“So he knows he’s being absolutely outrageous? Using pink Monopoly money for your national currency and all that.”
“Without a doubt.”
Rachel was not sure what to make of that.
The events of the afternoon played through Rachel’s memory. She lowered her voice so that they would not be overheard. “Your highness, your sister is a very powerful sorceress, yet I could not help noticing that during the battle…She hesitates to act. This could lead her to harm.”
Her news disturbed him, but he gave her a kind smile. “Thank you for telling me.”
Rachel asked, “Can I do anything to help you keep her safe?”
“Besides coming to get me?” Ivan shrugged his shoulders, causing his sleeveless robes to ripple across his broad chest. “You could call a tutor, or a proctor. Or even a senior resident.”
Rachel shook her head fiercely. Her hair went flying, numerous strands ending up in her face. “Adults are not always practical.”
“Oh?”
“Either they don’t believe us, or they aren’t there when we need them.” Rachel wrestled the stray locks away from her face.
“Hmm.” He nodded with complete seriousness. “I can see how that would be a problem.”
“So, we need a proper way to protect ourselves.”
“Hopefully,” Ivan said kindly, “these last few days will turn out to be the rocky start of what will be an otherwise extremely dull year.”
“A nice hope but…Um…What if it isn’t…extremely dull, I mean.”
Ivan stroked his jaw, which had a rather attractive amount of five-o’clock shadow stubble on it. Finally, he nodded. “I think you are correct. She needs some training. I will speak with our siblings and arrange for some private instruction for her from Alex, Alexis, and me.”
“An excellent idea,” Rachel replied, pleased and the tiniest bit envious. She wished her siblings would take more of an interest in training her.
Rachel gazed up at him, examining the young man who would someday be king of a country that put kangaroos on its Olympic team and used pink Monopoly money for its currency. He did not seem as goofy as his father or as strait-laced as his sister. What kind of a man was he? Would he make a good king? Was he the sort of man she might wish to marry?
For that matter, what sort of person would she want to marry? An intriguing scientist like Gaius? An athletic sports hero like John Darling? A good-natured prince? In the best of universes, she would marry someone who lived in the world of castles and noble obligations—the world she currently inhabited and loved. She was not sure Magical Australia, with its kookaburra spies and emu heraldic crest, was such a place.
“What are your plans for after graduation?” she inquired curiously, tilting her head to one side. “What does a future king do before he takes the throne?”
“I hope to be assigned as our ambassador to America. I have my fingers crossed. My hope is that I will have a long and tedious career ahead of me before the day when I need to become king. My father is rather young—especially for a sorcerer.”
“Do you want to be king?” Rachel’s curiosity got the better of her. “Or is that a bit of a dodgy question to ask a crown prince? Are you forbidden from answering?”
“My wish to be king is slightly greater than my fear that I may do something horrible and destroy my kingdom. So, yes.” Ivan leaned against the table, balancing his tray on his hand. “There are other choices I might have made, had I been someone else. As it is, being king sounds much more fun.”
“Fun?” Rachel surprised herself by laughing with delight. “If you think that, then you are the proper man for the job.” Gazing up into his handsome, animated face, she scrutinized him again. She found kindness and intelligence, and he clearly had an excellent sense of humor. After regarding him a bit longer, she concluded, “I think you will be a good king.”
“I appreciate your confidence.” He gave her a relaxed smile. “What are you planning to do when you graduate? Work for the Wisecraft, like your father and Sandra?”
“No. I want to be like Daring Northwest,” Rachel replied fiercely, her mind’s eye gazing upon the distant places she wished to visit. “Someone who searches out the hidden and forgotten things that other people overlook. It’s a bit like being an Agent but with no boss.”
“Interesting.”
“Once you are king, should you need someone to investigate hidden and forgotten things in Magical Australia, I hope you will keep me in mind.”
He nodded, solemnly. “I will.”
With an over-boldness only possible to thirteen-year-olds, Rachel looked Ivan straight in the eye. “Is it true that if I married you, I would be queen someday and outrank the princess?”
Ivan must have faced overly-bold thirteen-year-olds before. He did not so much as flinch. “Yes, you would outrank my sister. Why? Would you like me to ask my father to speak to yours?”
Was he proposing?
Rachel felt a blush of heat travel up and down her body. It certainly sounded as if he were. Most likely, it was a joke. On the other hand, there were only so many girls in the World of the Wise of appropriate rank to marry a prince. As a noblewoman, the daughter of a duke, Rachel qualified. Nor was she just any aristocrat. Her family was the oldest noble line in existence, extending back over two thousand years. Griffin women had married royalty for generations, usually younger sons, but at least three of her ancestors had been queens.
She looked carefully at his face. He was smiling, but she could discern no trace of mockery. She should give him the benefit of the doubt and consider his offer carefully.
Did she want to be a queen?
As she considered the question, she suffered an epiphany. Or rather a series of epiphanies.
The first realization was that queens needed to be stately and gracious, like Rachel’s oldest sister, Sandra. Rachel, on the other hand, was socially awkward. She said the wrong things, made enemies of girls who might have been friends, made people burst into tears when she had not meant to upset them.
The second was that a girl who did not enjoy public scrutiny, who wanted her accomplishments to go unnoticed, was not a good candidate for a head of state. Queens must appear in public before the gaze of thousands. The third was that people who suffered from wanderlust were not well-suited for remaining in one place, as a ruler must.
Finally, she desired wisdom, not power. She would rather grow up to be a wise adviser to the throne than to sit on it. All this took an instant, but it was a pivotal moment for her. Before it, she dwelt in the ignorance of childhood, unaware of her strengths and flaws. Afterward, she perceived herself with much greater clarity.
The effect was disturbing and yet exhilarating.
Rachel shook her head slowly. “You appear to be a very upstanding young man, Prince Ivan, and I would love to be the princess’s older sister. But I fear that I am unsuited to be queen.
“But don’t be sad.” She patted the light-brown hairs along his nicely-formed forearm. “Girls like handsome, powerful boys. You won’t have any trouble finding a wife.”
“Ah…” His dark eyes danced with good-humor. “Kind of you to look out for me.”
As she turned away, Rachel’s eyes fell on her sister Laurel, who stood far across the dining hall waving her arms energetically, as she recited a story to an audience of admiring boys. Laurel was much more mature than she had been at seven, but she still had the same wild look in her huge, dark eyes. Unlike Rachel, she dressed in the subfusc style, with a well-tailored white blouse, a split ribbon like a narrow tie, a black skirt, and a half-cape falling from her shoulders. With her velvet neck ribbons flying every which way and her half-cape askew, she looked both tempestuous and utterly adorable. At home, the farm boys who worked their tenant farms had a special whistle they used to alert each other when she was coming, so that they could line up along the fences and watch her walk past.
“You could marry my sister Laurel.” Rachel leaned toward Ivan. “T
hen I would still be Nastasia’s sister by marriage, but I would not outrank her, which would be perfect.”
Ivan glanced over at Rachel’s sister. A bright, roguish grin lit his face, making him even more handsome. “Laurel’s really cute. I’ll run the idea by her and see what she thinks.”
Rachel smiled, feeling very pleased. How wonderful it would be if her sister became a princess. Even if Laurel used to pull her hair and torture her stuffed penguin, Rachel loved her dearly.
• • •
Heading to her seat, she saw John Darling leaning over to adjust his shoe, his foot resting on a chair. He looked so charming and tousled. All her past affection for him came rushing back.
He was alone.
Heart hammering, Rachel approached him. She considered her words carefully, though that did not stop them from escaping her mouth in one quick rush.
“I must say, Mr. Darling, I am rather disappointed with your father,” she said with sad humor. “I thought if anyone would understand what we were up against here and secretly help us, it would be him…but, alas, he did not.” She sighed dramatically. “Does he tell you anything at home? Or is he as exasperating as my father, who tells me nothing at all?”
John Darling straightened and regarded her for an uncomfortably long time. When he spoke, his voice reverberated loudly throughout the entire dining hall.
“Yeah, I’ve heard the bad things you and your dragon boyfriend said about my dad,” he glowered. “Why don’t you and your friends just shut up?”
Chapter Eleven:
Rachel Gets Valiant
Rachel took a stumbling step backwards.
“I don’t care if you’re disappointed in him!” John Darling pointed a finger at her. “But I do care if you insult him in front of my sister Wendy.”
“But…I didn’t…”
“It’s pretty crappy,” his voice cracked with fury, “if your father’s nice to my dad’s face, and then talks trash behind his back.”
Rachel shrank back, horrified. Unfamiliar eyes stared at her from all directions, trapping her like a bizarre curiosity on display in a broken shop window. A strange buzzing in her ears threatened to drown out John Darling’s voice. She tried to swallow, to clear her hearing, but fear and embarrassment had swollen her throat closed.
Surely this had to be a nightmare.
She pinched her forearm, hoping to discover that this was a dream. The pinch stung.
“Leave my little sister alone!” a soprano voice rang out like a trumpet.
A tall figured swooped down on her, squeezing her tightly. Long dark hair covered Rachel’s face, getting in her mouth. Rachel coughed and struggled to breathe, but she was grateful that her sister’s presence shielded her from the eyes of the crowd.
It broke the mesmerizing terror.
Ordinary sound came rushing back.
Only then did the strangeness of the situation register. Laurel was defending her? Laurel? Her “wild child” sister’s avowed purpose in life was “to stir up chaos to liven up the dull lives of their parents.” Usually, Laurel was the person from whom Rachel needed defending.
School was definitely a strange place.
“Okay, Griffin. Whatever.” John shrugged. “I’ll leave her alone. Just make her do the same to my sister.”
John Darling stalked off. Rachel’s sister hugged her tightly. Laurel Griffin hugged tighter than anyone else Rachel knew. She wondered if that cracking sensation were her ribs.
Their brother Peter appeared and laid a protective hand on Rachel’s shoulder. He arched an aristocratic eyebrow and frowned at the still-gawking onlookers with a severity possible only to future dukes. “As you were, everyone. Nothing to see here.”
Quickly, the diners looked away, returning to their meals. Relief flooded through Rachel, who was thankful to no longer be the center of attention. Some of the wobbliness left her legs. She smiled gratefully at him.
Peter gave her an affectionate nod. Slender and bookish, his features were a perfect mix of their mother’s striking Asian features and their father’s handsome looks. It had always been assumed, due to his short stature, that he had inherited his height from their tiny mother. Over this last summer, however, he had grown four inches.
Perhaps he would attain their father’s height after all.
Peter peered down at her. “Why was Dash yelling at you, Rach?”
“Dash?”
“Fastest boy in our class.” Peter shrugged. “No one wants to call another boy Darling.”
“He thought I had insulted his father,” Rachel’s voice sounded unnaturally high in her ears. “b-but it wasn’t I. It was a friend of mine, and even then, this friend didn’t mean any harm. He’s Unwary. He doesn’t understand what Agent Darling did for us all.”
“Ah.” Peter blinked. “Well, that doesn’t sound too bad. I’m sure it can be sorted out.”
Laurel leaned down and peered into Rachel’s face from two inches away. “I heard you crashed through a window.”
“I saved Mr. Fisher.” Rachel stepped backward until she could make out her sister’s face.
She felt so young and small surrounded by her siblings. The idea that she was old enough to face the terrible things that had recently occurred suddenly seemed laughable. A desire seized her to throw herself into their arms and burst into tears.
“You shouldn’t do such dangerous things.” Peter put a protective hand on her shoulder, frowning furiously at her. “You should have called a proctor.”
“There wasn’t time,” Rachel objected.
Peter straightened and massaged his temples. He sighed. “I am proud to have such a brave sister. But…please, be more careful.”
Rachel stared at him. She did not answer. She did not even nod. To do so would be to imply that she had agreed. But careful implied stay away from danger. If she did not move toward danger, how could she stop the bad things from occurring?
Peter peered at her closely. “You’re sure you’re all right?”
She straightened and gave him a firm nod. “I am.”
“Good.” He ruffled her hair and whispered hoarsely, “Keep it that way.”
Peter strode off in pursuit of John Darling. The moment their brother was gone, Laurel leaned over and regarded Rachel with a bright, conspiratorial smile.
“Is Gaius Valiant your boyfriend?” Laurel teased, grinning as if Rachel were still three.
“Um…” Rachel glanced over at the central table by the fountain where Gaius sat chatting with William in an animated fashion and looking stomach-churningly cute. She thought of the moment on the steps of Dare Hall, when he had kissed her. “Um…Kind of?”
“Kind of?” Laurel asked, her interest piqued.
“He asked me to be his girlfriend. But I said ‘no.’”
“Really?” Laurel’s eyes bulged. She recovered quickly, her surprise turning to a self-satisfied grin. “You mean he fancies you? Trust my little sister to pick a cute one.” She paused and then leaned even closer, whispering, “Does Peter know?”
Rachel shook her head solemnly. “I doubt he would approve.”
Laurel smirked, her dark eyes gleaming with amusement. “If you change your mind and say ‘yes,’ I’d like to be there when Peter finds out.” She kissed Rachel’s forehead and left.
Rachel blinked after her in astonishment. Was she mistaken, or did Laurel approve of her being Gaius Valiant’s girlfriend? Laurel? Who never approved of anything? Rachel had assumed her entire family would be against the idea.
Her sister’s support made her feel unexpectedly good, as if a tiny star blazed inside her.
• • •
Rachel returned to where her friends were engaged in energetic conversations; however, their words failed to penetrate the whirlwind of her thoughts. Her mind reviewed her conversation with Ivan, John Darling, and Laurel. Contemplating this kept her thoughts from returning to the horrors they had faced today.
A few minutes ago, the knowledge that the boy she
had adored for the last three years had the nickname Dash would have thrilled her. Now, she felt empty. John Darling was a horrid boy.
What a rotter!
With young Darling in disgrace, the floodgates restraining her feelings for Gaius Valiant burst asunder. A tidal wave of longing swept over her. Gaius was suddenly more impressive and much less like second best. The nagging little voice warning her that she still might discover someone she preferred more was drowned in these floodwaters. She could not imagine ever liking any boy more than she currently liked Gaius Valiant.
And Laurel called Gaius a “cute one”!
Rachel glanced toward the center of the dining hall. Gaius sat on the side of Dread’s table nearer to the fountain. He tilted his chair back, reached behind him, filled his cup from the rushing water, rocked forward again, and drank, without so much as turning his head.
Impetuously, Rachel shot to her feet and raced across the room. As she stopped beside Gaius’s shoulder, he looked up with obvious surprise. He had taken his hair out of its short ponytail, and drops from the spray of the fountain glistened in his silky chestnut locks.
“Hello, Rachel Griffin.” Gaius had to speak somewhat loudly to be heard over the rush of the water. He gave her a most engaging grin. “What can I do for you?”
Rachel clasped her hands behind her and went up on her toes. She was so short that she was hardly taller than he was even when he was seated. Her heart beat so rapidly that she felt it might lift her body off the ground. She leaned toward him.
Gaius’s pupils widened as if mesmerized.
Before she could speak, however, a young man interrupted them. He was slender and blond, his gray eyes filled with regret. Rachel recognized him instantly. He was the boy who had stopped her broom in mid-air, causing her to tumble across the gravel. The nurses had healed her bruises, but she flinched as she remembered her previous discomfort.
“Excuse me,” he said, “I’ve come to apologize.”
“Ah, Mark Williams. Man of many failings,” Gaius drawled, tipping his chair back. “Exactly what are you apologizing for today?”
The Raven, The Elf, and Rachel (A Book of Unexpected Enlightenment 2) Page 12
