Page 102 of Bonds of Magic
I froze. So Teresa wanted something from Rekha, did she? That at least confirmed my suspicions that something was going on. Professors were supposed to use the formal communications network when communicating with students, not message their vocators. If Teresa was communicating with Rekha personally, that meant she didn’t want anyone else to have the chance to see her messages.
“Come on,” Rekha said after a moment. “I don’t want to be late.”
Which didn’t make any sense—freshmen classes were over for the day. Unless she was meeting Teresa somewhere. I waited until the girls left the gym, then grabbed my own jacket and set out after them.
I kept my distance as they walked through the woods back to the manor. No need to let them know I was following. Once we got into the manor, though, I moved closer. There were enough students passing through the halls now that if I didn’t stay close, I would lose them.
The girls were still talking animatedly as they stepped into the manor’s entrance hall, its two massive stone staircases curling up either side of the room. Rekha’s group headed up the right-hand stairway, and I was about to follow them up the left one when a hand touched my shoulder.
I turned to see Isaac standing behind me.
“Noah,” he said, his voice cool. “Walk with me for a minute.”
I glanced back at Rekha’s group as they reached the top of the stairs, then looked at Isaac. “Now? I’m kind of busy.”
“I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t important,” he said, though his voice was as calm and measured as ever.
A little bubble of open floor had appeared around us as students veered away to give the dean some space.
“This is important too,” I said. “It’s about thatthingyou asked me to look into.”
“I understand. And I still request that you join me. Your concern will keep.”
“I’m not sure it will,” I muttered, but Rekha’s group was out of sight, and Isaac was already heading back towards his office, clearly expecting me to follow. What other choice did I have?
“This had better be important,” I said, as soon as I stepped into his office and closed the door behind me.
He sat down at his desk and gestured for me to take the seat opposite. I folded my arms and remained standing. To be honest, I would have loved to sit down. I was dead on my feet today. But I didn’t.
“Teresa is interested in some of the freshmen,” I told him. “I still don’t know why, but I think she’s planning on doing something with them—ortothem—tonight.”
“Tell me more,” Isaac said, as though we had all the time in the world.
I described the message Rekha had received—the bits of it that I knew, anyway, which weren’t much.
“She said she didn’t want to be late, though,” I concluded. “I really think I should go check on her. Or Teresa.”
“You will have plenty of time to do that,” Isaac said. “But you’ll be no use to anyone if you collapse in the process.”
I blinked. “What?”
“It’s been eight days since your last trance. Frankly, I’m surprised you’re still standing. I’m not sure how many hours you have left in you, but I’m not taking any chances. Sit down and let me help you.”
“Eight days.” I shook my head. “No, it hasn’t been that long. I saw you last…”
I trailed off, realizing suddenly that I couldn’t remember my last trance. It shouldn’t have been hard to figure out. But my brain felt so foggy today.
“Eight days,” he repeated. “Now sit down before you pass out. You look like you’re on death’s door.”
Did I really? Maybe that was why I was so tired today. How had I missed that?
Maybe you’ve been too obsessed with Cory to think about anything else, whispered the voice in the back of my mind.
I sat heavily in one of the chairs in front of Isaac’s desk. “I didn’t realize.”
“I could tell.” He folded his hands. “I know I’ve asked you to take on extra work, but I don’t want you to do it at the expense of running yourself ragged.”
“It’s not too much,” I said quickly. I didn’t want him to take me off the case now. “Teresa’s up to something, but I think I canfigure out what. I’m working on getting Sheridan to trust me, but I’ve already figured out that someone else is looking for him out there. Oh, and he has outstanding gambling debts at the Angler’s Rest. And Hans—last night—God, was it only last night?—I found him in the woods trying to raise an earth spirit and force it to lend him power.”
