“Rune Drexler, come in,” she said, wiggling one of her long red fingernails.
I followed her inside, and the door closed behind me. As she rounded my dad’s desk, I couldn’t help noticing how weird it felt to see her sitting in his place. I glanced around the room looking for some kind of clue as to where my dad might be. Everything looked the same as always. Well, mostly. In the glass case, the fake crystal ball Ileana had conjured was gone. There was another empty space in a dusty corner where Tabs usually slept. I wondered what had happened to the little cat-a-bat.
“So?” Morgana asked, pulling my attention back to her.
She was lounging in my dad’s chair, fixing me with her green gaze.
“So, what?” I asked, crossing my arms defiantly. Sure, she was kind of scary, but I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of showing fear.
“What have you done with Master Dreadthorn?”
“Me?” I asked. “I was going to ask you the same question.”
“Oh, come, come, Rune! I know you’ve hated him for years. It’s so obvious that you and your little friends have finally plotted to get rid of him.”
“Whatever,” I said. “This is your doing. You’re behind all this.”
“I think you’ll have a hard time proving it,” she said with an evil grin.
Ooh. Mistress Morgana was one wicked villain. I could almost like her if she hadn’t taken over my dad’s school and tried to kill me last semester and … No. Never mind. I really could never like her.
“Where is Dracula’s daughter? The one you call Countess Jezebel?” she asked suddenly.
“Jez?”
I remembered how frazzled Jez had looked when we’d run into each other in the hallway. She seemed scared. What had happened at Mistress Morgana’s school? Was Jezebel in trouble? I decided even though I was mad at the countess, I wasn’t about to betray her to the witch.
“How should I know?” I asked. “I thought she was at your snobby school.”
“Oh, but this is my school now, Rune. Mistress Morgana’s School for Wayward Villains. Has a nice ring, don’t you think?”
“No.”
“It will grow on you. I promise. Now back to class,” she said, waving me away like I was some serving boy.
“Oh, and Rune,” she said when I’d reached the door. “Don’t try anything clever. I’m the Master of this school now.”
I glared at her a moment, before dashing off. I was late for my meeting with Ileana and Wolf, and we had a lot to talk about. When I got to the Great Clock, I checked to be sure no one was looking. Then I pressed the eye of the ugly little monster that triggered the secret door. Soon I’d lit a torch and was walking down the spiral steps to the Prophecy Cave.
Princess Ileana and Wolf Junior were already there waiting for me.
“You’re late,” said Ileana, tapping her pink slipper impatiently. She had her arms crossed and was holding a newsparchment in one hand.
“I got dragged into Morgana’s office so she could gloat at me,” I said.
“You did?” asked Wolf, shivering from head to tail. “Lucky she let you out alive.”
“Tell me about it,” I said.
“Have you seen Dodge?” Ileana asked.
“No, he’s missing. My dad is missing. Something is definitely going on,” I said.
“I know,” said Ileana. “Take a look at this.”
Wolf and I leaned closer as Ileana spread the news-parchment on the floor. There was the article again, the one about Doctor Do-Good and his son, Deven.
“So what?” Wolf asked.
“Notice anything?” asked Ileana.
We reread the article.
“It says something about Doctor Do-Good’s son failing a Quest to overthrow Morgana,” Wolf said.
“Right. Now look at this. See anything else?” Ileana flipped to the photo of Doctor Do-Good and his son wearing their hero masks.
“Uh, the kid’s smile is freakishly white, but other than that …,” I said.
“Look here,” said the princess.
She picked up a rock and scratched a name into the cave floor:
Deven Do-Good.
“Great job, Ileana. Resourceful use of a rock as a writing tool. Excellent penmanship. You get an A-plus for being completely useless,” I said. I was being kind of mean, but I didn’t care. I was still ticked off about Morgana’s snooty attitude.
Ileana glared at me and said, “Look again, Rune.”
The princess began crossing out the letters in Do-Good’s name one by one and rearranging them until she’d formed a new name:
Dodge VonDoe.
“No way!” Wolf and I said at the same time.
I looked at the newsparchment again, examining the photo of Deven Do-Good more closely this time.
“See it?” Ileana asked, pointing to a tiny scar above the boy’s eyebrow. “I noticed it right after breakfast. I’d gone back to my room to look again for the crystal. I felt bad yelling at you and thought maybe I’d just misplaced it. This newsparchment was under my bed, and I don’t know. Something just clicked.”
“It is Dodge!” I said. “I saw him one night in our room. He wasn’t expecting me to walk in. He had a hero’s costume! He said it wasn’t his, it was just a joke the Morgana kids were playing on him.”
A closer look at the photograph, and even though it was in black and white, I knew the costume in the photo matched the one I’d seen Dodge holding in our room.
“So, what are you saying?” asked Wolf. “You think Dodge is a hero? That he took the crystal and your dad? Or is Morgana behind it?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. “I wish I’d listened to Jezebel!”
“When did you see her?” asked the princess. I thought I detected a slight note of jealousy. Yeah. The villainesses all loved me.
“In the hall right before class. She looked kind of anxious. Morgana told me she was looking for Jez. I’m sure she must know something about all this. Why was I such a jerk?”
There was a tiny pop and Jezebel materialized from the shadows.
“I was just waiting for you to admit it, Rune Drexler,” she said with a smile.
Chapter Eight
Traitors
“So, let me get this straight,” I said to Jezebel. “Master Dreadthorn called you to his office that day to tell you he was sending you to Morgana’s school as a spy?”
“Yes,” said Jez. “He suspected she was hatching an evil plan. Apparently he’d seen something in his crystal ball to make him suspicious. Anyway, since I’m such an excellent student, he chose me.”
Behind Jezebel, Ileana was rolling her eyes.
“Or maybe because you can turn into a bat,” Wolf offered. Jez ignored him.
“I spent a lot of time spying. It was easy to conceal myself. I learned that a superhero had been sent to overthrow Morgana and her school, but he had failed. That was common enough knowledge, but what many people didn’t know was that the superhero had made a deal with Morgana.”
“How did you find that out?” asked Wolf.
“I was hanging from a rafter outside Morgana’s study door when a visitor arrived. It was late in the day, and most of the students were still asleep. The visitor was hooded and cloaked and escorted by one of Morgana’s headsmen. The door opened, and he was let in. I stealthily flew in behind him, keeping to the shadows and concealing myself high on a bookshelf …”
“Do you have it?” Morgana asked.
“Not yet,” the visitor said.
“Deven, Deven,” Morgana said. “We made a deal, remember? When your miserable attempt to overthrow me failed, I showed you mercy. Now, you give me the crystal ball, and I give you Dreadthorn. I need it to take over Master Dreadthorn’s school.”
“I’m just as eager as you are, my lady,” he said. “Once I have the villain Master as my prisoner, I know my father will welcome me back into the hero community with open arms!”
“So it was Dodge!” I said, interrupting Jez’s
story. “He kidnapped the Dread Master!”
“Hold on,” Wolf said. “Does that mean Dodge gave Morgana the crystal ball?”
“I didn’t see it when she called me to Dad’s study,” I said.
“And how was Dodge able to subdue a Master villain as powerful as Dreadthorn?” asked Ileana.
“Keep your crown on,” said Jezebel. “I was getting to that. So, all this happened a few days ago. I sent a report to the Dread Master, but then just yesterday, Dodge, or Deven, or whatever his name is, returned. Again, I spied on the conversation …”
“Well?” Morgana asked.
“I have the crystal,” said Dodge. “And more importantly, I’ve used its power and the potion you gave me to capture Master Dreadthorn!”
“Give it to me!” Morgana’s eyes filled with greed.
“It’s a powerful tool,” he answered.
“Give it to me now!” Morgana held out her hands.
“You know,” said Dodge. “Capturing a Master villain might convince my father to accept me back into Hero School, but if I had this, too …”
Dodge pulled out the crystal ball from beneath his cloak and tossed it casually from one hand to the other. Morgana was getting ready to hex him, but Dodge started laughing, and before Morgana could attack, he flew out the door.
“Did you hear what I said? Flew!” Jez gestured wildly with her arms.
“Well, that explains how he traveled so quickly between here and Morgana’s school,” I said.
“This is all my fault!” said Ileana, burying her face in her hands. “If I hadn’t stolen the crystal from Master Dreadthorn’s office …”
“Yeah, but it was Dodge who first suggested the idea,” said Wolf. “Remember?”
“Yeah! Because he couldn’t pick the lock on my dad’s cabinet,” I realized. “He was using you, Ileana. He fooled all of us. So, what happened after that?”
“Well,” Jezebel said, “while I was spying from the bookshelf I got a snout full of dust and sneezed. I didn’t think Morgana had heard, but I was wrong. As soon as Dodge left, she cast a spell that forced me to change back into a girl. She tied me up with an enchanted rope so I couldn’t transform and hauled me onto a ship. Then we sailed straight here.”
“How did you escape?” I asked.
“The rope may have been magical, but it wasn’t fang-proof,” said Jez with a smirk. “I chewed through it while we were sailing and flew to find you.”
“We have to do something!” said Ileana.
“But what?” Wolf asked. “Dodge, or Deven, or whatever his name is, will be long gone with the Dread Master.”
“I could tell my dad,” said Jezebel uncertainly. We all knew Jez’s dad, Dracula, was really just a rich jerk and probably wouldn’t help.
“I have a better idea!” said Ileana.
But then something happened. Suddenly I couldn’t move or talk. We were all frozen.
“Well, well, well,” said a voice, and Morgana emerged from the dark shadows of the winding staircase. “Aren’t you all so very clever! It seems you’ve found me out, but I don’t think we need to burden Count Dracula with your discoveries. Besides, when he hears that you’re all traitors, he won’t believe a word you say.”
Morgana was gloating. Didn’t she know anything about being a villain? Never monologue! It gives your captives a chance to form a plan and escape. And at that moment, I really hoped one of my allies was forming a plan, because I had nothing.
“Yes,” she said, casually circling us, trailing her long fingernails over our shoulders. “You were working together with that goody-goody Deven to get rid of Master Dreadthorn. Shame on you! Helping him steal the Dread Master’s crystal ball. Tsk. Tsk.”
Lies! I wanted to scream, but I was still frozen.
Morgana stopped circling us and rested her hands on the door where the old prophecy had been etched.
“And to think this is where it all began. A seed of suspicion was sown here in this little cave—a seed that grew into a bitter rivalry. All because of this,” she said, tracing the words on the door with her red fingernails. “And here it shall finally end!”
I had no idea what she was talking about. What did the prophecy have to do with any of this? It was about villain twins. My thoughts were cut short, though, because Morgana snapped her fingers, and her beefy headsmen came thundering into the little room to haul us all away.
And that is how we ended up hanging upside down over boiling cauldrons in the Detention Dungeon. Morgana announced to the entire school that the traitors responsible for the Dread Master’s disappearance had been caught and were being punished. She did not, however, mention anything about Deven Do-Good or where my dad was now.
“All this steam is ruining my hair,” said Princess Ileana, who was hanging over the cauldron next to mine.
“Your hair?” asked Wolf Junior, who hung directly across from me. “You should see what it does to fur!”
“My dad is so going to hear about this!” said Countess Jezebel, who was dangling on my other side.
We were bound in enchanted chains, so we couldn’t escape by magic. Ileana was trying to swing herself away from her cauldron. She’d already managed to pick the lock binding her hands.
“If I can just pick this lock on my legs, and keep from falling into the water—” she said.
“Let me help,” a new voice said.
We all looked up in surprise. At first, I thought Morgana had returned to finish us off, but it wasn’t Morgana. It was—
“Mother!” Ileana cried.
“Queen Catalina!” I said. “But what are you doing here?”
“I’ll explain later. We have to get you out of here first,” said the queen.
She quickly picked Ileana’s lock, and together the two of them unlocked the rest of us. We couldn’t go back to our rooms. We had to find a place that wasn’t crawling with students.
“I know a place,” I said.
We made our way to the dragons’ dungeon, where Custard was biting on Fafnir’s ear as he slept.
“Thank you,” I told the queen as we stopped to catch our breath. “But how did you know we needed help?”
“Yesterday, Tabs showed up at my doorstep with a note from Veldin—that is, Master Dreadthorn—saying he feared treachery from Morgana, which I can’t say is very surprising. But he said he’d received information from a trusted spy he had placed in Morgana’s school.”
At this, Jezebel sat up a little straighter and shot a superior look at Ileana. The princess hardly noticed, though, as she was listening intently to the queen.
“I never liked Morgana much,” the queen continued, “and after her attack on my kingdom last year, I warned Veldin not to trust her! When Tabs showed up with the message, I rushed here—with a little help from a few handy spells I know—hoping to be of some assistance. But just as I was arriving, I heard Morgana make an announcement about traitors and knew I was too late for Veldin. Instead I set out to find and free all of you.”
“What happens now?” asked Wolf Junior, licking at his steam-soaked fur.
“Now I’ll have to get you all somewhere safe,” said the queen.
“No,” I said. Everyone looked at me. “Now we go rescue my dad.”
Chapter Nine
Villains to the Rescue
“No, absolutely not.”
We’d already formed a rough plan, but Queen Catalina wasn’t going for it.
“Mother, we have to,” Ileana said as she cautiously approached the dragons.
Fafnir took no immediate notice, but Custard’s ears perked up as she raised her slender yellow head to fix her eyes on the princess. I really hoped Ileana knew what she was doing. Nothing smells worse than burnt princess.
“I won’t allow it. It’s much too dangerous for children. I’m sorry, but—” The queen began some kind of spell to stop us, but Ileana was ready. She fired off a spell of her own, silencing the queen and freezing her in place just as Morgana had done to us in t
he Prophecy Cave.
“Hey, it worked!” Ileana said, surprised at her own skills. Then her smile faded. “I’m sorry, Mother.” She kissed the queen’s cheek. “It’ll wear off after we’re gone.”
We all mumbled our apologies to the queen. It felt wrong to hex her like that after she’d set us free and was so worried for us. She was like the mom none of us had ever had. And don’t judge me. Even villains can feel bad about hexing nice ladies!
“Are you sure you can do this?” I asked the princess.
She was already cooing to Custard, and even Fafnir began to take notice, raising his milky white eyes toward the sound of the princess’s voice. The fact that Ileana could talk to flying animals was kind of embarrassing, but I was willing to let it slide for now, especially since she was getting us our ride. Besides there’s a big difference between birds and dragons. Just try cleaning out a birdcage, then cleaning out a dragon cave. Big, big difference. In a few moments, both dragons were bent low to the ground, waiting for us to climb aboard.
“Everybody ready?” the princess asked as she scrambled onto the old dragon’s back.
Jezebel immediately climbed onto Custard. The young dragon snorted a puff of smoke and twitched her tail, but didn’t try to eat Jez, which was a good sign to me. Then Ileana and Jezebel both looked at me expectantly. Cat-a-bats!
I was saved by Wolf Junior, who climbed up next to the princess with a wink at me. I reminded myself later to find an extra raw hunk of sheep liver to thank him. Then I climbed up behind Jezebel. I had no idea where to put my hands, so I folded them in front of my chest, which was pretty dumb because Custard chose to stand up and I almost tumbled off the dragon’s back.
“How do we hold on?” Jezebel asked.
“Oh, here,” Ileana said, conjuring reins for each dragon.
“Where did you learn to spell like that? I know it wasn’t in Stiltskin’s class!” I said, impressed.
Villain School Page 6