The Bronze Key

“You look mad,” Call said.

Jasper squinted even harder, closing one of his eyes and staring meaningfully out of the other.

“Now you look like a pirate,” said Tamara.

“It works on Celia,” said Jasper. “She melts when I do that.”

“She must like pirates,” said Aaron.

Jasper rolled his eyes. “Tip four is to have the right haircut, but that’s obviously hopeless for both of you.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my hair!” said Aaron.

“It’s all right,” said Jasper. “Call’s looks like he cut it with a sharp rock.”

“Is there a tip five?” asked Tamara.

“Buy her a cat calendar,” said Jasper. “Girls love cat calendars.”

Havoc barked. Tamara burst out laughing. She rolled to the side of the sofa and kicked her heels up. Call didn’t think he’d ever seen her have such a good time.

“Oh, and if your mind wanders while she’s talking, you should tell her you were distracted by how beautiful she is,” Jasper added. “And whatever she’s wearing, tell her it’s your favorite color.”

“Won’t she notice you have different favorite colors?” asked Aaron.

Jasper shrugged. “Probably not.”

Tamara’s giggles were trailing off into hiccups. “Jasper,” she said. “Do me a favor.”

“Yes?” Jasper said.

“Never like me like that.”

Jasper looked indignant. “None of you get it,” he said, rising to his feet. “Well, my mission here is done. I’ve apologized and I’ve given you tips.”

“And you’ve promised to have Celia look out for useful information,” Call reminded him.

Jasper nodded. “I’ll talk to her.”

“Don’t forget to smolder!” Tamara yelled from the couch as Jasper walked toward the door. He made a face at her as he pulled it open, then frowned.

“There’s a note stuck to your door,” he said, detaching a piece of paper. “It’s addressed to Call and Aaron.”

It was a folded note, with spidery handwriting across the front. Callum Hunt and Aaron Stewart.

“I’ll take it,” Aaron said, bounding to his feet. But Jasper, with a sideways smile, was already trying to flick it open.

“Ow!” he said. A small spark, like a jolt of static electricity, had leaped from the paper and shocked his hand.

“It’s got a spell on it,” said Tamara, sounding pleased. “Only Call or Aaron can open it.”

Jasper looked grudgingly impressed. “Pretty cool,” he said, grabbing up the note and tossing it to Aaron. “See you later.”

He vanished into the corridor. Aaron opened up the note as the door shut. His eyebrows drew down as he looked at it. “It’s from Anastasia Tarquin,” he said. “She’s asking us to meet her at the Mission Gate at ten to midnight on Friday. She says to bring Havoc.”

“That’s the same day as our test,” Tamara said, sitting upright. “What does she want to talk about?”

“I don’t think she wants to talk,” Aaron said, still looking at the paper. “I think that’s when we’re going to do it. That’s when we’re going to steal the Chaos-ridden animals.”

THERE WERE FOUR days before Friday, and Call, Aaron, and Tamara spent them alternately worried about Alma’s plan and the test. Master Rufus kept saying cryptic things during classes and assigning them bizarre coursework. That week, Call had learned how to (a) catch fire Tamara had thrown at him, (b) breathe after Aaron used air magic to choke off his oxygen, and (c) dry his clothes after Master Rufus got him really wet. The last part, unfortunately, had not been done with magic.

It didn’t help that everyone was moody. Tamara kept looking into flickering candle flames and fireplaces, as though she might see the face of her sister there. Aaron kept looking around the Refectory like he was waiting for everyone to throw their food at him. And Call kept jumping at shadows. It was getting so bad that he was freaking out Havoc.

It didn’t help that Jasper continued to be useless in the rumor department. According to Celia, Drew hadn’t had many friends. He’d kept to himself, occasionally trailing after some older students for advice on how to deal with Master Lemuel. Alex Strike had, apparently, told Drew that he should go to Master North, but he hadn’t. Probably his orders had been to lay low, not to go complaining to the head of the school.

As for the person who’d started the rumors about Aaron, Jasper didn’t know anything yet. He promised to have more information by the end of the week.

By the time Thursday night rolled around, Call was just ready for Friday — no matter how bad it was — to happen. Anything to be closer to some answers. But at the Refectory, Master Rufus told them they were going to have a late-night lesson, as Alma had returned.

“Tamara, it’s a lesson in chaos magic, so —” he began, but she cut him off.

“I want to watch,” she said. “It’ll be interesting. Not that many people get to see chaos magic in person and I’ve seen a lot of it. I want to know more about how it works.”

He nodded, although he didn’t look entirely happy. Of course, Master Rufus’s resting expression was usually a gloomy one, so maybe that didn’t mean anything.

After finishing up their lichen and mushrooms and cloudy gray underground smoothies, they gathered in the usual classroom. Master Rufus paced back and forth. Alma leaned on a short staff and spoke. “As you know, the opposite of chaos, or void, magic is the soul. In the last lesson, you learned to see a soul. Now I want you to learn to touch another person’s soul with your magic — a brief tap is all.”

“I believe I previously stated my objection to doing this,” Call said. “It’s creepy and weird and we don’t even know what it does to the other person.”

Alma gave a long-suffering sigh. “As I said before, you’re rendering them unconscious. Nothing else. But if you are too squeamish, then I suggest that Aaron start. He can practice on you.”

“I, uh —” Call began.

Tamara got up from where she’d been sitting, against a rock wall. “I’ll do it.”

“You can’t!” Call said. “Also, what is the deal with everyone wanting to knock me out?”