A Practical Guide to Sorcery
Chapter 253: No Way Out

Siobhan

Month 9, Day 20, Monday 11:00 p.m.

After Analyst Hite let her go and the rain stopped, Siobhan did not go back to Liza’s. Instead, she turned around and headed for one of the few dozen places across the city that she knew was safe to stop and change forms in.

She mulled over her latest problem along the way, too overwhelmed to be truly panicked. There was only so much stress that a human body could take before it became numb. She had three months to prove herself useful. It was possible she might have a good clue about encapsulating and transferring consciousnesses for Hite by that point, but would that really satisfy him?

Siobhan didn’t believe Hite was going to take “No” for an answer, even from Captain Aisling. She also didn’t think she had the leverage to have Hite removed by one of these “directors.” Especially since the old man technically hadn’t done anything egregious yet. In fact, bringing herself to their attention might make things even worse. There was no guarantee any of them would be as reasonable as Aisling.

‘Could I assassinate Hite?’ she wondered longingly. She was willing, but it seemed unlikely, and even if she succeeded, she might get caught.

She blew out a long, slow breath. Since the chances of being able to avoid capture if the Red Guard became determined to find her were so minuscule, she needed to finalize her preparations to run. To disappear forever. Something in her chest squeezed painfully, as if she really might just disappear, without the support and structure of the life she had built here. She would be entirely alone.

She shook her head. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. I would figure it out. I always have before. I have the gold, and I have some of the steps in place already. Identity papers, and such. I still need to create more robust escape routes, prepare living arrangements, and see about alternative learning opportunities.’ The next time she got caught in an emergency situation, she needed a real way out.

She remembered the way the creature in her mind allowed her to escape through the spirit realm, but cut off that dangerous line of thought before it could get too far.

‘Thank goodness I refused to take vows that would allow the Red Guard to restrict my freedom. That was worth it.’ She still didn’t actually want to leave. So, in the time she had, she would do what she could.

She got to a small inn, where she stripped off the clothes she had been wearing. Her first instinct was to burn them. Yes, this seemed paranoid, but Hite had touched them. Who knew what he could have left behind?

However, this battle dress had cost her so much gold, and only been possible for her to purchase because of her connection through Liza. So instead, she cast the shedding-disintegration spell with a broader focus, destroying not only her own, but all biological remnants. Then she cast a scouring spell. Still feeling uneasy, she filled the room’s empty wash basin with water, then added a cleansing potion. Finally, she used a heating spell to boil the water for a few minutes.

When she was done, she removed the water from the fabric with another handy spell and packed the battle dress away. Luckily, she had a spare shirt and pair of pants, and a light cloak to cover it all. Long gone were the days when she had to steal clothes from homeless people.

She considered becoming Sebastien again, but felt that between the potential danger of being followed as Siobhan and someone from the Red Guard learning her other identity, being tracked was the lesser evil. It would be a neat trick if they had terrified her just to secretly watch how she responded. Ennis had told her that breaking in and trashing a place, then hiding and watching how the owner responded was a great way to find the location of hidden safes. Then, if one acted quickly enough, they could raid the contents before security measures were increased. Or, go back to the scene of the crime impersonating a ward expert and just steal the safe outright.

She could afford to have Siobhan Naught’s identity associated with Oliver Dryden, no matter how undesirable that would be. She could not afford to give up her other name, her last and strongest line of defense.

In fact, Hite was not Siobhan’s most urgent problem. She needed to deal with the seal in her mind, which might be cracking further. However, even the thought of going back to the restricted archives to search for more information on shamanry made her heart race. Thaddeus might find her there. The thought of being alone with him made her want to flee.

Siobhan stepped back into the street, looked both ways, and headed toward Dryden Manor. ‘I should see if I can figure out how urgently I need to come up with a solution to the sealed creature. And maybe some clues about how to actually do that. Whatever I learn will inform my next steps.’

When she arrived at Dryden Manor, she climbed up the side of the building and tapped politely on the window of Oliver’s still-lit office. Just in case, it was better to not seem so familiar that she could nonchalantly walk in the front door.

He jumped so hard he almost fell out of his desk chair. When he turned to see her face in the window, his body relaxed, falling out of the automatic fighting stance he had adopted. He rubbed his eyes, his head bowed like some kind of exasperated nanny, before letting her in.

Oliver was tanned and had grown a short beard in the time since she last saw him. Unlike Thaddeus’s, it was neat, trimmed, and didn’t look as if it was desperately trying to escape from his face. He looked her up and down quickly, but upon seeing that she had no wounds, his expression fell flat. “The window, Siobhan, really? Are you, perhaps, getting a little too caught up in your own mystique?” he asked, closing and locking it before drawing the curtains.

She rubbed her forehead tiredly. “Who knows? I’m not sure of anything anymore.”

Oliver stared at her for a moment, his eyes narrowed, and then moved to one of the bookcases near the door. He moved a set of books, reached into the empty space left behind, and turned a dial set into the wall. “Did something happen?”

Siobhan shivered as some indefinable part of her sensed the activation of powerful wards. He must have had them added recently. She took a place on one of his upholstered settees before the fire, as the earlier rain had left her slightly damp and chilled. “A lot has happened,” she admitted.

Oliver puttered about for a moment, bringing back two glasses of alcohol and a dish of candied nuts. He sat beside her. “I heard about some of it. I’m glad to see you recovered. I came to visit twice, but you were sleeping both times, and your young friend Damien did his best to hurry my exit, just short of resorting to force. What happened?”

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Siobhan took the nuts, at first just intending to stall for time to think while she ate, but immediately realizing that she was famished. She shoved an entire handful into her mouth, heedless of basic manners.

Oliver nudged the second glass of alcohol closer.

She hesitated, but then took a small sip of the honey-colored liquid. It was disgusting, of course, but though swallowing it made her shudder, its warmth was welcome. “I’ll start from the beginning. I made a deal with the Red Guard after you left, mostly as planned.” She tried to be succinct, but somehow ended up speaking for a long while.

When she skipped past Damien’s fatal discovery and Thaddeus’s attack with a few vague, non-incriminating sentences, Oliver reached out and touched her forearm. “Stop.” He hesitated, searching her eyes. “Whatever put you into the care of the Undreaming Order almost killed you. I’m sure it was…traumatic, but you know you can tell me anything, right? I was incredibly worried.”

She pressed her lips together.

Oliver’s eyes wavered with some emotion she couldn’t decipher. “Is it too hard to talk about?” he asked gently.

She ran her tongue over the inside of her teeth for a moment, then leaned closer to his ear and spoke in her softest voice. “It’s just dangerous for you to know. It might even be dangerous to say out loud.”

“We’re under the cover of some very strong wards.”

She shook her head silently.

They shared a long, meaningful stare as Oliver seemed to put something together in his mind. He let out a low breath. “Okay. But if that’s the case, then you’re not safe, either. Is there anything that I can do to help?”

Siobhan smiled bitterly. “Not with that. There’s something else.” She explained her recent encounter with the Red Guard, and more specifically, Agent Hite.

When she was done, Oliver rolled his glass back and forth between his palms, staring into the swirling liquid and ice. “This is a problem,” he agreed. “As much as I would like to, I cannot guarantee that the Verdant Stag can protect you from the Red Guard. We simply do not have either the power or the capability.”

Siobhan waved a dismissive hand. “That isn’t why I came to you. I need your help with something else.”

“Getting out of Gilbratha?” he guessed.

“I won’t leave just yet, but yes. I have a few identity papers. I need to make sure they have some assets in their name and backgrounds that could get me access to schooling.” She rummaged within her bag and pulled out a small stack of the navy-colored booklets.

“How did you get these? I didn’t…”

Siobhan raised an eyebrow. “I have other contacts besides you, Oliver.”

He flushed slightly. “Right.”

“That’s not all.” Siobhan hesitated as her instincts toward secrecy warred with her need for help. Was there anyone else she could go to about the thing in her head? Everyone involved with the Undreaming Order thought she was powerful and in control—it was part of their reason for whatever loyalty they held. She didn’t know how they might respond if disillusioned.

Oliver had betrayed her once already, but he had never acted maliciously toward her, and he still considered himself her ally even though he knew a large part of the danger that trailed behind her like a fancy gown’s decorative train. She might have trusted Liza, but she still remembered Oliver’s warning about the woman before Siobhan had first met her. Liza had a code of honor, but Siobhan could not buy her loyalty, and she wasn’t sure where the woman’s personal limits lay, nor even how she really felt about Siobhan. Would an Aberrant be a step too far? Thaddeus Lacer would have been capable of handling the situation, but she could no longer trust him. Damien and Ana…might have stood by her. Damien, at least. But they would both be rather useless against this kind of predicament. She could afford to hire a stranger, but just like Thaddeus, she couldn’t trust one.

All in all, Oliver was her best choice. She couldn’t handle this alone.

“You’re usually so bold. Seeing you hesitate like this is making me wary,” Oliver said with a half-joking smile.

Siobhan closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then speared him with her gaze. “Oliver, I am choosing to trust you with a dangerous secret. The second-most dangerous one I know. If you betray me, you had better make sure to murder me too, else I will come for you and kill you if it’s the last thing I do.”

The smile fell from Oliver’s face. He remained silent for a long while, his gaze assessing her in return. “This dangerous thing, it’s worse than potentially being kidnapped by the Red Guard or being hunted for high treason by the Thirteen Crowns?” When she didn’t respond, Oliver set his glass on the table between them and leaned forward. “But you need help, and you have no other options,” he stated. He looked into the fire for a moment, then turned back to her. “Okay then. Tell me.”

Siobhan still hesitated.

“I am sure that I could use a favor from the Raven Queen soon, too,” he said.

Though she knew it shouldn’t have, this eased her discomfort. “Something specific?”

“A spot of trouble has arisen with the Architects, but I’ll tell you about that once we have some time. There’s nothing to be done about it right this moment, and I don’t believe it’s any immediate threat to you, otherwise. Don’t worry, I won’t pressure you into doing anything you find objectionable,” he added, offering a very small, self-conscious smile.

Siobhan was curious and alarmed, but she felt like if she added even one more tiny stressor to the seething mass stretching her thin, she might burst. ‘Later. I’ll deal with that later.’ At first in a halting voice, and then with more confidence, she explained the situation with the thing in her head from beginning to end.

It was the first time she had ever told anyone, and as the truth spilled into the world, it left her feeling free, but also untethered and out of control, like a hot air balloon loosed to the mercy of the wind.

Oliver remained calm throughout, though little twitches of his fingers and flutters of his lashes gave away his internal distress.

“I want to try looking at myself in the mirror while casting the crown of madness. Since it gives insight into the spirit realm, I think I might be able to see some hints about the seal, but I’m worried about safety. It certainly isn’t safe for others, and it isn’t as if I know anyone else with a split Will who could test it for me—even if I was inclined to put someone at risk for my own benefit. Who knows what else the creature can do? Who knows how safe viewing it through the spirit world might be?” Siobhan concluded. “I need backup.”

“Well…you came to the right person.” He grinned. “As a Null, I might not be able to help you cast any powerful spells, but I do have a good chance at helping, and it should be safer for me to watch over your experiments than anyone else. Who knew my condition would come in handy some day?”

Siobhan’s mouth fell open. “You’re…you’re not a Null.”

Oliver’s grin fell away, replaced by what looked like genuine confusion, which morphed into suppressed amusement. He pressed his fingertips to his lips and cocked his head to the side. “I’m rather sure I am? I think I would know.”

“What!? But—but you have all those books about magical theory!” she exclaimed, waving to the bookcases lining the surrounding walls. “And you have so many stories about foreign magic, a-and… You were the one who taught me how divination difficulty scales with distance!” she blurted, pointing at him accusingly.

Oliver nodded slowly. “Yes, well, I may not be able to cast magic, but I can still learn about it. It is important to understand how the world works if you hope to change it. And you’ll recall, if you think closely, that none of the stories of my travels entail me casting magic. As for being able to teach you some basic calculations, I wanted to be a diviner before I was confirmed to be a Null. I thought maybe I could find out what happened to my sister. But I assure you, Siobhan, I have never cast even the tiniest spell during my thirty-three years on this planet, and not for lack of trying.”

Siobhan fell silent, one hand pressed to her mouth. ‘How did I not realize this? It’s true, I’ve never seen or heard him talk about casting magic. I just assumed, someone so educated, intelligent, and ambitious…’ She let her hand fall limply into her lap.

‘Ah. I see. I am a bigot. I associate all of those traits with magic, and so him being a Null was inconceivable to me.’ A blazing blush seared her forehead down to her neck. She leaned forward in as much of a bow as she could perform while sitting. “I’m very sorry for my assumptions.”

Oliver laughed, leaned over the table between them, and nudged her up by her shoulders. “It’s not going to be a big deal, is it?”

“It won’t,” she promised, trying to get her embarrassment under control.

“Okay. Well then, let us plan,” he said, rubbing his hands together like an eager storybook villain.