Beggar Magic by Burke H. L

Author:Burke, H. L. [Burke, H. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2014-12-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

The next day was business as usual. Leilani helped Zeb finish her paper on their Strains research. Leilani copied it in her neatest script. She used a device in the library where the pen was attached by a metal arm to another pen that moved as she moved the first, creating an exact copy of whatever she wrote. The novelty made the task less tedious.

With a copy for Brash and one for Zeb’s portfolio, they returned to the workshop. Brash showed his juniors how to calibrate his strain-o-graphs, first the large one, then the portable version. Seeing these instruments made Leilani long to investigate the dead spots, but she respected Zeb’s decision and said nothing.

When lunch break arrived, Brash addressed his junior fellows.

“Highmost Cogg is taking a handful of the fellows, including myself, to a luncheon at Industry Manor. Because of this, you are all excused for the rest of the day. I encourage you to devote your time to the pursuit of knowledge.” He made eye contact with Zeb for a little too long. Leilani’s stomach twisted.

Most of the junior fellows left in a tight group, followed by their aides, also clumped together. Zeb stuck to Leilani’s side, urging her towards the Observatory. “I want to see if they’ll let me examine the telescope. No one ever uses it in the day, after all.”

With most of the fellows at lunch, only a solitary librarian remained on duty. When Zeb asked, he unlocked the gate to the spiral staircase leading up to the viewing platform.

“Just don’t turn any knobs–they have it set where they want it–and be careful not to fall,” he cautioned.

He then returned to his desk, propped his feet up, and stuck his nose back in his book.

The platform surrounding the telescope consisted of grated metal and hovered about a dozen feet above the floor of the library. The railing stood at chin height, and Leilani had to rise to her tiptoes to gaze over it. A table and chairs, the one where Cogg and Brash had met the day before, lay beneath her. She glanced out over the library. Two female junior fellows came through a door, shoulder to shoulder. One was Marce, the girl Zeb disliked from the Country House. Leilani ducked when they turned towards her location, not wanting to be caught staring.

She glanced at Zeb. The young Highmost was reading all the labels beneath the dozens of dials and switches on the telescope. Leilani pressed her finger to her lips and motioned downwards as the girls settled in the chairs below them.

“So there were no Strains at all?” the other girl, a blonde Leilani didn’t recognize, asked. A chill cut through her. She focused on the conversation.

“None, Ves, at all,” Marce said. “I ran around in circles looking for them for nearly ten minutes before they came back, but I swear I couldn’t hear even a whisper.”

Zeb nudged Leilani.

“One of the boys at dinner had a similar story. I thought he was just trying to scare me,” Ves said.

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