The Master Magician

Ceony chewed and swallowed a frown before it could touch her lips. “I assure you, I’m quite prepared.”


Emery said, “Miss Twill could take the test tonight and pass. I have every confidence in her abilities.”

“Hmm,” Mg. Bailey said. “And that confidence is the reason you’re leaving her with me, is it?”

“I’m sure there’s something you can teach her that’s slipped my mind. Something somewhere in this enormous house of yours. How are the acoustics, if I may ask?”

Mg. Bailey’s face took on the puckered look of someone who has tasted a bad lemon. Bennet began playing with his sleeve elbows again.

“I’m sure the acoustics are grand,” Ceony said, turning to Emery for her suitcase. She gave him a warning glare, but he pretended not to see it.

“Oh, here, allow me,” Bennet chimed, hurrying forward to take the suitcase before Ceony could get a grip on it.

“Well,” Emery said after a few seconds of silence between himself and the other Folder, “I suppose I should be on my way. You’re in well-practiced hands, Miss Twill. You may be a Folder the next time I see you.”

Ceony paused at that, meeting Emery’s gaze, wondering if he noticed her surprise. I hope it’s not that long, she thought, urging him to read her mind. He smiled at her enigmatically.

“She may be,” Mg. Bailey agreed, though he seemed to emphasize may without actually emphasizing it at all. Perhaps Ceony had imagined it.

She wanted to say good-bye to Emery, to embrace him, to kiss the line of his jaw, but she certainly couldn’t with two witnesses—three if she counted the buggy driver, who had worked his way through half a fag while still seated in his automobile.

Emery nodded to the other paper magician and to Bennet before telling Ceony, “Good luck. You know how to reach me in case you need anything.”

Ceony nodded, feeling an unseen band of rubber stretch between her and Emery as he turned to go.

“Good day, Magician Thane!” Bennet yelled after him. Emery waved politely before getting in the car. The driver dropped his burning cigarette out the window and turned back onto the road.

Ceony frowned as the buggy drew away. Three weeks suddenly seemed a very long time.

“Bennet, fetch that,” Mg. Bailey said, and Bennet—suitcase still in hand—rushed over to the fallen cigarette and stomped it out with his heel, then picked it up and pocketed it.

Mg. Bailey headed back through the gates and into the house without further ado. Ceony hesitated, wondering if she should follow, but fortunately Bennet reappeared at her side and gestured toward the cobbled path. “This way, Ceony. It’s all right to call you that, isn’t it?”

“It is my name,” Ceony said, letting herself relax. “You called me that at Praff, and I’m not a magician yet, besides.”

Bennet smiled. “Neither am I. Obviously.” He cleared his throat. “Um, this is the front of the house; that window up there, in the corner on the third floor, is yours. Gets a little warm in the early afternoon if you don’t pull the shades.”

Ceony nodded, taking in the grounds of the mansion. They seemed even larger now that she could see beyond the bushy perimeter. “It’s all very . . . impressive,” she said.

“Isn’t it?” Bennet asked. “Unless you’ve lost something. It’s a pain to find things in there.”

“Is it just you and Magician Bailey?”

He nodded. “A maid comes by three times a week, if that counts for anything.”

“Pets?”

“No . . . Magician Bailey doesn’t like animals,” he answered, looking ahead at his tutor, whose quick strides had already pulled him to the front door. The Folder didn’t wait for either apprentice before letting himself in.

“He’s a little standoffish,” Ceony said.

At the same moment, Bennet asked, “Does Magician Thane keep pets?”

“He’s allergic, but I do have a paper dog,” she said. She smiled. “His name is Fennel. He’s folded up in that case, actually.”

“Oh, interesting! But no Bizzy, I take it,” he said, referring to the Jack Russell terrier Ceony had kept in her dorm at Tagis Praff.

“No Bizzy. She’s back with my family now.”

“I’m sure Fennel will be a treat. Just”—he paused—“keep him away from Magician Bailey. Just in case. I mean, Magician Bailey is great and all, but it’s better to be safe.”