Or he pretended not to.
Rachel stared at the gravel beneath her feet. She wanted to run over to him, to let the many things she urgently wanted to tell him come spilling from her lips. She had seen so little of him lately, since he had been spending all his free time for the last month filling his new wand—a task she desperately wished she could help with, especially as the old one had been broken because he had dueled his friend and boss on her behalf. But she remembered Nastasia’s comments from the night before. Nastasia was right about one thing: If she did not have enough judgment to pick a decent familiar, what made her think she had the discernment to distinguish good boys from bad ones?
The worst thing was, if she told Gaius what Nastasia had said, he would probably just turn around and blame the leak on the dean and the Agents. She loathed the thought of living her life as the ping-pong ball, volleyed back and forth by her groups of friends. Lowering her head, she continued to the infirmary with Sigfried and Lucky.
They reached the brick building with its tall white marble columns, a rather odd architectural choice to Rachel’s way of thinking. As they opened the door and stepped inside, the smell of fresh baking and cinnamon filled their nostrils. Green sparkles, beautiful to behold, swirled through the air from a flute in the hands of Nurse Moth. The emerald twinkles danced around Zoë, Joy, and Nastasia, who stood before her. Some of the tiny lights swept toward the door, swirling around Rachel, who breathed an audible sigh of relief as the soreness in her hip and back eased. Running toward the others, she pulled off her cap, so that the healing magic could reach her forehead.
As green sparks played over her body, Rachel passed the burbling fountain at the center of the room and came to stand beside her friends. She glanced around the infirmary with its periwinkle blue walls with their silver tracery, and its black-veined green marble floor. Flame-orange curtains separated the various beds from one another. Many curtains were pulled back showing empty mattresses. Two were pulled semi-closed around Valerie. Overhead, a clockwork orrery hung beneath a ceiling painted like a cloudy sky. According to an almanac Rachel had once read, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus were all in their correct positions for the date of the festival of the healing goddess Eir—thought to be the most propitious day for healing.
The pain in Rachel’s body eased and lifted. Beside her, Zoë sighed with relief and stopped holding her stomach, where she had been stepped on by the kelpie. Her bruises faded. She waved good-bye to the others and ran off to grab a bite before breakfast closed. Joy, Nastasia, and Valerie were not as lucky. As Xandra had explained, physical damage was easy to heal. Magic-induced damage was not as obliging. Nurse Moth led Joy and Nastasia to cots. Then, she went to look up the songs for kelpie contagion and barghest bites.
Valerie, still in her pajamas, sat on the same bed she had been in last time Rachel visited her here, a few weeks ago. She was drinking some kind of hot pink liquid and had a book open in her lap. Her camera sat on the windowsill. Her Norwegian Elkhound, Payback, sat on the bed with her, the dog’s muzzle resting on her mistress’s lap. Valerie gave Rachel and Sigfried a big smile as they approached.
“Hey, feeling better?” Siggy asked, leaning over and kissing her cheek.
“Much.” Valerie gave him a satisfied nod. “Though the nurse says I have to stay here until the ruby on the scrutiny sticks stops lighting up, whatever that means.”
“Has to do with blood levels, most likely,” Rachel said, after consulting her memorized copy of a medical encyclopedia her mother kept in the main library at Gryphon Park. “You probably lost too much blood.”
“How about you?” Valerie brushed her short flaxen hair out of her face and smiled up at her boyfriend solicitously. “How are you feeling after breaking your spine yesterday?”
“I didn’t break my spine,” Siggy scoffed.
Rachel grabbed Sigfried’s arm and looked up at his face in concern. She turned to Valerie. “He was unconscious! No one told him!”
“Told me what?” Siggy looked back and forth between the two girls.
Valerie leaned forward and said earnestly, “How Xandra Black saved your life…or at least, your back.” Between them, the two girls told Sigfried what had happened after he had been tossed out of the tower by the coalescing Moloch.
“So…this girl Xanwhatshername. She took my wounds. And then she was paralyzed?” Siggy asked. The other two nodded. “And then she died and came back? And this ripped open time and space and let the big ugly in?”
“That’s right.” Rachel nodded.
“Ace!” Siggy cried. “That’s wicked cool! How often can she do that?”
“Sigfried Smith,” Valerie grabbed her head and shook it, chuckling, “sometimes you are sooo predictable.”
Rachel added severely. “The Raven came and told her never to do it again.”
Siggy’s eyes narrowed. “I think Lucky and I can take that Raven.”
Valerie rolled her eyes and went back to her book.
“What’s that?” Rachel, always curious about what other people were reading, tilted her head to catch a glimpse of the cover.
“I found it on the shelf on the back of my door.” Valerie held up the book. To Siggy, who had never been in her dorm, she said, “Everything has a book shelf on it in Dee Hall. Doors, walls, the area between steps on the staircase. There is even a shower that has a bookshelf in it, all full of waterproof books.”
“Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff,” exclaimed Rachel. “Oh, I loved that one! My favorite part was the blood brother ceremony.” She absently touched the outside of her wrist.
Valerie made a face. “Mingling blood. Ew! So unsanitary!”
Rachel, who loved the notion of blood brothers, opened her mouth to object but was interrupted by the ringing of the bell above the Infirmary door. A man in gray sweats came hesitantly inside. He was short and balding but fit, with an easygoing manner and an engaging smile that looked somehow familiar. But Rachel had never seen him before, which meant that she was recognizing a family resemblance.
“Hello? May I come in? I’m looking for…”
“Daddy!” Valerie launched herself from her bed and threw herself at the newcomer. Payback leapt from the bed and bounded with her, barking furiously. “You’re not a goose!”
“Not any more. Thanks to my intrepid daughter!” He hugged Valerie tightly, swaying back and forth, looking so pleased and proud.
“Don’t thank me.” Valerie’s voice was muffled by his sweatshirt. “Thank Xandra Black. Or rather Xandra’s Voices, and Rachel Griffin here, for figuring out what they meant.”
“Well then…” Kenneth Hunt let go of his daughter. He turned toward Rachel and bowed slightly. “Thank you.”
Rachel blushed and looked down shyly, curtseying. “You’re welcome, Sir.”
The elkhound continued barking and running in circles. Detective Hunt squatted down and petted the eager dog. “Hey, Payback. Yes. I see you. I love you, too.”
Straightening, he glanced around at the others. Spotting Sigfried, he grinned and pointed a finger. “I know you! Most famous boy in the World of the Wise. Sigfried the Dragonslayer. And this must be Lucky!” He bowed toward Lucky, who was wrapped around the fountain, drinking the healing waters. “It’s an honor, gentlemen.”
Joy had struggled to her feet, perhaps curious as to what the former goose looked like. “So you’re okay with your daughter dating the most famous boy in the world?”
Kenneth Hunt friendly expression froze as rigidly as if Rachel had paralyzed him. “Dating? Who said anything about dating?”
Chapter Nine:
The Goose and His Intrepid Daughter
Police Detective Kenneth Hunt crossed his arms and looked Sigfried Smith up and down. “Valerie, you can’t be dating this guy! Look at him!” He gestured at where Siggy stood in his brand-new robe with his still damp golden curls sticking out under his square mortar board cap with its tassel. “Hair that’s neither too long nor too short? Decent clothing t
hat aren’t ripped? No visible tattoos? Why, this guy’s not even a bad boy!”
“Am so a bad boy!” Sigfried cried, offended. “I even wear a knife. Wanna see?”
“He’s not a member of the criminal element,” continued Detective Hunt.
“I nick food and murder dragons! That’s vermicide!”
“He probably doesn’t even have a record!”
“Only because I’m too clever to get caught!”
Valerie watched the two of them, her expression walzing between mortification and amusement. “Dad, please. You are embarrassing me. What will these people think?”
“That my daughter is attracted to all the wrong kind of boys?” Detective Hunt smirked at her. “You should have seen the characters she used to hang out with. All current perps or future perps in the making. And now this dashing young man. I don’t know if I should be annoyed or pleased. Annoyed my only daughter is dating at fourteen? Or pleased that, for once, she’s picked a boy I might not be ashamed to be seen talking to.”
“I’m sure if you knew me better, you’d find a reason to be ashamed,” promised Siggy.
“Really? You wanna date my daughter?” Kenneth Hunt turned suddenly and jabbed a finger against the young man’s chest. “See that I never do!”
“Okay. Okay. Nothing to see here.” Valerie’s face was bright red.
She dropped to one knee and hid her face in Payback’s silvery fur.
“Anyway, as you can imagine, I am rather disoriented, and I can’t wait to get home and see your mother,” Detective Hunt turned back to Valerie. “But first, I have an appointment to talk to the dean and some Agents. They have some questions for me about the case I was working on when I…got transformed. When I come back—”
“You remember the details of a case you were working on before you got turned into a duck?” asked Sigfried, impressed.
Kenneth Hunt tapped his balding head. “I keep it all right up here. In the old noggin.”
“The case involving Sakura Suzuki and Misty Lark,” Rachel asked earnestly, “and the murder of whole families?”
Detective Hunt’s expression became calm. “Who are you, again?”
“Agent Griffin’s daughter,” giggled Joy.
“Ah. Yes. That makes sense. Sorry, I can’t talk about a case in progress.”
Valerie gawked. “You know who Agent Griffin is? And Sigfried the Dragonslayer? How much about the World of the Wise did you know? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It’s okay,” Rachel replied solemnly, “fathers never can.”
Detective Hunt gave Rachel a curious look and then turned back to his daughter. “Like I was saying, when I come back, I am going to take you home with me for a few days. I think your mother would appreciate some time with both of us.”
Valerie looked up, her dark eyes shiny with tears. “I…can’t believe you’re back! You’ve been gone so long! Months and months! Were you a goose all that time? And how did you find out about the World of the Wise?”
“I guess so. I really don’t know. I don’t remember much…I was leaving for the airport to check out a lead on the case…then I was in the Halls of Healing, listening to some tiny red-haired broad play the bagpipes.”
The students all laughed, except for the princess, who frowned slightly. Apparently, she did not appreciate their diminutive Math tutor being called a broad—which Rachel knew from her extensive reading was considered on the derogative side nowadays, but was originally a stage term, meaning a beauty so astonishing that she was worthy of the broadest spotlight.
“As to how I know about magic? I found out a while back from Kyle Iscariot. He had to fill me in to get my help on a couple of cases,” said Kenneth Hunt. “What is mind-blowing to me is that now—not only does my daughter know, but she’s a student at Hogwarts.”
“It’s called Roanoke Academy, Daddy,” Valerie smirked. “Much as I wish it were not, the other one is imaginary.”
“Are you sure? Lots of stuff I thought was pretend turned out to be true. Like people being transformed into animals.” Detective Hunt raised his right hand like a man before the bar. “A year ago, I would have sworn in front of a court of law that was imaginary.”
“He has a point,” muttered Sigfried.
“Yeah…You. Kid. Come here.” Kenneth Hunt gestured with his head, indicating that Sigfried should follow him. He did. Lucky slunk along as well—which was too bad, because otherwise, Rachel could have asked the dragon what the other two were saying.
“Awk-ward,” Valerie murmured in a sing song voice.
Joy’s voice squeaked with excitement. “How many bad boys have you previously dated?”
“He wasn’t talking about ex-boyfriends!” Valerie snorted. She took a sip of her pink goo, made a face, and then shrugged, as if it did not taste too bad. “He was talking about some boys I interviewed for the school paper. We did a piece on ‘Outside the Box.’ You know, kids who don’t go with the flow? The artistic weirdoes, the animal activists? My assignment was to interview the kids who snuck outside to smoke. He and Mom later took advantage of this to have me do some undercover work for them among this same criminal element. So, it’s hardly my fault I was hanging out with them. Oh…and I have a few friends with less-than-parent-friendly fashion sense.”
Detective Hunt stopped near the fountain and spoke seriously to Sigfried. For once, Siggy did not look either wild-eyed or casual. He stood attentively and answered Valerie’s father very seriously. Rachel could not hear their conversation, but she was impressed by her friend’s demeanor. The two spoke for about a minute. Then, Detective Hunt came back and gave his daughter a last hug and Payback a last pat.
“So,” Valerie asked Sigfried sweetly, the moment the door sung closed behind her father, “how did it go?”
Sigfried shrugged. “Well enough.”
“What did he say?”
“Man stuff. Nothing for you to worry about.”
“I’m worried,” muttered Valerie. “Believe me, I’m worried.”
Siggy paused. “What does capeesh mean?”
“It’s short for tu capisci, which means: you understand? My grandmother was Italian.”
“I capeesh,” was all Sigfried would say on the subject.
Valerie turned and glared at where Joy lay on her cot, her face flushed, her eyes feverish.
“What?” Joy cried. “How was I to know you hadn’t told your father about a boy you had been dating for a whole month!”
Valerie narrowed her eyes. “I did mention that Siggy was my boyfriend to the goose.”
“Oh…” Joy looked mortified. “Right. Sorry.”
“How long was he missing?” Nastasia asked. She had drawn back the flame-orange curtains and was resting comfortably on a pile of pillows.
“Over nine months.”
“How propitious that he was found!” said the princess sincerely.
“Do you think that’s why the Voices sent Xandra along?” mused Rachel.
“Could the Voices have known we were going to fall into Transylvania?” asked Joy.
“Who knows?” Rachel shrugged.
The door jangled again, and Zoë Forrest returned with a tray upon which rested breakfast food. Behind her, carrying a second tray, swayed Valerie’s best friend, Salome Iscariot.
“Val! I just saw your dad! They found him!” Salome’s cheeks were pink with delight. Her huge luminous eyes shone with joy.
Salome placed the tray on Valerie’s bed and sat down, crossing one fishnet-stockinged leg over the other, so that her shorter-than-regulation skirt revealed more thigh than school uniforms were meant to allow. Siggy studiously looked away. Salome smirked.
Valerie dove into her breakfast. Rachel happily picked a scrambled egg wrap from the tray Zoë offered. Nastasia also accepted an egg wrap, but Joy, who felt queasy, settled for toast.
“Yep,” Valerie spoke despite a mouth full of hash browns. She swallowed, wiped her mouth with a napkin, and continued. “We found him last ni
ght, on this huge adventure. I’ll tell you about it later. These guys already know.”
“How exciting!” Salome leaned forward, straining the buttons of her too-tight blouse. “Though really, you should have taken me with you.”
Sigfried’s eyes gravitated toward her chest as if magnetized. Then he made an outrageous face, coughed, and averted his eyes, placing his hand beside his face like blinders.
Salome leaned close to Valerie. “Your father…does he know?”
“About…Strega?” Valerie’s cheeks lost what color they had. She shook her head mutely.
Meanwhile, Siggy was addressing Nastasia. “Princess? What next?”
Joy bounced on her bed, and then winced as this caused an ache in her head. “Yes, our fearless leader! What do we do next?”
Everyone turned toward the Princess of Magical Australia, whose brow was furrowed with a thoughtful frown that only bordered the slightest bit on poutiness. Maybe the others thought she was pondering, deciding their next course of action, but Rachel knew better. Nastasia had no idea what to say.
How could anyone consider the princess a leader?
Didn’t they notice that Nastasia not only had no plans, but that she had not the slightest idea what was going on? She looked so lost, floundering before their hopeful gazes.
Rachel sighed.
Taking a deep breath, she sprang to Nastasia’s aid.
“We should do more dream tests,” She said. “Quickly, in case the authorities decide we must stop.”
“What would we test?” The princess continued to frown.
Rachel struggled not to grind her teeth. “We just discovered two important things. One, the Spell of Bedazzlement makes a person dream. Two, a lucid dreamer can deliberately dream places Zoë can go. This is fantastic news for us!”
Rachel and the Many-Splendored Dreamland (The Books of Unexpected Enlightenment Book 3) Page 11