Author's Preface
Even though movement in his limbs returned, Casimir remained still. He did not want to take the chance of that rogue Weaver circling back and discovering that the drug was not effective. When he was sure that the Weaver was gone, Casimir stumbled up onto his feet. He turned to see that an ice-over puddle was what was left of the beast’s icy prison. Casimir shook the pins and needles out of his legs. He spotted a small boot print in the snow near where the beast was.
Casimir narrowed his eyes. A woman, I’m sure of it.
“Casimir!” Sully’s voice called out to him.
“Casimir!” Merritt’s voice was next.
He breathed out with a sigh of relief. “I’m here!”
Sully rushed over to Casimir. “What happened? Aetherseeker sent us to find you.”
“After I delivered his letter, I was attacked by an Aether beast.” Casimir sensed for anyone else nearby. “I heard an explosion from the guard post. Is Tristan okay?”
Merritt looked uneasy and scratched the back of his head.
Casimir awaited an answer from Sully.
“We put out the fire but did not find anyone inside.”
Casimir sighed with relief.
“But we saw no signs of Tristan.”
“Then we will have to look for him!” Casimir clenched his fists.
“We are, but Aetherseeker and the Chancellor are waiting for you.”
***
“A human-like Aether beast!” Aetherseeker exclaimed with a laugh.
“That is what I saw. ” Casimir sat confidently in front of Chancellor Salamander’s desk. His gaze switched between Aetherseeker standing to Salamander’s right and the Chancellor, who sat at his desk, stroking his beard.
Sully stayed near the door with an unreadable look on his face, but Casimir noticed that he was studying Aetherseeker and Salamander as intently as he was.
Chancellor Salamander looked at Casimir with a mixture of worry and confusion. “And you believe that it was being controlled by the same Weaver who attacked you.”
“It would explain why she freed it, and they both left together.”
Chancellor Salamander frowned. “Hmm…”
Aetherseeker furrowed his brow. “Chancellor, I don’t doubt Casimir saw something, but a human Aether beast is far-fetched.”
“Nurse Feverfew was recently caught misusing students’ blood, and you never found Bryson’s and Pendergass’ bodies intact. Now Tristan is missing. Isn’t it possible that the creature was one of hers and her accomplices’ creations made by the bodies of fallen students?”
“That is a very grim and morbid fantasy.” Aetherseeker looked at Casimir worryingly. “I understand that you were one of the few who experienced the horrors of Sageman’s inhumane treatments...”
He lowered his head. “You probably witnessed many things that many of us here have never seen or heard rumor of.”
Where is he going with this?
“Maybe it is too soon for you to start your career as a Weaver.”
Casimir clenched his teeth. “With all due respect, I am sure of what I saw. I took a picture of it, but the cloaked woman destroyed the evidence. ”
Aetherseeker leaned over and whispered into Chancellor Salamander’s ear.
Chancellor Salamander frowned and nodded. “If what you said is true, then I can not in good conscience let you remain while these unfortunate incidents are unresolved.”
“Chanc—”
“I promised Lord Mindrattler that I would look after you as a Master, but look at what happened… That woman betrayed our trust and was collecting your blood for financial gain, and now you are telling me that you were attacked by another staff member. And by the sound of it, she was in a good position to kill you.”
“She only attacked me because I was getting too close. Give me a week, and I’ll find–”
Chancellor Salamander’s groan interrupted him again. “Casimir, you are here as a student, not an investigator.” He side-eyed Sully. “It is my mistake, I should not have taken advantage.”
He rose from his seat. “I will inform Lord Mindrattler, and you will depart from here when he arrives.”
***
“Blast it! They are getting rid of us!” Casimir paced the floor of Sully’s office. He was steaming red.
Sully sat calmly at his desk. “This reeks of your standard cover-up. My guess is after we leave, the disappearances of a few commoner students will continue until someone bigger than Needle gets involved.”
Casimir stopped pacing and turned to Sully. “Should we contact the Sublime Weavers?”
“For what? One of them might be involved.”
“We can’t just let them get away with this!” Casimir pleaded.
“We won’t.” Sully rose from his seat and gave Casimir an assuring pat on the shoulder. “Master Iker and Lady Inquis have taken an interest in this case. If they manage to kick us out, we will continue this investigation through other means. But I doubt it will come to that. ”
“What are we going to do?”
Sully smiled. “Aetherseeker seemed too eager for you to go, and he always seemed to want you out of his office. Let’s see what he is hiding.”
***
Later that night, Casimir and Sully crept through the empty halls of the top floor to the Assistant Chancellor’s office. Sully unlocked the door and stepped inside. Eyeing the putter left in a golf bag next to the bookshelf, he pointed at it and said, “I could go for a round after this. Hopefully, in the spring, these cases will let up.”
“Should I keep watch?” Casimir asked.
“No, I’ll stay by the door. You’ll do the search.” Sully handed him his camera. “Don’t break this one.”
“All right.” Casimir clicked on his flashlight and went straight for Aetherseeker’s desk. He glanced over the photos on the desktop. There was one of the Assistant Chancellor receiving a trophy from a charity golf event, and the other was him dressed in his ceremonial robes pledging allegiance to the Empire for his Weaver license.
Nothing interesting. Casimir searched the drawers. “Ah, here is a letter that seems promising. It is from the Ministry of Defense about the Aetherian device program.”
“Who is it signed by?”
“A, Johnathon Voidmaster.”
“Tsk, Sublime Weavers, what does it say?” Sully rolled his eyes.
“It is thanking the academy for finally accepting the program…” Casimir trailed off as he scanned through the letter.
“Anything that applies to the victims?”
“Yes, they are looking for individuals who fit within two batches, those with strong constitution, a large Aether heart, and average intelligence. The other group consists of individuals of higher intelligence, high dexterity, and strong constitution, but lacking a strong Aether heart.”
“So group one is for students like Bryson and group two is for someone like me,” Sully smirked.
“Yes, apparently they are planning to expand this program to non-Aetherians.”
Sully raised an eyebrow. “Non-Aetherians joining one of the top Weaver schools in the country? That will ruffle many feathers.”
“Right,” Casimir took a picture of the letter and returned it to the drawer. He continued his search, but the contents of the letter churned in his mind. Back when I was a non-Aetherian, all the Weavers I interacted with gave off an air of superiority and disdain for having to be around me.
Casimir’s brow furrowed further down.
I thought at first it was because of my age or the fact that I was collecting fees from them. No one likes bills, but that theory was shot down when I shadowed my Aetherian cousins or when I witnessed how they treated their non-Aetherian servants, if they had any.
“Casimir, move with urgency,” Sully instructed.
“Yes.” Casimir picked up the pace.
They treated my very birth as a betrayal or tragedy. Even with the Sublime Weavers and those close to them, they saw Sageman’s crimes against me as a grand feat to marvel at.
So why the change now?
After examining the desk, Casimir went to the metal filing cabinet and began picking the lock. The drawer clicked open, and Casimir scanned over the alphabetical folders. “Ah, Bryson’s file is in here.”
“Good, what does it say?”
“Got it.” Casimir read over an unsatisfactory report tracking his progress as a Weaver, and the examiner suggested that he be pulled. The handwriting was from Awldriver. There was something that struck him as odd, and he doubled back to make sure he was reading it correctly. “Sully, something really strange is going on.”
“What?”
“There is a document about his father, Kent Rottenborn, and most of it is redacted. From what little I can make out, it has to do with Project Skylight. Have you heard of it before?”
“Yes, it was a drug trial testing an experimental regeneration serum that was later found to advance Aether disease. Master Iker knows more about it.”
“Oh.” Casimir returned Bryson’s file and looked for Tristan’s. The report on him was satisfactory, and Awldriver marked him to be watched. Pendergass’ report was written in someone else’s handwriting, but had a similar report to Bryson.
None of Quigley’s or Jett’s other victims.
Casimir spotted a file on him, but another one caught his eye. Simon Spindlehitch?
He opened up the folder and caught himself before his trembling fingers creased the paper. Casimir scrutinized the photo of the smiling young man with dark brown hair and large oval glasses. “That’s him!”
“What?” Sully asked.
Casimir’s expression grew grim. “I was right about my hunch.”
We must find Tristan, now!
He reached for his own file and found that it was a lot different than the others. No one tracked his progress. It was information detailing his background. So he was already aware of it.
“Casimir. Put everything away and head downstairs to my office, through the back way. Someone is coming.”
Casimir quickly returned everything to where it once was. Then he and Sully locked the door to the office. Sully adjusted his mask. “Hurry, in the cubicles,” He directed.
They hid in a cubicle of a pencil pusher who seemed obsessed with doilies. Sully motioned for Casimir to hide underneath the desk. He kept watch.
Casimir heard footsteps clack down the hall and a door open and close. After several minutes had passed by, the person's footsteps returned to the hall and disappeared.
Sully motioned for Casimir to rise from his hiding spot.
“Who was it?” Casimir asked.
“Aetherseeker. He was carrying a box.”
They exited the cubicles and headed to the stairwell. They hurried down the stairs, keeping an ear out for anyone else.
Casimir could only lower his guard when they returned to Sully’s office. “Do we have enough to confront him?”
“Nothing in those files is as damning as Feverfew’s. If they are experimenting on students, we need to find where their hidden lab is kept, which will be a lot to cover.”
“No kidding, this campus is on hundreds of acres.”
Sully nodded. “Our best chance is to tail one of them, but that will take time we don’t have.”
Casimir pinched the bridge of his nose. “I should have just said I was attacked by an Aether beast.”
“Well, you can’t turn back time and tell the old you to shut up. We just need to convince that cousin of yours to let you stay.”