Horc pointed to an enormous archway in the center of the curving wall of the palace. I passed a couple of statues of giant humans slaying each other. In stone, slaying looks like a clean business. I happened to know it wasn’t. Not clean at all. I guess the humans didn’t know that because they were taking pictures and oohing and aahing. If they could see the real dragons swooping over their heads they’d probably pass out and fall right on their cameras.
There were quite a few dragons in Vienna, but none in St. Stephen’s. The cardinal had banned them for the dragon propensity for pooping on humans’ heads and peeing on fairies. I’d been told they liked to hang around the tourist sites, thieving and being nuisances. The dragons darting through the arched entry weren’t any exception. There were a trio of slim neon green ones buzzing the tourists heads, trying to get them to look up. It wasn’t working. The humans couldn’t feel the wind from dragons’ wings when there was regular wind whipping around.
One of the dragons with yellow stripes grew frustrated and let out a stream of wee aimed at a women’s Starbucks cup. It missed and the wee splattered the pavement. The dragon howled, letting off jets of flame from its nostrils. The woman of course didn’t notice and took a big drink of her coffee as I darted down behind the human’s back. It wouldn’t do to be noticed by dragons. If they couldn’t bother the humans, they’d settle for me. I couldn’t go into the palace covered in wee.
Horc cuddled up and said, “Dragons are disgusting.”
“Don’t say that around ours unless you want to be burnt toast.” I’d reached the center of a domed area with several doors. The human I was shadowing stopped and turned in a slow circle, so I did, too. Dragons hovered above, biting at the netting that protected the beautifully decorated dome. Once all three of the dragons had a good tug of war going on, I flew up and spotted an entrance with a huge amount of red velvety looking fabric coming out of it and flowing up toward the dome. Inside the entrance was a black silhouette of a woman wearing a long gown.
“That has to be it.” I darted across the open area before the dragons could see me and went inside. There was a large crowd of fairies at the foot of an elaborate staircase. They looked like wzlot fairies with their luminous wings of grey. They all looked at the one fairy that wasn’t a wzlot. He was definitely an Austrian wood fairy of some kind. His wings were small and yellow and he wore the formal attire that most Austrians liked. Vests were big in Austria. He was speaking a language I didn’t recognize. It looked like a lecture. I’d had enough from Gerald to recognize that in any language. It was a tour. That could’ve come in handy, if they were speaking German or English.
Horc tugged on my hood. “Up the stairs and to the right.”
“You speak whatever that is?”
He yawned showing some of the Wiener schnitzel he still had between his teeth. “The human had a brochure with a map. I told you brains are better than wings.”
I didn’t argue the point. I settled for a good eye roll and flew up the stairs and to the right as Horc directed. We flew past a couple of human guards taking tickets and into some plain rooms filled with some not-so-plain things. The walls were covered with glass cases filled with silver pieces. Why would anyone, even an emperor, need that many silver platters? I kept going and found rooms filled with gold, from candlesticks to some kind of table runner covered with golden cherubs.
“Which way?” I asked Horc.
He pointed through a set of glass doors and we were in a series of rooms filled with china. I never would’ve thought there could be so many dishes in one place and some of it was ridiculous. My favorite was a huge tower of flowered jam pots perched on a pedestal of naked porcelain women. What was that about?
Room after room, seemingly leading to nothing but treasure. Humans were going from case to case, taking pictures and smiling. I darted around their heads, hoping there was an end in sight, which there wasn’t. Where was the Sisi museum? Why would we have to go through that mess to get to it? What a waste of time. That’s when it dawned on me. It was a waste of time. I looked down at my brother and saw an expression that clearly showed the larceny in his heart. His dark eyes were big and glassy. His mossy-looking lips were drawn back to show his crusty brown teeth in a ravenous grin. And he was drooling. Eww. Gross.
“Horc, this isn’t the way to the Sisi museum, is it?”
He didn’t answer but swayed back and forth in my arms.
I shook him. “Horc!”
“Why do they do it?” he asked, still stupefied.
“Do what?”
“Put all this treasure behind glass.” Then his eyes focused and a calculating look came into them. “Look for an opening. There must be a way in.”
“We’re not stealing from the palace. Where’s the museum?” I asked.
“One spoon. That is all I need…for now.”
“No spoons. No anything. We are not thieves.”
“Not steal. Borrow.”
“We’re not borrowing anything either. Tell me which way to the museum or I’ll drop you and let a human squash you like a stink bug.”
He drooled some more. “Hmmm stink bugs. So tasty. I will do it for a stink bug.”
“I don’t have a stink bug and I’m never taking you with me again. I don’t care if I have to lock you in a closet.”
“That is spriggan abuse. Mother would not like it.”
“Mother isn’t here. Museum.”
“Promise to get me a stink bug when you can.”
Oh, I’ll get you a stink bug and I’ll shove it in your—
“Matilda, what are you thinking?” asked Horc.
I blew out a hot breath. “Fine. A stink bug. Hurry up.”
Horc directed me back through the treasure rooms, drooling and moaning the whole time. We found a back entrance to the Sisi museum by following a palace employee. We followed her into what was called the Death room, all about Empress Elizabeth’s assassination. There were several humans viewing her death mask and six fairy tour groups with their leaders in front the exhibits. Scattered around the room were several anubis fairies. They were Egyptian with oversized dog heads and slim, muscular bodies. I’d seen them first in the antique mall battling on the side of the horen, but here they looked like guards with the imperial colors on the wrap skirts around their hips.
There weren’t any anubis in with the silver and gold, only a few bored human guards. I glanced around at the displays. What could be worth protecting in here? Nobody would steal a death mask.
I left the Death Room under the hard gaze of several anubis went through a room with mourning jewelry with more guards, giving me the stink eye. I didn’t see anything that looked like a school and why anyone would put a school in such a depressing place was a mystery.
Horc tugged on my hood and directed me into the largest room. That was more like it. There was a crystal chandelier in the center with an enormous glass case on either side. They contained gorgeous gowns on statues of the empress who was known as Sisi. Portraits of the human lined the wall and she was beautiful with ankle-length hair and a kind, generous face. The dress room rated twice the amount of guards. The anubis stalked around on the floor and jumped from human shoulder to shoulder. There were more tour groups, having animated discussions, but I still didn’t see a school.
I flew around the first case on the verge of giving up when Horc said, “It’s in the case.”
There were several, including one with a creepy red bust in it. Next to it was a large group of sidhe putting out an enormous amount of green glittery clouds. In the center of the group was the Archduke Franz-Joseph. He held the group in rapt attention as he pointed at the bust and smiled broadly. Lonica had mentioned that the archduke occasionally gave tours much to the delight of the people. From the look of the group, he was very good at it.
Horc tugged on my hood. “Are you conscious?”
The archduke was so distracting I’d lost the thread of what I was supposed to be doing. “Sorry. Which case?” I aske
d.
“The tourist did not say. Ask the guard.”
That was the last thing I wanted to do. Anubis didn’t appear friendly and I’d rather have left, but I did promise. I had to stop doing that.
I floated down and landed on the hard parquet floor next to the closest anubis. A little trill of fear went through me and it was an uncomfortable feeling. I couldn’t use my fire and I felt small and vulnerable.
The anubis turned and looked at me with hard black eyes. “Guten morgen.”
That was a lot better than what I expected. “Guten morgen. Do you speak English?”
“Yes,” said the anubis. Even though his lips were moving he still looked like a statue.
“I’m looking for the school. Can you tell me where it is?”
He looked at Horc as I sat him down and he toddled around looking for something to bite.
“Are you enrolling the master spriggan?”
“Maybe,” I said.
“They will be pleased to have him.” His expression said that I was less welcome.
I swallowed my irritation that wherever we went Horc was master and I was maid. Of course that was the way it was, but it still bit. “Good. How do I get in?”
The anubis showed me a hidden door in the glass case of one of the dresses. He pointed out a section of the skirt that was slightly lifted. I forced myself to pick up Horc again and went through the door and then under the ruffled skirt. I don’t know what I was expecting but it wasn’t what I found. Under the skirt was more skirt with passageways through the crinolined layers. Human lights had been installed in the floor. They were bright enough to light the way for me, but not bright enough to be seen from the outside. I set Horc down and walked through the widest door to a small room with walls made of fabric. It looked like an office with several desks and stacks of paperwork. On one desk I found a pile of brochures in several languages.
The Empress Elizabeth School
For Exceptional Fae
Exceptional. If I wasn’t busy cleaning up after trolls could I have gotten in? The brochure gave the history of the school. Apparently Sisi, the empress, had been exceptional herself. A seer since birth she fought for the rights of all fae, including the wingless. It was what the revolutionaries in France wanted. All species were welcome to apply to the school and would be accepted on merit with no weight given to the nobility. I liked the sound of that.
The brochure also gave the school’s calendar and school was out for Christmas vacation. It ended yesterday. I could’ve screamed. All that trouble and nobody was home. Just my luck.
“That’s it,” I said. “Miss Penrose can come back when she’s better. I’ve had it.”
Horc shook his head and waddled toward a back door. “There’s music.”
“They’re closed. Let’s go. This has taken forever. Thanks to you. Rickard’s probably counting the minutes I’ve been gone. He’s going to make me look bad in front of the master secretary.”
Horc shrugged. “You cannot look much worse after the trolls. Let us investigate.”
“Let’s not.”
But of course Horc ignored me and ran off into the fabric folds. I chased him around the skirt through classrooms and small offices until we reached the other side and found a music room. There was a piano in the center of the room with a fairy sitting at the keyboard. I’d never seen a fairy like him before. He had blood red wings so long they draped on the floor, but he wasn’t very big, not much taller than me. His long brown hair was tied back in the Austrian style with black ribbon. I wasn’t very close and I could’ve been wrong, but I thought I saw a horn nearly hidden under his thick hair.
Horc waddled through the door and sat down with the audience, a group of small fairies about Horc’s age. As the school’s brochure promised, there were many species, winged and unwinged. The biggest surprise was the three baby dragons coiled around the piano, breathing tiny sparks out of their nostrils. No one noticed Horc as he plopped down next to a young anubis and began swaying along with the group.
I strained my pitiful ears but I couldn’t make out a note. The musician was banging on the keys and any normal fairy could’ve heard the piano outside of the dress, but not me. I’d been through Ibn Vermillion’s book a hundred times looking for a cure for my ears, but there just wasn’t one. I had to be content with my eyes and, to my surprise, it was enough. The musician was laughing, a full-throated laugh and every few notes he would tickle one of the children with his wings. He had extraordinary control with the individual feathers at the tips and tickling with the tiniest feather. His feathers were larger than I’d ever seen. The ones on my wings were just about invisible like the ones on butterfly wings. The musician’s were easily seen and controlled. He crooked one at a little ponderosa and he jumped to his feet dancing and spinning. A spastic boy, so much like Bentha.
Soon all the children were laughing and dancing. I couldn’t take my eyes off of them. I’d forgotten such joy existed. They were all plump and well-dressed. No living under a dead human for them. They weren’t waiting and existing. They were living. I wanted to live. I wanted my life back, the one with my parents that I hadn’t treasured because they were so annoying. If and when they came for us, they’d find a girl different than the one they lost. A girl who wanted to live like a dancing two-year-old anubis.
Horc looked back, his lumpy brow furrowed. I waved to him and he ran back to me, jumping into my arms, nearly knocking me over with his dense weight. “Did you feel it?”
“I did.”
“I want to go to school here.”
“Me, too.” I cuddled him close. Mom and Dad would come. They would take over and we would go back to the Elliot house and our beloved mantel. I would fix up my room and see my friend Ursula. There would be no one else to save, no wars to fight. I could have me back. I could be like them. Free.
I turned fast and nearly ran into a fairy standing in the hall. “I’m so sorry.”
The fairy smiled at me and my chest tightened like someone was wringing it out. She stood in front of me ramrod straight, wearing a pressed black dress with a gold brooch. It was Nanny from Heinrich’s shop and was she pleased to see me.
Chapter Ten
I BACKED AWAY, biting my lip and praying she’d let me go. I wanted to go. I needed to go.
“I wasn’t absolutely sure,” she said, her eyes intense on me. “But now I am.”
I wasn’t sure what to say. There was no right response.
“May I assume you’ve changed your mind?” said Nanny.
I bumped into a fabric-covered wall. “I have to go.”
She darted forward, lighter on her feet than she looked, and hooked her arm through mine. “I will accompany you.”
I looked frantically around and saw the fairy at the piano watching me. “I…I…”
“You will come with me and I will speak to His Majesty’s secretary.”
“His Majesty?”
“Of course,” she said. “We will go straight to the source.”
“About what?” I asked.
“About you. As I said I wasn’t absolutely certain, but,” she touched Fidelé’s claw and he hissed at her, “when I saw your gargoyle I knew you were the answer to my prayers.”
“I’m not the answer to anything.” I tried to get out of her grip but she held me like a horen with about as much sympathy.
“You’re quite wrong. I look into your face and know you’re the answer to many questions.” Nanny switched her intense gaze to Horc, who stared back haughtily. “And you are Master…”
“Horc.”
She lifted my brother out of my arms so swiftly I didn’t react but stood there with my mouth hanging open like the stupidest of trolls. Nanny cuddled Horc and then sort of examined him by looking at his hands and over his head. Horc looked at her while she looked at him, his eyes sharp. He was examining her as well.
“You’re a bit on the thin side, Master Horc,” she said with a frown.
Thin? Horc h
ad more fat than the rest of us put together.
“And your stink isn’t what it should be.”
“My mother does not like it,” he said.
“Your mother doesn’t like stink? I never heard of such a thing. What sort of a spriggan is she?”
“She’s a wood fairy.” He said it like it was the most normal thing in the world, which it wasn’t. Not even close.
Leanna the fairy that I’d seen in Reinhold’s shop came up behind Nanny. She was wearing the same type of black dress as Nanny but with a smaller brooch. Her blond hair was wrapped around her head in a thick braid and her pale blue wings didn’t quite reach the floor. She watched as Nanny checked out Horc’s chocolate box cape and smiled approvingly.
Nanny smoothed the cape and asked me, “If Master Horc’s mother is a wood fairy, that would make you…?”
“His sister.” Too much information. We had to get out of there. Why did I let her take him? I couldn’t just run.
“I’m adopted,” said Horc, pulling out a shred of veal between his moldy teeth and then eating it.
It grossed me out, but Nanny and Leanna didn’t seem to notice.
“Aren’t spriggans and wood fairies enemies in America?” asked Leanna as she came over to me.
“Mattie saved me,” said Horc.
I gave him a hard look.
Nothing else. Say nothing else.
Nanny smiled and shifted Horc to her generous hip. “I see that I am right.”
“About what?” I asked.
“You naturally.”
Leanna tried to touch Fidelé’s tail, which was hanging out of my hood, and he snapped at her fingers. She yanked them out of reach, but moved in closer to peer at my gargoyle, who responded by retreating back into my hood.
“This way,” said Nanny and she turned.
I grabbed her arm, spinning her back around and using more of my strength than I intended. I had to control myself. I didn’t want her thinking I was unusually strong. “I can’t. I’m only hear to see about a job,” I said, quickly.
Wicked Chill (Away From Whipplethorn Book Four) Page 8
