She felt nervous as they half-stumbled, half-glided towards the library. The wards didn’t bar their passing. Penny’s mere presence was enough to subvert wards that would have balked at Nanette alone. Nanette smiled, then unlocked the door and steered Penny into the library. The chamber appeared deserted, but ... she ordered Penny to stay put as she checked the stalls and the librarian’s office. She didn’t have to subvert those wards to confirm the chamber was empty. The library felt eerie as she turned back to Penny. She thought she saw things lurking in the shadows, hiding at the corner of her eye. She blinked, and they were gone.
The wards must be having an effect on me, she thought. She’d seen stranger things, a long way from human civilisation. Or perhaps they’re trying to drive me out.
Her lips quirked. Wards weren’t very smart. It wasn’t easy to fool them, but it could be done. Even wards linked to wardmasters could be circumvented, if one put enough thought and magic into the process. The magicians couldn’t respond to alarms if the alarms never sounded. She silently thanked Aurelius for her lessons as she walked back to Penny. The girl’s hands were encircling the air, hugging an invisible friend. She was deeply entranced.
“Penny,” she said, quietly. “Open the restricted section.”
Penny stumbled forward. Nanette braced herself, knowing she might have to start running at any second. It was easy to give simple directions to the entranced girl, but more complex orders might defeat the enchantment. She wished, suddenly, it was as simple as getting a password out of her and using it to defeat the wards. That would have been easy. She could have entranced Penny, taken the password and then put her to sleep before raiding the library. As it was ... she had no idea how the wards would react if she stunned Penny. There was a very good chance they’d raise the alarm.
She watched, feeling dirty, as Penny opened the section. The cage doors swung open, wards parting as they sensed an authorised user. Nanette gently pushed Penny forward, following her into the cage. The books seemed to look back at her in disapproval, their spines sparkling with wards that would do everything from colour her hands if she so much as looked at them funny to freeze her in place or turn her into a rat. Her eyes narrowed as they wandered the shelves, picking out Lamplighter’s Lines. The book was rare, but it wasn’t that rare. There were books on the shelves in front of her that were worth a great deal more. She was tempted to try to steal them instead, despite the risk. It seemed a lot of trouble for one book.
The notes must be very important, she thought, as she ordered Penny to remove the book and carry it out of the cage. The girl obeyed, a blissful - and creepy - smile on her face. What are they?
Penny started to lower her hand, threatening to drop the book. Nanette caught it, placed it on the nearest desk and ordered Penny to sit in the corner. The enchantment would keep her in her fantasy world. She sat down, opened the knapsack and removed the second copy. The spells seemed confused as she put the books together, spine to spine. She gritted her teeth, then began the transference spell. The wards shimmered around her, as if they weren’t quite sure what to make of it. She hoped they didn’t decide to raise the alarm.
There’s only one book keyed to the security spells, she told herself. And that’s all the wards need to keep them happy.
She concentrated, holding the security spell in her mind as she transferred it from one book to the other. It was a relatively simple enchantment, simple enough to make it difficult to fool. She could have overpowered it in an instant, or simply torn it away from the books, but that would definitely have set off alarms. Sweat prickled down her back as she guided the spell forward, holding it together as she moved it to the other book. She held her breath as the enchantment took root. If it failed ...
The spell solidified, again. Nanette sat back in her chair, breathing a sigh of relief. As far as the wards were concerned, the second copy had become the first copy. No, it had always been the first copy. She took a moment to centre herself, then carefully separated the books and placed the school’s copy on top of her bag. It wouldn’t do to mix them up, not now. She smiled at the thought as she looked at Penny. She’d gone too far to be stopped. And she was damned if she was going to be defeated by her own stupidity.
She picked up the school’s copy and flicked through it. Whoever had owned the book had written a lot of notes, but none of them seemed particularly new or insightful. Nanette had read newer books covering the same points, presenting them as long-established facts rather than new discoveries. She didn’t see anything new, certainly nothing that appeared unique. The whole mission struck her as pointless. There were definitely darker - and more interesting - books in the cage.
But it’s what he wanted me to do. Nanette looked at her repaired wrist. And he paid for it.
“Penny,” she said. “Come here.”
The enchanted girl ambled forward, swinging her hips in a ludicrously sexy manner. Nanette wondered, idly, what she was seeing. Or where she thought she was. The enchantment didn’t force its victim into a specific scenario. Instead, it guided the target into crafting their own reality. It worked, if only because the victim didn’t want to look away. Their own mind filled in the gaps. Penny was trapped, and would remain so until she fell asleep or was shocked back to reality. Nanette watched her, carefully, as Penny took the copy. The moment she fell asleep, the spell would collapse.
“Put the book back on the shelf,” she ordered. “And then close the cage.”
Her heart beat like a drum as Penny drifted back into the cage. The alarm would be raised, sooner or later, but she wanted to put as much distance as possible between herself and the school before the staff realised something was wrong. And they would, if Nanette was still in the library when Penny fell asleep. The wards weren’t supposed to allow Nanette to enter without the Deputy Head Girl.
Good thing they didn’t demote Penny when she blasted Lillian, Nanette thought. That might have been awkward.
She watched Penny gliding back out of the cage, her hands moving in a manner that that suggested she was unsure of whether or not she had a purpose. They moved in fits and starts, starting to drop to her sides before being raised again to carry out her orders. Nanette smiled as the cage door closed, feeling a flicker of victory. She’d transferred the spell, put the copy in the original’s place, and now ...
“Sit down and enjoy yourself,” she ordered. She didn’t need Penny any longer. The girl could lose herself completely in her fantasy if she wished. “And don’t go to sleep.”
A dull alert flickered through the wards. Nanette tensed, expecting to feel magic crackling around her at any second. But nothing happened. It took her a moment to realise the diversion had finally gone into effect. She glanced at the clock, noting it had taken longer than she’d expected for her hacking to work. The flyers had cast the spells in the wrong order, creating a whole new framework of magic. She wasn’t sure if it would kill anyone - it depended on how quickly the staff and guests reacted - but she was certain it was a display they’d never forget. And Penny was lucky not to be there.
She scooped up the stolen book and shoved it into her knapsack. The clock ticked faster now. It wouldn’t take long for the staff to realise what had happened and come looking for Penny. Once they found her, they’d realise she’d been enchanted and start looking for the enchantress. Nanette hoped they’d check Nadine’s suite in Pendle. The aristo brat didn’t deserve to spend the rest of her life as a goldfish. Probably. If nothing else, the experience would probably teach her a lesson or two.
A surge of magic flashed behind her. She sensed it, too late. A hex slammed into her back, blowing her right across the room. She cursed her mistake as she hit the far wall and crashed to the floor. She’d lowered her protections when she’d enchanted Penny. It had been the only way to do it, but she hadn’t thought to rebuild them when she’d left the bedroom. She could have kicked herself. Making that sort of mistake at Mountaintop was just asking to be hexed, or forced to act like a buffoo
n, or turned into a frog.
And the alert snapped Penny out of it, she thought numbly. The impact had jarred her badly enough to make it hard to focus. A desk floated into the air and threw itself at her. She tried to dodge, too late. She felt her arm break - again - as the desk struck her. Good thing she’s not thinking too clearly either.
“You ...”
Penny threw a wave of magic at her. Nanette felt herself lifted into the air and pressed against the wall. She forced herself to think, to try to muster a countercharm, as Penny advanced. Her blonde hair was billowing around her, as if it were caught in a storm; her eyes flashed anger and murder and a guilt Nanette didn’t understand. She’d never looked more beautiful. And terrifying.
She’ll set off the alarms if she does something more dangerous, Nanette thought. It looked as if Penny didn’t want to really hurt her. That was going to change. She’d seen one girl hex another girl into a bloody mass for cheating on her and ... and what she’d done to Penny was far worse. She couldn’t have been angrier if Nanette had slipped her a lust potion and then had sex with her. All she has to do is aim at the wall and fire.
“What did you do to me?” Penny raised a hand. The pressure on Nanette’s ribs started to grow. “What did you do?”
Nanette found herself speechless. There was no good answer she could give. The confusion in Penny’s eyes was the only thing standing between her and death. She wasn’t sure what was real and what was part of the fantasy, not yet. It would take time for the disconnect between wherever she thought she’d been - and where she was - to settle. But it wouldn’t take long. Wherever Penny had been, it wasn’t the library.
“What did you do?” Penny’s voice rang with betrayal. “What did you do?”
“I ...” Nanette started to gather herself to cast a counterspell. It might set off the alarms, but Penny was going to do that anyway in a moment. “I gave you what you wanted, and you ...”
Penny’s magic grew, pressing Nanette harder and harder against the wall ...
... And then she crumpled to the floor as someone hexed her in the back. The magic vanished a second later. Nanette fell to the ground, her legs buckling. And ...
“Nadine,” Lillian said. “What happened?”
11
That’s why Emily does it, Nanette thought, numbly. She was in pain, terrible pain, but ... she forced herself to get to her feet. She helps people and they help her in return.
“The spells went wrong,” Lillian said. “The flyers started dropping out of the skies! Did she do it?”
Nanette felt an odd pang as she muttered a pair of healing spells. It wasn’t safe to heal herself, but no one else was going to do it for her. Lillian didn’t have the training and Penny ... she stared down at the girl. Lillian had saved her. And yet ... she’d turned against the school. She didn’t know it, but she’d turned against the school. She’d be in real trouble when the staff figured out what she’d done. Just as Frieda had been expelled ...
She felt guilty as she raised her eyes to study the younger girl. The guilt gnawed at her, tearing at her soul even though she knew she should be grateful. She’d copied Emily’s tactic and it had worked out. Lillian had saved her, at the cost of destroying her schooling. She might get the blame ... she might be blamed, even if they interrogated her under truth spells or probed her mind until they’d uncovered and explored every last one of her secrets. The school would want a scapegoat and Lillian, poor common-born Lillian, was the best candidate. And she’d only tried to help.
I could take her with me, Nanette thought. She dismissed the idea almost as soon as she had it. Lillian seemed to have had a happier home than either herself or Frieda. She wouldn’t want to go on the run, let alone tie herself to a shadowy magician with uncertain motives. Nanette knew she was committed. Lillian didn’t have to be. Not yet. She doesn’t deserve it.
“I’m sorry,” she said, quietly.
Lillian blinked. “Sorry for what?”
Nanette shaped a charm and cast it. Lillian crumpled to the floor as her muscles went limp. She wouldn’t be able to do anything more than breathe for the next few hours, unless someone applied the countercharm. Nanette stared down at her, feeling pang after pang of bitter guilt. She’d proven Lillian’s innocence - she’d hardly attack a co-conspirator - at the cost of the younger girl’s regard. Emily never lost that regard. But then, Emily had never had to smack one of her admirers down.
“Listen carefully,” she said. It wasn’t as if Lillian could do anything else. “Tell them, when they come, to go to my suite in town. And pay special attention to the goldfish.”
She took a breath. “And ... and I owe you something,” she added. Magicians had to acknowledge - and repay - their debt, even renegades like herself. “I’ll make it up to you somehow. I promise.”
Lillian stared at her, tears forming in her eyes. She couldn’t move, but ... she knew she’d been betrayed. Nanette looked away, unable to take it any longer. She picked up her knapsack, looked around the library to make sure there were no clues suggesting she’d opened the cage and headed for the door. Penny’s memories would be useless, she told herself. She’d been trapped in a fantasy world, unaware of what her body had been doing. She wouldn’t know what she’d been made to do.
I’m sorry, Nanette thought again. If things had been different ...
She broke into a run as she closed the door. The staff would be clearing up the mess, healing the wounded ... and then coming for her. She had to get out of the building before it was too late. The thought mocked her as she ran, reminding her she might have been happy at Laughter. She understood the school, she understood the students and how to manipulate them ... she could have been on top. And yet, she couldn’t have hoped to maintain the deception for long. If someone who knew Nadine turned up ...
The main staircase gaped open in front of her. She hurled herself down it to the entrance hall. The building still felt deserted, but she thought she could hear an angry mob behind her. She would be expelled ... she almost laughed at the thought. Impersonating a student, sabotaging a flying display, enchanting another student, stealing a book ... it was going to be hard to get a job with a record like that! They’d expel her ... no, they’d kill her. The best she could hope for, if they caught and exposed her, was slavery. She doubted they’d be so kind.
She braced herself, then ran through the door and into the courtyard. The sound of shouting grew louder, echoing from the rear of the school. Flickers of magic darted through the air, suggesting that her diversion was still working. She was surprised no one had dismissed the spell by now. They could have defeated it simply by casting a series of cancelation spells until all the spellwork came apart. Perhaps it still held some of the flyers within its grasp. They’d be a little more careful if lives were at stake.
The courtyard was empty. She was surprised it wasn’t heaving with horses, carriages and everything else, before remembering the guests could either teleport or fly. She ran through the gate and down the road, feeling oddly uneasy as she hurried towards Pendle. A trio of climbers - teenage boys - were clambering up the rocks to the school, trying to blend into the stone as she ran past. Nanette remembered something Penny had told her, about local boys trying to sneak into the school on a dare, and snorted. They probably expected her to hex them in passing. She ignored them instead. They weren’t her problem.
And they might confuse any searchers, she thought, as she passed through the last ward. They might not think to look for me.
She stopped and turned to look at the school. It stood against the sunlight, somehow both welcoming and sinister. She could see figures flying around the spires, witches looking for ... someone. They probably didn’t know - yet - just who they were looking for, but they knew something had gone wrong. She felt another pang of sympathy for the boys - they’d picked a bad day to test the defences - as she mustered a teleport spell. There was nothing to be gained by hanging around, not now. Lillian would tell the staff about Nadine a
nd ...
Nanette closed her eyes, cast a pair of confusion spells, and teleported. The safehouse - a small building in Beneficence, where she’d lived while her wrist was being rebuilt - loomed in front of her when she opened her eyes. She breathed a sigh of relief - they wouldn’t be able to follow her, not now - and hurried into the house. The wards twanged, sending a message to their master. She wondered, as she walked into the kitchen and sat down, just where Cloak lived. The safehouse wasn’t his home, just a place he could put her while she prepared for the mission. She opened her bag, put the book on the table and flicked through the pages. She seemed to have gone to a lot of trouble for a book that was hardly worth it. It made no sense.
Cloak arrived, an hour later. “You did well,” he said. “What do you think?”
“I feel dirty,” Nanette confessed. She had few qualms about manipulating and cheating people who thought themselves her betters, but ... Penny and Lillian hadn’t been bad people, merely in the wrong place at the wrong time. “Why did you want the book?”
“I didn’t,” Cloak said.
Nanette stared at him. “This ... this was some kind of test?”
“No.” Cloak seemed unmoved by her anger. “I wanted you to put the second copy in the school. And that’s what you did.”
“But ...” Nanette shook her head. “I could have just slipped the book onto the shelves and vanished again. I ...”
“No,” Cloak said. “The important thing is that the book is within the wards - and they don’t know it. As far as they know, you stole nothing.”
Fantastic Schools: Volume 2 Page 38
