Bookworm II: The Very Ugly Duckling (29 page)

The next page reported in calm, matter-of-fact tones that Jamal and his accomplices were still in jail, something that made Johan let out a sigh in relief. Even now, he was still terrified of his elder brother, fearing what Jamal would have done if his father had died. After all, Jamal had actually suggested that Johan should be killed. But if Jamal broke free ...

I can fight
, Johan thought, remembering what he’d done to the terrorists – and Jolie. The expression on his younger brother’s face had made up for everything he’d suffered over the years.
He’s never met anyone like me
.

But he knew that it wouldn’t be that easy. Jamal could set protective wards up around himself that stayed in place, Johan’s only seemed to stay where he wanted them to stay when he was concentrating on them. He would need to practice much more before he was ready to face Jamal, if it did come down to a fight. Somehow, he doubted that his brother would face the headsman. He was just too good at getting out of trouble.

The thought depressed him until he ordered his next set of books – carefully
not
looking at the pile of books he still had to read – and Jayne entered the room, pushing a trolley in front of her. Johan nervously helped her unload, then pick up the books he had read.

And then he took the plunge. “Where would you like to go eat tonight?”

Jayne blinked in surprise – he felt his heart sink – and then smiled. “Somewhere
quiet
,” she said. “And not somewhere
too
popular.”

“My family only came here six months ago,” Johan said. It wasn’t entirely true – his siblings had been in the city for much longer – but it explained why he wasn’t familiar with the city yet. “Can you pick a place?”

“I could pick somewhere expensive,” Jayne said, with a wink. “How about Joan’s Grill? It’s not that large, but it is supposed to be good.”

“Why not?” Johan said. She’d agreed ... and yet he still felt desperate. What if she changed her mind? Come to think of it, he didn’t even know where the place
was
. “Where do you want to meet?”

“Outside the library will do,” Jayne said, thoughtfully. “I have classes this afternoon, so I’ll get dressed afterwards and meet you at sunset. Is that all right?”

“Yes,” Johan said, who would have agreed to almost anything she asked. “I’ll see you then.”

He watched her leave the room, then sagged in relief. He had a
date
! Jamal and Charity had never had any trouble finding partners, but he had barely even laid eyes on a girl who wasn’t a direct relative ... not until now. But fighting the terrorists had given his confidence a real boost ...

“Now I have to find something to wear,” he told himself, as he walked over to the wardrobe and sighed. Jamal had hundreds of different outfits and Charity seemed to have thousands of dresses, but he’d never been allowed to develop taste. At least Elaine’s staff had provided him with a handful of suits. “What do I wear tonight?”

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Congratulations on your date,” Elaine said.

“Thank you,” Johan said, nervously. He’d not managed to get much studying done, not after she’d said yes. He’d spent too much time fantasising about the date or, alternatively, about just how many things could go wrong. But his father had often told Charity that she couldn’t go out until she had finished her work. What would
Elaine
say? “I know, I should have studied more ...”

“Probably not, in your case,” Elaine said, eying the pile of books. “The problem is that much of the basic knowledge is useless to you. We can and we will work on exercises, but additional knowledge may hurt instead of help. And at least you got the packing done.”

Johan nodded. They were supposed to be leaving tomorrow, unless something else came up to stop them from going. He’d packed carefully, but he couldn’t avoid the feeling that he’d missed something. Elaine would have to inspect his work later.

Elaine scowled, her mind clearly elsewhere. “But there are more important matters to discuss,” she added. “Where are you going?”

“Joan’s Grill,” Johan said. “Why ...?”

“I’ll be there too,” Elaine said. “And an Inquisitor or two, if I can swing it.”

Johan blanched. “You can’t be there,” he started to protest. “I ...”

“I won’t be sitting at the table with you,” Elaine said. “But you
do
realise that you are a target? And you will become
more
of a target as the news continues to spread. Your protection is my first priority.”

“That’s why you attacked the terrorists,” Johan mused. The thought left a warm feeling in his heart. No one had ever placed their life on the line to protect him before, not even Charity. “But I should be fine.”

“You don’t
know
that,” Elaine cautioned. “Your date won’t know that you’re not alone, I promise.”

She stepped backwards and looked him up and down. “I went to Joan’s Grill once with Daria,” she said. “It isn’t very pretentious, so you don’t need a fancy suit or finest robes, but make sure you take a large napkin. You don’t want to get food on your clothes.”

“Thank you,” Johan said.

Elaine picked a vial off the table and passed it to him. It was unmarked, but contained a greenish liquid. “That’s the potion,” she added. “It takes effect immediately and lasts for roughly two days. I’d take it just before you go, if I were you. But
don’t
take her for granted.”

“I understand,” Johan said, fighting down his embarrassment. “Are there any
books
on dating?”

“Not in
this
library,” Elaine said, ruefully. “I could have used them too.”

Time went by faster than Johan had expected and, almost before he knew it, it was time to get ready. He pulled on a simple pair of black trousers and a white shirt, which – Elaine assured him – would be sufficient for where they were going. She gave him a pair of napkins, checked the bag of money she’d given him earlier and then watched as he drank the potion and passed her back the vial. Surprisingly, it tasted good.

“They don’t want to discourage people from taking it,” Elaine commented, when he asked. “If a mundane woman becomes pregnant, the pregnancy could be terminated with no ill effects, but a magician would suffer greatly if they killed their own child.”

Johan nodded. He’d been looking up family magic in some of the older books and, while the authors never seemed to state anything for certain, they
had
been clear that intentionally harming or killing other members of the family tended to result in disastrous consequences. He wasn’t sure how seriously to take it – Jamal never seemed to suffer for what he’d done to Johan – but killing a helpless unborn baby had to be far worse. Drinking the potion seemed a small price to ensure that the magician didn’t have to abandon her studies or career to raise a child.

“You won’t see
me
,” Elaine said, ruefully. “I don’t think Jayne will be happy to see her boss at the next table. But I will be there.”

She passed him a small amulet. “Joan’s Grill is on Westlake Street,” she said. “If you speak the street name out loud, the amulet will guide you there. Do the same for the Great Library when you want to come home. I’d suggest walking her to her apartment block, but not going inside. You
will
be asked questions by her roommates.”

Johan scowled, then nodded. “And I’ll see you later this evening,” he said. “Thank you for everything.”

Surprisingly, Elaine flushed “You’re welcome,” she said. “Just be careful.”

Johan was still mulling over what she’d said as he stepped out of the Great Library and looked around. Jayne was nowhere to be seen. An icy fist clutched his heart as he wondered if she’d been deliberately winding him up, then he felt a sensation of pure relief as he saw her walking towards him, wearing a white dress that fell to just above her knees. Her black hair seemed to fan out around her dress, drawing his attention to her face. It seemed paler than usual, almost perfect. And her smile was so warm that he felt himself melting.

“Thank you for coming,” he said, as she clasped arms with him. They were on an actual
date
! “I hope you have a good time.”

“I’m sure I shall,” Jayne assured him. She felt very warm pressed against his body. He felt his heartbeat speeding up inside his chest, so loudly that he was surprised that she couldn’t hear it. “Do you know the way?”

Johan shook her head. Before he could pull out the amulet, Jayne gently tugged him down the street, away from the Great Library. The massive halls of academia gave way rapidly to the streets of pleasure; she led him past bars, eateries and places that were completely unmarked, yet seemed to be heaving with customers. There were still fewer people on the streets than he remembered from his trip to the zoo, but at least they weren’t completely alone. He wanted to show off a little ...

Idiot
, he told himself, crossly.
Why do you think anyone would care
?

Joan’s Grill wasn’t bigger on the inside than on the outside. It seemed to have only thirty tables in all, about half of which were occupied by customers. Johan wondered just how many of them were magicians, before deciding that it hardly mattered. None of them seemed to be students, people who might know Jayne. It was rare, Charity had told him, for a magician to date a mundane. Such relationships were almost always mocked relentlessly by their peers. What would they think of
Johan
?

He felt a flash of the old resentment, for he knew what they would have thought of a Powerless. They would have pitied him or they would have mocked him; either way, Jayne would have been strongly discouraged from seeing him again. Who knew? The flaw in his body that had rendered him powerless might be passed down to his children.

Angrily, he pushed the thought aside as an olive-skinned woman showed them to a table in the corner. Instead, he looked around, wondering which of the customers was Elaine and her escorts ... if, of course, she hadn’t been pulling his leg. But there was no way to be sure, not without being able to see glamours. And even if he
could
see them, he couldn’t be sure what they were hiding. Charity had admitted that glamours were in common use by just about every magician in the world.

“So,” Jayne said, as they inspected the menu, “tell me about yourself.”

Johan hesitated, unsure of what to tell her. He didn’t want to lie, but he also didn’t want to admit that he had been a Powerless. The gods alone knew how she would react.

“My family used to be titled nobility outside the Golden City,” he said, finally. They’d still been aristocrats, but they’d never been
high
aristocrats. “Now my father has ambitions to push himself to the very highest levels and dragged the family here.”

“In the wake of all the chaos,” Jayne said. She shivered. “I was out of the city at the time, but I heard tales ... terrible tales. They say that many of the injured will never recover completely.”

She met his gaze. “Why didn’t you go to the Peerless School?”

Johan swallowed. He’d anticipated
that
question, but he knew that his answer wouldn’t hold up to careful scrutiny. And yet he really didn’t want to tell her the full truth.

“My father insisted that I have private tuition,” he said, finally. It was true enough, if one discounted the fact that his lessons hadn’t included magic. “He didn’t want to expose
everyone
to the Peerless School.”

“My father felt the same way, but in the end he sent all of us to the school,” Jayne commented. “Your father must have been very stubborn.”

Johan nodded. It was true that some of the older families preferred to send only their eldest children to the Peerless School, knowing that the school taught loyalty to the Empire and the Grand Sorcerer as well as magic. When they came home, the children might no longer put the family’s interests first. It was worse for the students who came from mundane households, he knew; they tended to have little in common with their families when they came home. They rarely stayed for long after knowing what life could be like.

It was easy to see why magicians looked down on mundanes. Healing spells could save lives; mundanes had to set bones and sew up wounds the old-fashioned way. Magical households were
clean
, even the poorer ones; mundane households were often dirty and smelly. Hot running water was easy to produce with magic; harder to produce without it. Why would anyone want to live in the filth if they could live in a clean home?

And the price was merely giving up their former families.

“He is the most stubborn person I know,” Johan admitted. “But I don’t feel I’ve missed out on much.”

The waitress returned, took their orders and vanished back into the darkness behind the counter. Johan smiled after her, then looked back at Jayne. If she asked questions about his life, he could ask questions about hers.

“Tell me about
yourself
.”

“Not much to tell,” Jayne said. “I’m the fifth child and second daughter of House Rendang, which makes me effectively useless. Father just wants to maintain his current position, not try to rise higher, so I don’t have to worry about an advantageous match. Instead, I want to be a Potions Mistress. I have the marks to seek an apprenticeship after I leave the school.”

“I’m awful at potions,” Johan confessed. “What about yourself?”

Jayne gave him a droll smile. “I was brewing at a third-year level when I was in first year,” she said. “The Potions Master – a kindly old soul – put me in with the fourth years when I was in second year, then gave me private tutoring when I needed it. Right now, I’m three years ahead of the rest of my class in potions ... but not in anything else. I doubt they’ll let me graduate early.”

Johan considered it. “Can you become an apprentice while you’re still in school?”

“Perhaps,” Jayne said. “But most apprenticeships demand complete focus and concentration, not someone who is easily ... distracted. And I will be distracted by my other schoolwork.”

“Good luck,” Johan said, trying to remember what Jamal had said about potions. He’d been much ruder about the Potions Master, calling him a doddering old fool more than once. The tutor had committed the unforgivable sin – in Jamal’s eyes – by being more concerned with ability than breeding. But Jamal had never had the patience to be good at potions. “I wish I could do something to help.”