Miss Sederey gave an unpleasant laugh. “And yet he ate twice withmyfamily, and not at all with yours.”
“He stopped eating with people! You know that!”
“He never would have eaten with you anyway. You’ll never amount to anything, Alice Hennessey. You certainly won’t marry awizard.”
Peter undid the spell on the house and threw open the door. He glared at the girls, who drew back with identical expressions of shock.
“Has anyone told you, Miss Sederey, what I was before I was a wizard?” he snapped.
She didn’t answer.
“An impoverished bastard child,” he said. “You might well imagine, then, what I think of people who criticize someone for being poor.”
She opened her mouth as if to say something but quickly closed it.
“Those who would have criticized me then but bat their eyelashes at me now,” he added, “are even worse.”
She squeezed her eyes shut.
“For the record,” he said, “I gladly would have eaten with the Hennesseys if I hadn’t been suddenly inundated with invitations from people who didn’t know me at all but weredyingto have me court them.”
Miss Hennessey’s cheeks went a mottled red.
“Listen, both of you,” he said, “I’m thirty-three. If I marry someone, she will be my age, and her feelings for me will have nothing whatsoever to do with my profession or standing in society. Find young men you actually care about. Better yet, find interests you care about. But whatever you do, find something other than me because hunting season isover.”
He slammed the door and enjoyed his righteous anger for all of thirty seconds before regret lapped away at the edges. He could have communicated the same message without yelling. He could have made Miss Sederey reconsider her behavior without strongly implying he despised her.
A soft knock broke the silence. Miss Hennessey, alone this time, stood forlornly on the porch.
“Yes?” he said, more kindly this time.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I wasn’t thinking about you at all. I was trying to prove something to—to her, and that was idiotic.”
“You don’t need to prove anything to people like her,” he said. “Live your life on your terms.”
She nodded, biting her lip. “Were you actually poor?”
“Very.”
“And … and were you …”
“Yes, and orphaned at childbirth. I thought everyone in town knew that story.”
“I suppose the older folks do, but that’s not what they’re gossiping about.” She blushed again. “Well, you know what theyaregossiping about. But the point is, you were poor and you got out. You made something of yourself.”
Something, all right.
“I’m going to apply for a grant to go to nursing school,” she said, lifting her chin. “I’m scared, but I’m doing it. Thank you for yelling at me.”
He smiled, feeling a little better. “Every worthwhile goal in life is at least a bit scary. You’ve got the determination to see this one through, judging by the last few weeks.”
She laughed, looking pleased, and turned to go. “Oh!” she said, swinging back around. “I almost forgot the reason I came to see you. I mean, itwasa pretext, and it’s probably not that interesting, but did you know that another wizard was outside town yesterday?”
Her intelligence boiled down to this: She was at the edge of the forest beyond her family’s farm, a couple miles outside Ellicott Mills proper, when she noticed footprints in the snow nearby—footprints being freshly made as she watched. Before she could think of what to do, a wizard appeared above the newest prints, muttering to himself as he dug into his coat. Out came a flash of red.Popwent the wizard, teleporting away. Miss Hennessey had seen only the man’s back, not his face, but she’d known at a glance that it wasn’t her town’s omnimancer—too tall.
“He had long silver hair,” she said eagerly. “Oh, wait—that’s not at all helpful, is it.”
“What about his coat?” He tried to keep the question conversational instead of urgent. “Dark green?” Garrett. “Tan?” Morse. Then, swallowing hard, thinking of his friend who might not be his friend: “Yellow?”
