Lyle Brightham ā Now Feeling Silly
Sometimes, Lyle felt like he didnāt appreciate Vin enough, which led to spurts of him appreciating him too much, and then the whole cycle would just start anew. Vin was always there for him- helping him understand when Naire was only joking, for instance, or providing a calm sounding board for some of his more frenetic and discombobulated ideas. Right about then, he couldnāt appreciate the other teenager more.
Even the ferrets liked Vin. They were fickle creatures, often torturing Lyle for what seemed like the sheer ferrety joy of it, but even if it was furtive, they always seemed to come out to play when he was around. Scamp ducked back into Lyleās robes shortly after the scritching. For his part, Lyle shuffled along after Vin toward the common room. It really was best to just call it a night.
Both ferrets scurried lower when a pair of hands were suddenly resting on Lyleās shoulders, helping to ground him. He slowly looked up at his friend, since they were basically face-to-face, and listened to the other boy. Alright, slow that mind down. It wasnāt until he heard the words that he consciously realized how all over the place his thoughts were. It was a little like people who existed in a perpetual state of messiness but knew, somehow, where everything was. The difference was that Lyle didnāt quite know where everything was. He had to stumble around a bit, dishevel things even further, in order to find the thoughts he was looking for sometimes amidst the dross.
Vin was right, of course. Well, not about Lloyd taking medicine, at least he didnāt know if she did. Maybe that was the secret she might have alluded to earlier? He had to force himself back on track. People did kind of consider Lloyd odd, but to Lyle, she was just Lloyd. He had no right to go around calling anyone odd, strange, or weird after all. And he was even more right about Naire. At least, Lyle hopes he was. If anyone other than Vin had said it, heād still be worried, but thenā¦
Well, it was really hard to worry when Vin slung an arm around his narrow shoulders. Lyle felt better immediately. āI dig,ā he replied. Heād had a hard time understanding Vin for a while, but he had most of the surfer dialect under his belt by now. He sort of relaxed against Vin until the instant he realized he was doing it, then straightened up abruptly in the way that fifteen year old boys often do when they realize theyāre taking comfort in the physical proximity of close male friends. āEverything will look brighter in the morning,ā he added, reaching up to rub at his neck.
His thoughts still turned to Lloyd and Naire and Myra, but his fears of somehow disappointing or upsetting them were mostly allayed. When his mind turned to Myra again, his head suddenly whipped around so that he could look at Vin as they marched toward the dorms. āSay, do you think your sister might help me practice for Quodpot try-outs? Iām trying out this year, and sheās so good, Iād be a shoe-in if she helped me. Could you maybe ask her? Iād owe you ten.ā It was something of a catch-phrase for the boy, similar to Iād owe you one only ten times more significant. If anyone ever decided to cash in on those easily offered favors, Lyle would probably spend the rest of his life fulfilling the hundreds or thousands that heād agreed to owe his friends over the last few years.
Vance Abernathy ā Marshaling the Troops
No one could say he hadnāt tried. Well, thanks to her sonic obfuscation, everyone could, actually, but more likely theyād be much more interested in gossiping and theorizing over what the conversation had entailed. Did Bellona really think she had what it took to uncover a conspiracy? Vance didnāt, but more power to her if she did. Sheād think he was on his grandfatherās side most likely, or even if she sussed out that he wasnāt, she obviously had no idea what to do. He could only hope that the girl had enough sense not to start pawing around for the truth in the open. He didnāt need more savvy players joining the game just yet, at least, not on terms that he hadnāt dictated.
A curious expression came to Vanceās features when Bellona drew close and lifted his arm, removing the dragon-skin glove to reveal the gleaming mechanical hand. It was fantastic, really. As much as he hated the thing, hated being an amputee, it really was an incredible device. Bands of metal provided a tight skeleton, holding in a plethora of gears and clockwork that made the contraption act very convincingly like a hand. It was stronger than any normal hand had a right to be, and he found himself wondering exactly how long it would take to crimp Bellonaās windpipe like a plastic drinking straw with the shiny apparatus.
The only reason he didnāt strike her was the fact that he wasnāt prepared to explain why he had, or to make her disappear utterly. A sickly smile curled to life on his lips as she touched him. At least it was only on the metal. If it had been his actual skin, he might begin wretching. Bellona had sank so immeasurably in his eyes tonight that he couldnāt even begin to wonder how many other idiocies he had overlooked due to her family name over the years.
āYouāre right of course, Bellona. Youāre not as stupid as the other girls.ā Let her think he was paying her a compliment; in truth, sheād just proven to him she was vastly stupider than the worst of them. āDonāt say I didnāt warn you.ā She dispelled the aura of buzzing and then stalked off. Vance tucked his glove under his left arm and raised his wand.
āAccio letter,ā he said simply, lazily, the tip of his wand directed at Bellona. When the parchment bearing his family seal soared toward him, he snatched it neatly from the air and took a few strides toward the fireplace. He balled it up and tossed it directly into the flames, turning to regard Bellona with the most pleasant manufactured smile he could come up with. Yes, heād wanted her to forget it all and burn itā¦ but more than anything, heād wanted that bit of physical evidence that something was afoot here at Magus Grex destroyed.
With that, he turned and made his way to his quarters to deal with Lee. He pulled his glove back on as he went, turning his mind toward what heād say to the younger Arietem. His internal speech-writing was swiftly silenced when he came upon the scene in his bedchamber.
The mess was not Vanceās doing. He was reasonably sure that if Lee was going to rifle through his things, he would have set everything right afterward to avoid Vanceās inevitable wrath. His eyes slipped here and there, registering the results of what seemed to be a small whirlwind centered on his personal effects.
Another message from his grandfather? Or had the culprit actually been looking for something? Perhaps his grandfather had managed to stash some artifact or direction in his luggage, letting him smuggle it into the school for one of his followers. It had to be someone in Arietem, or possibly someone an Arietem was willing to share the password with. He tried to call to mind the faces at the table over dinner, to determine who had been missing, but he hadnāt been paying enough attention to the banal chit-chat. Stupid, he told himself. Heād be more careful now. Much more careful.
āGet your animals off my bed,ā he said curtly. Vance had experienced a twinge of helplessness, beholding the disarray in the room, and it quickly transformed into cold rage. There was a reason Vance had no pet of his own; he could care less for creatures, magical or otherwise, and the idea of the dogs musking up his bed was only compounding his momentary anger.
He didnāt clean up just yet. Once Lee was gone, heād go over the mess like it was a crime scene, looking for clues of who might be behind it. For now, he had to regain control so that he could set Lee to purpose. The boy would likely have worked out by then that Vance was surprised by the state of his room, but Vance forestalled any questions by folding his arms over his chest and regarding Lee thoughtfully.
āWhat I need from you, Lee,ā he quietly said, continuing the earlier conversation as if there hadnāt been an intermission where Bellona attempted to wring the truth from him. āIs loyalty. I need unfailing loyalty. I need a second set of eyes in this school to keep an eye on me. To notice jf someone stares too long, or is following me in a dark corridor, or anything else out of the ordinary.ā He drew closer, and provided that the dogs were in fact off the bed, sat on the edge of it angled to face Lee.
āCan I trust you in that fashion, Lee? I know that youāll be wondering why, but I canāt tell you more until I know more. Suffice it to say that I am in danger, and know that agreeing to help me may endanger you as well.ā He took a deliberate pause, simply letting his gaze bore into Lee. āI donāt command this of you, but I ask it, because I have to know that youāll do everything that you can to aid me in the coming year.ā
He left it at that, watching Lee carefully. He was taking a risk, he knew, but a small one. Leeās infatuation was as much a tool as a wand. If he wielded it correctly, he could accomplish much.