The Mage Tales Prequels, Books 0-II: (An Urban Fantasy Thriller Collection)

by Ilana Waters

  “Mr. Alderman.” Professor Martinez raised her eyebrows at me. “Language.”

  “Well, it’s true,” I muttered.

  “But Victor was with all of us on the field when Colleen got stabbed, remember?” Pen said. “Him and his mingy friends. So, he couldn’t have done it. And they couldn’t have helped him.”

  “No.” I shook my head. “It has to be Victor. I all but handed him a way to stab a witch to death that day in potions. When I corrected his misconceptions about bloodmoss. How—theoretically—its absence could interfere with a witch’s healing powers. Don’t you remember, Professor Burgess?” How could I have been so stupid? I was too busy trying to get one over on Victor. I should’ve known he kept facts like that stockpiled. An arsenal ready to destroy his enemies when he felt the time was right.

  Burgess furrowed his brow. “I vaguely remember that conversation, but I still can’t believe Mr. Wright would do such a thing. He probably forgot about it as soon as you told him.”

  “Believe me,” I said, “Victor would never forget information that could be used to hurt someone. Got a mind like a steel trap, blast him.”

  “I hate to say it, mate,” Miles turned to me, “but that still doesn’t prove anything. Whatever you said during class about the bloodmoss, everyone heard it, right? That means anyone there could have done this.” He jutted his chin at Colleen.

  “Including you, Mr. Alderman,” said Burgess.

  “True,” said Specs. “And I’m afraid Ms. McKay also missed breakfast. That makes you, Mr. Alderman, the last person to have seen her before she was nearly killed this morning. And, thus far, you are also the only person who doesn’t have an alibi during that time. That being the case, I regret to say that I have no choice but to place you under temporary suspen—”

  “Wait,” Colleen interrupted. “Right now, there’s no proof Joshua did anything. He’s innocent until proven guilty, right?”

  Specs paused. “That is technically correct.”

  “So, you have to launch an investigation to determine if he’s responsible for any wrongdoing, and if so, what the related punishment should be,” she continued. “Right?”

  “Also correct. Technically.”

  “But there’s no time to complete an investigation before Tournament, yeah?” Colleen asked. “Unless, of course, you want to cancel it. Send all the families home. Explain to the parents that you have to call off the biggest school event of the year because Equinox can’t keep its students safe.” Specs looked sharply at her, and even the indomitable Colleen seemed to shrink a little.

  Specs took a deep breath, as if considering the matter. We all glanced at one another. No one spoke. Finally, Specs said, “The investigation will commence after Tournament. Immediately after. Mr. Alderman will report to my office, and will remain under constant supervision until the investigation concludes. In the meanwhile, he will return to his room, where Mr. MacLeod will be instructed to keep watch on him until Tournament. Professor Yen, kindly inform Mr. MacLeod of his new duties. You may let him know he is relieved from classes for the rest of the day.” Yen nodded, then left.

  “You’re grounding me?” I said in disbelief. “Sending me to my room for Oliver to babysit?”

  Joshua, shut up! I put my hand to my head as Colleen practically shouted in my mind. You’re lucky he’s still letting you play in Tournament at all.

  “Young man.” I saw Specs’s jaw tense. I had a feeling it was getting difficult for him not to let his fae side show. “Seeing as how we nearly lost a student today, and the culprit is still at large, all of you should thank Lady Fate that Tournament is happening at all.”

  “But . . .” But if I can’t leave my room, I thought to Colleen, I can’t find out who did this before Tournament starts. If Victor or his minions tries something else—tries to hurt you again—I won’t be able to stop them.

  Why don’t you let Specs and the rest of the staff worry about that? Colleen asked me.

  Right. Because it’s gone swimmingly so far.

  “It’s all right, Josh.” Colleen sat up further in the bed. “I’ll come see you before I get ready for Tournament.”

  “Ms. McKay.” Specs blinked at her. “Under no circumstances will you be competing.”

  “What? Like hell I’m not!”

  “Young lady!” Professor Martinez said. “Language.”

  “Crikey, give her a break,” said Miles. “She nearly died not a few minutes ago.” Martinez frowned at him.

  “I will compete in this year’s Tournament,” Colleen said firmly. “My team needs me. Besides, I earned it.”

  “Both those things may be true, Ms. McKay,” said Specs. “But so is what Mr. Idlewild said: you came close to death not long ago. Too close to risk any further exertion or injury today. You are not competing in Tournament, and that is final.” Colleen balled up her fists, her face red with rage. Finally, she exhaled loudly and flopped back on her pillows, defeated. I put my arm around her shoulder.

  “It’s okay, Leenie,” I said weakly. “There’s always, ah, next year.” Colleen just closed her eyes, shaking her head when Nurse Garcia offered her more water.

  “Professor Martinez,” Specs said briskly, “please escort Mr. Alderman back to House of Air, where he will remain until Tournament.” Specs looked directly at me. “Professor Burgess, please speak to Mrs. Greggers and ensure that all swords are sealed with the appropriate wards. We cannot risk students or staff accessing them until we have removed all poisons and black magic. As for the rest of you, you still have classes to attend this morning, yes? We cannot let anything interfere with the academic rigor we expect here at Equinox. And I’m sure Ms. McKay needs to rest and regain her strength,” he raised his eyebrows at her, “if she has any hope of attending Tournament tonight.”

  “But Headmaster, who’ll lead the House of Fire team now that Colleen isn’t playing?” asked Pen.

  Specs sighed. “That would be Mr. Wright. I will go and inform him. Now, off you go, everyone.”

  Victor? we all thought at the same time. Well, not the professors. Or Specs. I had no idea what they were thinking. But the rest of us glanced at each other in disbelief. Colleen shrugged her shoulders apologetically. Finally, Nurse Garcia shooed us out. Pen, Miles, and Suyin reluctantly shuffled off with a few calls of “Bye, Colleen!” and “Feel better soon,” followed by Burgess. I glanced down at Colleen. Our eyes met. I squeezed her hand for as long as I could before Martinez pulled me away.

  It’s just like when I juggled with Specs in his office. Everything was going too fast, swirling out of control. I wasn’t going to catch all the balls in time. Some of them were bound to fall. Maybe all of them.

  And then what?

  Chapter 23

  “Are we even sure those swords were meant for Colleen?” Miles gnawed an apple and leaned, cross-legged, against my desk.

  “No one else would be around the swords at that time, remember?” I lay on my bed, bouncing a ball of magic back and forth against the baseboard. “And if she didn’t position them that way the night before—and cover them in poison—then who else could’ve been the target?”

  It was a few hours after the incident with the bespelled swords. Miles, Pen, Suyin, and I were in my room during our free study period. Well, the others’ free study periods. I was still on lockdown until Tournament tonight. Oliver had gone to grab some lunch, but only after Miles and the rest assured him they’d keep watch over me in case I “tried anything.” After narrowing his eyes and giving it some thought, Oliver finally went to the dining hall. Driven mostly by hunger, I think.

  Specs did not make a formal announcement to the student body about what happened with Colleen. Nor did he call anyone’s parents, except her father, of course. Probably didn’t want to cause a panic so close to Tournament, especially before he’d had a chance to investigate anything. But that hadn’t stopped rumors from circulating. News of Colleen’s near demise spread like wildfire t
hrough Equinox. According to Pen and Suyin, her room was already filled with cards and flowers.

  “That was fast.” I leaned over and picked at the sandwich Miles brought me from the dining hall. I was trying to eat, to keep my strength up. But everything just tasted like sawdust. Maybe I’d have a heartier appetite by dinner. But that was always a light meal before Tournament, so everyone could save room for the feast afterward.

  “Looks like a bloody gift shop.” Pen sat on the chair at my desk, finishing her pudding. “Though you’d think Colleen would be particular about how she keeps her things.”

  I knit my brows together. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, the room was rather a mess when they brought her back up.” Suyin sat in Oliver’s desk chair. She fished the last of the crisps out of the packet in her hand. “Bedclothes strewn about and everything.”

  “Er, yes, well.” I cleared my throat. “I’m sure that’s not important now. I’m just worried about Colleen staying all alone in her room.” Although Nurse Garcia felt Colleen was well enough to leave the infirmary, I still had reservations. “What if Victor tries to hurt her again?”

  Pen shook her head. “We told Imogen about it this morning, and she got special permission to get out of class and stay with Colleen. Besides, I’m sure she’ll be well enough to attend Tournament. There, she’ll be surrounded by a thousand or more spectators. Victor wouldn’t dare try anything in front of all those witnesses.”

  “I wouldn’t put anything past Victor at this point,” I said darkly.

  “On the other hand, maybe he already got what he wanted by preventing Colleen from playing in Tournament.” Miles finished his apple and telekinetically threw the core into my rubbish bin. It rattled around, then was still. “Maybe he doesn’t need to harm her further.”

  “He’d better pray he doesn’t,” I growled.

  “But why on earth would Colleen choose Victor as her second?” Suyin folded her empty crisp packet into fourths and placed it in Oliver’s rubbish bin.

  “I think she did it a long while ago.” Pen licked the remaining pudding off her spoon. “When she didn’t know his reputation. And by the time it was done, she couldn’t change it without good reason. And unfortunately, his being an arse isn’t a good enough reason.”

  “But he’s a first-class bully!” I protested. “He torments other students.”

  “Most of whom are too frightened to speak out against him,” Miles pointed out. “So we can’t prove half of what he does to us.”

  “Too bad using truth spells on students went out with corporal punishment,” I muttered.

  “Yes, well.” Pen held her finger above her spoon, swirling it in the empty pudding cup. “Short of getting Victor indicted, that’s not going to happen.” Everyone’s eyes met on the word “indicted,” then quickly fell away again. There was only one person here who had a good chance of going before the Council, and I was sorry to say it wasn’t Victor. Of course, the evidence against me was circumstantial; Wiccan standards for assigning reasonable doubt are similar to those in the mortal world. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if additional “clues” suddenly surfaced, courtesy of the Wright family, pointing to my undeniable guilt.

  “And now we have to go into Tournament with him as our captain.” Suyin closed her eyes and leaned her head back. “Bloody perfect.” She opened her eyes again. “But I still don’t understand why Victor would want to hurt Colleen in the first place.”

  “Maybe he has a death wish?” Miles shrugged. “But you saw how she didn’t back him up on that crazy scheme of his during the first play-off. Maybe that’s why he has it in for her.”

  “So he waits over six months to get his revenge?” I shoved the remainder of the sandwich in my mouth and forced myself to swallow. “No one is that patient. Especially not a fire witch. Besides, it doesn’t fit his MO. He always picks on the smaller and the weaker.” My gaze flickered toward Miles.

  “Oy!” he said.

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Well, we know he’s dead set on winning Tournament.” Miles scratched the back of his neck. “But no captain’s more formidable than Colleen.”

  “Oy!” I said.

  “Sorry, Josh.” Miles held up his hands. “Not even you. What I’m saying is, House of Fire has a better chance of winning if Colleen is captain. I think even Victor knows that, somewhere deep down.”

  “Maybe he wanted all the glory himself,” Suyin said.

  “That’s assuming he could get it by leading his team to victory.” I glanced out the window, where I could almost see the House of Fire. Could almost see Colleen.

  “Are you saying there’s another reason he sidelined her?” Pen asked.

  “I’m saying there’s a lot of missing information here.” I got off the bed and stood up. “The fury I felt around Cerridwen. The craftiness surrounding the broken storeroom lock. The woodsy scent near the spell-cleanse during the second play-off. Fire magic all over the crime scenes.” I’d told my friends what I’d found on my investigations, though it still hadn’t helped make sense of anything. “Then there are the strange apparitions Rosemary and Colleen saw. Victor knows something we don’t. And we’re running out of time. The longer this goes on, the more people get hurt. Soon, Tournament will be over, term will end, Victor will graduate, and we’ll never find out what he’s up to.”

  “Someone could be more than hurt by then,” Suyin said quietly. “Someone could be dead.”

  “Exactly,” I said. Like Colleen. “I wouldn’t put it past Victor in the slightest.”

  “That’s assuming he’s the guilty party,” Miles said.

  My jaw all but hit the floor. “Are you seriously considering someone else? Me, perhaps?”

  “Whoa, whoa—I didn’t say that, mate.” Miles backed away from my desk and toward the door. “But you were the one who just said we’re missing a lot of information.” His gaze landed on the clock on Oliver’s desk. “Crickey—free period’s almost over. Look, Oliver will be back any minute—”

  “So you wardens can switch shifts,” I muttered.

  “No one’s locking you in your room, Josh.” Pen put her hand on my shoulder. “Look, why don’t you walk us downstairs? We’ll probably meet Oliver on the way. He can hardly blame you for wanting to get out of this stuffy room for a few minutes. Especially since, as Colleen said, you’re innocent until proven guilty. Oliver’s fair; even he wouldn’t argue with the logic of that.”

  I sighed. “Fine.” I was too keyed up to stay here another minute, anyway. It seemed Tournament couldn’t come fast enough.

  The four of us made our way down the large staircase to the first floor. Oliver hadn’t returned yet from the dining hall. But someone else had. Someone who had no right to be here.

  “What the hell are you doing in the House of Air?” I snarled at Victor, leaping toward him. Miles and Pen held me back by the shoulders at the last second. Victor just folded his arms and smiled. Dirk and Mason were on either side of him, looking similarly pleased with themselves.

  “Can’t a team captain and his players come to wish the opposing team good luck?” he asked. “Call it sportsmanship.”

  “You wouldn’t know sportsmanship if you shat it out and stepped in the puddle,” I snapped.

  Victor shook his head and sighed. “You know, when Equin lets in students with attitudes like that, it’s no surprise things happen like they did to McKay.” He fixed his disdainful gaze on me. “Just goes to show how one rotten apple can poison the rest.” I tried wrenching myself out of Miles’s and Pen’s grasp, but even Suyin was pitching in with a holding spell. “Really, it was such a blow, when we found out what almost happened.” Victor put his hand to his heart. “What could have happened.”

  A blow? The only thing you felt was profound disappointment, you craven ass, I thought to Victor.

  His only reply was to heave a deep sigh. “I didn’t know if I could go on as substitute captain.
But then, I thought to myself, ‘Victor, the team needs you. A strong, competent leader to guide them to glory.’ Such is the burden of the chosen.”

  “Keep it up,” I growled, “and the only thing you’ll be chosen for is an early grave.”

  “I wouldn’t talk so tough if I were you.” Dirk hooked his thumbs into his belt loops. “Your fate is all but sealed. Seems everyone else had somewhere to be when McKay got hurt. And someone to see them being there.”

  “Yeah.” Mason loosened his tie. “When we heard you came running to the infirmary—from your room, no less—when you were supposed to be in class, we thought to ourselves, well, there’s the culprit right there.” He jutted his chin at me while Victor and Dirk nodded in agreement. “It’s only a matter of time till the Council decides the appropriate punishment.”

  “You evil sons of bitches. Why don’t you end this charade right now?” I twisted in the collective grasp of Miles, Pen, and Suyin. “Let me go, damn you!” I snapped at them.

  “Nothing doing, mate,” Miles said through gritted teeth, struggling to keep hold on me. “If you are innocent—”

  “If I’m innocent?”

  “We can’t have you ruining your house’s chances of winning Tournament.” Pen’s fire magic seared into my shoulder, forcing me back.

  “Even if you are on the opposite team.” Suyin held her spell steady until I stopped struggling. “It has to be a fair fight. No matter what.”

  Victor looked from one of us to the other, confused. “Fair fight? What the . . . you mean he’s still air’s captain?” The blood drained from Victor’s face. “He hasn’t been expelled?”

  “We thought you were holding him here until the Council could come and pick him up.” Dirk was equally flabbergasted. Mason looked like someone had punched him in the gut. How I wish I could right now, I thought.

  “Nothing’s been proven yet.” Miles let go of my shoulder, but his eyes said, Watch it. “What happened with Colleen is still under investigation.”

  “Oh, come off it!” Victor roared, flinging his arms out. His haughty composure had vanished, like smoke. “All of Specs’s investigations till now have yielded absolute crap. Alderman’s guilty as a hex. Everyone knows it.”