The Golden Tower (Magisterium #5)(43)

“We should call her,” said Tamara. “On the tornado phone.”

“That can’t work!” Call said. “Alex is probably off doing evil with her. I don’t think she’s just hanging around, waiting for phone calls.”

“Well, if it doesn’t, then we’ll try something else,” Tamara said, changing direction and heading toward Rufus’s office.

I don’t want to do this, he thought. I never know what to say to her.

Look, said Aaron, I was in foster care for a while. I know how to talk to people who want you to call them Mom.

Call couldn’t dispute that. He followed Tamara to Rufus’s office, a path that took them along the underground river. He remembered the first time he, Tamara, and Aaron had ever traveled on this river together. They’d been in a boat with Rufus, and had watched in wonder as Rufus had summoned water elementals to propel the boat along. Call remembered the sound of Tamara and Aaron’s laughter bouncing off the cave walls.

Misty water-colored memories of the way we were, said Aaron.

Call snorted. They’d reached Master Rufus’s office, and Tamara held the door open so he could follow her in. The tornado phone was on Rufus’s desk, and for the first time Call noticed a photograph propped up next to it of Rufus standing with his arm around a man wearing gold-rimmed glasses. He looked like a nice guy, the sort who might own a bookstore or a movie theater. Call wondered how he was going to feel when he found out he was married to a secret magical ninja.

Tamara put her hand on the glass containing the whirling tornado of the phone. “Anastasia Tarquin,” she said.

The smoke inside the glass spun and coalesced. Call saw the outlines of what looked like a modern loft — a big space with lots of wood and chrome and big windows looking out onto what he guessed was New York City. Anastasia, standing at a big metal sink, looked up in surprise as the smoke focused on her face.

“Who is it?” she hissed, glancing around.

“It’s me. Callum Hunt.”

Anastasia’s expression changed. She hesitated, then said, “It isn’t safe to talk. He could be back any second.”

“She means Alex,” Tamara muttered.

Tell her you missed her, said Aaron.

“I missed you,” Call said. She wasn’t going to believe it, he thought. He’d refused to visit her in prison. But her expression softened.

“Meet me at the abandoned village of the Order,” she said. “We can talk there.” In the distance came the sound of a door opening. She waved her hand frantically at them. “Go! I’ll see you in an hour!”

Tamara took her hand off the glass and the image inside spun away to smoke, but not before Call caught a glimpse of Alex walking into the loft. He seemed to radiate darkness, even through the mechanism of the phone.

“I feel gross,” Call said, staring at the smoke.

“Not as gross as we’re going to feel after we talk with her,” said Tamara matter-of-factly. “The village is pretty far away — we should get going.”

“I don’t think you should come,” Call said, knowing she wasn’t going to like that.

“Of course I’m coming,” she said. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“This could be a trap,” Call said. “I don’t think it is. I believe she meant what she said, but Anastasia could decide that she needs to keep me safe by kidnapping me again. That’s always a possibility.”

“Then I’ll be there to help you get away,” Tamara said.

“But if Anastasia does come, she’s going to be more likely to be convinced if I’m by myself.” Call sighed. He didn’t want to go alone any more than Tamara wanted him to, but he knew he should.

At least you’ll have me, Aaron said.

“Fine,” Tamara said. “I won’t go all the way with you, but I am going to stand at the top of the ridge and make sure nothing happens. If Anastasia does kidnap you or betray you, at least I can let people know. At least we can come after you.”

Call sighed. “Okay.”

He still felt rotten.

They snuck out through the Mission Gate. When they passed other students on the way out, Call noticed there was some whispering, but it didn’t seem bad. They weren’t frowning and didn’t look scared. They looked like Call once had, watching older students head out on an important mission.

They walked together through the woods, Tamara taking Call’s hand when one of them had to cross over a rocky portion or jump over a log. Call thought of the night she’d come to his hotel room, about the conversation they’d almost had. Maybe he should say something? But maybe this wasn’t the best time to bring up Their Relationship, since there was every possibility Anastasia was going to try to pop his head off with wind magic the moment he saw her.

He was still trying to think of what to say when they came to the ridge.

Tamara leaned over and kissed his cheek. “For luck,” she said to his surprised expression. “Good luck to Aaron, too. You’ll do great.”

Which was a little weird, but still made him happy to hear. “If you hear a terrified, reedy scream, that will be me,” Call said, then headed down the hill.

Anastasia was already standing in what was left of the Order of Disorder’s village, an air elemental floating behind her. The houses looked even more dilapidated and the land even more overgrown than it had the last time they were here, when they’d fought Alex and Aaron had died. It was unnerving to be in the same place again, with the players in such similar positions.