mean, if he’s such a great hero at Nebrask, then why is he at a school teaching rather than fighting the wild chalklings?”
York studied Joel for a few seconds.
“Sir?” Joel finally asked.
“I’m trying to decide if I should tell you or not,” the principal said. “To be honest, son, this is somewhat sensitive information.”
“I can keep a secret.”
“I don’t doubt that,” York said. “It’s still my responsibility to decide what I tell and what I don’t.” He tapped his fingers together. “There was an … incident at Nebrask.”
“What kind of incident?”
“The death of a Rithmatist,” York said. “Regardless of what many people here in the east claim, a death at Nebrask is always treated with solemnity by the war cabinet. In this case, there were lots of fingers pointed, and it was decided that some men—such as Nalizar—would be better off reassigned to nonactive duty.”
“So he killed someone?”
“No,” York said, “he was involved in an incident where a young Rithmatist was killed by the wild chalklings. Nalizar was never implicated, and shouldn’t have been, from what I read. When I interviewed him for his job here, Nalizar blamed political forces for trying to save their own hides from a blemish on their records. That sort of thing is common enough that I believed him. Still do, actually.”
“But…”
“But it’s suspicious,” York agreed. “Tell me, what do these new lines you discovered look like?”
“Can I have a pen?”
York loaned him one, then gave him a sheet of paper. Joel drew the swirling, looping pattern that had been discovered at all three crime scenes. “Nobody knows what it is, but at least we know that it is Rithmatic now.”
York rubbed his chin, holding up the paper. “Hum … yes. You know, it’s strange, but this looks oddly familiar to me for some reason.”
Joel’s heart skipped a beat. “It does?”
York nodded. “Probably nothing.”
Why would he have seen it? Joel thought. Principal York hasn’t studied Rithmatics. What do the two of us have in common? Just the school.
The school, and …
Joel looked up, eyes widening as he remembered—finally—where he’d seen that pattern before.
CHAPTER
Joel left the office, giving a rushed farewell to York and Florence. He didn’t tell anyone what he’d just realized. He needed to confirm it for himself first.
Joel took off down the path toward the dormitory building, moving at a brisk walk. He resisted running—with how tense the campus was, that would probably draw more attention than he wanted.
Unfortunately, he caught sight of Melody walking back down the path toward the office, her deliveries apparently finished. He winced, ducking to the side. But of course she saw him.
“Joel!” she called. “I have decided that I’m brilliant!”
“I don’t have much time right now…” he said as she rushed over to him.
“Blah, blah,” she said. “Look, I’ve got something exciting to tell you. Aren’t you thrilled!”
“Yeah,” Joel said, starting down the pathway again. “I’ll talk to you about it later.”
“Hey!” Melody said, then pulled up beside him. “Are you trying to ignore me again?”
“Again?” Joel said. “I’ve never tried to ignore you.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Look, during those first weeks, weren’t you mad at me because you thought I was stalking you?”
“Past, gone, dead,” she said. “No, listen, this is really important. I think I found a way for you to become a Rithmatist.”
Joel nearly tripped over his own feet.
“Ha!” Melody said. “I figured that would get your attention.”
“Did you say that just to get me to stop?”
“Dusts, no. Joel, I told you, I’m brilliant!”
“Tell me about it as we walk,” Joel said, moving again. “There’s something I need to check on.”
“You’re strange today, Joel,” she said, catching up to him.
“I’ve just figured something out,” he said, reaching the family dormitory building. “Something that’s been bugging me for a long time.” He climbed the steps up to the second floor, Melody tagging along behind.
“I don’t appreciate being treated like this, Joel,” she said. “Don’t you realize that I’ve spent days and days working on a way to pay you back for vouching for me in front of Harding? Now, I come to tell you, and you repay me by running about like a crazy man? I’m starting to take it personally.”
Joel stopped, then sighed, looking toward her. “We’ve discovered new kinds of Rithmatic lines at each of the crime scenes where students were kidnapped.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. One of them looked familiar to me. I couldn’t remember why, but Principal York just said something that reminded me of where I’d seen it. So I’m going to make sure.”