Firebreak, p.26
Firebreak, page 26
Olivia winced. “I…uh. I don’t think I should say.”
“Why not?”
She looked up at him, her face pale.
“It was you, Professor.”
Amy slipped out without a word. She didn’t want to interrupt, and it sounded like they were going to be there a while. She could keep the cards safe until later.
***
“So, looks like more stuff is missing,” Vail said. The wind ruffled her curls as they strolled along the path by the stables.
“How are they doing this?” Amy said, frustrated. The school had a traitor, there was no denying it at this point, and they seemed uncatchable.
“Well, if they’ve got some way to get past the alarm spells, the rest is cake. I mean, you heard Adelaide. Basically everybody on the staff but Lanca has keys to the restricted vault, and it wouldn’t be too hard to swipe a pair, grab something from the vault, then put the keys back before anybody noticed. Or…”
Amy glanced sidelong at her. “Or?”
“Lanca checked out the gear, kept it, and somehow forged the return entry to make it look like he brought it back. No theft required, just sketchy paperwork.”
“One problem with that,” Amy said. “If he did it, what would he gain from complaining and calling attention to the missing goods? Just makes him look suspicious.”
Vail blinked. “Like…someone wants to make him look suspicious.”
Amy had been turning the puzzle over and over in her mind, working through it like an amateur sleuth, and getting nowhere. The reason she’d dismissed Lanca as a suspect was tied to the same question she kept coming back to.
“What do they think they’re going to get out of this?” she mused.
“Hm?”
“The traitor,” Amy said. “We know the Network wants to destroy this school. They nearly did, thanks to Lanca, years before we ever got recruited. We also know, from what he tells us, that they lie constantly. They promise the world and give you nothing. The traitor has to know that too. So why help Elmer and Shaddock? All they’re going to get for it is a knife in the back. Maybe literally.”
Vail didn’t have an answer. They drifted down the gravel walk, its pebbles strewn with fallen leaves, down to the nook where a faded granite statue stood atop a burbling, stained fountain. The statue wasn’t of some legendary champion or crusading sorcerer — just a mundane, frumpy-looking elderly woman in a cardigan, holding her pen like a magic wand. The inscription, stained rust-brown by water and age, read Carolyn Saunders.
Who were you? Amy wondered.
“Did Chen Lan give you the talk?” Vail asked her. “About the ‘investors’?”
“‘Excellence is mandatory.’”
“Yeah, no pressure or anything.”
“I want to meet them.” Amy stared up at the statue, lingering a moment. “I have some questions that need answers.”
“There’s the hero of the hour,” Gecka laughed, strolling up from the other direction with Prentise. “Oh, you should’ve seen it, Vail. When news got out about how you took down a Network drone, Jellica’s face turned beet-red. She’s probably going to kick your ass at sparring practice, just so ya know.”
Vail squinted at her. “I thought she’d be happy.”
“Oh, she is! Proud as a new mum, too, considering you used what we taught ya to get the job done. Only thing is, now she’s gotta work twice as hard to keep her place of pride at the head of the pack.”
Prentise said something with her hands that made Gecka and Vail blurt out a laugh. Amy tilted her head, not understanding. Vail translated for her.
“Jelly is jelly,” she said out the side of her mouth.
“Anyway, we’re going for a warm-up jog and then we’re going to get some ring time in,” Gecka said to Vail. “You coming?”
Vail looked to Amy, a question in her eyes. Amy rubbed her arm and gave her an easy smile.
“I’ll catch you at dinner,” she said. “Don’t work too hard.”
Vail and Prentise started to walk off, signing at each other, snickering at some inside joke. Gecka paused, turning back.
“Hey. Nettle.”
“Yeah?”
“Heard you took care of our girl out there. Thanks.”
Amy shrugged. “She’s my girl, too.”
“I know it.” Gecka walked backwards, catching up with the others. “You’ve got good taste. So does she. You know, we should hang out sometime.”
“Yeah,” Amy said, unsure but hopeful. “We can do that.”
“Cool. Bring Dalton!”
She responded with a hesitant wave. “You know he’s afraid of you, right?”
“Good,” Gecka chirped, cheerfully waving back. “Boys are more fun when they’re scared.”
Chapter thirty-eight
Birdsong and morning light filled Professor Mallory’s glass hut, blooming vines snaking between sacks of potting soil and wood-framed flower beds. The students were spread out across the workshop, putting their black mirrors to the test and evoking the Conjugation of Glass. Amy’s tarnished Fifties-style hand mirror transformed in her grip, the black lacquered surface fading, glowing soft, then becoming a window to the far side of the room. Instead of her own reflection, Vail’s stared back at her with a smile of surprise.
Amy looked up, spotting her twenty feet away, and gave her a big wave. Knew you could do it, she thought.
Beside her, her mirror opening a connection to Olivia’s, Bahati gave Amy a nudge with her elbow.
“I saw Vail’s stuff on her bed this morning. She’s moving back in with us?”
“Yep,” Amy said, content.
“You guys are good, huh?”
“You know,” Amy said. “I think we are.”
“Well, you’re not ditching me on the Serpent Rhythm assignment. We put way too much practice in for you to switch dance partners now.”
Amy had to smile. “Nah, I wouldn’t do that to you. Vail’s doing it with Parr. He’s a fourth-year, but Chalk thinks he needs remedial practice, and he’s a pyromancer so they’ve got a lot in common.”
“Fire on the brain. You okay with that?”
Amy thought back to the Night Market, to the cozy, comfortable calm with her friends before everything went sideways. She remembered how they’d talked about splitting up for their midnight toasts.
We started the night together, so let’s end it together. Whatever happens in the middle doesn’t matter.
“We don’t have to do everything together,” Amy said to Bahati. “At the end of the day…she comes home to me. Because I am her home, and she’s mine.”
***
“He brought popcorn to the exam,” Colin was saying, taking his seat at the bustling table in the dining hall. “Who even does that?”
“Depends,” Dalton said, settling in beside him with a stacked plate, “did he offer you any? If yes, he’s a generous and caring friend. If no, he’s a monster.”
“Oh, he did,” Colin said. “Plain popcorn. No salt, no butter.”
“I stand corrected. Monster for sure.”
Olivia stared at him like she’d just had a revelation. “Butter? On popcorn? You can do that?”
Slices of some oddly waxy roast were on today’s lunch menu, the flavor like turkey but the consistency like tofu under Amy’s fork. It came slathered in a gravy that tasted of spicy peppers, with a medley of cherry tomatoes and cucumber slices from Mr. Orris’s garden. She chewed as she surveyed the hall, the laughing voices, the clanking plates and cups, lost deep in her thoughts.
Someone in this room, she thought, gazing over at the fluttering scarves of the Blades at the table down by the great stone hearth, is a traitor. If I could figure out the ‘why,’ I could figure out the ‘who.’
A tall, dark boy with curly jet-black hair made his way between the tables purposefully, holding a heavy book under one arm, a feathered quill in the other. A brass stick pin glinted on his lapel, a miniature version of the Candles they used for interdimensional jaunts. Amy leaned over, murmuring to Vail.
“Have you met this guy before?”
Vail shook her head. “Seen him around. I think he’s a fourth-year. That pin’s for the Sept of Staves. They keep to themselves.”
“Yeah, Kinzie told me they help the Coins out a lot on our ‘outings.’ I should probably get to know him.” Amy gazed across the table and lifted her mug of water to Colin. “Then again, we already have the best conductor on our team, so who needs another one?”
“I am a long way from the best,” Colin said, ducking his head to escape the praise.
“You’ll get there,” Vail said.
The tall young man stopped dead behind Colin’s seat. The feather of his quill fell gently upon his shoulder.
“Colin Woodrue, the Sept of Staves requests your presence. Accept or reject?”
Colin spun, wide-eyed. “Me? I mean…seriously? Me?”
“We heard about your first serious run as a conductor. That’s the kind of raw talent we can use. It’s a win-win arrangement. We get a promising student, and you get practical instruction and experience. So…interested?”
Dalton threw his arm around Colin’s shoulder. “Bro, if you don’t say yes right now, I swear—”
“Okay, okay!” Colin laughed, shaking him off before turning back to the new arrival. “I accept. And…thanks.”
As Colin was led off to meet the other Staves, who sat in a small, huddled cluster at the far side of the room, a small commotion caught Amy’s eye. Mr. Orris, walking fast and looking worried. He met with the headmistress over by the doors of the hall, talking in low tones.
“Something’s up,” Bahati murmured.
“Yeah,” Amy said, “I know Mr. Orris. Last time I saw his body language all tight like that was when one of the horses got sick. He’s worried about something.”
Orris picked up a pot and a wooden spoon, held them over his head and clanged them together. The harsh metallic clatter echoed through the drafty hall, turning heads as the roar of conversation faded to low whispers.
“Listen up,” he called out. “We got ourselves a little emergency. Now don’t get worked up, it’s nothing we can’t handle—”
Your words and your face are saying two different things, Amy thought.
“—but there’s smoke up on the north end of the island and it looks like we’ve got a wildfire. Could have been a lightning strike — it’s happened before and it’ll happen again. The outbreak is nowhere near the Academy walls, but we’ve got to get it contained before it turns into a real problem. I’m recruiting any and all students to come and help me and the professors out. Doesn’t matter what year you are or what your specialty is: we will find a job for you.”
“Amy,” Vail said under her breath.
She already knew. “It’s not a lightning strike. It’s Elmer and Shaddock. They set the fire as a distraction.”
“Which will conveniently empty the school and tie up the staff,” Vail murmured, “while the traitor makes off with the stuff they stole from the library. And one of the relics that went missing was a Resonator crystal.”
The room was in motion, benches shoving back, students thronging the exits as Mr. Orris shouted out instructions and called for them to muster in the courtyard. Amy and the others held their ground, huddling close around the table.
“If that’s the last thing Elmer needs to build a Resonator,” Amy said, “he can call his bosses for help and report the school’s location. The Network won’t just send one assassin. They’ll send an army.”
“We’ve got to stop him,” Dalton said. “But how? We can’t watch the whole school. The thief could be anywhere.”
“Maybe we don’t have to catch him red-handed,” Amy said. “If we can find Elmer and Shaddock’s hiding place, we can set an ambush and intercept the thief before they make the handoff.”
“The sea caves,” Vail said, reading her mind.
“The caves,” Bahati said, her voice flat, “filled with carnivorous mermaids.”
Amy pointed to the arched windows, a light drizzle kissing the glass.
“It’s early afternoon. Low tide is in half an hour. We should be able to get into the cave without even touching the water. Which, if I’m right, is exactly why they set the fire now. The thief can slip inside, deliver the goods, and get back to the school before the evening tide rolls in.”
“They’d still have to cross the pickets.”
“And with everyone tied up on the north side of the island, fighting the fire, nobody will be here to catch them when they get back. Besides, everyone headed north will be crossing the pickets, too. Probably so much mental noise at once that the professors won’t even notice.”
“And what happens if we’re still in that cave when the tide comes back?” Bahati asked.
“You won’t be,” Vail promised. She squeezed Amy’s hand under the table. “Amy and I can scout the cave. We need the rest of you to keep watch outside and keep an eye out for trouble.”
“The mirrors, from Mallory’s class,” Olivia said. “We can use those to warn each other.”
Dalton stood up, pushing his plate back. “If we want to catch the thief, we’ve gotta go now. Right now. Everybody in?”
Everybody was in.
***
Black smoke curled on the distant horizon, rising over the treeline to the far north. The perfect distraction, Amy thought, trudging through the brambles and underbrush with her friends at her side. She was thankful, in hindsight, that Vail had insisted they take just enough time to change into their gym shoes before heading out into the wilds. Elmer and Shaddock are going for broke, which means they must be close to wrapping things up. This could be our last chance.
Foamy waves broke upon the shore of Gadfly Beach. Further north up the coast, the sand gave way to rises of ancient rock, mountains of wet mossy stone. The vista had gone untouched since the days of the scientists who once used this island as their launchpad, long before the Academy was built. The students sank low in the grass, crouching where the trees ended and the long rocky climb down to the beach began, using the underbrush for cover.
“Everyone said they’d be crazy to use this spot for a hideout,” Amy breathed. “I think that’s exactly what Elmer was counting on.”
“I bet we can out-crazy ‘em, though,” Dalton said.
Amy brandished her black mirror. “Spread out about fifty feet apart, all along the trees here. Stay low and stay quiet. This is the most direct route from the Academy gates.”
“Meaning,” Vail added, “if we beat the thief here, they’ll be coming this way soon, and hopefully you’ll see them before they see you. Use your mirrors and stay in contact.”
“The mirror spell doesn’t carry sound,” Olivia said.
“I’ve really got to teach you all how to sign,” Vail said. “It’s seriously useful. Look, if you spot trouble, do this.”
She showed them a quick gesture, curling and trilling her fingers.
“That’s the distress signal, okay?”
“Oh!” Olivia said. “Or we could do bird calls!”
“We’re not doing bird calls,” Bahati sighed. She looked to Vail. “And what about you and Amy?”
Amy nodded back over her shoulder. “We’re going to take a quick look inside. If we find Elmer or Shaddock, we’ll fall back before they spot us.”
“And if something goes seriously wrong?” Dalton asked.
Amy didn’t want to think about all the ways this could go wrong. Too many ways to die, none of them pretty. She took a deep breath, steeling herself.
“Leave us. We can’t fight them — they’re too strong together. Shaddock alone nearly killed Professor Lanca—”
“We’re not going to abandon you,” Bahati protested.
“I’m just saying, sprint back to the school, grab the first professor you can find, and tell them everything. If this goes bad, we’re going to need all hands on deck. Vail and I will do whatever we can to stay alive until they can arrange a rescue.”
“If you happen to spot one of our fellow students hauling a sack of stolen goods through the woods, on the other hand…” Vail said, a dark glint in her eye.
“Yeah?” Dalton said.
“Swarm him, jump him, and beat his ass. Teach him what happens to people who screw with our school.”
He laced his fingers together and cracked his knuckles. “With pleasure and gusto.”
Chapter thirty-nine
Amy’s hands burned as she clutched at slimy outcroppings of rock, carefully picking her way across the stony defile that cut between a pair of rugged, mountainous rises at the water’s edge. Vail was right beside her, their footing threatening to slip with every step as muddy wet stones shifted and slid under their sneakers. The zipper-thin ravine caught the sounds of the waves and echoed them, turning them into a waterfall roar.
Cold ocean mist sprayed across Amy’s face, and she tasted salt on her lips. The water played tricks on her, looming in her vision, ever closer as they neared the treacherous edge. Was that a vast, dark shape, squiggling like a worm just beneath the waves? Was that the glint of metallic scales, a fin breaking the water and vanishing a heartbeat later?
The path climbed and curled around the lip of the mossy rise, the waters lapping at the stone a few feet under their shoes. Amy held her breath as she navigated a narrow, wet shelf, pressing her back to the outcropping, her fingers clinging to any handhold she could find, squeezing until her knuckles turned white. Then she rounded a second corner, Vail inches away, and found herself inside the sea cave. Its cavernous mouth let the light in, casting dazzling, glittering shadows across the water below a long and jagged ledge.
“Little girls,” cooed a wet and burbling voice.
Down in the swirling pool below the ledge, five or six feet below them, a porcelain, flawless face lifted itself from the depths and gazed up at them with painted-on, lifeless eyes. The mermaid’s hair flowed out behind her like tangled seaweed as she raised one clawed hand beckoning them.
“Don’t slip,” Vail said between gritted teeth.
More mermaids joined the first, swirling and splashing, gazing up at their prey. Their claws scrabbled at the rock, digging scars in the stone, but they couldn’t climb to the ledge. But this was low tide. A few hours from now, when the water rose once more, they’d effortlessly swarm it like a school of piranhas.
