فصل 3

Chapter 3

WALKING INTO THE Refectory gave Call a feeling not unlike déjà vu. He felt as though he was in a familiar place, but nothing quite looked right. And he realized it was because he recognized so few of the other students. All the older kids he knew were gone. He didn’t know anyone in their Iron Year, barely knew anyone in Copper or Bronze Year, and even the Gold and Silver Year students he knew looked a lot different. A few had what looked like the scraggly beginnings of beards.

Call put his hand to his own face. He should have shaved this morning. Tamara would probably like that.

Focus, Aaron told him.

If Aaron were here, in a separate body, he would remember to shave. He would sculpt his facial hair with natural confidence and skill, and everyone would admire him for it.

We’ll find me a body soon enough, said Aaron.

Wait. What? Call thought.

But before he could dwell on that more, Tamara gave him a shove toward the food. With his stomach in knots on the way to the Magisterium, he hadn’t eaten very much, but having Tamara on his side made him feel so much better that he found he was starving.

He got some greenish lichen, some slices of large mushroom, and a few purple ball-like dumplings in a blue sauce.

Get some turnip cakes, Aaron said. They’re good.

Call had never cared for the pale turnip cakes, which looked too much like they were made from eyeless fish for his taste, but he plopped a few on his plate anyway. Taking a cup of tea, he followed Tamara to a table. She found one where it was going to be just them, set down her tray, and looked around, as though daring someone to approach.

No one did. Lots of people were looking at their table and whispering, but no one was coming over.

“Hey, um, how is Kimiya?” Call asked finally, just to say something.

Tamara rolled her eyes but surprisingly also grinned. “Grounded and kept home from the Collegium for a whole year for making out with Evil Overlord Alex. Also for joining his evil army of evil.” “Wow,” said Call.

He looked up to see three Iron Year kids heading toward the table. Three boys — a pale kid with white-blond hair, a darker-skinned kid with lots of curls, and another kid covered in freckles.

“Um, hi,” said the pale kid. “I’m Axel. Are you really the Enemy of Death?” “He’s not the Enemy!” Tamara said.

“Well,” said Call, “I have his soul, I guess. But I’m not him. You don’t have to be afraid of me.” All three Iron Years had taken a step back when he’d begun talking, so he wasn’t sure how convincing he’d been. They were looking at him as though waiting for him to bare his teeth, when Jasper came up behind them.

“Scram, munchkins!” Jasper yelled, causing them to yelp and run back to their table.

Jasper laughed uproariously. He had an even weirder haircut than before — somehow both spiky and shaggy at the same time — and was wearing a leather jacket over his uniform.

“That’s not helpful,” said Tamara. “We must reach out to them with understanding, not scare them off like they’re little kids at a Halloween party.” Jasper made a face at her. “Good to see you all, too!” he said, and headed off toward Celia and the food. Call couldn’t help gazing after Celia, who was wearing a headband in place of the old sparkly hair clips she’d worn when she was younger. Once, she’d been his really good friend. She’d even wanted to date him. Now, she wouldn’t look at him.

“Hi!” Call turned to see Gwenda, tray in hand. She sat down opposite them and started eating calmly. Call looked at her in surprise. Either she was enormously out of the loop of school gossip or she didn’t care about anything.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“I’m the Enemy of Death,” Call said to her, in case she hadn’t heard.

She rolled her eyes. “I know. Everyone knows. Too bad about Alex — he was pretty hot.” “He wasn’t hot, he was evil,” said Tamara.

“Evil, yeah. Everybody knows that, too,” said Gwenda. She waved across the room. “Kai! Rafe! Over here!” Kai and Rafe were standing over by a huge soup tureen. They looked at each other and shrugged before moving to join the table. They both nodded at Call before digging into their food.

“Jasper and Celia are back together again,” Gwenda said, gesturing with her fork. Call followed her gaze and saw that Jasper and Celia had indeed taken their trays to a table by themselves and had their lips fused together like two snorklers. Jasper had his hands in Celia’s blond hair.

“After the whole battle at Master Joseph’s, Celia decided Jasper was a hero,” said Rafe. “Instalove.” “Instabacktolove,” corrected Gwenda. “Since she dumped him before that.” Soon they were all chatting about who at school had broken up or gotten together, who the new Masters were, and what movies were showing in the Gallery. Aaron stayed quiet in Call’s mind, listening. It felt normal — so normal that Call started to relax.

Just then Celia pulled away from Jasper and caught Call’s eye. Her look was icy. Jasper tried to draw her back, but she was on her feet, stalking over to Call’s table.

“You,” she snapped, pointing at him. The whole room fell silent, as if they’d been waiting for this. “You’re the Enemy of Death, you liar.” Tamara bolted to her feet. “Celia, you don’t understand —”

“I do understand. I understand everything! He lied to all of us! Constantine Madden was sneaky and evil, and now Call has snuck back into the Magisterium and Aaron Stewart is dead because of him!” It’s not because of you, Aaron thought quietly. Don’t listen.

But Call couldn’t avoid listening.

“Celia,” Jasper said, coming up behind her and putting his hands on her shoulders. “Celia, come on. He’s more like the Frenemy of Death.” But she shook him off.

“I have family who would still be alive today if it wasn’t for you,” Celia said. “Constantine Madden killed them. And that means you killed them, just like you killed Aaron.” “I didn’t kill Aaron,” Call managed to say. His whole face felt hot and his heart was speeding. Everyone in the whole Refectory was looking at them.

“You might as well have!” Celia said. “The Enemy of Death’s Chaos-ridden and his minions were all looking for you. They were fixated on you. You’re the only reason any of them were at the Magisterium.” Miserably, Call couldn’t think of anything to say to that.

It’s not your fault, Aaron said, but Aaron was wrong.

“I’m sorry,” Call finally replied. “I don’t remember being anyone but Call, but I would do anything to have Aaron back. I would do anything for him to have not died in the first place.” Celia looked as though the wind had gone out of her sails. She looked around at the people sitting at Call’s table, at Tamara. Celia’s eyes got a strange shine, like maybe she was blinking back tears.

“You’re trying to make me look bad, like I’m the mean one,” Celia said.

“Remember how you spread rumors about Aaron?” Tamara asked. “You’re not perfect, Celia.” Celia’s neck flushed a painful red. “Call is the Enemy of Death. He’s a megalomaniacal monster, but I guess because he doesn’t gossip, it’s okay.” “Call is a good person,” Tamara said. “He’s a hero. Because of him, the Enemy’s minions are disbanded. Master Joseph is dead.” That one was me, Aaron said, which almost made Call snort with surprised laughter. If he had, the whole Magisterium might have decided Celia was right about him.

“It’s a trick,” Celia said. “I know it’s a trick, even if you’re all too stupid to see it.” With that, she turned on her heel and stomped out of the Refectory.

“We’re, uh, still working stuff out,” Jasper said, hurrying after her.

Call stood up, not wanting to be there anymore either. Everyone was staring at him and he just wanted to go to classes and be alone with Tamara and Master Rufus. He couldn’t keep on pretending everything was normal.

An announcement came echoing through the room: “All apprentices should make their way to the main entrance hall. Classes will be canceled for the first half of the day for a general assembly.” With a sinking feeling, Call was sure that this had something to do with him.