Turning, I pinned my eyes on him. “Where?”
He gazed back at me placidly. “The Freedman Academy.”
I gaped at him. “What?”
The last time I’d been there, I’d been holding Balthazar’s dead body. I’d fled the place and thought I’d never return. The idea of walking those halls again so soon after escaping made me nervous in a way I couldn’t really explain even to myself.
I cleared my throat and said, “Okay. When do we go?”
“Excuse the fuck out of me?” Declan said, leaning forward in his chair. “You’ve already done something incredibly dangerous by leaving my house and following me here. You think I’m gonna let you go to the goddamn scene of the crime? No. Not a chance. I’m going alone. I can move around quietly, and do some checking. It’s easier with one person.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but Nyxia cut in before I could speak.
“Actually, Dec, I think she should go with you.”
Declan’s mouth fell open as he turned to face the woman. “You’ve got to be kidding me. This was not what we’d agreed to. It’s too dangerous for her.”
“It is dangerous,” the woman admitted with a nod. “That’s why you need her. Dec, I can get you through the wards around Freedman Academy, but I’ve never been there. I can’t tell you which room is which, or which hallways lead where. I don’t know which professors stay up late jerking off to porn mags, or who likes to hit the kitchens for a midnight snack.” She pointed a red fingernail at me. “She does.”
“Uh, Professor Blinken sleepwalks, and Professor Updike likes to make popcorn in the kitchens around ten every night,” I said, lifting one shoulder in a shrug.
Declan turned to glare at me, but I could already see his resolve cracking, and I suppressed a smile.
“I guess we’re doing this,” he said at last, rising from his seat. “I’m obviously overruled.”
Nyxia nodded and rose to join him. “I’ll send you both, and you’ll use this totem to return when you’re done.” She pulled a rook chess piece out of her pocket and handed it to me.
I pocketed it as Declan gave me one more quick glare. “You know how dumb this is?”
“Pretty damn dumb, yep.” I grinned at him. “But you need me.”
“That’s what I keep hearing,” he said, and we turned to face Nyxia. “Ready,” Declan grunted.
“Wait,” I said, holding up a hand. “How did you know I was outside?” The question had just occurred to me. “Do you have cameras outside or something?”
Nyxia raised an eyebrow. “Cameras? On The Shadow Streets? Surely, you jest. Most human technology wouldn’t work down here around all this magic. About the only thing that will work is electricity, though, that’s a type of magic in and of itself.”
“Right, so how did you know?”
Nyxia grinned at me. “I put two and two together. Word has spread that a pretty young thing with curly hair was walking the streets looking like a child walking through Manhattan for the first time. Then, Declan gave me your description. Whensomeone downstairs mentioned seeing the same woman pacing outside, I knew you’d followed our friend here. Once Declan and I came upstairs to finalize our agreement, I sent my assistant to bring you up.”
Nyxia stepped back, gesturing for Declan and me to stand closer together, which felt a little awkward after the dream I’d had.
“You did a pretty fantastic job finding us, honestly,” Nyxia said, giving me a grin. “You know, word on the street is that Balthazar Freedman was murdered by a failing and nearly illiterate student. Apparently, she was pretty poor at her studies, and she decided she had to kill him out of anger?”
My shoulders slumped. Sadness, betrayal, and disappointment threatened to send me into a fit of tears. The whole magical world thought I was some dumbass who killed her professor because she couldn’t pass a test?
“Now, I didn’t believe that for a second,” Nyxia said and winked at me. “Balthazar Freedman was no easy mark. If he was killed by a student, it was by no moronic failure. It had to be someone with fairly good skills to get the jump on him. So, either way dear, take that as a compliment. If you did kill him, then you are far brighter and more talented than the stories give you credit for. If you didn’t? Then you’ve shown remarkable ability and understanding to stay hidden.”
I frowned. “What do you meanifI didn’t kill him? I’m telling you, I had nothing to do with?—”
“See you later,” Nyxia said as she swept a hand across us.
The shadowy room vanished, replaced by shimmery speeding lights, like stars passing at an incredible speed. My stomach felt as though someone had placed a heavy fishing hook in itand tugged me along. Stranger still than the weird sensation of movement was that there was no wind, no air blew in my face. It gave the whole thing a weird, disjointed quality.
When I finally jerked to a stop, I stumbled to my hands and knees, gagging, trying not to vomit. My head spun slightly as though I had the world’s worst case of motion sickness. That feeling of sickness vanished in a moment when I glanced up and found myself inside Balthazar’s classroom.
12
