As Rachel hung the Flycycles up in the broom closet after class, the P.E. teacher stuck his head in the doorway and flashed her a winning smile. He was an extraordinarily handsome man, his jet black hair shot through with steely blue highlights. Recalling the earlier conversation on the subject, Rachel wondered from which supernatural creature he might be descended.
“You have a visitor, Miss Griffin,” he said mildly, adjusting his glasses.
Rachel stepped out into the hallway of the gym. There, looking pretty as a picture as she stared out the window, was her sister Sandra.
Sandra turned and spread her arms. She had shoulder-length, mahogany hair and extremely dark eyes with a mere hint of a tilt, which gave them an exotic look. She was dressed in mundane clothing with a warm parka and slacks. To Rachel, these unfamiliar garments added to her sister’s general exoticness.
Rachel ran and hugged her. Her sister laughed and hugged her back, tightly. Rachel stayed there for a moment, engulfed in her sister’s familiar warmth, breathing in her sweet scent with its traces of honeysuckle and rosewater.
“Thank you, Mr. Chans—Roland.” Stepping back, Sandra gave the handsome P.E. teacher a very sweet smile.
Mr. Chanson beamed at them. “My pleasure, Sandra. And thank you, Rachel, for your good work.”
Rachel curtsied, and she and Sandra left the gym, walking hand in hand.
“Unni! You’re here!” Rachel cried. She jumped up and down, her broom bobbing in her free hand.
Sandra laughed gaily. “I promised to visit when things calmed down.”
They talked animatedly, their conversation leaping back and forth between the night they fought Veltdammerung and how Rachel was faring at school. Sandra, of course, did not remember anything that had happened after they left the first chamber. She believed they had all been rescued by Finn MacDannan. She led them along the path that ran by the athletic fields, under the canopy of trees, with their sparse yet brilliant autumn leaves, and to the boardwalk along Roanoke Creek. The creek was lovely with waters rushing over rocks. Red and yellow leaves swirled in the eddies. A leaf landed on Sandra’s head. She held her chin up proudly—like a lady of quality in a pretty hat—before plucking it off with a laugh and tossing it into the river.
Then, her eyes grew serious. “Rach, Father’s worried about you.”
“If he’s worried, why doesn’t he come and see me?” Rachel asked belligerently.
“He has come, dongsaeng,” Sandra said soothingly, falling into their familiar habit of using the Korean diminutive for addressing siblings. “Three times. Once after you were attacked by a wraith. Once after you were attacked by an evil tutor who turned into a dragon. And once after he and I spent several days in lock-down at the Wisecraft building in New York, after same said evil tutor temporarily escaped custody. The third time, he was so worried, he came here in the middle of the night and spoke to the dean. He made her send someone up to your room to check on you.”
“You mentioned that before,” Rachel frowned. None of those visits were after the fight against Veltdammerung, when Rachel had so very much to tell him.
Sandra took after their tall father. Now she knelt down on the boardwalk, so that her face was closer to Rachel’s, a little below rather than well above. She lay a hand on Rachel’s shoulder, her dark eyes searching her little sister’s face. “Rachel, you’re being careful, right?”
Rachel shook her head slowly. “No. Not careful. Just brave.”
“Don’t be brave, dongsaeng!” Sandra grabbed her, holding her at arms length, shaking her. “Be careful. Rachel, if something happened to you, I can’t even imagine…And I don’t even want to imagine how Mother and Father would take it. Promise me you’ll avoid every danger you can! Please?”
Rachel’s heart ached with sadness, but she bit her lip and shook her head. “I can’t do that, unni. There are things only I can see. And no one else—well, except Vladimir Von Dread—seems serious about saving the world. Somebody has to do it. Or…it won’t matter if any of us are careful, ever again.”
“Rachel, you’re not saving the world.” Sandra made a noise of exasperation and stood up. “You don’t need to protect the planet. You can’t protect the planet. You’re thirteen!”
So many things struggled to bubble out of her mouth that Rachel had to press two fingers against her lips to keep it all in. This was what she lived for, the opportunities to share her secrets; for the joy of seeing the awe and wonder on the face of her loved ones—as she revealed the treasures of knowledge she had so painstakingly collected.
And yet, she had to keep quiet.
What cruel god had placed her in this situation, where she continually discovered secrets but was forbidden to share them?
She thought of the Elf, the kindness of her star-lit eyes. She thought of the Raven, his eyes shining as he gazed down at her and spared her. She could not betray them. She swallowed and said nothing.
“Give Father any information you come across,” instructed Sandra. “Let him take care of it. If your princess friend has any more visions, report them immediately. Father has people working for him all over the world. He has contacts in the mundane world, too, in many different governments. The Wisecraft knows there are problems. If something is wrong, we’ll fix it.”
Rachel gazed over the railing of the boardwalk into the rushing water. She did not point out that Father had specifically instructed her to stop sending him reports.
“Sandra, can we talk about this later?” Rachel asked suddenly. “Can’t we pretend, for a little while, that this is a perfectly normal year, and the worst thing in my life is that Peter’s not talking to me?”
Sandra frowned, annoyed. Then she sighed and brushed hair from her face. “Very well. We can play pretend. But remember what I said. Just because you are away from home, doesn’t mean you’re an adult. Father and Mother don’t want you doing anything dangerous. If you get hurt here, Father will pull you from school and have you tutored at home.”
Then I mustn’t get hurt, thought Rachel fiercely, or at least not seriously.
They walked silently for a time. A flock of geese honked overhead. A few songbirds chirped despite the chill. The boardwalk brought them to a lovely waterfall with a little pool at the bottom. The sound of the rushing water was soothing. Sandra leaned over the railing and closed her eyes, letting out a long sigh.
Then she opened them. “Wait, why wouldn’t Peter be talking to you?”
Rachel sighed, too. “He doesn’t like my boyfriend.”
“Is this the boy you mentioned in your letter? Did you actually kiss him? Were you petrified? Dongsaeng, I don’t think you should be mixing magic and…kissing.”
“The petrifying and kissing were before he became my boyfriend. And I petrified him. Not him petrifying me. He insisted I practice the hex, so I could defend myself…and because of that I was able to petrify people during Mordeau’s attack and other times. And I won a duel.”
“Is it another freshman? That cute boy who was with you when we fought Egg?”
It took Rachel a moment to realize to whom Sandra referred.
“Sigfried!” Rachel squeaked. “Good gracious, no!”
The very idea seemed so wrong.
“No,” Rachel continued, “he’s not a freshman…my boyfriend, I mean. He’s older.”
Sandra rolled her eyes. “Stop being evasive. You know if he’s older, I will know who he is. I only graduated last spring. I hope he’s not too much older, Rachel. Older boys…you shouldn’t be dating them.”
“He’s a senior at the upper school.” Rachel said seriously. “He’s very nice. Only I didn’t know, until after I started dating him, that he’s Peter’s personal nemesis. So my brother, the dweeb, believes he is only dating me to irk him, which just isn’t true!” She stamped her foot. The boards of the walk reverberated with the force of it. “So Peter wanted me to break up with him, and had this whole, ‘if you’ve ever trusted me’ thing going that made me feel very ba
d…but what kind of a girl would I be if I broke up with a boy who fought Vladimir Von Dread for me!”
“Wait, Peter’s personal enemy?” asked Sandra. “You can’t be talking about Gaius Valiant. Er, right?”
Rachel nodded.
“Good,” said Sandra. “Peter would go insane if it were that one. So, who is he?”
Rachel blinked in confusion. The grammar had outwitted her.
“I meant, yes…Gaius Valiant.”
“Ohhh,” said Sandra, in a rather Zoë-like way. Then she began to look as if she was about to laugh but was trying very hard to not look amused. Rachel had never seen Sandra’s dissembling skills utterly fail before.
“So,” Sandra coughed twice, “Peter didn’t take this too well, I assume?”
“No.” Rachel’s face was entirely serious, but her eyes had begun to sparkle. “He didn’t.”
“He’ll probably get over it. Maybe.” Sandra shrugged. “Young men are very proud, and Peter is no different. I have heard that what happened between them was some over-excitement during a duel. Peter’ll probably get over it. Eventually.”
Rachel watched the spray from the falls strike the rocks. “I hope so.”
Sandra said gravely, “That doesn’t mean that Peter may not be right. You are very young to have a serious boyfriend, Rachel. I didn’t date until I was in college.”
Rachel blinked. Sandra had dated? This was the first she had ever heard of it.
“I didn’t set out to have a boyfriend,” she explained, “it just happened.”
Sandra knelt in front of Rachel again and said very seriously, “Only kissing, Rachel. That’s it. Do not do anything else. Nothing you wouldn’t do if I were also in the room. Boys his age can be…pushy. Don’t let him do anything that you…Don’t let him do anything!”
“He’s very gentlemanly.” Rachel gazed at her sister earnestly. A warmth came into her eyes as she spoke of Gaius. “He looks out for me, makes sure I can defend myself, tries to convince me to be careful.” She blushed a little. “He’s only ever kisses me very lightly. I explained to him that thirteen-year-olds don’t…you know…” She turned bright red. “…snog.”
“Good!” Sandra whispered back. “No snogging until you’re sixteen. Dad’d explode.”
The image of their handsome, dashing father exploding made Rachel giggle. Then her face became serious again. “Sandra, having a boyfriend at my age is strange. I know that. At first, I was quite frightened, partially because he’s not a tame boy, and I didn’t know whether he would be gentlemanly or not. But it has been such a comfort—with all the horrid things going on—to have one person who is entirely on my side. He’s fun to be with, and he’s very smart. And he helps me with my magic. I just wish I knew what to do about Peter.”
“You can’t do anything about Peter, sweetheart,” Sandra said. “He’s going to have to work it out with Gaius. Who, by the way, I like. He’s always been very sweet to me. And rather refined considering his upbringing. Not a bad first love.”
A joyful light came into Rachel’s face. She lunged forward and hugged her sister, hard. Sandra had seen Gaius in action over the last three years. And she liked him. Someone in her family approved of her boyfriend. It was as if something had finally gone right with the world.
Underneath, though, she rankled at the phrase first love. This was not a first love, she vowed to herself. This was true love, and it was going to last forever.
“Thank you, Sandra.” With her face buried against her sister, she added, “Peter asked Von Dread to make Gaius stop dating me, and Gaius, who worships Dread, fought him.” She pulled back so she could see her sister’s face. “He fought Vladimir Von Dread! He did really well, too! For a while. Eventually, he was turned into a shee—ram! I made Vlad put him back.”
Sandra’s eyes lit up at the mention of Dread. “So, you’ve met Vlad? He is an impressive young man, isn’t he? I wouldn’t have thought he and Valiant would ever fight. Vlad’s as close with Gaius as he is with Bill. I wouldn’t mind speaking to him before I go…”
Rachel stepped back. “It happened only hours after, while under the effects of the Spell of True Recitation, Gaius would only talk about how much he respected Von Dread. So he would not have fought him, if he didn’t really like me.” She lowered her eyes demurely, so pleased.
“I wish I had seen that,” murmured Sandra.
Rachel leaned forward and confided. “Zoë and I got to see Vlad dressed down in a shirt and sweat pants. Oddly, he looks even more impressive that way—maybe because most people fail so miserably to be impressive in sweats. We can go look for them—Gaius and Vlad.”
Sandra laughed. “Nooo, I came here to see you. So tell me about your classes. Do you even care about them? Has all the non-class excitement drowned them out? I hope not.”
Rachel and Sandra chatted for a time, as they walked back to campus. Rachel filled her sister in on her classes and her new friends, including the famous Sigfried the Dragonslayer and the princess of Magical Australia.
“Oh, speaking of Magical Australia,” Rachel’s eyes sparkled, “the Crown Prince of Magical Australia expressed an interest in marrying me, but we decided that we would not suit. So I suggested he ask Laurel, which he did…or at least he got her permission to ask his parents to talk to our parents, though I don’t know if anything has come of that.”
Sandra blinked. “That’s…ah…interesting.”
As they left the athletic fields behind and walked toward the Commons, they came upon three proctors walking the other way. All three young men straightened up the instant they caught a glimpse of Sandra Griffin. One of them was Rachel’s friend Mr. Fuentes, who gave her a big smile. The other two were Matt Scott, Mr. Fuentes’s shorter, blond friend, and Coal Moth, who towered over the others like a beanstalk grown from magic beans. He had curly black hair, a smile that showed very white teeth, and a cowboy hat that he wore even while on duty. He immediately tipped his hat to Rachel and her sister.
“Hallo, gentlemen.” Sandra gave the three young men a very kind smile and stopped to chat with them. All three of them, particularly Mr. Scott, gazed at her intently as she spoke, as if they did not want to miss a single expression, especially not a smile.
Rachel watched this speculatively. She thought back to the carefree smile Sandra had flashed at the handsome P.E. teacher and to Sandra’s comment about not dating until she got to college. Nothing had been said at home about Sandra dating, ever. Rachel suspected that her parents did not know Sandra had dated, either.
Did Sandra have a boyfriend now? Was there an Agent back in London whom she liked? If not, might she end up dating Mr. Chanson or one of these proctors?
Carefully, Rachel pictured her sister with each of the young men and the P.E. teacher. She could imagine them doting on her sister, but none of them seemed right. Sandra needed someone…fiercer? With more scope? Less mild-mannered? Definitely, it would have to be someone who would not be shaken by the attention other men paid to her lovely sister.
Rachel mulled over the question as her sister and the proctors chatted about the current whereabouts of people Rachel did not know, older students who had already graduated. Instead of listening, she spent the time trying to picture the ideal boyfriend for Sandra.
After all, she had helped Ivan and Laurel get together. Maybe she could help Sandra, too.
It was the least a little sister could do.
Chapter Twenty:
So Swears Dread!
The sisters returned to Dare Hall, where Sandra sent a student to fetch Peter and Laurel. Peter rushed up, very happy to see their sister. Laurel’s approach was more subdued. She and Sandra did not always see eye to eye, but she greeted their older sister cheerfully enough. The four of them sat down on the purple leather seats in one of the common rooms. It was a small room with a long arched window, overlooking the paper birches and ferns behind the dorm. There was a damp spot on the rug, and a faint odor of spilled elderflower pressé.
&nbs
p; Peter was a slender young man whose striking features were a perfect blend of their Asian mother and their handsome father. Until recently, he had been short, but now he was gaining height quickly. He sat down stiffly, his back ramrod straight. The impression made by his perfect posture, however, was somewhat undermined by the fact that he kept sneaking glances at the book that lay open in his lap.
Wild free-spirit Laurel was tall, though not as tall as Sandra. She was a curvy young woman, and her subfusc uniform—a white blouse, a split ribbon like a narrow tie, a black skirt, and a half-cape falling from her shoulders—covered her figure in an appealing fashion. She plopped down on her back on a couch and kicked her stockinged legs in the air, sending her shoes flying, much to the dismay of their older sister, who ducked.
After the four of them chatted amiably for a few minutes, Rachel turned to her brother. “Oppa, did you tell Topher Evans that we’re one-quarter Korean?” She held her breath, afraid he would refuse to speak to her directly, but the question took him so by surprise that perhaps he forgot he was angry with her.
“Yes. Of course.”
“Why?”
“Because we are.” Peter seemed puzzled by her questions.
“No we’re not. Grandpa Kim’s mother was English.”
The puzzled expressions on all three of her siblings resolved into looks of understanding.
“That was Great-Grandpa Kim’s second wife, silly,” laughed Laurel. “Grandpa Kim’s mother was Korean.”
“There is a portrait of Grandpa Kim’s mother over the fireplace at Aunt Melissa’s house. Do you recall it?” Peter asked. Then he bonked himself in the forehead with his fist. “Of course, you recall it. You’re Lady Rachel of the Indefatigable Memory. Foolish me.”
Rachel thought of the painting that hung on her aunt’s wall. The pale woman portrayed was dressed in a traditional, high-wasted, Korean hanbok.
“So, Great-Grandmother Kim is not our great-grandmother? Then how come Mum come to look…” Rachel pressed her lips together.
Rachel and the Many-Splendored Dreamland (The Books of Unexpected Enlightenment Book 3) Page 26