The Apprenticeship of Julian St. Albans (20 page)

“No,
no,” said Stephen with a chuckle. “We’ll do a very short version
where we wash your feet and give you a blessing, but you don’t have to do the
full…”

“Monty?”
provided Alex, winking at Julian.

“I
was going to say ritual,” said Stephen, but he was amused. “We’re
also going to be having your Alex help our priests with the new wards at
Gainesbury, and so we may get your help there once it’s deemed safe.”

“Why
me?” asked Julian. “I mean, I’m just an apprentice, it’ll be years
before I have even half of a Master’s knowledge.”

Father
Stephen gave him a thoughtful look, considering the question properly before
answering. “You love the Temple in your own way, and you love the plants
you’re giving into our care, and that is reflected in your talent and the
energy you give to the gardens,” he explained. “I revisited the
Gainesbury Temple this morning, and the water garden glows to my sight with the
goodness of the earth.”

Julian
blinked, then nodded silently. “Thank you,” he said shyly, biting his
lip for a moment, then nodding again. “I’d be happy to do any work the
Temple needs.”

Father
Stephen smiled. “Good lad,” he said. “Your talents are blossoming,
and it’ll be good for you to keep exercising them.”

“He’s
right,” said Alex. “All the work you’ve done recently has really
strengthened your ability and control.”

“I’ve
noticed that everything feels clearer to me, and I can feel things farther away
and more, I dunno, specifically?” Julian shrugged. “It’s weird to try
to talk about it.”

“Tell
me about it,” said James wryly.

Julian
giggled and felt better. “I guess there’s just so many ways to sense
magic, it’s hard to talk about for everyone.”

“Oh,
yeah,” agreed Geoff. “I feel magic, too, but it’s a touch thing and
it’s… Yeah.”

“Yeah,”
said Julian, and they had a moment of perfect understanding.

Except
Murielle, who just rolled her eyes and said, “Magic users.”

“Yeah,”
said Jones dryly.

That
set them all laughing, and the topic moved back to the schedule and when Jones
would come out, and what Julian needed to bring. Alex was planning to spend the
evening at home with Julian’s amulet and keep-safe, and he acquiesced to
Julian’s puppy-eyed pleas that he not destroy it if at all possible.

“It’s
the first magic I ever did,” said Julian.

“Well,
the first magic you ever did on purpose,” said Alex, kissing him. “No
doubt you’ve been encouraging the plants around your estate for years without realising
it.”

“Oh,
maybe,” said Julian. He finished off his tea and set the cup down.
“So, who all is coming to dinner? And has poor Alys been warned?”

“We
all are, except for the good Father, who is staying here and virtuously
continuing his good work,” said Geoff with a smirk.

“And
I let her know to expect a horde of depleted magic-users for dinner, she’ll be
ready to feed us pretty soon,” said Alex.
 

“Then
we’ll leave you to the peace of an empty office,” said Julian, standing.
“If you’re all ready to go?”

There
was a flurry of last sips of tea and agreement, and Julian gave Father Stephen
a shy hug on their way out, and got a warm blessing-kiss to his forehead in
return. He gave one to Alex as well as both Guardians, and then Jones who lined
up hopefully and promised to stay for a purification one of the times he
delivered Julian, though the first day they thought he might get the honour of
ferrying plants around after he’d dropped off his precious passengers.

Murielle
had already edged out the door, but Geoff accepted his own blessing with
surprised pleasure when it was offered. “We’ll win over your detective
yet,” teased Stephen, ushering them all out.

Murielle
shrugged, then came over, looking almost shy. “I guess I never really
understood what you’re, you know, devoted to here.”

“We’re
devoted to purity of spirit, and harmony with nature, supporting it as it
supports us,” said Father Stephen, taking her hands. “But most of all
we are devoted to nurturing the goodness within each person, and protecting
that goodness whenever it might be snuffed out.”

Murielle
thought about this for a moment, then nodded. “Then I would love to accept
your blessing, Father, because that sounds a lot like what we do, but more, you
know.”

“Spiritual,”
said the priest, amused. He kissed her forehead and said, “Go in peace and
strength.”

“Thank
you,” she said, and the rest of them thanked him, too, and then they let
the Guardians lead them back to the car.

They
paused to check everything over even here, but soon enough everyone was crowded
into the car, with Jacques up front with Jones and the smaller James sharing
with Julian and Alex.

“It’s
a good thing we didn’t bring MacLean,” said Murielle, amused at the tangle
of legs in their shared foot well. “We’d definitely be over capacity with
him in here.”

“Next
time you get to drive your own car,” said Alex, mock-crossly.

Julian
giggled. “It’s not her fault we picked up two big, strapping men.” He
snuggled up close, since they’d confiscated his earlier blankets in case of
contamination, though his clothes had been declared clear.

“You
just like the extra body heat,” teased Alex.

James
chuckled. “It’s not the worst way to keep a client safe and well,” he
said, shifting just a little so he could let Julian get closer. Alex adjusted,
too, so that Julian was cradled warmly between them.

“Ooh,
I could get used to this,” Julian said happily, relaxing into their body
heat. He wasn’t too uncomfortable, the Temple was kept nice and warm and he’d
had the showers and sauna, but that wasn’t going to stop him from basking when
he was being spoiled so well.

Conversation
on the ride home was about mundane things, and Julian let himself relax and
tune it out, so much so that he dozed off before they got home.
“Sorry,” he said with a yawn, waking up as Jones made his way to
their assigned parking spot.

“It’s
fine,” James assured him. “You need your rest.”

“We
won’t stay long after dinner,” said Geoff. “Jones has promised to
whisk us back to the Agency and our cars.”

Another
yawn stifled Julian’s intended comment, which seemed to amuse everyone else, at
least. “All right,” he said, once he was sure he was done yawning.

Jones
turned off the car and asked, “So, how are we going to do this?”

“I’ll
carry Julian,” said Jacques. “That’ll be the safest, since Alex
hasn’t got his flute.”

“I
can do some magic without it,” said Alex, “but you’re right, he’ll be
inside your Guardian magic that way. I’ll go ahead and check the wards, and
then whistle you in individually.”

“You
can add us to the wards properly once Julian’s in bed,” said James.
“I’d rather they stayed strong until then.”

“But
really,” said Julian, “this next bit’s the dangerous part, between
the car and home.”

“Right,”
said Alex. “So you, me, and Jacques will go ahead, and then James will
come along after with everyone else.”

“And
I get carried,” said Julian dubiously. “I’m not broken, you know, I
can walk.”

“You’re
hardly a burden,” said Jacques. “What do you weight, two stone?
Three?”

Julian
stuck his tongue out, but that seemed to be that, so there was a moment of
paranoid eyes scanning the garage for anything out of place before doors were
opened and Julian was carefully handed off to Jacques, with Alex following
after. The rest of them went about locking up the car while Alex and Jacques
hurried them to the elevator, which Alex had used a whistle of magic to call
down to their floor.

The
doors opened just as they got there, and it was blessedly empty. Julian
swallowed, feeling a little tug of something at him, and he whispered,
“Hurry.”

“I
see it,” said Jacques, and they piled in and pushed the buttons. Another
whistle from Alex got the doors closed without the usual delay, and up they
went. Rising up away from the earth seemed to weaken whatever was pulling at
Julian, and he startled when the door opened as they approached.

“Alys,
you’re an angel,” said Julian, too worried to laugh at himself.
 

The
three of them hurried inside, Alex whistling all the way to let Jacques through
without pause. The wards brushed away the sensation like pushing away someone’s
hand that had been tugging at his sleeve, and Julian relaxed finally and
wiggled to be set down.

Jacques
deposited him on his favourite chair, and Julian kicked off his shoes and
curled up, trying not to feel ridiculous as he pulled a blanket over himself.
“Thank you,” he said to Jacques. “It was a lot weaker that time,
but I could feel them trying again.” He shivered.

Tea
appeared floating in the air in front of him, and Julian took it gratefully.
“Will you be hiding until my Guardians leave, Alys?”

“Probably
not,” said Alys tartly, “but the rest of ‘em are on the way up.”

“Right,”
said Julian, chuckling. “Well, you do whatever you need to stay as
wonderful as you are.”

A
plate appeared before him with a sticky-sweet honey cake on it. “You’re
learning,” said Alys.

Julian
laughed and pulled the cake into his lap. “I’m trying.”

Jacques
and Alex were standing by the door, conferring no doubt about this second, much
weaker attempt on Julian’s magic if not his life. Julian decided to just ignore
them in favour of the honey cake and hot tea, and he had them warming his belly
by the time everyone made it upstairs and through the wards.

“So,”
Julian asked, once chairs were brought in and tea distributed, “What
now?”

“Dinner,”
said Geoff, Alex, and Jacques in unison.

“I
meant, how are we going to get me out of the flat without that spell coming
after me every time?” said Julian.

“I’ll
fix it into your amulet,” said Alex. “Jacques got a look at the
spell, and it was my second time listening, so between us we’ve got a pretty
good handle on how it works.”

“Which
means you can make a specific protection against it,” said Julian. He gave
a relieved laugh. “I was worried I’d have to stay here forever.”

“That
won’t do,” said Alex, kissing his cheek, then snuggling up with him in
their chair. “We promised Father Stephen.”

“We
did?” said Julian.

“Of
course, you promised to do the work, and I promised to make sure you’re
loved.” Alex looked annoyingly smug at his own cleverness, but it worked
as intended to make Julian melt, so he kissed him anyway.

“I’m
worried about this doctor appointment on Thursday,” said James, once the
kissing had subsided.

Geoff
looked thoughtful. “It’s for Alex originally, he had some weird spikes in his
magic profile when I did his physical, but Julian really does need to be seen
by someone more specialised.”

“And
he probably can’t haul all those weird instruments here for a consultation,
even if he’d do a house call,” said Julian with a sigh. “Well, we’ll
call him tomorrow and talk about it.”

They
changed the subject to more mundane things, like whether or not Jacques would
be allowed to occasionally use Alys’ kitchen, and whether their sneaking in to
bathe in the mornings would wake Julian. The brownies had no problems with the
Guardians’ presence, though Alys and Jacques were still negotiating kitchen
rights when dinner was served on floating trays.

Alys
had managed to convince the butcher to deliver, and everyone had a lovely rack
of lamb beautifully roasted and encrusted with herbs, a pile of mashed potatoes
thick with cheese and more herbs, an even bigger pile of assorted summer squash
dripping with butter, and a little side salad with crumbled cheese, fresh
berries, and Alys’ wine-and-honey vinaigrette.

“At
least I know your brownie feeds you right,” said Jacques, looking pleased.
“I’ll just sneak in and do a meal or two and some sweets for a
treat.”

“Alex
isn’t capable of feeding himself without takeaway,” said Alys, though she
remained stubbornly invisible.

“I
can make breakfast!” protested Alex, but it was weak and no one was
fooled.

“Alys
makes it better.” Julian chuckled and dug into his salad first, making a
happy noise at the surprise of fresh herbs hiding among the greens.

“So
does Jacques,” said James, carefully cutting up his chops and setting the
bones aside before starting on his food.

Lapointe
was busy tasting a little of everything and making happy noises at all of it.
“You guys are lucky all these herbs for strength taste so good, wow.”

“The
ones that don’t get used in potions instead,” Alex assured her.
“Along with a lot of other things you don’t want to know about.”

“I
have to admit, these young men have strained my ability to use the herbs in
ways that don’t get monotonous,” said Alys, amused. “Creative
challenges are good for me, though.”

That
got her and Jacques talking cooking, and though the conversation was peppered
with commentary and compliments from everyone else, mostly they were all too
busy eating the delicious meal. Julian was just finishing off his last bites of
lamb when there was a knock at the door.

The
two Guardians immediately went on alert, and their trays floated to rest on the
coffee table, out of their way. “Are you expecting anyone?” asked
James.

The
knocking was repeated, though this time it was an authoritative pounding that
managed somehow to convey irritation.

Alex
and Lapointe looked at each other. “Fisher?” guessed Alex.

“We’ll
find out,” said Lapointe. “Can’t you check your wards?”

“Oh,
right,” said Alex with a laugh, and he whistled a complicated little tune
so that they could see a faint image against the door of whoever was beyond it.
There was Agent Fischer, scowl firmly in place, with Ms. Eberly at his side.
“Okay, that’s a strange combination.”