by Maria Amor
“You think the professors going missing has to do with what Dimitrios is doing?” Dylan looked skeptical.
“Of course, it does,” Julia said firmly. “If Dimitrios could accomplish whatever it is he’s doing with them in place, they’d still be there.”
“But what do you think it all means?” Julia shrugged.
“I have no idea,” she admitted. “There’s something big going on behind the scenes, and somehow it helps Dimitrios and his friends to have everyone looking at the air-aligned creatures and Guardians. I don’t think he planned on the changelings taking all of their kids out—that just draws attention to him—but I don’t think he’s really thinking that far out.”
She sighed. “He may not even be in charge of it, just...sort of…” she shook her head. “Maybe he’s just in charge of whatever’s specifically happening at the school. The advisory board is accepting everything weird that he’s doing, which doesn’t make sense unless there’s something that they’re getting out of it.”
“Just how high do you think this goes?” Dylan stared at her, and Julia grinned.
“I have no idea,” she said. “I think we can make a safe bet that the elemental rulers—the people that Ruth is up there with—aren’t involved. She would know about it. But other than that?” she shrugged. “It could be anyone. And that’s why we’re going to these stupid parties and why I’m trying to get some good gossip.”
“What are your plans at the school?” Julia grabbed a piece of leftover turkey and dipped it into the cranberry sauce, bringing it to her mouth without making it into a sandwich.
“I have a few ideas,” she said. “The thing I want to get down—and figure out—is who all were making accusations about air-aligned students stealing things from them. And I want to find out why. That doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that people would just do on their own.”
“I’m with you on that,” Dylan said. “Especially that many.”
“So, someone’s getting them to do it,” Julia concluded. “But who? And why? Once we know who’s getting the earth-aligned students and the fire-aligned students to make accusations, we can maybe get to whoever that is, and find out something from them.”
“How are you going to pull that off?” Julia grinned.
“I have no idea. Yet,” she said. “But I know there’s got to be a way. I want to find out what they’re doing behind the scenes—it has to be something big—and then…” she waved her hands in an airy gesture. “Then we figure out what to do with it, once we know what it is.”
“How are you going to get to that point, though?”
“I’ve got a couple of friends in my alignment who are willing to do some digging,” Julia said. “And you—I’m going to need your help with some of the students. Also, there’s the fact that if I’m somewhere that you’re not, people will question it. At least, these days they will.” She shook her head; everyone at the school had just started assuming that where Julia was, Dylan was, and vice versa. “I have an idea, and you’re not going to like it—but I think it’ll work.”
“What’s the idea?” Dylan didn’t sound enthusiastic.
“There’s the usual back-to-school party after exams,” Julia said. “If we play our cards right, we can take turns being at the party and questioning the students somewhere else.” Dylan began to shake his head. “People will assume that if I’m there, you’re there—somewhere. And that if you’re there, I’m there—somewhere.”
“We’ll put that on the back burner for now,” Dylan said. “If I can get permission to pull something like that from your grandmother.”
“You can’t tell her,” Julia said quickly. “She won’t approve it, and this is the best way to do that part of the plan.”
“I’m not going to piss off the woman who is the most important Guardian of my own element just to suit you,” Dylan told her firmly. “I won’t do it.”
“It’s not like I’ll be off-campus,” Julia insisted. “We’ll take turns in one of the rooms near the convocation hall for it.”
“You’re assuming Dimitrios won’t cancel the party,” Dylan pointed out. Julia shrugged.
“I don’t think he really can, not after the bad press of the changelings leaving,” she countered. “If he does...we’ll figure something else out.”
“So next week we take a break from the parties for Christmas, and then?”
“And then the week between Christmas and New Year’s, we go to a few more parties and try and figure something out about what’s going on at the school,” Julia said.
“You have a lot of faith in this whole situation,” Dylan told her doubtfully.
“You agreed to help me,” Julia reminded him. “And we need to figure this out. It’s obvious that no one else is going to.”
“You’re going really far out on a limb, I hope you know that,” Dylan said. He sighed. “But I did agree to help you, and if I don’t, I know you’ll just do it anyway and leave me even more out of the loop.”
“You know for a fact that I’m right to do this,” Julia told Dylan. “The changelings leaving the school makes the whole situation a lot more important. I need to find out what’s going on, before Dimitrios decides to come after me.” That aspect of it was something she hadn’t brought to Dylan’s attention before.
“He might come after you because you’re investigating him,” Dylan pointed out.
“But I might as well give him reason, rather than waiting for the axe to fall,” Julia said. “And depending on what’s going on, it could be dangerous for both of us. There’s no telling when Dimitrios might decide to come after us, and then where would we be? If he accuses me of stealing, what would I be able to do about it?” Dylan sighed and folded a slice of bread over a few pieces of turkey.
“Fine, fine,” he said. “We’ll see if we can figure it out, and if we can...we’ll see if we can do anything about it.” He gave her a firm look. “But the week off will be an actual week off, right?”
“We wouldn’t be able to work on it anyway,” Julia agreed. “Might as well actually enjoy some part of our break from school.”
CHAPTER 16
“Been out haunting the neighborhood, and everybody can see I’m no good…” Dylan could hear the music coming through the wall that separated his bedroom from Julia’s, and smiled slightly to himself, neglecting to turn on his own music to drown out what his neighbor was playing.
It was eerily appropriate to the day, in spite of it being New Year’s Eve; instead of snow, or even the kind of bright, cold day that Manhattan was known for in winter, it was gray out, and drizzly—never enough to be proper rain, just enough to leave coats and scarves and boots clammy and gross, to let the cold air sink in through a person’s clothes, seemingly right down to their bones. Elliott Smith is exactly right for this kind of weather, Dylan thought, hauling his sweater and tee shirt over his head.
A week before almost to the day, had been Christmas. Guardians varied in their religious traditions—but he and his family had never been particularly devout, and neither had Julia’s family. It was, for them, more of a family holiday than a religious observance; his parents had come into Manhattan just a couple of days before, and he, Julia, and their parents celebrated together, sitting around and opening a few presents, drinking coffee, eating a breakfast that Julia’s mother had ordered in. His parents had gotten him socks and a new watch, while Julia’s parents had gotten him thermal pajama pants and a pair of slippers.
He and Julia had each gone to absurd lengths to avoid the other discovering what they’d bought for Christmas presents. Dylan smiled to himself as he started pulling out clothes for the New Year’s Eve party they were supposed to go to, remembering the fact that it had actually been fun in a way—hiding Julia’s present from her, while trying to figure out where she’d hid his. They’d both ordered each other’s presents online, since they couldn’t exactly go to the store separately.
Julia had bought him a few small things: an amulet
made by a water-aligned witch that her grandmother had taught, to amplify his abilities, a “travel guitar,” and a pin for his school tie. She’d bundled it all in a big bag, and Dylan had already gotten used to wearing the amulet—made of amethyst, with a chamber of quicksilver inside of it, and a cage of silver wire. Dylan hoped that as Julia came closer to reaching her full potential as a Guardian, the amulet would help him do what Ruth wanted of him—keep her from overindulging her abilities, help ride rein on her.
Dylan had thought carefully about the gift he got for Julia; he didn’t want to get her something disappointing after how well his birthday present to her had gone. He’d bought her two copper anklets, to bolster her airy energy, along with tickets to see The Strokes on one of their rare, rare concert appearances at a festival in New York the following year.
He’d been browsing online, not searching for anything in particular, when he found a book that he knew she’d love: a collection of ancient Sumerian stories, transcribed but not translated. He’d ordered it from an academic textbook company, and he’d already seen Julia perusing it, using her air-aligned intellect and sense of language to start to learn the words inside it, more than once.
The song changed in Julia’s room and Dylan thought she must have a playlist on, set to random. “Start stop and start...stupid acting smart...flirting with the flicks...you say it’s just for kicks...you’ll be the victim of your own dirty tricks…”
The party they were going to was at the home of one of Manhattan’s wealthiest families; Julia had somehow found out that they had a connection to Dimitrios, that he was allied with them in some way. “If no one at that party knows anything, then we’re going to have to go to plan B,” Julia had said, explaining the situation to him earlier in the day.
“I didn’t even know you had a plan B,” Dylan had commented.
“It’s not so much a plan,” Julia had admitted. “Basically, it would be to question all of the professors who are still at the school about the ones who left.” She’d made a face, and Dylan understood immediately why she didn’t want to do things that way, even if it was the most direct path to figuring something out: the other professors might not know, and even if they did, they might not tell. They were all already afraid for their jobs—a snooping student would be among their worst nightmares.
Dylan idly listened to the music coming from the next room as he got dressed, smoothing the dress shirt he’d chosen against his skinny torso, tucking it into the black pants he’d put on. He’d spoken to Ruth privately in the week they had between parties, and the older woman had pointed out that nothing she’d been able to uncover had helped figure out what the situation was at the school.
“If it’s getting bad enough that the changelings took their students out, then that’s something I can bring to the council, ruffle a few feathers. In the meantime, be careful. This opens both of you up to criticism and revenge from the people in power right now.”
“Don’t you think she should back off completely?”
“Dylan,” Ruth had said, “if you somehow find a way to convince my granddaughter to back off something she’s decided to do, please let me know what method you used, because in all of my years, and all of her life, I have never found a way to do it.”
Dylan left his room, and headed for the living room where he and Julia had agreed to meet when they were ready to go. He could still hear the music in her room, Yeah Yeah Yeahs instead of Elliott Smith. Dylan adjusted the amulet on its chain, and looked around the empty living room.
A few moments later, the volume on the music coming from Julia’s room increased, and then the song cut out. Dylan wondered why he felt nervous, waiting for Julia to emerge. He told himself it was because so much hinged on that party, but he couldn’t help but remember how he’d spent the previous New Year’s Eve: at an industry event, with a date arranged by his manager, Lisa, who kissed him and whispered in his ear that she could get a hotel room for them both in LA.
He’d driven her home, but the whole experience had been so surreal, so bizarre, that he hadn’t even wanted to have another New Year’s date. It’s not a date. It’s recon. You’re escorting her and helping her get information.
Julia came out of the hallway, and in spite of seeing her in many guises, and dressed beautifully for many events over the past six months, Dylan couldn’t help but stare. Julia had done her own hair, which meant that it was simple: nothing more than a bun, but somehow it made her look striking, more elegant than she ever looked at Sandrine.
The party was formal, but it wasn’t the sort of event for a ball gown; instead, Julia wore a knee-length black dress with a gold-colored bow and a black wrap over it, along with shoes that somehow managed to match—black, heeled ankle boots with gold bows on them, and the jewelry set her parents had gotten her for her birthday. She was wearing makeup, which Dylan hadn’t expected to entirely like, but she’d somehow managed to bring a golden tone to it without looking gaudy.
“What do you think?” Dylan gave himself a shake.
“I think if you’re looking to seduce some earth-aligned Guardians, you definitely picked the right colors,” he said, grinning.
“I figured it’s a New Year’s party, so gold would be a good choice,” Julia said, looking almost self-conscious.
“You look stunning,” Dylan reassured her. “I think we’ll get lucky tonight.” Julia looked up from the floor, raising one well-groomed eyebrow at his phrasing.
“That isn’t what I had in mind,” she said archly. Dylan felt his cheeks heat up with a blush, and remembered the previous New Year’s Eve.
“I didn’t mean it that way,” he said quickly. “I just meant that I think we’ll find someone who knows something.” Julia grinned.
“As long as you save me from having to kiss someone at midnight,” she said.
“I don’t know if I can manage that,” Dylan admitted. “But I’ll try.”
“Pact?” Julia tilted her head to the side slightly. “We find each other before the countdown, if we get separated, and kiss each other on the cheek so no one else gets any cute ideas?” It was something they’d done before, when they’d been friends; Dylan wondered once again if they’d somehow managed to move past everything that had separated them for two years, if they were really friends—or just friends of circumstance.
“Deal,” Dylan said, extending his hand for Julia to shake. She gripped his hand with confidence, and Dylan checked the time on his new watch. “We’d better get downstairs,” he pointed out. “The car will be here any minute.”
He tried to shake off the strange feeling of nervous excitement that filled him up every few moments as they made their way to the ground floor lobby of the apartment building, and remind himself that there was nothing about the night that would really—truly—be any different from any of the other parties they’d gone to. It felt different though, somehow; it felt like something significant.
The party was only a handful of blocks away from Julia’s parents’ apartment, but on New Year’s Eve that might as well have been on the other side of the city. Dylan and Julia waited as patiently as they could in the back seat of the car, looking around at the sight of New Yorkers making their way to various events, at the slow-to-a-crawl traffic on either side of the hired car. Julia’s parents had arranged for it, going to a party of their own, and Dylan thought to himself as they slowly made their way towards the big event that both he and Julia were the epitome of “poor little rich kids” in a way.
“You know, I bet a lot of people would think that the way we were brought up was kind of soulless,” Dylan commented to Julia, even as he craned his head to see if they were any closer to the building where the party was being held.
“Neither of us was raised by nannies, though,” Julia countered.
“We do go to a school that keeps us away from our parents for five nights a week,” Dylan persisted. “And we only see them for maybe one day of the weekend.”
“You don’t even
see your parents that much,” Julia pointed out. “But we’re almost adults.”
“Yeah, but what age were we when we started going to Sandrine? You were ten, and I barely even had any time at all in a regular elementary school before I started going there.”
“The big difference though is that our parents never treated us like they didn’t care,” Julia said. “At least, as far as I know—I don’t know about your home life situation.”
“My parents worked in the city until I got into the industry,” Dylan said. “But even then, there were parties and events and meetings they had to go to, all the time.”
“We’re city kids,” Julia said with a shrug. “The whole situation is different for us. If we hadn’t been born into rich families, we’d be latch-key kids, or whatever you call it anymore. Most of the kids in the city, even in like...the Bronx, or Brooklyn, or Queens, don’t see their parents much more than we see ours.”
“Definitely most of the kids in Manhattan don’t,” Dylan agreed. He shrugged. “It just seems weird sometimes. Like—if we ever had a chance to tell someone who isn’t in the supernatural world about everything, you know?”
“They’d call the cops and say we needed to be committed,” Julia told him with a little grin. “But yeah, I get what you’re saying. They’d think it was bizarre.”
The car pulled up to the curb then, and they were forced to abandon the conversation. Dylan got out first, and held out his hand to help Julia. We’ve got all this down to a fine art, he thought with more than a little amusement. Julia took their invitation out of her purse and the driver pulled away from the curb, maneuvering into traffic like a slightly clumsy beetle, as they both strode towards the entrance of the building.
The Midtown Loft building was impressive itself, but once they were inside, it was even nicer, and Dylan thought that the family they were there ostensibly to see had definitely either laid out far more money than he’d ever seen in his life, or had been incredibly lucky to get the venue.
