With that, he dragged Call and Aaron toward the gates. Tamara followed, probably happy Master Rufus had only two hands. Call looked back at Anastasia. She was standing with the others but not speaking with them. Her gaze rested on Aaron, watching him with a fascination that made Call’s stomach knot without quite knowing why.
Call kept expecting Master Rufus to burst through the doors of their new sleeping quarters and yell at them for breaking into the elemental prison. He slept fitfully all night. He woke again and again, gasping, hand to his chest, out of a dream where something he couldn’t quite see was about to drop down on him.
Havoc, who had given up sleeping in the fourth bedroom, licked Call’s feet sympathetically each time he cried out. It was a little gross, but also kind of reassuring.
By the time the bell rang, tired as he was, Call was almost relieved not to have to battle sleep any longer. He pulled on his uniform, yawning, and stepped out into the common area. Havoc was at his heels, eager for a walk.
Tamara sat on an arm of the sofa in a bathrobe, a towel covering her head. Aaron was next to her, in his uniform, hair sticking up from sleep. With them on the sofa was Master Rufus, his face grave. They’d clearly been waiting for Call to emerge.
Well, he’d been anticipating this. He sat down heavily next to Aaron.
“You know that what you did last night was inexcusable,” Master Rufus said. “You broke into an Assembly member’s chamber and you sent the guard away from the elemental gate — a boy who, by the way, fell into a crevasse and broke his leg. If he hadn’t, I would have found you a lot sooner.”
“He broke his leg?” said Aaron, looking horrified.
“That’s right,” said Master Rufus. “Thomas Lachman is now under the care of Master Amaranth in the Infirmary. Luckily, he was spotted by a student, nearly unconscious at the bottom of a dry ravine. As you can imagine, after his discovery, the Masters’ meeting was thrown into disarray. If we hadn’t been distracted, your little adventure in the elementals’ domain would have been cut even shorter than it was.” He looked coldly from one of them to the other. “I want you to know I hold you personally responsible for the boy’s injuries. Had he remained there longer, he might have died.”
Tamara looked stricken. She was the one who’d given Thomas her guide-stone. “But we — we wander around the caves all the time and nothing ever happens.”
Master Rufus’s expression grew even colder. “He wasn’t an apprentice here. Anastasia selected him because he was an outsider, educated at a different Magisterium, so he wasn’t familiar with the caves, while you are.”
Unbidden, Call remembered his father’s warnings about the Magisterium and the caves: There’s no light down there. No windows. The place is a maze. You could get lost in the caverns and die and no one would ever know.
Well, they’d found Thomas. At least Alastair had been wrong about that part.
“We’re sorry,” Call said. He meant it, too. In a way that maybe Rufus wouldn’t understand, he was sorry they’d ever gone to the elementals’ caves. He wished he’d never heard Marcus say that the person trying to kill him was the best Makar of their generation. He wished Tamara hadn’t seen her sister, or at least what was left of her. She’d been horribly silent and tearless when Master Rufus had left them in their chambers after frog-marching them back from the guardroom. She’d slammed her way into her bedroom and locked the door. Call and Aaron had faced each other awkwardly for a moment before going to bed themselves.
“We really are sorry,” said Aaron.
“It’s not me you need to apologize to,” said Rufus. “Assemblywoman Tarquin has considered your punishment and decided that you must all pay a visit to her room and apologize to her personally.” He held up a hand, forestalling any comment. “I’d suggest you do it tonight. You are lucky to be getting off so very lightly.”
Too lightly, Call thought, and not because of luck.
When Call, Aaron, and Tamara entered the Refectory, a hush fell over the room. Apprentices who had been lined up to fill their bowls with lichen and mushrooms and spicy yellow cave tea froze in place, staring.
“What’s going on?” Tamara whispered as they hurried to their usual table. “Is it me or is everyone acting bizarre?”
Call glanced around. Alex was looking at them from a table full of Gold Years. He gave a short wave and then looked down at his plate. Kai, Rafe, and Gwenda were staring — Gwenda was pointing at Celia and then at Aaron, which didn’t make any sense. As for Celia herself, she was settled at a table with Jasper, holding hands with him over a plate of what looked like wet leaves. They seemed to only have eyes for each other.
“I don’t think I even know what normal is anymore,” Aaron said under his breath. “Do you think they know about last night? That we broke into the elementals’ prison?”
“I don’t know,” said Call. Under regular circumstances he might have gone and asked Jasper, but lovestruck Jasper seemed incapable of doing anything but staring at Celia, saying stupid things to Celia, and drooling a little.
Call wondered how long Jasper was going to be a lovestruck idiot. He wondered if whatever was happening to Jasper would have happened to him if he’d gone on the date instead.
“Let’s just sit down,” Tamara said, but her voice wasn’t steady. She was obviously shaken, in a way Call hadn’t seen since the day she’d discovered who he really was. He wished they were somewhere they could talk about her sister. He wished that everyone would stop staring at them.
“Tamara.” It was Kimiya, standing over their table with her arms crossed. “Why don’t you come and sit with me?”
Tamara looked up sharply, her big dark eyes widening. She seemed stricken speechless at the sight of her sister. “I — but why?”
“Come on, Tamara,” Kimiya said. “Don’t make me do this in front of everyone.”
“Do what?” said Call, suddenly angry. Kimiya was acting like he and Aaron didn’t exist.
“I don’t want to move,” Tamara said. “I want to sit with my friends.”
Kimiya jerked her chin toward Aaron. “He’s not your friend. He’s dangerous.”
Aaron looked shocked. “What are you talking about?”