There was no way to express what she wished to say politely in front of her brother. As it was, Peter’s cheeks were already gaining rosy spots.
Laurel smirked. “…like a China doll designed for the Playboy Mansion? No idea.”
Rachel glanced from her sister Laurel, who—though not as voluptuous as their petite mother—was still shapely enough to require custom-made underclothing, to Sandra who—while she could buy her undergarments off the rack—was still extremely appealing to boys. The Englishwoman, who was apparently Great-Grandpa Kim’s second wife, had been well-endowed. If she was not Rachel’s mother’s grandmother, from where had the Griffin women inherited their male-dazzling figures?
Rachel sighed. With her luck, she might take after their real great-grandmother and end up with no figure at all.
She stared down at the damp spot on the rug. For as long as she could remember, she had believed that Great-Grandpa Kim’s second wife was her great-grandmother and that she herself was one-eighth Korean. Now, both of those things had turned out not to be true. It was not that the truth was better or worse, it was just that the change was disorienting. Compared to discovering that her grandfather had an unknown family who had been murdered by a demon, the discovery that a great-grandmother she had never met was a different woman from the one she had believed her to be was a small thing.
Still, she felt as if her world had been torn apart and stitched back together in a slightly wrong pattern.
“Did you all know,” she blurted out, “about Grandfather’s other family? The ones who died in the 1890s?”
Her sisters stared at her as if she had begun spouting off in a foreign language.
“What?” Laurel kipped up so that her knees were under her. “Who made that up?”
“Where did you hear this?” Sandra grabbed the arm of her chair.
“I knew,” Peter said solemnly. “Their graves are in the family graveyard. I used to help Grandmother put wreaths on the gravestones the night before Beltane and Samhain, to make sure they rested peacefully for the next six months. I know who everyone in the graveyard is.”
“I…had no idea,” murmured Sandra softly, though which thing she had no idea about— Grandfather’s family, or Peter’s outings with Grandmother—Rachel could not tell. Her older sister was looking at Peter with new respect.
“Thunderfrost’s Boy was his son, our Uncle Myrddin,” said Rachel.
“Thunderfrost?” Laurel’s forehead furrowed. “You mean the ghost horse who appears when a family member is in need?”
Rachel nodded. “The boy who rides Thunderfrost. Haven’t you lot seen him?”
Peter and Laurel just gawked at her.
“Ah.” Sandra nodded. “Yes. I…did not realize who he was.”
Peter looked down at his hands and mumbled. “Sorry. I only talk to dryads…and Vivian.”
“Who’s Vivian?” asked Rachel and Laurel simultaneously.
“The ghost who lives in the book chamber. You know, that bedroom filled with bookcases where I sometimes read? That was her bedroom,” Peter explained. “She was one of our grandfather’s daughters. The eldest one.” He paused. “I suppose she’s our aunt.”
“And you’ve talked to her?” asked Sandra curiously.
“Not conversed, not as such,” answered Peter. “Mainly, we’ve read together.”
“Like Myrddin and I used to go riding together,” said Rachel.
“That’s not fair.” Laurel threw a throw pillow at Peter, who batted it out of the air. “I haven’t seen the ghost horse or talked to the ghost girl.”
“That’s because you’re too busy flirting with boys,” Sandra observed dryly.
Laurel looked smug, despite that Rachel could tell she was still shaken. “Oh, that’s true. I might’ve missed the ghost boy, but I can tell you the name of every real boy within miles.”
Sandra rolled her eyes and shook her head.
Laurel continued cheerfully, “Not that I mind of course. I am much of not a fan of ghosts.” She shivered. “Just knowing that the Dead Men’s Ball takes place near here is enough to give me the willies…even though I know it’s outside the school, wards, and the ghouls won’t get in.”
“Not me,” Rachel sighed. “I wish I could go.”
Laurel stared at her as if she had gone utterly crazy, but Peter nodded solemnly. Rachel smiled at him. He almost smiled back, before he must have remembered that they were not speaking. He jerked his head away and stared at the spill on the rug. Rachel looked down at her lap and sighed.
Just then, Sigfried walked by the open door, with Lucky snaking along overhead. They were both humming the song for dispersing a fog. Eager to introduce her friends to Sandra, Rachel leapt up and called to him.
Sigfried came striding into the common room and endured the torment of being introduced to her siblings. Lucky had a better time of it, because Laurel immediately began squealing over him and petting his soft fur. Sandra, too, gave into temptation and petted the golden dragon. Lucky crooned contentedly.
“So, how are you enjoying school?” Sandra asked Sigfried.
“It’s the bomb! Best place I’ve ever been!” Sigfried lit up, grinning. “No one beats you. You don’t have to scrub the floor or lug heavy things around. And you can eat as much as you want, three times, every single day! It’s like paradise! The only drawback is that we have not yet learned to concoct explosives.”
Sandra tilted her head, as if not quite sure what to make of this. “What about your classes? How are you finding them?”
He shrugged. “They’re okay. If you like studying and quizzes and such bother. I do like Make-Cool-Spells-in-Vials class. And Blow-a-Horn class. Also, Pull-a-Skunk-out-of-Nothing Class isn’t too bad. The rest I could do without. But I sleep through them, so it’s almost like not having to go. The after-class stuff is much more interesting. Rachel and I are in a club where we’re learning to duel. I like that! I can’t wait to learn how to blow up our opponents. Or disintegrate them. It’s not as loud, but you end up with a pile of dust on top of their shoes.”
Rachel’s siblings listened to Sigfried with identical expressions, which Rachel read to mean that they had no idea how much of what he was saying to take seriously.
“Duel?” Laurel frowned up at Rachel, from where she lay on the floor, her feet curled over her head, rubbing the belly of Lucky, whose back foot jiggled like a dog’s. “Rachel, you’re not in the YSL. And we really don’t do a lot of dueling, anyway.”
“Not the YSL,” Rachel turned to Sandra. “We’re in a club called the Knights.”
“Hang on!” Peter half rose from the couch, nearly dropping his book. He fumbled to catch it. “Not the Knights of Walpurgis!”
“Yes,” Rachel nodded. “Those Knights.”
All her siblings began yelling at once.
“What!”
“Dongsaeng! No!”
“Rachel, how could you?”
“Do Mum and Dad know? They’ll be livid!”
“Only those practicing black magic join the Knights!”
“What do you mean?” Rachel asked, taken aback. “It’s a very nice group. I’m learning a great deal. I’m rather a good duelist, too…for a beginner. I’ve won several duels.”
“How did you possibly come to be in the Knights?” Sandra looked shocked. Then, suddenly, she looked amused. “Oh! Wait, of course. Never mind.”
“Gaius asked me,” Rachel said, adding defensively, “The night everyone was invited to the Young Sorcerer’s League, except for me.”
Peter went very stiff and looked terribly disapproving.
“You don’t need an invitation to join the YSL, you ninny,” Laurel smirked at her, her chin resting on Lucky’s stomach.
“Everyone else I knew received one,” Rachel countered. “Upperclassmen arrived and escorted them. Except for me.”
Sandra shot Laurel and Peter a dark look for forgetting their little sister. They both lowered their heads, chastened.
; “It’s good to see you all,” Sandra rose to her feet. “But I must get back to work. I just came to see Rachel and make sure she was okay.”
“She doesn’t come to see us.” Laurel pulled down on one eye and stuck out her tongue.
“You didn’t get kidnapped and nearly killed by Veltdammerung,” Sandra replied tartly.
“Rachel was kidnapped? When?” cried Peter, aghast. He had no aptitude for their mother’s dissembling technique and could not hide how upset he was, even though he was clearly trying.
“A couple of weeks ago,” Rachel said offhandedly, adding hurriedly, “but Sandra has to go, and I have one more question I must ask her. Privately.”
Sandra took her leave of the others, and the two sisters stepped out into the hall.
“Yes?” Sandra asked kindly, brushing a finger across her little sister’s cheek.
“Unni,” Rachel gazed steadily up at her sister, “Mortimer Egg, Jr. and Juma O’Malley. Do you know if they’re all right?”
“Did you know them? I didn’t realize…yes, of course, you would! They’re in your class,” mused Sandra. She smiled and tapped Rachel’s nose. “Yes, sweetie. Your two friends are fine. Young Mortimer is staying with relatives, his uncle on his mother’s side, I believe. He’s suffered a huge shock, of course. But I am sure he’ll recover with time. Juma is staying in a safe house. I can’t say more about it than that.”
An idea struck Rachel, a very unpleasant idea.
“They need to sacrifice a family member—Veltdammerung, I mean. To bring in this new demon they want as their master.”
“Who told you about…” Sandra began, frowning.
Rachel rolled her eyes impatiently. “I’m the one who found it out. If you know about it, the information came, originally, from me and my friends. The point is, Juma could be in danger, and there’s a leak at the Wisecraft office in New York.”
Sandra patted Rachel’s shoulder comfortingly. “You’re worried because of the death of Mrs. Egg? That’s sweet of you., but that leak’s been found. Turns out a student here told someone who should not have known.”
Rachel rolled her eyes a second time, her eyes pausing momentarily at the zenith. “Sandra! That student was me. And the person I told was Vladimir. We’re not the leak!”
“Oh!” Sandra’s eyes grew large. “Oooh! No. Vlad would not…”
Rachel nodded solemnly. Sandra bit her lower lip, thinking.
“I will look into this, Rachel,” Sandra said. “If necessary, I will have your friend moved.”
“Make sure his tiny elephant stays with him,” said Rachel. “That’s very important. It makes his evil mother turn back into his good mother, or something like that.”
Sandra did not even blink at that.
Rachel asked, “If I write Juma a note, could you give it to him?”
“Of course.”
Rachel jotted off a short friendly note to Juma and his tiny elephant, Jellybean, and handed it to Sandra, who tucked it in her purse. Sandra gave Rachel a last hug.
“Remember,” Sandra whispered in Rachel’s ear, “if things get too overwhelming here at school, I would be delighted for you to come spend a few days with me in London.” Then, she set off, murmuring something under her breath that sounded like “…and now for Vladimir.”
Rachel raced back to the common room and grabbed Sigfried. Waving goodbye to Laurel and Peter, who had both risen to leave, she pulled Siggy out of the room.
“She’s going off to talk to Von Dread,” Rachel cried, her eyes gleaming.
“Do you want to spy on her?”
“Yes! Of course!”
“Von Dread is cool! That I am willing to do for free.”
The two of them ran pell-mell from the dorms. They found a bench on the Commons and sat down. In Rachel’s calling card, Sandra walked across the campus toward Drake Hall. About two thirds of the way, she stepped behind some trees. She pulled a mirror out of her purse and checked her appearance. She frowned and put away the mirror. Then, she walked out of the woods, crossed to Roanoke Hall, and went into the coatroom behind the spiral staircase. There was a small sink there beneath a round mirror with a gilt frame. She washed her face, reapplied a small amount of blush and eye shadow, and put on some lip gloss. Pleased with the results, she headed off towards Drake Hall again.
She had made it as far as the bridge across the moat around the imposing dormitory when she ran into a young man with a scar across his face. Rachel recognized him as Seymour Almeida, a member of the Knights of Walpurgis. He stopped and gawked at her.
“Hi, Seymour.” Sandra flashed her dazzling smile at him. He blushed noticeably.
“Hey, Griffin,” he said, smirking. “You here for your Dreadsy?”
Sandra grinned. “You know he might turn you into an aardvark, if I tell him you called him that, right?”
Seymour continued to smirk. “But you’re good people, so you won’t tell him, right?”
“No, probably not. But could you go in and tell him I am here?”
He looked as if he was considering it. Then, he gave her a quirky grin and headed up the stairs and into the dorm. Less than a minute later, Vladimir Von Dread came through the front door flanked by Valiant and Locke. The three young men came down the stairs to meet her.
Sandra smiled at them all, but she gave Dread a breathy, “Hello, Vlad.”
Dread gained a slight shade of color in his cheeks. “Hello, Sandra. It is good to see you.”
She smiled at Gaius, who gave her a slight bow.
“Gaius,” Sandra scolded, wagging her finger, “you didn’t even ask me if you could court Rachel. I think I may be offended that my friend didn’t speak to me before he started dating my little sister.”
He looked a bit sheepish, (Rammish, Rachel thought fiercely), “Easier to ask for forgiveness after it’s all done than be refused and have to apologize for disobeying, eh?”
“Gaius, I forgive you.” Sandra crossed her arms. “But you had better protect her.”
He bowed again. “With my life.”
Sandra turned to William Locke. Locke inclined his head.
“Sandra, it is a pleasure to see you again. I must say, the school is not nearly as bright without your smile.”
“Bill, it’s great to see you, too. I hope you’re getting what you need from your studies this year. I have to say, I am surprised you haven’t switched over to Minnesota Academy for Alchemy and Thaumaturgy.”
“I would not be able to work with Vlad as easily.”
Sandra nodded. She glanced sideways at Dread. “Gentleman, not to be rude, but I really need to speak to Vlad alone.”
Locke and Valiant nodded and returned to their dorm. Von Dread offered Sandra his arm. They strolled into the woods, until they were alone. Releasing her, he crossed his arms and looked at her calmly.
“Have you been well?” Sandra watched his face attentively. “Rumor has it you faced down a rogue jumbo jet a few weeks ago.”
“Well enough. I have more tasks to accomplish than hours in the day, as always, but I am managing to keep up with my work—though it was easier when you were here to help me. As to the plane,” a shadow of a frown flickered across his otherwise impassive features, “that night, I had an unexpectedly disturbing nightmare that…” Von Dread made a dismissive gesture. “’Tis no matter. Why did you come?”
Sandra stepped very close to him and murmured, “I miss you, Vlad. I am…feeling remorse over my answer.”
“I also feel remorse over your answer,” replied Dread. “You do yourself a disservice. You would make a fine queen. And you would have plenty of time to readjust to the life of a princess. My father will, most likely, live another century at least, probably two or three. He is the picture of health. If you marry me, we will have a great deal of time to live together and raise a family, before we must take the burden of the entire kingdom upon our shoulders.”
Sandra looked at him hopefully, but then she shook her head. “Vlad, I am sorry,
I can’t. You know I work for the ministry. And my father…I’m sorry.”
Dread reached out and grabbed her, pulling her against him. “Sandra, you need not apologize. I was hoping you had come because you changed your mind. But you came because of your youngest sister, correct?”
Sandra nodded. “Please, will you protect her, Vlad? She told me some things. I hadn’t realized—”
“I shall do all within my power to keep her safe. She is a wealth of information, some of which I cannot, yet, ascertain how she collected. But even if she were like your sister Laurel, and did nothing with herself, I would still make sure she was protected. She will be my sister-in-law soon enough.”
Sandra tried, half-heartedly, to push him away. “I should go— I have—”
But he interrupted her with a kiss. Her entire body tensed for the first few moments but then she relaxed and melted against him. They kissed for some time, then he released her and pushed her to arm’s distance.
“Sandra Griffin, you are the only woman I will ever love. I have vowed this, and I shall do all in my power to erase any objections you have. You will be my wife.” He raised his hand. “So swears DREAD!”
She blushed and looked away, but she said, “I love you too, Vlad.”
He swelled up even larger than normal when she said this. She stepped closer and kissed him on the cheek.
“Goodbye, Vlad,” she whispered in his ear and walked away quickly.
• • •
Rachel spun around and grabbed Sigfried’s arm, jumping up and down and squealing with sheer delight. “He wants to marry her! My sister will be a princess! When Laurel marries Ivan, they will both be princesses! And someday, queens!”
This was, however, only her second reaction.
Her first reaction, as she watched Dread and Sandra speak, had been a tiny voice in the back of her mind that wailed: But he is supposed to marry me!
Rachel sternly ignored this traitorous voice. It was hardly appropriate, considering that she had just vowed to love Gaius forever. Pushing the thought aside, she danced around in a circle, celebrating the good fortune of her sisters with deliberate cheer.
“What kind of nightmare rattles Dread?” Siggy asked, impressed. “That would have to be one super-duper-scary nightmare! Even scarier than the Starkadder nightmare! Dread would never be troubled by a mere gallows dream. He’s too cool.”
Rachel and the Many-Splendored Dreamland (The Books of Unexpected Enlightenment Book 3) Page 27