(x) Irregular Magic

chapter 11 - the invisible girl

Having helped Inness review for the House of Orange Wizard Placement Exam, Mattie knew a lot more about the magical department than most layfolk.

The House of Orange, located in the remote Windram Quarter of the District of Whitthea, was technically made of three separate but connected branches. The east wing, called Ibdris Sector, contained the thirteen courtrooms where trials were held. The west wing, called Harangea Sector, was subdivided into public and private branches. The prosecutors' office was in the private branch of Harangea.

Amaranto Sector, where Mattie was currently being held, was an underground extension. The air here buzzed with every sort of anti-deception, locking, and detecting spell imaginable. The sweat of over six hundred mages had gone into making Amaranto impenetrable to outsiders and unescapable to detainees. The place was carefully inspected and maintained every year; spells were renewed and revamped. Each of the six floors contained a guard post manned by twelve combat-trained mages. Every thirty minutes the halls were patrolled. In addition to this, every cell was outfitted with the latest Smart Magic plate. These would let the guards would know if any magic was used on any of the four walls for escape.

After all, the dirtiest, foulest criminals were brought here to undergo trials. Emporius Day, Pandras Harvey, Darvid Amell, Sariana Wish—nearly every infamous mage had entered the gateway that took them into Amaranto Sector.

And here she was, Zero-Affinity and seventeen, trying to escape.

In the mornings, the guard came by and briefly disengaged some of the heavier spells to deliver her morning meal. He carelessly slid the plate of summercorn soup and cobbread slices across the floor and towards the bed. The screech of the metal plate on the stone floor did not even phase her duplicate's hunched form. The bowl of soup wobbled a little, dribbling a good deal of it on the ground.

Having waited for hours for this chance, Mattie didn't waste a single second. As soon as the magicked door had turned translucent with the release of magic, she stuck a toe out the door. Nothing happened. Triumphantly, she slipped through, her heart feeling like it would jump out of her chest.

If she didn't have to be completely silent, Mattie would have laughed.. All the sorcery that went into making this place one of the most heavily secured buildings in the western hemisphere, and she could pass through it as if it was just plain air.

After casting a disdainful look at her duplicate, the loaf of a guard stepped back. He tapped the sphere embedded into the Smart Magic plate with thick, sausage-like fingers. At his touch, the translucent door vibrated with a red glow. When the crimson magic faded, the metal door was solid and impenetrable once more.

The guard roughly pushed the cart of food to the next cell. A bit of summercorn soup slopped on the floor with his careless movement. With a grunt, the guard waved his steel wand and uttered a cleaning spell. The drops of soup faded.

As the guard hobbled on his way, Mattie dithered outside her door, pondering her options. The obvious choice was to leave right away as Spade had instructed. After all, it was still early and few would be anticipating her escape. The other choice that had occurred to her while she'd been waiting for the morn was riskier and probably stupid.

Ren was also being held in Amaranto. If his execution date was so close, it was unlikely he would have been transferred out and then brought back. He was likely on the sixth floor, where the security was the highest.

It was an excruciatingly difficult decision.

The momentary euphoria of having escaped her own room vanished. Just because she was able to slip out of her cell didn't mean she was able to wander into any of the others as she wanted. Moreover, if she did something wrong, she might trip some alarm and ruin everything. Maybe there were other detection spells—one that did work for nonmagicals. If she made a mistake, it would mean trouble not only for her but for Brunhildt Spade, who had only tried to help.