“For what?” Addie asked. “Or do I want to know?”
“To bury this,” Burke said. The next item he pulled out of the pack was a small metal canister. It had obviously been made from a short length of pipe. One end was soldered closed, and the other end had a screw-top lid.
Loch took it from him, frowning in puzzlement. “An empty hunk of pipe?”
“Not if we put stuff in it.”
He stuck his hand in his pocket, and pulled out four familiar items.
A set of worn and battered keys on an old key tag with a GM logo. A tiny phone charm in the shape of an arrowhead. A white plastic ballpoint pen, its logo long since worn off. And a set of cheap pot-metal rings with designs on their faces in rhinestones: one an ace, one a diamond, tied together with a piece of string. Burke held the items out to them on the palm of his hand. Nothing but cheap trash. But need and magic had made them into more. Just as it had made them.
“Those are the Hallows,” Loch said slowly. “I— In all the confusion, I never wondered what had happened to them.”
“Yours was in your pocket,” Burke said to Loch. “I found it when I was tossing a bunch of clothes in the wash a couple of days later. I already had the other three. The pen was in the back of the van. The keys were in the ignition. And I’d still been wearing the rings.”
Addie reached out and touched the keys. “‘Are’ the Hallows?” she asked. “‘Were’ the Hallows? I’m not sure I could even tell.”
“‘Were,’ I think,” Burke answered. “But I kind of thought … we might want to bury them anyway.”
“Sounds good to me,” Loch said. He picked up the length of pipe and held it out to Burke. “Toss ’em.”
Burke tipped his hand gently, and let the four items spill into the container.
“Wait!” Spirit said, as he was about to put the top on. “There’s one more thing!”
She slipped the knotted shoelaces over her head and held up the Ironkey drive.
“This was how I’d talk to QUERCUS—to Merlin,” she said. “Back at Oakhurst. I don’t think he’s out there any more, I haven’t tried to use it because I didn’t want to know, but.… I think this deserves to go in with the others.”
Burke nodded. “Seems fair,” he said.
Spirit dropped the Ironkey into the pipe, and Burke screwed the lid down tight. Then they all took turns with the entrenching tool, digging a small deep hole under the pine trees. When they all agreed it was deep enough, Burke placed the container at the bottom, and they filled in the hole and stomped the earth down. When the pine needles on the ground had been scattered over the place again, there was no sign anything had ever been disturbed.
“Someday, somebody’s going to dig that up, you know,” Addie said. “What do you suppose they’ll think?”
“Just some kids playing a game,” Spirit said. “You know what kids are like.”
“Sure,” Loch said. “Always playing around. No idea about doing something important with their lives.”
Addie reached out and touched Loch’s arm gently. “We already have,” she said. “If none of us ever does anything else worth mentioning until the day we die, we’ll have done this.”
“Well I, personally, intend to do a lot of things,” Spirit said firmly.
“Me too,” Burke said. “Now, who wants lunch?”
TOR TEEN BOOKS BY MERCEDES LACKEY AND ROSEMARY EDGHILL
Shadow Grail #1: Legacies
Shadow Grail #2: Conspiracies
Shadow Grail #3: Sacrifices
Shadow Grail #4: Victories
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
MERCEDES LACKEY is the author of the Valdemar novels. She has collaborated with Andre Norton on the Halfblood Chronicles and with James Mallory on the bestselling Obsidian Trilogy, Enduring Flame Trilogy, and the upcoming Dragon Prophecy Trilogy. She lives with her husband in Oklahoma.
ROSEMARY EDGHILL has worked as an SF editor, a freelance book designer, a typesetter, an illustrator, and as a professional book reviewer in addition to writing numerous books. She lives in Maryland.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.
SHADOW GRAIL #4: VICTORIES
Copyright © 2014 by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Cliff Nielsen
A Tor Teen Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Lackey, Mercedes, author.
Victories / Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill.
p. cm. — (Shadow Grail; 4)
“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”
ISBN 978-0-7653-2826-7 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-7653-1764-3 (trade paperback)
ISBN 978-1-4668-4321-9 (e-book)
1. Magic—Fiction. 2. Supernatural—Fiction. 3. Mordred (Legendary character)—Fiction. 4. Boarding schools—Fiction. 5. Schools—Fiction. I. Edghill, Rosemary, author. II. Title.
PZ7.L13543Vi 2014
[Fic]—dc23
2013025956
e-ISBN 9781466843219
First Edition: April 2014
Victories Page 20