Work Experience (Schooled in Magic Book 4) (12 page)

“It might work,” Lady Barb said, after a moment of silent contemplation. “However, I would advise you to be very careful. Being trapped in a pocket dimension might be fatal.”

Emily nodded.

“Tell me,” Lady Barb said, changing the subject. “Did you make any plans with Jade?”

“We’re going to see a play tonight,” Emily said. “I...”

Lady Barb studied her for a long moment. Emily scowled, inwardly. She wasn’t quite used to the idea of someone looking after her, even Lady Barb. God knew Emily’s mother had been more interested in drinking herself to death then paying attention to her daughter. Emily could have worn the skimpiest of clothes and stayed out all night; her mother would never have noticed. But Lady Barb definitely would.

Emily wasn’t sure how she felt about that either. It felt nice to have someone looking out for her, but at the same time she didn’t like having someone looking over her shoulder. Her mother had betrayed her and she didn’t really want another mother, no matter how nice it felt to have someone caring. Maybe she should compromise at big sister.

“Make sure you have a proper nap tonight,” Lady Barb ordered, finally. If she had doubts about Emily meeting Jade again, she kept them to herself. “I’ll expect you to catch up with your potions tomorrow, or you won’t be going out again.”

Yes, mother
, Emily thought, even though she knew it was immature. She also knew why Lady Barb wanted her to master the potions. In the mountains, there were no alchemists or apothecaries. She would have to make the potions the locals needed or they would have to go without. Lady Barb would be too busy discussing other matters with them.

“I will,” she promised.

“Good,” Lady Barb said. She made a show of checking her watch. “The play is at nineteen bells, so I suggest you have a wash and then dress in a different set of robes.”

Emily looked down at her matted robes and scowled. They were designed to survive everything from alchemical accidents to pranks played by the students on each other, but they couldn’t disguise the fact she’d fallen asleep in them. Standing up, she nodded to Lady Barb and walked out of the library, leaving the books behind. A moment later, she heard Lady Barb clearing her throat loudly.

“Watch your notes,” she warned, picking up the pieces of paper and shoving them at Emily. “You never know who might be watching.”

Flushing, Emily took the notes and returned to her bedroom, where she buried them under a handful of security wards. She would have to copy them down into her notebooks later, she knew; there was no point in erecting solid wards over the pieces of paper and parchment she’d used in the library. Cursing, she removed the pendant and looked at herself in the mirror. Her face was pale and there were dark shadows under her eyes. The sight bothered her more than she cared to admit. Walking into the bathroom, she undressed and washed quickly, allowing the cold water to shock her awake. She was barely dressed again when she felt the wards quiver in welcome.

“That’s Jade,” Lady Barb called, as Emily hurriedly pulled the pendant over her head. “Be careful, all right?”

Emily nodded, although she knew Lady Barb couldn’t see her. Just how much had the older woman guessed? She had far more experience than Emily; she’d probably read the full story off Emily’s face in the morning. And then a sleepless night wasn’t a good sign...shaking her head, she walked downstairs and nodded to Jade. He’d clearly exchanged a few words with Lady Barb.

“Thank you for coming,” Emily said, as they walked through the gates. “I had no idea where to meet you.”

Jade looked at her, surprised. “What did you say to her?” He asked. “She was quite insistent that I should behave myself.”

“Nothing,” Emily said, wondering just what conclusions Lady Barb had drawn. Did she think Jade had molested her in some way? But Jade wasn’t that sort of person. Besides, molesting a student would draw the wrath of the Grandmaster...and Lady Barb herself. And Void, in Emily’s case. “I just didn’t sleep very well.”

Jade said nothing, leaving Emily wondering just how easy it would be to maintain a friendship after a semi-relationship. They walked down the hill and into a larger tent, the largest Emily had yet seen. Inside, it had been set up like a theatre, with a large stage at one end of the room and uncomfortable-looking benches lined up and crammed with people. Emily smiled at the sight of a handful of comfy chairs, clearly reserved for the elderly or important people, then sat down on one of the benches. Jade sat next to her and cast a silencing ward as the tent slowly filled to the limits.

“This play dates back to the days of the Empire,” Jade explained, as the magical lights started to dim, focusing attention on the stage. “The basic plot hasn’t changed at all.”

Emily had her doubts about that, but she kept them to herself as the actors appeared on stage and the performance began. Most of the special effects were literal magic, she saw, more interesting and exciting than any play performed on Earth. The plot itself seemed a little confusing at first, until around thirty minutes into the performance. It clicked in Emily’s mind.

“But love is mine to take and hold,” the male lead proclaimed. “Love to be found where I choose.”

“And yet, love blinds one to the truth,” the secondary female lead warned. “You cannot hope to gift the gifted.”

Emily couldn’t help thinking of
Doctor Faustus
. The male lead had fallen in love with a mundane woman, a woman possessing no magic at all. It wasn’t a choice his family approved, unsurprisingly, and they were very unpleasant to the poor girl. The actress playing the mundane woman was turned into a pig, a goat and a donkey in the first act alone, despite the best efforts of her lover. And then her lover had made a bargain with a demon to grant her magic powers. But the price turned out to be more than they could pay.

“You ordained that power would be granted in spite of the gods,” an actor proclaimed, calling out the male lead. “Did you always assume it came without a price?”

“I loved her, I know, and yet I love her still,” the male lead countered. “But I no longer know why.”

Emily shivered. The demon’s price for granting the woman magic powers had been their love for one another, all that held them together. They might still be physical lovers, but the sensation of true love was gone. How could the relationship last when they were little more than friends with benefits? In the end, the couple parted, no longer truly lovers.

“The play is popular,” Jade explained, when the actors finally took their leave. “But I don’t know why.”

“I think I do,” Emily said. Perhaps it was her studies on Earth, but she thought she understood. “It’s a warning.”

She scowled. It was a warning to children of magical families, warning them not to marry powerless mundanes. The power imbalance in the relationship could destroy it, completely. But really...what was the difference between a man being strong enough to beat his wife when she disobeyed him and a woman having the power to turn her man into a frog for being a bastard? Power wasn’t just counted in magic.

But a wife could fight back against her husband
, she thought.
A mundane couldn’t fight a magician
.

She allowed Jade to lead her to a smaller eatery, then sat down beside him for dinner. It was easier talking to him now, she decided, even though he seemed to want to spend most of the time talking about his apprenticeship. Emily listened, filing everything he told her away in her mind. One day, she knew, she might well have a full apprenticeship herself. But she didn’t want it with someone so determined to kill anyone who challenged him.

“It’s not common for a male sorcerer to take a female apprentice,” Jade cautioned her. “I think the only exceptions were when the sorcerer was more interested in men than women.”

Emily smiled. Homosexuality wasn’t taboo, but it was hedged around by customs and traditions that seemed to change depending on wealth or social class. A magician wouldn’t draw any raised eyebrows if he was doing the penetrating, yet he would be sneered at if he allowed himself to be penetrated. Emily suspected the taboo said more about men than anyone would care to admit. There was nothing comparable for lesbians.

“We’re due to leave tomorrow,” Jade said, softly. “Will you write to me?”

“I will,” Emily promised. Hadn’t she been doing that all term? “Where are you going?”

“I’m not sure,” Jade confessed.

He led her back to the house, then stopped outside and gave her a tight hug. Emily returned it, but she felt nothing, no sense that she wanted it to go further. She’d felt more the first time he’d kissed her, almost a year ago. Was there something wrong with her?

“I will write,” she said, pushing her thoughts aside. There would be time to think about them later. “And you take care of yourself.”

“You too,” Jade said. “I’ll see you soon.”

Emily watched him walk away into the darkness, then turned and stepped through the gate into the house.

T
HE NEXT FEW DAYS PASSED SURPRISINGLY
quickly. Emily spent her mornings brewing potions and her afternoons reading her way through Lady Barb’s library or writing letters to her friends. Lady Barb took her around the Faire one day and introduced her to a handful of people, but most of them weren’t particularly interested in just another apprentice. Emily rather preferred their indifference to the interest they would show if they knew who she actually was.

On the final day, Lady Barb took her into a different chamber and produced a small pencil-sized stick from her bag. Emily stared down at it, unable to escape a nagging sense of familiarity. It was tiny, yet somehow she knew she already knew what it was; she just couldn’t place it. Lady Barb snorted and removed the miniaturization spell. The staff snapped back to its normal size in her hand.

“Your staff,” Lady Barb said. She held it out for Emily to take. “I trust you recall how to use it – and the dangers of using it?”

Emily nodded. Sergeant Miles had taught her how to shape spells and embed them within the wood, but he’d also warned her of the dangers of excessive use. It was far too easy to lose the ability to cast spells without a staff or a wand...and, if she did, she would be dependent on someone else to prepare the wand for her. Alassa, thankfully, had mastered the art after spending years using a wand, but Emily wasn’t sure she could match it. Only sheer determination had kept Alassa trying until she’d gained the skill.

She took the staff in her hand, feeling it quivering against her bare palm. It felt...seductive, the magic in her responding to the handful of spells lodged within the wood. She had to smile, wondering what a psychologist would make of men using staffs, then carefully let go of it. As always, it stood on its end without falling over.

“You are to carry it with you, but you are not to use it without permission,” Lady Barb told her. “Shrink it down and keep it hidden.”

Emily nodded. She was seventeen – at least she was fairly
sure
she was seventeen – and it was rare for anyone to start working with staffs until they were at least twenty. Using it in public would suggest either vast power or little skill, both of which would attract unwanted attention. She cast the shrinking spell, then stuck the staff up her sleeve. If nothing else, she could use it to fight physically, rather than using magic. Sergeant Miles had taught her how to use a staff for that too.

“Good,” Lady Barb said, once the staff was safely concealed. “Have you packed everything?”

Emily nodded. She’d spent half of the previous day washing her robes without using magic, then hanging them on the line to dry. Lady Barb hadn’t been very understanding when Emily had asked why they couldn’t use magic, pointing out that they had to learn not to use magic for everything. Emily couldn’t help wondering what Whitehall would make of a washing machine or an iron. It was astonishing just how easy life was, in many ways, on Earth.

“Splendid,” Lady Barb said. “Come with me. I have something to show you.”

Emily followed her back into the library, then stopped in front of a bookcase. For a moment, she thought they were returning to the spellchamber, but it was very definitely a different bookcase. Behind it, there was another staircase leading down into the darkness. Lady Barb cast a light spell, then started to walk down the stairs. Emily followed her, nervously. The last time hadn’t been fun at all.

She swallowed. “How many secret passages are there like this?”

Lady Barb turned and grinned at her. “That’s a secret,” she said. “But there are quite a few.”

Emily smiled, trying to calm her nerves. Secret passages seemed to be common in Whitehall, Zangaria’s castles and now magical houses. But it did make a certain kind of sense, she knew. The Grandmaster, King Randor and the others would want a way of moving around without being seen – and besides, looking for the passages in Whitehall was one of the great student traditions. Emily knew where a handful of them were, but there were dozens of others.

They reached the bottom and stopped, on the edge of a patch of earth. Emily watched as the light spell grew brighter, revealing patches of earth intermingled with stone, as if it were a giant chess board. No, she realized suddenly, as she saw the runes carved into the stone; it was a graveyard, a crypt. None of the names below the runes were familiar.

“My family members have been buried here for centuries,” Lady Barb said, very softly. In the distance, Emily was sure she could hear dripping water. “One day, I’ll be buried here too.”

Emily looked up, peering into the darkness. It was impossible to tell how far the chamber stretched, but it had to be colossal. Hundreds of people could be buried here, deep below the ground. She looked back at Lady Barb and saw that she was pale, suddenly much older.

“When I was a child,” Lady Barb said softly, “we were told that the dead held parties here while the living slept. I always envied them, because my father wasn’t inclined to hold many parties in his hall. One night, I slipped down into the crypt and saw...nothing.”