‘You’ll love it,’ Krystal said, grinning at Trudy. ‘Fresh air, out in the open under the sun. It’ll be great.’
‘You realise I’ve never been out of Concord City, right?’ Trudy said. ‘I’m a city dragon. I’m used to cobblestones under my feet and the stench of tanning factories in the air. For all we know, my legs won’t work on grass. For all we know, I might not be able to breathe fresh air!’ Krystal gave her a look. ‘Well, I might not…’
‘The air here doesn’t smell like Greystone, darling,’ Felicia pointed out, ‘and you seem perfectly capable of walking on surfaces other than cobbles. I do agree that it will be something of a change. I’ve been to some of the villages along the coast, of course, back when I had money. My family would spend a week or two outside the city in the summer.’ Her face fell a little. ‘Back when I had a family, obviously.’
Jesse reached out and put her hand on Felicia’s shoulder. ‘You’ll be staying with my family and they liked you when you were there in the winter.’
‘Yes. Yes, of course. The point is that I’m a city girl too and I did survive being on a farm for several days.’
‘This will be two weeks,’ Trudy pointed out. ‘And we won’t just be on the farm. If we’re really going to talk to this witch, we’re going to have to trek into Tangleroots.’
‘How long will it take us?’ Charlotte asked.
‘It’s about seventy-five miles,’ Jesse replied. ‘Four, maybe five, days to get to the ruins. It’ll be tough going through the deeper parts of the forest.’
The blue sagged. ‘Couldn’t we just fly in? I can cover seventy-five miles in… twenty-five minutes.’
‘First of all,’ Trudy said, ‘we can’t go that fast.’ She fixed Charlotte with a stare. ‘Second, Krystal can’t fly.’ It was a lie. All of them knew that Krystal could fly and, out of sight of anyone else, she could fly over the forest without too much problem.
‘Most importantly,’ Jesse said, ‘the ruins are in some of the thickest growth. We could fly there, but we would probably have trouble landing, and you can get some weird effects over the trees all across Tangleroots which make flying… not entirely safe. Or, more precisely, very dangerous. We’re far better off walking.’
‘If you say so,’ Charlotte said. ‘If my legs fall off, I’m blaming you.’
Krystal noticed Ramona drawing inward and wondered what was wrong. The red was generally pretty okay now, but she did tend to get defensive when there were men around, especially Theodore Marin… Trying to make it look like an absent look, Krystal glanced over her shoulder and, sure enough, the theory lecturer was standing not too far away. Just standing there with a glass of wine in his hand. Just as Krystal saw him, he moved away and, when Krystal turned back, Ramona was visibly relaxing and giving Krystal a somewhat timid smile.
‘Are you looking forward to this trip, Mona?’ Krystal asked.
‘It’ll be nice to get out of the city,’ Ramona replied, ‘and see a bit more of Concordance. And then I’m going to Spinyard with Charlotte for a week.’
‘That’s an interesting city. You’ll probably get to see more of it than I did. And under better circumstances.’
‘Couldn’t be much worse circumstances,’ Charlotte said. ‘You should come over there for a longer visit sometime, Krys. Maybe next summer.’
‘Maybe. Though isn’t it the big millennial celebration next summer? You might want to stay a little longer for that.’
‘There’s always after.’
‘Yes. There is.’
~~~
‘There’s my best up-and-coming flyer.’ Sapphira Windrider was grinning as she walked up to the group, but she did not really look as though she was joking.
‘That’s not what you were saying when I was doing that obstacle course on Blueday,’ Charlotte replied.
‘You weren’t concentrating,’ Windrider said. ‘You clipped three bars.’ She glanced around the group and then shrugged. ‘Of course, you were still better than almost all the other first years, but it’s the principle of the thing. I expect better from you.’
‘Blame end-of-term fatigue.’
‘I usually do. Uh, I have a favour to ask you. All of you.’
Krystal raised an eyebrow. ‘We’re not exactly flyers, Sapphira Windrider. What can we do to help the aerobatics club?’
‘No, you help Charley. Charley helps the aerobatics club. I’m putting her on the team next term and I want her to help train up the new girls we get in, but… Well, I know she gets worked up about her coursework losing out to her flying…’
‘You want us to make sure she doesn’t fall behind?’
‘We’re going to need a new whip,’ Trudy said.
‘Cattle prod,’ Xanthe countered. ‘I keep telling you, you can’t go wrong with a cattle prod.’
‘What about one of those barbed canes they use for riding bulls,’ Felicia suggested. ‘I may actually have one in storage.’
‘They’re joking,’ Charlotte said. ‘I think they’re joking.’
Windrider gave another shrug. ‘Whatever works. Just make sure there’s no permanent damage, girls. The flight suits are pretty much full-body, so a few bruises shouldn’t be an issue.’
‘Oh dear,’ Felicia said, ‘I think that rules out the bull crop.’
‘You’ll be putting in more hours in the hall, Charley. Extra training, some work with the new intake, and you’ll need to learn the routines. And we’ll need to get you fitted for a suit. Uh, the school buys them for us. They’ve got an alumna on the professional circuit who pays for it. State-of-the-art materials and everything.’
‘I’m used to flying in athletic gear,’ Charlotte said.
‘I know. I’ve seen you. Don’t worry, you’ll look almost as good in the suit. If I don’t see you later, have a good summer. You’re going to need the rest.’ Windrider turned and vanished away into the throng.
‘Rest?’ Charlotte muttered. ‘I’m going to spend half the summer running obstacle courses around Spinyard.’
‘Two weeks in Appleyard,’ Krystal said, ‘and then Ramona’s going to be with you for a week. You’ll only get a week to break yourself on a cliff or something.’
Charlotte frowned. ‘Ancestors, you’re right. That’s going to be a really tough week.’
‘Well, try to come back looking like you’ve had some sleep, okay?’
‘Otherwise, it’s cattle prod time,’ Xanthe said, and she did not really look like she was joking.
~~~
‘You know, I don’t think Charity ever quite got over what happened at the Winter Ball,’ Krystal said. She was standing with Trudy, Felicia, and Jesse, the others having gone off to either dance or stare lovingly at the stage where Azuria Bluefeather was belting out songs with the Spectres.
‘I don’t see why she should, darling,’ Felicia replied. ‘Though I admit that I may be a little biased.’
‘Well, good point, but she seems rather… subdued. It doesn’t seem like her.’
‘She spent something like eight weeks cleaning out her spirit,’ Trudy said. ‘Maybe all that deep meditation on how horrible she was actually had an effect.’
‘Ah,’ Felicia said, ‘now here I have to favour Krystal’s side. No amount of self-reflection is going to make Charity any less of a witch. There must be something else on her mind.’
The object of their attention was standing to one side of the hall, her usual gang of cronies around her. They had all been a little less of an issue this term. They all had to live down their parts in the incident at the Winter Ball, but there was something else about them.
‘They lack direction,’ Jesse said. ‘Charity hasn’t been her waspish self, and the whole lot of them haven’t had the heart to get really nasty this term.’
‘Probably true,’ Krystal said. ‘I suspect they’ll be back on form next term, but they’ll back off again as the next Winter Ball gets closer.’
‘Or they’ll get worse,’ Felicia said. ‘My strategy would
be to turn things up a notch on anyone who even mentioned the ball. I’m not sure about Charity. I’m sure we’ll find out.’
‘Ah good.’ Scintilla Rainshadow’s voice came from behind them, and they all turned toward her. She was looking quite radiant in a midnight-blue gown which went well with her hair and was basically a slim, long-sleeved tube wrapping her from throat to ankles. ‘Just the people I wanted to see.’
‘Us?’ Krystal asked, dreading what was going to come next.
‘Indeed. I didn’t get the chance to embarrass you at the last ball, Krystal Ward. Now I can get you up on stage with Trudy Black to extol your virtues. You won’t be alone. I’m collecting a few others from around the room.’
‘Oh, do we have to?’ Trudy asked plaintively.
The dean smiled. ‘Never ask questions you already know the answer to, Trudy Black. It makes you appear less intelligent than you are. And I’d remind you that I have mathematical proof of your intelligence. Meet me on the stage in ten minutes.’ Turning, Rainshadow set off in search of more victims.
‘Just kill me now,’ Trudy said.
‘Nope,’ Krystal replied. ‘I have other plans for you later, remember?’
Trudy pursed her lips and then nodded. ‘Okay, yes, that’s worth staying alive for. But it’s a close thing.’
~~~
‘Ramona Rose is quite the singer.’ The voice came from Krystal’s left, rather than her right where Trudy was standing, and Krystal turned to find Celestina Nightsky standing there in one of her long, formal gowns.
‘We heard her duet with Azuria last time we went to– Uh, when we went out for her birthday. It was a joint thing. Jesse’s and Trudy’s are within a week of Mona’s so we celebrated for all three.’
‘Well, I hope you’re enjoying this celebration. You’ve come a long way this year. You too, Trudy Black. Congratulations on moving up to the advanced track.’
‘Thanks, Celestina,’ Trudy replied. ‘Dean Scintilla Rainshadow already dragged us up on stage to embarrass us with her praise.’
‘I saw.’
‘But I’m enjoying the party anyway.’
‘Good. You have plans for the summer?’
‘We’re going to Appleyard for the first couple of weeks,’ Krystal said. ‘All of us. A misfits outing to the country.’
‘I haven’t been up that way in a while.’
‘Well, I’m trying to find out who my parents were and Appleyard seems a good place to start.’
‘Indeed, but…’ Celestina frowned. ‘Are you sure you want to uncover that particular secret, Krystal? Sometimes when we go looking into the past, we uncover things we wish we had never known.’
Since the old royal seemed to be serious, Krystal ignored her first thought and considered her answer. ‘I think not trying would be worse than knowing. I’m not really hopeful of finding anything anyway, but if I never try to discover where I came from, I’d feel like…’
‘Like you had given up without a fight?’
‘Yes. Perhaps that I had given up on their memory without trying. I was raised by draconist nuns too. I wouldn’t call myself a devout believer, but some of that has to have rubbed off. I’m a dragon without ancestors.’
Celestina smiled. ‘You have ancestors, Krys. They know you, even if you don’t know them, and I’m sure they watch over you. And I’ll let you into another little secret about family. The one we make for ourselves is often just as important as the one we are born into. You enjoy the party and have a good summer.’
‘Same to you, Celestina,’ Krystal replied. She turned back to watch Ramona on stage, singing alongside Azuria, and smiled. She glanced around at Trudy beside her. Sometimes the family you made could be more important than the one you were born into. But, for Krystal, knowing who her parents were could be important too. Maybe a matter of life and death.
Oakleaf Farm, near Appleyard, Concordance, 1st Day of Highsummer.
The first view any of the misfits had of Oakleaf Farm, aside from Jesse and Felicia, was a surprising one. Krystal had definitely expected to see a small collection of buildings, primarily barns, but the house the family had built was verging on a mansion. Generations of Oakleafs had expanded and embellished whenever they had the need or inclination. Certainly, there were barns, one with a large chimney which suggested it was more than a simple barn, but the house dominated the vista from the end of the short drive.
‘We’re meeting up on Indigoday, right?’ Charlotte asked from the carriage they had arrived in. It belonged to the Wild family’s farm, which was further down the road, and was more of a cart really. It was being pulled by a big cart-bull with a thick, bony plate running back from its skull.
‘That’s the plan,’ Krystal said. ‘Going into town on Royalday would just disturb the major services at the nunnery. You guys can take a look around Appleyard while I go see Sister Norretta Greyscale.’
‘And I shall see whether my mother is available for a chat,’ Felicia said.
‘She’ll be able to make time. See you guys in a couple of days.’ The ‘guys’ in question were Ramona, Charlotte, and Xanthe, since they were going on to the Wilds’ farm. The Oakleafs had been happy enough to host all seven of them, but they had decided to share the burden and Xanthe’s folks had been happy to meet more of her friends; they had, briefly, met Felicia in the winter.
‘This place is bigger than I expected,’ Trudy said as the four remaining misfits walked up the drive. It was a proper drive, the surface fused using an alchemical treatment rather than just being dirt.
‘When you live in one place for a few centuries,’ Jesse said, ‘and you don’t have too many financial problems, you tend to end up adding to the house. Sometimes that’s just because you want a new room. There are rooms in there that I don’t think ever get used these days. I’ll give you a quick tour before dinner. Mostly that’s so you’ll know which buildings to avoid unless you’re with one of us.’
‘Like that barn with the chimney?’ Krystal asked.
‘That’s the seasoning shed and, yeah, probably best to avoid it.’
‘We won’t have much time for a tour outside. The sun will set in… fifteen minutes.’
‘We’ll let my mother know we’re here and then go out,’ Jesse said. ‘You can meet the rest of the family at dinner. We tend to eat a little later than we do at the school.’
‘The farm works on an agricultural clock,’ Felicia said. ‘You get used to it, I’m sure.’
‘That doesn’t sound like a confident assertion,’ Trudy said.
‘Well, I wasn’t here long enough to last time. It was also significantly cooler then.’
The afternoon had turned into a hot one, as many afternoons, and a lot of mornings, did during the height of summer. Highsummer was generally the hottest month and, this close to the equator, the days were not much shorter than autumn and spring. They had, in fact, just had the longest night of the year: the sun would be setting just after five thirty and it would be full-dark in less than an hour.
‘You’re barely wearing anything,’ Jesse said. ‘I’d have thought you’d be cool enough.’
Felicia plucked at the thin, silky camisole she had paired with denim shorts for the journey. The cloth was sticking a little. ‘Darling, summer on Concordance is never cool enough.’
‘You have a point. It’s never any fun doing chores in the summer. That’s why we try to get them done in the morning, before it gets really hot.’
Ignoring the veranda and the big front door, Jesse took them all around the right-hand side of the house and back to a split door. The top half of the door was open and they could hear voices as they approached it, and the scent of cooking food was added when they got closer. Jesse reached in to unlatch the door and pushed through, already smiling. ‘I’m back,’ she said, and carried on walking so that the others could follow her.
‘So you are, dear,’ said a woman who was busy chopping vegetables. She was, fairly obviously, Jesse’s mother. Not too tall,
in fact a little shorter than Jesse, she had a thick mane of brown hair and bright green eyes, and the same kind of delicate, very pretty features. She was a little more solid than her daughter, wider in the body and less toned but, while Jesse had quite large breasts for her thin frame, her mother had a breathtaking bust badly hidden under a plaid shirt. ‘And welcome back, Flis. It’s a pleasure to have you here again.’
‘Thank you, Beth,’ Felicia replied, ‘and hello, Josephine, I trust you’re doing well?’
Josephine was the other occupant of the kitchen, sitting at the far end of the large table Beth was using for food preparation. This was Jesse’s grandmother who had, according to Cragscales, been something of a wild child back when she had attended the Celestina School of Magic, and according to Jesse, she still was. There was certainly a mischievous smile on the older dragon’s face as she watched the four misfits enter. The Oakleaf genes seemed to be strong ones since Josephine was clearly a member of the line her daughter and granddaughter belonged to. Her hair was a little paler and her nose a little wider. She was thin, like Jesse, and not at all tall, and her face was a little rounder with fewer angles to it.
‘I’m doing very well, Flis,’ Josephine said. ‘Are you going to introduce your friends, Jesse?’
‘I’m getting there,’ Jesse replied. ‘All right, girls, my mother, Bethany, and my grandmother, Josephine. Mom, Granny Jo, this is Krystal Ward and Trudy Black. They’re in the room opposite mine in the hall. Krystal’s in my class for magical theory, and Trudy will be in that class next year because she came top in her class for further theory studies.’
‘And Krystal is this magical genius you’ve mentioned,’ Bethany said. ‘Two very bright girls. You’ll be calling me Beth.’
‘And I’m Jo,’ Josephine said, ‘even if Flis won’t shorten it.’
‘But Josephine is such a gorgeous name,’ Felicia protested. ‘It rolls off the tongue so easily, and it suits you.’
‘Flatterer. I’m sure you just do it to be a pest.’
Felicia gave a gasp which almost sounded genuine. ‘As if I would.’
Misfit Witchcraft (Misfits Book 2) Page 10