The idea was a big hit, especially in the newest Western territories that didn’t have a lot of money yet for things like colleges. The North Plains Territory was one of the first to get its grant of land, but it had taken the settlers a while to study out exactly what they wanted to do with it. In the end, they sold some and put the money aside to pay for building the college on another part, and the rest they rented out to whoever wanted to pay. They’d had a good bit of luck when the railroad came through right by the land-grant site, so they had more money than anyone expected, and no shortage of students, either, once they got going. What they were short of was professors, especially professors who could teach more than just theoretical magic.

That was why they wanted Papa. It seems he had a good reputation as a practical magician, plus they’d talked to several people who said there wasn’t a teacher like him for explaining so that you could really understand and remember. They’d been after him for a whole year, and none of us except Mama had known a thing about it.

I started to get a funny feeling in my middle right about then. Neither Papa nor Mama had said anything about Uncle Earn or the policeman since that dreadful scene in the sitting room, but it wasn’t something you just forgot about. And Papa had never given anyone the smallest hint that he’d ever thought of heading West. I didn’t say anything at the meeting, but later, when Mama tucked me into bed, I asked her straight out.

“Is Papa making everybody move because of me?”