Legacies (Mercedes Lackey) - By Mercedes Lackey Page 0,70

the complete files on everybody who’d ever gone to Oakhurst, she’d have all their Social Security numbers, and there were any number of sites on the Internet where you could find out about people . . .

Great wish list. She was about as likely to get any of it as she was to find out that she was the last Jedi Knight. Her computer skills were probably good enough to get out of the sandbox to the system itself, but she doubted she could get past whatever security Oakhurst had set up around its data files. And even if she could (because who knows, its security might suck), she definitely couldn’t do it without getting caught.

Looks like technology’s a wash. Better hope magic comes through, she thought.

You have got to be kidding,” Muirin said, her whisper harsh with disbelief. “Crazy Eddie?”

“Don’t whisper, Murr. It makes it sound like you’re plotting something,” Burke said in a quiet voice.

“Well we are, aren’t we?” Muirin demanded reasonably. “But—oh come on, Ads.”

It should have been an idyllic scene, Spirit thought. The five of them were sitting in front of a crackling fire (a real fire, not an illusion) in one of the student lounges. Snow sifted down outside, as fine as powdered sugar. It was so cold that the snow blew around like dust instead of sticking, and Burke said it would probably be gone by morning.

There were six student lounges at Oakhurst: three on the first floor and three on the second. Five of them had sixty-inch flat-screen DVD players and microwaves. The sixth lounge was less than half the size of the others. It backed on the School Library and the staff didn’t want the sound of a movie disturbing the students who were studying. The only people who used it regularly were the Chess Club—who found the library too noisy—but right now the five of them had it to themselves.

“He’s a good choice,” Addie said stubbornly.

“He’s nuts,” Muirin retorted.

“Hey, uh, time out?” Loch said. “Who’s, uh, Eddie?”

“Edgar Abbott,” Addie began, looking sternly at Muirin, “is a Scrying Mage with an extremely strong Gift. Edgar uses a bowl of water to focus on.”

“And he’s cra-a-a-a-zy,” Muirin sang softly. “Addie, come on! He walks around talking to himself all the time! He’s on drugs! Last year he came to breakfast in his underwear—”

“He’s had his Full Gift since he was five years old,” Addie said forcefully. “Full—and completely uncontrolled. He’d have a Scrying episode whenever he saw water, or anything that glittered or sparkled. His visions were as real to him as what was actually around him and nobody understood that he wasn’t crazy. The ‘drugs’ he’s on is just Ativan, and he doesn’t take it all the time.”

There was something niggling at the back of Spirit’s mind. Finally she teased it loose. “But—if he’s here—he’s a Legacy, right? Wouldn’t his parents have . . .”

She stopped as something abruptly occurred to her. She remembered the day she’d found out about Oakhurst, traveling on the private jet with Loch, seeing the “Welcome to Oakhurst” video. And she remembered what Ms. Corby had said:

“Certainly you must be curious about the reasons your parents had for arranging for Oakhurst to become your guardian . . . the reason is simple . . . you are a Legacy . . . what this means is that your parents, one or both of them, was also raised at Oakhurst.”

I’m here because I’m a Legacy, Spirit thought. She’d been too stunned on the plane to think of this, and afterward there’d been too many new things to take in. So either Mom or Dad—or both—were here. But that would mean they were magicians. . . .

“He could be a Legacy without his parents having gone here,” Burke said. He smiled at her, as if he guessed her thoughts. “There’s that Other Oakhurst out there somewhere, the one where all the kids are normal.”

“You mean there’s two places that look like this in the world?” Muirin said. “Now that’s scary. But Eddie’s still crazy.”

Addie set her jaw and looked stubborn.

“Look,” Burke said. “There’s no point in fighting. Addie had a good reason for picking Eddie. Why don’t we listen to it?”

Loch smiled brilliantly at Burke. “Yeah. Because . . . I can’t even imagine what it would have been like just to get Kenning when I was a little kid, and Scrying’s got to be even rougher, right?”

“Yes.” Addie smiled at Loch gratefully. “Edgar’s got one of the strongest