Ruth frowned. ‘That’s not fair. Spells shouldn’t be squirrelled away, they should be shared for the good of all.’
Kevin piped up, ‘But if everyone knows a spell exists then everyone will know how to counteract it.’
‘Exactly.’ Montgomery nodded approvingly at the druid. ‘Before we proceed, every single one of you must give me your spoken vow that you will not breathe a word of this spell’s existence to any other being. You may not mention it outside this classroom, even amongst yourselves. This is a heavily embargoed potion. If word of its existence gets out, lawbreakers will simply use their own masking spells to counteract its effects. You are very lucky that you are being allowed to learn about the echo spell’s existence.’
I couldn’t blame the MET for their attempt at secrecy. Once a genie was out of the bottle, it could never be put back in and history was littered with examples of crime-detecting magic the MET had created that had become obsolete as soon as the wider community learned about it. I’d give Montgomery my vow freely.
One by one, we stepped up to the front of the class and recited from a sheet of paper: Ivow that I will not reveal the existence of the echo spell, either directly or by implication, to any otherliving soul. I give my word that I will not communicate anything about its existence outside the walls of this room.
It was a simple vow as the most effective ones usually were. It was important not to leave any wiggle room. Anyone with any magic of even the mildest sort would find it next to impossible to break their word once it was given but, unless vows were worded very carefully, loopholes could sometimes be found.
Generally speaking, blood contracts were considered a more politic and often more useful form of binding because they allowed for greater complexities, but blood contracts were easier to break. Consequently, while the inherent destructive power of breaking a spoken vow was a peculiar infallibility of Coldstream folk, such vows certainly had their uses.
‘An echo spell?’ Kevin asked, doubt colouring his tone once we’d all said our part.
Captain Montgomery nodded. ‘Cast it on a particular spot and it will reveal visual echoes of anyone who has passed over that place during the previous fourteen hours.’
‘Only fourteen hours?’
‘Every spell has its limits,’ he said mildly.
I shuddered. For the echo spell to work, all you had to do was know where a crime had been committed and cast it in the correct place within half a day; frankly, that was any assassin’s worst possible nightmare. Even an ex-assassin’s.
It was markedly similar to my occasional ability to see ghosts, depending on the skill of the cat whose fur I had used to effect my transformation. But if Montgomery’s ‘ghosts’ were still alive and you could use the echo spell in the place of your choosing...
I exhaled. This was extraordinary power indeed.
‘I will give you a demonstration,’ Montgomery told us. He delved into his pocket and pulled out a small linen pouch,carefully unfastened the drawstring and scattered the contents onto the wooden floor. Then he joined us at the back of the classroom.
‘Am I supposed to see something?’ Ruth asked.
Montgomery grinned. ‘Wait.’
There was no showy poof of smoke and no clap of thunder, but one minute we were gazing at the empty front of the classroom and the next we were staring with dropped jaws at a perfect simulacrum of Captain Montgomery. I turned my head to check that the man himself was standing beside us as well as his doppelganger in front of us. It wasn’t merely an echo of him: itwashim.
‘Okay,’ Marie whispered. ‘It’s a good spell.’
The fake Montgomery’s mouth moved but no sound came out. Ah: the spell only produced a visual echo, not an audible one. I watched, thoroughly impressed if still nauseated. Then Montgomery was replaced by images of all eight of us, one after the other, each making our vow. A flash later and Montgomery’s facsimile was there again, silently addressing the class as a whole.
‘How far does the spell extend?’ Fetch Mayhew asked.
‘Six metres,’ Montgomery answered. ‘So there are considerable limitations.’
His image flickered and was replaced by the fleeting figure of a woman with a broom, likely a cleaner from earlier this morning.
‘As you see, there are no gaps in the echoes,’ Montgomery said. ‘If nobody was there, there will be nothing to see. It is not a CCTV camera, it only captures a living being that crosses the spell area. And it works backwards from the end to the beginning.’
We watched as Matty and Ralph appeared. Ralph, who wasnext to me, sucked in a sharp breath. A moment later, his double began to kiss Matty passionately.
‘You stayed behind after the last class for a snog?’ Ruth demanded. ‘You told me you were only comparing notes!’
Matty smiled, pleased with herself. Ralph, considerably more taciturn, looked at his shoes and coughed.
‘I think we shall stop it there,’ Montgomery said wisely. ‘I am sure you all get the idea.’ He strode up the front and scuffed away the remnants of the spell. The echo of Matty and Ralph’s clinch faded away.
For three whole seconds, the class remained silent then everyone exploded in a cacophony of noise.
‘A spell of this sort is an incredible invasion of privacy!’ Marie said.
