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after the Jack Russell terrier in Ceony’s stead.
    Ceony sighed. That dog had been her dearest friend through the last few years, especially at the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined. One couldn’t make much in the way of friends at that school if they wanted to graduate in the designated year. There was simply too much work to do. But Bizzy didn’t have homework, and she had always waited eagerly by the dorm-room door for Ceony to return after classes every day. That made her the best kind of friend.
    “You have a dog? Or a very large cat?”
    Ceony’s heart skipped a beat and she whirled around, slamming her suitcase shut to hide her under-things and gun. Mg. Thane stood in the doorway, not yet breaching the threshold into her bedroom, holding a rather large stack of books. She should have closed that door.
    Ceony clasped the collar. “Had one. He lived with me at the school, but Magician Aviosky told me I couldn’t bring him here. Because of your allergies.”
    Mg. Thane nodded slowly, his bright eyes thoughtful. “I never was good around animals, even as a boy,” he said in agreement. “I preferred bees.”
    “Bees?” Ceony asked.
    He looked at her as though the preference was entirely normal and she was strange for questioning it. And, as he seemed wont to do, he didn’t respond more than that.
    “May I come in?” he asked.
    Ceony nodded.
    Kicking the door open with his toe, Mg. Thane stepped into the room and set the stack of books down on the desk. Ceony cringed—she had worried those would be for her.
    “Some reading for when Pip tires you,” Mg. Thane said, patting the top of the stack with his hand.
    Arching sideways, Ceony read the titles: Astrology for Youth , Anatomy of the Human Body Volume I , Marcus Waters’s Guide to Pyrotechnics , Theories on Aviation , and Calming the Spirits: An Essay on the Tao . Ceony’s lips parted a little wider with each title.
    “But these have nothing to do with paper,” she said.
    “Mmm, I can see why they accepted you at Tagis Praff,” he said with a chuckle. Ceony glared at him, but he went on, nonchalant. “Paper is more than just trees run through a chipper, Ceony. These will benefit you for future lessons.”
    He tapped his chin and glanced to the window. “Are you hungry?”
    She set Bizzy’s collar down. “Not especially. I ate in the buggy.”
    “I’ll leave something on the stove for you, then,” he replied, walking back into the hallway. “Do get some rest,” he called, even as his voice faded away. “I have a busy day planned for you tomorrow. We don’t want to let that Tagis Praff work ethic go to waste!”
    Ceony glanced to the books on her desk, wondering just what sort of work the paper magician had in store for her. She had heard that many magicians forced their apprentices to do physical labor for their first year to humble them, or perhaps to break them. Ceony prayed that wouldn’t be the case here. Although, she wouldn’t be surprised if Mg. Thane planned to break her mentally first, what with the thickness of those volumes. At least she could be confident that weeding would not be one of her chores—she hadn’t seen a single real flower in the front gardens.
    Ceony unpacked the rest of her things, putting her makeup, barrettes, journal, and Bizzy’s collar on the shelves carved into the wall beside the bed. She decided to keep her under-things and pistol in her suitcase, which she shoved beneath the bed. Outside, the sun made its slow descent to the west. Ceony would have to see to getting a clock in her room, if Mg. Thane granted her any wages. She would have to ask about that in the morning.
    Sitting on her mattress, Ceony cracked open the well-worn bindings of Astrology for Youth and skimmed the first four chapters, then browsed through the figures in Anatomy of the Human Body , reading the captions beneath images of lungs, kidneys, hearts, and livers. Lying back on her pillow with Theories on Aviation on her