by E. G. Foley
Archie proceeded to regale the black-clad witch with the tale of what had just occurred. Dani arched an eyebrow at Jake as they both realized the boy genius was attempting the impossible once more: he seemed determined to befriend the gloomy girl or at least draw her out of her somber shell.
Good luck with that, Jake thought. For his part, he began to ponder Miss Valentine’s Assessment, now that Archie had mentioned it.
As the four of them stood in the shadowy stone hallway, he remembered her incredible show of power over the four elements, and a dark suspicion began taking shape in his mind.
He was sure that the Boneless had come this way. But when he got here, all he found was her. Why would she lie about such a thing?
Archie and Dani had seen it, so spotting it did not require psychic powers, as with ghosts. Did Nixie know something about it that she wasn’t telling? Might she be connected to it somehow? Then Jake’s eyes widened at an even more sinister possibility.
Maybe she had made the blob creature, just like she made the mud rabbit. What had Aunt Ramona called it—a golem? Aye, maybe she was controlling the Boneless. She was, after all, a witch, and witches could not always be trusted.
In fact…
Jake narrowed his eyes, homing in on her, though he was shocked by the drift of his own thoughts. If the Dark Druids had indeed sent a spy, who better to choose than an innocent-faced child whom no one would suspect? The Elders would never question a mere wisp of a girl who was all of maybe eleven.
But like Archie, Miss Valentine obviously possessed abilities far beyond her years.
The boy genius was still chattering away happily to the gloomy young prodigy. Arms folded, Nixie was studying him, in turn, like he was some strange creature that had crawled out of a swamp.
Dani glanced from the pair of them to Jake in curious amusement. He met her gaze with a discreet shrug, finally interrupting Archie’s chipper monologue when the boy genius took a breath.
“So, Nixie,” Jake spoke up. “What were you doing back here all by yourself, anyway?”
“Nothing,” she said defensively with a gesture at the walls. “Just looking at the paintings.”
He glanced over and was startled to find the Vesuvius painting hung there. “Huh?” He blinked. “Didn’t we just see that in the art gallery?”
“They jump around,” Nixie informed him.
“Really?”
“It is called the Enchanted Gallery for a reason,” she said in a tone of thorny sarcasm.
Jake frowned. “Say, when I was headed this way, I could’ve sworn I heard a banging sound coming from back here. Were you banging on something?”
“I was stomping my feet,” she replied.
“Why?”
“I had a stone in my shoe. Why?”
“Well, I also heard a nasty cackle, like an old hag laughing. Did you hear that, too?”
She shrugged her thin shoulders. “Nope. All I hear is the music coming from the ballroom.”
Jake nodded, narrowing his eyes. He was no empath like Isabelle, but he felt quite certain she was lying. “Right.”
Nixie glared at him. “What?” she demanded.
“Well! We should be on our way,” Dani said brightly, hooking one hand through Archie’s elbow, the other through Jake’s. She started steering them away with great determination behind her forced smile. “C’mon, boys! We’ve taken up enough of Miss Valentine’s time. Good evening, Nixie, so nice to meet you!”
“What are you doing?” Jake demanded under his breath, though he went along with her willingly enough. “We should stay and grill her! That girl might be the Dark Druid spy!”
“Exactly!” Dani whispered. “We don’t need her reporting back to them about you! Let’s get out of here before she turns us into pinecones ’cause that little witch is definitely hiding something.”
Archie was oblivious. He seemed to be having a hard time dragging himself away. “Cheerio, Miss Valentine! Hope to see you around again!”
“Goodbye, Mr. Bradford,” she replied somewhat more civilly to him.
“You can join us for breakfast at our table if you want!” he added over his shoulder. “The more, the merrier!”
“Shut up!” Jake scolded under his breath. “Blazes.”
“What? What’s wrong?” Archie asked.
“Come on,” Dani insisted, pulling on his arm.
“Doesn’t say much, does she?” Archie remarked once they were out of earshot. “Quite a puzzle of a girl.”
Jake and Dani exchanged a dire look. They both knew how much he loved solving puzzles.
“Must be shy around strangers,” Archie mused aloud as they rounded the corner. “I’ll just have to keep trying.”
“You’ll do nothing of the kind!” Dani scolded. “Sheesh, never mind Maddox, she’s the one who’s weird.”
“What? Ah, don’t be daft. Nixie’s just a little different, that’s all. Different’s good,” Archie said. “I like her!”
“You would,” Jake mumbled.
“Archie, that girl’s dangerous,” Dani informed him, but he just laughed heartily.
“She did call down lightning out of the sky,” Jake reminded him.
“So? I could vaporize this whole palace with my Aether Blast Propulsion Cannon if I wanted to. But just because I can doesn’t mean I ever would. Leave the poor girl alone. I think she must be lonely, spending the first night of the Gathering back here all by herself. It’s not right!”
“Archie—”
“Enough! Honestly, you’ve got her all wrong! I’m quite sure of it,” he said, pulling away from them.
“Archie!”
“No! If you don’t trust her, trust me. You think I’m not smart enough to be able to tell if someone’s good or evil? Give a chap some credit!”
Jake started to protest, but Archie wasn’t through.
“Frankly, you’re both being very unkind toward the poor girl. Very unkind!” he declared, then he gave his vest a slight, indignant tug, and marched off down the hall without them.
“Well,” Dani murmured. “I guess he told us.”
She and Jake exchanged a worried glance.
“He’s a terrible judge of character,” she added in a whisper.
“I know,” Jake said wryly. “He sees the best in everyone. Awful habit.”
Dani snorted. “Let’s hope it doesn’t get him killed.”
# # #
Nixie was relieved they had finally left. And just in time, too.
“My, my, what a gallant little gentleman!” Jenny Greenteeth floated back out of the large, gilt-framed mirror where she had been hiding the whole time. Boneless slithered down the wall from behind the candle-sconce and hovered before Nixie, gloating at the mischief it had caused.
She glared at it. “That boy was right. You are a nasty, horrid, slimy thing.”
The blob puffed up, as though pleased by the compliment.
The hag cackled, showing off her algae-covered fangs. “Flattery won’t get you anywhere with us, my dove,” she taunted. “So, who are your new friends?”
“They’re not my friends!” she protested automatically.
“Oh, but that dear, chivalrous gent in the bowtie. He seemed to like you well. When’s the wedding, dear heart?”
“I said they’re not my friends! I’m the one you’re after! Just leave them alone!”
“Well, it is true that you are the one who must be punished,” the watery hag conceded. “Just remember, after what you did to our friends, we warned you what would happen to any of yours.”
“But I don’t even know them!” she insisted in a panic.
“Are you sure?”
“You have eyes! You saw what happened. The blond boy and the red-haired girl didn’t even like me. The three of them are clearly thick as thieves. That Archie fellow is never going to go against those two for my sake. All it’ll take is one conversation and he won’t like me anymore. Believe me, they are not my friends. I don’t have any friend
s.”
“Good,” Jenny Greenteeth said in cold satisfaction. “See that it stays that way, unless you wish them dead. You’re alone, little witch, and you always will be.”
Then the hag disappeared back into the mirror, and this time, the Boneless followed, granting Nixie a temporary reprieve.
She stood there, trembling for a moment, and then wrapped her arms around herself. She shut her eyes briefly, so very, very tired. Letting out a long sigh, she wandered on through the shadowed corridors alone.
At length she came to the art gallery and drifted through it with little interest, until she came to the painting on the end.
How beautiful.
She stopped and stared longingly at the farm landscape in Provence. The golden field of sunflowers, the cloud shapes in the lazy blue sky. A peaceful summer’s day.
A day without shadows. A safe place, where nobody was haunted by evil apparitions…
Or their own secret deeds.
Nixie sat down slowly on the bench across from the painting. She put her feet up on it, wrapped her arms around her bent legs, and rested her chin on her knee.
She gazed at the picture for she knew not how long, only wishing she could escape there somehow. Just disappear into that peaceful, sun-kissed landscape.
And sleep for a year.
PART II
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Born on Beltane
Beltane dawned, and as the first sunbeams of May stretched across the green hills, Jake awoke and rose onto his elbows, his first thought: my birthday!
Then he noticed the riotous birdsong filling the air, and a slight, rascally smile curved his lips. Maybe they were singing him happy birthday. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he rose from the unfamiliar bed and went over to the window alcove, still in his pajamas.
The occasion felt momentous.
It was no small thing to wake up knowing in advance for the first time in his life which day of the year marked the date of his birth. Thirteen…
He wondered if the age would prove unlucky.
Then he noticed the girls in white dresses walking around outside with wreaths on their heads. He watched them collecting the Beltane dew in little glass vials, bending blades of grass or the leaves of trees or flowers to capture the precious droplets.
“Jake!” a scratchy voice greeted him from the other twin bed.
Still at the window, he glanced over his shoulder. “Morning, Arch.”
His cousin sat up rubbing his eyes. “Happy birthday, coz!”
“Thanks. Shh!” He signaled for quiet, for Henry was still asleep. Since the chamber only had two beds, the shapeshifting tutor had curled up on an extra quilt in the corner in his wolf form.
“You’re up early,” Archie whispered loudly from across the room. “What are you doing over there?”
Jake flashed a smile. “Lookin’ at some girls.” He turned back to the window.
Archie reached for his spectacles and put them on, then climbed out of bed and curiously shuffled over to the window beside him. He glanced at all the pretty girls wandering around in the growing light of sunrise and shook his head. “Daft what they’ll do for beauty, eh?”
“Better them than us.”
Archie laughed and clapped him on the back. “Come on, then, let’s get this birthday started!”
# # #
Jake had warned them all not to make a fuss over him.
Fortunately, with everything else going on for day two of the Gathering, his relatives restrained themselves to an elegant birthday brunch in the sitting room of their suite, where they showered him with gifts.
Archie gave him a telescope fitted with special gadgetry he’d made himself. “Since you’re always borrowing mine.”
Jake marveled at the optional night vision lens he had fashioned. All you had to do was click it into place.
“I modeled it on the glass from the Vampire Monocle, remember? It’s also got a side compartment here, where you can store matches or other small items useful on an adventure.”
“It’s brilliant. Thank you so much!”
Archie grinned and blushed a bit.
Isabelle returned and put a victor’s wreath that she had made on his head like a crown. She then gave him her present: an exceedingly fine pair of riding gloves.
“Very grown-up,” Lady Bradford said in approval.
Henry soon emerged from the boys’ chamber in a neat tweed jacket (in human form by now). He gave Jake a book about the fall of the Roman Empire, which seemed more like an assignment than a gift, but Jake thanked him nonetheless.
The tutor had to dash out quickly, however, to prepare to receive the group of shapeshifter children he and Helena were to be managing today.
Miss Helena had promised her twin that she would join him soon to host the group. She was running behind on account of chaperoning Isabelle in the ritual of collecting the Beltane dew.
The shape-shifting governess made sure to give Jake her present, too, before she left to join her brother: a magical neck-cloth that could tie itself in three different styles of knots, since he found it simply impossible to tie his own.
He smiled at her with gratitude. He had grown extremely fond of her, not just because Derek loved her, but because in Wales, she had saved his life in her black leopard form. She rumpled his hair affectionately, then hurried off after her twin.
Moments later, Aunt Ramona arrived from her private quarters in the Elders’ wing of Merlin Hall. She sat down at the table, accepted a cup of tea, and then presented Jake with his very first yew wand in a long, velvet-lined box.
“Use it wisely, dear nephew, and only in emergencies.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” he said, though in truth, he planned to use it as little as possible. Telekinesis and his psychic ability were enough to manage, heaven knew.
The gifts continued.
As his present legal guardians, Lord and Lady Bradford gave him tokens of his deceased parents.
Uncle Richard, his mother’s younger brother, presented him with a chunky signet ring that he’d had made for him in London. It bore the Griffon coat of arms.
“Your father would have wanted you to have this now that you’re becoming a young man. See? You wear it on your pinky finger.” Uncle Richard, who held the title of Baron Bradford, held up his hand to show him how a lord wore his family’s insignia.
“Thank you, sir.” Jake duly put it on; the heavy metal ring felt odd on his hand. He hoped it would not interfere with his telekinesis—not that he intended to use his ability any time soon after yesterday’s ordeal.
Aunt Claire gave him an old, china doll that had belonged to Jake’s mother. “Keep it on a shelf,” she said gently, “and one day, you might have a daughter of your own who will play with it.”
“Yes, ma’am, thank you,” Jake forced out, finding it exceedingly odd for anyone to give a boy a doll for his thirteenth birthday. Even more bizarre was the thought of himself ever being a parent. All the same, he was genuinely touched by their thoughtfulness.
In truth, his aunt and uncle barely knew him, but they were doing their best to serve as stand-in parents when they were not traveling on their diplomatic missions for the Order.
Dani gave Jake her two gifts last. First, she set a whole Roly-Poly Pudding down in front of him and grinned.
“You don’t even have to share it,” she said.
But to everybody’s shock, he wanted to, so maybe he really was starting to grow up. Startled but pleased, Dani dished it out so everyone could taste it and see why it was Jake’s favorite food.
But the carrot-head saved her more important gift for later, after the others had left the table and more or less gone on about their business. “Here.” She put a homely sketchbook in front of him, its pages bound together with a ribbon. “I made this for you.”
“What is it?”
She shrugged shyly. “Look inside and see.”
He opened the booklet and found it filled with colorful drawing
s she had made, depicting his adventures. They weren’t very good, in truth; he knew she had been getting drawing lessons from Miss Helena. Along with room and board, receiving a lady’s education was the main part of Dani’s pay as Izzy’s hired companion.
Nevertheless, as he turned the pages, his heart ached at the care she had put into each misshapen, adorable picture. Him flying on the Gryphon, with Gladwin speeding along by his shoulder. Him and Derek fighting Uncle Waldrick’s henchmen. Fionnula Coralbroom in her hideous Kraken form. He laughed at the picture of Archie in his flying machine, the Mighty Pigeon. The next one showed the four of them running away from the yetis…
And there were the living gingerbread men he had rescued at Christmas…
The two of them getting captured by the pixies…
Him meeting the Norse giants…
All four of them with the dwarves in the mine…
“That’s Emrys and that’s Ufudd,” Dani said, tapping the smaller dwarf with a large white beard.
“I would’ve guessed that,” Jake said, nodding.
“Well?” She glanced at him, her emerald eyes full of hope. “Do you like it?”
“No,” Jake blurted out, “I love it.” And to the surprise of them both, he impulsively leaned near and gave her a peck on her forehead. “You’re a right plum lass, you are, Dani O’Dell,” he mumbled, immediately embarrassed by his own show of affection.
Astonished, Dani jumped to her feet, her cheeks turning red between her freckles. Though she seemed too shocked to speak, she managed to utter the same-old reply she always gave to his same-old compliment: “I know!”
Then she dashed off into the girls’ bedroom without explanation.
Jake smiled ruefully and looked again at the sketchbook, where all his daring deeds were so carefully recorded. He might never be chosen for a Lightrider, but at least there was one person in this world who already saw him as a hero.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Sorted
By midmorning, they had sampled some of the May Day festivities. Dani, for her part, had been mesmerized watching the fairies dance around the maypole, each holding a long, colorful ribbon as they wove back and forth. But all too soon, it was time to get on with the business of the day.
