by Anne Zoelle
“We are going to need an exit and a slew of distractions,” I said, heart threatening to beat right out of my chest.
“Oh, Crown.” Patrick's smile was edged. “You leave that to us.”
Chapter Thirteen: Reconnection
Neph, Delia, and I went to Mike and Will's room after the meeting. It was the first time just the five of us had been together since we'd been on Top Circle.
Delia hit Mike in the shoulder, hard. “What were you thinking earlier, Givens? Kaine could have killed you.”
Mike stepped out of range and put his hands down in a gesture of surrender. “I was thinking that controlling the word of the community before the media does was the best thing we could do. And now anything that Oakley and his lot say will be looked at through a heavy lens.”
Delia's lips pressed together. “You are on Kaine's list now.”
“We already were, D.” Mike's words were gentle—the type you said to the cat long cornered. “From the moment Godfrey showed us to the world, any sort of privacy was stripped from us.”
“I'm sorry.” I swallowed harshly, pulling at the trial memorial band newly strapped to my arm. “I'm so s—”
Mike looked at me. “What? You think you are the reason? Did you drag us to the Eighteenth Circle?” he asked, voice hard.
“No.”
“Did you put us on the worldwide feed?”
“No.”
“Did you try to kill the student body?”
“I came close when Olivia was taken,” I said, letting go of the band and mashing my hands together.
His expression softened, and he touched the pin he had chosen as his temporary memorial object. We were all currently wearing different forms of wearables—pins, bracelets, drop necklaces, armbands, chokers, forehead bands, belts—allowing Delia and Lifen to tweak spells and ideas while they worked on the form we would all adopt.
“Ren. You saved campus. You created the other dome that saved the students in the battle field stands. You cleared the ports. You and Olivia and Plan Fifty-two made us all available to help. You were the nexus of everything right that happened today. And we willingly volunteered to save the students at the battle field knowing the outcomes. I knew death was likely before we stepped into the Blarjack Swamp.”
My heart rate sped up again and I ran an agitated hand over my lips, staring at my lap. “I want to keep everyone safe.”
“Yes. So do we,” he said, voice turning gentle. “And that includes keeping you safe too.”
“I nearly didn't pass that test,” I said, lifting my gaze reluctantly to his.
“I know,” he said bluntly, holding my gaze. “And I don't know how you passed it, but you did.” He held up a hand to forestall argument. “And even if you don't pass it in the future, your status means nothing to me. I will do whatever is needed to keep you safe.”
Mike was a clean-cut, sport-loving, weather-roping, well-adjusted boy. He'd probably been one of the most popular boys at his magical secondary school. Happy with his place in the world, and intent on seeing everyone else achieve that state. Hazily, I knew his parents were somewhat involved in community works and personal liberties in the wider world.
What Mike wasn't, was a delinquent. He was plenty popular at Excelsine, and could be out sporting it up right now, happy, and with blinders firmly on.
But he was highly loyal, and Will was his best friend and magically-sympathetic roommate. His brother-from-another-mother type of thing. When Will had taken me under his wing, Mike had done the same. And when Mike did something, he did something.
I had always loved Mike—he was so similar in personality and interests to Christian that being friends with him was as natural as breathing.
Mike, like Delia, still did things outside of the circle of Will, Neph, Olivia, and me—but he always sat with us at mealtimes, marking us as his “school family” unit.
And for that family unit, he was descending into delinquency.
“It doesn't mean nothing, Michael, and you know it.” Delia had already started working on the second draft set of memorial wearables she and Lifen had worked up between them, and she was loosely working a bit of knitting into an armband, weaving a spell into a fiber as she wound it through another, fingers shaking just a little.
“D—”
“Just because you want it to be like that and just because something is right means nothing next to fear.” She made a loop in a thread. “Not even seventy years can change society's mind on some things.”
A struggle appeared on Mike's face, as he watched Delia specifically avoid looking at anyone. It had been hinted at multiple times that Delia's family background was far too close to the Third Layer for many Second Layer citizens to be comfortable with.
That Delia didn't have a problem with me seemed...odd. She had seen me on the battlefield. She knew, just like Mike, that I shouldn't have passed the Origin Magic test.
Delia crossed her first spell with a second, tangling the two together, and setting them into the fibers.
“Delia, are you...is it okay that—”
She pierced me with her gaze, fingers halting their motion. “That an Origin Mage ruined my past? My family's legacy?”
I couldn't form words.
“I told you, that day in the cafeteria,” she said, spearing a thread. “We were going to be friends. Knowing you can break the world, and that someday you probably will—Origin Mages almost always detonate somehow—doesn't change the characteristics that you showed then, and that you continue to display.”
Her fingers started another series of knots. “Flavel Valeris' actions seventy years ago may have started the ball rolling, but the people in the Second Layer chose, and continue to choose, to treat my family as they do, even though my parents were born here. They chose to treat us thirdies this way all on their own. The Second Layer chose to keep the magic that Valeris ejected from the Third Layer—magic that could have been righted with Kinsky's return. They started this war that they are now fighting. You did not.”
A ding sounded in the room. Everyone looked up.
“Good timing. I'm starving,” Mike said, breaking the tension.
I touched the connection thread to Delia and some of the tightness in her shoulders loosened. Mike squeezed one of her shoulders as he walked toward the food area of their room. He hadn't been kidding then. It wasn't too surprising that we might grab a second dinner, as mages ate more than First Layer folks did. All that energy use tended to burn far more calories.
“Magi Mart?” I asked. It wasn't ideal, but I'd had breakfast burritos and magic wraps on worse. I'd had one earlier with Neph after returning from Medical.
“Nah, the bell was a reminder. In lockdown situations, they send menus around, then send the food to us. Trying to simulate the cafeteria environment. Get everyone eating simultaneously and refreshing campus with our magical calories,” he said jokingly. “Since everyone is going to be attending the memorial far past midnight, now is the perfect time.”
Mike opened the delivery box and removed a sheet of paper. He scanned it with his eyes, then pressed his finger down. A tiny bit of magic was enveloped.
“Second dinner. Order up,” Mike said, while passing around what I could now see was a menu.
I took it and looked through the options. Caniopidas was listed—the delightful food item that was created by the ten-eyed people who worked a small section of the cafeteria. I pressed my finger next to the item. A small suction of energy took an imprint of my magic. The Decaclops people read the magic from a person and created a combination that was tailored exactly to the consumer. It was usually done in person in the cafeteria.
It was my favorite choice, and I didn't understand why other people shied away from it. I said so aloud.
“Because it is invasive, Ren,” Will answered.
“This world is all about invasiveness,” I said, looking over Mike's bed and out the window. The Legion warriors in their spiky black garb were striding between
the vetted troops from five surrounding countries that had assembled to help “sweep” campus for any remaining threats. The mixed scouting groups were designed to stop anything from being covered up or hidden. No one trusted anyone, it seemed.
“And giving up rights,” I added. “Why anyone would be against the perfect meal from a scan far less invasive than what I get every time I enter Top Circle, I'll never know.”
The others exchanged looks.
I sighed. “What?”
“Part of it has to do with the Decaclops people, the Fourth Layer beings that make it,” Neph said softly.
“Great. Racism?”
“Most mages like to call it caution against things they don't completely understand.”
I sighed. “Fine. You can call a potato whatever you want.”
“Magical creatures and beings live in the Fourth Layer for a reason. There, they control all. There, we are the potatoes.”
I rubbed my neck. “So what did you all get to eat?”
“Caniopidas.” Will winked at me.
I smiled slowly. It was a good reminder that the world could be burning, but that didn't mean that everyone inside was fanning the flames.
I looked out the window, smile slipping. “Campus still looks scorched. After the bone beast, the green mages had everything cleaned up in hours.”
“Campus will be fine,” Neph reassured.
“The green mages are probably itching,” Will said. “They will have it all cleaned up in no time as soon as we are released. They are probably hatching more firesnakes in someone's room right now,” he said ruefully.
Which reminded me of my new view and my new dorm. Delia looked at me sharply.
“We should discuss what is going to happen with Ren's roommate situation,” Delia said, spearing me with a glance, reading my mind. It wasn't a surprise she knew—I'd bet my remaining magic that everyone in the Magiaduct knew at this point.
“I'll deal with her,” I said tiredly.
“You will not be alone,” Neph said.
Delia squinted at Neph suspiciously. “There's no way you can be in there.”
“I must spend six hours of sleep time in my assigned room,” Neph said smoothly. “It has been ordered. Other than that, though, I can do a work around in Ren's room.”
Will stared at Neph, eyes going wide, whereas Delia's were narrowing. “But—”
“It will be fine.”
“But—”
Neph put a hand on Will's arm and he abruptly went a little glassy-eyed.
I looked between them suspiciously. “What?”
“Will is unnecessarily worried. Everything will be fine,” she said soothingly.
Will nodded, his expression a bit too blissful.
I looked at him even more suspiciously. “Did you just whammy Will?” I asked Neph.
“Yes,” she said unapologetically. Mike looked resigned. Delia's lips were pinched even more tightly.
“Why?” I asked.
“He is worried that I will force my way into your new room.”
Mike looked at Neph, brows pinching. “Why would you use force?”
“It is off-limits to muses.”
“What?” Mike said, his face growing stormy.
Neph shrugged, as if they weren't discussing the same issue. “It matters not.”
“It matters a lot,” I said, letting the anger come back—pushing aside for the moment the knowledge that it was better for Neph to stay away from Bellacia anyway. “The dorm guy said that you were my muse. It's known. How—?”
She put her hand on me and some of my anger ebbed, slipping away.
“Did you just whammy me?”
“Yes.”
I sighed and rubbed my forehead. “It is best for your safety to stay away, even though the reason completely sucks. Bellacia doesn't want you in the room, but she wants access to you.”
“She will get no access to me as long as you do not introduce us.”
“How did the dorm head—”
“He has access to a muse. Bellacia Bailey would never stoop so low.” Neph smiled thinly.
“But all of the people I introduce you to don't have access to you.”
Her smile strained. “Oh.” She dropped her gaze. “You didn't know.”
“Hey, it's okay,” I said, reaching out. “Do I need to?”
“Every time you widen our circle—my circle—you share my specific abilities with the others. Abilities that they don't get from a passing muse or the community. They can draw on me, diluting it from you.”
“Wait.” My voice rose in pitch. “You are subservient to all of us? We can basically leech you?”
“No.” She looked at me carefully. “Not with how you defined our relationship. I get to choose. The muse has the choice in what to give and to whom.”
Relief made me sag. “Oh. That sounds okay, then. Right?”
“No. It means that you get none of the benefit, should I decide to place my affections elsewhere.” She reached out and gripped my arm fiercely. “Which I would never do.”
“Um. You...could?”
I was completely out of my depth on this. I really should have read all of those muse books that Delia—who was now looking at me darkly, stabbing one thread blindly through another—was always surreptitiously suggesting. But I hadn't wanted to read any of that magicist crap.
Neph smiled. “Will does rather well these days, all things considered. And you...you connect better with the people you accept into your circle more than anyone I know. You share your magic, and create circuits that rejuvenate all who you take into your group. That is powerful Community Magic.”
And something that I'd had no idea I was doing. Or at least not understanding that it was anything out of the ordinary.
“Community Magic is something that many mages accept—it's in all aspects of this campus—but that many have trouble trusting in their own circles. Mages are...not to be trusted, in a lot of cases. When power can be transferred so easily between people, it makes it easy to....abuse.”
Delia cleared her throat. “Back to Bellacia Bailey being Ren's new roommate?”
“I have twelve hours with her a day,” I said, trying to keep my voice upbeat. “If I spend eight of those at night, that should be no problem, right?”
“She can do a lot in twelve hours,” Will pointed out, free of his whammy again.
“Which is why Neph gave me something awesome.”
Neph smiled, though she cast a nervous glance at the others.
“Like Leandred's awesome gift?” Delia asked darkly. She had seen the clicker in action the day I'd used it.
“No. We aren't allowed to harm mages without explicit orders,” Neph said quickly. “It's a protection only.”
“Explicit orders?” Delia's lips were pressed together, and she jabbed a thread through a hole.
“The scarab doesn't do anything to anyone,” I interrupted quickly, seeing the way the conversation was headed. “It just prevents Bellacia from manipulating me.”
“A scarab?” Will said, voice nearly a whisper.
Neph straightened the hem of her decorative blouse. “I...requested it from the elders during the meeting earlier.”
“And it works great. Thanks, Neph,” I said, wanting to ease whatever was making her nervous. I touched my pocket, smiling.
But Will was looking at Neph through narrowed eyes. “A scarab? What did you have to—?”
“Nothing that I was not willing to—”
“But what—”
Whammy number two was deployed, leaving Will incongruously grinning in a silly fashion.
I withdrew the scarab and examined it more closely. It was pretty, and I couldn't see anything leechy about it, but that didn't mean that I would use it again if it was. “Neph?”
She sighed. Having moved to get Will again, she was too far away to whammy me too, and Mike was crossing his arms now. “Godfrey almost...you can't be vulnerable like that, Ren. It required some sacrifi
ces to be made in my community standing, but it is done, and if you don't use it Ren, we will all suffer and that sacrifice will have been in vain. Do you understand?”
Sacrifices? I clutched it in my hand. “That you play hardball? Yes.”
Her expression softened and something pained appeared there. “You must allow us to shoulder some of your burdens.”
A cleared throat made me look to the side.
Delia's gaze was narrowed and skittish. Anything having to do with Bellacia Bailey or muses had always made her uncomfortable—combining both in one conversation was probably more than she could stand.
“I can't do anything for you tonight,” Delia said reluctantly. “But give me until tomorrow. I might have some things for you to use with Bailey...in conversational combat, if needed.”
“Delia,” I said gently. “You don't need to—”
“I won't hex you like Bau to make you shut up, but you aren't going to change my mind about helping.”
“You're already helping,” I said, touching her connection point on my wrist.
Delia's fingers were shaking as she started threading again. “When's the food coming?”
“Soon,” Mike said, squeezing her shoulder.
“So, um, what's the plan tonight?” Will asked, looking for a redirect. “With Axer Dare.”
Everyone looked at me, wanting to know the answer.
I shared the little he and I had discussed, and what we'd been sending back and forth through cryptic messages. We'd hooked up a few members of our two groups—and that seemed to be going as well as it could with Loudon freaking out over “going respectable” and “working with shiving combat mages.”
The food finally arrived and we went over some plans for the scarf while eating. Delia was integral in the plans—having made the scarves with Lifen.
Throughout, Neph sent comforting vibes through all access points. But toward the end of dinner, Will was frowning. He and Mike exchanged a glance, and Mike nodded.
“Listen, Ren,” Mike said, turning to me. “We know you work well together and trust him, but it is our duty since Olivia is...not here...to be suspicious of his motivations. Why is Axer Dare leaving the Magiaduct tonight?”