Page 108 of Fortress of Ambrose
“Yes, of course. Also, there is a wall down in the Headmistress’s suite, by the way.”
“Oh yes, I was going to ask if you knew if anyone else here has any Shifter magic. Or Cultivating. I have extra rings.” Dexler speaks with confidence, but the way she holds her shawl around herself says how uncomfortable she finds this arrangement. First I return with a handful of safe house members. Then I return with a whole lot of them.
“Some of them might have magic. Zecky did, so I am sure.”
Dexler’s eyes darted. “Would you perhaps talk to them? Maybe ask. I don’t get that they like me very much.”
“I’m sure that’s not it. This is all just new.” I pat her shoulder, but she doesn’t appear moved. “I was headed outside to inspect the roses to enhance our defenses. But sure, I can take a moment.”
Dexler leads me to a lounge not far from the dorm wings, where she gathers everyone. I spot several familiar faces and some I don’t think I’ve ever seen. Neither Willam nor Knox is here, and that doesn’t give me a good feeling. The chatter quiets when I stand to speak, and it feels odd having so many attentive eyes on me at once.
“By a show of hands, who can access some kind of magic?”
About half the crowd’s hands rise. “That’s two dozen, at least,” I tell Dexler.
“And you’re sure about this?”
“I know it’s a bit different, Maezre. But they’re here to help.”
“Drawing on toushana count?” someone asks, and Dexler tenses.
“It all counts.”
More hands rise. “Sort them into groups by the type of magic they can access. Shifters will be the most useful, I assume. There’s lots of repair work to be done.” I look for relief in her expression and find some. “I really should get to the gates.”
Dexler waves her hands, directing the crowd to separate their lines so it’s clearer who can do what. Then she hands each a sheet of paper to document their names. Dimara, the twins, and Kedd haven’t moved.
“So what, we’re useless, then?” Dimara says, still sitting across the lounge, nowhere near the lines.
“The landscaping is a nightmare outside,” Jordan’s voice says behind me. “I’ll get you a rake.”
The twins are thrilled, bouncing up from their seats. But Kedd isn’t amused. Dimara sneers, considering her next retort.
“You’re good at cooking, aren’t you? That doesn’t require magic. You can help there.”
“You think I want to be your chef?” She scoffs.
“That’s not what she means, and you know it,” Kedd says, excusing himself with the twins. “I’m going to talk to Willam.”
Dimara drags herself to the line for those without any known magic. Or those who have signs of magic but haven’t yet emerged.
“Have you seen Ube?” Jordan asks. The fellow who stepped up to Jordan’s side at Zecky’s safe house. I did see his face in the crowd. I spot him and his sister, who looks so much like him, in the Shifter line. “He’s a Healer, right?”
“Think so. He and his sister were the only two Zecky brought into my exam room.” He flags him over.
While we’re alone, I turn to him and say, “You left me last night.”
“No, I stayed until morning.”
“Beside me?”
“On the chaise. That counts.”
“Hardly. I’m working on defenses around the estate today,” I tell him.
“I’m getting the extraction team set up.”
“Dinner?”
