The Bronze Key (Magisterium #3)(31)
Call looked over at Aaron. He was still studying his fingers, picking at the skin around his nails. For the first time, Call noticed that they were bit to the quick.
“It wasn’t just any elemental,” said Master Rufus. “It was one of the great elementals. One of those from our own holding cells. Its name was Skelmis.”
Call thought about Automotones crashing through the house of one of his father’s friends a year before, eager to destroy Call. Automotones had been another of the great elementals. It was disturbing to think that someone had been trying to murder Call for more than a year and that they seemed to be able to harness the most powerful creatures in the Magisterium to do it. Call wondered if it could be one of the Masters after all. He looked around the table and shuddered.
“Now, we may need you three to answer questions about specifics,” said Master North. “And this may take some time. It is a formal inquest into Anastasia Tarquin and whether she was derelict in her responsibilities as the guardian of the elementals. Master Rockmaple will be recording our findings and sending them to the Assembly.”
“I’ve already explained,” Anastasia said. She was dressed in her customary white suit, her icy hair held in place with ivory combs. White-gold rings shone on her fingers. Even her wristband was formed from a pale gray leather. The only color on her face came from her eyes, which were red-rimmed with sleeplessness and worry. “The elemental Skelmis must have been released before I put up the safeguards. There are only two spelled stones that open the vaults to the elementals. One remained around my throat. The other was in a magically sealed vault in my room — locked with three separate locks. I’ve carefully monitored everyone who’s come in and out. You’ve seen the notations. You’ve spoken with the guards. Blaming this on me because it gives you an excuse to push an Assembly representative out of the school doesn’t do any of us any good.”
“So because you didn’t notice anyone coming in, no one must have come in? Is that what we’re supposed to believe?” Master North asked.
Anastasia stood, hands slamming down on the table, making Call jump. “If you intend to accuse me of something, just do it. Do you think I am in league with the Enemy’s forces? Do you think I intentionally brought harm to this boy and his friends?”
“No, of course not,” Master North said, clearly taken aback. “I am not accusing you of anything deliberate. I’m saying that you can brag about your safeguards all you want, but they didn’t work.”
“So you merely think me incompetent,” she said, her voice icy.
“Which would you prefer?” Master Rufus said, stepping in. “Because it’s one or the other. If Master North won’t say it, I will. It was your job to make sure no one released an elemental from the vaults beneath the Magisterium. And yet one got out and nearly killed a student, one of my apprentices. That’s on you, Tarquin, however you might not like it to be.”
“It’s not possible,” she insisted. “I am telling you — I would never do anything to hurt Callum or Aaron. I would never let a student be put in danger.”
Tamara gave a small snort at being left out of the declaration.
“And yet they were in grave danger,” Master Rufus said. “So help us discover what happened.”
Anastasia slumped back down onto her stool. “Very well.” She reached around her neck and drew a chain from under her shirt. Hanging from it was a large cage … and inside the cage was a bronze key, its bow an alchemical symbol for a crucible. “When I took over guarding the way into the caverns of the deep elementals, I made sure the key never left my side.”
“What about the other one?” Master North asked. “There are two keys. You said you locked the other up. Could anyone have stolen it and then returned it?”
“That’s very unlikely,” Anastasia replied. “You would need to get past three separate locking spells to get into my safe. And the safe itself was brought here with my other possessions. Master Taisuke himself helped me sink it into the stone.”
“What kind of locking spells?” Master Milagros asked.
Anastasia hesitated, then sighed. “I suppose I will have to change them now anyway, even though I judge it very unlikely that anyone could have done what you suggest. Fine. The first safeguard is a password, which must be spoken aloud. And no, I won’t tell it to you. I have told it to no one.”
For a moment, she stared at her hands and her perfectly manicured nails. She was older than she seemed most of the time, older than Alastair, and in that moment, she looked it.
Then her head rose and her expression resumed some of its earlier sharpness. “The second is a clever little spell, triggered by the password. A hole appears in the safe, but were you to just stick your hand in, a snake elemental would strike, poisoning the robber with a lethal toxin. To bypass that, fire must be cast into the opening.” A small, wicked smile turned up a corner of her mouth.
“Cool,” Aaron said under his breath. Call agreed with him.
“And then, last, there is a final spell, created by me. You are the first people I have told of it and I am regretful that it must be replaced. Once fire is cast, nothing will change visually. At this point, you can reach through the hole so long as you move slowly. Should you jerk your hand out suddenly, alarms will sound and the vault will shut itself up again. However, there’s an illusion of a snake elemental coiling out of the opening and drawing back to strike, so the temptation to withdraw quickly is understandable.”