Conspiracies - Mercedes Lackey [91]
Strangely, Spirit saw more of Muirin than she saw of anyone else; usually glimpses of Muirin and Madison acting like BFFs outside of class, though inside, Madison didn’t cut her any slack. On the afternoon of Spirit’s third day of “exile”—as she thought of it—she even saw Muirin being driven somewhere in some sort of sports car with Mark Rider at the wheel. That was so astonishing that for a moment she thought it was an hallucination. But … no. Word later had it that Mark Rider had driven Muirin into Radial at Madison’s request for some unspecified appointment. Appointment? For what?
Probably a dentist. Oakhurst doesn’t have a dentist, she finally decided. Serves her right for eating all that sugar.
There was no doubt she wasn’t the only person who found it odd that Muirin was so friendly with the Riders. She caught sight of a lot of funny looks from some of the other kids when Muirin came back, this time driven by Madison. It was right after supper, so a lot of people were free, and some of them had taken to hanging out in the Entry Hall instead of the lounges. Ms. Corby didn’t like that, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. To avoid her former friends, Spirit was there, too, covertly studying the Tree.
The sports car came roaring up to the front entrance, and Muirin got out. She leaned over and said something to Madison, then closed the door and waved. The sports car roared off again, and Muirin came sailing through the front door like she owned the school.
Little murmurs followed her, but nothing Spirit could catch.
And for a dose of something definitely on the dubious side, Anastus Ovcharenko seemed to like to hang around Muirin. Okay, maybe he was a lot younger than Mark Rider or even Madison, but still he was twenty or older. It just felt wrong to Spirit. It made her wonder all over again … how much of what Elizabeth had said was a fantasy and how much had been the truth? Because if Anastus actually was a Reincarnate.…
No, that was crazy. He was Russian, and for all she knew, twenty-something guys in Russia dated teenage girls all the time.
She wasn’t going to say anything to Muirin; Ovcharenko had this dangerous vibe that made Spirit really queasy. Like you wouldn’t want to be there if he actually got mad at you.
Finally, on the evening of the fifth day, Loch ambushed her as she left the Refectory. “Spirit … we’re sorry we got you upset. We want to apologize. Okay?” he said awkwardly, as people detoured around them.
“All of you, or just you?” she replied, crossing her arms over her chest. She wasn’t going to give on this one. As he twisted his hand over his watchband, nervously, she noticed that he wasn’t wearing his ring anymore.
“All of us … except Muirin.” He shrugged. “You know Muirin. She likes to needle people.”
“Yeah.” Spirit watched him warily, trying to figure out if he meant it.
“We’d really like it if you’d hook back up with us,” he faltered. “I—uh—please? You were the first friend I had here.” He gave her a big puppy-dog look. She couldn’t help it; she folded.
“All right,” she said, but made it grudging. Let him know he—they—weren’t getting this one for free. She followed him back to the lounge. Burke greeted her with enthusiasm, Addie with her usual friendly reserve, and Muirin as if she hadn’t gone crying back to her room five days ago.
Muirin was sporting new (non-Oakhurst-Dress-Code-approved!) jewelry: earrings and a bracelet. The earrings were two little black snakes that coiled against her earlobes; the bracelet was another black snake with its tail in its mouth. Muirin saw Spirit looking, and thrust out her hand. “The Worm Ouroboros,” she said, with a giggle. “The big snake that coils around the world. Madison and Mark gave them to me. Enameled silver. Oh, and here, this is for you—”
She reached under the table and pulled out a bottle of perfume. “They gave this to me, but once I had it on, it turned too sweet.” Gingerly, Spirit took it. The bottle said “Bulgari,” and it looked expensive. “I figure it would suit