,’ Trudy said.
‘It’s not absolutely necessary. It’s just that I’m way better with light and meta-magic. I’ll be working off basic theory and the fewer additional elements I have to worry about, the better.’
‘Okay,’ Charlotte said. The blue girl seemed brighter now that they were going to do something rather than just waiting for Glinda to return. ‘I’ll get you the brush and you can do your thing.’
Krystal nodded. ‘I just hope the map in my guidebook is good enough to locate the street she’s on.’
~~~
If Eastlook was supposed to be the area the rich folk of Concord City lived in, the neighbourhood Krystal’s spell led them to had apparently missed the memo. It seemed that the entire area had been split into walled enclaves, despite the citywide ban on city walls, and here the wall contained buildings which had been abandoned by almost all its inhabitants.
‘I think I remember hearing about this,’ Trudy said, frowning as she tried to remember details. ‘I was nine or ten. There was a man accused of necromancy, a magus. Turned out he was a necromancer. When the guards came to look into it, he turned a small army of zombies loose on them. A lot of people died, including the necromancer. The entire enclave was abandoned after that.’
‘Then what’s Glinda doing here?’ Charlotte asked.
‘No idea.’
‘But the spell says she’s here,’ Krystal said. ‘Right ahead of us, about two hundred yards.’
Two hundred yards straight ahead actually required that they take a detour around a row of buildings and cross a small, overgrown square which had, probably, once been quite pretty. There had been statuary there, though most of the stone figures were overturned and several had been shattered. Thick tussocks of blue-green grass grew up from between the flagstones and creeping plants had grown out from the nearby gardens to form a mat of leaves and vines.
Jesse moved in close to Krystal and Charlotte, looking around at the plants warily. ‘I don’t like this place,’ she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
‘I’d have thought all these plants would have made you feel at home,’ Charlotte said.
‘It’s the plants I don’t like. They don’t feel natural. Or they feel sick. They don’t feel right.’
‘There’s something else,’ Xanthe said from where she was bringing up the rear with Trudy. ‘There are plenty of trees around here.’
‘Plenty of sick trees,’ Jesse muttered.
‘So?’ Charlotte asked.
‘Not a single bird in them,’ Xanthe replied. ‘No birdsong. No alarm calls.’
‘Spooky,’ Krystal said flatly. ‘However, that necromancer was almost a decade ago and I don’t think the city would let this place fester as a nesting ground for the undead. I’m pretty sure we’re safe. Of course, we still don’t know why Glinda is here, but she’s…’ She frowned, look
ing around. Then she pointed at one of the houses. ‘She’s in there.’
‘Well,’ Charlotte said, looking at the building, ‘getting in shouldn’t be a problem.’ The building had no intact windows and the front door was off its hinges. ‘When you said she was in Eastlook, I figured Trudy was right about the married dragon, but now…’
‘Maybe we should go back and get the city guardians,’ Jesse suggested. It was weird, but for such a timid-seeming girl, her stutter was not apparent in the face of potential danger.
‘I need to find Glinda,’ Charlotte said, and she set off into the house, pushing the broken door aside as she went.
‘Right,’ Trudy said, and she set off as well, her skin sparkling as she went.
Jesse and Xanthe walked past Krystal, and their skin was sparkling too. Shifting to dracoform did not offer everyone benefits like the extra strength Trudy would gain, but their scales were tougher than normal skin, providing a little protection, and they would have claws. With a sigh, Krystal followed, wishing that she could shift too.
‘Any idea which way?’ Charlotte asked as Krystal walked into what had once been a front hall. There were holes in the plaster, most of the ceiling had collapsed, and several of the floorboards were ripped up.
Krystal focused on her spell. ‘She’s… up. She’s on one of the upper floors. Are you sure the stairs are going to be safe?’
‘We can just– Oh, you can’t fly.’
‘I’ll just have to take it carefully. And someone who can fly can take the lead. If one of you puts your foot through the floor, at least I’ll know where not to step.’
Charlotte took the lead. It was possible that Trudy was heavier in dracoform, but Charlotte was the better flyer. Charlotte’s back was stiff and, if you looked closely, the blue was trembling. Krystal brought up the rear and she had a good idea why Charlotte was so wound up: somewhere above them was Glinda, in a disused, half-ruined house, and the chances of her being alive seemed a little slim.
The stairs up to the next floor, the second of four, were not hard to find. Not after Trudy produced a magical candleflame in her hand to light the way. The entrance hall led to an inner passage and the stairs were at the far end. They seemed to be pretty sound. There were even remnants of a dark-red carpet with gold flowers woven in clinging to the steps. The weather had got into the front of the house, but this hallway had no windows and the doors were intact. Everyone climbed in silence, listening for any sign of life, but also unwilling to talk in the heavy, almost oppressive, atmosphere. There was something creepy about the old house, besides the fact that they were climbing through it in the near-dark.
Misfit Magic (Misfits Book 1) Page 9