Which was why she was missing class, in a roundabout way.
It wasn’t that she wasn’t going to school, it had more to do with what she was doing when she did arrive. She was content to hole up in the stairwell, stay out of the way, and work on her stuff. If she had a goblin stowed, she could miss a class to bring it out and do some bargaining, offering freedom for a little technique or trick, or a bit of explanation about how things worked. The really stupid ones could be caught over and over again, bled for everything they were worth. She could read in the library, she’d practiced techniques on the school roof when it was only fall, and she could make notes and plan.
In the process, she maybe missed each of her classes once a week, but she was still keeping her promise. Still going to school, like she’d promised her dads. Technically.
Anything more than that was impossible. She was sleeping better these days, but ‘better’ didn’t mean well.
Taking time out of class meant she could prepare herself, make herself a little and preparing helped her relax.
In a way, it was a long journey to take to feel at ease, and it didn’t last long.
But it was getting better. She had an ally now. Allies.
Sorta-friends.
Blake was one. He could still offer her books. Even though he’d just left, dashing off to Toronto, he was bound to come back. When he came back, fixing his problem with the barrier, he’d give her access to books, with access to the books, she’d step up her game and prepare for trouble, and she’d beat it and everything would be okay.
■
“Thorburn probably isn’t coming back,” Lola said. “I can’t tell you the key details, but four separate divinations or powers are saying so.”
Lola was here, a senior, one year older than Maggie, joined by Penelope, Joanna, Chloe and Lea. Not all of the school-age Duchamps, not even half, but enough.
Gavin, Owen and Craig Behaim were here too, as were the Briar Girl, Patrick, Evonne, and Keller.
Plus the wrinkly goblin, bound in chain, which she’d retrieved and brought with her now that the school day was over.
Maggie looked at all of them in turn, for a hint, a clue.
They were deadly serious, and whatever they’d discussed, they’d shared with each other, but they wouldn’t share with her.
“You guys are jerks,” Maggie said. “Why would you tell me that?”
“You’re on the verge of becoming a problem,” Gavin said. “That vote during the council meeting was supposed to be a warning. A very firm suggestion that you’re supposed to shape up or ship out.”
“Gotta say,” Maggie said, sticking her hands in her pockets, “didn’t appreciate you voting yes on my execution.”
“I was trying to make a point, a tangent to the greater point. You came after me-”
“I played a prank.”
“You came after me,” Gavin said. “You sent goblins after me.”
“I played a prank to equalize things because you assholes felt like the new girl needed to know her place or some shit like that.”
“I was asked to test your measure, see how you operated, what kind of practitioner you were. I did as I was asked. Whatever your excuse, you came after me with excess force, and you needed to know that when you make enemies here, on top of crossing lines and drawing interest from non-practitioners, you put yourself in a dangerous position. So I voted. Others will do the same until you clue in.”
“Yawn,” Maggie said. “Is this the only reason you reached out? I knew most of this already, and if we’re rehashing old arguments-”
“Maggie, that’s not it,” Penelope said. She was the oldest human present, and wanted to think she had more authority as a result.
Maggie remained silent, waiting for more of a response.
“With the Thorburn thing happening, we can’t have too many wild cards in play. This thing, right here? It’s the next generation of practitioners. Except for your goblin there, and Patrick and his group who invited themselves-”
“You make us sound so unwelcome,” Evonne chimed in.
“We’re part of the next generation, and we’ll be part of the generation after that, and so on, barring strange circumstances,” Patrick said, “and believe it or not, we’re relatively young. We’re perpetually current. I’d like to think we count.”
Penelope hesitated. Her canary gave her a look that a bird wasn’t supposed to be capable of, and Penelope continued as if Patrick hadn’t interjected. “The current generation are doing their thing. We’re doing our thing. We’ve talked it over amongst ourselves, us practitioners. On the assumption that you’re not planning on leaving Jacob’s Bell anytime soon…”
A pause, giving Maggie an opening.
“No plans to leave anytime soon. Moving is a pain in the butt, and my parents really want to stop somewhere and get over what happened back home.”
“…Yeah. Well, since you’re sticking around, and you’re almost an adult, we thought we’d count you in our number. In a decade or so, we’ll be the council, or some of us will. We’re extending an offer of peace. Separate from the official council business, but honest, and it carries over as we move on.”
“Peace?”
Penelope continued, “We leave you alone. We leave your family alone. What Gavin was saying, in his roundabout way, is you could be our enemy, and stuff like the vote will edge closer and closer to putting you in a bad situation, or you can take this deal. You do what you need to do, and you do it without any hassle from us, provided you keep to the terms.”
Maggie pulled her hands from her pockets to fold her arms. “Lola said something like ‘we’ll never be friends’.”
“We won’t,” Lola said. “But we can leave each other alone, and we can exist in the same sphere without being at each other’s throats.
Penelope spoke up, “It’s not going to change things overnight. It might be a little clumsy, while we work out the details, but we can keep our parents from giving you a hard time, stop further execution votes from coming to pass. As our parents retire and we take our spots on the town council, we can raise you up with us.”
“With enough time, you’d have as much of a say as the Crone, the Faerie, Briar Girl or any other local powers,” Lola said.
“I don’t like you either,” Gavin said, “But I can play ball if it means you don’t screw everything up. We can send help your way. Resources, knowledge, individual lessons, if people feel up to it or if you want to bargain for it. If you want to focus on the goblins, we can change the way things are done. Powerful goblins go to you instead of getting killed, we tell you if there’s something going on goblinwise.”
Maggie double checked there were no funny connections. No obvious manipulations at work. “But there are conditions?”
Gavin shrugged. “Nothing too difficult. First off, you can’t mess with the whole thing going on with the contested Lordship over Jacob’s Bell. I’m hoping you’re not insane enough to think you can even make a play there.”
“Nah.”
“It benefits you,” Penelope said, “Letting things progress. If we or our families become Lord, we can give you your due. We’ll swear it. We become Lord, you become…”
“Subordinate,” Maggie said.
“I’d rather say you become more powerful, with our backing,” Lola said. “We’re not asking for slavery. You’d have free will. You could be a pain in our backsides and vote against every idea we raise, so long as the core rules are maintained. So long as you’re hands off when it comes to the ‘throne’ and letting Jacob’s Bell become something better.”