Conspiracies (Mercedes Lackey) - By Mercedes Lackey Page 0,45

Muirin bent down over the board, her voice even lower than Loch’s. “They were saying before I came down to breakfast that three kids and a teacher were missing from their rooms this morning.”

“If they even got there,” Spirit replied darkly. “I mean, who would know if they just went missing after the dance?”

“The chaperones and proctors, I guess,” Addie said in tones of uncertainty. “But Loch’s right. Nothing really happened. We just all saw some lights and got scared. Horribly scared out of our minds, but no one was actually hurt.”

Spirit threw the dice and moved her Scottie dog at random. No one objected. “If it was a test, like Elizabeth said, it probably did exactly what it was supposed to.”

“A test for what?” Burke asked.

“Not what, not exactly.” Spirit was thinking out loud. “More like—a test to see what everybody’s reaction would be. I mean, the lights went out, right? And aren’t some of you supposed to be able to make light? So why didn’t anyone?” I sure would have if I could have, she thought a little sourly.

“We weren’t supposed to use magic at the dance,” Addie objected. But it sounded as if she knew how lame that statement was the moment it was out of her mouth.

“Well, duh, the dance was pretty effectively over when the lights went out, and I’d say that was an emergency situation, wouldn’t you?” Spirit retorted. “And why didn’t the teachers do something about it? They’re supposed to be really hot magicians! You’d think one of them could make a light!”

“So, you’re thinking what was being tested was how we all responded to something no one expected?” Burke hazarded.

Spirit nodded. “I mean, think about it, whoever sent the Hunt is still out there. Or in here. But they’d want to know if we all thought that was the end of it. But they don’t want to let us know what they’ve got. So they just whip something up to scare us, then sit back and see what we do.” She was very proud of herself. For something that she was just coming up with on the fly, it sounded really good, like she’d been working it out all night.

The others exchanged glances, and for once, they weren’t the condescending “Oh, humor her,” looks they’d been giving each other lately.

“It’s what I’d do,” Burke said reluctantly.

“If that’s what happened, we flunked,” Muirin added darkly. “Teachers and Doctor Ambrosius, too.”

Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. On the one hand, Spirit couldn’t help but have an “I told you so” moment. On the other hand—

On the other hand, I wish I didn’t get to say “I told you so.”

* * *

They gave up trying to play the game and instead took over one of the TVs and DVD players in the lounge and put on something utterly mindless and outdated. A musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie, which was pretty much typical of the stuff in the DVD library in the lounge, which was a mix of “classic cinema” that you were supposed to study and take seriously like Citizen Kane, stuff you saw on late night movie channels, documentaries (boring ones, not good stuff like MythBusters), and Arts stuff like ballet and opera. It was as if the school didn’t really want kids getting together to watch something; the entertainment you could pull up out of the digital library was so much better.

Maybe that was the point of having lame lounge entertainment. It would go right along with the atmosphere of competition. You wouldn’t really want kids getting together and having fun … they might make friends.

Each of them brooded about the situation in his or her own way. Muirin chattered cattily nonstop. Addie put in pithy comments about the movie. Loch stared out the window at the snow sculptures, not even pretending to watch. Burke stared a hole in the screen without really seeing it.

And Spirit twisted a strand of hair around and around her finger, occasionally responding to Addie and Muirin, trying to figure out if there was any way, any way at all, they could get some idea who had created last night’s terror, and what that shadowy enemy might do next.

Breakfast had been more-or-less brunch and the dining room was still open at noon; the guys got hungry again and went and made bacon sandwiches, bringing a stack of them for everyone back to the lounge because there were still no adults in sight to object. Seeing that, Muirin dashed out and returned