33. The New Order
The New Order
I’d landed back in Bones’s closet, in the northwest tower.
The location maybe wasn’t that surprising, but the shock of going from being immersed in his magic and wrapped in his arms to standing, shaking, in a dark closet, adrenaline slamming through my blood, was difficult to breathe past. I stood there, gripping a row of his jackets on hangars as I fought to get my equilibrium back, well enough to understand what just happened.
Obviously, someone had been coming our way.
I remembered why he’d taken me out of the staircase in the first place then, and something in that snapped my mind back on.
I walked out of the closet, adjusting my underwear, which he’d shoved out of the way so we could have sex, and trying to pull part of it out of the crack of my ass.
Realizing I needed a shower, I walked to the window first and cast a spell, before walking over to the night table and pulling a piece of parchment and a quill and ink out of the drawer.
I scribbled out a note, and was in the process of rolling it up when a drakai appeared on the windowsill and stared at me, wrinkling its nose.
I ignored the stare, and the nose wrinkle, as best I could, thrusting the scroll I’d just sealed magically towards him, not wanting to take the time to melt wax to keep it closed.
“Forsooth,” I said. “If he’s around?”
“He’s in his office, Missus.”
I flinched a little at what he called me, but didn’t correct him.
“Can you take it to him, errr….?”
“Elwood, Missus.”
“Elwood.” I stifled an impulse to smile. I felt over my dress, realized I had no pockets, and walked back to the drawer. I only found one coin inside, one of the magical-style coins I still thought of like pounds sterling, but were gold, and actually worth about twice that per coin.
“Here,” I said, handing it to the drakai.
“That’s too much, Missus,” the drakai said stoically.
“It’s fine, Elwood. Take it. I need that delivered right away. Bring me back any response he might have, and leave it on the kitchen counter, all right? I’ll leave the window open.”
The creature bowed, its long, red beard rippling in the heat of its flaming body without catching fire. The flames around this one were greenish in hue, and matched the color of its small, round eyes.
I maybe could have used my magic to send a message to Forsooth, but it was more difficult without the monocerus primal. Using drakai was more risky, but I didn’t feel like this could wait. I had the odd feeling like I was being watched, even now.
Maybe I needed to move out of Bones’s tower after all, given the connection to the family. Even as I thought it, I felt a shiver go through me.
Why did it feel like Malefic was closer, all of a sudden?
Was I feeling that from Bones, too?
Somewhere in my musing, the drakai had disappeared out the open window. Exhaling, I ran a hand through my hair and headed for the shower.
I spent too long in the shower, but the hot water felt heavenly, and I rationalized it by thinking it would give Forsooth more time to respond to my note.
My rationalization ended up being oddly true.
When I finally emerged from the steam-filled room, a letter waited for me on the kitchen counter.
Unlike my hastily rolled up, four-sentence note, Forsooth’s response was folded and sealed with the elaborate “M” stamped in black wax on the fold, the symbol for Malcroix Bones Academy. It also looked surprisingly thick.
Assuming that whole thing was his response, he must have been writing it for over half the time I spent in the shower.
Rubbing a towel over my head as I wandered into the closet, I dressed in black pants, a thin, pale blue camisole, and a wide-necked, cropped jumper before winding my hair up into a bun and holding it in place with two silver rods.
I walked out of the closet and back to the counter, only pausing when it occurred to me I hadn’t seen Wraith anywhere, not even in Bones’s hamper in the closet, where she often liked to hide.
She definitely would have come out to greet me by now.
She would have emerged from her hiding spot before I got in the shower, but definitely by the time I got out, even if she’d been in a sound sleep, in the depths of Bones’s sock drawer.
I walked back to the kitchen, frowning.
Alaric must have brought her with him, wherever he went.
That sounded like something he would do. He wouldn’t want to leave her alone, even if he only planned on being gone for a day.
Miranda had asked me to open up the chimaeras around Bone’s tower apartment for Alaric the day before.
She hadn’t wanted me to worry about Wraith, she said, so she wanted Alaric to cat sit for me.
After I did as she asked, she sent a note to Greythorne, telling him to see about getting Wraith from my room, and either taking her to his dorm with him, or staying in the tower himself.
Alaric already had the spare key, so he was the obvious choice.
Jolie also told me Alaric was still working on finding ways to remove Bones’s collar.
Supposedly he’d traced a new text on magical suppressants of various kinds to the Andhakarah, the “Dark Archives” that supposedly lived under the Sanctum Occulus.
I wondered if he’d gone there, and if he’d really brought my cat with him to wander around the Sanctum, if so.
Again, it wasn’t exactly an un-Alaric thing to do.
I looked around the room as these thoughts occurred to me, frowning.
Obviously Alaric wasn’t here now, and Wraith wasn’t here, but I wondered if either of them had been up here when the amulet went off, signaling the nearby presence of one of Malefic’s Dark Cathedrals.
Alaric himself couldn’t have set the amulet off.
He never took the actual oath, despite the tattoo he’d been given and had since gotten removed.
My vague, uneasy feeling now felt closer to full-blown worry.
It was ridiculous though, wasn’t it? Alaric hadn’t been kidnapped. He’d merely gone somewhere and brought Wraith with him.
Was Alaric possibly taking Wraith to the Sanctum really what was bothering me?
Or was I picking up on something else?
I sat heavily on the couch, still frowning, but now with Forsooth’s wax-sealed letter gripped in my hand.
After another second of thought, I cast a quick spell, the same one I’d used before my shower. The drakai appeared almost instantly, flying through the still-unlatched window and doing a quick spiral in front of the fireplace before landing on the coffee table in front of me.
He smiled at me gravely, his red beard rippling, and gave a deep bow.
“Can I help you again in some way, Missus?” he asked politely.
“Yes… please.” I hesitated. “Can you find Alaric Greythorne for me, Elwood? If he’s on campus, please ask him to come see me right away.
” I bit my lip. “If he’s not on campus, could you try to find out where he is, and come back here and let me know?
” I hesitated, then asked it anyway. “Also, let me know if he’s got my cat with him? ”
The drakai bowed again, his green flames flaring brighter.
“Of course, Missus,” he said in his strangely resonant voice. “I will be back as soon as I have news.”
Before I could thank him, he darted back out the window and into the night.
Exhaling in an attempt to relax, I fought Alaric and Wraith out of my mind as I finally unfolded Forsooth’s letter. My eyes scanned the page quickly at first, as I read his elegant script, then I forced myself to take a breath, stop, and begin again, reading more slowly.
Ms. Shadow,
I appreciate the note about your amulet being activated in the northwest tower.
I am sending over a team to assess the recent magical history of the tower as a whole, and to ensure that presence has not lingered.
That team shall include your cousin, Valor, who was here for other business, along with at least one obeah and an oracle employed by the Praecuri.
The obeah will pull and assess magical imprints and the oracle will conduct vision walks and time jumps to determine exactly who was there in the time period you indicated.
From my own examinations of the magical record of that part of the castle, I believe it is probably safe for you to leave the tower via those stairs now, if that offers any reassurance.
That said, I would appreciate if you would wait for the team’s full assessment to be completed anyway, as I would like us to err on the side of caution due to other recent events.
To elaborate on the specific events I mean, I regret to tell you there is news.
I urgently need to speak with you about that news, tonight, preferably as soon as they finish their evaluation.
Your cousin has agreed to escort you to my tower when they finish, if you are so agreeable.
As that work will take at least an hour, I feel it is necessary to give you some prior warning as to the subject matter of our upcoming discussion.
A historic change has occurred at the highest levels of our Magical society.
Malefic Bones has secured an agreement with the government of Magical England, officially signed in blood and ritual only a few hours prior to this one.
This agreement is quite serious, and will be all over the newspapers tomorrow, although probably in a severely abridged, massaged, and highly softened form.
In essence, the Magus Imperius has surrendered his post, and has officially proclaimed his own administration to be illegal, and against the higher wellbeing of the Magical society as a whole. He has, in essence, declared himself and the King traitors to the Magical race.
It will likely not surprise you, given this, that we believe Malefic Bones now runs the central government of England, and it seems the government of Wales, as well.
Scotland apparently refused to sign, and their governors were murdered during the meeting, a fact I am told will likely not be reported in the major papers.
We are not yet aware of the stance of any part of Ireland, nor of Magical Europe as a whole.