Dark Mirror by M.J. Putney Read Free Book Online Page A

cat’s. “She is right. But they can’t keep me here when I reach twenty-one. Lackland isn’t a prison. Not quite.”
    Giggles echoed from above, followed by projectiles hurtling downward. Tory jumped backward. “Look out!”
    Swiftly, Elspeth raised one hand. The objects were deflected and crashed into the lawn a yard away. They proved to be half a dozen eggs, now smashed to messy bits.
    Tory had never seen magic in action, and she found it unnerving. No wonder everyone at the Fairmount fete had been so perturbed by what she’d done. “Why is someone throwing eggs at us?”
    “Don’t worry, the eggs weren’t aimed at you,” the other girl said, unperturbed. “I’m not popular in some quarters.”
    “So you protected us with magic.” Tory wondered if she would have been able to do the same. She would need to …
    No! She mustn’t think about such things. “You must be a very powerful mage to use magic here in the abbey.”
    “I am.” Elspeth trailed her fingers in the water as she walked by the fountain. “My power is reduced here, but it’s strong enough to deal with flying eggs.”
    “Might someone do something worse to you?”
    “They wouldn’t dare.” Elspeth resumed her walk across the garden.
    Tory decided she didn’t want to make an enemy of Elspeth. “Why are you disliked by some of the students?”
    “Because I like magic. Perhaps they fear my liking will rub off and they’ll start liking their magic, too.” Elspeth led them into an open passageway that cut through the building opposite. “That tower on the other side of the school is our chapel. Every morning we must attend services so we can pray for the cure of our magical afflictions.”
    A daily service in a cold, drafty chapel was not appealing. “Do prayers help?”
    “Not that I know of,” Elspeth replied. “Lackland students fall into three categories. The majority want nothing more than to be cured as fast as possible so they can go home, so they obey the rules and don’t cause trouble. A few are so furious at being sent here that they lash out in all directions.”
    “And throw eggs. What is the third group?”
    “People like me who embrace our powers despite all the pressure to give it up.” Elspeth gestured toward the right side of the passage. “Since this is an abbey, the dining room in there is called a refectory. The food isn’t usually dreadful.”
    “Faint praise.” Tory thought wistfully of the skilled chef back at Fairmount Hall. They stepped into the gardens behind the school. “How pretty,” she said as they started along a herringboned brick path that led between formal flower beds.
    “Orchards and vegetable gardens are on the right, beyond the ornamental gardens.” Elspeth pointed. “To the left is the boys’ school. On the other side of the stone wall with iron spikes on top.”
    The wall was perhaps a dozen feet high and the spikes had wicked points. Still, if Tory’s magic worked here, she could float right over the top.…
    She immediately stamped on the thought. “How successful are the schools at keeping males and females separate?”
    “Not as successful as they like to think.” Elspeth turned onto a path that led along the spiked wall. This close, Tory could see that the divider was actually a heavy stone lattice. The boys’ school was clearly visible through the square, hand-sized holes.
    Elspeth halted and stretched a bit to peer through an opening. “Naturally students on both sides talk whenever they get the chance.”
    Tory looked through an opening at her eye level and saw that a playing field was on the other side and a game of football was in progress. The players ranged from boys of eleven or twelve to full-grown young men. Half wore red ribbons tied on one arm, the other half wore blue. “If the official policy is to keep males and females apart, why don’t they brick up these holes?”
    The other girl laughed. “One of the charming oddities of Lackland is that this