“A stay of execution.” Ben’s grin showed his teeth, remarkably straight and white for this era.
“Yes. But I hope you and I can figure out what I’m missing.”
“Here we are.” Ben stopped in front of a tall set of double doors with silver-painted runes etched on all three sides of its frame. “The sixth years’ lab.”
“It already looks nicer than the Practical Application of Magic lab,” I remarked. The five-pointed elemental star spanned the two doors’ centers. Planets and scholarly faces and representations of elements were carved from the thick wood, with not a speck of dust anywhere, despite the irregular surfaces.
“Yes,” Ben agreed. “The sixth years are but a fraction in number of the first and second years. And we are advanced scholars. Most students graduate after their fifth year. Only the truly dedicated…and gifted stay on.” Ben gave an embarrassed grin. “That sounded conceited.”
“Just a little,” I teased.
As the door opened, light from the hall spilled into the room. Ben entered and lit the candles on the professor’s table.
“Come in,” he said. “If you’re comfortable with it, we’ll shut the door. That way if anything happens, people in the hall won’t see.”
I had barely said okay when my stomach gurgled. “Do you mind if I have a bite first?”
“Not at all,” Ben said.
I tore off a hunk of bread. To my surprise and disappointment what it felt like a brief walk through the tower had turned it cold and hard. I had also neglected to bring drinks.
“How is it?” Without waiting for a reply, Ben started on the other loaf. “We don’t eat bread in the Islands of Silk. When I first had it here at Valeriya, I thought it was food of the angels. Obviously it was fresh out of the oven.” Ben snapped his fingers. “This is the perfect opportunity.”
“For what?”
“For you to show me how you cast elemental spells. Summon just enough fire to make this bread edible again.”
“We might be eating very well-done toast,” I warned him.
“Don’t worry! It’s an experiment!” Ben’s eyes danced.
I had to smile at his enthusiasm. He was so passionate about magic.
“Tell me your thought process before you attempt anything,” Ben added quickly.
“I’ll start by separating the bread into two equal-ish portions.”
Ben tilted his head. It was funny to see such a tall man assume that curious look I’d seen on the faces of small birds.
“This way if one of them goes up in flames, we’ll still have one to eat.”
I was being serious about this contingency. Ben, however, gave a deep, rumbling chuckle like a purring cat. “A prepared student is a successful student,” he observed. “Go on.”
“In this case, fire is the only element I need. I will use the candle flame as a source.”
Ben nodded.
The next part reminded me of meditation. Instead of focusing on my breath, however, I concentrated on the candle flame. In watching its rippling dance, I began to resonate with the element, which would ultimately allow me to bend it to my will. When I thought I was in rhythm with the flame, I reached out mentally to transfer a small chain of heat from candle to bread. I’d barely formed the thought when a new fire flared to life on the tabletop. Shadows jumped back to hide in the corners of the room.
Ben barely had to raise his hand to extinguish the fire I’d started. An odor of blackened toast rose from the unrecognizable pile of ash. So much for our bread.
“Just as you’ve said.” Ben didn’t seem at all fazed. I wished he taught Practical Application of Magic.
“How did you put out the fire so quickly?”
“I just moved the surrounding oxygen. Without it, fire will starve,” Ben said.
I had to admire the simplicity of his method. If not for the issues I experienced when trying elemental magic, I bet I could have done it, too.
“I have seen many experiments go wrong in the labs,” Ben said. “Perhaps one day, you would like to hear some war stories.”
“Sure.” Hearing about advanced students’ big, possibly expensive mistakes might be good for my self-esteem. “By the way, did you see anything obvious when I set the bread on fire?”
“When you were telling me what you were going to do, it sounded like you were reciting your class notes. That leads me to believe you don’t yet feel a connection with what you have to do,” Ben said.
“Do you think it would feel more personalized if I practiced more? Remember, this is only the third time I’ve attempted to work with elements.”
“Most definitely. It’s a cliché, but experience really is the best teacher.”
“Not much chance of that for me.” I sighed.
“What do you mean?” Ben said.
The whole ugly story about Rosalyn and Lily came tumbling out then.
Ben shook his head. “Their competitive ways seem very primitive to me. How can a people survive, constantly cutting one another down? It is a pity about Lily, in particular. Paxta says she has a real gift, but apparently some insecurities as well.
“But with all that said, when you direct the elements, they are not reacting how they usually do. You haven’t acquired a personalized approach to working with the elements, but the steps you followed were correct. It must have something to do with your abilities in mirror magic. I wish Head Master Maestos were not on Sabbatical.”
“Elijah? What does he have to do with it?”
“The Head Master is the foremost scholar on mirror magic in Valeriya, and, dare I say it, the world! How could you not know that?” Ben sounded as shocked as though I’d said I didn’t know who Brad Pitt was.
“Every time I bring up mirror magic, the professors change the subject,” I retorted. “No one ever mentioned Elijah - er the head master studied it.”
“That’s because they fear it,” Ben said. “Mirror magic is not predictable like the elements. Most people approach mirror magic in a purely theoretical way. The few times a scholar has cast mirror magic have been thoroughly documented. The reports appear in their entirety in Head Master Maestos’s book.”
“And I thought he was just an old CEO-bean counter type.”
“What does that mean?” Ben looked baffled.
“It means he devotes himself to running the tower as a business and nothing else. I didn’t think he taught and experimented as well.” If I had known all that the day I arrived at Valeriya, I would’ve set the Autumnstead guards on him. If mirror magic was such an uncharted field, he could’ve spent a day or two in his vault instructing me, instead of having me suffer through roommates, classes, and tests. That box of gold Queen Arencaster had sent was surely enough to commission him for private classes. On the other hand, Elijah was probably capable of fighting back using elements and mirror magic. Attacking him would risk soldiers’ lives. I shook my head. I was starting to think like an Other Worlder. Was this how Fiona thought all the time?
“Is there a way we can get the headmaster’s book?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, no. He went on Sabbatical across the sea to edit the second volume; it’s a two book set. The first was sent to the Ceredwyn scribes. Until they finish, the headmaster will have the only copies.”
Outside, the deep-voiced bells tolled the hour, nine ponderous chimes. The line of light under the door dimmed to signify the start of lights out.
“We must meet tomorrow night,” I said quickly. “That way I can show you my mirror magic.” It wasn’t like me to volunteer, but I wanted to see if I could make the mirror do it again. I had to get Ben’s opinion.
“What happened when you used the magic?” Ben asked.
“They told me that light came out of the mirror.”
“That’s it?” Ben’s golden eyes searched my face.
“Oh, and I fainted.”
“Are you certain you want to do this?” Ben’s dark brows came together in concern.
“It’s the
whole reason I’m here. If I can’t learn about this strange power of mine, all my time at Valeriya is for nothing!”
“I’ll bring a vial of ammonia, then.” I couldn’t tell if Ben were serious, or not. “Here.” With one easy motion of his slender hands, Ben tore the other round loaf of bread in half and handed it to me. “Meet me at the Grand Hall tomorrow night.” The lab door opened, seemingly of its own accord; that was how subtly and easily Ben was able to control the elements.
I hurried down the corridor, the bread Ben had given me still warm in my hands.
{****}
The next night, we didn’t go to the sixth years’ lab, but a bare room much like the secret room where Callie and I had prepared for Professor Tala’s practical. Here, however, there were no paintings; Ben let us in with a ornate key.
“Is this Elijah’s lab?” I asked, looking around and taking it all in.
“No.” Ben seemed amused. “It is called a ‘safe room.’ People enter them when dealing with touchy element combinations or enigmas that might hurt other people or cause damage.”
“Enigmas such as mirror magic.”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t bring me to a safe room yesterday.”
“I was confident I could stop the effects of your elemental magic. Mirror magic warrants a special caution. I know all about its theories, but it is still so new. I don’t know what it is capable of, and indeed, what you are capable of.” The real caution in his face and voice was such a change from yesterday.
“How dangerous do you think it could be?” Even as I wondered if we should back out, I hoped we would stay.
“The safe room can handle it, I’m sure,” Ben said. “If it really was just light you brought out of Queen Arencaster’s mirror…”
I swallowed. If something else had happened with the queen’s mirror, there could have been a scandal at court. Queen Arencaster couldn’t be counted on to disclose that to me, not if the throne were at stake. Her mind put strategy first. But as my friend and ally, Tolliver would have told me. Wouldn’t he?
“What spells were cast here?” I asked.
“Headmaster Maestos used this room when he and the seventh years in his class were doing the experiments detailed in his book.”
“Suppose there were a spell a safe room couldn’t handle for whatever reason?” I said in a small voice.
“That actually did happen a few times during the headmaster’s work.”
“What did they do?” The pit of my stomach quaked, as if it were a floor about to fall out from under me.
“Headmaster Maestos and the students had signs they had discussed in advance that determined the mirror magic was no longer in their control. When they observed these, they got out of the rooms and sealed the doors with elemental magic. The doors are not on any map of the Tower. In fact, the headmaster ordered that the sealed doors be walled over as an extra precaution against people entering.”
I thought about the room Callie and I had practiced in. Had that been one of the sealed rooms? But now wasn’t the time to ask that. We had already digressed so many times. “What were the signs Elijah and the students were looking for?”
“I was about to go over those. The first is synesthesia. That’s when colors appear from sounds, auras appear around people, or words suddenly have tastes. The second is the appearance of beasts, undead, or other monsters. Initially they seem no more than mist, but if they solidify, it is impossible to send them back where they came from. The last sign is the general distortion of reality. Walls and floors may ripple like water; light gives off shadow rather than radiance. There are many possibilities. But like I said before, if it really were just light that came out of the mirror, all these precautions are unnecessary. Are you still alright?” Ben said.
I said nothing, teetering on the brink of indecision. I avoided risks, including small ones like trying new foods or talking to new people. What I was about to attempt with mirror magic qualified as beyond wild and crazy for me. Monsters and distorted reality. Geez!
“I will understand if you don’t want to. The risks, though unlikely, are real. You have to choose what is right for you.”
Ben meant it, I realized. He wasn’t going to manipulate or confuse me by quoting pop psychology or management success tactics at me. (I’m sure by now, you can guess who did that.) With the decision in my hands, I found my courage. “I have to know! I’ll do it!”
Ben smiled. “You are braver than many scholars in Valeriya.” Upon the table, he placed an ivory box a little over a foot long with intricate carvings on every surface. The box alone was a priceless work of art. “Behold. The Tower mirror,” Ben said as he opened the lid. In the coffin-like interior of plush velvet rested a frame of fine gold filigree that wove together suns, moons, stars. On the back was a painting of the tower, done in such detail, it could’ve been a photo.
The candlelight the Tower mirror reflected back onto my face was warm. “Are you ready?” Ben said gently.
“Yes,” I murmured. I gazed into the mirror and waited. When nothing happened for a few minutes, I began to retell what had happened that night in Autumnstead. Maybe Ben would have some theoretical insight on how to produce the same effect with the Tower Mirror. As I mentioned the sunlit ripples, I could suddenly see them again before my eyes.
“You did it, Leah! You made the light appear!”
“I did? Are you sure? I don’t remember…any of it.” I felt a little disappointed about that. I’d thought the mirror magic would happen differently with Ben.
“You did it so quickly, I wasn’t able to discern most of your technique. What I did see is vastly different from how any in Valeriya approach mirror magic.”
“How do you mean?” I asked, acutely conscious of my heart thumping in my ears. Was I doing mirror magic wrong, too?
“The tower scholars have mapped out every aspect of mirror magic, from the particles that are its elemental equivalents, to the mathematics of its spell circles. Every word and gesture is carefully calculated. We are conscious of what we’re doing at all times. Every mirror spell I’ve experienced takes a long time to cast.”
“What about Eli - I mean, the headmaster?”
“Yes, him, too. But you…simply talked yourself into a trance, and the light appeared. You said yourself that you are untaught. You came to Valeriya to learn about this power. But I cannot believe that Ivenbury would go unnoticed this long, not with people like you there. What could the explanation be?”
I stared at my hands, then looked at the mirror, still softly glowing. I had wanted to tell Ben for some time now. He had more than proven himself trustworthy, but I was still afraid.
“Suppose I told you I’m not from Ivenbury?” I said, uncertain whether I spoke from recklessness or newfound courage.
Ben had been quiet, contemplative as he pondered the possibilities of Autumnstead. Now he looked to me, keenly listening, but still giving me space to gather my thoughts.
“Nor from any other realm known in this world?” For the first time in months, I confided in someone, my origins, how I had come to the Other World, ending with the two identities I had assumed.
“I want to believe you,” Ben said when I finished. “On an emotional level, I do. But the tower has trained me to be rational and systematic. I cannot accept your story analytically without testing it. With that said, it’s truth would bring so many pieces of the puzzle together.”
“Puzzle?”
“The puzzle that is you. The strange, informal way you talk, the different perspectives you have… The elements don’t obey you because you are not of this world. And finally, your magic is different from anything I’ve seen. I’ve seen a great deal,” he added. “From people the world over.”
Even in the Other World I was different. In that moment, I did not mind as much as I would have before.
“Our meeting is so exciting! We have so much to talk about!” Ben’s eyes shone with excitement.
“Ben, what do you
think about the First People?”
“They say that the First People built this tower.”
“What?”
“And that what we know of magic is just scratching the surface of their knowledge. I don’t know if the original builders and scholars of Valeriya were the First People exactly as legend describes them. However, we are far from the first beings in this world. Those who came before us were very advanced.”
“Someone once told me that the dragons I saw seemed like a legend of the First People.” How long ago, that conversation with Tolliver, and the one before that in Lady Ariana’s cottage. I wondered if the dark-haired woman had recovered her health the banquet.
“Dragons sightings are rare enough that most people accept they don’t exist. It’s possible a handful may live far from civilization. In fact, there are accounts of dragons in the Maestos library’s very oldest tomes. I have a key if you want to look together.”
“Yes please!” I felt my spirit lifting.
“Very well, then.” Ben laughed.
This was so exciting! “My quest to find Gerry and return home has been stalled for months! Maybe I’ll finally find something can help us!”
“What of Queen Arencaster? If you found this Gerry and determined how to make a portal home, would you leave her?” Ben said.
I hadn’t thought of that. “I suppose I’ll have to help her find Fiona first. It’d be comforting to know I had a way to get home, though.”
“In that case, it would be best to research other worlds. I’ll submit a request for the librarians to find some books I used in an old paper. I’m sure they’ll help you.”
“Ben, I can’t thank you enough for helping me.”
“No thanks needed. Only…tell me about your world. Tell me everything!”
“Definitely!”
With that, we went our separate ways for the night.
While I returned to my room earlier than the night before, I didn’t make it back before lights-out. Not that anyone was in bed. Callie was studying; Paxta was brushing out her exquisite golden hair, and Lily and Rosalyn were sitting at their favorite spot: the dressing table. When I entered, the two “mentors” turned to look at me, poking their necks out like geese about to charge. (Southern California parks had some tough geese.)
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