Chapter 5
The headcount takes forever.
I’m put in charge of Communis House, along with Professor Octobus.
Students are lined up outside their dorm rooms.
The ones who hadn’t attended the ball are relaxed and chatting, but it’s obvious the kids caught up in last night’s attack are shell-shocked. Nothing in their pampered lives has ever been as threatening and real as the fire bombs and thrown rocks of the All-Hallows Ball fiasco.
I tick students off my list, one by one, giving Naomi Watson a nod as I get to her room.
“Thanks for last night,” she murmurs.
“Hmm.” I’m fucking bitter that I ended up having to shepherd students around.
If that hadn’t been the case, maybe Theo would still be safe—not lost and Gods’ knows where.
“Right, Feniks. I think that’s the lot,” Octobus says, putting down her clipboard. “What a mess. Have you heard the casualty count?”
“Thirty-seven needed hospitalization, including twelve students. Seven deceased was the last update, but none from the academy.”
“You’re including the humans in that figure? Stupid things, what were they playing at?”
I shrug.
It does seem unwise to choose a fight with the Conclave when you are a weak non-magical, especially within the country of Havengard, where human rights are not optimal in the first place.
“The police want to question anyone who was there,” Octobus continues. “Larrisa said they’re setting up a room near the Restricted Studies block. Have you been assigned there?”
“No.” I’m relieved, and it probably shows.
“Well, I’m sure there is plenty else to do. Teamwork, right?” The professor gives me the stink eye. “Assembly in one hour, girls!” she calls to a group as we head out.
One hour.
Really, I should spend that time cleaning up and drinking a gallon of coffee, but I need to find Ludo first. He hasn’t been replying to any of our texts.
As I enter Defectivum, I meet a frantic looking Willow. “No news?” she asks, eyes wild.
“No. Have you seen the janitor?”
Bloomhower shakes her head. “Not since earlier. He was going to search the grounds.”
I don’t like that he hasn’t been in touch.
Ludo is pretty much a mystery to me, but it doesn’t seem like he’d go radio-silent when we are all desperately searching for Theo.
I send another text, but again get no reply. Shit.
Could be something, could be nothing.
More likely to be something.
I press another button on my phone. “Max?”
“What’s happening, cuz?”
“I don’t know, but Ludo is AWOL. Can you try and track him?”
“Fuck! Bully! Where are you? I’m on my way.”
The shadows are long now. The light already going.
Bloomhower stays hovering around me as Max joins us within minutes.
“Can you do this?” I ask him.
“I can try. I don’t know his scent as well as Sparkles, and it would be a fuck sight easier if I could shift.”
Yeah.
Maybe it’s time.
“After dark,” I say. “That’s when we should all try to shift. My eagle eyes, your nose. Maybe we’ll get a lead.”
Max nods.
“But we leave Drakeward and Donovan out of this,” I add.
He looks at me quizzically for a moment then nods again. “Sure, if you think so. But for now, let me see if I can get Bully’s trail.” We both head to the basement.
The door is locked.
“I’ve got her key,” Bloomhower says. “We gave each other spares.”
“Good, thank you. Now you should go. We’ll be in touch.”
She looks like she wants to protest, but I shoo her away. “Don’t you have an assembly to get ready for?”
“Right. Let me know if you hear anything, please?”
“I will.”
Walking down the dangerous stairs, the air smells of Theo.
Lilac and morning dew.
—Where are you, Theo?—
I scream the question into my mind.
Silence.
“Gods, she smells good,” Max groans. “And Bully’s scent is all over down here. I got it locked-in.”
“Should we hit the tunnels?” I ask him.
“Na…” Max closes his eyes for a second, then gives a decisive nod. “Outside.”
I follow my cousin as he stalks out of Defectivum and into the gloomy dusk. “Left? Right? Give me the sight,” he mutters to himself, then starts heading toward the construction site, following his hellhound instincts.
"Ludo!" I shout as I reach the perimeter fence. The site is surrounded by high metal walls. Fuck, even if he hears me, it’s not like he can shout back.
“He definitely came this way,” Max says. “The spoor leads right to the gates.”
“Spoor? He’s not an animal.”
Max raises an eyebrow. “We all are, cuz. Get with the program.”
Right.
So Ludo went inside the compound. What now?
A patrol of guards turns the corner.
“Retreat,” I mutter to Max, and we both head back into the shadows.
The two men walk slowly. Alert. Carrying guns.
“Getting inside will be problematic,” I murmur.
“Not if we shift and just tear down the walls,” Max replies, eyes fixed on the razor wire.
Fuck. Is he right? Is that the best plan? It’s not exactly nuanced. I need a beat.
I need to think.
“This is going to take careful consideration, and I don’t want us to be conspicuous by missing the assembly.”
“Fucking waste of time.”
“It is, but don’t forget you’re on probation. The alternative is getting ejected from the campus, and where would we be then?”
Even Maximus has to agree with the point I’m making.
???
The faculty are sitting in neat rows on the stage, and below us, the students.
Larrisa Crankshawe, looking harried, paces the dais. She’s talking about ‘tragedy,’ ‘security breaches,’ and ‘the resilient spirit of Validus Vale,’.
The usual air of ‘chirpy cheerleader’ is nowhere to be seen.
My gaze seeks out Donovan Hart. His eyes are fixed on the dean with a cold, unblinking intensity. I think he’d gut her to find the truth of Theo’s disappearance.
And so would I.
What does she know?
By his side, Cosmo is slouched back in his chair, the model of a Drakeward contempt for pedestrian proceedings, but the disdain is a mask.
He cares.
Far more than I thought possible.
Though that’s not surprising. I have a notion that all of us who were with Theo in Avalon are more than just friends, or lovers.
We are her true-bond.
Yes, true-bonds have not existed for millennia, but if innate magic and shifting into our DNA monsters is now a thing, why not this?
Max’s face is gray and drawn. He looks out the window, taking surreptitious sips from a flask.
We are all in pain.
“For the foreseeable future,” the dean’s voice echoes off the high ceiling, “the Conclave is taking over as the governing body in Havengard.”
Just like that, the Conclave controls every aspect of Havengard.
“And they are currently conducting a thorough investigation into last night’s riot.”
Riot—ha.
I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that the mayhem at the ball was a carefully constructed event. Paint the humans and low-powered witches as dangerous and use it as an excuse to implement martial law.
“Anyone who has information on the melee is to report to the Restricted Studies wing immediately after assembly,” Crankshawe continues. “Additionally, the Conclave has given notice that for the next week, there will be a curfew of nine pm in Havengard City, and here at Validus Vale.”
A low murmur of protest travels through the students.
“Quiet! Conclave peacekeepers will be patrolling the academy, starting tonight. Do not, I repeat, do not think the curfew is something to take lightly. Anyone breaking it, or any of our regulations, will be met with harsh and swift consequences.”
The assembly is dismissed twenty minutes later.
The hall erupts into the low hum of gossip and fear. As we move toward the exit, a small hand catches my elbow.
“Professor Feniks. A word.”
I follow the Dean towards her office. She has a nervous energy about her, glancing over her shoulder before she pulls me inside.
“Theodora Wilson,” she hisses once the door closes. “She was not on the headcount and is not listed as one of the injured.”
“That’s worrying,” I say, keeping my face impassive.
Her eyes dart around the room before settling back on me. “You have no knowledge of her whereabouts?”
I don’t like how she’s asking me that. “No.”
She sucks in air between her teeth and mumbles, ‘shit,’ under her breath.
An unexpected response.
“Have you contacted the authorities?” I ask.
“They haven’t responded to my request for information. I…I’m worried about her.” She looks at my face and flushes slightly. “Worried about all my students, of course, but to have one unaccounted for—especially her.”
“Why especially her?” My question has her looking even more upset.
“Forget it. Go back to whatever you are doing…but, Alexis…”
“Yes?”
“Nothing. Nevermind. You’re dismissed.”
I wait a beat to see if she’s anything to add, but she doesn’t look up, just slumps down at her desk and starts fiddling with a pile of papers.
Exiting her office, I’m confused. Extremely.
The dean’s brother is a high-up Conclave member. It would be most likely the dean was also involved with Conclave machinations.
But maybe not.
Interesting. Very interesting.
Giving a wide berth to Tina-Marie, who is directing students towards a trauma counselor sign up sheet, I head out, light up a cigarette and send a text to the ‘Team Sparkles’ group.
ME: Meet at penthouse
DRAKEWARD: we are all here. I leave in 15
I start heading towards Electus, but then get hit by a notion.
ME: Come to Cosmo’s apartment now
LINKS: K
BLOOMHOWER: yes