‘How’s it going?’ Sam said to Gerald.
Gerald reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. He flipped open the lid—inside were the emerald earrings that Mrs Rutherford had found for him to give to Felicity for Christmas. He had planned to give them to Ruby. ‘I started the Christmas holidays with two girlfriends,’ Gerald said with a sharp snort. ‘Now I don’t have any.’
Sam nodded in sympathy. ‘To lose one girlfriend is unfortunate. To lose two seems careless.’
Gerald snorted a laugh. ‘Thank you, Lady Bracknell.’
Sam looked confused. ‘Who?’
Gerald went to reply, then changed his mind.
‘Girls, eh,’ Ox said.
The three of them nodded their heads sagely.
‘At least they talk to you now,’ Gerald said, prodding Ox in the ribs.
‘Yeah,’ Ox said. ‘There’s some progress.’
By the time everyone was ready to go home, and the parents were rounding up coats and car keys, Gerald and Ruby were back on shoulder-nudging terms. She gave him a huge hug goodbye—or as huge as their broken wings would allow—and another peck on the cheek. This peck lasted longer than the first one.
‘Flicka and I will see you two in Winchester for a movie on Friday night,’ Ruby said to Gerald and Sam as she pulled on her coat. ‘We can compare our first week at school.’
‘Maybe we will,’ Gerald said, loftily. ‘We might get a better offer.’
Ruby scoffed. ‘Ha! Like you could do better than us.’
Alisha hugged Ox goodbye, and Gerald couldn’t help noticing the disappointment on Ox’s face as they went their separate ways with their parents. Sam followed Francis and Alice Valentine towards their car, waving back at Gerald. ‘See you at St Cuthbert’s,’ he called.
Ruby and Felicity hooked arms and danced down the front steps into the crisp London night.
Ruby pulled up and looked back to Gerald where he stood framed in the doorway.
‘You be there on Friday night,’ she instructed.
Gerald gave a small wave. ‘I will.’
‘Don’t you lie to me,’ Ruby said. ‘Otherwise your nose will grow.’
Gerald laughed. ‘A nose joke? Is that the best you can do?’
Ruby broke away from Felicity and skipped back to Gerald. She stood on the bottom step and rose up onto her toes. Gerald bowed down so they were on the same level.
‘I’m inviting you to a movie,’ Ruby said, her eyes sparkling. ‘That snot to be sniffed at. A fun night out with nostrils attached. Don’t blow this, Gerald. Who nose where it could lead?’
Then Ruby gave Gerald a cheeky grin, raced back to Felicity, and together they giggled their way to the waiting cars.
Gerald stood on the top step and waved after them. For the first time in his life, he was actually looking forward to the start of a school term.
Afterword
Tycho Brahe (1546–1601) was a Danish astronomer who shaped the way science is conducted to this day. His dedication to rigorous observation and measurement set a standard that has been the model for the scientific method for the past four hundred years.
He did lose his nose in a duel and replace it with a collection of silver ones. He was astronomer and astrologer to the court of King Rudolph II of Bohemia. He is buried in the Tyn Church in Prague. In 2010, his body was disinterred by academics from Aarhus University in Denmark as they sought to discover just how he died. Rumours still circulate that he was poisoned by his assistant who was hoping to gain possession of the volumes of data recording the movements of the moon and inner planets. This assistant was Johannes Kepler—now regarded as a giant in the field of astronomy and whose laws of planetary motion still rule the cosmos today.
On the tiny island of Ven, off the Swedish coast, there is a museum dedicated to the amazing life of the man with the silver nose. A statue of Tycho Brahe stands in the museum grounds, his head tilted to the sky, a timeless memorial to a great man of science.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to:
Mrs Huebner’s fifth grade class from Sioux Central Community School in Sioux Rapids, Iowa, for detailed instructions on how to injure yourself on a snowmobile.
Stephanie Stepan, for help with Czech translations and for her limitless enthusiasm, patience and goodwill.
Nicola and Philip Seale, for expert tips on how to avoid a crash in a Cessna 185, and for refuge in their hangar.
As always, to Jane Pearson and her seemingly endless pencil.
The Crystal Code Page 26