by Chris Ward
“Spring water can come from the ground, but junk … junk has to come from somewhere.’’ Benjamin looked up, realising Cleat was reciting the passage from memory. “The river is full of junk that has the distinctive markings of companies well known by people from Earth. It comes through the gushing culvert at the top of a sloping hillock I’ve named Source Mountain for simplicity’s sake. The water could come from the ground, but the heaps of junk … they have to come from somewhere. I have thereby tasked myself with entering this culvert and somehow finding a way through.”
Benjamin peered at the words, guessing what point Cleat was up to. He was pretty sure he’d figured out which of the scribbles meant ‘junk’ when Cleat abruptly slammed the book shut.
‘I was, um, reading that.’
Cleat sighed. ‘You won’t find anything else of use. I know. I’ve read it six times. Essays by different travelers who went off to explore the farthest reaches of Endinfinium. The traveler who went looking for the culvert was a well-known botanist named Jeremiah Flowers. He seems to have had a bit of an obsession with his object’s namesake; I’ve found several books that he wrote describing Endinfinium’s flora. But anything after this short passage … nothing.’
‘So he made it through?’
‘Or perished trying. Who knows?’ Cleat shrugged, then prodded a finger at the tabletop. ‘The only thing that’s certain is that he never came back.’
7
Date
‘A thousand years, at least,’ Miranda said as they walked to class, Benjamin on her right, Wilhelm on her left. ‘The school’s at least that old. Perhaps ten thousand. And in all that time, they’ve never admitted that there’s any such thing as magic. It’s all quite exciting, really.’
‘Well, it’s not really magic, is it?’ Wilhelm replied, earning a stern glare for his disagreement. ‘It’s just a kind of science that we don’t understand yet. What else could it be?’
Miranda scoffed. ‘You’re such an unbeliever. They should burn you at the stake for the heathen you are.’
‘I just don’t buy into all that hocus-pocus stuff. What about you, Benjamin?’
Benjamin shrugged. Not that he didn’t believe it, he just had no choice. Whether he liked it or not, he could do what he could only describe as magic.
And it had nearly killed him. Now, only with careful, private practice with Grand Lord Bastien had he learned how to use it without immediate danger to himself, though should another dangerous situation arise, he doubted he would remember his training in time.
The fifteen first-year pupils crowded into a concrete science laboratory with shelves and cupboards brim-full of all manner of dusty bric-a-brac. The only difference between this room and one of Benjamin’s former school’s science laboratories was that some of the items in glass jars and cages were alive.
One metal cage flickered with trapped Scatlocks. Another sealed glass tank contained several soda pop cans bouncing off of each other and knocking into the glass.
‘They could make a zoo out of this place,’ Wilhelm said as they shuffled behind a row of benches and sat down. ‘Not sure I’d want to pay to come in, though.’
The pupils were still chatting when a door on the other side of the room opened to allow in Professor Loane. The tall, boyish teacher, who wore an expression of part smug, part embarrassment, went to a podium in front of the blackboard and called for quiet.
‘Hello, everyone. As you know, this is your first lesson of a new course. Animation Science. I guess you’re wondering what that means. Well, for almost the length of time this school has existed, we have lived in the shadow of … um, our circumstances. As you’ve probably noticed, this world isn’t quite like the one you may have come from. It has certain … peculiarities….’
Wilhelm rolled his eyes so much, Benjamin wondered if they wouldn’t get stuck on the wrong side of his head, and Miranda stared at the door as though she had forgotten something back in the dorm. Benjamin tried to concentrate on the professor’s speech, which was sounding far too much like an apology than an explanation.
‘It was believed by the Teachers’ Inner Circle that studies of reanimation and … um, what abilities you might have to influence it, were detrimental. However, we have now decided to take a more modern view of things, on a short-term, trial basis.’ At the sound of an exaggerated sigh from the back, he concluded, ‘So without further ado, let me introduce you to your new Animation Science teacher, Professor Caspian.’
‘Edgar!’ Miranda cried out as the door opened again and a diminutive, old man dressed in a medieval tunic entered the room. Edgar Caspian, the one who had helped them in their battle against the Dark Man, had always been considered an outcast because of his refusal to hide the existence of reanimation magic. He lived in a rather unique cave down on the beach, where, among other things, he was Miranda’s secret magic teacher.
‘Um, Professor Caspian will do,’ Professor Loane said. Then, with a flourish of his hands, added, ‘Over to you, professor.’
‘It’s nice to be here in front of you,’ Edgar said, his small, knowing eyes taking in all of the gathered faces. ‘Many years ago, I used to teach in this very same room. Unfortunately, circumstances had led me to take a break for a few decades.’
Miranda glanced across at Benjamin and Wilhelm, and her face glowed with justification. After all, Edgar had been the only teacher to look out for her. Aware she had a special skill who no one else in the school would admit to, she had been wandering, lost and afraid, when Edgar had come across her down on the beach and taken her on as a pupil.
‘First of all,’ Edgar said, ‘I’d like you to make pairs. We’re going to do a little experiment so that you understand what reanimation really is.’
‘You can work with Snout,’ Wilhelm said to Benjamin, shuffling his stool across to Miranda.
‘Oh, wait!’ Edgar called. ‘I almost forgot. We have a new pupil today. Cuttlefur, will you please come in?’
The boy with the deep blue hair strode in through the doorway. He looked like an avant-garde fashion model, and when he went to stand beside Edgar with a shy grin, an audible sigh came from all of the girls in the room.
‘He’s supposed to be in the third year, isn’t he?’ Wilhelm hissed into Benjamin’s ear.
‘I thought so.’
‘Please welcome Cuttlefur to our class,’ Edgar said. ‘He’s newly arrived in Endinfinium, and while he’ll be moving into the third year in a few weeks, he’s joined us in the middle of the term, so we felt it best to give him a few catch-up classes. Please treat him like one of your own.’
A round of applause came from the girls. Wilhelm gave one sarcastic clap and glared at Cuttlefur as though trying to melt him with his eyes.
‘Oh, you’ll need a partner … how about Ms. Butterworth? Miranda, would you mind partnering with Cuttlefur for the next few lessons? Thank you.’
Wilhelm looked so aghast as Cuttlefur took his seat beside Miranda that Benjamin almost laughed. Instead, the smaller boy shuffled toward Benjamin.
‘I guess it’s you and me, old sport.’
‘And it looks like we have one odd … Simon, would you mind joining with Benjamin and Wilhelm? Thanks.’
Wilhelm sighed as Snout pulled his stool over. Benjamin couldn’t help giving Wilhelm a playful nudge under the table, but instead of kicking back like he would have done if in a good mood, Wilhelm just slumped forward like a deflated balloon.
‘Let’s get this over with,’ he grumbled.
An hour later, after a series of experiments to define what kind of state an inanimate object might reanimate into, the bell rang for the end of class. Wilhelm automatically looked around for Miranda, though they caught only a glimpse of her hair as she hurried out of the room in pursuit of Cuttlefur.
‘What’s gotten into her?’ Wilhelm said. ‘I mean, she can’t be buying into all that cool, older boy stuff, can she?’
Benjamin shrugged. ‘She’s a girl, so who knows? But it’s more tha
n that, isn’t it? He’s from where she’s from. It’s that link they share.’
Wilhelm rolled his eyes. ‘I guess you’re right.’
Benjamin grinned. ‘Anyone would think that you might be a little—’
‘What?’
‘Jealous?’
‘Of what?’
Benjamin just shrugged.
‘You think I want to hang around with Miranda? I’m just concerned for her well-being, that’s all. And I didn’t want to work with Snout.’
‘What’s wrong with Snout?’
‘Nothing! He’s just, you know—’
‘Not a girl?’
‘I don’t want to work with a girl. Miranda’s not a girl, she’s a … friend.’
Wilhelm was getting increasingly flustered, and Benjamin gave him a nudge in the ribs. ‘But doesn’t she punch you all the time?’
‘That’s her way of showing affection.’
‘Do you think she’s going to punch Cuttlefur?’
Wilhelm glowered. ‘She’d better not.’
‘So what you’re saying is that we need to protect Cuttlefur from Miranda?’
Wilhelm snapped his fingers. ‘Yes! Exactly that. I feel for him, I really do, getting her attention like that.’
‘You must be pretty glad she’s no longer interested in hanging around with you.’
Wilhelm nodded. ‘I wouldn’t mind if I never saw Miranda again. She’s a hothead and she has a bad attitude—’
Just then, Miranda stepped out of the girls’ lavatories immediately to their left. ‘Excuse me?’ she said. ‘What are you two talking about?’
‘Wilhelm was just saying—’
‘No, I wasn’t!’
Miranda glared at him. ‘I heard you.’ Lightning fast, a bony fist shot out to cuff Wilhelm across the shoulder.
‘Ow!’
‘Serves you right. I have other friends, you know. Cuttlefur and I and going to watch the fourth years do a theatre presentation of West Side Story. You two can have a nice time playing together in the sandpit.’
And with that, she marched off, leaving them staring after her. After a pause, Benjamin said, ‘Did you hear that? They’re going on a date.’
‘No, they’re not. Watching a bunch of fourth years flounder about on a stage is hardly taking her up the West End, is it?’
‘It’s about as good as you can get in Endinfinium.’
Wilhelm fell silent, and Benjamin made to nudge him for a response, when he answered, ‘This cannot be allowed to happen. He’s a third year. He should hang out with other third years. And I don’t trust him. There’s something about him that’s kind of … odd.’
Benjamin nodded. Very little in Endinfinium wasn’t odd, but something about Cuttlefur had gotten his own hackles up. Pretty much everyone he’d met here in Endinfinium had problems of one kind or another, but Cuttlefur … he was just too perfect.
‘What are we going to do?’ he said.
‘We have to watch her. And we have to spy on him.’
‘How? She’ll kill you if she finds out, and if he’s anything like her at all, he might be ten times worse. He might tie you up in the Haunted Forest and leave you to the wraith-hounds.’
Wilhelm rubbed his chin. ‘I think I have an idea,’ he said.
8
Theatre
Neither Benjamin nor Wilhelm really understood. Miranda wasn’t surprised Wilhelm didn’t get it—after all, he was a nitwit at the best of times—but she’d hoped Benjamin might have understood, particularly after what had happened with his brother.
Didn’t matter how many friends you made, nothing was as special as a link to home.
Even with a home like hers, growing up in a people-making factory, it was still all you knew. And while Miranda had adjusted to life in Endinfinium better than most—enjoying it for the most part, despite its peculiarities—it was still an alien place that had claimed her without warning or reason.
A thousand theories abounded as to why each of them had woken up in Endinfinium one day, with no recollection of what might have caused it. Some of them were fanciful—
aliens had finally shown up and Endinfinium was a giant zoo for humans caught across dozens of time periods—others were more realistic—everyone on Endinfinium shared a biological quirk that had allowed them to step through some spacetime continuum wormhole that had then closed behind him.
Miranda rather liked the latter theory, though the only problem with verifying it was that no one here had any idea what that quirk might be, and no scientists were around capable of looking for it.
Cuttlefur waited in the school entrance lobby, a wide internal courtyard lined with offices on one side and great glass walls on the other. Outside, a wide terrace sat on the very edge of the clifftop, from where panoramic views of the yellow sun’s setting could be seen every night, and where you were perfectly safe, provided you got back inside before the black-winged haulocks took flight just after sundown.
‘Hey,’ he said, standing up from one of the hard, metal seats outside of the school office. ‘Did you change your clothes? You look really nice.’
Miranda shook her head. Had Wilhelm or Benjamin said such a thing, she would have immediately gone on the attack against a comment surely dripping with sarcasm. But Cuttlefur’s smooth voice left no doubt that he was sincere.
‘No, I didn’t,’ she said. ‘This is my regular school uniform. Thanks for asking, though.’
Cuttlefur led her through the corridors, toward the fourth years’ area. Each school year had a section of rooms used for their basic studies—languages, math, Earth history—and there were far more rooms than pupils, suggesting a far more widespread population in years’ past. Several rooms had been left empty, but in the fourth years’ area, one had been turned into a makeshift theatre.
They took a seat at the back, and Miranda felt a little conspicuous since she was one of the youngest pupils present. Plus, it seemed every girl they passed wanted a second look at Cuttlefur.
‘Don’t they look at you like they look at me?’ he asked in the end after two third-year girls had giggled past them.
Miranda shrugged. ‘I guess they got bored.’
‘I mean, we were made physically perfect. That was the whole point.’
‘Except they missed a bit.’
‘Where?’
Miranda tapped the side of her head. ‘In here. Keeping us in a dorm with forty-nine others who looked exactly the same wasn’t really the best way to give us an emotional background.’
‘I guess not.’
The play started, and within the first few minutes, Miranda realised she really didn’t like the theatre all that much. But Cuttlefur stared at the stage, eyes glazed as if viewing a reenacted epiphany. The production was a grown-up love story, though it seemed like the script was incomplete; every so often scenes jumped forward without any kind of reason. Miranda remembered something Benjamin had said about the library being full of water-damaged books. Perhaps that was where the fourth years had found the script.
Miranda was glad when it was over. Cuttlefur stirred as if he’d been sleeping for the last hour. He turned to her and smiled.
‘You know what?’ he said. ‘All those years growing up in the institution, I never realised how much I missed seeing the sunset. I’ve watched it every night since I came here. Shall we go and look after dinner?’
Miranda returned his smile. Again, had anyone else said such a thing, she would have punched them. Cuttlefur, though, seemed genuine. Was it normal for fourteen-year-old boys to be so romantic? She glanced down at his hands resting in his lap. If he reached out to hold hers, she would certainly let him. It was a weird feeling.
Cuttlefur stared at her and Miranda realised she hadn’t answered. ‘Yes!’ she blurted, and a couple of the fourth years in the seats in front glanced back with frowns.
‘Great. Well, I’d better go and get ready. I have to get some stuff from my room.’
‘Who are you rooming wi
th?’
He grinned. ‘Simon … what do you call him? Snout?’
Miranda laughed. ‘Yeah, some people call him that.’
‘He’s an odd character. I gather his old roommate disappeared?’
‘Godfrey? Yes, a few weeks ago. He was a complete horror. He tried to kill Wilhelm, Benjamin, and myself. We don’t know where he went. Maybe the Dark Man took him.’
Cuttlefur’s eyes had glazed over again. How much had he actually heard? ‘Benjamin,’ he said. ‘Benjamin Forrest? He’s your friend.’ It wasn’t a question.
‘Um, yes.’
‘He’s quite a famous boy in the school, isn’t he?’
‘I guess. Why?’
‘Just that lots of the others talk about him. You know, when he’s not around.’
Miranda frowned. ‘What do they say?’
Cuttlefur shrugged. ‘Oh, this and that.’ Then he gave an exaggerated shiver, as if to shake off the conversation. ‘Anyway, I’ll meet you in the lobby after?’
‘Sure.’
Cuttlefur smiled, holding her gaze. Miranda tried to smile back, though half of her mouth was too nervous, so she just gave an awkward grimace, and when Cuttlefur left, it was almost a relief. Miranda stood around awkwardly for a moment, half wanting to follow him to see where he was going, half wanting to run in the other direction. In the end, she headed for the dining hall instead.
She had to admit she was feeling a little guilty about not spending much time with Benjamin and Wilhelm. After all, they had been inseparable ever since the Dark Man had attacked the school.
Well, not very guilty, but definitely a little.
9
Spy Camera
‘Look, if you wanted to get into the Locker Room, you should have just stolen Ms. Ito’s shoes or something.’
Wilhelm shook his head. ‘I don’t have time for a thousand cleans; this is a covert operation.’
‘What kind of covert operation?’