The Schism (The Broken Prism Book 4) (9 page)

Hayden frowned thoughtfully.

“But you said most of them have closed themselves?”

“Yes,” Willow explained patiently, “Schisms are usually fairly unstable themselves, since holding a door open between our world and the realm of anti-magic is quite difficult and energy-intensive. The larger a schism is, the more stable it becomes. Unfortunately, this just means that the schisms that are still open are going to be a nightmare to force closed.”

“But it can be done?” Hayden asked a little desperately. He felt that it was at least partially his fault that the schisms had even come to exist in the first place, since he blew up the Forest of Illusions due to a flux in his Foci when he wasn’t wearing correctors. “They
can
be forced closed?”

“Usually…” Master Willow trailed off with a note of uncertainty, exchanging a meaningful look with the others.

“What is it?” Hayden pressed. “How does one even go about closing a schism in the first place?”

For some reason the others looked to Asher to explain, and the Prism Master sighed and set down his fork, meeting Hayden’s gaze.

“Schisms are a…tricky business, to say the least,” he began, before changing his mind about something and shaking his head. “It’s hard to explain to someone who has never been inside one before—give me a second to think.”

“You’ve been
inside
a schism before?” Hayden blurted out without thinking, but Asher simply waved a dismissive hand at his shock.

“Briefly, yes. You see, to force a schism closed, you have to do it from both sides at the same time,” he began again. “Someone on this side of the opening uses magic to perform a Closing spell, while their counterpart does the same from the other side of the schism.”

“Oh no,” Hayden felt the color leave his face. “You mean that someone has to stay behind inside the other realm and sacrifice themselves just to close it?”

“What? No!” Asher looked astonished that he would think such a thing, and Hayden felt his momentary surge of adrenaline subside. “Or at least, not unless the person on the other side of the schism is terribly slow about things,” he amended. “I suppose it has happened before, but usually the person inside the other realm is quite eager to get out and doesn’t slack at their job.”

“But if you work a Closing spell from both sides…” Hayden persisted.

“A schism large enough to require someone to enter it is very stable, like Wil said.” He nodded to his colleague. “Even with dual Closing spells, it takes almost a full minute for the gateway to fully shut. That’s why it’s important to use mastery-level instruments to do the spell-work, so that your instrument isn’t fully consumed before the schism is good and closed.”

“Oh, okay then…” Hayden trailed off thoughtfully. “Well, that doesn’t sound so terrible.”

“Spoken like someone who has never seen the inside of the other realm before,” Asher agreed cheerfully. “You’ve seen the sort of creatures that live on the other side.” Indeed, Hayden remembered his second year of school, when he had battled a sorcerer that was trying to open an oculus to Mizzenwald and their clash accidentally opened a schism. Two schism-wargs—creatures that looked a lot like normal wargs except they seemed to be inside-out, larger, and fiercer—had escaped onto the grounds of Mizzenwald and tried to eat Hayden and his friends. “All of the monsters we have in this world have a counterpart in the schism-world. Imagine all of that unpleasantness coming after you while you’re in a strange place, unable to use most of your magic, and half-insane.”

“Wait,” Hayden interrupted at this point, “what do you mean—”

They were approached by a man who wore the uniform of the common workers at the compound before Hayden could finish his question. The man stopped at their table and tilted his head respectfully at the four of them before saying, “The High Mayor and his team are ready to meet with you now,” to Masters Asher and Willow.

“Oh goody,” the former muttered with a sour look on his face. The latter quelled him with a flat stare and said, “We’ll be right there,” to the messenger.

“Looks like we’re out of time,” Willow turned to Master Mandra when the man had gone. “Do you mind taking Hayden back to Mizzenwald for us? This might take a while.”

“Of course,” the Wand Master of Valhalla agreed readily, getting to his feet.

Wondering if he was being impertinent, Hayden asked, “Why are you all meeting with the High Mayor?”

Asher made a face and said, “Unfortunately, your trial wasn’t the only reason we came to Kargath today. Our good friend the Mayor—and some of his Fias—are still up in arms about the discrepancies in our accounting ledgers, and they’re trying to drum up a case to milk more money from the school in penalties. Wil and I were the poor chumps who drew the short straws, so we were nominated to come deal with them today.”

Hayden made a commiserating noise, wondering if Eldridge was one of the Fias they would be meeting with today. If so, he was glad he wouldn’t be there, since he had punched the man in the face just a few months ago and managed to escape punishment for it.

Masters Asher and Willow turned left out of the cafeteria while Mandra and Hayden turned right, making their way back to the main entrance and leaving the mayoral compound before translocating to Mizzenwald.

It just occurred to Hayden that he hadn’t brought all of his things from the Trout estate with him for the new school year, but he could hardly ask Master Mandra to take him there without giving away who he had been staying with for the winter holiday.

While he was still deciding what to do, Mandra said, “You should hurry along and get inside. I’m sure my colleagues put up defenses against any schism-creatures that may have found their way onto the grounds, but you can never be certain; you don’t want to get caught outside on your own with one of those nightmares wandering around.”

Hayden repressed a shudder at the thought and thanked the Master for bringing him back to school.

“Oh it’s no trouble at all. Now that you’re officially the head of the Frost estate, we should talk business sometime. I’m collaborating with a few other people to develop orchards in Sudir—lord knows those people have had a hard enough time with the droughts these last few years; fruit import costs are sky-high at the moment. If you wanted to get involved as a ground-level investor, there could be large dividends in the future…”

Alarmed and overwhelmed at already being propositioned for business deals, Hayden said, “Oh, uh…maybe. I’ll need time to go over everything with Valay and get settled before I go making any new arrangements.”

Mandra winked at him and said, “Good thinking. I expect all sorts of people to try and hustle you for money and favors; don’t agree to anything without the counsel of someone you trust.” He shook Hayden’s hand. “But after you’ve gotten settled in your new role, do consider the orchards and let me know.”

And with that he was gone.

5

A New Perspective

Wearing his Frost family robes earned Hayden a lot of stares as he crossed the grounds and approached the castle, surreptitiously keeping an eye open for schism-monsters as he walked. Whatever the Masters had done to defend them was obviously working so far, since he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary as he entered the school, including the schism itself. He made a mental note to ask someone where the opening was actually located at some point, so he wouldn’t make the mistake of wandering into it out of ignorance.

He crossed through the Pentagon with the five signs of the major arcana depicted on the walls and took the main stairwell two steps at a time to the third floor, where fifth-year students were housed. There were fewer rooms on this floor than in the higher ones, and Hayden suspected it was because by this time in their education some people were opting to leave school and go out into the world.

He scanned the doorways for his name as he passed, eventually finding it on a door in the middle of the hall. He was pleased to see that he was still rooming with Zane, Conner, and Tamon.

Pushing open the door, he was a little stunned to find Zane already in their room, unpacked and waiting for him. He was even more surprised to find that his own bags were piled on his bed; someone must have dropped them off for him.

Zane took one look at him and said, “Whoa—are those your House robes? Does this mean you won your case against the Council of Mages? Did you get all your stuff back?”

Grinning, Hayden opened his arms and said, “You are looking at the official head of the Frost clan. I now rule over…all one of me.” He laughed, as Zane got up to high-five him.

“Nice! I can’t believe my best friend runs a Great House. That toad, Lorn, didn’t say whether you’d won or not when he dropped off your things.”

“Lorn brought my stuff?” Hayden gestured at the untidy heap on his bed, which explained a lot. He supposed he should be thankful that it wasn’t covered in mud or animal poop.

“Yes, and he asked me to tell you that even though you spent the last five weeks at his house, he still doesn’t like you. He also said something about kicking your butt the next time you fight, but I didn’t really know what he was talking about.”

Hayden snorted in amusement.

“We had hand-to-hand combat training every day after I finished getting my brain pummeled by his mom and Edgar—their attorney. By the way, don’t mention where I’ve been to anyone; Mrs. Trout will get in trouble with the Council if they know she was the one helping me, and I owe her family enough favors as is.”

Zane nodded and then began peppering Hayden with questions about what it was like to live with the Trouts for five weeks, and whether their house was cooler than the Frost estate.

“I bet Mrs. Trout was a nightmare to deal with,” Zane commiserated.

“Actually, I kind of like her,” Hayden countered mildly. “Sure she was demanding and not really…
motherly
, but she didn’t treat me like a dumb child, and she had a way of making me see things from a different perspective,” he added fairly. “It’s a shame she’s related to Oliver and Lorn, but I guess you can’t have everything in life.”

Zane laughed at that and said, “Hey, I just realized…you outrank Oliver and Lorn both now! They’re just heirs, but you’re a Head of House! Now they can’t call you low-class anymore.”

“I doubt that will stop them from insulting me in any way they can, but I’m not really bothered by it these days. Truthfully I’d probably feel weird if they
stopped
antagonizing me every chance they got; pretending to be friends with them in their house was weird enough.”

“So was it hard, learning everything you needed to learn to win against the Council?”

Hayden made a comical face and said, “I’ve never studied anything so hard in my entire life, even here.” Zane pulled a sympathetic expression at that.

“I don’t guess you’ve bought all your school things yet, since you just got back?” he changed the subject abruptly.

“No, and I wanted to get some new clothes too now that I know I can afford them,” Hayden agreed. “My pants are about three inches shorter than I need them to be—which everyone from Mrs. Trout to her gardeners pointed out to me at some point during the holiday.

“Good, because I’ve been slacking and haven’t gotten my things either, so we can shop together. Change out of those robes before all the girls around this place go misty-eyed at the sight of you, and let’s get a move on.”

Hayden rolled his eyes and began rummaging through his bags for something else to wear, saying, “Very funny.”

“I’m not joking,” Zane grimaced. “You’re all tall and aristocratic looking, you have freakish Source power, you’re a war hero for crying out loud…and now you’re rich. All I can say is I’m glad I became your friend back in your first year, because I intend to follow in your wake and pick up my share of glory and pretty girls as well.”

Hayden picked up an object at random and threw it at his friend’s head; he thought it was a furry scarf, but it turned out to be Felix the fox, who had been sleeping on Hayden’s bed before he came in.

“Oops, sorry about that,” he apologized with a wince as Zane caught his familiar deftly and set him back on his feet. “But still, you’re an idiot.”

As they descended the main stairwell and made their way towards the west side of the grounds where the equipment shops were located, Hayden was forced to concede that Zane might not be so dumb after all. Four different girls tried to talk to him before they’d even cleared the castle, three of whom he’d never met in his life before today.

“See? What’d I tell you?” Zane gloated as Hayden turned down an offer for a date just outside of Kly’s Elixirs from a second-year, a little stunned by all the attention.

“This is ridiculous—these people barely even know me,” Hayden grumbled, pushing open the door and entering the shop to search for ingredients with Zane in tow. “Besides, I thought everyone knew I was with Tess now, so why are these other girls bothering me?”

Zane shrugged and then lifted his eyebrows at something behind Hayden.

“Hey Torin, I didn’t expect to see you in here,” he waved, and Hayden turned to see that, indeed, Torin was standing in front of a barrel of hydra scales, weighing some out on a hanging scale and adding it to a basket he was carrying.

Torin looked up at Zane’s greeting and came over to greet them, smiling.

“Hayden, Zane, it’s good to see you boys again. Bonk has already been to my cabin to beg for bacon scraps, so I knew you must be back by now.”

Hayden scowled and said, “Bonk just finished eating half my lunch before we came back to Mizzenwald; he shouldn’t be foraging for scraps.”

Chuckling, Torin said, “I’m not surprised. He’s been mooching food off of people for over fifty years now. So, did you win your suit? Ash hasn’t returned from Kargath yet—or if he has, he hasn’t stopped by to see me.”

“Yeah, I won.” Hayden grinned. “And Master Asher is still there with Willow, having some kind of meeting with the High Mayor about all the Fia stuff that happened last year. Apparently the High Mayor is still sure they’re hiding things and wants to fine them for it.”

Smiling wickedly in a way that was reminiscent of his son, Torin said, “It’ll doubtless be good for him. I’ll bet he’s bored to tears sitting around with all those stuffed suits, arguing over ledgers.”

“You seem happy about it,” Zane pointed out.

“That boy of mine can’t sit still for five minutes to save his life when he’s bored. He’ll be driving everyone in the room insane with his antics by now, and if any group of people deserves it, it’s the Fias,” Torin explained, still looking pleased. “Besides, boredom drives Asher to some of his greatest research projects, because he lets his mind wander when he’s not interested in what he’s doing.”

Hayden supposed he could see that, since Asher did have a tendency to always be moving around and was involved in about a hundred different things at any given time. His mentor also had a knack for making people nuts when the mood struck him, but Hayden always thought that was just because he was a bit spiteful.

A third-year girl entered the shop just then, took one look at Hayden standing there with the others, and left the shop, blushing.

“Is it going to be like this all year?” Hayden grumbled, annoyed.

“I hope so,” Zane said with relish. “I love seeing you all awkward like this.”

“Not enjoying all the attention you’re getting these days?” Torin asked shrewdly, watching the girl leave the shop.

“Not really,” Hayden admitted. “It’s a little unsettling after spending most of my life as a nobody and then the last five years as a pariah. Now all of a sudden people don’t care so much that I’m the son of the Dark Prism, because I have a stupid Medal of Heroism in my bag upstairs and I managed to fumble my way through a series of deadly battles with the help of much smarter friends and familiars.”

Torin gave him a commiserating sort of grimace and said, “You may have the Frost looks, but you’re nothing like your father was at your age.” He paused momentarily before continuing. “Aleric was about your age when he started to make a name for himself as well—him and Asher both. I remember them strutting about like they owned the place, basking in all the attention and doing everything they could to get more of it.”

“I can’t really imagine Master Asher being that arrogant,” Hayden said truthfully. “I mean, he’s very self-confident and he doesn’t really care what people think of him, but he isn’t obnoxious like Oliver Trout or anything.”

Torin rolled his eyes and said, “Believe me, at your age I could hardly stand to be around him most days. He and Aleric both had egos the size of Kargath—there was no telling them anything.”

Zane’s eyes widened and he said, “I guess that explains why he’s always gotten along with Oliver, even though he knows Oliver is a jerk.”

Torin shrugged as Hayden asked, “What happened? Why did he change? Was it just because of my father…?”

“More or less,” Torin nodded. “You have to understand how it was after Aleric lost his mind,” he explained slowly. “Asher suddenly went from being on top of the world to being despised and blamed almost as much as Aleric. All sorts of careers were suddenly closed to him, he became someone not to know. To fall from such a great height to the lowest of lows…well, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. It was heartbreaking to watch him struggle through it all, knowing there was nothing I could do to help him.”

Zane let out a low whistle and said, “I never thought about it like that before. I guess it makes sense that he’s a little…eccentric now, or that he just stopped caring about what people think of him.”

Torin nodded. “He eventually salvaged some of his reputation and made a place for himself here, and truthfully I think he enjoys his job and especially the research, even though he moans continuously about teaching and having to make lesson plans.”

“I thought he’d never made a lesson plan in his life,” Hayden arched an eyebrow. “He always tells me that he’s just making things up as he goes along, and when Fia Valay was here last year he said there were no lessons of any kind written down…”

Torin snorted. “I suspect he’s planned everything very carefully, even if he doesn’t write anything down—which is probably for the best since his office is disorganized enough to qualify as a disaster zone.”

As Hayden had accidentally demolished the Prism Master’s office a few months ago, he doubted whether even Asher could manage to junk the place up as much as before since it had been rebuilt, but he knew it probably wasn’t from lack of trying. The Prism Master often insisted that he was too intelligent to be organized.

They bade Torin farewell and split up outside of Kly’s Elixirs, Hayden heading to Pounds of Prisms while Zane went to restock his supply of conjury chalk. In the past, Hayden had dreaded entering the prism shop, mainly because the owner made no secret of his great dislike for him, but by last year Hayden had proved himself enough to earn the man’s wary neutrality rather than outright disdain.

He entered the shop now, much less concerned about the attitude of others than he had been at the age of twelve, to find the shop owner examining a prism through a magnifying lens that was attached to his eye—almost like Hayden’s circlet—working with his gem cutter. Knowing that this was a delicate process that could produce disastrous results if done incorrectly, Hayden remained silent as he moved about the store, examining the boxes of prisms that lined the walls.

A few years ago I was only allowed to buy two different kinds of these…now I can pretty much get anything in the shop.

It was strange being a mastery-level student in Prisms, especially when he reflected on his humble beginnings. He had shown up several days late for his first year of school not even knowing what the five major arcana were, let alone how to use any of them. He grimaced at how ignorant he had been then and how it must have looked to the Masters who expected the son of Aleric Frost to be something great.

Well, at least I’ve caught up. Not a lot of fifth-year students can claim mastery in any subject, even their primary major.