Jeraldine Hogsmutter's Arc

Chapter 2 of 4

Jeraldine had a map now, and a debt. Aleia wanted him at the cracked gate, and she would not hand over her list until he proved useful. But he had never studied mortal breaches. He had promised help he did not know how to give. So he went looking for the one founder who might. He found Nolando Javis in the sealed archive, deep under Galaria. The vault held the school's oldest and most dangerous records behind heavy stone and metal bands. Nolando sat at a low table, a worn journal open beside him, writing in a thin hand. He did not look up. His house crest, the weasel of Weaselton, caught the lamplight on his collar. "Headmaster," Nolando said. "You don't come down here. Something's wrong." "I need to learn how mortal breaches work," Jeraldine said. "A gate near Marshwood is cracking. A witch there will trade me names of young casters if I help. I don't know where to start." Nolando set down his pen. "You came to me last. I noticed." Jeraldine did not deny it. "I came to you because you check everything twice. I need that now." Nolando studied him. Then he slid the worn journal across the table. "Aldric's lecture notes. He taught breaches before most of these founders could hold a wand." He opened to a marked page. "Mortal gates don't break from the mortal side. Nothing mortal is strong enough. Something on our side is pulling, and a mortal is being used to push." Jeraldine read the cramped lines. His old mentor's hand. Diagrams of a split gate. Notes on how a fracture widened each time pressure hit from both sides. "The crack won't close on its own," Nolando said. "You seal it, or it keeps opening." He reached into his coat and set a small vial on the journal. Thick sap glowed amber-green inside. "Binding sap. You pour it into the fracture while someone holds the gate steady. It sets like root in stone. It's the only thing Aldric trusted." Jeraldine picked up the vial. "You're giving me this." "I'm lending it. And the notes." Nolando leaned back. "If it works, you'll remember who came through for Galaria." "I will." "Write it down," Nolando said. "People forget. I don't." Jeraldine left the vault with the journal under his arm and the vial in his pocket. He had what he needed to face Aleia. He scried her that night and told her plainly how mortal gates broke, and what the sap could do. She listened. She did not interrupt. When he finished, she pulled her ledger from the shelf and held it up. "Good enough," she said. "The list is yours. Come to Marshwood. We seal it together." She lowered the book. "But if what you said is true, the pull is coming from your side. One of yours is doing this." The stars behind Jeraldine went cold.