Seventeen Stones (29 page)

Mia
waited until they were away from class to question Vivian.  “Did you see who
Professor Tate was talking to?”  She shook her head.  “No, he had his back to
me most of the time and he was wearing that dark cloak.  I couldn’t see a
blasted thing.  The only way I knew it was a man was by the voice.  I couldn’t
hear much of what they said, but it was a man’s voice, unless my ear is
completely out.”  Lizzy grinned.  “Well, what did you hear?”

Vivian
frowned.  “It sounded like he was asking about the progress of something, and
she was telling him that it wasn’t something she could do on a timeline.”  She
shrugged.  “He wasn’t an admirer, that’s for certain.  I wasn’t over fond of
the tone in his voice when he talked to her.” 

Mia
cocked her head.  “Was she frightened?”  Lizzy answered.  “Yes, but she didn’t
let him know that.”  Vivian and Mia exchanged a look.  It was the first time
Lizzy had ever verbally confirmed something based on Sight.  She and Beth did
things sometimes, reacted to things that hadn’t happened yet.  But no one
mentioned it.  Mia always felt it would be rude to bring it up, like bringing
up a relative who couldn’t levitate.

Beth
took her sister’s arm.  “Let the future take care of itself.  Let’s go get some
dinner.”  The girls took the hint, and the subject wasn’t broached again during
the meal.  Mia was quite sure she recognized the look on Vivian’s face.  She
intended to figure this mystery out.  Her own face was probably sporting a
similar expression.

***

Mia’s
Alchemy work had progressed well past the third year standard, much to Emma’s
delight.  Professor Ambrose had already asked her to schedule a class period in
the coming year for an apprentice level class, brewing potions for the City. 
Professor Ambrose and Mia did most of the work of brewing the deadly desert
star potion for the drake hunters that spring.  Mia was able to skip Professor
Marshall’s class twice without any fear of punishment.  When given a choice
between him and a deadly toxin, she’d choose the deadly toxin any day of the
week.

The
rest of the girls were green with envy.  “No Marshall for a full week!”  Vivian
was shaking her head.  Mia felt a little guilty to have escaped without her
friends.  “Was he terrible today?”  Sarah chuckled.  “About the same as usual
actually, foul, bigoted, and irritated.  He could do with a nice strong
laxative…”  Beth gave her a hard stare.  “If you try it, you’ll get caught. 
He’ll find out about the slime and Mia will get in trouble too…”  Sarah crossed
her arms and muttered “Fine”.  Having sighted people in the dorm was very
useful sometimes.  Sarah assumed that Beth’s certainty came from sight rather
than common sense.  Only Beth knew for certain and Mia wasn’t going to question
it in front of the others.

The
extra classes with Professor Patrick came in spurts and starts, never enough to
make much of an impression on her.  “No, no…you want to jab the wand a little
more, like a spear.”  Professor Patrick doubled over his handkerchief in
another coughing fit.  Mia was trying to master a magebolt, but she was having
difficulty.  The problem was exacerbated by the fact that they had gone weeks
between lessons and the Professor spent most of the current lesson coughing.

Eventually
the lessons were canceled.  The professor was also working on some project for
the City, and he simply didn’t have time.  Headmistress Villanova assured her
that there was less urgency about the Magical defense lessons.  “Worry about
Creation for now.  We can work on Defense and dueling next year.”

Emma sent a letter around the
end of March:

     My avian friends came
back yesterday.  Something is happening in the City: there are stockpiles of
material in every warehouse in the district.  Whatever it is, there isn’t a
Greatlord involved as far as the birds can tell.  Keep your eyes open and stay
safe.

     All my love,

     Emma   

The
birds didn’t give Mia much to go on, and snooping around the warehouse district
was nixed when she brought up the possibility.  Professor Fain was still flatly
refusing to give her specifics.  Mia managed to talk a cabbie into driving
through the warehouse district one rest day afternoon on the way to Lady Anne’s
for a little party. 

Sarah
did
not
approve.  “I don’t think we’ll learn anything that’s worth the
risk, that’s all…”  Mia shushed her when the driver stopped and asked if they
were at the right address.  Mia’s brow crinkled in what she hoped was a
convincing show of concern.  “It doesn’t look right…”  She pretended to look
through her bag for the address.  “Is this 460 Oak View Dr?”  The cabbie cursed
under his breath.  “No, Miss, it ain’t.  This is 460 Oak St, which is what I’m
sure you said when you got in the cab.”  He was already hopping back on the
driver’s seat as he muttered about females with fluff stuffing their heads. 
Mia looked around as much as she could as they moved off.  She’d chosen the
address at random, because it was enough like Sarah’s mother’s to account for
her “mistake”.  It certainly was busy in the area.  Drovers with mules were
bringing in lines of covered carts. 

An
odd contraption puffed along the opposite side of the street.  It looked like a
cart, but it didn’t have a horse attached.  It was made of some sort of metal,
and looked vaguely rickety, like it had been put together using parts that were
never made for that purpose.  She was almost sure that the silver handle the
driver was pushing was the flusher from a toilet.  The round stack at the front
that was puffing might have been off an industrial washing machine like they
used at the college.  A little man in a green top hat and goggles was perched
on top of a huge stack of lumber.  Apparently this wasn’t a normal sight even
on this street.  The locals stopped to stare as he chugged merrily along,
waving as he passed.

Mia didn’t admit it to Sarah, but she didn’t think the
glimpse of the warehouse district was worth the exorbitant tip she paid the
cabbie, much less his suspicious glare.

Gabriel
Fields reminded Vivian that he had promised to take all of them to the spring
showing of
Boobrie: The Musical
.  Vivian, who had by that time decided
that she enjoyed the young man’s company, encouraged the others to join them. 
They were walking to the library, enjoying the crisp spring evening air.  Vivian
was lobbying hard for Mia’s inclusion in the event.  “I’m sure Gabriel could
bring a few of his friends…”  Gabriel dimpled.  “What and miss the chance to be
seen with all six of the prettiest girls in school?”  Vivian thumped him
lightly (with the hand he wasn’t holding).  He pretended to cringe.  “You’re
right, I shouldn’t be so greedy.  I bet some of my dorm mates would pay through
the nose to tag along.”  He dropped her hand and skirted around a tree before
she could thump him again, but she forgave him when he came up behind Mia and
added “Besides, you have to come.  Think how much it will annoy Ainsley if you
do!” 

Mia
couldn’t explain to Gabriel that she had a standing engagement for rest day
afternoons: she and Professor Fain spent the better part of them going over
second year Creation techniques.  Later, in the privacy of the study her
friends pressed her to ask for the day off.  “I really shouldn’t.”  Sarah
tossed the pillow at her head.  “You really should.  How will it look if you
refuse to go to a play because you’re too busy with music lessons?  You’re
playing hasn’t improved enough to make the amount of time you spend in the
theater acceptable.  You don’t need to draw attention to what you’re doing. 
Don’t forget, Gabriel is related to about half the old bloods in the school.” 

Vivian
shot Sarah a nasty look.  “He’s a good sport!  He’s the one who helped me
smuggle the ooris root into the boy’s dorm, and he never asked why, though I
think he figured it out after Marshall started interrogating the students the
next day.  If he did he never told a soul.”  Sarah snorted quietly, but Mia was
certain that Vivian couldn’t hear it from her chair.  “Yes he was a good sport
about that, and I’m grateful.  I think he’s very nice.  But I don’t know him
well enough to trust him with Mia’s secret, so we should keep up the pretence
as best we can.”  Vivian shrugged. 

Lizzy
added her opinion.  “Mia works seven days a week until midnight and could use
the break.  The dark circles under her eyes are getting dark circles.”  The
others defended Mia’s dark circles and Mia decided to ask for the day off. 
“After all, it’s only one day…”

***

“A
day off?”  Professor Fain looked at her like she was speaking chipmunk.  Mia
focused on her goblet and created cherry juice.  For some reason juice was
harder to create than fruit.  “Yes, you know a day where I don’t do any
homework?  A day where I go with my friends and do something fun…?”  He turned
his dark blue eyes toward the wall and tightened his jaw.  “This might not be
fun, but it might save your life one day.  Isn’t that more important than
seeing some idiotic play?”  Mia sighed.  She’d had a notion that asking for a
day off wouldn’t be the correct thing to do, but she wasn’t about to meekly
agree that he was right and go back to work.  She met his eyes firmly.  “Of
course it is, but how am I supposed to explain that I can’t go out with my
friends when we were invited as a group?  ‘Sorry, I can’t come today; I have to
do seven hours of music lessons…’  If anyone ever adds up the amount of time I
spend in here they’re going to think I’m the biggest musical dunce the world
has ever known.”  He muttered something she didn’t catch and ran his fingers
through his hair.

“Who
invited you?”  There was something about the question, the determinedly
offhanded way that he asked it that made her wonder.  “Gabriel Fields.  He
invited all of Vivian’s dorm mates.  They’re a couple.”  The Professor’s jaw
loosened slightly.  “I suppose he’ll invite a pack of his friends as well,
making him the most popular man on campus.” 

Mia
sniffed the cherry juice.  It didn’t seem quite right.  She took a slight sip
and puckered.  Professor Fain manfully suppressed a chuckle and corrected her
pronunciation.  She tasted the result.  Much better, but it still wasn’t as
sweet as it should be.  She emptied the goblet and tried again.  “Surely
they’re not that easy to impress.”  The professor snorted.  “You think it’s
easy to get the prettiest girls in the class to go somewhere with you?  The boy
must have a great deal of nerve, third year or not, to ask all of you.”  Mia
giggled.  “I think it was a plot to get Vivian to go at first, and now he’s
just keeping his word.”  She tried the juice again: still too tart. 

Professor
Fain reached down and corrected her grip on her wand.  “What did you say the
play was?  Boobrie?  I hope they aren’t using live boobries.  I can’t imagine
anyone concocting a play about an eight-foot tall carnivorous bird.”  Mia shot
him a conspiratorial look.  “Not just a play, this is a
musical
.”  She
held his eye for a quarter of a second before they burst into laughter.   

It
was settled that Mia would go to the play with the others, though Ethan seemed
to argue with himself about it for a long while during the lesson.  Mia couldn’t
quite understand his reluctance, unless he simply didn’t want her to miss practice. 
She couldn’t blame him.  She was irritated at the speed of her progress. 

***

The girls
giggled an inordinate amount while they dressed for the play.  Vivian had
chosen a green on green striped dress that showed her figure to best effect. 
Sarah teased her.  “Vivian, if you wear that Gabriel won’t be able concentrate
on the play.”  Vivian dimpled “I should hope not!  I certainly wouldn’t want to
waste one of Madam Reece’s creations!”  More giggling met the comment.  It made
Mia glad that she’d gotten ready for the ball by herself.

Sarah
was wearing a new pale peach dress, and Ella was helping her with her hair. 
The severe braid Sarah normally wore did nothing to soften the sharp line of
her cheekbones or her stubborn jaw.  When Ella was done, her pale hair was softly
framing her face making the lines that had been so uncompromising only a few
minutes before seem delicate.  Sarah used her paints and powders to good effect
with the hair, her pale green eyes dominated her face.   She looked like a doll. 

Lizzy
and Beth watched the transformation from Vivian’s bed.  They were dressed in blue
as always, one in powder blue, the other in a pastel blue-green.  Their curls
were piled on top of their heads, with a matching ribbon and silk flowers to
accentuate the perfect blue-black of their hair and the translucent quality of
their skin.  Vivian volunteered to do their make-up while Ella was doing
Sarah’s hair.  She used just a touch of powder to even out their porcelain
skin, a hint of blush, and a tiny bit of lash darkener on their lashes.  She
used berry juice on their lips, working the juice in with a short brush, and
letting it stain their lips red.  The effect was striking.   

Ella
was wearing one of the dresses from the house party: her gown was a pretty
cream color with no lace at all.  The simple lines accentuated her figure and
drew attention to her complexion.  Her dark red hair spiraled around a wide
gold satin ribbon, half up, half down, drawing attention to her eyes and pretty
mouth.  Sarah added just a hint of gold mica to her lids, and a touch of coral
blush to her cheeks and lips.  Her complexion was so perfect she didn’t need
anything further.   

Mia’s
gown for the play was also from the house party, a pink silk and white lace
dress that looked like it could float across the room without her in it.  It
made her skin look less sallow.  She’d braided her hair despite Ella’s offer to
style it: this wasn’t about her after all.  She realized that she would rather
be spending the day working on Creation than attending the play with a bunch of
strange boys.  She allowed Sarah to brush a bit of powder on her nose, but she
didn’t want to use any of the other cosmetics.  She’d had enough trouble
remembering not to blot her eyes during the ball.  The last thing she wanted
was to end up looking like a clown during the play because she forgot and
brushed her cheeks with a glove.   

The girls
were ready in good time: fans were found and perfume was carefully applied. 
They made their way outside the dorms where Gabriel and his five friends were
waiting.  Each girl took the arm of a young gentleman, and they were handed
into the waiting carriages.  Mia was lucky enough to be paired with a charming
young man named Tristan Gentry.  She’d met him briefly at one of Lady Anne’s
little ‘social gatherings’.  He was golden in coloring, witty in conversation,
and pleasing in his habits.  Mia thought she remembered someone saying he was
distantly related to Sarah’s father’s family, but she’d met so many people in
the last year she couldn’t remember who was related to who and how. 

Boobrie:
The Musical
was the story of how a
young villager killed one of the birds and then became the captain of the local
Greatlord’s guards, and finally guard sergeant for the entire City.  It was
full of amazing battle scenes, acrobatics, and diabolical plots.  The young man
eventually brought his concerns to the Magus, who condemned the guilty and
rewarded the unlikely hero.  The music wasn’t bad, though the lyrics were a bit
simplistic.  The thundering applause at the end, and multiple curtain calls for
the actors surprised Mia.  She remembered many village entertainments on summer
nights where the story line was better.  She shrugged.  Perhaps the plot simply
wasn’t to her taste. 

After
the play, Gabriel insisted on taking them to the sweet shop for afternoon tea. 
Mia ordered spice cake and prepared to sit in the corner and watch the others
flirt.  Tristan brought her a steaming cup of jasmine tea.  “I wouldn’t have
said that you were the shy one in the group.”  He lifted his golden eyebrows in
mock surprise. 

Mia
smiled up at him. “I’m not.  Ella’s the shy one, but she seems to manage better
with boys.  I think it’s because she has so many brothers.”  Ella was flirting
with a dark haired boy at one of the tables, with no sign of shyness in her
demeanor.  Tristan nodded.  “It took me two years of college before I’d so much
as speak to a girl, maybe it’s because I don’t have any sisters.  I have a
younger brother, but he’s still in the home.  He’ll start college next year.” 
The unspoken assurance that his brother would
of course
be attending
college let her know that he was old blood, proper coloring or not.  He must be
related to Sarah’s family someway.  How many golden haired old bloods could
there be? 

They
talked about class for a few minutes, exchanging the standard information that
students concerned themselves with.  Tristan nodded to the corner where Gabriel
was holding Vivian’s hand.  “He’s a good man, Gabriel.  One of my best friends;
we grew up in the same home near Lambton.  I’ve never seen him so worked up about
a girl before.”  Mia nodded.  “The amazing thing is that Vivian doesn’t even
notice any other boy, at least not for herself.  She’ll point them out for her
single friends of course…” 

Tristan
laughed out loud, brown eyes sparkling.  “Of course.  I expect she’s an
unrepentant match maker.  Gabriel’s like that too, you have to watch him or
he’ll have you set up every rest day with some pretty girl with good breeding,
excellent fortune, and nice manners.  My mother loves him.”  He made a face.  Mia
giggled.  “Vivian isn’t that bad about matchmaking.  Her worst trait is that
she knows everything that’s going on all over the school.  I swear you can’t
sneeze across campus without her knowing about it before you get back to the
dorm.”

Tristan dimpled.  “Now I know who to go to for news. I
don’t suppose she knows why I can’t find a copy of the
Beginning of the City
? 
There were three in the library last year when we went over it in History, and
I was planning to use it for a resource on a paper, and now they’re all checked
out…”  Mia smiled.  “The nerve of some people, checking out books that you
might want to read so they can do their homework.”  He chuckled lightly.  “Oh
well, I needed my own copy anyway.  Do you want to sneak over to the bookstore
while they’re talking?”  He couldn’t have asked a more welcome question.