“Miss Brandeau could have killed the entire group.” Prospero’s expression did not waver. “She is something more than illusion, and that requires prompt address.”
Lord Scylla strode to the center of their gathering. “Concur.”
Ten sets of eyes locked on her as she created what looked like a ghostly reproduction of a memory hovering in the air, complete with sound. They all watched the new witch manifest tactile illusions.
“She created actual chains,” Scylla said as the image disappeared. “Thick, deadly chains. Not illusions.”
“We can use this,” Prospero said. “Once she has control of it, we can make use of a fabricator.”
“To do what? Turn Scylla’s walls solid?” Sondre scoffed. “And what then? We’re trapped here with poisoned water?”
The room was uncharacteristically silent.
Walt sighed. “With that much power, she stays in Crenshaw. It’s notnegotiable. Elleanor Brandeau, first Lady of the House of Thesis, named after the primordial creation urge. Perhaps the magic will offer her more such creators to add to her house.”
He’d need a full Congress to make it official, but there was no other option. This was what Crenshaw needed. If not, the magic wouldn’t have brought her here without escort. If not, this new type of gift wouldn’t happen. There was order, and he’d be damned if he allowed one woman’s opinions to be a factor.
“We haven’t had a new house in years.” Fatima’s voice was hesitantly excited. “The magic wouldn’t create a new house if we were going to die, would it?”
“It would not.” Prospero glanced at Walter and said: “She’ll change things.”
31Dan
Within the castle halls, Dan and Axell exchanged a look. The murderess had been in their classroom.Lady Prospero.She’d carried a student—Ellie—away.
“To my room to talk?” Axell asked.
Dan shook his head. “Somewhere else?” He crinkled a note in his pocket as they walked past the rows of rooms used for classrooms. One room had rows of beakers and high desks. Tiny bowls sat in hollows of the desks, and tubing ran along a contraption that was akin to a Rube Goldberg machine, or an elaborate chain reaction machine.
They paused in the doorway. In one corner, an experiment was simmering over a low flame. A flask that looked like a lightbulb with a flat bottom and no way to open it was bubbling slowly like a geyser or tar pit, as if occasional air bubbles leaked out.
“Are those feathers?” Axell asked.
Dan nodded. “Mad scientist class? Chemistry for witches?”
“Alchemy or potions,” Axell offered.
All Dan knew of alchemy was that it seemed to focus on turningthings into gold or extending life. Reading comics and books had taught him that much. “The magic here is about intent, though.”
“So far.” Axell stayed at his side, and Dan wasn’t actually sure whether he was asking to be protected or to be Dan’s protector. Either way, Dan was in favor of it.
“Do we talk here?” Axell asked.
“In the mad scientist room?” Dan eyed the tube of bubbling stuff. The bubbles had increased as if the stuff was starting to reach the “add pasta now” boiling water stage.
“Is that snake venom?” Axell asked.
Dan had the same question, but he wasn’t entirely sure he was ready for an answer. “Not all purple things are venom, right?”
Axell looked unconvinced, and Dan didn’t blame him. He also wasn’t sure if he ought to share this discovery with classmates or ask Sondre or—
“Daniel?” Axell bumped his shoulder into Dan. “Let us go somewhere not here.”
They backed out of the room, pulling the door shut. A pair of students in the hallway glanced back at them curiously. Everyone here was still trying to figure out magic, their roles, their futures.
One of the hobs, Clancy, blinked into an alcove ahead and gestured. In such moments, Dan wondered why the hobs were so friendly to him—and why he was so sure they were trustworthy. He was, though. Nothing any hob had said or done registered as a lie. He couldn’t say that about most humans.
Once Dan and Axell reached the alcove, Clancy mimed placing the palms of his hands on the seemingly blank wall and closing his eyes. Dan watched the small man’s mouth as he silently said, “I need answers.”
