The Unmaking (6 page)

“Thank you for bringing in the Cra,” she said.

Kyreth made a sign in the air and the door swung open behind her.

~~~

The gryphon circled upwards, leaving the Citadel far below, then veered northeast, towards Kalla. Eliza felt lighter by the second. She flattened her body against the gryphon’s back to keep warm. She loved the sense of absolute freedom she got when flying with Charlie and it was only heightened by the fact that nobody knew where they were going. She had not been entirely lying to Kyreth when she said she was going to spend time with her parents. She would indeed go to see them in the desert. Just not immediately.

They took a winding route through the sky, avoiding cities and highly populated areas, flying low over the rich farmland of the interior provinces and stopping frequently to build fires and warm themselves, for the air was bitterly cold. In spite of the gryphon’s speed, it took them a full day to reach the capital. They spent the night in an abandoned barn they had used for shelter before, an hour outside of Kalla. This far north the ground was thickly covered with snow, and even with the blankets they had stored in the barn they had to keep the fire going all night, which meant sleeping in shifts. This didn’t always go as planned. Eliza woke just before dawn, stiff and shivering, the fire dead beside her. Charlie had nodded off.

“Wake up,” she said crossly, nudging him and giving him an angry look. He sat up and looked from her to the dead fire a couple of times.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “Should’ve been a polar bear, aye.”

Shivering uncontrollably, she found the duffel bag they kept hidden in the barn. She pulled out a girl’s school uniform and ducked behind a broken-down tractor to put it on – a navy flared skirt and jacket and a striped silk tie over a crisp white blouse.

“Come on,” she said. “We dinnay want to miss breakfast. Lah, but I’m frozen!”

“Sorry,” Charlie mumbled again. He stumbled out of the barn and morphed into a gryphon, more slowly than usual. Awkward and terribly cold in her skirt, Eliza clambered onto his back and he took off. It was important to reach the school while it was still dark. A girl on a gryphon would hardly go unnoticed in Kalla.

~~~

Ariston Hebe Secondary School, the most prestigious school in the Republic, was a large ivy-walled compound with rolling grounds. They landed in the snowy arboretum and Charlie turned into a boy wearing a navy school uniform. They waited there, shivering, until 6:30. When the breakfast bell rang, they ran for a supply closet window they had jimmied open months earlier, crawled in, and cautiously opened the door. The hall was full of students still putting on their jackets and doing up their ties as they hurried to the Dining Hall. Charlie and Eliza were able to slip into the mob unnoticed. The Dining Hall was a very grand room with crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and paintings of famous alumni on the walls. They scanned the crowd hopefully, slowly warming up, until somebody crashed into Eliza with a squeal, crushing her in an embrace. Eliza stumbled and laughed and hugged her best friend back.

While Eliza loved Holburg, it had always been too small for Nell, and she had found her way off the island as soon as possible by winning the only scholarship to Ariston Hebe offered to a student from the archipelago. Eliza had worried at first that her friend would not fit in but Nell took to citified sophistication like a fish to water. She remained top in all her classes, excelled in sports, and had a following of hangers-on as ardent as those she’d left behind in Holburg. Life in the elegant old school, with more students than the entire population of the island she’d grown up on, was a dream come true for Nell, and all of Kalla was just outside the gates. A closed gate and a mere wall were no great impediment for a girl like Nell.

The three friends filled their breakfast trays with eggs and sausages and toast and joined Nell’s class at one of the long mahogany tables. Nell’s school friends were wildly curious about Eliza and Charlie, who turned up on occasion and gave the impression of not having school or parents or homes or anything normal themselves. Only Nell would be so audacious as to steal uniforms for outsiders and then have them in for breakfast. When they asked Nell who these mysterious friends were, giggling about Charlie, who always caused quite a sensation, she said coyly that they lived outside the city but liked to drop by. She could have made up a convincing story about them but it was so much more fun being secretive. Eliza sat next to Nell and Charlie slid into a space across from them, delighting the girls on either side of him.

“Have you heard about Abimbola Broom?” Nell asked meaningfully as they sat down. Her shiny chestnut brown hair was cut in a stylish bob that framed her face perfectly and her violet eyes were
sparkling. “His daughter used to go here, aye. Isabella Broom.”

“Basically an imbecile,” one of Nell’s group chimed in, eager to contribute.

“She was pulled out before the trial began,” said Nell. “Nobody knows where she’s gone.”

“Poor girl,” said Eliza.

Nell shrugged. “If he’s so awful, lah, she’s better off without him. Listen, you’re both coming to Holburg for Winter Festival, nay? You have to!”

“I’m going to try my very very best,” said Eliza. Nell pulled a face. Eliza’s very very best was not what she wanted to hear.

“We’ll be there,” said Charlie firmly. Eliza gave him a look. He shrugged and said, “I’ll be there, anyway.”

“It depends on my parents, lah,” said Eliza. “I dinnay know if I can convince them.”

At this, all of Nell’s group looked very curious and waited for more. But there was no more.

“What about your family?” one of Nell’s friends asked Charlie flirtatiously.

“Oh, them,” said Charlie vaguely, and left it at that.

“How have you been getting on at school?” Nell asked Eliza. Their breakfast conversations were always coded in this way.

“Lots of new stuff,” said Eliza. “But Kyreth and I are still arguing a lot.”

“He’s the principal at her school,” Nell tossed off by way of explanation to the others.

“You argue with the principal?” one of the girls asked, perplexed.

“
All
the time,” said Eliza. “But the librarian is a prize. Lah, but you know what’s strange? I ran into...the
agriculture
teacher a couple of times, and he was being sort of...friendly, aye.”

By this she meant Obrad, the manipulator of earth. Nell picked up on it immediately.

“Oh-oh,” she said, making a little O with her mouth. “That cannay be good!”

“What do you mean?”

Nell shot Charlie a pointed look. He sighed resignedly and struck up a separate conversation with the girls around them so that Eliza and Nell could talk more freely.

“What do you mean?” hissed Eliza again.

“I mean that he missed his chance with your ma when she snuck off and married your da,” Nell whispered. “But praps he thinks he can still marry a Sorceress. As in,
you!”

This had never occurred to Eliza and she was left quite speechless with horror. Charlie heard it even though he was carrying on another conversation, and exploded, “WHAT?”

This caused a number of the students at the tables around theirs, as well as a few breakfast monitors, to look over at them.
“What?”
he hissed, more quietly.

“That’s how it works, nay?” said Nell. “You
are
supposed to marry one of them, lah!”

She glared at Charlie, who went back to his conversation with the startled group of girls. “Anyway, the royal family of Boqua doesnay want anybody to
know
that their son was born with six fingers on each hand because they’re very superstitious about that kind of thing down there...”

“It’s a great honour for the Mancer in question, nay?” Nell whispered into Eliza’s ear, around a mouthful of buttery toast. “You said Obrad wasnay happy about being passed over before. Do they let you have any say in it, lah? Are there any young and handsome Mancers or are they all hundreds of years old and scary looking?”

Eliza had gone quite white. “I feel sick,” she said, pushing her breakfast tray aside. Having finished her own breakfast, Nell piled Eliza’s plate on top of her own and began on what was left of Eliza’s.

“You should rebel, aye,” said Nell. “Your ma had the right idea.”

“I agree,” said Charlie, interrupting his own story again.

“Lah, and speaking of young and handsome, there’s Julian.” Nell waved over a blond boy with his tie still undone. “He’s my boyfriend, aye. I’ll introduce you.”

“WHAT?” Charlie exploded again.

“Stop it. Everybody’s looking at you. He’s in the year above me. Top in Math in the school, aye, and the fastest swimmer in his year. A coup, nay?”

“Is that...allowed?” asked Eliza, quite unprepared for this. Julian sat down with them, smiling in a friendly, half-awake sort of way. Eliza and Charlie eyed him suspiciously. After that, of course, they had to talk to Julian about the swim team and his plans for Winter Festival.

Nell had classes after breakfast and so Charlie and Eliza rested in her room. When the cleaner came by they hid in the large oak wardrobe, Nell’s dresses hanging down around
them, trying not to breathe too loudly. As soon as they heard the door click shut as the cleaner departed, Charlie said, “What did you think of Julian?”

“He seems...nice,” said Eliza uncertainly.

“She’s never mentioned him before, lah.”

“No. I spose he’s a new...development.”

“Why do you sound like that?”

“Like what?”

“The way you sound – ‘He seems...
nice
. He’s a new...
development
.
’ ”

“It’s just...surprising.”

“Yes. That’s what it is, aye. Surprising.”

They sat in the wardrobe a minute longer, until Charlie said, “Why are we still sitting in here?”

Eliza got the giggles and they pushed the doors open and scrambled out. At noon, Nell burst in with some lunch for them.

“By the Ancients, they’re piling on the tests before Winter Festival!” she groaned, flopping onto the bed. “Were you two horrendously bored, cooped up here all morning?”

“We kept ourselves entertained, lah,” said Charlie. “I turned into a river goblin to scare the cleaner. That was fun.”

“You didnay,” Nell grinned. “And I wouldnay have approved if you had. Esta is my source of insider gossip. Now, I need to talk to Eliza privately for a minute.”

She looked pointedly at Charlie, who stared back at her, confused.

“Could you leave the room, please?” said Nell politely. “Just for a minute.”

“What for?” asked Charlie.

Nell sighed in exasperation. “Just wait in the hall.” She slid off the bed and shoved Charlie towards the door. He looked shocked but didn’t protest, stepping out into the hallway and staring in at them. “Just stay there,” said Nell, shutting the door on him. She turned back towards Eliza with a huge smile.

“Lah, I have a present for you,” she said, and pulled a little parcel of pink paper out from under her bed.

“Thanks,” said Eliza, unwrapping it. Inside were two crisp white bras with lace flowers on the straps. “Oh!” she exclaimed.

“You need them, aye,” said Nell matter-of-factly. “I spec between the Mancers in the Citadel and your parents in the desert, nobody thinks of these things for you. Does your mother remember things like bras?”

“I dinnay think my underwear is high on anyone’s list of priorities,” said Eliza dryly. She should have been expecting something like this. It was Nell she’d turned to for supplies when she started menstruating, feeling quite unable to ask the Mancers.

“Good thing you have me,” said Nell, pleased with herself. “Somebody who actually lives in the world! Try one on.”

It was impossible to be self-conscious with Nell. Eliza took off the tie and shirt and awkwardly put the bra on. Nell did it up swiftly at the back.

“Better. I knew it would be the right size. How does it feel?”

“Sort of constricting,” said Eliza. She put the shirt back on and fumbled with the buttons.

“You’ll be grateful next time you have to run down a flight of stairs,” said Nell. “And you’ll get used to them, aye. Here, put this one away and I’ll let Charlie back in.”

Eliza stuffed the other bra hastily into her skirt pocket and shoved the paper back under the bed. Nell bounced over to the door and threw it open. Charlie was standing in the hall with his arms folded, frowning.

“Come in,” said Nell grandly.

“What was all that about?” he demanded.

Nell gave him a look. “Dinnay you know what
private
means, Charlie?”

He ignored her and sat down on the bed with Eliza, who quickly did up her tie. To avoid his gaze, she picked up the book on Nell’s bedside table.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“Physics,” said Nell. “It’s one of my stronger subjects, but the Mentor really seems like he’s
trying
to trip us up in the tests.”