Trial By Fire (Schooled in Magic Book 7) (33 page)

Emily watched her start to check the other rooms before she turned and hurried back down the corridor. The sense of overwhelming
wrongness
seemed to grow stronger around her, then fade away before she could do more than realize it was there. She stayed alert, watching for possible threats, but saw nothing. The corridors seemed deserted, yet...

She paused outside the entrance to the Second Year dorms before she pushed open the door. The Second Year girls - all of them, apart from Frieda - stood in front of the wall, just staring at it. Madame Razz lay on the ground, her body frozen solid. Emily stared - she would never have been able to overpower a tutor as a Second Year - then hastily checked her former Dorm Mother. Her body was covered in ice. It was impossible to tell what, if anything, an unfreezing charm would do. Emily had the nasty feeling that freezing a living human would cause cell damage only a Healer could fix.

The girls didn’t move, not even once. Emily looked at them, then hastily cast a freeze spell of her own over Madame Razz. Time would stop for her until the Healers could take a look at her and do what they could to save her life. She cursed under her breath, and tapped on the door to Frieda’s room. It opened, revealing the younger girl lying on her bed, looking depressed. She stared in surprise as Emily entered the room.

“Emily?” Frieda asked. “What are
you
doing here?”

Emily stared back, equally surprised. “Are you all right?”

“Of course,” Frieda said. “What happened to
you
?”

“I’m not sure,” Emily said, as Frieda stood. “Come and look at your friends.”

Frieda followed her out the door, then stopped and stared in horror. “What happened to them?”

“I don’t know,” Emily said. The Second Year girls, the same ones who’d had identical injuries, were still standing there, motionless. Even their eyes didn’t blink. “I think something is very badly wrong.”

She led Frieda past the silent girls, then out into the corridor. Professor Lombardi was coming towards them, carrying a wand in one hand and a device she didn’t recognize in the other. It ticked unpleasantly as he stopped in front of them, his stern eyes inspecting their faces in minute detail. Emily hesitated, then started to explain what she’d seen when she entered the Second Year dorms.

“A third of the school seems to have gone mad,” Professor Lombardi said. The Charms Master sounded very tired. “I’ll take them up to the Healers...”

“Be careful of Madame Razz,” Emily said. “She was literally frozen, sir, with ice. There might be cellular damage...”

Her voice trailed off as Professor Lombardi glared at her. Emily realized, too late, that he knew the dangers...and didn’t like her pointing out what he already knew. She flushed, then braced herself. She’d done the right thing by telling him, just in case he
didn’t
know. And, no matter what he said, he couldn’t change the facts.

“Go back to your room, young lady,” he said, finally. He looked at Frieda. “Are you the only unaffected student in Second Year?”

“I think so,” Frieda said. “I don’t know about the boys.”

“I’ll check on them in a moment,” Professor Lombardi said. “Go with Emily, for the moment. You’ll be told what to do later.”

“Yes, sir,” Frieda said.

Emily sighed inwardly - sharing a room with Frieda again was going to be embarrassing - but nodded and led the way back to the Fourth Year dorms. Silence seemed to have fallen over the school, broken only by strange echoes and the weirdest sense of someone - or
something
- laughing at her. She shuddered at the sensation, but forced herself to keep going. It hadn’t felt so uncomfortable since the Mimic had been on the loose within the wards.

Maybe they all ate something tainted with a curse
, she thought, although she knew the wards wouldn’t allow anything genuinely dangerous - at least by the Nameless World’s standards - to harm the students.
Or...

She tensed as someone moved ahead of them, but relaxed when she saw Aloha. The older student smiled in cold delight, then tossed a spell at them both that froze her in place. Emily broken the spell, tried to jump backwards, just as Aloha hurled herself at her. But Emily was too late; Aloha slammed into her and sent her falling back, her head hitting the stone floor hard enough to make her see stars. Aloha was screaming something as she drew back her fists and pounded them into Emily’s chest and arms, but Emily could barely hear her. The pain was so great she could hardly focus her mind. Magic seemed to slip away rather than be called to her fingertips. Aloha cackled, lifted her fists and prepared to punch Emily in the face, then froze as a spell struck her. Emily was too disorientated to feel anything but relief at the sight of a tutor, even if it
was
Master Grey.

“Lie still,” he snapped, kneeling beside her. “She was trying to
kill
you. Why?”

He shook his head before Emily could say a word. “No, don’t try to talk,” he said, as he cast a pair of healing spells. Emily felt a dull warmth spreading through her body, but her thoughts still felt sluggish. “Let me heal you first.”

It felt like hours before Emily could stand up. “I...she just attacked us,” she said. “Froze Frieda and attacked me.”

“Odd,” Master Grey said. He waved a hand at Frieda, freeing her from the spell. “I would have expected her to use magic.”

“She was screaming about competition,” Frieda said. “I think it was deeply personal for her.”

Emily blinked.
What
competition?

“Everyone seems to have gone mad,” Master Grey observed. He gave Emily a long, considering look, and levitated Aloha into the air. “I’ll take her to the Warden...”

“I don’t think she was in her right mind,” Emily stammered. Her head still hurt, despite his spells. “No one seems to be in their right mind.”

“She did attack you with murderous intent,” Master Grey pointed out. His face was artfully neutral. “Are you always so forgiving to your enemies?”

“I don’t blame people for being
compelled
to do something,” Emily said, tartly. “And I’m sure
something
was making them all act badly.”

“Is,” Master Grey corrected. “It’s still going on.”

He sighed. “Go back to your room and stay there,” he ordered. “I dare say the tutors will be glad that you escaped...whatever it is.”

Emily nodded and leaned on Frieda as they walked back into the dorms. Madame Beauregard was nowhere to be seen, but a shaken-looking Penelope was standing outside her door, while Talia stood next to her. Emily met their eyes, just long enough to check they were normal, opened the door to her room and ushered Frieda into the chamber. Imaiqah’s blood was still all over her bed, hopefully untouched. Emily wanted to clean it up, to dispose of the blood as she’d been taught, but she didn’t have the energy. Instead, she just collapsed onto her own bed.

“I’ll take the floor,” Frieda said. Emily was almost relieved. They’d shared a bed before, but that would be embarrassing now. And Alassa would probably have hexed her bed to keep out unwanted strangers. “I’ve slept in worse places.”

Emily wanted to argue, but sleep overwhelmed her before she could say a word.

S
HE JERKED AWAKE WHEN SHE HEARD
someone opening the door, but smiled in relief when she saw Lady Barb. The blonde-haired woman looked tired and worn, her robes stained with blood and something that suggested a student - in a fit of suicidal madness - had thrown a stink-spell at her. Emily felt a moment of pity for the student before forcing herself to sit up and pour a glass of water. Her head felt fragile, as if the slightest word or blow would shatter her for good.

Maybe it was a nightmare
, she thought. But one look at Imaiqah’s bed told her that it had been all too real.
Whatever happened, happened
.

“Emily,” Lady Barb said. “Are you all right?”

“My head feels awful,” Emily said. She drank the water, poured herself another glass, and drank it too. “What
happened
?”

“I wish I knew,” Lady Barb said. “Several hundred students went mad, it seems; some hurt themselves, some lost themselves in contemplating the meaning of life, and some attacked their fellow students. And now they’re all in comas. No one died, but it’s just a matter of time.”

Emily swallowed. “There’s something wrong with the wards,” she said. “I could
feel
it.”

“The wards aren’t attacking students,” Lady Barb said. She suddenly sounded very old. “I checked, Emily; I checked for spells, I checked for curses, I checked for potions, I checked for subtle magic. I found nothing.”

“What about drugs?” Emily asked. “Something non-magical?”

“That could be right,” Frieda said. “There were some boys back home who ate something they found in the forest and spent the next couple of days skipping merrily around like idiots.”

“It would have shown up when I tested their blood, surely,” Lady Barb said. “At the very least, it would be a foreign element in their bodies.”

Emily nodded, and glanced at her watch. Seven bells; they’d slept through the night and into the early morning. She stood and looked at herself. The robes she’d worn would need a wash before she could wear them again, if only to get rid of the bloodstains. Aloha’s beating had broken her skin.

She was screaming about competition
, Emily thought, dully.
Did she think I was competing with her for Master Grey
?

Her stomach rumbled. “I need to eat,” she said. She’d stowed away a handful of ration bars in her trunk, but they weren’t very tasty. “Can we leave the dorms?”

“I think so,” Lady Barb said. “If you happen to see anyone acting oddly, please let us know.”

“They probably think
I
act oddly,” Emily muttered. She cleared her throat. “Maybe they’re ill.”

Lady Barb gave her a murderous look. “Are you joking?”

“No,” Emily said. She hadn’t been ill many times in her life, but she’d caught
something
when she was seven that had caused hallucinations. Or maybe that had just been the illness combined with the shortage of food. “If they caught something, maybe it made them act crazy.”

“It would have shown up on the tests,” Lady Barb said, flatly. “Whatever happened to the victims, Emily, was beyond our ability to detect.”

She turned and strode towards the door. “Get something to eat,” she ordered, without looking back. “Classes have been cancelled. The Grandmaster will address the student body later today.”

Emily nodded, remembering the days when the Mimic had stalked the school, killing and replacing its victims one by one. Whatever was loose now, at least it wasn’t a Mimic. But they knew how to deal with Mimics now. She gritted her teeth, as she watched the older woman leave the room. Frieda stood up beside her, looking pale. It struck Emily, suddenly, that most of her friends were victims.

“I think I have something you can wear,” she said. Imaiqah had insisted she buy the adjustable dress in First Year, even though it was uncomfortable; it was charmed to extend or shrink depending on who wore it. “But I need a shower first.”

“So do I,” Frieda said. She paused. “Do you want to go first?”

“You go,” Emily said, feeling her cheeks heat. “I’ll dig up the dress for you and leave it on my desk.”

She undressed as soon as Frieda had stepped into the shower, then carefully removed the blood from her clothes using a simple charm. The blood splashed onto the floor, allowing her to break the link between it and her body before turning it into dust. Wrapping a robe around herself, she did the same for Imaiqah’s blood, knowing her friend was in no condition to do it for herself. By the time Frieda emerged from the shower, Emily had cleaned up all the blood and was feeling dirty and grimy.

“I can finish cleaning up, if you like,” Frieda offered, as she took the adjustable dress and pulled it over her head. “Would you like me to?”

“Leave it,” Emily said. “They’ve probably charmed their beds against intruders.”

Frieda nodded - she’d been at Mountaintop, where protective wards were necessary - and waited patiently for Emily to shower. Emily checked herself in the mirror as soon as she stepped into the shower - Aloha had left her covered in bruises that Master Grey had been unwilling or unable to remove - and then washed herself, thoroughly. She pulled a clean robe over her head and walked back into the room. Frieda was reading a book Imaiqah had borrowed from the library, slowly parsing out some of the more complex words.

“I’m thinking of trying to apply for Advanced Alchemy in Third Year,” she said, as Emily opened the door and glanced around warily. “Would you support me, if I did?”

“Professor Thande would have to make the final call,” Emily said. She doubted her support would matter one whit to the Alchemy Tutor. “Do you think you could handle the coursework?”

“I think so,” Frieda said. “Alchemy is great fun if you get everything right.”

Emily smiled - alchemy had never been her favorite subject - but tension filled her as they walked into the corridors. A handful of other students, all looking as shell-shocked as Emily felt, walked towards the Dining Hall, watched by a pair of grim-faced tutors. Emily couldn’t help noticing that Sergeant Miles was wearing his armor as he paced outside the Dining Hall, as if he expected trouble.

He was probably right.

“Emily,” he said, as they reached the door. “Report to Master Grey after the Grandmaster’s speech.”

“Yes, Sergeant,” Emily said, tiredly. Master Grey had saved her life yesterday, but he would probably be extra-nasty just to make up for it. He would have found it easy to delay saving Emily until Aloha had smashed her face to a bloody pulp. “Do you know where he’ll be?”

“Probably in the Armory,” Sergeant Miles said. “I believe he was up half the night, trying to assist the victims.”

Emily nodded - she didn’t really want to think well of Master Grey - and stepped into the Dining Hall. It was very quiet. Only forty or so students were eating; the servants had placed large bowls of porridge on the tables and let the students take what they wanted. Emily took a bowl, filling it with porridge and raisins. She’d need the energy if Master Grey was going to be giving her private lessons.