The long day had slid into evening. The sun had disappeared beneath the horizon. It was getting harder to see one another’s faces. Nastasia had brought out her chairs again and returned to her needlework.
“Detective Hunt was working on a rather controversial case when he vanished,” Rachel explained. “The people in her town thought he ran out on her family. But Valerie is convinced he was investigating this case, and something bad happened. Sounds as if he shared some clues with Salome’s dad before he disappeared, and Salome’s father gave the information to the Agents. If Detective Hunt’s investigation was related to this ritual Mordeau wanted to perform, maybe that’s why Mortimer Egg tried to kill Valerie.”
“But why be so obvious about it?” the princess asked. “If the brooch had killed Valerie, we all would have been able to identify him.”
“I have no idea.” Rachel shrugged. “Maybe he hoped we’d never figure out who he was.”
“Maybe the brooch was supposed to alter our memories of what happen…only Lucky and Dread destroyed it before it could perform its expected function. Do you think he and Mordeau ever performed that ritual?” Nastasia asked. “Did someone die because of them?”
“Let’s hope not,” replied Rachel. “Let’s hope that the deaths of Sakura and Misty’s families are not related to this. But…”
“But what…” prompted Siggy.
“It just doesn’t bode well that Mr. Darling called for these other girls right after Detective Hunt’s list was mentioned,” Rachel said. “If the names of those girls are on Hunt’s list…the deaths of their families might be related to Mortimer Egg and his cohorts.”
The image in the thinking glass followed Eunice Chase as she left the disenchanting chamber and walked back into the foyer. Valerie Hunt sat outside the door, spinning a pencil back and forth between her fingers the way one might spin a knife, as she waited her turn to be de-geased. Sigfried’s girlfriend was pretty with short flaxen hair, a squarish jaw, and bright blue eyes. An old-fashioned camera with a huge zoom lens hung from her shoulder on a red strap. Last time Rachel had seen her, she had been in a bed in the infirmary, recovering from the trauma caused by attempting to overcome the geas spell by sheer effort of will. She looked better than she had, but her face was still unusually pale. One of the visiting nurses stood beside her.
As Eunice walked by, Valerie stood up, stepped in front of her, and crossed her arms. “Who’s the snitch, Eunice? Who betrayed our secrets to you?”
In that same flat tone that the Spell of True Recitation inspired, the words spilled out of Eunice’s mouth. “You are. Dr. Mordeau spoke a secret code, and you told us everything.”
Eunice’s face betrayed shock and annoyance at the words spilling from her mouth. Glaring, she struggled to regain control of her voice and stalked off. Smirking, Valerie sat down.
“Woohoo!” Siggy punched the air. “Go, Goldilocks!”
“That’s one mystery solved.” Rachel gave a little ironic smile.
While the other Agents waited for Sakura Suzuki and Misty Lark, Agent Darling stepped out into the foyer. Instantly, he was mobbed by students asking for autographs. A few, hearing he was on campus, even brought copies of James Darling, Agent comics and novels. They pressed around him, clamoring for his attention, asking questions, and shouting comments. He seemed embarrassed, but he spoke to each student graciously.
Another Agent came up and whispered to him that, with the help of Master Warder Nighthawk, they had caught the rest of the shadows that had escaped from Mordeau’s cloak. Rachel and Siggy grinned at each other and exchanged high-fives.
Agent Darling’s son approached him. The Darlings, father and son, moved to one side. John Darling wore a dagger with a bone handle and a copper blade on his hip. He also carried a silver flute. From the look of him, he had been in a fight.
Rachel’s heart skipped a beat. In addition to being her crush-from-afar, John Darling was the captain of the upper school’s flying polo team and a standout athlete in Track and Broom. He looked so cute with his dark hair all disarrayed and his suit and half-cape disheveled. The memory of how he had laughed at her, the time she dropped her breakfast tray in the kitchen, produced a funny fluttering in her stomach.
“Hey, Siggy, can you move us closer to those two?” Rachel asked.
“Zoom in,” Siggy said, adding, “Cool copper knife!”
“Is it an athame of some sort?” asked the princess. “For drawing wards?”
Rachel said, “It’s a symbol of membership in the Brotherhood of the White Hart.” When they both looked blank, she added uncomfortably, for she was not certain if this was a secret, “A secret organization devoted to the safety of the World of the Wise. There are several members on campus. Your brother Ivan is a member, Nastasia.”
Downstairs, John leaned close to Agent Darling. “Father, what’s really going on?”
Agent Darling winced. “I am sorry, son. I can’t tell you.”
“Please, Dad? Anything? I don’t even know why we are here. Or what the problem is. Or what we were just fighting over.”
Agent Darling shook his head, sadly but firmly. His son’s shoulders slumped. He looked dejected.
Sympathy for John filled Rachel’s heart. He and she really were alike! They both yearned to know secrets James Darling refused to tell them. Still, it made her feel a tiny bit better that, after telling her nothing, the Agent had not shared information with his own son. The thought that she knew more about what was going on than John Darling gave her a delicious sensation of secret pleasure.
Agent Darling lowered his voice and whispered to his son, “How about you? Have you learned anything?”
“No.” John said sadly. “I was completely taken by surprise. I didn’t even know anything was wrong, until Mr. Tuck came and got me out of class.”
James Darling looked disappointed. “I’d always assumed my children would be in the thick of any adventure, as your mother and I were.” His eyes twinkled. “There is still time. You have five more years here.”
“I’ll do my best, Dad. Being a White Hart helps. The tutors occasionally tell us things they don’t tell the regular students.”
Oh! Rachel had not realized being a member of the White Hart meant knowing secrets! Now she wanted to join, too. If she did, she could spend time with hunky John Darling, who, in the words of her sister Laurel, was “definitely snog-worthy.” Rachel wondered how old a person had to be to join, and if her parents could make her a member.
“And the Tarn Helm?” Agent Darling asked. “Making use of it? Keeping it secret, I assume.”
A shiver ran across Rachel’s shoulders. The Tarn Helm!
John Darling grinned. “I’ve used it a little. But only for frivolous things. Liam and Oonagh know I have it, of course. But no one else. And Wendy, of course.”
“Not Conan?” his father asked.
“Heck no! Conan’s one of those vampire hunters who follow Abraham Van Helsing. If I told him, they’d be pestering me for it day and night. And that would come to no good end!”
“No,” laughed his father. “That would most certainly go badly.”
As the father and son parted, Siggy asked, “Who are those people he just mentioned?”
Rachel replied, “Oonagh, Liam, and Conan are Scarlett MacDannan’s children. Your roommate Ian’s older siblings. They’re John Darling’s cousins. Wendy is his sister. She’s in our class…and our dorm.”
“What’s the Tarn Helm?” he persisted.
“One of the great talismans Mr. Fisher fashioned for the Six Musketeers, back during the Terrible Years. He based it on the one made by the Nibelung—the dwarves of the North. It turns the wearer invisible.”
“Cool!” Siggy grinned at Lucky. “If I were invisible, we could sneak around together.”
“And both drink tutors’ coffee unseen,” crowed Lucky.
“Er…yeah.” Siggy scrunched up his nose at the thought of coffee, possibly the only food he did not adore.
>
• • •
The two girls Agent Darling requested did not show up immediately. The Agents went back to interviewing the remaining students from Drake. As these students knew very little, the Agents picked up the speed of the interviews. Standish and Darling interviewed one student while Scarlett MacDannan disenchanted the next one.
Siggy took his hand off the mirror. “This is boring. It’s easier for me to watch on my own. I’ll keep an eye on the proceedings and let you know if something interesting happens.”
Rachel crossed to the northern window and stared out at the forest. The light was fading. Night was nearly upon them.
Had it only been last night that she had dueled her rival, Cydney Graves, at the Knights of Walpurgis meeting? She still felt a rush of pleasure when she recalled how, thanks to Gaius’s training, she had won the duel. Was it only last night that he had walked her home and kissed her? Only this afternoon that the Lion had led her to where Valerie sat slumped on the floor of the girl’s bathroom, blood running from her eyes and nose, as she fought the geas spell?
It seemed a universe ago, another life time.
What should they make of the news that Mortimer Egg and his cronies had planned to kill Romulus Starkadder? The crown prince of Transylvania was a bit of a prig, but that was hardly a crime punishable by death. Nor was that the strangest part. A second son wanting to displace his elder brother was alarming, but common enough throughout history to not be utterly shocking. No. What disturbed her most was Magdalene and Eunice Chase.
Who refused to kill a girl because her family did not love her enough? Was there a connection between Magdalene and the other two girls whose families had been murdered? Most of all, what was the purpose of the ritual Mordeau and her partners-in-evil wanted to perform?
Resurrection of the dead.
That was what Mordeau had promised the dean. What had the math-teaching dragon said? What are a few traumatized infants, a few lost worlds, compared to what we seek to achieve? Were Sakura and Misty among the traumatized infants to whom Mordeau referred?
And what of these lost worlds?
Was this world, her world, to be one of the casualties?
Rachel wrestled with these ideas but did not have enough pieces to form a picture. After a time, her thoughts drifted dreamily toward Gaius. She gazed out over the hemlocks at the tor, its rocky silhouette still visible against the darkening sky, and remembered the lazy way he smiled at her. She recalled the admiration in his eyes when she impressed him, the feel of his lips brushing against hers as he kissed her. Then, she remembered watching him stomp away from her after she turned him down. At the time, she had wondered why the two standoffish upperclassmen had showed such concern for Gaius when he joined them. Now she understood.
Gaius worked for Dread.
Puzzle pieces suddenly clicked together. In the infirmary, when she had asked him where he had learned about the geas, he had replied: “I am almost a hundred percent sure the person who told me did so because he is trying to figure out if anyone was under it. I do not think he knows how to cast it. I also don’t think he would cast it, if he did…Well, I hope he wouldn’t…”
Then, the time she had accused him of leaking her secrets, Gaius had protested that he told no one. She recalled that he blurted out, “I didn’t even tell…” before his voice trailed off.
Both times, he must have been referring to the crown prince of Bavaria.
She mentally replayed Gaius stomping off to join Locke and Dread one last time. Suddenly, she felt oddly light, as if her feet did not quite reach the ground. Gaius had looked so upset. Would he have been so distressed if he had been turned down by a girl he was merely toying with?
Maybe he really did like her!
If only there were someone whom she could talk to about Gaius. Not her older brother Peter. He would be outraged that his baby sister even contemplated dating boys, and Laurel would laugh at her. But her oldest sister Sandra was wise about many things. She would kneel down—Sandra was tall, like their father—and listen carefully, with her complete attention, giving due consideration to everything Rachel had to say. Sandra was back in London, working at her new job with the Wisecraft. Sighing, Rachel resolved to write her a letter.
The princess crossed to stand beside Rachel, where she stood staring out the window. “We have learned many interesting things today. Disturbing things.”
“Yes, we have.”
Nastasia glanced over, as if to make sure that Sigfried was otherwise occupied. She spoke in a low voice, “I hope you will have nothing more to do with that boy.”
“Who, Gaius?” Rachel’s heart skipped a beat. “I thought he did rather well before the Agents.”
“He admitted he works for Von Dread,” objected Nastasia.
“Is that so bad?”
“Dread is wicked. Remember how he asked me…” Nastasia touched her forehead again, frowning. “No, I won’t speak of that yet.”
From across the chamber, Sigfried, who was apparently paying attention after all, called, “At least, Valiant did not say: ‘I was sent to seduce Rachel Griffin to win access to her father the Agent.’”
This made Rachel giggle. She threw Siggy an appreciative smile.
He shrugged. “Besides, I think Dread is wicked excellent!”
The princess began pacing the belfry. Rachel fell in beside her. “He asked me to be his girlfriend—Gaius, I mean. Not Dread.”
“You said no, I presume,” Nastasia said.
“Yes. I did.” Rachel bit at her lip. “He had not asked my brother’s permission. Also, I am not sure a thirteen-year-old girl should have a boyfriend. Especially an older boy. Older boys…expect things.” She faltered, her cheeks heading for lava territory again.
“Of course not. We are far too young.” The princess nodded in approval. “Very wise.”
“But…” Rachel began, eager to speak of the struggle in her heart, even if the princess were not the ideal audience for the matter.
“Whoa. They’re here!” Siggy interrupted, rushing back to the mirror. “The two girls.”
Rachel and Nastasia rushed back to the mirror. Siggy’s hand rested on the thinking glass, which showed two girls being escorted into the foyer. Sakura Suzuki was a tall girl with glasses and long pig tails into which she had tied bells that looked like tiny versions of the ones in the Oriental gardens. She came from an ancient line of sorcerers who could trace their lineage back to the Japanese sun goddess. She had been orphaned at the age of five and raised by her aunt and uncle.
Misty Lark’s straw-colored hair stuck out like hay. Her familiar, a tiny unicorn, trotted beside her. Her face bore a dull, almost lifeless, expression—which did not surprise Rachel. Her parents and three siblings had been murdered before her eyes less than a year before.
The Agents interviewed the two girls separately. Misty’s feet had hardly left the ground before she began to keen, a low, painful sound. When she landed, she seemed disoriented. In a dazed monotone, she told the Agents the details of the death of her family, which she had not been able to remember until now. The same four people that the Chase girls had described had come into her house, tied her to a couch, and forced her to watch their ritual. She hesitated at times, and her words were jumbled. Rachel was not entirely certain of the order of events. But the gist of it was clear: her father, her mother, her twin younger sisters, and her two-year-old baby brother had been murdered.
The nurses took Misty away to the infirmary, and the Agents spoke with Sakura. She recalled watching a smoke-winged entity with burning eyes kill her parents and come after her. It had cast a cantrip at her and had become enraged when the spell failed to work. It moved to attack but had been stopped by their true history teacher, Mr. Gideon. A friend of her parents, he had been invited to dinner that night and had arrived in time to save her.
The Agents asked Sakura a series of questions about the creature who slaughtered her parents. As she was answering, a dark shadow passed by the
window of the belfry. Caw. Lucky darted out the east window and flew away to the south.
“Lucky! No!” Siggy grabbed his head. “He’s gone dumb again! Like an ordinary animal! His last cogent thought was about the menagerie. Something about ducks. I think he’s gone to eat someone’s familiars!”
“It’s the Raven!” Rachel ran to the window and watched the giant, coal-black bird with its eerie blood-red eyes wing off to the north. “It had this horrid effect on Lucky before! Turning him into an unintelligent animal.”
Like a streak of furry lightning, Lucky shot through the gloom of the evening straight at Drake Hall, which was the opposite direction from the menagerie. He soared over the damaged dormitory and disappeared behind it.
“Weren’t there a lot of animals in cages behind Drake?” Siggy leaned on the windowsill beside Rachel.
“Doves and chickens and goats. Offerings to be used as sacrifices by the thaumaturgy students.” Rachel could not quite keep the disdain out of her voice. She and her family strongly disapproved of any magic that required a living sacrifice.
“Oops.” Siggy shrugged.
Under his nonchalance, he looked worried and kept peering out the way Lucky had gone.
Eventually, Siggy returned to the thinking glass. The Agents had wrapped up their conversation with Sakura and were interviewing Valerie Hunt. She was pale but smiling. She snapped a picture of the Agents before MacDannan began to play. Up in the air, surrounded by twinkling gold, she kept swatting at the little sparkles and saying, “Ow! Ow! Ow!”
Siggy grinned with obvious adoration, as if the fact that his beloved was a liar, like him, made her dearer to him.
He pointed at her. “Isn’t Goldilocks adorable?”
Rachel grinned back, her body trembling with excitement. Finally, they would find out what had happened to Valerie at the Wisecraft offices!
• • •
When Valerie landed on her feet again, Agent MacDannan took a deep breath. “Now, Miss Hunt. What do you remember that you had not?”
Valerie’s eyes grew wide with distress. Whatever she was remembering horrified her.
The Raven, The Elf, and Rachel (A Book of Unexpected Enlightenment 2) Page 10
