The Awakening of Ren Crown (64 page)

“You wouldn't have even known if I'd died.” Bitterness flowed unchecked.

“There was a first-aid enchantment on the room,” he said stiffly. “It would have immediately patched you up, if you'd harmed yourself. And if you'd done something truly foolish, it would have put you in stasis until I arrived. Death would have alerted me immediately.”

Like some kind of pet alert that vacationing mages set up for their cats. My hands formed fists. “You imprisoned me illegally.”

His eyes narrowed. “You have no idea what I could do to you legally.”

Olivia folded her hands together. “Technically, you can do nothing legally at the moment, Cousin.”

Cousin? I closed my eyes and chastised the memory of my almost eight-weeks-ago-self. That was the reason he had had those documents on her—finding a roommate for her had been a personal task, not an administrative one.

Olivia continued on. “No tests have been done on her, and you are currently persona-non-grata with the Department. As Ren's lawyer, my client will say nothing more about her personal affairs.”

I closed my mouth on what I had been about to say.

“Of course, illegally, there is much you can do, Cousin.” Olivia looked at him steadily. “But you won't.”

“I was trying to find you a roommate, Olivia, and she took advantage of that. She used you.” The look in his eyes wasn't one of outrage, though, it was one of calculation—the two of them sizing each other up.

“I am well aware of it. I knew it from the first moment she showed up, when she was trying to pick the lock to the door.”

Oops.

Marsgrove's face took on a startled look of comprehension as he gaze turned to me. “That was how you...? But that is a
triple grade magic lock,
” he hissed.

I pressed my lips together and stared at him.

Marsgrove really disliked me, and it showed clearly in his expression. “Olivia, surely you can see—”

“That she has the strongest magical sympathy to mine of anyone I've ever encountered. Yes.”

Marsgrove's eyes darkened. “Enemies can have perfect sympathy,” he said, bitterness underlying every word.

She lifted a shoulder. “And you think such a thought would sway me?”

I could answer that. Olivia was nothing, if not coldly practical. After talking to Neph, I had done a little research. Sympathetic magic made mages stronger because it made recovery times faster. Ambitious mages would room with their satanic counterpart, if it meant they would achieve more.

Awareness that Olivia had known I was a fraud right from the start, and that only the strong magical sympathy bond had made her overlook it, should have been unnerving. But I had gotten to know Olivia—by soul-sucking magic at first, then chip by chip over the last weeks—and I also knew that she wouldn't be dining with me or speaking with me at all if it was just that. We would simply continue coexisting in the same space. Her actions right now were about more than just sympathetic magic. And that thought kept me quietly in my seat.

I wouldn't ever be deluded into thinking that our sympathy wasn't important to her. It was an aspect like any other compatible or incompatible trait in our relationship.

“She's dangerous. I'll bet everything that has happened on campus is because of her.” I could see Marsgrove already piecing it together. “I should have returned immediately. Before losing the trail of...”

“Of whom, Dean Marsgrove?” I asked as lightly as I could.

He bared his teeth. “You well know whom.”

I could feel him checking his spells on me. I had gotten far more sensitive to anything magical touching me after every soul ritual and with each death. He watched me steadily and darkly, as I did him, as he checked each one. An old western stare-down.

I let one particular thought run free in the front of my mind.
Try another paint spell, I dare you.

It was a bit of a conceit that I dared him to do anything. That I thought I could get rid of anything he tried by going to the Midlands.

He drummed a militant finger against his marble desk. “Olivia—”

“No, Cousin. She is my roommate now.”

“Olivia, you don't know—”

“Don't I?”

“Your mother—”

“Is busy with her projects.”

“I cannot allow—”

“I know all about Genesis Omega.”

Marsgrove's mouth pulled tight. “You are blackmailing me?”

Olivia shrugged. “It is the family business.”

“If anything happens with her—” a sharp finger pointed to me “—you will lose everything.”

“Risk and reward, Cousin.”

“She is dangerous.”

Olivia gave a sharp smile. “So am I. You will do nothing for a term of three months' time and you will swear it now.”

“You will not be able to control her.”

“Swear it. You know the words I want.”

“I will not approach or spell or imprison, nor assist any other in those aims, for a term of three month's time starting today.”

“Excellent. I will not reveal my knowledge of Genesis Omega to anyone other than you for three months' time starting today.”

I could see the magic wrap them both.

“You are making a mistake, Olivia. A grave one. The Department will take her the moment they see her.”

She smiled at him—her legal smile. “We will let you return to your work now, Cousin.”

Marsgrove's dark eyes followed us out the door.

~*~

Our four person ritual worked, and the shard was found by Camille, ironically. Joy was had around campus. Joy enough even to cover the lurking fear of the world at large and the turning political tides.

I sat in my room pondering the nature of sorrow and joy and that letting go carried both in unequal measures.

The Department was still coming to campus, but our academic reputation was intact and the strange magical knots had been unwound. Marsgrove left me alone, though I frequently saw him around campus, watching me.

Olivia smirked a bit every time the subject of Marsgrove or the Department came up and told me that we would discuss many things after finals. I hoped that a clue to whatever Genesis Omega was might slip past her restriction then too.

The real prize given by the last two weeks of school, though, was that Olivia was smiling every other day now—real smiles that unexpectedly popped up. Just seeing one gave me a fierce moment of joy.

When I coaxed her to lunch three times in a row during final's week with Nephthys, Will, Mike, and Delia—well, I won't say it was perfect, as Olivia and Delia were...opposites...but they seemed to enjoy disliking each other. And Olivia started eating in the cafeteria without coaxing.

And that was when we became a full-fledged table.

~*~

Olivia and I stood with our bags in hand in the Administration Building, waiting to port to the First Layer for the December holidays. I had been beyond surprised when she had accepted my invitation to come home with me for break. She had had no plans to go home, so I'd just assumed she would turn me down and remain on campus in our room studying. Instead, she was patiently waiting beside me, with a sanctioned defensive magic container tucked in her pocket and a sheaf of discussion topics and tactics for us.

Constantine smirked at me from a few lines over and I could see him rubbing the smooth rock I had given him for his birthday that could contain all of his martini supplies indefinitely. The rocks I had infused to kill the beast had given me the idea, and I was determined to make storage jewelry next with the test results.

I darkly amused myself contemplating the possibilities of hiding myself in an earring.

My covered wrist itched, and Dare walked by in all his beautiful glory. He gave me an unreadable look.

Christian's sketch, now completely overtaken by a mound of beautiful wildflowers, was carefully tucked in the bag against my side. I hadn't told Will or Neph about the sketch and Raphael's visit. In this instance, I thought it better to protect Will. The sketch couldn't be used against him anymore. I had willed it to be so as I'd touched a drop of paint to the page. The paint had spread into gently curling grasses surrounding the burial site.

Raphael's words taunted me, and I had no idea what I was going to do about the debt that I owed him from our encounter in Ganymede Circus. I had no idea what I would do about my golem—with its simulated human flesh and the characteristics I had bred into it—being in his possession. No less the dolls. I had no idea what I was going to do about the world at large creeping toward war—a war that would be in part due to whatever my magic had created during my Awakening and afterward. I had no idea what I was going to do long-term about Marsgrove, who had sent a note saying he was going to check in at my parents' house in a few days.

I had no idea how or if I was going to explain everything to my parents.

At the moment, I just listened to the pulse of my heart. My heart was stuttering, but it was beating. Awakening once more. I would see Christian again. Someday. And it would be like no time had passed.

And in the meantime, I would live. With hope.

I nodded to Olivia, and we stepped through the port.

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