Seventeen Stones

by Vanessa Wells

  Vivian snagged a cinnamon bun and a cup of hot tea. “What subjects do we have tomorrow?” She directed the question to the room in general. Lizzy rolled her eyes and said “You’ve been studying too hard if you can’t remember your own schedule.” Ella giggled. “I’m lucky I still know my own name.” The comment drew a weak sort of laughter from the group; it was a little too true to be funny. Vivian let out an enormous sigh. “I just keep telling myself that we only have roughly 336 hours before we’re free!”

  Sarah grinned. “Only if you pass your Alchemy mid-term. If you don’t Professor Ambrose might just turn you into a duck-billed platypus like she threatened to yesterday. Your dress would look sort of odd on you…”

  Vivian pulled a face but didn’t look worried. “Don’t worry about me. I only took Alchemy because it looked interesting. If I flunk out of the class it won’t really matter. I’ll just take a course that I have some talent for next semester.” Beth rolled her eyes. “You don’t want that on your transcript.” Sarah nodded. “Let’s all study for Alchemy.” Vivian sighed and passed her book to Mia. “You’d better ask the questions.”

  Mia picked up the book with good grace, grateful that Vivian would study if all of her friends were doing it. Besides, it took her mind off her stuffy head. “OK, what are three uses for hops in sleeping potions?” Vivian groaned and covered her face with her hands. “Ask an easy question first!” Mia looked up in surprise. “That is easy. You used hops in the simple sleeping draft, the sleepy time tisane, and the colic cure. You made the colic cure last week; surely you remember what was in it?” Vivian gave a humorless laugh. “Nope. I just read the book and dump in whatever it tells me to.”

  Sarah sighed. “I was afraid that was what was going on. You never brewed a potion before you came here?” Vivian shook her head. “My mother bought everything we needed from the local herbalist.” Sarah nodded. “That’s the problem then. You don’t just need to learn how to brew the potions; you need to learn the basic properties of each of the ingredients.” Mia nodded. “Make a list of all the herbs you use, like the chamomile tea you like, and we’ll get a basic list of major potion ingredients together. Once you understand how some of the most common ones are used and react, we can start talking about how they interact with each other.” Vivian gave a wan smile and started her list.

  Sarah’s gaze darted to her own pile of homework. “The rest of us should finish our work and we’ll take turns helping Vivian study once you figure out what she’s missing.” With that, Sarah practically skipped back to her own stack of parchment. The others followed suit.

  Mia quickly realized that the easiest way to help Vivian would be to go over the potions they had made and tell her why each ingredient worked the way it did. They only had to go over eighteen potions.

  “Wait, Mia! You’re going too fast. If I add yarrow to a cramp cure…”

  Mia sighed. “You have to add yarrow to the cramp cure or you can just throw the entire cauldron out the window. Yarrow, willow bark, and dandelion root are the main ingredients. Then, depending on the type of cramps you add the other herbs: marshmallow, peppermint, chamomile, wild yam, or black cohosh. You add the herbs to the purified water and keep the temperature a steady one hundred and fifteen degrees for twenty minutes. Then add the powdered hen’s teeth, ground salmon bones, and locust wings. In simple potions like the cramp cure, you nearly always add the herbs first, and then add the animal or mineral products.”

  Beth exclaimed “I didn’t realize that! I should have…” Mia turned to the twin “It only works for simple potions. I wouldn’t have mentioned it at all except Vivian needs to pass this test, and all of the potions you’ll be covering follow this pattern. After the break all of you will start making more difficult brews.” Mia couldn’t help smiling when she heard Vivian mutter “Oh goody…” under her breath.

  She was scribbling notes. “OK, we’ve covered the sleeping potions, runny nose remedy, cramp cure, fever reducer, and the touchy tooth tonic.” Mia grinned. “And you know that cloves are instrumental in the tooth turner recipe.” It turned out that Vivian was actually a pretty good cook. She was more excited about a potion if it included something from the kitchen. Mia, who had grown up cooking as well, had been sidetracked long enough to discuss a way to add chamomile into muffins to ease a person into a restful slumber.

  “We just have to cover the burn remedy and the skin saver solution tomorrow and you’ll have a grasp of what we’ve been doing all year.” Mia said proudly. She’d been working with Vivian for three days and she was amazed at her progress.

  Mia wasn’t worried about most of her tests, though Theory was guaranteed to be difficult (just because Professor Patrick enjoyed being cantankerous). Professor Ronan had asked them to complete a chart of early childhood diseases, their causes (if known), treatments, and cures. It was painstaking, intricate research, just because of the subject. Children were prone to all sorts of ailments and the symptoms were varied, as were the cures. She had three hundred and thirty-seven documented on her chart, and she hoped it would be enough. She knew there were more, but she couldn’t spare more time to research it. The project deadline was approaching.

  The terrible truth was this: her biggest dread was the Mid-Winter concert. Mia was playing a soft, simple tune for the performance. She didn’t even have to sing, which was good because she was becoming steadily more terrified as the days passed. Beth was working with her an hour a day on her music. “Mia, loosen up. Your fingers know this song. All you have to do is let them go and enjoy the music. Relax and breathe, just forget about anyone else in the audience and remember, we’re all going to be there rooting for you.” The word “all” was less than reassuring. All implied an audience, which was of course the source of her reluctance.

  They returned to the dorm to find Sarah drilling Vivian on her Alchemy exam. “Major ingredients in a simple burn remedy?” Vivian replied with the air of someone who has answered the question fifteen times in the past hour. “Zinc, aloe vera juice, and honey.” Mia grinned. “Excellent, Vivian!”

  She blushed. “Well, it’s about time Sarah went back to her own work, we’ve been at this for an hour. I have the drawing of Jupiter finished, anyone want to use my artwork as a base to label Jupiter’s moons for Astronomy?” Everyone quickly agreed. It wasn’t cheating to use an existing picture of a planet as a base of the project, but the girls hadn’t been able to find one without the moons. That was cheating. But using the art work would be so much easier, especially for Mia and Ella. Neither of them knew the first thing about drawing, color or proportion. Mia gratefully took out her wand. “I’ll make the copies. Vivian, you know you’re a genius, right?” Vivian giggled and brought out the brightly colored painting of the planet. “I’m going to paint the moons in tonight after all of you get a copy. I’m using oils, so the fact that this is dry won’t matter.”

  Mia used a multiplying charm and quickly had a perfect copy of the painting. She took the scissors and cut the edges off, making a neat parchment sized picture. Then she used the multiplying charm again and made five copies. “You’re a lifesaver Vivian. I tried to draw this myself and it was pathetic.” She grabbed a cookie off the nearby plate and one of Vivian’s templates to draw the moons with. Vivian was looking at her planet with a critical eye. She took the original painting and walked off, muttering something about burnt sienna.

  Astronomy was finished and the snacks were consumed. Mia settled down to read her notes for Creation and Charms until her eyes started crossing around midnight.

  The next day Mia sat and studied during Botany while the others took their exams. “It would be poor payment to give you an exam after all the work you’ve done.” said the Professor. “You just run out to Greenhouse four and sit in my study and look over your notes for one of your other classes.” He put his finger to his lips and winked.

  Professor Ambrose wasn’t as lenient. “Class, if you’ll begin by getting out the ingredients I have listed on the boa
rd…” She walked over to Mia’s cauldron. “I have a special task for you Mia.” She handed her a piece of parchment. “That’s a list of problems. I want you to identify an Alchemical solution to each of them. Just list the potion or potions you would use, and make sure that your solution works for the time constraints I have listed.” The task was difficult, and Mia finished scribbling just as the chimes rang. Professor Ambrose smiled at her on her way out and then went back to suspiciously prodding the contents of one of the flasks. Mia hoped that it wasn’t Vivian’s.

  Mia automatically ate her lamb with rice and wilted greens, and barely noticed the poundcake that was served as dessert. Then she and Ella left the others to go to Creation.

  Professor Fain was waiting for them to arrive. The chimes sounded and the test began. First they completed a written exam, and then he took each of them aside and tested their practical applications. Mia was last student called for the practical exam and she completed every task he set. He grinned up at her as the chimes rang and the class was filing out. “Bonus point! Create ice!” Mia took a deep breath and used a tiny extra flick at the end of the spell that created water. She looked up and saw a dumbfounded Professor resembling a snowman and a room that was knee deep in snow, not ice. “Oh Professor! I’m sorry.” She giggled as she started dusting him off and Ella laughed along. She was trying to shake the light white flakes out of her curls. Professor Fain cleaned the room up with a swish of his wand.

  “Mia, can you try that again?” he asked. Mia tried the spell once more and produced a nice block of ice the second time. Professor Fain looked disturbed and quickly banished the ice. “Don’t tell anyone about this.” His brow wrinkled. “Both of you, I need you to swear you won’t say a word until I think of something.” Mia asked “What’s wrong? I know I didn’t get it right the first time…?”

  Professor Fain looked troubled “No one does. I’ve never heard of anyone being able to do it in first year. It’s a teaching technique; you let your brightest students know that they don’t know everything before they head off on break. It makes them less likely to accidentally create a giant man-eating mushroom while they’re away. But nobody actually does it. I was considered quick because I could do it before I left for my apprenticeship.” He ran a hand through his hair with obvious agitation. “Don’t mention it to anyone and come to my office tonight at eight. I should be able to figure something out by then. Ella, you have to swear not to tell anyone.” Ella nodded.

  He looked around. “Come on. If we don’t get to Charms we’ll all be in trouble.”

  The charms test consisted of making the cupcakes dance around the room and causing paper airplanes to land on a target. Professor Fain provided tea and cakes at the end of class and laughingly told them all that they had passed. Only Mia noted the tightness around his eyes. She nodded to him as she left and walked back to the dorm.

  Mia did try to study for Animal Husbandry but she couldn’t manage to keep up the proper concentration. The clock on the mantel neared eight o’clock and she gathered her cloak, made an excuse, and slipped out of the dorm. She hoped no one else noted the worried glance that Ella had sent her way.

  When she arrived at his office, Professor Fain met her at the door. “Come in Mia.” She didn’t really have time to take in the floor to ceiling bookcases or the neat rolls of post on his desk. She was mostly alarmed by the dark figure sitting by the fire.

  Professor Fain ushered her into the room with a finger to his lips. Once the door was closed Headmistress Villanova moved into the firelight. Mia breathed a small sigh of relief. The headmistress’ stone-like expression moved slightly into something that might be called a smile.

  “Ah, Miss Rusticov. Professor Fain has informed me that you seem to have developed an unusually strong gift in Creation. Congratulations.” Like most of her conversations with the headmistress, Mia felt off-balance. Congratulations did not fit the stress in the Professor’s face.

  “You deserve an explanation why the Professor felt the need to draw you away from your studies tonight, and to include me in this discussion.” Mia waited. The headmistress was staring into the fire, either collecting her thoughts or waiting for a response.

  “Do you have any idea why the professor reacted the way he did Amelia?” She was totally confused. Professor Fain sighed.

  “There are times when it’s best not to stand out from the crowd. Look at this Mia.” He pulled down a new set of charts; they were still wrapped in dealer’s tags. “I picked these up today from the census office. I wanted hard facts to point out something that some of us have tracked in the papers for…well, in my case, my entire life.” He spread out the chart, a totally innocent document showing active wand wielders, births, and deaths.

  “This is what I want to show you. These are the statistics for wanded families: wand wielders, their spouses and wanded children only. Take a look at the deaths in the sixteen to twenty age group.” She traced the colored lines with her finger. The death rate spiked sharply at seventeen, and then dropped significantly in the early twenties, and then spiked again in the late twenties. Mia stared at the undeniable proof that the teens were the most dangerous period for a young wand wielder.

  The headmistress placed her marble finger on the colored lines. “We can track some of these. Some of them are accidents of course, new wand wielders getting in above their heads with spells, overextending themselves, or just plain tom-foolery. But, I’m afraid that many of the cases of overextension, several a year, come from third year students working on short-term projects for various council members.” Mia’s eyes opened to their full extent.

  Professor Fain nodded. “They only ‘borrow’ the best and brightest students.” Something changed in the headmistress’ face. “You’re missing an important factor Ethan. They borrow the best and brightest students, but they always bring back the ones with powerful families in good condition.” There was a cold sort of anger in the headmistress’ eyes.

  Professor Fain sighed. “The headmistress noted the problems with the system and took her issue to the council representative for the college, Greatlord Chilton.” Headmistress Villanova’s eyes still blazed. Mia was waiting for the curtains to catch fire. “If Chilton filed a few forms, he could have stopped any one of these council members from having access to the students. Most of the Greatlords only borrow them because it’s easier to teach a new wand wielder a spell than it is to get additional wanded help for a short-term project. The waiting list is over a year long right now. Most Greatlords don’t want to wait that long to get their pet projects going…” She shook her head. “That’s neither here nor there. The point is that Chilton has never filed a CA-22 form to protest: not two years ago when Greatlord Strathorne lost three of my most promising third years down in the Marshes, and not five years ago when Greatlord Avery ‘forgot’ that two of the Magus’ apprentices were doing a tracking spell. One of those boys recovered, the other didn’t.” The headmistress calmed herself. “At best, those cases were criminal negligence…at worst; well I’d believe anything of Strathorne and everyone knows that Avery….” She pushed her hands away from herself, as if moving that unproductive line of thought away.

  “Having failed to protect my students through ‘official’ channels, I came up with a new solution. I talk to the students I consider to be at risk. Talented students with no family to speak of, or new-bloods who whose families wouldn’t have any influence. Some of them, like Ethan choose to risk it.”

  He shrugged. “When my parents drowned, I was left with enough gold to complete my education, but I always knew that I was going to have to make my own way in the world. Since I didn’t have connections, I needed high grades to move on to an apprenticeship.” The headmistress smiled. “We were lucky. I was able to interest the Magus in Ethan’s career, and that offered some protection.”

  “I’d like for you to consider this carefully. I truly believe you’ll be much safer if you agree to Professor Fain’s plan, though I don’t doubt th
at it will be something of an inconvenience.” Professor Fain rolled his eyes.

  “First of all, you won’t be the top student in Creation this semester. You will rank third, behind James Stubbs and Martin Ainsley.” He dropped his head and grinned a little to himself. “Sorry about that, by the way. Ella Ward will be right behind you. It’s still a high score, but far enough below the boys so that you won’t be suspicious. Stubbs and Ainsley are both well-connected. He chuckled a little at some mental image Mia probably didn’t want to know about. “The next thing we would like to do is begin extra classes in Creation. That way you’ll be in a better position to take care of yourself if someone on the council does find out about you and decides to assign you to a “special” project. That’s something that we can prepare for because we know that it’s happened in the past. Overexertion is the most persistent problem…extending your skills will give you another layer of protection.”

  The headmistress smiled a little. “Normally, I don’t have to worry about my first years…but, well in your case, and Ella Ward’s for that matter, I’d rather not take chances.”

  The headmistress added. “I’ll also arrange lessons with Professor Patrick in personal defense, just in case. I think that learning to defend one’s self is important to any wand wielder.” Professor Fain looked at the headmistress. For a moment he looked like he wanted to object, but then he nodded. “None better. James T. Patrick is one of the finest duelists of the age.”