The Silver Mask (Magisterium #4)(28)

But now he was counting on Jericho’s diary to give him an insight that Constantine’s notes had failed to provide.

A knock came on the door. There was just time for Call to slip the book back into his pocket before Jasper stuck his head in.

“Hugo came by,” he said, sauntering into Call’s room without permission. “He said Tamara and I have a free afternoon once our morning lessons are over. He’s going to go somewhere with Master Joseph, and I’m going to follow them.” He looked narrowly at Call. “Are you listening?”

“I want to know everything you know about girls,” said Call.

“I knew you would bow to my superior knowledge of romance eventually.” Jasper appeared smug.

“How do you let a girl know you like her?” said Call. “And if you kiss one, does that mean you’re in a relationship?”

Jasper leaned back against the wall, his hand under his chin. “That depends, my man,” he said, squinting as if he were wearing a monocle. “How well do you know the lady?”

“Very well,” said Call, fighting the urge to tell Jasper he looked like Mr. Peanut.

Jasper frowned. “It’s weird that you’re asking me this now,” he said, “given that we’re stuck out here in the middle of nowhere with no girls around except … Tamara.” A look of shock dawned on his face. “You and Tamara?”

Call bristled. “Does that seem so unlikely?”

“Yes,” Jasper said. “Tamara’s your friend. She isn’t — she doesn’t feel that way about you.”

“Because I’m the Enemy of Death?” Call snapped. “Because I’m rotten inside and don’t deserve her? Thanks, Jasper. Thanks a lot.”

Jasper looked at him without speaking for a long moment. “Do you know why Celia and I broke up?” he asked, finally.

“She got tired of your face?”

“I said I was going to visit you in prison, and she said I couldn’t. She said if you were the Enemy of Death, you were a murderer. She said I had to choose between you and her.”

Call blinked. Part of him felt hurt, even now, by Celia’s words, a distant, deep-down ache. The rest of him was astonished by Jasper. “You stood up for me?”

Jasper seemed to regret saying anything. “I don’t like being told what to think.”

Call didn’t want to feel grateful to Jasper, but he did. Overwhelmingly grateful. “Thanks,” he said.

Jasper waved his words away. “Yes, yes, but the important point I’m making is that when I say that Tamara doesn’t like you that way, I’m not saying it because I think you’re a bad person. I just think Tamara — well, Call, I just think she liked someone else, if you get my meaning.”

Aaron. He meant Aaron.

Call wanted to protest that Anastasia thought Tamara liked him, but he could just imagine what Jasper would say to that — that Anastasia had no idea what she was talking about at the best of times and certainly didn’t seem like an expert on love. And Tamara hadn’t looked at Call that morning, hadn’t said much to him since the kissing. And she hadn’t said how she felt about him, only that she thought he knew.

Jasper looked thoughtful. “And if she sucked face with you, it was probably because she didn’t want to die alone and respected Celia too much to throw herself at me.”

It wasn’t like that at all, Call wanted to say. “But I could still ask her to be my girlfriend, right?” After all, even if it was a mistake, maybe it was one she would want to repeat a couple of times.

“Not unless you want to get shot down,” Jasper said. “But hey, there’s lots of other fish in the sea. A lid for every pot. Even for you.”

Call felt like punching Jasper in the face, which was confusing because he was still feeling grateful that Jasper had gotten broken up with for his sake.

Grudgingly, Call realized that Jasper’s advice wasn’t going to make the weird feeling in his stomach any better. In fact, it was worse.



The next few days passed in a blur of chaos theory. Master Joseph taught Call and Alex in the mornings and then let them experiment all afternoon while he taught Tamara, Jasper, and the other students.

Call had to admit that Master Joseph was an exciting teacher. He wanted them to try things, test out new ideas, and he wasn’t particularly concerned about risk. Call learned a lot about chaos, learned to hold it in his hand, to mold it and shape it. He learned to bring chaos creatures through from the void and to keep them with him all day, dark shapes that whisked around his legs and worried Havoc. He learned to look into the void itself, a place of shadows where the longer he looked, the more the shadows seemed to be just the opposite, made of all colors at once, swirling in Call’s eyes.

At night, they ate together. Sometimes Master Joseph cooked. Other times he ordered food and one of his minions picked it up. That night they were eating deliciously fried chicken with lots of sides. Call gnawed on a bone thoughtfully. Evil definitely had superior culinary arts on its side.

“Tomorrow,” Master Joseph said, “I am going to be gone all day, so I’d like you two — Call and Alex — to concentrate on your experiments. Jasper and Tamara, I will give you some exercises.”

Tamara met Call’s gaze from across the table, but he could no longer read her looks. She probably meant Good, Master Joseph is going to be gone, so we should search the house, but he wanted her to mean Good, he’s going to be gone, so we can sneak off and be alone together.