text: "On account of what?" asked Wormwood, fiddling with his ear.
  
  No one had an answer.
  
  "That's done it!" Will whispered to Thornmallow. "Now everyone will want to know why."
  
  Thornmallow turned to Will. "They should be told," he whispered back. "To be fair."
  
  "To be fair," Gorse said, her voice too loud by half, "we should all be sent home."
  
  "Sent home?" Wormwood insinuated himself into their circle. "But why?"
  
  "Because …," Gorse began, but she was elbowed fiercely by Will.
  
  "Because," Tansy finished for her, "if we're to have an undeclared holiday, it would be more fun at home."
  
  Satisfied, Wormwood left to spread the rumor that they were all going to get the afternoon off. It took the magisters the rest of the day to make sure none of the one hundred and thirteen students actually left. Magister Briar Rose had to run after two second-year students who'd made it as far as the gates with a picnic basket chock-full of egg-and-watercress sandwiches.
  
  "Of course," Tansy said, "I really have no home to go to. Except for Wizard's Hall."
  
  "Her ma and da are dead," Gorse explained to Thornmallow. "And mine are away on a business trip. Wizards' business."
  
  "Mine still have farmwork to do," Will said. "They could use a helping hand."
  
  Thornmallow thought about his own dear ma and about running off home to her. He knew she'd welcome him. But running off home wouldn't be right. After all, he had promised. And he had to try.
  
  Suddenly Thornmallow looked up. "What are we talking about? There is no holiday. It was just something Tansy said to get rid of Wormwood."
  
  As if coming up out of a dream, the three stared at him.
  
  "You're right," Will said. "What have we been talking about?"
  
  "It's a magic drain," Gorse whispered fiercely. "My da told me about them. Pulls all sense out of you and leaves only non-sense. It must be the result of the Master's stopping by."
  
  "Well, what can we do?" Thornmallow asked. "To help the magisters, I mean. To defeat the Master and the Beast?"
  
  "We're only first-years," reminded Tansy, putting her hand on Thornmallow's shoulder.
  
  "But we must try," he exclaimed.
  
  Tansy's eyes widened suddenly. "Try? Of course we'll try!"
  
  "How?" asked Will.
  
  Thornmallow grabbed up his hand. "Think, Will, think!"
  
  Will's mouth opened and shut twice, like a fish in a shallow pool. "The library," he gasped out at last.
  
  "To learn things," agreed Tansy, tightening her grip on Thornmallow's shoulder.
  
  "You're all crazy," Gorse said, turning to leave. But Will caught her by the arm and pulled her around. She stared at him. "What things?"
  
  "Things like … nettles," Tansy said.
  
  "And correspondences," added Will.
  
  Understanding seemed suddenly to dawn on Gorse. "I'll take nettles or quilts."
  
  It's as if they are all speaking another language, Thornmallow thought miserably. And only I'm left out. He made a wry face, remembering something his dear ma always said, Secrets is like wounds, can't be cleansed until opened.
  
  "Let's go!" cried Will, and dragging Thornmallow to the left, he turned the corner, and they were there.