After a few minutes, I started formulating a new plan. We’d find the train station and hop a train to Florence. Not as easy as being driven, but as long as Ruffiano didn’t have guards on the station, we should be able to do it. I remembered the metro in Paris and the stations we’d passed through on our journey to Vienna. It hadn’t been easy. It’d been bloody. I started getting really queasy about entering a public place and hanging out until the right train showed up.
Percy tucked me up close to his belly as Penelope flew underneath him and turned upside down, thrusting Gerald up toward me. He waved with a grin, pointing off to the left. Penelope sailed away. I saw the car drive through the deserted streets and pull up to the side of the Arena. The inside light went on. After a moment’s hesitation, we darted down to hover above the hood. The blonde woman inside smiled at us through the windshield. A thrill went through me, igniting sparks in my palms. Being seen by a new human never got old.
Claudia smiled wider as we all saw her. She didn’t look like it was the middle of the night. Her hair lay in sculpted waves back from her handsome face. She wore black-rimmed glasses and burgundy lipstick that matched her long, painted nails. Tess’s mom would’ve been awed. Claudia looked like she stepped out of a magazine ad.
She waved us to the passenger window and the dragons flew inside. “Set them down on the handbag, boys,” she said.
Penelope snorted fire.
“Please excuse my assumption. You are obviously a lady,” said Claudia.
Penelope snorted in agreement and set Gerald and Iris on the fine leather handbag on the passenger seat. Iris was still wrapped up in ribbons and looking incredibly uncomfortable. Ovid landed on one foot and gently placed Leanna next to Iris. Percy put me on the handbag next and perched on the dashboard to preen, showing off his scales for Claudia. To compete, Ovid zipped over to land on the steering wheel, tossing his head back and forth and putting out his wings so she could see the span.
Claudia flipped off the light and gave each dragon a brief pat. “Please get on the seat or the floor. We don’t want anyone seeing you,” she said.
Satisfied that they were the best dragons ever, the trio flew to the backseat as Claudia drove off. “We’ll be out of town in a few minutes.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“You are welcome, Your Highness,” said Claudia.
“Please call me Matilda. The royalty thing is starting to bug me.”
She laughed and put on some speed. “As you wish, Matilda. You should rest. The drive will take almost three hours.” She laid a soft, folded piece of flannel on the purse and we climbed on. I dropped the bags and sat down next to Iris’s still body with Horc in my lap. Fidelé and Rufus hopped off my shoulder and rolled around like nuts on the fuzzy fabric. If they liked it that much, I’d have to make them a nest of the stuff. Maybe Rufus would stop sleeping on my face.
“We made it,” said Leanna.
“Not yet,” said Gerald. “Don’t jinx us.”
Leanna laughed, but I quietly agreed. Every time I thought we were in the clear, we really weren’t.
“I am hungry,” announced Horc.
“It’s one in the morning,” I said.
“And I am awake.”
“I’ll feed you in Florence.” I said that, but I didn’t know how. I had no money. The royal jewels didn’t count. We’d been lucky so far, so maybe the Florence ruling family would take care of us. I had to tell them who I was. There’d probably be a banquet. I dreaded yet another banquet, but there’d be food.
Horc tapped my cheek. “Are you considering Hercule’s words?”
“Not really,” I said.
Leanna waved at me. “What words?”
“Nothing. He just mentioned a name to me. Paul-Phillipe Baudin.”
Gerald and Leanna frowned. I sensed a frown coming from Iris, although she couldn’t move.
“That’s familiar,” said Gerald. “Who is it?”
“I don’t know, but I think I’ve heard that name somewhere,” I said.
The car lurched forward, putting on more speed. An electric zing went through me and Iris’s ribbons vanished. She gasped and sat up.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine.” Iris grinned at us. “I know who it is.”
“Huh?”
“Paul-Phillipe Baudin. I know who he is.”
Gerald turned to her, astonished. “You know?”
“Yes, I know and I didn’t read it in a book.”
“Who is it then?”
She stretched out on her stomach and propped her head on her palms. “Say that not everything worth learning can be learned in a book.”
Gerald flopped over and yawned. “I don’t want to know that bad.”
“I do,” said Leanna. “Not everything worth learning can be learned in a book.”
Iris shook her head. “You don’t count. Gerald has to say it. He’s always acting like he’s so much better because he goes to the library and skipped a grade.”
Leanna crawled over to Iris and nannied her up. “I’m sure he doesn’t mean that he’s better than you or Matilda.”
Iris relaxed and Gerald stiffened. “I’m not better.”
“Yeah, right,” said Iris.
“I’m not the best. Iris is going to be a cardinal. Matilda’s royal and the only kindler in the world. Master Yik already said Horc’s going to be Austria’s finance minister. He’s not even three. Victory hatched being able to speak dragon and learned Mandarin in three days. If we ever get back to Vienna, I’m going to elementary school. I stink.”
“I guess I stink, too,” said Leanna with a twinkle in her eyes.
“You got your gift at eight. Eight! Then you were apprenticed to the imperial nanny. I’m the loser here. Where’s my gift? What can I do?” Gerald shocked me by bursting into tears.
Leanna crawled over and pulled him into her arms. “You’ll get your gift someday.”
“It’ll be something stupid like the ability to pee standing up.”
“All males pee standing up,” said Horc.
“I splatter,” wailed Gerald.
“Thanks, Horc,” I said. “Big help.”
“It is a fact.”
I rolled him off my lap. “Do you have any helpful facts?”
“I am hungry.”
I groaned and an enormous fingernail tapped the fabric next to me. Claudia smiled at us before looking back at the road for a second. “I have a helpful fact,” she said.
Gerald sucked in a shuddering breath. “What?”
“Hercule is the most accomplished healer in Italy. He is only rivaled by the vermillion in France,” she said.
A familiar pressure filled my chest. Claudia didn’t know there was only one vermillion left, if we were lucky.
Iris glanced at me, her sweet face filled with compassion. Then she said, “How does that help?”
“Hercule is a galen,” said Claudia. “Galen are healers by nature, but he didn’t get the gift until he was twenty.”
Gerald looked like his wings grew two sizes. “Really? Is that true?”
“Yes, it is. He wasn’t seen until he was thirty-four.”
“I’m seen.”
“You most certainly are. Don’t worry so much,” said Claudia.
I could’ve kissed her, but it would’ve required flying. “You’re right. It’ll happen, Gerald.”
“It will,” he said, wiping his eyes. “Iris, not everything worth learning can be learned in a book.”
Her mouth fell open. She didn’t expect to win that one. “Thanks, Gerald. You’re going to be great when you get your gift. It’s Grandpa.”
Grandpa?
Iris grinned at me. “Remember? When Lucian Galen told us about Grandma Vi being in Paris, he said Paul-Phillipe Baudin was our grandpa.”
“Yes!” said Gerald. “That’s it. What did Hercule say about him?”
“What was he like?” asked Iris.
“You never met him?” ask
ed Leanna. “That’s so sad. I love my grandfather.”
Horc crawled into my lap and cuddled me.
“He got killed in Paris,” I said.
“In a horen attack,” said Iris. “Right after our mom was born.”
Claudia grimaced. “I’ve never seen a horen. They’re so rare. What terrible luck.”
Yes. Terrible luck. The luck of a kindler. My luck.
Horc patted my cheeks and mouthed, “I will not tell.”
I kissed him on his biggest lump and whispered in his ear. “Thanks.” I didn’t know why, but I didn’t want to tell the others that Paul-Phillipe was a kindler. It’s not that I was ashamed, although plenty of fairies, especially wood fairies, thought kindlers were cursed and uncontrollable. I didn’t know kindling ran in families. Nobody ever said that. It wasn’t even in the Speciesapedia. Of course, Gerald’s beloved Practical Guide to all Species in the Fae wasn’t accurate about kindlers anyway. It said I wasn’t in control of my gift and that kindlers burned down houses on a regular basis. I never burned anything I didn’t want to burn.
Mom and Dad had been horrified when they found out what I was. We got shunned by the other Whipplethorn fairies over it. One thing was for sure. Mom didn’t know about her father. If Grandma Vi had told her, she wouldn’t have been so shocked with me. Was it possible that Grandma didn’t know herself? They were married, but not for very long before Paul-Phillipe got killed. Lucien Galen knew him and he didn’t tell me what my grandfather was. Lucien knew I was a kindler. There was no point in keeping it a secret. Plus, I’d just been attacked by a horen. Seems like Grandpa’s gift was important information. The horen must’ve known about Paul-Phillipe. Kindlers were their natural enemies. How did they know about Paul-Phillipe if Lucien didn’t?
Gerald, Iris, and Leanna talked about grandparents and nice things on their side of the fabric. I definitely wasn’t going to tell and ruin that. They weren’t thinking about our grandfather’s death. They were thinking about him. Mentioning the horen would take that curiosity away. Then it would be about them, the nastiest creatures on Earth.
After an hour, they got tired and fell asleep. I rolled Horc up in a corner of the fabric. His mossy brown eyes opened. “I believe it could be a coincidence.”
I tucked him in tight. “Me being a kindler? I don’t think so.”
“The horen finding you.” He drifted off and I felt eyes on me. Claudia smiled. “Could be.”
That hadn’t even crossed my mind. I never questioned why three horen showed up in the antique mall. Nobody understood horen. They just did what they did. But three out of five in the world, a half-hour from where I was living? Coincidences didn’t get that big.
I didn’t go to sleep. My mind wouldn’t leave me alone. If I was the reason that the horen came to the antique mall, all those deaths were on me. The Commander had nearly died. Gerald’s parents. So many terrible things had happened. But how did they know where to look?
Claudia tapped the blanket. “We’ve arrived. I will park and walk you to the duomo.”
“Duomo?” I asked.
“The cathedral. It is the seat of power in Florence. The de’ Medicis rule the city and surrounding area.”
I unrolled Horc and he yawned before gassing.
Claudia gagged, waving her hand wildly in front of her nose.
“What are they like?” I asked with my nose pinched,
“Civil,” she said, still gagging.
That didn’t sound like a compliment. “Are they like the Montagues? Cliff fairies?”
“They’re wood fairies, like you. They have the over-sized wings to match their over-sized egos.” Claudia laughed a little. “Listen to me, coloring your first impression.”
“Go ahead. I’d like to know what’s going to happen ahead of time.” I put Fidelé and Rufus on my shoulder and shook Leanna awake. She woke up Gerald and Iris. They were so tired, they looked dizzy. Maybe we could rest in Florence for a day.
“The de’ Medici have always seen themselves has the arbitrators of Italian culture. They have been seen by the great artists of every age, including Leonardo da Vinci and Donatello.”
“Da Vinci?” Gerald jumped to his feet. “That’s amazing. Do they have good libraries?”
“I cannot tell you. I would imagine so. The de’ Medicis do not like to be outdone.”
“I hope they let me in. I have to be ready when my gift does come,” said Gerald. “You’re going to tell them you’re a princess, right? I think you have to. We’re supposed to visit. They know you’re coming.”
“Alright, alright,” I said. “I’ll tell them.”
“No. I’ll tell them,” said Leanna. “I’m the only one left from the empress’s court. Normally, Gledit would’ve done it.”
“Don’t tell me,” I said. “Protocol.”
She grinned and pinned her imperial nanny brooch back on her chest. “Yes, Your Highness.”
“Gledit would be so proud.”
“I doubt it. My hair’s snaggly and I lost one of my earrings.”
“We’re all clean and wearing shoes,” I said. “That’s pretty good for us.”
“I guess it is,” said Leanna as Claudia stopped the car.
She pressed a button on the dash and opened her door. A rush of moist air from a recent rain came in. “We will walk from here.” She held out her hand and we climbed on. Then she put us on her shoulder. It’d been a long time since I’d ridden around on a human, not since Tess in Paris.
“How far is it to Rome?” I asked.
“Three more hours. I’m sorry I can’t take you that far. I have to work tomorrow,” said Claudia.
“I’m so sorry. How will you do it after driving all night?”
“One finds a way when one must. I think you understand this.”
I nodded. “I’m still sorry.”
“Basta, bella bellissima. It is my pleasure.” She leaned into the back of the car, grabbed something and said, “Wake up, sleepy dragons.”
Percy and Ovid darted out, trying to look as if they hadn’t been snoozing at all. Penelope was slower and could barely be bothered to flap. She landed on Claudia’s other shoulder and curled up, tucking her head under her wing. Claudia pressed a button on a black thing in her hand and the car lights flashed. “Now let’s get you safely to the duomo.”
Ovid and Percy circled over Claudia’s head as she walked away down a pretty street with no cars parked on it. The buildings were completely different from what we’d seen in Paris and Vienna. Some were made of rough-cut stone. Others had pretty plaster in soft yellows or creamy pinks.
“They’re not going to do anything to me, are they?” she asked. “I’ve heard about dragons.”
“Everything you’ve heard is true, but they’ll be good,” I said. “Victory, tell them no weeing.”
Victory peeped at me from Iris’s shoulder. “Yes, Aunt.” He took a running leap off Claudia’s shoulder and Ovid snatched him up mid-fall.
“That was impressive,” said Claudia, pushing a button on the black thing in her hand. An umbrella popped open a second before a light drizzle started.
“There it is,” said Gerald.
The duomo was hard to miss. It wasn’t like any other building that we’d walked past or any building anywhere, I suspected. It rose up between two cream-colored buildings and I craned my neck back to get a good look. “That’s nothing like St. Stephen’s.” And it wasn’t. Where St. Stephen’s was gothic and soaring to the sky, covered in stone carvings, the duomo was curiously flat and boxy in comparison.
Iris embraced me. “It’s the Christmas cathedral.”
At first, I didn’t get what she was talking about, but then I saw it. The duomo was covered in patterns made of red and green stone along with the cream-colored base.
“I love it,” said Leanna.
“That is the coolest cathedral ever,” said Gerald.
Iris’s face fell. “It’s not better than St. Stephen’s.”
“Er
…”
“It’s not.”
I rubbed my eyes. “They’re both great.”
“Wait until you see St. Peter’s in Rome,” said Claudia.
“St. Peter’s is bigger, but the duomo is older. You see, it was designed in the—”
I turned away. I didn’t need a lecture at four in the morning—or ever, really.
“I enjoy the symmetry,” said Claudia.
“It’s kind of soothing in a way.” I never thought I’d say that about a cathedral. I’d been attacked in every cathedral I’d ever been in.
Horc stretched and said, “I wonder what the initial cost was. The markup would be considerable.”
“Can’t you just enjoy the beauty without putting a price tag on it?”
“I appreciate the beauty.” The way Horc was rubbing his hands together, I doubted he was thinking about anything but profit.
“I can find out what it cost,” said Gerald, looking pointedly at Iris, “in the library.”
“I would like to know the building cost, labor, and time in construction,” said Horc.
“We have to consider the maintenance over time.”
“Naturally. It must all be considered.”
Claudia glanced down at me. “I’ve never heard the duomo talked about in such a way.”
“And you never will again. They’re weird,” I said.
“They’re your brothers? How is that possible?”
I could see Horc and Gerald go silent and watch for my answer. It was easy to give. “They’re the brothers I chose. So how do we get in? It has to be locked.”
“It is to humans, but not to the fae. Hercule says fairies can get in through the rose window above the front door.” Claudia walked past a shop with a couple of lit green crosses on the facade and came into an open area next to a round building that matched the duomo. “That is the baptistery.”
“I don’t see a rose window,” said Iris.
Claudia skirted the baptistery and we got the full view of the duomo. “It’s above the front door.”
The doors were dramatic in aged green bronze. An elephant could’ve walked through them with no trouble. Claudia stopped yards in front of the doors and said, “This is where I leave you. Fly up to the window and fly through the center.”
To the Eternal (Away From Whipplethorn Book Five) Page 28