Once class let out for the day, I considered making a beeline to Maggie’s classroom. I wanted to get the lesson in the dark arts wrapped up, after all. However, something seemed subtly off. I could not put my finger on it, until just the faintest whiff of vanilla hit my nose. I didn’t call Kiyo out right away. We were in the middle of a busy hallway, after all. The fact that she was there as soon as I was out the door told me she must have left Mrs. Perera’s room early, which was disturbing. I didn’t want her getting in more trouble, and just as pressing to me, I didn’t want her getting me in more trouble.

I sent Maggie a vague text saying I would be late and speed walked down the hall. I casually glanced over my shoulder, focusing my Mimic Sight. I didn’t dare leave it open for long, since it was already a strain on my magic reserves. The quick scan showed there was a magical signature following me without a person attached.

I took the stairs up a few floors, coming out at the school’s batting cages. As always, they were completely abandoned. I think the only person who used them regularly was Hiro.

In the complete silence, I could hear the padding of feet from behind. “Kiyo, we talked about this.”

“I was just gonna surprise you,” she said as her form wavered back into sight. “What’s the problem?”

“This is getting awfully close to your old ‘recon’ habits,” I said. “You promised you would stop that, remember?”

“It doesn’t count when it’s you,” she said with a nervous chuckle. “Right? Boyfriend/Girlfriend Contact.”

“Tell me when you’re going to do that,” I said. “Rose was disturbed this morning. You promised her you wouldn’t sneak around out of sight month ago.”

Her brow furrowed. “What’s your problem? You never complained about it before.”

“No, I certainly have,” I replied. “Maybe I let it go for too long, but other people are starting to notice it. You’re falling back into bad habits, and we’re both under more scrutiny.”

“Well why shouldn’t I follow you? What were you going to say to Rose that I shouldn’t know, huh?” She strode over, face defiant and her hands on her hips. “It’s all true, isn’t it?”

“What’s all true?”

“Everyone’s saying you two are sneaking around with each other,” she said. “Paul said you went on a date when she was in a bikini.”

“You of all people know that’s nonsense! For one, that was just her exercise outfit. You see them every morning.”

“So what, the bikini part is wrong, but the date part is right?”

She was giving me a headache. “No! We ran into each other and we went for a bite. That would never happen. You were there when she told me off, remember?”

“Yeah, because I was in recon mode,” she said. “All the more reason I should use it. It lets me fact check.”

I grabbed her by the shoulders, perhaps more roughly than I ought to have. “No! You shouldn’t need to ‘fact check’ what I tell you! Don’t you trust me?”

Her eyes went wide. “I… I want to, but something’s different lately with you. It felt distant this morning when you kissed me.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” I said. “We just…” I decided to be indirect. One couldn’t be sure who might wander in. “We just had our special night, remember?”

She frowned, struggling to find the words. “Yeah, but… I don’t know why, but that felt like a goodbye. Like you wanted me gone.”

I held her tight against me. “Never. No matter what, never think that again.”

“Then why does it feel like there’s something going on you’re keeping from me?”

Because you’re a sharp girl. “You’re always talking about the boyfriend/girlfriend contract. I’m going to invoke that. I need you to trust me. It will all make sense at some point, but for right now, know that everything I do is for you.”

“Do you mean that?” she asked, returning my embrace for the first time.

“Of course,” I said. It was technically true, after all. That was my deal with Maggie; whatever we did, Kiyo could not be affected. “Now, I’m afraid that duty calls.”

“You’re taking a study session with Ms. Edwards pretty seriously,” she said.

Inspiration struck. I could cover for myself and allay her fears. “Very well, you got me. I’ll let you in on my scheme.” I shot her a smirk, banishing my lingering melancholy. “I don’t want you leaving me behind. I hear in second year, the upper classes do more large-scale training together, practically every day.”

Kiyo’s eyes shone with excitement. “Wait, really?”

I put a finger to my lips. “Keep it to yourself, okay? It’s supposed to be a bit of a surprise.” It was complete bunk, but it was less painful than the truth.

Her smile nearly threatened to split her face. “Awesome! It’s going to be like we’re in class together again!”

“Exactly. It’s a loophole in our ban from being stationed together. That’s why I’m running myself ragged with Ms. Edwards. Everything is for the big prize. We have less fun time now, but it’s going to pay big dividends next year.”

“Shoot, I should take Mariko up on that study hall offer,” she said. “I’m going to get every point I can on the exams, just in case.”

“That’s the spirit. Now, am I free to go?”

She shook her head, sending her side ponytail bobbing. “Nope, gotta pay the toll.”

I kissed her so hard that I had to catch my breath afterwards. By Our Father Below, she was not going to think this was a perfunctory kiss! She wore a dreamy look as I strode out of the room. “You can keep the change for that!”

“Y-yeah,” she managed, sliding down her knees.

I felt a pang of guilt as I left. Before, I would have kissed her for the fun of it, instead of just trying to shut her up. It made the act feel tawdry.

Oh, well. One does what one must.

********

Maggie’s lessons in the dark arts had gone swimmingly, unfortunately. The tutoring sessions were a necessary evil, since there was not an artful way to refuse. Still, I did not care for the idea of leaving a human behind me with a working understanding of the Horde’s best spells. She was an ally, but like Kiyo, Hiro, and the rest, that was temporary.

I also saw why the Headmaster had snapped her up as soon as she had fled from England. She had mastered Ruhspont more quickly than expected, and that was one of the more mechanically complex spells in my repertoire. I suppose if you have a motivated student, it’s hard to be a poor teacher. Their natural drive will drive them along, no matter what roadblocks you threw in their way.

Which is why I had decided to change tactics. I wanted to butter her up, after all. This lesson was about Bahadur, or Bloody Lance, one of my old standbys, and one of the more satisfying demonic spells. There’s something delightful about sending a concentrated bolt of red chaos straight into an enemy’s chest. It is what I had used to melt Haru’s arm, and that had put him in a coma for weeks.

“No, no,” I said, adjusting the angle of her right hand. “If you do it like that, you’ll curve the bolt.”

“Strange, I thought you liked curves,” she said, flashing me a smirk. It was unfair that the Enemy had given her such an electrifying smile. I could almost forget how much she had fouled up my whole life. Almost.

“Not when they’re liable to blow a hole in the wall,” I retorted. “Your hands are in the proper positions,” I said. “Let’s give it a try.” I had set up a circular Svalinn’s Mercy as thick as I could manage as a floating target a few body lengths away. It was overkill, more like the energy I would invest to stop a shell from a tank, but we didn’t want her punching through it. It drifted languidly above the students’ desks, blissfully unaware of what was about to happen to it.

I had expected Maggie to begin reciting the raw spell. After all, I had only given her the formula the week before.

“Bahadur!”

Demonic runes sprang to life around her hands, collapsing into a ragged bolt of energy that flew straight at my shield. It was a pitiful little thing, to be truthful, barely the width of a pencil. However, it was disturbing to see a human using the spell at all.

“Is that all it does?” asked Maggie, her voice full of disappointment.

“It isn’t quite so easy, is it?” I asked in return, trying to downplay her achievement.

She looked down at her hands as though they had betrayed her. “I don’t understand. If that had been a Magic Bolt, I’d have smashed your target to smithereens.”

“That’s the rub with demonic magic,” I said. “Humanity is good at breaking things down scientifically, but demonic magic is as much art as science.”

She arched her eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”

“Think about what demons prize,” I said. “Passion. Self-satisfaction. Glory. The magic can reflect that. At the higher levels, they aren’t entirely fueled by magical energy. Spells often have a feeling that goes with them that enhances the magic beyond its normal limits.”

“And what should I be feeling for Bloody Lance?”

“It’s a combat spell, so hatred does the trick,” I said. “That’s easy to generate in a fight. Think about something that really disgusts you, and try-”

“Bahadour!” She put her back into it that time. The Svalinn’s Mercy actually warped around the impact, something I had never seen the defensive spell do before.

“You’re a fast learner,” I said, trying to cover my shock.

“It’s nice to put my resentments to use for once,” she said. Her red hair had slipped out of its severe bun, and she went to adjust it.

“Yes, between brother Maus and the rest.”

She pulled out a pocket mirror and inspected her appearance. “Let’s not mention that cheater,” she said, satisfied by what she saw. “And you I think that’s enough tutoring for now. At least, enough for me. How about we get you prepared for your exams next week?”

She strode over to her desk. I wasn’t sure if the exaggerated sway of her hips was for my benefit, or simply a habit.

“About that,” I said. I weighed my words carefully, reminding myself that I had to make her think it was her idea. “You’ll recall our plans to bring down the Tower. Who says the exams even need to happen?”

Maggie’s narrowed her cold, blue eyes as she picked up a tablet. “What are you getting at?”

“Everybody’s distracted now, right? Either with the written tests themselves, or the War Games right after. This is the time to strike.”

“Out of the question,” she said, walking back over to me. “We want to strike terror into the heart of the League, but we don’t want to completely disrupt the classes like that.”

“Come again?” I asked, cocking my head. “No matter when we bring the bloody thing down, it’s going to put a bit of a hitch in the class schedule!”

“Obviously,” she replied. “But I’m not going to cut off everybody’s first year or keep the second-year cadets from graduating.”

I threw my arms open, feeling utterly flabbergasted. “Think about the big picture, woman! This is about the future of the Holy Brotherhood! Why do you care about how well Takehara can fill in a test sheet? Do you somehow think you’re going to still be teaching afterwards?”

“Of course not.” She shook her head. “Let’s focus on your lessons. Leave the strategic thinking to me.”

“No, I’m not willing to leave this alone. You’re a teacher,” I said, sitting on the corner of a desk. “Break it down for me so I can understand.”

“Very well. Listen carefully, this will be on the test,” she said, her voice dripping with condescension. “The Holy Brotherhood used to be an above the board political party, and we want to be again. We have about a tenth of the wizards in the Wizard Corps backing us, and a larger part of the regular military, but that isn’t enough for a proper coup. No, we have to force concessions, and we have to be realistic with our demands.”

“I’m following along so far. What do you think is realistic?”

She began counting off on her fingers. “Guaranteeing us seats on the League Council. Enforcing our demands to cut down on luxuries that waste military resources. Legalizing the party again, full pardons for all Holy Brotherhood members sitting in prison, and their reinstatement into the Wizard Corps or League Military.”

“That’s awfully… prosaic. What does that have to do with not cutting off the War Games?”

She reached out and patted my cheek. “The world needs wizards, little Magpie. You’re all going to get shuffled around to new schools, and we want to make sure that you’re on the front lines as soon as possible.”

I lightly batted her hand aside. “You make it sound like I’m still going to be attending class.”

“Of course,” she said. “We’re going to keep your identity secret when we do this.”

“That’s fine for me, but what about you?”

She leaned back in the chair, smirking smugly at me. “I’m going to be on the League Council. The Brotherhood’s leadership will have no choice but to choose me. I’ll be the Holy Sister who brought our movement back from the edge of extinction. I’m going to be in the history books.”

I ground my teeth. I wanted her to take ownership of the plan, but I couldn’t let her shut me out like this. If I lost my seat at the planning stage, I’d have no way to push the plan to happen before Dante left Japan. Knowing Girdan and Fera, this was my last chance. The attack had to happen quickly.

“And what if I want to ride your coattails into the big leagues too?”

“You’ve made it quite clear you don’t want to ride anything of mine,” she said, a note of hurt in her voice, though it was undercut by the wry grin on her face.

“Very funny,” I said.

“I like to think so,” she replied.

“I see how it is,” I said. “I come up with the plan, I help you find the energy to pull it off, and then I can come along for the dangerous mission, but then I get no reward?”

“You never have to worry about your lies again. I’ll forgive you. We can make sure you get whatever posting you want once you graduate. I’ll even write you up a letter of recommendation.”

I swallowed nervously. Her plan sounded reasonable. If I were really a demonkin pretending to be Soren Marlowe, that would be an excellent deal. Reasonable was completely catastrophic for the devil Malthus, though. By the time she was ready, Dante was going to be long home, and my window of opportunity would be shut forever.

I leaned forward, trying to use my advantage in height to menace her. “And what if I’m not ready to vanish into obscurity? You inducted me into your little movement, and I’ve been doing your dirty work ever since. If we pull this off, you’re going to be a very powerful woman, and I want my share of the winnings!”

She cocked her head at me. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Absolutely,” I said. “We’re tied at the hip, you and I.”

“Then you won’t mind being tied a bit longer,” she said. “Now, get out your spellcasting textbook. You bombed your test on creating magnetic effects last week, and that’s going to be on the exam.”

I wanted to argue further, but I could tell she wasn’t going to budge. If I were going to make her move on my schedule, I would need to be sneaky about it.

“That was on page one hundred twenty-seven, right?” And if I were forced to take the exams, I really did need her help on that subject.