‘Neither broken nor blind,’ Trudy said, smirking.
‘I’m… sort of a royal,’ Krystal said. ‘I mean, I’m an orphan, so–’
Felicia’s face straightened and switched to a frown in rapid order. ‘You have to keep this secret.’
‘Well, I wasn’t exactly planning to–’
‘No, you don’t understand, Krys. It seems that none of you do or you’d have told her not to tell me. You must keep this secret. Your parents must have had a good reason for giving you up at birth. No royal is hidden away in a common orphanage, even if their parents are dead. There is always someone to take them in.’
‘I said that,’ Trudy said.
‘But perhaps you didn’t understand what it implies. Someone must have really not wanted your parents to be together, Krys. Your parents must have thought it would be safer to place you at the orphanage in Appleyard than take you with them. None of the royal families must find out about you. Nothing good could come of it.’
‘Oh,’ Krystal said flatly.
Trudy patted her calf. ‘You knew you had to keep this under wraps. Now you know the stakes.’
‘I guess. I guess I was hoping I could come out with this eventually, but I’m going to have to keep hiding it as long as possible.’
‘And,’ Felicia said, ‘it might be wise to try to identify who your parents are, or were. If we can uncover the families they came from, perhaps we can find out who they were and what danger you’re in.’
Krystal nodded, and the rainbow lights began to flicker around her again as she shifted back. ‘In which case, I’m glad you all know. I have no idea where to start looking for my family, but at least I have friends to help.’
‘And I don’t know what I can do to assist you,’ Felicia said. ‘Most of my connections are gone with my mother’s indiscretion. But I’ll help in any way I can.’ She glanced at the books littered around the room and sagged. ‘Especially if you can help me get through the end-of-term exams.’
Part Three: Exam Hell
Concord City, Concordance, 22nd Day of Harvest, 999.
Krystal walked confidently through the stacks on the top floor of Cragscales’, headed for one of the branches off the main route. Behind her, Trudy and Jesse followed along quietly, while Felicia could not believe that Krystal knew where she was going.
‘You’re quite sure we’re not going to get lost in here,’ Felicia asked, again.
‘Quite sure,’ Krystal replied, again, and dodged left through a fairly narrow gap between two blocks of shelves.
‘I didn’t bring food,’ Felicia said as she followed. ‘If we get lost in here, I’m eating you first.’
‘Promises, promises. We’re not going to get lost. I know exactly where we’re going. In fact, we’re here.’ Krystal pointed at a shelf of books all devoted to mathematics. ‘Now we just have to find something suitable for you and Jesse.’
Felicia glanced around at the dead end they were in, a fairly narrow corridor between shelving units with just about enough space for the four girls. ‘I’m sure this place can’t have all these stacks in it. It doesn’t look that big from the outside.’
‘Of course. All this knowledge in one place bends space. Every major collection of books in the world is larger on the inside than it is on the outside.’
Felicia’s eyes narrowed. ‘You just made that up.’
‘Yes,’ Krystal replied, grinning, ‘but for a second you believed it.’
‘I did not. All right, maybe just for a second. I totally fail to understand how this section can be fitted in between the other sections.’
‘Magic!’
‘Oh, ha ha.’
‘What about Basic Mathematics for Magi?’ Jesse suggested, attempting to get them back on topic.
‘Too basic,’ Krystal replied. ‘Applied Mathematics for the Magical Mind might be okay.’ She plucked a copy of the book from a shelf and held it out to Felicia. ‘See what you make of that.’
‘And keep in mind that you’re scouting for us slower students,’ Trudy said.
‘I don’t think you’ll have as much trouble,’ Krystal said. ‘They’ll likely teach you various things you need to know as you go through the more basic magical theory. Flis and Jesse are having trouble because they learned the basic stuff in a different way.’
‘Then why isn’t Theodore Marin ensuring that we can handle the maths?’ Felicia asked, still flicking through the book.
‘Um, because he’s not that great a teacher?’
‘I’m glad you said that, darling. I thought it was just me.’
‘Nope. Jesse, grab a copy of Numbers for the Magically Inclined. As I remember, that starts off easy and ends up with the kind of thing you really need.’
Jesse located the book and pulled it off the shelf, and Trudy leaned forward to look at it over her shoulder. Krystal looked over the rest of the collection, but the books were all either too simple or far too advanced for what they needed. She turned and looked over the books behind her: divination textbooks dealing with astrology, cartomancy, extispicy, geomancy, sortilege, and other means of determining events in the past, present, and future. She pulled out an astrology book and leafed through it; she knew enough astronomy that she might be able to actually perform the necessary rituals, but the book was not cheap and Krystal was working to a tight budget.
‘This one,’ Jesse said, holding up Numbers for the Magically Inclined. ‘They’ve got several copies, so we can get two and next term we can share.’
‘Great,’ Krystal said, putting the astrology book back on the shelf where it had come from. Then she took Applied Mathematics for the Magical Mind from Felicia and placed it back in its proper place.
‘Jesse’s right,’ Trudy said, ‘Cragscales should be paying you commission.’
‘I believe,’ the old dragon said just as Trudy emerged from the gap in the shelves, ‘that I’d rather pay her a wage.’
Trudy let out a squeak and jumped a good eight inches off the floor, turning to glare at Cragscales, who just looked back at her with his usual taciturn expression. ‘I really wish you wouldn’t do that, you old sneak,’ Trudy said.
Cragscales shrugged. ‘No one ever shoplifts from here. Now, what do you say, Krystal Ward? Would you like a job? Silverdays only with proportionate pay.’
Krystal had not yet made it out of the side aisle. She peered around the shelves at the old grey dragon, one eyebrow raised. ‘Well, I was thinking of getting something to earn book money. Shouldn’t I… have an interview or something?’
Cragscales raised one of his own eyebrows. ‘Where are the books on advanced animal corpus?’
‘Theory or spells? Because theory is a row down and the spell books are another two rows.’
‘Spells.’
‘Three rows further in, third stack on the left as you walk toward the back.’
‘Interview concluded,’ Cragscales said. ‘What I need is someone who can stay up here all day and direct people to the right places.’ He shook his head sadly. ‘We only found one group of students the season after they went looking for herbology texts. Three of them went in and we only found one mummified corpse and some gnawed bones.’
Felicia’s eyes widened, and then narrowed. ‘You just made that up.’
Cragscales smiled. ‘You be here at nine thirty next Silverday, Krys, and I’ll get all the paperwork sorted out before we open.’ Then he turned and walked off into the stacks.
‘He did make that up, didn’t he?’ Felicia said.
‘Oh, yes,’ Krystal replied.
‘I’m sure he did,’ Trudy added.
‘Almost certainly.’
‘Well, probably.’
‘Just don’t go into the side aisles without a guide.’
2nd Day of Autumn.
It was truly autumn on the first day of Krystal’s new job. The days were starting to lengthen into winter, and the few trees which decorated the streets between the school and Westlook were showing leaves of r
ed and brown where they had been green. The early morning air had a cooler edge too, though Concordance never suffered the extremes of winter climate that the far north had. Krystal had read that, near the north pole, the weak winter sun never set and the ground was permanently frozen, but on Concordance’s lowlands there was rarely any snow even in the peak of the winter months.
The closed sign was showing on the front door of Cragscales’ shop, but when Krystal tried it, the door opened and she walked in. ‘Cragscales?’ she called out when she could see no sign of anyone at the front of the shop.
The old dragon appeared as though by magic, though Krystal was fairly certain he had stepped out from behind a display of charms. She caught movement in the corner of her eye and turned to see him standing there. ‘Good,’ he said, ‘you’re here. I have a contract for you to read and sign. I think we can dispense with the usual tour and you won’t be working the tills, so there’s no need for instruction on that yet.’
‘Okay,’ Krystal said, nodding. ‘Uh, do I look okay? I wasn’t sure what was suitable attire for–’
‘As long as you’re presentable, no one’s going to worry over what you wear.’ He flicked a glance over her anyway. ‘And you are presentable. The glasses will go down well. Glasses make you look studious.’
‘Glasses stop me squinting and walking into things.’
‘That too.’ Cragscales stepped behind the till and reached under it to retrieve a sheet of paper and a pen. He handed the paper to Krystal. ‘Everything’s on there. It’s fairly standard, but you should read it through.’
Krystal read through the legalese. She had never actually had a paying job before, but it did all seem fairly standard. ‘Six dollars and five bits an hour? Is that, well, normal?’
‘I pay about average for new staff,’ Cragscales replied. ‘You’re on seven and a half hours a week and, lucky you, the state only taxes you fifteen percent on wages earned over two thousand Nightsky dollars. You’ll be walking home at the end of the month with one hundred and eighty-six dollars, six bits, and a cent. Don’t spend it all before you’ve earned it.’
Krystal let out a giggle. ‘I’ll probably have worked out how to spend it before I’ve earned it.’ Taking the pen, Krystal signed and dated the contract and handed it back to her new employer.
‘Congratulations,’ Cragscales said deadpan, ‘you have just entered the exciting world of work. Now go up to the top floor and prowl the stacks like you’re looking for deer you can pounce on.’
‘You get a lot of deer up there?’
He shrugged. ‘When customers are up there expecting me to appear to help them, they usually look like frightened deer.’
~~~
As far as Krystal could tell, the day was going fairly well. She had found fourteen people wandering through the stacks like lost souls, or possibly skittish deer, and had known where whatever they wanted could be found without any problems. She had been asked directly by three more people for something they could not find, and only one had required her to seek help.
‘Thordrin Scarlin’s Grimoire of Combat Magic?’ Cragscales had said when Krystal had found him to ask about the book. ‘Someone wants that?’
‘Yes,’ Krystal replied. ‘He’s one of the magical security people at the palace. Dorian Dusklight requested the book, apparently.’
‘I see. Show me this dragon, I’ll deal with it. The Grimoire of Combat Magic is in the special collection and I handle sales from there personally. Uh, are you available to stay half an hour after regular hours?’
‘Sure. I’ve nothing special on tonight.’
‘Excellent. We’ll go through the books in the cupboard.’
Krystal’s eyes widened. ‘Really?’
‘Really. That way, if someone asks for something that’s in there, you’ll know to just come straight to me.’
And that was how Krystal found herself standing in front of the locked, reinforced cupboard at the end of the maze of stacks after everyone else had gone home. She was trying, very hard, not to bounce, even though she was also nervous about actually coming into contact with some of the books.
Cragscales unlocked the doors and swung them open. ‘I’ll show you how to handle them, not that you’ll need to very often. Today, you’ll go through each one so you know the titles and authors. You can remember them if you see them?’
‘I can usually remember things when I put my mind to it.’
‘Good. A lot of these don’t have titles anywhere on the cover, so you’ll need to open them. Don’t go past the title page.’
‘Are they all that dangerous?’
‘Well, no. Some of them are just old and a little fragile.’ Reaching down to one of the lower shelves, Cragscales took out a pair of white gloves with carefully embroidered symbols stitched into the backs and palms. ‘These are enchanted, in case that wasn’t obvious. Isolation charms which protect the book from you, and you from the book.’ He held them out for Krystal to put on.
‘Okay. There’s no activating cantrip or anything?’
Cragscales shook his head. ‘The magic is on the gloves themselves. They’re… magical insulation.’ He stepped back and waved to the shelves and, with a little trepidation, Krystal took down the first book from the top shelf.
‘Edwin Darroway’s Compendium of Other Realities? I didn’t think there were any copies of this outside of private libraries.’
Cragscales’ lips curled. ‘You should probably just move on without the questions. Questions like that anyway. That’s going to come up a lot and you’ll be here all night if you keep having to ask how come I have a copy.’
Krystal blushed and put the book back on the shelf before reaching for the next. ‘Solus Sunstar’s Plants of the Southern Hemisphere. Wow, that’s– Uh, I’ll just keep going.’
~~~
‘He has a copy of Marianne Nightsky’s Defensive Magic!’ Krystal enthused.
Trudy was less enthusiastic: Krystal had been gushing about Cragscales’ special collection for the last thirty minutes, and she had been buzzing about it without going into details all through dinner, which she had been late for. ‘Wonderful,’ Trudy said.
‘It is! It’s the definitive work on–’
‘Defensive magic?’
‘Yes! It has one of the most powerful exorcism spells ever set down on paper in it. You need a group of people to perform it and it’s dangerous, but it can counter almost any form of possession.’
‘Cool.’
Krystal paused. ‘I am getting the feeling that you’re not as excited as I am.’
Trudy gave her friend a grin. ‘I could never be as excited about books as you are, Krys.’
‘You… have a valid point. One more, because it was a weird one and I asked about it and Cragscales told me about it. He has a copy of Theory and Practice of Advanced Necromancy by Shastin Nightsky.’
‘Those Nightskys get around. I mean, I know they are the most prominent magi in Draconia, but…’
Krystal gave a shrug. ‘The Nightskys and the Armonias were responsible for laying down a lot of the known laws of magic, formulating the theories we still base our magic on, and for writing most of it down. Of course, most of the books with Armonia names on the cover have been lost, but the Nightsky name does appear on a lot of very important magical literature, yes. Shastin Nightsky is a name I hadn’t heard of, however.’
‘Me neither.’
‘Not surprising. He was born before the Majesty War and became an exceptional magus, but his studies took him to dark places.’
‘Well, “advanced necromancy” would suggest a dark place, yes.’
Krystal grinned. ‘Yes. He was charged with practising necromancy, not just studying it, but he escaped and vowed that he would get his revenge on his persecutors. There have been rumours of him being behind all sorts of necromantic incidents and other magical events. He would have to be over a thousand years old now, which is pretty unlikely, but his name still comes up as the mind behind magical
atrocities. They say he wants to destroy the power of the royal families.’
‘That sounds like something I could get behind.’
‘Perhaps, but Shastin Nightsky wants to replace their power with his own. He wants to rule Draconia, and somehow I don’t think having a powerful necromancer as your ruler would suit you.’
Trudy contemplated that for a second. ‘On balance, probably not. So, on the whole, your first day at work went okay?’
Krystal grinned back at her. ‘On the whole, it went great. And it’ll be even better at the end of the month, when I get paid.’
‘Yeah, money may not buy you happiness, but it can make you a lot happier than poverty.’
13th Day of Autumn.
There was a giggle from across the lab and Krystal looked over to where Charity was busy at her bench. ‘See?’ Charity said. ‘There’s nothing to it.’
Krystal frowned. ‘She’s done it already?’
‘What?’ Felicia asked. She was preparing to do much the same thing that Charity had just done: dispel a light spell.
‘Charity’s already done it.’
Felicia and Jesse looked across at the indigos gathered around Charity just as Charity cast another light spell. ‘She’s going again?’ Felicia said, frowning.
‘Let there be light,’ Charity said, then she waved her hand and the hovering ball of light evaporated. ‘Let there be darkness.’
‘Huh,’ Felicia grunted and turned her attention once again to the light hovering in front of her. Krystal was better at light magic than either Felicia or Jesse, so Krystal had created the light, quite easily, but her friends were going to have to dispel it themselves. Sweat broke out on Felicia’s brow and she took it slowly and carefully, but a few minutes later the light evaporated into nothing. ‘This will probably be a lot easier when I’ve done the meta-magic course.’
‘Probably,’ Krystal said. She focused on the pattern of symbols she needed for the light spell and willed them into reality, shaping the energy flow from the astral plane. It took her a few seconds to pop another ball of light into existence. ‘Your turn, Jesse. Charity isn’t doing the meta-magic course and she doesn’t have any other experience with it, does she?’
Misfit Magic (Misfits Book 1) Page 18
