“Heard Dr. Silk will be accompanying him.”

The professor remained glued to his paper, making no indication he was aware of the topic of conversation. Karigan, however, was more than aware. If they were readying to move Lhean, she could no longer wait. She had to find out the professor’s decision on whether the opposition would help her rescue Lhean. Whatever the answer, time was running short, and she must act.

The students had moved on to other topics: Who would supervise the excavation in the Old City during Dr. Silk’s absence? What artifacts had been found? Nothing notable as yet, it turned out, since the drill destroyed most everything in its way.

“They’ve got a hundred slaves just to sift the tailings,” Mr. Stockwell said.

“I heard fifty,” Mr. Card countered.

The two began arguing over numbers.

Would the professor help her rescue Lhean? she wondered again. Would Cade?

“Excuse me,” she said. When they did not hear her over their argument, she tried again more loudly. “Excuse me.” Unaccustomed as the students were to her speaking to them during breakfast, they gazed at her in surprise, as if she had awakened from the sleep of the dead and arisen from one of the circus’s sarcophagi. Even the professor peered at her over his paper.

“Where is Mr. Harlowe this morning?” she asked.

Mr. Card shrugged. “Said he had some personal business to attend to and took the morning to do it.”

Karigan was so relieved to hear this that she almost missed the young men’s snickering about Cade’s bruised face and their speculation over how he must have gotten in a drunken brawl last night.

Let them believe it, she thought. Better that than the truth.

Lorine entered the dining room and sidled nervously over to the professor. She whispered in his ear.

“Eh?”

Lorine whispered some more.

The professor tossed his paper on the table and stood abruptly, his brow furrowed. He followed Lorine out of the dining room and down the hall, Karigan and the students watching curiously after him. No one interrupted the professor from his paper without good cause.

A minute later, his roar shook the whole house. “ARHYS!”

Karigan and the students looked at one another stunned. When had the professor ever raised his voice so?

There was a patter of light footfalls down the hall, no doubt Arhys’, followed by the professor’s angry tones rumbling in an upbraiding, the actual words of which they couldn’t quite make out. Arhys’ shrill protestations countered the professor, and then there was silence. Lorine reappeared in the dining room.

“Miss Goodgrave? Your uncle would see you now in the library.”

What was this about? Karigan wondered, doubly startled. She set down her piece of toast and followed Lorine out and down the hall to the library. Inside, she discovered a red-faced professor staring down at Arhys. The girl turned and pointed at Karigan, a malicious expression on her face.

“She did it! I saw her using the atlas lots. She tore it up.”

Karigan saw that the object of the argument was on the floor, its pages ripped out and strewn about.

The professor gazed at Karigan. “Is this true?”

Of all the idiotic things. “Yes, I have been looking through the atlas of late. Lorine saw me. It is not true that I damaged it. Why would I do so?”

The professor glanced at Arhys. “Why would Miss Goodgrave damage the atlas, girl?”

“Because! Because she wants to get me in trouble! She hates me.”

“That’s absurd,” the professor replied. “It’s rather the other way around, I should think.”

“You hate me, too! Ever since she came!”

“That’s not—”

“You give her nice things, and I just got these old, ugly dresses. And you take her places, even secret places. Mr. Harlowe, too.”

Both Karigan and the professor stilled. Had the girl witnessed their disappearances through the secret door in the library? Lorine looked on, uncomprehending.

“It’s not fair!” In a final bout of rage, Arhys kicked the remains of the atlas, scattering the pages.

The professor snatched her arm. “That is quite enough. You come with me, young lady.” He dragged her from the library, she wailing all the way. When she was gone, Lorine and Karigan both sighed.

“It’s about time the professor took action,” Lorine declared. “That girl has become a little monster.”

And not fit to be a queen, Karigan thought. Certainly not until she learned how not to be such a brat.

Lorine knelt to start picking up the pages of the destroyed book. Karigan did so, as well.

“Oh, Miss Goodgrave, you do not have to help.”

“I’d like to.”

The two worked in silence for a time, until Lorine asked, “What was Arhys getting on about when she mentioned the professor taking you to secret places?”

“If I told you, then it wouldn’t be a secret,” Karigan replied, trying to make it sound like a joke. To her relief, Lorine did chuckle. “Actually, I haven’t the faintest.”

Lorine nodded in acceptance. “Who knows what that girl has dreamed up. I can’t believe she went so far as to damage one of the professor’s precious books. This has gold leaf in it.”

“She was looking for attention,” Karigan replied.

“Yes, I agree.”

When all the pages had been picked up and placed on top of the library table, Lorine said, “I’ll leave those for the professor so he can decide what to do with them. He’ll know if the atlas is beyond repair or not.” And she left to tend to other duties.