The Rise of Ren Crown Page 5

  I needed to study up more on Healing Magic. Neph had been fielding that aspect for the group for the last term.

  “I can—”

  “They won't let you in now, Ren,” Mike said. He was checking something by frequency; I could see the telltale signs. He looked at me and there was a tangled mixture of emotion in his gaze. Determination. Fondness. Pity. He put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “Wait for the coma to lift, then see if you can sneak in.”

  I nodded blankly, not even trying to prevaricate that I would be sneaking.

  “Are we really not going to address the topic of Leandred and what we heard through the scarves?” Delia demanded, hands on hips, eyeliner thickly drawn and sharply pointed at the creases of her eyes.

  Mike put an arm around her shoulders and steered Delia toward the Visiting Center. “We will see you all in an hour,” he said over his shoulder. He exchanged speaking glances with Will and Neph, then shot me a supportive one. “Try to rest.”

  I could see Delia arguing with him as they strode toward where their families waited to see them. I thought I heard him say, “It will keep her here,” but I couldn't be sure.

  Will released the privacy field. It was always a risk to believe in privacy when there were so many mages around campus who either enjoyed breaking the rules or thought that they were advancing the judicial capabilities. The field was usually good for a minute or two of actual privacy, though. A good thing, when I usually cared.

  “You can't leave while I'm gone,” Will blurted out.

  I blinked at him.

  He fiddled with the skin behind his ear, clearly distressed. “My family is waiting and it will be really bad if I don't show. Stay in your room?”

  I studied him for a long moment with sudden understanding. “You all think I'm going to leave.”

  “Yes.”

  I smiled tightly. “I can't.” I could barely call up a spark of magic. Nothing was getting in or out. And with whatever the Administration Magic was now doing… I knew Marsgrove. There would be something specifically in there to keep me on campus. I needed far more juice in my veins before I'd even be able to try.

  I tried not to be upset at the relief that splayed across Will's face. I needed to find Olivia.

  Neph's grip tightened.

  “I know. I get it.” And I did. It would be stupid for me, even with full capabilities, to go haring off after Olivia with Raphael sitting in wait.

  Raphael was waiting for me, right now. He at full strength, and me at a tenth. And he held my roommate's life in his hands.

  I rubbed a hand over my face. “Go. I'll be here when you get back.”

  Will nodded, then grabbed me and pulled me against his chest. We collided awkwardly, but then it was all tightly gripping octopus arms and strained magic. I wanted to sob into the embrace. The lingering comfort of Christian still lived in Will. And even without his connection to my deceased brother, I loved Will for who he was—in his own right.

  I gripped him tightly, and Neph's soothing hands wrapped around us.

  Someone touched my shoulder and I looked up to see Asafa behind Will, with Patrick a few steps behind him. Both made eye contact with me. Saf squeezed my shoulder, not intruding on the moment, but making it obvious that he had something important to say.

  “Activate the silencing spell on the plan and scarves as soon as possible, Crown,” Saf murmured. “For the safety of everyone.”

  He gave my shoulder another squeeze then retreated to join Patrick. Patrick nodded at us, his eyes glittering with unhealthy emotion. Then they turned and headed toward the Visiting Center with the vast majority of the crowd.

  Will pulled back from the embrace and his half-stricken gaze met mine. “Should have reminded you of that on the way up the mountain.”

  Neph made reassuring noises. “No one is thinking of everything. That is why we have each other.”

  Will shook his head at me, his gaze darting around. “Don't do it here. But as soon as you step foot through the arch, activate the spell.” He looked around. “Soon. Now. Go now, actually.” He looked devastated at pushing me away, but he gave me another nudge. “Every second counts.”

  I tripped back a step, nodding, not exactly sure how I was going to activate the spell.

  Will gave me a tight nod, and I could see a flinch of something across his face. “They are calling us to the Visiting Center if we have someone there to see us. Administration Magic. I have to go. An hour.”

  I nodded—all I could do at the moment—and watched him go. He glanced back three times before he was swallowed by the crowd.

  Neph put her forehead against mine.

  I felt a tug in my own gut telling me to return to the Magiaduct. The Administration Magic was fully kicking in for me as well. No one waiting for me in the Visiting Center. My non-magical parents were blissfully unaware of what was occurring in the layer above theirs.

  I looked at the Magiaduct. Lockdown took on a new meaning.

  I looked at Neph, who seemed unaffected by the Administration Magic. As a muse, she was somewhat outside of its control, even as she was bound to it.

  “Neph, I need you to do that thing to me. That thing where you get me out from under the control of the Administration Magic.”

  She frowned. “I cannot.”

  “I need to get to the Midlands.”

  She gave me a severe look. “Absolutely not. They are already combing the Midlands' levels. The terrorists did something to them.” Neph looked down the mountain, a frown on her face. “I don't know what.”

  She turned back to me. “But they will definitely find you, and then nothing will save you.”

  “I could—”

  “Ren.” Her hands framed my cheeks, making me look her in the eye. “You do not fully appreciate the power of the Legion. They are not the Peacekeepers' Troop. They do not wave flashy magic and vow to protect. They are the force sent in for assassination attempts and brutal takeovers. They will have no one watching them while they test and break you.” Her lips pulled into a grim line. “Then they will take you.”

  “I won't let them catch me.”

  Neph pushed the pads of her middle fingers into my skull. “If you go to the Midlands right now or find a way to leave campus before we return, I will make life unpleasant for you.”

  “But it's not safe for any of you. I'm not safe for any of you.” I was panicking, I realized. Shock had flipped again from numbness to panic. “I got Olivia taken. They will come after me, and get all of you.”

  “Olivia made a choice. You do not get to make our choices for us.”

  The dam broke. “I want everyone to be safe. I can't take it again.”

  “Yes, you can,” she said, her voice firm, but hands gentle.

  I put my hands over my face. “I almost ended campus. Again.”

  “And yet, it still stands.”

  “I'm dangerous,” I said, looking up at her.

  “So am I.” Neph's brown eyes glowed for a moment. “You've just never attempted to figure out how dangerous I am.”

  My shoulders drooped. I leaned my forehead on her shoulder. “It doesn't matter. I love you.”

  She sighed and wrapped her arms around me. “What part of you being different and the three of us knowing months ago and still being around you at every opportunity did you misinterpret?”

  “The interpretation part?”

  She jabbed me in the back at my weak attempt at humor.

  “I'm being called to assemble in the muse's hall.” She lifted my chin and forced me to meet her eyes. “Wait for us, unless I give you this signal.” A wrench of feeling came from the area around my heart. “Then, you run, however you can, as fast as you can, and we will find you later.”

  It was such an about-face from what she'd just said, that I stared.

  She shook her head. “The community is being called to account. The Department is trying to gain more control of us. I will handle it. But should you ever feel that tug over the ne
xt few weeks, you drop what you are doing and run, do you understand?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. I will see you in an hour or two.”

  My feet automatically started moving me toward the arch that would take me to the Fifth Circle of the mountain and into the Magiaduct. I dug my fingernails into the skin of my other hand to keep myself from crying.

  Chapter Four: Roommates Forever

  Top Circle thinned quickly, most students going to the Visiting Center. But a decent number of stragglers—people without family, or with family that weren't able to come—ambled zombie-style in the line that had queued up for the arch to take us to the Magiaduct.

  I could see black-collared Department mages scanning students at the front of the line.

  “Your attention,” a magnified voice called out from the ether. “This broadcast is via Community frequency and streaming live on Top Campus. All students who are missing a roommate due to the events of today will report to their Dorm Reassignment Chaplain by Libra Rising to stand in front of a counseling ball in order to be matched with your next closest match on campus.”

  I barely got my translation spell to switch back to producing regular times again in my hearing—Libra Rising meant ten p.m.—before horror and denial were pumping through me at what was being suggested.

  I would not get a new roommate, some replacement for Olivia. I would not let that happen.

  The voice continued, more stridently, as if someone had already started arguing with it, “Every student who will not have a roommate available tonight must report to your Dorm Guide for an analysis. This is for the health and safety of our community.”

  “I'm not going.”

  It took a few moments for me to realize that I had been the one to say that aloud.

  “No, I'm not either,” someone near me muttered into the crowd's silence. “If I don't meet their safety standards, I'm not bunking with someone who has a one-eighth compatibility. My roommate is in Medical. I'll bunk down there.”

  Other mutters joined ours. “I'm fine taking the hit to my reserves. What magic am I going to do anyway while Lou is down? And this will just add a tiny shred of magic to the community fabric anyway.”

  “A lot of threads equal a shirt,” someone said in a too-reasonable tone.

  “Yeah, well we don't need another shirt tonight,” came the angry reply. “I'm skipping.”

  “Stop being a shivit,” another said bitterly. “They won't let you skip. Just do it, and stop complaining, so the rest of us can get back to normal.”

  “Complaining?” The girl who had angrily spoken had a wild look in her eyes, the skin of her face sheet white. “Shinsara is dead. I'm not replacing her like a sock.”

  “It's not like that. The Community Magic needs all of us to—”

  “Shove your magic!” The girl wildly detached herself from the line, her motions jerky and uncontrolled as she blindly hit out at the hands reaching out to help her. “I won't! Let me go. I won't—”

  A bolt of soiled green magic hit her and she fell, only barely caught by the hands she had been fending off.

  People were shouting about accommodations and being responsible for the health of their room if their energy dipped below thirty-percent capacity, and if that happened, only at that time would they accept automatic reassignment.

  I gripped Olivia's scarf in my hand.

  The line was still moving, even with the arguments. And as I neared the front of the line, the gazes of the Department mages who were scanning students landed on me, almost as one.

  One said something to a campus official who was standing by. The official frowned, then nodded. He motioned toward one of the other campus mages. The mage padded over, listened, and nodded. He held a hand out to the arch.

  The student at the front of the line—three people in front of me—went through, pushing into the crowd on the Top Track through the image. The others filed through.

  I stepped forward and a Department mage put his hand out. “Wait.”

  I recognized his shock of white hair and purple-lensed eyes. Kaine's minion, Tarei.

  The mage with his hand extended toward the arch, touched the arch and spun honey-colored magic at its edge. “Section capacity reached. Switching the port exit in 3, 2, 1, ready.”

  The image inside of the arch rotated—the vast expanse of the mountain and the vista tilted in view as the landscaped whirled. It finally stopped, and a different section of the Top Track of the Magiaduct was pictured on the other side. An empty section of Top Track. A little too empty.

  “Proceed.”

  Tarei's purple-lensed eyes mocked me. Daring me not to go through. I stood woodenly and looked through the image of the arch.

  Capacity on the previous section of Top Track reached or not, they had decided to change the exit point to the arch upon seeing me. If it took me elsewhere than the Magiaduct, or if someone was waiting on the other side...well, that is where I would make my last stand.

  “Pardon me, miss,” someone said behind me.

  I glanced back to see a faintly familiar face. I didn't know him, but there was the faintest flicker of recognition pushing at the edges of my consciousness.

  He strode past me and through the arch before anyone could say anything. A second person pushed past me and hurried after him. Tarei whipped out a hand in which he held a spiked device.

  “Now see here—” the campus official said apprehensively, stepping forward with his hand extended to stop whatever Tarei was going to do with the device.

  The two boys appeared on what seemed to be the Top Track of the Magiaduct. The first one nodded to me in confirmation. With the way the arches worked, he appeared less than ten feet from me, when in actuality, he was hundreds of physical yards away.

  “There's a bit of an energy rush when you are one of the first ones through,” the boy called back with a forced smile, his eyes focused on me while decidedly not looking in the direction of Kaine's minion. “Thanks for letting me go first.”

  He was sweating profusely and abruptly—anxious moisture gathering along his hairline as if he'd been bespelled with something that he was trying to combat internally.

  I looked over at the officials. Tarei's white knuckles were wrapped around the spiked device, and he was gritting his teeth as he argued in low tones with the campus official. I jolted forward and nearly dove through the arch, not allowing Tarei any time to use further trickery.

  The section of the Top Track on which I emerged was nearly empty, save for the two boys. The other mages whose heads suddenly appeared at the stairs leading up to our section disappeared before I could identify them.

  Turning around I met gazes with Kaine's minion. His eyes glittered and he turned abruptly on his heel, striding away from the arch. I could see one of the other officials running after him.

  Although I was trapped in the Magiaduct now, for a moment I felt stupid relief wash through me.

  Special dispensation had to be obtained for anyone other than a student to enter the Magiaduct, and only those already associated with campus could currently obtain it. Using the thick soup of crisscrossing communications on Top Circle, I'd heard the officials arguing about it along with everyone else in line.

  I followed closely behind the boys, trying to orient myself with the mountain landscape splayed below and around me to figure out where exactly I was on the dormitory building.

  I could see magic glittering around the first boy, but the second one was clear of such magic. The first shuddered, then the magic broke like a crystalline cage of frost, falling to the ground.

  I didn't know what had been in the magic that had encased him, but it had been intended for me.

  I caught up to him and touched his arm. He turned toward me.

  “Thank you,” I said, somewhat fervently, wishing I could relieve whatever pain had been done to him.

  “No, thank you.” He smiled at me, then limped ahead to join his friend.

  I watched him for a
long moment, before beginning the long walk to my dorm. The previous exit would have taken me far closer to Dorm Twenty-five.

  Further down, campus officials were spread out on the edges of the Top Track, coordinating more port points for groups of students to come through en masse. It had been smart of them to port us up here. If they wanted us contained in the superstructure, they couldn't very well dump us on the grass outside, nor could they create bottlenecks in the common areas of the dorms.

  Students started to drift toward the staircases and disappear inside the superstructure. Many of them looked emotionally spent.

  As I neared a large group of mages, an older boy opened his arms slowly, magic pulling between his hands. He nodded at unseen individuals. At unseen frequency tidings. His expression was sober and determined. He started speaking aloud, voice magnified by whatever magic he held.

  “Everyone, please. All emergency protocols have been activated. Samson, put out an emergency notification.”

  A boy near him nodded, and the first boy continued his speech,

  “Steady, everyone. Mages are available, at this moment, for comfort, counseling, discussion, basic healing, and activity. Mages at the Visiting Center will be ported here in an hour. If you are still missing a friend, please check the sheets for health and welfare status.”

  I wondered cynically how many girls were checking on Constantine's status and exclaiming in dismay.

  “Over the next few hours, the dorm common rooms will hold discussion sessions. Attending one is mandatory. After the mandatory session, a channel will be available for those who may want to sit in on discussions, but not leave their rooms. For those needing to talk or problem solve, many groups are scheduling meetings to discuss events or devise solutions for the future. The Young Politicos Club will be debating...everything to do with this. The Rational Engineers' Club indicated their intention to meet and discuss ways to dismantle or stop the construction of Origin Domes in the future and figure out what went wrong with the Administration Magic.”