Infinite Regress (50 page)

Gordian didn’t get the message
, she thought, numbly. She’d been more impressed with Gordian over the last few days than she wanted to admit, at least outside the privacy of her own head. She found it hard to believe that he would deliberately endanger the school, even if his oaths allowed it.
There was no warning for him—or he disregarded it
.

She pushed the thought aside and traced the remaining connections through the network, marveling at just how well her concepts—concepts she’d barely begun to develop—had worked in practice. Whoever had crafted the spellware before her was a genius, a man who outshone her as the sun outshone the moon, but the idea was the same. Each separate component was held in place by at least two more, trapped within a network of pocket dimensions that bled off excess magic and rechanneled it back into the wards. It was easy to see, suddenly, why the gates had closed. Professor Locke had accidentally triggered an emergency function intended to protect the school.

And then Professor Lombardi compounded the error
, Emily thought. She could see everything he’d done wrong, although by his standards he’d done everything right.
He set off a cascade failure through the network
.

Bracing herself, unsure just how much time had passed since she’d plunged her mind into the network, she carefully formulated replacement pieces of spellware for the damaged sections, then pushed them forward. It wouldn’t have been possible with a normal spell, she saw, but here it was just a matter of rebuilding the damaged sections piece by piece. Indeed, the whole system was
designed
to make it easy to repair the damage, as if the original designers had anticipated the need. But they’d assumed, she suspected, that whoever would try to modify the system in the future would know what they were doing. They’d never realized that their descendants would literally forget how the original spells had been cast.

Professor Lombardi’s hackwork snapped out of existence, as if it had never been. Her replacements fitted into the network, the spellware making a number of very tiny adjustments to account for differences between her spells and the original programming. She’d expected as much—both the Mimics and the Warden had a kind of intelligence—but it was still impressive to watch. Moments later, the entire system began slowly repairing itself, expanding back through the school network. Her mind recoiled from her sudden glimpse into just
where
some of the missing corridors had gone—the spellware didn’t seem designed to actually
react
to what it was doing—but at least they were
there
. Whitehall was damaged, badly damaged, yet the school was intact. It could be repaired.

Frieda might be alive after all
, she thought. It was something to cling to, now the school was heading back to normal.
That black hole might be something very different
...

Emily sent her mind roaming through the network as it settled down, looking for the gates back to the outside world. They were odd, as if parts of Whitehall’s interior existed in a pocket dimension and other parts were part of the outside world, but the gates matched up as she’d expected. She felt a quiver running through the entire system—she wasn’t sure if it was physical or not—as the doorways reopened, allowing the staff and students to escape. It made her wonder just how many of them would want to return, even though it was safe again. If student enrollments had been reduced, sharply, after Shadye... what would happen if prospective students thought there was a very real risk of being trapped in Whitehall?

There was no list of authorized users
, she thought, as she took one final look at the spellware governing the control room.
No wonder the room was sealed off. Anyone who managed to get inside could take complete control of the school
.

A thought struck her and she started to scan the school for the missing books, hoping she’d be able to locate them before the thief took them out of the school. But the moment she started to look, a force slammed through the spellware and threw her back into her own body, tossing her right across the room. She landed badly, banging her head against the far wall. Dazed, confused, her eyes hurting, she barely grasped what had happened before she felt a hand grab hold of her. It was hard, so hard, to think clearly. The combination of too much Kava, too little sleep and a blow to the head made her feel dizzy, as if she were about to throw up...

“Emily,” Professor Lombardi said. His voice echoed in her head, as if he were talking from a very far distance. She thought he was kneeling beside her, but she couldn’t be entirely sure of anything. “Emily, can you hear me?”

Emily’s entire body shuddered with pain. It was dark... no, her eyes were closed, tightly closed. She fought hard to open them, but the light outside was so bright that it felt as though someone was jamming needles into her eyes. Her gorge rose... she was barely aware of someone rolling her into the recovery position before she threw up everything in her stomach, then dry-retched so hard it was painful.

“Emily,” Professor Lombardi said. She remembered, suddenly, that she’d assaulted him—and that she was defenseless. If he wanted to hurt her, or kill her, he had every opportunity to do whatever he liked. She’d attacked a tutor! “Emily, I’m going to have to put you to sleep.”

Panic surged within Emily’s mind. Put her to sleep? More like kill her... she fought to open her eyes and stand upright, but her body refused to obey her. Her thoughts slid in all directions, as if she was badly concussed. Perhaps she was; she’d banged her head, the throbbing a constant reminder that she might be
very
badly hurt. Her magic seemed to slip and slide around her, refusing to come when she called. It was mocking her...

And then, almost gratefully, she fell straight into the darkness.

“E
MILY,” A VOICE SAID, AS
E
MILY
fought her way up from the darkness. “Emily, can you hear me?”

Emily nodded. Her eyes still hurt, but at least she could open them and peer up at Madame Kyla. The Healer was bending over her bed, waving a wand over Emily’s chest. Behind her, Emily could see Melissa and Frieda, the latter looking tired. A surge of relief ran through her and she tried to sit up, only to discover that someone had wrapped cloth restraints around her wrists and ankles. She was trapped.

“Lie still for the moment,” Madame Kyla ordered. “You thrashed around quite badly over the last two days.”

She frowned as she pulled the wand away from Emily. “How do you feel?”

Emily hesitated. “Like I’ve been beaten half to death,” she said, morbidly. Her entire body ached, while her head felt as if it were full of cotton wool. “What happened?”

“You saved us all,” Frieda said. She gave Emily a brilliant smile. “I
knew
you could do it.”

“More or less,” Madame Kyla said, giving Frieda a sharp look. “I believe the Grandmaster wishes to speak with you as soon as you are awake, then that young man of yours has been trying to sneak in here.”

Emily swallowed. Her memories were hazy, but she was sure of one thing. She’d assaulted three tutors. If Gordian wanted to expel her, he could. She’d made certain of that when she’d committed herself. She wondered, absently, if she was restrained to keep her in place, although that felt absurd. It would have been easy for Madame Kyla to keep her sedated until Gordian made his decision.

“I know,” she said. Madame Kyla held a bottle of water to Emily’s lips and let her sip it. “I... can I sit up?”

“If you feel you can,” Madame Kyla said. She snapped her fingers and the restraints unwrapped themselves. “I expect you to lie back down
at once
if you feel the
merest
discomfort.”

Emily nodded, then glanced at Frieda. “How long was I out?”

“Five days,” Frieda said. “I’ve been waiting here all that time.”

“Except when you went to eat,” Melissa said. She smirked as Frieda glowered at her. “We got emergency shipments of food from Dragon’s Den.”

Emily nodded. Oddly, the more she moved, the better she felt. Frieda stood beside her and talked about what she’d seen while she’d been trapped, then helped Emily to swing her legs over the side of the bed and stand. Her legs felt a little wobbly at first, as if she’d forgotten how to walk properly, but it wasn’t long before she was striding up and down the chamber confidently. Melissa clapped, rather sarcastically, as soon as Emily finished her first walk around the room.

“I advise you to be careful for the next few days,” Madame Kyla said, once she checked Emily’s condition for the second time. “You do seem to have a habit of ending up here, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” Emily muttered.

“Frieda will escort you to the Grandmaster’s office,” Madame Kyla said, briskly. “I’ll be checking up on you tomorrow, again, so be careful.”

Emily nodded, feeling cold ice settling in her stomach. Gordian was going to be furious, and perhaps a little pleased too. The school had been saved... and he could expel his most troublesome student. It wasn’t as if anyone could argue that she
hadn’t
assaulted three tutors. Hell, they’d say that she was getting off lightly for what she’d done.

“Thank you,” she said, sincerely.

“I believe we should be thanking you,” Madame Kyla said. “Good luck.”

Caleb waited outside, looking worried. He swept Emily up into a hug as soon as he saw her, holding her tightly. Emily leaned against him for a long moment, feeling weaker than she cared to admit, then allowed him to help her down the stairwell to the Grandmaster’s office. The walls had returned to normal, but the floors were
covered
in debris. It would be weeks, even with every tutor and student working 24/7, before the school returned to something resembling normal. She could feel the wards, thrumming in the background, as they stopped outside the office. Caleb and Frieda wouldn’t be allowed to accompany her further.

“We’ll wait for you,” Caleb said.

Emily smiled, rather sadly, then knocked on the door. It opened at once, revealing that the doorway to the Grandmaster’s inner office was also open. There was no sign of Madame Griselda. Emily took a moment to gather herself, then strode forward into Gordian’s office and closed the door behind her. Gordian sat behind his desk, his hands folded neatly in front of him; he nodded toward a chair placed in front of his desk. Emily sat, surprised by the consideration. She’d expected to be forced to stand, even though she doubted she could have remained upright for long.

“Emily,” Gordian said. “What
am
I going to do with you?”

Emily said nothing. She doubted she could say anything that would influence his judgement one way or the other, even if she hadn’t been tired and worn. Madame Kyla and Melissa had forced her to drink a number of foul-tasting brews, but she knew the only real cure for what ailed her was sleep. And sleep wasn’t going to come quickly.

“On one hand, you saved the school,” Gordian said. “And on the other, you attacked three tutors. If we hadn’t found evidence that Professor Locke intended to cast a torture spell on you, Emily, we would be having a very different conversation.”

“Yes, sir,” Emily whispered.

“Professor Lombardi and Professor Jayne have forsaken their right of vengeance,” Gordian added, after a long moment. His lips quirked. “They could hardly do otherwise, given that you are a student and they are experienced tutors. Explaining that you managed to get past them would prove very embarrassing.”

He smiled, rather thinly. “Not that you won’t be paying a price for it, of course.”

Emily nodded. The rules that had forced Master Grey to manipulate her into challenging him, instead of the other way round, would keep both of the professors from seeking revenge, but she suspected she’d be hammered with punishment exercises and detentions for the rest of term. Gordian would probably look the other way, as long as matters didn’t get out of hand. She just hoped that the rest of the school didn’t know the exact details.

“Professor Locke is currently in the Halfway House,” Gordian added. “The... curse he intended to cast on you, the curse that exploded in his face, did a considerable amount of damage to his health. It is unlikely that he will survive, let alone recover.”

Emily winced. She couldn’t have let him torture her, but she hadn’t meant to inflict permanent harm. And yet,
he’d
been the one who’d cast the torture curse. It wouldn’t have broken through his protections if he hadn’t been the one who’d cast it.

“And that leaves me with a question,” Gordian said. “What
am
I going to do with you?”

Emily met his eyes. “I saved the school.”

“You did,” Gordian agreed. “And I cannot really blame you for
causing
the disaster.”

“No, sir,” Emily said.

“On the other hand, you
did
assault two tutors without provocation,” Gordian added. “There are grounds to expel you, Emily.”

“I know,” Emily said. The bastard was dragging it out, deliberately.
She
just wanted to get it over with. “Are you going to?”

“I don’t think so,” Gordian said. He gave her a thin smile. “
Personally
, I believe that your actions make up for your crimes.
This
time. The exact details of what happened are unknown to the student body, so there is no need to make an example of you. Still”—he looked pained—“you will remain a probationary student for the moment.”

Emily nodded. It was the best she could have expected.

“Go back to your bedroom and get some rest,” Gordian ordered. “Your roommate has already been reassigned to another room, at least for the next few days. I’ll have a tray of food sent to your room, later.”

“Thank you,” Emily said, surprised.

She paused. “There was something else, sir.”

Gordian lifted his eyebrows, waiting.

“I was thrown out of the network when I tried to scan for the books,” Emily said. “Whoever took them knew how to use the network too.”