“Is it that important? Wouldn’t it bemore importantto teach the least powerful? To help them make the most of what theydohave? Should we teach only poets to read?”
“I don’t understand what you want. You’rehere,Davy. At Watford.”
“I’m here. And maybe if I meet the right people—if I bow and scrape before every Pitch and Grimm, they’ll teach me the trickiest spells. They’ll give me a seat at the table. And then I can spend my life as they do, making sure that no one else takes it from me.”
“That’s not what I’m going to do with my magic.”
He stopped spitting for a second to squint at me: “What are you going to do, Lucy?”
“See the world.”
“The World of Mages?”
“No,the world.”
***
I have so much to tell you.
But time is short. And the Veil is thick.
And it takes magic to speak, a soul full of it.
12
SIMON
As it happens, Iamalone when I see Agatha.
I’m lying out on the Lawn, thinking about the first time I got here—the grass was so nice that I didn’t think we were allowed to walk on it.
Agatha’s wearing jeans and a gauzy white shirt, and she comes up the hill towards me slowly blocking the sun, so there’s a halo for just a second around her blond hair.
She smiles, but I can tell she’s nervous. I wonder if she’s been looking for me. I sit up, and she sits down on the ground next to me.
“Hey,” I say.
“Hello, Simon.”
“How was your summer?”
She gives me a look like she can’t believe how lame that question is, but also like she’s kind of relieved to make small talk. “Good,” she says, “quiet.”
“Did you travel?” I ask.
“Only for events.”
Agatha’s a show jumper. Competitively. I think she wants to jump for Great Britain someday. Or maybe ride? I know jack-all about horses. She tried to get me on a horse once, and I chickened out.
“Simon, you can’t be scared of this horse. You’ve slain dragons.”
“Well, I’m not afraid to slay it, am I? You want me to ride it.”
“Any luck?” I ask now.
“Some,” she says. “Mostly skill.”
“Ah.” I nod my head. “Right. Sorry.”
