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Tuesday began with Mira looking for a button that Sir Flopsy had apparently lost during the night.
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She found it in his school bag, alongside the drawing she'd packed on Monday. I had watched her put it there, but I was reluctant to introduce eyewitness testimony before breakfast.
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“He needs it for class,” she said, holding the button up to the light.
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“Does Mrs. Fenwick know she's taking on another student?”
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“He's quiet.”
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That was true. I helped her fasten the bag, checked her lunch, and tried to remember whether I had put my corrected seminar figures in the leather folder or left them on the desk. They were in the folder. I checked twice anyway.
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At Mrs. Fenwick's door, Mira held on to my sleeve after I'd kissed her forehead.
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“Is Mommy going to watch your magic?”
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“She's doing it with me.”
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“Then don't be scared.”
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“I'll try.”
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She released me, apparently satisfied. Mrs. Fenwick took her hand and led her inside. I made it halfway down the street before realizing that I'd forgotten my own lunch.
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***
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The academy's demonstration hall had been rearranged overnight. Three rows of benches faced the testing platform, and someone had polished the brass circle so thoroughly that it caught the morning light. Nessa was checking the apparatus when I arrived. She handed me a clipboard before I could say anything.
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“Read the cutoff procedure.”
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“I know it.”
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“Read it.”
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I read it. Two approved stationary impact sequences, followed by the conventional-barrier comparison. No moving target, no improvised increase in power, no new result disguised as a demonstration. If the apparatus behaved unexpectedly, Nessa would stop it.
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“Happy?” I asked.
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“I will be when it's over.”
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That made two of us.
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Evelyn arrived with our diagrams beneath one arm. A strand of silver hair had escaped its pin; she tucked it back while scanning the benches.
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“You're early,” she said.
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“I forgot my lunch.”
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“That wasn't the question.”
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“No. I couldn't sleep, and I thought I'd be less nervous if I came here.” I glanced at the apparatus. “That hasn't worked.”
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She set her papers down beside mine. “You know the method. We rehearsed it yesterday.”
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“Yesterday there weren't people waiting for me to be wrong.”
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“There were. Halden and Nessa.”
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“Those two already know I'm wrong on a regular basis.”
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Evelyn smiled, but she didn't try to turn it into a joke. She straightened the top sheet, then pressed my hand briefly beneath the table.
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“If you don't know an answer, say so. I'll do the same.”
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I nodded. It was a better plan than pretending either of us had invented a flawless shield.
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***
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Miss Arden came in before the other visitors. Today she carried the same repaired satchel I'd noticed last Thursday, but she'd left her hat behind. The clerk at the entrance recognized her and pointed her toward the reserved seats.
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“Good morning,” she said, stopping by our table. “I see you've corrected the first reading.”
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“Nessa checked the dial record,” I said. “The original figure was high.”
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“Does the correction change your conclusion?”
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“No. It changes where we say the strain begins.”
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“An important distinction.”
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She asked whether the moving-target trial would be shown. Evelyn explained that it remained exploratory and that today's demonstration was limited to the stationary configuration. Arden accepted the answer without pressing for the working notebooks. Halden had made their status clear yesterday.
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I watched her take a seat and wondered again what she wanted from the seminar. She had asked unusually careful questions about failure last week, but careful questions weren't evidence of a secret identity. I had a demonstration to survive without inventing a mystery to go with it.
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***
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The first impact sounded louder than it had in rehearsal. The testing crystal struck, the barrier brightened around the point of contact, and the measurement dial rose. I felt the load moving through the three channels and shifted the distribution before the next pulse.
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Nessa called out the reading. Venn recorded it. Evelyn adjusted her side of the structure without looking at me; we'd practiced the sequence enough to know when the other needed room to work.
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The second impact arrived. For a few seconds I forgot about the visitors entirely. The weakest section was beginning to thin, and I had to choose whether to reinforce it or let the load spread farther. I chose the latter. The light steadied.
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“Release,” Nessa said.
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We lowered the barrier. My hands were shaking, which made reaching for the water cup an unnecessarily complicated task. Evelyn slid hers toward me. I drank before remembering that she'd probably wanted some too.
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“Sorry,” I murmured.
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“Keep it. I brought another.”
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The conventional comparison followed. It was easier to establish, but the same approved impacts placed more strain on a single section. When Halden began the discussion, I was relieved that the measurements could speak for themselves. I wasn't sure my voice would cooperate.
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***
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An older instructor in the front row asked what would happen if an impact came from a direction the caster hadn't anticipated.
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“We don't have a reliable moving-target result yet,” I said. “The structure responds to a changing load, but not instantly. Thursday's low-power trial showed a timing problem.”
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“So the method cannot protect someone in motion?”
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“Not reliably under the conditions we've tested.”
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He waited, perhaps expecting me to defend it. I had nothing to add. Evelyn took the next question, about whether increasing the barrier's size would make the channels too expensive to maintain. She explained the likely trade-off and said we would need separate measurements before claiming it could cover a carriage.
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Miss Arden raised her hand after that.
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“Suppose the strongest section of your barrier remains intact, but the person inside it moves toward a weaker section. Which matters more to your method: keeping the structure standing or keeping that person safe?”
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I knew what the current calculations measured. That wasn't quite what she'd asked.
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“At present,” I said slowly, “we measure how long the structure holds and where the strain goes. We haven't measured what reaches the person behind it.”
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“And if the barrier holds?”
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“That doesn't necessarily mean—” I stopped. The words I'd prepared for the seminar were suddenly of no use. “Sorry. What I mean is, it could stay standing and still fail at its job.”
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Arden lowered her pen.
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“What would you test next?”
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“The protected area. With a safe indicator, not a person. We'd need to know whether force gets through even when the barrier looks intact.”
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Halden stepped in before I could volunteer Evelyn, Nessa, and myself for another month of work. He thanked Arden and reminded the room that today's verified conclusions concerned the stationary arrangement. I was grateful for the intervention, even if he sounded a little pleased with the new question.
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***
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After the visitors left, I helped Nessa pack the apparatus. She made me hold a padded case level while she secured the dial, which was probably her way of keeping my hands occupied.
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Venn came over with the attendance sheet. “You didn't argue with the man who called your application narrow.”
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“It is narrow.”
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“He looked disappointed.”
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“I can find him later and disagree about something else.”
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Nessa pointed at the case. I adjusted my grip.
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Miss Arden approached us while Evelyn was gathering the diagrams. She thanked us for the demonstration and said she'd be interested in the next phase once Halden approved it. When she turned to leave, I finally asked the question I'd written in my notebook last week.
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“Miss Arden? Which institution should we put on the follow-up correspondence?”
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She paused. “For now, send it through Professor Halden. He has the address I'm using for the seminar.”
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It was a practical answer, though not the one I'd asked for.
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“All right,” I said.
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After she'd gone, Evelyn came to stand beside me.
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“You noticed that too?”
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“That she didn't name an institution? Yes. But Halden knows where to reach her.”
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Evelyn folded the diagrams. “Then we'll ask him if we need to.”
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Honestly, I don't have the time or energy to worry about that right now. We had enough unanswered questions already.
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***
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I collected Mira from Mrs. Fenwick later than usual. She ran to me with a drawing in one hand and Sir Flopsy by an ear in the other.
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“Did the crystal break?”
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“No.”
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“Did you?”
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“Also no.”
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She seemed relieved. On the walk home, she made me describe the blue light and asked whether Evelyn had been frightened. I told her I hadn't thought to ask.
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“You should.”
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“I will.”
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At the apartment, she spread her drawing on the table. It showed three people beneath an enormous barrier, with a small rabbit standing outside it.
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“Why isn't he with us?” I asked.
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“He's looking for the door.”
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I studied the drawing. “Did you draw one?”
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“Not yet.”
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She fetched a pencil and added a crooked opening. Then she moved the rabbit inside with a second outline. I watched her work while the water for supper warmed, thinking about the question Arden had asked and the one Mira had answered without hearing it.
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***
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Evelyn arrived with a loaf of bread and an apology for being late. Mira wanted the whole demonstration retold, so we ate while she questioned us. Evelyn admitted she'd been nervous before the first impact. Mira looked vindicated, as if she'd suspected that adults were keeping important facts from her.
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Once she was asleep, Evelyn stayed to help wash the dishes. The apartment was quiet except for the water and the occasional carriage passing outside.
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“I'm writing to my father tonight,” she said.
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I set a plate on the rack. We'd talked about it yesterday, but hearing the words now made my stomach tighten.
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“Do you want me to stay while you write?”
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“No. I need to find my own words.” She dried her hands. “I don't want him to think you persuaded me into this.”
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“Right.”
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Evelyn waited until I looked at her. “That doesn't mean I want to do everything alone.”
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“I know. I just—” I glanced toward Mira's room. “I wish I could make the conversation easier for you.”
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“You can't. But you can be here afterward.”
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“I can do that.”
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She kissed me before leaving. It was brief, and neither of us tried to make it a promise that her father would understand.
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I checked on Mira, then returned to the table. Her drawing was still beside my seminar notes. The little rabbit now stood safely under the barrier, and she'd made the door wide enough for all three of us to walk through.
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On Thursday we would take her damaged letter to the specialist. Tonight Evelyn was going home to write her own. I put the drawing somewhere it wouldn't get wet and began clearing the table for breakfast.