Диана Дуэйн: Wizards Holiday

Dairine leaned against the opposite counter and brushed her red bangs out of her eyes in a way that was meant to look casual, but to Nita s practiced eye, the act was failing miserably. Dairine was freaked. And Spot knows, too, I ll bet, Tom said, which is why he s so skittish all of a sudden. Dairine, you know that as a responsible wizard you have an obligation to tell the people who re still helping you manage your life about what s going on with you…and when you re intending to embark on some course of action that is going to affect them. Uh, yeah, well, I was about to In some cases that information should really reach your family before you embark on the course of action, wouldn t you say Assuming that you want to stay in a good relationship with the Powers That Be. Which right now seems increasingly unlikely. Nita saw Dairine go so pale that her freckles looked about four shades darker than usual. Tom put out his hand, and as if from the empty air, his wizard s manual fell into it. It was a manual larger than Nita s, nearly the size of a phone book but as one of the supervisory wizards for this part of the East Coast, he had a lot more people, places, and things to look after in the course of his practice than Nita did. Let me read you my copy of a message that doubtless will have reached you via Spot not too long ago, Tom said, looking over his manual at Dairine as he opened the book and paged through it. And which is doubtless why poor Spot is having a crisis of the nerves. To: D. Callahan, T Swale, C. Romeo: We confirm availability for two of your species in the sponsored noninterventional excursus program at this time. However, your applicant supervisee-wizard s proposal for an excursus is rejected for the following reasons: Durational impropriety. Evasion of local issues. Attempt to circumvent local dirigent authority… Tom paused, looking down the page with an expression of annoyed bemusement. Actually, he said, despite the fact that the Powers That Be have listed about twelve other reasons here, those three are probably sufficient for the moment. Okay, Tom, Nita s dad said. For the wizardly challenged among us, this means… Dairine, Tom said, taking another drink of his coffee with his free hand, has signed herself and Nita up for a cultural outreach program. What Nita thought, her eyes going wide. She pushed herself very quietly back out of sight of the kitchen, flushing hot in one instant and cold in the next. Then, ever so carefully, she leaned forward again to see what her dad s expression looked like. He had raised his eyebrows, that was all. Well, that doesn t sound so bad… Probably not, until you consider that it would have involved them spending ten to fourteen days halfway across the galaxy, Tom said. Or sometimes somewhere further off…though these young-practitioner exchanges usually stay within a radius of a hundred thousand light-years, for administrative reasons. Nita watched her dad s expression shift from bemused to slightly concerned. You mean, he said, this is like a student-exchange program here on Earth. There are similarities, Tom said. But the similarities also mean that while Dairine and Nita were gone, you would have had other wizards staying here with you. Dairine s father slowly turned his head and trained a look on Dairine that was so blank it was scary. I was going to tell you, Daddy, Dairine said in a much smaller voice than previously. It was just that You were going to tell me, huh Nita s father said, in a flat, unrevealing voice that matched his expression. Not ask me Nita swallowed. I just thought if I got everything arranged, Dairine said, in a smaller voice yet, got it all set up, then I could talk to you and we could Dairine s dad looked at her severely. What he said. You were thinking you d just present this thing to me as a fait accompli Bad move. Daddy, we ve all been Dairine stopped. Some time off would have been really Uh-huh, Nita s dad said, absolutely without inflection. Out of his view, Nita covered her face with her hands. Did Nita know anything about this No. Now Dairine was starting to sound a little sullen. It was going to be a surprise. The message confirms that, Tom said. It wasn t Nita who was being sanctioned, Harry. Nita s dad s expression broke enough for him to frown at Dairine. Well, it didn t sound like Nita s style. But for your part, consider yourself lucky that I don t ground you. I, however, don t have that much leeway, Tom said. The message the Powers That Be dropped on my head, after this one, requires me to restrict you to Sol System for the next two weeks, as a corrective. So consider it done. Aww, Tom! Tom snapped his manual closed and tossed it into the air. It vanished. Next time, Tom said, think it through. Nita s dad gave Dairine that terrible level look again. Dairine, I think you should go take some private time to consider what you ve been up to, he said. Forget leaving the solar system: For the time being, I don t want you to leave the house. By any means, so no doing transport spells in your room, young lady. In fact, I don t think I want to lay eyes on you again till Nita and I get back from doing the shopping. So go on now. I really am sorry, Dairine said, very, very low. Nita listened to the words, judging the tone critically, and gave Dairine about a six on a scale of ten for penitence. As Dairine hurried through the dining room past her, Nita kept her face carefully straight, but the glance that Dairine threw at her, knowing their dad couldn t see it, made Nita revise the score about half a point upward. Dairine was angry, but also genuinely sorry. Dairine vanished through the living room and up the stairs to her bedroom. And since you ve been sitting there taking all this in… Tom said through the kitchen doorway. Nita blushed. Tom gave Nita a look that wasn t half as severe as it might have been. She really didn t give you any idea that she was up to this Nita s dad said, coming into the dining room. Nita shook her head as Tom and her dad sat down at the table with her. It was news to me, Nita said. She doesn t tell me everything she does, not by a long shot. And I can t always guess. Which may be a good thing, since if I d known about this, I d have Reamed her out, Nita was about to say, and then she stopped, because she didn t know if it was strictly true. She looked over at Tom. I ve seen the section in the manual about this exchange thing, Nita said, but when I read it, it never occurred to me that you could just sign yourself up for one. I thought someone had to nominate you. Oh, not always, Tom said. You can sign up for it yourself, if you have the spare time and think the circumstances warrant it. Which plainly Dairine did, Nita s dad said. Harry, Tom said, I think all we have here is a case of Dairine doing what she usually does: pushing the envelope. Testing. It s not that unusual for an early-latency wizard. You come into your power in a big way, then it drops off in a big way, and afterward you re likely to spend a while plunging around trying to redefine yourself as more than a wonder child. There s always the fear, Was that all I had Was the way I was when I started out as good as I m ever going to get It takes a while to put that to bed. Nita s dad sighed, leaned back in his chair and drank some coffee, then made a face: It had gone cold. This hasn t made trouble for you, has it If it has, I m sorry. Tom shook his head. It s nothing major, he said. Not compared with some of the sanctioning I have to deal with. The adult wizards are worse than the kids, in some ways: As you get older, there s an unfortunate tendency to start to lose the innate hunger for rules that you have when you re young. Some of us start trying to bend them in ways that aren t always innocuous… Nita s dad abruptly burst out laughing. Whoa, you lost me. Kids have an innate hunger for rules Tom looked wry. Played hopscotch lately he said. One toe over that chalk line and you are dead. Читать дальше