Read Online Sacrifices by Mercedes Lackey, Rosemary Edghill - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Mercedes Lackey, Rosemary Edghill
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starting a fashion line was really what they were doing. But if it was all part of a recruiting scheme, well, it didn’t matter how crazy something sounded as long as the fish swallowed the bait. Madison Lane-Rider—and Breakthrough—were dangling everything Muirin had ever wanted in front of her, no matter how crazy it sounded to Spirit, and Muirin was smart enough to know she’d only get those things by doing what they wanted.
The question was—exactly what would Muirin Shae do to get all of her dreams handed to her on a silver platter?
QUERCUS told me we’d be safe if we kept our heads down and didn’t stand out, but I don’t think that’s going to work much longer, Spirit thought as Muirin babbled on. She didn’t seem to care whether Spirit was listening or not. But things are getting really bad really fast, and I’m starting to think we can’t escape—if we try it, we’ll just vanish like all the others, and I really don’t want to know where to.…
QUERCUS was the only thing that let Spirit hold on to the hope that they might—possibly—live through this. In January, Oakhurst had arranged a field trip to Billings. Muirin hadn’t been on the list of students authorized to go, but she’d stowed away, partly for the chance to pick up some contraband—she’d been smuggling harmless (but forbidden) items into Oakhurst since before Spirit arrived. She’d asked Spirit to sneak her items into the school with her own purchases—knowing Spirit’s bags wouldn’t be searched—and of course Spirit said yes.
That was when the Ironkey flash drive had mysteriously appeared. At first Spirit had thought it belonged to Muirin, but Muirin had never asked her for it, and when she plugged it in to her computer, Spirit could get past the Oakhurst firewall.
And more to the point, a chatroom opened where she could talk to QUERCUS.
Whoever he was.
At first she’d thought “QUERCUS” was just a name, but thanks to her hideous Latin Classes, she now knew “quercus” was Latin for “oak tree.” And given the big honking Oak Tree in the Grand Foyer, she couldn’t think the name was a coincidence. He’d told her to trust her instincts, to be kind, to seem as harmless as possible. It might be stupid to trust him without knowing anything about him, but she did.
Only how can it matter whether or not I trust him if I’m dead? And, oh, Muirin, I’m trying really hard to believe you’re still one of us, but I don’t think you’d be this cruel if it was just an act.…
It was all she could do to nod as if she was actually listening to Muirin.
She was afraid of what would happen if she looked like she wasn’t.
* * *
As she reluctantly changed for Systema, Spirit was still trying to decide what they should do, because the one thing she was sure of was that they needed to do something fast . The list of things they should do was staggering: find out whether Doctor Ambrosius was a helpless pawn of the Shadow Knights—or their accomplice. Find out what happened to Merlin. ( Because the one thing I know is he’s sure not in that oak tree anymore, she thought.) Find out what the Shadow Knights wanted —with all of them, and just in general.
And oh yeah, we have to stop them, too. Somehow. She slammed her locker door as hard as she could.
* * *
She didn’t know whether she was glad or worried to see Burke in class. At least it means he’s still alive, she thought wearily. For now.
The new class was twice its previous size, and Spirit didn’t hold out much hope of Ovcharenko keeping the beginning and advanced students separate during sparring. As always, he started by picking out a sparring partner. As usual, he picked Dylan.
Oh, come on! Spirit thought in indignation. He just got out of the Infirmary two days ago!
Dylan looked as horrified as Spirit felt. He looked around wildly for allies, but even in a place that encouraged them all to hate each other, Dylan was especially
The question was—exactly what would Muirin Shae do to get all of her dreams handed to her on a silver platter?
QUERCUS told me we’d be safe if we kept our heads down and didn’t stand out, but I don’t think that’s going to work much longer, Spirit thought as Muirin babbled on. She didn’t seem to care whether Spirit was listening or not. But things are getting really bad really fast, and I’m starting to think we can’t escape—if we try it, we’ll just vanish like all the others, and I really don’t want to know where to.…
QUERCUS was the only thing that let Spirit hold on to the hope that they might—possibly—live through this. In January, Oakhurst had arranged a field trip to Billings. Muirin hadn’t been on the list of students authorized to go, but she’d stowed away, partly for the chance to pick up some contraband—she’d been smuggling harmless (but forbidden) items into Oakhurst since before Spirit arrived. She’d asked Spirit to sneak her items into the school with her own purchases—knowing Spirit’s bags wouldn’t be searched—and of course Spirit said yes.
That was when the Ironkey flash drive had mysteriously appeared. At first Spirit had thought it belonged to Muirin, but Muirin had never asked her for it, and when she plugged it in to her computer, Spirit could get past the Oakhurst firewall.
And more to the point, a chatroom opened where she could talk to QUERCUS.
Whoever he was.
At first she’d thought “QUERCUS” was just a name, but thanks to her hideous Latin Classes, she now knew “quercus” was Latin for “oak tree.” And given the big honking Oak Tree in the Grand Foyer, she couldn’t think the name was a coincidence. He’d told her to trust her instincts, to be kind, to seem as harmless as possible. It might be stupid to trust him without knowing anything about him, but she did.
Only how can it matter whether or not I trust him if I’m dead? And, oh, Muirin, I’m trying really hard to believe you’re still one of us, but I don’t think you’d be this cruel if it was just an act.…
It was all she could do to nod as if she was actually listening to Muirin.
She was afraid of what would happen if she looked like she wasn’t.
* * *
As she reluctantly changed for Systema, Spirit was still trying to decide what they should do, because the one thing she was sure of was that they needed to do something fast . The list of things they should do was staggering: find out whether Doctor Ambrosius was a helpless pawn of the Shadow Knights—or their accomplice. Find out what happened to Merlin. ( Because the one thing I know is he’s sure not in that oak tree anymore, she thought.) Find out what the Shadow Knights wanted —with all of them, and just in general.
And oh yeah, we have to stop them, too. Somehow. She slammed her locker door as hard as she could.
* * *
She didn’t know whether she was glad or worried to see Burke in class. At least it means he’s still alive, she thought wearily. For now.
The new class was twice its previous size, and Spirit didn’t hold out much hope of Ovcharenko keeping the beginning and advanced students separate during sparring. As always, he started by picking out a sparring partner. As usual, he picked Dylan.
Oh, come on! Spirit thought in indignation. He just got out of the Infirmary two days ago!
Dylan looked as horrified as Spirit felt. He looked around wildly for allies, but even in a place that encouraged them all to hate each other, Dylan was especially
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