I pace away from her, one hand clamped on my forehead.
Now that exams are over and my brain is no longer in panic mode, my memories are unlocking, answers to all my questions slotting into place. And the sound of Nathaniel Price’s subordinate, theman who Mr.Price called Jarvis, echoes through my mind:Their Source was implanted so long ago, it will have built up a significant capacity. They might be the only individual capable of holding a long-term tether.They’d been talking about a particular patient, someone who they referred to as patient 39.
A patient 39 they intended to use to ration their remaining Source.
“Heli—” I choke out, my throat closing over. “Harrisford…His scar…Oh my god.”
Heli’s brow creases. “What’s wrong? What about Harrisford’s scar?”
“I think it’s an implant scar.” I raise my eyes to meet hers. “I think…I think that Harrisford is patient 39.”
Heli and I corner Pen and Conall at the postgraduation cocktail function. They’re slightly tipsy on champagne but agree to come immediately. We need them both: Conall because he’s brilliant in all things to do with the Void. And Pen because they’re the only one out of the four of us who knows how to pick a lock.
With me cradling Percy, we rush through the hallways, heading to Harrisford’s room. Thankfully, the south wing’s main corridor is empty, since most of the students are still at the function. The last time I was here, most of the mahogany doors were open, hanging off their hinges with holes blown through them from the surge. But now they’re pristine: Magical Maintenance have clearly been through and repaired every single one. It’s different to our wing, which still bears loose locks and ill-fitting doors and scorch marks all the way up the walls.
Figures.I’m slightly bitter—but not surprised—that they’ve prioritized the rich folk over us.
As we hurry along, I ask Pen, panting, whether they or the MLO know about Magecorp’s plans to kidnap Harrisford. They shake their head. “Sorry, Gwen, but the MLO are secretive about all their intel, even if we’re members. They say it’s best to keep information siloed so we’re not a risk if one of us gets caught.”
When we arrive at Harrisford’s door, I bang on it, but he doesn’t answer. So I give the signal to Pen, who slides a bobby pin out of their elaborately curled hair and inserts it into the keyhole. It takes a few minutes, a lot of jiggling, and several choice words from Pen’s mouth before the lock clicks and the door swings ajar.
My heart starts to pound. I haven’t been in Harrisford’s dorm room since that fateful morning, around two weeks ago, when we’d been prepping to break into Magecorp HQ.
It’s exactly the same as it was then, with the exception that Harrisford’s bedclothes are smooth, having been neatly made up.
And there’s something else there; somethingextremelyworrisome.
There’s no Harrisford.
But thereisPudding, sitting on a platform, watching us with unblinking eyes.
A few minutes later, I’m actually pacing, both hands buried in my hair.
“He never goesanywherewithout his familiar,” I tell the others. It’s not strictly true, of course—he’d come to Manchester without her. And to dinner, and the hotel room. But for him to miss graduationandleave Pudding behind…This is very much out of character.
“Could he be at the hospital?” Heli asks.
I stop moving for a second, chewing my lip. “I doubt it,” I say,after a pause. “From what Jarvis said, it really sounded like he’d been implanted ages ago.”
Was this something that Darghan did—to his own son? Is that why he was pressuring Harrisford to join Magecorp, so he could use him as a tether?
I feel sick. In the cavernous depths of my mind, I picture Harrisford as a small boy, a white-blond mop of hair on his head, being held down on a surgery table and forcibly sedated while his father stands at the viewing window, looking on…
“I’ll call them anyway,” Heli says, and while she makes the phone call, I draw nearer to the bearded dragon, feeling all fidgety with worry.
“Where did he go, Pudding?” I say to her, aloud. But she can’t communicate with me. The only people familiars can speak to are their bonded humans.
Heli hangs up, the corners of her mouth tugging down. “He’s not at the hospital.”
Percy has been silent the whole time, curled up tightly on an armchair. But now he pipes up, his aloof voice echoing through my brain.Can you not smell the Void magic?
My gaze falls on him, sharp and pointed. “No?” I’ve never been able to smell Void magic. I didn’t know that magic evenhada smell. Is this another thing, like detecting ketones and being able to easily diagnose DKA, that I’m not genetically equipped to do?
I remember suddenly that the others can’t hear Percy and me communicate, so I turn to them, to ask if anyone else can smell it.
They all respond in the negative. Like me, none of them could smell Matilda the DKA cat’s ketones. The only one who could smell them was Harrisford. Perhaps the two abilities are related, somehow.
Percy gives a disdainful sniff.Well, it absolutely reeks of Void magicin here. I could also smell his life force. The trail was strong, leading to this room, but in here it just…disappears. Which means that—
