The Budding Metalinguist

XXI

To an outside observer, Lillian would appear to be sitting casually in the lobby of the thaumaturgy building, staring into space and thinking. But what she was experiencing was something amazingly new. She had never been able to trace thaumaturgy before, and now she was in the midst of all the thaumaturgy taking place in the building. A giant flow of energy.

She could sense people using the levitator and practicing in their classes and in the thaumaturgy lounge. She could track the progress of a small group on the third floor which was working on transfiguring some of the air to warm themselves up. She could notice some of the professors using casual thaumaturgy to grade their papers and move things around their offices. She had never been able to sense this level of activity before. It felt incredibly empowering.

She noticed Erica sitting in a chair across the lobby and approached with interest. "Has there been any progress?" she asked once she was within earshot. For the first time, she desperately wished that nothing had been found. That Kern would be safe.

Erica shook her head, still staring ahead. Lillian relaxed, swung her backpack over her shoulder, and headed back to her dorm.

❧☙

Dakota paced.

"Can you please stop?" Rory muttered in an undertone. "You're making me nervous."

Dakota pivoted and stared at Rory with an interested and slightly amused expression. "You're nervous," he responded, clearly not taking Rory's words seriously. Nonetheless, he sat down on the nearest chair and rested his hands in his lap.

"Yes," Rory said frankly, "I'm nervous. All this business with Julian... I don't know exactly what he's up to, because I can't trace it, obviously. But I'm worried that he might be about to find something out."

Dakota was also worried. After all this time, the last thing he needed was for Julian to come after him. Especially before he'd finished training Lillian. He could easily deal with Julian on his own, but he knew that Julian was well-trained. He would bring ample reinforcements. People Dakota would not have such an easy time fending off. People who would only be too happy to kill him.

"What if he brings the Guardian?" Dakota was, more than anything, afraid to say her name. He was worried that it might reveal his location to them. A metalinguistic taboo.

Rory made a small sound of disgust. "Dakota, the Guardian is dead."

Dakota stared.

"The knot you set up? They finally fixed it with their best thaumaturge. But she died doing it."

"If she's dead, then why are they still after me?" Dakota said slowly.

Rory made a sharp slicing motion. "Cutting the head off of this kind of snake only makes it angrier."

Dakota looked away in disgust. "At least I don't have to worry about her."

Rory didn't respond, but there was danger in his eyes.

❧☙

Galena re-entered the Assistant Director's office and moved one of the chairs which she still considered hers to a more comfortable position on the other side of her old desk.

Vanessa looked up. "Morning, Galena," she said again, still wearing a confident smirk.

"Good morning, Vanessa," Galena responded stiffly, then tugged her computer onto her lap and positioned her hands over the keyboard. "I'm going to ask a few questions," Galena informed her. "Please answer them for me."

Vanessa lost the smirk. She looked frankly bewildered. "Go ahead."

"What's your name?"

"Vanessa Pearl," the other responded. Galena began typing.

"Where are you from?"

"Portland."

"How long have you been working at the DIAO?"

Vanessa paused before answering. "Is that really necessary?"

Galena looked up slowly from the computer screen. "Please answer the questions, Assistant Director."

"But what are you using the answers for?" Vanessa wondered in complete confusion.

"I'm simply satisfying my curiosity," Galena responded in a fragile and dangerous tone.

"I started working here on the same day as you," Vanessa responded nervously. "January sixteenth. I came into town looking for a thaumaturgy job and got hired here pretty quickly."

"You were hired as the Assistant Director," Galena confirmed, typing furiously.

Vanessa's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Yes."

"Along with me."

"I was," Vanessa responded.

Galena looked up briefly, scrutinizing Vanessa's face before she asked her last question. "Have you ever heard of Rolf Howell?"

Vanessa took a minute, thinking. It appeared that she was trying to remember if she'd ever heard the name before. "No, I can't say that I have. Why?"

Galena's eyes swept over her face a second time. Vanessa, she decided, was definitely not lying. Vanessa had nothing to do with whatever had happened.

She snapped shut the laptop and rose from her seat without bothering to replace the chair. Vanessa tried to call after her as she strode out of the room, but she paid no heed.

Once she reached the Director's office, she set down the laptop on her desk, which had been carefully refitted with all of her papers and belongings, and walked over to the window.

The only possibility, she realized? Galena was losing her mind.