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“Forgive my sister,” the brother said, ignoring the explanation. “She’s never been a very social creature. My father considered giving her away when she was young. No one would take her.”

“Shove off, Flynn. She’s not going to sleep with you just because you think you’re funny.”

Ren couldn’t help smiling. She’d expected everyone in this place to be prim and proper. These two felt more comfortable to her than any of the others.

“Anyways,” Maryan said. “The Broods picked you as their goat, huh?”

Ren frowned. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“This is the Kathorian Collective,” Maryan answered. “A mutual research endeavor shared by all the major houses, without exception. Well, the exception was the Brood family. Obviously. Until you came.”

“Right,” Ren said. “The Kathorian Collective. So we’re sharing our research with each other? Everyone’s notes are public? How does that make me a goat?”

“She didn’t read the fine print,” Flynn said. He shook his head. “No one ever reads the fine print.”

“How could you not read the fine print?” Maryan echoed.

“There was no fine print. I just had a standard invitation.”

“The Broods probably signed the contract on your behalf,” she said. “Can they do that? Who knows? Guess they can do whatever they want. Yes, it means we share research. New spells and all that. But the only reason all the houses agreed to participate was through a contractual obligation of mutual exposure. Which means you can be interrogated by the other major houses, whenever they want, and they’re allowed to ask you anything. They can even use manipulators to extract the truth from you. Anything short of literal torture.”

Flynn was studying Ren. “She still doesn’t get it. Maybe she’s not that smart?”

“And you said I don’t have manners?” Maryan scowled at him. “Gods, Flynn. I’m sure the Broods sold it as some kind of honor, but you can say goodbye to being involved in any important house functions. As long as you’re contractually working here, it means they’re not going to let you in on any other private affairs, because that would risk something secretive coming out in an interrogation session.”

They heard the distant sound of a door opening and closing. All three of them looked back, across the vast and open space. The head researcher had returned. Ren could hear her shoes click-clacking across the stones in the distance.

“Back to work,” Flynn muttered. “Sorry to be the bearers of bad news. But really, you should have asked to read the contract. Who doesn’t ask to read the contract?”

Maryan shoved him away. “It’s not that bad. All the magic is brilliant down here, at least.”

The two of them shuffled off, leaving Ren alone once more. The news should have been a bigger blow, but she’d already been ostracized by the Brood family. This move was a simple act of solidification. A far more official and logical reason to keep her isolated. She thought it quite clever.

But the more fascinating detail was that the Broods had not been participating in this so-called collective. They’d held out until her arrival. Which meant she would exist in this space unobserved. Unless one of the others spied for them? That felt unlikely. It was a small taste of freedom, but it shivered pleasurably down her spine, nonetheless.

Work resumed. The others orbited the room. She continued to hunt for the right answer until she felt like she’d exhausted every option. Sighing, Ren flagged down the older woman. She crossed over to Ren with a look that could have withered every flower for sale on Market Row.

“What? Quitting already?”

Ren shook her head. “I’ve arrived at my best possible guess. I didn’t think it made sense to delay. I am not going to think of a better answer.”

The woman crossed her arms. “Go on, then.”

“He used all the spells I mentioned earlier. Everything would be corded together. And then… I think he would have had to use a veracity altercation spell. Kind of like the one they used when they moved Balmerick University. I think he needed to lie to the second apple.”

“Expand.”

That was one of Ren’s favorite words in the entire world.

“The second apple would have sensed the flow of decay entering the first apple. There was an established magical direction. Health comes this way. Rot goes that way. The original versions that attempted to expand on the spell didn’t work, because the second apple resisted the fate of the first one. Not necessarily because it’s sentient but rather because there’s an established magical flow. It would recognize any attempts at redirection and reject them. Adding a veracity spell would convince the second fruit that the rotten flow… will be good for it? I don’t know. That’s the best I could come up with.…”

Ren knew it sounded absurd, but then the wizards who’d first suggested using that same spell for Balmerick’s foundations had been greeted with doubt too. The woman snorted in response.

“So… you’re not just the dregs of House Brood.”

Ren lifted an eyebrow. “Was I right?”

“It took Pecking a whole damn year to figure that out. What a colossal waste of time. Gods. All right, be back here tomorrow. I want three new spells you’d like to work on—and the coinciding experiments that might help test them.” She gestured around the room. “I can get you just about any imaginable material, but you can see our testing sites are limited in size. Unlock your imagination. Bring me something with teeth. My name is Seminar. Welcome to the Collective.”