The Collected Christopher Connery (41 page)

Morning had well and truly come by the time Nia finished
healing herself and Gail and then undoing the damage that the healing had done.

“You really don’t have to,” Gail had tried to insist,
though her throat had caught squeakily on each word. “I’ll mend on my own.”

But Nia had only shaken her head and done the magic,
which had not only fixed up her throat but had also done away with the itching
water burns on her skin and even repaired some of the damage done to her hair.
She was shallowly grateful for that last bit. After so much time soaking in bad
water, it’d probably come out in clumps if she tried to brush it.

She tried a weak joke about how she didn’t think bald
would suit her, but Nia’s answering smile was perfunctory and she was silent
throughout the operation except for asking if Arthur’s broken binding hurt at
all after the transfer spell was complete.

“No,” he said. “It feels fine. Weird, but fine.”

“Good.” Nia got to her feet, arms folded tightly around
her middle. “I’m going to lie down for a bit. If anyone needs me, feel free to
wake me.”

Arthur was watching her worriedly. “Do you want me –”

Nia shook her head. “Will you stay with Xavier, Arthur?
He says he’s not hurt, but I am unaware of any precedent for his condition. I
want to keep a close eye on him until we know there won’t be any side-effects.
I will check his magic levels regularly, but I’m relying on you to take care of
him from a medical perspective.”

“I –” Arthur sighed and nodded. “All right, Nia, I’ll
stay with him.”

“Thank you.” Without another word, she vanished into the
guestroom and closed the door behind her.

Granting Gail a single helpless shrug, Arthur went across
the hall to Xavier’s room. Not knowing what to do with herself, she followed.

Xavier was sitting up in his bed, a book and his teaching
journal open on his lap. He smiled when he saw them. It wasn’t a very strong
smile and it didn’t come without effort, but there was some genuine warmth in
it.

“You should be resting, idiot,” Gail said, sitting down
on the edge of the bed. “The kid’s won’t be back for a month and you just
expelled an evil magician from your head, I think you can take a day off.”

Arthur looked at her sharply, but careful circumspect
conversation wasn’t really Gail’s style and she knew Xavier wouldn’t expect it
from her.

He proved her right by chuckling. “I am resting. Have you
ever known me to work from bed? Anyway, I think getting back to normal is the
best thing I can do right now.”

Gail looked at him closely. “You sure?”

Smile a little fainter but still present, Xavier nodded.
“Yeah, I’m sure.”

Arthur remained back by the door, arms folded and eyes on
the floor. He didn’t seem to know what the hell to say and Gail couldn’t blame
him. Still, she knew sitting there in awkward silence wasn’t going to make
Xavier feel any better.

“You know, Xavier, you really saved our asses last
night.”

Xavier looked up at her in surprise. “I did?”

“If you hadn’t fought Connery into getting back to where
Nia could grab him, we’d all be in a whole lot of shit right now.” She ran her
hand back through her bath-damp hair, remembering how the rain had blurred her
vision and made her gun feel slick and insubstantial in her hands. “I’m not
sure I could have shot you. I’m actually pretty sure I couldn’t have.”

She was lying, but Xavier didn’t have to know that. She
sure as hell would never have gotten over doing it.

Xavier shrugged, dropping his eyes back to his journal.
“It was only a few steps.”

“Yeah, but it was a few steps that Connery really didn’t
want to take. And you know he almost always got what he wanted.” She waited
until Xavier was looking at her again. “You did good, Xavier.”

This time, the smile came a little easier. “Thanks,
Gail.”

“No problem.” Turning back to Arthur, Gail waved to the
chair beside Xavier’s bed. “Come on over here, doc. You’ve had a rough night
yourself. You ought to sit down.”

Arthur hesitated for another moment, but then did as she
said. When he lowered himself into the chair, Xavier smiled at him and Arthur
managed to smile faintly back.

There were a few moments of almost companionable silence,
then Arthur said, “Gail, would you do me a favor?”

Gail blinked at him. “Yeah, sure, doc.”

“Could you go check on Nia?”

Gail glanced uncomfortably toward the door across the
hall. She could get to it in maybe seven steps, but at that moment, the hallway
might as well have been a hundred feet wide. “I don’t know, doc. It sounded
like she wanted to be alone.”

“But I don’t want her to be alone,” Arthur said with a
stubbornness that was apparently an essential part of the Graves genetic
makeup. “And I need to make sure Xavier’s healing properly, so unless you
suddenly graduated from medical school in the past ten minutes you’ll be no
help to me here.”

“Ow, doc, no need to flaunt the credentials,” Gail said
lightly, knowing there was no meanness in Arthur’s words, only worry. “All
right, I’ll check if she needs anything.” She smiled at Xavier as she got up.
“Let me know if he gets to annoying, all right? He’s pretty scrawny, I think I
could throw him out without too much trouble.”
        

Arthur rolled his eyes, but Xavier chuckled, which made
it worth it. “I’ll let you know, Gail.”

So Gail went, closing Xavier’s door behind her. She
waited for a moment with an ear against the wood and was relieved to hear the
soft sound of conversation start up soon after. That was good. She didn’t think
silence would help any of them just now.

Speaking of which…

She paused with her hand on the guestroom door. After Dad
died, all she had wanted to do was hide. The guardians in the children’s home
had often found her sleeping in closets or under the stairs. They thought she
was just being deliberately eccentric, but the truth was that she just couldn’t
stand being around people who weren’t her father.

But Arthur was right. Someone should at least ask what
Nia wanted. If she wanted to be alone, then Gail would sit in the hall with her
back against the door. That way, she could keep a quiet eye on everyone.

Not risking a knock in case Nia was already asleep, Gail
opened the door slowly and slipped inside.

Nia was curled up on the far side of the bed, only her
head and one shoulder visible above the blankets. Gail was sure she was asleep
and was about to just sit herself in the corner chair when she said, “Gail?” in
a quiet voice.

“Yeah, princess, it’s me,” Gail answered. “Do you want me
to leave you alone?”

There was a moment of silence, then, “No.”

Hating the tearless misery in her voice, Gail pulled off
her coat and shoes and slid under the blankets. Nia didn’t turn around, but her
hands clutched at Gail’s arms when they wrapped around her.

For several minutes, they just lay there in silence. Gail
hoped Nia would fall asleep, knowing she could use the rest, but then she felt
Nia’s sides move as she took a deep breath and said, “I can’t go back. Oh,
Gail, what am I going to do if I can’t go back?”

Gail didn’t know what to say. “I – I don’t know how
anyone could stand to –”

“It’s not that. First of all, I know it’s not everyone.
Plenty of the people in the Academy are just like me and Arthur, just like you
and Xavier even. They’re good people. They are. There’s just something – broken
– at the top. If I could just
prove
that, I think most of the other
magicians would follow me. We could start over, start clean.” Nia’s tense
shoulders slumped. “But they would know.
”

“Know what?”

“They would know that I know. At first, it would be all
right. I could smile and pretend everything was just how it was. Show some
understandable disappointment at how my assignment worked out and gratefully
accept whatever tedious assignment they gave me as punishment, but I couldn’t
do it forever, Gail. I have to find out who killed my mother and who helped
them cover it up.”

Gail nodded silently.

“But once I started investigating…” She shook her head
against the pillow. “I was instructed to look at my mother’s research once just
after I turned thirteen and it was clear that I was going to be –”

“An insufferable genius?” Gail offered with a small
smile.

“Advanced,” Nia corrected. Then she sighed. “I think they
did it so I wouldn’t bother them with questions. Her papers aren’t under any
special restrictions. I could have taken them out of the library a hundred
times if I had wanted to, but why would I want to? I knew what had happened. My
mother had inadvertently proved that unbound magic could not be controlled by
even the most skilled magicians. What else did I need to know? But if I came
back from this case and suddenly showed a renewed interest in my mother’s work,
they would know, or they would at least know that I suspected.”

“But what could they do even if they did?” Gail asked.

Nia barked a sharp laugh. “Oh, plenty, I assure you. They
could find some excuse to bar me from certain library materials out of
‘concerns’ for my mental well-being. They could try to exhaust me with arduous
assignments or even send me to another campus in another city. They would find
a way to stop me.” Her jaw tightened. “They always do.”

She had a point, but… “But if you’re not at the Academy,
how can you –”

A small hard smile twisted Nia’s lips. “Vernix isn’t the
only thing that moves illegally through the Academy walls. Information leaks through
as well. I’ll recreate what I know of Mother’s work from memory and then do my
own research to make up the rest. If I can prove that her experiment
should
have
worked, that will be a start. It’s the freedom to work I need more than
anything and I won’t have that if I go back.”

There was another long silence during which Gail quietly
contemplated what Nia had said. It made sense, but it was hard to imagine Nia
outside of the Academy, which was weird since Gail had only ever known her
outside of the Academy. But weird or not, she couldn’t help thinking there was
a library somewhere that was going to be very quiet and lonely with Nia gone.

“Then there’s Arthur.”

“Doc?” said Gail, breaking from her thoughts. “What about
him?”

“He can’t go back, probably not ever.”

“Why?”

“He broke his binding. Even if they believed it was an
accident, the binding would have to be redone. There was a time I –” Nia’s
voice caught a little and she had to swallow hard several times before she
could continue. “There was a time I thought it was necessary. It was terrible,
but it was necessary. If my mother couldn’t control unbound magic then no one
could and so… I believed them. I let them hurt my brother because I
believed…”

Gail held Nia more tightly. “You were just a kid.”

Nia shook her head and rolled over until she could hide
her face in Gail’s shoulder. After a few minutes, she managed to speak again.
“But I don’t believe anymore. You were right, one mistake does not make him a
threat or a liability. He was never either of those things, and I will
not
let
them hurt him for the sake of a lie.”

Gail nodded. “All right, so what’s the plan?”

There was an odd moment of hesitation. “I had something
in mind, but I need your help.”

“Good, that’s why I asked.”

But Nia still didn’t go on.

“What is it?” Gail prompted. “As long as you’re not
asking me to disguise myself as you and go back to the Academy in your place,
I’m in. I mean, I’d even try that, but I don’t think I’d be very convincing.”

Nia laughed, sounding surprised that she remembered how.
Then she huffed out a warm breath that tickled the side of Gail’s neck. “The
disguise won’t be necessary, but I actually do need you to go to the Academy. I
need you to tell them that Arthur and I are dead.”

Gail almost laughed before she realized that Nia was
completely serious. “Wait, really?”

“Yes, really. It’s the only way. If we just disappear
then they will hunt us down, but if you can convince them that we died while
trying to get the last piece of Connery…” She chuckled darkly. “I’m actually
half-convinced that’s exactly what they wanted to happen. Even if it’s not, I’m
sure the Directors won’t shed many tears for us. I’m sure they will be
disappointed not to have Connery’s research, but perhaps not having to deal
with me anymore will be recompense enough.”

Gail stroked Nia’s hair. “But they will have to deal with
you.”

“Eventually, yes, they will.” 

“So you plan to stay here?”

“Only if Xavier will have us, of course, but yes, this is
probably the last place the Academy would think to look for us.” She shrugged
slightly. “I would like to stay nearby regardless, so I can make sure he’s
recovering.” She pulled back so she could look Gail in the face. “Will you do
it? I know it’s a lot to ask, but I don’t –”

“I’ll do it,” Gail said, rolling her eyes at Nia’s
obvious surprise. “Of course I’ll do it. Don’t be stupid.” She tightened her
arms around the other woman before she could speak again, pulling her back down
against her shoulder. “We can talk more later, but get some sleep now.”

Nia nodded mutely, her arms hooking tightly around Gail’s
waist. She was clearly trying to feign sleep and Gail let her get away with it,
but as close as they were, there was no way Gail could miss the minute sobs
that shook through her or the tears that soaked the collar of Gail’s shirt.

Three days later, it was time for Nia’s plan to be
carried out. The days of rest had done everyone some good, but it would take a
while to heal the wounds dealt by that dark, wet night. Nia still had a
tendency to gaze pensively through the window, a shadow on her normally bright
face and Xavier still shied uncomfortably away from the sight of his new
chimerical body. And judging by the quiet in his room at night, he didn’t much
care for having it touched either.

But on the third day, Gail found him and Arthur sharing a
newspaper on the couch, their hands loosely knotted together on Arthur’s knee.
It was a little thing, but it gave her hope that, in time, something of
Xavier’s old life would be restored. Xavier was sure as hell fighting for it.

For her part, Nia distracted herself, making plans for
Arthur’s education, much to Arthur’s chagrin.

“I haven’t been a magician for seventeen years,” he
grumbled. “I don’t see why I should start now.” But Nia eventually convinced
him to try out a few simple spells and he grudgingly admitted he could see
where they might come in handy from time to time.

“Maybe later you can teach me a bit of surgery!” Nia had
said brightly after Arthur had successfully created one of those pale magical
lights.

The downright panic that idea put on Arthur’s face made
Gail laugh until he threw a pen at her.

“He’s already making so much progress!” Nia told Gail
excitedly that night. “His lack of education doesn’t seem to be holding him
back at all.”

Gail just smiled, knowing that come morning she’d be
witness to another argument about whether it made more sense to boil water by
magic or simply carry the kettle three steps to the stove.

But as it turned out there hadn’t been any time for magic
on that third morning. After Xavier had gone out to do a little shopping,
Arthur and Nia helped Gail prepare for her scene at the Academy. She chose her
least favorite clothes, allowing them to be torn and dirtied, and bore up
admirably when Nia painted mud onto her face and hands.

“You have to look like you’ve been through something
terrible,” she said as she gently made a mess of Gail’s braid. “Make sure to
look stunned and confused.”

“When do I not?” Gail joked, but got only a strained smile
for her trouble. She wasn’t sure why Nia was so worried. The plan was about as
solid as it was going to get. Last night, Nia had scrawled down half of a
distress message that very convincingly looked like it could have been dashed
off moments before death. The message was designed to send itself to the
Academy as soon as it touched water, so Gail would choose a spot on the river
to drop it. She would then wait an hour or two for the message to be received,
read, and discussed and then limp back to the Academy where she would tell her
tragic tale.

“What are you going to say?” Arthur quizzed for what felt
like the third time that hour.

“That Nia told me to wait by the car with half of the
body parts while you and she went to investigate the final signal which was
coming from the center of the river. Then suddenly everything was on a fire and
lots of magic stuff happened, but I didn’t understand it because I’m a stupid
layman. But I
do
know that I saw you guys go up in flames before your
boat sunk to the bottom of the river and you’re definitely deader than dead.
Then the car was on fire too and I only just managed to get away with this.”
She held up the hatbox containing Connery’s last remaining hand. “Then I ask if
I still get paid.”

Arthur rolled his eyes, but he was smiling when he said,
“I guess it will serve.”

Gail pulled on her coat, which was already tattered
enough, but before she could open the door, Nia said, “Wait,” and came forward
with something dangling from her hand.

Gail took it, puzzled. “Why are you giving me a
necklace?” It was pretty, she supposed, a small silver pendant in the shape of
a sun or a stylized star on a thin silver chain, but she didn’t think it was
going to blend very well with her ‘rolled in dirt’ look.

“Wear it under your shirt,” Nia insisted. “I enchanted it
– just a little. It won’t be noticeable to anyone unless they actually take it
from you, which they won’t have any reason to do, but that little magic is
highly distinctive. So if anything ever happens, I’ll be able to find you.”

“Thanks, princess.”

When Nia just kept watching her seriously, she reached
back and hooked the chain around her neck. It fell to just below her collarbone
and she had to button her shirt almost to the top to keep it out of sight, but
there was something comforting about the smooth metal against her skin. “I
guess that’s it then. I’ll pop back a few days from now to make sure you’re
doing all right.” They had all agreed that she ought to stay away from Xavier’s
for a while, at least until the initial uproar over Nia and Arthur’s ‘deaths’
calmed down.

She held out a hand to Arthur. “Keep an eye on them, doc,
and give me a call if you need any help. You have the phone number to my
apartment, right?”

Arthur nodded as he shook her hand. “I’ve got it.”

“And detective,” Nia said earnestly. “If you need
anything, anything at all, please come to us. Arthur and I, we – we owe you a
great deal.” The awkward stumbling words were so painfully sincere that Gail
held back any instinctive smart comments.

“I will. Thanks.” She pushed the door open with one hand
then turned back into the house. “And, hey, princess?”

Nia looked up from her rapt contemplation of the floor.
“Yes?”

“Even if I don’t need anything, could I come by and take
you out sometime?” She smiled with a small shrug. “We never did make it to a
picture show together.”

All at once, Nia’s face lit up like sunrise on a
cloudless day. “I would be delighted, detective.”