The Budding Metalinguist

XXVI

Lillian's display of her newfound prowess at the Idea of Activation was clearly impressing Kern. And yet this only seemed to intensify her surprise at his reaction.

"I think you should spend another day on this," he recommended.

Lillian stared. "But I've got it all the way down."

Kern watched her with intensity. "You should be able to control more than just light switches with this," he explained. "Try using a keyboard. You should work more on this and come back tomorrow."

Lillian bowed in understanding and slipped back through the mirror into Kern's office. Her gaze lingered suspiciously on the file cabinet for a few minutes before she lifted her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. Cautiously, she creaked open the door, making sure no one was watching, and headed down the stairs into the lobby. She stopped short when she came face-to-face with Derek, who was once again watching the lobby.

"Hello," she stammered in greeting.

"What are you doing here?" Derek asked conversationally. His expression betrayed that he cared very much about the answer.

"I was studying with a friend," Lillian explained.

"What friend?" Derek asked, his eyes narrowing.

Lillian named the first person she could think of. "Amandi. She's a thaum major." She tried to make the last words seem pointless and unnecessary.

"Amandi," Derek muttered, typing something on his laptop. Lillian cursed inwardly. If they got ahold of Amandi, they would realize that she had absolutely no intention of studying with or associating with Lillian whatsoever. She couldn't risk saying any of her other friends, however; Lillian's only thaum major friend was Leslie, and there was no conceivable reason why Lillian and Leslie would be studying together outside of their shared dormitory.

Derek nodded in dismissal, and Lillian felt a surge of anger crash against the walls of her mind. She shot him a frustrated glare and stormed out the thaumaturgy building doors.

She cursed to herself. Next time, she would use the Idea of Deception.

❧☙

Dakota's careful planning for his next lecture was interrupted by Rory crashing through the mirror in the corner of his office and slamming into the bookcase with a rattling sound. Rory ignored his apparent injuries and rushed toward Dakota's desk.

"You are so lucky," Rory explained with the air of one who has just been saved from certain death. "Jennifer was about to tell Evan about you."

Dakota flinched. "What happened?" he asked anxiously. "Is everything all right?" Since Dakota had found out several weeks ago that one of the students in his class was the sister of the DIAO's forensic assistant, he had been worried that the DIAO might find out about his status as a professor. Now, apparently, that had come close to happening.

"She was describing what you looked like," Rory responded. "The connection cut out." He gave a menacing, almost absurdly gleeful grin.

"Evan didn't say anything about it?" Dakota checked.

"...then his phone died," Rory explained.

Dakota relaxed. "Thank you. I couldn't risk that."

"I know," Rory dismissed. "You see? You don't have to worry about any of that. Ashley and I will take care of it."

Dakota gave a grim smile. "I certainly hope so. I can't stay like this forever. I'm constantly in danger of being found out."

"Not so much as you think," Rory said, as reassuringly as it was possible for him to express. He backed out of the mirror and disappeared from the office. Dakota looked after him in gratitude.

❧☙

Galena and Dr. Hests were an odd pair.

It had been quite some time since the two had seen each other. When Galena had been attending UOD, she'd taken several of Dr. Hests' classes and been a research assistant in her lab. Dr. Hests looked as interested to see her as Galena had been in anticipation of her visit.

Directly to her left was a framed picture of the thaumaturgy department faculty. Had Galena turned her head to the side, she would have immediately noticed Professor Dakota Kern's grinning face in the center of the photograph. But, as it were, her attention was focused almost solely on Dr. Hests' face.

"I'm the Director of the DIAO now," she explained.

Dr. Hests' eyes widened. "Oh?"

Galena realized that there was no possible way to react to this but standard confirmation. She nodded.

"That's great to hear," Dr. Hests enthused. Galena nodded pridefully.

"Anyway, as part of the investigation there are a couple of people we need to interview. I was wondering if I could speak to one of the students in your department."

Dr. Hests nodded encouragingly. Galena plowed ahead. "Is it possible for me to speak to Ingrid Howell?"

"Ingrid Howell..." Dr. Hests trailed off. Galena was unsurprised. She couldn't be expected to know all the students in the department.

"She's a sophomore," Galena said helpfully.

Dr. Hests seemed to realize something. "Oh yes, Ingrid. Yes. She's in Amelia Perid's class, isn't she?"

Galena responded via a simple gesture, indicating she had absolutely no idea.

"I think she is in Amelia's class," Dr. Hests continued vaguely. "Yes, I'll ask her."

"It would be more efficient if I was able to contact her by email," Galena explained briskly.

"Yes," Dr. Hests said, still vaguely. She opened a website on her computer and began scrolling through names. After a few moments she looked up and scribbled down an email address in her cramped, neat handwriting. She tore the scrap of paper off the top of the blank sheet and handed it over.

Galena nodded in thanks, then murmured a perfunctory farewell and left. Dr. Hests looked after her in admiration.

Samantha Hests raised her head and turned to the right to stare at the faculty group photo. Her eyes lingered on Dakota's face for a long moment before returning to the list of student emails displayed on her desktop.