The nurse moved on, helping others. Rachel glanced around her. Across the campus, the fighting had stopped. The proctors moved purposefully, gathering the glassy-eyed students and leading them toward the Watch Tower—presumably to meet the Agents the dean had summoned, who would be able to remove the geases. Most of the students had been herded into Roanoke Hall, but those with the Brotherhood of the Hart had joined the tutors who were pouring out onto the lawn and splitting into groups. Some helped the wounded make their way to the infirmary. Others were cleaning up the mess: dissolving magical vines, freeing victims trapped by Glepnir Bonds, shooing conjurations off of the commons, and other tasks required to help the campus return to normal.
As Rachel watched all this, a tawny motion out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Atop the head of the sleeping stone lion to the left of the entrance to Drake Hall sat Kitten’s familiar, its golden eyes bright. It stared steadily upward, at a place above Rachel’s head. Glancing up, Rachel saw an empty tree branch. She thought back a moment.
A huge black raven with eyes of crimson gazed down at the Lion, but when Rachel looked upward, it turned and fixed its eyes on her instead.
A frisson of awe and fear ran down her spine.
But even as she shivered, a slight smile touched her lips. Wasn’t this where it had all began—with the Raven and the Lion?
Had that only been five days ago?
How much she had changed in such an amazingly short period of time.
“Rachel!” Gaius came running over to where she stood. “It looks like everyone lived. Everyone who your princess’s vision said would die. Do you know what this means?”
“What?” she asked wide-eyed and eager.
Catching her about the waist, he lifted her into the air and swung her around and around, shouting: “We won!”
The End.
Glossary
Agents
Magical law enforcement. Agents fight magical foes, both human and supernatural.
Alchemy
One of the Seven Sorcerous Arts. It is the Art of putting magic into objects.
Bavaria
A country that exists in the world of the book but not in our world. It is known to both the World of the Wise and the Unwary. It is ruled by the Von Dread family.
Canticle
One of the Seven Sorcerous Arts. It is the Art of commanding the natural and supernatural world with the words and gestures of the Original Language.
Cantrip
One word in the Original Language, i.e. a canticle spell.
Cathay
The Democratic Republic of Cathay, a country that exists in the world of the book but not in our world. It is known to both the World of the Wise and the Unwary. It is ruled by an elected council.
Conjuring
One of the Seven Sorcerous Arts. It is the Art of drawing objects out of the dreamlands.
Core Group
A group of students, usually from the same dorm, who attend all their classes together.
Dare Hall
The dormitory at Roanoke Academy that is favored by enchanters.
De Vere Hall
The dormitory at Roanoke Academy that is favored by warders and obscurers.
Dee Hall
The dormitory at Roanoke Academy that is favored by scholars.
Drake Hall
The dormitory at Roanoke Academy that is favored by thaumaturges.
Enchantment
One of the Seven Sorcerous Arts. It is based on music and includes a number of sub-arts.
Fulgurator’s wand
A wand with a spell-grade gem on the tip that is used by Soldiers of the Wise to throw lighting and to hold other kinds of spells.
Gnosis
One of the Seven Sorcerous Arts. It is the Art of knowledge and augury.
Heer of Dunderberg
Storm Goblin locked up with his Lightning Imps in a cave in Stony Tor on Roanoke Island.
Jumping
A cantrip that allows the practitioner to teleport.
Magical Australia
A country that is only known to the Wise. It is ruled by the Romanov family.
Marlowe Hall
The dormitory at Roanoke Academy that is favored by conjurers.
Morthbrood
An ancient organization of practitioners of black magic. During the Terrible Years, the Morthbrood served the Terrible Five.
Mundane
Without magic. Refers both to the modern technological world and to those who cannot use magic. It is possible to be mundane and Wise, if one has no magic but is aware of the magical world.
Obscuration
A subset of Warding. It allows for the casting of illusions that hide things and trick the Unwary.
Original Language
The original language in which all objects were named.
Parliament of the Wise
The ruling body of the World of the Wise.
Pollepel Island
The name the Unwary call the island they see in place of Roanoke Island. It is also called Bannerman Island.
Roanoke Academy for the Sorcerous Arts
A school of magic on a floating island that is currently moored in the Hudson near Storm King Mountain.
Scholars
Practitioners of the Art of Gnosis.
Sorcery
The study of magic.
Spenser Hall
The dormitory at Roanoke Academy that is favored by canticlers.
Terrible Five
The leaders of the Veltdammerung, who terrorized the World of the Wise during the Terrible Years. They consisted of: Simon Magus, Morgana le Fay, Koschei the Deathless, Baba Yaga, and Aleister Crowley.
Thaumaturgy
One of the Seven Sorcerous Arts. It is the Art of storing charges of magic in a gem.
Thule
A country that is known only to the World of the Wise. It occupies the section of Greenland that is, in our world, occupied by the world’s largest national park (larger than all but 32 countries).
Transylvania
A country that exists in the world of the book but not in our world. It is known to both the World of the Wise and the Unwary. It is ruled by the Starkadder family.
Tutor
The term used for professors at Roanoke Academy.
Unwary
one who does not know about the magical world.
Veltdammerung
Twilight of the World. The organization that served the Terrible Five during the Terrible Years. It consisted of the Morthbrood and of supernatural servants.
Warding
One of the Seven Sorcerous Arts. It is the Art of protecting one’s self from magical influences.
Wise
Those in the know about the magical world (as in the root of the word ‘wizard’).
Wisecraft
The law enforcement agency of the Wise. The Agents work for the Wisecraft.
World of the Wise
The community of those who know about the magical world.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Mark Whipple, John C. Wright, and William E. Burns, III who breathed the life into the original story.
To Virginia Johnson and Erin Furby, who helped iron out the bumps, and to my sons, Orville and Justinian for playing along and particularly to Juss, for wearing a lightning imp under his cat.
To Erin Furby, Ginger Kenny, Carman Finestra, Anne-Marie Droege, Cherry Vanderbeke, Sue Sims, Katherine Peterson, Laura Taylor, Emily Leverett, Merry Muhsman, Heidi Schrock, and Von Long for slogging their way through the early drafts, and, in particular, thank you again, to Carman, Cherry, Sue and Stephanie King for correcting some of my Americanisms.
To Anna “Firtree” MacDonald, for making it readable, and to Danielle Ackley-McPhail for believing in me.
To Dan Lawlis, for being a friend first and then the perfect artist and to my dauntless husband, John C. Wright, Esq., for taking the time to draw.
To my brot
her, Law Lamplighter, who listened, and to my mother, Jane Lamplighter, for making dinner on Thursdays, so I could write.
About the Authors
L. Jagi Lamplighter is also the author of the Prospero’s Daughter series: Prospero Lost, Prospero In Hell, and Prospero Regained. She is an assistant editor with the Bad-Ass Faeries Anthologies, and she maintains a weekly blog on writing called Wright’s Writing Corner. When not writing, she switches to her secret identity as wife and stay-home mom in Centreville, VA, where she lives with her dashing husband, author John C. Wright, and their four darling children, Orville, Ping-Ping, Roland Wilbur, and Justinian Oberon.
Her website is: http://ljagilamplighter.com
Her blog is at: http://arhyalon.livejournal.com
On Twitter: @lampwright4
Mark A. Whipple grew up in Croton-on-Hudson, which is not far from Roanoke Island. He then attended St. John’s College in Annapolis, the mundane sister school to Roanoke Academy. Until recently, he has spent his free time, when not busy torturing Rachel Griffin, protecting the world from video game threats. Now, however, he volunteers with Stillbrave, a charity devoted to helping the families of children with cancer.
30% of the authors’ proceeds from the Unexpected Enlightenment series goes to charity. Current charities of choice:
Mark’s choice: Stillbrave Childhood Cancer Foundation – helping families of children with cancer.
Stillbrave Childhood Cancer Foundation
6731A Edsall Rd, Springfield, VA 22151
https://stillbrave.org
Jagi’s choice: All Girls Allowed – fighting for the rights and dignity of girls in China
All Girls Allowed
101 Huntington Avenue, Suite 2205
Boston, MA 02199
http://allgirlsallowed.org
The Books of Unexpected Enlightenment
The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin
The Raven, The Elf, and Rachel
Rachel and the Many-Splendored Dreamland (forthcoming)
The Awful Truth about Forgetting (forthcoming)
Guardians of the Twilight Lands (forthcoming)
… and more to come
Other books by L. Jagi Lamplighter
The Prospero’s Children Trilogy
Prospero Lost
Prospero In Hell
Prospero Regained
The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin (Books of Unexpected Enlightenment Book 1) Page 38