Mr. Slider. The name made Jennifer draw a sharp breath. Is he here? Did he survive? Does he remember anything?
The sight that greeted Jennifer in geometry class nearly broke her heart. Edmund Slider was there, in his usual position at the head of the class. His useless legs spilled off of the wheelchair, and his blond head was in his hands, unkempt strands of hair escaping through his fingers, with elbows jammed against awkward knees. The clothes he wore were wrinkled and scented with stale sweat. The only parts of him that looked presentable at all were his feet, enshrined in two polished black shoes that had certainly never been used.
He raised his head off his palms as she passed, and she found her legs fixed to the floor as if he had cast a sorcery upon her. She could not look away from him. There was no anger there, just overwhelming frustration and despair. They stared at each other, she clearly wanting to say something but not knowing what, and him clearly not ready to hear anything at all.
The bell rang. Everybody else took their seats.
“If you would turn to page 252 in your texts, class.” His voice was a hoarse whisper, and he did not look away from her.
She tried. “M-Mr. Slider, I—”
“Page 252, class.” He did not move. “Ms. Elmsmith, if you would be so kind as to read aloud from the beginning of the chapter.”
Jennifer didn’t turn, and she knew Susan was also unsure of what to do. After a long pause, her friend began to read:
“‘Chapter Seven. Geometric Transformations. A transformation is a change in the form of a mathematical object. By the end of this chapter, you will be able to: First, explain the basic types of transformations; second, make use of transformation terminology to describe elements of the changing world around you; and third, change shapes using interactive computer software modules that illustrate rotations, reflections, translations, and enlargements. You will also…”
It didn’t work, she mouthed silently to him as Susan kept reading. It’s over.
There was no humor in his voiceless reply:
Wait.
“Wasn’t he weird?” Susan wrinkled her nose at the memory of Mr. Slider’s class. He had not said another word the entire time, other than to change chapter readers at intervals. “I mean, he never even asked us for our homework!”
“He will,” Jennifer said thoughtfully. “He doesn’t know what went wrong, but he’ll try again.”
“Well, duh, he is the teacher. You sure you’re okay? You’ve been acting weird today.”
“I’ll explain later. Maybe over lunch, if there’s…Hang on, there’s the A-List. Hey, Anne!”
The freckled blonde broke chatter with Amy and Abigail long enough to look up. “Hey, yourself.”
“Where’s Amanda?”
Anne shrugged.
“If you see her, tell her I’m out for Friday.”
Amy examined Jennifer’s figure and smirked. “What, Bob decided he could say ‘no’ to you after all?”
Susan stepped in front of Jennifer as they walked by. “No, she’s just spending the evening with friends. Thanks for passing on the word to Amelia.”
“Amanda.”
“Whatever.” And with that, Susan pushed past the A-List, letting Jennifer grin as she stumbled behind.
A few steps later, Susan stopped short. “Jennifer!”
Jennifer followed the direction her finger pointed down the hall. When she spotted the target, half her heart leapt while the other half sank.
“He looks terrible.”
Jennifer had to agree with Susan. Skip Wilson was at his locker, staring down the hall, without really seeming to see her or anyone else. His chocolate hair was more unkempt than usual, and there were bloody spots on the whites of his tired eyes.
“Give me a sec, will you?”
Jennifer walked up to him and handed him Dianna Wilson’s jade envelope. “This is for you,” she told him. “Your mother asked me to deliver it.”
Suddenly recognizing her, Skip reached out and opened the note. He read it for a few moments, and Jennifer backed up a step or two when she saw tears escape down his cheeks.
“You’ve read this,” he said when he was done.
“No,” she answered truthfully. “But I don’t have to. I can imagine what’s in there pretty easily.”
“It was you. You stopped it all. This morning, when nothing changed, Mr. Slider and I tried to figure out what happened. You seemed like the most likely explanation.”
She sighed. “Your mother stopped it. She saw the consequences, and she didn’t like them.”
“But you had something to do with it, I’ll bet,” he barked, crumpling the paper up and jamming it in his jacket pocket. “The Great Jennifer Scales, Wonder of All Wonders. Couldn’t stay out of it. You ruined everything. You always—”
“HEY.” She stepped toward him and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. “You can gnash your teeth some other time, buddy. You’re lucky you’re still alive, after what you tried to do.”
He shook her hand off and wiped his face. “You would have been fine! I was going to save you.”
“I know,” she said. “But as it turns out, I ended up saving you.”
One side of his mouth rose in an uncertain sneer. “You’re not making any sense.”
“It doesn’t matter. You don’t have to save me, Skip. What you thought would happen today—it will never happen. Your own mother won’t allow it, and your family can’t do it without her. You’re stuck with the world you’re in, for better or worse.” She briefly remembered Mr. Slider’s threat—Wait—but pushed it firmly out of her mind.
He rested his head against the locker behind him and slumped his shoulders. “So that’s how it is. Jennifer Scales gets her way, yet again.”
She resisted the impulse to knee him in his intransigent groin. “I know it’s hard when you’re not in control, Skip. When it feels like the whole world’s against you. I found friends, when I needed them. You just have friends, too. You just have to reach out.”
“Friends.” He spat. The familiar defiance was returning to his features. “Friends like disowned Eddie, or babbling Catherine, or useless Susan. No thanks.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way. I guess I have something else to tell you, then.” Leaning in close, she gently smoothed out the fabric of his flannel shirt. “I promised your mother I’d forgive you this time. And I have. But right now, my parents are putting out word to every dragon and beaststalker about what you and your family have tried. I would expect an awful lot of eyes will be on the Saltins, Wilsons, and Sliders of this world, for a very long time.” She looked up meaningfully at him without smiling. “Be careful, sweetie. I would feel horrible if you got hurt.”
Looking back down at her, he bit his lower lip. “So I’m supposed to be afraid? I don’t care. Witch-hunters like your mom and the mayor don’t scare me. Nobody does.”
“I know.” She sighed and touched his ear. “That’s why I still kind of like you.”
He backed up a step. “You only like me as long as I behave. As long as I stay on your leash.”
“Skip…”
“It’s all about control with you, isn’t it? As long as you can stop me from doing things you don’t like, you’ll tolerate me. I can be your pet, as long as I’m house-trained.”
“No, I’m…”
“You stop me from reuniting with my mother by turning her against me. You stop me from connecting with my half-sister by murdering her. You even stop me from getting close to you by lying through your teeth. You’re just an expert at stopping things, aren’t you?”
“Skip, that’s not fair—”
“That’s the difference between us, I guess,” he finished with a vicious arrogance. “Guys like me try to create and make things happen, and uncaring bitches like you just get off on stopping things from happening. Do you get that from your mom, or—”
She slugged him across the jaw.
“Gosh, Skip, I’m sorry,” she said as he reeled back
and fell against his locker. “I just couldn’t stop that from happening! I must not be as good at this sort of thing as you say I am.”
She turned quickly so he wouldn’t see the gathering tears and marched away.
Jennifer was standing alone for a moment, reflecting on the laughing and jostling teenagers filing out of the cafeteria, when she saw someone who nearly made her drop her textbooks.
How is this possible?
“Hi, Jennifer.”
“Huh?”
“I kinda tagged along when you left.”
“I don’t…I…how did you do it? Are there other—”
“Relax, Jennifer. I’m the only stowaway. When we shifted the universe the first time, we realized it might not work out. This was our Plan B. Unlike our bloody Plan A, the only thing Plan B has cost is a single life—someone to keep the balance. I chose Amanda Sera. Nothing personal against her. I’m just not a big fan of queen bees.”
Jennifer didn’t really hear the last couple of sentences. “We shifted? Our Plan B? You were one of the…?”
“Oh, come on, Jennifer. It can’t surprise you that much, can it? I mean, you suspected Skip from the start; so it’s not like you always thought it was four adults behind all of it.”
“But you’re not…you don’t…”
“I’m special. Let’s leave it at that.”
Jennifer bit her lip. “So if you, and Dianna, and Otto were…then either Edmund or Tavia wasn’t…”
“Tavia Saltin’s a talented gal. But not Quadrivium talented. Edmund Slider had to bring her along, just like Skip brought you. It cost him half of his sight and hearing, a price he gladly gave. I was the one who ‘sang the song of change,’ as the verse says.”
Jennifer didn’t know what to say. Sweat tickled her cheekbones, and her breath came up short. Edmund Slider was right. There’s still a plan. They’re going to try again. They’re going to take away—
“Jennifer. Please, don’t panic. We’re not going to try to take away your universe again. Whatever you may think of Dianna Wilson, she keeps her word. She really did love your father. She told me so many times, when Otto wasn’t around. She said leaving Jonathan Scales behind for your mother was the one mistake she’d correct, if she could.”
“That.” Jennifer put a hand up against a locker and tried deep breaths. “Doesn’t necessarily. Make me feel. Better.”
The girl pulled her long sweater sleeves up, rubbed her palms, and smoothed her green-streaked hair behind one ear. Jennifer noticed how much straighter she stood. “You have a great universe here. Worth fighting for, I can see already. Thanks again for opening the door so I could come home.”
And with that the small, dark girl Jennifer only knew as Andi stepped up, kissed her on a clammy cheek, and pranced off to history class.
Jonathan and Elizabeth didn’t want to hear much about Andi when Jennifer got home. They were preparing for their next trip to Crescent Valley.
“This girl sounds like she’s rather fond of Winoka,” her father pointed out as he put on Jennifer’s silver moon elm leaf. The strange cellulose was tough enough for them to puncture a hole through the leaf and put on a simple necklace chain. “If she’s up to mischief, I doubt she’ll be able to plan much in a day or two. And if she has no troubling designs, so much the better.”
That made enough sense to get Jennifer in the minivan with Eddie and her parents. They started the drive talking about their plan for the visit.
“Two things have to happen this trip,” Jonathan said as Elizabeth peeled out of the driveway. “First, I have to tell Winona Brandfire the truth. Second, we have to show a true effort to bring more beaststalkers to the table.”
“I’ll help this time,” Eddie said. He held Jennifer’s hand tightly. “Dr. Georges-Scales, thanks for taking me to see my mom earlier today. I think you’re right: We can start with her.”
“She’ll be able to check out of the hospital in about a week,” Elizabeth advised. “Once she’s out, we might want to wait a few more weeks before trying to take her through the lake. Meeting the others at the cabin will be best, for a while.”
Jennifer squeezed Eddie’s hand back. “Will she stay at your house with your dad?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. The two of them haven’t talked since I moved in with you. He hasn’t even tried to visit her.”
“Oh, Eddie. I’m sorry.”
“My dad did most of my training. Until my mom gets better, I guess I’m going to be pretty pathetic with a sword.”
“Huh.” Jennifer chewed her tongue and held his hands up to her face to smell them. He had used her soap that morning, she could tell. “Have you ever considered archery?”
He gave her a quizzical look. “What, like, you mean a bow and arrow?”
“I’ll bet anything you’d be really good at it.”
“Geez. I guess I could try it, but I don’t think my mom knows much about—”
“Actually,” Elizabeth interrupted from the front, “your mother was on the archery team in college. She won quite a few trophies.”
“Wow! I had no idea,” Eddie said. “Maybe I should ask her once she’s doing better in a few weeks.”
“You don’t have to wait. I can get you started before then.”
“You did archery, Mom?”
“Sure did. It’s been a while, but I was in those competitions, too.”
“Thanks, Dr. Georges-Scales. But I can wait. If my mom won all those trophies, I should probably learn from the best.”
Elizabeth’s eyebrows lifted in the rearview mirror. “You would be. I didn’t say she got first place trophies.”
Jennifer gave a snort and turned to her father in the passenger seat. “Dad, who else are we meeting besides Winona?”
“Catherine will be there, I think. And Xavier.”
Eddie almost cried out as Jennifer crushed his hand. “Xavier Longtail? Why did you invite him?”
“He deserves to hear the full truth, too.”
“Is he bringing his niece?”
“I don’t believe Ember comes out of Crescent Valley much, anymore. It should just be the three of them.”
As it turned out, there were four dragons waiting for them around the barbeque pit in the farmhouse’s backyard. Xavier sat next to another dasher—not Ember, but a young male with soft cobalt scales and lavender wings. Jennifer couldn’t tell his exact age, but from his wide golden eyes and the way he deferred to Xavier, she guessed right away that he was a relative.
Indeed he was. “Jonathan. Jennifer.” Xavier looked at Elizabeth and Eddie, but did not acknowledge either of them. He motioned to the second dasher. “This is my great-nephew, Gautierre Longtail.”
“Ember’s son?” Jennifer asked, reaching out to shake Gautierre’s wing claw with one of her own.
“Yes, Ambassador.” Xavier nodded appreciatively at Jennifer’s morph. She couldn’t help it—the last time she had seen this man, they had both held dragon form, and he was dying with an arrow in his heart. The gesture of respect seemed natural. “He turned fourteen some weeks ago. Like you, Ms. Scales, he had his first morph earlier than the average dragon. This is not so unusual among those of us who raise our families in Crescent Valley.”
“Raise your families?” Jennifer turned in amazement to her father. “In Crescent Valley? Before first morph?”
Jonathan sighed. “It’s not supposed to happen. But Crescent Valley is a big place, and not every rule is easy to enforce.”
“Not every rule is a good idea, Elder Scales.”
“Rules like letting beaststalkers into Crescent Valley?” Jennifer shot back.
Xavier’s reaction surprised her—he actually snickered. “The Blaze has forgiven my niece her indiscretion, as I believe it has forgiven yours, young lady.”
“I hope forgiveness is the order of the day,” Jonathan sighed. “Because I have a great deal to tell you, Xavier. Winona. Catherine.” He nodded at each of the dragons.
Suddenly realizing
what she was looking at, Winona Brandfire gasped at Jonathan. “The crescent moon is still in the sky! What has happened here?”
“My daughter can explain that later,” Jonathan said. He turned to Xavier. “I hope you and your great-nephew will not begrudge me keeping human form tonight. I am enjoying a rather exceptional opportunity.”
“Don’t mind us,” Xavier said with a bit of gruffness. “Tell us why you’ve called us here. You mentioned it was urgent you speak to us, and only us.”
“I will speak before the full Blaze later. But you deserve to hear this first, in private.”
Jennifer held her breath while her father told the Brandfires and Longtails everything about that night twenty years ago: the secret relationship with the beaststalker, the appearance of the silver moon elm, and the attack by the tramplers. Winona stiffened the moment these two entered the story, and she still had not moved by the time Jonathan finished his confession of murder in the defense of Elizabeth. Meanwhile, Catherine gave her grandmother a confused look. Did anyone even tell her what her parents were doing when they disappeared? Jennifer wondered.
“The Blaze should know,” Jonathan finished, “that I am solely responsible for your daughter’s death, Winona. And her husband’s. I am also solely responsible for deceiving the Blaze afterward. Elizabeth had nothing to do with these transgressions. She thought I had owned up to it all long ago and received forgiveness. Forgiveness I hope to receive from you, if you’re willing, in your time.”
The fire in the pit crackled for a long time after Jonathan stopped talking. Waiting for the others to react, Jennifer recalled her own reaction on the side of the highway, when she found out about all this. She looked at Catherine, who was still looking back and forth between her grandmother and the man who had killed her parents. Dragon faces are so hard to read. Is she confused? Outraged? Sad?
Finally, Winona stood up on her hind legs. It appeared to Jennifer the elderly trampler was going to step forward to embrace Jonathan, but instead she veered and began to walk toward the lake.
“Eldest?” Jonathan called out. “You have nothing to say?”
Winona paused but did not turn her head. Steam rose from the water’s edge in front of her. “Elder Scales. You have broken faith with me, for the last time. Catherine, let’s go.”
The Silver Moon Elm Page 30
