“It’s so weird to be doing this.” Valerie snapped the back of her camera shut and turned the crank twice. “I feel like I’m in an old movie. It’s a good thing our Photography Club had access to a darkroom. I considered it a historical oddity at the time. But now I’m really glad I took the class on using film.”
Rachel blinked. “What else would you use?”
Valerie looked up in surprise. Then, a quirky smile caught her lip. “You Wiseborn are so cute. Most cameras are digital now.”
Rachel frowned. “You mean…like a computer.”
“Basically. Yeah.”
“Oh.” Rachel had trouble caring about mundane things. It was the only part of knowing everything she did not find interesting. “So, you’ve been here at school a few days. How do you like it?”
Valerie crinkled her nose and gave Rachel a tiny, sad smile. “I feel…humbled.”
“Humbled?” Rachel leaned against the wall, batting at the purple wisteria blossoms that had snagged her hair. “Why is that?”
“Back at home, I was street savvy.” Valerie smiled sheepishly. “I was Miss Connected. My mother’s a reporter, and my dad’s a cop. I did jobs for my parents, investigated, went places no adult could get away with going. Made friends with people everyone else would rather not know. So I knew everyone, and everyone knew me. Plus, I knew how to do research. I was the Girl on the Street. I knew how stuff worked.
“Here at Roanoke, I know nothing. Outside the Iscariots, I have no connections in the World of the Wise. I don’t even know what’s physically possible and what’s not. I feel like one of those tuna that has just been flipped out of the water onto a fisherman’s ship and is now wriggling around on the deck. I might have been a master in the ocean. Up here, I’m just cat food.”
“That would be disconcerting.” Rachel sat down on the bench. “So you worked for your father the detective and your mother the reporter? Is that how you found the dead body? Siggy said you found one. He seemed…impressed.”
Valerie turned slightly green. “No. It wasn’t anything like that. True, I slummed around with lowlifes for my parents, looking for clues as to who was distributing drugs at school. Caught the perp, too.” She grinned wickedly. “Go me! But the body thing was quite different. I was rowing with my crew team, and we found something floating in the water. Turned out to be a dead body…the body of my and Salome’s other bestie, Lilly Pfeiffer. The previous year, her whole family had been murdered…in front of her eyes. I guess it was just too much for her. She committed suicide. Drowned herself in the river.”
“One of your best friends! And you’re the one who found her. I’m so sorry.”
“Hey. It happens. That was the case my father was working on when he disappeared—who murdered Lilly’s family.” Valerie brushed her hair from her eyes and held up her camera. “Say cheese!”
Rachel gave her a big smile, holding two fingers up in a V beside her face.
Valerie snapped a picture and laughed. “Oh, that’s so cute! You look like an anime girl.”
“A what?”
“A Japanese cartoon girl. They do that finger thing when they have their pictures taken.”
“I got that from my mother and my sisters. They always do it.”
“Must be an Asian thing.”
“Could be.” Rachel shrugged. “I’m one-eighth Korean.”
Valerie hooked her camera back onto the red strap she wore over her shoulder. It hung above her hip. “Sad about the snitch, isn’t it? Joy told me.”
Rachel smoothed the pleats of her robe, frowning. “I love sharing secrets. I can’t do that if the stuff we know has already been spilled—to people who might use it against us.”
“I’ve been making a list of suspects,” Valerie held up her notebook, “but so far, I haven’t found anything conclusive. This is assuming, of course, that a person told the students in Drake—rather than that they spied on us with magic or discerned it with augury,” her face twitched oddly, “which is possible in the magical world, isn’t it? Remember what I said about not knowing the laws of nature?”
Rachel shivered. If one of Cydney’s friends or acquaintances had a device like Sigfried’s amulet, how could she and her friends discuss anything safely?
“What you said about not having enough information…” Rachel pulled her legs up on the bench beside her and hugged her knees. “It is the same with the other matters we’re investigating. We have all these pieces of information, but no leads. Nothing we can act on. You’re the genius reporter. Any ideas?”
“Honestly? I haven’t found out very much. There is no Internet here. No computers upon which to practice my Google Fu. Did I mention I have a black belt in that esteemed art?”
Rachel giggled. “I have no idea what that means, but…I’m sorry?”
“Why is it that technology doesn’t work here?” Valerie grabbed her short blond hair and moaned. “The very concept doesn’t make sense to me.”
“Because the inanimate world is more awake,” Rachel explained. “It works the other way, too. In areas of heavy technology, magic is more difficult. Sometimes, cantrips stop working altogether. The world believes it is mechanical and just won’t listen to sorcerers.”
“Can anything be done?” Valerie asked. “More insulation? Ablative shielding?”
“That’s what Ouroboros Industries is working on.”
“It’s so weird that they are part of the World of the Wise.” Valerie did a sort of a shivery dance. “Creepy! At home, our dishwasher is an O.I. It’s like finding out that Sears is run by the Seven Dwarves or something.”
Rachel nodded. “O.I.’s trying to find ways to get the two worlds to work together.”
“I hope they succeed. Quickly!” Valerie declared. She sighed and put her journal down on the bench. “I don’t have any idea how to proceed. I didn’t even know about magic till Salome told me over the summer. I am still trying to learn what is normal magic, and what is weird. So far, Nastasia’s visions are under ‘weird’, as is Sigfried’s dragon, and this Raven.”
They spoke for a time, discussing the princess’s encounter with the Lightbringer entity, the Raven’s effect on Lucky, and how nice it would be to have their own furry dragon. Payback lifted her head and whined. Valerie petted her fondly.
“What’s next?” she asked.
“Oh! And someone’s trying to kill you,” Rachel said. “Do we have any leads on that?”
Valerie got a strange look on her face, as if she were trying to control her expression the way Rachel and her mother did, but was unable to do so. Her eyes shone with unshed tears. Her lip quivered a bit. Rachel felt terrible. She wished she had not brought up the topic.
Valerie’s voice was mostly under control, wobbling only a little. “My contacts among the Agents have assured me that Roanoke Academy is the safest place for me—other than sitting in the Wisecraft office, which might be interesting at first, but would probably get boring once I realized that keeping me safe did not include letting me in on Agent business. I have no idea if any of our fellow students are in the know—but if so, I haven’t ferreted them out.”
“So you haven’t found anything useful?” Rachel asked, disappointed. She had not known what could be learned by talking to their fellow students. But since Valerie had been bothering to try, Rachel had imagined she was a super sleuth who could solve any mystery from the tiniest of clues. She was chagrined to discover that the girl reporter had detected nothing.
“I didn’t find anything I was looking for. All I learned was a bit of gossip.”
“Oh, what was that?”
“This is old news, but it may be new to you, since you’re new here. There was a big stir when Colleen MacDannan picked Drake Hall. The MacDannans have always been in Dare. The kids from Dare and Drake Halls were all in an uproar when it happened, four years ago.”
“The MacDannans are famous Irish enchanters. Three of the Six Musketeers were MacDannans,” Rachel said.
She w
ondered glumly if it would have caused the same kind of fuss had she moved into Dee. Probably not, because there was a direct rivalry between Dare and Drake, the same as between Marlowe and De Vere and between Raleigh and Dee. Moving from Dare to Drake would make a much bigger stir than Dare to Dee.
Valerie continued, “I also found out that the Starkadder family—the royal family of Transylvania—is notorious for backstabbing and in-fighting. Many among the Wise are amazed the children have been so well-behaved here at the school.”
Rachel nodded. She had heard such stories.
Valerie blushed and added, “You found out things that affect the whole world, and I found out old rumors. Great. You should have asked Penny Royal to be your friend. She’s a girl in my dorm who’s an amateur detective.” She sighed.
“What about that Strega guy?” Rachel asked suddenly. “What did you learn from him?”
“Who?” Valerie frowned.
“A guy who Gai…who Evil Rumor Monger Number One reported having seen you talk to. His name was Jonah Strega.”
“I never talked to a guy with a name like that. I don’t know who your Evil Rumor Monger is talking about.”
“Maybe you didn’t get the guy’s name. He is supposed to be kind of creepy.”
“I would have remembered talking to someone who was creepy. And I wrote down everyone’s name.” Valerie pulled out her notebook and flipped through it. “Strega. Strega. Nope. I never talked to this guy.”
“Huh…” Rachel’s brow furrowed. “Why would ERM #1 claim you did? What could he possibly gain from that?”
“Don’t know. Maybe he wants you not to trust me?”
“But…” Rachel scrunched up her face, puzzled. “It doesn’t make any sense.” Something tugged at her memory. She reeled it backwards. Pieces snapped into place. “You know what’s weird? Earlier, in the library, someone asked Charybdis Nutt about her conversation with a guy named Jonah. She claimed she had not talked to him, either. I thought at the time that she was just being coy, but…”
“That is weird.” Valerie looked disturbed. Her hound raised its head, alert. “You know…what if there is no spy? What if…” A frightened look came over Valerie’s face. “Okay, I’ll watch out for anything odd. Er, I have to go, I’ll talk to you later.”
She gathered her things, whistled to her dog, and hurried off, her eyes unnaturally shiny. Rachel watched her glumly. She had great sympathy for someone who did not want to cry in front of other people, and she felt bad about having upset Valerie.
Chapter Twenty-Two:
The Knights of Walpurgis
As dinner came to an end, Gaius appeared beside her, looking quite handsome despite his patched robes. He bowed and offered his arm. Rising, Rachel accepted, inwardly delighted by the surprised looks on her friends’ faces. He took her out of Roanoke Hall and across the bridge over the reflecting lake toward the gymnasium. The sun was setting. Brilliant fiery colors painted the western sky and seemed to ignite the waters beneath the bridge. Rachel walked beside him, very aware of the place where his arm touched hers. She felt slightly breathless.
There was something wonderful about having a friend that belonged only to her. Being a friend to a boy who needed a friend made her feel good, too. She did not mind if he was ignored by others. From his demeanor and the fact that he bothered to hang around with underclass girls, she guessed he was both unpopular and a poor sorcerer, brilliant when it came to theory but struggling with the spell work. She was proud of herself for being the kind of girl who would befriend someone no one else cared for.
It gave her a kind of secret, glowy feeling.
Gaius strolled casually beside her, pausing to kick a piece of gravel so that it bounced down the pathway. He spoke cheerfully, “I hope you understand just how fantastic this evening is going to be. No one from Dare has ever been to a Knights meeting. I am so happy you’ve agreed to be the first.”
“I am honored to be asked.” Rachel gave a tiny curtsey.
She gave him a sideways speculative glance. She was dying to know more about the Shadow Agency where her father worked, but if she let on how little she knew, he would clam up. People always spoke more openly with those who they thought were already in the know. How to approach the topic without spooking him?
Inclining her head toward him, she murmured, “It is so nice to meet someone else who knows about the Shadow Agency. It’s difficult having no one to confide in.”
Gaius winced. Gesturing expansively with his free hand, he drawled regretfully, “Alas, I fear you know a great deal more than I. All that I know is that they are responsible for tracking and investigating the new magic that keeps appearing. I do not know any specifics.”
Rachel assumed her calm mask.
Underneath, her emotions churned.
Her father was the person responsible for hunting down the new magic? Her father? The thing she wished most to know was his area of expertise? Could it be that he really had not valued her reports—because he already knew the information she had sent him?
The thought made her want to weep.
“Hmm. In that case, we had better say nothing else,” she said aloud, which saved her from having to reveal that she had nothing more to say.
• • •
They entered the gym and went through the second door on the right. The chamber beyond was much larger than should have fitted into the gymnasium. This did not disturb Rachel. She was used to things being bigger on the inside, such as the princess’s bag and many rooms back home. Gryphon Park was one of the largest private estates in the world, but it was far larger inside than on the outside.
The room where the Knights met was warm, brightly lit, and had a clean smell, like freshly-laundered sheets. One side had been divided into dueling strips, like at a sorcery tournament. The other held a massive table, long enough to seat forty. The benches around this table were more than half full, and students continued to arrive.
At the head of the table sat Vladimir Von Dread. He regarded the room as an emperor surveyed his domain, his folded hands clad in their black, gauntlet-like, dueling gloves. It seemed to Rachel as if an aura of authority and power crackled around him, as he waited patiently for the other members to take their places.
A shiver ran down her spine. If Von Dread ran this group, there might be a good reason why none of the cheerful enchanters of Dare Hall had joined the Knights of Walpurgis. The unpleasant things Salome and the princess had said about Dread came back to her, as did her father’s bad opinion of his father, the King of Bavaria. She glanced furtively at the door.
Maybe she should leave.
Only then did it occur to her to wonder why Gaius had invited her. She swallowed uncertainly, her palms sweaty. Could this be some kind of a cruel trick, intended to humiliate her and perhaps Dare Hall by association? Why did he hang out in empty hallways with thirteen-year-olds anyway?
At the other end of the table sat another tall older student. He had dark hair and dark brooding eyes. His robes also bore a royal golden crest. While he lacked Von Dread’s palpable aura, he maintained an air of somber dignity. Examining him, Rachel realized that this must be Wulfgang’s oldest brother, Romulus Starkadder, the crown prince of Transylvania. Rachel would have nodded at him, but he did not so much as glance her way. If Von Dread surveyed the chamber as if he owned it, Romulus gave the impression that the events around him were beneath his dignity. He spoke with the person seated beside him, a young man whose brown hair fell in his eyes, but the Transylvanian prince paid little attention to anything else.
As Romulus gestured in conversation, Rachel caught the glitter of a deep purple jewel on his right hand. A jolt passed through her body. Could that be the Kadder Star, Transylvania’s greatest treasure? If so, it was one of the most powerful sorcerous talismans known to the World of the Wise. She was astonished the prince would wear it openly at school.
Coming farther in, Rachel scanned the room. She recognized Salome Iscariot, who smiled and wa
ved, Bernie Mulford, a cheerful prankster who was the son of her parents’ friends, and her second cousin, Beryl Moth, a college junior whom she knew only in passing. She also recognized Cydney Graves, who did not look happy to see her. Cydney’s hair was still an unpleasant shade of green. Most of the other faces present were unknown to her.
The tension in Rachel’s chest eased. Salome seemed pleased to see her, so maybe this was not a practical joke. Also, there were no familiars in the room, which made this the first place Rachel had gone since the Familiar Bonding Ceremony where she did not feel instantly out of place. Besides, if her being invited had been part of a prank, Cydney would have looked excited, instead of scowling as if she had taken a bite of an apple and found a worm.
Salome beckoned Rachel over. She was sitting with two very handsome boys, who had to be her brothers, and a third boy, who was holding her hand. The hand-holder had sandy blond hair and was good-looking in a roguish, bad boy way. Rachel gathered this must be the boyfriend Salome had mentioned: Ethan Warhol, son of some flamboyant American Senator. Rachel slipped in on the bench next to Salome. Gaius stepped up beside her and made a scoot-over motion with his hand, gesturing for the older Iscariot brother, who was a college student, to make room for him. To Rachel’s surprise, the young man gave up his seat, sauntering off to sit with some other upperclassmen farther down the table.
As she sat waiting for the rest of the club to arrive, Rachel wondered what the evening would hold. Based on what she had overheard from her dorm-mates, the Young Sorcerer’s League meeting had sounded delightful. It had begun with a series of flowery welcome speeches, which had bored Sigfried. There had been a fascinating discussion about the nature of sorcery. This had been followed by a break, during which members had been given a chance to get to know each other while sipping punch. They had concluded by teaching some real spells. Everyone had lined up and practiced together. Siggy and Nastasia had learned two new cantrips, one that formed a shield in the air and one that deflected flying objects.
The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin (Books of Unexpected Enlightenment Book 1) Page 23