FWFW 3 - 57

When Olivia, the two professors, and the inspector made it to the flickering blue lights at the end of the tunnel, they found a stone-walled room, bereft of inhabitants but full of objects. “Damn it!” Olivia hissed, peering into the room with its flickering sconces, overturned tables, and messy cot and not seeing any sign of her quarry. “Why would my spell lead me here? It was supposed to target his Energy!”

“And it did,” Carlu said, stepping up beside her. “Please stay in the corridor while I examine this space.” He took one step into the room, then produced his clockwork-like goggles with their intricate lenses and put them on. Olivia glanced at Oylla and Alyss, and they both nodded encouragingly. If something could be found in the room, then Carlu would find it.

“Patience, Olivia,” Oylla said, her eyes lingering on the crown that Olivia still wore.

“I’m sure your spell worked,” Alyss said. “How else would we be here? Do you see the state of this room? I think the killer was here and rushed to depart or hide. Hopefully, he’s hiding somehow, and Carlu will sniff him out!”

“Right,” Olivia nodded and watched the inspector work. He slowly scanned the room, looking left to right, and top to bottom, frequently switching the lenses he looked through on his goggles. Olivia could hear them, standing this close to him. They hummed and buzzed and clicked, and she wondered what sorts of clues they were revealing.

After several minutes of standing in the doorway, Carlu advanced into the room, cautioning the others to stay back. He reached into a pouch and hurled a fistful of white dust into the air. As it floated out in a cloud, it shimmered and spread and fell in an unnatural, flat plane, like a blanket, as it covered every inch of the room. Again, Carlu spent several minutes scanning the room with his goggles, flicking through various lenses.

It wasn’t Olivia that ran out of patience—sometime after ten or fifteen minutes, Oylla-dak said, “Inspector have you found anything at all?”

“Oh yes!” He turned back to the trio standing in the doorway and said, “You can come in now. I’m just double checking my findings.”

“Well?” Oylla asked, striding up to the smaller man and looming over him.

“There is residue from a teleportation spell. I’m afraid it was rather sophisticated work, and I cannot discern the destination, though it seems to have been stored in an object—the Energy signature is very different from the killers.” He indicated the flickering blue sconces.

“Damn it!” Olivia growled for the second time.

“Don’t despair, Miss Bennet,” Carlu said. “You’ve put the scoundrel on the run, and he’s had to leave a great many clues behind. Why, with a few days' study of these objects, I do not doubt that I’ll be able to truly scry him out. It’s only a matter of time now ‘til he’s brought to heel.”

“A matter of time?” Olivia growled. “How many deaths will there be in that time? How many students’ lives cut short?”

“I’m in agreement with Olivia’s frustration,” Oylla said. “Though I recognize it’s time for you to do your work, Inspector. Olivia, you’ve been a great help tonight; let’s let the expert take it from here.”

“I’m really not happy to just walk away. I need this creep to be stopped, Oylla! After what he did to Adaida, what he tried to do? I won’t be able to rest.” Olivia started to walk further into the room, making for an overturned table where broken glassware and some stained parchments littered the floor.

“I’m sorry, Olivia,” Oylla said, putting a firm hand on her shoulder. “I’ll have to insist. Leave this to the inspector and me, and if there’s anything we need help with, another massive door that needs melting, for instance, we’ll call upon you. Thank you, Olivia.” She exerted a bit more pressure on Olivia’s shoulder, steering her toward the doorway, and Olivia didn’t resist. She couldn’t exactly fight Oylla-dak so that she could stay. “Alyss, please walk with Olivia back to her dormitory.”

“Of course, Professor.” Alyss reached out a hand to take Olivia’s wrist and gently tugged her toward the tunnel. “You’ve done a lot, Olivia. Time to trust in the professor and the inspector, all right?”

“It’s not really all right, no,” Olivia said, though she allowed Alyss to guide her away down the tunnel. “We were so close!”

“We were, and now we’re closer still. I think Inspector Carlu is well-skilled in divination. He has enough of the killer’s belongings now that he’ll be able to sus him out.”

“I hope he does it before someone else dies.”

“Do you really think the killer will strike again? After we came so close? I feel he’s probably on the run. If it were me, I’d seek out a City Stone and travel off-world! Assuming he has the funds, that is.”

“Do you think he’ll do that? Will we lose any chance at justice?”

“The empire has long arms, and Carlu has a network of investigators he can call upon. I think there’s an excellent chance that this killer will be run down.” Alyss still held Olivia’s wrist, and as they approached the spiral stair leading up, she let go. “You go first—I’d hate to fall on you.”

“Really, Alyss? You’re not going to fall. Come on,” Olivia urged the smaller, older woman to start climbing. “If you stumble, I’ll catch you.”

“If you’re sure,” she said, heading up.

“I’m sure. These boots make it almost impossible for me to slip or stumble, and you’d have to really work at it to knock me down,” Olivia said as she followed the woman up the narrow, slippery steps. Alyss did slip a couple of times, but Olivia was quick to steady her, and soon they were walking through the upper tunnels and then out into the main hallways of the academy.

“You really don’t need to escort me, Alyss.”

“Nonsense. I’ll walk with you to your hallway. My quarters aren’t very far from there.” Alyss didn’t give Olivia a chance to argue, leading the way through the quiet, dimly-lit hallways. After they’d climbed the stair to the second level, she turned to Olivia and said, “You should keep that crown on, Olivia. If, however unlikely it might be, that killer tries you again, I’d like to hear that you melted him into a puddle.”

Olivia had almost forgotten the crown was on her head, and she reached up to touch it self-consciously. “Well, I need to keep it out of my ring for a day, at least, so that it can recharge.”

“Right,” Alyss nodded, and Olivia thought she saw something like relief in the woman’s eyes. “Well, do so! Wear it all the time. If another student tries to trouble you about it, send them my way.”

“It’s not that I think they’ll give me trouble,” Olivia said, her face flushing a little at the silliness of her concern. “It just, well, it seems presumptuous to wear a crown around. I’m not a princess or something!”

“Olivia, that’s absurd. You have a potent artifact there, one that you earned! There are plenty of students at this academy decked in magical equipment that someone handed to them. You’ll wear that crown, and you’ll do so proudly. Do you hear me?” Alyss, walking beside Olivia now, reached up and squeezed her arm in emphasis.

“Well, if you’re saying I have to, then what can I do? I won’t argue with my favorite professor!” Olivia smiled and nodded.

“Good! Am I, though? Still your professor, I mean? Have you spoken to Oylla about your schedule?”

“Well, I still have to choose a mentor, but she said I’d be able to continue with your course and Sange’s, um, Professor ap’Rek’s.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful! I have so much I want to teach you and so many questions I’d like to ask! Will you come tomorrow? You should!” Again, Alyss squeezed her arm, still holding it above the elbow.

“Yes, Alyss. I’ll be there,” Olivia slowed and pointed. “That’s my hallway. Thanks for walking with me, Professor.”

Alyss nodded and, somewhat reluctantly, let go of Olivia’s arm. “Very well, tomorrow, then, Olivia.”

Olivia waved and then started down her hallway, glancing back once to see that Alyss was still watching her. The woman had a pensive, quizzical expression, and Olivia couldn’t figure out what to make of her. In Olivia’s opinion, Alyss had certainly been acting strangely, but was she really good at noticing things like that? She knew the professor well, and had spent a lot of one on one time with her, and never felt the woman act so . . . clingy. Olivia decided to chalk it up to Alyss being overprotective and worried about Olivia. They’d certainly been involved in some dangerous matters that night.

When Olivia walked into the dormitory, she was swarmed by her cohort members. Before she could utter a word, Shani practically screamed, “What happened? They won’t let us into the infirmary!”

“Oh, god, Shani! I’m sorry! I should have insisted someone come and explain everything to you guys! Adaida is fine—she got hurt by the killer, but then I . . .”

“Hurt how?” Rald interrupted.

“It’s true, then; you ran into the killer?” Veena asked at the same time. Hanwol sat at the foot of Olivia’s bed, the one closest to the door, clenching his hands closed and open repeatedly, his eyes distant. Olivia stopped what she was about to say, looked at her stressed-out cohort, and opened her arms, pulling Shani into a hug.

“Adaida’s fine! Nurse Tyliste fixed her up. I’ll tell you everything, but that’s the first thing you all should know.” She pushed Shani back, looked into her big eyes and the smears of tears and makeup on her cheeks, and said, “Come on. Let’s all sit down, and I’ll start at the beginning.” She pulled the Ghelli along with her, walking to the couches, and Rald and the others followed.

Sometime later, after she’d told them the story of the killer attacking her and Adaida in the garden, but leaving out the stuff that happened prior to that, she paused to answer questions.

“So you just blasted him with spells until he ran?” Hanwol’s eyes were bright with excitement, and he looked into the distance as though picturing it.

“Her fingers?” Shani asked.

“You haven’t said what the story is with that crown,” Rald said.

“Then what happened?” Veena pressed, urging her to ignore the others.

“All right, all right,” Olivia said, “Yes, her fingers, but don’t worry! I carried her to the infirmary, and Nurse Tyliste fixed them.” She turned to Rald and said, “This crown is an artifact I found in a dungeon. I used it to help me melt a doorway that the killer was hiding behind.” She held up a hand, forestalling another question, then said, “Let me start at the beginning! So, when I was standing in the infirmary, watching Tyliste work on Adaida’s hand, Professor Oylla-dak came into the room, and you should have seen her face! Poor Inspector Carlu was trailing behind her . . .”

An hour later, when she’d finished the story and everyone was yawning, and out of questions, Veena suggested they all get some sleep. Olivia nodded and said, “Yes! We should be rested tomorrow so we can help Adaida. I’m sure the nurse will release her for classes, and we’ll want to be able to keep things positive for her. I hate that the killer got away tonight, but Professor ap’Rall thinks he’s probably on the run for good.

“Okay,” Shani said, nodding to the others. “Let’s sleep. Can anyone put a ward on the door?”

“I’ve learned a good one,” Veena said. “It’ll make the sound of a barking hound if anyone opens it.”

“Can you teach me how to do that, Veena?” Olivia asked.

“Of course, come and watch me,” Veena replied. Olivia smiled and followed the diminutive woman, marveling at how the thought of learning something new about Energy and its uses seemed to banish her exhaustion.

As they walked to the door, Veena pulled out her Energy-powered pyrography pen. “First, you need to have a way to burn some runes into the door. It doesn’t matter how small they are, either. You can put wards on doors that are almost impossible to spot . . .”