Johan was still mulling over what she’d said as he stepped out of the Great Library and looked around. Jayne was nowhere to be seen. An icy fist clutched his heart as he wondered if she’d been deliberately winding him up, then he felt a sensation of pure relief as he saw her walking towards him, wearing a white dress that fell to just above her knees. Her black hair seemed to fan out around her dress, drawing his attention to her face. It seemed paler than usual, almost perfect. And her smile was so warm that he felt himself melting.
“Thank you for coming,” he said, as she clasped arms with him. They were on an actual date! “I hope you have a good time.”
“I’m sure I shall,” Jayne assured him. She felt very warm pressed against his body. He felt his heartbeat speeding up inside his chest, so loudly that he was surprised that she couldn’t hear it. “Do you know the way?”
Johan shook her head. Before he could pull out the amulet, Jayne gently tugged him down the street, away from the Great Library. The massive halls of academia gave way rapidly to the streets of pleasure; she led him past bars, eateries and places that were completely unmarked, yet seemed to be heaving with customers. There were still fewer people on the streets than he remembered from his trip to the zoo, but at least they weren’t completely alone. He wanted to show off a little ...
Idiot, he told himself, crossly. Why do you think anyone would care?
Joan’s Grill wasn’t bigger on the inside than on the outside. It seemed to have only thirty tables in all, about half of which were occupied by customers. Johan wondered just how many of them were magicians, before deciding that it hardly mattered. None of them seemed to be students, people who might know Jayne. It was rare, Charity had told him, for a magician to date a mundane. Such relationships were almost always mocked relentlessly by their peers. What would they think of Johan?
He felt a flash of the old resentment, for he knew what they would have thought of a Powerless. They would have pitied him or they would have mocked him; either way, Jayne would have been strongly discouraged from seeing him again. Who knew? The flaw in his body that had rendered him powerless might be passed down to his children.
Angrily, he pushed the thought aside as an olive-skinned woman showed them to a table in the corner. Instead, he looked around, wondering which of the customers was Elaine and her escorts ... if, of course, she hadn’t been pulling his leg. But there was no way to be sure, not without being able to see glamours. And even if he could see them, he couldn’t be sure what they were hiding. Charity had admitted that glamours were in common use by just about every magician in the world.
“So,” Jayne said, as they inspected the menu, “tell me about yourself.”
Johan hesitated, unsure of what to tell her. He didn’t want to lie, but he also didn’t want to admit that he had been a Powerless. The gods alone knew how she would react.
“My family used to be titled nobility outside the Golden City,” he said, finally. They’d still been aristocrats, but they’d never been high aristocrats. “Now my father has ambitions to push himself to the very highest levels and dragged the family here.”
“In the wake of all the chaos,” Jayne said. She shivered. “I was out of the city at the time, but I heard tales ... terrible tales. They say that many of the injured will never recover completely.”
She met his gaze. “Why didn’t you go to the Peerless School?”
Johan swallowed. He’d anticipated that question, but he knew that his answer wouldn’t hold up to careful scrutiny. And yet he really didn’t want to tell her the full truth.
“My father insisted that I have private tuition,” he said, finally. It was true enough, if one discounted the fact that his lessons hadn’t included magic. “He didn’t want to expose everyone to the Peerless School.”
“My father felt the same way, but in the end he sent all of us to the school,” Jayne commented. “Your father must have been very stubborn.”
Johan nodded. It was true that some of the older families preferred to send only their eldest children to the Peerless School, knowing that the school taught loyalty to the Empire and the Grand Sorcerer as well as magic. When they came home, the children might no longer put the family’s interests first. It was worse for the students who came from mundane households, he knew; they tended to have little in common with their families when they came home. They rarely stayed for long after knowing what life could be like.
It was easy to see why magicians looked down on mundanes. Healing spells could save lives; mundanes had to set bones and sew up wounds the old-fashioned way. Magical households were clean, even the poorer ones; mundane households were often dirty and smelly. Hot running water was easy to produce with magic; harder to produce without it. Why would anyone want to live in the filth if they could live in a clean home?
And the price was merely giving up their former families.
“He is the most stubborn person I know,” Johan admitted. “But I don’t feel I’ve missed out on much.”
The waitress returned, took their orders and vanished back into the darkness behind the counter. Johan smiled after her, then looked back at Jayne. If she asked questions about his life, he could ask questions about hers.
“Tell me about yourself.”
“Not much to tell,” Jayne said. “I’m the fifth child and second daughter of House Rendang, which makes me effectively useless. Father just wants to maintain his current position, not try to rise higher, so I don’t have to worry about an advantageous match. Instead, I want to be a Potions Mistress. I have the marks to seek an apprenticeship after I leave the school.”
“I’m awful at potions,” Johan confessed. “What about yourself?”
Jayne gave him a droll smile. “I was brewing at a third-year level when I was in first year,” she said. “The Potions Master – a kindly old soul – put me in with the fourth years when I was in second year, then gave me private tutoring when I needed it. Right now, I’m three years ahead of the rest of my class in potions ... but not in anything else. I doubt they’ll let me graduate early.”
Johan considered it. “Can you become an apprentice while you’re still in school?”
“Perhaps,” Jayne said. “But most apprenticeships demand complete focus and concentration, not someone who is easily ... distracted. And I will be distracted by my other schoolwork.”
“Good luck,” Johan said, trying to remember what Jamal had said about potions. He’d been much ruder about the Potions Master, calling him a doddering old fool more than once. The tutor had committed the unforgivable sin – in Jamal’s eyes – by being more concerned with ability than breeding. But Jamal had never had the patience to be good at potions. “I wish I could do something to help.”
“Let me know if you know any masters who might take on an apprentice,” Jayne said. “But if I can’t get in before I complete my schooling, I will just have to brew on my own and wait.”
She shook her head. “What do you want to do with your life?”
The food arrived, saving Johan from actually having to answer. It was strange to his eyes, a combination of meat, cheese, fried bread and raw vegetables, the sort of thing he would never have been allowed to eat at home. But it tasted very nice, he discovered, as he took a bite; the only downside was that they were expected to eat with their fingers, rather than knives and forks. Jayne dug in as though it didn’t bother her; Johan hesitated, remembering his father’s lessons. Eating with one’s fingers was not a good sign.
Hell with it, he told himself, and dived into the food.
“You never answered,” Jayne said, as she took a break between bites. “What do you want to do with your life?”
Johan considered the question. As a child, he’d wanted to be a great magician; as a Powerless, he’d wanted to go into one of the careers that didn’t involve magic. But now ... he just wanted to prove himself, if only to himself. He needed to know what he could do.
“I want to prove myself,” he said, out loud. “I co
uld be great.”
Jayne smiled. “I’m sure you could be,” she said, “but how do you intend to become great?”
“I wish I knew,” Johan said, after a long moment. What could he do to become great? If he caught the remaining three terrorists ... assuming, of course, that there were only three of them left ... would that make him great? Or would it just make him more of a target? “I’ll just see what happens.”
“My father was fond of saying that real heroes go out and find opportunities to make themselves great,” Jayne said. “They didn’t just sit on their buttocks and wait for opportunity to come pass them by.”
Elaine did, Johan thought. But Elaine hadn’t wanted to be a heroine. Indeed, she’d managed to bury the truth behind a wall of mystery and a deliberately cultivated appearance of being nothing more than a simple librarian. Or was she really the mask and the heroine something she’d had to be, for a time, then discarded when it was no longer necessary?
“I’ll just have to see what happens,” he said, drolly. “But if I do become a great hero, you can be my Potions Mistress.”
Jayne giggled. “I think I will be making the latest discoveries that will change the world far more than your heroism,” she said, dryly. “You can kill a monster; I can come up with a potion that prolongs life. Which of us will change the world more?”
Johan smiled, then took another bite of his food while studying her. She was gorgeous; he wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her, then slip his hand into her shirt ... angrily, he pushed the thought aside as he felt a stirring in his loins. He didn’t want to blow his chances by moving too far, too fast. Who knew how she would react to his touch?
They finished their dinner, paid – it was a very reasonable price – and then headed out of the door. Johan looked around, wondering who would follow them, then turned his attention back to Jayne as she led him back towards the Peerless School. The night seemed to have grown darker, with fewer people on the streets; even the streetlamps seemed to have dimmed, somehow. Or perhaps he was just imagining it.
“Thank you for being a gentleman,” Jayne said. Johan felt a flicker of relief, suddenly realising that if he’d pushed her, the results would have been bad. Even if he didn’t wind up being turned into a slug or an earthworm, he would certainly never have had another chance to go out with her. “I really appreciated it.”
“I never go too far on the first date,” Johan said, trying to sound experienced. By her smile, he suspected he hadn’t succeeded. “And I had a lovely time too.”
They stopped outside the apartment block. Before Johan had more than a few seconds to feel awkward, Jayne pulled him into a hug and pressed her lips against his. Johan froze, then somehow forced himself to kiss her back. The feeling moved rapidly from awkward to enjoyable and, again, he felt a stirring in his loins. She was pressing her breasts against his chest ...
She stepped backwards, breaking the embrace. “I’ll see you again,” she promised. Johan, who had been having wild visions of inviting her home to the Great Library, felt a mixture of relief and disappointment. “Tomorrow, in fact.”
Johan watched her go, then turned to walk home. If anyone had seen him, he knew, the big grin on his face would tell them exactly what had happened.
***
Duncan hadn’t expected much from the spies he’d placed in and around the Great Library. Johan was with the Head Librarian, which meant that he was under the protection of the most powerful set of wards in the city. But the gamble had paid off; one of his spies had spotted Johan leaving the building, accompanied by a young girl of roughly the same age. The spy, familiar with all of the Great Houses, had even identified her.
Interesting, Duncan told himself. House Rendang was fading fast, having lost most of its clients years before the previous Grand Sorcerer had died. Was this a power play on their part or was it a genuine relationship? Either way, it was something he could use to his own advantage.
Picking up a piece of paper, he wrote a note. It was time for him to start taking House Rendang seriously. And that was all they wanted from the Golden City.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“It went very well,” Johan said, the following morning. “I had a wonderful time.”
Elaine smiled. As promised, she’d followed Johan with Inquisitor Cass – Cass hadn’t bothered to wear a glamour, which had resulted in them being interrupted by men intent on buying her a drink – but she hadn’t eavesdropped on him. She had seen the kiss, however. It had suggested that Jayne was not adverse to the idea of a relationship after all.
“I’m glad to hear it,” she said. “Are you ready for our trip?”
“I have to leave a note for her,” Johan said, suddenly. “I didn’t even tell her I was going!”
“An apprentice is at the whims of his master,” Elaine pointed out. Johan might not be her apprentice in truth, but he was definitely working with her. “Jayne will understand ... but you can leave her a note if you like.”
“I will,” Johan said, reaching for a piece of paper. “Um ... what should I say?”
“The truth,” Elaine said. “The Head Librarian is taking you out to the country for a few days, but you’ll be back soon. And that you’ll write.”
Johan looked up, dismayed. “Write?”
“It lets her know that you’re thinking of her,” Elaine pointed out. “Girls like that, don’t you know?”
She smiled again at his expression, then returned to her own thoughts. No matter how she looked at it, it would be good to be out of the city for a few days. The Inquisitors had turned up nothing to track down the killer, which meant that the whole city was on edge. Deferens and the Conidian were demanding action, Johan’s father with the added suggestion that his son should be freed from captivity. After all, he’d pointed out yesterday, Johan might suffer consequences if he testified against his elder brother. Somehow, he’d managed to make it seem as though he was genuinely concerned for Johan.
He might well be, Elaine conceded, reluctantly. She hated people who could make black seem white, up seem down and right seem wrong – or vice versa. Johan’s father might get his eldest son completely out of trouble; the gods knew he had even been pressing for a visit.
“Thank you,” Johan said. He scowled down at the bag at his feet. “Did I pack enough?”
“Put a few more books in,” Elaine said. “No, not ones from here; ones from bookstores. You will need something to read during the ride.”
She watched him finish, then used a simple charm to render both bags effectively weightless. They couldn’t take the carriage to the station, not if they wanted to remain unseen. No one without wealth and power would take a carriage in the Golden City. Hefting her own bag, containing a selection of books as well as clothes, she headed towards the door. Johan followed her a moment later.
“I meant to ask,” he said, softly. “Is it safe for you to leave the Great Library?”
Elaine scowled. “The wards will work well enough for Vane,” she said. She had a feeling that wasn’t entirely what he’d meant. “Sadly, the library isn’t my personal possession – or home. I just wear it until I retire.”
Johan gave her a sharp look, but said nothing else. Elaine led him out of the library by one of the hidden exits, then started to walk down towards the station. They could pass a bookstore on the way.
***
Johan had never seen a bookstore before – or even a library, before Elaine had taken him into the Great Library. The bookstore awed him; there were thousands of books, many of them of dubious value. Charity had enjoyed reading romance before her father had found out and forbidden her to read any more; Johan had read a couple and decided that they were either utterly mushy or terrifyingly perverse. Who would have thought that magic could be used to enhance the sexual experience? Apart from teenage magicians, that was.
He found himself moving from shelf to shelf, examining the books. There were no books on magic, unsurprisingly, but there were books on everything e
lse. One entire stack appeared to be devoted to Lady Light Spinner, with several different biographies written by different authors just waiting for his attention. Elaine snorted and pointed out that anything written while she was still alive was completely untrustworthy. Very few people would dare to disrespect the Grand Sorceress, certainly not in print. In the end, seeing that Elaine was getting impatient, he picked up a handful of history books and a pair of thrillers, then paid for them at the counter. They were surprisingly cheap.
“The inventor of the printing press has a lot to answer for,” Elaine muttered, as they left. “I can’t have the books students most want to see copied, for fear of losing track of them, but they can waste their money and material on trash.”
Johan shrugged. “Why can’t the older books be copied?”
“The ones we have are integrated with the wards,” Elaine explained. “Stealing them would be impossible. But newer books ... they don’t integrate so well. And besides, they’d have to be copied in the library itself.”
She led him down the street at a brisk pace. “We don’t have much time,” she said, glancing at the sun. “The Iron Dragon leaves soon.”
Johan had loved to hear tales of the Iron Dragons – giant locomotives that ran on rails, without magic – but he rapidly discovered that the sight outdid the tales. He went to look at it as Elaine bought tickets, drawn by a fascination he found almost impossible to put into words. The Iron Dragon was colossal, a giant machine crouching on the tracks, steaming smoke into the air. A faint stench of burning surrounded it, but he didn’t take any notice as he peered into the cab. Inside, two men clad in the bare minimum of clothing were busy shovelling coal into the fire.
“There’s no magic,” he said. “None at all!”
“No,” Elaine agreed. “I believe that some of the earlier models had spells to ensure that the boiler didn’t burst, but as they grew more confident in their work they started refusing to allow magicians to help. Lucky, really; the shortage of magicians we have now would ensure that few could be spared, if they needed them.”
Bookworm II: The Very Ugly Duckling Page 23