by J A Campbell
“Without proof, it’d mean war between our two Houses. I’m sure Macrow would win, but that would give Thompson’s House that same sense of victimization I spoke of earlier.”
“And you are nowhere as reactionary as we both believed,” he added. This time, she took the smile for a compliment and nodded. Truth was the time in bed in the dark gave her the perspective she needed to hone her anger into a focused weapon.
She’d also learned that Professor Thompson himself, for all his championing of the incidental gifts, was a House member. Unlike the other instructors who wore insignia of some kind, he’d eschewed such embellishment—or his House, the Nmemones or mind-workers, had eschewed him possibly for similar misdeeds to those he’d attempted against her. How he’d managed to gain a post teaching in the JM school was another question altogether. The slimy bastard had something on someone. She’d wager money on it.
“Not when other people’s lives could be in the balance,” Harmony uncrossed her legs and stretched them out. Her feet were bare and she wiggled her long nearly prehensile toes and stretched her calves, cramped from sitting on the cold cement floor for so long. “I fight my own battles if I can. Thompson’s House are cowards from what I read. They were sanctioned a generation ago for illegal mind-works. They won’t try for the big guns: they’ll attack the Macrow young and hamper the House for the next generation. I’m guessing his House is heavily courting the Healthy Hybrids for adoption.”
“Very good.”
Harmony watched the mage-light flicker across the man’s face. She had questions, but she was fairly certain he wasn’t going to answer any of them particularly since it appeared his mission was to ascertain how capable she was of figuring out the JM for herself.
“What’s....” She started to ask when the building sighed and groaned. Having lived there for months, Harmony was used to the dorm’s peculiar voice. The building was like an old woman, creaky and complaining. Every footstep on the hardwood floors elicited varying commentary with each step. It was a cantankerous old place that grumbled and groaned with each wind or even step. One musically-inclined girl could literally play a tune on one portion of the upper hallway by stepping on various boards like piano keys. The sounds the place made when the wind blew would make an amazing horror soundtrack.
Rodents and all manner of bugs poured out from various corners of the basement, heading up the stairs at a frantic pace.
Harmony’s heart stopped as a smoke alarm shrilled above them.
Rats! Running from a sinking ship!
Images of Sam shivered across her brain. One memory she wished she hadn’t gotten back. She was up and moving before Cousin Macrow could reach for her, pelting up the stairs two at a time, her mind churning with fear.
Smoke already billowed in the main hallway, bringing the poisonous lung-burning stench of burning wood, mold, and dust with it. She muscled into the middle of the queue of her fellow students struggling to open the front door.
Locked! The door was never locked. There was an alarm attached so Campus Security could stop any errant student from escaping in the middle of the night, but the doors were left open to prevent them from getting caught up in a fire.
Heat from the building warmed her back. The old dorm was a tinderbox waiting for someone to strike a match.
Harmony turned, bellowing for them to follow. She reached Mrs. Mathers’s vacant office and grabbed her office chair, tossing it through the window. Cousin Macrow lunged ahead of her kicking out the glass and tossing one of the smaller, younger students out the opening.
She caught up one of the youngest girls by the underarms and boosted her outside, careful to avoid the jagged edges of the window.
Cousin Macrow’s hands were around her waist before she could protest and she went sailing through the air. Harmony landed on her side and rolled away from the other students crashing on the ground around her.
It was an easy jump from the second or even third floors. Girls often did it to meet boys for illicit dates in the middle of the night. Many of them were doing so now.
Harmony stood below, helping the younger and smaller students away from the building as Cousin tossed them out one-by-one. He finally made the jump himself, just as the fire billowed into Mrs. Mathers’s office behind him.
The top of the building was engulfed in flames, providing an eerie light to the normally river-befogged forest.
“Go towards the river,” she yelled to a couple of half-asleep confused girls who were standing waiting for someone to tell them what to do. There were no buildings open at that time for them to seek safety in. The best they could do was gather out of the way and wait until one of the administration came to provide them shelter. She grabbed both by the hand and ran barefoot with them to the river-side. Others followed. It was cold, but they were close to water and away from the fire and the area where the firefighters would be.
Soon, she heard sirens echoing through the trees. This was nothing like the AFD with their sophisticated equipment. The locals were volunteers, arriving in SUVs, station wagons, and pick-ups with vintage fire engines which spent more time rolling through local parades as antiques as they did fighting actual fires.
“Who’s here?” Mrs. Mathers had arrived with a roll book and started calling out names. Harmony paused, looking around for the first time, for her roomie.
“ELISE! ELISE!” she bellowed, running as fast as she could back toward the dorm, which was now fully engulfed.
Elise stared at the pile of books she’d accumulated and wondered if she’d be able to sneak out of the library without getting caught. She didn’t want to check them out, just in case Professor Thompson, or whoever was involved with Harmony’s memory loss, was keeping an eye on the library. She’d risked it with the one book, because it had been harmless. However, so far it didn’t seem like it had helped Harmony. Or maybe she hadn’t looked at it, though the book had moved from the bed to the night stand and Elise knew Harmony must have seen it. Maybe there was something else she could do to help her friend.
The only reason she could get in after-hours was because she had made friends with the ghost.
Finally, Elise decided she had to. Harmony wasn’t acting right and she needed to help. It was at least partially her fault they’d ended up making enemies, anyway. If only she’d refused to go to the club instead of caving in to Professor Thompson.
Since that awkward day, Elise was much more aware of her and Harmony’s somewhat outcast status. There were people that Harmony got along well with, but Elise only had casual conversations with fellow students. Not sure what her problem was, she decided it didn’t currently matter. What mattered was helping Harmony.
Balancing all the books in her arms, Elise decided that she was just going to risk it. She’d take the books back to her room and read them there with a nice cup of tea. There had to be something to help fix her memory.
Feeling the ghost’s attention, Elise murmured a few soothing words. It drifted away and Elise made for the door, trying not to look furtively over her shoulder. She was the only one in the library after all, except for the ghost.
Pausing by the door, Elise looked around to make sure she was still alone. Nothing stirred outside in the damp, musty air. Taking a deep breath and hoping she didn’t get caught, Elise slipped out of the library and into the night.
So intent on her own mischief she almost didn’t see the huddled pair standing outside the admin building. Not wanting to get caught, she hurried on, but did note that there was something familiar about the taller of the two. She simply didn’t know what, or have the time to figure it out.
Grateful she was no longer on crutches, Elise made her way up the many flights of narrow stairs, balancing the books and trying to avoid the squeaky steps.
Finally, she made it to the small room she shared with Harmony and nudged open the door with her toe. Harmony wasn’t there. She felt a mixture of sadness and relief about that. Sadness that her only friend was now incapacitat
ed and distant. Relief that she could perhaps get something done for her without causing undue stress or embarrassment.
Putting the books on the floor, she settled herself into her tea making ritual. First, the small burner. She lit it using magic, and allowed herself a moment of pride that she’d learned something so useful.
After the small flame danced on the burner, Elise put a kettle over it and waited for the water to boil. She supposed she could use magic to warm the water, but it just wouldn’t be the same.
Selecting her tea, Elise prepared a tea ball and waited for the shriek of the kettle. Anticipating soothing mint, she poured and then settled back on her bed with one of the books.
It didn’t take her long to determine why this book lived in the restricted section. She read some seriously dark and disturbing ideas. Some of the memory charms might be helpful though, so she kept going.
Engrossed with the book, it took Elise a moment to register the smell of smoke. Putting the book down, she sat up on the bed and sniffed. Something burned. Quickly glancing at her burner, she double checked to make sure she’d turned it off. She had.
Not too concerned, Elise settled back to continue reading when the building groaned.
That got her attention. The building always made strange sounds, but after several months living in it, Elise was pretty sure she was familiar enough with the noises to know this one was unusual.
The smoke smell intensified and a few floors down, someone screamed.
Fire? Elise bolted upright, tea and book forgotten. Throwing open her door, she tried to rush out of her room, only to be pushed back by a wall of choking black smoke.
Elise slammed her door and went to the window, opening it and sucking in fresh air between hacking coughs.
The dorm was on fire. Elise’s heart raced as she tried to decide what to do. They’d never done any sort of fire drill. Wasn’t there magic to prevent this sort of thing? What about the fire suppressant system?
As if activated by her thoughts, the ceiling sprinklers squirted out a few half-hearted spurts of water.
“That’s it?”
Something more than a simple fire must be going on. Something was messing with the fire system. Someone was messing with all of their lives. Fear overwhelmed Elise for a moment.
Gasping for breath, and out of ideas, Elise contemplated jumping out of her window. Looking down, she knew she wouldn’t survive, but at least she wouldn’t burn to death. The fall would be quicker.
Determined to at least try, Elise gathered herself to perch on the ledge when something cool brushed against her leg.
Glancing down, she saw Callie. The ghostly collie whined and nudged her away from the window.
“Callie, I’m going to die. There’s no way out. The hall is full of smoke and probably fire by now.”
She heard something snap, as if confirming her fears.
Callie shook her head and pointed her nose at the door again.
“I can’t do it. I have to breathe.” She wondered if the dog ghost even remembered what living required.
Callie threw her head back and howled, except no sound came out. It was creepy, watching the silently howling dog, and despite the sweat now dripping from her in the hot air, she shivered.
Again and again, Callie called silently until the air filled with smoke. Elise covered her mouth, but strangely, despite the smoke, she could breathe. The air temperature cooled to something bearable.
Looking at Elise for a long moment, Callie then trotted toward the door. The cloud of smoke moved with Callie. When Elise didn’t follow, the heat built up again. Getting the idea, Elise moved back into the cloud of smoke. Instantly she was comfortable again.
The smoke swirled and Elise was certain she made out eyes and other features. Ghosts...it was a cloud of ghosts.
She’d made peace with the library ghost, but these spirits were another matter. Who were they, would they abandon her in the middle of the fire? She hesitated.
Growling, Callie tugged on her pant leg.
Shocked, Elise followed until she reached the door. It was shut and carefully she put her hand over the knob. Cool to the touch. The ghosts.
Terrified, but not willing to die when she had a chance, Elise went out into the hall. It was dark with smoke, but she knew these steps after having walked them several times a day for the last few months. Crouching, so she could see the floor, Elise shuffled forward, the ghosts surrounding her and keeping her cool.
Heart hammering, Elise made it down several flights before she ran into her first problem. The fire must have started toward the bottom. The upstairs was full of smoke, but now there were flames licking the hallway, the banister, and parts of the old wooden staircase. She’d never make it. The ghosts couldn’t possibly keep her safe from all that.
When she hesitated, Callie again wrinkled her lips. Elise couldn’t hear if the dog made any noise, however, over the roar of the flames. Coughing when some of the smoke made it through the ghostly shield, Elise took a step back and turned but flames burst through the steps behind her, and ahead was her only option.
Having no choice, she trusted the ghosts and plunged forward. Callie led her around weak boards and stopped her just in time as the ceiling came crashing down around her.
Throwing her hands over her head, Elise dropped to the ground and created a shield. She’d been working on the spell for some time, but had never tried a human-sized shield before.
Timbers rained around her, but she managed to keep them from falling on her. As soon as the debris settled, she pushed forward, now hurrying. The building was coming down around her.
Wondering where the other students were, Elise raced down the steps as fast as Callie would lead until the ghostly collie halted and flattened her ears in dismay. A wall of flame had eaten the rest of the staircase. There was no way out.
Callie vanished.
“No!” Betrayal washed over Elise. How could she have left at a time like this? Half expecting the other ghosts to vanish, she looked around for a solution, only to find Callie wagging her tail from the wall. She vanished into the wall and reappeared again.
“What?” Ashamed she had ever doubted Callie, even for a brief moment, Elise hugged herself and tried to figure out what the dog wanted.
After she popped out of the wall again, Elise guessed that the ghost wanted her to follow. Through the wall. She’d need another shield.
Done with hesitating. Done with being in danger. Done with people trying to kill her and endangering those around her, because she had no doubt this was aimed at her and Harmony, Elise magicked a shield shaped like a wedge and hurled herself at the wall. Old wood splintered, revealing a mostly intact hallway. Elise raced after Callie toward the other end of the dorm. Finding another staircase, she plunged down. The smoke was thick here, but the flames weren’t as intense, and she made it out the back of the building with little trouble.
Elise burst out the back door into a sea of students in their night clothes. Most were girls from the dorm, but some had come from other dorms to view the chaos. Teachers shouted, others tried to take names and account for students. Elise pushed through it all, searching for Harmony. No one paid her much attention, and the ghosts still surrounded her. Wondering if they kept her from view, she decided it was better that way. Just in case someone tried to kill them more directly and throw them back into the fire to burn, she’d keep the shield for now.
“Callie, find Harmony!” Where was her cousin? It was almost impossible to find anyone in this mess.
Heart racing with a different kind of fear, she wondered if her cousin was still alive, or trapped in the inferno? She didn’t want to lose the only friend she had.
Callie paused and looked around, ears flat. She paused for so long that Elise sank to her knees, tears welling in her eyes. No....
Woofing excitedly, Callie perked her ears and tore through the crowd.
Lurching to her feet, Elise raced after the dog, just barely able to keep u
p. The dog led her around the burning building, past fire crews and to the front.
They raced toward the river.
“Elise?” She heard Harmony shout frantically. A moment later she made out her cousin rushing back toward the burning building.
“Harmony!” Elise barely noticed as the ghosts dissipated. She would find a way to thank them later. Callie stayed by her side as Elise raced toward her cousin. What was she thinking?
“Elise!” Harmony yelled frantically, charging for the dorm.
Elise tried to get her attention, but Harmony seemed beyond notice.
Throwing her arms around Harmony, she tackled her cousin to the ground to keep the fool from killing herself.
Grunting, Harmony tried to throw her off.
“Harmony! I’m okay!”
That seemed to get her cousin’s attention. Harmony stopped struggling for a moment before she twisted and looked at Elise. “You’re alive?”
“Yes!”
“Oh, thank the goddess!” Harmony wrapped her arms around Elise and squeezed.
“You’re okay!” Elise gasped and tried to hide the tears in her eyes.
Harmony nodded. “How’d you get out?”
The pair helped each other stand.
“I’m fine.” She almost launched into the story of how the ghosts had saved her, when she looked around and saw many others nearby. She didn’t want anyone to know. Not yet. If they knew, they’d find a way to counter her helpers. “I was on the first floor studying.”
Harmony arched her eyebrows, as if knowing that was a lie.
Dropping her voice to a whisper, Elise said, “I’ll tell you when we’re alone. This had to be directed at us.” Steel entered her voice. “They’ll pay.”
Arching her eyebrows higher, Harmony slowly smiled then nodded. “Yes. I’ve remembered all sorts of things we need to talk about,” she said the last just as quietly.
Relieved, Elise nodded. “Good. Let’s keep all of that to ourselves.”
“Hey,” Harmony managed a smile. “Thank you for the book. I don’t think I could have fixed myself without it.”