CHAPTER THREE
The Guild's Hall of Honor is a vast room filled with pillars. On each side of every pillar is a plaque where the name of the top guardian graduate is written each year. It isn't a room I visit very often, but every now and then I stop by to remind myself why I keep working so hard to be the top graduate in my class. And right now, before receiving my final assignment, seems like a good time.
I walk slowly between the pillars as I head for the plaque with my mother's name. My boots cause a faint echo each time they connect with the centuries-old wooden floor. Shadows flicker from the flames that burn perpetually in the torches attached to the walls. I thought it was a little eerie the first time I came in here, but now it evokes a sense of comfortable familiarity.
I stop when I reach my mother's plaque. There are ten names from ten different years. Hers is third from the top. Rose Hawthorne. Gold letters on dark wood.
"I've finally reached the last hurdle," I whisper, imagining that somehow she can hear me. "And I'm going to do it, Mom. I'm going to win the top prize." I reach up and run my finger across her name, feeling the raised letters. Then I drop back down onto my heels and head out of the hall.
Time to get on with the final hurdle.
I climb the stairs that lead to Tora's corridor. The last time I saw her, it was for a counseling session—the goblin in the park—and she mentioned she'd been asked to visit another Guild for a few days. Well, a few days turned into a few more, and a few more, and I ended up having all my assignments during the past two weeks organized by Honey's mentor, Tina. It's probably the longest I've gone without seeing Tora since the day I met her.
So when I knock on her office door and there's no response, I feel a definite sinking in the region of my heart. Where is she? She's the closest thing I have to family and I miss her! I push her door open and find the office in darkness, which is even more disturbing. Wasn't she supposed to come back last night?
I leave the door open to let some light in and sit down in one of the chairs. She must be here somewhere, otherwise I would have been told to see a different mentor. I lean back and twirl a strand of hair around my finger. My mind wanders back to the conversation in the lesson room before Bran arrived. I wonder who Ryn's seeing tonight and why he won't tell his friends about it. What doesn't he want them to know?
After several minutes of pondering the possibilities of Ryn's love life, I hear hurried footsteps in the corridor. A second later Tora strides into her office, a stack of papers clutched in her hands. "I'm so sorry I'm late, Vi." She dumps the papers on her desk. "I was called to an unexpected meeting, and—" She glances up at the ceiling. "Oh, the glow-bug. He squirmed out of here and all the way to the end of the corridor while I was away. Lonely, I think. I'm sure I asked someone to—Oh, thank you." She steps aside as two dwarves march in, one with a fat, yellow glow-bug in his hands. They climb onto Tora's desk, one gets onto the other's shoulders, and they secure the glow-bug to the ceiling. They climb down and leave without a word to either of us.
"And now they tell me I have to talk to the bug occasionally or he'll leave in search of a different room," Tora continues as the glow-bug slowly warms up to its shining state. "Honestly. I'm sure glow-bugs weren't always this sensitive." She sits down with a heavy sigh. "So, do you want the bad news or the really bad news?"
"Wow. Good afternoon. It's nice to see you too, Tora. It's only been, what? Two and a half weeks?"
A pink tinge colors Tora's cheeks. "Oh, I'm so sorry." She jumps up and walks around to my side of the desk. "I've been so busy since I got back last night that it feels like I never left." She leans down and puts her arms around me. I hug her back, tighter than normal, realizing suddenly that this is what I've wanted since the moment I woke up in Ryn's house and the reality of Nate's betrayal hit me. "Hey, are you okay?" she asks, pulling back. "Did everything go all right with Tina while I was in London?"
"Yeah, yeah, everything's cool." There's no point in telling her about Nate now that's it's all over. It would only hurt our relationship if she knew I'd disobeyed her instructions to give Nate the memory-loss potion. I picture the tiny vial labeled Forget sitting in my emergency kit and feel guilt stirring within me. I push the thought from my mind and pull my knees up to my chest. "So, what were you doing over there anyway?"
"Oh, you know." She waves a dismissive hand as she sits down again. "Boring Guild stuff. Anyway, let's get back to what's important." She places her hands on the desk and looks at me. "Your final assignment."
"Is this where the bad news and the really bad news come in?"
"Unfortunately, yes." She pauses, drumming her fingernails on the desk. "So ... first let's talk about where you'll be going. I know it's become somewhat of a tradition for fifth year students to be sent to exotic locations for their final assignments."
I nod. "Yeah, some trainees get very excited about it. Some of them have even been placing bets on where they'll be sent."
"Right," Tora says slowly. "Well, I'm afraid your assignment is a little more local."
"Local?"
"And in the human realm. No exotic fae folk for you."
"Oh. Well, humans can be interesting." I think of Nate, then remind myself, yet again, that he isn't actually human.
"Yes, but these are boring, old rich humans."
"Are they at least involved in some exciting illegal activity?"
Tora laughs. "I doubt you'll think it's exciting." She lifts the topmost page from the pile on her desk and examines it. "His name is Edgar Hart and he lives with his wife on some fancy estate—the details are here for when you need to direct the faerie paths. His children are grown up and no longer live there. He and his wife do a lot of entertaining, and it seems their guests are not all of the human variety. The reason we know this is because the daughter of one of the Seelie Queen's advisors ended up there a few days ago. She told her mother she saw a faerie from the Unseelie Court having a threatening conversation with Mr. Hart. He also gave Mr. Hart something, but she was unable to see what it was. Your assignment is to discover what object was given to him, retrieve it, and find out what he was told."
I stare at Tora. "That's it?"
"Yes."
"That sounds too straightforward. Are you sure that's all there is to it?"
"Look, Vi." Tora leans forward and rests her elbows on the desk. "Our Seers and guardians had nothing to do with this assignment. It came directly from the Seelie Court, which means the Queen has a special interest in it. That makes it very important, even if it is simple. So the Council didn't want to give it to just any pair of trainees. They wanted the best."
"So ... you're saying I should be flattered?"
"Yes."
"Okay," I say with a long sigh. "Boring, old rich people. I can do that. Oh, and are we supposed to complete the assignment without ever revealing ourselves?" I pay particular attention to that rule now. Wouldn't want to wind up suspended again.
"If you can, yes. But that rule only applies if you're revealing yourself as a magical being. If you need to pretend that you're human in order to gain information, then you may do so."
"I see." I frown. "I don't remember being told that before."
"Well, we tend not to tell trainees about that little loophole in the rule. They might take advantage of it, and it's not as though any of the training assignments ever require a human façade."
"I guess. Okay, so if that was the bad news, then what's the really bad news?"
"Ugh." Tora flops back in her chair and looks up at the ceiling. "Your partner."
"My partner?" I know Honey's not the best trainee in our class, but I could certainly do worse. "What's wrong with my partner?"
She looks at me, guilt written all over her face. "It's Oryn."
I open my mouth—and then can't figure out what I was going to say. That was definitely the last name I expected to hear. I've become so used to never having Ryn as either a partner or an opponent that I just assumed we'd never have to work together on anything. I clear my throat in an attempt to find my voice. "But ... I thought Honey was supposed to be my partner."
Surprise crosses Tora's face. "How did you know that?"
"Oh, well, Honey said Tina gave her a hint."
Tora sighs and shakes her head. "Am I the only one who sticks to the rules around here?"
"It's possible, but I'm pretty sure Councilor Starkweather is ahead of you in that department."
"No, she's the one who called the impromptu meeting I was just at!" Tora says. "She reshuffled some of the pairings, even though they're all meant to be random. Apparently it was brought to her attention that you and Ryn have never been paired before, and she thought now would be a good time to see how well you work together."
I bite my lip as I slide a little lower in my chair. I'm guessing it would never have been 'brought to her attention' if I hadn't told her about the unofficial rescue mission Ryn and I went on. She probably looked into our records to see what previous assignments we'd done together and came up with nothing.
So, technically, the only person I have to blame for receiving Ryn as a partner is myself.
"Look, it's not too bad," I say, not entirely sure which of us I'm trying to reassure. "Ryn and I ... well, we're sort of almost on speaking terms these days."
Tora looks as shocked as if I just told her the Seelie Queen died and was being replaced by a giant, fluffy quirkizil. "You are? When did that happen?"
I shrug. I'm not allowed to mention the whole rescuing-Ryn's-sister-from-an-Unseelie-Prince's-dungeon thing. "In the past week or so, I guess."
"Wow. I should go overseas more often," Tora says. "Maybe next time I'll return and you two will be actual friends instead of trying to hurt each other."
I smile. "You never know."
"Okay, well, you need to take this," she says. She rolls up the pages with my assignment information and ties a piece of cord around them. "Ryn will get his own copy, but the two of you obviously need to look over the information together before Monday."
"Yeah, yeah." I stand up. "So that's it for this meeting?"
"Yes." She stands up too. "That was officially the last assignment I ever have to give you." She stares at me, and I stare back. A sheen of tears gathers over her eyes.
"Oh, come on, don't get soppy now."
She sniffs. "You think this is soppy? Wait until your graduation." I groan and she laughs, wiping at her eyes. "I know you like to keep your emotions boxed away, Miss Top-of-the-Class," she says, reaching for the door handle, "but I know you'll miss me too."
* * *
I manage to leave the Guild without bumping into Ryn. I know we'll have to meet at some point to plan this assignment, but at the Guild in front of his friends probably isn't the best place. I arrive in my kitchen and see Filigree—still a pig—sniffing at a parcel on the counter. It's in the spot where my mail always materializes.
"Oh, when did that arrive?" I ask, walking over to him. He looks up at me and makes a snuffling sound. "Yeah, I have no idea what you just said." I pick up the parcel. It's about the size of my palm, wrapped in fabric and tied with a ribbon. I open the note wedged beneath the ribbon.
I forgot to give this to you earlier! While I was away I visited one of those fairs with all the latest spells and gadgets and fell in love with these little guys. It's a mirror, just like any other you'd use to communicate with, but when someone tries to get hold of you the mirror will jump up and come find you. Cute! Anyway, I thought you might like it. I have a green one. I named it Bartholomew.
Love, Tora
P.S. Flint already programmed it to recognize you.
"Hmm." I pull the ribbon off and unfold the fabric to reveal a circular mirror. Protruding from one side of the circle are what look like two little legs, which would mean that the two skinny shapes folded across the mirror's glass are ... arms? And it's purple. Honestly, what is it with people and their fixation on giving me purple gifts? Do they really think I want everything I own to match my hair and eyes?
Anyway, I should probably thank Tora. It is a cute gift, and it's nice that she thought of me while she was away. I pull my amber out of my pocket and write her a quick thank-you message.
"Come, let's read these assignment notes," I tell Filigree. He shifts into cat form, jumps off the counter, and changes back to a pig. I head to the sitting room with my training bag over my shoulder, Filigree trotting behind me. I flop onto a couch and pull the rolled up assignment pages out of my bag. "Okay, are you ready to find out everything there is to know about Mr. Edgar Hart?" I help Filigree onto the couch where he positions himself next to me and rests his head on my knee. "I'll take that as a 'yes.'"
An hour later Filigree is snoring and I'm almost asleep. Tora was right when she talked about boring, old rich people. It's just golf, lunch, gym, salon, entertaining—and then they mix it up by doing the same activities in a different order the next day. Total snore. I feel sorry for whoever it was that had to watch the Harts long enough to figure out their daily schedule.
I feel my eyelids drooping when suddenly—
"VioletVioletVioletVioletViolet!"
"What the freak?" I jerk awake and jump to my feet, scattering papers everywhere as I search for the source of the high-pitched, squeaky voice that won't stop calling my name. Then I see it. The purple mirror. Tearing across the floor on its little legs, pumping its tiny fists in its desperation to get to me. "VioletVioletVioletVioletViolet!" It slams into my leg, then grabs the bottom of my pants and starts yanking. Filigree, a bear now, roars and swipes at it.
"Okay, okay." I bend to pick up the little guy and see Honey's face in the mirror. When I touch the shiny surface, the squealing of my name finally stops. "Hello?"
"Hey!" Honey says. She waves at me. "I wanted to speak to you at the Guild, but Tora said you'd left."
"Oh, yeah, I was avoiding my new partner." I return to the couch.
"That's why I wanted to talk to you." She looks desperate. "I am so sorry about that."
"Why? It's not your fault we all got switched at the last minute."
"I know, but I shouldn't have said anything to you before. It must have made it even more of a shock when you found out it was actually Ryn."
"Don't worry about it, Honey. I can handle him." I lean back and massage one of my shoulders with my free hand. "So, who'd you end up with?"
"Asami." She shrugs. "He's okay, I guess."
I nod. "And where are you going?"
"Egypt!" She bounces up and down. "It's so exciting. There are these bronze-skinned elves I've never heard of before that live inside the pyramids. And the Seers have Seen that some pixie-type creatures are about to invade the pyramids, and some humans are going to accidentally get involved, and basically we have to fix up the whole mess."
"Wow. Sounds amazing."
"I know." Her smile couldn't be any wider. "And what about you?"
I shake my head and let out a humorless laugh. "You should be grateful you're not my partner anymore. My assignment isn't half as exciting as yours."
We talk a few minutes more before sayinggoodbye. I place the mirror on the couch beside me—where it promptly folds itsarms back over its glossy surface—and start gathering my assignment pages fromthe floor. I stare at them a bit longer before finally deciding I need to visitRyn. This assignment isn't going to plan itself, and I can't exactly do itwithout him.