Chapter Twelve: Takin' Care of Business
"This isn't fair."
"You keep saying that, I wonder what your standard for comparison is?"
"We're supposed to be on vacation."
At the moment Lucy was only half visible, her head and torso concealed from view as she rummaged through the wardrobe in Alejandro's room, desperately trying to find the other Espiritu Ambassador cloak. She had hers, it had been sent last year just after the attack and before she knew that Diego was still alive. Diego, apparently, had not been sent his cloak, probably because he was with a nomadic school that tried to travel light. Tasera and Alejandro had been the Espiritu ambassadors before the school fell apart, and since Lucy was certain her cloak had been Tasera's, there was just this last place to look to find the other.
"Found it!" Triumphantly she emerged from the wooden wardrobe, her arms full of blue. The Espiritu Council and Guild color was sapphire blue, and the cloaks were trimmed in white to indicate the school's status and age. They were also ancient and Lucy wrinkled her nose at the smell.
"This one could use a good airing out and a bucket of Fabreeze."
"No time I'm afraid. We'll just be the smelly, inexperienced members this time."
They were in a rush because the message from the Circle had been of much greater importance than they had imagined it to be. When Lucy finally remembered it late Christmas night, after several glasses of eggnog, one glance was all it had taken to turn her stone sober.
The Circle was calling for high council on the 27th. That meant that every school had to send its Ambassadors, and the things had been known to go on for weeks.
And neither Lucy nor Diego had ever served as an Ambassador at high council. At most they had been allowed to sit in on more focused councils with their mentors, but since neither Antolin de La Vega or Jerome Giraldi had served as an Espiritu Ambassador in the past 20 years, this was going to be a totally new experience.
"You don't think they'll laugh out loud, will they?" Lucy frowned at the dust on the cloak and began to nervously dust it with her hand.
"Given our present circumstances, no, I don't think so. In fact, it will be a miracle if they listen to us at all."
"Maybe we better let you do all the talking." She paused and doused the lights and fire in the room as they made their way back toward their end of the compound.
"Me? Why me? You know the professor always said you were more persuasive."
"First of all, you're the empath. And second, have you forgotten where I go to school? I am studying at Hogwarts against the express wishes of Machu Pichu and the rest of the Circle. I'm the black sheep."
"Well, I think you're more of a grey sheep myself. And if you want to change the way people think, you're not going to do it standing behind me. Now go finish packing and I'll meet you in the courtyard in an hour."
One hour later they stood by one of the courtyard arches. Lucy was quieting her breathing as Diego shifted uncomfortably behind her.
"You DO remember where it is, right?"
She gave him an annoyed glance, "Of course."
"It's just that, well, how long has it been since you were there?"
"About four years, now quiet please, I'm trying to concentrate."
In truth it had been about four and a half. Lucy was one of the most well traveled students of her age in the Circle, owning mostly to her mentor's firm belief that it was cooperation and exchange of idea between the schools that would strengthen their future. But even after all that, this was not a familiar destination in any sense of the word.
High council did not meet often. When a high council was called, every school, every single one, had to send an ambassador. Now, there were still fewer ambassadors than there were schools because in some regions, like the forests of Brazil or the Himalayas, there were countless tiny schools, some integrated into non-magical communities under various pretenses, that could not spare anyone capable of acting as ambassador because they were so small. There groups usually formed small confederations and appointed a pair to act as representatives of the needs and opinions of the entire area. These ambassadors came armed with full reports, censuses, and important work accomplished in each school and were more than qualified to speak for them. But the rigmarole required to gather all the representatives was such that most decisions could be made in a more economical manner through the Guilds or area councils.
What that all meant was that it was going to take Lucy a little while to 'find' where she was going. And it was made harder by the fact that this was not her favorite place in the world.
In order to make all representatives feel on an even footing with each other, high council was never held at an occupied school. That meant ruins, and this year, council was meeting at Teotihuacan, a huge, elaborate Mesoamerican city. Lucy thought it was a dump.
She ground her teeth together and tried to focus, searching for a memory, a SAFE memory. The last time she had visited she had wandered into the Feathered Serpent Pyramid and fallen into one of the unearthed, mass graves, of which there were several, where hundreds of people had been sacrificed prior to the pyramids construction. She hated this city and would infinitely have preferred Chichen Itza.
Finally, she remembered that she had found, much to her delight, a workroom, with protections still in place, somewhere in the Moon Pyramid. That memory was enough for her to sense the gate terminus at Teotihuacan, and rapidly vines of light began to twist and bend into an arch, and in the black space before them they were suddenly met with the image of a large stone room, with a brazier burning in the middle.
"That's the Sun Pyramid all right," Diego commented dryly, "and I hope that's incense, you complained about the smell for a week when you got back."
Lucy rolled her eyes and gave him a shove to get going. Diego turned and carefully reset the school's protections before taking her hand and stepping through, pulling Lucy in after.
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"Name and school, please?" The droll registrar, who sounded like he came from the Ayers school, didn't really look up when Lucy and Diego approached his table, just outside the door to the gate room.
"Diego Alvarez and Lucy Montero, Espiritu." That got the young fop to look up, if only for a moment. He glanced down at his sheet.
"You need to report to Sofia as soon as possible. She'll be in the Moon Pyramid right about now. Use the subterranean tunnel down that way, too many tourists out to take the surface roads until they close it down. But with New Year and all, parks are closed for about ten days, so you won't have to use it that often."
Lucy had a feeling that last comment was for their benefit, since the idea of spending any manner of time underground had Diego looking green. He had gotten lost in both the Paris and Roman catacombs on any number of occasions, and one time he had been gone for almost a day complete. She gave him a reassuring squeeze and set off for the entrance to the tunnel.
After what seemed like an eternity in the thin, dark, smelly passage, they took the stairs up into the Moon Pyramid, which was at the far North end of the Avenue of the Dead, the city's main thoroughfare. After that it was only a matter of asking one of the many acolytes who were about lighting braziers and sweeping out cobwebs which way they needed to head to find Sofia, one of the most respected of the Macho Pichu elders.
Thankfully, she was on one of the lower levels, in a small workroom she was using as her own during the council. The place had been scrubbed and scoured, there were no bugs, no cobwebs, a small vase of flowers on the floor, several cushions, a rug and a mountain of blankets.
Lucy knocked on the doorframe.
Sofia turned and greeted them with a dazzling smile. She didn't look her age, whatever that was.
"So there you are. I was wondering when you would arrive."
She walked to the door and hugged them both, then stepped back to give them a calculating look.
"Yes, yes I think you will do just fine."
"What was that?" Diego cocked his head.
"Nothing, nothing. Pay no attention to an old and feeble woman. Now, have you seen anyone since you got in.?"
"Just the registrar, and a couple of acolytes from."
"Morocco, remember, they had cowls and looked like alter boys?"
Sofia chuckled, "Yes, but they are very good at restoration. I believe the desert schools use them frequently when they decided to settle in another set of ruins. You don't even have to instruct them, they know exactly what is to be done. No one else?"
"No," Lucy said slowly, "We didn't see anyone.why wasn't anyone else around?"
"Oh, probably because they are all in the council session."
"What? It's started? But you-"
"You're not late dears. Well, you are, and you will apologize, but you are here exactly when I told and wanted you to be. Now, Diego that piece of stone is meant to serve as a door, if you could put it in place and if you will both sit down, I'll try and be brief and clear."
They settled themselves among the cushions and rugs and waited until Diego had taken a seat.
"We haven't informed everyone that you two are coming, that's the first thing."
"But it's high council, won't they expect-"
"Despite your unending optimism dear, there are several schools who don't consider Espiritu to be a viable arm of the Circle. No doubt they never expected you to begin with."
"Why is this important?"
Sofia sighed. "We had long suspected that there might be, in our midst, certain unfaithful members of the Circle. It is highly unlikely that without inside information these people from England that you speak of could ever have accomplished what they did, even with the help of sacred texts."
"Do you know who it is?"
"We believe we have identified the principle informant, but there may be others. And it is because we are unsure that we haven't put your names on the role yet. We didn't want to risk an informant telling someone dangerous that you were here."
Lucy shook her head. "Why should it matter?"
"That is the heart of the matter. It goes back to last year, when a manifest was done of what was missing from the deserted schools. There was an area of the Espiritu cellar that had been totally cleared, do you remember?"
They nodded.
"That was where the belongings that Don Asriel had left behind were being stored. They contained certain journals, notebooks, some that he had sent back secretly to friends at the school, some which were very old, from his student days. All of them gone."
Diego shook his head. "I still don't see where this is going."
"When we compiled a list of all the books taken, the rare volumes from Joshua Tree, the Old World Library at Chadwicks, and the missing property of Don Asriel, the list included some of the most powerful discoveries and breakthroughs in Western Magic dating back to before the founding of this very city. Most of them were never used. And for good reason. Perhaps we should never have let them exist any longer in the first place. But when you are as diminished as we are, like the ruins of this city, you cling to what you have, even if it reeks of filth. But now these are in the hands of people who have not received a call; who are not bound to any school; and who are capable of the most terrible destruction imaginable. There is only one thing stopping them."
"What?"
"Their own ignorance. Lucy, do you remember the frustration you wrote home about last fall? Your inability to understand what was being asked of you? How it all worked?"
"Sure, it was driving me crazy."
Diego's eyes lit up. "You mean, no matter what they have, they don't understand it? And they won't be able to learn, at least never enough to use that kind of power?"
"I believe that whatever traitors among us helped them, they were not of the experience or creativity to understand what they had found, especially Asriel's work. He was always notoriously sloppy," she gave Lucy a knowing look.
"So what's the matter, it seems all's well that ends well."
"This won't stop them, I'm afraid. They know that there is someone, someone from our Circle that is studying their kind of magic. Someone who can teach them."
"You mean Lucy."
"Listen, Sofia, I told you about the BA, but they're just as scared as I was. And I'm just teaching them to control what they have, no amount of teaching can open up the ungifted!"
"But they wouldn't need to, that's the problem. Some of the works they have would enable the ungifted to access the natural energy we use, not the kind the Hogwarts uses; I believe you comprehend the idea, Lucy, I read the abstract you submitted last month."
Lucy nodded, "So they want a pidgin class of magic, so they can use their own skills to access our energy to work whatever they found in those books?"
"Exactly."
"Well, I'm not going to tell them. I mean, its not as if my stubborn nature isn't fully well known already."
"It doesn't matter Lucy. Whomever they have is quite capable of stripping what he needs straight out of your mind if need be and using you like the Rosetta Stone."
Lucy shivered, and Sofia took her hand. "But that is by no means their first choice, and you're right, they would get a much better understanding if they could force you to cooperate."
Diego cracked his knuckles and began to pace. "So these people are looking for Lucy-"
"For you both."
"Us both?"
Sofia nodded. "You two are the last link to Espiritu, and what they want is an Espiritu. We are going to assume that whatever they want, they can get from either of you. After all, in theory, you received the same education that Asriel had, so they should be able to use you to understand what they found in Asriel's books. Also, it would be very easy to use you two against each other."
Lucy looked up, "You mean like holding one of us to get the other to cooperate."
Sofia nodded, "So we are considering you both as targets and acting accordingly."
"What about students from the other schools?"
Sofia shook her head. "They were after the books at Chadwicks, that much we are certain. Besides, the age of most of the survivors makes them highly unlikely targets for someone looking for a tutor. And most of the older girls are medicinals anyway."
"So, we just have to be careful?"
Sofia sighed, "Very careful. And, well, I think it would be best if we let you both get in to the council. We'll discuss some of the other ideas later. Just, whatever happens, remember that we are your guardians and are trying to do what is best for you."
Lucy and Diego exchanged a look. Both got the distinct impression that they weren't going to be happy with the "other ideas," but they could discuss that later, in private. As it was they followed Sofia out of the room and through the maze of corridors and tunnels that led to the main council chamber in the heart of the Sun Pyramid. There had been a recess and the ambassadors were just getting ready to go back to session when Sofia steered to two neophytes through the doors.
The four sides of the room mirrored the angle and tilt of the sloped of the pyramid, so the ceiling towered high above the main floor. The ambassadors sat in tiered rows of benches, divided into boxed partitions by lower walls, made of wood and much more recently than the stone benches. The tiers formed an almost perfect circle, there was a break on one side where the entry way was, and in the center, facing away from this door, was a tall podium, with a high backed bench behind it. Like most everything, it was also stone, cold, uncomfortable, and austere. Lucy once again was reminded of how much she hated this place.
Sofia guided them to the Espiritu box, a partition on the fourth row in the center, between the ambassadors from the Valley of the Kings and the Cairo school, whom Diego greeted enthusiastically. The Chadwicks representatives were several rows up and several boxes over, but Lucy recognized Ann from her masters trials last year and waved. The Joshua Tree box was empty.
It wasn't long before everyone was resettled. There were five people sitting on the high bench behind the speaking podium. They were the ambassadors for the major Guilds: Masters, Adepts, Maintainers, Medicinals, and Minors. Sofia was the ambassador for the Minors Guild, which managed all basic and intermediate students, and all pre-Medicinal candidates that hadn't become certified yet. Basically it meant she was in charge of children, and since the children who were called to schools usually came from very different backgrounds, it was a good thing the woman had unending patience.
It was Sofia who spoke first, serenely stepping up to the podium and levitating herself off the floor enough to be seen.
"Before we begin with the reports I would like to welcome the ambassadors from the Espiritu Institute, who were detained at the last minute and have only just been able to join us now." There where many nods and smiles and more than one open stare as Lucy and Diego uncomfortably looked about; Diego waved, Lucy poked him in the ribs.
"And now, would the Guild of Maintainers like to begin their presentation?"
A man sitting behind Sofia rose and positioned himself behind the podium. "As the Guild representative it is my solemn and sober duty to deliver the final reports, recently filed, regarding the attacks of last fall and winter."
A murmur rippled through the chamber, but as the burly man softly cleared his throat, the room fell back into silence.
"My name is Victor. I have been a member of the Maintainers Guild for the past thirty years. And never has my job been as difficult as in the past sixteen months. Most of the attacks were well documented, and the results of the site examination and cleansing were reported directly back to every school and community in the Circle. However, there have been some more recent developments concerning three of the incidents." At this moment Victor paused and bent down, pulling a shard of orange stone out of a sack at his feet.
"This is a shard of what was once a sphere of tiger eye. The remnants of that sphere were found in the Centering Room of the Joshua Tree school on the west coast of the United States. After a close inspection, we have come to the disturbing conclusion that this was their locus stone."
The room erupted into shouts and gasps. Lucy looked at Diego, who nodded. This wasn't breaking news for them, the Maintainers had explained it when they came out in August to check the status of the Espiritu locus stone.
Every school in the Circle was connected to every other school on a very basic level through the Web, an energy network that tied every school together. The Web was what gave very small schools enough energy to form lasting protections, it kept nomadic schools like the Sahara on course and guarded, and it immediately let every other school, and every member of that school, know when something was terribly wrong. When Lucy had been struck down with headaches the previous fall and winter, it had been because Espiritu had been connected through the Web, and she was connected to Espiritu. The locus stone was what focused the energy, concentrated it, and every member of the school became acclimated to the stone as one of the very first parts of their training; afterwards it would always recognize that person as a member of the school. Lucy didn't remember acclimation, she had been an infant at the time.
The destruction of a locus stone was an unheard of event in the Circle. The stones were magically crafted to whatever shape was convenient, and were virtually indestructible. The loss of the stone meant the school was separated from the web, a very dangerous state.
But Victor was talking again.
"... stones at Espiritu and the Chadwick's school were found in a similar state. It is our belief that they were destroyed just before the principle attack. It explains why we never felt those attacks."
"How could they have been destroyed? It's never been done?"
"It has never been done by any of US, that is not to say that members of the Eastern Circle could not have accomplished it, and they are the ones suspected of being responsible."
"But they couldn't possible-"
Sofia stood up and whispered in Victor's ear. He raised his eyebrows, then turned and looked directly at Lucy.
Lucy turned to Diego, "What's going on?"
He shook his head, "I don't know, just, think before you say anything."
But Victor was talking again.
"Would the representative from Espiritu please come here?"
Diego looked at Lucy, who shook her head emphatically. Diego sighed and stood up.
Victor looked a bit uncomfortable. "The, er, OTHER representative please."
Lucy sighed and made her way to the podium.
"Is this really necessary?"
Sofia nodded, "Do you have your wand?"
"No...wait, yes, yes I do." That was odd, how had carrying it around become second nature?
Sofia nodded. So did Victor.
"What is going on?"
But Victor was talking again.
"We are now about to have a demonstration of the ability of Eastern magic to destroy a locus stone."
Lucy's eyes grew wide, "Oh no! No no no no no! They'll think I'm the devil."
But Victor was already pulling an orb out of his bag.
"This was the older stone of the Kiyoto school, replaced by a better locus when they rebuilt the temple."
He placed the orb on the podium.
"Ms Montero, if you would please?"
Lucy sighed, well, if there was one thing she was good at with this wand, it was blowing things up.
She raised her arm, flicked her wrist, muttered as quietly as possible, and watched as the ball cracked from the inside, beams of light spilling out, and shattered.
The room was silent. Lucy felt miserable.
"Can I go back to my seat now?"
Sofia nodded, and Lucy slunk back down next to Diego, trying to ignore the stares and gapes.
She folded her arms over her chest. "High council bites."
She didn't pay much attention as Victor went on to illuminate the play by play that the Maintainers had decided, using a great deal of the evidence Lucy sent to the Masters Guild last year, the sequence of events that had occurred at each location. The Maintainers had already been railroaded into spilling it all to Diego and Lucy that summer when they showed up.
The floor was now open to discussion, mostly centered on how much did they think the strangers knew. Someone had to have told them what a locus stone was, for starters. Most of the arguing was highly inefficient, and Lucy found herself dozing.
She woke up when Diego's elbow connected with her ribs.
** Sofia just asked you if you had any idea how the Ministry responded last year.**
"They didn't."
The person who asked the question, apparantly from Sri Lanka, looked taken aback.
"What?"
"There was no response to any of it, most of them don't know we exist."
"What about the man who knew about them in advance Lucy?"
"What was his name?"
"Who does he work for?"
"They just let him keep on doing what he was doing?"
Lucy silently wished for the ground to open up and swallow her.
Victor stepped up again, "Lucy, perhaps you could tell us what happened last year, after you woke up."
Lucy nodded and stood in her box.
"Well, I was out for several days, and when I woke up Faustas was missing..."
By the time she had given as clear a report as she could on the few weeks following the attack, there was a keen interest in the events at Hogwarts school among almost all of the representatives.
Lucy, however, wanted nothing more than to sit down. And she tried to. Several times. But it always seemed that when she had answered the last question another would pop up. They were particularly interested in Snape and Dumbledore, and of course, the history and activities of Lord Voldemort.
It was finally Sofia who stopped it. She approached the podium and called for a recess. Lucy sank onto her bench in relief and then let Diego lead her out into passage to find something to drink.
Ann hurried over and Lucy greeted the fair haired woman who had been her examiner last year with a grateful look and a big hug.
"How are you doing?"
"I'll be fine if someone would just let me melt into the background and not speak again, ever."
Ann laughed and shook her head. "I think you did very well. It's just that, well, in light of-"
Ann suddenly stopped herself and shook her head. "I shouldn't have said that. It's nothing for you to be worried about. Lets just say that the ambassadors have a newfound reason to renew their interest in the Eastern sect."
Diego threw his hands up in exasperation at the same time as Lucy.
"But that doesn't explain anything at all!"
Ann grimaced, "I know. But my hands are tied, really they are. Anyway, I just wanted to see how you were."
Lucy shrugged, "Thanks. We're fine. I saw Aislan and Marie, by the way. Well, Aislan at least."
Ann rolled her eyes. "Lord, those two, I thought I told you to stay away from them! A bigger pair of lazy lumps I never saw. At some point they are going to have to learn that brilliance is no excuse for being lazy. They'll never get the fellowships they want if they don't start applying themselves. But listen to me, I'm sorry, how were the little hellions?"
"Up to their ears in work, as a matter of fact. I ran into them when I was working in the Congo last week. Aislan looked like she hadn't slept in days, and I didn't get to see Marie because she was going on her sixth straight hour of surgery, at least, she was looking on and assisting. I think they are learning the value of hard work."
Ann grinned, "Glad to hear it, I'll have to remember to send them out to the next epidemic, wonderful teaching tools they are."
She then excused herself and went over to visit with other people from the Istanbul school. Ann was actually from the Istanbul Conservatory, having lived and worked there since before she attained Master status. However, she was representing Chadwicks for two reasons. The first being that she had been a student there up until just before she took her Masters trials, since Chadwicks taught in forms and then its graduates left to be mentored by faculty from other institutions. The other reason was that there were hardly any faculty left from Chadwicks left to serve as ambassadors, most of the school was still missing, like Lucy's family.
Sofia drifted over just as Lucy and Diego found some water. She gave Lucy a pat on the shoulder.
"That went well, I think."
Lucy glared, "Just tell me that I've satisfied their curiosity for everything." Her eyes begged an affirmative.
Sofia sighed, "Well, not exactly, but I think we've found a better solution than grilling you for a further two hours."
"Two and a half," Diego looked at his watch and back to Sofia with a slight expression of disapproval.
"So it is," if the older woman noticed it, which she undoubtedly did, she chose to ignore Diego's mood. "Don't worry, you won't have to be on the spot like that again. I think we've heard all we need to. The Guild Chairs would like to meet with you Lucy, during the dinner recess, if you don't mind."
Lucy looked at Diego, who shrugged.
"All right."
Sofia smiled, "Good. Very good, you're both doing splendidly, really."
At that moment a bell rang, and the delegates began to filter back into the room.
"Here we go again," Diego muttered, tossing his cup away and following Lucy back into the chamber.
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Several hours later Lucy found herself closeted away with Sofia and the rest of the Guild Chairs, in a small anteroom off of the main chamber. Everyone else had been released to the Moon Pyramid for dinner. Lucy's meal sat on her lap.
Although food was the last thing on her mind.
"Are you serious?"
The group assembled around her nodded.
"I'm not sure I understand, I mean, no one listens to me. No one even really TALKS to me about any of this, how on earth could they be using me?"
"You can never really be sure of anything, Lucy. But if there is a chance that information about us is being used against us, then we have to respond. And since you are our only link at this point, you're really the only option."
"But how-"
"Your potions professor, Lucy. You said you didn't trust him, correct."
"No one trusts Snape except for the Slytherins."
"He is still working for the same man who attacked the schools, correct? He is still in the service of Voldemort?"
"Yes, he claims it is only as a way to spy for Dumbledore, but, nevertheless, he is still in that circle."
"Well then he must be providing them some service. Don't you think it is plausible that one of his tasks might be to ferret out information from you?"
"Why?"
"We've already established that we think you or Diego are the last piece of the puzzle they need. Now, if this professor is still working for Dumbledore he is not going to be able to just hand you over to these Death Eater characters, that wouldn't work. But he can probably appease them and wet there appetite by providing information on the rest of your world. You have already said that he doesn't seem to care for the consequences outside his circle, correct?"
Lucy nodded. "So you think Snape is spying on me?"
"Not as such. But he is trying to get as much information to pass on as possible. That is one part of the theory."
"And you really think lying is going to help?"
Sofia nodded emphatically. "Absolutely. Lucy, these people have a limited understanding of us, and the more we can do to confound and confuse them the less progress they make. The more they look for us in places we are not, the better off we are."
"What exactly do you want me to say?"
Abraham, another familiar face from last years masters trials, and representing the Guild of Adepts fixed Lucy with his eyes.
"You need to lie Lucy. Lie as frequently and with as much creativity as possible. To everyone."
Lucy's eyes flashed, "I can't lie to everyone."
Abraham sighed, "Well, to everyone whom you wouldn't trust with the lives of your family, how about that?"
Lucy nodded, "That I can do."
"And most especially to your headmaster and professors."
Lucy sighed, "They aren't all bad..."
"But they aren't on your side Lucy, they have other people's welfare on their minds, and also their own. The problems of people thousands of miles away are not their principle focus. So we need to make sure that the destruction of all that we love and work for does not become just a part of the collateral damage of their own crusade. Do you understand?"
She nodded. She would feel strange lying to Dumbledore, but she had to do it. He and McGonagall and the rest would never understand.
Abraham rose, as did everyone else. Lucy stood beside him.
"We'll be sending you updates and information using a few less conspicuous methods. They'll be encrypted, and in Quechua even after that, but the Masters Guild is handling that for us, so your ring ought to be able to work that out."
At the sound of the bell the tall man smiled, "Well, it looks like we are just in time. Back to the firing squad, hmmm?"
Lucy couldn't manage the laughter that echoed as the others left the room, and sighed, picked up her uneaten sandwich and trudged back in for another four hour long session.
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** I thought we were never going to get out of there.**
** I'm beginning to understand why they hardly ever have these- ew, gross!**
** What?**
** The bugs here are big.**
Lucy heard Diego's mental chuckle as she wiped the bug off her shoe. **Is that all?**
** You don't understand, this thing was like, the Incredible Hulk of the insect world.**
** Right**
** I think its carnivorous.**
** Uh huh, sure.**
** Mice, would be no problem.**
* *Good night, Lucy.**
** Are there bugs in your room?**
** Oh no, not a chance Montero, go to sleep.**
** But it's creepy in here, its like a cell.**
** It was probably very spacious in Mesoamerican times, now shut up and go to bed you ungrateful jaded girl.**
**If I wake up screaming in the night just know that it's because I've found my leg chewed off by one of the Incredible Hulk's three thousand or so brothers and sisters.**
** I'll keep that in mind.**
She felt Diego's conscious mind fade, replaced by a dull, sleepy Diego she was used to. She sighed and snuffed out her light, tossing a bit on the uncomfortable pallet before finally slipping off.
Only to be jolted awake by a scream echoing in her mind.
**LUCY!**
It was Diego, that was all she had time to register before a hand covered in a vile smelling cloth clamped over her mouth and nose. Lucy struggled, managing to pick up her water glass and throw it against the door before her eyes fogged, and despite the fierce struggle of her mind, she began to go under.
She couldn't do that. She didn't know who this was, but she couldn't give them the chance to take any information out of her head. They weren't shielding their thoughts at all, and it was clear that was their aim. That left her with a rather nasty option, but she seized it.
As the world went black, she grabbed hold of everything she recognized as herself and with her mind pulled UP and OUT.
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It had worked. But she had no idea what she was going to do now.
She floated in a world of black, just black. She had no bearings, no recognition of anything, so her mind simply told her black.
The gamble had worked and Lucy had managed to pull herself out of, well, herself, in a manner of speaking. It was an option she and Diego had both been taught of more in a historical than a practical sense. Her body would continue to function as always, she just wouldn't wake up. The light was on but there was no one home. Lucy's spirit was unattached, and at the moment not at all sure when and how she would find herself again. But at least this way there would be no mind for whomever her assailant was to plunder. The brain would make her heart pump and her organs work, but it would be completely blank- soul-less.
She had known it would feel cold, and empty, but she hadn't realized how lonely.
Just as she was about to dispair, she felt a presence, very near.
And almost cried, if she could have, to recognize that presence as Diego.
** You got out.** She could feel the relief rolling off him in waves.
** The same thing happened to you?**
**Yeah, I sense you were still asleep, so I tried to wake you before they got in. I guess it didn't work.**
** You woke me in time to figure out what was happening at least. Who were they?**
** I don't know. I don't know how they got in or where they came from, and right now we have bigger concerns.**
** Like how to get back.**
**Or when. We don't know who has our bodies, Luce. We could wake up in that Azkaban place or something. Not really what I had in mind for New Years.**
** So how do we find our way back?**
** We hope we fall into the hands of people who know us and that someone can reach us, what else can we do.**
**That sounds boring.**
** Well, at least time doesn't seem to matter much here. It could have been a whole day by now, who knows?**
** At least we're not alone.**
Then there was nothing left to do but wait.
** Do you think we're dead?**
**What?**
** What if they killed us? We could be dead and not know it.**
** I think we would, Luce, try to relax.**
** Relax? I'm disembodied and you want me to relax?**
More waiting.
And some more.
When Lucy really thought she couldn't take it any more...
** What's that?**
Lucy sensed nothing.
** What do you mean 'what's that', there's nothing here. Literally, nothing.**
**No, the light, the sound, the smell, don't you feel it Lucy?**
** Um, no.**
** Oh come on, I can here, I don't know, something, music, I think, and there's light, and heat and...*
** OK, I think somebody's been in the timeless void a little too long...**
** You honestly don't see anything, do you?**
** No, I don't.**
** And you don't hear anything? Smell anything, feel anything?**
** Nothing, where is it?**
** It's right here!**
** Diego, there's nothing here.**
** It's a way out Lucy, it has to be. Someone is coming and trying to find us!**
** No. Someone is coming and trying to find YOU.**
** What?**
** I can't feel anything, Diego. So whoever this is must be trying to reach you.**
** I....**
** Can you get out?**
** What?**
** Is this, whatever it is, is it showing you the way out?**
** I think so.**
** Then go you big idiot!**
** Absolutely not. I'm not leaving you here.**
** Here? We don't even know where here is! Just go, wake up!**
** Lucy...**
** Wake up and then you can come and figure out how to wake me up, but hurry before whomever this is decides to give up!**
** What if-**
** Don't think about it, ok, we have a limited number of options here. So get moving.**
** I'll find you, I promise.**
** I know you will, now go!**
She couldn't see the door, or portal, or however it is he left, but she felt him slipping farther and farther away into the abyss.
Now she was really alone.
She hovered there for what seemed like days, but could have been hours, minutes, seconds or years. She vowed if she got back to herself she would never, ever be without a watch.
That was when she felt the tingle.
It was like the sensation that came when feeling flowed back into your extremeties, when your frostbitten fingers regained some warmth.
And there seemed to be a light patch of grey in the blackness.
It was as if she had seen it before, although she instinctively knew she never had. It flickered and danced, foggy and shadowed, but there just the same, a faint beacon, and the only point of reference in the abyss.
Of course, it was not necessarily friendly. But at this point, she didn't care if Lord Voldemort himself were trying to rouse her, she wanted out. Besides, she sensed that she knew whomever this was. It was not Diego, that was once presence she definitely didn't feel.
She focused on it, as if just thinking about it and recognizing it could pull her toward it, and maybe that was how it worked, because things began to change.
She felt warmer, more solid, more familiar, and she was coming closer and closer to the grey that had become whiter.
As soon as she was close enough, she reached out with whatever she was starting to recognize again as her conscious self, and connected.
She opened her eyes and found herself home. In her own body. In her own bed. In her own room. In her own school.
At the foot of the bed pallet, perched delicately on the back of a chair, was a large red shouldered hawk, which was, if hawks could do such a thing, looking immensely proud of himself.
** Honestly chica, I go away for five minutes and look what you get yourself into.**
"This isn't fair."
"You keep saying that, I wonder what your standard for comparison is?"
"We're supposed to be on vacation."
At the moment Lucy was only half visible, her head and torso concealed from view as she rummaged through the wardrobe in Alejandro's room, desperately trying to find the other Espiritu Ambassador cloak. She had hers, it had been sent last year just after the attack and before she knew that Diego was still alive. Diego, apparently, had not been sent his cloak, probably because he was with a nomadic school that tried to travel light. Tasera and Alejandro had been the Espiritu ambassadors before the school fell apart, and since Lucy was certain her cloak had been Tasera's, there was just this last place to look to find the other.
"Found it!" Triumphantly she emerged from the wooden wardrobe, her arms full of blue. The Espiritu Council and Guild color was sapphire blue, and the cloaks were trimmed in white to indicate the school's status and age. They were also ancient and Lucy wrinkled her nose at the smell.
"This one could use a good airing out and a bucket of Fabreeze."
"No time I'm afraid. We'll just be the smelly, inexperienced members this time."
They were in a rush because the message from the Circle had been of much greater importance than they had imagined it to be. When Lucy finally remembered it late Christmas night, after several glasses of eggnog, one glance was all it had taken to turn her stone sober.
The Circle was calling for high council on the 27th. That meant that every school had to send its Ambassadors, and the things had been known to go on for weeks.
And neither Lucy nor Diego had ever served as an Ambassador at high council. At most they had been allowed to sit in on more focused councils with their mentors, but since neither Antolin de La Vega or Jerome Giraldi had served as an Espiritu Ambassador in the past 20 years, this was going to be a totally new experience.
"You don't think they'll laugh out loud, will they?" Lucy frowned at the dust on the cloak and began to nervously dust it with her hand.
"Given our present circumstances, no, I don't think so. In fact, it will be a miracle if they listen to us at all."
"Maybe we better let you do all the talking." She paused and doused the lights and fire in the room as they made their way back toward their end of the compound.
"Me? Why me? You know the professor always said you were more persuasive."
"First of all, you're the empath. And second, have you forgotten where I go to school? I am studying at Hogwarts against the express wishes of Machu Pichu and the rest of the Circle. I'm the black sheep."
"Well, I think you're more of a grey sheep myself. And if you want to change the way people think, you're not going to do it standing behind me. Now go finish packing and I'll meet you in the courtyard in an hour."
One hour later they stood by one of the courtyard arches. Lucy was quieting her breathing as Diego shifted uncomfortably behind her.
"You DO remember where it is, right?"
She gave him an annoyed glance, "Of course."
"It's just that, well, how long has it been since you were there?"
"About four years, now quiet please, I'm trying to concentrate."
In truth it had been about four and a half. Lucy was one of the most well traveled students of her age in the Circle, owning mostly to her mentor's firm belief that it was cooperation and exchange of idea between the schools that would strengthen their future. But even after all that, this was not a familiar destination in any sense of the word.
High council did not meet often. When a high council was called, every school, every single one, had to send an ambassador. Now, there were still fewer ambassadors than there were schools because in some regions, like the forests of Brazil or the Himalayas, there were countless tiny schools, some integrated into non-magical communities under various pretenses, that could not spare anyone capable of acting as ambassador because they were so small. There groups usually formed small confederations and appointed a pair to act as representatives of the needs and opinions of the entire area. These ambassadors came armed with full reports, censuses, and important work accomplished in each school and were more than qualified to speak for them. But the rigmarole required to gather all the representatives was such that most decisions could be made in a more economical manner through the Guilds or area councils.
What that all meant was that it was going to take Lucy a little while to 'find' where she was going. And it was made harder by the fact that this was not her favorite place in the world.
In order to make all representatives feel on an even footing with each other, high council was never held at an occupied school. That meant ruins, and this year, council was meeting at Teotihuacan, a huge, elaborate Mesoamerican city. Lucy thought it was a dump.
She ground her teeth together and tried to focus, searching for a memory, a SAFE memory. The last time she had visited she had wandered into the Feathered Serpent Pyramid and fallen into one of the unearthed, mass graves, of which there were several, where hundreds of people had been sacrificed prior to the pyramids construction. She hated this city and would infinitely have preferred Chichen Itza.
Finally, she remembered that she had found, much to her delight, a workroom, with protections still in place, somewhere in the Moon Pyramid. That memory was enough for her to sense the gate terminus at Teotihuacan, and rapidly vines of light began to twist and bend into an arch, and in the black space before them they were suddenly met with the image of a large stone room, with a brazier burning in the middle.
"That's the Sun Pyramid all right," Diego commented dryly, "and I hope that's incense, you complained about the smell for a week when you got back."
Lucy rolled her eyes and gave him a shove to get going. Diego turned and carefully reset the school's protections before taking her hand and stepping through, pulling Lucy in after.
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"Name and school, please?" The droll registrar, who sounded like he came from the Ayers school, didn't really look up when Lucy and Diego approached his table, just outside the door to the gate room.
"Diego Alvarez and Lucy Montero, Espiritu." That got the young fop to look up, if only for a moment. He glanced down at his sheet.
"You need to report to Sofia as soon as possible. She'll be in the Moon Pyramid right about now. Use the subterranean tunnel down that way, too many tourists out to take the surface roads until they close it down. But with New Year and all, parks are closed for about ten days, so you won't have to use it that often."
Lucy had a feeling that last comment was for their benefit, since the idea of spending any manner of time underground had Diego looking green. He had gotten lost in both the Paris and Roman catacombs on any number of occasions, and one time he had been gone for almost a day complete. She gave him a reassuring squeeze and set off for the entrance to the tunnel.
After what seemed like an eternity in the thin, dark, smelly passage, they took the stairs up into the Moon Pyramid, which was at the far North end of the Avenue of the Dead, the city's main thoroughfare. After that it was only a matter of asking one of the many acolytes who were about lighting braziers and sweeping out cobwebs which way they needed to head to find Sofia, one of the most respected of the Macho Pichu elders.
Thankfully, she was on one of the lower levels, in a small workroom she was using as her own during the council. The place had been scrubbed and scoured, there were no bugs, no cobwebs, a small vase of flowers on the floor, several cushions, a rug and a mountain of blankets.
Lucy knocked on the doorframe.
Sofia turned and greeted them with a dazzling smile. She didn't look her age, whatever that was.
"So there you are. I was wondering when you would arrive."
She walked to the door and hugged them both, then stepped back to give them a calculating look.
"Yes, yes I think you will do just fine."
"What was that?" Diego cocked his head.
"Nothing, nothing. Pay no attention to an old and feeble woman. Now, have you seen anyone since you got in.?"
"Just the registrar, and a couple of acolytes from."
"Morocco, remember, they had cowls and looked like alter boys?"
Sofia chuckled, "Yes, but they are very good at restoration. I believe the desert schools use them frequently when they decided to settle in another set of ruins. You don't even have to instruct them, they know exactly what is to be done. No one else?"
"No," Lucy said slowly, "We didn't see anyone.why wasn't anyone else around?"
"Oh, probably because they are all in the council session."
"What? It's started? But you-"
"You're not late dears. Well, you are, and you will apologize, but you are here exactly when I told and wanted you to be. Now, Diego that piece of stone is meant to serve as a door, if you could put it in place and if you will both sit down, I'll try and be brief and clear."
They settled themselves among the cushions and rugs and waited until Diego had taken a seat.
"We haven't informed everyone that you two are coming, that's the first thing."
"But it's high council, won't they expect-"
"Despite your unending optimism dear, there are several schools who don't consider Espiritu to be a viable arm of the Circle. No doubt they never expected you to begin with."
"Why is this important?"
Sofia sighed. "We had long suspected that there might be, in our midst, certain unfaithful members of the Circle. It is highly unlikely that without inside information these people from England that you speak of could ever have accomplished what they did, even with the help of sacred texts."
"Do you know who it is?"
"We believe we have identified the principle informant, but there may be others. And it is because we are unsure that we haven't put your names on the role yet. We didn't want to risk an informant telling someone dangerous that you were here."
Lucy shook her head. "Why should it matter?"
"That is the heart of the matter. It goes back to last year, when a manifest was done of what was missing from the deserted schools. There was an area of the Espiritu cellar that had been totally cleared, do you remember?"
They nodded.
"That was where the belongings that Don Asriel had left behind were being stored. They contained certain journals, notebooks, some that he had sent back secretly to friends at the school, some which were very old, from his student days. All of them gone."
Diego shook his head. "I still don't see where this is going."
"When we compiled a list of all the books taken, the rare volumes from Joshua Tree, the Old World Library at Chadwicks, and the missing property of Don Asriel, the list included some of the most powerful discoveries and breakthroughs in Western Magic dating back to before the founding of this very city. Most of them were never used. And for good reason. Perhaps we should never have let them exist any longer in the first place. But when you are as diminished as we are, like the ruins of this city, you cling to what you have, even if it reeks of filth. But now these are in the hands of people who have not received a call; who are not bound to any school; and who are capable of the most terrible destruction imaginable. There is only one thing stopping them."
"What?"
"Their own ignorance. Lucy, do you remember the frustration you wrote home about last fall? Your inability to understand what was being asked of you? How it all worked?"
"Sure, it was driving me crazy."
Diego's eyes lit up. "You mean, no matter what they have, they don't understand it? And they won't be able to learn, at least never enough to use that kind of power?"
"I believe that whatever traitors among us helped them, they were not of the experience or creativity to understand what they had found, especially Asriel's work. He was always notoriously sloppy," she gave Lucy a knowing look.
"So what's the matter, it seems all's well that ends well."
"This won't stop them, I'm afraid. They know that there is someone, someone from our Circle that is studying their kind of magic. Someone who can teach them."
"You mean Lucy."
"Listen, Sofia, I told you about the BA, but they're just as scared as I was. And I'm just teaching them to control what they have, no amount of teaching can open up the ungifted!"
"But they wouldn't need to, that's the problem. Some of the works they have would enable the ungifted to access the natural energy we use, not the kind the Hogwarts uses; I believe you comprehend the idea, Lucy, I read the abstract you submitted last month."
Lucy nodded, "So they want a pidgin class of magic, so they can use their own skills to access our energy to work whatever they found in those books?"
"Exactly."
"Well, I'm not going to tell them. I mean, its not as if my stubborn nature isn't fully well known already."
"It doesn't matter Lucy. Whomever they have is quite capable of stripping what he needs straight out of your mind if need be and using you like the Rosetta Stone."
Lucy shivered, and Sofia took her hand. "But that is by no means their first choice, and you're right, they would get a much better understanding if they could force you to cooperate."
Diego cracked his knuckles and began to pace. "So these people are looking for Lucy-"
"For you both."
"Us both?"
Sofia nodded. "You two are the last link to Espiritu, and what they want is an Espiritu. We are going to assume that whatever they want, they can get from either of you. After all, in theory, you received the same education that Asriel had, so they should be able to use you to understand what they found in Asriel's books. Also, it would be very easy to use you two against each other."
Lucy looked up, "You mean like holding one of us to get the other to cooperate."
Sofia nodded, "So we are considering you both as targets and acting accordingly."
"What about students from the other schools?"
Sofia shook her head. "They were after the books at Chadwicks, that much we are certain. Besides, the age of most of the survivors makes them highly unlikely targets for someone looking for a tutor. And most of the older girls are medicinals anyway."
"So, we just have to be careful?"
Sofia sighed, "Very careful. And, well, I think it would be best if we let you both get in to the council. We'll discuss some of the other ideas later. Just, whatever happens, remember that we are your guardians and are trying to do what is best for you."
Lucy and Diego exchanged a look. Both got the distinct impression that they weren't going to be happy with the "other ideas," but they could discuss that later, in private. As it was they followed Sofia out of the room and through the maze of corridors and tunnels that led to the main council chamber in the heart of the Sun Pyramid. There had been a recess and the ambassadors were just getting ready to go back to session when Sofia steered to two neophytes through the doors.
The four sides of the room mirrored the angle and tilt of the sloped of the pyramid, so the ceiling towered high above the main floor. The ambassadors sat in tiered rows of benches, divided into boxed partitions by lower walls, made of wood and much more recently than the stone benches. The tiers formed an almost perfect circle, there was a break on one side where the entry way was, and in the center, facing away from this door, was a tall podium, with a high backed bench behind it. Like most everything, it was also stone, cold, uncomfortable, and austere. Lucy once again was reminded of how much she hated this place.
Sofia guided them to the Espiritu box, a partition on the fourth row in the center, between the ambassadors from the Valley of the Kings and the Cairo school, whom Diego greeted enthusiastically. The Chadwicks representatives were several rows up and several boxes over, but Lucy recognized Ann from her masters trials last year and waved. The Joshua Tree box was empty.
It wasn't long before everyone was resettled. There were five people sitting on the high bench behind the speaking podium. They were the ambassadors for the major Guilds: Masters, Adepts, Maintainers, Medicinals, and Minors. Sofia was the ambassador for the Minors Guild, which managed all basic and intermediate students, and all pre-Medicinal candidates that hadn't become certified yet. Basically it meant she was in charge of children, and since the children who were called to schools usually came from very different backgrounds, it was a good thing the woman had unending patience.
It was Sofia who spoke first, serenely stepping up to the podium and levitating herself off the floor enough to be seen.
"Before we begin with the reports I would like to welcome the ambassadors from the Espiritu Institute, who were detained at the last minute and have only just been able to join us now." There where many nods and smiles and more than one open stare as Lucy and Diego uncomfortably looked about; Diego waved, Lucy poked him in the ribs.
"And now, would the Guild of Maintainers like to begin their presentation?"
A man sitting behind Sofia rose and positioned himself behind the podium. "As the Guild representative it is my solemn and sober duty to deliver the final reports, recently filed, regarding the attacks of last fall and winter."
A murmur rippled through the chamber, but as the burly man softly cleared his throat, the room fell back into silence.
"My name is Victor. I have been a member of the Maintainers Guild for the past thirty years. And never has my job been as difficult as in the past sixteen months. Most of the attacks were well documented, and the results of the site examination and cleansing were reported directly back to every school and community in the Circle. However, there have been some more recent developments concerning three of the incidents." At this moment Victor paused and bent down, pulling a shard of orange stone out of a sack at his feet.
"This is a shard of what was once a sphere of tiger eye. The remnants of that sphere were found in the Centering Room of the Joshua Tree school on the west coast of the United States. After a close inspection, we have come to the disturbing conclusion that this was their locus stone."
The room erupted into shouts and gasps. Lucy looked at Diego, who nodded. This wasn't breaking news for them, the Maintainers had explained it when they came out in August to check the status of the Espiritu locus stone.
Every school in the Circle was connected to every other school on a very basic level through the Web, an energy network that tied every school together. The Web was what gave very small schools enough energy to form lasting protections, it kept nomadic schools like the Sahara on course and guarded, and it immediately let every other school, and every member of that school, know when something was terribly wrong. When Lucy had been struck down with headaches the previous fall and winter, it had been because Espiritu had been connected through the Web, and she was connected to Espiritu. The locus stone was what focused the energy, concentrated it, and every member of the school became acclimated to the stone as one of the very first parts of their training; afterwards it would always recognize that person as a member of the school. Lucy didn't remember acclimation, she had been an infant at the time.
The destruction of a locus stone was an unheard of event in the Circle. The stones were magically crafted to whatever shape was convenient, and were virtually indestructible. The loss of the stone meant the school was separated from the web, a very dangerous state.
But Victor was talking again.
"... stones at Espiritu and the Chadwick's school were found in a similar state. It is our belief that they were destroyed just before the principle attack. It explains why we never felt those attacks."
"How could they have been destroyed? It's never been done?"
"It has never been done by any of US, that is not to say that members of the Eastern Circle could not have accomplished it, and they are the ones suspected of being responsible."
"But they couldn't possible-"
Sofia stood up and whispered in Victor's ear. He raised his eyebrows, then turned and looked directly at Lucy.
Lucy turned to Diego, "What's going on?"
He shook his head, "I don't know, just, think before you say anything."
But Victor was talking again.
"Would the representative from Espiritu please come here?"
Diego looked at Lucy, who shook her head emphatically. Diego sighed and stood up.
Victor looked a bit uncomfortable. "The, er, OTHER representative please."
Lucy sighed and made her way to the podium.
"Is this really necessary?"
Sofia nodded, "Do you have your wand?"
"No...wait, yes, yes I do." That was odd, how had carrying it around become second nature?
Sofia nodded. So did Victor.
"What is going on?"
But Victor was talking again.
"We are now about to have a demonstration of the ability of Eastern magic to destroy a locus stone."
Lucy's eyes grew wide, "Oh no! No no no no no! They'll think I'm the devil."
But Victor was already pulling an orb out of his bag.
"This was the older stone of the Kiyoto school, replaced by a better locus when they rebuilt the temple."
He placed the orb on the podium.
"Ms Montero, if you would please?"
Lucy sighed, well, if there was one thing she was good at with this wand, it was blowing things up.
She raised her arm, flicked her wrist, muttered as quietly as possible, and watched as the ball cracked from the inside, beams of light spilling out, and shattered.
The room was silent. Lucy felt miserable.
"Can I go back to my seat now?"
Sofia nodded, and Lucy slunk back down next to Diego, trying to ignore the stares and gapes.
She folded her arms over her chest. "High council bites."
She didn't pay much attention as Victor went on to illuminate the play by play that the Maintainers had decided, using a great deal of the evidence Lucy sent to the Masters Guild last year, the sequence of events that had occurred at each location. The Maintainers had already been railroaded into spilling it all to Diego and Lucy that summer when they showed up.
The floor was now open to discussion, mostly centered on how much did they think the strangers knew. Someone had to have told them what a locus stone was, for starters. Most of the arguing was highly inefficient, and Lucy found herself dozing.
She woke up when Diego's elbow connected with her ribs.
** Sofia just asked you if you had any idea how the Ministry responded last year.**
"They didn't."
The person who asked the question, apparantly from Sri Lanka, looked taken aback.
"What?"
"There was no response to any of it, most of them don't know we exist."
"What about the man who knew about them in advance Lucy?"
"What was his name?"
"Who does he work for?"
"They just let him keep on doing what he was doing?"
Lucy silently wished for the ground to open up and swallow her.
Victor stepped up again, "Lucy, perhaps you could tell us what happened last year, after you woke up."
Lucy nodded and stood in her box.
"Well, I was out for several days, and when I woke up Faustas was missing..."
By the time she had given as clear a report as she could on the few weeks following the attack, there was a keen interest in the events at Hogwarts school among almost all of the representatives.
Lucy, however, wanted nothing more than to sit down. And she tried to. Several times. But it always seemed that when she had answered the last question another would pop up. They were particularly interested in Snape and Dumbledore, and of course, the history and activities of Lord Voldemort.
It was finally Sofia who stopped it. She approached the podium and called for a recess. Lucy sank onto her bench in relief and then let Diego lead her out into passage to find something to drink.
Ann hurried over and Lucy greeted the fair haired woman who had been her examiner last year with a grateful look and a big hug.
"How are you doing?"
"I'll be fine if someone would just let me melt into the background and not speak again, ever."
Ann laughed and shook her head. "I think you did very well. It's just that, well, in light of-"
Ann suddenly stopped herself and shook her head. "I shouldn't have said that. It's nothing for you to be worried about. Lets just say that the ambassadors have a newfound reason to renew their interest in the Eastern sect."
Diego threw his hands up in exasperation at the same time as Lucy.
"But that doesn't explain anything at all!"
Ann grimaced, "I know. But my hands are tied, really they are. Anyway, I just wanted to see how you were."
Lucy shrugged, "Thanks. We're fine. I saw Aislan and Marie, by the way. Well, Aislan at least."
Ann rolled her eyes. "Lord, those two, I thought I told you to stay away from them! A bigger pair of lazy lumps I never saw. At some point they are going to have to learn that brilliance is no excuse for being lazy. They'll never get the fellowships they want if they don't start applying themselves. But listen to me, I'm sorry, how were the little hellions?"
"Up to their ears in work, as a matter of fact. I ran into them when I was working in the Congo last week. Aislan looked like she hadn't slept in days, and I didn't get to see Marie because she was going on her sixth straight hour of surgery, at least, she was looking on and assisting. I think they are learning the value of hard work."
Ann grinned, "Glad to hear it, I'll have to remember to send them out to the next epidemic, wonderful teaching tools they are."
She then excused herself and went over to visit with other people from the Istanbul school. Ann was actually from the Istanbul Conservatory, having lived and worked there since before she attained Master status. However, she was representing Chadwicks for two reasons. The first being that she had been a student there up until just before she took her Masters trials, since Chadwicks taught in forms and then its graduates left to be mentored by faculty from other institutions. The other reason was that there were hardly any faculty left from Chadwicks left to serve as ambassadors, most of the school was still missing, like Lucy's family.
Sofia drifted over just as Lucy and Diego found some water. She gave Lucy a pat on the shoulder.
"That went well, I think."
Lucy glared, "Just tell me that I've satisfied their curiosity for everything." Her eyes begged an affirmative.
Sofia sighed, "Well, not exactly, but I think we've found a better solution than grilling you for a further two hours."
"Two and a half," Diego looked at his watch and back to Sofia with a slight expression of disapproval.
"So it is," if the older woman noticed it, which she undoubtedly did, she chose to ignore Diego's mood. "Don't worry, you won't have to be on the spot like that again. I think we've heard all we need to. The Guild Chairs would like to meet with you Lucy, during the dinner recess, if you don't mind."
Lucy looked at Diego, who shrugged.
"All right."
Sofia smiled, "Good. Very good, you're both doing splendidly, really."
At that moment a bell rang, and the delegates began to filter back into the room.
"Here we go again," Diego muttered, tossing his cup away and following Lucy back into the chamber.
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Several hours later Lucy found herself closeted away with Sofia and the rest of the Guild Chairs, in a small anteroom off of the main chamber. Everyone else had been released to the Moon Pyramid for dinner. Lucy's meal sat on her lap.
Although food was the last thing on her mind.
"Are you serious?"
The group assembled around her nodded.
"I'm not sure I understand, I mean, no one listens to me. No one even really TALKS to me about any of this, how on earth could they be using me?"
"You can never really be sure of anything, Lucy. But if there is a chance that information about us is being used against us, then we have to respond. And since you are our only link at this point, you're really the only option."
"But how-"
"Your potions professor, Lucy. You said you didn't trust him, correct."
"No one trusts Snape except for the Slytherins."
"He is still working for the same man who attacked the schools, correct? He is still in the service of Voldemort?"
"Yes, he claims it is only as a way to spy for Dumbledore, but, nevertheless, he is still in that circle."
"Well then he must be providing them some service. Don't you think it is plausible that one of his tasks might be to ferret out information from you?"
"Why?"
"We've already established that we think you or Diego are the last piece of the puzzle they need. Now, if this professor is still working for Dumbledore he is not going to be able to just hand you over to these Death Eater characters, that wouldn't work. But he can probably appease them and wet there appetite by providing information on the rest of your world. You have already said that he doesn't seem to care for the consequences outside his circle, correct?"
Lucy nodded. "So you think Snape is spying on me?"
"Not as such. But he is trying to get as much information to pass on as possible. That is one part of the theory."
"And you really think lying is going to help?"
Sofia nodded emphatically. "Absolutely. Lucy, these people have a limited understanding of us, and the more we can do to confound and confuse them the less progress they make. The more they look for us in places we are not, the better off we are."
"What exactly do you want me to say?"
Abraham, another familiar face from last years masters trials, and representing the Guild of Adepts fixed Lucy with his eyes.
"You need to lie Lucy. Lie as frequently and with as much creativity as possible. To everyone."
Lucy's eyes flashed, "I can't lie to everyone."
Abraham sighed, "Well, to everyone whom you wouldn't trust with the lives of your family, how about that?"
Lucy nodded, "That I can do."
"And most especially to your headmaster and professors."
Lucy sighed, "They aren't all bad..."
"But they aren't on your side Lucy, they have other people's welfare on their minds, and also their own. The problems of people thousands of miles away are not their principle focus. So we need to make sure that the destruction of all that we love and work for does not become just a part of the collateral damage of their own crusade. Do you understand?"
She nodded. She would feel strange lying to Dumbledore, but she had to do it. He and McGonagall and the rest would never understand.
Abraham rose, as did everyone else. Lucy stood beside him.
"We'll be sending you updates and information using a few less conspicuous methods. They'll be encrypted, and in Quechua even after that, but the Masters Guild is handling that for us, so your ring ought to be able to work that out."
At the sound of the bell the tall man smiled, "Well, it looks like we are just in time. Back to the firing squad, hmmm?"
Lucy couldn't manage the laughter that echoed as the others left the room, and sighed, picked up her uneaten sandwich and trudged back in for another four hour long session.
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** I thought we were never going to get out of there.**
** I'm beginning to understand why they hardly ever have these- ew, gross!**
** What?**
** The bugs here are big.**
Lucy heard Diego's mental chuckle as she wiped the bug off her shoe. **Is that all?**
** You don't understand, this thing was like, the Incredible Hulk of the insect world.**
** Right**
** I think its carnivorous.**
** Uh huh, sure.**
** Mice, would be no problem.**
* *Good night, Lucy.**
** Are there bugs in your room?**
** Oh no, not a chance Montero, go to sleep.**
** But it's creepy in here, its like a cell.**
** It was probably very spacious in Mesoamerican times, now shut up and go to bed you ungrateful jaded girl.**
**If I wake up screaming in the night just know that it's because I've found my leg chewed off by one of the Incredible Hulk's three thousand or so brothers and sisters.**
** I'll keep that in mind.**
She felt Diego's conscious mind fade, replaced by a dull, sleepy Diego she was used to. She sighed and snuffed out her light, tossing a bit on the uncomfortable pallet before finally slipping off.
Only to be jolted awake by a scream echoing in her mind.
**LUCY!**
It was Diego, that was all she had time to register before a hand covered in a vile smelling cloth clamped over her mouth and nose. Lucy struggled, managing to pick up her water glass and throw it against the door before her eyes fogged, and despite the fierce struggle of her mind, she began to go under.
She couldn't do that. She didn't know who this was, but she couldn't give them the chance to take any information out of her head. They weren't shielding their thoughts at all, and it was clear that was their aim. That left her with a rather nasty option, but she seized it.
As the world went black, she grabbed hold of everything she recognized as herself and with her mind pulled UP and OUT.
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It had worked. But she had no idea what she was going to do now.
She floated in a world of black, just black. She had no bearings, no recognition of anything, so her mind simply told her black.
The gamble had worked and Lucy had managed to pull herself out of, well, herself, in a manner of speaking. It was an option she and Diego had both been taught of more in a historical than a practical sense. Her body would continue to function as always, she just wouldn't wake up. The light was on but there was no one home. Lucy's spirit was unattached, and at the moment not at all sure when and how she would find herself again. But at least this way there would be no mind for whomever her assailant was to plunder. The brain would make her heart pump and her organs work, but it would be completely blank- soul-less.
She had known it would feel cold, and empty, but she hadn't realized how lonely.
Just as she was about to dispair, she felt a presence, very near.
And almost cried, if she could have, to recognize that presence as Diego.
** You got out.** She could feel the relief rolling off him in waves.
** The same thing happened to you?**
**Yeah, I sense you were still asleep, so I tried to wake you before they got in. I guess it didn't work.**
** You woke me in time to figure out what was happening at least. Who were they?**
** I don't know. I don't know how they got in or where they came from, and right now we have bigger concerns.**
** Like how to get back.**
**Or when. We don't know who has our bodies, Luce. We could wake up in that Azkaban place or something. Not really what I had in mind for New Years.**
** So how do we find our way back?**
** We hope we fall into the hands of people who know us and that someone can reach us, what else can we do.**
**That sounds boring.**
** Well, at least time doesn't seem to matter much here. It could have been a whole day by now, who knows?**
** At least we're not alone.**
Then there was nothing left to do but wait.
** Do you think we're dead?**
**What?**
** What if they killed us? We could be dead and not know it.**
** I think we would, Luce, try to relax.**
** Relax? I'm disembodied and you want me to relax?**
More waiting.
And some more.
When Lucy really thought she couldn't take it any more...
** What's that?**
Lucy sensed nothing.
** What do you mean 'what's that', there's nothing here. Literally, nothing.**
**No, the light, the sound, the smell, don't you feel it Lucy?**
** Um, no.**
** Oh come on, I can here, I don't know, something, music, I think, and there's light, and heat and...*
** OK, I think somebody's been in the timeless void a little too long...**
** You honestly don't see anything, do you?**
** No, I don't.**
** And you don't hear anything? Smell anything, feel anything?**
** Nothing, where is it?**
** It's right here!**
** Diego, there's nothing here.**
** It's a way out Lucy, it has to be. Someone is coming and trying to find us!**
** No. Someone is coming and trying to find YOU.**
** What?**
** I can't feel anything, Diego. So whoever this is must be trying to reach you.**
** I....**
** Can you get out?**
** What?**
** Is this, whatever it is, is it showing you the way out?**
** I think so.**
** Then go you big idiot!**
** Absolutely not. I'm not leaving you here.**
** Here? We don't even know where here is! Just go, wake up!**
** Lucy...**
** Wake up and then you can come and figure out how to wake me up, but hurry before whomever this is decides to give up!**
** What if-**
** Don't think about it, ok, we have a limited number of options here. So get moving.**
** I'll find you, I promise.**
** I know you will, now go!**
She couldn't see the door, or portal, or however it is he left, but she felt him slipping farther and farther away into the abyss.
Now she was really alone.
She hovered there for what seemed like days, but could have been hours, minutes, seconds or years. She vowed if she got back to herself she would never, ever be without a watch.
That was when she felt the tingle.
It was like the sensation that came when feeling flowed back into your extremeties, when your frostbitten fingers regained some warmth.
And there seemed to be a light patch of grey in the blackness.
It was as if she had seen it before, although she instinctively knew she never had. It flickered and danced, foggy and shadowed, but there just the same, a faint beacon, and the only point of reference in the abyss.
Of course, it was not necessarily friendly. But at this point, she didn't care if Lord Voldemort himself were trying to rouse her, she wanted out. Besides, she sensed that she knew whomever this was. It was not Diego, that was once presence she definitely didn't feel.
She focused on it, as if just thinking about it and recognizing it could pull her toward it, and maybe that was how it worked, because things began to change.
She felt warmer, more solid, more familiar, and she was coming closer and closer to the grey that had become whiter.
As soon as she was close enough, she reached out with whatever she was starting to recognize again as her conscious self, and connected.
She opened her eyes and found herself home. In her own body. In her own bed. In her own room. In her own school.
At the foot of the bed pallet, perched delicately on the back of a chair, was a large red shouldered hawk, which was, if hawks could do such a thing, looking immensely proud of himself.
** Honestly chica, I go away for five minutes and look what you get yourself into.**