Legacies (Mercedes Lackey) - By Mercedes Lackey Page 0,8

coming to collect their suitcases. Loch had two—a big one and a little one—and they looked just like hers. After a moment Spirit realized why. He would have lost everything in the hotel fire. It looked like Oakhurst had just sent him a new wardrobe rather than having him send for his clothes from home. She supposed that made sense, if there was a school uniform, but what if he’d wanted to bring his personal things?

At least Loch still had personal things.

She knew—after the Rolls-Royce and the Lear jet—she ought to be used to the way Oakhurst did things, but the inside of the train car was still a surprise. Spirit had been on trains several times, but she doubted anybody had ever been on a train like this. The whole floor was carpeted. The carpet was chocolate brown, of course. The seats were upholstered like living room furniture, in a plush gold and brown brocade. There were two seats along one aisle and one seat on the other side, so the aisle was twice as wide as normal, and there was plenty of legroom between the seats. The car didn’t run the full length of the train, though.

“Probably there’s a separate baggage car—or compartment,” Loch said, following her look. He dropped down into one of the single seats—on the side of the train facing the station—and Spirit sat down across the aisle.

“What? No dining room? We might starve to death or something,” Spirit said, and he laughed.

“I’ll check as soon as we get going. It should only be an hour from here to the school, though.” As if his words had been a signal, the engine’s whistle wailed softly, and the train jerked into motion.

“How come you know so much about this place?” Spirit asked curiously, while a little voice inside her said: You could have known just as much if you’d bothered to take an interest in anything but yourself any time in the last several weeks.

“Internet,” Loch said. “I don’t know much. I just know where it is. I’ve always been interested in geography, you know? And they weren’t exactly trying to hide. I can tell you all about beautiful Radial, Montana. Man, I’d hate to live there. I’ve gone to schools with a larger student body than their whole population.” He shuddered.

The train quickly picked up speed. Soon they were traveling through a lot of vast, green, empty landscape. There were roads, but Spirit didn’t see any cars on them. Occasionally they’d cross a road—or a road would cross the tracks—and the engine would blow its whistle loudly. After about forty minutes, she was thoroughly bored. She finally turned back to the orientation packet. The folder contained pamphlets from the McBride Chamber of Commerce. Reading them, she found out that McBride County was filled with dinosaur bones, and Radial was known for its winter wheat, its spring wheat, its barley, cattle, lambs, and (apparently) one church per 100 residents. The pamphlets also mentioned that local wildlife included deer, grouse, pheasants, prairie dogs, eagles, and coyotes.

“A hunter’s paradise,” Loch said.

“You don’t approve of hunting?” she asked, because there’d been actual contempt in Loch’s voice.

“I don’t like guns,” Loch said flatly. “They’re just another way for people to turn themselves into bullies.”

“Sometimes they’re necessary,” Spirit said. Not because she believed it, but because she wanted to see what he’d say.

“Sometimes a lot of things are necessary,” Loch said after a pause. “And sometimes people do a lot of things that aren’t.”

It was another hour before they reached Oakhurst. It was bigger than it had looked in the brochure—now that they weren’t seeing it all cut up into a bunch of photographs they could see that the grand manor house had gotten a couple of wings built onto it. On its right there was a building that had to be the gym because the glass-enclosed pool was clearly visible and it had tennis courts next to it and a track field with covered bleachers beside it. There were some people running on the track, and two people playing tennis. On the left of the manor house (not that close) were the stables, and what looked like a big sandlot in front of them where three people on horseback were doing something. There was an actual road that went past the school, and another road that went through its front gates, but the train went on past it for about a mile as it made a long gentle curve back