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They met after hours in a funny little trapezoidal study off the West Tower that as far as Plurid, so it was safe to break curfew there She lay full length on her back on the floor, which was the position froue business The rest of the girls were scattered around the room on couches and chairs, li party that everybody was kind of relieved was now all but over

Pluo silent—it was a little spell that ate sound in about a ten-yard radius When Pluic trick, everybody noticed

“Let’s put it to a vote,” she said gravely “All those in favor of pranking Wharton, say aye”

The ayes cahteous zeal, ironic detache point on the floor, with her eyes closed, her long brown hair splayed out in a fan on the carpet, which had once been soft and woolly but which had been trodden down into a shiny hard-packed gray, it sounded more or less unanimous

She dispensed with a show of nays They were doing this Wharton’s crime was not a matter of life and death, but a stop would be put to it, this the League swore

Darcy, sitting slupoufy 1970s afro; it even had an afro pick sticking out of it She toyed with her iant brown hands she worked a spell that stretched it and then squished it, stretched then squished, stretch, squish Her head blew up to the size of a beach ball; it stretched out like a sausage balloon The technicalities were beyond Pluic was Darcy’s discipline It was a bit show-offy of her, but it’s not like Darcy had a lot of opportunities to use it

The facts of the Wharton case were as follows At Brakebillsduties at dinner were carried out by First Years, who then ate separately afterward But by tradition one favored Fourth Year was chosen every year to serve as wine steward, in charge of pairings and pourings and whatnot, and trusted with the key to the wine closet Wharton had had this honor bestowed upon him, and not for no reason He did know a lot about wine; or at any rate he could reions and appellations and whatever else

But in the judgainst the honor of his office, sinnedthe wine, especially for the Fifth Years (the Finns, in Brakebills parlance), ere alloo glasses each with dinner

Seriously, these were like two-thirds pours Everybody agreed Pluue took any threat to its wine supply seriously For such a criiveness

“What do you suppose he does with it all?” Emma said

“Does hat?”

“All that extra wine Heit off I bet he ends up with an extra bottle every night, off the books”

There were eight girls in the League, of whom six were present Emma was the only Second Year

“I dunno,” Pluuess he drinks it”

“He couldn’t get through a bottle a night,” Darcy said

“He and his boyfriend then What’s his name, it’s Greek”

“Epifanio” Darcy and Chelsea said it together

Chelsea lay on the couch at the opposite end fro to mess up Darcy’s mirror tricks It was always easier to screw up somebody else’s spell than it was to cast one yourself That was one of the ic

Darcy frowned and concentrated harder, pushing back The interference caused an audible buzz, and under the stress Darcy’s reflection twisted and spiraled in on itself

“Stop,” she said “You’re going to break it”

“He’s probably got so that eats it up,” Emma said “Has to feed it wine once a day Like a virility thing”

“Wait,” Plu that Wharton has a wine-powered spell going twenty-four-seven on his penis?”

“Well” Emma flushed mauve She’d overstepped herself in the presence of her elders and betters “You know He’s so buff”

While everybody else was distracted by the question of Wharton’s virility Chelsea caused Darcy’s reflection to collapse in on itself, creepily, like it had gotten sucked into a black hole, and then to vanish altogether In the mirror it looked like she wasn’t even there, except that the couch cushion was slightly depressed

“Ha,” Chelsea said

“Buff does not mean virile” That was Lucy, a pale and intensely philosophical Finn; her tone betrayed a touch of what ht have been the bitterness of personal experience “Anyway I bet he gives it to the ghost”

“There is no ghost,” Darcy said

Sohost It was a thing this year—there was practically a cult around it Eh a ; Wharton said he had too

Plu of her own, but you could never find it when you were looking for it She wasn’t co there used to be a League, no one could prove it either way