Page 31 of Spark of Sorcery

“Yeah,” I say, “yeah, something like that.”

Chapter Eleven

Briony

“While I understand your need to find out what happened to your sister,” Fly says, bouncing his fork up and down in his dinner, “does this mean we are officially geeks now and will be spending all our time with our noses in books?”

“I’m from Granite Quarter. Both my parents are doctors. Being a geek is in my blood,” Clare says, taking a mouthful of pasta and turning her page, eyes not leaving her book.

“What’s your excuse?” Fly says, kicking me under the table to get my attention. “I didn’t think you kids from Slate could read.”

“Huh?” I say, peering up from my book and staring blankly at him.

“Is it that interesting?” he says, “or am I way more boring than I realized?”

“You are a bit of a bore,” I tell him with a grin, “but there’s just so much information in these books. It’s going to take us an entire year just to wade our way through them.”

“Can’t you just skip to the bit …” Fly trails off, “you know what I mean.”

“Got to find that bit first,” Clare says, eyes skimming over the text, “time doesn’t exactly move fluidly through the books. I just read five pages about a potions lesson that went horribly wrong and then it skimmed by the next two weeks. It’s like only the important – or interesting – events have been given in detail.”

Fly sighs dramatically and I close my book, then close Clare’s.

“We have been at it for several hours. We should take a break.”

“I was at an interesting bit!” Clare protests.

“Really?” Fly says, tipping salt into his stew and stirring it around. “Interesting how? Did someone crack the spine of their book?”

Clare looks at him with horror, then shakes her head.

“I was reading up about the second trial that took place in your sister’s year. Did you know that someone got caught cheating?”

“No, she never mentioned that. The postal service back in Slate is pretty unreliable. Her letters came sporadically. I think some may have gone missing.” Fly and Clare both stare at me. “What?”

“Isn’t that sort of suspicious?” Clare says, taking off her glasses and buffing them with the sleeve of her cardigan. An item of clothing Fly has threatened to burn, but she refuses to part with because it’s comfy. I understand – I wouldn’t mind one for myself. “It’s sort of odd your sister’s letters never reached you given what happened.”

I want to smack myself on the forehead. Hard.

“Yes,” I say. “Yes! That is. Why the hell did I never think of that?” For a moment my spirits soar high – this is proof, proof something strange was going on. But then, just as quickly as they soar, my spirits plummet right back down as if they’ve been shot right out of the sky.

So what?

Knowing some of her letters went missing on their way to me provides me with no more actual information, no more actual insight. It’s not like I can summon those letters to me. It’s not like I’ll find them hidden under a floorboard in my room. Or some mysterious stranger will present them to me. Where ever those letters went, wherever they are, they’re long gone now and I can’t ever hope to land my hands on them.

The three of us are quiet for a moment, then Fly asks, “So what happened with the cheating?”

Clare flicks open the book to the page she was studying and runs her fingers down the text. “A kid from Onyx Quarter was caught helping another student – a student also from Onyx Quarter.”

“Why?” Fly snorts. “Like they don’t have enough of an advantage to begin with.”

“It doesn’t say. And the names of the individuals involved have been omitted. But they were severely punished.”

“Huh?” Fly snorts a second time. “Were they forced to eat in the canteen with the rest of us commoners?” He lifts his fork and lets the gloopy stew drip off the prongs.

“No,” Clare says, color draining from her face. “It doesn’t say what happened to the student who was helped, but the shadow weaver that helped them was banished from the realm.”

Fly and I stare at Clare gobsmacked, and I’m certain the color drains right from my face too.