Mark of Four (14 page)

A shiver crawled up Alayne’s spine. “Just that he is a notorious Shadow-Caster, sir, and I saw the footage of what he did at the High Court before I came to school.”

“As I’m sure you are aware, Alayne, his lifelong goal has been ultimate power. He was well on his way during the outbreak of Shadow-Casting four years ago, but just because he’d been sitting in a prison cell since his arrest doesn’t mean that he’s by any means shed his ambitions. His attempt to Shadow-Cast the entire bench of Justices made that very clear. He’s been outspoken about his unquenchable desire to possess the Vale.” Dorner’s eyes pinned Alayne to the chair. Alayne squirmed under the questions she could see hovering in their depths.

“Alayne, please,” he begged, leaning forward in his chair, “keep your talents to yourself.” He paused. “If you do find your other talents manifesting themselves, don’t let anyone else know. At least not yet.”

“Yes, sir.” Alayne bit her lip, fearing that he knew, or at least suspected, the truth.

E
xams loomed closer
and closer as Christmas drew near. An ever-present ball of tension tightened Alayne’s stomach. It affected her appetite and her mood. Marysa eyed her with concern as Alayne picked at the fried Brussels sprouts on her plate.

“I get why you don’t like those things, Alayne, but you should at least stop teasing them. Poor things are probably drawing numbers to see which one gets speared first.”

Alayne tossed her fork down with a sigh. “It’s no good, Marysa. I wish I knew what was going to be on the exams.”

“You’ll be fine. Me, yeah, I’m scared to death, too, ‘cause just think what would happen if I was the only one in the whole family to flunk out of Clayborne? I’d never live it down at home. But your parents wouldn’t compare you to your perfect older brother who just accepted a job as a lay-barrister in the High Court.”

Alayne shook her head. “You’re right, of course. I’m worrying for nothing, and it’s getting me nowhere. All it’s doing is making me fall asleep in class because I’m losing sleep at night, and I don’t want another scolding from Manders.”

Marysa opened her mouth to answer, but at that moment, the MIUs switched on, and six images of Chairman Dorner hovered across the commissary.

“Good morning, students. I have a special announcement today. We are collecting signatures for any interested students who would like to participate in our annual field trip to Cliffsides. Sign-up sheets are hanging at the back of the commissary and in the common room. Only fifteen slots this year, so the volunteers will be selected at random from the names on the sign-up sheet.”

Alayne leaned toward Marysa as the Chairman continued. “What’s Cliffsides?” she asked.

Marysa rolled her eyes. “You remember, I told you a while back. It’s that field trip they take every year south of here. There’s nothing there—cliffs and ocean. All three of my brothers went, and all three of them wished they hadn’t wasted their time. Supposedly, it’s a good spot to find your element—lots of all four kinds what with the ocean and the nearly constant thunderstorms and everything. Me, I’d rather enjoy a warm evening by the fire in the common room.”

Alayne deliberated. She
could
sign up—she might even find her fourth element there. But as she glanced back at the rest of the commissary, Dorner had just blinked out of the hologram, and a line of students already stood, waiting to sign up on the holographic sheet.

Jayme signed his signature with a flourish, shooting a dark-eyed glance at Alayne as he went to sit with his friends.

Alayne picked up her fork and resumed shoving her Brussels sprouts across her plate.
Never mind.
If Jayme was going, she certainly didn’t need to go breathe the same air as him.

A
layne studied hard
, practicing Water-Wielding in her dorm room and finding lonely places in the spire or outside in the surrounding fields to practice Earth-Moving or Air-Mastering. She was getting more proficient at these skills. She was working on mixing and matching some of her talents, and she accidentally created a swamp under one of the main support cylinders that held the spire in place. As soon as she felt the huge structure shift, she realized her mistake and sent the water flying out of the earth so fast, it looked like a mini-tidal wave.

Another time she tried to create an ice stairway that went up and over a tree. Each stair was separate from the others, and hovered in the air at exact lengths apart. Using all her concentration, she began to walk up the steps toward the summit, but the cry of a buzzard startled her, and the steps came crashing down. She landed with a thump amid sharp ice shards, but the only wounds she received were punctured pride and flushed embarrassment. She thanked the stars above that no one had seen her accident. Much as she hated to admit it, she took pride in how successful she was at bending the elements, and such a massive failure would have been humiliating.

Jayme no longer ate lunch with Alayne and Marysa, and the classes they had together had turned into awkward torture for Alayne; Jayme was required to keep his seat, so he sat next to her, but he completely ignored her existence. She tried to talk to him once or twice, only to be greeted with stony silence.

Marysa still hung out with Jayme occasionally, but she told Alayne that Jayme wouldn’t even let Marysa talk to him about her. Alayne had turned away in silent frustration when Marysa told her this. She didn’t know how to fix her friendship with him.

Kyle had noticed the breach in her relationship with Jayme and had taken advantage of it. He accompanied Alayne to almost all of her classes. “Just as friends,” he’d say, grinning. Alayne knew the whole school thought of her and Kyle as a couple. She wasn’t sure what she herself thought.

One evening, Marysa and Alayne hung out in their dormitory room, trying on dresses for the Christmas dance. Clayborne had ordered dresses for all the girls, and Marysa and Alayne had bought several, knowing they could return them if they chose not to keep them. The spire was chilly; even the fireplaces didn’t throw out much heat, so Alayne found it comforting to hang out with Marysa, who had a constant glow of warmth in her vicinity.

“I just notched the bend,” Marysa explained when Alayne wondered how she did it. “I got tired of pulling it this way and that to make it whatever temperature I wanted, so I found the spot where I’m the most comfortable and put a notch in it. Now it stays that way; it’s like my own personal thermostat.”

Alayne held up a silvery blue floor-length gown and eyed Marysa with a critical eye. “I think this one would look really good with your icy-blue eyes. And will you please, please, please let me do your hair?”

Marysa bounced lightly on the bed. “Of course, but only if you let me do yours. I’m going to put it up and have tons of braids and all sorts of stuff in it. You won’t know yourself when you’re done. Oh, and I’m going to add some flowers from my own personal hothouse.”

Marysa had set up a greenhouse in the corner of their dormitory room. She kept the plants warm and Alayne added water as often as they needed it. They had quite a collection of bright, tropical flowers.

“So what are your plans after the dance?” Alayne asked. Marysa had planned to go with a group of girls from their hall. “Popcorn? Movie? I’d like to come, too.” It took her a second to realize that Marysa hadn’t answered.

Alayne glanced up at her friend. “What’s the matter?”

“Um.” Marysa looked more awkward than Alayne had ever seen her. “Someone asked me to go with him to the dance, so I’m not actually going with the girls anymore.”

Alayne’s eyebrows rose. “Really? Who?”

Marysa’s gaze dropped to the floor and stayed there. “Jayme.”

Stillness blanketed the room, followed by Alayne’s insipid, “Oh.”

“Honestly, Layne, I didn’t know what to do,” Marysa burst out. “He asked me after class yesterday, and I kind of said yes in the surprise of the moment. Now I feel incredibly guilty and I’ve been walking around like a zombie since then ‘cause I didn’t know how to tell you.”

“It’s fine, Mary,” said Alayne, much too brightly. “Just fine. Why should I care anyway? We haven’t even talked to each other for the last two months.”

Marysa eyed her speculatively. “Are you sure, Layne? ‘Cause I’ll go tell him right now I’ve changed my mind if you have a problem with it.”

“You are
not
going to do that, Marysa. What are you thinking? You’re going to go have a great time, and we’ll compare notes at the end of it.”

Marysa blew out a gust of air. “Well, I admit, I was nervous about what you were going to say, but I’m glad that’s over. So now, what do you think of this dress?” She held up a sequined sea-green dress that exactly matched Alayne’s eyes. It was strapless and came down to just above Alayne’s knees. “I think Kyle would be happy to dream about you in this thing.”

“I’ll be glad to not have Kyle dream about me at all.” Alayne fingered the material, turned it, and undid the zipper. “Okay, I’ll try it on.”

She slid the dress over her head and gazed at herself in the mirror. The dim lights of the dormitory did nothing to highlight her form, but she felt pretty. She stood on her tiptoes to see what her legs would look like in the heels she planned to wear.

Marysa smiled at her in the mirror. “Perfect. You’re beautiful, Worth.”

“You’re not so bad yourself.” Alayne helped her friend slip into her own dress and zippered the back. Then the two stood in front of the mirror, preening and giggling and acting like teenage girls just because they could.

A
layne pulled
her blanket higher over her head the next morning, leaving an opening large enough to light her book. She’d pulled
The Legend of the Quadriweave
from her wooden chest before Marysa woke. She could only imagine the questions Marysa would ask if she discovered her friend’s obsession with the Vale.

Marysa stirred in her bed, and Alayne flopped over the book, feigning sleep. But her friend’s breaths lengthened again, and Alayne returned her attention to the words on the page.

There was one passage she couldn’t understand:

The legendary Vale is said to imbue its owner with the powers of a Quadriweave. Though experts don’t agree on the source of a Quadriweave’s powers, circumstances surrounding previous owners of the Vale have given rise to this assertion.

Alayne stared at the paragraph, unable to make sense of it. If such a belief were true, she would have to have access to the Vale, to “own” it somehow, but there was no possible way that could be true. She had only ever heard legends and tales of the Vale and its power, and she tended to look at it more as a fable, an ancient fairy tale, than anything else.

She turned the page, her attention snagging on the heading,
The High Court’s Ongoing Shadow-Caster Battle
. She glanced over the section, taking particular note of how the High Court had passed an injunction against Shadow-Casting before the Casters’ uprising four years ago:
Shadow-Casting violates moral law, and is a reprehensible, heinous deed. No being should use personal force, either tangible or elemental, within another person’s body.

Tension tightened Alayne’s stomach as, once again, she remembered the Justice who flew down the High Court steps, his robes billowing behind him, melting into a dry skeleton, returned to dust because of the whim of a rogue Elemental.

For the first time, she fully understood her mother’s fear. Simeon Malachi was relentless, and though she couldn’t imagine how he could possibly know or care about her, she was a Quadriweave, and therefore, she could end up in his sights.

Marysa stirred again, and Alayne flipped the book closed, sliding it back into the chest and lowering it to its place between the wall and the bed frame. She pushed back the covers and smiled at her bleary-eyed roommate.

“Time to wake up, Mary. Semester exams today.”

A
n ancient grandfather
clock ticked loudly in the stillness at the front of the assembly room. Hundreds of Clayborne students bent over their desks, scratching their answers onto the sheaf of papers that rested in front of them. Alayne stared at the long list of questions down the first page.
What Elemental caused nearly irreparable damage to the glaciers of the world in the 1900s? What did this person do that caused that damage? In your own words, describe a “notched bend.” Explain the physical differences between a Natural Human and an Elemental. What event pulled those distinctions into global awareness?
And on they went. Alayne flipped up her honey-colored bangs, irritated when they flopped back down on her forehead. She started writing.

The clock ticked on, and Alayne’s hand cramped. She glanced at Marysa, who chewed on the end of her pencil. Kyle sat just behind her. She peered at him. His scrawl covered the same page she’d just turned. Jayme sat at the head of her row. She couldn’t see where he was on his exam. Not that she cared. She shrugged and returned to the questions.

“Ten minutes,” Professor Manders called after a while. “Finish quickly now.”

Alayne shook the cramp from her hand and pressed on. A page and a half left.
Describe a Quadriweave and give two examples of famous ones from history.
She finished that one quickly, smiling a little as she flipped to the last page.
Name the most infamous Shadow-Caster of all time and briefly describe the events behind his arrest.

Alayne swallowed, reliving the uncertainty and fear of the day she’d watched the Justice perish on the High Court’s steps. Of course, she had studied Simeon Malachi and his contingent of Shadow Casters in History of Elementals. She wished she could forget the riots that had shredded the plaza behind Kathy Frontenleid as the ramifications of Malachi’s High Court takeover attempt spread across CommonEarth.

Until this year, Alayne hadn’t understood the significance of the Elemental Alliance, except that Malachi was a member. She knew that the Alliance worked hard to bring in many other prominent members from all over the Continent, but she hadn’t understood their reasoning until lately.

The conflict between Elementals and Natural Humans roiled with tension, and Malachi’s Shadow-Casting feat at the beginning of the school year threw those tensions into high gear. Naturals cowered in fear now as the escaped Shadow-Casters Casted innocents to carry out their whims. The Elemental Alliance spread their hatred of Naturals everywhere, inciting prejudice even in those who’d never before shown bigotry. Alayne shivered as she considered her answer. No wonder her mother, a Natural, lived in such a state of fear. Even other Elementals found it hard to escape.

A Caster who targeted a Natural had less power than if he were to target another Elemental, because once in control of an Elemental’s body, he could use the Casted individual to wield their element. A Casted Natural caused much less havoc in comparison. But they were just as vulnerable.

Daily news reports from Stanwick Jones confirmed new Casts across the Continent, and even some overseas. The Continental Guard had their hands full trying to keep up with them. It was the most widespread game of gophers the world had seen. No sooner would the Guard catch up with the Casters than they would disappear and crop up in another place. It was like stomping out a forest fire with one boot.

Alayne finished the last page and put down her pen, just in time. One minute later, Professor Manders glanced up from his papers and checked the clock. “All right, students, please pass your examinations forward. You will find out your grade at the beginning of next semester. In the meantime, have a wonderful Christmas break. I will see most of you tomorrow evening at the Christmas dance.” He smiled at them as a general rustling filled the assembly room.

Alayne handed her paper to the student in front of her and reached back to grab the stack Kyle handed her.

“Whew, glad that’s over,” he said. “I wasn’t sure I was going to get done in time.”

Marysa stood and stretched. “I’m just glad that’s the last bit of cramming I have to do for a few weeks. I don’t think I’ve gotten any sleep at all for the last month, and if I have to try to memorize one more list of dates, I’m going to set something on fire by accident.”

“Or on purpose.” Alayne rubbed her forehead. “Let’s not think about exams for a long time. My brain is fried. Let’s think about nothing and have a great time doing it.”

“Are your parents coming to visit for Christmas?”

Alayne furrowed her brow. “No, I thought Clayborne’s policy was that no one went home over Christmas to keep the focus on their training and to limit distractions.”

“That’s true, but they let parents drop in to visit for short stays. Like no more than a couple of days.”

“Oh.” Alayne swallowed. “I didn’t know that, and I don’t know if my parents know that.”

“My parents are coming for the New Year,” Marysa said. “Since we’re from the same area, I’ll ask them to bring your parents along.”

Alayne grinned. She hadn’t seen her parents for so long, and she missed them heartily. “What about your parents, Kyle? Are they coming?”

“They—get pretty busy around Christmas. I don’t get to see them much.” He looked uncomfortable.

When Alayne and Marysa climbed the eighteen flights to their dormitory room, Alayne asked Marysa if she knew what that was all about.

“He’s from a rich family.” Marysa puffed as they reached their floor. “His parents are, like, Justices or something. I’m not sure. I know they’re in politics somehow. I’ll have to look it up.”

For some unknown reason, Alayne’s mind switched to Jayme, who had no family, and who had grown up without the benefit of a mother’s or father’s love. She shook off the image, angry with herself for thinking of him at all. Obviously he hated her now, so she should return the favor.

The next morning, Alayne woke to a finger poking her side. She flinched and opened one bleary eye. “What?” she bit out.

“Today’s the Christmas dance, and we’re spending all day getting ready for it. Get your rear out of bed; I want to get started making you my masterpiece.”

Alayne groaned and rolled over, sinking back into sleepy oblivion.

“I mean it, Alayne.” Marysa’s voice entered her dreams. “I want to make you look stunning, so you need to get up. I’ve got a spa treatment all ready.”

Alayne opened one eye and peered past Marysa at the corner of their dorm room. From goodness-knew-where, Marysa had dragged a recliner under the window. She had set up three shelves around the chair with make up, hair clips, brushes and other accessories. Alayne sat up and stared. “Cucumbers? Really, Marysa?”

“I don’t want your eyes to get puffy. Now get up before I turn your bed into a branding iron.”

“I’m up, I’m up!” Alayne grabbed her towel and dragged herself to the hall bathroom, excitement lacing her thoughts in spite of herself.

The whole morning, Marysa pampered Alayne. She carefully manicured and brushed her nails, painting them with intricate designs, the green exactly matching Alayne’s dress. She swept Alayne’s hair up into a thick knot, fastening it with a silver spike in the side. She super-heated her fingers to curl some tendrils and artfully arranged them around the base of her neck, breathing dire threats if Alayne moved at all while she worked the honey-gold curls.

She wouldn’t let Alayne go to the commissary for lunch, but she did provide some smuggled cookies she’d brought up the night before. “Don’t eat too much. You’ll spoil your appetite for supper, and you might mess up my creation.” She let Alayne have a book, thankfully, and by four o’clock, she started the make-up routine.

“I’m not going to get a chance to do your hair,” Alayne protested. “You’re spending all day on me.”

“You can do my hair; you just have to be quick about it. I don’t have the capacity to be as beautiful as you do, so it doesn’t matter what my hair looks like.”

“So not true.” Alayne shook her head.

“Don’t move your head,” Marysa snapped. “You almost made me smear your eye liner.” She finished up the last few strokes. “Okay, come get your dress on, and then look at yourself in the mirror.”

Alayne rolled her eyes, but obediently held her arms up and let Marysa drop the dress down over her shoulders. The sequins itched the skin beneath Alayne’s arms; she tried to ignore it. She slid the matching heels on her feet and strapped them around her ankles. When she looked in the mirror, she didn’t recognize herself. “Wow, Marysa. That’s—wow. You did a great job.”

“Yep.” Marysa smiled at their reflection in the mirror. “I knew I would.”

By the time Alayne got Marysa’s hair and make-up done, it was time to head downstairs. Other girls chattered in the hallway as they made their way down to the common room.

“I wonder how they’ll have the commissary decorated?”

“The commissary?” Marysa shook her head. “Didn’t you see the notice? The dance is outside. They’ve brought in several Fire-Breathers for the occasion. It’s going to be so pretty.” Her blue eyes sparkled with excitement. She really did look like a different person. Alayne had done her long black hair in a braid and twisted it up in a tight knot on top of her head. The effect was pure elegance, complemented by the lovely silk fall of her icy-blue evening gown.

At the foot of the stairs, Alayne gasped. Instead of at the chute, the line of students had formed at the opposite end of the common room. One of the floor-to-ceiling windows had been removed, and students walked slowly down broad steps made of grassy turf that spiraled hundreds of feet to the ground below.
Kind of like what I tried to do when I made my ice steps up and over that tree.
She wondered how many Elementals it had taken to create that staircase. She could feel the almost tangible bend in the atmosphere around them.

Kyle suddenly appeared at her side. “Alayne. You look incredible.” He wore a white tuxedo, his sea-green bow-tie the only bit of color in his outfit. Alayne wondered if Marysa had told him the color of her dress.

He reached for her hand, held it gently in his, and then leaned over it and kissed it.

Embarrassed, Alayne pulled her hand back.

“What?” he asked. Jayme walked right by them to Marysa. Kyle raised his voice slightly. “It was just a kiss.” His gaze darted sideways at Jayme, challenge evident in his tone.

Anger flushed through Alayne’s body. “Behave yourself, Kyle,” she whispered, “or I’m marching right back up those stairs to my dormitory room.”

“I’m sorry, Layne. I’ll be good.” He offered her his arm. Alayne slid her fingers into his elbow’s crook, and the line moved forward.

Marysa and Jayme talked behind them. Jayme was the epitome of manners. He complimented Marysa’s dress, her hair, her general appearance. He smoothly asked how her exams had gone. Marysa was completely herself. She chattered on and on about anything and everything. Alayne swallowed. She wished she had Marysa’s effortless ease.

They’d reached the staircase, and Alayne stepped out onto the turf step, surprised when the large block of earth didn’t even wobble.
The Earth-Movers they have are good.
She and Kyle descended slowly. Far below them stretched a huge panorama of lights. Tables lined the perimeter, and in the very center a large dance floor awaited couples. Some were already dancing. Most of the rest had found their name tags at various tables and were seating themselves.

Kyle motioned to the dance floor. “Shall we dance first?” he asked.

Alayne shook her head. “I’m starved. Marysa wouldn’t let me eat lunch, so I need some food.”

Kyle laughed, and they circled the tables, looking for their names. They finally found them at a table close to the river’s edge. The lights sparkled off the water and lit the orchid centerpieces on each table. Alayne bit her lip. Marysa and Jayme’s name tags were placed next to them. She sighed. Whoever had planned the seating arrangements obviously wasn’t aware of the awkward situation they were setting up.