If it had just been Aaron and Tamara tromping on ahead, Tamara carrying a heavy stick and shoving it in the dirt to propel her along like she thought she was Gandalf, Aaron’s blond hair glowing in the moonlight, then Call might have complained. But the idea of Jasper having something else over him grated his last nerve. He gritted his teeth, hitched his backpack higher on his shoulders, and ignored the pain.
“Do you think they’re going to throw you out?” Jasper asked conversationally. “I mean, helping the Enemy. Or at least a henchperson of the Enemy.”
“My father is not a henchperson of the Enemy.”
Jasper went on, ignoring Call. “Kidnapping me. Endangering the Makar …”
“I’m right here, you know,” said Aaron. “I can make my own decisions.”
“I’m not sure the Assembly would agree with that,” said Jasper. They had passed out of the part of the forest where the trees were younger thanks to the fire and destruction wrought by Constantine Madden fifteen years ago. The trees here were towering and thickly branched. More moonlight spilled down through the leaves and danced along Havoc’s fur. “Call, maybe you’ll finally get your wish. You could actually get kicked out of the Magisterium. Too bad it’s too late to bind your magic.”
“Shut up, Jasper,” said Tamara.
“And, Tamara, well, your family has been disgraced before. At least they’re used to it.”
Tamara smacked him on the back of his head. “Give it a rest. If you talk too much, you’ll dehydrate.”
“Ow,” Jasper complained.
“Shh,” Aaron said.
“I get it,” Jasper said sourly. “Tamara already told me to shut up.”
“No, I meant everyone, be quiet.” Aaron crouched down behind the moss-covered root of a tree. “There’s something out there.”
Jasper immediately dropped to his knees. Tamara rolled up her sleeves and got into a crouch, one of her hands cupped. Fire was already sparking in her palm.
Call hesitated. His leg was stiff, and he was worried that if he crouched down, he wouldn’t be able to straighten up again, at least not gracefully.
“Call, get down,” Tamara hissed. The light between her palms was growing into a shimmering square. “Don’t be a hero.”
Call almost couldn’t hold back a sarcastic laugh at that.
The shimmering square rose, and Call realized that Tamara had shaped air energy into something that functioned like the lens of a telescope. They all leaned forward, as a valley below them sprang into view.
Looking through her magical lens, they could spot a circular clearing with small, brightly painted wooden houses spaced equidistantly around it. A large wooden building stood at the center. It had a placard over the door. To his surprise, Tamara’s magical lens allowed Call to read the words on it. THOUGHTS ARE FREE AND SUBJECT TO NO RULE.
“That’s what’s written on the Magisterium entrance,” he said, surprised.
“Well, on one of the entrances, anyway,” said a voice behind him.
He spun around. A man stood amid the fallen leaves and ferns, dressed in the black uniform of a Master. Jasper gasped and scrabbled backward until he hit the trunk of a tree.
“Master Lemuel,” he gulped. “But I thought you — I thought they —”
“Fired me from the Magisterium?”
None of them spoke for a long moment. Finally, Aaron nodded. “Well, yeah.”
“I was offered a leave of absence, and I took it,” Lemuel said, scowling down at them. “Apparently, I’m not the only one.”
“We’re on a mission,” Tamara said with vast sincerity and not a little annoyance. “Obviously. Otherwise, why would we have Jasper along?”