Chapter 11

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Despite the nagging feeling, Charity came out of the WorldView chamber full of energy. She had survived her second Wizards’ Watch with her self and her Skald intact. She was ready to enjoy her day off.

Dutifully, she paused to review the trainees’ notes. Shaughan wrote in a scrawl that was difficult to read, but Stan’s account was not only neat, it was numbered. Charity expressed her approval and sent them downstairs for breakfast. She made a few quick notes of her own, without any nagging from Sunny. She grabbed the notebook in one hand, grabbed Sunny with the other, and almost skipped out of the workroom, closing the door behind her with a flick of magic.

Charity stopped by her room to grab Heeby Jeeby, and found him guarding a tray of wonderful looking food. Charity scowled. “I was going to take breakfast downstairs today. I thought it might be fun.”

“Oh?” Sunny asked, smothering a yawn. “And what were you going to do when you fell asleep on the table?”

“The way I feel now, I might need an early dinner, but I won’t even need a nap before the meeting.”

“What meeting?”

“The meeting with R’Majesty and the other wizards. Isn’t that today?”

Sunny shook her head. “No, it’s tomorrow. Last year was an emergency session. Today you just get to sleep.”

Charity waved away the thought. “I’ve been planning this day off for moons. I want to go out to the lake. Maybe go for a ride.” She stared down at Heeby Jeeby. “Can you run alongside the horse? I don’t want to leave you behind. I’ve missed you.”

Heeby Jeeby wagged his tail. Though he had a voice box, he rarely used it. But Charity rarely asked for advice, so it all worked out.

Sunny smiled. “Do me a favor. Eat your breakfast, since they prepared it for you. Lay down after, until the second bell. Then everyone will have finished their chores and the horses will be ready for some exercise.”

Charity rolled her eyes. “You didn’t tell the trainees to lay down.”

“That’s because as soon as they finish eating, NeachCook Reglin is going to give them the order.”

“Fine.” Ungratefully, Charity thumped onto the edge of the bed. Sunny exchanged a conspiratorial wink with Heeby Jeeby and left the room.

By the end of the meal, the adrenaline rush was wearing off. Muttering to herself about know-it-all-poets, Charity removed the clothes she had been wearing for the last full day and night and snuggled into bed with Heeby Jeeby. He was surprisingly cuddly for stone.

Charity dreamed of old friends: Deibra and Jaylin and Jernine, other children of the Shadowed Rooster Clan, Reginald, and Heeby Jeeby and Sunny. They were all playing chase around the tower and Charity was it and couldn’t give her power away. However, as frustrating as that was, it was kind of fun to run and scare and laugh. Everyone was aware of her, when she was It. She paused in the race to stretch.

She came out of the dream gently, not yelling the rest of the household awake. She wasn’t quite sure she had awakened, as the light around her was soft and diluted. She stretched again and looked out her window. The stars danced upon the lake and a quick check in the fountain showed a distinct lack of bustle around the tower.

Charity spent a few breaths pouting; what good was a day off if she slept through it?

But it was rather exciting to creep around the tower when no one else was awake. After taking care of physical requirements, she went down to the kitchens, with Heeby Jeeby clunking at her heels, to see if there was something to eat.

There was a whole platter of meat and cheese and bread and crisp vegetables and a lemon meringue pie for dessert. There was a big sign that said, “For the Wizard.” So NeachCook Reglin was taking care of her again.

After stuffing herself full, Charity toured her tower, imagining she was one of the ghosts. Again, she thought of Reginald, a perfectly awful name in Charity’s opinion.

She’d never known more than that, not his birth name or his clan. He had died when he was thirteen from some incurable disease, many years before she herself had arrived at Shadowed Rooster. But ever since she’d heard his story from Jaylin, the ghost of Reginald had been her invisible friend. At least until the day she’d become a wizard.

As she and Heeby Jeeby wondered the tower, Charity could almost imagine Reginald with her again. He was terribly sad she had forgotten about him, happy about the puppy, and a little worried because of something she couldn’t make out. They had never been that good at communicating.

She wandered down to the statues. She had never visited after dark; it seemed like disturbing sleeping guests. But she was determined to have some adventure before her day off was officially over.

The windows were dimmed to reflect the night light, and the hard stone of the inhabitants seemed insubstantial. Among the gray and black shadows, she heard all sorts of whisperings and mutterings, always behind her back and out of her peripheral vision. Heeby Jeeby slunk behind her with his tail between his legs and a stony growl in his throat. Charity enjoyed the slivery slide of fear at the back of her neck, confident that nothing could happen to her because these were just statues and the whispering voices were really her power checking to make sure every binding was still in place.

In the half-light, Charity could make out some of the stone faces she had noticed at MidWinter’s. There was the Familiar. There was the bird. There was the scary snake wrapped around the pillar.

The snake whose head was now lifted away from the pillar.

The snake whose ruby eyes glistened as they stared at Charity.

The snake whose tongue flickered.

A bell rang, Heeby Jeeby barked, Reginald grabbed her arm, and they raced back to the stairs. Charity slammed an extra ward of shielding over the doorway (strangely there was no door) and ran all the way back up to her room, where she sat in front of the fountain until dawn, watching the statues diligently. There was no visible movement, no sound she could hear. By the light of the rising sun, the snake was just stone, its tongue still, its eyes closed.

Huddled under the bed sheets with Heeby Jeeby standing guard, Charity took a nap until her bodyguard fetched her for the meeting with R’Majesty.