Without any regard to the cost of the truth, she was ready to tell all. Relaxed and smiling, Anni gazed up at Vivian’s kind face. “Well, I sort of promised—”
“Be warned, Miss Moon.” It was the same mysterious, rolling voice Anni heard outside. “An oath made by the key is binding. You shall not break the terms of your accord.”
Anni looked down the hall, but no one was there. All the cozy warm sensations drained from her body. She turned around to Vivian and said, “Did you—” when suddenly her right hand clapped over her lips, completely against her will.
Her stomach coiled; she had no power to remove her hand from her mouth.
“Anni?” asked Vivian, with a mixed look of amusement and confusion.
“Doubt my veracity if you will, Child. The woman heard nothing. You alone can hear me. Resistance is futile.”
THE BAD NEWS
Anni tugged at her hand. It was tightly clamped around her mouth just as Lexi opened the Headmistress’s door. Lexi’s brows were arched suspiciously as she stared between Anni and Vivian. But for Anni, it was Vivian’s changed expression: a combined look of confusion and disappointment that made her feel worse.
Then suddenly, just like that, as if it had never happened, her hand relaxed. Anni tried to make it look like she was wiping her mouth, but she knew she couldn’t pull it off. She was too embarrassed to even attempt to explain that she couldn’t explain why her hand involuntarily tightened around her mouth, like a toddler refusing to speak right when she was about to tell Vivian everything.
“Anni,” said Lexi slowly. “The Headmistress wants to talk to you.”
Anni frowned at her. “You mean she believes—?”
“Yes.” Lexi shrugged. “It’s the truth. She wants us all to come in.”
“Lexi, may I have a private word with you before we go inside?” asked Vivian.
Annoyed, Anni rose from her chair and made for the door. She overheard Zelda say, “I assure you, Egbert will disagree entirely—”
“Anni Moon!” called the Headmistress. “Nothing good comes from lurking in doorways. Come in.”
She did. Her pulse quickened as she took one of two empty seats before the huge desk. Lexi followed Vivian and took the other. Headmistress Turnkey had never looked as exhausted or as angry as she did now.
“As it stands, Lexi would have me believe that she and she alone devised this dangerous plot to sneak outside in the middle of the night. Of course, I find this admission surprising, given the fact that Lexi, a model student, who’s never once been in trouble, decided to risk both your lives in an electrical storm, where I might add that either of you could have been gravely injured….Anni, I will only ask you once. Is this true?”
Vivian touched Anni’s shoulder. “It’s okay. The truth won’t hurt you.”
Anni glimpsed Lexi twisting her pearl pendant; she was nervous. Anni felt trapped between speaking against her best friend, the promise she made, and the truth. Could she let Lexi take the blame? The steely glint in Headmistress Turnkey’s eyes made up Anni’s mind.
Anni tried to stand, but couldn’t. She opened her mouth; it snapped shut. By no act or will of her own, her head moved involuntarily, nodding up and down, but that was nothing compared to an even bigger betrayal, when her own lips uttered the word “Yes!”
Dumbfounded, Anni couldn’t move or speak to retract her statement. All she could do was watch as Lexi sighed and relaxed into her chair. What was happening?
Headmistress Turnkey’s gaze shifted between the girls. She finally said, “I will speak with Egbert personally first thing in the morning, but as of tomorrow, the both of you are officially expelled. This is for the best.”
A collective gasp filled the room. Anni was too stunned to move. Lexi, too, sat there in shock. Silence reigned. How could this possibly be for the best? Headmistress Turnkey’s word was final and the discussion was over.
Vivian and Finnegan silently escorted the girls to their fourth floor common room. Anni didn’t understand why the Minion had to be a part of the escort, but when they entered he took out his keys and waited next to the small oval door to Lexi’s bedroom.
“What are you doing?” asked Vivian.
Finnegan stared at Lexi and said, “Headmistress’s orders.”
“But, Rufous dear,” pleaded Vivian. “Can’t you allow them to stay together? After all, surely…”
“Anni’s lucky I’m not making her sleep in the kitchen. Lexi, say good night.”
Anni couldn’t believe it. Lexi hugged her, said “Good night,” and ran into her bedroom without another word. Finnegan locked her door and retreated to the hall.
Vivian took Anni’s hand. “I’m sorry. I would like to speak to you, but,” she glanced over her shoulder, “perhaps in the morning. I think it’s best if you rest. In the meantime, I will speak to the Headmistress…”
Finnegan jangled his keys. Anni glared at him, loathing every fiber of his being, as he closed and locked their common room door for the night.
Anni ran to Lexi’s door. “Lexi? Lexi? I’m sorry. If you let me take the blame you can stay here at school. This is all my fault. I’ll tell the Headmistress the truth…”
“Stop.” Lexi hiccupped between sobs. “It’s okay, but please stop. It’s not your fault. I don’t blame you. I’m just…tired. I need to sleep.”
There was nothing she could do. It pained Anni to say, “Okay.”
Her legs moved like jelly over to the window seat cushions and she looked out. Chilled air whistled through the leaded panes. Acid burned in the pit of her stomach. Outside, the rain had stopped and the moon tugged itself away from the blanket of clouds, revealing the clock tower. There it stood, as it always had, with little importance or meaning until now.
Conflicted emotions fought for her attention. The injustice of what just happened played over in her head, but what she couldn’t figure out was why she didn’t speak out. And what was the deal with that weird voice? After a considerable amount of time feeling guilty, she took a careful breath; it was time for practical measures. Anni reached under the cushion and pulled out her tattered journal; she needed to make sense of things. It was late, but too much had happened in the space of one day for her mind to sort it out. Mabel had encouraged her to do this whenever life got to be too much, or whenever things needed to be expressed that she couldn’t say out loud. She treasured her journal, a last gift from Mabel.
She flipped through her filled journal to the last twenty empty pages and wrote down everything, starting with Brat. Whether he was real or not, she put it down, but strangely her mind went blank when it came to that voice she heard outside. Nor could she describe what happened in the hall or inside the Headmistress’s office, so she wrote only about hers and Lexi’s expulsion. Anni reached into her pocket and pulled out the velvet cloth, and traced the gold stitching with her finger. She sketched the image and added a question mark as a note. Lexi had asked her to keep it safe. Whatever its value, she decided she couldn’t leave it in her pocket. She closed her journal, stuffed it under the cushion, got out a needle and thread, and sewed the patch on the inside of her black tank top. She then put the tank top on with the velvet side against her stomach, just to check that no one could see the stitches The metal thread was cold and scratched against her skin, reminding her it was there, and safe, like Lexi requested.
WHIFFLE & EGBERT
“Child, arise from your slumber. We have a contract to discuss.”
Anni awoke. She jolted upright and alert, but it was dark and it took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the empty common room. She pressed her warm cheeks against the cool windowpane, and a soft chill rippled through the glass. All remaining spells of sleep lifted, as the previous night’s events burned vivid in her mind. One glance at the clock tower brought tears to her eyes.
“Pray, let us forgo the emotional theatricalities and commence with the introductions and basic particulars,” said a snide yet bored drawl that Anni recognize
d immediately as that invisible voice from last night. She jerked and spun around, but the room was still empty. “Asinine though it is, it would appear that you summoned me the moment your feeble fingers absconded with my key. Were you aware that this would happen?”
Anni frowned, looking up and turning her head. “I didn’t summon or abscond anything! This is my Aunt Mabel’s.” She pressed her hand against the key to make sure it was still there. It was. “Who are you? Why can’t I see you? If it’s you, Brat, this isn’t funny!”
“Child,” the voice chuckled. “I am no mere jester or messenger of messages. And while we are on the subject, I am not particularly inclined to grant you with the confidence of my true name, not yet anyway. Nevertheless, I am prepared to relinquish a title that you may use once you answer my questions.”
“Hey, did you stop me from speaking last night?”
“At last, a proper query. However, I have a superior one in return. I’ve been pondering how a mere child of twelve, a human no less, has the summoning touch! Is this folly?”
“Thirteen! I’ll be thirteen in a week. What you are talking about?”
“I must say that I find your-general countenance lacking in the skills required for the job.”
“Job? What job? Look, if you’re too chicken to show yourself—”
“Child, I’m quite certain my appearance would terrify you,” the voice growled.
“My name is Anni, not Child. Either show yourself or go away!”
“So be it, but we shall meet again; however, I pray the situation is a favorable one for you. Should the occasion arise and you are ready to converse, you may summon me by simply saying the name Whiffle.”
“Whiffle? What kind of name is that? You sound like a toy.”
He was gone, and the little hairs on the back of her neck rose. It was official: she might be going crazy. Not only did she dislike Whiffle’s tone, she had no intention of having another chat with him anytime in the future.
Her mind returned to the previous night’s events. Zelda had said that Egbert would disagree with the Headmistress, but counting on Egbert was a high-hanging hope. Even though Anni wasn’t sure what he would do, it was all she had to cling to.
She cracked open the window; the air smelled sweet and clean. Since her Waterstone uniform was still drying in Brunhild’s storeroom, and her red and pink disco outfit from the lost and found bin was covered in mud, she changed out of her pajamas and put on the only other set of clothes she owned: a white button-down shirt, the black tank top that she sewed the bee patch onto the night before, cargo shorts, and her favorite black-and-white-striped socks, which still had cocoa stains. She wasn’t dressed to school code, but after last night, she hardly thought it mattered.
Thinking about Brat, she went to close the window but stopped. A stranger stood in the middle of the peony beds, four floors below, staring directly up at her. Wearing a red and white rose-patterned car coat, a floppy beige sunhat, and oversized white sunglasses, the stranger’s face was disguised until a gust of wind revealed short, dark hair. Anni squinted, thinking that the stranger looked a lot like Finnegan, but she had to be wrong; Finnegan had a super weird phobia about dirt and gave out detentions like candy to every kid who tracked mud into the school. Whoever it was stood there lopsided, with one foot stuck inside a muddy gopher hole.
Keys jiggled in the common room door’s lock. It startled her into slamming the window shut, but when she turned to look down again, the stranger had disappeared.
“Good. You’re awake,” said Vivian Sugar as she entered. “I wanted to give you and Lexi some time to talk before you had to be downstairs for the parents’ brunch.”
“Wait, we don’t have to go to the parents’ brunch, do we?”
Vivian sighed. “Egbert is expecting both you and Lexi to be there, regardless of what occurred last night. He and the Headmistress are going to make an official announcement about the Murdrock takeover during the brunch. Apparently he has some news to share with the both of you, which is a mystery to me, and afterwards he’s taking you and Lexi to Edgewater. Why he doesn’t meet you up here instead is beyond me.”
“He’s never been up here,” said Anni. “I always meet him in the sunroom.”
“Really? I’ll never understand why he’s so…never mind.” Vivian picked through Finnegan’s key ring. “Egbert is meeting with the Headmistress as we speak. Zelda, too. I’m hoping that together they can talk some sense into her.”
“Do you think the Headmistress will change her mind?”
Vivian’s face fell. “Oh, Anni, I’m not sure…I shouldn’t say this, but…expulsion? I think Charity’s decision was very wrong and incredibly unfair. I only hope that one of them can sway her to reconsider…” Vivian found the key to Lexi’s door. She unlocked it and rested her hand on the wood but didn’t open it. “I think it’s best if you wake her. I’ll give you two some privacy.” She paused before leaving. “Anni, if there is anything you want to tell me, anything at all about last night that will help me help you, I promise I will try to do whatever I can to fix this.”
Anni bit her lip. There was stuff she wanted to say, but she wasn’t sure. First, she needed to talk to Lexi.
“Okay. Thanks she said,” and watched Vivian leave.
Anni waited until Vivian left before opening Lexi’s door. Hues of golden light flooded in through the eastern windows. Lexi was awake, sitting on the corner of her made bed, twisting her finger around the small pearl pendant hanging from her neck as she stared out the window. She was dressed in her school uniform—an oversized sweater, plaid skirt, and penny loafers—and her hair was piled into a huge, messy bun atop her head. Anni was struck by an overwhelming sadness; Waterstone Academy had been the only home Lexi had ever known. What would she call home now?
“I’m going to miss this,” said Lexi, resigned, gazing at Lake Michigan. She dropped her pendant and picked up the patchwork doll by her pillow. Her dark brown fingers laced through the doll’s hair. Anni glared at it, wishing it had never arrived.
Lexi stood and offered it to Anni. “Will you keep the doll safe for me?”
“No!” The words flew from Anni’s mouth before she could stop herself. “Not if you’re going to give up. All this trouble started the second you got that stupid thing.” Anni thought Lexi gave her a weak smile, but continued. “Anyway, Egbert’s downstairs. I’m going to tell him it was me. I’m not letting you get expelled if I can help it.”
“Hm. I’m not sure Egbert will believe you.” Lexi placed the doll on the edge of her bed and walked to the door. “I doubt he can change the Headmistress’s mind.”
Mabel’s key suddenly felt hot against Anni’s chest. At the same time, the golden threads from the velvet patch grew cold against her stomach. Helpless anger swelled up inside her and she yelled, “Why are you acting so weird? Like you knew this would happen, or like something bad was going to. It’s like you are trying to leave me! Just like Mabel did! Just like Teddy left you!”
Lexi stared at Anni in silence.
Anni regretted her words. “Oh, Lexi, sorry. I’m sorry I…I didn’t mean that…”
“Yes, you did.” Lexi’s voice cracked. “If you’re my friend, you’ll keep that doll safe for me.” Lexi left the room.
“Wait.” Furious with herself and her temper, Anni went after Lexi but turned back, grabbed the doll, stuffed it inside Lexi’s old backpack, and flung it over her shoulder. A small piece of paper fluttered to the floor, but she ignored it and dashed out of the room.
Muddled emotions and thoughts carried her down several flights of stairs. A proper, heartfelt apology was necessary, but she worried about Egbert’s plans. What if he didn’t stop Lexi’s expulsion? Anni pushed the thought away as she rounded the last flight of stairs.
“Is it true?” Miranda stood alone in the foyer, with her hand on her hip. Anni ignored her. Miranda blocked Anni’s way into the main hall. “I said, is it true?”
“What?” Anni narrowed h
er eyes. “I don’t have time for your games.”
“That’s not what I heard. I wonder, wherever will you both go?”
Anni felt the blood rush into her eyeballs. She wanted to launch herself at Miranda, but she swallowed her anger. “What do you—?”
“Stop lingering, Miranda, your aunt is in the sunroom,” said Ms. Downsnout, who looked extremely harried because she was juggling several items, including Finnegan’s clipboard and keys. “Anni,” she snapped, “Egbert’s waiting. You know the way.”
Anni waited until Miranda left first. She knew she needed to steel herself before she entered the parents’ brunch. Miranda would’ve already spread the gossip about her and Lexi by now. All she could focus on was Lexi, alone, with all those eyes on her. She hurried down the corridor looking for Egbert, and found two people arguing in the alcove next to the Headmistress’s office.
Anni froze. Egbert, standing there with his annoyingly rigid stance, had cornered Vivian Sugar in front of the statue of Waterstone’s school founder, and to make matters worse, he was pointing his finger at her and shaking it. Anni couldn’t quite make out everything he said, but she heard Vivian say, “…I have a right to know—”
“You have no rights.” Egbert didn’t waste a beat. “I don’t know how you twisted your way in here, but I want you—”
Horrified, Anni cleared her throat. They turned in her direction. Neither registered surprise, but Vivian, with all her grace and poise, walked away without saying a word.
“Where’s Lexi?” Egbert barked, frowning at her. “On second thought, I’m glad we’re alone. I have grave news, and I’m counting on your assistance today. It is absolutely crucial that you follow my instructions. Zelda is here to help, because I haven’t the foggiest idea where Finnegan is. Regardless…”
Anni Moon & The Elemental Artifact: An Elemental Fantasy Adventure Series: Book For Kids Ages 9-12 (Anni Moon Series) Page 5
