Modern Magick

Alchemy and Argent: 15

'At night,' he repeated.

'Remember the glimmer-of-moonlight thing I mentioned? And Mary Werewode and her moon-bathing and moonsilver and all of that. Giddy gods know why, but there is a pattern there — you said so yourself, Jay! — and I'm really curious to know what might happen if I "mess with" her painting when the moon's up.'

'The Elvyng Academy is not open at night,' said Jay.

'I know that.'

'So that makes it a case of actual breaking and entering.'

'I know.'

'Which is an actual crime.'

'Not if you aren't stealing anything.'

'I'm... pretty sure it's still a crime, Ves, even if you aren't a burglar.'

'It'll only be for a few minutes.'

'Right, because it's the duration that determines the severity of the offence.'

I looked, rather pleadingly, at Val.

She watched our back-and-forth with a small smile. 'I don't know,' she said when she caught my eye, and shook her head. 'Watching you try to justify yourself to, of all people, Jay? I'm liking it.'

'Hey,' said Jay. 'Of all people?'

Val could hardly explain that Jay was both new and supposedly my responsibility, or had been for most of his time with the Society so far. Superiors I'd withstood without blinking; I'd even circumvented Milady's orders on occasion, if I felt a deep enough need to do so. I'd never worked so hard to gain anyone's approval as I did Jay's. Don't ask me why; I don't understand it myself.

Maybe I am just wicked, and his very strait-laced nature operates upon me like the proverbial red flag to a bull.

Maybe it's the simple fact that he is usually right, and this irks me because I am evil.

I rushed on. 'If we do it tonight, we could have answers by the morning—'

'We?' said Jay, with that ominous, shadowy frown he has when he's really unhappy about something. I could practically hear thunder rumbling in the distance.

'Okay, me,' I said quickly. 'I'll go alone, if you'll just help me get there and back.'

'No.'

'You can wait outside.'

'No. Ves, I don't—' He stopped, and actually rubbed his temples in frustration. 'Ves, remarkable as you are, I have no idea how you haven't ended up in prison yet.'

I scoffed at this. 'I don't make a habit of breaking and entering.'

'Once would be enough.'

'Only if you get caught?'

'Which, of course, you never could.'

'Jay. Look. I hear you, and you're right, but do you have a better idea? Because we've been following the library trail for weeks on end, and all we've got to show for it is a tangled mess of dead-end clues.'

Jay looked, apparently for confirmation, at Val, who spread her hands in an I-can't-help-you gesture. 'More or less the case,' she said. 'There might be a breakthrough ahead, but...'

'There also might not,' I finished. 'At this point, I would put money on not.'

Val nodded. 'I hate to say it, but if Ves is in any way right about that painting, it should be explored.'

I beamed triumphantly at Jay.

But he shook his head. 'I don't actually dispute that. But breaking into other people's houses, at night or at any other time, is not okay, no matter the motive.'