City of Air (Lost Cities Saga 1)

Two weeks after his arrival, Leona was convinced that the Imperial magician had only told half the truth when he suddenly confessed to Master Opal that he wanted to become his student, but she had no way of proving it.

After Master Opal recovered from his astonishment, and a hasty whispered discussion in his office with Vincent during which Leona glared at Sebastian and he avoided her gaze by focussing on straightening nonexistent wrinkles in his suit, the master reluctantly agreed to take on the young magician as a student. Leona's jaw had dropped, Vincent pressed his lips together in a thin line and averted his gaze to the floor and Sebastian smiled and rushed forward to shake the master's hand as if he were meeting the king! The master had taken the boy's hands too, though with a slightly furrowed brow and only allowed one dip and lift of their joined hands before pulling away, grunting something about tea and marching off to find the housekeeper, Ma De Four.

Leona watched him go and then turned back to Vincent and Sebastian. Sebastian, who was still smiling, said, "That went much better than I expected! This is great, Vincent, old boy! Excellent!"

Vincent, like his father before him, grunted at this, and turning to Leona said, "Well, Leelee, it appears you're going to have a lot of free time this holiday."

Sebastian turned to her then, cheeks red and replied, "Ah, Miss Ruby...I..."

The energy around him was still immense, palpable. If she could give it shape, she imagined it to be a mighty water dragon of Oriental lore. And it was leashed. This was no ordinary boy. Leona cut him off with a nod to Vincent and walked away. While Master Opal and Vincent were willing to give this Imperial magician an opportunity to deceive them, Leona was not. She would be civil, because all ladies were civil even the ones born freemen, but she did not have to be friendly.

With two apprentices now, instead of one, a schedule had to be drawn up, done that same night after dinner. Master Opal made it so that Sebastian's and Leona's lessons were separate. This meant that Leona was never privy to those critical moments that proved Sebastian did not need any more help to practice magic than the master himself did. Of course, it also meant that he saw nothing of her lessons either.

Every morning when they met at breakfast, for the master had insisted on Leona's presence at the table from her first day in the house, the better to quiz her on her studies of course, the young magician would greet her, "Good morning, Miss Ruby. You look well-rested, thank goodness. I worried that our late-night lessons would keep you up at night," he would say while buttering toast or something of the sort.

Leona, seating herself or reaching for the teapot or something like that would invariably reply, "Not at all, Mr Tyne, I'm a heavy sleeper. Vincent says that I would sleep through the end of the world if they let me, but that's just silly. Master Opal had these walls made especially thick so that the neighbours would not be given a fright when he worked. I hear they think he is just as bad as we freemen for being a magician."

He always seemed a little surprised to hear her speak so casually of the social relations between the freemen and the white colonists of the islands, but never commented on it. Instead he would follow up his first question with, "And what are your plans for today?"

Leona would go through the list of acceptable answers and reply "Sewing" or "Art" or "Music" or "Dance" depending on her mood.

"That is just too bad, I had hoped we would have some time together today," he would say and that would end their conversation for the rest of breakfast, and all interactions between them most days until dinner. Of course the time between breakfast and dinner was when Leona would actually have her own magical studies whilst the master visited his various students with his new apprentice. She liked this time the most though for more often than not she would be under Vincent's supervision and he was quite happy to let her do as she pleased once she had carried out whatever his father's instructions were. So of course she took up this time needling Vincent for information on what he had been up to in the capital.

"So, aside from Mr Tyne, did you make any new friends this year? All the magazines you brought me go on and on about the Season and who will be there and who will be Presented. You must have gone to one party. Lots of pretty girls for you."

Vincent, head down over some book or drawing or what-have-you that Leona was supposed to be looking at, never looked up at her at those times. He probably had no idea what he was reading, having not been born with the talent or "aptitude" as his father said, but still kept his gaze trained at it as he replied, "No one of note. I don't really care for the parties, nor does Sebastian. You know he's just like father, always with his head in a book. A great friend to have, actually, if you're practicing to be a solicitor. He knows all sorts of things."

And just like that the conversation would turn to Sebastian and Leona would make a calculated retreat to the safety of her lessons to try again another day.

In her studies, Leona had gone from having no idea how she had managed to summon the Greater Water Elemental that the master said she had that fateful day to being able to properly summon, with a circle this time, small elementals of various kinds and then banish them again without incident. She had had to learn the necessary incantations, the types of circles and runes required depending on the level of elemental she needed, the classes of elementals of the four main groups, and most important, the strict bindings that she needed to apply to keep them under her control and to carry out her instructions to the letter. Well, her lessons had explored almost every aspect of her magical education that the master could provide. There was one thing that he was still only tentatively approaching ten years after first meeting her: the matter of her ability to see and interact with a class of spirits that she was sure were ghosts.

The master appeared neither to see nor sense them, and she could not ask any other magician she had ever met since if they could. There was also shockingly little written on the matter. This lack of information was strange, of this Leona was certain, but the master never treated it as such. In fact. he never brought up the subject in his ordinary lessons unless Leona herself asked a direct question. It gave her the impression that he did not have very much knowledge on the matter and did not want to show it, but Leona could not be sure. Instead, she had to content herself with what little information he would provide whenever she asked and his insistence that they would get to this later on in her studies. On this matter he was also very clear: she was not allowed to let anyone else know about her seeing ghosts and this included his new apprentice, Sebastian Tyne.

This was not to say that Leona could not seek out other sources of information on her own. Though their colony was yet another tiny island in a long chain of insignificant tiny islands ruled by the Empire, the presence of magicians meant that there was a library in the city. Leona had been there numerous times with the master for her lessons and the female magician, Genevieve Peyrouse, who served as its librarian was pleasant enough for a Zodiac Society follower and an Earth elemental specialist no less. (She also liked that the woman's golem, Gavrel, had a tendency to imitate the poses of famous sculptures whenever Leona passed by.) It was simply that the books she had access to were limited on account of her age, much of the library was restricted to practicing magicians who had already passed their Exhibitions and she was never allowed in without Master Opal to supervise her. And otherwise, there was no other information available except from other magicians who she was not allowed to talk to and they had no interest in helping a freewoman even if she was a magician too.

Given their diverging schedules and the fact that there were no ghosts haunting the Opal home as there had been at her family's hut, it was not exactly difficult for Leona to keep her ability a secret from Sebastian Tyne. In fact, with the exception of that one thing she was no different from any other magician that Sebastian would encounter. This was particularly useful on the days that Vincent chose to go calling on friends he had not seen in the past year. Leona hated those days, (which lasted a week!)as she could not accompany him and if he took anyone along it would be Sebastian. But then, when he left with Sebastian, she would have to go around with the master and George and their paths would never cross.

All in all, things were not working out the way Leona had hoped they would when Vincent first wrote of his return. And what made it worse were the sympathetic looks that George would give her as she got into the steam car. No android/construct/whatever he was had any right giving her looks like that.

And through it all, Sebastian Tyne presented himself as nothing more than an earnest young magician determined to learn all that he could from his new teacher. (This irritated Leona to no end.)

He would be up at dawn every morning (Leona knew this for a fact for she heard him,) so that he could prepare the master's bag for the lessons after breakfast. During that time he would even go out to check with George to ensure that the steam car was ready, and also collect the morning's paper and any mail, much to their housekeeper's chagrin. (Ma De Four was human, of mixed blood and so could give Leona as many sympathetic looks as she liked, even though those too were unwelcome.) After breakfast he would leave with the master for their lessons, though they kept no more than three per day now that the master had two apprentices to see to. Once they returned to the household, usually in the mid-afternoon, well after lunch, they would dine separately so that the master could review Leona's work and Sebastian could write a letter home, which he did daily, religiously. While she was in review with the master she would often spy him going out to mail his letter, at first with Vincent and then on his own. Once her lesson reviews were done, the two apprentices would switch places again. If Vincent were home this meant that he and Leona could play games in the parlour while Sebastian worked with the master, or she could find other entertainment for herself in her room. There was no point in writing letters to her family at the Miller Plantation, neither of her parents could read and of her siblings, those that could often had other matters to attend to and were too busy for her.

Most nights, the master's lessons with Sebastian would continue late into the night. He had not just been making conversation when he mentioned it. Why, Leona could not entirely fathom given that, unlike when she became an apprentice Sebastian was no novice to magic. It made her a little envious in fact, especially considering that she was sure that they would go into all sorts of advanced magic that she was not yet allowed to. It was often difficult to remember at these times that the master had great plans for her, but she would always manage to have a carefully blank face by dinnertime. Which was necessary, for Sebastian always looked jubilant and was in a generally cheery mood once he was freed from the study to eat. And of course it seemed to please Vincent to no end that his guest was getting along even though he noticed that Leona was wary of him.

So she was in for quite a shock when her suspicions were unexpectedly confirmed.

By chance, one morning after breakfast, Leona found that she had some time for herself and decided to go out for a walk. It was one of those rare days when Master Opal had some other business to attend to and had neglected to leave anything for her to do. That usually meant that all that was left was practice for her Exhibition but she had no desire to do any of that this day. Vincent had gone off to visit friends, the servants were busy, and this left Leona to her own devices and feeling rather restless after more than a week practically confined to the Opal house, nothing seemed better than a walk. It was bright out, though the tropical wet season had begun a month earlier they were experiencing a dry spell of high temperatures and humidity that forced Leona into her thinnest cotton dresses and made her welcome her shorter skirts. A parasol would take care of the direct sunlight and if she stuck close to the house she could always hurry back for a glass of water. Thus prepared she took up her frilliest parasol and headed out.

As soon as she stepped out the front door she was greeted by none other than Sebastian Tyne, in the act of putting on his hat. He turned, startled by the door opening behind him mere moments after he had shut it, then smiled when he recognised her and said, "Going out as well, Miss Ruby? Wonderful, I can go farther than the end of the street then."

Leona had to force her mouth open again to reply, "Ah yes, Mr Tyne. How far did you wish to go?"

His smile broadened and he replied, "On our way back yesterday I saw a small park with an outdoor cafe, 'very Parisian', I thought and I was hoping to find it again. Do you think that would be too far?"

"We may have to take the tram," said Leona, then realising that she had just agreed to go out alone with the very man the master had wanted her away from, added, "But I didn't take that much with me..."

"Oh that's okay," said Sebastian, still smiling at her, eyes glinting in the daylight, cheeks dimpled. "No gentleman would ever let the lady pay."

And so it was that they set out of the house together, walking side by side. Sebastian kept his head high, taking in his surroundings with the long, absentminded gazes of a tourist. Leona was more cautious, glancing about when she could for the slightest indication that they had been discovered by the master or the accusing, suspicious looks of their neighbours that would quickly become sensational gossip. There was not that much to see. In the heat, there were few pedestrians out on the streets. A tram that passed on the way was empty, its freeman driver in full uniform though his brow was beaded with sweat. And of course, in a matter of minutes, Sebastian's face and neck began to redden. Leona offered him, reluctantly she might add, shelter under her parasol which he accepted immediately, lifting it from her hands as he was taller and slipping in close. She had never been more aware of another human being before that moment, not even Vincent. The heat from Sebastian's body made her uncomfortable and feel confined and smothered; the smell of his sweat and skin, even under his fancy, sharp cologne that she suspected was too old for him filled her nostrils but was not unpleasamt, though her head felt a little tight, and the solid feel of his arm brushing against hers made her flesh tingle.

She stepped away a little, even though it brought her out of the shelter, and in this manner, the two apprentices of Master Opal made their way through the neighbourhood. Mildly, Leona wondered where Sebastian had been going but did not ask. In fact, they would not speak again until they had crossed the first intersection away from the Opal house. Then Sebastian asked, "So how did you come to be in Master Opal's household? Vincent assured me that you are not his illegitimate half-sister but he never explained."

Leona had been wondering all the while how much she could say if Sebastian decided to engage her in conversation but decided that this was not too bad and replied, "He realised that I could see the fire elemental he'd come to save the plantation from."

It was not the whole story but turnabout was fair play and all that. Sebastian seemed to consider this a moment and then asked, "And your family agreed to part with you? Vincent told me that your parents and siblings still live on the plantation."

It was another fair question, Leona decided and she replied, "I'm told that they practically sold me to him, though my brothers insist that isn't true. It isn't. I used to spend the holidays with them when I was younger and I still see them occasionally now, but not my parents. My mother finds it too painful to not take me back and my father refuses because he believes that this is best. I don't know... I don't mind being here with Master Opal for he has never been unkind to me." Then, realising that she had strayed into too personal territory, Leona asked, "And what about you, Mr Tyne? Surely you didn't leave Londoninum, the 'Crown Jewel of the Empire', to come to some forgotten colony to learn from the master. Even Master Opal knows that his materials are outdated."

Sebastian turned sharply towards her, eyes wide in surprise, and then burst out laughing, startling her. Leona stopped walking to look at him, and when he realised that she was not at his side, he stopped as well and said, "Vincent told me you were sharp and you do not disappoint. However, it is the truth. There was no way I would give up this opportunity to learn from the lost heir of House Opal."

Now Leona went from startled to confused. Brows furrowing, gaze narrowed, she asked, "The 'lost heir' of what?"

Sebastian continued laughing until he realised she was serious. Then his smile fell away and he studied her expression for a full minute before replying, "House Opal. Have you never heard of it? John Opal and his son Vincent are the last surviving descendants. They disappeared thirteen years ago after selling their properties and taking the first, fastest ship out of Londoninum. Everyone believed that they had gone to the Mayintec territories but then Vincent showed up and proved otherwise. I couldn't believe my luck, though it may not have been so difficult anyway as he still went by his family name and that they weren't even hiding. I'm sorry, but didn't you know anything about this?"

He had apparently noticed Leona's continued blank stare. She replied, "No, I haven't. House Opal?"

"Yes, House Opal, one of the twelve houses of the Order of the Stone which some consider the spiritual ancestors to the Zodiac Society. Surely Master Opal mentioned the Zodiac Society, but he never said anything to you of the Order?" asked Sebastian, one raised eyebrow displaying his disbelief.

Again, Leona responded in the negative, her mind racing. Not once ever had she heard the master mention anything of "House Opal" and the "Order of the Stone". In fact, neither he nor Vincent ever really spoke of their lives in Empire. Leona had never asked either, even when preparations began for Vincent's departure two years earlier, for she had always known that he would leave the colony to pursue his dreams. In fact, Leona knew herself that one day the master was going to take her there as well in order for her to meet the Zodiac Society. But what was this that Sebastian was bringing up now?

She looked up at him determined to ask him outright why exactly he had come to the Caribbees when she saw the ghost. Despite all her efforts, she had walked with Sebastian to the last place she needed to be in order to keep her secret ability a secret: the Lapeyrouse Cemetery. And judging from the startled look on the apparition standing at the entrance gates to the cemetery, it was not going to be entirely a secret for long.

There was another side to Leona's power that kept her in constant training with Master Opal. In addition to seeing elementals and ghosts, she appeared to attract them, as if some kind of walking magical magnet. The fire elemental that destroyed her family's home, the various elementals that escaped careless students over the years, and the ghosts that she invariably encountered, all eventually made their way to her and would not leave unless banished. Well, she did not yet know how to banish the ghosts, but she had to figure out how when ignoring them did not work. And this ghost, which had left the gate and was now determinedly float-walking up the pavement to her, did not look like the type to allow her to ignore him.

Thinking quickly, she grabbed hold of Sebastian by the arm and began marching them down the main street away from the ghost and for once oblivious to the stunned looks from their fellow pedestrians. Sebastian was himself confused but only asked, "Where are we going?"

"The parK! I don't think you've been there! And I want you to tell me more about this Order and House Opal. It's clear that the master had no intentions of telling me but you seem to know a lot and are willing to talk. So let us talk, Mr Tyne."

Okay, so maybe going to the park had not been the best decision. Indeed while going there had allowed them to lose the ghost on their trail that only one of them could see, it was also highly unlikely that someone would not notice Master Opal's "half-breed daughter" and an Imperial, a young man, having tea in the park and without a chaperone to boot. Unlike the streets, the park was filled with groups: families, friends, courting couples, strolling, sitting in the shade or simply propped against a tree reading a book. Many heads turned and there were a few lingering looks as Leona and Sebastian marched in. She internally cringed. She could practically hear the scolding she was going to get already, both for being out alone with Sebastian Tyne and also for straying so far from home outside of a school day. But as much as she wanted to escape her undead pursuer she also wanted to learn more about the Order of the Stone, if it existed of course.

Settling into his seat on a park bench they'd been fortunate to find unoccupied in a shaded spot, Sebastian, with eyes twinkling in a manner that did something funny to her insides, began, "Miss Ruby, I have to say that your thirst for knowledge is a wonder to behold. If this is the approach you take to your magic study, the master chose well when he began looking for an apprentice."

Leona felt her cheeks heat up with her embarrassment and she apologised, ducking her head to hide her face, "I am sorry."

He smiled at her, his own cheeks pink and said, "There is no need to apologise, Miss Ruby. I understand that the master may have wanted to keep a few things from you. Every magician has his secrets and keeps them close to heart. I am the one who should apologise; I assumed that he had told you."

Leona shook her head. "No, it doesn't matter now anymore, does it? I've never asked so if he wanted to tell me I wouldn't have known. But since you know so much, a-and for my silence on your true motives for being here, please tell me about the Order of the Stone."

At the implied bribe, Sebastian grinned, an action that made her insides twist further. Shocked, she stumbled over the last few words and felt her heart rate speed up. Oblivious to this, Sebastian relaxed into the bench and began, "The Order of the Stone, like the Zodiac Society, was an organisation for magicians formed of the heads of the families of the twelve most powerful. These twelve took their names from the list of mystical birthstones in the manner that the Zodiac Society members took their names from the signs of the zodiac. They were known as the Houses Emerald, Bloodstone, Jade, Opal, Sapphire, Moonstone, Ruby, Diamond, Agate, Jasper, Pearl and Onyx. Over time, some of the member families adopted these names as their own, like House Opal for example, but they were all mainly identified by the stones anyway so it mattered little."

"There was a House Ruby?" asked Leona with a smile that was absolutely not a blush because that was absurd. She hated this one called Sebastian Tyne!

"Yes, in fact at the time of the Order's fall House Ruby was at the helm. But I don't think they would be related to you in any way, the entire family was slaughtered at their estate over the winter and were not discovered until the spring," said Sebastian. His voice dipped a little and he flashed a quick apologetic look.

Leona felt the bile rise in her throat, recalling immediately an image from her childhood when she had once stumbled across a suicide who had hidden himself in an unused shed at the property and was still hanging months later while she hid from Cedric Miller and his friends. Determined to hear the rest though, she took a deep breath and asked, "So there were twelve houses, all named for mystical birthstones, whose family heads made an organisation called the Order. What did this Order do?"

"Well," said Sebastian, "they regulated the practice of magic in the Empire. They were the ones who determined what elemental magicians could and could not do in everything from personal use at home to working for the Empire. Mostly they worked for the Empire, which at the time was nothing more than a kingdom, and House Ruby, being actual relatives to the unpopular king were most prominent and therefore head of the Order. It was just their misfortune then that the unpopular king got himself overthrown for it sealed their fates and with them the fate of the Order. Once they were slaughtered, the other members of the Order scattered fearing for their lives. Anyone who could not leave the a Empire entirely was forced to go into hiding as best they could. One of those that had to do so was House Opal, so that they almost completely vanished until some twenty years ago when the Zodiac Society officially took over the role of the fallen Order regulating magic and John Opal appeared demanding a place in the society."

"He demanded a place?" asked Leona, wondering at the same time if they were speaking of the same person for the master she knew insisted that one had to earn everything they had in life, including her, which was why she had to assist him in his lessons and that she never ever summon anything without doing the proper summoning.

Sebastian wrinkled his nose a little, frowned and replied, "Yes, and he was understandably rejected. The Zodiac Society is nothing like the Order. Instead of the heads of powerful families, the Society is made up of the most powerful magicians who have earned their places and received Her Majesty's appointment to sit there. One cannot buy one's way into the Zodiac Society either, one must prove one's worthiness through a demonstration of power, and this includes simply having the Society's and with it, the Empire's blessing to carry out various researches. Unfortunately, John Opal was neither powerful enough nor appointed by Her Majesty and he refused to give a demonstration and so was thrown out of the building and ordered never to return unless he returned willing to cooperate or with something worthy of the Society's attention."

What? Leona felt a lurch in her chest that had nothing to do with Sebastian Tyne or his smiles. This last part sounded frightfully familiar though she had never heard of the Order until now. After all, what else did the master speak about but her future debut before the Society in Londoninum? Undeniably, with her unusual ability to communicate with the deceased, she was the "something worthy" he was planning to present.

"Which brings us back to why I am here," continued Sebastian bringing her out of her thoughts. "I can get Master Opal the Society's patronage. Not a seat, not yet of course, but a patronage which entitles him to try for a seat when one opens up. In return, I want unrestricted access to his family's records and everything they have that they may have rescued from the fall of the Order."

Of course Sebastian didn't know about Leona's secret. He had not come here to find out anything about her; he was after the master. Stalling for time to sort out her thoughts, Leona asked, "Does Vincent know why you're here?"

Sebastian's face flushed red, and he replied with no small amount of embarrassment, "Well, no, I couldn't tell him. He has been a good friend to me, which is what makes my little lie so terrible but I mean neither him nor his father any harm. No one is after them anyway, nor did I come here to cause them strife. I just want information for my own research."

Leona looked at him and wondered if she would trust him. He had turned to face her during their conversation but now kept his eyes averted and tried to focus all of his attention on the people around them in the park, the sky overhead-light blue, a little cloudy-or nonexistent bits of loose thread on his trousers. His hands, she noticed were a little small and on the fingers the nails were trimmed short, clean, polished even. He did not look dangerous, certainly not with that baby face and boyish voice, but that meant little. Leona knew very well that boys could be very dangerous when they wanted to be and they did not have to be older than five. Not to mention there was that nagging feeling, bolstered by that immense energy he carried but suppressed, ignored even by her master that Sebastian Tyne was still concealing something, something important that would change everything about this situation. But he was willing to give the master something that he wanted very much and could even help her in time to come.

She still did not like him at all.

"Okay," said Leona, softly, so that Sebastian looked up to her sharply, surprised to hear her speak. "I will help you…but you have to at least tell Vincent first. This is going to affect him too, you know, and all he wants to do is become an solicitor. So, whatever you have to do you have to tell him and it must not affect his plans in a way that would force him to give that up."

"Of course," said Sebastian, quickly. "I will make sure that Vincent is not affected by this any more than the inconvenience of learning that his schoolmate has not been entirely honest with him. And your family, your parents and siblings, I can even get them off of that plantation if you'd like."

At this Leona narrowed her gaze at Sebastian and asked, "What? My family? How would they be affected by this?"

"Well, if I get the master into the Zodiac Society he may have to leave for the capital again, and he may want to take you with him. Giving up his teaching position for whatever he desires in Londinum would mean an end to your family's supplementary income," said Sebastian.

Still suspicious, Leona said, "That's not necessary. I told you, they don't really see me all that often now and I will provide for my family on my own. This has nothing to do with you."

Sebastian gave her another appraising, sweeping look and then smiled and said, "As you wish, Miss Ruby. I agree to your terms and take you up on your offer of assistance." Then he stood, turned to her and offered his hand. "Now, let us find Vincent. I have an awkward confession to make."

Leona felt that irritating jolt in her heart again but took his hand and allowed him to help her stand. She hoped he did not think that this meant that they were friends now and she trusted him. Because she did not, not even a little bit.