by J A Campbell
Someone moved around and she couldn’t make out the words over the rustle of fabric. Just how much had she altered her hearing? She hoped she could undo it.
“We suspected Harmony. Her lavender eyes were the giveaway, but Elise was a surprise.”
She lost the next few words as a cricket took up a song right next to her.
“Let them stay here for now. They’ll be safer.”
Chirp, chirp. Damn cricket.
“Their existence is known now. We’ll need them alive later, but no one is desperate enough to attack a school. Not yet, anyway.”
Elise started. What?
Chirp.
Fabric rustled again.
“Would you like to meet the girls?” Elise recognized the headmaster’s voice.
“Not yet. Soon, but not yet,” the man said.
“If I may ask, how did the girls end up outside of your House?” The headmaster again.
“That is not your concern,” the woman said.
More crickets took up the song.
Elise winced and forced her hearing to return to normal. It took a few ear-splitting moments, but finally she could only hear the murmur of quiet voices.
Intrigued and anxious to tell Harmony what she’d learned, Elise scooted away from the building and hurried away, intending to circle around behind the building, just in case someone was in the cars.
Then she remembered Harmony and her loss. The news could wait. They seemed to think they’d be safe at the school, but why wouldn’t they be safe elsewhere?
Shrugging, Elise tucked the knowledge away. She’d tell Harmony as soon as her roommate felt a little better. She probably didn’t want to know about it now, anyway.
As Elise hurried around the back side of the large building, she stopped, hearing giggling. What now? Bushes rustled and she heard a male voice giggle, too.
Oh.
Blushing, Elise hurried faster, not wanting the pair to know someone had discovered their tryst. She supposed there were students here old enough to be interested in such activities. Things like boyfriends hadn’t even crossed Elise’s mind since she’d arrived. She simply wanted to control the ghosts.
Almost sprinting back to the dorm, Elise stumbled in the darkness. She tucked into a roll, not wanting to injure herself again.
“What’s that?”
Damn it, Elise thought. She hurried to her feet and ran as fast as she could, hoping she didn’t hurt herself again.
She made it to the entrance of her dorm and tackled the stairs as quickly as she dared. Reveling in the freedom to move, she only stumbled a few times while she relearned how to navigate steps.
Once outside their small room, Elise forced the smile from her face. Harmony was hurting, and she wanted to be there to help. If she could. The girl was strange, but she was still human and from what little Elise knew, probably didn’t have anyone left to care about her. Elise hoped she was wrong about that last bit.
“Dr. Hendricks,” Harmony forced herself to make the phone call that no one wanted to hear. “This is Harmony Hendricks, your granddaughter. I’m calling about my mom….”
“Our daughter was not your mother,” Dr. Sophia Hendricks didn’t sound any more pleasant than she had before, and like usual, the Northerner clearly didn’t have time for any kind of pleasantries.
“I’m sorry,” Harmony couldn’t quite process what she’d said.
“Are you slow, child?” the arctic voice continued. “You are no kindred to us. She was not your mother. She was your well-paid babysitter.”
Was. Obviously she had been called first. Harmony swallowed. Maybe it was just shock?
“I’m very sorry for your loss,” Harmony said. “Are you going to be holding services of some kind—or should I….” she’d never planned a funeral, but she was pretty sure one of her mom’s friends could help.
“We’re holding the services for our daughter,” the woman said. “There’s no reason for you to bother yourself to attend.”
“I’ll be there if my school will allow….”
Click!
The woman hadn’t even bothered to say goodbye. For some reason, as unworthy as Dr. Hendricks’s verbal slaps were, she lost it.
It was all too much. Harmony curled up tight as a pill-bug with her face to the wall and wept, wrapped up in heavy wool blankets. There was no point in going to Austin for the funeral. She had tests in three of her classes and there just wasn’t any reason for getting up, either.
She heard the door open, knew it was Elise and figured the girl would just move on when she got whatever she needed. Luckily she was newly freed from her cast and crutches and mobile.
“I’m sorry about your mom,” Elise’s voice was soft.
“She’s not!” Harmony snapped from the cocoon of her covers. “It turns out, she was just someone who was paid to take care of me. Her parents advised me there was no point in me attending her funeral, even.”
Elise moved to the window area between their beds where her electric teapot sat. Harmony heard the sounds of tea preparations. Must’ve been what she was coming up for. The girl lived on the stuff. She had at least a dozen different kinds of teas: blacks, greens, reds, and whites and dainty gold-rimmed china cups to drink it from.
“Here,” Harmony heard a cup set down on the hardwood floor next to her bed. “It’s chamomile, lemon, and honey. It’ll help you relax and soothe your throat.”
“Thanks,” Harmony said. She thought Elise was going to go, but she heard the creak of Elise’s mattress as she sat down on her own bed across the room. “You don’t need to worry about me.”
“I’m done studying for the test in Calculus,” Elise said. “I’ve got a little bit of time.”
Despite her inclination to tell Elise to go away, a string of Spanish maids, oddly all named Margarita, had taught her to say gracias for whatever was given her regardless of whether she liked it or wanted it.
At least her mom had hired them to take care of both of them until Harmony was able to take over. But that wasn’t entirely fair, either. Harmony hadn’t minded taking over the shopping and whatever cooking she’d done for herself. The maids still came in for major housecleaning, which neither one of them liked to do, but they just weren’t home every evening after school for supervision.
She tried to sit up. Startling how badly her muscles ached from holding a fetal position for so long. Her tonsils felt like they’d been dragged down a few miles of rutted dirt roads. She finally managed to push the blankets off and sit up to face Elise.
“Try it.” Elise’s tone was gentle and her expression concerned. “It’s okay if you don’t like it, but it might help.”
The tea smelled like a mix of hay, honey, and lemon. Harmony leaned forward and picked up the delicate china cups Elise liked to drink from—they were so fine you could almost see through them and the heat from the beverage warmed her ice cold hands.
She’d never been much of a tea drinker. It was too hot in Texas for such as this and the sweet tea most restaurants served almost gagged her with the sweetness. She blew on the greenish-looking liquid and felt a puff of steam rise up in her face, wafting more scents.
A sip warmed her. More coated her throat and eased the congestion building up in her nose from too many tears. She sighed and leaned back against the wall.
“Thanks, it’s really not that bad.”
Elise laughed. “It’s not the best flavored tea I have, but the chamomile does help calm you down and you sound like your throat’s sore. Are you going to go to your mom’s funeral?”
Harmony nearly choked on the sip she was taking. Elise had the cup away from her before much of the contents spilled. Harmony sucked on her index finger.
Harmony excused herself to go run her finger under cold water and returned to their room after combing through her tangled knot of hair with her fingers. Elise was at the window placing a tea bag in the second china cup.
She sat back down on her bed and drank more of the tea.
“She’s not my mom,” Harmony finally said after a couple more sips. “I was making arrangements to attend and my ’grandparents‘ told me it was unnecessary. She was not my mom. She was a paid babysitter.”
Elise let out a long breath and put her rattling teacup down on the floor. “I’m adopted. And my parents are still my parents. Your mom was still your mother. She raised you, she cared for you. Genes aren’t everything where family is concerned.”
Harmony swallowed.
“Okay,” Elise continued, moving on while Harmony digested her words. “The Houses are supposed to be assiduous guardians of their bloodlines, right? But the two of us just tested high enough in necromancy to be full blood members of House Macrow. The school’s sent our information to them, right—but someone gave us both up. Why?”
Harmony stared at the girl across from her. Her mind couldn’t quite parse what she was saying.
“And we were born within days of each other,” Elise continued. “Why? If they guard their bloodlines so closely, why would they let something so powerful out in the world…”
Harmony felt like she’d belly-flopped onto concrete. She must have looked the same, because Elise moved as if to prevent her from falling.
“I’m okay,” Harmony said. “You realize, my wish killed a guy who had a crush on me…and then I accidentally reanimated him in his coffin when I was passing him at the funeral.”
Elise let out a breath. “Wow.”
“Yeah,” Harmony continued. “Sometimes I think I should have been named Chaos. The school reminded me they alibied me at the time of her death. Quite honestly, I couldn’t have gotten there in the six hours I was AWOL. But I could have wished her ill.”
“I didn’t,” she added quickly when Elise’s eyes widened. “I’ve been careful not to wish anything but good, since I realized what was happening. That seems to be working, somewhat.”
“I’m getting better, too. The ghosts are going away,” Elise sounded relieved. “Only Callie’s left and I guess she’s stubborn.”
Harmony grinned at her.
“You wished that?”
“Hey, being chased by ghosts when you’re on crutches seemed like a bummer to me,” Harmony shrugged. “The dog’s cute. I like her.”
“I should have thanked you sooner.”
“De nada.” Harmony shrugged. “The ghosts don’t really bother me, but they’d probably harsh your mellow after a while with all that chaotic energy. I’ve never been around dogs much…Callie’s good company.”
Elise nodded and the smile left her face. “Why do you think our biological parents would hide us?”
Harmony took another sip of the tea. Stuff was growing on her. She shrugged. Elise was right, the chamomile was relaxing. Part of her was enjoying the company, but another part wanted the girl to go away, so she could actually sleep instead of hiding with her worries flying around like a flock of crows in her head.
“The Houses guard their bloodlines,” Elise patiently stated her case while Harmony felt herself slowing like a clock that needed winding. “They’ve got pedigrees like dogs—and there’s a whole school of mages here who’re amateur genealogists trying to figure out whether they’ve got a connection. Why on earth would they hide the two of us?”
Harmony laughed, “I could think of a couple of reasons they’d hide me.”
Elise frowned. “Be serious. What you can do is a major talent. They guard those talents with their lives. Why are they hiding ours?”
The second time got through. Harmony carefully set the now-empty cup down and looked into Elise’s very serious green eyes.
“Two children,” she said. “Born within days of each other….hidden from the House…until this school finds us. Your parents adopted you. My—mom—was paid to take care of me. And still, she was Mom. I want to see her to say goodbye.”
“You can’t help,” Elise said. “But, we’ve got to find out what’s going on with us.”
Harmony nodded.
“Tell me more about your mom,” Elise said.
“You know, a lot of traditional people would think she was a bad person,” Harmony said. “I mean, she wasn’t June Cleaver or Betty Crocker or any of those things…but she taught me to love music and art and the weird. I learned a lot that will help me as a mage, even if it wasn’t her direct intention to teach me. I think I might have gone mad in that test, if it hadn’t been for the things she’d exposed me to.”
She stopped, seeing Elise’s face nearly as white as the painted woodwork.
“You know,” she said, changing directions abruptly. “I don’t care what any of them say, I’m going to Mom’s funeral.”
Elise hadn’t considered that when Harmony left, the ghosts might return. Phantasms swirled around her head, not really attacking, but not settling, either. She lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling through the disconcerting flickers and smoky shadows and wondered what to do.
Harmony was also a necromancer, and seemed to have a better handle on her magic than Elise did. She wanted to ask her roommate for advice. Unfortunately, Harmony was AWOL. Fortunately, Elise didn’t think that she’d get into much trouble for leaving, as long as nothing serious happened to her. She hadn’t yet shared her eavesdropping with Harmony. There hadn’t been time, and she was a little embarrassed to have done it.
One of the ghosts got brave and dove toward Elise. Callie, lying by her side, growled.
Elise sighed. Stupid ghosts.
Now that she knew she’d eventually learn to control the dead, the ghosts didn’t bother her nearly as much as they had. The whole idea creeped her the hell out, but she’d have to get over that feeling.
Another one dove at her half-heartedly. This time she growled at it, flinging her hand at the ghost in disgust. Her arm tingled with energy.
The specter reared back and vanished.
“Huh. Wish I’d known how to do that before.” Intrigued, Elise focused on the next ghost. “Begone,” she said and waved her hand at the spook. It too vanished.
“It can’t be this easy,” she said to herself as she banished the rest of the ghosts swirling above her head.
Now that she had almost purposefully used her power, Elise felt energized. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. She wanted to know more and couldn’t sleep. Knowing that Harmony often went to the library even after hours, Elise decided to do the same.
She climbed out of bed, quickly dressed, and headed out of the room with Callie on her heels.
Elise had already spent a fair amount of time in the library, but only during the day. They must not lock it at a night, or Harmony wouldn’t have been able to get in. Well, okay, she could be breaking in, but Harmony didn’t seem like the sort to do that unless she really had to.
The narrow stairway was creepy at night. The wood creaked under her steps and the handrail didn’t seem nearly sturdy enough to support her weight should she actually slip and need it. However, she’d managed this on crutches for weeks and a handful of times without. This wasn’t even her first after hours trip down the stairs, so she wasn’t sure why they bothered her so much right now. Maybe she was simply uneasy because she was pretty sure going to the library in the middle of the night was against the rules, and Elise was always one to follow rules.
She paused at the bottom of the steps and listened. Nothing else stirred.
“Okay, I want answers. Let’s go,” she said to Callie.
The translucent dog wagged her tail and followed.
Hidden by clouds, the moon provided no illumination. The street lamps and the bulbs on the buildings, many obstructed by leaves still on the trees, provided scant light as Elise hurried across the lawn to the library. Fortunately, the building wasn’t far or Elise might have lost her nerve. She hurried, almost jogging, until she reached the faint illumination from the lamp in front of the library.
In the dark, the tall brick building loomed oppressively. Taking a deep breath, she left the pool of light and darted up the front steps.
Another smaller lamp lit the doorstep. Grasping the cold knob she twisted, half hoping it would be locked. It turned freely and the door opened on silent hinges.
Something else Elise hadn’t considered. All the lights were off. This midnight excursion thing wasn’t something she was good at.
Callie glowed more brightly for a moment before looking up and wagging her tail.
“Right, I have a glowing ghost. We’ll be fine.”
Dropping her jaw in a doggy grin, Callie led the way into the library.
Wait, she thought. Callie knew the way like she’d been here before. Had my dog snuck out with Harmony on at least one of her midnight research forays?
Elise knew where the necromancy section was. She’d brushed by it once or twice, but was too scared to really go in. Death magic was beyond creepy. It was as if doing research on the subject made it more real. Something unavoidable. However, when Elise was honest with herself, she knew she’d never escape it so she might as well embrace it. Somehow, studying about her skill in the middle of the night by ghost-light seemed appropriate.
Wandering through the stacks, Elise read random titles. Most were books she’d expect to find in any library, the mix of popular fiction and non-fiction, but she also found plenty of research texts and occasionally something on magic. She worked her way to the staircase and went down to the basement level where the necromancy texts were shelved.
Finally, she reached the depths of the basement level stacks. Callie provided enough illumination to find the section she wanted.
There weren’t many books. She guessed most of them were restricted access. The first book she selected was an introduction book. Perfect. Sinking to the ground, she ignored the cold stone floor and leaned against the bookshelf. Blowing off a bit of dust, she cracked the book open to the first chapter.
Necromancy: an affinity for and ability to influence the dead.
Reasonable enough. Elise read further.
Necromancy is a dark skill that few possess. While the full skill is rare, many have some minor talent that allows them to influence the dead, but caution must be taken as the dead do not take lightly to unskilled meddling.