“Not taking that back.” Sigfried muttered to Lucky. “No girl should wipe her mouth with it after that!”
The Music final had arrived. Rachel stood in the back of the classroom, her silver flute in her hands. At the front of the room, Sigfried was playing his trumpet. Indigo sparkles came from the instrument, and all five of the bean-tighe seated to the left side of the room, rose from their chairs and obediently trotted across the classroom to stand in front of him. Only three other students had been able to summon all five of the little old lady fey. Some of the others had not been able to summon even one.
One of those had been Rachel.
Each student was allowed three tries. Rachel had tried twice. In a moment, she would be allowed to try one more time.
She practiced the fingering without blowing on the mouthpiece. She could see now what the problem was. Her fingers were too small for this flute. This made it a little easier. At least, she knew that stretching farther might help. She would need to find a new instrument, but that was for the future. There was no time to learn something new in the next few minutes.
As Sigfried finished, Rachel took a deep breath and went forward to take her final turn. Lifting the silver flute, she began to play. Her lips were tired from her earlier attempts, yet she forced herself to concentrate doing her best. At first, nothing happened, then a few indigo sparks left her instrument and drifted to the left. After a few more bars, a single bean-tighe slowly began to stand, as if she might possible be thinking of walking over to where Rachel played.
Oh please, Rachel begged mentally. Just one. All I need is one to pass.
She could not bear it. She closed her eyes.
She played the piece as best she could, wincing at each missed note. When she finished, there was a moment of silence and then gasps. Rachel opened one eye.
Five shapes stood before her.
Rachel whipped her head to the left, but only one chair was empty. The other bean-tighe sat complacently in their places, knitting and ignoring her. Rachel turned back to the front of the room.
A single bean-tighe stood in the center of the room. Next to her were the fenoderee, Fenguth, the domovoi, and Moilpubh. Fenguth winked at her.
As she prepared to leave class that day, Miss Cyrene, the Music tutor, came up beside her. “That was quite a performance, Miss Griffin.”
Rachel hung her head. “Actually, it was not a particularly impressive performance.”
A glint of kindness came into the blonde woman’s eye. “There is more to enchantment than summoning. Befriending the things you summon is also a very important part. However…” she pinned Rachel in place with her steady gaze. “Next year is Sophomore Choir. If you want to continue with enchantment after sophomore year, you are going to have show great improvement.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Rachel took her leave and headed for the door. She was not sure how she would go forward, but she knew now that she loved music, loved enchantment, and loved living in Dare Hall. Maybe she would figure out how to play this flute, or maybe she never would. Yet, somehow, she would find a way to become an enchantress.
As she left the classroom, she caught sight of two familiar little fey hiding in the shadows, their heads wrapped in bright red turbans, loincloth of a similar color their only other garments.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “Both of you.”
From the shadows came the answer: “It okay. Fenguth and Moilpubh like music.”
L. Jagi Lamplighter is the author of the YA fantasy series: The Books of Unexpected Enlightenment, the third book of which was nominated for the YA Dragon Award in 2017 and the fourth book of which won the first YA Ribbit Award. She is also the author of the Prospero’s Children series: Prospero Lost, Prospero In Hell, and Prospero Regained.
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She has published numerous articles and short stories. She also has an anthology of her own works: In the Lamplight. She also edits for Superversive Press and teaches The Art and Craft of Writing.
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When not writing, she switches to her secret identity as wife and stay-home mom in Centreville, VA, where she lives with her dashing husband, author John C. Wright, and their four darling children, Orville, Ping-Ping Eve, Roland Wilbur, and Justinian Oberon.
Halloween Dance
David Breitenbeck
When it’s announced that the Van Helsing Academy for Troubled Youth will be hosting its first school dance come Halloween, Sean finds himself faced with two conundrums. First, to figure out just why anyone in their right mind would want to host a dance at a school of monsters housed in a haunted mansion. Second, how to face the terrifying task of asking a girl out on a date.
Halloween Dance:
A Story of the Van Helsing Academy
“Ladies and gentlemen,” called Professor Arthur Van Helsing. “Your attention please.”
The usual dinner hubbub in the dining room died away as all eyes turned to the tall, broad form of the Headmaster.
“Before we send you off to bed tonight, I have a small announcement to make.”
Sean Paulson’s first instinct, on hearing that was to roll his eyes and stop paying attention, but he caught himself. After four months at the Van Helsing Academy for Troubled Youth, he had learned that announcements at this school tended to actually be important. The last time this had happened, it was to warn them that there was a demonic spirit lurking about the school that took the form of whoever you cared for the most in the hopes of luring you in. At his old school, announcements were always about something stupid, like a school dance.
“This Halloween, we will be hosting our first school dance in the north ballroom,” the Professor announced. “The staff agrees that this will be a good opportunity for you all to mingle in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.”
A low rumble of amazement broke out among the students. Sean could hardly believe his ears. A school dance at the Academy of Monsters?
“Needless to say,” the Professor went on. “There are many things to be done and many potential concerns. No doubt you will be able to think of some that we have not, in which case, the staff urges you to bring them to our attention. Nevertheless, we believe that, with all your cooperation, this will be a very enjoyable–and safe–time for all. Thank you.”
Professor Van Helsing sat down and the rumble became a roar as everyone began talking at once.
“This is great!” cried Euryda the gorgon, waving her hands about and nearly knocking over a glass of orange juice. “I can finally wear that new evening dress I got! I was just thinking that I’d like to make a few small alterations; it’s not quite va-va-voom enough!”
She tugged a little at her extremely tight red blouse, as though gauging whether it would be a good baseline. Since anyone who looked at her face would be turned to stone, she had to wear a wooden mask with tinted lenses at all times, while her hair was always covered by a (often wriggling) headscarf. This being the case, she indulged a naturally open nature by wearing the most demonstrative clothes the school would permit.
“The Professor just said they wanted this to be a ‘safe’ party,” said Hugo the living dummy, tottering on a pile of cushions in order to see over the table. “You get much more ‘va-va-voom,’ you’re gonna poke someone’s eye out.”
“She’s not gonna be wearing a drill, so I’m sure you’ll be fine, chatterbox,” said Meredith in between massive bites from the eggs and toast piled high on her plate. She was an extremely thin girl with pale gold hair who ate enough for three or four large men due the fact she had an otherworldly creature (which she called ‘Baby’) living on her spinal column and leeching off of her life energy. She was required to perform a short ‘soothing’ ritual every day to keep it from waking up and overriding her mind to search for more sustenance.
Meredith drained her fifth glass of orange juice, then added, “I think a dance’ll be fun.”
“What do you think, Medved?” Hugo asked, turning to his and Sean’s othe
r roommate.
Medved, huge and hairy, pulled back his lips in a horrific grin of jagged teeth.
“Dancing!” he bellowed. “I like dancing!”
“That figures,” Hugo said. “Must be hereditary; dancing bears and all that.”
Medved’s father had started life as a brown bear before an extended session with the infamous Doctor Moreau had rendered him human enough to eventually sire Medved once he had escaped from the doctor’s island.
“How about you, scaly?” Hugo added to Sean.
“I think Euryda’s outfit’s going to be the least of our worries,” he grumbled, looking down on his knobby, scale-covered hands and wincing a little at the idea of a formal affair.
“I think I should be offended by that!” she answered.
“It’s a question of competition,” he said. “This is the school where students regularly snap and try to eat each other, or where we have outbreaks of madness-inducing mold…”
“Or when certain people nearly open a door to the Other Place because they’re too stubborn to listen to the rules,” Hugo put in.
Sean scowled. He was never going to live that down, was he?
“Just reinforces my point,” he said. “Do we really want a big, emotionally charged gathering at this school?”
“Well, certainly not if your only emotions are variations on the theme of ‘grouchiness,’” said Euryda. “But I think that’s just you.”
“She’s got you pegged, pal,” said Hugo.
“That’s rich coming from someone made of actual pegs,” Sean answered.
“Pigs?” Medved grunted in some confusion. “You are made of pigs?”
“No, he said ‘pegs’! Pegs!!” said Hugo. He held up one articulate wooden hand and indicated the wrist mechanism. “These things!”
“Pegs in a poke,” said Euryda. “Which, now I think about it, sounds like it means something kinda dirty.”
“What did you intend it to mean?” Sean asked, momentarily distracted.
She threw up her hands in a gesture of cheerful ignorance. “Who knows? Just sounded good in my head.”
During this digression they got up from the table and, still talking, joined the crowd making its way out of the dining room. Meredith was finishing up her last plate, while Hugo swayed on Medved’s broad, hairy shoulder.
“No dancing for me, I think,” Hugo mused. “There’s a fine line between ‘date’ and ‘accessory’ and I don’t think I quite make it. Figure I’ll get on the planning committee; that’s a bit more my speed.”
Hugo, being currently made of wood, lacked most ordinary sensations, so he compensated by seeking intellectual stimulation. This made him one of the best students in the school and a mainstay of most extracurricular activities. It also made him prone to chattering.
“You do that,” Sean growled. “Meanwhile, I plan to go to bed early and hope no one dies.”
“Someone’s cranky,” said Euryda. “Got something against dances?”
“I just don’t think they’re worth risking, you know, all the millions of things that could go wrong in a school for monsters,” he said. “Seriously, what idiot thought this was a good idea!?”
“As a matter of fact, I did.”
Sean froze, feeling as though the bottom had dropped out of his stomach. There was no mistaking that voice. Big and deep, like thunder, yet also painfully precise and with a strange kind of tremor in it that made it land like a bolt of lightning on the ear.
“Professor,” he said, turning. “I’m sorry, I…I didn’t realize you were there.”
The Deputy Headmaster looked down from his seven-and-a-half-foot height, regarding him with those deep-set, inscrutable eyes that Sean had come to know so well. Then he beckoned. Swallowing slightly, Sean left his friends and followed him down a side corridor, to a spare room filled with furniture covered in dustsheets. The professor closed the door and turned to face him.
Sean had grown up in a rough neighborhood, under the nominal care of indifferent guardians. He had quickly developed a strong independent streak and a degree of contempt for would-be authority figures. For a long time, he neither feared nor respected any adult in his life.
That changed soon after he met Professor Adam Von Frankenstein.
“So,” said the professor once they were alone. “You have concerns about this dance, Mr. Paulson?”
“You could say that, sir,” said Sean. He hesitated a moment, then just went for it.
“Last night, on the way back from the library, I saw this black orb hovering in the corridor outside Professor Loren’s classroom. As soon as I looked at it, it came rushing toward me, and I had to duck into the room to get away from it. When I came out, about ten minutes later, all the lights in the corridor were out and there was this creaking sound, like something metal twisting in the wind. I got out of there as soon as I could, but when I got back to my room, I found this cut on my forehead.”
He indicated the bandage over his right eye.
“No idea how it got there,” he concluded.
“David Harker told me about that,” said Von Frankenstein. “We investigated and are keeping an eye on it.”
“Yeah, but things like that happen all the time around here, don’t they? A couple weeks ago you made us all barricade ourselves in our classrooms for two whole days while you guys hunted down something you called ‘the Swine Centipede.’ And what about the shadow walking on the ceiling? Did you ever figure that one out?”
“The mansion, as you know, exists on the Borderland,” said Von Frankenstein. “It stands on a kind of nexus between our world and others. These things are to be expected.
“Right, sir, but that’s my point. There’s all that, not to mention the usual incidents of people just losing control or experiencing something weird when, how does the Professor put it? When ‘something brushes by you in the dark.’ With all that, a school dance seems like a big extra risk. What if someone has a meltdown right in the middle of it? What if another weird thing comes through out of the Other Place? What if…well, I can’t even imagine all that might go wrong around here. I mean, you know that I’m not much of a worrier, but I just don’t see why you’d want to try our luck like that for something so…silly.”
Von Frankenstein regarded him thoughtfully.
“I appreciate your concern, Mr. Paulson. You have certainly come a long way since your arrival here.”
Sean winced a little at the reminder of his first days at the Academy.
“It may surprise you, but I have considered all these things. Yet I still think it worth the risk. Knowing that, can you imagine why?”
Sean thought a moment. Even now his first instinctual response was along the lines of ‘because you don’t really care about us,’ but he knew, if he knew anything, that that wasn’t the case. The staff of the Academy, and especially Von Frankenstein, cared about their students, cared about them more than anything in the world. No one who had been there for any length of time could doubt that. Therefore, the dance must be important somehow. But he couldn’t see how.
“No, sir, I can’t,” he admitted.
“Hrm,” said Von Frankenstein. “Then maybe you will understand better after the event.”
“I guess,” Sean said with a shrug.
“Then consider this an assignment. I want you to attend this dance, to think very hard about it, and to decide why it is so important for us to hold it.”
Sean didn’t much like that idea, and his face twitched a little in annoyance. But there was no point in arguing with Von Frankenstein.
“I’ll be impressed if I can figure it out, sir,” he said.
“So will I, Mr. Paulson. So will I.”
The Deputy Headmaster dismissed him with a motion of his huge hand before Sean could work out whether what he said came to an insult or not. He didn’t wait around to find out, but beat a hasty retreat.
Sean returned to the dining room corridor to pick up his path back to the dorms. The Van Helsing A
cademy was housed in an enormous, sprawling old mansion that had been purposefully built with no floor plan and was constantly being added to (it was said that it could never be finished), so that it was often a nightmare to navigate. Being lost, especially at night, was an experience that no one ever wanted to have more than once. Therefore, sticking to familiar paths was the safest option by far.
The dinner crowds had moved on by the time he got back, leaving only one person waiting on a bench outside the dining room, humming to herself.
“Ah,” said Euryda, springing up at the sight of him. “Another day, another tussle with the Frankenstein Monster, right?”
“What’re you doing here?” he grumbled.
“Just waiting to see the damage,” she said. “I keep thinking sooner or later he’ll just eat you and be done with it.”
Her cheery voice sounded odd in the empty corridor. Sean had the impression that the mansion did not appreciate such a carefree sound within its walls.
“It’s not every day,” he answered. “And anyway, how is it even possible that he can sneak up on me like that? He’s the size of a tree!”
Sean hastily looked around to make sure Von Frankenstein wasn’t lurking behind him yet again, but it appeared they were alone.
“Serves you right for being such a killjoy,” she said, falling into step beside him. “I mean, come on; what’s to be angry about with a school dance? Who doesn’t like dancing?”
“Me,” he growled.
“Oh, yeah? Maybe this’ll change your mind.”
“That’s kind of what he said. Which means now I can’t just skip the damn thing without him getting on my back.”
“Don’t be such a grouch,” she said. “It’ll be fun!”
Fantastic Schools: Volume 2 Page 45
