Rebel Magisters

by Shanna Swendson

  He gestured at his attire. “He’s going to think that anyway, especially since we were able to get past the barrier. If you lot join us, we’ll just be blamed.”

  Camilla stomped her foot. “But it was our plan! You got the idea from us.”

  “What will you do if we don’t cooperate?” Adonis asked. “Put a hex on us? As you’ve seen, we have a way to stop that.”

  “We have other weapons,” Camilla said, her voice dropping to a growl.

  The Mechanics laughed again, and Adonis held his arms out. “Do your worst, milady.”

  “We’ll—we’ll call the authorities.”

  Henry and I had been lurking in the crowd of Mechanics, but Henry moved forward at that. “Don’t tell me you’d really be that petty, Camilla,” he said.

  “Henry, what are you doing with them?” Brad asked.

  “I was hoping to get all of you to listen to reason.” He turned to Adonis. “They can help, really.”

  “Why should we trust them?” Adonis asked. “Can’t you do the same things they could?”

  “I can, I suppose.” Henry worried his lower lip in his teeth for a moment, then moved toward the barrier. “Look, you haven’t given them much reason to trust you,” he told his friends. “Let them deal with the tea. You can manage a perimeter and help them escape afterward. Maybe that will help them trust you in the future. Are you after glory or results?”

  The magisters all looked at each other, then Camilla said, “Very well,” to Henry before turning and walking away. The rest of the magisters joined her.

  Behind us, the Mechanics had already boarded the ship and subdued the crew, who weren’t putting up much resistance. “They may be right about one thing,” Athena said. “If we steal the tea, they can say it was merely a criminal act. They won’t have to admit it was a political act of defiance. Throw the tea into the harbor.”

  Adonis nodded, then shouted, “Let’s brew ourselves a giant cup of freedom tea! But damage nothing else!”

  The rest of the Mechanics boarded the ship, and Henry and I joined them. A few men went below and began passing up crates. When the crates reached the deck, the rest of us went to work smashing them open and dumping them overboard. Henry and I didn’t have any tools, so we helped kick any spilled tea off the deck and into the harbor.

  Although I appreciated the cause and understood what we were doing, I still couldn’t help but sigh at the thought of all that tea going to waste. I liked tea, and I was grateful that my position in Henry’s house and the need to maintain my cover as a loyal subject of the Empire required me to continue drinking it.

  As we worked, some of the Mechanics began singing their version of the “Yankee Doodle” song, changing the lyrics to suit the occasion. “Yankee Doodle went to town, to have a big tea party. Beat the magpies and made some tea, enough to serve an army.” It perhaps wasn’t the most poetic turn of phrase, but it made everyone laugh, and soon the rest of the group picked up the chorus. The atmosphere became rather festive, and it was almost a disappointment when the hold was emptied.

  One of the men pulled a flask out of his coat pocket and passed it around the assembled conspirators. I took a sip when it reached me and gasped as the harsh liquid burned my throat and made my eyes water so badly I could hardly see to pass it on to Henry. He gently took it out of my hand to take his own sip.

  Adonis called for attention, and the crowd grew silent. “We’ve struck a major blow tonight. Now, let us disperse or hide as quietly as possible.” He turned to the crew. “We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.”

  All of us filed off, down the gangplank, and approached the barrier. Now that the deed was done and my elation was fading, I began to worry about how we’d get away and get back to the house. Surely someone would have noticed the activity at the docks, and that would mean the authorities were on their way.

  The device did its work in lowering the magical barrier once more. Some of the magisters were still waiting outside the barrier, though not all who had come from the party. Once we were all through and magic was working again, Camilla approached Adonis. “Do you want us to do something about the guards?”

  “Like what?”

  “I can subdue them so you can untie them, and we can adjust their memories so they won’t know for certain what happened here.”

  “I think we’ll leave them tied up. The shift will change soon, and that way they’ll know what happened.”

  “You want the authorities to know about your device?”

  “They didn’t see anything other than a bunch of people who looked like magisters rushing at them. They don’t know how we did it. See, we managed to do all this just fine without magic.”

  “We can help you escape.”

  “Don’t need the help. Thanks for the offer, though.” He gave her a mocking bow. “Have a good evening, milady.”

  The Mechanics appeared to melt into the darkness. I didn’t even see where Athena’s roadster went. I wasn’t sure they’d gone anywhere. Were they hiding at the docks?

  “I can’t believe you sided with them,” Camilla snarled at Henry.

  “I didn’t side with anyone. Someday, everyone will realize that we just need one revolution, and we’ll get nowhere if we fight each other.” He turned to me. “Now, come on, Verity, we’d best be going.”

  Now that our mission was accomplished, it seemed like our real danger began. There were very few legitimate reasons for people to be on the streets at this time of morning. It was too late for most honest people to be coming home, and too early for even those who worked very early in the morning to be going out. It would be another hour or so before the bakers were at their ovens, and the scullery maids were still sound asleep.

  Near the docks, there were taverns open, men spilling out of them, and a few women waited under lampposts. All of that made me uncomfortable and grateful for Henry’s presence, but it became worse as we drew closer to the magister neighborhood.

  There, the streets were completely deserted, other than the occasional policeman on foot patrol. I was sure that anyone out at this time would be taken as a thief. We didn’t even have the option of using Henry’s name and title because that would reveal that he was out with his governess late at night, and that would create a scandal that would jeopardize my position. I was starting to understand why he’d suggested that I go home earlier. He could have played the role of dissolute young nobleman staggering home after a night out with friends, but my presence added a complication.

  Instead, we tried to avoid the patrols. We moved as quietly as we could, keeping to shadows and not moving into the light until we were sure no one was nearby. We both used our magic to blend into the shadows whenever we were near others. I had seldom used magic outside Henry’s study, and I hadn’t realized how draining it was to use this much power in a real crisis.

  When we reached the governor’s house, we encountered another problem: There was a sentry at the house. Henry barely pulled me behind the front steps of the adjacent house before the guard turned toward us.

  Chapter Eleven

  In Which

  I Appear En Dishabille

  “Word must have come about what happened,” Henry whispered into my ear. His breath was warm on my neck, but it made me shiver.

  “How will we get in?” I whispered in reply.

  “I don’t know.”

  I couldn’t help but think of another time I’d hid with a young man while patrols went past. Alec had sheltered me like this when he’d pretended we were being pursued so I would sympathize with the Mechanics. This time, though, it wasn’t a game. We really had done something illegal, and there really was a danger of being caught.

  “What we need is a diversion,” I said. “If we can draw his attention elsewhere long enough for us to reach the service entrance, we might be able to sneak in.”

  “Excellent idea, Verity. I’ll go around the corner and make some noise, and you rush for the door.”

&
nbsp; He started to head out of our hiding place, but I caught him by the arm. “What about you? How will you get in?”

  “Through the front door. No one will think anything of me having been out late with my friends from school. They’re all respectable people. You’re the one at risk.”

  “You could get in trouble with the governor.”

  “I believe I’m allowed at least one night out while the children are safely under the supervision of their grandfather. Now, wait until the guard turns away, and then rush for the door.”

  The sentry approached us, then turned and walked the other direction, and Henry took that moment to dash around the corner. He must have gone around the entire block because it was several more minutes before a loud noise came from the opposite direction. The sentry ran to investigate, and I flung myself out of the hiding place and down the steps to the service entrance, where little Harry was already opening the door to see what was going on.

  “Get me in, quick,” I told him.

  Without hesitating, he pulled me inside and shut the door softly. He hustled me down the empty hall to the back stairs. I removed the coat and hat while I waited for him to check my hallway, then tiptoed down the hall to my room when he told me the way was clear.

  Once inside my room, I tore my outer clothes off as quickly as possible and pulled my nightgown over my head. I sat down for a moment to remove my boots and stockings, grabbed a shawl to throw around my shoulders, and pulled the pins from my hair and shook it loose as I ran down the stairs.

  I flung open the heavy front door and stood silhouetted in the doorway. A figure moved toward the house from the shadows nearby. Wishing that my magical powers included some sort of silent communication, I hoped Henry would hold back rather than revealing himself to the guard. I stepped farther out onto the front steps. When I was sure the sentry had seen me, I blinked as though I’d been awakened from a deep sleep and said, “Whatever is that noise? It sounds like the city is exploding.”

  He came up the steps to speak to me. “Nothing to be alarmed about, miss. There’s been some ruckus in the harbor, and it sounds like the culprits are celebrating.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the figure dart from the shadows to the servants’ entrance below the front steps. “Oh, that’s good to know,” I said. “The sound woke me, and I wasn’t sure if I needed to do something to protect the children.”

  “No, you’re perfectly safe, miss. We’re keeping an eye on the house. Nothing to worry about.”

  “Thank you so much. I’ll rest better knowing you’re out here.”

  I hoped that had given Henry enough time to get inside unnoticed. I made my way back up the stairs. When I reached my floor, I heard a soft hiss from the landing above. I looked up to see Henry leaning over the railing. He gave me a salute, which I returned with a smile before heading to my room.

  Once I was inside, I became aware of the scent of tea and noticed that the hem of my skirt was coated in tea dust. Mary was in on the cause, so I doubted she’d give me away, but would she be able to explain getting tea out of my clothes?

  I took my petticoats off from under my nightgown and took them and my skirt into the bathroom. I couldn’t rinse them out without brewing a sink full of tea, so instead I shook them out as well as I could over the bathtub. After a little brushing, my clothes might have passed for regular wear that included a walk in the park. Only if you sniffed carefully would you know it was tea rather than dirt that soiled the hem.

  I searched the floor for signs of tea dust, and I didn’t see anything obvious. I hoped I hadn’t left a trail down the hall that would lead to my room. It appeared that I’d made it without my clandestine activities being detected.

  *

  The sound of my door opening woke me the next morning, and for a moment I was disoriented, uncertain where I was. I sat bolt upright, ready to deal with the intruder, until I saw that it was Mary. “Sorry, miss, didn’t mean to startle you,” she said. “I just came in to make up the fire.”

  I rubbed my eyes, trying to clear my vision. “I’m not too late for breakfast, am I?”

  “You can still make it without anyone noticing anything amiss.”

  “Thank goodness!” I jumped out of bed and hurried to the wardrobe to find a dress I could wear.

  “Late night, miss?” she asked, though I knew she knew exactly what I’d been doing, as she’d been there, herself.

  “I stayed up far too late utterly engrossed in a novel.”

  “I’m sure it was very exciting,” she said, her twinkling eyes ruining her attempt at a deadpan expression. “Would you like me to take your dress for cleaning?”

  “I would appreciate it.”

  She picked it up from the chair where I’d left it and raised an eyebrow. “I might be able to get a nice pot out of it while I’m at it.”

  She helped me finish dressing, and I thought I looked somewhat presentable, if perhaps a bit hollow-eyed, when I went downstairs to breakfast.

  Henry, Olive, and Rollo were in the breakfast room when I arrived. “Good morning, Lord Henry, Rollo, Olive,” I said as I headed to the sideboard to serve myself breakfast. “I trust you slept well.”

  “Quite well,” Henry said, barely looking up from the newspaper. “And you, Miss Newton?”

  “I’m afraid I was up far too late reading.”

  “That’s funny, because stories always put me to sleep,” Olive piped up.

  “That’s because the stories you like are boring,” Rollo countered.

  “I like my stories,” Olive said, her jaw jutting stubbornly and her eyes narrowing at her brother.

  While the children argued, Henry looked up and caught my eye over the tops of his glasses. I smiled, then tried to school my expression. I took a seat across from him, next to Olive, and forced myself to focus more on the children than on him.

  Conversation became even more impossible when the governor joined us. He seemed to be in good spirits, humming to himself under his breath as he loaded his plate with food. Henry and I exchanged a look behind his back. Would he be that cheerful if he’d received word of the destruction of the tea?

  “Good morning Miss Newton, Lyndon, children,” he said as he seated himself at the head of the table. “Miss Newton, did you have plans for this afternoon?”

  “Nothing more than lessons, Your Grace,” I said.

  “Would you mind receiving calls with Flora? Today’s the day for her to be at home. I’m sure a number of the local ladies and young people will call on her, and she needs to be suitably chaperoned.”

  “I will assign work for Olive and Rollo during those hours and conduct the rest of the lessons this morning,” I said.

  “Work?” Rollo moaned.

  Henry opened his mouth to chastise his nephew, but the governor spoke first, saying, “Keeping up with your schoolwork was one of the terms of you coming along on this trip. You’ll have plenty of time to see things later.”

  With a deep sigh, Rollo poked around on his plate with his fork.

  “I like to do my schoolwork,” Olive said. “May I have an extra assignment, Miss Newton?”

  Just as Rollo opened his mouth to respond, the butler entered and presented a card on a silver tray to the governor. The governor read it, a flush rising from his collar. He gave a loud snorting cough and said to the butler, “Is he still here?”

  “He is waiting in the hallway, Your Grace.”

  The governor rose, shoving his chair back violently, and stalked toward the doorway, pausing to mutter a gruff, “If you will excuse me,” to us before leaving.

  Even the children were silent as we all strained to hear. The governor’s deep voice carried throughout the house, but I could still only make out phrases like, “Are you sure?” or “Magisters? Really?” and “What kind of counterspell?”

  Henry and I looked across the table at each other. He raised one eyebrow, and I gave a slight shrug. The children were so busy staring at the doorway that I didn’t think
they noticed our reactions. I thought it was a safe bet that the governor had learned about the tea party.

  He didn’t return by the time we had finished our breakfast. The children left first, then Henry excused himself. I waited an appropriate amount of time before taking my leave, even though the only person left in the room was a footman.

  I found Henry waiting for me in the hallway outside the schoolroom. “The governor must know what happened,” I whispered.

  “Yes, and I’m trying to decide if I should brave the bear in his den to ask about that or if I should ignore it. What would I do if I were entirely innocent?”

  “I believe that the Lord Henry who studies insects would be curious enough to ask questions. It would seem uncharacteristic of you to ignore it.”

  He grimaced and sighed. “I suppose you’re right. If I encounter him, I’ll have to ask him whatever’s the matter without sounding too interested.”

  I barely stifled a yawn. “I hope we’re staying in tonight.”

  “Had your fill of intrigue, have you, Miss Newton?” he asked with a wry smile.

  “I merely need to rest between clandestine operations.”

  With that, I swept into the schoolroom to begin the day’s lessons. Keeping Rollo’s attention engaged was a challenge, but I hated to see the classroom time end because social calls were my least favorite activity. At the appointed time, I put on my one tea dress—the one for the occasion, not the one that was currently covered in tea—and tidied my hair before joining Flora in the parlor.

  Much to my surprise, the governor met me outside the parlor. “Might I ask you a favor, Miss Newton?” he said.

  “Of course, Your Grace.”

  “There have been recent events involving some young people among the magister class. We can’t permit destructive behavior to continue. I would appreciate it if you would keep a watchful eye on any visitors today and see if you notice anything unusual. I’ll ask the same of Lady Flora, but you’re a level-headed young woman, and I trust you to observe details.”