“You’re going to … occupy the school?” Fitch asked.
“Nothing so drastic, Professor,” Harding said as he paced, spinning on one heel then coming back the other direction. “Rithmatists are one of the Union’s greatest resources; we need to make certain they are protected. I will have men patrolling the grounds. Perhaps we can use sheer intimidation to keep this phantom kidnapper from striking again.
“Principal York has assigned me a room on campus to use as a base of operations. My men will not interfere with the day-to-day workings of the school. However, we want to be seen—and to let the students know that they are being protected. Perhaps this will also be of aid in placating the parents, who seem determined to fracture morale and isolate their children for easy defeat.”
“What’s this?” Fitch asked. “The parents are doing what?”
“Some of the parents of Rithmatist children are pulling their students out of the school,” Harding said. “Young Joel was quick-witted enough to warn me of this. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to secure the grounds quickly enough. A good dozen children—mostly Rithmatists—were pulled out this morning.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Fitch said. “All of the attacks happened off campus. Why would they want to take their children away from Armedius?”
“Parents are unpredictable when their children are involved,” Harding said. “I’d much rather fight a squadron of Forgotten than deal with an affluent mother who thinks her son is in danger.”
Fitch glanced at Joel, though Joel wasn’t certain what to make of the look.
“You are now briefed on the situation, men,” Harding said. “I must get back to my rounds, assuming there’s nothing else we need to discuss.”
I should tell them, Joel thought. I can’t just sneak about and try to fight Nalizar on my own.
“Actually,” Joel said, “I … um … Well, there’s something I should probably mention.”
They both turned toward him, and suddenly he felt self-conscious. How exactly did one accuse a professor of being a kidnapper?
“It’s probably nothing,” Joel said. “But, well, I saw Professor Nalizar acting suspiciously earlier today. These kidnappings didn’t start happening until he got hired by the principal, you know.”
“Joel!” Professor Fitch said. “I realize that you’re upset with the man for dueling me, but this is uncalled-for!”
“It’s not that, Professor,” Joel said. “It’s just … well…”
“No,” Harding said. “It’s good, Joel. You should mention things like this. However, I don’t think we have anything to worry about from Andrew Nalizar.”
Joel looked over. “You know him?”
“Of course I do,” Harding said. “Nalizar’s a legend back in Nebrask. I know a good two dozen men who owe their lives to him—and I count myself among them.”
“You mean he really is a hero, like he keeps telling everyone?”
“Of course he is,” Harding said. “Not a humble one, I’ll admit, but I can forgive something like that if it’s earned. Why, there was a time when the chalklings had penetrated along the river to the eastern front! If they’d passed us by, they could have flanked our force—maybe taken the entire eastern front. From there, it would only be a matter of sailing on fallen logs to invade the nearby islands and wreak havoc.
“Anyway, my squad was in serious trouble. Then Nalizar arrived and built us a fortification all on his own. He stood against hundreds of chalklings. Dusts be cast aside if he didn’t save all of our lives. I could share more than one story like that. I’ve rarely seen a Rithmatist as skilled and level-headed as Andrew Nalizar. It was a shame that…”
He trailed off.
“What?” Joel asked.
“Sorry, son,” Harding said. “I just realized you don’t have clearance for that. Regardless, Nalizar is no threat. In fact, I’m happy he’s here on campus. It feels good to have that man at my back.”
Harding nodded to them—he appeared to almost give them a salute, before halting himself—and made his way out of the room and down the stairs.
“I didn’t expect that,” Joel said. “About Nalizar, I mean.”
“To be honest, Joel,” Fitch said, “neither did I.”
“Nalizar can’t be a hero,” Joel said. “He’s a pompous windbag!”
“I will agree with the adjective,” Fitch said, “but the noun … Well, he did defeat me quite handily. Regardless, it is unseemly for a student to be referring to a professor of the school in such a manner. You must show respect, Joel.”
A knock came at the door. It flew open a second later, revealing Melody, who had obviously decided not to wait for someone to answer her knock.
“I assume,” she said with a huff, “that all the secret, valuable, interesting discussion is finished with, and we ordinary people can come in now?”
“Melody, dear,” Fitch said. “It’s not that we wanted to exclude you, it’s just—”
She held up a hand. “I assume I’m going to have to do more tracing today?”
“Well, um, yes,” Fitch said. “It’s very good for you to practice that, Melody. You will thank me someday.”
“Right,” she said. She gathered up a sketch pad and a pen, then turned to leave.
“Melody?” Professor Fitch asked. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to sketch out here,” she said, “on the mundane, unimportant doorstep. That way, I won’t be able to interfere with significant conversations you two might need to have.”
With that, she pulled the door shut behind her.
Fitch sighed, shaking his head and walking back to his desk. “I’m sure she’ll get over it,” he said, sitting and shuffling through his papers.
“Yeah,” Joel said, still looking after her. Would this make her bitter against him again, after he’d just gotten on her good side? He was having a devil of a time figuring that girl out. “What do you want me to do, Professor?”
“Oh, hum? Ah. Well, I honestly don’t know. I planned for you to be working on those census reports for a few more weeks yet. Hum.” Fitch tapped the table with his index finger. “Why don’t you take the day off? You worked so hard the last few weeks. It will give me an opportunity to sort through what Harding has given me. I’m certain I’ll have something for you to do tomorrow.”
Joel opened his mouth to protest—he could certainly help with the professor’s research into the strange lines—but then hesitated. He glanced at the book he was still carrying, the one Melody had checked out for him.
“All right,” he decided. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Fitch nodded, turning back to his papers. Joel pulled open the door to walk out. He nearly stumbled over Melody, who had indeed set up drawing right in front of the doorway. She grumpily made way for him, and he left via the stairwell, intent on finding a shady spot in which to poke through the tome in peace.
Joel sat beneath a tree, book in his hands. Some students played soccer as their summer elective on a field in the distance, kicking the ball back and forth toward the goal. Joel could hear their shouting, but it didn’t bother him.
Police officers patrolled the grounds, but they kept to themselves, as Harding had promised. A bird whistled in the branches above him, and a small springwork crab puttered along on the green, clipping at patches of grass. Long metal feelers dangled in front of it, keeping it from wandering off the green and from clipping things it shouldn’t.
Joel leaned back against the trunk of the tree, staring up at the sparkling leaves. When he’d chosen the book, he’d assumed from the title—Origins of Power—that it had to do with the way that Rithmatics had been discovered, back in the early days when the United Isles had still been new. He’d expected an in-depth look at King Gregory and the first Rithmatists.
The book, however, was about how people became Rithmatists.
It happened during the inception ceremony, an event that occurred every Fourth of July. Every boy or girl who had turned eight since the last inception ceremony was brought to their local Monarchical chapel. The group was blessed by the vicar. Then, one at a time, the children walked into the chamber of inception. They stayed inside for a few minutes, then walked out the other side—a symbol of new birth. They were then given chalk and asked to draw a line. From that point on, some could create sketches with Rithmatic power. The others could not. It was that simple.
And yet, the book made the process sound anything but simple. Joel leafed through it again, frowning in confusion as the groundskeeping crab clipped its way closer, then turned around as its feelers brushed his leg. The book assumed that the reader was a Rithmatist. It talked of things like the “chaining” and spoke of something known as a “Shadowblaze.”
There was apparently far more to the inception than Joel had originally thought. Something happened in that room—something that physically changed some of the children, giving them Rithmatic power. It wasn’t just the invisible touch of the Master.
If what the book said was true, then Rithmatists had some sort of special vision or experience inside the chamber of inception, one they didn’t speak of. When they went outside to draw their first line, they already knew that they had become Rithmatists.
It flew in the face of everything Joel understood. Or, at least, that was what it seemed to say. He considered himself well educated when it came to Rithmatics, but this text was completely over his head.
The chaining of a Shadowblaze, fourth entity removed, is an often undeterminable process, and the bindagent should consider wisely the situation before making any decisions regarding the vessels to be indentured.
What did that even mean? Joel had always assumed that if he could just get into the Rithmatic section of the library, he’d be able to learn so much. It hadn’t occurred to him that many of the books would be beyond his understanding.
He snapped the book closed. To the side, the springwork crab was starting to run more slowly. The hour was late, and the groundskeeper would probably pass by soon and either wind the device or pack it up for the evening.
Joel stood, tucking the book under his arm, and began to wander toward the dining hall. He felt odd, having just spent an afternoon studying. The entire campus was coming under an increasingly tight lockdown, and students were disappearing in the night. It felt wrong to simply sit about and read a book. He wanted to be helping somehow.
I could get that book Nalizar checked out, he thought. Despite Harding’s words, Joel just didn’t trust the professor. There was something important in that book. But what? And how to get it?
With a shake of the head, he entered the dining hall. His mother was there—which was good—and so Joel went and dished himself up some of the evening’s main dish: stir-fried spaghetti and meatballs. He dumped some parmesan cheese on, grabbed a pair of chopsticks, then made his way to the table.