Legacies (Mercedes Lackey) - By Mercedes Lackey Page 0,86

far as they could before heading out into the snow, I bet their tracks wouldn’t be visible from the house. . . .

Spirit had reason to be grateful for that forethought not too many hours later, as the four of them crept out of the classroom wing of the main building. Muirin had passed her a note at dinner, telling her to be ready to go at eleven. Dorm curfew was at ten, lights out was at eleven . . . but somehow Spirit suspected nobody would look too closely at anyone sneaking out on a night that the Tithe to the Wild Hunt had to be paid.

We’re only hoping it’s just one teacher who’s working for the Bad Guys. It could be two, or three, or half a dozen. And it isn’t as if we even know what their Mage Gifts are!

But she could worry about that later. If she worried about it now, she’d make mistakes she couldn’t afford to make. “Never borrow trouble,” Dad always said. “The world gives enough of it away free.”

Oh, God, she just wanted to go home.

But you don’t have a home anymore, remember? Spirit told herself viciously. The Bad Guys took it away from you. They sent a monster to kill you, and all they managed to do was kill your whole family instead. And someday you’ll be able to pay them back. But you have to survive Oakhurst first.

So she was waiting in her room, dressed and ready to go, when Muirin came to get her.

To Spirit’s surprise, they didn’t go directly out of the building, but into the classroom wing and then down to the basement. Muirin opened the door to one of the practice rooms. Addie was already there, and so was Burke.

Spirit was distracted from wondering where Loch was by the sight of Burke, because he had a shotgun under one arm and he looked as if he certainly knew how to use it. “I, uh, what?” she said.

“Skeet shooting,” Burke explained. “There’s a whole room full of shotguns and rifles here. It wasn’t too hard to get in and borrow one, especially since I’m on the rifle team and the skeet-shooting team during the season. Talking Muirin out of her skeleton keys—twice—now that was the hard part, but I figured I was going to need it.” He pulled a shotgun shell out of his pocket and held it up. “They’re filled with salt,” he explained simply. “Blessed salt. I’ve been making them all week. Should have enough to take out a whole army of ghosts without having to get too close.”

“Technically you ‘lay’ a ghost,” Addie said pedantically. She picked up her own “weapon” from the table and brandished it. “Meanwhile, this should take care of any elves we meet.”

“Say hello to my little friend,” Muirin said, and snickered.

Spirit blinked in perplexity at Addie’s choice of armament: It was a large green-and-silver plastic thing that looked like a sci-fi movie ray gun. She wondered where Addie could have gotten it on such short notice.

“A Super Soaker with a modified pressure relief valve, increased aperture, and a four-liter reservoir. It has maybe a fifteen-yard range, but fortunately I’m not limited to its range—and there are enough iron filings in the water to send any elf, fay, or fairy I hit with it straight back to the Hollow Hills with its tail tucked between its legs. It’s a good thing Oakhurst has a metal shop,” Addie said. “Believe it or not, this is actually something I borrowed from the lab. There are times when it’s good to be a Water Witch.”

“Me, I’m going with a slingshot and some iron balls. They used to be glass marbles, but . . . I’ve got connections.” Muirin smirked. “Too bad illusions won’t be much use tonight.”

“Okay, we’re all here, let’s go,” Burke said, ignoring Muirin’s last comment. “Spirit, maybe you could carry that? Loch told me he was going to need it.”

He gestured at the table. There was still a leaf blower sitting on it, one of the self-contained gas-powered kind. “But . . . where is he?” Spirit asked. “Aren’t we waiting for him?”

“He’s already up there,” Burke said grimly. “He’s been sneaking up there for days to work on the spell-trap, but he said he wanted to put the finishing touches on it tonight.”

Spirit felt horribly exposed as she walked out of the building with the others. What if someone saw them carrying all this stuff? The moon was full