superbtheoristcollective:
Milo grinned from ear to ear then at Janeâs exclamation. His eyes shined and he grasped at Janeâs hand, tugging her at once from the kitchen and toward their living room so they could both fall onto the couch. Fluffy had been laid out across one of the arms of it and she let out an unhappy mrrow, getting up at once to jump down and slink away to claim Miloâs desk as her new temporary kingdom.
Milo truthfully barely noticed. His brain was now filled with those same legends and rumours that Jane had mentioned. The organizationâs intrepid beginning, and how eventually they needed to go underground because of potential dangerâ to themselves and their charges. When was the first time heâd heard such stories? Even Milo could not pinpoint the place. Perhaps it had been in his own Magick History classes at the beginning of his career, many many years ago when he too was an overeager student.
Or perhaps, if he looked back to his grandfatherâs journals, he would find those three letters sketched somewhere inside: R. A. S.
Because of there was someone who might have knownâŚor encountered or found evidence ofâŚit was Thaddeus Thatch.
And now Milo would join them. Er, hopefully.
âThey did! Jane, itâs real. Iâ I had no idea, theyâve apparently been watching me for a while, Iâ there was this woman, months and months ago, who came to my office inquiring of my research for her own book project. Butâ it turns out she isnât a travel author at all! Which makes a lot of sense, she seemed very odd at the time,â he quirked his own head to the side as he recalled his first meetings with Bianca. My, would he have to have a secret identity and a cover story too? Would he have to lie?
Milo felt both extremely excited and extremely nervous at the prospect. It was like a great adventure novel, though he could not imagine himself as the hero in it. There was really only way he would be able to pull something like that offâŚ
Milo squeezed Janeâs hand. âButâ yes. As I was packing up my office, the same woman approached me and said I passed all these tests I had no idea I was even up for andâ and they want me to go and train in their offices in New York City, Jane! New York City!â He flopped back against the couch, running his free hand through his hair.
Even though Jane had not studied Magick-Mundus relations much before coming to Swynlake, even though she had only just begun to learn all of its intricacies and little secrets (by just begun, of course, we mean over the span of the past three years, ever since sheâd bumped into Milo that fateful day and heâd told her about his studies and his ambitions and she fell in love with him bit by bit), she knew just how big a deal this was.
The RAS was real â and they wanted to recruit Milo.
There was a flush of pride â why of course theyâd want to recruit Milo. There was no better person to recruit, no one more knowledgeable, no one else who would dive right into a cave and list off everything you needed to know about it at the same time. She was grinning so wide now, oh how fortunate it was that PrideU had let him go, because this opportunity came sweeping through.
She plopped right next to him on the couch, reaching to wrap her arms around him and rest her head on his shoulder.
âThe RAS!â she exclaimed, looking up at him, eyes glimmering, then leaned to kiss him. âOh goodness â Milo, thatâs amazing. Of course they want you. Youâre the utmost qualified and Iâm absolutely certain that youâll be marvelous in ââ
Oh, that was right. New York. New York, as in, America, as in, not-Swynlake, as in, not-England. As in across the ocean and far away from PrideU, where Jane was still enrolled as a student, where she had a few more years to go, a few more years to drag her feet till she got a degree to put on her wall, a few more years to tick off the handful that the Fates had given her.
New York was far away and the reality of that hit her, curling in her stomach like sheâd swallowed an ice cube.
âIâve actually never been to New York City,â she said, with a little shake of her head âImagine! Iâve been all over the world and never stopped there.â She let out a tiny laugh, more an exhale of air than anything, and then turned quiet, pulling away and folding her hands in her lap, unsure of what she ought to say next.
But Jane was not one to let questions go unasked and she turned back to Milo.
âI can come, yeah? Obviously Iâm not â RAS material, but Iâll manage with something!â She jutted her chin out, sounding more confident than she was.