Dr. Robetresse gave an exasperated sigh, and Max sat up suddenly. “We can do it. Give us a few days; we’ll fix her right up.”
I slid down a little further in my chair. A few days? We didn’t even have the slightest clue what was causing this, but that was Max. He liked to give people good news. I was always the one who had to fix it later, like a little storm cloud coming to rain on people’s hopes and dreams.
Robetresse seemed to share my doubts. “I appreciate your enthusiasm, Mr. Middlemore. Graduation is at the end of the month, a little more than three weeks from now. If we don’t have the culprit identified by then, we lose our window of opportunity. Though, in truth, I doubt we’ll have that long. It’s not just the matter of the police. Ms. Hagood’s parents will certainly want answers before they lay their child to rest. They’re on their way here as we speak,” said Dr. Robetresse.
“I just can’t imagine why Danica would do this,” said Dr. Nguyen. “I had her in class. There was no indication she was a ruthless murderer.”
Dr. Robetresse flipped to a new photo on the projector, one of the same blond girl, this time hugging a brunette. Both had bright smiles. “The two girls had something of a romantic relationship, as I take it. Apparently, Dani was quite devoted to her.”
“It was probably a botched spell,” Max decided, overconfident as always.
But I frowned. It didn’t make any sense. That was the whole point of Object Theory, the entire reason we practiced the Three Arts at Seinford and Brown. Magic wasn’t all sprinkles and fairy rainbows. It had bounds within which you needed to operate and very real consequences. People died all the time. It was why students at our school practiced a safer, limited Magic using their objects. Objects acted as a protective mechanism, protected you from the worst of Magic’s toll when you made a mistake. Even so, few students hadn’t attempted something past their skill level at one point or another and ended up sick in bed, vomiting out excess Magic.
But never had I seen someone as bad off as Danica.
Dr. Robetresse’s mouth twisted. “I don’t believe it was a spell Danica cast, but one that was castupon her. She was at the top of her class, according to her advisor, and headed to MIT’s graduate program in the fall. Attempting a spell with such disastrous consequences strikes me as out of character. And not only that—all our preliminary questioning suggests nothing more than a girl who loved Maya Hagood, who would do anything the other girl asked. No, it is my belief that Danica Stewart was hexed.”
“A hex? But who would do such a thing?” asked Dr. Nguyen.
“That’s just what I hope this investigation will uncover,” said Dr. Robetresse, turning to me.
“I’ve called in some help. You all remember our former students and council members, Marcella Gibbons and Maximilian Middlemore. I’m sure you’re all familiar with how much their contributions to the field of Object Theory have enhanced our knowledge of objects and Magic use. I would like the two of them to use their expertise in Object Theory to investigate the objects of anyone relevant to the case. Figure out who hexed Danica. Who would have cause to hurt these girls. We’ve done some preliminary questioning of the students, but haven’t made much progress. Objects, at least, lack the ability to lie.”
“And if they can’t figure out what has happened?” Ellendale asked.
“Let’s give our dimidiums some credit,” said Dr. Robetresse. “These two know perhaps more about objects than anyone in the world and are some of the strongest wielders of Magic alive.* I’m confident they’re up to the task.”
Ellendale snorted, and I sank farther into my chair. Max’s brow got that furrow it did when he was trying to figure out what I was thinking. Our connection was close, but we couldn’t read each other’s minds. There was at least some justice in the world.
In spite of myself, the more they explained about the case, the more intrigued I’d become. The whole thing was a murky mystery, a puzzle whose pieces lay shrouded in fog. I thought back to Danica, floating in that dark room. All those scars, like she was being torn apart from the inside. Something was wreaking havoc on her body. Levitation wasn’t common. It took an exceptionally large amount of power, otherwise we’d all be flying around.‡ It was most typically presented as a loss-of-control effect from Magic. But a hex …
A hex was something else entirely. A malevolent spell, one of the most violent things a Magician could do to another. The range of side effects made them especially difficult to recognize. Not to mention cure. Whoever did it must’ve had some grudge.
I cleared my throat, curiosity outweighing my nerves. “Could someone else have been in the room? Maybe they did it and put the hex on Dani afterward to cover their tracks.”
“We’ve already spoken to the girl working the front desk on the night of the attack,” Ellendale said, a little more forcefully than necessary. “No visitors entered or left the dorm that night.”
“Someone living in the dorm, then?”
“It’s possible, though not likely,” said Dr. Robetresse. “As it was the holiday break, most students were gone, home for the weekend.”
Ellendale scoffed. “The last thing we need are the Arbiters* getting wind of this and coming down here at the request of one of the students’ parents. Suits swarming the school, investigating a malignant practice of Magic. If you think enrollment is down now, I shudder to think what that will do. Not to mention what people at Britton will say. They’ll have a field day! I can just hear them now: ‘They use objects and look where it got them! Their students are practically possessed and murdering each other!’” He shook his head. “Danica will be back to herself in a few days’ time. The police can question her then.”
Murmurs traveled around the table.He’s got a point. Don’t want the Arbiters.
A spark of annoyance flared in my chest. They’d dragged me back here, forcing me to relive memories I’d spent years trying to forget. I could feel Aaron haunting every step I took on this campus, reminding me of every way I’d failed him. And now they had me actually willing to sit here and listen, and some of them wanted to dismiss the whole thing.
“No offense, Dr. de Vries,” I said, adrenaline making me stumble over my words. “You’re one of the world’s foremost experts on the Magic inherent in numbers, but this is not your area of expertise.”
I meant to say it as gently as possible, but I guess it didn’t come off quite right because Ellendale looked like he might like to stab me himself. Ellendale’s teaching assistant guffawed and spiraled into a coughing fit to cover it up.
“Sorry, that came out wrong—” I murmured. I suddenly wished I could melt into jelly and slip right under the door.
The others ignored me entirely. Dr. Nguyen turned to Max. “What do you think?”
Max leaned back, manspreading in his chair. “A hex that strong, their object is gonna be acting all kinds of screwy afterward. It’ll be obvious who did it. The Magic will tell on itself.”
“That at least makes some sense,” said Ellendale.
