Conspiracies (Mercedes Lackey) - By Mercedes Lackey Page 0,92

who doesn’t, and if I hadn’t had magic, I wouldn’t be here.”

Doc Mac nodded.

What Doc Mac didn’t know (she hoped) was that Spirit had a wireless microphone in her pocket, courtesy of Loch, who’d bought it from a spy store in Billings, slipping away by cab and returning before anyone got suspicious. Muirin, it seemed, wasn’t the only one with a charge card that Oakhurst didn’t know about. Loch’s purchases at that store had been tiny things, all easily concealed; his shopping bag of books and magazines had been nothing more than the cover for what he had really been after.

“That’s what I’ve been told myself,” Doc Mac said. “I’ve only been here for about five years, and of course, I’m not a Legacy.”

“Well … see, that’s kind of the logic hole I’ve run up against,” Spirit told him. “If I’m a Legacy, then my parents had to go to Oakhurst. Same for Loch, we were both told that when we got here. The problem is, my parents didn’t have magic. Believe me, they were not the types to keep that sort of thing secret. Dad especially.” She rolled her eyes a little, even though the memory made her tear up. “If there was any way to pull a prank on us, he’d do it, and if he’d had magic he would have used it. Mom … she would have, too. The same way she showed us she had a gun just in case, and showed us she knew how to use it.…”

Doc Mac looked at her warily. “So—you’re saying?”

“That either they didn’t go to Oakhurst, and Doctor Ambrosius was lying, or they did, but it wasn’t this Oakhurst—that there’s another Oakhurst for the people that don’t have magic.” She didn’t add that this would be really strange if it was so. “In fact, there has to be, doesn’t there? Not every kid that’s a Legacy has magic. My sister didn’t— So Burke really needs to be allowed to go there before he snaps. And—I’d like to go there, too. I’m not cut out for this and even though you keep saying I have magic, if I do, it’s obviously completely useless for what’s coming.”

Doc Mac cleared his throat, and when he spoke, he sounded troubled. “Spirit, if there is another Oakhurst, I’ve never heard about it. Never. I’m sorry, but that’s all I can tell you. If that was what you were counting on to help you and Burke, well…” He stopped and shook his head. “This is all there is, Spirit. I can’t account for the fact that your parents never showed any signs of magic, but sometimes the very people you think would have no secrets at all are the ones that harbor the most.”

“But—do you think the people from Breakthrough might know about it?” she asked, feeling desperation clutching at her throat. “I mean, they’d have to, they’d have to protect both schools, right?”

“I’m not part of the Inner Circle, or whatever they call themselves, probably because I didn’t go to Oakhurst myself,” Doc Mac replied with a wry twist to his mouth. “But trust me, they’ve dropped everything to come here, and they aren’t dividing their time and attention three ways. Only two. Mark Rider has already effectively moved his part of the Breakthrough headquarters here; they’re only waiting on building construction. There is no second Oakhurst, I’m sorry. You and Burke are going to have to cope with the fact that you are here to stay—or at least, until you graduate.”

Spirit somehow managed to make coherent conversation until her hour was up. He let her out, and let another student in. She headed for the lounge, where Addie and Loch had been listening to her session.

“I recorded this,” Loch said. “I want Burke to hear it.”

Spirit nodded, and combed her fingers through her hair distractedly. “I’m not sure what this means.”

“If our parents went to Oakhurst, they had to be magicians. But if they were magicians, there is no damn reason why they should be dead,” Addie said angrily. “Yours—car wreck—every School teaches ways you could keep yourself and your family safe in a situation like that. Mine, plane crash. Same thing there. Loch—”

“My mother died in a riding accident when I was a kid. Maybe she was the Legacy and not Father. But if she wasn’t, I can’t think of any School that wouldn’t have some way to get out of a fire,” Loch said bluntly. “I mean, I got out, and I