“We must find Luton before anything else,” I said evenly, my fingernails biting into my palms. “Even if he’s only wandered off on his own, we can’t leave him to be attacked by those things once he returns.”
“Yes,” said Westgate, “I have quite a few questions I’d like to ask young Luton. I’d particularly like to know what, exactly, he has been doing in this cottage, to bring about this unexpected visit from the local wildlife.”
“Ah.” I winced. Of course that would be Westgate’s natural first assumption—but it was time, undeniably, to reveal what Miss Banks and Miss Fennell had discovered in the library last night, no matter what dangers that revelation might bring to my school. “I’m not certain it was Luton’s fault, actually. I—”
“MissHarwood!” Westgate expelled a heavy sigh of exasperation as he turned away from the ivy-wrapped cottage. “I can see that you are loyal to your staff members, no matter how rash your hiring decisions may have been. That loyalty does you credit, I admit. But right now, I have only one question for you to answer:didyou take any time to study Luton’s notes when you came across them in that cottage?”
He shook his head even as I opened my mouth to respond. “You didsayyou had spotted them in the parlor, didn’t you?”
“They were scattered underfoot,” I said impatiently. “I didn’t take the time to read them, but—”
“Then,” said Mr. Westgate, “the next step is to find our way back inside to examine them,withoutbeing trapped there afterward. Unfortunately, I can’t cast any spells myself to ease our passage, so I’ll be off now to summon one of my officers of magic rather than wasting any time on pointless debate, if you please. Keep your young ladies away from Luton’s mess while I’m gone, and I’ll see to the rest, as usual.”
“Mr. Westgate.” I forced my voice under control. “If you’ll only take a moment to listen—”
He let out a brusque half-laugh. “Like every other member of your family, you’ve always believed that your own opinions take priority in all circumstances. But I work for the nation,notfor you, Miss Harwood—and as we both know, I’ve a great deal more experience with this sort of magical crisis than you. So, if you’ll excuse me—”
“No,” I snapped, “I will not! I amtrying to tell you—”
But he was already jogging away in long, ground-eating lopes. I couldn’t possibly catch up, and if I let out the scream of fury that was boiling up my throat right now, he would take it as proof of everything he’d ever said about me.
I grabbed my hair with both hands and yanked hard to relieve my feelings, dislodging half a dozen pins in the process. The sharp pain hurt, but it also cleared my senses.
With my chignon hopelessly unraveling around my shoulders, I spun around and strode for the house, skirts swishing purposefully around my legs.
It was time to rewrite this afternoon’s lesson plans.
10
Icould see increased wariness in many of my students’ eyes when they assembled once again after lunch. Whatever poison Annabel had been dripping into all of their ears during the meal had apparently had an effect.
“Ladies!” Ignoring the tension in the room, I clapped my hands briskly together. The last of my students, Miss Stewart, stepped into the parlor, followed by the Boudiccate’s beautifully-attired trio of politicians. Westgate, of course, was nowhere to be seen; he’d driven one of my sister-in-law’s gigs to the nearest estate owned by another magician, some six and a half miles from Harwood House. He wouldn’t be back for at least another hour.
I,however, had magicians right here in front of me. Westgate might not think them worth training, but I knew exactly how much potential every young woman in this room carried. All they needed was direction.
“For our next lesson,” I said, “we shall take on a practical challenge, rather than any theoretical work. Please note, though, that thiswillinvolve working together at every step. Not one of you has yet developed the strength to work this spell alone.” I swept the room with a gimlet gaze worthy of my own mother at her most severe. “This isnota moment to attempt to prove your skills by leaping ahead of the rest of the class. When it comes to magic, you must build your strength gradually, as you would any other muscle, or risk breaking it irreparably.”
“As she would know,” Annabel murmured from the back of the room.
I didn’t even pretend not to hear her. “Exactly so,” I said grimly. “That is why I willnotallow any of my students to risk their own powers or safety in my school. Understood?”
I myself had been—notoriously—rash enough, strong enough and fortunate enough to survive any number of risky magical gambles across the years, all for the sake of proving my own powers to a skeptical and hostile world...until that final gamble, last year, when my luck had run out. That last spell had nearly killed me—and although I had survived it in the end, multiple experts had confirmed that if I ever drew on my shattered magical resources to cast even the simplest and most trivial of spells, the act would kill me instantly.
I would fight to the death to keep any girl I taught from ever sharing my own final magical experience.
I could see the frustration in many of their faces now, but a reluctant chorus of acceptance rippled around the two half-circles of chairs.
“In that case....” I stepped aside to reveal the large white basin of water that sat upon the high table at the front of the room. “I’d like two volunteers to begin with, please.”
“Pardon me, Miss Harwood.” Lady Cosgrave’s voice was sharp-edged as she tapped the commonplace book in her hand, ignoring the hands of all of my students shooting up before her. “Doesn’t this mark a significant alteration from the syllabus that you presented to your students last night?”
“Yes,” I said. “Now, for my first—”
“So you’re making asecondsignificant change already?” Her voice carried easily through the room, lilting with just the right amount of disbelief to be persuasive. “After Mr. Luton’s...surprisingnon-appearance this morning?”
I stretched my lips into a thin smile. “How serendipitous that you should mention him now,” I said, “because Mr. Luton himself is to be the object of our spell.”
A rustle of interest swept through my students, and I nodded. “He couldn’t teach you this morning, but you will see him nowifyou can, together, cast a successful scrying spell. This will be a test of your memory, your powers of concentration, and your ability to work with your classmates, blending your powers together into a whole.”
