Page 34 of Spark of Sorcery
Chapter Twelve
Thorne
The raven hops on the ledge, knocking its beak against the pane of glass.
I ignore it, but then it knocks again and again, becoming increasingly frustrated.
“Shoo,” I growl at it. “You’ve got the wrong person.”
It halts its jumping, looks at me with its beady black eyes, tilts its head to one side, and then squawks.
The message is clear: it isn’t giving up.
I stride to the window, draw back the latch and let the bird fly inside.
“Fine,” I mumble. “On your head be it.”
The raven, its jet wings spread wide, circles my room twice, before landing alongside my gloves on the chest of drawers and lifting its right leg into the air.
Careful, I untie the note from his leg. It isn’t easy. Mygloves are restrictive and this is fiddly work, but using my magic could harm the creature.
As soon as the note is loose, the bird squawks angrily, hops away and then takes off through the window.
Whoever sent me the note wasn’t expecting a reply.
I unfurl the note. The writing is Beaufort’s, but it’s so tiny I can’t read it. I stomp up to his study and hold the note beneath the magnifying glass that stands on his desk.
Short and sweet.
Professor Tudor healed her injuries.
To the point. There’s no question of who he’s referring to or why I’d consider this information of interest.
And now it makes sense. That’s where she was headed. Professor Tudor’s classroom lies at the base of the teaching tower, down in the old dungeons.
Despite our investigations, we have no further information about what happened to the girl in the maze. What we do know is that Tudor was meant to whisk any students facing danger out of there. So why didn’t he help Briony? And why was he the one to fix her injuries?
Is there something going on between the two of them?
I crush the note in my fist. The shadows roar inside me.
I take the note back down to my room and toss it into the fire. It catches alight, shriveling and shrinking into ash. Then I step out into the night.
I’ve been watching over the girl as best I can. It isn’t always possible. There are moments she slips away, moments I cannot be with her, moments I’ve failed to keep her safe. Were there also moments she was with him?
The night is still and bitterly cold, the stars bright and clear in the sky above the towers.
I take the long roundabout route, avoiding anyone outtonight, and then sink down into the dungeons. This is where his classroom is. I’m hoping this is where he will be.
I hammer my fist against the door and after several drawn out minutes, it creaks open, Professor Tudor hovering on the other side. He’s as tall and broad as I am and maybe the fight would be evenly matched if it were down only to fists, but with magic involved I’m sure I could crush him.
Not that I’m here for that, despite the eagerness of my shadows to unleash carnage.
“Cadieux,” the professor says. I’ve barely seen his face since I’ve been at the academy. He tends to linger, hidden in the shadows, like he doesn’t want to be seen.
Sometimes I’ve wondered if we share an affliction. But now, as I peer into his ghostly face, I realize we don’t.
“It’s my day off,” the professor says.
