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We all look toward Alek.
The scholar leans forward to snag his fingers around one of the chunks of clay. Frowning, he examines it.
Then he lifts his eyes to meet mine. “You’re absolutely sure it transformed? It wasn’t just a trick of the light that made you mistake it for real?”
“Yes,” I say quietly. “I was holding its tail—I could feel the skin and its fur brushing my fingers. And its teeth when they bit open my hand.” I hold up said hand where a faint mark lingers after a medic’s healing efforts. “I heard its skull break when I smacked it against the wall.”
Alek’s mouth twists. “I’ve heard of people who could animate figures like puppets before—stilllookinglike the constructed object, made of wood or clay or what have you. But even in those cases, they had to stay close by to direct them. It’s possible the scourge sorcerers have combined gifts to be able to conduct that kind of magic from more of a distance… But to turn it from clay into a creature of flesh…”
“People have tried,” Benedikt says in a flippant tone. “It’s one of those horror stories they like to tell, at least in the kind of childhood I had. Mothers who went seeking someone who could bring their infant back to life out of a doll. Parents who tried to recreate a beloved pet for their grieving children.”
Julita shivers.One of our maids told me that one about the baby.
Alek is nodding. “Right. They’re horror stories rather than histories because it doesn’twork. No human being has ever been able to use magic to create life itself.”
He taps his fingers down his front in the gesture of the divinities. “It’s said that the All-Giver brought life into being by combining breath, blood, and flesh—sky, sea, and earth—as well as divine will. Aperson’swill isn’t enough. All you get is a body that looks real but remains totally lifeless. Not a rat that could scamper down a hall and fight being captured.”
I sink down onto the arm of one of the chairs, hugging myself. “We didn’t think the scourge sorcerers should be able to control daimon either, but it turned out they’d found a way. I heard Torstem saying they needed to switch tactics.”
Stavros scowls as if he’s displeased that he has to agree with me even a little. “You said he mentioned something about construction, didn’t you?”
“Yes.” I stare down at the remnants of the clay rat. “He could have meant figures like this.”
Even Benedikt looks startled out of his normal breezy attitude. His face has gone paler than usual. “Gods above, if they can create life itself…”
Julita lets out a discomforted sound.How can the villains be getting evenworsethan they already were?
“We don’t know exactly what’s going on,” Casimir points out in his gentle tone. “It could have been a very elaborate, very convincing illusion over a puppet-like figure. Or some other trick we haven’t thought of.”
The former general draws his brawny body even taller. “Still, it’s nothing good. They’re pulling together a new plan. We need to be more prepared this time. I’ll pass on word to the king and let him decide whether he wants to put his staff on guard for vermin. It’s a delicate balance between defense and tipping the conspirators off before we can take them down.”
“Wecan all keep an eye out,” I say. “For any animals—it may not be only vermin. If you see a bird hanging around the school more avidly than is normal, or even a stray cat or dog that comes out of nowhere… We should try to catch it. Then we can examine it properly and get a better idea of what the magic is.”
Benedikt chuckles. “Don’t use your strategy, you mean.”
I make a face at him. “Killing it was an accident.”
“We don’t need to rely on Ivy anyway,” Stavros breaks in. “We can handle a few things ourselves.”
The bastard’s bastard flicks his attention to the former general with another furrowing of his brow. He’s got to be picking up on the new tensions that’ve formed between us—and he won’t have any idea what could have caused them.
My skin itches with that knowledge.
I gather together the clay pieces and set them on an empty section of shelf as the start of a collection of evidence. “We should all get on with it. My attempt at drawing Ster. Torstem’s interest hasn’t born any fruit yet. The daimon haven’t caused any more trouble—the scourge sorcerers have to be up tosomethingelse.”
“And the Crown’s Watch hasn’t turned up any further evidence of their activities,” Stavros admits grimly. “The medics appear to have made a little progress with Wendos, but they still can’t rouse him.”
Alek dips his head with a jerk. “I’ll see what I can find out about this sort of magic. We don’t know how long we have before they make another major move.”
He pushes away from the table but pauses to glance my way once more. “Be careful.”
Before I have time to wonder why he aimed that concern only at me, he’s stepped into his loop and vanished.
“I’ll see what new rumors I can hear around the card tables as well,” Benedikt offers, and hops into his own makeshift portal.
I straighten up, and Stavros motions me brusquely toward our adjacent rings of cord.
Casimir takes a hasty step toward us. “Stav—if I could talk to Ivy, just the two of us, for a minute?”
