Page 13 of Grave Situation

Master’s lips twitch. “I don’t think it can communicate with words,” he suggests, and yes, there’s agreement. Okay. So we’re dealing with nonverbal, nonvisual cues.

“Yes or no questions, then,” I murmur, and Master nods approvingly. “Did you influence Wat and everyone who helped him in order to get here?” That’s an easy one, since I’m about 99.999 percent sure it’s true.

Agreement—and smug satisfaction. It’s proud of how it manipulated things. Great. A rock with an ego.

“Why Wat’s farm?” I ask, purely out of curiosity. “Why not just directly here?”

Exasperation and annoyance.

“Fine, don’t answer then,” I mutter. Master gives me a hard nudge and a warning look.

“Are you only searchable to those who you wish to know of your location and presence?” he asks. Grudgingly, I concede that it’s probably a more important question.

The stone obviously agrees, because in addition to a strong affirmative, there’s approval. This is so unbelievable. A rock is talking to us via emotional responses.

“Very well,” Master acknowledges. “Do you wish for us to keep your presence here secret?”

I blink as a very confusing sensation of yes and no overtakes me. I haven’t felt this indecisive since I was twelve years old, stealing sweets from the larder, and only had room in my pocket for one tart—lemon or raspberry. Cook nearly caught me, but I sneaked out just in time—after breaking the tarts into pieces and taking half of each. She was convinced mice had gotten to them and threw the remainder away. I would have felt bad, but… I still had my share.

Master, clearly not being privy to my reminiscences, says, “Secret from some but not all?”

A definite positive response to that, and he nods in satisfaction. “The Council of Mages?”

~Yes~

“The support staff?”

~Yes/No~

“Some of the support staff?”

~Yes~

I think of the sheer number of support staff and dearly hope we don’t need to go through each of them by name. I’m not sure I even remember all their names. Some of them are too annoying for that privilege.

Master doesn’t seem fazed, though, and starts from the top of the list. “Apprentices only?”

~Yes/No~

We both pause. Only some of the apprentices? That’s going to ruffle feathers.

“Hmm.” Master Samoine’s expression turns speculative. “Talon?”

~Yes~

Oh goody. Yay for me.

To my surprise, instead of listing any other names, Master says, “Any other apprentices?”

~No~

My jaw drops—again. I’m going to have to break the habit of being surprised by a hunk of rock. It’s not dignified. But… does the life stonelikeme? Why, for the love of all that’s holy?

Or maybe it just wants to torment me. That’s far more likely.

Master seems to take it in stride. “Anyone else from the support staff?”

~No~

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