"Of course," Pologne said. She took out her small globe. "Let's see, there are enchantments for puzzle pieces, broken pieces, crazy paving—which one shall we use?"
I groaned. "You don't have to use a fixed process. Improvise. There are six of you. Come up with something new."
"But Professor Maguffin said—"
"Raspberries to Professor Maguffin," Melvine sneered. "I don't want to be here all day."
"We can do this without magik," Bee said. He started arranging things on the ground. "See, there's a triangular slot, and here's a peg that's the same shape."
"No, we can do it with magik," Jinetta insisted. "All we need to do is find the right spell. Freezia, what do you think?"
"I can't recall anything from Spellcrafting 501 that covered a situation like this."
"Maybe there wasn't one," Tolk said. "Look look look, let's just put the pieces together by hand."
"If you insist," Jinetta said, clearly distressed at having to think outside the box or, rather, classroom. "It still feels wrong?
"I found a flat tab and a flat slot," Melvine exclaimed. "Yeah!" He pushed them together, and they clicked satisfyingly.
"But what about this thing?" Pologne asked Bee, flapping the sheet. "It hasn't got pegs."
"No, but it's got symbols printed on it. See here? There's an arrow, and there's a circle. Look for parts marked the same way."
I began to understand why Guido had prized this shy country boy. He was a born organizer. With the Pervects balking all the way, he began to get the class working in the same direction.
It wasn't going to be easy or a one-man operation. I had scoured the Bazaar for a device that had to be levitated while it was being assembled. Until all the pieces were in place it couldn't be balanced on the single pole that supported it, and it could not be put together upside down. Once Bee figured that out he suggested politely that the more adept magicians use the last vestiges of power they were carrying to help support the incomplete device.
"I think this goes here," Melvine said, pushing the narrow blue fork into a slot. "It's a tight fit, but I can get it."
"Stop that," Jinetta ordered Melvine. "You're going to break that!"
"No, I'm not!" Melvine insisted. He pushed harder. The fork snapped. He glared at the Pervect. "See what you made me do?"
"What I made you do?" Jinetta echoed. "You did it."
"No, I didn't," Melvine said. "Didn't you see, Skeeve? She distracted me, and the piece broke!"
"You know who he reminds me of?" Pologne said to Freezia. "Carmellanga."
Freezia grinned. "Yes, I see. Here, Melvine, you can put this piece in for me."
She handed him a huge white spring. It packed substantial magikal power because it had to fling open the large yellow canvas. Melvine took it from her and ducked underneath the edge.
"Do you see a double-slot under here anywhere? Ugh! It's a tight fit. Umph—" he grunted.
Delicately, Freezia flicked her fingers.
The spring rebounded, sending the small Cupy hurtling end over end off the edge of the cliff. He landed in the sea about ten feet below us.
"Aagh! Salt water!" Melvine levitated out of the water and headed for the Pervects with blood in his eye. "Why did you do that?"
"Us?" Jinetta asked innocently, regarding the dripping Cupy. "Why do you think we did anything?"
"You," he turned angrily to me. "How come you didn't tell me this thing was dangerous?"
Pologne raised her recorder ball and invoked it.
My voice rattled out, "Be careful. It opens outward under its own power."
Melvine gave me a fierce look and flew about a hundred feet away from us to dry out and sulk. The Pervects shared a sly look among themselves.
"Uh, who is Carmellanga?" I asked.
"Oh, she was a girl in our sorority," Jinetta said casually. "Always blaming other people for the things she did herself. She was just careless, and she never liked to take responsibility."
"Lazy," Freezia added. "I never had patience with her. One day we just let her hoist herself on her own petard. The housemother caught her cheating on her thesis, and she had no one to blame but herself. Like you said, though, we don't have time to let nature take its course."
"That's it for me," Jinetta said apologetically as the large yellow sail sagged down onto her head. "I'm out of power."
"I've got a little more," Bee said. "Tell me what to do."
"Push the magik up under here," the tallest Pervect said, poking at the canvas from underneath. "Hurry! It's falling over. No, up. Up!"
"Where does this thing go?" Freezia demanded, holding a green box.
"Up under there," Tolk said, pointing with his nose to a spot inside the top of the sail. Both of his forepaws were occupied keeping the struts from collapsing.
"I see. I can't reach it!"
"I can," Melvine said. The box rose from Freezia's fingers, and just slotted into place before Melvine's hands dropped. "I'm tapped."
"That's the last piece," Pologne said with satisfaction. They all stepped back to admire their handiwork. "But what's it do?"
"It's a shade-caster," I said. "I told you that the natives are desperate for ways to get out of the sun. It's for them."
"Why should we give it to them when they stole all of our things?" Freezia asked with a toss of her head.
"Do you want your stuff back?" I asked. "Then trade this to them."
They looked skeptical until the red dots began surging up out of the ground under the shadow of the yellow sail. I invoked the activator, and the shadow spread out twice as far in every direction. More and more Sear natives popped up, cooing audibly as they enjoyed the opacity that shielded them from the pounding sunlight. Then I deactivated it.
The Sears let out a surprised squeak, retreating into the center, chasing the shrinking shadow. The yellow canvas umbrella collapsed until it was nothing but a palm-sized dot.
The red spots sank into the sandy soil. Soon, things began to pop up like bizarre mushrooms. Pologne's backpack was the first to reappear. Tolk's collar came up next, followed by an upheaval that revealed a heap of standard army issue items.
"Well, there's my axe and fire-starter kit," Bee exclaimed. He thought about it for a moment. "I was kind of fine without them, I guess."
Freezia's and Jinetta's packs returned very close to the supporting member, as if the Sears were hinting they would like the umbrella opened again.
"Not until I see MY stuff," Melvine said, folding his arms.
A flask, a yo-yo, a couple of books with lurid covers, a travel pillow, a box of candy popped up, as did a silky fragment of cloth. Melvine grabbed for them and began to stuff them in the concealed pockets of his overall. A pair of purple panties emerged next.
"Oops, that's mine, too," Melvine said, diving for it. His face scarlet, he put them away. I raised my eyebrows, but Melvine wouldn't meet my gaze. I made a mental note of it. Those panties looked suspiciously like one of Bunny's that I had frequently seen drying on our clothesline.
"Mission accomplished," I said. "Let's go home."
As soon as we returned to the inn, I took Melvine aside by the ear.
"Ow! Hey, what's your problem!"
"About those panties," I said in a low voice. "If those ARE yours, fine. But if they do belong to someone else, they had better be back where they belong in one second flat."
"You're accusing me of stealing?" Melvine whined defensively.
"I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm putting a hypothetical situation to you. And hypothetically, the next time anything belonging to anyone goes missing, you're out the door whether it's your fault or not."