What am I supposed to make of that observation? I pick up the ephemera around me as automatically as breathing, and I’ve never noticed anyone else’s change so starkly and abruptly.
The puzzle just expanded again, and I’m painfully short on pieces.
I’m still staring at the white straps as if they’ll answer my myriad of questions when a measured thud of footsteps carries from beyond the nearest corner.
My pulse jumps. Icouldmake up an excuse for invading a student’s privacy, but I’d rather not face the scrutiny at all.
I toss the sandals onto the shelf, nudge the books back into place in front of them, and press the door firmly shut. I’ve managed to meander one step away when Professor Kwong strides into view.
Kwong is one of the few colleagues who doesn’t get my back up, mainly because he doesn’t appear to think about me much one way or another. I always get the sense he sizes people up purely based on their potential threat in combat, and I haven’t struck him as a dangerous opponent.
Probably fair.
I expect him to walk on by when our paths cross, but he stops just before he reaches me, his mouth twisting. “Raith. Just so you know, I’m sorry about your brother getting dragged into this additional intensive program. I wasn’t consulted on the selections—I can’t say I’m totally convinced about the need in the first place.”
Asher mentioned to me he’d gotten a request to report to the central field after school tomorrow for the first intensivecombat seminar. I’m surprised Kwong bothered to mention it—and that he realized I wouldn’t be pleased.
I suppose my protectiveness hasn’t been entirely subtle.
I offer a shrug. There’s nothing either of us can do about it anyway—and maybe the fact that Captain Ross appreciates Asher’s defensive magic skills means he’ll finally get more of the recognition he needs to rise in the ranks. “We’ll see how it goes. I can understand why the administration is concerned about security.”
“Plenty of other ways to show that, though,” Kwong mutters.
How much does he actually think this is a bad idea, and how much is he simply irritated that they set up the program without him?
It occurs to me that there’s a more pressing question I can ask him.
I keep my tone as casual as possible. “Speaking of our students, I was looking through some records today and noticed Elodie Devine has had quite an increase in her combat grades. Have you been doing some new exercises with the seniors?”
Kwong chuckles with a flare of admiration in his eyes that makes my hands ball against another spurt of possessiveness. “Nah, same as usual. But she’s really stepped up this trimester. Never would have thought she had it in her. I guess it’s a good thing, considering…”
He trails off with the mutual understanding of Elodie’s recent troubles.
He doesn’t know half of them.
“It seems that way,” I say, as if it doesn’t matter much to me, and continue down the hall. Uneasiness coils around my gut.
Something major has changed about Elodie—and I’m not the only one who’s seen it.
Nine
Elodie
I’d imagine Other Elodie has visited the Hearsts’ home at least a few times. The upper-crust lucent families socialize amongst themselves regularly, maintaining the game of ladder-climbing and shifting alliances.
But I had no part in that life in my original reality, where I was seen as nothing but an interloping mutt by my classmates. This is the first time I’ve stood outside the sprawling brick mansion.
Even wrapped in a layer of concealing ephemera, I hesitate to walk all the way up to the broad beige face. Who knows what magical security measures the Hearsts have laid down?
Instead, I slink through the front gardens at a cautious distance, stretching my awareness toward the stately building and all around me.
Will I detect more of the odd magic that was embedded in Kenneth’s clothes and Stella’s discarded pen?
If I do, what will that tell me, really?
I push the second question aside and creep a little closer to the left side of the house. I don’t know where Kenneth’s bedroom was in the building, and my divination skills aren’t strong enough to pick up on clear traces of his presence from this far away.
Where’s Cole when I need him? Not that I think Professor Raith would approve of my current activities.
