by Laurie McKay
Tito put his forearm over his eyes. “The school will be locked.”
Caden pulled out his phone. It was true, he didn’t know many words to text, but he was learning. He hit the z. Then he hit it thrice more. Zs had something to do with sleep. He added a frowny face because he liked frowny faces, then hit Send to Brynne. “Brynne will come and handle the doors.” A moment later, Caden’s phone buzzed. It was a text of a smiley face. He pulled Tito’s arm from his eyes and showed him. “See,” Caden said, “she’s already ready.”
“I’ve got no idea how you two manage to communicate like that,” Tito said.
Caden yanked Tito’s arm and pulled him up. “I have only until Tuesday to complete the quest. Time grows short. Get up, Sir Tito. We must find proof of the true culprit lest I and my brother be devoured, lest the guilty villain causes more not-accidents.”
Tito groaned, but he got dressed. He frowned as he helped lower down the escape rope. “If Rosa finds out about this, she’ll blow her top.”
Tito often worried about Rosa blowing her top. Caden put his hand on Tito’s shoulder. “After which she’ll ground us and send us to counseling.” He smiled. “Neither of which is true punishment. Not compared to Winterlands ice shard immersion. It’s—”
Tito held up his hand. “Yeah, I don’t want to know what it is,” he said. “Look, I know counseling isn’t awful, but it’s not fun either. Some of us don’t want to talk about everything.”
Caden leaned closer. “The gnome people of the lower Springlands force people to talk by cutting out their tongues and using ritual magic to make the tongue talk.” He pointed to his mouth. “If they find you innocent, they use the spent blood to magic it back. It takes several weeks, though.”
Tito scrunched up his nose. “You can’t help it, can you? You told Rosa that one yet?”
Rosa found Caden’s knowledge of Greater Realm punishments distressing. He opened the window. “I’m waiting for the appropriate time,” he said, which would most likely be when Rosa was about to take Caden’s phone for texting emojis with Brynne at dinner.
A few moments later, Caden and Tito stood at the edge of the woods, Tito with his backpack, Caden with his magical coat, compass, and pocketful of paper clips. Soon after, Brynne ran up to them with moonlight shining in her hair and silvery eyes.
“Jane said she’ll cover if she hears Rosa get up.” She looked between them, seemingly excited. “To the school?”
“The royal weirdo wants to break into it.”
Brynne beamed. “An excellent idea.”
“We’re not breaking in, we’re investigating. We are on a mission given to me by the principal. We are doing so to protect the school, not steal from it.”
“We could steal a little,” Brynne said.
Caden didn’t dignify that with an answer.
He whistled for Sir Horace. His noble steed should be near. He often came to check for the snacks Caden left him this time of night.
The clouds cleared, and the moon appeared. It was over half-full—a waning gibbous moon according to Tito. Brynne stood beside him.
In two days, Caden would again be cursed. He’d be at the mercy of any command given him. His brother needed him, he’d a quest to complete, and Brynne’s careless magic could destroy Caden’s ability to help him.
“You said you’d break my curse.”
She shifted on her feet. “I am trying, prince,” she said. She bit her bottom lip and looked up again. “I have one idea. . . .”
From the gentle slope of the mountain, Caden heard hoofbeats. He felt them pounding the ground as he waited for Brynne to tell him some reasonable way to break the curse. She twisted her hands together, then reached them out as if to gather the moonlight. “We could destroy the moon.” She smiled, unsure. “No moon, no curse.”
Tito laughed.
Caden glanced back up. “I’m not sure that would be honorable. Although,” he said, and reconsidered, “Mrs. Belle once claimed the moon is a hunk of uninhabited rock. Destroying it wouldn’t be much different than crushing a stone.”
Brynne’s face lit up. “I know,” she said like she was thrilled Caden was in favor of her scheme. “But I’m not sure how to destroy something so big and far away.”
“You once blew up Mr. Rathis’s door from afar.” No one would suffer at the destruction of a moon. He met Brynne’s gaze. “I believe in you. You can do it.”
Tito stopped laughing. “No, bro, you and Miss Magic here can’t blow up the moon.”
Brynne seemed a bit insulted. “I might be able to do it.”
“No, we need the moon,” Tito said. “It controls the tides and other important stuff.” He looked between them. “No destroying the moon.”
A moment later, Sir Horace poked his mighty muzzle from the trees. At Caden’s command, he knelt by the yard’s edge. They climbed on his back, Caden in front, Tito in the middle, and Brynne tail side. Tito shifted as if uncomfortable. “If we get caught,” Tito said, “you’re the one who’s going to have to explain why we snuck out.”
Brynne laughed. “Like you could stop him, Sir Tito.”
That also made Tito laugh.
More jokes about Caden being chatty. No matter, he would simply explain to them why they were wrong on the ride to the school. Sir Horace stood, pawed the ground, and released a mighty whinny. He was a Galvanian stallion ready to run through the night, and he got them to the school faster than Rosa’s pickup ever had.
Except for circles of light from the lampposts on the roadway and walk, the campus was dark against the Ashevillian night. The moon, a mere two days from half full, backlit the mountain.
“Let us be careful now,” Caden said as Sir Horace cantered up the drive.
They approached the side of the building, and Caden felt Sir Horace tense. Sir Horace knew of the danger here, of the villainous teachers and the Elderdragon. Caden often talked of it on their nighttime rides. “Easy, friend,” Caden said, and patted his neck.
At the side door near the gymnasium, they stopped, and Brynne hopped off. Sir Horace snapped at her shoulder as she walked close to his head. She looked indignant and spoke in hushed tones. “Control that beast, prince.”
“He’s being playful.” Caden also spoke in a low voice. “It was meant as an endearment.”
To prove Caden’s point, Sir Horace nipped her long hair.
“Ow,” Brynne said.
“See,” Caden whispered, “he’s warming to you.”
Behind him, Caden felt Tito moving about. Caden looked back and watched as Tito scooted backward, then slid roughly down Sir Horace’s majestic gray rear, and caught his nose in Sir Horace’s tail. It was a dangerous dismount, indeed. Sir Horace also watched, obviously dismayed.
Once on the ground, Tito moved away and looked up at Caden. He frowned his lopsided frown. “What?”
Caden hopped from Sir Horace with ease. “You need riding lessons.”
“I really don’t,” Tito said, and pulled two flashlights out of his book bag. He handed one to Caden. The other he switched on and shone at the lock.
Brynne crouched in front of the door and pulled a pin from her hair. It shimmered gold in the yellow light of the flashlight. Caden bent down to better examine it. It was an extremely nice-looking hairpin, much finer than seemed possible. It had a shimmery aura around it. Enchanted, no doubt. As Jane had given Rosa a magic-looking stapler earlier that day, which Caden had deemed enchanted item number one hundred and thirty-two, the Enchanted Stapler of Stapling, the pin would be number one hundred and thirty-three, the Magical Hairpin of Unlocking.
Between Brynne’s magic and thieving skills—not to mention her enchanted hairpin—the lock clicked open almost immediately. Nothing exploded, cracked in half, or crumbled. She grinned at Caden, then pushed open the door.
She and Tito crept inside first. Caden tried to lead Sir Horace into the hall by his mane, but Sir Horace didn’t want to enter. Also, he was too big to fit through the door.
&n
bsp; “Maybe you should leave Sir Horace outside,” Tito whispered.
Sir Horace edged back.
Caden supposed Sir Horace was more suited to outdoor adventure. “Stay near,” he told Sir Horace. “We will be back soon enough.” Then he let the door softly click shut.
The hall was long, dark, and deep. The tiles seemed to disappear into shadow. The classroom doors were black voids between rows of dented lockers. It felt cold and quiet like a crypt. They kept their voices as low as possible.
Although Caden couldn’t see Tito’s face, he could feel his frown. “It’s not supposed to be this dark,” Tito said. “Or creepy.”
“It’s night,” Brynne said. “Night is dark.” She had her cell phone out. It made her face glow, and she looked like a beautiful ghost. She pushed a few buttons—updating Jane, no doubt.
“Schools usually keep one or two emergency lights on all the time,” Tito said.
At the foster prison, Rosa insisted they turn off all lights whenever they left a room. She said it saved money and the planet. Still. Tito did know more about schools than Caden, and it was odd to see the school encased in darkness. Usually, it was only the long hall that felt so like the Winter Castle catacombs, and even the catacombs had torches kept alight with fairie fire.
The school at night was not the same as the school during the day. It was almost unrecognizable.
Caden switched on his flashlight. Brynne stepped so that she was shoulder to shoulder with him. She switched her cell phone to its flashlight mode. “We should look in Mrs. Belle’s classroom,” she said. “That’s where the first accident occurred.”
The science classroom was locked, but this time no one lurked about and kept them from finding a way inside. Brynne opened the door with the Magical Hairpin of Unlocking, and Caden shone his light inside.
Broken beakers and toppled shelves lay wrecked on the floor. On the front counter, three lone flasks were lined up like Mrs. Belle had put them there for a class that never happened. The door to the chemical cabinet in the back hung open. The shelves were empty, the contents missing.
The classroom smelled bad. It was a different bad smell than the green gas, however. It wasn’t deep and rotten like the fruits of a fartenbush. This bad smell was like decaying flesh, like dead mammal.
Tito closed the door behind them. He shone his light on the window, but there was no glass. A thick piece of wood was placed in the frame like a false exit. “Well, this is fun and smelly,” he said. His voice sounded muffled. Then he shone his light in Caden’s face. “What are we looking for?”
Caden squinted and shone his flashlight so that it was Tito who was blinded. Tito had his shirt pulled up over his nose.
“Anything odd,” Caden said.
Tito spoke through his shirt. “Well, there’s the smell. . . .”
Brynne stepped between them and pushed both their flashlights toward the floor. “We found bugs and rats in the auditorium. Look for other swarming things. Ants, maybe? Or birds.”
Tito pointed his flashlight toward the ceiling as if checking for some murderous bird swarm.
“Birds don’t swarm,” Caden said. “They flock.”
“Close enough,” Brynne said. Her cell phone flashed a message. She held it up and kept her words low. “Jane wants us to look for signs of ritual magic.”
Near Caden’s boots lay a pile of broken glass. It was as if it had been left where it had fallen. Most of the room looked like that, like no one had entered since the accident. It felt like a ruin and not the lively space where he had learned about atoms and cells. He’d seen Mr. Creedly and Mrs. Belle guarding the door. Were they trying to keep people out? And if so, why? He reached out to pick up a glass shard and his blood-dagger wound pinched.
Caden set the shard of glass back in the pile. He needed to keep his wits as sharp as the broken glass and figure out the culprit. He’d save himself and Jasan. And if possible, he’d connect Rath Dunn to these evil actions. To do that, he needed to be brave and smart like the Elite Paladin he would be once he found a dragon to slay.
“Huh,” Tito said.
Though the word was simple, Tito sounded thoughtful. Maybe he had similar thoughts. “What is it, Sir Tito?” Caden whispered.
Tito shone the light at Caden’s face again. “If there was evidence lying around the science room, Ms. Primrose wouldn’t need you to investigate. The police wouldn’t have deemed it an accident.”
That, too, had crossed Caden’s mind. “The police don’t understand Greater Realm magic. They don’t believe in lunch witches and ritual magic. If we know what happened, and who did it, we can build an Ashevillian case against him or her.”
“Yeah,” Tito said. “How do you expect to do that?”
Caden rubbed at his arm. It was stinging. “Maybe we can convince Officer Levine and Jenkins to investigate with Ashevillian tools.”
“Bro, I don’t know,” Tito said. “They’re busy policing spring tourists right now.”
Brynne moved over to the side of the room and held her glowing phone near the sink. “Or we can trick them into confessing,” she said. “That works, doesn’t it, Sir Tito? That’s what the detectives do on the television.” She opened the door under the sink and shone her phone around inside.
Tito moved to the back and started looking in cabinets. “Yeah. Maybe.”
Caden doubted any villain would confess. He looked at the desktops. When he got to Jane’s desk, he saw that someone had used a sharp edge to cut through her sketch of the Great Walking Oak. He traced the gnashes with his thumb. The Walking Oak was the protector of elves, magic users, and plants. While Caden felt the Winterbird was superior to the tree, it was disrespectful to strike out the image.
From the back of the room, Tito swore. Then he said, “Oh gross.”
Caden and Brynne hurried to him. Caden shone his flashlight at Tito. Truly, Tito looked as if he’d seen something icky.
“In the third cabinet,” Tito said.
Caden peeked over Brynne’s shoulder and rubbed at his arm. It hurt more this night than most. That was odd. His wound only reopened in the proximity of Rath Dunn’s blood dagger, and Rath Dunn and his blood dagger were nowhere near the science room. The school was empty.
Brynne used her phone to light the space.
Inside, there were seven dead and dried-up rats.
“You wanted rats,” Tito said. “I found you rats.”
“Dead rats,” Caden said.
That didn’t seem right. The creatures in the auditorium were skittering in the walls, and the spelling bee swarm had been after the gas incident. These rats looked many days gone. The fur seemed brittle. It was more skeleton than anything. Yet the smell was intense. Like necromancy, Caden realized.
Tito shone his light back into Caden’s face. “We had rats once at the house. Jane talked Rosa into using humane traps.” Then he had to explain what a humane rattrap was. “You, like, catch the rat in it, then let it go in the woods. Live and let live, I guess.”
“That would never work with Greater Realm rats,” Brynne said. “They’d just return to the building and eat you.” She picked up a stray pencil and poked at the rat closest to her. There was something under it—a fabric bag wrapped with a length of gray hair. She reached in and grabbed it.
Caden stepped back. “What is it?”
Undeterred by the ick factor, Brynne untied it and dumped it out. Chalk-white bones—like that of small animals—tumbled onto the floor. “Bones,” she said. “Dead things. These, and the smell, are definite signs of necromancy.” She looked up at Caden. “The only villain I’ve seen who appears to be a necromancer is Mr. Bellows.”
“He killed the poor rats?” Tito said, and Caden wondered if it was truly Jane who’d talked Rosa into the humane traps.
“Necromancers don’t kill so much as collect and use the dead,” Caden said.
Brynne gathered the bones and retied the bag. “He probably just dug them up somewhere. Or found them in the walls.
Who knows?” She scrunched up her nose. “Strange that he’d animate rats, though.”
“You’re saying these were zombie rats?” Tito said. Now he sounded more amused than repulsed. “That’s what you’re saying?”
“Somewhat.” She stood, let the cabinet close, and put the bag on the floor. Then she stomped on it until everything within was likely a fine dust. “There. If he wants more zombie rats, he’ll have to make a new one.”
What purpose was there in reanimating rats? Caden crossed his arms. “The bees were living, not undead.”
“Then the necromancer controlled the rats but not the bees,” Brynne said. She shone her phone under a desk, then tilted her head. “There’s something here.”
Caden ducked down, but he didn’t see anything. “Where?”
Tito crouched beside him. Like Brynne, he turned his head to the side. “There are weird symbols. The light has to hit it right to see them.”
Caden tilted his head. Then he did see runes and ritual magic signs scribbled under the desk. He checked another. It was the same.
“What’s that mean?” Tito said.
That meant Jane would be as happy as a crypt wraith in a plague. Caden furrowed his brow. “It means, unlike the auditorium, there are signs of ritual magic here, and ritual magic is always connected to the place it’s cast,” he said. He pointed toward the rats. It seemed the rats and runes were connected. As were the lunch witch and the necromancer. “And such evil requires sacrifice.”
In the glow from her phone, Brynne looked oddly impressed. “Maybe they mixed their magics. The lunch witch used some of the school rodents to fuel her spell, then the necromancer animated the dead.” He could sense Brynne’s mind dancing with possibilities. “I’ve only heard whispers of such things.”
“If so, they did it for an evil purpose. It’s not a good thing.”
“I didn’t say it was, prince. But it’s an interesting thing.”
“Not as interesting as the zombie rats,” Tito said.
In the back corner of the room, Caden shone his light on the remains of a small potted palm tree Mrs. Belle had kept in the room. It looked withered and dead. He considered the plants that had died around the school—the azaleas, the dead forest downslope of the cafeteria.
