“What?” Grabbing the front of his robes, Cluny scampered up to just below his shoulder. “Why would you say that?”

  “I’m a fraud, Cluny, remember?” His magic had gone all spiky against hers once more. “A liar and a fake?”

  “Crocker, you’re not—”

  “Not a wizard.” He said it matter-of-factly, but the sourness in his scent told Cluny how much this still bothered him. “And, yeah, I know I have to do all this pretending so you can get your training and we can get ours; I mean, I really don’t want us going all crazy and turning into a world-devouring freak show like the Jade Sorceress. But—”

  Shtasith’s hissed another jet of steam from his nostrils. “We would not follow that path, Crocker!” He flexed the needles of his claws. “I would tear out our Cluny’s throat before I would allow her to fall into such evil!”

  “No, you wouldn’t,” Crocker said just as quietly as before. “You like to think you would—heck, I like to think I would. But no.” The calm depths of his eyes made Cluny’s tail frizz behind her. “‘Cause we’re a team, sure, but she’s the captain. And wherever she goes, we go. That’s just plain truth.”

  Opening her mouth, wanting to deny it, Cluny found that she couldn’t, the way their magic embraced her saying it clearly: they were together now and forever.

  A swallow bulged Crocker’s throat. “It’s just another truth I can’t tell Tzusy. And if I can’t tell her the truth, then, well, then nothing happens between us. Simple.”

  Cluny clung to the front of his robes, her blood and breath just as frozen as when Master Gollantz had told them about Goulet. Then a whistle rang out downstairs, and she jerked her head around to see a silver-gray projectile not much larger than herself whoosh up the stairwell. “Greetings, all!” came Jian’s familiar high-pitched squawk, and the sparrowhawk himself lit on the edge of the table with a flourish of wings. “It’s an unexpected pleasure to join you here this evening!”

  Laughter from below, the unmistakable stomp-stomp-stomp of Tzu Yin’s boots echoing up the stairs. “Will you wait a minute, Birdy?! Some of us only have feet, y’know!”

  Jian rolled his eyes, and Cluny had to grin at Shtasith’s extravagant sigh above her. “Ah, the lamentations of the land-locked,” the little dragon said.

  Tzu Yin topped the stairs, a big grin on her face, and they all settled in to study. Keeping to their usual charade, Cluny brought any books that she needed to consult over to where Crocker was scribbling away at the spellwork she’d given him so she could ask, “This is one of the books on the list, isn’t it?”

  Crocker would take it, leaf through it, nod sagely, and give it back to her. “Write up a summary, would you, please?”

  None of which was technically a lie; the book was indeed on their list, and she would indeed be writing up a summary for her own notes. But that didn’t stop her from wincing a little. Tzu Yin was sitting right there at the next table, after all, and knowing now how Crocker felt about not telling her the truth, Cluny wished she could think of another way.

  What really surprised her, though, as the evening went on, was seeing that Tzu Yin and Jian were actually working the way that she and Crocker were pretending to, Jian holding what looked like one of his own shed quills in the gray sparkle of his magic and jotting careful notes as he leafed through a book from Tzusy’s stack of research materials. And as much as Cluny didn’t want to bring the subject up—Ric and Jeanette tended to tease Crocker about leaning so heavily on his familiars—three or four hours into their session, she couldn’t help asking, “How long have you let Jian do book reports for you?”

  Grinning, Tzusy patted the little stack of cards with the bird’s meticulous writing on them. “I saw how well it worked for you guys, and I just—” Her eyes seemed to unfocus. “The bond you three have, the trust and the friendship, it’s...I don’t know. But Jian’s willing to try some extra stuff, and so far it’s turned out to be really helpful.” She shrugged. “Not our fault nobody else wants to see the example you’re setting.”

  A pair of light snores. Cluny turned to where Shtasith lay stretched across Crocker’s slumped shoulders and gave a laugh. “Yeah, well, I’d better get our prime exemplar home to bed.”

  Jian giggled, and Cluny roused Crocker enough to stuff all their books and papers into his pack. “So!” Tzu Yin clapped her hands. “You’re walking me home, right, Crocker?”

  Crocker’s eyes opened so wide, Cluny figured he probably wouldn’t sleep for a week. “Well, yeah! I mean, sure! ’Cause, y’know, it’s late and Goulet and monsters and stuff.”

  “Goulet.” Tzusy’s face fell. “I tried talking to him a couple times, but he never seemed interested in talking back; I mean, he was quiet like a block of ice is quiet.” She shook her head. “I wish I could’ve done more to help him.”

  Halfway up Crocker’s robes, Cluny wanted to scurry back to pat Tzu Yin’s hand, but Crocker was already standing and strapping on their pack. “Yeah, well,” he said, “I only ever met him that last day when he, y’know, tried to kill us all.”

  Tzu Yin scowled, but Cluny quickly asked, “How did your research go this evening?” And that got the conversation moving in less painful directions. They left the old library and started down the path toward Eldritch Park, the midnight sky salted with stars and just chilly enough this early in the autumn to make Cluny know October was here. The woods stood as silently as always, even the scents seeming quieter when they started into the forest’s darkness. Cluny noticed Tzusy lowering her voice and found herself doing the same; it just felt like the right thing to do in this place.

  And when Shtasith stirred on Crocker’s shoulders above her and snapped his head up with a hiss, it made her voice falter even further. “Crocker, my Cluny, Mistress Tzu Yin.” He took a big sniff. “We are being observed.”

  The fur sprang up on Cluny’s neck, Shtasith leaping into the darkness. “To the right, Jian!” he cried.

  “I see him!” Jian chirped in reply, and Cluny felt the whoosh as the sparrowhawk rushed past Crocker’s chest. A yowl rose up among the shadowy trees to their left, and something came bounding toward them from the underbrush, pointed ears and four legs the only impression Cluny got from the thing.

  The squirreliest parts deep inside her shrieked, and the force bubble she cast seemed to leap almost unbidden from her claws and whiskers. “What—?!” Tzusy was shouting by then, her hands bursting into radiance, and in the sudden light, Cluny saw Shtasith and Jian swooping towards the pearlescent sphere she’d created, a large and wild-eyed black cat caught inside it. “Is that—?” Tzu Yin gave a gasp. “Polaris?”

  Crocker had brought his own hands up by now, so Cluny slipped their usual misdirection spell into place to make it seem as if he was casting the shield. Shtasith had pulled into a hover above the bubble, Jian darting back and forth overhead, but Cluny forced her gaze away from the cat’s tight ears and snarling muzzle. “You know him?” she asked Tzu Yin.

  Tzusy was glancing around the forest. “Polaris,” she said again. “He used to be Goulet’s familiar.”

  “Not ‘used to be’!” the cat hissed. “For I still am! I will never abandon him! Never!”

  “What?” Tzusy snapped an annoyed glare at him. “Polaris, I’ve seen you around campus with other frosh wizards.”

  “So?!” Polaris folded his front legs across his chest. “Huxley forces me to play their stupid dating game so I can stay, but I have but one true master!” He threw himself against the force bubble. “And you’re the ones who destroyed him!”

  Shtasith flicked a claw against the shield, the bubble tolling like a bell and rattling the cat around inside it. “Speak respectfully! Besides, your master destroyed himself!”

  “Hold it.” Crocker squatted down before the floating bubble, and Cluny caught her breath, the cat’s bared claws suddenly much closer than she would’ve liked. “Polaris? You haven’t seen Goulet since they took him away, have you?”

  Now that she was so near to the cat, Cluny could almost see the exhaustion hanging around him like a fog. “They wouldn’t allow it,” Polaris whispered. “They said he wasn’t my master anymore, told me to move on, and I...I couldn’t...didn’t know how...never wanted to...” His voice trailed off, and silence again enveloped their little section of the woods.

  Crocker’s magic quivered against Cluny’s as well, and as much as she didn’t want to—“You’re serious, Crocker?” she asked, trying to keep their cover story intact. “You think we should take Polaris to Goulet’s house tomorrow?”

  “What?!” four voices shouted at once, but only Shtasith’s jabbed Cluny like a leap into the boughs of a pine tree. “My Cluny!” the firedrake went on. “What madness is this?!”

  The surge of warmth from Crocker, though, made her tingle all over, and she let that feeling stroke through her fur as she raised her glance to where Shtasith and Jian were staring at her from above the goggle-eyed cat. “Jian?” Cluny asked, pretty sure she knew the answer but equally sure no one had ever asked him. “How bad is it for you when Tzu Yin comes across campus by herself twice a day for our study group meetings?”

  Jian’s wings stuttered. “It’s bearable,” he said after a long few seconds.

  “What?” Tzu Yin stepped around the force bubble, left her glowing handprints floating in the air, and took the bird in her arms. “But I thought—I mean, you never said—”

  “It’s necessary.” Jian stroked his wings along the sides of her neck. “We familiars must learn separation to be fully useful to our wizards.” His eyes rolled shut, his next words barely audible. “But the lessons aren’t easy.”

  More silence followed, but Cluny could tell from the way the swirling reds in Shtasith’s eyes had softened to a more golden-yellow that, while he still didn’t approve, he at least understood. Polaris, however—

  “A trick,” came the cat’s wavering voice from inside the bubble. “You hate my master! Why would you reunite us?!”

  “Hate him?” Crocker shook his head. “He just tripped over me when he was trying to kill some other people. But I can tell you this.” A spell flickered around Crocker’s hands, and Cluny barely recognized it as a backward version of the bubble magic they’d been working on all afternoon. “Goulet misses you just as much as you miss him.” He rested his hands on the surface of the shield sphere. “So whaddaya say? You’ll stay the rest of the night at our place, then tomorrow, we’ll—” He stopped, his eyes going wide, and he turned a quick look toward Tzusy. “D’you know where Goulet’s folks live?”

  Tzu Yin shrugged. “I’ll find out before we leave.”

  “They—” Polaris’s ears rose, and that simple action drained about eighty percent of his scariness away, Cluny thought. “They live just down the hill in town; I’ve been there many times. But—” The hope sparking at his whiskers dispelled the last bit of the panic he’d been inspiring in Cluny. “You’d do this? Honestly?”

  “You bet.” Crocker’s hands flared, activating the odd spell, and Cluny could only blink as he reached through the force bubble, lifted Polaris out, and set him on the path.

  “Wow,” Tzu Yin said, she and Jian still holding each other. “I mean, with his magic gone, Goulet wouldn’t’ve been able to renounce you and let you go even if he’d wanted to, and, well, it doesn’t sound like you’re interested in renouncing him.”

  “I couldn’t.” Devotion shone from Polaris’s eyes. “He needs help, not more isolation.”

  Cluny nodded. “OK. Tomorrow morning we’ll all—”

  The familiar gurgle of Shtasith clearing that long, narrow throat interrupted her. “And Master Gollantz? Do we inform him of our plan? In case this highly touching story turns out to be just as highly rehearsed?” He settled onto the still floating but now empty shield bubble and arched an eyeridge at Polaris.

  Crocker’s magic went cold around hers, and he looked down at her again.

  “Hmmm.” Tzu Yin tapped her foot. “If Master Gollantz gets involved, this gets public real fast, and I mean ‘front page of the papers’ public.” She shrugged. “Which might not be a bad thing if we’re looking to help Goulet.”

  “No.” Cluny felt this all the way down to her bones. “The ranting he did when he was holding us prisoner in the library made it pretty clear that feeling humiliated’s what made him snap. So the less of a spotlight there is on this, the better.”

  A hiss folded her ears, Polaris’s whiskers crackling. “Master Crocker! How can you allow such insolence from a creature who isn’t even a proper familiar?!”

  Cluny froze; had she been acting too ‘in charge’? But Crocker just folded his arms. “’Cause she’s usually right.” He turned to Tzu Yin. “Can you, I dunno, rig up some sort of time-delayed message? We’ll leave here tomorrow at eight, and if we’re not back by eleven or something, the message’ll fire off and tell Master Gollantz everything.”

  Tzusy blinked. “Yeah, sure, I can do that.” She glanced sideways, blew a breath at the glowing handprints floating beside her, and they went out like candles, the forest’s darkness engulfing them again. “Looks like you get another reprieve from walking me home, Crocker.” The shadowy place that was her moved, Cluny’s eyes adjusting quickly enough to see her brush a quick kiss against Crocker’s cheek. “I’ll get that message set up, catch a couple hours sleep, and be at your place tomorrow before eight.” And she was gone.

  Crocker’s magic seemed to swell against Cluny’s like a balloon pressing a pin, but she wrapped it tight to keep it from exploding; they still had a guest, after all. “Polaris?” She leaned over the edge of her pocket, and in the slight glow of the shield bubble, she saw him still standing where Crocker had set him. “Is this all OK with you?”

  Nothing for a moment, then—“Better than OK,” he said, his voice a little choked. “I...I don’t know how to thank you.”

  “No problem!” Crocker announced with a clap of his hands; thinking quickly, Cluny used the sudden sound and motion to cover her dispelling the force bubble. “Now! I need to lie down before I fall down, so how ’bout we turn in, huh?”

  The walk back to the dorm went quietly, Shtasith staying airborne, the fire of his magic sharp and vigilant to Cluny’s senses. Polaris paced alongside Crocker, and the few flickers of emotion that flashed through his typical feline reserve seemed warm and positive. And Crocker, of course, practically floated the whole way. Cluny smiled, picturing herself as the lines that tethered his hot-air balloon to the ground.

  In their room, Crocker said, “Make yourself comfortable, Polaris. Bathroom’s through there, and if you can find anything in the fridge, you’re welcome to it.” Cluny scrambled down the front of his robes as he fell back onto the bed, his boots popping off with the shimmer of the unlacing spell she’d taught him. Not even bothering with his socks, he burrowed into the blankets, and to Cluny’s amazement, slid immediately to sleep, his magic around her as light and fluffy as chocolate mousse.

  Climbing up to her own nest of blankets on the first bookshelf above his bed, she watched Polaris curl himself into the space between the end of the desk and the far bookcase, his back against the wall. She still had more questions she wanted to ask him, but the way his breathing deepened and his muscles relaxed, she got the impression that this was maybe the first easy sleep he’d had in months.

  “Rest, my Cluny,” came Shtasith’s gentlest hiss, and she looked up to see orange swirling eyes on the shelf above her bed. “I shall keep the night watch.”

  Nodding, she let her familiars’ separate styles of magic wrap around her, and when she found herself blinking awake to the early morning sunlight drifting in at the window, she felt rested and ready for whatever might happen. A quick glance showed her the three males still asleep in the places she’d last seen them, and she sent a few gentle nudges along the links connecting her to Crocker and Shtasith.

  The two shifted and grumbled. That got Polaris twitching, the cat gasping and leaping to his paws half a moment later.

  Cluny fought the urge to do the same. “It’s all right, Polaris!” she called down to him. “You’re in Terrence Crocker’s room, remember? We’re going to see your master Goulet later!”

  Polaris froze, then turned his head, his eyes wide and staring. “I...I’d been afraid it was a dream,” he mumbled.

  Tzu Yin and Jian showed up about half an hour later with smiles and a bag of butter croissants. “Our insurance policy’s all set,” Tzusy said, Cluny more than a little surprised to discover that they had enough plates for everyone. “I also looked up some info on prisoner releases and found that Her Majesty’s djinni tend to do their work really early in the morning. So Goulet’s probably already home.”

  Jian, perched atop Tzu Yin’s backpack on the floor beside her, fished a folded piece of paper from it, and Tzu Yin opened it with a flare of her fingers. “This is a map of Huxley Grove.” She tapped a finger at the familiar irregular shape of the campus in the lower left-hand corner of the page and waved to the more regular gridwork of streets and boulevards that crisscrossed the rest of the surface, her attention fixed on Polaris. “Do you remember Goulet’s parents’ address?”

  “413 Tamarack Road.” Polaris’s whiskers twitched, and a red dot appeared in the upper right section of the map.

  A little frown creased Tzu Yin’s forehead. “That’s a couple miles.” She sighed and stood. “Well, at least we know he’ll be there for sure by the time we hoof it over there.”

  “Hoof?” Cluny waved a paw. “That’s OK. I’ll just—” She caught herself. “—just have Crocker teleport us.”

  “Teleport?” Tzusy turned her deepening frown toward Crocker. “That far away? To a place you’ve never been?”

  Cluny pulled her mouth shut. She could’ve explained the process easily enough, of course, but, well, like Polaris had said so angrily last night, as far as anyone knew, Cluny wasn’t even a real familiar. So she certainly wasn’t supposed to have any knowledge of the more obscure types of teleportation spells.