“Go ask Felicity Birch if you don’t believe me.”
The girls looked shaken, but they deserved the truth. And they needed to learn the most important lesson of all: Never trust anyone except another cypher.
“The practice started in Sundland, but soon it spread throughout the empire,” she continued. “Minerva finally put a stop to it. She declared that these despised byblows of witch and angel would be raised in the chapter houses and trained to protect humans. That the genetic curse was no fault of their own and they had a right to live. If it wasn’t for her, none of us would be here. We shouldn’t forget that. So I made up a prayer and I say it every morning.”
Cathrynne closed her eyes. “Thank you, Minerva. You stepped in and saved us from the wolves and foxes, so I promise to carry out your will by arresting the guilty and shielding the innocent. I hope you come back someday. I hope wherever you are, you’re happy.”
When she opened her eyes, Justice and the rest were watching her.
“Would you like to say it with me?” Cathrynne asked.
The girls nodded and she went through it again, pausing so they could repeat the words. When they finished, she regarded them thoughtfully. “I was given a lesson plan, but I spilled jam on it. Honestly, it was rubbish anyway. Why don’t you just ask me questions? Anything at all.”
“Where is Minerva?” one ventured. “Like, where’d she go?”
“Wish I knew. Next?”
A skinny girl with brown hair named Remedy Alder raised her hand. “Why can’t we learn anything except projective magic?”
“The witches don’t trust us. If we knew abjuration magic—protective spells—they wouldn’t have an advantage over us. Same with illusion. Next?”
“What if we accidentally use receptive ley?”
“Well, that wouldn’t be easy since you won’t be given receptive stones. But it’s theoretically possible, if you drew from a gem or metal in the environment around you. Silver is receptive, for example. But that’s why you do so many repetitive exercises. So you have complete control. Using both kinds of ley—projective and receptive—at the same time is very dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
The girls stared blankly. Another thing their regular teacher had failed to mention.
“Okay, listen,” Cathrynne said. “You know that every gem and metal has different qualities, right? The unique structure changes the focus of the ley vibrating within it. It causes a resonance.”
This, they understood. The girls nodded.
“Since ley reacts to the mind, it's a matter of focus. Your will is the bridge to make things happen in the material world. It gives meaning and intent to the spell. But some kinds of magic break natural law, so be very careful what you draw from.”
Another hand shot up. “Are all seers crazy?”
Cathrynne hesitated. “I don’t think so. But they can’t control their gift, and it disturbs them, so they have to be locked up. For their own good.” Even as she’d said the words, she hated herself. It was a horrible thing to do to anyone, bricking them away like that.
“But isn’t it useful to know the future?” the girl asked.
“You’d think so. But foretelling isn’t like other branches of lithomancy. It’s wild and uncontrollable.”
“Have you ever seen anyone have a vision?”
Cathrynne was about to shake her head when Mercy’s voice cut in from the doorway.
“I have,” she said. “Once.”
For such a big woman, she was light as a caracal on her feet when she chose to be. Cathrynne wondered how long she’d been standing there.
“The girl was about your age,” Mercy continued as she entered the classroom, her red mane especially wild and frizzy that day. “We were in class, reading the resonance of different stones, when she suddenly went stiff.”
Mercy’s voice lowered. “Then the girl started to cry. I mean, hysterical. I couldn’t understand her except for one word: brick. The teacher took her away to the infirmary. Well, an hour later, that same teacher was killed in a freak accident.”
She waited until one of the girls whispered, “What happened?”
“She was teaching projective spells to an older class. One went wide and cracked the brick overhang. It fell on the teacher’s head and crushed her skull. The next day, the girl was put in the kloster. I never saw her again. But you see, her warning did no good. And here we’ve wasted precious time talking about magic you’ll never wield, if you’re lucky.”
Cathrynne shot Mercy a look of reproof that she ignored. “The thing to remember is that you’ll never learn defensive magic,” Cathrynne said, “so you have to be smarter and faster. But you’re just as good as any witch. In fact, you’re braver because you’ll go out there every day with only your wits and a few gems. So have faith in yourselves.” She eyed them seriously. “I do, by the ley.”
