Taken

Getting unlost and finding our way to the bedroom wing took us twenty minutes and by the time we got there Anne and Variam were somewhere else. It took us the best part of an hour to find them and when we finally did someone else had gotten there first.

Variam and Anne were in the dining hall, along with the girl who’d been talking to Anne earlier. Standing opposite them were three apprentices. Two I recognised as the ones I’d seen back in the duelling class: the blond-haired boy with glasses, Charles, and the round-faced girl, Natasha. There was another girl with them too; like Natasha she looked Pakistani or Bangladeshi. To a casual glance they seemed to be just talking, but there was something about the way they were standing that didn’t look all that friendly. “. . . let you in here?” Natasha was saying.

“They let you in, didn’t they?” Variam said.

“We’re not Dark apprentices working for a monster,” Natasha’s friend said sweetly.

The younger girl I’d seen talking to Anne made a slight movement, trying to get behind Anne, but it only drew attention. “Why are you with them?” Natasha’s friend said. “Do you want us to report you to the Keepers? Go on, get lost.”

The girl gave a frightened glance back at Anne and scurried away. I watched her vanish down a corridor.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Anne said quietly. She was looking steadily at Natasha’s friend, and for the first time I got the impression she might be angry.

“Oh, what are you going to do about it?” Natasha’s friend said. “It’s not like you even entered—”

“Hi, kids,” I said, walking up to them.

Charles, Natasha, and Natasha’s friend stopped abruptly and turned to me. “Hello, Mage Verus,” Natasha said.

“Hi,” I said. “Anne, Variam, could you come with me please?”

The other three looked satisfied. Variam’s face darkened, but Anne stepped forward with a nod.

I led Anne and Variam back around the corner to where Luna was waiting. As soon as we were out of sight of Natasha and the others I shook my head. What was it about the apprentice program that made so many of the people in it act like they were still in high school?

“We didn’t need your help,” Variam said.

“I was under the impression,” I said, “that Jagadev asked you to help me.”

Variam scowled and looked away. “Hey, Anne,” Luna said with a wave.

“Hi. Thanks for coming in, Alex.”

“I said we didn’t need it,” Variam said. “Why are—?”

“Anne, did you enter?” Luna interrupted. “The tournament, I mean.”

Anne shook her head. “No.”

“You know, maybe if you’d actually fight once in a while I wouldn’t have to keep chasing those idiots off,” Variam said.

Luna looked from Variam to Anne. “You know why I don’t fight duels,” Anne said patiently.

“Maybe it’s about time you started.”

Luna glared at Variam. “Maybe you—”

“All right,” I said, cutting off the argument before it could start. “I assume you two know why Luna and I are really here?”

“Yes,” Anne said, just as Variam said “No.”

I looked between the two of them.

“You’re trying to find out what’s happened to the apprentices who’ve been disappearing,” Anne said.

“That’s what Jagadev thinks they’re doing,” Variam said sharply. Anne looked at him in surprise.

“Well, Jagadev’s right,” I said.

“What’s the plan?” Luna asked.

We’d gotten away from the noise and the chatter into a quiet corridor. Luna and Anne were already waiting for my answer and even Variam turned to watch me suspiciously.

“For now I want you to protect yourselves,” I said. “Keep your eyes open and follow up on anything you see, but your priority is to stay alive. Onyx is here, and he’s not the only one—something tried to attack me last time I was here and I don’t know what it was but I don’t want any of you running into it. And finally there’s whoever or whatever’s going after apprentices.” I looked from Luna to Anne to Variam. “And all three of you qualify. So while you’re here in this mansion, I don’t want any of you going anywhere alone.”

All three of them looked back at me, puzzled. “All of the disappearances that have happened so far had something in common,” I said. “The apprentice was always on their own when they vanished. Anne, are you sharing a room with anyone?”

“Ah . . .” Anne said. “I was supposed to be, but—”

“You are now. Luna, you’re moving in with her.”

“I think we were supposed to be assigned rooms,” Anne began.

“Just find one that no one’s using and take it. If anyone gives you any trouble, tell them it’s on my orders and for them to come to me, but odds are they won’t.”

“Wait a minute,” Variam said. “We don’t need—”

“You aren’t going to be keeping an eye on her all the time, Variam,” I said. “Not unless you’re going to follow her into the bathroom.”

Variam scowled. “What about you?” I asked him.

“What?”

“Are you sharing a room?”

“Why do you care?”

“If you’re not,” I said mildly, “then I think you should start.”

Variam looked me up and down. “Are you in charge of us?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re not our master,” Variam said. “Is there some Council rule that we have to do what you say?”