Rebel Magisters (6 page)

“Your Grace, this is a surprise,” Henry said, stumbling slightly when he caught his toe on the edge of the carpet as he moved to greet the guest.

Instead of giving his usual disapproving sneer at Henry’s ineptitude, the governor beamed at him. Whatever he was going to say was interrupted by Olive throwing her arms around him and crying out, “Grandfather! Did you bring me anything?”

“Only good news, my dear,” the governor said, patting her on the back. I resisted the urge to glance at Henry and bit my lip so I wouldn’t smile inappropriately. “Good news for all of us. We’re going on a trip!”

Olive squealed and clapped her hands, and Henry cleared his throat. “A—a trip, Your Grace?”

“I have to go meet with the administrators of the colonies to take care of some business matters, and I thought this would be an excellent opportunity for the children to see the land. We’ll take a private airship. What do you say, children?”

Rollo, of course, was overjoyed at the prospect of a trip on an airship, especially if it meant he got out of school. “Outstanding!” he cried out. Olive jumped up and down and clapped her hands.

Henry opened his mouth to respond, but before he could say anything, Flora gave a dramatic gasp and said, “Oh no! I can’t go out of the city now!”

Everyone turned to stare at her. I suspected I knew why she objected. “Why ever not, my dear?” her grandfather asked.

Realizing that everyone was staring at her, she flushed a lovely shade of pink—no blotchy redness for her—and said, “Well, um, you see, I have a friend who needs me. Her health, you see, it requires frequent turns around the park, and I feel it is my duty to join her. I don’t know what she’ll do without me, and I’d never forgive myself if I left town and her health took a turn for the worse.”

“Flora! I had no idea a friend was ill. You should have said something,” Henry said, sounding truly concerned. “Who is it? I should probably call on the family.”

Flora froze. After a moment’s thought she said, “Charity Spencer. But please don’t mention it. I shouldn’t have said anything. She swore me to secrecy.”

Henry turned to the governor. “Aside from Flora’s obligation, I really must object, sir. We can’t interrupt the children’s studies, and Rollo has school.”

“I planned for Miss Newton to join us. The girls won’t miss a thing, and Miss Newton can keep Rollo up on his classwork.”

Flora gazed at Henry with beseeching eyes, silently begging him to say no, while the other two silently pleaded for him to say yes. “I’ll have to speak with the headmaster and see if it is acceptable for Rollo to be out of school,” Henry said. Rollo groaned out loud in response. “And I will have to consider it.”

There was a momentary staredown between Henry and the governor. Henry was as tall as the duke, but much slighter, which made him look inconsequential beside the great man. The comparison between the two also brought home just how young Henry was, barely out of his teens. If the governor wanted to use his power, I wasn’t sure Henry would be able to deny him, even if he was the children’s legal guardian as their father’s brother.

“Very well, I will await your answer,” the governor said at last, his voice tight. “I will see you later, children.” With a slight—and unexpected—nod to me, he turned to go.

“Won’t you stay for dinner?” Henry asked, his face suggesting that he was only issuing the invitation out of obligation.

“Not today, thank you. I’ll show myself out. I don’t want to interrupt your evening.”

He was barely out of the room before Rollo said, “Please, Uncle Henry! You have to let us go. I’m sure it would be very educational, right Miss Newton?”

“You just want to get out of school,” Flora said.

“And you don’t want to be away from whichever boy it is you like this week. You’re afraid he’ll forget about you while you’re gone.”

“He would not!”

“Ha! I knew it was about a boy!”

“I didn’t say that. Henry, surely the children could go without me.”

“Yes! We could go without her,” Rollo said. “She isn’t any fun.”

“I want to ride in an airship,” Olive piped up. “I’m not scared of crashing.” She squared her jaw defiantly even as her voice quavered slightly, and I recalled that her father had died in an airship accident.

“I said I would think about it,” Henry said, sounding uncharacteristically harsh and stern. “Enough arguing. As I told your grandfather, I need to make sure Rollo’s schoolwork won’t be interrupted. This trip would also disrupt Miss Newton’s life. Have you considered that there might be other things she wants or needs to do?”

Olive and Rollo immediately looked abashed, while Flora beamed. “Yes, you haven’t even thought of Miss Newton,” she said smugly. “How selfish of you.”

“The only reason you’re not being selfish is because you don’t want to be away from some boy,” Rollo shot back.

“Yes, you just like a boy,” Olive parroted.

“Do I need to send you to your rooms before dinner?” Henry asked.

“He started it,” Flora said. “I was agreeing with you.”

“I did not!” Rollo protested.

“That’s enough,” Henry snapped. “All of you, to your rooms until dinner.” He remained stiff and upright, his hands clenched at his sides, until all three of them had hurried away. Only when the last echo of footsteps had faded did he sink onto the nearest chair. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes and his temples. “This is remarkably bad timing,” he said.

I eased myself onto the chair across from him. I wasn’t sure it was safe to talk openly here. Too many servants were about, and he suspected his housekeeper of being a spy for the governor. “I wouldn’t mind going, if that eases your mind,” I said.

“You’re perhaps more vital to this operation than I am. All that aside, I’m a little more worried about what might happen with the children out of my sight for that long. No harm will come to them, I’m sure, but will I ever get them back?”

I didn’t know what to say. A part of me wondered if it might be best for him not to have such a great responsibility. Other young men his age in his class were having fun with their friends or courting young ladies, not playing father. I didn’t think the governor would be unkind to the children. On the other hand, they stood a better chance of growing up to be good, worthwhile people under their uncle’s care. Their grandfather might love them, but they’d be brought up by an army of servants, and Rollo would likely be sent to England for school.

Both of us were silent for a moment, then he smiled and said, “All of us are tired. I’ll think about it later.”

I went up to my room and was surprised to find Flora lurking in the hallway. “You don’t think he’ll make me go, do you?” she asked.

“I don’t think it will make much difference. Colin doesn’t live in the city. He was only visiting his sister. Even if you remained in town, you likely wouldn’t see him.”

Her face fell, and I thought she might cry. “Oh. Really?”

“I’m afraid so.”

She held her head high, fighting to appear brave even though her lower lip trembled. “Then perhaps it wasn’t meant to be, and I should go to help myself forget.”

I thought she was being overly dramatic about someone she’d barely even exchanged words with, but it was the first time I’d seen Flora actually seem interested in anyone other than herself. “Broken hearts do heal,” I told her. At least, I hoped they did. Mine seemed to have mended, leaving anger as a kind of psychic scar tissue. I wouldn’t wish that on Flora, but I didn’t believe her attachment could possibly be that strong after one encounter.

*

The next morning I received a note in the mail from Lizzie, inviting me to join her for a gathering Saturday evening. Since we weren’t quite on friendly terms these days, I interpreted the invitation to be about the magisters. That night when I joined Henry for my magic lesson, I told him, “I heard from the Mechanics. They want to meet Saturday night. I think we should all go, including your friends.”

“Did they ask to meet with us?”

“Not exactly. But I think it would be much easier for us all to talk directly. It would take forever for me to carry messages back and forth, having to arrange meetings each time.”

“True. This is the kind of business that needs to be done face-to-face. What kind of invitation was it?”

“A ‘gathering’ was all she said. They like to mix pleasure with business, so it’s probably a party. She wants me to meet her at her boardinghouse.”

“I’ll let the others know. Now, let’s see how your illusion work is going.”

On Saturday night, I took a magical cab downtown and made the driver let me off a couple of blocks before the boardinghouse, where I’d arranged to meet Henry and his friends. I almost wouldn’t have recognized them, they’d done such a good job of dressing down for the occasion. No one was likely to suspect they were wealthy, titled magisters. They did get quite a few looks from any girls who passed by, though, because Philip was terribly handsome, even without his fine clothes. Viscount Hayes and Henry looked more ordinary, but I was surprised by how very young they looked without the trappings of their rank.

*

“Do we pass muster?” Henry asked me.

“I think you’ll do.”

I was rather nervous as I knocked on the boardinghouse door. I wasn’t sure how Lizzie would react to having three magisters on her doorstep. She seemed friendly enough when she opened the door, until she noticed the young men standing behind me. “What is this?” she asked.

“They’re the people you’re asking for a great deal of money,” I said. “I thought it would be easier for everyone to speak directly to each other than for me to smuggle messages back and forth.”

“You’d better come inside,” she said, stepping back from the doorway to allow us to pass. “But the men can’t go beyond the foyer.”

Once we were inside, I made hasty introductions. “Lizzie, you’ve met Henry, and this is Philip and Viscount Hayes.”

“Geoffrey,” he corrected.

“And this is Lizzie. She’s one of my contacts in the organization.”

Before the men could greet her formally, she caught me by the arm and dragged me off toward the parlor. “If you gentlemen will excuse us for a moment, I need to talk to Verity,” she said. When we were in the parlor, she hissed, “Some warning would have been nice.”

“I told Colin that my friend was interested in discussing a business proposal. That generally implies that the friend will be present for the discussion.”

“But three of them?”

“What you want is more than any one person, even a very wealthy person, can provide. These three helped get the machines out of the city, so they already know most of your secrets. They’ve seen the machines, they know about the subway, and they even know where the headquarters was. If they want to betray you, they already have everything they need. You have a lot more to gain than to lose by talking to them.”

She furrowed her brow, and the spots of color on her cheeks gradually faded, giving me hope that she was calming down as she considered. “It’s not entirely up to me, but I’ll take you there,” she said at last. “Wait with them.”

We returned to the foyer and she ran up the stairs. “What is it?” Henry asked me.

“It’s not easy for them to trust magisters,” I said. “But she’ll take you to the others. Maybe they’ll talk. I don’t know.” Unable to hold back a sigh, I added, “I’m sorry. I should have better prepared them or been more specific about arranging a meeting. I hope I haven’t wasted your time.”

Philip’s gaze tracked up the stairs to where Lizzie had appeared with another girl. “It hasn’t been wasted time at all,” he said, grinning. The other girl was rather pretty, with dark hair, porcelain skin, and a figure to envy. She blushed prettily when she noticed Philip’s gaze upon her.

“This is Emma,” Lizzie announced when they reached the bottom of the stairs. She then made introductions all around. “Now, we’re going to go out for a night on the town, an ordinary group of young men and their girls.”

Philip wasted no time in extending his arm to Emma, who smiled shyly as she took it. Lizzie gave me a long look, her lips twitching slightly, before turning to Geoffrey and saying, “It looks like you’ve got me. I hope you don’t have a problem with gingers.”

“I’m far more interested in what lies under the hair,” he said, to which she raised an eyebrow.

I got the feeling that Lizzie had chosen to leave me with Henry, but I wasn’t sure of her motive. I didn’t think I’d shown any particular interest in him that would have made her think I would prefer to be his partner for the evening. Perhaps she merely assumed I’d be more comfortable with him, since I knew him best.

Lizzie, on Geoffrey’s arm, led us through the crowded streets full of young working people out for a Saturday night. I was rather surprised when we ended up at the old theater where the Rebel Mechanics’ headquarters used to be. There were posters up for a theatrical review, and the ticket window was doing a brisk business. We bypassed the window and were waved inside by the boy who was taking tickets. I had to look twice to recognize Nat, a newsboy who sold the underground newspaper. He looked like an entirely different person with his face washed, bareheaded, and with his hair neatly combed. “Enjoy the show, Verity,” he said with a grin.

As we made our way to our seats, I leaned over to Lizzie and whispered, “Just what is going on here?”

“If we’re to convince the authorities that this was always nothing more than a dramatic society, then we need to put on some shows. It’s all entirely above reproach.” She winced slightly. “Though not very good. It is quite amusing, however. Have you considered branching out into theater criticism?”

“I thought we were here for a meeting.”

“Patience. Appearances must be upheld.”

We sat in chairs whose red velvet cushions had seen better days, possibly in the last century. I noticed that the lighting was no longer electric. The globes were there, but the dynamo in the basement had been moved out of the city with the other machines. Instead, there were gas sconces along the walls and a chandelier overhead.