The Unmaking (The Last Days of Tian Di, #2)(14)

Nell sighed in exasperation. “Just wait in the hall.” She slid off the bed and shoved Charlie towards the door. He looked shocked but didn’t protest, stepping out into the hallway and staring in at them. “Just stay there,” said Nell, shutting the door on him. She turned back towards Eliza with a huge smile.

“Lah, I have a present for you,” she said, and pulled a little parcel of pink paper out from under her bed.

“Thanks,” said Eliza, unwrapping it. Inside were two crisp white bras with lace flowers on the straps. “Oh!” she exclaimed.

“You need them, aye,” said Nell matter-of-factly. “I spec between the Mancers in the Citadel and your parents in the desert, nobody thinks of these things for you. Does your mother remember things like bras?”

“I dinnay think my underwear is high on anyone’s list of priorities,” said Eliza dryly. She should have been expecting something like this. It was Nell she’d turned to for supplies when she started menstruating, feeling quite unable to ask the Mancers.

“Good thing you have me,” said Nell, pleased with herself. “Somebody who actually lives in the world! Try one on.”

It was impossible to be self-conscious with Nell. Eliza took off the tie and shirt and awkwardly put the bra on. Nell did it up swiftly at the back.

“Better. I knew it would be the right size. How does it feel?”

“Sort of constricting,” said Eliza. She put the shirt back on and fumbled with the buttons.

“You’ll be grateful next time you have to run down a flight of stairs,” said Nell. “And you’ll get used to them, aye. Here, put this one away and I’ll let Charlie back in.”

Eliza stuffed the other bra hastily into her skirt pocket and shoved the paper back under the bed. Nell bounced over to the door and threw it open. Charlie was standing in the hall with his arms folded, frowning.

“Come in,” said Nell grandly.

“What was all that about?” he demanded.

Nell gave him a look. “Dinnay you know what private means, Charlie?”

He ignored her and sat down on the bed with Eliza, who quickly did up her tie. To avoid his gaze, she picked up the book on Nell’s bedside table.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“Physics,” said Nell. “It’s one of my stronger subjects, but the Mentor really seems like he’s trying to trip us up in the tests.”

“I should get you to tutor me a bit, aye,” said Eliza. “I dinnay learn any of this kind of thing anymore. I’m going to grow up knowing lots about Magic and nothing about anything else.”

“Lah, I think you’ll probably survive without Wennot’s Sixth Law,” said Nell.

A bird hit the window suddenly, hard, and fell out of sight. They all jumped.

“How horrible,” said Nell, wincing. “I hope it’s nay badly hurt.”

Eliza was shaken. It had been a large, black bird. “Tell me about Wennot’s Sixth Law,” she said, ignoring the look Charlie was giving her. “See if your physics is as good as you say.”

“It’s one of the laws of motion,” said Nell lazily. “Equal and opposite force, aye. It’s why we dinnay float off into space or fall through the ground, for one thing. If you go and push on that wall, it will meet whatever force you push against it with an equal and opposite force and nothing will happen. You press your hand against the wall, aye, but the wall is also pressing against your hand with the same amount of force, in the opposite direction. Neither you nor the wall will give way.”

“But if she uses Magic something will happen,” said Charlie. “She could conjure a door between your room and the next, just like that, nay, Eliza?”

“P’raps,” said Eliza.

“Of course you could!” said Charlie. “You’re excellent at making doors! You should have seen how great she was getting into that creep’s house!”

“Aye, tell me about that!” cried Nell. “So much more interesting than Wennot and his laws of motion!”

They became so absorbed in their conversation about Abimbola Broom and eating their lunches that the ruckus outside had been going on for quite a while before they became properly aware of it. Charlie suddenly leaped off the large bed with its quilt embroidered with the school logo and went to the window. The girls became aware of the yelling and cawing outside as he did so. They followed him to the window and the three of them stood and stared.

The grounds were covered with ravens, black as ink on the white snow. They were on the ground, in the trees, all over the wall and the gate, hundreds of them, cawing furiously. Students were shouting and pointing and a few teachers were waving sticks at the ravens to try and frighten them away but the ravens were not in the least frightened. One raven flew past the window, looked straight at Eliza, and opened its beak in what was almost a scream. Then all the ravens took to the air en masse, swirling before the window like a dark tornado, shrieking and cawing.

“What by the Ancients is going on?” whispered Nell.

“I dinnay know,” said Eliza hollowly. She turned away from the window and covered her ears. Charlie drew the curtains firmly.

The noise continued all day, with ravens covering the roof of the school as well, as Nell reported later. Charlie and Eliza left under cover of dark, promising Nell they would see her again soon. The mob of ravens followed them like a black cloud through the night sky, cawing, from Kalla all the way to the Karbek Mountains, the longest mountain range in Di Shang and home of the volcano Harata.