City of Air (Lost Cities Saga 1)

As it turned out, much to their good fortune, no one appeared to have noticed Leona and Sebastian out around Woodbrook that day despite the fact they must have made quite a conspicuous pair. After the minor excitement of their walk to the park, the walk back to the Opal house was relatively uneventful. Sebastian seemed to draw the eyes of almost every young woman they passed. Leona barely noticed, more concerned that she had just agreed to help a somewhat untrustworthy Imperial magician who was certainly planning to use her and the master and discard them at the earliest opportunity. Or at least, this was what she had decided and would explain to the master as soon as they were back home, consequences be damned.

It would be two whole days before she saw the master again though, for in addition to his duties as teacher to the wealthy Creole colonists, he was also required by the Cabildo in charge of the colony to make himself available for their use. This could mean anything from consulting on a legal matter involving magicians or suspected magicians amongst the freemen to cleaning up after a hurricane. It was not something he particularly liked but it compensated well. Leona had accompanied him on one such occasion for her training and watched in awe as Master Opal summoned a Greater Earth Elemental to dam a river that was about to burst its bank and sweep away a freeman settlement. Then her eyes went as wide as saucers when the Cabildo official paid him in solid gold.

During the master's absence, Leona changed her mind ten times more about the matter of Sebastian. Under Ma De Four's supervision, she decided to forgo her lessons in favour of playing board and card games with him and Vincent in the parlour while they recounted stories from the past semester. In all of the stories, which went from their first meeting more than a year earlier, through debates that stumped professors and legendary games that left them drenched or muddy or both and breathless and great parties where they danced with fair debutantes until their shoes fell apart, they seemed evenly matched. Vincent was a gentle, just figure, always willing to support a friend. Sebastian was bold, daring but loyal and clever, so that whenever they got into trouble, he would speedily get them out again. Surely someone like that was worthy of support?

Vincent had wanted to go to the races on the first day, but the rain postponed events. On the second, Sebastian proposed a trip to the seaside which turned into a sailing trip after he convinced a fisherman to take them out on his boat. Leona spent the afternoon with one hand in the water, as a pair of undines Sebastian had summoned serenaded the quartet from the docks in the capital to the westernmost tip of the island. The highlight of their little outing though, at least to Leona, was watching the mighty ships of the sea and air coming into port bearing goods and people. Vincent caught her watching one airship and said, "One day soon you'll be taking one in to Londoninum with Father and I imagine you'll be frightened by the sight of all those tall buildings. Why, I was worried when I went that our ship would be pierced right through by the spires of the Parliament building!"

Sebastian scoffed and said, "I had the opposite concern. If we descended any lower I was sure that we would fall out of the sky!"

That remark earned him a box on the ear from Vincent, he retaliated with cuff to the shoulder and Leona ended the fight by casually asking the fisherman if it would be any trouble to toss them both into the water and take her back to port.

The master returned later that evening covered in dust and soot and locked himself in his office until dinner. Then he told them, amidst the roasted lamb and peas and pudding that he had spent the last two days helping the authorities quell a riot initiated by freemen workers protesting low wages, aided by a freeman magician who had failed his Exhibition but made a name for himself among the people. Needless to say, he was in serious trouble for his actions were seen as sedition, the punishment for which was still execution, even now in the "enlightened age" of the Zodiac Society. He directed his gaze to Sebastian here, but the younger magician said nothing and so dinner continued in silence.

The next day the master announced at breakfast that he was going to be working in his study as he had a report on the incident to write and that he was not to be disturbed unless life or limb were in immediate danger. Leona went to her room, now forced to actually study with the master home. She spent the time reading an adventure novel about a race around the world on a bet, defiantly not reviewing her work, until Ma De Four knocked on her door and announced that the master had called for her.

Briefly, Leona wondered if Sebastian had finally confessed his secret. She had seen no signs that he had to Vincent over the past two days and as she placed her hand on the doorknob to the study she decided that if he let this day pass the same she was going to tell it for him. She was just as curious to hear what the master might say to this and what she might learn about his family history regardless of the outcome. So caught up in her thoughts was she then, that she was completely thrown when she walked into the study and found herself greeted by a face she had never expected to see again: Cedric Miller. Even more astonishing, he was accompanied by her younger brother, Generous Ruby.

She stopped mid-step at the door and stared. The last time she had seen her younger brother, just a year earlier, the thirteen year old had been eleven and short and a little scrawny with too big hands and feet. Now he suddenly stood a foot taller and had grown broader though he was still awkward. He sat right to the edge of his seat with his feet apart, slouched forward to prop his chin on his hand. He had also begun to grow into his features, well on the way to resembling their mother, as they all did, with his clear brown eyes, dark hair and her ochre-toned skin. He looked even darker sat beside Cedric Miller.

Fair-haired and fair-skinned in that way that the Creoles had come to be after centuries and generations in the tropical sun, so that they looked as if they originated along the Spice Route rather than the frozen North, Cedric was rather plain save for his bright hazel eyes. At eighteen he had also broadened and lengthened but there was a curl to his lip and the turn of his nose that showed he was very much the arrogant little boy who had nearly ruined his family. The only other difference now, of course, was that he was an actual magician, dressed in the dark red tones of those partial to fire elemental magic, and he wore tiny cufflinks of a north-east aimed arrow crossed through for Sagittarius. And he was smiling at her.

"Close the door and your mouth, Miss Ruby. We don't want flies getting in," said Master Opal from his desk.

Leona, jolted from her daze, did as commanded with a murmured "excuse me" but took only two steps further into the room before stopping and asking, "I'm sorry but, Generous? Mr Miller, what are you doing here?"

Of course it would be Cedric Miller who would speak first, saying, "To see you, of course, Miss Ruby. And since Generous has agreed to become my personal attendant, I thought it would be wonderful to bring him along. How long has it been since you last saw each now? A year? Two?"

Leona remained silent, still staring at the two. Generous shifted his gaze over her head. Then the master cleared his throat and said, "Mr Miller and young Mr Ruby surprised me at the door when I returned. It appears they have a matter of great importance to discuss with you."

"And with you, Master Opal," said Cedric, rising to his feet. Generous stood with him and offered Leona an apologetic smile.

A sense of trepidation descended around Leona then as Cedric cleared his throat and announced, "I have come with a proposition that I think will be mutually beneficial."

"I doubt it," said the master from his seat at the window behind his desk. "In fact, I'm quite convinced that this will make me quite angry, upset Miss Ruby thus disrupting her concentration for the rest of the day, and get you both thrown out into the street. But as Miss Ruby has not seen her brother in a rather long time, I will allow it."

Undeterred, Cedric began, "It has recently come to my attention that something unfortunate—no, not 'unfortunate', criminal is the more appropriate word, 'scandalous' fits as well—happened some ten years ago. You, Master Opal, bought this girl, Leona Alice Ruby, from her parents."

A stunned silence filled the room for a full minute before Leona stammered out, "E-eh?"

It was Master Opal who put it more eloquently. "What is this, Mr Miller? You are making some very serious accusations here, dangerous accusations in fact."

"Indeed," said Cedric, offering the older magician a small smile that never reached his eyes. "And I will continue to make them. You bought Miss Ruby from her ignorant parents, for what purpose I do not know, but it doesn't matter. And I can prove it too."

The master stood up abruptly. Cedric did not notice his change in mood but Leona and Generous did and exchanged mutual alarmed looks. So they would both be forever grateful to Sebastian coming through the door right then and beginning, oblivious to the guests, "Master Opal, I must speak with you about something. It con—I'm sorry, I did not realise that you had guests. Oh, Miss Ruby, there you are, I was looking for you."

This last part earned her sharp looks from the other three, which she carefully ignored to respond, "Did you need something, Mr Tyne?"

"Indeed I did," Sebastian replied, smiling broadly at her. From the periphery of her vision she noticed Cedric's brow furrow slightly while Generous glanced between the two of them. "Vincent has requested your company for an outing. It appears that he has finally secured tickets to the races and since the weather is lovely insists that we must attend. I just want to know what's so exciting about a horse race."

An outing with Vincent? Leona did not need to hear any more, especially now that she so desperately wanted to get out of the study. She turned to the master with a pleading look, pointedly ignoring her brother and Cedric Miller. The master gave a slight nod and Leona, with only a brief, parting smile at Generous, promptly fled the room with Sebastian.

They were halfway down the hall to the front door when Sebastian asked, "What's going on? Who are they? New students?"

"No," said Leona, quietly. "My brother and the son of the owners of the plantation I was born at."

Sebastian looked over at her, eyes wide, but Leona only offered him a brief smile before saying, "Their business is with the master, not me."

Sebastian did not look convinced, but then they were at the doorway and Vincent was there with a hat and gloves for Leona. He smiled as they met him and asked, "Do you think Father's guests will be gone by the time we return?"

Leona gave him a grateful smile. "I hope so," she replied.

The Queen's Park Savannah was usually a lively place, what with the picnics and tennis and cricket games and kites in May, but on race day it was as boisterous as a festival and as colourful one of the masquerades in February. Leona had only been to the races one other time with the master and Vincent but she could not recall it being this busy. People were dressed to the nines: fine suits complete with top hats and canes, fancy, frilly dresses made of materials usually reserved for special occasions worn with matching towering hats full of feathers and fabric, shoes polished until they shone and fine jewellery that glittered as they moved. Even the magicians were in full regalia, colours, pins and, for a select few, elemental "familiars" at their side. It was as if Empress herself had come. Leona, Vincent and Sebastian, considerably less fashionably-attired had to push their way into their seats at the stands. And that is where they learned the cause: a high-ranking member of that esteemed organisation of magicians, the Zodiac Society, was in attendance as a guest of the governor.

The whispers were all around as they settled into their seats, and when they realised what they were Leona thought she saw Sebastian pale slightly, but then she decided that it was a trick of the light for he was already quite pale as it was. Then Vincent turned to him and said, "I wonder who it is? A high-ranking member of the Zodiac Society? Could it be one of the Twelve?"

"Of course not," said Sebastian with a scoff. "They're nothing more than a bunch of stuffy, old curmudgeonly types who would die of shock if they ever set one foot out of the 'gentle' English sunlight. Here in the Caribbees? Never!"

Leona was still looking at him and so did not miss the quick glances he took of the area around them, brow slightly furrowed. It was as if he doubted his own protest and was seriously worrying over the possibility that there was indeed a high-ranking member of the Zodiac Society in the colony. And why would he have to do that if he could get the master into the Society's patronage? Had she been correct in her estimation that at his age he was nothing more than a low-level grunt that was looking for his own way on the master's back?

Vincent broke through her thoughts then as he said, "Oh, look, we're right on time for the first race."

Sure enough there was activity around the starting gates. The drab-looking officials, casually-dressed trainers, brilliantly-attired jockeys, and of course their majestic constructed mounts were busily preparing for the first race while anxious bookkeepers called out last minute bets and owners, spectators and gamblers alike began to crowd around the track and into their seats. Leona knew the exact moment that Sebastian discovered that this was not "just a horse race" for she glanced at him and saw his eyes go wide and mouth fall open. Then he stood up abruptly and said, "Those…are not horses."

In fact they were constructs, like George though made of lower level elementals that lacked the intelligence but none of the power.

"I take it, then, that they do not race elementals in Londoninum?" asked Leona.

Sebastian looked back at her, then quickly sat down and said, "No…they do not…why…how is it done here?"

Leona shrugged, "It started with the Spanish settlers, I think. Then when the Empire seized the colony and found out about it they decided to keep it. A good thing too, I'm told that nowhere else in the Empire is this done."

Sebastian looked out at the track and said, "I have not heard of it before, no…"

"Well you are in for quite a show," said Vincent.

Leona found herself trying to look over the crowds to see if she could pick out the Zodiac Society member. She decided that he would not be particularly difficult to spot either, for he would be as overdressed and perspiring as Sebastian had been the first few days. He would also be the centre of attention, particularly to the ladies, also as Sebastian was even now.

As if to prove her truthful then, a young woman passing by on her way to seat managed to meet Sebastian's gaze for a moment before blushing crimson and hurrying after her guardians. Sebastian, seemingly having made his peace with the idea of racing elementals for sport, turned away from her to Leona and asked, "Are you sure it was alright to leave your brother like that, with the master and that young man?"

"What did they want?" asked Vincent, turning to Leona as well. "My goodness, Generous has grown so much! How has that not happened with you, Leelee?"

Leona pointedly focussed her attention on the track before replying, "It does not concern me. What they were discussing is between them and the master."

"But Leona…" Vincent began to protest.

"It does not concern me," Leona repeated.

There was a long silence following this declaration and then Sebastian broke it to say to Vincent, "You were right, she presents as quiet and obedient but go against her and she becomes as stubborn as a mule."

She glared at the two of them in turn, causing them both to flush deep red, and then said, "In what way, because I am a freewoman or just a woman? The race is starting. I'm betting on number five."

'Yes, yes, good one it looks like," said Vincent quickly, now scanning the track where the bridled, construct-bound elementals and their operators were lined up.

"Indeed," Sebastian chimed in after, looking as well and missing entirely the forlorn look that the young lady from earlier had given him.

Moments later they finally met with the Zodiac Society magician. Or rather, he came over to them, along with an entourage of people too finely dressed to be unimportant, smiling broadly. He was a tall man with dark blond hair and blue eyes, wearing a dark red suit similar to the one Sebastian had when he first arrived, though with ordinary shoes and black top hat and cane. He had accessorised with diamond cufflinks and gold tie pin in the form of a curved "V" for Aries, and like Sebastian seemed to have a presence that far exceeded the physical space he took up. But what truly caught the eye was the Greater Fire Elemental, a djinn in the form of a Mohamedan woman swathed in gold-embroidered dark red linen, though her sandaled feet and hands were bare and covered in elaborate swirling designs that stained them the red of dried blood. Leona tried not to gape at her, failed and the woman stared back, kohl-lined eyes glittering like black diamond lit from within by pure white flames.

The magician himself appeared not to notice her staring, his gaze was trained on Sebastian and after a moment he gave a small smile and said, "Why, Madam, you're right, I do know this young magician who goes by 'Sebastian Tyne'. He is the upstart I was telling you about who has been trying to show me up since the day he first arrived."

The woman he had spoken to gave Sebastian a quick onceover and replied behind her fan, "But he's only a boy!"

"Don't let his angelic baby face fool you, he is quite the little terror. More than once I've had the notion to bend him over my knee and give him the proper spanking he deserves." This statement was greeted with much tittering from the first woman and two others, though one of them was unabashedly staring at Sebastian in a manner that suggested she was not at all deterred by his baby face. The djinn woman did not react.

Then the magician's gaze alighted upon Leona and Vincent and his already broad smile expanded into a grin. "And who do we have here?"

A second woman said, "Mr Vincent Opal, he's been away to London studying law. And the little freeman girl is his father's ward."

The magician's smile disappeared and his eyes narrowed, his expression becoming calculating. Sebastian, whose expression had become rather tight and cold the moment the magician began speaking, looked away from the man to the racetrack. So it was Vincent who would ask, "I'm sorry for not knowing this, but who are you?"

The magician's smile returned, and he said, "James Tolliver, and you are Mr Vincent...Opal?"

"Yes," said Vincent. "And this is Miss Leona Ruby."

James Tolliver's gaze never left Vincent's face, so that he barely acknowledged Leona when he said, "It is a pleasure to meet you both." Then he added with a conspiratorial smile, "I do hope that young Seb here has not been stirring up trouble for you and your family?"

"No, he hasn't," said Leona. "The master would not have it even of Vincent."

This response prompted a fit of giggles from James Tolliver's companions, a mortified one from Vincent and continued dismissal by Sebastian, but the magician's expression was serious. He flicked his attention to Leona for a moment, looking her over from head to toe without saying a word and then turned to leave. He made it half a step before delivering an offhand parting shot.

"Good day to you, Mr Opal, Miss Ruby. I hope I have not troubled you too much on your outing. I hope we shall meet again. You too, Your Lordship."

Sebastian snapped his head around, his surprise and horror as clear as the daylight in his expression: wide-eyed and open-mouthed. Vincent, in turn, looked to Sebastian and asked, "'Your Lordship'?"

This question was echoed by quite a number of their closest neighbours and one or two of James Tolliver's party. But the magician neither looked back at Sebastian nor halted his stride as he said, "Oh, you didn't know? Sebastian is the future Earl of Tyne. How unusual, and here was I wondering why His Lordship hadn't been announced..."

Leona looked at Sebastian until he dragged his attention away from some unknown spot on his left knee and said, "Ah, yes… There was one other thing I wanted to tell you…"

Suddenly feeling slightly ill, Leona stood up, turned to Vincent and said, "I want to go home, Vincent. I'm sorry, I know you wanted to see the races but I want to go home now."

Vincent stood with her, "Yes, of course." Then guiding her by the arm past their still excitedly whispering neighbours, he led her out of the stands. He did not say a word the entire time, nor did he make any effort to release her once they were out of the savannah and walking along the main road through pedestrians still heading to the savannah for the races. At the sight, Leona felt slightly guilty, remembering how excited Vincent had been on the walk there, exchanging conspiratorial glances with her about the surprise they had for Sebastian. But then she also remembered that it was along this same street that Sebastian had confessed to having ulterior motives for coming to the master's home with Vincent and she had agreed to help him even as she suspected that there was something more he was not telling her. She did her best to crush her guilt then.

Sebastian had made no effort to follow them as they left the stands. Or at least, he did not at first. They were halfway home from the savannah, still walking silently in the sunny afternoon, as yet unsure of what to say, when Sebastian called out to them.

"I'm sorry!"

Vincent did not stop, though Leona almost did and therefore stumbled as he dragged her along behind him. Sebastian was close on their heels though, and sounded faintly out of breath as if he had run after them not caring that members of the aristocracy did not go chasing after commoners. Leona tried to ignore that her heart-rate had picked up slightly at the sound of his voice, but no more could than she had been able to before. She had to remind herself that she was hurt and angry. It was frankly more than a little frightening this, whatever it was.

Oblivious to her inner turmoil and apparently undaunted by the fact that in Vincent absolute silence meant barely controllable rage, Sebastian began, "I was going to tell you all this later today, Vincent. I know that this is a little shocking, but you must understand. I wanted you to know me for myself and not for my name and title, to see me as a person and a friend. Too many times in the past I have discovered that people I thought were friends were more concerned with the connections that such friendship could bring rather than actually being my friend. And yes, I did come here too to learn from your father and did not tell you this beforehand, but when I first befriended you I did so because you were the only one who was kind and willing to talk to that 'little boy' when no one else did. Just to live as a student I had to swear my family to secrecy, very few people outside of the faculty even knew who I was so I had anticipated some isolation, but you carried yourself with the air of someone who didn't care that I was a pariah and spoke to me. I'm sorry for deceiving you, dear Vincent, but I had no other choice."

Vincent came to an abrupt halt then but did not turn around to face his friend or say a word. Leona took this as permission for her to speak then and she swung round on the young magician and snapped, "You could've told us the day you came here! Who were we to tell? Why would we tell? You say you wanted Vincent to befriend you for yourself but you have behaved no differently than the people you said you cannot trust. For what reason should we listen to you further then?"

At this Vincent put a restraining hand on her shoulder and began walking away again. Leona pretended as best she could that she could not hear Sebastian following. They continued in this fashion then, until they got to the cemetery and disaster struck.

They had just come to the end of the block on which the cemetery stood along the main road when the ghost that Leona had met the other day with Sebastian suddenly jumped out into their path and began, "I've found you girl! Why did you run away from me?"

Not expecting it, she started, screamed and fell away from Vincent before he could stop her. Then, forgetting that Sebastian was with them he asked, "What is it? Is it another ghost? Did it try to grab you again? Is that why you fell?"

"What?" Sebastian exclaimed behind them, shocked.

They both ignored him, Vincent helping Leona to her feet and shaking the dust from her skirt while she shut her eyes tight and tried to will the ghost back behind the cemetery walls. Go away, go away, GO AWAY, she thought at it. It was a trick she had discovered worked entirely by chance one year after arriving at the master's home. Sometimes, with enough will, or maybe it was concentration, she could summon or banish elementals without a circle. It did not fail this time either. With a faint "pop" and tiny flash the ghost vanished, leaving Leona and Vincent to deal with the still stunned Sebastian.

He gave them no opportunity to escape, demanding almost as soon as Leona reopened her eyes, "What was that just now? What do you mean about a ghost?"

Vincent replied to Leona, "I'm sorry, Leona, so very sorry. Are you alright?"

Leona nodded and then was startled when she felt her eyes begin to sting, her throat tightened and before she could stop them tears began to fall. Shocked, Vincent grasped her by the shoulders and exclaimed, "Leona! What happened! Did it work? Didn't it? Did that thing hurt you?"

She shook her head and nodded as best she could to answer him through her tears but found that she could not stop them from falling. Then Sebastian asked, quieter now, "Miss Ruby how is it exactly that you came to be Master Opal's apprentice?"

"I hardly think that that's any of your business!" Vincent snapped, releasing one of Leona's arms to lead her home again. But then she replied, as softly as Sebastian's question, "Just like I told you."

Undeterred by Vincent's attempts to evade him, Sebastian continued, "No. That's not it. Why did he take you on as his apprentice? You had said it before but you're a freedman girl who I've seen display very little to no power until just a moment ago. A moment ago you did something so powerful that I could just see a golden light around you. So again, Miss Ruby, how exactly did you come to be Master Opal's apprentice?"

At that point, Vincent turned around and punched Sebastian in the face. The boy dropped immediately as Leona shrieked in surprise and a few fellow pedestrians came to abrupt halts in their shock. Then, ignoring Leona's attempts to rush to Sebastian's aid, Vincent took her firmly by the arm and dragged her away. And despite herself, Leona found herself looking back at the young magician just sitting up on the ground staring back at her, brow furrowed, not stunned from the blow but contemplating something. Whatever it was, he never stopped looking after them until they both disappeared from view.

The house was eerily still when Leona and Vincent finally got home and he shut and locked the door behind them. Vincent had still not said a word the entire way back after punching Sebastian, but no sooner than were they locked in, he suddenly punched it, once, twice, and cursed, "Damn it!"

That surprised Leona, and she looked at him open-mouthed and more than a little frightened. Then he said, "Father is going to kill me. No one but us before the Twelve is supposed to know about you seeing ghosts and there I went and practically told him. He might have been someone I considered a friend, but he's been keeping secret and look at what I've done..."

"Vincent..." Leona said softly, reaching for his arm. He grasped her fingers before she could touch him and dragged her into a tight embrace that made her gasp in surprise. Then he said into her shoulder, "I'm sorry, Leona, for bringing him here."

Leona could feel his heartbeat racing against her arm and the vibration of his words through her skin. Her heart skipped and a beat then sped up, almost as if it was trying to catch up to his in a manner that made her very aware of every inch of contact they made. To distract herself, she said, "It's alright, Vincent. I suspected him too. That he wasn't what he pretended to be...and I confronted him and he—"

"—you confronted him?" Vincent nearly yelled, grasping her arms again and pulling away from her so that he could see her face.

"Yes, actually, I did," Leona stammered out, still deeply unnerved by his closeness and his painfully tight grip. "And he told me that he'd come here for research on documents on something called the 'Order of the Stone'. And-and that you and the master were the lost heirs of 'House Opal' which used to be part of the Order but fell apart and its members scattered during the Revolution. He said that he would help the master get into the Zo—"

"He told you about the Order?" asked Vincent, cutting her off.

"Well, not exactly everything, just that it was made up of powerful magician families in England with connections to the king and that those connections made them fall," Leona confessed. "I..well he asked me to help him speak to the master about getting information on the Order and your family history in it and... Well, I said I would help him... He promised to get the master into the Zodiac Society."

Vincent stared at her for a moment, clearly surprised at this but then drew her back into his embrace and said, "Oh Leona... You haven't really done anything wrong but you should've told me or at least Father the moment Sebastian said this to you..."

Leona felt her eyes tearing up again and her voice came out shakily as she replied, "I knew I should have but I was curious. I didn't know anything about the master and the Order or anything and I thought it wasn't bad, because he said you and the master weren't hiding so I just—"

Vincent cut her off again by tightening the embrace and then said, "It's alright. Thanks to Mr Tolliver at least he was exposed before it got dangerous. Nothing good comes of investigating the Order." Then he released her and began pulling off her gloves. "Come now, let us find Father and tell him what has been going on. He needs to hear this entire story from us and start making plans as soon as possible."

Vincent was speaking calmly, but Leona could see the worry in his eyes. She was worried herself now, what did he mean when he said that nothing good came from investigating the Order? Had something like this happened before? Had people been hurt? But before she question him about it, two things happened at once: the master came out of the study, book in hand and questioning look in his eyes that let them know that he had heard at least part of their conversation, and the door behind them burst open and Sebastian rushed in, practically yelling, "She's an aether magician?"

Leona would never forget the expression that formed on the master's face after Sebastian's statement. The master went pale, his questioning look falling away to become grim as he pursed his lips and averted his gaze to the floor. Then he asked, "How did you figure it out?"

"I'm a magician. She banished a ghost a moment ago in a golden glow that Eastern magicians identified as the signature of an aether magician centuries before Western magicians even began to look for it. Not to mention that Vincent carelessly exposed her secret in the street when she reacted unexpectedly," said Sebastian simply, prompting a mortified groan from Vincent behind him. Leona took the opportunity to shut the door then, and Sebastian continued now delicately dabbing at a cut on his lip with a handkerchief, "You did well to keep this from me, and everyone else I must say."

The master replied in a quiet voice that seemed to echo in the silent house, "I had no choice. Since ancient times aether magicians have been branded necromancers and sorcerers and persecuted mercilessly. They would still be so even today if they weren't considered extinct or in hiding, and especially here in the Caribbees where she would most certainly have been attacked and killed by the militia if I had not given her the veneer by respectability when I took her in. It was as much for her protection as my personal gain that we had to keep it a secret. Of course, that is all done for now... Who are you really, magician?"

Sebastian gave the master a slight smile and replied, "Have you figured out all my secrets too? In England, amongst my family and society I am known as the Honourable Sebastian Henry Alexander Maximilian, only son of the Viscount and Viscountess of Tyne, George and Alessandra Maria, and the future Seventh Earl of Tyne. Amongst magicians, I am Sebastian, Lord Virgo, Sixth among the Twelve governing members of the Zodiac Society."

Leona and Vincent gasped in shock, giving matching open-mouthed and wide-eyed stares to Sebastian's back. He ignored them however, as his attention was focused solely on the master who just stared right back and then said, "You're a governing member of the Twelve? Is that so?"

"I am," said Sebastian. "Do you want a demonstration?"

He began to twist a ring around his finger and Leona felt his presence expand. There was no other word for it, one moment she was no more aware of him than Vincent and Master Opal and the next he flooded her senses like water filling a bathtub, swirling around them and pressing down until Leona feared that she would drown. She shut her eyes tight and tried to press back, if only for a little room to breathe and then the master cried out, "Enough!"

The tap was turned and then there were four of them in the hallway instead of just two. Then the master said, "So, Your Lordship, what are you going to do now that you know our secret? What report are you going to make to your fellow governing members? Certainly I knew that Leona was quite a discovery when I met her. I'd only heard of aether magicians amongst the legends before that day. When I saw her drag that Greater Water Elemental from that tiny stream without even knowing what she was doing I just knew what she was. From that day onward then, I was determined to present her to the Twelve, to show them what I had found and that they could never claim, just as they had denied me. Alas, we have inadvertently managed to do just what I'd planned but given that there are no independent witnesses to this act just what are going to do now, Your Lordship?"

The master said Sebastian's honorific in the manner of someone saying something terribly unpleasant but unable to avoid, twisting his lip into a sneer. Sebastian did not appear to notice; instead he smiled again and said, "You wanted to present her before the Twelve, did you? She did mention that when she agreed to help me keep my own secret. But you can rest assured that I would never deny you your claim to her discovery. As she well knows, I have my own plans; this discovery was just an unexpected but very pleasant little bounty."

The suggestion that Sebastian and Leona had spoken before of his secret surprised the master and he looked to Leona, eyes slightly narrowed. She averted her gaze and confessed, "I did not know that he was one of … Well, I didn't know about any of his titles but he did tell me why he really came here. He told me that he wanted to research your family's history and something called the 'Order of the Stone'."

The master's entire demeanour changed in an instant. From surprised and mildly defeated he became serious, cold and more than a little threatening. Leona could have sworn she felt the temperature in the hall drop slightly even. And the master's voice was hard when he spoke again, asking, "What business do you have with the Order?"

Sebastian did not look troubled in the least at the master's reaction as he replied, rather nonchalant for the mood, "To find the Western City of Air of course."