A Student's Dream (Twisted Cogs Book 1) (13 page)

“
You still got the tools?” Frederica asked, unwrapping them, “and you even got them from Tellem’s Shop! I’m...actually kind of impressed.” Something about her choice of words poked at Elena’s subconscious for a moment, but she couldn’t quite figure out their significance.

“
Where’s Ele?” Leanarda asked, crossing the workshop to join the pair. Across the room her Echo Leo was looking at the small canvas she had left behind on the bench. “He doesn’t seem the type to leave your side.”

Maybe it was a microscopic change in Fred or Frederica’s expression, perhaps it was something in the way Leanarda had asked, or maybe it had just taken so long for Elena’s worn out mind to work through things. Either way, several small pieces clicked together in her head at the same time.

“
What do you mean, ‘you’re impressed’?” Elena said suddenly, turning to Frederica.

“
What?” Frederica’s face was a mask, but behind her Fred’s expression twitched. “I’m just impressed you were able to find Tellem’s is all. It’s a small shop, out of the way-”

“
No...no you said I ‘
still
’
got the tools, as if you were expecting something to have happened that would’ve stopped me. And Vittoria just happens to be sick today, does she? ‘Sick’, just like me?” she whirled to face the other full garzoni. Carlo and Carla were both bent over the desk, as if they were absorbed in work and hadn’t overheard the conversation. Since they were only a few feet away, the act wasn’t very convincing.

“
You know,” Elena said quietly. “You know, and Vittoria knows. All of you full garzoni know!”

“
Know what?” Leanarda looked back and forth between Frederica and Elena’s faces, riveted. “What’s going on?”

“
Elena, don’t be stupid,” Elena hadn’t heard Carlo’s Echo speak before, but she snapped the words like someone might brandish a weapon. As if without thinking the woman took a step forward to stand between Elena and Carlo.

“
No, Elena, please
do
be stupid,” Fred needled from over Frederica’s shoulder. “
Please
give them an excuse. The studio would be better off without you.”

Frederica herself didn’t say anything, she simply stood with her arms folded in front of her. Elena’s broken wrist throbbed, and she looked down to note that she was clenching her fists so hard that her nails had left crescent-shaped marks in her skin.

“
So. What are you going to do about it?” Frederica asked, so quietly that Elena could barely hear it. Her voice was even, the phrase neither a worried query nor a smug challenge, just a simple question. Elena actually considered it for a moment, while beside her Leanarda practically bounced up and down with curiosity.

“
I’m going to Master De Luca,” she announced finally. Her answer seemed to disappoint Frederica.

“
Unwise,” she muttered as Elena turned away. Leanarda went to follow, but something in Elena’s eye seemed to warn her away. She heard Carlo and Carla muttering to Frederica as she left the workroom.

Either her brief pause in workroom had rejuvenated her weak legs, or the power of righteous anger was propelling her faster than stubborn duty had, because they didn’t hurt as much on the path back down the hallways. Her head was another story. Somewhere along the line she started to feel dizzy, and halfway down the hall she had to lean one hand on the wall again just to keep her balance.

“
Elena!” She didn’t turn to see who it was, but the pounding footsteps soon caught up with her, and Carlo was by her side. “Elena this is a seriously bad idea.”

“
If Master De Luca and Bea and Pietro want to keep secrets among themselves, then fine. They run the studio, they can do what they want,” Elena pursed her lips, “but I’m a garzona, same as you all! If you can know what happened last night, why can’t I? And how am I supposed to compete with you if you know more than I do?”

“
If you burst into his office in this mood, you’re going to get on his bad side, then you’ll
really
struggle to compete,” Carlo gave her a worried look, “and you don’t seem to be at the top of your game right now anyway. Please just...at least get some sleep before you do something big like this.”

“
Stop sticking your neck out for her,” Carla walked by Carlo’s side, “it’s not worth it.”

“
It doesn’t hurt anything to try to help her,” he replied to his Echo, and Elena was glad the attention was off of her when she almost stumbled.

“
If she wants to sacrifice her spot here, let her. We’ve gotten this far by not sticking our necks out. She’s not worth risking that,” Carla repeated. As the threesome passed the head of a set of stairs, another voice broke in.

“
Oi! Someone having a party and forgot to invite me?” Niccolo, the Saggitari garzoni, took the stairs two at a time, an easy grin on his face. He had his bow slung over one shoulder and a quiver dangling carelessly from one hand, his leather shoulder-guards creaking as he walked. “Hello Carlo, Carla. They told us you were sick in bed today, Elena.”

“
She knows,” Carlo informed him as Niccolo’s Echo followed up the stairs, “she must’ve seen something last night, I don’t know. She’s going to go yell at Master De Luca.”

“
That’s not a very smart move,” Niccolo’s brow furrowed, “besides, she doesn’t look very well. Elena are you alright?”

“
Dizzy,” Elena mumbled. She was still bracing herself on the wall, but the wall was rocking back and forth gently, and she didn’t trust herself to walk.

“
She’s got a hit of Slug, why are you letting her go up to De Luca in this state?” Niccolo asked Carlo and Carla.

“
I’m trying to stop her!” Carlo protested, “I’m telling her all the reason she shouldn’t go, I’m making a very convincing argument...” His voice died out at the resigned look on Niccolo’s face. The Saggitari wordlessly handed Carlo his quiver and bow, then swept Elena up in his arms and began walking towards the dorms.

“
Oh!” Elena gasped, but the world was spinning so much that she could hardly argue. She let him carry her without protest, breathing in his surprisingly pleasant scent of leather tinged with...some sort of flower? If she had had to guess what Niccolo smelled like, she wouldn’t have anticipated that. The two smells went nicely together, but the lurching room suddenly took her mind off of them, “too dizzy.”

“
I would really appreciate it if you didn’t vomit on me,” Niccolo smiled down at her, a lopsided grin. It was a nice smile, though she apparently thought every boy had a nice smile. She did notice that it was entirely unlike Arturo’s hungry smile had been; a little softer and warmer. It reminded her of the smell of leather and flowers.

“
Okay,” she replied.

“
Oh my god, Niccolo, you’re shameless. You already have one of the new garzona crushing on you, are you planning on collecting the full set?” Niccolo’s Echo rolled her eyes.

“
Nicci thinks I act the way I do so that girls will love me,” Niccolo dropped his voice to a stage whisper, leaning towards Elena conspiratorially, “little does she know girls love me no matter
how
I act.”

“
The goal is for her to
not
vomit on you, mister peacock,” Nicci laughed, and Elena giggled along with her. Niccolo turned to open the door to her room with his back, then crossed the distance to her bed with a few long strides. Elena felt so weak that she was grateful when he gently pulled the covers over her.

“
I doubt you’ll be comfortable sleeping in those clothes, but I’ll leave it to you to take care of that.” He chuckled with a wink as he turned to leave. At the doorway he turned back, his face series. “Listen...if you’re still convinced to confront De Luca tomorrow after you’ve gotten a good night’s sleep, promise me you’ll talk to me first.”

“
Carlo got a crack at you, maybe our arguments will make more sense,” Nicci added.

“
Okay,” Elena mumbled, already feeling sleep steal over her again. It couldn’t hurt to let them talk. The door shut quietly, and in the silence of the room Elena closed her eyes and tried to focus on stopping the dizziness. Her stomach roiled a bit, and she was reminded that she hadn’t had anything to eat all day.

“
Elena?”

“
You’re awake!” Elena smiled and opened heavy eyes to see Ele standing by her bed, smiling down at her.

“
Yeah, but I’m really sleepy still. Do you mind if I lay in the bed?”

Elena patted the blankets, and Ele flopped down to lie beside her. The pair fell asleep together, their hands resting in the same place on the blanket.

The day had only just begun and it already seemed like it would be better than the one before. The room wasn’t spinning, Ele was awake at the foot of her bed, and Elena could lift her head with only a little bit of extra effort. She had only woken up, but Elena already counted it as a win.

“
Elena, before you say a single word,” Ele held up a hand, “I have something to say. This is the first time we’ve ever slept at different times, and the time alone has given me a chance to decompress, to work through some things in my mind. The whole experience has taught me something very valuable. Something I’d like to share with you.”

“
Of course, Ele,” Elena struggled to sit up, giving her Echo her full attention. “What has it taught you?”

“
It’s taught me about
you
,
Elena,” Ele leaned closer, his eyes bright and serious, “it has taught me that you snore
so freaking loudly
.”

Elena threw a pillow at him, and he laughed as it passed through him to fall on the floor.

“
Seriously, ‘Lena, it sounded like a puppy with breathing problems trying to take a drink through its nose. You would tell me if you’d eaten a puppy live, right?”

“
You are quite literally the worst person ever,” Elena couldn’t keep the angry look on her face for more than a few seconds. She couldn’t remember him ever calling her by a nickname before. “I was worried about you.”

“
Bea told me,” Ele smiled, “she said you were so worried that you kept asking about me before launching into nosy interrogations about what happened. I told her she must be mistaken, you aren’t physically capable of putting off your nosiness.”

Out of pillows to hurl, Elena merely stuck out her tongue. “I missed you.”

“
I missed you too. Now,” Ele sat up straighter, suddenly all business, “since I am bound to the queen of nosiness, I might as well reap the benefits of it. What did you learn? What happened last night? They said you were knocked out right after I was.”

“
They won’t tell me. Master De Luca, Bea, Pietro, they all know, and the full garzoni all know too, but they’re all refusing to share. Bea even warned me that they’d kick me out if I told Leanarda, Mella, or Lorenzo.”

“
So,” Ele rubbed his chin, staring into space, “they’re only keeping it to the people who have been here the longest, the people who will have the most loyalty to the studio. That means the studio stands to lose something if the secret gets out.”

Elena blinked. She hadn’t considered the mystery from that angle before.

“
So the question we have to ask ourselves is ‘what could the studio lose if it was known that a student and her echo were knocked out?’”

“
I was shot in the chest, not knocked out,” Elena said quietly. In the morning light two days after the fact it felt strange to say, and she prayed Ele wouldn’t instantly reply with something condescending and snarky. She knew it had happened, the memory was still fresh in her mind, but the fact that she was sitting in bed alive seemed to contradict her statement.

“
You were shot in the chest. ‘Shot’ as in ‘with an arrow’, ‘in the chest’ as in ‘the place your heart and lungs reside’,” Ele repeated in a flat voice.

“
Yes.”

“
And now, two days later, you’re sitting up in bed, feeling perfectly fine?”

“
Yes,” she bit her lips and looked down at the blanket.

“
Well then, we’ll need to figure out how you were healed so fast, and if there was anything special about the arrow.”

“
What?” Elena looked up, startled, to find Ele already on his feet and pacing, his brow furrowed in thought. “You believe me?” Ele raised an eyebrow at her as if she had just asked if the sky was really blue.

“
Do you feel up to standing?” he asked, not deigning to answer her question. “If you can come into the next room we can gather some information.”

She followed him into the water closet that adjoined the room. Walking was a little bit easier today, and the dizziness had left altogether. Her reflection in the large mirror on one side of the room showed her a bedraggled girl with dark circles under her eyes, her tanned skin a little paler, her black hair a little stringy.

“
I look like a mess,” Elena said, glancing towards Ele’s reflection where his black hair lay in its casually perfection. Neither his skin nor his eyes bore any sign of being affected by their recent ordeal, which Elena thought was quite unfair.

“
Yes you do, but we’re not here to admire ourselves,” Ele had adopted a businesslike tone. “Take your shirt off.” Elena gave him a blank look. “So we can examine where you were hit, check for scars, get more information,” he clarified.

Elena slipped her loose shirt off, then slowly tugged at her undershirt, uncharacteristic bashfulness creeping over her.

“
Calzini di dio
,
Elena, we’ve been around each other every day for sixteen years, do you really think I haven’t seen them before?” Ele said with an exasperated eye-roll.

“
You’ve always turned your back when I changed, ever since we were children! When have you seen anything?” Elena asked indignantly. Despite her annoyance it
did
make her feel more comfortable, and she stripped off her undershirt and turned to the mirror.

“
Just now,” Ele grinned. Elena glared at him, feeling the blush creeping from her cheeks down her neck. “Huh...you’ve always complained so much that I expected smaller. You should start wearing clothes that accentuate them more.”

“
...literally the worst person ever,” Elena muttered, turning back to the mirror and blushing so hard she felt over-warm. She
did
think her chest was small, but that was hardly something she was going to argue about with Ele right now. He wasn’t all wrong though, maybe she
could
start buying clothes the accentuated the little she had...she wondered if clothing was one of the things Master De Luca’s studio would pay for...

“
If you’re quite done ogling yourself,” Ele interrupted her musing, “what do you make of this?” He pointed carefully, and Elena leaned closer to the mirror to make out what he meant. Just between her breasts, the skin had been broken by a mark the size of a pinprick.

“
You think the arrow did that?” Elena asked.

“
Not likely. An arrow that small would’ve gone right through you, and you don’t have a matching mark on your back,” Ele said, “besides the fact that something that small going through you would cause damage. You’d be bleeding on the insides and all.”

“
I also
saw
the arrow,” Elena said, “it was a lot thicker than that mark, and it definitely stuck out of my front.” Her temples started prickling with the buzzing of the Storm, but she ignored it; she didn’t need to build anything right now. She carefully pressed at the pinprick. “It hurts. There’s a circle around the pinprick that’s sore.”

“
A large arrow hit you. It didn’t actually pierce skin or you’d be dead, but you
did
pass out.” Ele was pacing back and forth again, ticking things off on his fingers. “What if the arrow had a flat head? It would’ve knocked the wind out of you, and left that area of your chest sore. Of course that doesn’t explain why it stuck, or the pinprick, or the fact that you passed out.”

The mystery was starting to annoy Elena. She knew nothing about what had laid her out for an entire night and made her nauseated for a day, knew nothing about the thing that had affected
her own
body.

“
What if we’re looking at it wrong?” The Storm’s buzzing was so strong in Elena’s temples it was making her feel heady. “What if it’s not a pinprick but something like a snake’s bite?”

“
Something sharp enough to pierce the skin, then injects a venom? Who the hell could make an arrow like that?”

“
A Machinator could make an arrow like that. An arrow with a flat head that sticks to skin, injects a venom.”

“
But that sort of arrow would be expensive to manufacture, and if it didn’t strike true the first time it would be ruined. They wouldn’t want to risk it. A smart Machinator would give the arrow to someone who wouldn’t miss.”

“
Right,” Ele nodded, “a Saggitari and a Machinator worked together to attack the studio, knocking you and Vittoria both out but not killing you.”

“
Even though it would’ve been much easier to just kill us. It sounds like a stretch but...it feels right,” Elena said. She was glad she didn’t have to explain just what felt right about it, because Ele was nodding. The buzzing of her power had thankfully stopped, and she worked the new information around in her mind. “It doesn’t really tell us anything about why though, does it? If we just knew what they were here for, or why they were so merciful...Ele stop staring at my chest!”

“
I may be an Echo, but I’m still human,” Ele grinned, but he turned towards the door. “The cooks will probably be starting breakfast soon, so why don’t you use the rainsluice and I’ll wait outside.” She couldn’t tell with his back turned, but she would be willing to bet that he was still grinning as he slipped through the wall.

Elena stepped into the small rainsluice cubicle, shucking off her pants and underclothes as she went. At home they couldn’t afford a luxuries like a water closet or a rainsluice, but she had used one before during an extended visit to the Carpi Mayor’s estate. A handle hung in the middle of the cubicle on a chain, and she braced herself and pulled it.

She was expecting the water to be ice cold like the Carpi Mayor’s, and when it turned out to be pleasantly warm she gasped with surprise. After the coughing subsided, she enjoyed the warm droplets that fell from the ceiling like rain, rinsing the sweat and grime of the past few days from her skin. When she stepped out of the water closet a few minutes later she felt refreshed and re-energized, although it still took larger amounts of effort than usual to move her muscles.

Changing into fresh clothes made her feel even better, and when the older of the two cooks came to the door Elena was feeling almost entirely back to normal. His long grey hair was tied back in a ponytail, and he seemed in excellent spirits as well.

“
I am come to see if you helping with breakfast today,” he said in his thick accent, “little marble boy he say maybe you helping, maybe you sick. You look like you helping, yes?”

“
I’ll help, I’m feeling much better this morning,” Elena smiled. The cook returned her smile and held the door for her.

“
Is good. De Luca and marble boy, they worry of you. Your other garzoni, some of them worry of you too.”

“
Really? I wouldn’t have thought they’d care.”

“
Some of them, much care. They ask of your health, they seem sad for you,” the cook chatted away as they walked down the halls, much more animated than he had been when she had last seen him.

“
You seem in a good mood today, Mister...?”

“‘
Cook’, miss garzona, you call me ‘Cook’,” Cook smiled, “and
am
in good mood. Master De Luca gave extra help,” he gestured when they entered the kitchen, and Elena jumped.

The man had blonde hair and blue eyes, and a smear of powdery flour half-obscured the mask he wore. Wearing a white apron and with his hands up to his elbows in heavy dough, the Rhetor gave Elena a brief nod before returning to kneading. In the corner a slightly plump man clad in the black armor of a Rhetorguard gave them an equally brief nod.

“
Master De Luca hired a Rhetor to help in the kitchens?” Elena asked incredulously.

“
Hire two. I like this one. He follow orders, he no talk,” Cook nodded sagely.

“
I think De Luca wanted to take advantage of a two-for-one deal,” the Rhetorguard said wryly, “he gives us both room and board, and he gets the security of a guard that has to stay in his studio, but he only has to pay my Rhetor his wages. I’m Eric, by the way.”

“
Pleased to meet you, Eric,” Elena eyed the Rhetor as Cook handed her the same bowl of cream he had before, and she started whisking. “What’s your Rhetor’s name?” The Rhetor paused for a few seconds at the question, giving her a curious look before turning back to the dough.

“
Eh, name? Don’t think he has one,” Eric didn’t seem like much of a talker, content to just lean back with and rest his hands on his stomach. If not for the steady gaze he kept on the blonde Rhetor’s back, Elena would’ve thought he was napping. “Although his friend just got a name. Pretty unusual, but she seems to be pretty happy about it.”

“
De Luca hire two masks,” Cook explained, “I send friend for fetch fresh tomatoes. Is back soon.”

“
His friend?” Ele asked. Elena didn’t need to look up to see who it was who had just entered, she could tell from the way her Echo’s eyes lit up.