Bookworm II: The Very Ugly Duckling (8 page)

But the name was oddly familiar ...

Of course,
he thought, remembering one of his father’s rants.
The Head Librarian
.

“My name is Johan,” he said, finally. “What did he mean about my condition?”

Elaine looked down at the floor, then back up at him. “There is magic in you,” she said, flatly. “But it is very odd magic indeed. You were tested before, I understand?”

Johan found himself unable to speak. Magic! It was like a dream come true ... and that made him suspicious. One of his father’s more useful pieces of advice had been a warning that anything that sounded too good to be true probably was. He’d tried to send away for a potion that claimed to bring power to the powerless, only to have his father point out that it was utterly useless. And he had been tested extensively, every year. They’d never found a trace of magic.

“I was,” he said, suddenly despondent. It was better than hope. “They found nothing.”

“We found something,” Elaine assured him. “But like I said, it’s odd.”

She gave him a long considering look. “Do you know any spells?”

“Charity tried to teach me a few,” Johan said, before he could stop himself. If she chose to take that to the Inquisition ... teaching magic to mundanes was strictly forbidden, even though there was nothing they could do with it. “But they never worked.”

The memory was a bitter one. His sweet sister had sat down with him and talked him through a series of spells, spells so basic that even his younger siblings could cast them at a very early age. He’d mastered the words and hand gestures that should have cast the spells, but nothing had ever happened. Of course not, Jamal had sneered. The Powerless had no magic to make the spells work.

And then he’d blackmailed Charity by threatening to tell their father.

“I had to struggle to make my spells work too,” Elaine admitted. “I was fourteen when I cast my first successful spell.”

Johan gave her an appraising look. He was old enough to remember both Chanel and Chime developing magic and casting spells with apparent confidence by the time they were seven years old. Even Jamal, according to their father, had developed later than that. It was that sort of access to magic that marked someone who could become a Privy Councillor, not a late developer. Everyone knew that the later magic appeared, the weaker the magician. Their magic clearly didn’t want to get free.

But clearly what everyone knew wasn’t enough.

Elaine motioned for him to sit upright. “Cast a spell,” she ordered. “Any spell.”

Johan hesitated. Part of him wanted to test it at once, part of him was scared that it would fail and that he would go back to being powerless. Maybe it was just a freak response to the spells, he told himself, or maybe Jamal had created something to give the illusion of magical powers where none existed. Was his brother really
that
good at magic? Whatever else could be said about Jamal, he
was
a skilled magician.

But, in the end, the desire to test it won out.

Charity had explained, back during the first lesson, that creating light was one of the easiest spells in the spellbooks. Almost every magician worth his salt could cast it, which hadn’t made him feel better when it had failed time and time again. He’d never told anyone that he had spent time practicing after she’d stopped trying to teach him, but nothing had happened, not even a single spark.

Carefully, he ran through the words and gestures ... and nothing happened.

The sense of disappointment was crushing. He sagged, almost slipping and falling off the bed. Elaine reached out, put a hand on his shoulder, then started to cast new charms over him. Johan closed his eyes, angrily blinking away tears. He might as well reconcile himself to being a prisoner for the rest of his life, he told himself, and serving as the target for his nephews and nieces as they came into their magic.

“The magic twitched,” Elaine informed him. “Try again.”

Johan stared at her, wanting to push her away, but not quite daring. “There’s no point,” he said, bitterly. “What’s the use of
trying
?”

“I felt the same way too,” Elaine said. There was so much bitterness in her voice that he found himself believing her. “But try again.”

Johan sat upright and cast the spell again. Nothing happened.

“Again,” Elaine ordered, watching the results from her wand. “And again.”

Johan gritted his teeth, hating her in that moment ... and cast the spell one final time. There was a sudden ...
surge
within his head and brilliant white light blossomed into existence, right in front of him. It was far brighter than anything Charity had produced to show him how she did it, bright enough to blind ... Elaine let out a cry and covered her eyes, just as a wave of heat struck them both. But Charity’s spell hadn’t produced any
heat
...

“Cancel it,” Elaine ordered.

“I don’t know
how
,” Johan protested, feeling panic bubbling through his mind. Charity hadn’t taught him how to cancel spells. The light was growing brighter, so bright that he could see it through his closed eyelids. “How?”

“Draw in your magic,” Elaine ordered. “Focus your mind and concentrate on bringing it back into yourself.”

Johan tried, but nothing happened. The light was still growing brighter and the room was growing uncomfortably warm. Panicking, he wished it gone ... and the light snapped out of existence. The room seemed a great deal dimmer now the light had faded away.

“Interesting,” Elaine said. Her face seemed soaked in sweat. There was a nasty red mark on the side of her face that had been facing the light. “But you definitely have magic.”

“I have magic,” Johan said, dazed. It couldn’t be true ... and yet it was. He
knew
, deep inside, that he had cast his first spell. The light spell was merely the beginning. “I have magic!”

“You do,” Elaine confirmed, dryly.

She didn’t understand. Even if she hadn’t come into her magic at fourteen, she would still have been a known magician. Her magic would have been detectable, even if she had been unable to access it. No one would have teased and tormented her like Johan had been treated by his family. Her family would have respected her even if she wasn’t a strong magician. And if she hadn’t been born to a magical family, her magic would have been a sign of favour from the gods. But Johan ... he’d been completely powerless, without even a hint of magic ...

Until now.

A sense of exultation ran through him. He wanted to jump to his feet and scream for joy, he wanted to run home and make his father proud of him, he wanted to find Jamal and teach his older brother a lesson ... there were so many things he wanted to do. His father couldn’t keep him a prisoner now, could he? How could he when all of his children were now magicians? Johan could take magical lessons, he could master magic ... he could become powerful. He could rise ...

... And yet he was no longer sure if he wanted to make his family proud. What had they done for him?

He’d hoped to go into the Civil Service and just leave them behind. He would have missed Charity, but the others ... none of them had really cared for their powerless brother. Even Charity had played pranks on him from time to time. And his father’s disappointment was worse than his rages. Even now ... did he really want to seek their approval?

“I want to do it again,” he said, quickly. “Can I? Please.”

Elaine frowned. “I think I should teach you how to cancel spells first,” she said, firmly. “And I also need to talk to you about what happened two days ago.”

Johan gaped at her. “Two
days
?”

“You were asleep for two days,” Elaine confirmed. “Since then ... investigations have been proceeding. But we will want a witness statement from you.”

“I understand,” Johan said, reluctantly. He wanted to try more magic, but he had a feeling that she would want him to take it slowly. The gods knew that his father had closely supervised his children as their magic started to blossom into life. “What do you want to know?”

“Who carried out the attack,” Elaine said. “And why.”

Johan hesitated. Did he really want to land Jamal in serious trouble? Now that Johan had magic too, maybe they could patch up their relationship ... he dismissed the thought, angrily. No matter the pressures piled on Jamal, there was no escaping the fact that his brother was a nasty bastard ... and that he’d tortured dozens of people two days ago. Johan had been powerless, he knew what it must have felt like to be at Jamal’s mercy. How could he defend his brother, even if he now shared the same magic? Besides, it wasn’t as if Jamal had shown him any kindness since it had become clear that he had no magic.

“My brother,” he admitted, reluctantly. His father would be furious, but Johan found it hard to care. A thrashing would be better than the sense of disappointment that radiated from his father every time he came face to face with his powerless son. “And he thought that they were getting uppity.”

Elaine’s face twisted. “I have no doubt he did,” she said. “Do you know who
else
was involved?”

“Some of his friends,” Johan said. “I don’t know their names. We were never introduced. He was so scared of having them think that he had weak blood that he never introduced me to any of his friends. But you can get it out of him ...”

“The Inquisitors probably can,” Elaine agreed. “Do you know the name of the druids who tested you for magic?”

Johan frowned, surprised by the sudden question. “No,” he admitted. “But wouldn’t there be records?”

“Depends how much your father paid out in bribes,” Elaine said. Her lips turned downwards, briefly. “I’ll check the records here, then find out from your father if necessary.”

Johan yawned suddenly. “Sorry,” he apologised. “Why am I tired?”

“You haven’t eaten for two days,” Elaine pointed out, dryly. “I’ll order you some food, then you can rest before we start carrying out more tests. There are quite a few oddities about your magic.”

“
My
magic,” Johan said, with heavy satisfaction. “Are you going to teach me how to use it?”

“I don’t know yet,” Elaine told him. “But I do know that the Grand Sorceress is very interested in your progress.”

Johan looked at her, thoughtfully. Once, having wealthy and powerful people paying attention to him would have seemed welcome. Now, it was downright terrifying.

And yet he was a magician!

“I should ask you,” he said. “Has this ever happened before?”

“A mundane developing magic?” Elaine asked. There was an odd note to her voice, a suggestion that she wasn’t quite sure she was answering the right question. “No, it hasn’t. And that’s why it bothers us.”

Johan nodded in understanding. If
anyone
could develop magic, the Empire’s social structure would be upended and destroyed. He could understand, now, why the Grand Sorceress was so interested in him ...

He’d been right. It was
definitely
terrifying.

Chapter Seven

More disturbed than she wanted to admit, Elaine ordered dinner for both of them and then concentrated on analysing the wards surrounding the chamber. They were some of the most complex wards outside the truly ancient buildings, constructed by some of the best ward masters in the Empire. Among other things, they monitored the condition of patients within the hospital, alerted the staff if anything went wrong and prevented self-harm or suicide. And Johan’s magic, whatever it was, had damaged them.

The wards tracked and nullified bursts of uncontrolled magic. It wasn’t uncommon for magicians to lose control of their magic when they were ill or badly injured; the wards should have tapered any burst of magic down and redirected it somewhere harmless, if they hadn’t managed to simply absorb it. But Johan’s magic had burned through them as easily as fire burned paper. The wards had been badly damaged, rendered utterly useless.

And it happened so quickly
, Elaine thought,
that no one managed to sound the alert
.

She looked back at Johan as a nurse entered the room, wheeling a trolley of food ahead of her. It smelt better than she recalled, the last time she’d been in hospital, but then she’d been so desperately worried about her new talents that she hadn’t really been able to enjoy a few days of rest. And besides, Johan
did
come from a powerful family. The hospital administrator was probably trying to butter his father up ...

But
that
wouldn’t go very well, Elaine knew. Lady Light Spinner had issued orders that no one, apart from Elaine and Dread, were to see Johan. If his father turned up and demanded entry – he hadn’t, as far as Elaine knew – he would be denied. The administrator’s hopes of a new hospital wing, donated by a grateful and wealthy father, might be thoroughly dashed.

“There are nutrient potions in the soup,” the nurse said, addressing Johan. “You’re to drink all of it, as you haven’t eaten in two days. Then – and only then – you can eat the rest of your food.”

Johan looked mutinous. Elaine wasn’t surprised. The soup might have tasted nice before the potions had been added, but few potions really tasted good. Her tutor had used to say that potions were addictive and anything that discouraged people from taking them was a good idea. It made sense ... and besides, nicer-tasting potions required more expensive ingredients.

“Drink it,” she urged. “You need energy more than anything else right now.”

To set a good example, she took her own bowl and began to sip it, while quietly continuing to examine the wards. Johan hadn’t even been
breathing
hard when his spell had finally been cancelled, suggesting vast magical power. He’d been tired, sure, but how much of that had been the magic and how much his general lack of food? And the spell had clearly gone out of control.
That
was unusual. One of the reasons the light spell was used as a teaching tool was because it was very hard to lose control of it. Even the rawest student should have been able to do it.

But Johan’s spell had produced heat as well as a blinding light.

She raised a hand and touched her cheek, wincing slightly at the pain. It must be what sunburn felt like, she told herself grimly; if she’d been looking right at it, she might well have been seriously hurt, despite her protections. A quick check revealed that some of her protections had been damaged too, accidentally. If Johan had meant her harm, he might have been able to burn right through her protections, no matter how subtle they were. The results would have been disastrous.