The Glass Magician

Delilah nodded. “Prepared, okay. We . . . we can do this.”


Ceony sat back, propping herself up with her hands, and thought for a long moment. “We need to outsmart him, and form a plan for if things don’t go well,” she said. “But if I can get rid of them, I’ll do it. I have to.”

“Can you set a trap?” Delilah asked. “Something . . . papery?”

Ceony perked up. “Can you take me to the cottage, Delilah? To Magician Thane’s house?”

Wrinkles creased her forehead. “What do you need there?”

“A giant glider,” Ceony said. “And a paper doll.”





CHAPTER 10



AFTER SPENDING THE NEXT hour mirror-hopping, Ceony and Delilah rushed back into the Parliament lobby, receiving several quizzical looks from the red-clad foot guards monitoring the hallways. Immense relief washed over Ceony at the sight of the closed doors. Mg. Hughes was speaking loudly on the other side. She sank into her red velvet chair to keep from getting dizzy.

Delilah scuttled to the other chair like a crab, moving sideways as she stared at the doors. They didn’t open, and Delilah sat without consequence.

Ceony leaned forward, seized Delilah’s wrist, and said, “Promise me you won’t say a word.”

“But—”

“Not a word!” she hissed, glancing back to the doors herself. Had she heard a chair scooting back, or was she imagining things? It didn’t matter. They would have no way of knowing what she and Delilah had been doing.

She took a deep breath. Knowing Emery, he’d pick up on something if she didn’t act completely calm. She could play up her frustration at being excluded from the meeting if need be.

Pinning her gaze on Delilah again, Ceony said, “Promise me.”

Delilah wilted. “I promise,” she mumbled. “Oh, Ceony, had I known you better at Praff, I never would have passed my final exam!” She hiccupped. “Now I have heartburn.”

The right door to the meeting room opened from within, and a man Ceony only knew as a Polymaker—a plastics magician—stepped out, his attention still on the room within. Empty chairs now surrounded the oval table, but magicians and several uniformed policemen clustered about it in twos and threes, mumbling to one another.

Scooting closer to Delilah, Ceony whispered, “Don’t forget tomorrow.”

Delilah rubbed her palms up and down her arms. “But where will we do it?”

“The lavatory,” Ceony said, glancing at the conference room. The clusters of people were beginning to break up and inch toward the door. “There’s a lock on the door in the lavatory, from the inside.”

Magicians began to filter into the lobby. Ceony snapped back from Delilah and smoothed her hair, noting that her braid looked a little tousled. A person didn’t get a tousled braid from sitting idly in a chair all morning long.

Would Emery notice? Ceony couldn’t help but wonder how much Emery noticed about her at all. Their conversation in the flat’s living room still sat uneasily with her.

She kept her eyes on the conference room doors, watching as Mg. Hughes stepped out into the foyer and started talking with another man she didn’t know. Mg. Cantrell—the Smelter who had interrogated Emery after the buggy crashed into the river—followed behind.

Delilah popped up from her chair like a spring, clutching her bag as if she had stolen it as Mg. Aviosky and Emery made their way over. Ceony resisted reaction—she prayed Delilah wouldn’t give them away with her body language alone.

“I apologize for the delay,” Mg. Aviosky said, glancing behind her shoulder to Mg. Hughes. “Some of us are especially long-winded.”

Ceony faked a yawn and covered it with a hand. “It was long, and those books are tiresome. I assume I’ll hear nothing of what you decided without me?”

Emery frowned—it only showed in his eyes—but before he could respond, Mg. Aviosky answered, “Correct, Miss Twill. The less you know, the safer you are. I’ll be sure to have you debriefed once things have been settled.”

Emery picked up Ceony’s stack of books and cradled them in the crook of one arm, then rested his other hand on her shoulder. “Let’s go back. We have some things to review.”

Mg. Aviosky cleared her throat, and Ceony noticed that her spectacles-framed gaze rested solidly on Emery’s hand. It quickly moved up to Emery’s face.

“If you don’t mind, Magician Thane, I’d like to speak to Ceony privately for a moment,” she said. “Only a moment.”

Ceony’s stomach dropped about half an inch. She feared she knew what Mg. Aviosky wanted to discuss and took great effort not to make eye contact with Emery.

Delilah looked worried.

“Very well,” Emery said, removing his hand. To Ceony he said, “I’ll be outside.”

“Delilah, if you’ll wait here,” Mg. Aviosky said as Emery left. “Miss Twill, this way.”