to find the lesson Rook had scheduled. It wasn’t the first time Morrigan had seen the study chamber empty of academics – she supposed they must have jobs to go to and classes to take – but it was surprising how deathly silent the place was without the occasional stirring of a teaspoon in a mug or discreet clearing of a throat.
The quiet felt especially palpable because of the elephantsized Thing They Were Quite Obviously Not Discussing. Finally, Morrigan couldn’t bear it any longer.
‘What’s your knack?’
It was not one of the many questions she had wanted to ask. She’d wanted to ask, Are you worried, Sofia? Are you scared of catching the Hollowpox? Do you think they’ll find a cure soon? But the foxwun hadn’t mentioned the morning’s C&D gathering, and Morrigan was too nervous to bring it up for fear of upsetting her. Anyway, what would be the point? Of course she was worried. Everyone was worried.
‘Me? I bring dead things to life.’ Sofia ran her paw down the page nonchalantly, as if she’d just imparted the most mundane piece of information. As if she’d said, Me? I make cheese sandwiches.
Morrigan blinked. ‘You … sorry, did you just say you bring dead things—’
Registering the new eagerness in her voice, Sofia looked up, smiling apologetically. ‘Oh – ah, no. Don’t get excited. It’s not as good as it sounds, trust me. It doesn’t work on people or Wunimals. Or large unnimals. Or small unnimals, for that matter.’
‘What does it work on?’
Sofia’s face turned thoughtful. ‘Erm … insects? Some rodents? Most plants, if they’re small enough and haven’t been dead for very long. Essentially, if you’ve a bug, rat or shrub that desperately needs resurrecting, I’m your gal.’
‘Oh,’ said Morrigan, trying not to sound disappointed and utterly failing. ‘Oh, right. Cool.’
‘Not remotely cool,’ Sofia said with a quiet chuckle. ‘Everyone makes that same face when they find out – yes, that’s it, the politely crestfallen face. Don’t worry, I’m not offended.’
Morrigan felt terrible. ‘No – it is cool! Honestly. I’ve never been able to take care of a living plant, let alone bring a dead one back to life.’
‘Thanks, that’s kind of you.’ She brightened a little. ‘I suppose it is useful sometimes. In its own little ways.’
‘What about Conall?’
‘Oh, Conall’s knack is good. He’s a medium – he speaks to the dead.’ She paused, glancing away for a second, then murmured, ‘Well. He can speak to the dead. He doesn’t any more.’
‘Why not?’
‘The rumour is that something bad happened to him when he was contacting the beyond one time.’
‘Something bad?’ Morrigan asked, leaning forward on her elbows. ‘Like what?’
‘I’ve never asked.’ Sofia glanced back over her shoulder as if to make sure they were still alone in the study chamber, and added quietly, ‘But … it must have spooked him, because for years he’s absolutely refused to use his knack. I almost don’t want to know what it was. Conall doesn’t scare easily.’ She tapped a page in The Book of Ghostly Hours. ‘Here – this is the one. The Gossamer-Spun Garden, in Van Ophoven. You’re going to love it.’
LʘCATIʘN
PARTICIPANTS & EVENTS
DATE & TIME
School of Wundrous Arts, Sub-Nine of Proudfoot House, Van ʘphoven
Brilliance Amadeo, Elodie Bauer, ʘwain Binks
A beginner’s lesson in Weaving given by Amadeo to Bauer and Binks
Age of Endings, Second Wednesday, Spring of Two
13:00–15:47
There was a bit of a walk to get to Van Ophoven (named for the Wundersmith Emmeline Van Ophoven). Morrigan had spent her first few days in the School of Wundrous Arts utterly intimidated by its bizarre layout. But once she’d understood the underlying principle of the place, it was easy enough to find her way around.
There were ten grand arches lining the main hall, Rook had explained to her. The first nine led to nine enormous chambers, each named for one of the original Wundersmiths (the tenth led to the academics’ study room). Each of those nine chambers contained another archway leading to a second chamber named for a Wundersmith in the generation that followed … which led to another chamber named for one from the next generation … and on and on like branches on a family tree.
Some of these branches went more than a dozen chambers deep; in fact, the farthest Morrigan had travelled was fourteen archways along to a room called Jemmity, named after the Wundersmith Odbuoy Jemmity. Inside Jemmity, instead of another archway there was a locked wooden door like the one she’d seen on her first visit to Sub-Nine,