C H A P T E R T H I R T Y - F O U R Han waited at The Turtle and Fish an hour past their usual meeting time. Maybe she’s having trouble getting away, he thought. Maybe Corporal Byrne is keeping her to quarters.
Or maybe Rebecca and her corporal had kissed and made up, and Han was on the outs again.
Han wasn’t a fool, but he would have said the kisses he and Rebecca shared had been honest. And Rebecca didn’t seem like the type to ditch him without an explanation.
And what about the Cadets’ Ball? Should he assume it was on until he heard otherwise?
Finally, he left a note on the table and clumped back down the stairs. Linc looked up sympathetically. “Trouble?”
Han shrugged. “I don’t know.”
He thought about walking over to Grindell but didn’t want to cause more trouble for Rebecca. Or show up where he wasn’t wanted.
So he walked back to Hampton, nodding to Blevins in the common room and mounting the stairs. He hoped Dancer was home. He’d stayed out all night the night before, which wasn’t unusual. Sometimes he slept at Firesmith’s forge when he was trying to finish a project. Han hadn’t even told him what had happened in Aediion.
When Han arrived on the fourth floor, precious stones and metal findings littered the tabletop, and the cup of tea next to them was still warm, but Dancer was nowhere in sight. Clearly he’d been there, working, not long ago.
In fact, there were two cups.
Dancer’s door was closed. “Hey! Dancer?” Han tried his door, and it was latched from the inside.
“Don’t come in,” Dancer said. Han heard shuffling and rustling on the other side of the door.
“Well, I can’t very well, since it’s latched,” Han said. “Are you in bed this early?”
He heard muffled whispering inside, and yanked his hand back from the door. “Sorry!” he said, backing away. “Ah…sorry.”
He hadn’t even known Dancer was walking out with anyone, but then he pretty much kept such matters to himself.
Han sat down at his work desk and halfheartedly leafed through his Faulk. He supposed he could study on his own, but it wouldn’t be the same. He put the book aside and pulled out his notes from Gryphon’s class. He had an exam the next day, but his thoughts kept turning to Rebecca.
After a few minutes, Dancer’s door opened and he poked his head out. “I thought this was your tutoring night,” he said. “You’re back early.”
“Rebecca didn’t show,” Han said, shrugging. “Maybe because of that incident at her dormitory on Tuesday with Commander Byrne.”
Dancer leaned on the door frame. “Hmmm.”
“You going to introduce me?” Han said, nodding toward the doorway.
Dancer looked over his shoulder into his room. “Do you want to be introduced?” he asked.
A moment later, the girlie poked her head out.
It was Cat.
“Oh,” Han said. “So. When were you going to tell me?”
“It’s pretty new,” Dancer said. “We wanted to wait and see if it was working out.”
Han struggled to keep from grinning. “And?”
“You shut up, Cuffs Alister,” Cat said. She stalked past him, nose in the air, fluffing out her curls.
“Hey, now, I want to know,” Han persisted. “I mean, last I heard, you hated him. And being as you’re both friends of mine, seems like…”
“If you must know, it’s fine,” Cat said, flopping into a chair, stretching out her legs, and curling her bare toes. Tilting her head back, she looked over at Dancer through slitted eyes. “He’ll do.”
“Glad to hear that’s settled,” Han said. Dancer was right: Han did need to pay more attention to his friends.
“What happened with Abelard and the Bayars?” Dancer asked.
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I had the chance to try out the rowan talisman yesterday,” Han said, poking at an enameled bird with his forefinger.
Dancer tilted his head. “And?”
Han told him about what had happened in Aediion.
“So you don’t think Crow has any power of his own?” Dancer said.
Han shook his head. “He just parasites off me. Or any other charmcaster in range. He told me he knew how to drain magic from others. I should have known.”
Dancer drew his brows together. “What is he, then? How did he get there?”
“Well, he’s not just a ghostie out of my imagination, because he scared the devil out of everyone else.” Han chewed his lower lip. “I wonder if there’d be anything helpful in the Bayar Library.”
“I say leave it alone,” Dancer said, sitting sat back down at his worktable. “Tell me you’re never going back there.”
“I’m never going back there,” Han said.
Choosing a bar of silver, Dancer squeezed it in his fist until liquid silver ran out of his hand and into a mold.
“Better not let Blevins catch you doing that up here,” Han said. “If there’s not a rule against it, he’ll make one up.”
“You say that now, but wait until you see what I made for you.” Dancer unfolded a square of chamois. Inside was a cunning replica of the Lone Hunter amulet Elena Cennestre had made for Han—the one he’d loaned to Dancer.
Dancer laid the two amulets side by side on the chamois. They were almost impossible to tell apart.
“That’s amazing,” Han said. “I had no idea you could do work like this. Or that you had the right materials.”
“It doesn’t work that well,” Dancer said, shrugging away the praise. “I’m good on the stonecutting and metalsmithing, but I haven’t mastered the flash part. I wanted to return your amulet, but I guess I need to keep it a while longer.”
“No rush. Keep it.” Han ran his finger over the replica jinxpiece. It flared up a little, but nothing like the original. But it would likely fool any wizard who didn’t touch it.
“Why didn’t you make a fire dancer?” Han asked. “Like the one you lost?”
Dancer shrugged. “I didn’t have it to copy. I thought maybe the design fueled the function. I’m hoping to get some answers from Master Firesmith this summer.”
Han and Dancer both planned to spend the summer working with faculty mentors—Dancer with Firesmith and Han with Abelard. He’d also planned to increase his time with Crow. Not anymore.
“You do beautiful work, Dancer,” Han said. He weighed the intricate carving on his palm, turning it to catch the light. Magic aside, the workmanship and materials made it valuable. He went to give it back, and Dancer shook his head.
“Keep it,” he said. “I made it for you. I thought there might be times you’d want to hide the Waterlow amulet.”
The next morning, Han awoke to the slow stomp-stomp-stomp that meant Blevins was toiling up the stairs to the fourth floor. Han rolled off his bed and yanked on his breeches. Cat had stayed over with Dancer, and Han wanted to make sure there were no telltale signs in their makeshift common room. He dropped a cloth over Dancer’s metalsmithing tools just as Blevins’s head appeared above the threshold.
“Don’t know why they put fourth floors on buildings, indeed I don’t,” he gasped. “They should build more buildings, if you ask me, which nobody does.”
“Is there something you need?” Han asked, as Dancer joined them, closing his door behind him.
“You’re not using an open flame up here, are you?” Blevins demanded, eyeing Dancer’s worktable. “That’s not allowed.”
“No flames,” Dancer said.
“Hmmph.” Blevins eyed him balefully. “Well, there’s someone here to see you, Alister. Won’t give a name. A copperhead.” He slid a look at Dancer, like he might be to blame.
Dancer and Han looked at each other. Not many clan found their way to Oden’s Ford. “Well, why didn’t you send him up?” Han asked.
“It’s a girlie is why,” Blevins said. “Scary-looking, if you ask me.”
“But nobody does,” Dancer said.
“And she asked for me by name?” Han said.
“She called you by a different name at first. Then switched to Alister when I said there wasn’t no Hunts Alone here. You need to meet up with her down in the common room.” Blevins leaned closer. “I’d watch yourself, if I was you. If you’ve done her wrong, I’d go out the back door and keep running. I’ve heard that if you cross one of ’em, they’ll cut off your—”
“I’ll watch myself,” Han said. “Thank you.”
“I’ll come with you,” Dancer said.
They pushed past Blevins and clattered downstairs, leaving the dorm master to toil along behind them.
Han was a little ahead of Dancer on the stairs, so he saw her first. He froze midway down the last staircase, gripping the banister for support, looking down into the common room.
It was Bird.