by R K Dreaming
The Three Bees glared at Percy, clearly still furious and stunned that Percy hadn’t been arrested. After shooting Percy a look that promised vengeance, Bella marched out and her minions followed.
The headmistress dismissed the other occupants of her office with equal expertise.
Finally, when it was just the three of them left, Headmistress Glory turned to Percy and Lucifer and said, “It won’t take long for Strickt to put together that the two of you have some sort of connection to all three of the victims. Is there anything else I should know?”
Percy nodded grudgingly. There was no use hiding it. She had already admitted to her own public arguments with both Frank and Delphine. Lucifer had admitted to knowing Frank and Delphine outside of the ordinary librarian context. All that was left was for him to confess that he had dated Mrs Delancey.
He did so grudgingly. “So what if I took Janie out for dinner? She hounded me until I took pity on her, the poor soul. She even tried to use love potion on me, would you believe? I can hardly be said to be at fault.”
“The potion was fake,” said Percy.
“So you said,” he said irritably.
“Thanks for saving me,” said Percy with a cheeky grin. This put a smile back on his face. “Sweeping in like a knight in shining armor, no less! My hero,” she added, wrapping an arm around him and squeezing him.
“My Demonling,” he said fondly, returning the hug.
Ruthless Glory looked disgusted. Lucifer held out his free arm to her and said, “Bring it in. Family hug for old times’ sake?”
“I don’t think so,” she snapped. “Look at the two of you! Did it escape your notice that Miss Smythe-Smith was looking at the both of you suspiciously? Why exactly was that I wonder? Other than the fact that the school librarian and a student he is not supposed to know have been spending every break and most lunchtimes together these past three weeks? Did neither of you consider what this would look like to the other students and staff?”
Lucifer burst into laughter. “Been spreading sordid little rumors have they?”
“I told Octavia that Lucifer is my uncle,” said Percy quickly.
Lucifer beamed.
Percy continued, “It makes sense. Nobody knows who my dad is. Lucifer could very well be my dad’s long lost brother.”
“I love it,” said Lucifer, rubbing his hands together in glee.
Headmistress Glory did not look pleased with this fact. “So now Miss Smythe-Smith has a reason to believe that you two could have plotted three murders together, is that right?”
Percy’s eyes went wide. She had not considered this fact. She groaned.
Now that the council was going to investigate this matter thoroughly, Octavia was bound to find out every single link between Percy and Lucifer and each of the three victims. And if she found out that Lucifer had even gone on a date with Mrs Delancey, that was going to be the nail in the coffin. They had not admitted this to Octavia, and Octavia would think that they had a sordid reason for hiding this fact.
“Darn it!” she muttered.
“I’m pleased to see at least one of you is taking this matter seriously,” said Headmistress Glory, looking at Percy, and then glaring at Lucifer.
Lucifer threw back his head and laughed.
“Shush!” hissed Percy. “Mrs Preem’s probably got her ear stuck up against the door.”
She added loudly, “Gosh I hope that Mrs Preem isn’t a spy for the council, headmistress, or you’ll have to give her the old heave ho.”
She chuckled, imagining Mrs Preem scurrying back to her desk. Lucifer giggled. But Headmistress Glory did not crack so much as a smile.
“I’ve bought you the weekend,” she said with icy seriousness. “You two are a resourceful pair, and should be able to solve this whole fiasco in that time.”
“Not me,” Lucifer declared, shaking his head firmly. “I’ve already made plans. Percy and I know we’re not guilty. So what need is there for us to prove anything?”
“Hey!” Percy protested, but Lucifer had already marched out, swinging the door shut with a bang behind him.
Headmistress Glory turned to Percy. “And that leaves just you. Good luck, Persephone. Otherwise prison awaits. For one of you at least.”
10. Eye Of Newt & Pinch Of Body Parts
“I can’t clear my name in just one weekend!” Percy protested. “How am I going to get hold of any witnesses I need to talk to? I don’t know any more about all this than you do.”
She wouldn’t even have anyone to help. Nan had made it obvious she was sick and tired of this whole thing.
“I can’t do it alone,” she insisted. “Can’t you do something?”
The headmistress merely shooed her towards the door.
“Time is wasting,” she said. “I have weekend plans of my own. I believe I told you I’m interested in living my own life. Out!” And she marched Percy out the door and firmly shut it behind her.
On the other side, Percy came face-to-face with Mrs Preem, who had hurried a step back from the door and was pretending she had not been trying to listen to every word.
She gave Percy a very accusing look, as if she was waiting for a guillotine to drop on Percy’s neck.
“Haven’t you gone home yet, Mrs Preem?” said Percy, opening her eyes wide in faux innocence. “Gosh, I wonder what could be keeping you here so late on a Friday afternoon?”
“That is none of your business, young lady,” said Mrs Preem.
“I wouldn’t hang around alone if I were you,” said Percy. “Because there’s a murderer on the loose and…”
She leaned in towards the secretary as if she was going to whisper a secret. Unable to resist, Mrs Preem leaned forward to listen.
“…And they think it’s me,” whispered Percy. She snapped her teeth together hard.
Mrs Preem reared back from Percy, looking outraged.
Chuckling, Percy left her behind.
As she walked out of the school gates, Percy dug her phone out of her bag. She found a voicemail from Nan, who sounded a little frantic, saying that her mother had found out that there had been another death in the school and come to take her home. And where was Percy and for Percy to call back immediately.
Percy stomped homewards, and only stopped stomping when flashes of pain started up in her feet. They were still a bit tender.
Investigate? How the hell was she supposed to investigate?
Percy could not believe that Ruthless Glory was abandoning her in her greatest hour of need. It served Percy right, she supposed. Because Percy was the one who had told Ruthless Glory that she was nothing but a headmistress to Percy in this life. And now Ruthless Glory had decided that that was all she was interested in being. Percy felt hugely sorry for herself indeed.
When she got home, she sank into the kitchen chair with a groan, and Mr Bramble immediately bustled in from the garden. He looked pleased at the state of her feet, but still insisted on applying some fresh salve.
“Bad day at school?” asked Jeeves cheerily.
Percy nodded, but she did not tell him why.
Jeeves and Mr Bramble had no idea who Lucifer was, and Percy couldn’t think how to explain the pickle she was in without also explaining that the whole reason she had gotten so entangled in it was because she had been trying to protect Lucifer.
Both the poltergeist and the heg had a habit of flying into a flurry of anxiety if anything happened that they deemed really bad. And both of them were likely to think the only solution was to call Percy’s mother home. The last thing Percy needed to add into this whole mess was her mortal mother. Gwendolyn Prince would not be happy to come home under these circumstances. She wouldn’t be happy to come home under any circumstances at all.
After eating a hearty dinner of lamb casserole and dumplings, Percy dragged herself wearily up the stairs, and found that she didn’t even have the energy to call Nan.
She sent her a text message saying, “I am fine. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
The moment her head hit the pillow, she fell asleep.
She awoke the next morning in a panic, staring around her bedroom in shock. Where was the kitten?
She hadn’t asked Lucifer to give Lucky kitten back to her! And what if Lucifer had forgotten the kitten in the school library? The kitten would be locked in there all weekend. With no food and no water!
Percy leapt out of bed in a panic, cursing. She didn’t have a phone number for Lucifer. How was she going to get hold of him? How was she going to get back into the school librarian’s office?
Percy had no time to waste today, and certainly no time to go breaking into the school, an act which would get her into even worse trouble than she was already in.
A mewl of displeasure stopped her in her tracks. She whirled around towards her bed, and saw Lucky kitten crawling out from under the duvet, glaring at Percy for having rudely disturbed her sleep.
With a gasp of relief, Percy seized the kitten. “Where did you come from?” she asked. “I thought I’d lost you!”
The kitten licked Percy’s hand with her rough little tongue, rather hungrily Percy thought, so Percy took her down to feed her, feeling very bad indeed that she must have been so tired that she had heard none of the kitten’s cries for attention all night.
Percy found herself even more annoyed at Lucifer now. She had asked him to look after the kitten, but he must have put it inside either her backpack or in her pocket without Percy even noticing. The sneaky devil!
After feeding the kitten and eating her own breakfast, Percy hurried back upstairs, to get dressed for the day.
She called Nan. The phone rang for a long time before Nan answered, immediately hissing, “I’ve been waiting for you to call all yesterday night. I can’t believe you sent me that stupid text and didn’t tell me what happened!”
“Why are you whispering?” asked Percy.
“My Humble aunt and uncle and all my cousins are here,” Nan whispered. “They turned up without even calling. Mum was not pleased. They’re going to be here all day. And you know how dad gets if I don’t spend enough time with his family. He’s decided we have to go out for a picnic lunch, and he’s on the internet right now trying to get us tickets at the theatre tonight. I’m not going to be able to get away to see you. He wasn’t even happy that I answered my phone just now. Are you all right?”
Percy tried not to groan, knowing this would sound entirely selfish. She had wanted Nan to spend the day with her.
“I’m fine,” said Percy, deciding against telling Nan anything right now. Nan had made her promise not to investigate, and now Percy had done so, and found herself a murder suspect!
There was no way she was going to be able to explain everything to Nan over the phone. Better to tell her nothing, than to tell her half of it and have her worry all day and unable to concentrate on her family stuff.
“I’ll catch you up when I see you tomorrow. You will be free tomorrow, won’t you?” Percy asked worriedly.
“I hope so,” said Nan. “You don’t sound alright. Tell me you’re not going to do something stupid today?”
Percy tried to laugh airily. “Of course not. I’m just going to go back to Magicwild Market to show that photograph of my dad around some more.”
“You promise?” said Nan.
Percy rolled her eyes. “I promise.”
And she would. But first she would do something else.
After she had hung up the phone, Percy took Lucky kitten down to Mr Bramble’s underground home at the end of her garden. The cloud of doom had disappeared from the kitten, and Percy hoped to persuade him to take care of it for the day.
Earlier on in the week the kitten had made him nervous, and he had declared it had a dark omen hanging over it and simply refused to spend any time with it whatsoever.
Now Mr Bramble seemed rather pleased to see it. He chuckled as it scampered around, and said eagerly that he was looking forward to introducing the kitten to his birds.
Percy warned him to take care. The kitten was getting naughtier with every passing minute.
“Oh but she’s going to love my birds, aren’t you little whiskers?” Mr Bramble said fondly, tickling the kitten under her chin. “And you’d better behave yourself or Mr Buddy and his beak will be having words with you!”
Mr Buddy was Mr Bramble’s large grey parrot, who had become great friends with the robins who lived in Mr Bramble’s garden and guarded them fiercely.
When Percy started to leave, the kitten mewled in panic and tried to run after her, but Mr Bramble laughingly scooped her up and told her that they were going to have a wonderful day together.
Percy knew exactly where she was going. The London Eldritch Hospital was in Whitechapel, and that was where they had to have taken Delphine.
Percy needed to get to Delphine before the Three Bees got to her and told her what to say. Percy had to make Delphine listen to reason, and maybe after such a nasty fall, Delphine would be regretting her plan.
Percy used the London Underground tube to get to Whitechapel, and hurried towards the hospital. It was a large and very grimy old building with many disreputable sorts hanging around outside.
Lucifer’s nose would have most definitely complained about the rather strong Eau de Werewolf scent coming off them. They might be disguised as unwashed miscreants, but Percy recognized undercover security when she saw them. They were there to waylay any Humbles trying to enter the hospital.
As she headed towards the main entrance, Percy nodded at one of them and said, “Officer.”
The werewolf glowered back and shook his tin cup at her. Percy dropped a copper of witching gold into it so he would know what she was.
“Stingy witch,” he complained as she passed.
The inside of the hospital was a maze of endless corridors. Percy eventually found her way to the ward for baena accidents, and informed a nurse at the front desk that she was a school friend of Delphine’s.
“Can I go in and see her?” she pleaded.
The nurse eyed up Percy’s green hair with distaste. She had pulled her hood over her head but seeing where his eyes went, she realize some strands must have come out.
She wondered if she was going to have to make a run for it, but relaxed a little when he didn’t cry out for security.
His lack of alarm gave Percy reason to hope that no one had warned him yet that a certain green-haired student was suspected to have pushed Delphine out of a window. Probably because no one had thought that Percy would have the audacity to show up here.
Percy held up the huge bouquet of flowers and the expensive fruit selection basket she had brought at the hospital shop, and pasted a hopeful smile on her face. There was no need to admit she’d selected a bouquet large enough to hide her face should it become necessary.
“Delphine loves peaches,” she lied. She had no idea what fruit Delphine liked.
“She won’t be eating those any time soon,” said the nurse. “She’s showing no signs of coming out of her coma.”
“Oh!” Percy’s face must have fallen because now the nurse looked very sympathetic indeed.
“But you can go in to join her,” he said. “Three of her friends are with her already. We normally only allow three in at a time, but I will let you in if you promise to be quick and to stay quiet.”
Percy nodded, thinking rapidly. The three friends could only be the Three Bees. They must have been eager to get Delphine on their side if they had come here so early on a Saturday morning. It was too bad for them Delphine wasn’t much up to listening just yet. Percy certainly had no intention of going in there to have the three girls shout “Murderer!” at her.
“I don’t think I can bear to see her in a coma,” said Percy in a wobbly and tearful voice. “Do you think she’ll be better soon? Can I come and see her tomorrow instead?”
The nurse patted Percy’s hand. “Of course you can, pet, but we’ve no idea when she might wake up. You take the time you need. The poor gi
rl has had plenty of other visitors to keep her company.”
Percy walked away slowly so as not to seem eager to escape. She was still carrying her fruit and flowers. Leaving them for Delphine would have risked the nurse telling everyone a green-haired girl had left them.
Once she was out of sight, she was about to dump the fruit and flowers in another nursing station to be given to someone more deserving, when she suddenly remembered Shara.
Shara’s brother had to be at this hospital too. Percy wandered around the place until she located the finfolk department. After confirming that a little boy with the last name Greyshale was indeed a patient, Percy scribbled a note onto a card for Shara, and left the flowers and fruit with a nurse to take to her brother.
She doubted Shara would welcome a visitor, and Percy didn’t want to be hanging around here anyway. Being in a hospital was giving her the creeps.
Percy left the hospital still feeling angry with Delphine. It was hard to feel sorry for her. What had possessed her to jump?
And that gloating look on her face as she had gone, as if she couldn’t wait to see the trouble that Percy was going to get into. Had she really been so out of her mind that it never occurred to her that she might die?
Percy was desperate to know what had been in that bottle that Delphine had been drinking from. Why had there been a cloud of doom? Had that been why she hadn’t been thinking clearly?
The headmistress had taken Delphine’s bag away before Percy could search it.
Percy’s mind kept returning to the method the killer had used during the Beauty Pageant. This hadn’t been the same as that. This had been no accident. Delphine had seemed to know exactly what she was doing.
