Pale: 6.z - Interlude
Author: Wildbow

Cutting Class – 6.z | Pale

Fernanda did her best, most practiced flounce, turning around.  Chase stood on the path, a bit behind her.

She waited, hip askew, hand resting on it, other hand dropped, as he approached.

“Did our father die?” she asked.

“No.  This is something else,” he told her.  He cleared his throat.  “I have family business to conduct.  By arrangements made, secure me from the Belanger sight.”

There was no whoosh, no puff of smoke or anything.  She used her Sight to glance left, then right, then turned it off.  Mostly her sight made everything grayer, let her see connections, and made people a bit easier to analyze, and she didn’t care to analyze Chase.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“That’s your business?” she asked.

“Why does it matter?”

“Stuff’s happening.  Trouble.”

“Is that the deep, mystical sort of insight that an apprenticeship with Mr. Belanger offers?”

“It’s happening now, or close enough to that I thought it was worth tracking you down.  No nonsense, this is me being official, as part of the Whitt family.  I want you to tell me.”

“I’m going for a swim.”

“This isn’t the way to the bridge.”

He folded his arms, looking at her, then lifted up a hand to do a little circular ‘elaborate’ gesture.

She sighed.  “We’re going down past the bend where it’s private.  Laila and some boys are already there or on their way there.  There should be no swimsuits except those we were born with.  Do you need more information on that front?”

She sighed again.  “Beau, Easton, Howie, and Myles.  Are you really going to start pretending to be the macho, protective older brother?  It’s so gross.”

“No.  I trust you to handle yourself,” Chase told her.  He looked off into the trees.  “There are more than four boys out there.”

Fernanda turned, looking, turned on her Sight, but didn’t see anything special.  Still, she groaned,  “Damn it, Laila.”

“You think she brought the extra boys?  Who are the likelies?  For the new additions to the group.”

“Wouldn’t be Corbin, after what she did to his sister.  I know Reese, Stain, and Mikey have been talking to her.”

“The practitioners who do the Eastern arts?”

“There are seven boys out there, so the numbers add up. How much do you trust them?”

“The boys?” Fernanda asked.  She thought for a second.  “They’re fine.”

“You should reconsider going.”

“Should I?  Why?  Are we going to get ambushed by Bristow’s group?”

“I don’t know.  I don’t know what people’s allegiances are.  This thing, off campus, it’s…”

“You have your focus, Chase, you’ve got your thing with Mr. Belanger and the Belanger circle, and it’s good.  You keep doing that.  Our father and mother are very pleased.”

“And what about you?”

“I’m…” Fernanda had to think for a second.  She grimaced.  “Pleasantly surprised that you’re doing as well as you’re doing.”

Chase, arms still folded, quirked an eyebrow.  “Is that your way of saying you’re proud?”

“I’m pleased.  Let’s avoid saying ‘proud’.  That makes me feel so gross.”

“When I asked ‘what about you’, I wasn’t asking for a verdict on my performance, by the way.”

“What about you?  What are you doing, what’s your focus?  Skinny dipping with random boys?  You’ll be fine?”

“Chase,” she said, a smile creeping across her face.  “You do realize I’ve been working on toying with hearts since I was four?  I’ve been at this longer than you’ve been with Alexander.  The doting student for a tutor or teacher, I can pick out a classmate and they want me to be their best friend… others might hate me but I don’t care.  I target the people I want and I win them over.  Do you remember the first one?”

“I might.  Tell me.”

“When I was four I realized that Mrs. Morrow was fond of me, and our father wanted something from her.  I drew her a picture.  When she asked me to describe it and explain what I drew, I pulled myself up onto the chair next to her and put the picture in our laps.  Then, as the conversation continued, I sat, good as gold, my head leaning against her arm.  Our father never told me I did a good job, but I distinctly remember a unicorn ride afterward.  Might be the closest I ever got.”

“I do think he told me.  That you did a good job.  Not in so many words, but our father never used so many words.”

Fernanda shifted her posture, hands clasped behind her back, shifting her weight behind her foot.  She hated that she cared enough to want to know more.  She didn’t know what to say, so she offered him an airy, “I wanted so badly to ride on that unicorn alone, but I was obviously too small.  Our father made the maid ride with me.”

Chase looked her over, then said, “He wanted to reward you and didn’t know exactly how.  But he thought so highly of you then.  I would’ve been eight or nine.  Our father told me, rough quote, look after your sister, after you awaken.  She will be an asset.  He still feels that way, I think.  Other times you make him want to pull his hair out, but… overall good.”

“Yeah,” Fernanda said, smiling, and it was a weird smile, like melting ice cream.  Nice and feel-good but uncharacteristically hard to keep intact, like how the ice cream needed regular licking as the drips made their way down.  She dropped her eyes to the ground. “I’m glad.”

“Speaking for myself, you haven’t said or done anything to change my mind on that.”

“You’re being sentimental and it’s… ugh.  Offputting,” she told him, the smile dropping away, replaced with disgust.

“I’m being honest.”

“I’m an asset, Chase.  Like our father said.  I’ve known from the start.  I do know what happened to Louisa.  She so wasn’t bright, she didn’t take advantage of what the family provided her, we all knew she was messing around when she shouldn’t.  Then she was introduced to Wilson and told in no uncertain terms that she would marry him.”

“I haven’t thought about our cousins in years.”

“I think about Louisa every day, Chase.  To remind myself of what I need to do.  I’ve never sat down to talk with our mother and father about it, but I think there’s a silent agreement.  If I’m smart, if I play these political games well, keep the family proud, get my education, and pull a few tricks that get the family an upper hand, then I get the choice, the freedom, and the resources.  That’s the deal, I think.  Our father gives me money and I always put a bit of it aside, thinking about the events the family has coming up, or people that are coming to visit, and what I might need to wear then.”

“And here I just go to the tailor when told and they make me a closet of suits.”

“You get, Chase. You’re the golden child, you got chances, and you get more things handed to you.”

“If you resent me for that, you have to know I didn’t ask for it.”

“It’s fine.  I hate saying it, but you got the chance, sure, and you used it well, getting into Alexander’s circle.  You’re doing fine.  You’re working hard.  It’s good.  I don’t hate you for it, even if I wish I could get a chance like that, instead of a unicorn ride and clothes to wear.”

“I was expecting an insult.”

“My point is, Chase, fine, you get, but don’t ignore the fact that I have to take.  All of us lesser members of the family have to.  We have to grab for the advantages, complain, manipulate.  We have to know when to be the squeaky wheel, when to tease, when to go the extra mile, because the payoff later is so critical, when to take the social gamble.  The flip side of the deal I was talking about?  If I take a gamble and fail, if I do something stupid, or I hurt the family, then I’ll be sent down the same path Louisa traveled.”

“No, Chase.  In five to seven years, if I’m not good enough to leave to my own devices, I’ll be a pretty piece of meat that belongs to the best man our father can find that will put a ring on my finger.”

“Vulgar.  This doesn’t suit you,” he said, shifting his weight, body turning away by a few degrees, face turning away by more.

“What?  Why does that bother you?  And how would you know what suits me?  I’ve heard you with your friends back home.  You’re vulgar.  The things you and your friends say about girls.”

“I didn’t think you heard.”

“You’re not quiet, Chase,” Fernanda said, laughing so suddenly she startled herself.  “I don’t have to be an augur in training to pick up on that.”

“I don’t- will you be careful?  With the swimming and things like it?”

She stood straighter, forcing her expression to be serious.  “Rest assured, I will continue to be careful I do not depreciate my value as an asset of the Whitt family.”

“Not what?” she asked, laughing again.  “Why does it bother you?  It’s reality.  I know how to keep boys interested without giving them anything in return, and that’s what I do with things like this bit of swimming.  I can try to play smart for teachers like Raymond and be the whiny child for the substitutes that don’t know how to teach, I can make a dirty comment for the Tedds and that gets me some points with them.  Stuff like that.  I’m so not a genius at the stuff with the teachers, but I know the stakes, I try, and I do okay.”

“What if I offered you help?  I can pass on some of what I’ve learned.”

“Out of pity?” she asked.

“I don’t-” he started, stopped.  “I’m not sure I’ve ever felt pity.  So you don’t have to worry about that.”

That did make her feel better.

“But I don’t want that to be your reality.”

“I don’t see why I get the special treatment.”

“Because you’re my sister?”

“We’re not close, Chase.  We’re only barely brother and sister.”

He wanted so badly to close this divide.

Fine, she’d use that.  She’d step back, forcing him to extend further to reach out.

“You’ve got your thing, keep at it.  I’ll do my thing,” she said.  She sighed as she started her next sentence, the first words forming out of the sigh, “I’ll study hard and I’ll do as the family needs, and I get money and clothes and training in exchange.  Better deal than most get.  If I get a quality guy on the hook, I’ll run him by our father and make sure it’s okay before bringing him on board.”

“You know, with the way things have gone, my lessons with Alexander, the work I’ve done, the contacts I’ve made, the status, power… nothing formal has happened, but the argument could be made that I’m the head of the family more than our father is.”

“Yes,” Fernanda agreed.  She thought about it for a moment, then said, “I’d make that argument if I had to pick a side.  Then I’ll tell you too, before committing to any boys in any real way.”

“If you wanted more freedom in that department, to lift the pressure…”

“Sure,” she said.  “If you’re giving it, I’ll take it.  If there’s a price or new responsibilities you need me to take on, I’ll consider it.”

Again, marking out the distance, seeing if he’d step closer.

“I need input,” he said.  A step closer.

“If that’s the price I would need-”

He almost growled the words, “It’s not a transaction, Fernanda.  It’s me trying to be a better brother and I’d be glad if you could help me out by being a bit of a sister and a little bit of a friend.”

She scoffed.  “So it is a transaction.”

“No.  It’s not- not obligatory.  That’s not what I meant to say.”

“You’ll be more of a brother, I’m expected to be more of a sister.  That’s the deal?  Ugh.  I’d rather keep stuff where I know what to expect, with rules I know.  But whatever, sure, I can try if that’s what the family needs, Mr. head-of-the-family.”

She wasn’t sure why it bothered him so much when she said that, but she filed it away.

“I know we’re not close, like you said, but I root for you.  I pay attention, I look into your friends and peers.  I want you to be happy.  I want to be a brother to you.”

She shifted her weight, uncomfortable, lifting up her foot to scratch the back of her knee, then took a step back as she set the foot back down.  In a conversation with virtually anyone else, who wasn’t currently the most important person in her family, she would have just turned and kept walking.

Chase pursed his lips together, pausing, then said, “Stuff’s happening.  I don’t know what to decide, and I don’t have anyone to talk to.  Tanner and Seth are mixed up in things, Nicolette hates my guts, Wye is busy, our father and mother have expectations.  If I go to our father for advice and get him to tell me what to do, then I won’t be the presumptive head of the family anymore.  I’d be the kid who runs home to daddy when things get tough.”

“Our father left all decisions on all things Belanger to you, didn’t he?”

“Yes, exactly.  It’d be conceding on some level, taking it to him.”

“And what’s the big dilemma?”

“It’s about the Bristow thing.  And how we handle it.  The Belanger circle is having a meeting shortly.  I want you to come.  Please.”

Her nose wrinkled.  “You need to be more manly, Chase.  You’re soft around the middle, you needed a haircut two weeks ago and it’s worse now, and you’re coming to me and you’re dangerously close to sounding like you’re avoiding running home to daddy by running over to your little sister, instead.”

He bristled a little at that.  She liked that he bristled.

She’d been waiting a long time for a conversation like this.  A part of her had expected it to come in five or so years, not now.

It was easy to put emotion aside, to throw out the answers, remind him of just how vast the distance between them was.  For whatever reason, he was shaken enough that he desperately wanted to close it, now.

“A little change of wording makes all the difference,” she told him.  “Order things.  Tell me, hmmm… that I’ll be at your disposal all my life, or at least until I marry, so I might as well know how these things go and sit in.”

“Realizing I didn’t have anyone to talk to, I wished I’d talked to you more.  I thought it’d be nice if I didn’t have to do that.”

“No, Chase.  That’s not who the two of us are.  It’s… it’s probably better to stick to what we know than to try to change how we do things as a family in the middle of a bad situation.”

He stood a little straighter.  “The meeting is in a little under twenty minutes.  Attend.”

“I’ll talk to my friends to let them know I can’t join them, do a quick change of clothes and pay some attention to my hair, then come straight there.”

He nodded, looked like he was going to say something, then changed his mind.

“This is the longest conversation we’ve had in five years, isn’t it?”

She supposed she wouldn’t go.  He still wanted to talk.

It was the time.  She shook her head to his question.

“No?  Am I forgetting?” he asked.

“Last year, in spring.  You came home so drunk that the spirits were in a tizzy.  You hadn’t seen your friends for a while.  I was in the backyard and you tried to sneak in.  You didn’t make it to the back door.”

“I don’t remember that.”

“You threw up in the bush, I kept you steady.  Then you fell on top of me, head in my lap, smelling like puke and beer farts.  We talked for hours like that.”

He winced.  “I don’t remember.  Did I say anything regrettable?”

“Yes.  But so did I.  I swore nothing but I did tell myself I should say nothing of it, after, and I haven’t, and I have no intention of doing so.  Sharing it hurts too many things, including the family.  You.  Me.”

“What did I say?  What did I do?”

“It does.  I’ve wanted to talk to you, to be brother and sister instead of members of a family, and now I learn I did?  I want to know.”

“Chase, you talked about the expectations on you, and you sobbed.  You spent the night with your non-practitioner friends and you said you were thinking about not seeing them anymore, because the loneliness was so bad you either couldn’t sleep the night after or you had to get drunk to fall asleep.  You had a list of resentments to rail against, things our mother and father did and didn’t do. It took work, to keep you quiet.”

Saying it aloud was like slapping him in the face over and over again.

She’d thought a lot about that conversation in the last year.  She’d imagined enjoying it more, talking about this.

“I’m sorry.  Putting you in that position,” he said, a bit stiff.

“I didn’t have to stay.  I could have extricated myself and got the maid.  You had your resentments about me.  You bruised my leg, drumming your hand against it to punctuate what you were saying.”

“You didn’t know what you were doing.”

“Maybe.  The resentments- there’s good things too.”

“I know.  You said things like how you were proud of me, you wanted the world for me.  That I was one of the only people in the family you liked-”

“Good.  Good, it wasn’t all bad.”

“-and that I was a spoiled little brat, that I had no idea what you had to deal with, that you did the work and I got the rewards from it.  That I’d get what was coming to me after I married some mediocre practitioner from a mediocre family-”

“No, that’s not how I feel.”

“A drunken man’s words are a sober man’s thoughts.  You said I would lose my looks, and I’d end up a bitter middle-aged woman who knew about her husband’s affair with a younger woman but did nothing about it.  That I’d have to keep silent year after year, while my kids lost respect for me, because these political marriages are all kinds of hell to break out of.  You slurred a lot more and rambled, but you managed to paint a very complete picture.  Or fantasy, if you want to call it that.”

“Not a fantasy.  I- could it have been a fear?  That you could end up like our cousins, or our aunts?  Our mom?”

“I don’t know.  It’s probably a bad idea, me calling you gross and talking about your beer farts and you crying and exposing your every weakness.  It’s not good politics, with the guy who’s basically the head of my family.  I can stop, if you say the word.  Or you can punish me.  Take away my allowance, or slap me in the face, spit on me, give me busywork that keeps me up all night…”

“I’m not going to do that to you, Fernanda.  Stay honest.  One way or another, you’re probably there as my right hand or as a voice I can trust.”

“Or that the family can trust, at the very least.  Until the day I die or pass the reins to my eldest.  We’re family.”

“As you wish,” she said.  “Sir.”

He sighed, and it was heavy.

“Thirteen minutes, twenty seconds,” he said.

“Excuse me,” she said.

She hurried down the path.

What was happening?  The situation had to do with the Belangers, and with Bristow.  Was it an expenditure of power?  A discussion of whether they’d fight, and if they fought, how much would they put forward?

She had some things she was decent at, and she had a fairly free stream of money from her father, and with enough attention, she had the footing to be the top girl on campus, when she was a senior student.  But she had weaknesses and she was very aware of them.  Fighting was a weakness.  Of all the other Augurs, only Alexander and Nicolette could do much, and they weren’t great.

She ducked beneath branches, identifying the ‘path’, which was more trampled grass and weeds than it was any actual dirt path.  Down a slope, and down to a point further down the river from the bridge.

She could hear the splashing.

“Coming down!” she called over.

She ducked under a branch, then straightened as the sun hit her eyes.  The grassy bank was littered with clothes.

All seven of the boys and Laila were already in the water up to their necks, separated by about ten feet, splashing at one another.

“What took you so long?” Laila asked.

“Something definitely came up here!” Easton jeered.

She gave him the finger.  “That’s awful.”

A switch of roles.  From the younger sister and lesser member talking to the big brother who was basically leading the family, to being this.

“I can’t stay, I would if I could.  You can take my word for that,” she said.

“You’re leaving me alone?” Laila asked.

“I don’t like doing this,” she said, giving Laila her best pained expression.  She didn’t like doing this, but there was more at play than Laila’s feelings.  “I’m so sorry.”

“Can I come with you?” Laila asked.

Boys groaned and complained.  “Noooo!”

“You can’t come with me to the family meeting, but I’ll walk you back.”

More groaning and ‘nos’ filled the area.

“Don’t look!” Laila told the boys.

“Turn your backs!” Fernanda backed up her friend.  “I wish I could stay, but it’s coming from family.  I’ll see about making it up to you boys later, at least the boys who were supposed to be here.”

There were some comments, jokes, and stuff.  As Laila got as close to the bank as she could without emerging, Fernanda moved her hand, indicating for the boys to turn around.

“No looking!” she ordered.  “You don’t want to be on my bad side.”

She held up a towel for Laila for good measure, as Laila pulled on her clothes.  She used a toe to nudge Laila’s shoe closer.

“You’re not in my good books, Miss Throop,” Fernanda said, quietly.

“I couldn’t really say no.”

“And you,” she raised her voice, making Laila jump.  One of the Eastern Practices boys had turned his head, looking back through the corner of his eye.  “Stain.  You will regret not listening to me and being a creep.  For the next three or four years we should be attending this school I will remember this for our future interactions and it will matter.  Your friends too, so long as they’re with you.”

“Damn it, Damarayon,” Mikey muttered, pushing his friend underwater.

“Did he see anything?” Laila asked.

“No, you’re safe.  Dressed?”  she asked.  She saw the nod, then called out, “You can turn around!”

Fernanda used her sight, judged, and tracked the lines.  She found Damaryon’s clothes, then used her toe to flick his shirt into the water, then his shoe.

“Come on, no!  Don’t-”

“Don’t cross me, don’t cross my friends,” she told him.  “Expect this sort of treatment to be regular, until you make amends.”

She booted the other shoe into the water.  He splashed his way closer, but stopped when he was submerged up to the waist.

“My phone.  Come on!  Not the phone”

She checked the pockets, got his wallet, and got his phone.  She dropped the pants into the water.

“Don’t be a creep,” she told him, holding the wallet and phone over the water.

“Laila?” Fernanda asked.  “Your choice.”

Laila took the phone from Fernanda’s hand.  “He peeked?”

Laila seemed to consider.

“I’ll pay you.  Or do you a minor favor as a practitioner.”

Laila dropped the phone onto a pile of clothes.

Laila stomped on the phone, cracking it, then kept her foot there.

“Drive this suffering home,” Laila whispered.  Fernanda smiled.

The phone shuddered, and something screamed as it slithered down from Laila’s hand, down the side of her pants leg, and plunged into the phone.  The screen flickered violently, making static-y whimpering sounds, with contorted human-ish shapes straining against the cracked glass, each appearing for a second, disappearing and being replaced by another, in rapid succession.

While the boy was cussing, Fernanda tossed the wallet downriver.  Damaryon splashed, hurrying after it before it could disappear underwater.

“Bringing those three…” Fernanda said, as they made their way back up the ‘path’.  She sighed.

“They were close by, I thought at least if they came, there’d be less chance they’d stumble on us.  And they’re nice-ish, or I thought they were.”

“You couldn’t at least call someone else to come?”

“I didn’t know who you’d be cool with.”

“It was fun.  I want to do something like that again.  But with more girls.”

Fernanda raised an eyebrow.

“I mean, to balance out the numbers.”

“It’s good if there’s more boys.  If the numbers are too balanced, they’d want to pair off.  If there’s more of them, they compete for attention and affections.”

“Huh.  Yeah.  Why are you so good at this?”

“It’d be so nice to get lessons in this stuff, I feel like I’m always playing catch-up,” Laila said.  They emerged from the trees, and Laila bent over, squeezing water from her hair with her hands.

“I could give you lessons.”

“You’re my best friend.  Why wouldn’t I?”

Laila blinked a few times.

“Right?” Fernanda asked.

“Right, yeah!  Yeah!  I didn’t expect that, but yeah.”

Fernanda smiled.  “I’m in a rush, can we walk faster?”

Fernanda’s smile wasn’t a warm smile, though.  She was trying to think to the future, to the incoming meeting.

How to gently get things sorted out?  To get what she needed?

If only to quiet the anxiety that was fluttering in her chest as she drew closer to school.

“Can I count on you to back me up?” she asked.  “When things go bad?”

“On- sure.  Yes, I can back you up.  I don’t know what I could do, though.”

“I know how to boss people around, and I’ve studied and sought counsel from Others about the games boys and girls play.  My family wasn’t especially strong before Chase hit it big, but we specialized in emotion manipulation.  In love, and feuds, and trust, and fear.  If you can call it specialization.  Chase mostly left it behind, only using some of it to track people, but I got lessons.  That’s what I’m using and it’s what I could teach you, if you were interested.”

“Definitely.  I want to learn it.”

“Can you teach me practice stuff?”

“Absolutely.  I will.  Are we talking lessons?”

“Please?” Fernanda asked.

“Yes, okay,” Laila said.  “Lessons later.”

Fernanda smiled, then hugged her friend.  “Then I can let the thing go, then, about you inviting the other three guys in.”

“Thank you.  Thank you.  I don’t want you to have a grudge against me like you seem to against Steyn.”

“I knew it would be him who tested my order,” Fernanda said.  “So gross.”

“Super gross,” Laila echoed.

“I want to mess with him at dinner.”

They entered the school, chatting about ways to get back at him.  They could use karma to put him on the back foot, see what they could do.

The other kids were milling around, many of them around the library.  There was a class wrapping up, it seemed, but Saturday classes tended to be lighter, easier, and more about fun stuff.  Others were returning from a swim, still wearing swimsuits, and a group of the younger kids were eating old fashioned candy the Brownies had provided.

There were still the battle lines, though.  Just like how she and Laila had planned the swim with boys who were on the Belanger side of things, and had invited three more boys from that same group.  They wouldn’t invite Bristow’s guys.

They hurried back to the room, and she checked the time as they got to the door.  Barely any time to get ready.

“I barely have time.  Can you help?  Blue dress,” she ordered.  “Closet, left hand side.”

Laila jumped to the task.

She’d given Laila nothing concrete, but she’d gotten a pledge in return.  It was the product of months of establishing friendship, from last year until now, that let her set that into motion.  It didn’t matter that Laila was her best friend, because it helped her feel like she was inching toward a better place.  Whether this turned out to be a fight or a power grab, a manipulation or Alexander giving her a job, she couldn’t be worse off for having the option.

The mood was a dark, tense one.  Alexander and Nicolette were late to arrive.  Seth’s foot tapped relentlessly.

Chase, for all his moments of weakness, the drunken venting that night a year and three months ago, and how lazy he could be about his successes, betrayed nothing.  This could have been the wait for a routine doctor’s appointment, for all he showed it on his face.

But Tanner was pacing, and next to Alexander, Tanner was the best at seeing things coming.

Bookshelves scraped against the floor.  Fernanda turned, looking, and saw how the study was rearranging.

The single door became a set of double doors.  They opened, banging against the bookshelves to either side.

Alexander was first through, not as tidy as he usually was, but intense, hair and clothes a bit out of sorts, like he’d been in the midst of a violent wind.  Still looking good, for an old guy.

Nicolette followed after.  She glanced around the room, adjusted her glasses, then took a seat beside Fernanda.  To the side of the door, back of the study, facing Alexander, it was Chase, Fernanda, then Nicolette, in that order.

As she settled in, Fernanda had a view of her hair ornament.  The lower jaw of something with fangs, a decorated phial of liquid, and silver wire with the smallest feathers tied to it.

“Hey, kid,” Nicolette whispered.

“Hi,” Fernanda responded, finding the familiar tone of voice, the slightly kid-ish smile.  Nicolette liked the ‘kid sister’, and so Fernanda played that up a bit.  A bit more than with Chase, which seemed to annoy her older brother.  “What’s happening?”

“Stuff.  Alexander will explain,” Nicolette said.

Nicolette was tense, and the look in her eyes…

Had the augurs Seen something?  Was that why they were so freaked out?  Why Alexander was weirdly intense?

Zed, Brie, Eloise, Amine, and Ulysse entered, followed by both of the other full-time teachers.  Bookshelves moved and divided in two, melting into the background and expanding the room, accommodating the number of people present.

“I apologize if the sudden crowd is an inconvenience,” Alexander said.  “The other teachers and their apprentices have been asked to maintain peace, not to interfere.  I am many things, but a would-be tyrant is not one of them.  That position is very much covered.”

Fernanda glanced at Chase, then the other way, at Nicolette.

Chase barely batted an eyelash.  Nicolette looked like she hadn’t eaten in three days, so tense for so long that a kind of leanness had touched her face.  Fernanda had seen glimpses of it -she liked Nicolette the most of all of them so she paid attention- but she’d assumed it was because Nico was being put to work by Alexander in stressful times.

She wasn’t assuming that now.

“I invited Fernanda in,” Chase said.

“That’s fine,” Alexander said.  “I don’t imagine that tipping the balance of power in the room.  No offense, Ms. Whitt.  I hope you’re well.”

“Very well, sir, thank you.  I would be even better if I’d been given the ticket to decide the court for the field trip to the Faerie.  My answers were fewer in number but higher in quality.”

Alexander paused, looking less harried for a moment, as he smiled at her.  “Perhaps.  There’s more to consider, though.  Like what serves the lesson being taught.”

“Prettier, richer, more powerful people win more.  That’s a lesson.  It’s not a nice lesson, especially for those who are less pretty or wealthy, but I’m personally very fond of imparting it.”

Alexander, still smiling, wagged a finger at her.

Seth’s leg continued to jitter, foot tapping the floor.

“Has Bristow done something?” Eloise asked.

“Oh, he certainly has.  But if you mean has Bristow set something specific into motion, then no.  He has kindly allowed me to determine the time, place, and setting of the tinder being lit.  It’s my understanding that he would rather I withdraw in meek and frustrated defeat, as he once did, instead of meeting a sad but quick end, stabbed twenty-three times at the door of my study.”

“Betrayal?” Zed asked.

Raymond touched Zed’s arm, then put a finger to his lips.

Those two, Brie, Durocher, and Durocher’s two apprentices were here as observers and protectors only.  Not to comment or act.

“Me,” Nicolette said.

Fernanda’s heart sank.  No.  Nicolette was the nice one.

“You’re part of it,” Alexander said.  “Not all of it.”

Fernanda looked around the room.  Every expression was serious.

And she knew nothing.  She could decipher nothing.

“What are you doing, Nico?” Zed asked, quiet.

“Zed,” Raymond cut in.  “Please.”

“Does this have to do with what the piercing girl said to you after ruining Jessica’s big ritual?” Zed persisted.

“Zed,” Raymond said, again.  “Silence.  We don’t interfere.”

“Yes, it has to do with what she said.”

“Explain?” Seth asked, leaning forward.

“Please,” Chase said, but his voice was harder.

“I have received a better offer than what Alexander Belanger and the Blue Heron provide,” Nicolette said.  “I know Alexander knows, now.  There’s no use hiding it.  If he’s amenable, I will give my figurative two weeks of notice.  I will serve out the remainder of the tasks I’ve pledged to do for Alexander, then go.”

“I could arrest you, imprison you indefinitely, to keep you from falling into the hands of my enemies,” Alexander said.

Nicolette’s lips parted, then closed.  She nodded.

“I don’t like killing, so I won’t.  I won’t arrest or imprison you, either.  None of those things in the here and now.  We’ll see for the future, allowing for the fact you may be a rival of this circle.”

“Thank you,” Nicolette said.

“The rest of you are to leave her alone,” Alexander said.  “Let her see to her tasks, then let her go, as appropriate.  Understood?”

There were nods all around.

“Nico,” Zed said.  “Really?”

“Leave her be,” Durocher said.

“She’s a friend.  She was, I don’t know what happens-”

“I’d like to stay friends,” Nicolette said.

“This makes it harder.”

“This,” Alexander cut in, “is a machination of Mr. Lawrence Bristow.  If you get upset, if you allow anger to overtake you, you’re doing as he wishes.”

“And what are you doing?” Chase asked.

“That is a very easy question to answer, situated in a very difficult moment,” Alexander said, reclining in his chair.  He crossed his ankles, placing them at the far right edge of the desk.  “Nicolette is not the only one who defects.  If I tell you and you defect to Mr. Bristow or one of his many contacts, then that hurts my position.  Are you going to defect, Chase?”

Chase remained quiet.  He glanced down at Fernanda.

This was why he was insecure?  He’d seen something like it coming?  This was why he wanted the advice?

“Tanner?” Alexander asked.  “I know you and Lawrence have a history.  He sent you a Christmas card.  You talk from time to time, and you talk to Reid Musser, who talks to his father, who talks to Bristow.”

“Yeah.  He’s offered me a position with a powerful family, residence at a conflux of power.  If he becomes headmaster, I’ll have continued attendance here.  If not, then there are a few opportunities elsewhere.”

“And a girl,” Alexander said.

“He introduced me to two young women.  I’m fond of one.”

“Both very fine ladies, from what I could see.  Clever, talented in their respective practices, and pretty.  I would discourage you, about the work, the residence, and the marriage prospects, but I can see why you’re tempted.”

“Discourage?” Tanner asked.

“Elaboration is a kindness reserved for the loyal, Tanner.  But let’s put that aside.  Two of my five apprentices will walk away.  Any others?  Seth, you seem agitated.”

Seth didn’t respond, didn’t take his eyes off the floor, and didn’t stop jiggling his leg.

“Chase?” Alexander asked, quiet.  Dangerous.

“I wonder if any defection on my part would send Nicolette screaming back to the Blue Heron,” Chase said.

“Defecting to the same group?” Nicolette asked.

“It’s a hypothetical,” Chase said.

Alexander swung his feet down, then moved closer to the desk, leaning over his clasped hands.  “The difference between two of my five apprentices defecting and three of my five apprentices defecting is significant.  It could decide the ownership of the Blue Heron Institute.  Wye is loyal.  He’s also elsewhere.  Now, Chase, Seth… shit or get off the chamber pot.  Decide!”

He raised his voice with that last word, fingers gripping the edge of the desk.

Seth’s leg had stopped moving.  Nobody moved or spoke.

Alexander was strong, he was a teacher, but the way these things worked, it was often a lot of lessons and things to learn at the outset, then that knowledge tapered off.  Deals, goodwill, or the security of the devil one knew over the unknown kept people close.  Many teachers stretched out the lessons and the offering of information over years or decades, just to keep them around long enough that the other ties could be established.

But Alexander used his apprentices for business, sending them out.  They needed a good grounding of knowledge for the Belanger Circle to maintain its success rate in getting things done.

Meaning he’d given what he had to give, and the only thing keeping people close was…

“Hypothetically,” Fernanda murmured.  With the acoustics of the room, her voice felt far too loud.  “Could you leave if you wanted to?”

“I swore no oaths to stay.  He could have, but he didn’t.”

“Lawrence Bristow would have you swear,” Alexander said, sitting back in his chair, relaxing his grip on the edge.  “Think about what that means.”

“I will.  I’m thinking,” Chase said, stiff.

Nicolette was leaving.  What happened next, then?  Would Bristow be headmaster?  Or was this a long play by Alexander, that would secure him the Blue Heron?

“Tell me, Seth.  Tell me, Chase,” Alexander said, his voice like background noise, pervasive.  “I recognize your dilemma.  To say no to Bristow makes for a stubborn, irascible enemy with connections that extend all around the world.  I’m not so connected.  I keep to this province and its neighbors, with some work in the United States.”

What else?  To turn against Alexander would invert or twist relationships with just about every family in the area.  It would extend the Whitt family relations to countries all around the world, because Bristow was well traveled and he was good at finding and placing people.

They could potentially have so much more, maybe moving to a place Alexander couldn’t reach.

That felt so thin.  Every place could be reached.

Alexander continued, more background noise.  “My primary advantage is that I know you.  Make of that what you will.  But if you decide and if you’re upfront with me, then I will be an upfront enemy.  My demesne is one that is welcoming, to student, to you lot, who’ve come to smoke, drink, and tell stories.  Twisting its nature to kill those who’ve been welcomed in would violate rules of hospitality.  I will not do that.  I will let you go, and all I ask in return is that you are upfront about abandoning the Belanger circle.”

“Did you get an offer?” Fernanda asked her brother.

“What was it, Chase?” Alexander asked.

“You know already, don’t you?” Chase asked.

Alexander smiled.  “Yes.”

“Apprenticeships for every member of the Whitt family.  Fernanda, my cousins.  The adults who want to learn.  A cure for a heart-wrenching my aunt suffered, when practice backfired.”

“Apprenticeships like you got?” Fernanda asked.

“Bristow says the emotion manipulation our family focuses on makes a good foundation for other practices.  There’d be you and six of our cousins, and eight spots.”

You don’t include yourself in that, Fernanda thought.

Because he didn’t want it.  Because this was his out.  A way to score a huge win for the family, elevating all of them, and simultaneously free himself from all of the immense expectations that had been chasing him in recent years.  Their mother and father would be so glad they couldn’t be mad that he was stepping down.  Or he could run the family without the other pressures.

“I’ve been thinking about it,” Chase said.

“I can imagine,” Alexander said.  “But I am making you decide now.”

“I was kind of hoping to have more time, to lay down some cards-”

“You’ve done that.”

“-to roll dice, pull the guts out of birds…”

“What?” Brie asked, quiet.

“You’ve already done that as well.  You know what you get, with each decision.”

“I don’t know for certain,” Chase said, quiet.  “I’m better at looking to the present than I am at looking forward.  I find people, I don’t…”

“What happens?” Fernanda asked.

“With Bristow, you get a better life.  Our cousins do, our mother and father do.  Some struggle, alone and far from home, it spreads us out.  We stop being even a facsimile of a family.  There are no more Christmas holidays, no more ski vacations in Europe, no Caribbean, no sailing trips, no troll hunts.  Only the passing visits.  One of us passing through a town where another lives, having drinks, and catching up.  But all of us are happier alone.  Except me.”

“I can’t see that so clearly,” Chase said, sticking out his chin.  “How sad is it, that I want the fake family, the strained holidays, and my own well being, even if it means it sucks for the rest of us?”

“But we talked.  I tried.  You weren’t interested.  If there was a hope, Fernanda, maybe I’d make a different decision.”

“No, Chase.  The status quo-”

“I didn’t ask you here to decide,” he said, his voice heavy with emotion.  “I needed input, and you gave it to me thirty minutes ago, before walking here.”

Fernanda swallowed.  “Then why am I here?”

“To witness.  To report to our mother and father if something happens to me, to tell them not to be mad at Alexander.  Screw this family.  I’ll take the future that blows it up.  Be happy without me, maybe do me a favor and miss me, just a bit, a few minutes out of the year, every year.”

“You’ll go to Bristow then?” Alexander asked.

“For all the good it’ll do me personally.  I can’t do this anymore.  I can’t- I can’t be the sole hope of my entire family.”

“You make it sound like it’s more about running than it is about helping them,” Zed accused.

“So what if it is, Z?  You don’t know.”

“I don’t have a family to throw away, really, C.”

Chase shrugged, slouching back.  He looked at Alexander.  “Do your worst, I guess.”

“I told you, be upfront, I’ll let you go.  Perhaps I can bring you back into the fold later.”

“Maybe,” Chase said.  “But I know you, Alexander.  I know you’re a real bastard when you want to be.  I know it’s not going to be that simple.”

“Being gainsaid may well be the extent of my retaliation for this,” Alexander said.

“And me?” Fernanda asked.  “I didn’t want this.”

“You’ll be fine.  But think hard before you swear any oaths.  He’ll want you to burn bridges.”

Fernanda swallowed and nodded.

Alexander looked at Seth.  “Three of the five have defected.  It will matter.  But I will need an answer from you.  You owe me that much.”

“Do I?” Seth asked.  “Three is enough, isn’t it?  It hurts the Belanger Circle, Bristow brings you low… maybe kicks you out.”

“He will.  And those who stay will face an uphill struggle,” Alexander said.

“I ask you a second time.  Will you go, or will you remain?”

“Second? Seth asked.  “You have your answer.  Three defect.  You lose the school.  I’ll stick around here, help out with whoever’s in charge.”

“What did he offer you?” Nicolette asked.

“Five hundred and fifty thousand dollars, respect, a position in another family, who have a daughter a year younger than Seth.  They do simple work, keeping track of some elusive Others, they would appreciate Seth’s augury, and if he wasn’t a complete asshole, marriage to the daughter would be inevitable.  For someone who doesn’t want to work, it’s… a fine offering.  Isn’t it, Seth?”

Seth nodded, looking reluctant, wary.

“According to my sources, Mr. Bristow was willing to offer three times the amount of money, a better position, but Seth would have balked.  Too good an offer is a kind of responsibility.  If you only had ambition, Seth, you would have what you sought.”

“If everyone had your kind of ambition, the world would be a bloodbath,” Seth said.

“People with my kind of ambition often see that finding good people to work with often raises you up higher than cutting others down.  Mr. Noone, Bristow’s man with the evil eye, is a good example of that.  I’m frustrated you haven’t learned what I’ve tried to teach.”

“Side with me for the status quo, if you must.  Or go to him, for this cushy life where you need not wish for anything.  Negotiate with me, Seth, or threaten me, or scheme.  But make your decision.”

Seth stood from his seat.  He pushed it aside.

“Don’t be a coward now, in this moment.  The Belanger circle, which has taken care of you for years, is facing its darkest day.  You are being called.  Be ambitious, be loyal, but don’t be craven.”

“This doesn’t change the outcome,” Seth said.  “It’s a bullshit power play, forcing me and the rest of us into a corner, so you can take advantage.  It’s not worth it.”

Seth walked to the open set of double doors.

His hand bumped against the space.  It was no longer a passage, but a painted surface.

Fernanda rose to her feet, Nicolette grabbing her shoulder and pulling her close.

Chase remained where he was.  Across the room, Tanner backed away as well.

“You pledged hospitality.  You pledged welcome.  If you turn this place into a prison, deny me my freedom-”

Alexander’s voice was intense.

“Do you remember when your grandmother was in the hospital, Seth?” Alexander asked.

“Of course.  But using my dead grandmom here is pretty low.”

“Your mother couldn’t take care of you, you were too much a wild youth, too recalcitrant, aggressive, prone to running away.  Your mother couldn’t work and care for you at the same time.  Your grandmother took over.  When she went to the hospital, you threw a party.  Trashed her house.”

Seth’s fingernails scraped against the painted surface where the door should be.  His hand dropped.  “I was a kid.  And you’re keeping me prisoner, in violation of the spirit of your demesne.”

“I know you were a kid, Seth.  I do.  Your mother was distraught.  She called me, I came, I took over.  I talked to your grandmother, I had Wye help clean the house.  I sat at her bedside when you wouldn’t.”

“And?  Karma?” Seth asked.

“I know the promises you made her, as she lay there dying.  To be better.  To meet your potential.  To try.  I am prepared to name you forsworn, Seth Luke Belanger.”

“Alexander,” Raymond Sunshine spoke up.  “What are you doing?  He hasn’t even acted against you.”

“He will, left to his own devices.  I can say that with certainty.  He simply can’t admit it to me now, just like he can’t even meet my eyes.”

Fernanda edged away from Seth, looked at his face.

And she kind of believed Alexander here.

“Do you want to try?” Seth asked.  He didn’t meet Alexander’s eyes, but something took hold of him.  Tension, alertness, focus.  His eyes moved like he was reading something or looking at something that wasn’t present.

“Very well,” Alexander said, his voice level.  “I hereby name you forsworn.  For filial promises made and taken to the grave by the other party.”

“Do you need help, Seth?” Nicolette asked.

“Who would help me?” Seth asked.

“I would.  I might not like you in the slightest, but forswearing as a practice should be left well in the past.”

“Forswearing is the source of our strength,” Alexander said, his voice rising.  “What are we without our word, Nicolette!?  Seth!?”

“I was a kid,” Seth said.

“You had awoken!  You made your promises to your grandmother, and you did not fulfill them!  You made them for yourself, to assuage your guilt!  I’m sure it felt nice in the moment to say it but it was hollow!”

“Forgiveness,” Nicolette said.  “Did she say anything, however minor?”

Seth blinked rapidly, shaking his head.  “I was getting to that!”

He seemed so flustered, Fernanda was pretty confident he hadn’t, in fact, been getting to that.

Alexander, at the same time, was breathing hard.

Seth cleared his throat. “It may have been hollow.  But in these cases, a promise can be made and broken,” Seth said.  “I may be gainsaid, but among her last words to me were her wishes that I had a good life ahead of me.  And her expressed forgiveness and love.”

“Yes,” Alexander said, and seemed to almost swallow his anger, composing himself.

“That protects me.  I would name you forsworn, instead.  Fuck you, Alexander.  Fuck you for trying this.  Fuck you for violating hospitality.  You didn’t even know her!  Who the fuck are you to get angry about this?”

“I spent some time with her, Seth.  She and I talked about you in depth.”

“Doesn’t mean you’re not forsworn, trying this!  And no bringing up other stuff, either.  You made your attempt.  If there was anything real to this, the universe would’ve seen me forsworn after she died.  But it didn’t!  It’s been three years!”

“We talked.  She was worried about you.  I agreed to take you as my apprentice.  To take custody of you, to bring you into my house, home, and school.  To those ends, we both signed papers.  She didn’t know about the practice, but she didn’t need to.  All she needed and wanted was for someone to take responsibility of you, after her death.”

Seth was very still, back to the painted wall, fists clenched.

“You signed those papers too.  I took over all responsibilities in respect to you, Seth.  She forgave you, but it was not for her to handle the broken oath, then.  I had taken on that responsibility by then.  And I will not forgive.  The universe has not seen you forsworn because I have been in firm custody of it, judgment pending.”

“What does this serve?” Raymond asked.

“Careful,” Durocher said.  “Things this grave can spill out.  We’re pledged to avoid intervening.  As bystanders to this, the backlash for a broken pledge will be that much worse.”

“I extended opportunities to Seth week after week, month after month, year after year.  The Belanger Circle extended much to him, and as much as he seems concerned about hospitality right now he has accepted it for years with a minimum of gratitude.  Here and today, I gave him a chance to walk away.  Here and today, this very hour, I extended him the chance to walk away.”

“Seth,” Nicolette said.  “Was there any outside interference?  Any spirits, possessing forces?”

“Insufficient to escape this forswearing,” Alexander said.

“If you bled yourself for power for any practice, forces would be present and influencing you.  Alone it’s not enough but it could be one of several factors…”

“I didn’t,” Seth said.  “I didn’t bleed myself for power, I didn’t take in any Others or anything like that.  Nobody manipulated me.”

Nicolette shook her head.  “The open future clause.  Is there a feasible future where you could fulfill the oath?”

“The clause you name,” Alexander said, voice harsh, “is not about feasible futures.  It’s about reasonable futures.”

“Depends on the book you read,” Nicolette said.

“I’m sure it does, but I would challenge Seth.  Seven times seven times seven times, he’s been given a chance.”

“Can you name those times?” Nicolette asked.

“Yes,” Alexander said.  “I could.  I keep meticulous notes.  Can you name a plurality of sevens, where Seth has risen to the spirit of the oaths?  Name seven and I will name seven times when he did not.  But challenge this forswearing in this way, you cannot make another defense.”

“Seth,” Nicolette said.  “This may be your best chance.”

“Then I’m pretty fucked,” Seth said, eyes wet, shaking his head.  “The one person who cared about me died.  I went off rails.  I haven’t cared about much since.  Fucking around, getting into trouble, being lazy.”

“Dressing nice, putting on a good front for guests…” Nicolette ventured.

“Stuff like that, sure.  But I’m betting there’s seven fuckups.”

“Do you forfeit?” Alexander asked.  “Or do you have another defense?”

“Why sevens?” Nicolette asked.  “It’s usually threes.”

“A list of seven things is harder to hold in one’s head,” Alexander said.  “I’m confident you’d repeat yourselves before I did.”

“This isn’t a game!” Nicolette raised her voice.

“No.  It really isn’t.  But I have been fair.  I have extended a great deal toward you all.  And three of you would betray me for better opportunities.  For money, power, positions.  And you?  For what, Nicolette?”

“From being married off.  From being crippled in practice.  From being stuck at the bottom of your list of apprentices, because I’m a woman and you like your old boys club.  I know you have plans.”

“I have all sorts of plans.  There’s no guarantee that I would make use of them.”

“There’s no guarantee you wouldn’t.  I can’t risk it.”

“Very well,” he told her.  “But as it stands, I require an example to be made of one of you.  Seth and Seth’s grandmother gave me responsibility over him, over all balances owed, and one of those debts is long overdue.  Seth knows.”

“I made a promise to a sick old woman.  And you’re holding it against me.”

“If those promises had any merit, even in sentiment, then you would have at least managed to hold off on fucking up until after she’d passed.  But the police called her, and she knew.  To the grave, she knew.”

Seth’s expression twisted.

“He was grieving, Alexander,” Nicolette said.

“Tell me, Seth.  How much of your promise to your grandmother was because you cared?  Not that the spirit of the oath is enough to decide on its own, but… do share.  How much was because you cared, and how much was because you were greedy for the inheritance?”

“Everything is on the line for you, Seth,” Nicolette said.

“I don’t know,” Seth said.  “Some.  A lot.”

“Defend yourself,” Alexander said, his voice cold.  “Tell me you wouldn’t have betrayed the hospitality, care, and patience I extended you and gone to Lawrence Bristow sooner or later.”

“That doesn’t pertain to the forswearing,” Nicolette said.

“As it stands, the failure that condemns him is a failure of character.  I have my own responsibilities.  If there was even a glimmer of hope, resolution, or something, I could withdraw the forswearing.”

“Can you?” Nicolette asked.

“At a cost.  But I know he gave up long ago.  I know he made promises out of greed, thinking she was unaware of practice, and if he did nothing he wouldn’t get his inheritance.  So long as she died, the oaths would lose impact, he would have to stand up against the universe to make his arguments.  And the universe is a more forgiving prosecutor than I am.”

“There are other defenses,” Nicolette told Seth.

“I know.  I don’t think any of them apply.”

“Before these witnesses, I name you forsworn, Seth Belanger, my sister’s son, my nephew, my charge.  I have given you opportunity to fulfill your oaths, and you have spurned them.”

“So be it,” Seth said.

“Don’t-” Nicolette tried to interrupt.  She went to punch the nearest bookshelf, and nearly hit Fernanda.  She put a hand on Fernanda’s shoulder instead.

“Be forsworn, then.  The hospitality you desired here need not apply, for you are owed none.  Let your power be forfeit, your word without merit, and all protections owed to practitioner, innocent, and even animal stripped.”

“I would give Seth Belanger my protection for the time being,” Nicolette said.  “I would take him into my custody, and be a shield between him and the world.”

“You are too kind to those who are horrible to you, Nicolette,” Alexander said.  “And too unkind to those who would support you.”

“You may be right,” Nicolette said.

“I don’t contest your protection.  I could make my claim, as the closest thing to the wronged party, but I will not.  Have him.  The door is open.”

Seth had slumped down to the floor.  Chase was the one who reached down for Seth’s armpit.

“Do you think he’s the only one I could forswear, right here and right now?” Alexander asked.

Everyone present looked to him.

“I know you,” Alexander said.  “What have you said while out of your mind and drunk, Chase?”

“I don’t know.  But that’s a weak approach.”

“But it is an approach.  Perhaps if you made a promise once while drinking, that could be contested.  But three related promises?  Or three times three?”

Chase pressed his lips together.  “I already kind of threw everything away, saying I’d go to Bristow.”

“No.  You threw this away.  Everything is something entirely different.  Nicolette?”

“My delirium?” she asked.

“You had your spells.”

“And I’m certain,” she said.  “I’ve watched my back.”

“You trained me well,” Tanner said, as he retreated toward the door.

“If your response to a forswearing attempt is to claim I trained you, and that I’m partially responsible for your broken oaths, Tanner, then you should know I’ll answer it by saying you have not yet repaid me in full for what I’ve invested in you.”

“Tell the others this isn’t over,” Alexander said.

Tanner nodded again, before escaping the study.

Fernanda watched as Chase and Tanner practically dragged a sagging Seth out the door, Nicolette following right behind.  Outside, rain was pouring, heavy and hard.  Thunder cracked.

“Is your answer to Bristow to wage a campaign of terror?” Raymond asked.

“No.  My answer to my apprentices turning on me is to terrorize them.  Let them be afraid.  Let them think back and wonder what they’ve said, and the mistakes they’ve made.  My answer to Bristow will be something else entirely.”

“Okay,” Raymond said.

“Okay!?” Zed asked.  “No, Ray.  You’ve let a lot slide before, but this?”

“We’ll talk about it later.”

“No, I want to talk about it now!”

“Do I need to worry?” Fernanda asked, quiet.

“About me?” Alexander asked.

“I am fond of you, Fernanda.  I hope you find your way back to classes with me.  Don’t burn that bridge, and you won’t have cause to worry.”

“If my family makes me swear under Bristow-”

“Know what you’re doing if you do,” Alexander said.

Fernanda nodded, then escaped the study, following Chase.

She made her way down the hallway.  Senior students had left their rooms and watched as Seth was carried.

Everyone who could See was aware.  There might have even been a thunderclap and the beginning of a storm to mark the occasion.

Seth was a goner.  No practice, no life.  Condemned.  His power forfeit, taken by Alexander, his body and mind now vulnerable and weak.

Estrella watched with a cool gaze.  Fernanda had to remind herself that allegiances had changed.  She’d thought of Estrella as a danger, but now… just the opposite.

They’d reached the end of the hallway when Bristow appeared.  More students had gathered, milling around, concerned.

“Who did it?” Bristow asked.

“Then I think it may be best if he leaves the campus,” Bristow said.

“I object!” a girl raised her voice.  “No way, no, this is bullcrap!”

“Mr. Havens?” Bristow asked.

The big guy with the scar rose from his seat at the stage of the big classroom, and navigated the crowd as he approached.  “Do you want me to deal with this girl or the headmaster?”

“I think virtually every parent of a child at this school would agree a teacher should be suspended for a time after forswearing a student, until things can be assessed.”

“Objection number two!” America Tedd called out.  Someone grabbed at her and she smacked the hand away.  “Alexander shouldn’t be suspended because, number one, you probably planned that all along, and number two, he’s hot, in an older guy sorta way, and it’s a tragedy to lose that.”

Alexander was coming down the hall.  Fernanda backed away.  Chase was at Bristow’s side.  There was no sign he’d said anything or done anything.  But Bristow seemed to know he’d come to a decision.

The guy could probably see that rock solid connection, now.  It would get even more solid after any oaths from Chase.

“Final decisions on the suspension of faculty are largely up to me,” Alexander said.

“You’ve lost your apprentices, you’ve gone rogue and forsworn a student, your apprentice.”

“The opportunity was given for him to challenge it.”

“Your students are afraid of you.”

“My enemies are afraid of me.  If students being afraid was any concern at all, Mrs. Durocher wouldn’t be here.”

“Speaking of… I would challenge faculty to make a judgment call.  One case where you could be removed is if there was an agreement among all other staff that you weren’t fit.”

“Abstain,” Mrs. Durocher said.

“Are you insisting on a majority vote?” Alexander asked.  “After gathering a number of your guest teachers?”

“Shall we make it require a unanimous vote?”

“This is bullcrap!” America raised her voice.

“It’s worse than that!  It’s the bullcrap a dog’s choked down and crapped out again!” Liberty echoed.

“If it’s a unanimous vote, I won’t be voting to remove Alexander,” Raymond said.  “I would be voting for a suspension of both you and Alexander, Bristow, until peace can be restored.”

Zed was shaking his head behind Raymond.

Mr. Havens got close to Alexander.  He reached out, and America Tedd smacked the hand away.

“You don’t need to step in, America, as kind as the gesture is,” Alexander told her.

“Uhh, yes I do, because fuck this, fuck you Bristow, you’re boring, and-”

“And you’re going to cause a riot if you keep this up,” a boy said.

He reached out to grab her.  She punched him in the face.

He punched her back.  She sat down hard, blood gushing from her nose.

She smiled, nose bleeding, blood in her teeth.  “Not reflex from me, it’s-”

“It’s enough,” Alexander said.  “Stop, America.”

“I’m not even close to being done,” she said, as she climbed to her feet.

Alexander put a hand on her shoulder.

“I’ll leave, if only to stop a riot from breaking out.  I cede no control-”

“I will assume it, to keep things running,” Bristow said.

“Do as you will, you have no real right to.  Executive decision is left to Raymond.  I must look after the business of my apprentices, so for the time being, I depart.  I will return.”

Alexander looked over at Chase, his eye moving over Fernanda, then over to Nicolette, to Tanner.

He walked down the hall, back toward his office.  Ted Havens followed.

People remained where they were, talking, guessing what had happened.  Anxious.

The lines between factions were trenches now.  Ten foot gaps.  Some people were definitely bristling for a fight.

“The violent student must be expelled,” Bristow said.

“By the rules, yes,” Raymond said.  “But it’ll be America and Kellen who go.  Both.”

“Fuck you, and fuck you,” America said.  “He’ll kick me out and then give Kellen an invite back.  Fuck off.”

“Please settle down.”

Mr. Belanger, wearing his raincoat, carrying an umbrella and bag, could be seen beyond the window.

If he’d hoped for his departure to help settle the chaos, he’d lost.  It was the opposite.  Things were going to pieces fast.  Voices were raised.  Some people like the Legendres had defensive practices going, now, which was its own thing, especially when it was a fine line between a mystical shield that punished attackers and a big mystical diagram that could be used to smack people in the face for extra punishment.  Stuff like that.

And, Fernanda couldn’t help but notice, as the lines were drawn, people keeping to their groups, Laila was on the far side, mouthing words.  An excuse, an apology.

Laila’s family was invovled in subtle curses that could affect whole cities.  It was huge and expensive and took years to set up, and it used a lot of omens.  It required preparation.  It was tied in heavily to Alexander Belanger’s circle and work.

And Fernanda wasn’t about to let go of her family, now that she had a chance.

She stayed where she was, as the crowd grew more and more heated, fights threatening to erupt.  It might as well been just her and Laila in focus as everything else dissolved.

And Laila, who had so recently made promises, trusting their friendship was more important than practice, visibly diminished.  If she wasn’t gainsaid now, she would be later.

Fernanda hadn’t planned that, but it was the kind of asshole move she’d learned was essential and near-universal.  She’d learned that years ago, and Laila had learned it today.

Chase had said he’d never felt pity before.  And Fernanda, if she dug deep inside, could say that maybe that was the case for her too.  But she felt pity now, at least.  Maybe for the first time, for her onetime friend.  For Chase.  For Seth.  And for all of those people who weren’t in a position to capitalize on the various things that were changing.

“Shouldn’t you be over there?” Yadira asked, nudging her.

“No,” Fernanda said, not breaking eye contact with her ex-friend.  “No, I’m good here.”