Volume 1: Pickpocketing

by R. A. Consell

  Twenty-one

  Lunaseed

  Kuro’s life improved considerably after the true authors of the IOU notes had been revealed. He still wasn’t very popular, and some were still distrustful of him, but people were taking much less notice of him, which was a far more comfortable state. He also received a few unexpected apologies. The girl who had chased him across the school for stealing her diary was deeply sorry, and a few thieves said sorry as well.

  One of the many benefits of having his name cleared was sleeping in his own bed. He had been welcomed back to the dorm by the other boys. Oliver and Sean in particular were both very apologetic. The dormitories were not full, however, as Sean Cassidy had taken Kuro’s place sleeping behind the couch as penance for forging a note. His note, as it turned out, had been a prank on Oliver, and he hadn’t stolen anything at all.

  Oliver said the thumping he had given Sean in the amphitheatre was more than enough to satisfy him. Sean, to his credit, said that it wasn’t Oliver’s forgiveness that he needed. He didn’t feel right without serving some kind of sentence.

  The best part of the whole business being done was being with his friends again. They no longer had to pretend at being enemies and could sit close together in class, though Charlie and Kuro were often separated for talking anyway. They could share meals, play at breaks, and work on homework together in the lounge and library. Kuro was, for the first time in his life, happy.

  He even had some hope for the future. He was almost passing all his classes. With Ms. Crawley’s help, he was almost keeping up with his classmates in spellcraft, and he was starting to get the hang of numerology. Evocations was the only class where he was still really struggling. Kuro just couldn’t get his thoughts into the shapes that they were supposed to be.

  Sabine El-Assar’s visit in February brought good news as well; he would have a place to live for the summer. There was space at the orphanage where Meredith and Bella lived. He was so excited at that news that he completely forgot to feel like a prisoner in the school. He was starting to feel like he had a home and a family at Avalon. He no longer dreamed of escape, and his only thoughts of his master were of loathing instead of loyalty.

  He dashed to potions class to share the good news with Charlie and the others. Class was just getting under way when he skidded into the room, having run at irresponsible speeds to get there. He slid to a stop beside Evelyn, who glared at him with unrestrained hatred.

  Evelyn had been caught as a note writer, but she had suffered little for it. She was too clever and popular to lose any followers. The girl she had stolen a notebook from was a pimply and awkward girl named Genevieve Frunklestein, who was frequently the butt of jokes from Evelyn’s troupe. Evelyn had somehow come out ahead and seemed more popular than ever.

  She had not taken the detentions well, though. She had vehemently claimed that the punishments were draconian and that her very important parents would not stand for it. She had, of course, never actually told them about it as that would admit some fault. Flint had made her clean the girl’s washrooms without magic for one of her detentions. Kuro expected it was the first time she’d cleaned anything, or been punished at all, for that matter.

  Evelyn couldn’t bring herself to take any responsibility for it, and so she blamed Kuro. She had moved from being dismissive and disparaging to actively despising him. This shouldn’t have made Kuro happy, he knew. It was unwise to make enemies. If you were to have enemies, it was far better if they did not know it. These were lessons taught to Kuro by Phineas, and even though Kuro had come to loathe his old master, he saw wisdom in those words. Regardless, he couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of satisfaction that she now hated him as much as he hated her.

  He had found that the best way to infuriate her was to ignore her. She couldn’t stand anyone not caring what she thought. Kuro smiled politely at Evelyn and hurried to take his seat beside Arthur.

  The commotion about Kuro being innocent had forced De Rigueur to take some small notice of Kuro again. With that, he bothered to recognize that Kuro’s work was pretty good. Consequently, Arthur had been awarded bonus marks for helping Kuro with his potions. Arthur tried to argue that it was the other way around, but De Rigueur wouldn’t hear of it and gave another bonus mark for humility. This, too, angered Evelyn. Ironically, it was only because she had demanded so much of De Rigueur’s attention that he had never noticed what was really going on.

  They were to be making a blooming brew that day, which when poured on seeds would cause flowers to grow much more quickly. Evelyn, in a transparent attempt to garner more of the teacher’s approval, was handing out flowerpots.

  De Rigueur lounged at the front of class while he explained, “Evelyn was kind enough to help me prepare these pots for you before class. Each should have a different kind of seed in it. If your potion is successful, you should all get a surprise when your flower blooms.” He clapped his hands once to indicate that it was time to get going. “Instructions are on the board, and I expect a healthy bouquet on my desk by the end of the day.”

  As they went about milking the honeydew from giant aphids and simmering it in dragon spittle, Kuro noticed that Evelyn was acting very strangely. She was unusually quiet, neither bragging to her followers nor asking De Rigueur about changeling-related facts. She kept glancing mischievously at Kuro, though. It was very fishy.

  As the class drew to a close, De Rigueur rose from his chaise and called them all to attention again. “All right, it smells like nearly all of you have a good hearty blooming brew, but we won't know unless we test it. All together now, ladle out a good dollop into your flowerpots.”

  Everyone poured a spoonful of the thick brown ooze into their pots and waited for something to happen. Soon several small green sprouts started to poke through the surface. Before any flowers could bloom, Evelyn ruined the suspense by putting up her hand. Kuro waited for the inevitable misplaced jab at him about changeling trivia.

  “When I was fetching the pots from the greenhouse for you, professeur, I saw a container labelled lunaseed. What is that?” She asked sweetly, feigning curiosity.

  De Rigueur, never missing a chance to show off his expertise, explained. “Lunaseed is used to grow moonblossoms. Moonblossoms are very interesting flowers, you know. They glow bright white like the moon the moment they bloom but fade to a dull grey within seconds.” He illustrated the effect with a little illusion. “Shapeshifters like lycanthropes, kelpies, and changelings cannot stand them when they bloom; it drives them feral. They have long been used as a means of detecting fairy folk in disguise. It was once thought that it was the light they produced, but an old colleague of mine has determined that their pollen contains a hearty dose of cold iron, to which most fey are badly allergic. Fascinating, no?”

  Kuro looked to Arthur. He wasn’t really paying attention. Evelyn’s attacks on him had become so routine as to be dull.

  Evelyn continued her assault. She shot a devious look at him and Arthur before she started to speak again. “Oh, are they dangerous at all? I think the container had spilled onto our flowerpots,” she said in her sweetest, most innocent voice.

  Just as she said it, the first flower bloomed, filling the class with cool white light. Kuro looked around at the pots. Dozens of sprouts were growing quickly. Blooms started bursting open all over. Kuro looked to Arthur. His face was twisted in pain and concentration. He was gripping the table, white knuckled, as if trying to use it to hold himself in place. His hair was falling in and out of his perfect part. His lip curled fiercely, and Kuro could see that his teeth were shifting and twisting in his mouth.

  Evelyn faked a scream and pointed at Kuro in feigned horror but quickly realized her mistake as her scream had broken Arthur’s concentration. With his focus broken, his shape started to shift violently. Spines erupted down his back, his teeth grew sharp and jagged, scales and feathers sprouted all over his skin, and his hands elongated into claws.

  Arthur started to
panic, shrieking and growling and thrashing his arms to keep other students away. Kuro grabbed him around the waist and tried to keep him from hurting anybody, but his shifting form was hard to keep a grip on, and Arthur was bigger than Kuro.

  Arthur snarled viciously at the girl who had done this to him and bounded across the classroom at her, Kuro in tow. He bore down quickly on Evelyn, snapping and growling. She had frozen in place. Her prank had worked, but she had not been prepared for the result. Kuro, still being dragged behind Arthur, heard himself yelling for Evelyn to run.

  Arthur was inches from Evelyn and looked to be lunging for her throat. Kuro heard De Rigueur casting a spell. Before either had a chance to connect, Arthur was intercepted by a flying stool. It yanked him from Kuro’s arms, carried him across the room, and pinned him against the blackboard.

  With Arthur knocked clear, De Rigueur’s spell missed the mark, and the silky violet streamer struck Evelyn. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she dropped limply to the floor. De Rigueur squeaked like a terrified mouse at what he’d done.

  Kuro ran to help Arthur, who was struggling to escape the cage made by the legs of the stool. Charlie called out to stop him, though. “It’s okay,” Charlie said calmly. “I’ve got him.”

  Kuro turned to see Charlie lying limply on the floor and focusing her attention and considerable telekinetic skill on the stool. She slid the stool down the wall lowering Arthur with it that his feet were touching the ground. “You’re okay, Arthur. Nobody’s going to hurt you,” she said in a soothing tone as if she were talking to a spooked animal.

  Kuro heard De Rigueur start to incant, making a liar of Charlie. Kuro jumped in the way, blocking Arthur from whatever De Rigueur was going to cast. “Get out of the way, boy!” De Rigueur shouted. “It is not safe.”

  Kuro didn’t move. He put his arms out to the side and tried to block more of his friend. With Arthur held firmly in place, Charlie managed to move herself. She struggled to her feet and moved to put a calming hand on Arthur’s head. “You’re fine. That’s right, you’re okay,” she kept repeating over and over, and Arthur’s growls slowly faded into wheezes.

  “Move!” pleaded De Rigueur, trying to find a gap around which to fire. He found none, mostly because Marie had added herself to the blockade. “Miss Akinwande, please get out of the way. This is very dangerous.”

  Kuro risked a peek over his shoulder. Charlie had let the stool fall away, and Arthur was standing freely, though she looked ready to pin him down again should the need arise. It didn’t look like she would need to, though. Arthur was breathing more steadily. He was still an untidy assortment of shifting shapes, colours, and sizes, but the panic had faded from his eyes.

  “Get. Out. Of. The. Way,” snarled De Rigueur, his usual passive attitude completely gone. He stopped trying to aim around Kuro and instead levelled his outstretched hand at him. “You don’t understand the danger you’re in.”

  Kuro stood firm and backed closer to Arthur to better block the way. To his complete shock, he bumped into someone. Sean Cassidy had also joined the blockade, and he saw Oliver Kagen moving to do the same. Magna Singh joined them a little more cautiously, followed by the other Lodgers, Jennifer Tanaka and Morgan Greenwood.

  Kuro stared defiantly at De Rigueur and the frightened collection of other students. The teacher considered carefully, not lowering his hand, but not moving to cast either. Minutes passed as the lunablooms burst with bright white light. Finally, the last one faded to grey, and the rasping wheeze of the monster shifted into the sniffles and sneezes of a sad boy.

  De Rigueur still didn’t lower his hand. “How are you feeling, Arthur?” he asked in a tone that was both wary and warm.

  “I’m fine,” mumbled Arthur. He had made no effort to return to his usual form, though he looked mostly human again, and while his eyes were downcast, they did not stare so fixedly at the ground as normal.

  “Would you accompany me to see the nurse just to be sure?” asked De Rigueur.

  “Yeah, all right.” Arthur shouldered his way through his housemates. Kuro still tried to block him from De Rigueur, not trusting the teacher. “It’s okay, Kuro,” muttered Arthur. “I’ll be fine.”

  He slouched out of the room in front of De Rigueur, who had lowered his hand but still moved with caution. “Class is dismissed,” he announced on his way out of the room.

  Everyone was a little uneasy as they slowly fetched their materials and books and shuffled quietly out of the classroom. Everyone except Kuro and Marie, that is.

  They had not forgotten about Evelyn. She still lay unconscious on the floor at the edge of the room, where De Rigueur had accidentally hit her with a spell. Kuro looked down at her helpless form and fought the strong urge to kick her.

  “She should probably go to the nurse as well,” grumbled Marie, nudging the unmoving girl with her foot.

  Evelyn did not stir.

  Kuro grudgingly agreed. They shouldn’t just leave her a heap on the floor, as much as they wanted to. It took some effort, but they managed to shove her into Kuro’s book bag, then trudged down the many flights of stairs to the ground floor. Marie suggested how pleasing it would have been to just dump her out at the top of a flight and watch her tumble down, but the smile in her eyes told Kuro that she didn’t mean it.

  They deposited her as unceremoniously as they dared on the floor outside the large oak doors to the infirmary. Kuro felt it best not to have to explain why they were in the possession of an unconscious girl or how they got her there, so they knocked on the door and ran when they heard feet approaching. Not before leaving a little something for Evelyn, though.

  Kuro’s altruism had already been stretched to the limit, and the idea that Evelyn probably wouldn’t suffer at all for her actions seemed extremely unjust. Also, Kuro still had a little bit of moustache cream that Arthur had given him for Solstice, and Marie had her own contribution to make.

  Arthur didn’t return for any classes that day, nor did he appear for dinner. The school was buzzing with the news of a changeling on the island, though, which quickly got twisted. There were stories of a bloody attack and rumours of a death. Kuro did his best to quell the gossip, but his small voice had little impact on the chattering horde.

  When Kuro returned to his dorm room that night, Arthur’s clothes were gone, and his trunk was missing. Kuro was mortified. He worried that Arthur had been expelled or worse. He rummaged through the remains of Arthur’s things and found a dirty sock that had been missed. Mustering some optimism, he cast the returning charm on it and let it lead him to his friend.

  He was still not very good at it. The sock pushed itself reluctantly along the floor like an inchworm. It took minutes to even get out to the lounge. When he got there, it did not lead him to the door as he had expected. Instead it brought him to a familiar dark corner behind a large sofa, where Kuro had slept for much of the year. There, curled into a corner and wrapped in a blanket so as to be almost invisible, was Arthur.

  “Are you all right?” asked Kuro as he rushed over to his friend. “Did De Rigueur hurt you?”

  Arthur had his face buried and did not answer right away. Slowly he lifted his head to look at Kuro. His hair was hanging down over his face in dark green tangles, as if he were wearing a wig of seaweed. His eyes, bloodshot from crying, peeked out between the tangled mats. “I’m fine, Kuro,” he said unconvincingly.

  “What are you doing here?” asked Kuro. “Are they kicking you out of school?”

  “No,” mumbled Arthur. “I’m not in trouble or anything. I just didn’t think the others would want to share a dorm with a changeling.”

  Kuro imagined that Arthur might be right about that. He remembered how the other boys had treated him when they’d thought he might steal from them. They would probably like a changeling even less, especially if they believed any of the stories of him turning into a violent monster in class. Kuro wasn’t going to let his friend sleep alone, though. “Wait h
ere.”

  He pulled the pillows off his and Arthur’s beds and started dragging them back to the lounge. He was intercepted by Oliver and Sean, who both looked worried. “Do you know what’s happened to Arthur?” Sean asked fearfully.

  “He’s sleeping in the lounge,” replied Kuro, giving each boy an accusing glare. “He thinks you’re afraid of him. I’m going to join him.”

  Kuro did his best to storm defiantly out of the dorm, but that is very difficult to do when carrying a large pile of bedding. It ended up being more of a surly shuffle, but he hoped they got the impression anyway.

  Kuro delivered the bedding to Arthur and set himself up beside him. “Thanks,” said Arthur, still sulking.

  “Not at all,” said Kuro.

  Arthur was quiet for a while as he arranged his blankets and fluffed his pillow. Slowly Arthur’s hair returned to its normal sandy blond colour and shortened enough to let his face show through. He seemed to be making no effort to keep his appearance stable. Eventually, he broke his silence. Speaking quietly, so the others in the lounge wouldn’t hear, he asked, “Can you tell me what happened in class after the flowers bloomed?”

  “Don’t you remember?” asked Kuro in astonishment.

  Arthur looked ashamed. “Only sort of. I remember feeling really sick, and a really bad headache and a pain in my chest. I was scared and couldn’t see clearly; my eyes were changing too fast. Then it’s sort of hazy until I woke up with Charlie petting my head like a dog.”

  Kuro explained as best he could about his shapes, his trying to attack Evelyn, Charlie trapping him, De Rigueur blasting Evelyn, and the whole class standing in the way so De Rigueur couldn’t attack again.

  “Did they really do that?” asked Arthur, getting a little teary eyed again.

  “Yeah, they did,” replied Kuro a little bitterly. Something he hadn’t been able to express had been clawing away at the back of his mind since it had happened. “I guess they like you better than me. Nobody would have stuck up for me like that.”