Thursday, Sept 10th, after school

Campus outdoors and our apartment

As Joel and I left the main classroom building, Agent Morgan stepped over next to Joel and started walking with us. I hadn’t seen where he came from. He said something quietly to Joel. Joel then said to me, “They want to drive me home. Do you want to come along?”

“Sure, why not?” I said. A moment later I realized it meant my bike would be on campus overnight, which I didn’t love, but the odds of either someone stealing it or there being rain overnight seemed low.

The car was parked in the faculty lot; Dormer was waiting in driver’s seat. His car, like most here, looked boxy and old fashioned – kind of like the ‘70s had never ended. Inside, though, it was spacious and comfortable.

Once we were inside, Joel asked, “What’s going on?”

“Not here,” replied Dormer. “I can say more when we get back home.”

We were after the morning rush and even with the long wait at the main hall, it still somewhat before noon. The trip was quick.

Once we were at the apartment, Dormer seemed more relaxed. “I’m sure you have questions. I’ll answer if I can, or if you’d prefer, I can just brief you on what I know.”

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“Just tell me what you know,” said Joel.

“Alvar Leto was the missing student I mentioned over the weekend. I don’t have the full details, but it’s clear that his death was intentional, and someone went to a lot of trouble to make sure it was untraceable and irreversible.”

“Wait,” said Joel. “Since when is being dead reversible?”

“Under normal circumstances, like if this had been a robbery gone bad, it’s not hard to get a resurrection spell. It’s just extremely expensive, and his family would not have had any trouble paying.

“As I said last weekend, you’re not the only politically sensitive student at Queen Sara. He was another; his father is part of the ruling junta in Fenrik, and he was living in quarters at their embassy. This is a going to be a big problem for them, and for the local security services.”

“What does this mean for me?” Joel asked.

“You’re going to need to be more careful. Some of the foreign ministry folks seem to think this internal matter from Fenrik that spilled over, in which case this is probably over. At the same time, if that’s not it, you could be at risk.

“At my most paranoid, I can’t fully rule out that this is somehow a way to get at you. Our information security on your real identity has been very good, but the king is concerned that your existence could have leaked.”

“Why would they target him to find me?”

“You and he fit a similar profile.”

At first with this conversation going on, my thought was that I was glad to be a nobody. Being exactly what Joel had thought he’d been – just another kid from Queens – I was safe, right? But as Dormer talked about Alvar’s profile, and the similarity to Joel’s, it sent a chill down my spine. Maybe I wasn’t that safe after all.