A Change of Heart

Monday March 1, 1490

6:00 a.m. on a Monday morning. That cursed dog of mine woke me by licking me all over my face, and, for good measure, both my hands. "Timotheus," I threatened for the hundredth time, "Today is the day I'm selling you to the slave market!" But did he look even the slightest bit repentant? No, of course not. All he did was shake himself out, wheat-gold fur flying everywhere (guess who'd have to sweep that up?), and then hop off my bed to press his nose to the door.

In the other bed, Ynez moaned and flopped over, burrowing under the covers more securely. At this rate she was going to make us late to morning Enochian lecture yet again, and Astera would scold us again or, worse, give us one of those looks that said we were a disgrace to House Criamon, she didn't know why she'd admitted us to the orphanage in the first place, much less the House, and if we didn't develop a sense of responsibility she was going to demote both of us. At fourteen, Ynez was by far the youngest Adepta Maior we'd ever heard of, and I, at eighteen, had just been assigned the heady position of head (well only) librarian and was no more eager than Ynez for public humiliation in front of our brother- and sister-orphans. Especially when I'd grown up with most of them and they merrily flaunted my authority. Especially when Tel, my Twin Soul, would only laugh and say that I needed to relax.

Obviously there were many excellent reasons for shaking Ynez awake. But she was sleeping so soundly that I couldn't bear to.

Instead I dressed and opened the door as quietly as I could, then slipped out into the dark hallway. The dratted puppy nearly tripped me as he darted right between my legs to scratch at Tel's door, which was next to ours. I thought I heard a whuff from either Lily or Gus, who were not only Timo's but also Tel's parents in the bizarre way of Ars Animae, or Life magic. Not that I'd told Tel yet. I hadn't figured out a good way to say, "By the way, you know how your parents vanished when you were eight and these two friendly dogs started following you everywhere? They're your parents. You accidentally turned them into dogs. Oh, and Timo is your full brother. But I'm pretty sure he's entirely dog and not some crazy dog-human hybrid." Tel was one of the most mellow people I knew and would take it well (probably), but I wanted to do more research into dog-to-human transformations before saying anything.

Anyway, Tel was a heavy sleeper and very definitely not a morning person, so Timo's scratching failed to wake him. The two of us continued through the rest of the dormitory building, passing silent room after silent room. What angels the children were when they were asleep! Awake, they were constantly stealing books from the library just to annoy me, or getting into screaming fights in the yard, or whining at me to "help with" (i.e. do) their homework. For all my exasperation at Timo for waking me early, I did savor these rare moments of peace, when it was just him and me in the yard, with the orphanage buildings behind us and our cave system rising solidly on our right. Across the yard, leylines ran out from the Hearthstone, hidden somewhere deep within the Hearth caves, and branched out like aqueducts to carry magical energy throughout Athens. Not so far to the southeast soared the Acropolis, home to House Bonisagus and Hadrian's Library, and nearly directly to the east, the top of the Tower of the Winds caught the morning sunshine. I could imagine the mages of House Bjornaer emerging onto the balcony at the top to gaze out over the city as it woke. Next door to us, in the temple of Athena, the young priest Ghallim Favager, himself an orphan who'd spent a couple years with us, would be sweeping and scrubbing the marble steps before he set to work creating intricate magical artifacts, or Wonders. (Not that he believed it was magic — according to him, he merely prayed to Athena, and when the great goddess wished, she granted him boons.)

But it must be nearly 7:00 already! Calling Timo from his explorations, I hurried back into the dormitory building, noting that most of the bedrooms were open and empty already as the children dropped by the kitchen for a bite to eat before Enochian. Ynez, of course, had slept through the racket of slamming doors and running feet, so I shook her awake and then banged loudly on Tel's door.