by Chloe Garner
“Sasha,” Valerie cut in. “How do they assign roommates next year?”
“Um,” Sasha said. “If you don’t request someone, it’s a random assignment, but unless you have a history of destructive or insubordinate behavior, they usually honor requests.”
“If I’m here next year, will you be my roommate again?”
Sasha gave her a shy smile and nodded.
“Yeah.”
Valerie nodded.
“Good. That’s settled. I don’t know what I’ll do for the summer. Maybe my mom will have a plan. Maybe I’ll stay here all summer. I don’t want to get you and your mom or anyone in trouble, and I don’t want to put anyone in danger. You’re right that everyone is trying to use me, and I need to be careful. I don’t… Does the faculty stay here through the summer?”
Sasha nodded quickly.
“Yeah, some of them I think. I think Lady Harrington lives here all year, so you would probably be safe. I just hate to think of you stuck here all summer long without anyone here. It would be so lonely.”
“I bet I’d get a lot of studying done,” Valerie said, ducking as the frisbee went over her head.
“That was at you,” Ethan called as he went racing past.
“Good thing I ducked,” Valerie called back. “And Sasha’s short enough she didn’t have to.”
They watched as the guys wrestled over the disc and went running on again, then Valerie frowned at Sasha.
“Does it bother that I tease about you being short, sometimes?”
“You think I don’t know about it?” Sasha answered, grinning. “I am so cute. I’m not insecure about it. Except sometimes when I’m standing next to Hanson. You know.”
Valerie grinned.
“I do know.”
“The summer is long by yourself,” Sasha said. “Really long.”
“Hanson might have to stay, too,” Valerie said. “I don’t know what his parents will do.”
“They still have a home to go back to,” Sasha said. “It’s not common for two parents to both be actively working for the Council at a time.”
“It’s war,” Valerie said. “I don’t anticipate them giving people time off because school’s out. We don’t know. There may be a lot of kids who stay all summer. Maybe they’ll just create a special school session for them.”
“I bet Hanson goes home with Shack,” Sasha said. “Shack could get lost in his house, they have so much space, and they’re really good friends.”
Valerie shrugged and nodded.
“Maybe so.”
“At least think about it,” Sasha said. “I’ll write to my mom and ask. You’d be welcome with us, I know you would.”
Valerie thought about the warding on the school and how hard it had been supposed to be for anyone to break through it. How it had happened three or five times, depending on how you counted it. Maybe more, if you counted Ethan and Shack sneaking around as often as they did.
“I just don’t want more people to…” Valerie drew her breath, feeling strange saying it in the new life of spring. “… to die because of me.”
“They were hunting the Council kids,” Shack said on the way past. “Can’t own that one.”
Valerie hadn’t heard him coming.
How hadn’t she heard him coming?
“He’s trying out a new cast he put on his shoes,” Sasha said, reading it off of Valerie’s face. “The other guys all want it. I’m going to show Hanson how to do it later sometime.”
“Huh,” Valerie said, dodging to the side as Hanson snatched the frisbee out of the air right next to her.
“At least there are two of you, now,” he said with a grin and took off running again.
“What does that mean?” Sasha asked, and Valerie shrugged.
“You’re balancing my lack of enthusiasm nicely.”
Sasha grinned.
“Glad to be of service.” She swung her head to watch as they went past again, then looked at Valerie again. “Would you at least consider going to visit Ethan for a couple of weeks? I mean, I get it why you wouldn’t want to go, but I know you’d be safe there. Mrs. Trent is about as valuable a target as you are, I think. All of the Council kids are, really. So you’d be safe, and at least you wouldn’t be alone for a while.”
“I think my mom would die if I went to live with my high school boyfriend,” Valerie said, grinning, then shrugged. “It’s too early. I don’t know. I’ll figure it out later, when no one is trying to kill me.”
Sasha looked over at the dogpile of guys wrestling over the frisbee, then raised an eyebrow at Valerie.
“You never know,” Valerie said.
“Miss Blake,” a woman said, walking across the ridge toward them.
“See?” Valerie whispered, then raised her voice for the woman’s benefit. “That’s me.”
“I’m here to collect you for an appearance with the Council,” she said.
“Um,” Valerie said, then stuck her chin out. “I’m thinking no.”
“That’s not an option, young lady. I need you to come with me now. Your scheduled appearance is in two hours, and you need to prepare, first.”
“I’m not learning how to curtsy,” Valerie said. “Sorry.”
The woman took another step forward, and then Ethan was in front of Valerie.
“If she’s going to appear before the Council, I’m going with her,” he said. Valerie took a step to the side, glancing over her shoulder at the rest of the guys, who had come to form something of a semi-circle around behind her.
“Mr. Trent,” the woman said. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”
“She’s allowed to have an advocate,” Ethan said.
“I didn’t hear her ask for one,” the woman said, speaking almost entirely through her teeth. Ethan turned to face Valerie.
“Didn’t she?” he asked.
Valerie looked at him flatly, considering for several very long moments asking for Mr. Jamison as her advocate. Or Mr. Tannis. Or Lady Harrington.
Or, hey, why not, Susan Blake.
“Didn’t she?” Ethan asked again.
“Fine,” Valerie said. “I don’t want to go, but if I have to, I want… an advocate to come with me, and I choose Ethan Trent.”
Sasha was nodding, off to the side of Valerie’s peripheral vision, so that hadn’t been entirely a bad decision.
The woman looked at Ethan, considering him like she might have a half-dried dog turd in the middle of the sidewalk.
“You’re not getting into my car like that,” she said, and Ethan nodded.
“Yup. Let me shower and change and I’ll be back in fifteen.”
“Ten,” the woman said flatly. “I’m counting. And if you aren’t on time, I’ll leave without you.”
Ethan turned around, pointing at someone behind Valerie and then at Valerie herself, mouthing prep her, then turned and sprinted for the school building.
“She’ll need to get her bag, or whatever, out of her room,” Shack said. “And you aren’t allowed in the school without an escort.”
“If she tries to hide in Lady Harrington’s skirts, I will have to come in after her, and none of you will like it,” the woman said. “Ten minutes.”
She turned and started walking toward the building. Valerie looked back at Shack.
“I really wasn’t going to go, guys,” she said. “Why are you going along with this?”
“Come on,” Shack said, catching her shoulders with his arm and muscling her forward. “We need to act like you’ve got stuff to get ready.”
“She does,” Sasha said. “I’ll go pack her backpack.”
Sasha took off running toward their blanket, with Hanson behind her, and Shack nodded.
“What stuff?” Valerie asked. “Why? Why am I doing this?”
“Keep moving,” Shack said.
“Is this like the Roger guy who came to get me when they re-drafted my mom?” Valerie asked, and Shack nodded again.
“I know that guy.
Tabby is worse. Roger lies to get what he wants. Tabby will hit you in the face, and I’m not kidding.
“I took self-defense,” Valerie said. “It won’t work.”
Shack snorted.
“Of course you did. I don’t mean with her fist, necessarily.”
Valerie looked after the woman darkly.
“I took self-defense for that, too.”
Shack laughed quietly and nodded, still pushing Valerie to go faster toward the building.
“You’re gross,” Valerie said, dodging away. “I’ll walk, okay? Just… don’t touch me.”
“Okay,” Shack said. “Just, listen hard, okay? There are a lot of things you need to know about appearing before the Council. It’s very nuanced. And you’ve got a long drive ahead of you, but Ethan can’t tell you all of it in front of Tabby, because it would be considered irreverent and she could keep him from going in with you. Once he gets there, he can be as irreverent as he dares, right up until his dad kicks him out, but no one else will boot him for what he says, because of his dad. You get it?”
“So he was a good choice?” Valerie asked, and Shack nodded.
“No, if you could get Lady Harrington to go with you, maybe you could do better, but then everyone would know that the school was unguarded, and it was kind of remarkable she came with us to get you, in the middle of the night, when it was going to be a giant secret. As soon as she leaves the campus to go to the Council, every single spy the Pure have sitting with the Council is going to report it and they would be here. So, yeah, after her, I think Ethan is your best bet. Trust him, okay? Like, I know he’s gonna goof off and act weird and do all kinds of stuff that you aren’t going to get, but… This is a big deal, and he’s not going to be casual about it. You have to trust that he isn’t just trying to impress you or anything.”
She watched the woman ahead of them, trying to figure out how anything that important could possibly involve Valerie.
Yeah, people were trying to kidnap her and kill her, but this felt like it was in a different league, for reasons Valerie couldn’t have put words to.
“He’s always trying to impress me,” Valerie said, and Shack snorted.
“Yeah, that’s true, but you need to imagine he isn’t, for now.”
“What’s going to happen?” Valerie asked.
“They’ll take you to the council building and they’ll let you get changed.”
“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” Valerie cut in, and Shack shook his head.
“It’s very traditional.”
“Am I gonna have to wear a powdered wig?” Valerie asked, and he gave her a dour look.
“I get that humor is part of coping, but Tabby isn’t going to put up with much of it. She’ll lock you up and drag you in front of them like a convict, if you push her too far.”
Valerie blinked, and he nodded.
“So, they’ll give you clothes to change into. You can ask to have someone help you if you want, because I think the women’s clothes are harder, but you can probably muddle through on your own if you want. Plan on that taking about thirty minutes, maybe, and then they’ll tell you what the terms of the appearance are.”
“Terms,” Valerie said, and Shack nodded.
“They only send an officer to bring someone who has been summoned if they’ve issued terms.”
Valerie scratched the back of her head.
“Terms,” she said again. “Summoned. Officer. These words… they have extra meaning for you.”
He nodded.
“That. You shouldn’t do that. Yes. They issue terms and then order a summons and issue it to an officer. They won’t tell you the terms of the appearance are until after you are dressed and ready to sit for your appearance. By then, Ethan will be there, and he’ll be able to explain them to you… carefully. You have to listen hard and try really hard to understand what he might mean, because Tabby is going to be looking for any opportunity to kick him out. If she does it and he challenges it later, and he wins, she could lose her job, so she won’t do it unless she has an iron-clad reason. He’s going to know exactly what he has to do to get into the Council room with you, but don’t goad him into messing up, okay? You need him there.”
“This isn’t my fault,” Valerie said, and he shook his head.
“I didn’t say it was. I just said it was serious, and you need to be careful. Well, if I didn’t say that, I meant to. It’s serious and you have to be careful.”
Sasha and Hanson went running past, Hanson carrying Valerie’s backpack.
“It’s going to stink like sweaty boy, now,” Valerie lamented, and Shack snorted, going up the stairs ahead of her and opening the door.
“You’ll read the terms of your appearance, maybe get ten minutes to prepare. They’ll give you a pen and paper… can you write with a fountain pen? We all learn when we’re little.”
“Nope,” Valerie said. “Well, maybe. I signed a guest book with one, once. Fidgety.”
He nodded.
“Let Ethan write. You make any notes you want to have in front of you once you’re in front of the Council, and then Tabby will take you in. Just follow Ethan’s lead from there. It’s not going to get any easier, but at least they can’t kick Ethan out over a technicality.”
“Why are they doing this?” Valerie asked, and Shack shook his head.
“Sometimes it’s no big deal. They want you to testify before the Council about something, so they issue terms. Sometimes they have a proposal for you and it’s okay for you to just say no and walk away. Right now though, with you being you and a student? I wouldn’t count on it being a simple trip. When you get in there, do a quick count of the Council members. The closer you get to thirty-seven, the bigger a deal it is.”
“Will it just be Council members?” Valerie asked, and he shook his head.
“Each Council member has an aide - Ethan’s dad and my mom get two - and they have a secretary. The Council members, though… Well, you’ll know them when you see them, I promise.”
“Are they going to try to draft me?” Valerie asked. “Because I won’t fight for them.”
“Don’t…” Shack warned, standing aside as she opened the door to her dorm room. “Don’t talk like that. Not around here in general, and not right now, specifically.”
“I heard that the Council issued a summons?” Ann asked, walking down the hallway quickly. Shack nodded.
“Tabby,” Shack said. Ann pressed her lips and looked at Valerie.
“Is Ethan going with her?” Ann asked.
“He’s upstairs getting changed,” Shack said. “He has… three minutes to get back outside.”
Ann blew air through her lips and nodded.
“At least there’s that.”
Shack nodded again.
“You’re on my side?” Valerie asked, and Ann gave her a little shrug.
“A summons means the Council is going to try to break you,” she said. “I may not like you, and I may think you never deserved to be here, but no one on my side of the line deserves that.”
Valerie swallowed, and Ann shrugged again.
“Good luck. Don’t keep Tabby waiting.”
Shack nodded and Sasha stepped out of the room, holding out Valerie’s backpack.
“I did my best,” she said, and Shack touched her shoulder.
“No one could have done better, then,” he said, jerking his chin at Valerie. “Keep walking. We need you to be on time.”
She gave the lot of them a confused look, particularly Hanson - inside the dorm room and strictly against the rules - then followed Shack back down the hall. Mrs. Gold was standing in her doorway.
“Mr. Cox, you need to be out of there by the time I notice you,” the woman called, then nodded at Valerie. “Give ‘em hell, girlie.”
Valerie gave Mrs. Gold a tight smile and kept up after Shack, who was walking faster than she could go on straight legs.
“Anything else?” Valerie asked Shack, and he shook his head.<
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“Be smart. This is magic, so nothing is quite as simple as just words. There will be magic everywhere. Sasha packed you a good bag, I’m sure of it. Pay attention. She’ll have been trying to help you as much as she can.”
They paused as Lady Harrington came out of the office carrying a paper bag.
“Keep walking,” Lady Harrington said, opening Valerie’s backpack as they moved and shoving the paper bag into it. “Good luck.”
The woman stopped, and Shack grabbed Valerie’s elbow to keep her walking yet. Valerie shook her head.
“This can’t possibly be this…” She didn’t have a word.
“It is,” Shack answered. Ethan came flying down the hallway in a suit and tie, grabbing the door as much to stop himself as to hold it for Valerie, and Shack stopped short inside as Valerie went out into the beautiful light. Ethan followed her, and then they were on the stairs by themselves, walking down toward a long, sleek black car and the woman called Tabby.
“I didn’t have… You have a suit,” Valerie murmured.
“Game face,” Ethan answered, putting his arm through hers and going to help her into the car.
Council
They rode the first fifteen minutes in complete silence.
The fact that Ethan said nothing to needle Tabby warned Valerie that Shack hadn’t been over-selling this.
“How long have they been in session?” Ethan finally asked.
“Since yesterday afternoon,” Tabby answered.
Valerie looked at Ethan, and he nodded. Permission to speak. Just… carefully.
“Is that normal?” she asked, and he nodded, putting his arm across the back of the seat so that his hand was behind her head.
“No one will have been there the entire time,” he said. “Except my dad. The Council members are allowed to come and go for the portions of the session that they consider to be of specific interest to them. During war councils, they may be there for more than twelve hours at a time, but usually they put less-broad things on the agenda at strategic intervals to let people get out and take care of themselves.”
“Okay,” Valerie said slowly. “Does it mean anything that they’ve been in session for a long time?”