“We should separate into twos and threes,” Tria suggested. “It makes people nervous to see this many gifted all together. They probably think we’re planning something.”
“Well, we are. We’re planning to shop,” Lina said with a malicious grin.
But the others agreed with Tria, and the girls separated, arranging to meet for lunch at the Sunshine Café. Tria stayed with Rehanne and Nubba, Lina walked off with Kathyn and Eula, and the remaining six broke up into twos. Millville was not a large town. They would run into each other often, but they all headed in different directions for now.
Bare-limbed trees lined the space between the street and sidewalk, their fallen leaves heaped on the ground beneath them. The buildings along Main Street were old, many of red brick, others of weathered wood. But the shops all boasted show windows decorated with gaily colored lights, and their displays were often arranged in snow scenes. Nubba bounced along, bubbling with excitement. Rehanne strolled beside Tria and paused to gaze into each window. Tria enjoyed lingering to admire the displays as much as Rehanne. But Nubba kept getting ahead of them, leaving Tria torn between hurrying to catch up with her or lagging behind with Rehanne and being subjected to Nubba’s impatient calls.
Nubba was well ahead of them when she gave a loud shout and disappeared into a shop doorway. Tria hurried forward, but even before she reached the door, the odors of fresh baked bread, cinnamon and other spices, and rich chocolate told her that Nubba had found a bakery.
And such a bakery! A miniature town adorned the window, its houses made of ginger cakes, with windows drawn with yellow icing to portray lamplight within. Spun-sugar snow covered the ground; gumdrop bushes surrounded the houses; and licorice-stick lampposts lined the chocolate-square streets. There were even tiny figures populating the village.
“Now that’s magic!” Tria breathed in awe as Rehanne joined her. “Look, even the little people look like they’re made of some kind of candy.”
“They are,” Rehanne told her. “They’re marzipan. That’s made of crushed almonds and sugar and … and egg whites, I think. It’s yummy. And look at those marshmallow snowmen!”
They still stood entranced when Nubba emerged, laden with an armful of paper-wrapped delights.
“Here,” she said happily, thrusting one sticky packet into Tria’s hands and offering a second to Rehanne. “My treat. It’s my thank you for being my friends.”
Surprised, Tria lifted the covering paper and saw a flaky horn oozing creamy filling, a cinnamon bun thick with icing, and two delicately decorated petit fours.
“Nubba, you shouldn’t have! Why, we’ll spoil our lunch if we eat all this.”
Nubba laughed. “This is better than the café food, and anyway we’ll walk it off by lunchtime.” Opening her own packet, she took a big bite of the cinnamon bun.
“Thanks, Nubba,” Rehanne said, with a wry glance at Tria, as she picked up a petit four.
The cream horn was delicious, but Tria knew she’d never be able to eat the rest of the sweets. When they resumed their stroll along the street, she stayed back with Rehanne and let Nubba get well ahead of them. When they came upon two small boys staring wistfully at a toy store display, Tria nudged Rehanne and offered the rest of her sweets to one of the boys. Gratefully, Rehanne gave her goodies to the second boy, putting a finger to her lips to caution silence.
The children eagerly grabbed their prizes and ran off. Tria and Rehanne grinned at each other and hurried on after Nubba. They needed to exchange no words to assure each other that their friend would never know how they had disposed of her largesse.
Except for Nubba’s purchase of the sweets, they were content merely to browse and buy nothing. When they reached the point at which the shops ended and gave way to offices and private homes, they turned around and headed back toward the Sunshine Café. They’d covered only a block and a half when Kathyn came running toward them, beckoning, her face beaming.
They joined her, and when she’d caught her breath, she said, “Guess who we just saw and what they’re doing!”
Tria shook her head and Rehanne shrugged.
“We saw Wilce and Gray going into a jewelry store. They didn’t see us—we ducked out of sight. Then we peeped into the window. We couldn’t see what they were buying, but I’m sure they’re getting date gifts for you two.” She indicated Tria and Rehanne with nods of her head. “If you hurry you might sneak a peek and see what they’re buying.”
“We told them we didn’t want date gifts. They’re probably buying presents for someone in their family.”
“No, I’m sure they wouldn’t ask you to the ball and not buy you a date gift,” Kathyn said.
“Let’s hurry!” Nubba said, practically dancing. “I’ll bet Wilce will get something real special for you.”
“No,” Rehanne said, placing a restraining hand on Nubba’s arm. “I don’t want to know what Gray is getting for me. I want to be surprised. Don’t you, Tria?”
Tria nodded. “Definitely, I want to be surprised,” she said. “Kathyn, you get Lina and Eula right now. Tell them not to dare spy on the boys.”
Kathyn looked disappointed, but she said, “I’ll tell them. They may not want to come. Lina wanted to go into the store—to buy something for herself, I mean.” She added the last hastily when Tria glared at her.
“I’ll go back with you,” Nubba said, starting off.
Tria caught her arm and hauled her back. “No, you don’t. I know you’d try to see what they bought. I mean it when I say I don’t want to know. I want to be surprised. And I don’t mean for any of the rest of you to know either.”
Kathyn jogged back while Tria and Rehanne waited with a much put-out Nubba. In only a few moments Kathyn returned with Lina and Eula, both carrying shopping bags. Tria had expected her roommate to be angry, but Lina was laughing.
“I knew what you’d say,” she said on reaching them. “I even had a bet with Eula. And don’t worry, I don’t know what they bought, though I could easily have found out. I do know one thing, though. That jewelry store doesn’t sell cheap stuff. You’re both lucky. Most of us won’t get any gift at all.”
Lina was acting as though she didn’t care, but Tria detected a hint of jealousy in her roommate’s green eyes. “They shouldn’t give us gifts,” Tria said. “I don’t care if it is a tradition. With so few of the boys inviting girls this year, it isn’t right for just a few of us to be treated so specially.”
“If you really feel that way, you shouldn’t have accepted the date,” Lina said cattily. “But you did, so you might as well take all that goes with it. Now, what have you bought so far?”
Tria hesitated. Lina knew very well that she had no money for shopping. She suspected that her roommate was trying to embarrass her, and it was hard to resist giving a sharp retort. But this day was too enjoyable to spoil by sparring with Lina.
“We’ve just been window shopping,” she said. “I haven’t found anything I want to buy.”
“Well, then, it’s good I’ve found you,” Lina said. “I can help you look.”
To Tria’s profound relief, Rehanne intervened to say, “Not now. It’s almost time to meet the others for lunch. We need to head for the café.”
Lina grudgingly agreed, and they set off toward the café. They’d gotten near enough to see Coral, Verin, Petra, and Elspeth waiting outside, when they heard shouts and screams coming from a side street.
Tria gave the others a single quick glance and sped toward the sound, sure her friends would follow.
The first thing Tria saw when she rounded the corner was a large dog in the center of the street, its yellow fur bristling, ears laid back, teeth bared, muscles tensed for a spring. Its head swayed back and forth as if it could not make up its mind where or on what to vent its rage. It opened its mouth and let out a furious howl. Only its indecision held it back.
On one side of it two terrified boys—the same two to whom she and Rehanne had given the sweets—cowered at the base of
a tree, its branches too high above them to reach. On the other side stood Oryon and Kress, laughing, baiting the dog with a stick. Behind them, Davy, Jerrol, and Fenton lounged against the side of a building, watching.
Following Tria’s fleeting thought that the whole school must be in Millville came the realization that the dog should not be in doubt about whom to charge. It was obvious who was teasing it. But when it crouched to spring at Oryon and Kress, something confused it, made it shake its head and turn toward the little boys.
Oryon and Kress were using power. Tria could feel the currents. They were tormenting the animal, then diverting its fury to the hapless boys.
Other people were gathering, and one man ran toward the boys to protect them, while another picked up a heavy stone and moved toward the dog.
The maddened animal leaped. The man snatched one boy out of its way, but it landed on the other, and its teeth ripped into his shoulder.
Tria confronted Oryon and Kress. “Stop it!” she said. “How dare you!”
Oryon raised his brows in mock surprise. “Stop what?” he asked. “Just what is it you think we’re doing?”
Kress paid her no attention; he remained focused on the dog. So he was the one working the magic, and she had to break his concentration.
Rehanne stepped up beside her. “I’ll help,” she whispered.
Lina slipped behind a cluster of high bushes.
Tria gathered a ball of light and tossed it at Kress’s face. Gasps rose from the gathering crowd, but Kress never blinked. “Witches!” someone shouted.
Kathyn pushed both Tria and Rehanne out of the way and launched herself at her twin, beating Kress on his chest and shoving him backward toward Davy and the others. “Headmistress told you not to draw power,” she shouted. “I’m forbidden to let you, so why aren’t they?” She glared at Davy, Jerrol, and Fenton, who returned puzzled looks. She swung back to her twin. “They don’t know, do they? You don’t even bother to ask permission anymore.”
She might have said more, but a black panther glided out from the bushes and, snarling, pounced on the dog, tearing it from its prey.
The dog yipped and yelped, twisting beneath the panther’s weight. The panther slipped off its back, the dog ran, and the panther darted behind the bushes. A moment later Lina strolled out and joined Tria and Rehanne. Eula and Elspeth sprinted after the dog, and Tria recalled that Eula had the gift of calming animals.
Tria felt as much as saw the crowd forming around them. Oryon shrugged and stepped back to join Kress. He raised his voice and said, “We were only trying to keep the dog away from us. We didn’t mean to send him toward the little boys.”
It was clear that the townspeople didn’t believe him, no matter how much injured innocence he put into his voice. Observers must have seen that he and Kress had done nothing to help the two threatened youngsters.
“We’re in real trouble now,” Kathyn told Kress. “When word of this gets back to Headmistress, we’ll all be punished. She’ll probably cancel the ball.”
“So?” Kress said defiantly.
But Oryon again addressed the crowd. “Look. The child is all right. No one got hurt.”
Tria turned with the others to look. She had seen the dog tear the boy’s shoulder open. Verin was holding the child, her hand pressed over the injured shoulder. “He’s right,” she said. “Only his shirt is torn.” She moved her hand away to show the unblemished skin beneath it.
She had healed the boy.
“I know that dog,” a man said, stepping forward. “It’s always been a gentle animal. Never seen it act that way before. What got into it?”
“And what was that thing that attacked it?” a woman asked.
“What does it matter?” Lina said. “It saved the boy, didn’t it?”
Eula and Elspeth returned at that moment, leading the dog, now calm and wagging its tail, despite the long scratches on its back.
Verin handed the child to a man who seemed to be his father. She went to the dog and stroked it, running her hands over its back. When she stepped away from it, the bloody scratches were gone.
Again people in the crowd murmured of witchcraft.
“We can’t please them, can we?” The voice that murmured into Tria’s ear was Oryon’s. “They don’t like us any better when we do good than when we do harm. So there’s really no point in being good.”
She cast him a withering glance. “Nobody even thought of bothering us until you started making trouble. Did you mean to goad that dog into killing that child?”
“Of course not. We would have stopped it if you hadn’t come along. You were the one who drew everyone’s attention. You and Lina with her needless theatrics.”
“Needless! She saved that boy’s life!”
“Which would not have been in danger if my dear sister hadn’t broken my concentration,” Kress said.
Tria snorted and looked away from him to study the crowd. She estimated the number of people around them at around two dozen. No one had yet made any threatening moves toward them, but it was only a matter of minutes before they did.
The others, too, were aware of the growing danger. Lina snarled. “Don’t change,” Tria warned her.
Rehanne’s eyes were shut, her face set in concentration. Tria was sure that she was exerting her talent of coercion in an attempt to control the throng, but the crowd was too large for that.
Davy and Fenton looked scared, but Jerrol stepped out in front. A man raised a menacing fist—and froze. Jerrol’s talent held him immobile. But the act enraged the mob, and Jerrol was far from strong enough to hold them all. People were shouting now and pressing forward. Peace Officers joined the crowd and moved through it toward them. The direction of their movement and their grim expressions showed that they were there not to control the crowd but to warn and possibly arrest the objects of the crowd’s anger.
She glanced at Oryon, who still stood beside her. He was breathing deeply, and his dark eyes sparkled. He’s enjoying this. She suppressed the anger that accompanied the thought.
Then, inexplicably, the shouts lessened, the group stopped moving forward, and many turned away from their targets. The peace officers drew back. At first Tria thought they were all reacting to something Oryon had done. But his face had darkened; his brows had drawn together in an angry frown. “Meddlers!” he muttered. “Spoilsports.”
He was taller than she and could see over the heads of the crowd. She stood on tiptoe but still was not tall enough to see what had turned the mob and aroused Oryon’s anger.
Like her twin, Kathyn was tall, the tallest of the girls. Her relieved laughter comforted Tria. “It’s Wilce and Gray,” she said. “We’re saved.”
The crowd parted, and Tria could see them. Wilce moved among the people, speaking softly. Tria did not have to hear what he said to know that along with his words he was spreading his calming influence, using his peacemaking talent to defuse the tension.
And Gray! Gray had stopped beside a pile of leaves and was using his power to lift the leaves into the air and shape them into likenesses of people in the crowd. Men and women cried out, not in anger but in delight, to see someone’s face briefly reproduced, only to have the portrait disintegrate and then reform into a new likeness.
With everyone, including the peace officers, focusing their attention on Gray and his ephemeral sculptures, Wilce reached his fellow students. He smiled, and Tria’s heart warmed, sure that the smile was meant especially for her.
“Go while Gray has them all distracted,” he told them all. “Get to the bus stop and take the next bus back to school. Those peace officers won’t be diverted for long.”
“Who gave you the right to order us around?” Kress demanded.
But Oryon said, “No, he’s right. It’s time to go.” Then his lips curled in a sneer and he said, “We’ll finish this another time.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
MIDWINTER BALL
“Either hold still or I’m going to walk out and
leave you like this,” Lina said through a mouthful of pins.
“Sorry.” Tria straightened and held out her arms so that Lina could scoot around her, pinning the hem in the full blue skirt.
“If you’d use your power for this, it would be a lot easier.”
“And wouldn’t I look cute when my dress fell apart on the middle of the dance floor. Come on, you’re almost all the way around.”
“I’ve got another third to go, and if you keep wiggling I’ll never finish. I don’t know why I offered to do this.”
Tria didn’t know either. Despite Lina’s insistence that she could not wear a “peasant outfit” to the Midwinter Ball, she had resolved not to accept Lina’s offer of one of her own expensive frocks, but that resolve weakened when she saw the gown. It was glorious, its soft silk chiffon swirling like a cloud around her.
She was taller and heavier than Lina, so the dress had to be altered. Fortunately, and unexpectedly, Lina proved skilled with needle and thread, able to let out darts and the generous seams and take out and redo the hem. She’d agreed to do the alterations after Tria flatly refused to use her power to adjust the dress.
“The dress brings out the blue of your eyes. You can have it.”
“Thanks, Lina. It is gorgeous. But I couldn’t keep it. It’s too expensive.”
Lina shrugged. “I have plenty of others. And the color’s not as flattering to me as it is to you. Besides, I’m not going to do all this work only to have to rip it all out and put it back the way it was.”
“You wouldn’t have to,” Tria said with a wicked grin. “You could use your power.”
The day of the dance dawned cold and snowy. The sun came out in midmorning and melted the snow to slush. Clouds drifted in and thickened, and by evening the slush turned to ice. Perfect weather for the Midwinter Ball.
A School for Sorcery (Arucadi Series Book 6) Page 10