The kids were stumped. They had too many suspects with means, motive, and opportunity and they weren’t even sure who the intended victim was. Without more to go on—physical evidence being absent, since there were no fingerprints on the helmet other than Amanda’s, Nick’s, and Simon’s—they were at an impasse.
The charges against Simon and Liam were dropped. The usually chipper Liam had turned taciturn and nonresponsive, a la Herb Lester. Ivy was worried sick and had no idea what to do. Fern was sure he’d snap out of it soon, but having watched Amanda’s father go from bad to worse after his own ordeal, Ivy wasn’t so sure.
Simon was matter of fact about the whole thing. In fact, he kept laughing to himself, which led the girls to ask him all sorts of questions, but he just grinned. Amanda figured he was just relieved, but Ivy claimed there was something else going on. She just didn’t know what.
Twinkle was expelled from the university. She didn’t seem to care, though, because her publisher had printed a hundred thousand copies of her forthcoming book and she was scheduled to do all the talk shows. Apparently she was dropping archaeology and had hired an agent. She was going to be a reality TV star and then segue into movies. Amanda and Ivy were outraged but Simon just smiled at that too. It seemed that the whole experience had warped his brain.
With Blixus admitting he’d made up the whole Merlin thing, you’d have thought Alfie Kingsolver’s career would come to an end, but in fact his renown continued to grow. A major hotel in Las Vegas gave him a permanent gig, which drew so many people that the economy of the area grew 30% in a month! Realizing his value, he hurried to try to conceive a child to be his heir, even though he was no relation to the legendary wizard whatsoever. Amanda knew about this because the press had published interviews with him in which he said that he would name his child Merlin and make sure he went to Hogwarts. When the interviewer reminded him that Hogwarts was imaginary, he scoffed and said, “I’m a magician. I can make anything real.” The audience ate it up and his approval ratings soared above 100%.
There was more good news. The peacocks had recovered and had descended on the school. Despite Professor Sidebotham’s installation of peacock-repelling plants, they hung around almost all the time, as if to say thank you for the help they’d received. For some reason they were much less noisy than before, although just as messy. Dr. Ellie had been right: the medicine did make them poop, and the gardeners had a lot of extra work to do just keeping up with them. But this time Professor Sidebotham didn’t seem bothered. The old girl was so happy that the Punitori had relented that she was almost mellow, except when getting into an argument with Alexei Dropoff over the proper way to arrange 221B Baker Street simulations in the various common rooms. Never one to accept criticism gracefully, the gremlin had sulked while following her instructions, and Amanda had heard him call Professor Sidebotham a harridan, not a good move if anyone else had overheard.
Amanda spent as much time as she could with the birds. Not only were they special because of their extraordinary feathers, but she found them soothing. She had always liked animals but her parents had never let her have pets. Thank goodness for Nigel, whom she loved dearly. But she felt a close connection with the peacocks too. They had a look in their eyes when she sat with them, as if to say, “We feel comfortable with you too, Amanda Lester.” It was nice, but weird.
One afternoon she was sitting with them when she heard the strangest thing. One of the peacocks seemed to be saying something. She knew that was impossible, but she was intrigued and moved closer. The peacock didn’t move away, but instead said, “You’re a lovely old bird.” Amanda was shocked. Since when could peacocks talk? They weren’t mynah birds or parrots. They were shriekers. Then the peacock said, “How are you?” It was as if he were repeating something someone had said to him, and now that she thought about it, the voice sounded like Nick’s.
Nick had had a way with the birds. They’d calmed for him in a way they’d done for no one else, until now. Perhaps he’d visited them from time to time. Maybe he’d even spoken to them and they’d picked up his words and his voice. If that was the case, he must have gone to see them a lot. It took ages for a bird to be able to copy human speech. He must have been so lonely there on the boat by himself. Why not enjoy a little company when he could?
Amanda pulled out her phone and turned on the video camera. The birds looked at it quizzically but didn’t balk. After a moment they seemed to forget about it and started to talk again. First they said, “Good morning,” then they said, “See you around,” and then they said, “I love her so much.”
Amanda practically dropped her phone. “I love her so much”? What was that about? Of course, Mavis. Nick’s mother was dead. He must miss her terribly. She was the only one in that warped family who had taken his side. She’d been killed in front of his eyes and now he was completely alone. He’d had to get his feelings out somehow, so he’d told the peacocks of his grief. Amanda swore she’d get Taffeta if it was the last thing she did. Putting that girl behind bars wouldn’t make up for Nick’s loss, but it might at least bring a little justice to the situation. It would certainly make her feel better.
She was puzzled though. How was it that a peacock could talk? She’d never heard of that before. She wondered if the medicine she and Holmes had given the birds had had anything to do with this newfound ability, so she did a quick search and lo and behold it did. Apparently a side effect was the ability to mimic speech and other sounds, just like parakeets and mynah birds. It wouldn’t last forever, perhaps a month or so, but it was real. She wondered if she could teach the birds to say something before the effect wore off.
“Solvere scelus,” she said slowly and loudly. The birds cocked their heads, as if to say, “Do you want us to remember this?” “Solvere scelus. Solve crimes. Solvere scelus. Solvere scelus.” The birds just looked at her. She repeated the phrase over and over and over, until she was stumbling over her words. And then, finally, one of the birds said, “Solvere scelus.”
“That’s it,” she said. “Say it again.”
“Solvere scelus,” said the peacock. “You’re a lovely old bird.”
“And so are you!” said Amanda, jumping up. She wanted to hug the silly thing.
“Solvere scelus,” said the bird.
“Solvere scelus to you too,” she said. She was so happy she wanted to burst, but she had so much to do. “I think that’s enough for one day. See ya around.”
“See ya around,” said the bird.
She packed up her phone and left the peacocks to play with their new phrase.
33
Eyes Deep as the World
Scapulus Holmes really, really did not want Nick Moriarty anywhere near Legatum. So when the detectives let him in provisionally, Sherlock Holmes’s great-great-grandson behaved in an uncharacteristically ungracious manner—one that led to a huge change.
He had been sitting with Ivy and Amphora in the Holmes House common room when he heard the news. Ivy told Amanda that his voice had got really high and he’d sounded like he was about to have a stroke. Amphora had got the message loud and clear and called him on his jealousy.
“You love her,” she’d said accusingly.
“Love who?” said Holmes, feigning ignorance.
“You know very well who I’m talking about.” Amphora had crossed her arms and glared at him.
“I do not.” He’d risen and started pacing, hands in pockets.
“Don’t play dumb with me. You love Amanda. Otherwise you wouldn’t care if Nick was here.”
“Amanda has nothing to do with it, Amphora,” he’d said without looking at her. “The guy is a criminal. He doesn’t belong here.”
“The teachers seem to think he does.”
“Well I don’t,” he’d said from over by the window.
“Yes, because you’re jealous.” She was getting more shrill.
“I am not jealous. He’s a security risk.”
“Do you think I didn’t hear
what she said at the hospital?”
At this point in her retelling, Ivy turned to Amanda and said, “What did you say at the hospital?”
“What do you think?” said Amanda.
“That bad, huh?” said Ivy.
“Yup,” said Amanda. “I didn’t realize she’d heard though. So what happened next?”
“They broke up,” said Ivy.
“What?!” said Amanda.
“Yep,” said Ivy. “She accused him of being in love with you, said he’d never loved her, and threatened to leave Legatum.”
“No!” said Amanda. “Tell her she’s wrong.”
“I can’t tell her she’s wrong. It’s the truth, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know what Scapulus feels,” said Amanda.
“I do,” said Ivy. “Everyone does. He got together with her because you rejected him.”
“I didn’t reject him!” Amanda moaned. “Why does he always have to make everything so complicated? Tell her not to leave, Ivy.”
Ivy touched her hand. “She won’t leave.”
“Yes she will,” said Amanda, grasping the hand and holding tight. “You know how she is.”
“She’ll get over it,” said Ivy. “I’m sure her next crush is right around the corner.”
Amanda thought for a moment and then looked up. “You’re right. That’s exactly what will happen. Although I can’t help thinking I’m responsible for this.”
“Even if you are, and I’m not saying that’s the case, it will pass.” Amanda was sure that was true. Amphora was completely boy crazy. A new crush would come along the next day.
Amanda sighed. “How did you get to be so wise?”
“It’s just experience,” Ivy said.
Amanda almost said, “What experience?” but realized she might be opening a can of worms. What experience was Ivy referring to? Becoming blind? She’d been born that way, hadn’t she? Was there something else Amanda didn’t know about?
Suddenly she felt exhausted. “I think I need to take a nap,” she said.
“That’s the spirit,” said Ivy. “You’ll feel a lot better afterwards.”
But Amanda couldn’t sleep. The whole Nick thing was nagging at her again, so she went to see him in Dr. Wing’s hospital. He was lying in one of the narrow beds with cords all around him and purple circles under his eyes. Apparently Taffeta had also broken his right arm, which was enclosed in a sling. He’d been sleeping, but when she entered the room he opened his eyes. There were no chairs so she sat on the bed. She remembered that it hadn’t been too long ago that she’d been the injured one and he’d sat by her bed, er, couch.
“You got in,” she said. “Congratulations.”
“Yes, provisionally,” he said dully. He obviously wasn’t feeling well. “I still have to prove myself.”
“But they’re not going to press charges. That’s wonderful!” She found that she truly was pleased. She’d worry about him being around all the time later.
“That’s what Thrillkill said. I’m not sure what will happen if I fail their tests though.”
“You’ll pass. I know you will.” She meant it. She knew Nick could do anything, and would.
“Thank you. I don’t deserve your faith in me.”
Amanda could feel herself blushing. She didn’t know what to say. Then she remembered her little video. She pulled out her phone and said, “I was visiting the peacocks—they’re all well now, by the way. I thought they were so beautiful so I filmed them.”
She started the video. First one of the peacocks said, “Good morning.” Nick’s eyes widened. He looked at her quizzically. “Just watch,” she said.
After that, the peacocks mugged for the camera, sticking their beaks in the lens, plucking flowers out of the bed, and shrieking. And then one of them turned its head sideways and said, “You’re a lovely old bird.” She stopped the video.
“Nice trick,” said Nick.
“It’s not a trick,” she said. “Just keep watching.”
She started the video again. A little more preening and mugging, and then one of the peacocks said, “I love her so much.”
Nick started and a look of panic came into his eyes. Amanda took his non-slinged hand and said, “It’s all right. I know how much you miss her.”
“What?” he said, looking confused.
“Your mom.” She paused. “I know it doesn’t begin to be enough, but we’ll get Taffeta. She won’t get away with it.”
For a moment Nick looked at her as if she were crazy. Then his expression turned to one of such tenderness she couldn’t believe he hadn’t been taken over by some kind of golem. She’d never seen him like that. And then it dawned on her. When he’d said “I love her so much,” he hadn’t been talking about Mavis. He’d been talking about her!
Nick loved her? Nick Moriarty? Cruel, false, criminal Nick? Loved Amanda? It didn’t make sense. He’d been horrible to her. He’d taunted her, lied to her, tried to get her to kill her own father, for heaven’s sake. It was impossible. She was imagining things. But illusion or no, her heart was fluttering and she was feeling hot and she wanted to throw herself into his arms and live there for the rest of her life.
No. She couldn’t feel that way, wouldn’t feel that way. He was doing it to her again and she had almost fallen for it. When would she ever learn? Actually, right now, this minute, this second, here, now.
She jerked the phone away and said, “I see you’re even lying to peacocks now. I’m sorry I ever helped you. You will never change, Nick Moriarty.”
He looked surprised but didn’t say a word. What could he say? He was a lying, cheating scoundrel and she never wanted to see his face again. She got up from the bed, almost tripped over a bunch of cords, and stormed out of the hospital before he could see her cry.
Without knowing where she was going, Amanda ran. She always did that when she was upset. Sometimes she ran laps around the entire campus, but today she made straight for the ruined chapel. She knew she wasn’t supposed to be there but she didn’t care. She needed to think and she needed to be away from people. That was the only place she could be sure she’d be alone.
She ducked under the red warning tape and made her way to the far end, the place where she’d first met Nick nearly a year before. It was the day of the orientation and she’d been carrying Simon’s vomity coat, which she’d just cleaned in the bathroom. Nick hadn’t balked at all. In fact he’d offered to take it from her, and when she refused, he’d held out an arm for her. With him on one arm and Simon’s messed up jacket on the other she’d begun her new life, a life she’d never expected to explode into a million pieces, most of them due to Nick and his family.
How dare he try to fool her again? Of course he’d been speaking of his mother when he’d visited the peacocks. Why would he pretend otherwise, give her those eyes? Too embarrassing for a boy to love his mother? Too humiliating to grieve? Maybe for Nick. After all, he had an image to maintain. Nick the strong, Nick the rogue, Nick the famous criminal. It wouldn’t do for anyone, even her, to know how he really felt, even if it meant feigning love for her.
But then, as she leaned against an intact wall, she remembered something. When she’d awakened on his boat after falling off her skateboard, she could have sworn someone was kissing her. At first she thought she was dreaming. Then she imagined it was Simon joking around. And then, when she saw Nick standing over her, she wondered if it might have been him. He’d said it wasn’t, but she was sure she’d felt a real kiss, and the more she thought about it the more she was certain she hadn’t imagined it. Since Simon had been nowhere in sight, there was only one person it could have been.
Why would he do such a thing? And why would he talk to the peacocks the way he did? Sure, he might have been referring to Mavis, but the language didn’t gibe with the fact that she was his mother. “I love her so much.” That didn’t sound like a thing you say about your mother. Maybe “I miss her so much,” but not that. And the picture Amanda had found i
n his mattress during the summer, and the movie storage app he’d put on her phone so she’d always have her films to hand. And the way he’d taken care of her when the peacock knocked her down. Was it possible he really did love her?
Even if he did, and she was far from convinced, he was evil. He’d done terrible things, come very close to killing people. He was lucky no one had died in the factory explosion, or at the quarry, where he’d shot at her and her friends with those deadly beams. She didn’t want someone like that loving her. The idea was nauseating.
And then for some reason an image of Blixus kicking Nick popped into her head, and she was sure he had only done those things out of desperation. He’d wanted to please his father. In fact until he’d come to Legatum he’d never known any other way to live, any other way to relate to people. What else could she possibly have expected?
And then suddenly she knew. Legatum had changed him. She had changed him—irrevocably. He would never be able to go back to the way things had been, the way he had been. And if that was the case, he certainly could have changed, and he could indeed love her.
She took off like a gazelle and ran back to the hospital. When she arrived he was lying there staring at nothing in particular, looking utterly miserable. She stood by the bed for a split second, smiled the biggest smile of her life, and threw herself into his arms—well, his good arm anyway. He was so surprised he froze for a second, but as she melted into him he got the message and held her tighter than she’d ever been held.
“You did kiss me,” she breathed. “I didn’t imagine it.”
“No,” he said, running his fingers through her hair. “You didn’t.” Then he kissed her again, and everything exploded into a billion pieces, and she knew she loved him and would forever.
But then something terrible happened. Holmes’s face appeared in her mind’s eye and she pulled back. What was she thinking? Nick was mesmerizing but she loved Holmes.
Amanda Lester, Detective Box Set Page 139