Graduation Day (Schooled in Magic Book 14)

by Christopher Nuttall

  “Mother Holly was new, utterly inexperienced,” Fulvia said. “But Shadye and Dua Kepala were old and powerful ... cunning too, in their way. Why were you able to beat them? And where were you able to beat them?”

  Emily felt the wards grow stronger, pressing down on her. She gritted her teeth, fighting to stay upright as they tried to push her to her knees. The pressure grew stronger and stronger, hammering at her defenses ...

  “You had a nexus point,” Fulvia said. “In both places, you had a nexus point. And I think that you have a talent for using nexus points. Why else would you not be sent out to kill the rest of the necromancers?”

  “I needed to finish my schooling,” Emily said.

  Fulvia gestured. The wards crashed down, hard. Emily fell to her knees, the pressure growing until she toppled forward, her head pressed to the floor. She thought, just for a second, that she was doomed, that Fulvia was going to crush her ...

  ... And then the pressure receded, just enough to let her breathe. “Do not treat me as if I am an idiot,” Fulvia said, sharply. “You and I both know that your schooling is of no importance, compared to the necromantic threat. You weren’t sent out to kill the other necromancers because you aren’t that much more powerful than a normal magician without a nexus point.”

  Emily forced herself into a sitting position. Fulvia was right, of course. In truth, Emily had expected someone to figure the connection out long ago. Perhaps they hadn’t wanted to believe the truth. Or perhaps they hadn’t wanted to reveal the truth. Emily’s reputation might well have scared some of the other necromancers away from Whitehall, even if it hadn’t impressed too many of the senior magicians. And Fulvia had a nexus point of her own. She’d certainly know that someone could draw on their power to perform awesome feats.

  “There is so much about you that doesn’t quite make sense, Emily,” Fulvia said. “What am I missing?”

  “I don’t know,” Emily said, dully. She needed to play for time ... she wanted to open the link, but she didn’t dare. If she distracted Melissa at the worst possible time ... “I thought you had all the answers.”

  “You do know,” Fulvia said. “And I will make you talk.”

  Emily forced herself to look up at Fulvia. “For what? Gordian can’t cover everything up forever, can he? What will happen to your family when the truth comes out? Are you going to keep them in thrall for the rest of your life?”

  Fulvia laughed. It was a chilling sound. “I’m dying, Emily. What do I care about what happens after I die?”

  “You’re dying?”

  “I would be dead by now, if I hadn’t been able to use the nexus point to keep the disease from spreading.” Fulvia shrugged. “I was young and foolish and a little unsure of myself ... we have quite a bit in common, you know. The disease spread rapidly as soon as I was removed from my post. Magic can prolong a person’s life indefinitely, as your father can testify, but me ... I’m too far gone to recover now. The cure would kill me.”

  Emily winced. “And so you’re going to bring the entire family crashing down?”

  Fulvia’s eyes flashed fire. “They rejected me! Me! After all I did for them, they rejected me! What do I care if they burn?”

  You don’t, Emily thought. It made sense. Fulvia was Melissa’s great-grandmother, old enough to have gone to school with Void. And yet, they’re her family.

  “They said I’m not a true Ashworth,” Fulvia snapped. “I gave Antonius children, damn his eyes! And Maximus had the nerve to reject me, to say Antonius should put me aside ... I struck at him. Of course I struck at him! I cut the bastard out of the family! How was I to know that I’d accidentally managed to cut out the rest of his bloodline too?”

  Emily forced herself to think. Maximus? Markus’s father? No, Markus’s great-grandfather ... the one who’d left the Ashworths, taking a third of the family with him. Emily thought she saw it now, both why the feud was so bitter and why neither family really wanted to talk about it. No one wanted to talk about a family tearing itself apart. By now, Fulvia might be the only one who knew the truth. Markus and Melissa certainly didn’t know what had really happened.

  “I ruled the family when Antonius died,” Fulvia thundered. “It was mine. None dared stand in my way! Until you, you little insect, got me thrown out.”

  She laughed. “But it didn’t last, did it?”

  “No,” Emily said. “You managed to climb back to the top.”

  “My son has always been dependable,” Fulvia said. “He was willing to step aside for me, as long as I won the inquest. It never occurred to him that I might have something else in mind.”

  “You wanted revenge on me,” Emily said. “Frieda was just a means to an end.”

  “Quite.” Fulvia smiled, coldly. “And now I have you.”

  A chill ran down Emily’s spine. She held herself steady. Fulvia would have killed her by now, if that was all she wanted. No, Fulvia wanted to gloat ... and, after that, she wanted to undo everything Emily had done. That wouldn’t be easy, but ... as long as she had control of the nexus point, no one could get into the manor. Fulvia could spend her few remaining days in relative peace, torturing Emily to death.

  She forced herself to look up. “Melissa may have been disowned, but there are others,” she said, wondering what had happened to Melissa’s younger brother. Iulius had been twelve, if Emily remembered correctly. He’d be fifteen or sixteen now, perhaps old enough to go to Mountaintop. “Your bloodline could live on.”

  “My bloodline betrayed me,” Fulvia said.

  Emily ignored her. “Surrender now. Your family will disown you, of course, but at least they’ll be spared from reprisals. House Ashworth will go on, instead of being smashed flat. Your great-grandchildren will inherit the house ...”

  “I killed my grandson,” Fulvia said. She spoke so casually that the full meaning of her words didn’t quite register. “Why do you think I care about the rest of the family?”

  “They’re your blood relatives,” Emily said, numbly. She didn’t know why she was so shocked. She’d had plenty of evidence that Fulvia didn’t give a damn about anyone other than herself. Fulvia had been prepared to marry Melissa off to Gaius, a match made in hell, just to ensure that Melissa couldn’t threaten her. And Emily’s own father had abandoned his family when she’d been a baby. “If they die ...”

  She swallowed, hard. “If they die, your bloodline will be wiped out. This house will be destroyed, the nexus point snuffed out, the ...”

  “Ah, so you do know how to do that,” Fulvia said. She smiled, as if she’d won a point. “I look forward to extracting the secret from your mind.”

  Emily scowled. She didn’t know what had happened to the nexus point at Heart’s Eye, let alone how to make it happen again. But she doubted Fulvia would believe her if she issued a flat denial. No, she’d break down Emily’s defenses, piece by piece, then ransack her mind until there was nothing left. And then ... what would Fulvia do if she knew about Earth?

  She’s old enough to have learned soul magics before the White Council put restrictions on them, Emily thought. She might even have been the one who taught Daze.

  She jerked as Melissa’s voice suddenly flooded into her mind. We’re in place, Melissa sent, a flurry of worried emotions accompanying her voice. We’re ready to subvert the nexus point.

  Hurry, Emily sent back. She didn’t think Fulvia could sense the link, but if Fulvia started to probe her mind she might just realize it was there. Time isn’t on our side.

  Fulvia gestured. A door opened. Frieda stepped through, moving with a series of jerky motions that told Emily she wasn’t in control of her body. She looked unhurt, physically, but she was covered in compulsion spells. Emily felt a surge of pure hatred as she looked at her friend, then back at Fulvia. Hadn’t Frieda gone though enough?

  “I will break you,” Fulvia said. “And then, when your secrets are mine, I will use them to make the White Council forgive me.”

  Emily felt the wards
tighten around her. She reached for her power, even though she knew it would be futile. Fulvia could simply drain her spells before they were properly cast. And yet ...

  She looked up. She didn’t have to stall for much longer, did she?

  “You’re dying,” she said. Unless Fulvia had lied about that ... no, if she’d lied, she’d thrown everything away for nothing. “What does it matter?”

  Fulvia smiled, coldly. “To watch all those powerful magicians, all those great lords and ladies from bloodlines so pure they can count their ancestors back a thousand years, bow to my will? To watch them let me go, even though they want to kill me, because I have something they want ...”

  A power game, Emily thought. Ice ran down her spine. Fulvia wanted the entire White Council to bow to her, one final time. And if they understood what Fulvia could learn from Emily’s mind, they’d do it. She’s a monster.

  Fulvia stopped dead, looking up sharply. “Oh, that’s clever,” she said. Emily could have sworn she heard honest admiration in her voice. “You came in willingly, while your friends sneaked through the wards. And you distracted me while they crept down to the nexus chamber! Brilliant!”

  Her eyes hardened. “But futile.”

  She snapped her fingers ...

  ... And Melissa’s thoughts winked out of existence.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  MELISSA WAS DEAD?

  Emily nearly panicked, just for a second. She’d grown used to the link, to the point where it felt almost normal to be vaguely aware of Melissa at the back of her mind. And now it was gone? Melissa was dead? But she couldn’t be dead. The mental link was nowhere near as intimate as a marriage bond, yet Emily should have felt something if Melissa had died. She should be screaming in pain, not ...

  She reached along the link, desperately. Melissa had to be alive. The link would have snapped out of existence if she’d died, right? A cold sensation greeted her, an impression of ice and snow and ... Melissa was frozen, completely frozen. Her thoughts were locked down completely. Emily could feel the wards buzzing around Melissa, holding her suspended in a moment of time.

  “It was clever of you to sneak a team of magicians through the wards,” Fulvia said. “May I ask how you did it?”

  Her voice dripped subtle compulsion. Emily gritted her teeth, trying to split her attention between Melissa and Fulvia. The compulsion was strong, easily strong enough to overwhelm a normal student. She silently blessed everyone who’d insisted she practice detecting and repelling threats to her mind. The headaches had been nightmarish, but ...they’d been worthwhile. Fulvia would have had her if she hadn’t practised.

  “Melissa is very clever,” Emily managed. It was hard to talk normally. She’d never been that good at multitasking. “She thought there was a gap in the wards her father created.”

  “Interesting,” Fulvia said, slowly. She didn’t seem inclined to doubt Emily’s word. But then, she had used a very powerful compulsion. “I will draw that secret out of her mind, of course.”

  “Of course,” Emily echoed. She pushed her thoughts back down the link. Melissa was frozen, but ... her marriage bond was still intact. Markus was frozen too, yet ... there was something odd about the way the magic surrounded him. Something off ... “You don’t have to do this, really.”

  She reached through the link, then down the bond. Markus jerked in shock - the bond shouldn’t have allowed her to pass through - then gathered himself as Emily thrust information into his mind. For an instant, she saw through his eyes. Jade and Cat were frozen too ... it wasn’t clear if they could still think, or if they too were trapped in time. But Markus could still think. He could still cast spells. If Fulvia could be distracted, Markus could break free.

  Why? Emily asked herself. Why aren’t the wards holding him suspended too?

  It struck her in a flash. Markus was a direct descendent of Maximus, the one who’d left the family. Been cut out of the family, if Fulvia was telling the truth. But Maximus might not have been completely locked out of the nexus point ... Fulvia had married into the family, instead of being born into it. The wards might repel Maximus, but they wouldn’t want to hurt him. And that applied to his descendent too ...

  We need a diversion, Emily thought. She gritted her teeth. This wasn’t going to be pleasant, whatever happened. I need her focused on me.

  “I brought something to trade for Frieda,” she said, reaching into her bag. The battery felt warm against her hand. “If you let Frieda go, I’ll show you how to make it for yourself.”

  “You’ll show me anyway,” Fulvia said. She made no move to keep Emily from pulling the battery and valve out of the bag. “What is that?”

  Emily smiled. The wards hadn’t recognized the battery as anything dangerous. They hadn’t recognized that it might be dangerous, let alone flagged it up for inspection. In hindsight, she could have smuggled gunpowder into the manor too. Paren and his rebels had certainly managed to get pistols and ammunition into King Randor’s castle, simply because the guards had placed an inordinate amount of faith in the wards. But Fulvia’s wards were probably strong enough to contain the blast.

  She allowed her fingers to touch the valve, activating the spellware she’d buried within the wood. Fulvia would probably notice if she tried to change the spell, but ... she’d have to make do with what she had. And then her mind touched the battery itself ...

  “This is something new,” she said, bracing herself. The battery started to open, raw magic spilling out. “This will change the world.”

  Fulvia’s eyes went wide, an instant before the magic cascaded into the ward. The stored spell flared into existence, hacking away at the other spells within the room. Emily felt the wards stagger and defocus, giving her a chance to pull back and gather her defenses. Fulvia let out a squawk of alarm as her personal protections began to fade, then darted to one side with surprising speed as Frieda hurled a fireball at her back. The compulsion charms on her had snapped too.

  And the spell doesn’t discriminate, Emily thought, as she moved forward. If she could knock Fulvia out before she recovered ... All of our spells are being attacked.

  Fulvia gasped, then gestured savagely in Emily’s direction. A force punch struck her, hard enough to rattle the teeth in her mouth. It should have been a great deal stronger ... Fulvia simply hadn’t been able to force the spell to work properly, not through the cancelling field. Emily staggered, then forced herself to keep going. Fulvia seemed to have enough presence of mind to get out of the field ...

  The field snapped out of existence as the battery ran dry. Emily grunted as Melissa’s thoughts cascaded back into her mind, proof that Markus had freed her and the others from suspension. Fulvia wouldn’t know, she hoped. The spellware linking her to the nexus point had been badly weakened, if it hadn’t been destroyed altogether. Fulvia would have crushed them both by now if she’d still controlled the wards.

  Fulvia gestured, again. Emily jumped to one side as a massive fireball flew past her - close enough for her to feel the heat - and exploded against the far wall. Fulvia cast another spell and another, showing a proficiency that reminded Emily of Void. She gritted her teeth as she cast a fireball of her own, trying to force Fulvia to burn up some of her own energy deflecting it. But Fulvia swatted the fireball out of existence with contemptuous ease ...

  Keep her focused on us, Emily thought. She heard something crashing in the distance and hoped it was a good sign. Don’t give her a chance to think about the others.

  Fulvia’s hand moved in a complex manner, as if she was designing a spell on the fly. An instant later, an invisible web of magic formed around Emily, pressing into her protections and weakening them with terrifying speed. Emily shoved her protections forward, only to discover that it wasn’t enough ... not this time. The web broke through her wards and reached for her ... she threw herself to the side an instant before the magic could touch her skin and burn into her soul. Fulvia laughed - a disturbing sound - and cast another spell. Emily fo
und herself yanked into the air by an invisible force and held suspended upside down in front of Fulvia.

  “You are no match for me,” Fulvia said, flatly. “You are strong for your age, Emily, but I am far more experienced.”

  “And evil,” Emily managed. She cursed the dress under her breath. It was threatening to fall down, blocking her vision. “You’ll tear down the entire family.”

  Fulvia shrugged. Frieda shot an entire stream of spells at Fulvia, but the older woman simply ignored them. Emily gritted her teeth, trying to analyze the spells holding her in the air as Fulvia swung her around. They were complex, yet ...

  She cast a levitation spell and went upwards, banging her feet into the stone ceiling. The spell vanished a second later, sending her falling back to the floor. She forced her magic down, slamming raw power into the stone to cushion her fall. Fulvia snorted, then cast a spell of her own. Emily rolled out of the way, throwing back a set of spells that would have crippled any of the students in Whitehall. Fulvia merely brushed them off.

  She’s playing with us, Emily thought. She could kill us both at any moment and she knows it.

  She sent an update down the link to Melissa, hoping - praying - that the others were on the verge of success. Fulvia knew they were still frozen, but it wouldn’t be long before it occurred to her that she should check on the nexus point anyway. She’d have to go back down there to re-establish her link to the wards, whatever else happened. And then ... a force punch struck Emily, picking her up and throwing her across the room. Emily landed hard, casting a transfiguration spell back. Perhaps, just perhaps, it could sneak through Fulvia’s wards ...

  Fulvia laughed. “I’ve been doing that trick for longer than you’ve been alive,” she said, darkly. “And now ...”