by Maria Amor
They were two of about half a dozen people taking the elevators up to the loft itself, and Dylan resisted the urge to smile as Julia immediately turned on the charm, introducing herself to the other people in the elevator car, making connections through friends of friends of friends.
He had to admit as they entered the room that if anyone could charm a person into admitting they knew something about some kind of scandal, it was Julia; he’d seen her time and again turn up her social and sociable personality, laughing with just the right tone, quick with a compliment or a joke. He had always hated events like the one they were at—or at best, enjoyed them for an hour or two before the fakeness of it all got to him.
But standing next to Julia made him “someone” in a way that being a somewhat successful singer-songwriter hadn’t done; no one was paying attention to him out of the expectation that he would be the life of the party, but as they made their way around the room, everyone seemed to be curious about him. And everyone seemed to want information from him.
“I’d heard that you and Julia were palling around these days,” one of the party’s attendees—Dylan thought it was a were-panther—said, glancing in Julia’s direction. “How are you liking your return to Sandrine?”
“It’s good to be back on an even keel,” Dylan said, keeping one ear open for a signal from Julia, in case she needed an excuse to move on. “And to get back with my old friends, things like that.”
“You know, I know that people usually think that it’s strange for air and water-aligned creatures to get along, but I’ve always thought the two personality types are rather well-suited.”
“We have our issues,” Dylan said with a half-shrug. “But Julia and I have been friends since we were children.”
“Of course, you both still are,” the were-panther pointed out.
“Of course, but Julia is on the verge of coming into her full abilities, and I already have,” Dylan pointed out. “So, we’re almost adults.”
“It’s strange that she would bring an escort to an event designed to get her into contact with prospective boyfriends,” the were-panther observed.
“Her grandmother asked that she be escorted to all parties,” Dylan said. He leaned in a little closer. “Of course, you’d know already that she’s in a pretty...volatile time of her transition.” The were-panther raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t really know much about how you Guardians work,” the panther admitted.
“As we come into our full abilities, our bodies have to learn how to live with the energy that surges through us,” Dylan explained. “The effects are kind of…” he shrugged. “They’re unpredictable, especially if the Guardian is strong.”
“And of course, Julia is very, very strong—that much I do know about her.”
“So her grandmother wanted to make sure she has the right support,” Dylan explained. It was the best thing that they’d come up with as an excuse for his constant presence in Julia’s life. “It’s sort of a probation thing for me—integrate me back into the community after my disgrace.”
“Good on you for going your own way for a while, though,” the panther pointed out. “Not everyone has enough guts for that.” Dylan thanked the man and he eventually wandered away, after not getting whatever information he’d wanted from him.
Meanwhile, Julia seemed to have found someone who would be promising, and Dylan paid attention to her conversation as he hadn’t before, trying to figure out who it was. “Oh—Dylan, you’re free again?” Julia smiled her charming, social smile at him, and Dylan caught the gleam in her eyes; it was the same look that she always got when she was about to put something over on an oblivious adult.
But the person she was talking to was clearly closer to their age than their parents’ age. He looked more awkward than Dylan would have thought possible, with carrot-red hair, a splattering of freckles that didn’t seem to have any rhyme or reason, and dark brown eyes that looked out of place in his pale face.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name before,” Dylan said, extending his hand towards the guy.
“This is Lorin,” Julia told him, as Dylan shook the other boy’s hand; he felt his energy and immediately knew that Lorin was an earth-aligned Guardian, not particularly powerful, and years yet from coming into his full abilities, but one of the more important houses. “He’s gone off to college to study finance, but he was at Sandrine years and years ago before his parents transferred him to a school on the West Coast.”
“Oh? That’s interesting,” Dylan said, wondering why Julia thought this boy showed so much promise.
“Apparently, his parents are friends with our dean,” Julia told him, as if she’d read his mind. “I’ve been trying to dig up the old dirt.” Julia leaned in closer to Lorin, and in spite of himself, Dylan couldn’t quite help but feel a little stirring of jealousy.
“If you would believe Dylan, I am the biggest gossip in Sandrine history,” Julia told the older boy, somehow managing to give the idea that she thought it was the most endearing thing she could be. “But in spite of all my skills I can’t seem to find anyone who knows anything about our new dean.”
“That might be because this is the first job he’s had in education,” Lorin said. “I mean—he’s qualified, don’t get me wrong—but he’s just never been interested in it before.” Julia shot him a quick look, and Dylan almost felt as if she’d pinched him.
“What motivated him so suddenly?” Dylan wanted to pinch Julia, to tell her not to lay it on so thick; but apparently Lorin was eating up her bubbly, smart-stupid act.
“Maybe he found his calling, Jules,” Dylan said.
“He told my parents that he could see a future in it, where he couldn’t before,” Lorin said with a shrug. “He thought he could really accomplish things at Sandrine.”
“You know, he does strike me as the ambitious type,” Julia said. Dylan wanted to laugh and settled on smothering the noise with a cough. “Did he say why he chose Sandrine?”
“I don’t really remember,” Lorin admitted. “But I think it had to do with the relics—he’s kind of into magical relics, and Sandrine is the best school in North America for them, and the third-best school in the world.”
“I didn’t know that he had an interest in relics,” Dylan said.
“Oh—yeah, he actually is probably one of the most knowledgeable people on the planet about different magical relics,” Lorin said. “He’s been everywhere, studying how they’re made, what properties they have, all that kind of boring stuff.”
“That’s really interesting,” Julia said. “I guess he would probably have all the time he needs outside of school hours to study the ones at Sandrine.”
“Probably,” Lorin said, nodding. “But I was actually interested in getting to know you, Julia.” Dylan turned his head so that the gawky boy wouldn’t see the impossible-to-resist grin that twisted his lips at such an incredibly boneheaded subject change.
“Oh, there’s not much to know about me,” Julia said. “But I’d love to hear about what you’re studying in finance.”
Dylan gave Julia a quick glance, and she raised an eyebrow at him for just a second, telling him silently to find her an excuse as quickly as possible. Dylan looked around the room and tried to find a source for distraction, thinking that he’d been right: they’d lucked out. They might even luck out even more, before the night was through. No matter what happens, we leave before 12:30, Dylan thought. It would be tricky getting back home so soon after the ball dropped in Times Square, but they finally had their lead—even if Dylan wasn’t sure where it was taking them.
CHAPTER 17
“Okay,” Julia said, when she and Dylan had settled in for the long ride from Manhattan back to school. “We know that Dimitrios has some kind of interest in relics, and that Sandrine has a lot of valuable ones. I don’t know how that has to do with people being accused of stealing, but it has to have something to do with it.”
“Why?” Julia and Dylan had b
een arguing over the significance of what they’d learned from Lorin at the New Year’s Eve party ever since they’d left the party. Julia’s instinct was that there was some connection—Dylan just thought that it explained why Dimitrios chose Sandrine, and little else.
“Because, why would he be accusing people of stealing, and getting them in trouble for it?” Julia waved her hands around slightly. “I mean, it doesn’t make any sense at all—it’s so random. And the advisory board is just going along with it, along with the teachers he hired.”
“That doesn’t mean anything, though,” Dylan said. “I mean, yeah—there’s obviously something going on, but why does it have to be connected?” Julia groaned, letting her head fall back against the seat.
“Because he has to have some kind of goal in mind,” she said. “He can’t just be accusing people of theft for no reason, especially when nothing is actually being stolen. He’s working up to something bigger—or covering for something bigger.” She thought for a few moments. “Oh! Oh, my god.”
“What?” Dylan’s bright eyes widened and he looked at her with concern. “Are you about to get another surge?”
“No—no,” Julia said, dismissing the idea quickly. “The professors who left, and no one knows why.”
“What about them?” Dylan stared at her as if she’d grown two more heads.
“The changelings all left the school because of the accusations, right?” Dylan nodded, still looking utterly lost. “What if Dimitrios did something similar to the fired teachers? Either got them dismissed, or got them to quit, from a false accusation?”
“But wouldn’t we know about it?” Dylan’s incredulous look shifted into a skeptical one. “If there was some kind of scandal, how would they keep it a secret?”
“If it was about theft from the school, they’d want to keep it really, really quiet,” Julia pointed out. “If something was going on about the relics at the school, that’s the last thing they’d want to admit, right?”
“But what would be going on about them?” Dylan shook his head. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Dimitrios chose Sandrine because of all the relics,” Julia said. “And he’s been accusing people of stealing things.” Something tingled in her mind, and Julia tried to focus on it, tried to work out the pieces of an abstract puzzle that she could almost make out. “There’s something going on with Dimitrios and the relics, I know there is. And it has something to do with the teachers and Dean Lilgrace being gone.”
“What do you think he’s doing?” Dylan spread his hands out in front of him, gesturing blindly. “I mean, this is crazy.”
“I think he’s doing something with the relics that he doesn’t want people to know about,” Julia replied. “And I think he’s using the accusations of stealing to take attention away from it.”
“What about the new teachers?” Dylan raised both eyebrows.
“The new teachers are in on it somehow,” Julia suggested. “Maybe they know something about him, and he’s being blackmailed, or maybe they’re part of it—who knows? But we know what kind of questions we need to ask, and who we need to ask them.”
“We do?” Dylan shook his head. “I sure as hell don’t.”
“We need to ask a couple of the professors,” Julia said. “We need to ask the ones who were here before Dimitrios, and find out what they know.”
“I thought we were going to talk to the students who accused the air-aligned creatures,” Dylan said.
“Them too,” Julia agreed, nodding. “Because they’ve got to be some kind of part of it. But I know who we need to ask among the professors.”
“Who?” Dylan sighed. “You know, I’ve always known that you were quicker than me, but this seems like a big freaking leap.”
“It’s a leap,” Julia admitted. “I know. But there’s got to be some kind of connection, and you know it. The school with the most priceless relics, with a Dean who’s accusing people wrongly of stealing things, and a bunch of new teachers. A scandal that no one knows anything about.”
“It could be something totally different, though,” Dylan said. “It doesn’t have to all be related.”
“It doesn’t have to be, but it is,” Julia insisted. “I can feel it.”
“Water is about feelings,” Dylan told her curtly. “Air is supposed to be about intellect.”
“And intuition,” Julia said, her voice tart. “What we need to find out is if the teachers were fired before or after Dimitrios became the new dean.”
“Why?”
Julia groaned again. Everything seemed so clear—and yet so vague—in her mind; she was so close to an answer that she could almost taste it, and she knew she was, but she was still just far enough that she couldn’t for the life of her explain to Dylan why she thought the way she did.
“If he was the dean before they all had to leave, maybe they knew something about him,” Julia said. “If he didn’t become dean until after they all had to leave, then maybe they were up to something, and he’s covering it up, to try and keep things from going full-blown scandal.”
“If he’s trying to avoid a scandal, he’s failing,” Dylan pointed out. “I mean, the changelings leaving the school is pretty scandalous.”
“He doesn’t have to be good at it,” Julia said blandly. “But it would explain why he lets the new teachers pretty much do what they want, and why he’s constantly looking at the older teachers.”
“Even if he got there before the teachers had to leave?” Dylan frowned.
“Either way, but in different ways,” Julia said. “If he got the other teachers fired, then he’s obviously watching the rest of them because he thinks they know something. If he came in after they were fired, he’s watching them because…” she shrugged. “Maybe because he wants to keep things quiet, I don’t know. But it’s important.”
“We’re going to talk to students, and to professors?” Dylan sighed. “This is turning into some serious Nancy Drew stuff.”
“Dylan, you agreed to help me,” Julia reminded him. “You can’t just back out of it now.”
“I’m not backing out of it!” Dylan threw his hands in the air. “I’m just saying you’re going a thousand miles a minute and I can’t keep up with how you got to where you are.”
“Okay, okay,” Julia said. She took a deep breath; she could actually feel the wind beginning to make the car shake, and knew that the poor driver was probably struggling to keep them in their lane on the road. Julia closed her eyes and willed the wind to slow, willed the speed downward until it resumed its normal level. The need to calm her elemental energies had the added benefit of slowing down her thoughts.
“Here’s how I see it,” she said, opening her eyes. “Dimitrios chose Sandrine because of the relics, right?” Dylan nodded. “Something happened over the summer that both got a bunch of professors fired, and got Dimitrios hired, even though he’s never been a school dean or even a professor before.”
“I’m with you so far,” Dylan said.
“He’s letting his new professors do whatever they want, and at the same time he’s making the air-aligned creatures look bad, and making us all spend as much time as possible in study hall and the dorm buildings.”
“I don’t know that all of those things are connected, but okay,” Dylan said.
“The school advisory board is just...letting him do things,” Julia added, ticking off the point on her fingers. “There is no reason why they’d just let him do what he likes if they’re not getting something out of it. And there’s no reason why Dimitrios would have chosen the school if the relics weren’t important to him for whatever reason.”
“What do we know about the relics?” Dylan crossed his arms over his chest. “I mean—apart from the fact that they’re valuable.”
“Most of them are magical, and have magical properties,” Julia said. “They do different things.” She frowned and tried to remember what kinds of relics Sandrine actually had on site. “Like—Morgana’s Mirr
or.”
“Or Melusine’s rings,” Dylan said. Julia nodded.
“Most of them either do things, or are like, important to certain moments in history,” she said. “I can’t believe that Dimitrios just wants to study them.”
“Why not?” Julia made a face.
“Because if he just wanted to study them, why would he make everything so weird?”
“Maybe he’s really terrible at being a dean, and that’s all there is to it,” Dylan pointed out.
“You know, I appreciate the fact that you’re being logical and all, but this is getting annoying,” Julia told him.
“Just promise me that if we find out that there’s nothing to this weird pretend-conspiracy-theft ring-whatever you’re cooking up in your mind, you’ll back off,” Dylan said.
“If there’s nothing to it, then I’ll find a way to live with the fact that the dean is just a jerk,” Julia said. But secretly—or not so secretly—she thought that it couldn’t just be that. It had to be something more. People never did anything—anything at all—without some kind of goal in mind.
There had to be a reason that Dimitrios was going after the air-aligned creatures at the school, and there had to be a reason that so many teachers had left. There had to be some underlying reason that had to do with all of the various weird things that had gone on during the first half of the school year, and somehow it all had to come back to Dimitrios.
Are you just focusing on this to avoid thinking about the rest of the New Year’s party? Julia rejected the idea almost as fast as it appeared in her mind. Nothing had happened at the New Year’s party; she and Dylan had stuck mostly together, talking to different people, eating catered hors d'oeuvres, sipping sparkling cider—and rejecting the leering, slightly drunk offers from some of the adults to get them something harder to drink—and then at midnight they’d kissed each other on the cheek to avoid having to actually kiss anyone else. It was as much as she would have done with a brother, if she’d had a brother.
