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As far as I could tell, cat plus monkey equaled water bottle.
“And so we begin,” she said, and sat down at a table. Full of energy and ready to work, she immediately pulled out a notebook and started writing.
* * *
Two hours later things had gone completely downhill.
Scout wasn’t any closer to a solution than she had been when we arrived, even with all the goodies, and the Enclave looked like a wreck. There were balled up pieces of paper everywhere, open books, and the dry-erase board was covered on both sides. She seemed completely flustered by the set of materials Fayden had bought, and couldn’t figure out how to reverse-engineer whatever magic Fayden had worked.
I tried to help when I could, but since I was the least experienced Adept, there wasn’t a lot I could do.
We took a break when Daniel brought in turkey sandwiches, veggie sandwiches with extra hummus, and drinks for a late-night supper. Since I hadn’t eaten much at dinner, I pretty much scarfed it down. Scout ate more slowly, picking at her own sammie as she stared hopelessly at the clutter around her. I knew she was frustrated, and I hated that I couldn’t do anything. But I didn’t get the magical math, so I had no idea how to help. It was also getting late. We were all tired, and irritable, and missing our magic. That was a pretty bad combination.
Scout, finished with her sandwich, suddenly threw a dry-erase marker across the room.
The Enclave went silent.
“Scout?” Daniel asked.
“I’m just . . . I am so mad. Who does she think she is, that she has the right to do this? To control who has and doesn’t have magic, and when they get to use it? How is that possibly fair?”
“Hey, we’re all in the same boat,” Paul said. “It’s not like you’re the only one with troubles.”
“Oh, I am well aware of that, Paul. Well aware.” Her voice was snippy and tired, and from the way they glared at each other across the room, this conversation wasn’t going to end well. It seemed most likely to end at the First Immanuel recovery room—as had the last Adepts who’d gotten snippy with one another.
“Hey, hey,” Daniel said. “Everybody bring it down a notch.”
“How am I supposed to bring it down when I am the only one here working on this? I’m trying to reverse engineer magic I haven’t even seen. I don’t even know where she is, much less what she’s managed to make!”
“We’re all trying,” Daniel said. “All of us. You know what? Let’s call it a night. We’re all tired and we’re all stressed out. We can reconvene tomorrow night after classes. We’ll leave all the experiments right where they are, and you can come right back to them.”
“Tomorrow is the dance,” Michael said. “We can’t miss Sneak.”
“I forgot about Sneak,” Daniel said. “I know you all have lives and things to do. This situation isn’t great, but until Fayden makes another move, it’s not crucial. Let’s just all get some sleep, and maybe we’ll have some sort of brainstorm tomorrow. I’ll talk to the Council and see if they have any leads on Fayden, maybe where she is. We’ll figure this out,” he promised.
If only the rest of us could be so sure.
* * *
We’d closed the door on the Enclave only when Jason emerged from the tunnels in jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt. He looked uncomfortable, and he wasn’t the only one. Seeing him was like a punch in the gut. What was I supposed to say? Supposed to feel? Glad to see him? Angry that I was only just seeing him now?
“Hey,” Michael said.
Jason nodded.
“Michael,” Scout said, “why don’t we go talk about . . . the . . . color of your tuxedo for the dance.”
“I have to wear a tuxedo?” he whined, but followed along when Scout dragged him down the hall.
“How are you?” Jason asked.
“I’m fine.” It was a lie, but what was I supposed to say?
“I wanted to talk to you about all this.”
“I’m sorry I hurt you,” I said. “It wasn’t my intention.”
He nodded. “I know. It’s just—we’ve come into this world differently. You see things differently than I do, and differently than my family does. I don’t know. I’m just really confused right now, and my family is putting all this pressure on me. I just needed you to be on my side.”
“I am on your side,” I said. “But sometimes right and wrong aren’t as clear as we want them to be. If you can’t trust me right now, I understand. I don’t agree with it, but I understand it. It’s just that sometimes I have to trust myself. And this is one of those times.”
He nodded. “I know.”
We stood there in silence for another few minutes, and it felt like we hadn’t known each other at all. And I guessed we definitely weren’t going to the dance together.
“Well,” he finally said, “it’s late. I should get going.”
I couldn’t do anything but nod and watch as he walked away.
I met Scout a couple of tunnels up, and at her questioning eyes, shook my head. She strode toward me and gave me a hug.
“He’ll come around,” she whispered. “He’ll come around, or he won’t. And if he doesn’t, it’s his loss.”
“Thanks,” I said.
We walked quietly back to St. Sophia’s, and approached the door to the school expecting to see Kiara. But she was gone. She’d been replaced . . . by Sebastian.
He was sitting on the floor, his back to the door. He stood up as we approached.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Guarding the school. Kiara has a paper due, so it was my turn. How are . . . plans?” he carefully asked.
“They’re fine,” Scout said, “which is all you need to know.”
At her snippy tone, Sebastian looked at me. I shrugged. “We’re working on it.”
“You won’t hurt her?”
“We don’t plan on it,” Scout said. “And the odds go up a lot if we can get our work done without Reaper intervention.”
“That’s why I’m here.”
“And we appreciate it,” I added, earning me an elbow jab from Scout.
“I’m standing right here,” he dryly said.
“He doesn’t have to be standing here,” I pointed out. “And I’m not taking anyone’s side, but right now both sides need all the friends we can get and all the sleep we can get, too, ’cause I’m really tired. So can we all be happy and just go to bed, please?”
