As she finished speaking, a tiger sprang from behind a pew and launched into the air directly at Mr. Mayfair's back. As smoothly as if he'd known the attack was coming, Mr. Mayfair spun with his sword raised.
"Sword!" Lily screamed.
Midleap, Tye veered, contorting his tiger body above the pews to avoid the blade. The sword grazed his fur, and Lily
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saw specks of red blood fly. She screamed again and strained against the ropes.
Tye landed, paws forward, against a pew. Under his weight, the pew tipped and crashed into the next pew. Sword arcing through the air, Mr. Mayfair advanced on the tiger boy. Tye twisted aside and swiped at Mr. Mayfair with his claws. Mr. Mayfair dodged, and the sword blade flashed again. Tye crouched, and the sword nicked his shoulder.
Rearing up on his hind paws, Tye swatted at Mr. Mayfair's sword arm. His paw impacted, and Mr. Mayfair staggered backward and the tiger boy hurled himself at the knight. Mr. Mayfair dodged again. His sword flashed toward Tye's flank. Tye jumped up onto the stone railing, narrowly avoiding the blade.
For an instant, the tiger boy perched on the railing. Behind him, the chapel stretched soundless and beautiful. He crouched, ready to spring again.
Mr. Mayfair lunged across the choir box and thrust his sword at Lily's neck. She didn't have time to scream. He halted an inch from her throat. In a calm voice, he said, "That's enough, kitty." The tip of the sword touched Lily's throat. She sucked in air shallowly.
Balanced on the stone, the tiger boy froze with muscles poised for another leap.
Everything was silent.
"Change yourself and join us," Mr. Mayfair said, as civilly as if inviting Tye to join him for a cocktail party.
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The tiger boy hesitated. He could escape, she thought. One leap and he'd be down on the chapel floor. "Go!" Lily shouted.
"She'll be dead before your paws hit the ground," Mr. Mayfair warned. He pressed the tip of the blade against her neck, and Lily felt a prick. Involuntarily, she gasped.
Tye didn't move.
"Don't trust him," she said, barely a whisper. "Remember, he freed the Chained Dragon. He was responsible for our parents' deaths. He was responsible for the death of his own son. He's willing to sacrifice his grandson. He won't hesitate to kill us."
"I never hesitate when the cause is right," Mr. Mayfair said. "It is a burden that I bear, and do not think that I bear it lightly. But you don't need to die today, Tiger Boy."
Tiger fur shimmered. In seconds, Tye crouched on the stone railing as himself. He rose, balancing. "Tye, please, jump! Run!" Lily said. "I need you free. You have to take my mother through the gate. You have to take your father and my grandmother and all of them."
Tye climbed off the railing. "Sorry, Lily, but I'm not losing you."
Her heart sank. With both of them caught, the FitzRandolph Gate was sealed.
"Wise choice, young man," Mr. Mayfair said. "Come here and sit beside your overly melodramatic young friend."
Without a word, Tye sat next to Lily.
Mr. Mayfair wrapped the remaining ropes around Tye.
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"What a rare opportunity," he said. "For once, you are not under the watchful eye of your gargoyle friends. None of them were here to see you enter this chapel, were they?"
"Please don't hurt him." Lily struggled against the ropes. "If you hurt him, I'll ..." She tried to think of a suitable threat and failed. "Don't you dare."
"You, my dear," Mr. Mayfair said to Lily, "have an alarming tendency toward heroics. You are quite a bit like your father, you know. If he had merely run instead of staying to protect you and that creature you call 'Mother,' the dragon would have spared him." He rose and crossed to the opposite side of the choir box. "How fortunate for me that I have appropriate leverage."
Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw Tye sprout claws on his left hand. He began to saw through one of the ropes as Mr. Mayfair bent over the pile of robes next to the coatrack.
He returned with the mass of robes draped over his arms. Lily saw spray-paint orange hair amid the robes and suddenly she couldn't breathe. Mom. He laid her mother on a pew and removed the robe from her face. Mom's head lolled to the side.
"She's breathing, Lily," Tye said quickly. "It's okay. She's alive."
Lily gulped in air. He was right. Mom was alive. Her chest rose, shuddered, and then fell. Her eyelids fluttered but didn't open. "What have you done to her?"
"She was ... resistant to leaving your grandfather's side,
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and so I was forced to drain her to ensure complacency," he said. "Such devotion from a monster. So unexpected."
"She's not a monster! She's a good person." Lily's eyes were glued to her mother's face. Mom looked so pale. Her cheeks were sunken. Every wrinkle stood out like a sharp black line.
"She isn't a person at all," Mr. Mayfair said. He shook his head. "My son was lost as well, but unlike Richard, I did not choose to shelter an abomination. I treat monsters as they deserve to be treated." She noticed he didn't mention Tye and Jake's mother.
Tye detected the omission as well. "My mother was 'lost,' too."
"She was a traitor to humanity," Mr. Mayfair said, "as your very existence proves."
Mom's breathing sounded so strained, as if each inhalation were squeezing her lungs. "If you're such a paragon of virtue," Lily said, "then why didn't you ever tell your grandson what you did, that you were responsible for his parents' deaths? Bet he would have called you the abomination."
For an instant, a shadow of pain crossed Mr. Mayfair's face. It was the first time she'd seen any emotion but unruffled calm. "Jake is young and idealistic," he said. "Someday he will understand that I serve a greater good."
"He won't understand if he's dead," Lily said. "Please, what 'greater good' do you serve by keeping my mother? You have me. You have Tye. You can let her go. She's not a threat to you."
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"She isn't a threat," he agreed. "She's insurance." He pulled a flask from his pocket, propped Mom up, and poured silver liquid into her mouth. In an instant, Mom spit and coughed. Her eyes snapped open.
"Mom!" Lily said. "Are you okay?"
Mom looked at Lily, at the ropes, and at Mr. Mayfair, and then she began to scream. He clapped a hand over her mouth. She whimpered. "Perhaps I should have left you drained for longer," he commented. Mom's eyes flickered everywhere.
"Calm down, Mom, please," Lily said. "Everything's all right." The lie rolled easily off her lips. "Take a deep breath. Now exhale."
Mom obeyed.
In a minute, Mr. Mayfair removed his hand.
"Now," he said, "listen to me carefully. You want your daughter safe, yes?"
Mom nodded. Her eyes were wide.
"She inexplicably wants you safe as well," Mr. Mayfair said. "So this is what we will do: When the battle ends, you will both accompany me to the gate. Lily will return the army of potential Feeders, and she will help me repair the damage she's done to my reputation with the knights and the gargoyles. You will walk through the gate, and the dryad queen will return my grandson. Do you understand?"
Mom's eyes were like a storm. "If you harm my daughter--"
"Good," he said. "We understand each other. If you
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disobey me, I will kill her. If Lily disobeys, I will kill you. Are we clear?"
Wordless, shaking with fear and fury, Mom nodded.
"And you?" Mr. Mayfair asked Lily.
Eyes glued on Mom, Lily nodded, too.
Mr. Mayfair took a call as calmly as if he were in an office. "Splendid!" Lily heard him say. "Send the army and the prisoners to the gate. We'll meet them there. Begin damage control." He paused. "Wonderful. Thank you." He slid the phone back into his pocket. "Excellent news," he said. "We won."
He untied the ropes around Lily, and then he pulled her and Rose to their feet. Smiling at them, he picked up the fairy's head wrapped in the choir robe.
As Mr. Mayfair led them t
oward the door, Lily glanced at Tye. He had nearly sliced through his ropes. If she could distract Mr. Mayfair for only a second ... Trying to send a hint with just a look, she met Tye's eyes.
I love you, he mouthed.
He what?
Startled, she slipped in the fairy blood. Mr. Mayfair caught her arm. That was all the distraction Tye needed. He cut through the last frayed rope and sprang from the pew.
But Mr. Mayfair was faster. Drawing his sword, he lunged forward. In a move so fast that Lily could barely see it, he slammed the hilt down on Tye's head.
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Tye crumpled onto the marble floor.
Mom screamed and screamed and screamed.
"Foolish boy," Mr. Mayfair said. He leveled the sword at Mom. "Silence."
Mom stopped.
"Is he ...," Lily began. She saw Tye's chest rise and fall. He was alive.
Without another word, Mr. Mayfair fetched the ropes and retied him. This time, he lashed Tye's fingers together. He left him cocooned in rope, unconscious on the floor. Then he slid his sword into a scabbard under his coat.
"You are a monster," Mom said.
He blinked at her. "That is almost amusing, coming from you."
Scooping up the robe with the fairy's head, he propelled both Lily and Mom out of the choir box, down the stairs, and out of the chapel.
Outside, the sky had darkened. The sun had sunk below towers and turrets, leaving behind streaks of bruised rose. As they descended the chapel steps, Lily noticed that her footprints were rust red smudges on the stone--the fairy's blood.
"Lily?" Mom's voice was strained. "That dragon ... I know him...."
Lily looked up at the Chained Dragon. He was silent, sleeping to conserve his magic. "How can I trust that you won't just get rid of me, Mom, and Tye after we've helped you?" Lily asked Mr. Mayfair.
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"You have little choice but to trust me, my dear," he said.
She didn't think that was a comforting response.
Looping his arm around hers, he escorted her across the plaza. In his other hand, he held the robe with the severed head. Looking dazed, Mom walked beside them. She kept shooting glances back at the stone dragon; he continued to sleep.
Stay calm, Lily told herself, and think. There had to be something she could do, but what? Overwhelm him with her fantastic power over lawns? She'd seen him fight. He was stronger and faster than a tiger. Her best hope was the ivy vines in East Pyne courtyard.
But Mr. Mayfair bypassed East Pyne. Instead, he marched them straight toward Nassau Street, exiting campus via a service driveway and keeping to the center of the road, away from any greenery.
Lit by street lamps and lights from storefronts, Nassau Street was as silent and empty as a vacant lot. Cars had been diverted to side streets, and campus police warded off pedestrians. Yellow tape cordoned off the entire Nassau Hall yard. Recognizing Mr. Mayfair, one of the guards waved them through the blockade. As they passed, Lily tried and failed to catch the security guard's eyes.
Using the side entrance, Mr. Mayfair propelled them onto the lawn. Grass shivered as it touched Lily's bloody shoes, but the trees didn't hear her silent yells.
Mr. Mayfair halted in front of the gate and said to Lily,
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"You are to think of your mother and follow my lead. No heroics. Are we clear?"
Lily swallowed. "Crystal."
He pulled Mom closer to him, and they waited.
Coming from beyond Nassau Hall, creatures marched, limped, slithered, flew, crawled, and walked across the shadowed yard. A few were carried. Others winced in pain with each step. Lily saw blood and dirt streaks on faces and exposed skin. In the distance, she spotted her grandmother, tall and unearthly, surrounded by the usual entourage of dryads. Lily also saw a flock of unicorns, sweat stained and dirt covered. The Literate Ape and the other gargoyles marched with them. The Princeton knights were interspersed among centaurs, medusas, elves, goblins, and trolls.
"Friends!" Mr. Mayfair called. "Congratulations on an important victory!"
As the creatures fanned out across the darkened lawn, Professor Ape crossed to Lily and Mr. Mayfair. "We missed you at the battle, Joseph," the ape said.
"I had a task to complete," Mr. Mayfair said. "Believe me, it was vital."
"Grave accusations have been made against you."
"Yes, I am aware," he said. He smiled fondly at Lily. "The young are easily confused, but we have sorted it out now, haven't we, Lily?"
She had a chance to shout the truth. Here was an audience, primed to listen. He'd skipped the battle, and the
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ape was suspicious. But Mom stood as straight and still as an oak tree, and Lily imagined a knife pressed against Mom's back. "I was wrong," Lily said softly.
Mr. Mayfair flourished the choir robe. It fell to the ground in a puddle of cloth, and he held up the fairy's head. "Behold, the leader of the Feeders!" he cried. "I have been hunting her, and at last I was victorious! This girl was a witness, as her shoes can testify."
Everyone looked at the blood on Lily's sneakers.
Mr. Mayfair addressed Professor Ape. "I owe you an apology. I doubted your kind. I believed you were all like this fairy." He lifted the severed head higher into the air. "Today I have been proven wrong, and I am more grateful than you will ever know. I hope this is the start of a new era of cooperation between our peoples."
As the ape beamed, the knights and magic creatures burst into tremendous applause. Lily scanned the faces in dismay. Tye had said that people believed what they wanted to believe. The knights and creatures wanted to believe Mr. Mayfair was a hero. Only the Feeders snarled and glared. A few strained at the ropes that held them. Others were perfectly still, swords at their necks or knives at their backs. One of the goblins cried.
Pushing to the front, Tye's father scowled at Mr. Mayfair. "A very pretty speech," the tiger man said. "But we will need your assurance that your people will cease the Feeder-like behavior of draining and drinking magic creatures."
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"After a victory such as this, we will not need to. The practice shall cease," Mr. Mayfair said. "You have my word." Lily had never heard anyone lie so smoothly or with such sincerity. Truth throbbed through his voice. "I know we have drifted apart and that much work remains to rebuild relations between our worlds, but perhaps a start can be made through this child." He placed a hand on the back of Lily's neck--a casual gesture, but she was aware of how fragile her neck was and how hard he could grip. "She will send you home!"
Cheering, the army surged forward, pushing the prisoners before them.
Lily was driven back toward the gate.
"Slowly!" Tye's father shouted. He drew his sword and positioned himself between Lily and the creatures. She glanced at Mr. Mayfair, and he nodded. She leaned against the pillar and straddled the threshold. Half of her body disappeared into the magic world.
"Very well. Begin," Mr. Mayfair said.
Prodded by knights and gargoyles, the Feeders filed toward the gate. The line of monsters was flanked by the council's army. She saw elves, trolls, goblins, satyrs, winged lions, snake women ... A few times she wasn't certain if some creatures were actually Feeders, but their eyes gave them away. The Feeders shot her looks that ranged from sullen to so full of hatred that she felt as if her skin would blister from the stare. Sometimes she had to look away--and
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when she did, she saw Mr. Mayfair, with his hand on Mom's shoulder, watching her.
Once the Feeders had passed, the Literate Ape led the gargoyles to the gate. "We wish to assist our brethren," the ape announced to Mr. Mayfair. "Please care for the knights in our absence."
Mr. Mayfair bowed. "Of course."
One by one, the gargoyles crossed through the gate. Lily saw chips and scratches on the stone monkeys as they scurried by her. The Unseeing Reader limped past with help from a stone lion. Even the stone eagles flew through. Lily wanted to scream, Don't leave!
As the last gargoyle left the human world, the knights dispersed from the yard. Oh, no, she thought. Stay! Please! Soon, only Tye's father and the dryads remained.
The tiger man sheathed his sword. "I must assist on the other side as well," he said. "My son ..."
"Will be with you soon," Mr. Mayfair finished smoothly. "He wished to remain at the club to assist the injured knights. He's a good boy."
"Yes," Tye's father said. "Yes, he is."
The words were in Lily's throat. If anyone could take on Mr. Mayfair, it was Tye's father. All she needed was a word or a phrase. Just a clue. One sentence. But then her mother made a small chirp: "Oh!" Lily noticed that Mr. Mayfair's hand was behind Mom's back. Mr. Mayfair smiled at Lily.
She let Tye's father leave.
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At last, only the dryads remained. The yard was empty shadows. Oak trees whispered wordlessly, a steady hum, as the dryads walked to the gate.
The dryad queen approached Mom. "My daughter," she said, as if tasting the word. "Rose, my child, you live!" She clasped Mom's hands in hers as Mr. Mayfair shifted to stand behind Lily. In the small of her back, Lily felt a cool, sharp point press against her.
Mom's eyes filled with tears. "I don't ... I don't remember you."
The queen touched Mom's cheek. "You will, my Rose." And then she frowned. "Child, what did you do to your hair?"
Now Lily believed that this woman was Mom's mother.
"Come," the queen said. "We will take you home."
Mr. Mayfair interrupted. "Return my grandson first."
Looking at her entourage, the queen snapped her fingers. "Fetch him." Several of the dryads filed through the gate. To Mom, the queen said, "You will love our home. You may not remember it, but you had your own grove and garden. You had orchids and irises that were the envy of us all. You had roses that defied winter. And your lilies ... your lilies were your delight and glory."
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