Victories by Mercedes Lackey Page B

“After the Library. You said you’d tell me what was going on, and you never did.”
    Spirit took a deep breath. This was a good sign—she’d promised Brenda an explanation after the Shadow Knights had attacked the Town Library, but she’d never had the chance to deliver it. “This is going to sound freaky,” she warned, then launched into the explanation: Oakhurst was a school for orphaned magicians. Dr. Ambrosius was the one who made them orphans. Dr. Ambrosius was actually an incredibly ancient evil necromancer who intended to take over the world and become its evil overlord.
    “So you’re all … witches?” Brenda asked, when Spirit was done.
    “Magicians,” Addie corrected automatically. “That’s what they called us up at Oakhurst anyway.”
    Brenda looked around, her eyes still wild, and then down at herself. She was barefoot, her feet filthy, wearing muddy blue jeans, a T-shirt far too large for her, and a tattered barn coat. Spirit could see her mouth quiver as she fought back tears. No matter what Spirit had gone through in the last couple of weeks, at least she’d had some idea of what to expect. Brenda’s world had been turned inside-out and upside-down in an instant.
    “I— Can you— Can you fix my dad?” Brenda asked. “He’s the Sheriff. He can help.”
    Maybe he can, Spirit thought, but before she could answer, Burke spoke up.
    “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Brenda.” The soft hesitancy Spirit was used to hearing in Burke’s voice was gone now. It was hard to think of him as he’d been when she first met him. Now when she looked at him she saw Arthur, High King of Britain, not Burke Hallows, high school student.
    “Your father is a good man,” Burke said. “Never doubt that. But if he tries to be the Sheriff here and now, Breakthrough will kill him. And I don’t even want to try to explain to him about the fact that magic is real—at least you’d had a taste of it before today. He hasn’t. For now, he’s safer where he is.”
    “But.… If you aren’t going to break this, this spell over everyone, what are you going to do?” Brenda asked, a little desperately.
    This time Burke waited for Spirit to speak. “We’re going to Oakhurst, to free any of the other students being held prisoner there,” Spirit said.
    “You’ll need some help,” Brenda said. “Come on.”
    Addie glanced at Spirit. Spirit shrugged. She didn’t think Brenda intended to betray them after what she’d seen.
    Brenda led them through the maze of the village until they reached a small hut on the far edge. The door was open, and Veronica Davenport stood inside working at a long table. It was covered in mounds of green plants.
    “Oh my god,” Veronica said when she saw them. “What are you doing here? I thought you were dead!”
    “Wait,” Loch said. “You know who we are?”
    Veronica frowned. “Of course I do. Oh god, I hope this isn’t some kind of a trap. I’ve been playing along since the Dance.…”
    “It isn’t,” Spirit said quickly. “But what do you mean, you’ve been ‘playing along’?”
    Veronica beckoned them inside and pulled the door shut. The hut was stuffy and dark, but at least it got them out of sight.
    “You guys ran off from the Dance,” she said. “Nobody knew what was going on. Your friend in the black dress … she looked really sick. Is she…?”
    “She’s dead,” Addie said harshly. Veronica winced.
    “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I.… After the last Dance Committee meeting, when you were all so scared, we thought there had to be something weird about Oakhurst. But it didn’t seem.… Well, everyone thought we’d better go anyway.” She shrugged.
    “So what happened after we left?” Burke asked.
    “About half an hour later, the Headmaster guy, Ambrosius, came and said everything was fine, but it would be better if everyone went home. He sent all the Oakhurst kids back to their rooms, and when they were gone he said he was