Changeling (Sorcery and Society Book 1)(78)

The three of us stared at the ashy green smear left on the stone. Callista, Helena and Jeanette remained in their chairs, blinking rapidly. In the distance, birds chirped. The world spun on, just as before.

Ivy broke the tension by blowing her hair out of her face and saying, “Well, that was decidedly odd.”

“Really? I do this sort of thing every Tuesday before bed,” Alicia said in a bored tone, making Ivy laugh.

But while her tone was bored and haughty, I could see in Alicia’s expression that she was alarmed. She was staring down at her arm. I could see a mark similar to mine, smaller, but in the now-familiar dragonfly shape, forming around the inside of her left wrist, the hand that had been holding mine during the spell.

Ivy was already moving the neckline of her dress aside to examine her own dragonfly on her shoulder.

“I’m not sure Mother is going to like this,” Ivy whispered. “She’s worked her whole life to achieve a mark, and never earned one.”

“Nonsense,” Alicia told her. “Just think of the hideous dresses she’ll have designed to highlight it.”

“Where did you two learn those spells?” I asked. “I don’t remember anything about flaming bulls or flying slime in the books we studied.”

“Well, I will admit we studied more advanced spells while we were mastering some of your remedial skills,” Ivy said. “I’m sure you’ll catch up in no time, considering you just unmade a human being.”

I nodded. “Still. You made a bull, made of fire.”

Ivy jerked her shoulders.

“Would someone mind telling me why the blue Hades I am tied to a filthy chair?” Callista demanded, fully awake and thrashing against her bonds. “Let me loose, now!”

Ivy frowned as Callista thrashed against her ropes. Jeanette and Helena were a bit more polite in their requests to be released. “Do we have to untie Callista?” Ivy asked.

“Yes,” I sighed.

“We could leave her up here. Nobody would mind her going missing,” Alicia suggested, slumping against me. Her face was pale behind her smirk.

I snickered. “Alicia.”

She sighed. “It’s just a suggestion.”





18





Hothouse Flower





It seemed that preventing the rise of an undead army helped raise one’s social standing.

I wandered Mrs. Winter’s greenhouse, the detached glass garden where she grew her most delicate and exotic specimens, caring for the specimens her friends from the Demeter Society sent to me. The very moment I’d arrived at Raven’s Rest, my dress in tatters and covered in Miss Morton’s ash, the tributes began arriving. Exotic potted plants, restorative tonics, books to keep me entertained while I recovered from my “dreadful shock,” and each of them with a note asking me to attend tea at the sender’s home when I felt well enough.

News of our fight to the death with Miss Morton had, of course, spread like wildfire amongst the students, and then their mothers. No one knew exactly what happened. Callista, Helena and Jeanette could only give bits and pieces. In their stupor, they only heard twisted fragments of story about the attempts of House Grimstelle to re-establish itself (the gall!) and whispers of necromancy being involved (how distasteful!) Now that society had been re-assured that I was Guardian enough to save three prominent daughters from certain harm, I was welcomed back into the tea-and-tarot circuit with open arms.

With Mrs. Dalrymple leading the charge, all of the proper ladies of the most prominent houses dismissed “those nasty rumors” about my heritage as vicious gossip from the jealous ladies of the Benisse house. After all, I couldn’t have prevented a Grimstelle uprising without being a true Coven Guild Guardian. And with the help of little Alicia McCray and Mrs. Dalrymple’s own dear granddaughter!

Clearly Ivy and Alicia had been underestimated by society at large, the matrons whispered. Ivy was receiving tea invitations from several matrons associated with the Athena Society, a research guild dedicated to ward construction. And this was without those matrons knowing that Ivy had restored Alicia’s protective limitations before Gavin even knew they’d been removed. Alicia had suffered very little reverb symptoms afterwards, just feeling shaky and a little fatigued after our adventure. Ivy was as she always was, steady and exasperated with us both.

I’d begged Mrs. Winter to send them all back, to burn them. I’d had quite enough of Guild Guardian society, thank you, and didn’t particularly want to be welcomed back into the fold. But Mrs. Winter insisted that this was all part of her carefully worked plan, and I would not only open these gifts, but write thank you notes for each of them.

I carefully placed heated stones around the potted demon orchid, a rare red specimen that released an odd sulfurous smoke on nights of the full moon. The snow was piled deep against the outer panes, giving the already quiet room an eerie, isolated feel. Mrs. Winter had re-keyed the wards to accept me. She insisted that the warm, moist air of the hothouse would help restore the vitality that had been drained by my ordeal. I wasn’t sure about that, but it was nice to have a bit of peace after the bustle of insanity that had marked the last few days.

Of course, that brief peace was disrupted by the greenhouse doors opening. I didn’t bother looking up from my orchid specimen, calling, “Go away, Owen. I’m recuperating. And your mother tells me that not being thoroughly annoyed is an important part of the relaxation process.”