Worldweavers: Cybermage by Alma Alexander Page B

spent poring over the books left Thea with a handful of answers, a bunch of new questions, and a headache. Magpie was still not back. Feeling lonely and bereft all over again, Thea decided to go out for a breath of fresh air beforethe late-November twilight extinguished the day completely. A sky full of low clouds, like a smeared watercolor painting in shades of gray, had already caused the outside lights to turn themselves on, but Thea decided against the lighted paths laid out across the grounds and took a sharp right into the wilder woods behind the hall instead.
    It was even darker under the trees. Leaves lay in soggy drifts on the ground; the cedars stood green-black in the half-light, rustling with shadows. It was in these woods that Thea and Magpie had first heard Mrs. Chen and Principal Harris talking about the Nothing and the havoc it was wreaking on their world, even at this school that everyone considered so safe and protected. It was the memory of this, with Mrs. Chen’s voice already echoing in her mind, that made Thea nearly blunder into another secret conversation. She reined herself in and ducked out of sight behind one of the larger cedars, less than fifty yards from two shadowy figures huddled in the shelter of another cedar. One of the figures was, once again, Mrs. Chen. The other was Humphrey May.
    They did not look as though they had noticedher—but their voices were curiously indistinct and blurred for their being such a short distance away. It was as though the air between Thea and the two mages had thickened into an invisible soundproof barrier.
    She suddenly realized what the matter was. Of course—they must be warded.
    She chewed on her lip, frustrated, straining to hear, before realizing that she was still wearing the keypad.
    There was more than one way to get around magic shields. Humphrey himself had given her the means.
    Situation identical, she typed in lightly when her wrist gadget lit up at her command, minus the wards.
    She pressed ENTER . The world, still shadowy and dark in the twilight, didn’t look like it had changed at all—but quite suddenly the sound of that secretive conversation taking place fifty paces away became clear and pure.
    “You were once Bureau,” Humphrey was saying. “You of all people ought to understand this.”
    “I retired ,” Mrs. Chen said.
    “You don’t retire from the Bureau,” Humphrey said. “Your abilities are with you always; it isn’t something you can shut off or disavow at will. You may have stopped being directly employed by the FBM when you came here, but that doesn’t mean that you no longer fall under its jurisdiction.”
    “Back when I was working for the Feds, we didn’t need to throw children to the wolves,” Mrs. Chen said. “She’s done enough for this round, Humphrey. Can’t you leave her alone, at least until she graduates?”
    Thea’s ears pricked up harder. Under the circumstances, the mysterious she could only be herself.
    And Humphrey confirmed it in the very next sentence.
    “I use what tools are given to me, Margaret, and Thea Winthrop is the sharpest sword I have right now.”
    “One you are willing to destroy in order to get to your prize?” Mrs. Chen said. “How much of this can she take?”
    “What she needs to. Weapons are honed, after all. I told you, she is a poly-Elemental, and that cancels everything else out. But she’s still a child, stilluntrained, and probably dangerous if left unguided. If she can help us get back Tesla, fully in control of his considerable powers— Nikola Tesla , Margaret, the only quad-Elemental known to man—good God , do I really have to spell it out?”
    “The ends justify the means?” Mrs. Chen questioned softly.
    Humphrey’s voice dropped a bit, losing a little of its frightening intensity. “I like her,” Humphrey said. “I will do my best to deal with the situation so that she is kept as safe as possible, but if she is the only weapon I have, then I will use that