Rebel Magisters (13 page)

I soon found that I wasn’t as frozen as I felt. I was perfectly capable of moving normally. Only my magical abilities had been affected, and that had made me feel paralyzed. Forcing myself to move, I bent to pick up my cup and took a sip of chocolate, as though nothing was happening. “What were you saying?” I asked Henry, keeping my voice light and even.

Instead of responding to me, Henry said to Adonis, “You’ve developed some sort of magical dampener.”

The woman turned a knob on her machine and I felt like I could breathe freely again. She stepped forward to address us. “Yes, the machine affects the flow of ether to block the use of magic,” she said, her voice lightly accented. I guessed that she must be a native of one of the African colonies, judging by her accent and dark skin. If our host looked like a painting, she looked like an onyx sculpture given life, with a high forehead and sharp cheekbones. The planes of her face were somewhat softened by the small round glasses she wore.

“Interesting,” Henry said, turning to face her. “And very useful for a conflict against magisters.”

“How did it make you feel?” she asked.

“Like it was more difficult to breathe and move. You did something to the ether, didn’t you? Something that makes it impossible to process into magical energy?”

She smiled, her teeth showing white in vivid contrast to her dark skin. “Exactly! The device sends a current through the ether that makes it magically inactive. This one works at only a short range—perhaps a hundred-foot radius. I have found that it stops magical devices from working, but I was not sure how it worked on an actual magister. Would you mind very much if I activated it again? And then you could try using magic.”

Although I could tell that Henry was intrigued, and I knew he’d happily go along with the test, I was outraged on his behalf. “That’s why you invited us here? You needed a test subject?” I snapped. “Did you consider just asking? Is there something in the Rebel Mechanics’ charter that requires you to recruit assistance under false pretenses?”

Henry turned back to face me. “Verity, it’s all right,” he said. “I don’t mind helping them.”

“That’s my point. You don’t mind. If they’d invited you by saying they needed a magister to test a device, you’d have been happy to help.” Addressing the Mechanics, I asked, “What would you have done if he didn’t want to help after you sprang this on him? What if you’d hurt him?”

“I apologize. I meant no offense,” the inventor said, giving us a slight bow. “I felt it important to the experiment for you not to know what might happen.”

“Athena didn’t mean any harm to your magister friend,” Adonis said, favoring me with a smile that might have made me melt a few months ago before I’d become wise to the Mechanics’ ways. To be perfectly honest, it still gave me a little flutter, and I was sure he’d calculated to get exactly that response. That made me trust him even less.

Henry stood and approached the inventor. “In the future, please just ask me for help directly. You’ll find that I’m generally game for almost anything. But for now, what do you need to me do?”

“First, a control. Is there some bit of magic you can do to demonstrate that your powers are working normally?”

I made sure my magical shielding was intact. One of the first things I’d learned about magic was that a magic user could feel it when someone else nearby was using magic, and it was essential to learn to shield oneself from the sensation, especially if your magical abilities were a dangerous secret.

Henry held out his hand, and his cup of chocolate flew into it. He raised an eyebrow as he took a nonchalant sip. Athena smiled. “So, your abilities are working normally?”

“They appear to be.”

“Now let’s see what happens with the device operating.”

He placed the cup back on the table in front of the settee and returned to his position. I braced myself as Athena turned on the machine and the tubes began to glow. Fortunately, the Mechanics were all too focused on Henry’s reaction to notice what I did because I couldn’t quite stop a small gasp when the machine took effect.

Henry reached out his hand for the cup in the same gesture he’d used before, and I felt the ether becoming excited. It just didn’t seem to work at his command. The cup only twitched slightly. The sense of the excited ether was like pinpricks all over my body, too faint to be truly unpleasant, but strong enough that I was glad I’d known to brace myself or I might have given away my secret heritage.

“You are trying and it is not working?” Athena asked.

“I’m doing the exact same thing I did before, but with different results,” Henry confirmed.

With a satisfied nod, she turned a knob on her device, and I fought not to let out a relieved sigh as the atmosphere returned to normal. The cup suddenly flew toward Henry, and he barely caught it. “I suppose I should have stopped trying before you turned your device off,” he said with a sheepish grin.

Adonis jumped out of his seat. “It works!” he said. “This calls for a round of drinks. Let’s open that bottle we’ve been saving.”

While the Mechanics celebrated with hugs and slaps on the back, Henry came over to me. “Are you all right?” he whispered.

I nodded just enough for it to be barely visible. “Yes. It wasn’t bad, just…strange.”

Our host brought us glasses of fizzing wine and turned to face Athena. “Here’s to our brilliant and beautiful inventor, who may have just won us the revolution.”

We raised our glasses and drank, but I felt somewhat unsettled. This surely changed the landscape entirely. While it wouldn’t matter against nonmagical weapons and soldiers, it might be enough to allow the ragtag band of Mechanics to stand up to the Empire’s magical might. I could also imagine less savory uses.

Although Henry went along with toasting the inventor, I could see that his smile didn’t quite touch his eyes, which were troubled. Our handsome host also appeared serious when he returned to his seat and addressed Henry. “I’m sure you can see how important this device is. If anything we have needs to be mass produced, it would be this. But I don’t imagine that’s something you could get your magister friends to fund.”

“It might be more challenging than getting them excited about steam engines and airships, yes,” Henry said. “There would have to be safeguards in place about how and when it can be used, and how it might be used in the aftermath.” I could see that he’d had the same misgivings I’d had.

Athena came over to sit in a straight-backed chair adjacent to the settee. “We have to live without magical powers. Why can’t you?” she asked.

“Because that device doesn’t merely render me the same as you. It alters me. I was born with my abilities. Dampening them is like me blindfolding you and forcing you to go without your eyesight. While it wasn’t truly painful, I can feel the difference that device makes, and I suspect you could make it work in such a way that it would be painful.” He raised an eyebrow. “And if that sort of thing were to happen, well, you’d not only lose some valuable allies, but you’d make some enemies.”

“I would not use it to cause harm,” she said solemnly, her words sounding like a vow. “But I might need to test it further to determine the precise thresholds at which power is affected with minimal other impact.”

“What about the rest of your organization? You can understand why I might have concerns.”

“Yes. That is why I must test and calibrate it precisely before I allow this device to be replicated, so it can’t be used to cause harm.”

Henry frowned, weighing this for a moment before he said, “I may be able to find you some test subjects among my local friends. You should test it on more than one person. All of us are different. I use my powers more than most, so the effect on me may not be the same as on someone whose powers are merely latent.”

“That is good to know.” She stood and nodded her head like a queen acknowledging her subject. “Thank you for your assistance.”

Henry put down his glass. “Now, was there anything else you wanted to discuss tonight, or did you merely need a laboratory rat?”

“If you could get us some willing test subjects, that would be grand,” Adonis said, rising from his seat. Now that Henry had served his purpose, our host was much less genial. He gestured for one of the others to bring our coats and Henry’s hat.

“I really am sorry if I offended you, miss,” Mary said as she helped me with my coat. “Perhaps I should have told you it wasn’t a social occasion.”

“I understand how important secrecy is,” I said. “But if we’re all going to work together, trust is equally important.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said. We made our way out into the dark vestibule, where she paused with her hand on the outside door. “Now, I’d better make sure it’s safe.” She was only out for a second or two before she stuck her head back in and gestured to us. “Can you find your own way back?”

“I believe so,” Henry said. “I’m familiar with Boston.”

“Good. Then I’ll get home, myself. I have an early start in the morning. Take care not to get caught out by any patrols. Your name might get you out of trouble, but I don’t think you want His Grace knowing what you’ve been up to.”

I barely had a chance to ask, “Patrols?” before she was gone.

In Which

Henry Offers Advice

on Larceny

“Patrols?” I repeated to Henry.

“Things can get a bit…volatile here, so there’s a sort of curfew.”

“And we’re out after curfew?” Panic made my voice shriller than I would have liked.

“It’s not a very tight curfew. At least, it wasn’t the last time I was here. It’s mostly to give the authorities an excuse to question anyone who looks suspicious.”

“No wonder there’s a revolution brewing,” I muttered.

“We look respectable enough, so as long as we appear to be ordinary people going about our business and don’t give any indication that we’re about to throw a rock through a window or start a riot, we should be fine.”

“We were just helping plot a revolution,” I reminded him.

“But we don’t look like that’s what we were doing. Now, shall we return home?” He held his arm out to me, and I took it. As we walked, he said, “Do you want to tell me why you reacted the way you did when they tested that device? It seemed like a rather strong response to a minor faux pas.”

I winced. I preferred not to let him know how easily I’d been duped, but if he was going to deal with the Mechanics, he needed to know how they worked. “This wasn’t the first time I’ve seen them hide their true intent behind a veneer of friendliness. When they learned I was working for you, they decided I was in the perfect position to be an operative, so they created an elaborate scheme to recruit me. They set up situations to make magisters look bad and acted like they were rescuing me from those situations so that I’d side with them. It’s quite appropriate that they were headquartered in a theater because they always seem to be playing roles.” I couldn’t keep the bitterness out of my voice, nor the faint tremble as I recalled how hurt I’d been by Alec’s betrayal.

He didn’t miss the emotion I’d let slip. “Is that all they did?” he asked softly.

I didn’t want to tell him any more. The rest of the story made me look like a foolish girl whose head had been easily turned. But I didn’t really want to hide it from him, either. I liked being able to be honest with Henry. “Part of their scheme involved Alec pretending to court me,” I said, trying to keep my voice light so I would sound like it didn’t matter to me. “He was most attentive.” I blushed at the memory and was glad it wouldn’t show in the darkness.

Henry stopped walking and turned to face me. “That is ungentlemanly, and I don’t care what class you’re from, that’s just not done.”

“It didn’t go very far. Mostly, he just paid extra attention to me and made me feel like he was interested. I was naive enough for that to turn my head. I should have known better.” There had also been a few kisses, but I was definitely not telling Henry about that.

“Oh, come now, there’s no reason for you to have assumed he wasn’t being sincere,” he said with a smile as he reached out and gently brushed my cheek with his fingers. “Why wouldn’t he find you fascinating?”

His touch made me dizzy, even though I was sure he was just being kind. “Oh, I should have seen it. They created situations right out of a romantic novel. If you can believe it, Colin pretended to be a reckless magister who nearly ran me down with a magical roadster so that Alec could gallantly rescue me.”

He laughed and hooked his arm around mine as we resumed walking. “Well, yes, that might have been a little obvious, although I must admit that some of the drivers are rather reckless.”

“I think what made me angriest was that I had to figure it out for myself, even after I was part of their organization. They weren’t planning to ever be honest with me. I have no idea how far Alec would have carried his courtship. He claims it became real, but how can I be sure?”

“And you’re still willing to work with them?”

“I believe in the cause. It’s bigger than all of us. The injustices are real.”

“I can’t condone the way they treated you, but I don’t think tonight’s incident was the same thing. There is some element of deception required in this situation. The risks are so high that it’s difficult to be forthright.”

A red-coated soldier rounded the corner ahead of us, heading our way. My grip on Henry’s arm tightened. “Stay calm,” Henry whispered. As the soldier approached, Henry nodded and said, “Good evening.”

“Evening, sir,” the soldier said brusquely. “You’d best be home. There’s trouble brewing tonight.”

“Oh, my!” Henry said. “Come along, dear, we’d better hurry.”

I was dying to ask what kind of trouble there was, but Henry was already hustling me along the sidewalk. I supposed that your average person would be more concerned about getting home safely than about learning what was happening. We passed more soldiers along the way. “They’re heading to the harbor,” Henry noted. I was so turned around from all the twisting streets, unlike Manhattan’s grid, that I wasn’t sure where that was in relation to where we were going.