Seventeen Stones

by Vanessa Wells

  Mia waited until they were away from class to question Vivian. “Did you see who Professor Tate was talking to?” She shook her head. “No, he had his back to me most of the time and he was wearing that dark cloak. I couldn’t see a blasted thing. The only way I knew it was a man was by the voice. I couldn’t hear much of what they said, but it was a man’s voice, unless my ear is completely out.” Lizzy grinned. “Well, what did you hear?”

  Vivian frowned. “It sounded like he was asking about the progress of something, and she was telling him that it wasn’t something she could do on a timeline.” She shrugged. “He wasn’t an admirer, that’s for certain. I wasn’t over fond of the tone in his voice when he talked to her.”

  Mia cocked her head. “Was she frightened?” Lizzy answered. “Yes, but she didn’t let him know that.” Vivian and Mia exchanged a look. It was the first time Lizzy had ever verbally confirmed something based on Sight. She and Beth did things sometimes, reacted to things that hadn’t happened yet. But no one mentioned it. Mia always felt it would be rude to bring it up, like bringing up a relative who couldn’t levitate.

  Beth took her sister’s arm. “Let the future take care of itself. Let’s go get some dinner.” The girls took the hint, and the subject wasn’t broached again during the meal. Mia was quite sure she recognized the look on Vivian’s face. She intended to figure this mystery out. Her own face was probably sporting a similar expression.

  ***

  Mia’s Alchemy work had progressed well past the third year standard, much to Emma’s delight. Professor Ambrose had already asked her to schedule a class period in the coming year for an apprentice level class, brewing potions for the City. Professor Ambrose and Mia did most of the work of brewing the deadly desert star potion for the drake hunters that spring. Mia was able to skip Professor Marshall’s class twice without any fear of punishment. When given a choice between him and a deadly toxin, she’d choose the deadly toxin any day of the week.

  The rest of the girls were green with envy. “No Marshall for a full week!” Vivian was shaking her head. Mia felt a little guilty to have escaped without her friends. “Was he terrible today?” Sarah chuckled. “About the same as usual actually, foul, bigoted, and irritated. He could do with a nice strong laxative…” Beth gave her a hard stare. “If you try it, you’ll get caught. He’ll find out about the slime and Mia will get in trouble too…” Sarah crossed her arms and muttered “Fine”. Having sighted people in the dorm was very useful sometimes. Sarah assumed that Beth’s certainty came from sight rather than common sense. Only Beth knew for certain and Mia wasn’t going to question it in front of the others.

  The extra classes with Professor Patrick came in spurts and starts, never enough to make much of an impression on her. “No, no…you want to jab the wand a little more, like a spear.” Professor Patrick doubled over his handkerchief in another coughing fit. Mia was trying to master a magebolt, but she was having difficulty. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that they had gone weeks between lessons and the Professor spent most of the current lesson coughing.

  Eventually the lessons were canceled. The professor was also working on some project for the City, and he simply didn’t have time. Headmistress Villanova assured her that there was less urgency about the Magical defense lessons. “Worry about Creation for now. We can work on Defense and dueling next year.”

  Emma sent a letter around the end of March:

  My avian friends came back yesterday. Something is happening in the City: there are stockpiles of material in every warehouse in the district. Whatever it is, there isn’t a Greatlord involved as far as the birds can tell. Keep your eyes open and stay safe.

  All my love,

  Emma

  The birds didn’t give Mia much to go on, and snooping around the warehouse district was nixed when she brought up the possibility. Professor Fain was still flatly refusing to give her specifics. Mia managed to talk a cabbie into driving through the warehouse district one rest day afternoon on the way to Lady Anne’s for a little party.

  Sarah did not approve. “I don’t think we’ll learn anything that’s worth the risk, that’s all…” Mia shushed her when the driver stopped and asked if they were at the right address. Mia’s brow crinkled in what she hoped was a convincing show of concern. “It doesn’t look right…” She pretended to look through her bag for the address. “Is this 460 Oak View Dr?” The cabbie cursed under his breath. “No, Miss, it ain’t. This is 460 Oak St, which is what I’m sure you said when you got in the cab.” He was already hopping back on the driver’s seat as he muttered about females with fluff stuffing their heads. Mia looked around as much as she could as they moved off. She’d chosen the address at random, because it was enough like Sarah’s mother’s to account for her “mistake”. It certainly was busy in the area. Drovers with mules were bringing in lines of covered carts.

  An odd contraption puffed along the opposite side of the street. It looked like a cart, but it didn’t have a horse attached. It was made of some sort of metal, and looked vaguely rickety, like it had been put together using parts that were never made for that purpose. She was almost sure that the silver handle the driver was pushing was the flusher from a toilet. The round stack at the front that was puffing might have been off an industrial washing machine like they used at the college. A little man in a green top hat and goggles was perched on top of a huge stack of lumber. Apparently this wasn’t a normal sight even on this street. The locals stopped to stare as he chugged merrily along, waving as he passed.

  Mia didn’t admit it to Sarah, but she didn’t think the glimpse of the warehouse district was worth the exorbitant tip she paid the cabbie, much less his suspicious glare.

  Gabriel Fields reminded Vivian that he had promised to take all of them to the spring showing of Boobrie: The Musical. Vivian, who had by that time decided that she enjoyed the young man’s company, encouraged the others to join them. They were walking to the library, enjoying the crisp spring evening air. Vivian was lobbying hard for Mia’s inclusion in the event. “I’m sure Gabriel could bring a few of his friends…” Gabriel dimpled. “What and miss the chance to be seen with all six of the prettiest girls in school?” Vivian thumped him lightly (with the hand he wasn’t holding). He pretended to cringe. “You’re right, I shouldn’t be so greedy. I bet some of my dorm mates would pay through the nose to tag along.” He dropped her hand and skirted around a tree before she could thump him again, but she forgave him when he came up behind Mia and added “Besides, you have to come. Think how much it will annoy Ainsley if you do!”

  Mia couldn’t explain to Gabriel that she had a standing engagement for rest day afternoons: she and Professor Fain spent the better part of them going over second year Creation techniques. Later, in the privacy of the study her friends pressed her to ask for the day off. “I really shouldn’t.” Sarah tossed the pillow at her head. “You really should. How will it look if you refuse to go to a play because you’re too busy with music lessons? You’re playing hasn’t improved enough to make the amount of time you spend in the theater acceptable. You don’t need to draw attention to what you’re doing. Don’t forget, Gabriel is related to about half the old bloods in the school.”

  Vivian shot Sarah a nasty look. “He’s a good sport! He’s the one who helped me smuggle the ooris root into the boy’s dorm, and he never asked why, though I think he figured it out after Marshall started interrogating the students the next day. If he did he never told a soul.” Sarah snorted quietly, but Mia was certain that Vivian couldn’t hear it from her chair. “Yes he was a good sport about that, and I’m grateful. I think he’s very nice. But I don’t know him well enough to trust him with Mia’s secret, so we should keep up the pretence as best we can.” Vivian shrugged.

  Lizzy added her opinion. “Mia works seven days a week until midnight and could use the break. The dark circles under her eyes are getting dark circles.” The others defended Mia’s dark circles and Mia decided to ask for the day off.
“After all, it’s only one day…”

  ***

  “A day off?” Professor Fain looked at her like she was speaking chipmunk. Mia focused on her goblet and created cherry juice. For some reason juice was harder to create than fruit. “Yes, you know a day where I don’t do any homework? A day where I go with my friends and do something fun…?” He turned his dark blue eyes toward the wall and tightened his jaw. “This might not be fun, but it might save your life one day. Isn’t that more important than seeing some idiotic play?” Mia sighed. She’d had a notion that asking for a day off wouldn’t be the correct thing to do, but she wasn’t about to meekly agree that he was right and go back to work. She met his eyes firmly. “Of course it is, but how am I supposed to explain that I can’t go out with my friends when we were invited as a group? ‘Sorry, I can’t come today; I have to do seven hours of music lessons…’ If anyone ever adds up the amount of time I spend in here they’re going to think I’m the biggest musical dunce the world has ever known.” He muttered something she didn’t catch and ran his fingers through his hair.

  “Who invited you?” There was something about the question, the determinedly offhanded way that he asked it that made her wonder. “Gabriel Fields. He invited all of Vivian’s dorm mates. They’re a couple.” The Professor’s jaw loosened slightly. “I suppose he’ll invite a pack of his friends as well, making him the most popular man on campus.”

  Mia sniffed the cherry juice. It didn’t seem quite right. She took a slight sip and puckered. Professor Fain manfully suppressed a chuckle and corrected her pronunciation. She tasted the result. Much better, but it still wasn’t as sweet as it should be. She emptied the goblet and tried again. “Surely they’re not that easy to impress.” The professor snorted. “You think it’s easy to get the prettiest girls in the class to go somewhere with you? The boy must have a great deal of nerve, third year or not, to ask all of you.” Mia giggled. “I think it was a plot to get Vivian to go at first, and now he’s just keeping his word.” She tried the juice again: still too tart.

  Professor Fain reached down and corrected her grip on her wand. “What did you say the play was? Boobrie? I hope they aren’t using live boobries. I can’t imagine anyone concocting a play about an eight-foot tall carnivorous bird.” Mia shot him a conspiratorial look. “Not just a play, this is a musical.” She held his eye for a quarter of a second before they burst into laughter.

  It was settled that Mia would go to the play with the others, though Ethan seemed to argue with himself about it for a long while during the lesson. Mia couldn’t quite understand his reluctance, unless he simply didn’t want her to miss practice. She couldn’t blame him. She was irritated at the speed of her progress.

  ***

  The girls giggled an inordinate amount while they dressed for the play. Vivian had chosen a green on green striped dress that showed her figure to best effect. Sarah teased her. “Vivian, if you wear that Gabriel won’t be able concentrate on the play.” Vivian dimpled “I should hope not! I certainly wouldn’t want to waste one of Madam Reece’s creations!” More giggling met the comment. It made Mia glad that she’d gotten ready for the ball by herself.

  Sarah was wearing a new pale peach dress, and Ella was helping her with her hair. The severe braid Sarah normally wore did nothing to soften the sharp line of her cheekbones or her stubborn jaw. When Ella was done, her pale hair was softly framing her face making the lines that had been so uncompromising only a few minutes before seem delicate. Sarah used her paints and powders to good effect with the hair, her pale green eyes dominated her face. She looked like a doll.

  Lizzy and Beth watched the transformation from Vivian’s bed. They were dressed in blue as always, one in powder blue, the other in a pastel blue-green. Their curls were piled on top of their heads, with a matching ribbon and silk flowers to accentuate the perfect blue-black of their hair and the translucent quality of their skin. Vivian volunteered to do their make-up while Ella was doing Sarah’s hair. She used just a touch of powder to even out their porcelain skin, a hint of blush, and a tiny bit of lash darkener on their lashes. She used berry juice on their lips, working the juice in with a short brush, and letting it stain their lips red. The effect was striking.

  Ella was wearing one of the dresses from the house party: her gown was a pretty cream color with no lace at all. The simple lines accentuated her figure and drew attention to her complexion. Her dark red hair spiraled around a wide gold satin ribbon, half up, half down, drawing attention to her eyes and pretty mouth. Sarah added just a hint of gold mica to her lids, and a touch of coral blush to her cheeks and lips. Her complexion was so perfect she didn’t need anything further.

  Mia’s gown for the play was also from the house party, a pink silk and white lace dress that looked like it could float across the room without her in it. It made her skin look less sallow. She’d braided her hair despite Ella’s offer to style it: this wasn’t about her after all. She realized that she would rather be spending the day working on Creation than attending the play with a bunch of strange boys. She allowed Sarah to brush a bit of powder on her nose, but she didn’t want to use any of the other cosmetics. She’d had enough trouble remembering not to blot her eyes during the ball. The last thing she wanted was to end up looking like a clown during the play because she forgot and brushed her cheeks with a glove.

  The girls were ready in good time: fans were found and perfume was carefully applied. They made their way outside the dorms where Gabriel and his five friends were waiting. Each girl took the arm of a young gentleman, and they were handed into the waiting carriages. Mia was lucky enough to be paired with a charming young man named Tristan Gentry. She’d met him briefly at one of Lady Anne’s little ‘social gatherings’. He was golden in coloring, witty in conversation, and pleasing in his habits. Mia thought she remembered someone saying he was distantly related to Sarah’s father’s family, but she’d met so many people in the last year she couldn’t remember who was related to who and how.

  Boobrie: The Musical was the story of how a young villager killed one of the birds and then became the captain of the local Greatlord’s guards, and finally guard sergeant for the entire City. It was full of amazing battle scenes, acrobatics, and diabolical plots. The young man eventually brought his concerns to the Magus, who condemned the guilty and rewarded the unlikely hero. The music wasn’t bad, though the lyrics were a bit simplistic. The thundering applause at the end, and multiple curtain calls for the actors surprised Mia. She remembered many village entertainments on summer nights where the story line was better. She shrugged. Perhaps the plot simply wasn’t to her taste.

  After the play, Gabriel insisted on taking them to the sweet shop for afternoon tea. Mia ordered spice cake and prepared to sit in the corner and watch the others flirt. Tristan brought her a steaming cup of jasmine tea. “I wouldn’t have said that you were the shy one in the group.” He lifted his golden eyebrows in mock surprise.

  Mia smiled up at him. “I’m not. Ella’s the shy one, but she seems to manage better with boys. I think it’s because she has so many brothers.” Ella was flirting with a dark haired boy at one of the tables, with no sign of shyness in her demeanor. Tristan nodded. “It took me two years of college before I’d so much as speak to a girl, maybe it’s because I don’t have any sisters. I have a younger brother, but he’s still in the home. He’ll start college next year.” The unspoken assurance that his brother would of course be attending college let her know that he was old blood, proper coloring or not. He must be related to Sarah’s family someway. How many golden haired old bloods could there be?

  They talked about class for a few minutes, exchanging the standard information that students concerned themselves with. Tristan nodded to the corner where Gabriel was holding Vivian’s hand. “He’s a good man, Gabriel. One of my best friends; we grew up in the same home near Lambton. I’ve never seen him so worked up about a girl before.” Mia nodded. “The amazing thing is that Vivian doesn’t even noti
ce any other boy, at least not for herself. She’ll point them out for her single friends of course…”

  Tristan laughed out loud, brown eyes sparkling. “Of course. I expect she’s an unrepentant match maker. Gabriel’s like that too, you have to watch him or he’ll have you set up every rest day with some pretty girl with good breeding, excellent fortune, and nice manners. My mother loves him.” He made a face. Mia giggled. “Vivian isn’t that bad about matchmaking. Her worst trait is that she knows everything that’s going on all over the school. I swear you can’t sneeze across campus without her knowing about it before you get back to the dorm.”

  Tristan dimpled. “Now I know who to go to for news. I don’t suppose she knows why I can’t find a copy of the Beginning of the City? There were three in the library last year when we went over it in History, and I was planning to use it for a resource on a paper, and now they’re all checked out…” Mia smiled. “The nerve of some people, checking out books that you might want to read so they can do their homework.” He chuckled lightly. “Oh well, I needed my own copy anyway. Do you want to sneak over to the bookstore while they’re talking?” He couldn’t have asked a more welcome question.