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He looks thoughtful, staring out the window and tapping his fingers on the windowsill.
‘You took something in?’ he asks finally.
‘A cup. That’s all.’
‘I can use that as a conduit to the looking glass.’ He nods at the huge gilt mirror on the opposite side of the room. ‘Say the word … ‘troll’,’ he smirks, ‘and it’ll turn on, but I wouldn’t tell Kallum it’s so easy to spy on her when she thinks she’s alone after what he’s vowed though.’
‘Agreed.’
Dane sets up the spell easily and tells me it’s almost ready for me to test within a few minutes.
I try not to show my surprise at his easy manipulation of the magick that he’s always struggled with, but I can’t help but wonder how long he’s been hiding this new-found power from Kal and me.
‘You seem … more in control,’ I say carefully.
‘What do you mean?’ he asks as he stares into the mirror, finishing what he’s doing.
‘It’s just … wouldn’t this conjure have taken you much longer to work a few weeks ago?’
‘No,’ he says, his eyes finally meeting mine in the looking glass, ‘a few weeks ago, I couldn’t have done this at all. Even a few days ago …’
‘You’re getting stronger.’
He shakes his head. ‘I’m not getting anything. I just am stronger.’
‘Why? How?’
Dane shrugs. ‘I’m trying not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Besides, back at the Camp … they said it could happen like this. I heard it described as a dam bursting or floodgates opening.’ He looks a little uncomfortable. ‘To be honest, I thought they were just softening the blow when my skill appeared to be so … weak.’
‘Congratulations,’ I say, and I mean it, though a part of me hates that he thought of himself as weak before because we were all in the same house. Does he think Kal and I are weak now that his skill seems to be surpassing ours?
‘I know it frustrated you that you couldn’t make your conjures more powerful.’
I hope my words don’t sound hollow, but he just nods, looking almost pleased, which for him is like jumping up and down and squealing in excitement.
‘It’s ready.’
‘Troll,’ I say, and the reflection in the mirror shifts to a perfect scene of the storeroom.
‘Very good work,’ I say.
‘My magick couldn’t have come at a better time,’ he mutters as we watch her sleeping form for a moment. ‘At least now we can keep an eye on her without having one of us guarding her every moment.’
I stare at her for a few more seconds. ‘How do I turn it off?’
‘Troll,’ Dane says, and the mirror glows white before it reflects the room as normal again, and I can see myself in it once more.
‘Have we got the supplies ready?’ he asks. ‘Once the vote happens, I think they’ll move fast so that it can’t be easily undone by the Isolationists if they decide to move against the council.’
I nod. ‘Kallum is sorting it. He’ll have everything ready tonight.’
‘Good,’ Dane looks thoughtful as I walk to the main door of his apartments. ‘If there is a coup, we’ll need to get out fast. The city is too divided. It’ll be a bloodbath once the result is known, and there will be many who will want to leave. The main gates won’t be safe.’
‘I may have another way once the shield is let down,’ I say. ‘Use those contacts you’re always bragging about to find out exactly when that will be. I have some last-minute plans to lay.’
Dane snorts but doesn’t say a word; he just sits at his desk and begins writing a note to whoever sells him his information.
I go down two levels to my smaller chamber and pack a bag, realizing quickly that though we’ve spent the better part of a decade here, my life still fits into a small pack.
