Renegade Magic

by Burgis, Stephanie

  I looked into Lady Fotherington’s face as she gazed back at Papa, her expression twisted between rage and shocking pain, and I had a flash of the most profoundly uncomfortable revelation I had ever experienced in my life.

  I do understand, I thought. But now that I did, I wished I didn’t.

  Papa must have been very, very different when he was a young man.

  There was no time to think about any of that now. The wild magic was pressing around me like fire, and the chanting around Charles grew stronger and louder until it reverberated in my bones. It was time to make my move, now, while Lady Fotherington was distracted.

  And the only option left …

  “Kat!” The cry came in Lucy Wingate’s voice.

  Papa, Lady Fotherington, and I all spun around.

  Lucy stepped out of the darkness into the torchlight, looking positively spectral. Her blond hair trailed about her white nightgown and her pale feet were bare against the tiled floor. She held her arms stretched out around her as if to keep her balance, and there was something strange about her face, something I couldn’t make out from this distance.

  “Lucy?” I kept a wary eye on Lady Fotherington as I stepped forward, but she looked just as baffled as I felt. “What are you doing here? I told you to stay away from the Baths.”

  “You warned your friend away, did you?” Lady Fotherington’s voice had lost its vulnerability and returned to its usual tone of smug confidence. “Even more evidence, if I’d needed it.”

  “I couldn’t help it,” Lucy said. She was walking toward us with the oddest gait I’d ever seen, her toes pointed far forward and her body leaning perilously backward. Her loose hair fluttered in the open air.

  I couldn’t run to meet her, not without leaving Charles hopelessly far behind and unprotected. I hesitated, torn between the two of them. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m not walking!” she said.

  I looked at her moving feet. “Um …”

  “It’s not me doing it!”

  Papa said, “Kat, what is going on?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. Lucy was only seven feet away now, and I could see the panic in her face. The heavy torches jiggled in their sconces against the stone pillars, responding to her fear. Flames shot higher as she passed. “I don’t know,” I repeated softly.

  Lady Fotherington smirked. “What, hadn’t you realized all the implications of playing with wild magic? It’s a good thing Lord Ravenscroft left me here to guard the Baths tonight. He knew something like this would happen. Even after your pacification—”

  “Her what?” Papa said.

  “Kat, do something!” Lucy shrieked. “It wants to walk me straight into that water!”

  “Papa, grab her. Quickly!”

  “I beg your pardon?” Papa stepped back, looking horrified. “I’m not sure—”

  “Just do it!”

  “Do you normally allow your daughters to order you about in such a forward manner?” Lady Fotherington said.

  I clenched my fists at my sides. “Papa, please! It’s important. Trust me!”

  He swallowed visibly and drew himself up. “Er, if you wouldn’t mind, Miss Lucy …”

  “Oh, please!” Lucy said, and clutched at his coat sleeves like a drowning woman. Her feet kept moving, though, unbalancing them both. Papa staggered. She ended up draped across his left arm, her toes still moving in midair and pointing toward the open doorway to the steam-covered bath. Her long hair fell over his arm, the ends of it brushing against the tiled floor. A whimper escaped her mouth. “Kat, make it stop!”

  “Indeed, Miss Katherine.” Lady Fotherington crossed her arms. “Perhaps you are finally regretting your actions now? Or are you too hardened to even care?”

  “I didn’t do it!” The words erupted from me in a bellow, and I saw Papa wince. But the chanting behind me continued unbroken. I could have screamed or ripped all my hair out, and nothing would have disturbed the young men in their circle. I took a long, steadying breath through clenched teeth.

  Think of Lucy, I thought. Think of Charles. Don’t think about breaking her nose again.

  “Would you please tell me,” I said to Lady Fotherington, “if you observed any of the ritual that put these men into their trance? And how long ago that happened?”

  There. I hadn’t snarled or cursed. Elissa would have been proud of me.

  Her eyebrows drew into a frown. She said, “Is this a joke?”

  “A joke?” My hard-won poise slipped. “That’s my brother in that circle, about to be sacrificed! That’s my friend, possessed by wild magic! Do you really think I would joke about any of that?”

  She said, “If you’ve lost control of your own schemes—”

  Papa said, “Sacrificed?”

  Lucy began in an ominous tone, “Kat, I really, truly think—”

  A new voice spoke over all the rest, coming from the same side entrance Papa and I had used earlier. Mr. Gregson said, “What on earth is going on here?”

  Papa jerked around to the source of the noise. His foot slipped on the damp tiles.

  Fury flashed across Lady Fotherington’s face. She looked from Mr. Gregson’s advancing figure back to me, and her green eyes hardened. She drew herself up, her whole body stiffening.

  As Papa slipped, Lucy fell out of his arms. “Nooo!” she wailed. But her toes marched her forward inexorably toward the bath.

  Mr. Gregson said, “Lydia—Katherine—Miss Wingate—what—?”

  That was when Lady Fotherington attacked.

  Twenty-Six

  Guardian magic shot toward me through the cloud of wild sparks that filled the air. It wasn’t just a harmless paralyzing spell this time. I could feel the fury that powered it, and the strength. This was going to hurt, and hurt badly.

  My own power came roaring up to meet it, drawn by pure instinct before I even had time to think. Pressure streamed up through all my limbs and exploded into the air.

  Her magic-working shattered into a million pieces and disappeared.

  Lady Fotherington’s mouth dropped open. Behind her, Mr. Gregson winced and put one hand to his head.

  I swallowed hard and met Lady Fotherington’s eyes. I’d done it now.

  “You,” she said. “You. You!” She swiveled around to glare at my former tutor. “I might have known it! There was no pacification.”

  “Lydia,” Mr. Gregson began.

  How long did I have left? Goose bumps raced up my skin as I strained all my senses. It wouldn’t take long for Lord Ravenscroft to arrive. And when he did …

  “She twisted you around her finger,” Lady Fotherington said. “And you let her. You lied! You lied to the Head of our Order, and to every single one of your colleagues.” She was breathing hard now, almost panting. “You know what the punishment for that will be.”

  “Lydia,” Mr. Gregson repeated, “I had excellent reason to believe—”

  “You would believe whatever lies she told you,” Lady Fotherington said. “Exactly like her mother!” Her voice rose to a shriek. “Why won’t anybody ever listen to me?”

  The volume of her shriek was almost, but not quite, enough to cover the sound of a splash behind me.

  I spun around.

  Lucy was in the water.

  “Oh, damnation,” I said.

  “Katherine,” Papa said reproachfully.

  There was no time for explanations. I could already see the sparks in the bath dividing, half of them abandoning the circle of young men to swarm about Lucy’s shoulders and head like a cluster of buzzing bees.

  “When Lord Ravenscroft realizes what’s happened—” Lady Fotherington began.

  Mr. Gregson said, “Where exactly is Lord Ravenscroft?”

  There was a momentary silence behind me. I gritted my teeth against the chill that wanted to grip me at their words. I didn’t have time to waste being afraid.

  I ran down the stone steps into the bath.

  The shock of contact with the gathered wild magic
was so strong, it drove every thought out of my head. When I came back to myself, I was shoulder-deep in the King’s Bath, and the clustered sparks were already abandoning me to race back toward Lucy, swirling with the steam around her head. Her eyes were closed, sparks dancing around her eyelids.

  “Lu—” My voice cracked. My throat felt sore, my head scalded from sparks. I coughed and tried again. “Lucy, can you hear me? Are you still yourself?”

  She opened her eyes. In the torchlight, beneath the stars, they looked dark and enormous.

  “Oh, Kat,” she whispered. “I’m still me. But not—I don’t think—not for very much longer.”

  “Right,” I said. “You have to get out, now!” I splashed clumsily toward her through the hot, steaming water. The long skirts of my gown and pelisse wrapped themselves around my legs and tried to trip me with every step. I was only a few feet from the closest of the young men in the circle, but not a single head turned to watch me. “Take my hand and—”

  “I can’t.” Lucy shook her head with dreamy slowness. “My arms won’t move, you see. But, oh, the way it feels—!” Her head tipped back in the steam until she was gazing straight up at the star-studded night sky.

  Oh, Lord. I didn’t have any time left at all. I lunged the last few feet straight for her—and fell victim to my clinging, irritating skirts. My foot slipped, and I fell headfirst under the surface of the bath.

  Hot, sulfurous water flooded my nose and mouth. The chanting from above the water echoed through my bones. My feet kicked out, searching for the tiled bottom of the Bath, but they tangled in my own skirts, which were twisted around the bottoms of my shoes. I struck out desperately with my arms, struggling to pull myself back up. The water felt thick and resistant. Every inch of my skin sparked painfully with the contact of wild magic. I cursed myself for never learning how to swim. Elissa had said it wasn’t ladylike, but …

  No. I would not let myself drown in a pool that wasn’t even as deep as I was tall. With a burst of fury-fueled energy, I kicked and scrambled myself upright. I shot up above the water, gasping and spluttering.

  Thick steam surrounded my head and shoulders. I gasped for breath, spitting out disgusting Bath water. My legs and arms were shaking too hard for me to move.

  Mr. Gregson spoke with an edge to his voice that I’d never heard before. “I asked you a simple question, Lydia. Where is Lord Ravenscroft?”

  “You have no right to put any questions to me in such a manner! You weren’t even supposed to be here tonight. You were specifically instructed—”

  “When I felt the mass of wild magic gathering here, I came to investigate and assist whichever Guardian had been assigned to monitor the Baths tonight. Lord Ravenscroft will understand—”

  “Lord Ravenscroft will certainly not understand! Once I tell him how you betrayed our entire Order for the sake of this dreadful girl, how you shamelessly deceived him and all the rest of us …”

  I gritted my teeth and started toward Lucy again, moving slowly and carefully this time, keeping the tiles underfoot with every step.

  “You still haven’t answered my question,” Mr. Gregson said, “and I am beginning to suspect that I know why. Lord Ravenscroft does not even know that you are here tonight, does he, Lydia?”

  I froze halfway through a step. Wait. …

  “Don’t be absurd.” Lady Fotherington’s voice fluttered with strain. “Why should I be here without his knowledge?”

  “That, I cannot say. Then again, why should you have tried to attack Katherine in such a violent manner just as I arrived?”

  “Because I knew you would believe whatever wild story she spun you!” She nearly screamed the words. “I caught her coming back here to the scene of her crime—just as Lord Ravenscroft suspected she would!—even as her wicked schemes were bearing fruit. I proved her guilt beyond all doubt, just as I proved Olivia’s. But I knew, the moment you arrived, she would wiggle her way out of it somehow, just as Olivia always did.”

  My thoughts were circling as madly as the clouds of sparks that swirled around Lucy, but I forced myself to stop listening.

  “Lucy,” I said, and I took my last step toward her. “Look at me!”

  Three things happened all at once: My hand touched Lucy’s arm, her head jerked down to face me, and a scream of pain ripped itself out of my throat.

  The palm of my hand was red and raw, as if it had touched an open flame. And Lucy’s eyes were full of stars.

  The angry voices behind me cut off.

  “Kat!” Papa’s voice seemed to come from a long way behind me. I cradled my burning hand and stared into Lucy’s goddess-eyes.

  “Kat!” Papa repeated. “Child! Are you all right?”

  Was I all right? I could have laughed at the absurdity of the question. But the laughter would have ripped me open.

  Lucy had been possessed. Again. I hadn’t managed to keep her safe, even after she’d begged me for help. Charles was trapped in a magic circle. And as soon as Lord Ravenscroft found out what had happened, I would be pacified for good.

  Was I all right? Did Papa even have to ask?

  Papa said, “I am coming in to help you—”

  “No!” I spun around, still cradling my injured hand. Papa stood in the open doorway at the edge of the bath. “You mustn’t come in,” I said. “Don’t even touch the water. It’s too dangerous!”

  “Then why are you standing in it?”

  I was already moving away from Lucy, toward the chanting circle of young men. I reached out one hand.

  A wave of wild magic slapped me back from the edge of the circle and knocked me three feet through the water. I kicked myself upright, panting.

  The circle was unbroken. The chanting continued. This time, when I focused hard, I could see the glint of a wall of sparks surrounding the young men. No wonder they hadn’t heard us. Nothing could come into that circle—and no one could come out.

  In the center of the circle, Charles’s head was tipped back, his eyes closed. A foolish smile rested on his lips.

  I wanted to murder him and weep, all at once.

  “I’m coming in,” Papa said.

  I shook my head. “No,” I whispered. “I’m coming out.”

  The blast of wild magic had already pushed me back most of the way toward the edge of the bath. I trudged the last few steps, feeling all the weight of my soaking skirts as I forged through the hot, steaming water. The stars glinted imperturbably in the sky overhead. I wondered how long it would be before the water of the bath began to bubble this time. How long before the magical sacrifice took place.

  Before …

  I stopped, blinking through the steam.

  “Kat!” Papa’s voice was unnaturally sharp. “What’s amiss? What—”

  “The magic,” I said. “It’s divided.”

  “Divided?” Mr. Gregson spoke behind Papa. “What do you mean?”

  “Are you still listening to her?” Lady Fotherington said. “After all this—”

  “Get out of that bath, now!” Papa said, sounding more like a traditional father than I had ever heard him in my life. “I don’t care about any magic. I want you out of that water!”

  I was too absorbed to feel more than a flicker of surprise at his tone. “I’m coming,” I said. “But the point is, the magic …”

  His hands fastened on my upper arms, pulling me up the steps. I tried to help him, but the skirts got in my way, weighing me down. My right hand hurt too much to grab hold of the tiles, and my brain was too busy to worry about it. If the magic was divided, then that meant …

  Two sets of hands hauled me up out of the water: Papa’s and Mr. Gregson’s.

  “I thank you, sir,” Papa said. He was breathing heavily, and no wonder; it had probably been more physical exertion than he’d taken in years.

  “No need for thanks.” Mr. Gregson regarded me grimly as he wiped his hands with a neat white handkerchief. “Now, Katherine. Explain exactly what you were saying before.”

>   Cool night air blew in through the open doorway, horribly cold against my sopping clothes and dripping hair, but I was too intent to care. “The wild magic in the Baths,” I said. “It was called up tonight by the young men’s rites, just like last time, but it hasn’t come into full effect yet because of Lucy.”

  “Lucy?” Papa blinked at me. “What—”

  “She was possessed by the wild magic last night,” I explained. “And she was possessed by Sulis Minerva this morning.”

  “I have told you,” Mr. Gregson said, “there is no such real goddess as—”

  “The Romans believed there was,” I said. “Didn’t they, Papa?”

  He blinked. I could see the relief bloom in his eyes as we finally arrived at a topic he could understand. “Indeed they did, my dear, just as the Celts before them had their own guardian spirit associated with these springs. There has always been a genius loci of this place—Sulis Minerva for the Romans, and before her—”

  “So maybe what truly matters is belief,” I said, cutting ruthlessly across him. “It’s how the wild magic is focused. Since it was called up by the rites of Minerva last night, it created a Sulis Minerva in response. Lucy is its Sulis Minerva now. That’s why it called her back here tonight.”

  “Yes,” Mr. Gregson said slowly. “Yes … I can see that the magic has an affinity for her. But that still doesn’t quite explain—”

  “When she stepped into the water, I saw half the sparks come flying over to her,” I said. As all the pieces fitted themselves into place, my words came out faster and faster, tumbling over one another. “The magic was supposed to all stay within the circle tonight. That’s what he’d planned.”

  “‘He’?” Lady Fotherington said sharply. “What do you mean, ‘he’?”

  I waved my hand at her impatiently. “Whoever planned all this. I heard the men talking about him last night. Whoever he is, he meant the magic to build through the chants and explode with Charles’s sacrifice.”

  “Must you keep nattering on about a sacrifice?” There was a desperate tone to Lady Fotherington’s voice now. “This is all utter nonsense. If any of you are foolish enough to actually believe her—”