Novel - Arcanum 101 (with Rosemary Edghill) Read online

“But the bus is leaving! C’mon.” She looked at his face. “You’re waiting for VeeVee, aren’t you?”

  Tomas didn’t answer.

  “Well, she’s obviously not coming, but that’s no reason for your day to be ruined, too, is it?” Lalage said. “So you were going to go with her. So what? Come with me. It’s a beautiful day, we’re going to get to go off campus, come on. We can have some fun.”

  She smiled at him, and Tomas hesitated. Lalage had been flirting with him practically from the day he’d gotten here. She’d never hidden the fact that she liked what she saw. And she was easy on the eyes herself—a gorgeous redhead with curves in all the right places. If not for VeeVee….

  Well VeeVee wasn’t here. And from the look of things, she didn’t want to be here, either.

  “Sure,” he said. “Let’s have some fun.”

  They found seats next to each other near the back of the bus—fortunately they weren’t the last ones on board, and there were still some sets of seats together. A few minutes later, the doors closed and the bus pulled out. Tomas realized he’d been hoping—right up to the last moment—that VeeVee would show up. Maybe she was just late. Maybe she’d lost track of the time. But as the bus rolled down the drive and out the main gates of the school, he had to admit the truth.

  She’d stood him up.

  She hadn’t even had the guts to say: no, I don’t want to go out on a date with you, barrio boy. She’d said “yes” and then she’d blown him off. Left him to twist in the wind.

  “So, I guess you guys had a pretty exciting time yesterday?” Lalage said. “Megan said she was going to tell me about it today, but hey. I’m sitting with you, right?”

  Tomas turned to his seatmate and flashed her his most dazzling smile. “You have no idea,” he said.

  He told her about going to Underhill with Kenny and Megan and the others. Lalage said she’d been—a few months ago—but there hadn’t been too much trouble when her group had gone. Their lunch had been stolen by pixies and Lauren had gone running off after a unicorn and gotten lost, but they’d actually reached Elfhame Misthold just the way they were supposed to.

  “But I’m not sure what I would have done if what happened to you had happened to us,” she said.

  “Aw, c’mon,” Tomas answered. He was pretty sure she couldn’t be serious.

  “No, really,” Lalage protested. “I’m not, you know, trying to sweet-talk that you or anything. But you haven’t been here at St. Rhia’s that long, and haven’t known about your powers, or, well, any of this stuff for very long, and besides, I was there when you took out that revenant a couple of weeks ago. You’ve got a cool head and you haven’t freaked once. I think that’s great, and, well, I just wish more people could see that about you, because it’s got to suck to have people always looking at the outside, instead of seeing what’s there on the inside.”

  “You sound like you know something about that, chica.”

  Lalage made a face. “More looking at the inside, but still not seeing what’s there. The usual story. Pretty boring.”

  “Hey, I’m willing to listen. I mean, I guess you’re not gonna say you got sent here for boosting cars.”

  “Nah. I got sent here because I sent my mom to prison.”

  Tomas stared at her, jaw dropping. Was she jerking his chain? Lalage smiled, a little bitterly. “Okay, it was six months in the Franklin County Jail back in Ohio. But we lost the farm and the shop—fines and legal fees—and Dad wasn’t really thrilled about that, and—long story short—I ended up here.”

  Tomas studied her face for a moment, his own troubles forgotten. “There’s gotta be more to it than that,” he finally said.

  “Well, okay. If you want to know. Most people don’t. They figure someone who looks like me can’t have any problems, and I guess—compared to a lot of people at St. Rhia’s—I don’t. I got my Gift early, and I always had a pretty good idea of what to do with it. Plants talked to me, I talked to plants—I could make them do a lot of things, too—not as much as I can now, but every year I could to more. I learned really quickly to keep my mouth shut about it, too. Except to my parents.”

  “They give you trouble?” Tomas asked.

  “No!” Lalage laughed, a real laugh this time. “They were third-generation hippies, going back to the land within an easy commute of Columbus, Ohio. The problem I had with my folks wasn’t that they weren’t accepting, but that they were too accepting—Mom and Dad believed in everything—you name it, they believed in it, whether there was proof of it or not. It’s not exactly that they were gullible—I mean, you could never cheat Mom on a business deal, and Dad had a degree in Geology, but they had no reality-testing mechanisms at all. Everything in the world seemed just as reasonable to them as everything else: government conspiracies, the lost continent of Atlantis, fairies living at the bottom of the garden, magic. It didn’t help that Grandma Ruth had named Mom Titania, and Mom believed all her own publicity. Mom was sure she was a witch.”

  Tomas raised his eyebrows. Lalage sighed.

  “Not a—a real witch. The kind there are. And not a NeoPagan, either—those are people who call themselves witches, but usually they’re just being religious. No, Mom thought she had actual magic powers. And she didn’t.”

  “Must have been tough for you, since you did,” Tomas said.

  “Not at first. Not when I was little. She loved hearing everything I’d tell her about what the plants were thinking. She loved it when I’d make the flowers bloom, or change their colors, things like that. I don’t know whether she wasn’t as—as crazy then, or whether she convinced herself that she had something to do with it. And I was really a lot of help around the farm. She had an herb shop in town, and we grew most of the herbs she sold on the farm. Best in the state. It’s funny. She wanted magic powers, and all I ever wanted was a quiet normal life. I guess we all know none of us are going to have one now, don’t we, Tomas?”

  It was something he was thinking about more and more these days, especially since his trip to Underhill. “I guess we aren’t,” he said quietly. “But you were getting along with your ‘rents. You knew enough to keep your mouth shut about what you could do, and… it’s not something dangerous. I mean—”

  She nodded, agreeing with his unspoken thought. “No, you’re right, I could always control my powers. But when I got into High School, Mom stopped just selling herbs at the shop and started diagnosing people with crystals and prescribing herbal mixtures for them to cure their diseases. She was telling them that regular medicine couldn’t help them but her magical herbs could. I told her they couldn’t—she’d always believed me when I told her about herbs before—but now she wouldn’t listen to me. I told Dad, but he wouldn’t do anything to stop her—he thought she was a witch, too. By then my magic was strong enough that I could tell that the people she was “helping” were just getting sicker, and I knew if I didn’t do something—soon—somebody was going to die.” She was silent for a long moment, staring out the window.

  “It must have been tough on you,” Tomas said. “You were only a kid.”

  “I told a friend of mine’s dad I didn’t know what else to do. He was the County Sheriff.”

  “Ouch,” Tomas said, wincing.

  “Yeah, it turned out that they aren’t too wild about you practicing medicine without a license in Franklin County, and that’s what she was doing, according to the law. I just thought he’d have a talk with her, maybe scare her a little. But she was arrested. She lost the shop, she went to jail, everything got really bad, and about the time I was seriously thinking about running away from home, this amazingly unlikely offer of a scholarship to a boarding school Back East turned up, and, well, Dad couldn’t get rid of me fast enough.” She sighed. “They moved in with Grandma Ruth out in California after Mom got out of jail. I hear from them sometimes.” that

  Tomas winced. Mamacita loved him. He had no doubt about that, no matter how badly he’d shamed her. And he knew that parents abandoned th
eir kids—hadn’t Papi run off and left all of them? But that wasn’t the same thing as dumping your kid in a pretty fancy boarding school and just bailing because you’d been stupid and your kid had done the right thing. That just sucked.

  “But hey. Enough downer vibes. Let’s talk about something fun. What do you want to do in the big city?” Lalage asked.

  “Um,” Tomas said. “I hadn’t really thought about it.”

  “So, let’s think about it now. It’s going to be at least half an hour until we stop for breakfast.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Poughkeepsie wasn’t a patch on New York, but after about two months stuck out back of beyond, it was pretty exciting to see stores and people and civilization again.

  He and Lalage spent the whole day together. They window-shopped, checked out the book and music stores, had lunch, even went to a movie. It was all really nice.

  It would have been even nicer, Tomas couldn’t stop thinking, if he’d been doing it with VeeVee instead of Lalage.

  What are you, vato, loco? You’re here with un que linda hyna—someone who actually wants to be here with you—and you’re thinking about somebody who doesn’t? Your head is full of rocas, that’s for sure!

  He glanced over at Lalage, who was strolling along beside him. She smiled at him and reached out to take his hand. Feeling oddly guilty, Tomas closed his fingers around hers. So what’s wrong with being with somebody who actually wants to be with you for a change?

  Nothing. That’s what. Nothing at all.

  On Sunday the two of them sat next to each other at breakfast in the Dining Hall. Lalage chattered animatedly about the fun they’d had yesterday—and it had been fun; Tomas had to admit that—and about the picnic coming up this weekend.

  “This is the last week of regular classes—um, I mean for the Advanced students,” Lalage said.

  “Not for me,” Tomas answered with a grin. “Too much catching up to do.” He was going to be spending the entire summer getting up to speed on English Comp and Reading—not to mention his psionic abilities—plus everything else he’d sluffed off back in El Paso. Two months ago that would have bothered him. Not now. “So what are you going to be doing until September?”

  “Botany,” Lalage said dreamily. “Botany, landscape design, and gardening. I know it’s a real cliché, but I like plants, and if I’m a Green Witch, it makes sense to learn as much about them as I can.”

  “Okay,” Tomas said. “But… landscape design?”

  Lalage sighed and shrugged. “And I have to figure out what I want to do when I get out of here. It’s okay for people like you, Tomas—you know exactly what you want from your life. So does Chris. Kurt wants to go to nursing school. Jamilla wants to be a vet. VeeVee’s already got college lined up. I’ve got no clue.”

  Tomas tried not to wince when VeeVee’s name came up. She wasn’t here for breakfast, and even though their usual table was crowded, it seemed empty.

  “Yeah, well, speaking of my future, I haven’t been down to the Garage in two days, you know? So I kinda think I’d better put in a couple of hours now.”

  Lalage tossed her head and flashed him a teasing grin. “Hey, boy, you think we’re joined at the hip or something? Tell you what. You go play with your cars, and I’ll come along in a few hours and bring you something nice to eat, okay?”

  “Sure,” Tomas said, grinning back. “You do that, chica.”

  It was nice—just for a change—to be with a girl who knew what the rules were. One who really wanted to be with him.

  Sunday was a free day at St. Rhia’s—since there were no classes, there were no Auto Shop classes either, but some of the students had permission from Señora Davies to come down to work on their own projects. Aaron and Destiny were already there—both of them had cars of their own that were much farther along in the restoration process than Tomas’s; Aaron was restoring a classic 1958 Ford pickup truck that somebody had unfairly junked, while Destiny was working on the engine of a Pony Car that somebody had t-boned. The body was still in crap shape, and all the electronics made it an expensive restore, but it was going to be a fine ride when she was done. He could see Carlos and Alan at the back of the garage—they were still at the stage of taking their heaps apart and soaking the engine-pieces in gasoline to see what could be salvaged.

  Tomas got out his tools and got to work.

  About an hour later, Destiny came over to him. He was over at the Coke machine—it was exactly like one of the really old-time machines, the kind built like a big chest freezer, except you didn’t need money—taking a break.

  “So I talked to Ms. Clifford this morning before I came down here,” she said, reaching in and pulling out a bottle of Orange Crush. She popped the top on the edge of the cooler, flicked the cap into the nearby bucket, and took a long swig of pop. “She told me VeeVee’s going to be out of school for a few days. She said not to worry about it.”

  “Hey, novia, no skin off my nariz where she is, you know what I mean? She’s probably off talking to some Elf somewhere,” Tomas said quickly.

  That was probably pretty close to the truth, actually, but by now Tomas didn’t care. She could have left him a note. She could have phoned. Something.

  “Sure,” Destiny said.

  Tomas finished his soda quickly and went back to work.

  “You know, I’ve heard about how nicely you got your room fixed up. You want to give me the tour?” Lalage asked.

  It was Monday evening, just after dinner, and the two of them were walking back up to the front of the Dining Hall together, bringing their trays to the kitchen. Tonight’s offering hadn’t been too exotic—Philippine-style menudo—and there’d been chocolate cake for dessert.

  Tomas smiled inside. He was pretty sure the gorgeous redhead who’d been throwing herself at him for the last two days wasn’t really interested in his furniture or the color he’d painted his walls. But you had a certain amount of privacy in the dorm rooms. A lot of privacy, actually, if you didn’t abuse it.

  “Sure,” he said. “Come on.”

  VeeVee had never been so happy to get back to St. Rhia’s in her life. It hadn’t turned out to be a long hunting-trip—not in comparison to some; it was only Monday night and she was already back—but it had been rough. Nightflyers always were. At least the three of them had managed to take them out before they’d spread too far—or killed too many people—or did whatever-the-hell-else it was that Nightflyers always tried to do whenever some idiot built them a bridge from their dimension into this one, because despite the fact that Guardians and Mages had been fighting Nightflyers for just about as long as the records went back, nobody was really sure. They ate people and reproduced, but probably there had to be more to it than that. She’d settle for ignorance if it meant she never had to see another one for as long as she lived.

  But—home again, because St. Rhia’s was as much home to her as her parents’ house, really. And now she could find Tomas and explain to him just why she’d had to bail out on him Saturday morning, hopefully without having to say “I can’t tell you” too many times, because the work she did for the Guardians was a secret. She just hoped he trusted her enough to buy the “family emergency” story, because it had been a family emergency. Her family just wasn’t exactly like other families.

  Her folks had dropped her in front of the Main Building and driven off immediately; they’d all said their goodbyes at the bottom of the drive. VeeVee took a moment to conjure up a quick “you don’t see me” glamour around herself—not quite invisibility, but it would keep anyone from actually noticing her. Much better that way, at least until she got back to her room and got her things put away. The sword and the armor would be a little hard to explain.

  Once she’d gotten them tucked back behind the false back of her closet, though, she went looking for Tomas. Even though she suspected that at this time of day—just after dinner—he’d have gone back down to the Garage to put in a few mor hours of work on his junker, she migh
t as well try his room first.

  To her surprise, he was there.

  And he wasn’t alone.

  Tomas had spent the last three days flirting hot and heavy with Lalage, hoping that would take his mind off VeeVee. He was pretty sure by now that she wasn’t coming back, and he hated the fact that he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He was pretty sure Lalage knew he’d been attracted to VeeVee from the beginning and was still thinking about her, because she’d certainly been doing her best to make him forget about her—if using magic weren’t strictly against the rules here at St. Rhia’s, he’d even suspect her of casting a spell on him.

  Not that she really needed one right now, because he’d been right about how much interest she had in seeing his room. About two minutes after they got there she turned around and just about threw herself into his arms. And what else could he do but what it was so obvious she wanted him to do?

  But just about the time Tomas was really starting to get into the idea of kissing Lalage, he heard a choking sound from the doorway. He pulled away and looked up—just in time to see VeeVee running off.

  Tomas didn’t stop to think. He pushed Lalage away and ran after her.

  He saw one of the outer doors swinging shut as he skidded out into the hall—the one closest to his room—and charged toward it. By the time he got outside, though, VeeVee was nowhere to be seen.

  He looked for her for hours without finding her.

  The “you don’t see me” glamour was one of the first spells VeeVee’s teachers had taught her—years ago—drilling her in it until she could cast it with barely a moment’s thought. She whipped it around herself before she was out of the dorm. She didn’t want anyone to see her now.

  Tears trickled down her cheeks—shame, fury, grief. She hadn’t even been gone three days. And this was what happened? She came back to find Tomas all snuggled up to Lalage? Kissing her? She’d thought he loved her. And she-

  VeeVee knew exactly whose fault this was. Lalage had had her eye on Tomas from the moment he’d set foot on campus. And she hadn’t wasted any time, either. Damn her! And VeeVee couldn’t even think about how satisfying it would be to take revenge on Lalage—and on Tomas—for doing this to her, because for a Mage, thoughts and words were the same as the deeds themselves, and the Threefold Law that governed the actions of all Witches would come back to bite her on the ass for anything she did, hitting her in triplicate with any petty revenge she took.