Conspiracies (Mercedes Lackey) - By Mercedes Lackey Page 0,42

if something had followed up on the fear, but nothing did.

Loch was right. If an attack had taken place, whether it was the Wild Hunt or Dylan’s black-helicopter commandos, no one would have been able to do anything to protect themselves. But there had been no attack so—why?

In answer, Muirin pasted some lines from Elizabeth Walker.

EW: It only makes sense as a test. Otherwise something would have happened while we were all frozen. Maybe a test to see which of us could stand up to the terror.

Spirit emptied her glass, poured another, and thought about that. It was a good idea, actually. The only problem was that the teachers had all been caught, too.

Wait a minute …

It got the CHAPERONES too, she typed, putting the word in all caps so they remembered that not all of the teachers were there, chaperoning. Not more than half, so far as she could tell. So had the teachers who were not in the gym been affected, too? Or had they been the ones behind it?

But surely Doctor Ambrosius would think of that, first thing. And surely the absent teachers would be the first ones he questioned.

In brightest day in blackest night, Burke typed.

She blinked again, looked down at the ring with the stone still turned into the palm of her hand, and clenched her teeth. Their rings had glowed. And no one else’s had. So what did that mean? She yanked it off, shoved it in the box, and shoved the box to the back of the desk drawer.

And what was it that Doctor Ambrosius had been looking for, back there when he’d been babbling about Magnetic Waves? His eyes hadn’t been down, as they would have been if he had been looking for glowing rings, but he had definitely been looking for something.

Maybe Elizabeth was right. Maybe it had been a test that Doctor Ambrosius himself had run, to find out who was able to withstand whatever it was.

But then wouldn’t he have warned the teachers first?

You’d think.

Actually, he’d have had to, wouldn’t he? Because if he didn’t, they wouldn’t be braced in case one of the students really ran amok. Maybe had a psychotic break, or went postal. No, that would have been monumentally stupid.

Did you guys all see the sparks that lit up first? she asked, hoping to remind them that—hello! The rings glowed!

The chorus of “yes’s” at least told her she hadn’t been seeing things.

Might have been some kind of spillover from the fear-thing, Loch typed. Might work as an early warning if it happens again.…

If??? she typed, wishing there was a sarcasm emoticon. Because hadn’t she told them? Hadn’t she warned them?

And the glowing rings … she mentally thanked Burke for coming up with a code-way to remind the others without saying “what’s with the rings?” But hey, Green Lantern effect? What was that? Did anyone else see that?

Nobody but us, Addie typed. I couldn’t see the whole gym, though, too many peeps. I’ve never, ever heard of or seen that effect before, though.

Same here, typed Muirin.

Teacher on main chat, Burke warned. Well that was different. The teachers almost never logged on main chat, permitting the students to pretend that they weren’t being eavesdropped on. They all fell “silent,” as they watched MOD1, MOD4, and MOD7 try and calm some of the hysteria. Dylan was soothed and reminded that the school had a direct feed from the nearest NWS weather station and that any army of helicopter-carried commandos would show up on the radar. Fortunately, he didn’t immediately think about flying “below the radar.” All the students were reminded that this was a school full of the best magicians in the world, and although they might not be aware of them, there were “protections in place” against “perfectly mundane dangers.”

There was more technobabble about “freak Magnetic Resonance Fields” and a link to some research papers in the school e-library.

Evidently this was going to be the Official Explanation. Just like all UFOs were swamp gas, she thought cynically.

Alles ist in Ordung, typed Loch. Everything is in order. Even if the German hadn’t been easy to guess, it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out he had come to the same conclusion about the Official Explanation as she had.

Nothing to see, move along, typed Addie. These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.

Peace is war, Spirit responded. I guess since no one was hurt, it’s All Better now, and they’ll probably have donuts at breakfast to reward us for being good