Page 43 of Strength of Desire

And something to prove to Sean that he can’t bully me into submission.

“Andthisis what you choose?” Ash said. "Can’t you just do an extra credit assignment, or put scorpions in Sean’s bed or something? There’s no guarantee you’re going to find anything if you go hunting for the spring.”

“Or that there’s anything to find,” Felix put in. “Rekha was correct to point out the date discrepancy. Vesperwood celebrates Imbolc on February first, but astrologically, the true midpoint between Yule and Ostara is closer to February fourth. Even if the spring exists, it might only appear three daysaftereveryone searches for it.”

“I don’t care if I find it,” I protested. “I just want to try. I want to prove—” I broke off and took a deep breath. “I just want to prove tomyselfthat I’m not a total failure, okay? Sean’s annoying, yeah. And I’d love to show him up. But this isn’t about him. It’s about me.”

Ash sighed. “Do you really, truly have your heart set on this? Knowing full well that Felix and I would be happy to stay in with you all night and get drunk and shower you with compliments, in an attempt to raise your self-esteem without freezing your ass off?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I do.”

“Ugh,” he groaned.

“What?” I said. “It doesn’t affect you.”

“Of course it does. If you’re going to be stupid enough to leave the manor at night and go look for a magical, probably-non-existent spring, then you know Felix and I are going to be stupid enough to accompany you.”

“I object to that,” Felix said. Ash shot him a withering look. “Not about coming with you. I want it on record that I think this is rash, but yes, I’ll come too. I just don’t think it makes us stupid.”

“It doesn’t?” Ash said, arching an eyebrow.

“It makes us Cory’s friends.” He smiled at me, and it warmed me to my core.

“Thanks, guys,” I said.

Ash rolled his eyes. “What are friends for?”

11

NOAH

The problem with snooping is that if you don’t have the right temperament for it, you either drive yourself crazy or you get caught. Or, in my case, probably both.

I talked to Sheridan and Teresa after talking with Autumn and Hans, though my attempts at ‘subtle’ communication didn’t net anything useful. Sheridan was an old bore, pompous and puffed up and in love with the sound of his voice. It was impossible to get out of any conversation with him in under thirty minutes, and equally impossible to direct it to anything helpful. Teresa was perfectly polite—and as hard and unyielding as a brick wall. It was impossible to get any information out of her that she didn’t want to give.

The only way I could have gotten something useful out of either of them would have been to provoke them directly, letting them know Hans had thrown them under the bus. But I didn’t want to start a chain of accusations among the faculty. Isaac had asked me to be discreet, after all.

So I decided the next best thing would be searching their rooms. Back in my bounty-hunting days, I’d learned that even the best liars in the world often left evidence lying around in quarters they thought were secure. But getting into everyone’s rooms presented challenges of its own.

Most student rooms at Vesperwood had no locks—at least, not the ones in the main parts of the manor. I wasn’t sure about the ones inside the havens. But faculty rooms always had locks, even if the faculty member didn’t live in their haven’s official quarters. My own cabin had two stout locks on the outside, and a bar I could slide into place across the door from the inside. You could never be too careful.

A lot of professors warded their rooms in addition to locking them. What they were afraid of, exactly, was beyond me. Most of them didn’t have the kind of past that I had. Maybe they just worried about the prying eyes of the more adventurous upperclassman.

I couldn’t be sure if any of the wardkeepers had warded their own rooms, but it would be safest to assume they had, which was going to make this even more difficult. To make matters worse, Hans and Autumn lived in Harvest and Hearth’s headquarters respectively, and both those havens could only be entered with an affiliated student or faculty member.

The same was true for Hunt Haven, which was located on the lower level of the manor. You could only gain access if a Hunter let you in. Heal and Hex, the other two havens in the manor, were open admittance. Heal let anyone enter because they wanted to project an aura of welcome and safety. I wasn’t sure why Hex was open access. Maybe they just thought they were invulnerable.

Hex Haven was on the third floor of the manor. They had an entire wing to themselves, and you couldn’t miss the entrance. The arched opening was worked in silver and gold, with the crossed wands and stars of Hex inlaid in rubies every foot or so.

The hallway beyond was laid with a thick silk carpet, with gold thread woven in to pick out the Hex logo in between scrollwork, vines, and flowers. It looked incredibly expensive, and incredibly delicate. The spell they used to maintain it must have required a lot of power. I almost felt bad stepping on it.

Outsiders weren’t forbidden in Hex Haven, but they were noticed. I was grateful that Teresa’s rooms were somewhat close to the entrance. It meant I could loiter nearby without arousing too much suspicion, which helped me formulate my plan. And thank God for that—Isaac was getting impatient with weeks of no news from me.

One Thursday, not a minute after Teresa left her room for lunch, Ron Carson, one of the staff cleaners came around the corner pushing a cart full of supplies. I ducked behind a decorative column and watched as he stopped in front of Teresa’s door.

He was whistling, his head bobbing in time to his offkey tune, and he pressed a palm-sized gold seal carved with Vesperwood’s moon and tree against a small silver panel above the doorknob. A white light enveloped his hand, and a moment later, the door opened without him even needing to turn the knob.

He pushed the door all the way open with his cart. I had a split second to choose. I frowned at his retreating back and decided to take my chances. As the door swung shut, I leapt forward and caught it.

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