Rachel’s heart deflated like a popped balloon. Regret coursed through her. Oh, why hadn’t she spoken up more quickly? Sighing, she comforted herself with the thought that there would soon be another opportunity.
Rachel watched her friends and family. Sandra and Father helped with the round-up. Nastasia spoke with the Agents. Siggy and Lucky whooped and laughed, performing a war dance that might have been a reenactment of their part of the battle. A feeling of joy filled her. She recalled how bravely her friends had come to her defense when Azrael was about to kill her.
“Rachel Griffin.”
Standing on one side, unnoticed by anyone else, was an eight-foot tall man with enormous black wings. Crying out with delight, Rachel ran and stood before him, smiling.
The Raven bent over and picked her up. He held her easily, as if she weighed nothing. He smelled of the wind off the ocean and summer rain. Over his shoulder, she saw nuns of Asclepius helping Agent Caldor onto a stretcher. His sheep dog stood guard beside him, wagging its tail eagerly and licking its master’s face.
“He’s alive!” gaped Rachel. “Agent Caldor lived!”
“By calling upon his true nature, Azrael created a certain amount of uncertainty. I took advantage of it to make sure a few things went our way,” said the Guardian.
“You mean…you saved him?”
“Not just him. I have something to show you.”
The world around them changed. Red-orange curtains hung over a dark green marble floor. The planets of a mechanical orrery clicked away overhead. The air smelled of cinnamon and chicken soup. The décor looked familiar and yet she had never been in this place before.
“Where are we?” asked Rachel.
“The Healing Halls of the Order of Asclepius, in New York City. As I mentioned, there was enough ambiguity in the possible probabilities to save another.”
A nurse arrived, accompanied by a female Agent with very green eyes, whom Rachel recognized as the conjurer, Alyssa Follows, one of Darling’s people. The nurse drew the curtain aside. Behind it, smiling as he looked up from his book, sat Siggy’s supposedly dead roommate, Enoch Smithwyck.
The Raven said, “They remember that they kept him hidden here, pretending he was dead—because it was not known whether Mordeau’s allies might be targeting him personally.”
“That’s…fantastic!”
The Raven inclined his head. “It was a dangerous thing, and I as fortunate that it did not go badly. But it was the least I could do for Sakura Suzuki, after I robbed her of her gift.”
“Thank you,” murmured Rachel, her eyes growing moist.
“Thank you, Rachel Griffin,” the Raven replied, “for saving my world.”
The End
Glossary
Agents
Magical law enforcement. Agents fight magical foes, both human and supernatural.
Alchemy
One of the Seven Sorcerous Arts. It is the Art of putting magic into objects.
Bavaria
A country that exists in the world of the book but not in our world. It is known to both the World of the Wise and the Unwary. It is ruled by the Von Dread family.
Canticle
One of the Seven Sorcerous Arts. It is the Art of commanding the natural and supernatural world with the words and gestures of the Original Language.
Cantrip
One word in the Original Language, i.e. a canticle spell.
Cathay
The Democratic Republic of Cathay, a country that exists in the world of the book but not in our world. It is known to both the World of the Wise and the Unwary. It is ruled by an elected council.
Conjuring
One of the Seven Sorcerous Arts. It is the Art of drawing objects out of the dreamlands.
Core Group
A group of students, usually from the same dorm, who attend all their classes together.
Dare Hall
The dormitory at Roanoke Academy that is favored by enchanters.
De Vere Hall
The dormitory at Roanoke Academy that is favored by warders and obscurers.
Dee Hall
The dormitory at Roanoke Academy that is favored by scholars.
Drake Hall
The dormitory at Roanoke Academy that is favored by thaumaturges.
Enchantment
One of the Seven Sorcerous Arts. It is based on music and includes a number of sub-arts.
Fulgurator’s wand
A wand with a spell-grade gem on the tip that is used by Soldiers of the Wise to throw lighting and to hold other kinds of spells.
Gnosis
One of the Seven Sorcerous Arts. It is the Art of knowledge and augury.
Heer of Dunderberg
Storm Goblin locked up with his Lightning Imps in a cave in Stony Tor on Roanoke Island.
Jumping
A cantrip that allows the practitioner to teleport.
Magical Australia
A country that is only known to the Wise. It is ruled by the Romanov family.
Marlowe Hall
The dormitory at Roanoke Academy that is favored by conjurers.
Morthbrood
An ancient organization of practitioners of black magic. During the Terrible Years, the Morthbrood served the Terrible Five.
Mundane
Without magic. Refers both to the modern technological world and to those who cannot use magic. It is possible to be mundane and Wise, if one has no magic but is aware of the magical world.
Obscuration
A subset of Warding. It allows for the casting of illusions that hide things and trick the Unwary.
Original Language
The original language in which all objects were named.
Parliament of the Wise
The ruling body of the World of the Wise.
Pollepel Island
The name the Unwary call the island they see in place of Roanoke Island. It is also called Bannerman Island.
Roanoke Academy for the Sorcerous Arts
A school of magic on a floating island that is currently moored in the Hudson near Storm King Mountain.
Scholars
Practitioners of the Art of Gnosis.
Sorcery
The study of magic.
Spenser Hall
The dormitory at Roanoke Academy that is favored by canticlers.
Terrible Five
The leaders of the Veltdammerung, who terrorized the World of the Wise during the Terrible Years. They consisted of: Simon Magus, Morgana le Fay, Koschei the Deathless, Baba Yaga, and Aleister Crowley.
Thaumaturgy
One of the Seven Sorcerous Arts. It is the Art of storing charges of magic in a gem.
Thule
A country that is known only to the World of the Wise. It occupies the section of Greenland that is, in our world, occupied by the world’s largest national park (larger than all but 32 countries).
Transylvania
A country that exists in the world of the book but not in our world. It is known to both the World of the Wise and the Unwary. It is ruled by the Starkadder family.
Tutor
The term used for professors at Roanoke Academy.
Unwary
one who does not know about the magical world.
Veltdammerung
Twilight of the World. The organization that served the Terrible Five during the Terrible Years. It consisted of the Morthbrood and of supernatural servants.
Warding
One of the Seven Sorcerous Arts. It is the Art of protecting one’s self from magical influences.
Wise
Those in the know about the magical world (as in the root of the word ‘wizard’).
Wisecraft
The law enforcement agency of the Wise. The Agents work for the Wisecraft.
World of the Wise
The community of those who know about the magical world.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Mark Whipple, John C. Wright, and Wi
lliam E. Burns, III who breathed the life into the original story.
To Virginia Johnson and Erin Furby, who helped iron out the bumps, and to my sons, Orville and Justinian for playing along and particularly to Juss, for wearing a lightning imp under his cat.
To Erin Furby, Ginger Kenny, Deanna Quiterio, Kirsten Edwards, Laura Tayler, Theresa Murphy, Kiara Lingenfelter, Mark Thompson, and to April, Jubal, and Jeremiah Freeman, for slogging through the early drafts.
To Anna Macdonald and Don Schank, for making it readable.
To my brother, Law Lamplighter, who listened, and to my mother, Jane Lamplighter, for making dinner on Thursdays, so I could write.
About the Authors
L. Jagi Lamplighter is also the author of the Prospero’s Daughter series: Prospero Lost, Prospero In Hell, and Prospero Regained. She is an assistant editor with the Bad-Ass Faeries Anthologies, and she maintains a weekly blog on writing called Wright’s Writing Corner. When not writing, she switches to her secret identity as wife and stay-home mom in Centreville, VA, where she lives with her dashing husband, author John C. Wright, and their four darling children, Orville, Ping-Ping, Roland Wilbur, and Justinian Oberon.
Her website is: http://ljagilamplighter.com
Her blog is at: http://arhyalon.livejournal.com
On Twitter: @lampwright4
Mark A. Whipple grew up in Croton-on-Hudson, which is not far from Roanoke Island. He then attended St. John’s College in Annapolis, the mundane sister school to Roanoke Academy. Until recently, he has spent his free time, when not busy torturing Rachel Griffin, protecting the world from video game threats. Now, however, he volunteers with Stillbrave, a charity devoted to helping the families of children with cancer.
30% of the authors’ proceeds from the Unexpected Enlightenment series goes to charity. Current charities of choice:
Mark’s choice: Stillbrave Childhood Cancer Foundation – helping families of children with cancer.
Stillbrave Childhood Cancer Foundation
6731A Edsall Rd, Springfield, VA 22151
https://stillbrave.org
Jagi’s choice: All Girls Allowed – fighting for the rights and dignity of girls in China, and St. John’s College – which, as the Wise all know, was started by two students from Dee Hall.
All Girls Allowed
101 Huntington Avenue, Suite 2205
Boston, MA 02199
http://allgirlsallowed.org
St. John’s College
60 College Ave
Annapolis, MD 21401
http://www.sjc.edu
The Books of Unexpected Enlightenment
The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin
The Raven, The Elf, and Rachel
Rachel and the Many-Splendored Dreamland (forthcoming)
The Awful Truth about Forgetting (forthcoming)
Guardians of the Twilight Lands (forthcoming)
… and more to come
Other books by L. Jagi Lamplighter
The Prospero’s Children Trilogy
Prospero Lost
Prospero In Hell
Prospero Regained
The Raven, The Elf, and Rachel (A Book of Unexpected Enlightenment 2) Page 42
