“What? I’m not — I don’t —” But Call was caught up in his friends’ determination like a dust mote in a windstorm. Carrying plates, Tamara and Aaron marched him out of the Refectory, back down the corridors to their room, and pushed him inside still protesting.
They put their plates down on the table and went to grab cutlery. Seconds later they were gathered around the food, forking up lichen pizza and mossy mashed potatoes.
Hesitantly, Call picked up his fork. “What do you mean I’m weird?”
“Distracted,” Tamara said. “You keep dropping things and forgetting things. You called Master Rufus Jasper and you called Jasper Celia. And you forgot to walk Havoc.”
Havoc barked. Call looked at him darkly.
“Plus you keep staring off into space like someone died,” Aaron said, handing Call a fork. “What’s going on? And don’t say ‘Nothing.’ ”
Call looked at them. His friends. He was so tired of lying. He didn’t want to be like Constantine Madden. He wanted to be a good person. The idea of telling them the truth felt awful, but being good wasn’t supposed to be fun, right?
“Promise you won’t tell anyone?” Call asked them. “You absolutely promise and swear on — on your honor as a mage?”
Call was kind of proud of that one, since he’d just made it up. Both Call and Tamara looked impressed.
“Absolutely,” said Tamara.
“Definitely,” said Aaron.
“I think it was my dad who tried to steal the Alkahest,” Call confessed.
Aaron dropped a plate of lichen onto the table. “What?”
Tamara looked absolutely horrified. “Call, don’t joke around.”
“I’m not,” Call said. “I wouldn’t. I think he tried to steal it from the Collegium and I think he’s going to try to steal it again. This time, he might succeed.”
Aaron gaped at him. “Why would your father do that? How do you know?”
Call told them what he’d found in the basement, how Havoc had been chained up, how he’d found the open books with the illustrations of the Alkahest in them. He told them about the map of the airplane hangar, too.
“He was going to cut out Havoc’s heart to power the device?” Tamara asked, looking green.
At his name, the wolf looked up at Call and whined. Call nodded.
“But you didn’t see it anywhere? The Alkahest itself?” Aaron asked.
Call shook his head. “I didn’t know it was a real thing. I didn’t know what he was doing or what he wanted Havoc for.” He didn’t mention the boy-size shackles on the wall. He was prepared to tell some of the truth but not all of it. He wasn’t sure where that fell on the Evil Overlord spectrum, but he didn’t care.
“Why would your dad want to kill Aaron?” Tamara demanded.
“He wouldn’t,” Call said quickly. “I am totally, completely sure my dad isn’t working for the Enemy of Death.”
“But then why would he — ?” Tamara shook her head. “I don’t get it. Your dad hates magic. Why would he be trying to power an Alkahest if he wasn’t trying to …”
Call was starting to panic. Why wouldn’t Tamara believe him? Some small part of him knew that missing the piece of the story where Call was the Enemy of Death, it was hard to come up with a reason Alastair might want the Alkahest that didn’t have to do with Aaron.
“He hates the Magisterium,” Call said, balling his hands into fists under the table. “Maybe he just wants to freak out the mages. Scare them.”
“Maybe he wants to kill the Enemy,” suggested Aaron. “Maybe he’s trying to get rid of him so you will be safe.”