The Iron Butterfly (Iron Butterfly #1)(64)

Even Syrani had gotten on his good side after she no longer picked on me. And I was really surprised that he had not yet told the Adepts that I was ditching practice. I had thought the knock on the door would have been them, and I would have hated to get expelled.

Deep down I knew it was too good to last, and I would hate to have the Adepts question his reasons for leaving and to have my name pop up in that discussion. He got me and by the knowing smirk on his face, he knew it.

“Fine,” I said.

“Fine what?” he asked with a grin.

“Fine, I’ll be at practice. So don’t go give your notice to the Adepts. Even though I wish you would disappear. It wouldn’t be fair to the others.”

“That’s good to hear. I’m glad you came to your senses,” Kael chuckled.

“Don’t be. Just because I agree to let you train me does not mean I have to like it. I will actually hate every minute of it. I would rather have my teeth pulled.”

Again he chuckled in an annoying manner. I’m not sure why it bothered me to see the Swordbrother laugh but I was more surprised to see that the darkness surrounding him lighten and then disappear. I was too confused to make sense of it and my iffy powers.

“Thalia, I already said. You should hate me. It’s safer.” And before I could come up with a quick witted response, he was gone.





Chapter 26





Walking up to Adept Kambel’s door I knocked and waited, listening to the sounds of expletives and things crashing over. After a few more bumps and crashes, the door opened. I saw Adept Kambel, wild, gray hair splayed everywhere, and he was squinting more than usual.

“Ah, good, good. You’re here. Now you can help me.” Taking a step back to open the door wider, he crashed into a pile of books and almost slipped on a loose piece of paper that had floated to the ground.

“My glasses seem to have been stolen,” Adept Kambel said, patting himself down as if searching for the hidden item on his body. “I took a nap in my chair and put them on my desk, but when I woke up they were gone.”

Stepping into his office, I had to wonder if this is what his office usually looked like. There were telescopes at every available window, star maps, astrological calendars and many other machines, some I’d never even heard of. You could tell that Kambel’s hobby was stargazing, which seemed kind of fitting for him. His rooms still held the rows upon rows of books that you would think a historic nut would need, and his clothes still sported their usual ink stains. Kambel’s fingers were stroking his gray beard in worry.

Spreading out, I looked around his napping couch and got on my hands and knees to look under it. Working out in a circle from the couch I felt along the floor and under every table and desk. It wasn’t until I heard a twittering noise that I looked up and saw movement along a curtain. I was shocked at the sight of a monkey nimbly crawling along the curtain rod.

“Adept Kambel? Do you have a monkey?” I know it seemed really silly, but this is the first I’ve heard of any kind of pet being here at the Citadel.

“Ah yes, that would be Atticus; a gift from Adept Breah. Nasty little bugger, loves playing tricks on me, but I can’t get rid of him because it would offend poor Breah.”

As if he heard his name being said, Atticus swung down from the curtain and crawled up Kambel’s leg to perch on his shoulder. The little monkey grabbed hold of one of his large ears for support and his long brown tail wrapped around Kambel’s neck and face under his nose, giving the impression that Kambel had a bushy mustache.

“Ah…the worst part is…Ah…” he kept starting and stopping and finally sneezed, then said, “is that I’m allergic to him.”

Atticus opened his mouth wide and blew a raspberry with his mouth as Adept Kambel flailed his arms until his jumped off.

“So I take it,” I couldn’t stop laughing, “that your glasses didn’t just walk off. They literally were stolen by a monkey.”

He looked at me in all seriousness. “Why, of course, they were. You really didn't think I could misplace my glasses while I was sleeping did you? That overlarge, good-for-nothing squirrel stole them.” After I was able to get the chuckles out, I pulled out a chair and started to feel along the top of his bookshelves. When I had checked out two of them and had moved on to the third, I noticed a title of a book that caught my attention. “The King’s SwordBrothers.” Picking the book off the shelf, I flipped a couple pages before I asked if I could borrow it for reading.

“Ouch! You can borrow anything you want if you can find my glasses,” he yelled, rubbing his head where he bumped it on the desk. I was lucky as the glasses were left on top of the very last bookshelf in his study. Stepping down from the chair I handed the silver spectacles to him and he donned them to look at the book I was borrowing.

“Ah, an interesting read, if I do say so myself. There is some of the SwordBrother’s oral history, from their old clans.” He looked at me with some interest. “What makes you want to read that?”

“Extra credit, I figure I need all the help I can get with my studies,” I lied.

Walking over to me, he gave me back the book. “Well then, I think the answers you are looking for are in that book. But beware; they may not be the ones you want.” Walking to his chair, Adept Kambel sat down, his eyes twinkling in excitement. “So what other than a book on SwordBrothers brought you to my door this evening?” Sitting down in his chair he studied me as if trying to see inside of my head.