by R K Dreaming
“She had some love potion in her handbag.”
“That explains it!” cried Lucifer. “The sneaky minx! I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why I had agreed to go on a date with her. Horrible, it was. She droned on and on about wanting to meet a good man and how the last one had been so terrible, and I felt like telling her, darling, if you want a good man then you had better not pick me. Calling me a good man. Imagine!” He shuddered.
“You dated Mrs Delancey?” Percy hissed.
She turned such a look of accusation on him that Lucifer’s cheeks turned slightly pink. At least he had the grace to look a little embarrassed.
“Mrs Delancey!” Percy continued, outraged. “Was she…? She’s the one you went a date with on Sunday night!”
Lucifer tried to shrug it off. “Terribly boring it was too. What a mistake. You wouldn’t imagine how hard I had to work to get out of there. Love potion completely explains it, though I am a little miffed that this Humble body of mine couldn’t resist a silly little love potion. I would never have succumbed to it had I been a Lord of Hell.”
“Is that the only thing you’re bothered about?” Percy demanded. “I can’t believe that you went on a date with Mrs Delancey and now she’s dead! Who else knows about all this? What are you going to say if the police question you?”
“But why would they question me?”
“Because you dated her.”
“Pish-tosh. I’m sure dozens of people dated her.”
“I doubt it! Mousy Mrs Delancey? She probably had her heart firmly set on you.”
“The police don’t think it is suspicious, do they?”
“Apparently not. But you said it yourself, if she wanted to top herself, why do it at a school?”
“People do all sorts of silly things,” said Lucifer. “Anyway, nobody knows I took her on a date. Thai cuisine, darling — thought I’d give it a whirl after you said you loved it. The food was delicious. The conversation was not. It’s highly offensive, now I think about it — killing herself the day after she went out with me! It’d be terrible for my reputation if that got out.”
“Good,” said Percy. “You think about that next time you take someone on a date. So, er, you feel like it wasn’t a murder then?”
Lucifer shrugged, and then a look of interest came onto his face. “Ooh, why? Do you think it was?”
“Why would I think that?” said Percy immediately, remembering that it most definitely was not a good idea to start Lucifer thinking about such things.
Had it really not been murder after all? Surely if it was, Lucifer would have sensed it and been more excited by the whole thing? Last time the mere sniff of a murder had made little horns spring into life above his temples.
She added, “The poor woman was new to this school. Instead of helping her settle in and make friends, you probably made things worse. Imagine how lonely it must be to move all the way from… from… somewhere in the countryside to be here.”
“Country bumpkin ey? That explains it. Couldn’t hack the big city life.” Lucifer shook his head, as if this was a terrible thing.
“And I’ll have you know,” said Percy, “that love potion of hers was a big fat fake, so you went on a date with her because you really wanted to, so just admit it!”
Lucifer got a funny little look on his face that Percy would have said was sadness if she didn’t know him better.
“Poor Janie,” he said. “If I had known she’d been dancing so close to the edge, I’d have pulled her back in.”
Percy was astonished. He had said it so wistfully. A Lord of Hell saying he would have saved someone! Suddenly she felt a rush of warmth in her heart.
She astonished him by throwing her arms around him in a hug. If there was one thing he could have said to make her believe that he really hadn’t done anything, it was that. For the first time in his life, Lucifer Darkwing had sounded heartfelt.
5. The Boy In The Bathroom
The next day at school the headmistress held a special assembly of the whole school during morning break and announced to everyone that Mrs Delancey had tragically passed away. She shared no details, but did stress that there had been no suspicious circumstances.
Even so, rumors began flying around the school about the various gruesome ways in which Mrs Delancey may have died.
Percy heard people discussing it in the hallways between classes.
“Did you see them take the body out? I didn’t. Why would they hide it if it was all innocent?”
“I heard she’d been stabbed before she was pushed.”
“No, I heard it was at gunpoint!”
“I heard somebody was blackmailing her and she just couldn’t take it anymore, and so she jumped.”
“I heard she was asleep and they shoved her out and she didn’t know what hit her!”
The one thing most people could agree on was that it had involved her being pushed out of the window.
Percy was used to people giving her dirty looks since Bella had launched her snitch poster campaign, but now people were looking at her even more suspiciously.
In the dining hall during lunch she even heard a group of students at the next table talking.
One girl whispered all too loudly, as if hoping Percy might overhear, “Mrs Delancey was mosshead’s English teacher. I heard she gave mosshead detention yesterday. Do you reckon mosshead got angry and did it?”
“Probably, she’s a right weirdo.”
Percy glared at the four who were all in her year and friendly with Bella. They unashamedly glared back.
“Just ignore them,” Nan implored. “They’re being stupid.”
Percy and Nan were sitting alone in a corner of the dining hall. Shara had been supposed to join them but had not made an appearance yet.
Percy stabbed her fork into her meatloaf, feeling sour.
“Don’t let them make you miserable,” whispered Nan. “You can’t let them win.”
“It’s not them,” said Percy.
“Then what?”
“You won’t want to hear it,” Percy said moodily.
Nan groaned, and looked tortured, but said, “Fine. Just tell me. You’ll sulk all day if you don’t.”
“I still think Mrs D didn’t kill herself,” said Percy.
“Now you sound just like them!” said Nan.
“Something was wrong about the whole thing. It keeps nagging me, but I can’t figure out what’s bothering me.” Percy looked pleadingly at Nan, as if she might have a bright idea.
“Don’t look at me,” said Nan.
“What about the kitten?” demanded Percy.
“Have you named it yet?” asked Nan.
“No. But looking at her keeps reminding me that something is not right. The cloud of doom is still all around her. Faint, but definitely there.”
“But she was much livelier this morning,” said Nan.
“That’s because she spent all night being a greedy guzzler. Jeeves found a little milk bottle for her and she loves it. But if nothing was suspicious about what happened to Mrs D, why the cloud of doom?”
“She did it to herself,” said Nan insistently. “Everyone is saying she was sad and depressed in her lessons all the time. We saw it ourselves.”
“She was not!” said Percy. “She was only like that that one time. I never saw her like that before.”
“And everyone’s saying that she was lonely in her new life in the city. She missed home.”
“Suddenly everyone’s an expert on her,” said Percy grumpily.
Nan looked nervously all around. Lowering her voice, she said, “And you said that Lucy ditched her as fast as he could after their date. That’s got to have been depressing!”
“She was fine,” said Percy. “She brought him those macaroons afterwards, didn’t she?”
“That doesn’t mean anything,” said Nan sniffily. “She had lots of reasons to be sad. Maybe she was tired too. She was so worried about the kitten that she brought it into school with her.”
“She’s hardly going to kill herself over a kitten!”
“It’s not just a kitten. It’s lots of different things.” Nan looked accusingly at Percy. “You said yourself that after you started at school Mrs Delancey was the only teacher who asked if you’d made any friends, and she implied that she was struggling with that herself.”
“She never actually said that.”
“But you thought that was what she meant!” insisted Nan.
“And then afterwards she said it takes time to settle in and that things would all be alright in the end,” said Percy heatedly. “Does that sound depressed? She was optimistic. Hopeful. She’d never have jumped. I don’t believe it.”
“You liked her,” said Nan. “That’s why you don’t want to believe it.”
“So what if I liked her? It doesn’t mean I am wrong,” insisted Percy.
“You always have to be right,” said Nan.
She pushed aside her plate with her half eaten meatloaf. Percy could tell she was getting very irritable now but trying not to show it. She didn’t usually shy away from saying exactly what was on her mind to Percy. She probably thought Percy was grieving or something.
“Just because I like to be right, doesn’t mean I am wrong this time,” Percy shot back.
“Then why don’t you tell Octavia and Felix about it?” said Nan, arching her eyebrows.
“Maybe I will,” Percy shot back.
Octavia Smythe-Smith was a half vampire, a daywalker, and someone that Percy did not like very much. She often hung out with Felix, a half angelus. Both were in Percy and Nan’s year.
Percy had discovered a couple of weeks ago during the Beauty Pageant fiasco that Octavia and Felix were secretly working for the Eldritch Council and were keeping an eye on the eldritch students at Humble High, who their boss Councilor Strickt of the Eldritch Council did not trust one bit.
It was Octavia and Felix’s job to investigate if they thought any of the eldritch students — the many werewolves and succubae and incubae and other species — who went to Humble High, were up to no good.
The thing was that Mrs Delancey had been human, so Percy thought Octavia and Felix would not be interested. Especially as there had been no indication that anyone else had been involved in her death, much less one of the eldritch students.
Plus Percy did not like Octavia, and wasn’t much in the mood to ask Octavia for help with anything.
Even so, when her last lesson of the day, Double Science, was over, Percy followed Octavia and Felix out of the classroom, wondering whether she ought to take this last chance today to talk to them about Mrs Delancey.
“I dare you,” whispered Nan, pushing Percy towards Octavia and Felix.
Octavia was a tall and very pale girl with glossy raven hair, and Felix was a tall and handsome and quiet boy. They looked very good next to each other. This was something else that irked Percy. She couldn’t understand why Felix was friends with Octavia.
Felix glanced backwards and caught sight of Percy.
“Hey Percy, what’s up?” he said.
Octavia had taken one look at Percy and was now standing behind Felix with her arms crossed over her chest, her heel tapping impatiently, and a skeptical sneer already on her haughty face. Percy was instantly furious. She had not even said a word yet and Octavia was already sneering, the smug git.
Octavia looked irritated when Percy did not speak. “If you’re going to ask us about Bella Osterich, we can’t talk about it,” she snapped.
Percy’s eyebrows rose. Now that Octavia had mentioned it, Percy did have some questions about Bella Osterich.
“Why is Bella back in school?” she demanded. “If it wasn’t for her—”
“Let me stop you right there,” said Octavia abruptly, holding up one of her long thin hands as if she was stopping traffic. “The matter has been investigated and it was deemed that given Bella’s indirect involvement, that a fine and some community service would be sufficient.”
“A fine?” said Percy angrily. “Her dad is so rich he could pay fifty fines. It’s hardly a punishment! And she’ll probably get her servants to do her community service for her.”
“Are you questioning the judgement of—” Octavia stopped speaking abruptly and took a look around to make sure none of the other students were listening before whispering, “Our organization?”
Percy rolled her eyes. Octavia meant the Sentinel Alliance, a group that hunted and killed rogue eldritch beings. It was a big secret that Octavia and Felix were both also half sentinels. Percy had been warned very strictly by Councilor Strickt that she must never reveal this fact to anyone.
“Clearly I’m questioning the judgement of your organization,” said Percy peevishly.
Felix said quietly, “Has Bella been bothering you?”
“Nothing I can’t handle,” said Percy.
Octavia looked irritated at Felix. “Bella Osterich’s relationships with her fellow students are none of our business,” she said tartly to him.
She turned to Percy. “If you’ve come to ask us to tell Bella to stop bullying you, there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Percy was annoyed. “I can handle Bella myself,” she said acidly.
And she would, once she found out what Bella was planning, because the Queen Bee was certain to be planning some form of revenge. All morning, first in Eldritch Community Studies and then in Magical History, Percy had felt Bella’s eyes burning into the back of her head.
And yet every time she had looked around, Bella had pretended not to be looking at Percy. But Bella was clearly in a foul mood. That morning, during the break, she had landed a boy in detention for accidentally bumping into her in a hallway. She had chided him loudly, accused him of trying to cop a feel, and then tearfully called a teacher over.
The teacher, who had witnessed the incident and seemed doubtful about whether Bella was telling the truth, had nevertheless marched off with the boy. The moment the teacher had gone, Bella’s tears had vanished as if by magic. And then Bella had looked at Percy very hard, as if to say ‘You are next.’
Percy just wished that Bella would do whatever it was that she was planning and get it over with.
“Then handle her,” said Octavia in a hard voice, tossing her glossy hair over her shoulder.
Percy turned to Felix, knowing that Octavia hated it when she did this. “Did Councilor Strickt ask you two to look into the thing with Mrs Delancey?” she asked.
“You can’t talk to him, you can talk to me,” said Octavia.
“Why, are you his owner?” said Percy.
“You know exactly what I am. I was here first, so I’m the senior.”
Felix did not contradict her. Percy wished he would.
She rolled her eyes at Octavia. “If you want me to talk to you then you should be more helpful. Well, are you going to answer my question or not?”
“Why would we look into the Mrs Delancey thing?” Octavia snapped. “It’s all very straightforward. Councilor Strickt got a copy of the report from the Humble police. He is very good. He likes to keep a close eye on things.”
“Glad to hear it,” said Percy. “See you later Felix.”
Percy felt relieved. She wanted to believe it was true, and for that to be the end of the matter. She had other stuff to worry about than Lucifer and Mrs Delancey.
Nan had already gone off to her Business Studies class, so Percy marched off in the direction of the library alone.
She needed to see Lucifer about the kitten. She was going to have to tell him that she wanted him to keep the kitten overnight, and knew that he would not be happy about this. The more time that the kitten spent with Lucifer, the less she seemed to like him. And Lucifer did not like to not be liked. But Percy needed someone to cat-sit. She had made plans to return to Magicwild Market after school with Nan, and couldn’t very well take the now scampering kitten there with her. With all the excitement in the market, she doubted the kitten would stay in her pocket for lon
g.
As she walked down the corridors, Percy kept her eyes peeled for the lumpy faced boy from yesterday. She had been asking around the school all day about him, and had found out that his name was Frank Eaton-Philips, and the reason why his skin was so craggy was because he was part goblin.
She felt bad about what had happened in the library yesterday, and might even have apologized to him about her overreaction if apologies had been in her nature.
She’d looked for him all day between lessons, even asking people if they had seen him. She had intended to tell him that she was not mad at him. It was no wonder the poor boy had been a nervous wreck. Nobody seemed to know him or like him very much, and everyone had referred to him as Frankenstein.
“That’s not cool,” she had told them, but most had only shrugged.
“How would you like being part goblin?” she had hissed to the eldritch students.
“Not very much if I looked like him,” had been their laughing replies.
“Is that what you are?” a girl had said. “I wondered why your hair was green.”
Her friend had laughed. “Frankenstein and mosshead sitting in a tree. A-r-g-u-i-n-g…”
“Oh shut up,” Percy had said.
“Was it a lover’s tiff?” the girl had said laughingly. “I heard you two went at it in the library at full volume.”
Percy supposed she should be glad the girl had heard about the argument, because otherwise it was k-i-s-s-i-n-g that she would have been spelling out, and that would have been all over school faster than a streaking zebu.
Percy got to the library and knocked on the door of Lucifer’s office. There was no answer. As he had given her a key, she carefully let herself in, making sure not to give the kitten an escape route as she did so.
She had to snatch up the kitten quickly as it tried to scamper up her tights.
“Naughty,” she admonished it. “I thought we had an agreement that you wouldn’t do that? My shins are covered in scratches!”
The kitten had very bright big green eyes, and it looked at her almost apologetically and meowed. She tickled it under its chin and it purred loudly.
It nuzzled her, and then it tried to crawl out of her hands, looking determinedly towards the door as if it was desperate to get out.