Sacrifices (23 page)

Spirit bit her lip.
It’s going to be the last
dance
in the history of Oakhurst,
she thought, and barely managed to keep from saying so. But Maddie didn’t know that, so Spirit did her best to say sympathetic things until Maddie went to get on the serving line. She couldn’t decide whether Maddie’s complaints were funny—or made her want to scream.
Probably both,
she decided.

All the books always said that when you were facing the apocalypse you didn’t have any appetite, but Spirit was actually hungrier than she could remember being in a long time. She was most of the way through her oatmeal by the time Ms. Corby walked in to the Refectory.

Ms. Corby stood in front of the door holding a clipboard waiting for everyone to quiet down, but it took Dan yelling for them all to shut up for there to be quiet.

“As I’m sure you all know, the school intraweb is down, and there are a number of announcements this morning,” Ms. Corby said. Since the first one was apparently the Morning Motivational Message, Spirit mostly tuned her out.

“Oakhurst is saddened to report the loss of one of its most well-loved colleagues. Ms. Lily Groves was the victim of a savage attack by the escaped tiger that has been reported in the area. It is believed that she had gone for a walk when she was taken unawares by the animal.”

Spirit set down her spoon and stared at Ms. Corby.
Dead? Ms. Groves is dead?

“Because the animal is apparently hunting on the school grounds, the previous curfew rules are no longer in force. From now on the doors to the outside will be locked at all times, and anyone needing to leave the building must call for an escort from our Security Department. Failure to abide by these regulations will be punished with severe disciplinary action.”

Spirit looked around until she caught Burke’s eye. He looked grim.
And you don’t even know the half of it. They searched my room. They found the book she loaned me. And that’s why they killed her.
Spirit wanted to cry, and knew she didn’t dare. She could feel Joe’s eyes on her.

“That blows,” she forced herself to say, fixing her gaze on her plate. She just hoped the other kids at the table thought she was pissed off by the new rules—and not scared out of her mind.

“Next, starting tomorrow, students will have their Gifts reassessed in order to rank them for advanced placement opportunities. In the event the email system remains down, the schedule for testing will be posted in the Refectory and the Library and copies will be provided to all teachers. Please make a note of the time of your appointment to avoid delays. Last—and I really should not have to remind any of you of this by this point—Oakhurst requires all students to abide by the Dress Code. Since you seem to have some difficulty with understanding precisely what this entails, for the next two months students will be required to adhere to the
strict
Dress Code. Uniform blazers will be worn at all times, trousers are not acceptable for female students at any time, and you will be expected to wear all items of school jewelry in your possession every day. Ms. Shae, do feel free to return to your room and change before class.”

*   *   *

When Muirin got up to change—looking as if she was going to do her best to make trouble for somebody—the first students were already getting up to leave. Spirit got up as well, and hurried to catch up with her—it was hard to feel it mattered now—and she wasn’t surprised Addie did too.

“This—this is totally unacceptable!” Muirin sputtered. “Madison isn’t going to let them do this to me!” She slanted a sideways glance at Spirit, letting her know what Spirit already knew: this was an act.

I don’t think Mark and Madison are going to be in a hurry to argue with “Doctor Ambrosius” after what we heard on the tape,
Spirit thought. She only wished she could believe Mordred and his Shadow Knights were going to fight among themselves. It was too convenient.

“It’s just the same dress code it’s always been,” Addie said soothingly. “That part doesn’t sound too bad.” Her eyes were full of sympathy as she looked at Spirit. Spirit knew it would hurt soon, and terribly, but right now she was just numb. And today she’d walk into her History of Magic class, and Ms. Groves wouldn’t be standing at the front of it.…

“It means wearing the rings too,” she hissed in a low voice. “And they’re
magic
!”

She started walking back to the dorm wing—it was where Muirin was supposed to be going right now, anyway.

Addie gave her a “well, duh” look—Muirin was still too furious to do anything but snarl.

“And Doctor Ambrosius is the one who enchanted them!” Spirit added, once they caught up to her.

Now Addie looked horrified. She was wearing her ring, and she slipped it off quickly and dropped it into her pocket.

“We’ll need to carry them with us, but we can just put them on when one of the, um—‘
the Bad Guys’
—is looking,” Spirit said quietly.

“No, Spirit, nobody’s going to let me get away with a thing!” Muirin said, loud enough for anybody who wanted to hear. She stalked off ahead of Addie and Spirit.

“So…” Addie asked, “how do we hide from all of Faculty and Admin?”

“We get help,” Spirit said.
Muirin and Addie are wrong,
Spirit thought.
There’s still one member of the faculty we can trust.

She thought she knew who “Gawain” was.

TEN

Mark was Mark—King Mark of Cornwall. Teddy was Tristan—no wonder Elizabeth had recognized the Breakthrough Shadow Knights: Yseult of Cornwall was part of their story! Ovcharenko was Agravaine. Mordred had mentioned Morgaine, but not as if she knew who she was yet.
But I do …
Ovcharenko had called Muirin and Madison Lane-Rider “sisters”—she was willing to bet that made Madison Morgause and Muirin Morgaine. Sisters.
Which makes Morgaine Agravaine’s aunt, and could this get any more disgusting?

“—Nimue, Morgaine, even Gaheris can be brought to the Shadow—”

She wished Mordred hadn’t said that. She wished she hadn’t heard it.
Can be isn’t will be,
she told herself. The important thing was what he’d said next.

Gawain was one of the Reincarnates Mordred couldn’t subvert. Gawain was one of the Grail Knights.

They could trust Gawain—even if he didn’t know he was a Reincarnate.

But who was he?

That part was almost easy. Gawain was someone who’d been at Oakhurst before the Shadow Knights arrived, because Mordred said he was specifically collecting Grail Knights as well as, well, everybody with magic.

He was male, because every single Reincarnate they’d heard about so far was the same sex as their original ancestor.

He was somebody Mordred knew—and whether he was Evil Mordred or Dr. Ambrosius, Spirit
still
didn’t think he could tell most of the students here apart. Mordred wasn’t
quite
sure of Gawain’s identity, but he was suspicious—and whoever he was suspicious of, it wasn’t somebody he could just make vanish. That meant someone on the Staff, because, face it, the students had been disappearing so fast, the reason Radial had been invited to the Spring Fling was probably just to up the attendance.

The male Oakhurst staff with magic (that she knew
for sure
had magic) who’d been here when she’d arrived and were still here was a short list. A really short list. Like, exactly one person.

She really hoped she was right.

*   *   *

“I don’t usually do therapy in groups, but the way things have been going lately, I think I may have to start,” Dr. MacKenzie said. “How are you feeling, Loch?”

Doctor Cooper MacKenzie was the Oakhurst “psychological counselor.” He looked like Lenin and spoke with a strong Brooklyn accent. He was the kindest,
nicest
person Spirit had encountered … well, since she’d lost her family. When she’d been ordered to go for counseling back in January, she’d figured he was another jerk like the so-called grief counselors who’d made her time in rehab a living hell. But Doc Mac had not only told her it was okay to grieve—and that she’d never really “get over” the loss of her family—he’d also told her she
did
have magic. He hadn’t just been blowing smoke at her, either—Doc Mac was a Fire Witch, and he could
see
it.

He’d been the first person she’d told what had
really
happened the night her parents and her sister died. He hadn’t said she was crazy. He believed she’d seen what she thought she had—impossible as that might seem. He’d told her that even though it had been a magical attack, it wasn’t her fault.

She’d been doing her best to believe him ever since.

She’d trusted him. And she still did.

Spirit and Loch should have been at class, but going to see the school shrink was an automatic “Get Out Of Jail Free” card. She didn’t know where Muirin was supposed to be right now, but the same obviously applied to her. It had taken Spirit a lot of fast talking to get Loch and Muirin to agree to come with her to Doc Mac and tell him their story. She would have liked it to be all five of them, but she hadn’t been able to catch up to Addie or Burke at lunch to tell them about the appointment.

“Angry someone used me as a tool to kill with,” Loch said tautly. “Because that’s what happened, Doctor MacKenzie. That’s why we’re here.”

Spirit glanced at Loch. Was it only Saturday that had happened? It seemed like a thousand years ago now.

“And you—all—feel this is true?” Doc Mac asked delicately.

“Oh hell yeah,” Muirin said. “Um, not that I expect you to believe us. I’m just here for my friends.”

She smiled brightly at Doc Mac. Spirit had expected Muirin to play fast and loose with the Dress Code, even after Ms. Corby’s public call-out, but Muirin was following it down to the letter. Spirit found that particularly disturbing. What did Muirin know to make her buckle under so easily?

“I’ll certainly listen to anything any of you wants to say,” Doc Mac said. He smiled. “At least you don’t have to convince me magic exists. That’s a start.”

Nobody said anything. “So who wants to go first?” he prompted after a moment.

“I will.” It was only when she spoke up Spirit realized she wasn’t scared. She was furious. “They said this morning Ms. Groves had an accident. That’s a lie. Ms. Groves was murdered. Last week she loaned me one of her books of Arthurian myths and legends. Last night my room was searched. It was the only thing taken.”

“And it seems to you there’s a direct connection between these two things?” Doc Mac asked gently.

“I know there is. The other week, I was, um, really upset,” Spirit said. “She found me crying in the library, and brought me back to her rooms. And … she did some kind of spell—a Warding, I think—and then she told me I was right to distrust the Breakthrough people, and I was in danger. She said there’s been a
glamourie
on Oakhurst for a very long time to keep everyone here from noticing all the crazy stuff that happens. She said
I
notice them because I haven’t come into my magic yet. And when I point things out, I can break the
glamourie
that keeps people from looking at the weirdnesses. She said she wasn’t powerful enough to fight what’s organized against us openly, but she’s done what she could. Then she gave me the book.”

“And last night someone came to your room and took the book, and now she’s dead,” Doc Mac said neutrally.

“Don’t forget that was after I nearly shot Spirit,” Loch said vehemently. “And I
did
shoot Mr. Green! I know they say it was a ‘tragic accident,’ like it was all my fault, but I
hate
guns! I wouldn’t play around with one. Ovcharenko called me”—Loch took a deep breath—“he called me a faggot and shoved the shotgun into my hands and forced me to shoot it. But I shot at the
targets
! And then I couldn’t drop it, and I couldn’t keep it from turning to point at Spirit, either. Yeah, they both know,” Loch said, answering Doc Mac’s silent question. “I told everybody last night. I told Spirit a couple of weeks ago I’d fallen for Burke.”

“Wow,” Muirin said. “Sucks to be you, Spears.”

“Tell me about it,” Loch answered with a crooked smile. “But you see, sir … maybe someone, something, wants you—anyone who cares—to think I’d try to kill Spirit out of jealousy and lie to myself about it. But I’m not stupid. Burke and Spirit are both my friends. Burke is straight.” Loch shrugged. “And I hate guns.”

“And Burke is okay with finding out you’re gay?” Doc Mac asked.

“Yeah,” Loch said. “I think he really is. But we’ve got more important problems right now. I had proof—not that I guess it counts for much in a school full of magicians—I’d recorded a conversation between Doctor Ambrosius and Mark Rider. But I can’t find my recorder now.”

“This office deals more in subjective truths,” Doc Mac said. “We’ll worry about objective proofs later. Right now, why don’t you tell me what the problem is?”

“First could you— Could you do what Ms. Groves did?” Spirit asked hesitantly. “With the—”

“Just a moment.” Doc Mac drew the same kind of sigil in the air that Ms. Groves had, and once again Spirit felt the ear-popping sense of
pressure
. “All right. The office is Warded now. I don’t normally bother, unless I’m seeing an Air Mage who might lose control of their Gift. Or a Spirit Mage, of course, but there hasn’t been one of those here at Oakhurst in a very long time.”

“Spirit Mage?” Spirit asked.

“I thought there were only four Schools,” Loch said. “Earth, Air, Fire, and Water.”

“No, five: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit.” Doc Mac frowned. “That’s odd. They should be teaching all five Schools.” He shrugged. “It’s not really that important to our discussion. It’s just that since the School of Spirit deals primarily with gifts of mental control and influence, an untrained Spirit Mage in crisis could cause a great deal of collateral damage if they weren’t properly Warded.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Muirin said impatiently. “Let’s get back to the reincarnation and apocalypse.”