Bitter Wind (Death's Handmaiden Book 2)

by Niall Teasdale

  The grin got less timid. ‘That’s kind of what Mitsuko said. She also pointed out that I would probably be with a lot of people, both genders, who were shorter than I am.’

  ‘Good point. You’re leading.’

  ‘Wha?!’ Skylar’s cheeks coloured. ‘I’ve never… I suppose none of us have. But why me? I thought you’d… I mean…’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Well, I thought you’d lead. You’re just so, um, assertive. Yeah. Assertive.’

  Nava shook her head. ‘I don’t know. I’m going to have to do something about my reputation. Is everyone in the school afraid of me or something?’

  ‘Oh, no. No, not at all. It’s only the ones who’ve met you.’

  235/11/19.

  ‘I demand you do something about this,’ Terence said. ‘It’s getting entirely out of control. People are saying that our production is cursed. Cursed! I thought the students here were supposed to be among the most intelligent in the Clan Worlds and they’re talking about curses!’

  For some reason, Courtney had a feeling of enormous fatigue seeping into her bones. ‘Just to be clear, you want the SSF to investigate… a ghost.’

  ‘I want you to prove that this so-called ghost is a figment of overactive imaginations.’ Terence was trying his best to seem intimidating. He was leaning on Courtney’s desk in the SSF’s HQ, hanging over her. If she got to her feet, he would lose his perceived advantage, but she did not feel like giving in to him that much.

  ‘Hm. I’d always thought that people in the acting business needed to understand basic psychology.’

  ‘What does that have to do with–’

  ‘You can’t disprove the existence of something that doesn’t exist. If people want to believe in this ghost, they’re going to believe in it. I post people all over the theatre in an attempt to spot the thing. They see nothing. The believers will just keep on believing that the ghost didn’t show itself to them. Really, taking the ghost seriously is just going to make the believers believe stronger.’

  Terence’s jaw tightened. ‘Then what do you suggest I do about these rumours?’

  ‘I have no–’ Courtney cut herself off as a thought struck her. ‘The students here are intelligent. There might be a way to persuade them. Maybe. I need to talk to a couple of metaphysics specialists. I’ll get back to you.’

  ‘Do it soon, Captain.’

  Courtney frowned at the somewhat sarcastic use of her title. ‘Don’t get me wrong, Terence Daniau. Hunting ghosts is not part of the SSF’s remit. I’m doing this as a favour. Keep that attitude up and you’ll be on your own. I don’t know whether I can help as it is and the school would back me up if I told you to go hunt your own ghost.’

  Terence pulled back and smiled. ‘Of course, Captain. Please do whatever you can.’

  ~~~

  ‘He’s a stereotype!’ Courtney ranted. ‘The man is a stereotype of a bad director.’

  ‘I understand, Courtney,’ Mitsuko said in her best, soothing tone. ‘I really do. I’ve had to listen to Nava’s complaints about him. I honestly think I should never have persuaded her to do the play.’

  ‘Now you figure that out,’ Nava muttered, just loud enough that everyone heard it. Mitsuko flinched. ‘I feel that it’s unlikely that you came here to gripe about Terence, Courtney.’ They were in Mitsuko’s apartment. Courtney had interrupted one of their group study sessions. Though it had not been much of an interruption since it had just started.

  ‘No, I did,’ Courtney replied. ‘Well, that and an info-net trace said that Chess was here. The fact that Miss Hoshi Horne is also here is an added bonus.’

  ‘It is?’ Hoshi asked, frowning.

  ‘Yes, because you two are the most likely people to know how to make a ghost detection spell.’

  ‘Ah,’ Rochester said. ‘Of course. Then you can deploy your people around the theatre and track it down.’

  ‘Actually, I plan to make the schema public. Pretty much everyone here should be able to use it one way or another. Everyone who believes this thing exists can use the spell to try to find it. When enough of them have had no luck, I think they’ll be rational enough to start realising it’s just an urban legend.’

  ‘It’s going to need a publicity campaign,’ Mitsuko said. ‘Just handing out a spell schema won’t cut it. We’ll need a really good justification for why we think the spell will actually detect a ghost. Hoshi, you’re the best person to handle that.’

  ‘Uh, propaganda isn’t exactly my field,’ Hoshi said.

  ‘I’ll help. We’ll come up with something for the News Club to spread around. With a bit of effort, we’ll have half the school hunting ghosts. If we set it up right, they really will drop the idea when they can’t find anything.’

  ‘Out of interest,’ Melissa said, ‘what do you plan to do if someone does find it?’

  Courtney shrugged. ‘I guess we send Nava over so she can kick its butt.’

  Nava gave a shrug of her own. ‘Well, that’s something to look forward to.’

  235/11/24.

  Another Saturday afternoon of rehearsals. Nava was so looking forward to it. The play was three weeks away, so rehearsals were vital. If she could have done them without the rest of the cast, that would have been fine.

  Twyla spent as much time as Terence would allow talking about her character’s motivation. Rosamund’s motivation was obvious. Okay, so she could have two different motivations, depending on how you saw the character, but basically it resolved down to whether she was selfish or selfless. Terence had already said that Twyla should play Rosamund more on the power-hungry side. She loved Constant, but she was also willing to use him to take the Ice Queen’s lands. The only explanation for Twyla’s continued bleating about motivation was that she wanted attention focused on her as much as possible.

  Yoshirō just complained about Nava. Nava knew her lines perfectly. She also knew exactly what was needed for her character on the night. She just played her in a monotone and with her usual neutral expression in rehearsals. Yoshirō hated that. He seemed to be incapable of just acting. Play the damn part. Bitching about Nava’s performance, or lack thereof, was not going to make life better for him. What he really needed to do was focus on portraying Constant to the best of his abilities.

  They all needed to get their act together, no pun intended, so… So, what were they doing standing around on the stage, staring up at the lighting rigs?

  Nava looked up as she got closer, and the reason for the weird attention and the heavy silence associated with it became obvious. There was a body hanging up there. A female shape, wearing a gown of some sort, was hanging by its neck from one of the scaffold units which were used to mount the stage lighting. And everyone was standing around staring at it.

  ‘Someone call the SSF,’ Nava snapped. ‘Can we get that rig lowered?’ No one moved. ‘Come on, people! I want that rig lowered. Now!’

  People began moving again. Terence grabbed his ketcom and, hopefully anyway, began calling the SSF. One of the techs ran over to a panel at the side of the stage and began pressing buttons. The rig began to fall. All the lighting gantries were held up there on steel cables. You set the lights by lowering the rigs to the stage and then clamping lights on. That probably meant that whoever it was up there, they had strung themselves up and then raised the scaffold somehow. Or someone else had done it for them. Or to them. Suicide or murder, it needed to be dealt with.

  And then the body vanished. Actually, it faded away. As the rig dropped far enough for light from the room to reach the hanging woman, she faded to nothing. Nava focused on a cantrip she had recently learned, getting the answer she had expected.

  ‘It’s the ghost!’ someone shrieked. The rig came to a stop in the full light of the theatre. And then there was panic.

  ~~~

  ‘There are three possibilities,’ Nava said, her voice low so that it carried only to Courtney and Kyle. ‘It’s possible that the spell doesn’t work, or that it doesn’t work
on whatever this thing is. We’re assuming that the entity would be of a similar form to the Harbinger.’

  ‘The metaphysics backs that up, surely,’ Courtney said.

  ‘Well, within reason, yes.’

  ‘What’s the third option?’ Kyle asked.

  ‘Whatever this is, it’s not a spirit. The spell detected nothing. I cast it the second the hanging figure vanished, and I detected no presence of the right type.’

  ‘Do you think anyone else used it?’ Courtney asked.

  ‘No one has said anything to me. The availability of the spell was only announced yesterday. It’s five Tammys, so everyone in the school should be capable of using it as a cantrip. However, I’m not sure how many people will have heard about it and looked at the schema.’

  ‘Fair point. This really does seem to be related to the suicide six years ago.’

  Nava nodded. ‘The woman who hanged herself.’

  ‘Yeah. Before I joined the school never mind the SSF, but I’ve heard of it.’

  ‘Perhaps now would be a good time to acquaint yourself with any case notes your predecessor left behind.’

  Courtney gave a slow nod. ‘Whatever is causing this, it’s linked to that death. I’ll dig out the files.’

  235/11/25.

  ‘This isn’t great lunchtime conversation,’ Courtney said.

  ‘Which is why I’ve made lunch and we’re doing this at my place,’ Mitsuko said. She handed Courtney a plate with a selection of finger foods on it. ‘Did Donovan find anything?’

  ‘Not a thing.’ Courtney grimaced. ‘His finals are next week. What are we going to do without him next year?’

  ‘He’s not staying on to do postgraduate work?’

  Courtney shook her head. ‘The ASF already offered him a job. We have people who can cast the spells, but the interpretation… I’ll have to look around and see if there are any prospective forensics specialists in the lower years.’

  ‘Yes. Now, stop stalling. What happened six years ago?’

  Courtney picked up a sandwich from her plate and bit into it. She chewed and swallowed and said, ‘Okay. Just remember that this is confidential. Well, some of it is.’ Her audience consisted of Mitsuko, Nava, Melissa, Rochester, and Hoshi. Kyle was also there, stuffing his face with Mitsuko’s onigiri, but he already knew the story. ‘The basics are that a fourth year named Chantal Alvin Cook committed suicide on the thirty-second of November two twenty-nine.’

  ‘Six years next Sunday,’ Melissa said.

  ‘Yep. She had landed the part of Yuki in The Ice Queen because she had the right look for the part according to the director. Tall, kind of willowy. Long face and long black hair. Not what you’d describe as conventionally beautiful, but she was certainly attractive and, by all accounts, she was a pretty good actor. However, she had her progression tests coming up and there was a problem with her boyfriend of about three years. The notes I found suggest that the boyfriend was the final straw. They broke up immediately before Chantal was found hanging from a lighting rig in the theatre. That fuelled the opinion that the stress of being the lead in the play was too much for her, but that doesn’t seem to hold water.’

  ‘It was investigated, obviously,’ Mitsuko said. ‘Did they find any evidence of foul play?’

  ‘None. The lighting system can be controlled remotely and her ketcom was found, smashed, on the stage below her. That explains how she was able to attach herself to the rig and then raise it. No unusual fingerprints found. No evidence of threats or enemies, or even just rivals. Seems like everyone agreed with the casting and that she was doing a great job. The boyfriend had no reason to kill her. The break-up had been emotional on both sides, but she had definitely taken it harder.’

  ‘His new girlfriend?’ Melissa asked.

  ‘No new girlfriend. Not that anyone could find. According to the boyfriend, they broke up because they had just grown apart.’

  ‘But she didn’t feel like they had, I assume.’

  Courtney nodded. ‘Well, assuming is about right. Not like anyone could ask her. It seems like there were various factors leading to her death. If she messed up the progression tests, she might have been unable to move on to fifth-year classes. She had the play to worry about. Yuki has to basically carry the whole thing. It’s stressful.’ She glanced across at Nava. ‘I don’t suppose Nava is stressed, but mortals would be.’

  ‘I’m stressed,’ Nava replied. ‘I admit that’s more to do with the humans I have to deal with rather than any sense that I’m carrying a play, but I’m stressed.’

  ‘Right. And then her boyfriend breaks up with her. Chantal couldn’t take the pressure and she put a stop to it. The SSF investigated. The administration reviewed procedures and put in some new ones to try to detect students under pressure. The Drama Club actually put in a rule that fourth- and sixth-year students would not be considered for major roles in the yearly production. The other years have tests, but they’re not as important. If Nava messes up in her tests, for example, they’ll probably just recommend her for remedial classes.’

  ‘Unless I mess up too badly,’ Nava said. ‘First years can be sent home if they demonstrate sufficient lack of talent.’

  ‘I somehow doubt you’re going to have a problem.’

  ‘I didn’t say I would. So, what you’re saying is that Chantal Alvin killed herself because she was under stress and then her boyfriend dumped her.’

  ‘That about covers it.’

  ‘She picked a really unpleasant way to die. She would have strangled to death. Not quickly.’

  ‘I did say it wasn’t great lunchtime conversation.’

  Shrugging, Nava picked up a sandwich. ‘That kind of thing doesn’t stop me eating. A fact that I’m sure surprises you.’

  ‘You still never sound like anything you say is sarcastic, Nava.’

  Nava nodded. ‘I really should get a sign made.’

  235/11/28.

  ‘I’m just turning sixteen,’ Nava said. ‘Again. It’s nothing special.’

  ‘Did you actually celebrate your first sixteenth birthday?’ Mitsuko asked.

  ‘Well, no. I only knew about it because someone told me I’d turned sixteen a couple of days later. But sixteen isn’t anything special. Seventeen is, I suppose, though I think you’ll be too depressed to celebrate my seventeenth birthday.’

  It was breakfast, and the subject of Nava’s birthday had come up. Melissa was all for celebrating too. ‘Why won’t she want to– Oh! Right. No sex for a couple of months.’

  ‘Precisely.’

  ‘I am quite sure that I’m adult enough to not let that affect things,’ Mitsuko said. She sounded sulky.

  ‘Don’t worry, Suki,’ Melissa said, grinning. ‘I’ll keep Nava warm for you during your forced celibacy.’

  Mitsuko frowned at her. ‘When did you become evil?’

  ‘Not sure.’

  ‘I think I preferred you shy. Let’s at least go out for a meal tonight.’

  ‘Fine,’ Nava said, ‘but I’ll take you two out for a meal tonight. I wouldn’t mind one of those steaks and it’ll be relaxing after rehearsals.’

  ‘No more sightings of the ghost?’ Melissa asked.

  ‘People have said they’ve seen it. No one with the spell has been able to find it, however, and the atmosphere around the production has got lighter. Most of the cast still hate me though, so a little relaxation would be nice later in the evening.’

  ‘I was thinking more of a lot of relaxation later in the evening,’ Mitsuko said.

  Nava patted her arm. ‘I know you were, Suki. I know you were. Just remember that we have lessons in the morning.’

  Mitsuko shrugged. ‘Sleep is for the weak.’

  235/11/31.

  There was a collective round of gasps as Nava walked out onto the stage in her Ice Queen costume. This was not unexpected, though Nava did wonder at the range of different types of gasp. A range of emotions floated out from those present: jealousy, disapproval, lust. One woman wh
o was standing among a group of Art Club students in one of the aisles flashed a look of anger Nava’s way; maybe she had been consulted on the costume and her designs had been ignored.

  Nava was distinctly ambivalent about her costume. On the one hand, she was considering having a copy made to wear to the ball. A couple of additions would make it decent to wear in company and it was distinctly different from what people would be expecting her to wear. As a stage costume, however, Nava had her doubts. It was a gown made from a white nanofibre fabric which was far from opaque. That being said, it was not especially transparent either; it gave strong impressions of the body beneath, hinting rather than showing. Long sleeves flared at the elbow – good for imperiously pointing at someone. The front was deeply plunging and a couple of V-shaped vents ran up the front of her legs, stopping above her hip bones and turning the skirt into something more like a half-skirt plus a loincloth. White, high-heeled sandals completed the outfit. Makeup had added silver nail varnish, pail-grey eye shadow plus dark liner, and lip gloss which was some shade of pale purple. There was an additional idea for her makeup which they had not implemented for this showing, but Terence had liked it, so Nava was likely going to have to put up with it. There was no crown; Yuki needed no crown to be a queen.

  Since Nava was wearing nothing under the gown, she had to move carefully to avoid flashing the assembled cast. It did add to the cool, graceful look she was aiming for with her portrayal of Yuki, but practical it was not. She walked out to where the other actors were standing on the stage with Terence and Rexanne. There, Nava struck a pose and looked directly at the director.

  ‘Perfect!’ Terence exulted. ‘That’s exactly the look I was going for.’

  ‘Snow-white slut?’ Nava suggested. ‘I realise that Yuki isn’t human, but do you really think any reasonable sentient life form would wander around in the ice and snow without underwear?’

  ‘She wouldn’t care about such things.’

  ‘Under the circumstances, I do. I can’t move faster than a walk without giving everyone a far more intimate view of my body than I find acceptable.’

  ‘She has a point, Terry,’ Rexanne said. ‘I’m quite sure that Simone can come up with a way of… concealing things without making it too obvious.’