“I am so glad!” Rachel cried, utterly delighted.
Lloyd Lord Fairweather was a favorite of hers, but she could understand why someone coming from a mundane science background might find his work a bit intimidating.
She gazed at her boyfriend, her face aglow. She had known almost nothing about this young man when she agreed to become his girlfriend. He could have turned out to be a masher. Instead, he was proving both fascinating to talk with and as chivalrous as a knight of old. The overlap of their interests filled her with a secret delight. Her thirst for knowledge was matched by his love of science. And now he, too, had become an admirer of her adored hero, Daring Northwest. She felt extraordinarily lucky.
How propitious that they had so much in common!
Gaius flashed her a really cute grin. “I really enjoyed his work on Yeti and Sasquatches. Big Foot has always reminded me of a Wookiee.”
“Excuse me? A what?”
“You know…Wookiee? Big walking carpets from Star Wars?”
Rachel stared at him blankly. “I…don’t know what that is.”
“You know, the movie? Star Wars?”
“Movie?” Rachel blinked. “You mean a moving picture film? I’ve never seen one.”
“You haven’t?” He looked extremely surprised.
Rachel shrugged. “They require a mundane device. We don’t keep those at home.”
“But…” Gaius screwed up his face in puzzlement. “I know some families of the Wise are backwards that way. But I thought your s—” He stumbled slightly over his words, looking both disappointed and confused, finishing lamely, “I thought your family was different.”
“No.” Rachel shook her head.
His comment stung. She was very proud of her family and their lack of interest in the ever-changing world of the Unwary. She would never describe this as “backward.” Her cheeks grew warm.
“Oh!” said Rachel, suddenly. “Maybe you’ve heard of my older sister! Sandra’s fascinated with the mundane world. She fancies everything Unwary. She even had Father outfit the gatehouse with electricity, so she could play with all sorts of mundane toys—a kind of a living Unwary dollhouse. But that’s a Sandra thing. Not the rest of us.”
“Oh.” He looked so disappointed that Rachel’s heart ached for him. She felt unexpectedly bad, as if she had somehow let him down.
The feeling of solidarity, for which she had just been so grateful, popped like a soap bubble—assuming soap bubbles felt a wrenching sense of disorientation as they tore apart. She pulled her hand back from where it rested on his chest and put it in her lap, feeling suddenly lost.
“I know!” He leaned toward her, grinning. “I’ll teach you. I can tell you all about the things you don’t know. As a scientist, I even understand how they work.”
“That would be fantastic,” Rachel murmured, her face a mask of calmness.
She needed her dissembling skills, or else she would not have been able to hide how uninterested she was in mundane technology. Still, she did not want him to think she did not care about things he cared about. This lack of interest took her by surprise, however. She had not know there was an exception to her thirst to learn. She was not sure why this subject held no interest for her. Perhaps because it had so little to do with the unexplored places of the world? Perhaps because technology interfered with the working of magic? She did want to know about mundane things, as she wanted to know everything, but she was content to leave this particular branch of knowledge for last.
Her head still rested on his shoulder; the cloth of his robe rough beneath her cheek. She breathed in his clean, soapy scent and sighed. She burned to tell him what had happened in the disenchanting chamber, but she could not do so without telling him about her perfect memory. She felt reluctant to do so. She still did not know if she could trust him not to repeat everything she said to Von Dread, and she wasn’t ready to share that secret with the Prince of Bavaria.
Speaking of Von Dread, how had he resisted the Spell of True Recitation? Did he have a memory trick, too? She wondered if Gaius knew.
“Your friend Vladimir is rather impressive. I was…” she caught herself, realizing she was not supposed to have seen the interviews the Agents had performed the previous Friday. She changed her tack slightly. “I heard he conducted himself very well during the investigation.”
“You heard about that?” Gaius asked, surprised. “Yes, Vlad is rather an impressive man. Almost frighteningly so, sometimes.”
“How did he resist the enchantment? Could he actually lie?”
“No.” Gaius shook his head. “I mean, I don’t think he could lie. He said he could not. And I believe him. He is just a very careful thinker. He was able to interpret their questions to their narrowest interpretation. No one can resist the Spell of True Recitation.”
“Of course, not.” Rachel struggled hard not to grin. “I wonder how the spell works.”
“Actually, we just went over that in class. Truth spells are a very specific type of geas. Which is funny, because they use a different mode of music, Mixolydian for the truth magic instead of Dorian, and the color of the sparks is different, too—gold versus purple. But, apparently, both spells affect the same part of the brain.”
Rachel sat straight up. “You’re pulling my leg!”
“No. We spent a whole class period on this. Geases affect the same part of the memory that the Spell of True Recitation affects.”
“So, theoretically, a person who could lie under the truth spell could resist a geas?”
“No one can lie under the Spell of True Recitation,” Gaius corrected her, “But someone who could think clearly, like Vlad, might have a chance of doing what Valerie and Magdalene did—resisting the geas.”
“Interesting,” murmured Rachel.
“I can think of things that are a great deal more interesting,” he said lazily. He pushed her tassel out of her eyes. “To me, anyway.”
Leaning forward, he kissed her.
Chapter Twenty-Six:
The Fortress That Is Dread
Gaius had to depart soon after, as he had been spending all his time working on his wand and needed to study. He appeared again after dinner, however, to escort Rachel to the Knights of Walpurgis meeting. The atmosphere was subdued. Many of the members, especially those from Drake Hall who had been under Dr. Mordeau’s geas, sat downcast, unwilling to meet anyone’s gaze. Even Salome was unusually quiet. It was as if they were all fearful of what was to come.
Vladimir Von Dread rose slowly to his feet. The room fell silent.
“Words cannot express the depth of my disgust, when I think back upon the performance of the members of this organization during the disaster last Friday.” Dread’s voice was deep and stern. “The purpose of the Knights of Walpurgis is to defend the school. To guard against harm to our fellow students and our instructors. To protect the innocent.
“But that was not what occurred. No. Instead, you cowered in the dining hall or worse, allowed yourself to be used by Dr. Mordeau.”
Dread remained absolutely calm. Yet, his words struck like a whip. “Why was it that two little girls—freshmen girls—were able to fight off the geas, but the Knights were not? I shall tell you why. Because you are weak. Weakness is not to be tolerated. It must be expunged wherever it appears.
“There are a few here that deserve commending. Mr. Valiant and Mr. Locke fought admirably. Miss Griffin and her friends detected the threat and moved to stop it, saving many lives, including some of your own.
“The rest of you are…pathetic. You allowed your fear to interfere with your duty to others. You are a disgrace to the name of the Knights of Walpurgis, to Roanoke Academy, and to yourselves.”
Vladimir paused. The other students, except for Gaius and William Locke, trained their eyes on the table. Some traced the grain of the wood. Others played with their wands and dueling rings, or scuffed their feet against the floor.
“We shall train harder,” Dread continued. “Shou
ld this happen again, we will be ready. Any Knight showing such a deplorable lack of strength in the future will be expelled.”
All around her the Knights drooped like unwatered flowers. Rachel appreciated Dread’s praise of herself and the princess, and yet she could not help feeling intimidated. He made weakness sound like such a truly horrendous failing. She was not sure she was as strong as Dread might require.
Did her boyfriend feel the same way as his boss? The thought made her very uneasy. She resolved to hide from Gaius any sign of weakness within herself.
Rachel noted that some of the students were watching Romulus Starkadder, as if they expected him to speak up. He did not. He sat at the far end of the table, frowning slightly and watching Dread.
She also noted that, despite his impressive performance during the attack, Dread did not praise himself.
• • •
As soon as they were on their feet, the evening improved dramatically. Rachel, Wanda, and Salome gathered in the training area. Gaius acted as their teacher again, instructing the girls in the basics of dueling. Then he advised them as they practiced, winking at Rachel whenever he passed by her. Each time he did, an ember deep within her heart glowed more brightly.
After that, they were free to duel. Rachel did reasonably well, for someone on her second week. However, she could not fire off cantrips quickly enough to compete with those who had stored their spells ahead of time. If she wanted to duel, she needed a dueling ring or a wand.
Rachel wanted a fulgurator’s wand. One could not throw lightning with a dueling ring. Someday, she wanted to be the one who struck the next cursed scarab brooch with lightning.
Evelyn March flashed her a friendly smile. She had aquiline features, an olive complexion, and a mysterious yet joyful air that evoked both curiosity and sadness. Rachel nearly ran over to speak to her. Then she remembered the gardener’s words—that everyone who befriended the March children was questioned at length under the Spell of True Recitation by their father, the Grand Inquisitor. A jab of terror paralyzed her.
She had met the Grand Inquisitor. He did not strike her as a man who could be easily tricked. She very much doubted she could lie well enough to fool Cain March.
She recalled her father had once commented that it was good that a spell as mild as the Spell of True Recitation was so effective. Otherwise, his boss would need to employ more intrusive methods of acquiring the information he needed. Rachel gleaned there were other, more painful spells for compelling truth by magic. The last thing Rachel wanted was for the Grand Inquisitor to discover she was immune, try something more painful, and wring out of her the Elf’s secrets.
Sadly, she decided not to approach Eve March.
She did say hello to Beryl Moth, a cool college junior with steady gray eyes and short hair of a color half-way between straw and honey. Beryl was the daughter of Iron Moth, her father’s cousin and one of the two owners of Ouroboros Industries (the other being William Locke’s father). Beryl’s grandmother was the sister of Rachel’s beloved grandfather.
The two young women exchanged pleasantries. As Rachel turned away, she paused and looked around. “Beryl, isn’t someone missing? How come I haven’t seen your brother on campus? Shouldn’t Blackie be a senior? Or did I count wrong, and he graduated last year?”
Beryl looked uncomfortable. “You didn’t hear? The summer before last, while working on a research project for Father, he…had an accident.”
“What happened to him?” Rachel asked, aghast.
“He lost his memory.”
Rachel shivered. “How…much of his memory?”
“All of it. He doesn’t remember anything before that August.”
Beryl departed to duel her friend Naomi, leaving Rachel covered with goose bumps.
• • •
Rachel dueled diligently. One of the older students she lost to was Mark Williams. He did not seem a bad fellow, despite having stopped her broom, though he seemed embarrassed near her. Gaius did not help. He smirked at Williams whenever an opportunity arose.
Boys. Rachel sighed.
But she could not judge Gaius too harshly. Everything he did enchanted her. She wanted to be part of his world so desperately. She envied the way Von Dread, Locke, and their younger friend from Dee Hall, Topher Evans, interacted with him so easily. She wanted to be able to talk to him as they did, or at least to walk up to him without her heart hammering like a woodpecker on a bug-riddled tree. She wanted to duel elegantly as he did, to casually call the Prince of Bavaria by the nickname of Vlad as he did. Most of all, she wanted to be able to spend time with him without having to make an appointment.
And then, there was the matter of Peter…
“Hey, Valiant,” she called teasingly, next time he came near.
He sauntered over.
Just watching him move stole her breath.
“That was some speech Vlad made, wasn’t it?” Gaius lowered his voice, glancing at where the Prince of Bavaria dueled Romulus Starkadder. “I have never seen him so angry.”
“I must admit, he was quite intimidating. But speaking of anger,” Rachel crossed her arms and, narrowed her eyes, mock-glaring at him, “I had not realized until today that you were my brother Peter’s rival—the boy whom I had vowed to hate for life!”
“Had you vowed to hate me? I’m sorry to hear that.” Gazing into her eyes, he smiled directly at her, “Might I cherish the hope that you have since changed your mind?”
“Of course.” She lowered her lashes shyly. The intensity of his smile flustered her. “Clever of you to sidestep my objections by winning my heart before I discovered your identity. How did you and he come to be rivals?”
He performed a fancy bow, complete with an elegant airy gesture. “What do two young men ever fight over—except a young woman?”
“Who?” Rachel leaned forward, intrigued.
“I never duel and tell.”
She rocked backward on her heels, disappointed, but she could tell that he was not going to reveal any more. “Very well, Mr. Valiant, I shall forgive you. But please, don’t do it again.”
He laid his hand over his heart and gave her a short bow. “I would never disparage the brother of a lady whom I am courting.”
A big grin bloomed across Rachel’s face.
She won her next duel handily to the dismay of her opponent, a sophomore boy who was not pleased to have been beaten by a tiny girl without a wand, who had been a freshman for less than two weeks.
She could not help being curious, though. Who was this girl that Peter and Gaius had fought over? She glanced over at Colleen MacDannan, who was gazing at Gaius with big doe-like eyes. Could she be the one? Peter was good friends with Colleen’s cousins, Oonagh and her brothers. Perhaps they had not cared for the friendship between Gaius and their cousin? Maybe Peter had even fancied Colleen himself? Rachel began to make a mental note to ask Peter, but then she remembered that she and Peter were not talking. The thought left her feeling empty.
• • •
At precisely nine-thirty—according to the punctual Bavarian prince—Gaius, Vlad, William, and Topher excused themselves and accompanied Rachel across the hall to another room, where they met Nastasia, Joy, Zoë, Valerie, Siggy, and Lucky. The room had several chairs and a set of gold golf clubs. Lucky was wrapped protectively around the clubs.
The time to exchange information had finally come. Rachel buzzed with excitement. It took great effort to keep from bouncing up and down. Finally, her group and Gaius’s group would be together. Finally, she would have a chance to share what she had learned. Finally, she would discover the secrets Dread and his cronies knew. Maybe, just maybe, they would have the clue needed to piece together this grand puzzle of strange new things that so befuddled Rachel.
Vladimir Von Dread called the meeting to order. He motioned Topher Evans to stand beside him. “Mr. Evans has the gift of total recall. He will remember everything you tell us.”
Topher, a young man with a la
rge Adam’s apple and glasses, gave her an awkward smile that was probably meant as friendly but came off as goofy. Rachel tried to smile back, but she was too surprised. She had never met anyone outside her family who had the gift she shared with her mother.
Topher winked at her.
“Um…I wrote it all down,” murmured Rachel. Taking out the notes she and her friends had prepared, she handed the pages to Gaius who presented it to Von Dread.
They read:
1) Mortimer Egg, Dr. Mordeau, Agent Browne, and a red-headed woman killed Misty Lark’s family. They wanted to kill Magdalene Chase, but her family did not love her enough for the spell to work. Also, a creature with wings of smoke killed the parents of both Sakura Suzuki and Agent James Darling.
2) Mortimer Egg was seen talking to Valerie Hunt’s father the day Detective. Hunt vanished. It is unknown whether Detective Hunt is alive or dead.
3) Mortimer Egg and co. had a stronghold at Beaumont Castle in Transylvania, provided by two Starkadder Brothers. In return for this, Egg promised to kill Romulus Starkadder.
4) When the Raven is near, Lucky the Dragon turns into a non-intelligent creature. This is because the Guardian enforces the local natural laws, which have not yet adjusted to Lucky’s presence. The Raven can also turn into a winged man with a gold hoop over his head.
5) Dr. Mordeau claimed that Veltdammerung’s goal is: true resurrection of the dead.
6) Mortimer Egg and co. have been casting the same spell—a spell that requires a family be murdered—over and over for decades. The spell works and brings people from Outside, but the Guardian makes them blend in so that no one, including Egg, remembers.
7) The princess has had two visions of the future. Both began to come true…but we were able to change the outcome.
8) Sakura Suzuki cannot get the school Flycycles to obey her. This is unheard of, even for the Unwary. She also had strange things go wrong in class—spells misfiring in bizarre ways.
The Raven, The Elf, and Rachel (A Book of Unexpected Enlightenment 2) Page 31
