Conspiracies - Mercedes Lackey [60]
“I think he doesn’t sound anything like the shrinks my dad’s girlfriends all saw,” Loch replied. “Which is a plus. I have an appointment with him day after tomorrow. I’ll let you know what I think. Burke’s sold on him. Dylan hates him, says he’s a wuss.”
Spirit rolled her eyes. “Anybody Dylan hates has to be all right.”
Loch chuckled. “I kind of agree with you. What did Murr-cat say?”
“She was kind of pissy, but didn’t actually say anything.”
Loch laughed again. “Which means not only couldn’t she game him, he probably read her like a book.”
“Well, she wasn’t rude about him.…” Spirit ventured.
“Which means he might have either impressed or scared her. Maybe both.” Loch peered down at an old clipping. “Once I see him, and Addie does, I think we should all decide together on what we tell him.”
“If anything,” Spirit reminded him.
“If anything,” he repeated. “Though if he’s in Doctor Ambrosius’s inner circle, he’ll already know about the Hunt, or at least as much as we told Doctor Ambrosius.”
“So? If he does, great. He wouldn’t have told me he knows, he’d have been waiting for me to bring it up. That’s how shrinks work.” She frowned at her hands; they were filthy. Looking at the books together in the study carrels at the back of the stacks in the Library was a good idea, marred only by the fact that she was going to have to wait to get to her room to wash her hands.
“You’re not so bad at gaming the system yourself.” Loch lifted a corner of a yellowing bit of newsprint, carefully. This stuff crumbled easily.
“Practice. I wonder who made all these books, anyway?”
“Tyniger, or an assistant,” Loch replied. “Could have been either. Rich guys back then did things like that.” He put a marker in the pages and closed his book. “Okay, that’s it. My eyes are going to cross if I have to do any more of this today.”
“Mine, too,” Spirit admitted. “Let’s get going.”
“Why do you want to tell Doc Mac about everything we’ve found out so badly?” Loch asked, as they headed back toward their rooms. It seemed safe enough to use one of the study carrels; no one was ever back there. Most people did all their school research electronically.
“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “It just seems as if we ought to have one adult we can trust.”
“Besides Doctor A.,” Loch prompted.
“Uh, yeah.” But she hesitated to say that …
And for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why.
NINE
Spirit woke feeling bleary and exhausted; she’d been reading in one of the scrapbooks long after she should have been asleep. Technically she had been in bed, and it seemed that if you weren’t on the computer or had every light in your room blazing, no one figured out you were still awake. It was pretty easy to get away with reading in bed after “lights out.” She thought she might have hit something interesting, but by the time she’d gotten an inkling of it, she’d been nodding off and had to put the book away.
She was tempted to skip reading the usual school e-mail announcements once she was cleaned up and dressed. They rarely had anything interesting in them, just the usual club meetings and sports practices.
But if I don’t there’ll probably be something vitally important, she decided with resignation. Or at least something that will make me look stupid for not knowing it. She went to the desk and bumped her mouse to wake up her computer. Brushing her hair with one hand, she opened up her e-mail program with the other.
Field Trip to Billings was the subject of the first unread e-mail.
She blinked. A field trip? When did the school start having field trips?
Now, apparently.
She opened it.
A field trip to Billings will take place two weeks from today, she read. This will be to visit the Yellowstone Art Museum, and a short shopping visit for select students, a chance to socialize outside the school. Three teachers will accompany the students: Mr. Martin Bowman, Magic and Mathematics; Ms. Lindsay Holland, Art and Magic; and Mr. David Krandal, English Literature and Lore. The names of the students to go on the trip will be announced in a few days.
If there