by Lucia Ashta
“It must have been some form of self-imposed penance,” Arianne said. “And that’s why we heard about Sibylle’s death so much. Her sister had spoken of her for so long that everyone just continued with the stories.”
After having met Sibylle, I kind of liked the idea that her family had tried to keep her alive at least through memory.
“It was... strange,” Gustave said. “To have your family speak of a long-dead relative as if she were still an active part of the family, well, it’s not entirely normal, wouldn’t you say?”
“I don’t think anyone would consider our family normal, Gustave,” Arianne said with a slight smile, her tears drying up already.
He laughed, a full-on belly laugh at that. The sound surprised me when our discussion had been so somber since I’d arrived back in my body. “No, we definitely aren’t normal.” Gustave looked delighted at the prospect.
Clara spoke up from behind her great aunt and uncle. “Why didn’t we ever hear about Sibylle? I don’t remember Mother ever mentioning her, do you Gertrude?”
“Never,” Gertrude said. Brave, as always, was at her side.
Arianne’s face hardened at her granddaughters’ questions, and I immediately wanted to understand why.
“Once her brother died, your mother enjoyed rejecting everything that tied her to our family and magic.”
There was clearly another (tragic) story there, but Arianne’s face didn’t suggest she was open to telling it. I’d have to add it to my long list of things I didn’t know, but desperately wanted to find out.
Arianne stood, wiping dirt from her hands, putting an end to the discussion. “Thank you for helping Sibylle.” Her head was straight with resolve. She tilted her eyes downward to look at me. “She deserved peace, and that’s exactly what you gave her.”
“I’m glad for the peace of your tormented ancestor too,” Mordecai said, his voice already gruff, patience absent. “But I have a family member that we can still save. This wasn’t the time to tell the story, Isa. You should have waited. We have more pressing things to do.”
“I felt I should tell it, so I did.” Nando’s eyes widened and darted between Mordecai and me. Even I was surprised at my moxie.
“You’re a novice. You should listen to your elders. We’re far more experienced.”
Mordecai wasn’t usually what I would call friendly, but he had been more or less approachable. His response stung, even though I kept telling myself it shouldn’t. I’d honored what I sensed I should do, and that was important, no matter what he said.
So then why do I feel like crawling in a hole and not coming out for a really long time? Or at least until Mordecai is gone.
I felt Marie and Gertrude’s attention on me, and snapped mine on them defensively. But Marie looked sympathetic, and Gertrude looked, well, I wasn’t sure what her expression meant, but it didn’t seem hostile.
“Oh, Mordecai,” Arianne finally admonished. “Don’t say that to the poor girl. She felt she should tell us. After Clara, how can you say that a student shouldn’t follow her intuition?”
“Was it your intuition to tell us about saving Sibylle?” Mordecai challenged.
I shrank back as I usually did when Uncle said something nasty to me until I remembered my promise to myself to be bolder now that I had a second chance at life. “I think so.” My voice was shaky, but I said what I believed.
Mordecai studied me for so long that I was hoping for that hole to crawl in again. Eventually he nodded. “I’ll look forward to understanding why.”
“Me too.” My voice was barely a squeak.
“Ignore him, darling,” Arianne said, and I couldn’t believe her boldness. “He agrees with intuition where magic is concerned, don’t you worry.”
When it was clear that I was still worried, she added, “Remember he carries runes wherever he goes. He pays attention to messages too, from wherever they come from. You do well to pay attention when magic is trying to communicate with you.”
I nodded mutely, wishing I understood what the heck that really meant.
Mordecai, Count Vabu, and Wizard Meedles were already starting to walk away, when Walt asked me, “What was your question?”
“Question?” I said.
“Yeah, you mentioned that you had questions.”
I did. Oh, right! “Yes, thank you.” I turned to Arianne, who was the only senior magician still paying attention to me. “What happened with the five firedrakes you released from the dark curse?”
“It wasn’t just I who released them. From what I hear, you did as well. I’m also told it’s what killed you.”
“I suppose so, though I think it was more the force of the, ah, magic or energy or whatever it was?” I was hesitant. I didn’t truly understand what had happened, just that the shock of intervening in the crackling web of dark energy had been enough to kill me—and connect me to the firedrake Elwin.
I looked behind me at Elwin, who stood like a sentinel at my back. He took his life debt seriously.
Later I’d have to figure out what to do about Elwin and the strange telepathic connection we appeared to have. “Why are the firedrakes we freed still firedrakes? I thought you said they were people.”
“They are people, magical ones is my guess.”
“So why don’t they look like people?” When I shifted to look at the back of our group, Nando, Walt, and Marie did too.
Five timid firedrakes looked back at me. Although I was starting to tell all the firedrakes apart, there were so many of them that it was easiest to identify the five because they stood in a cluster, apart from the others.
“I don’t think you understand how worried we all were about you,” Arianne said. “No one wanted to leave your side until you came back.” The look on her face told me what she left out: or until we concluded you were truly dead.
It had been a close call, closer than I’d realized. I was relieved I hadn’t known how much time had passed when I was still in the spirit world. Any more pressure, and I might not have managed to push away fear long enough to return.
“Now that you’re back and looking well, we can see to the firedrakes we freed from their binding spell.”
“No, we can’t,” Mordecai said. “We have to move on Maurisse.”
“And what if the five firedrakes have something to tell us that might help?” I asked.
Arianne grinned with pride. “See, Mordecai. You have to listen to the girl’s intuition. You know better than to ignore Clara’s now.”
“That’s for sure,” he grumbled.
“So don’t ignore Isa’s. Let’s free the firedrakes.” She seemed quite happy at the prospect.
“How are you going to do that?” I asked. “If we broke the curse and nothing happened....”
“That’s where I come in,” Madame Pimlish announced with self importance, making her way toward Arianne and me with an audible swish of her dress.
“That’s right,” Arianne said, not even once rolling her eyes at the grandiose tone of Madame Pimlish’s pronouncement.
“Now that the dark spell that bound their transformation is gone,” Madame Pimlish said, “all I have to do is go in and reverse their transformation.”
“You can do that?” Gertrude asked, awe tinting the voice of the girl whom I hadn’t seen amazed at much beyond Madame Pimlish’s skills.
“Of course I can.” The transformation teacher stood as tall as she could, surpassing her usual five-feet stature.
“She is the best at what she does,” Arianne added, and I realized that she treated Madame Pimlish in a similar way as she did Sir Lancelot. She spoke to please them at times. Even though the teacher and owl were quite different in temperament, they were both quite vocal when they weren’t pleased.
It seemed that Arianne was even more of a diplomat than I’d previously given her credit for.
“Oh, you’re too kind,” Madame Pimlish said, pretending to wave away Arianne’s compliment as if she weren’t eating it up like a
particularly tasty dessert.
“Nonsense, you deserve every bit of praise.” This time, I caught the mischief in Arianne’s smile.
“Oh please,” Mordecai said. “How much of this do we have to hear? We’re on a schedule here.”
Madame Pimlish immediately started huffing and spluttering her offense, building words to hurl at Mordecai. Until Wizard Meedles suddenly appeared at her side and draped an arm around her shoulder.
I tried not to be horrified as the woman blushed and preened and apparently forgot how angry she’d just been.
Yuck, I mouthed to Nando while Wizard Meedles spoke into her ear. “Forgive him his impertinence. He’s worried for his brother.”
Madame Pimlish flicked beady eyes at Mordecai.
He cooed as if he were talking to his hounds. “Better to save the day instead, wouldn’t you say?”
“Save the day?”
“Oh yes, that’s exactly what you’ll be doing by freeing those firedrakes. Especially when they might hold some information that will aid in Albacus’ rescue.”
Madame Pimlish was back to focusing on her self-importance. “You’re right. I’ll do it right now.” She tilted her head upward as if she were the queen of the world.
Ten seconds later, she snapped. “Well, don’t make me wait!”
It took me a beat to realize she was talking to the five firedrakes. Apparently the same happened to them.
“I have many important things to do with my time.”
Nando mouthed, I’ll bet, and I had to bite down on a giggle.
“Hurry or I’ll have to be on my way.”
Now that the firedrakes realized she was talking to them, they didn’t make her wait. I suspected they were as eager to be free as she was to perform for all of us.
“This should be good,” Sir Lancelot said as the five firedrakes waddled toward her in a group.
Madame Pimlish gave Sir Lancelot a roguish smile. “That it will be, Sir Lancelot. When I’m involved, you can count on it.”
A giggle escaped before I could stop it. I hurried to cover it with a cough. Nando looked alarmed, and I also feared Madame Pimlish’s wrath, but I shouldn’t have.
She was already in showmanship mode, her body, a step in front of Wizard Meedles, turned toward the approaching creatures, her arms out to the side as if she were our gracious host.
“How lucky you are that I’m here.”
For once, I agreed with her. Since these firedrakes escaped Miranda with us, they’d behaved as if they were connected to me somehow. They had a look about them as if they’d suffered. I wanted them free as much as anybody.
“Let the magic begin!” Madame Pimlish announced, like she was an entertainer.
I didn’t care about her motivation anymore, I just wanted to see it done.
“Oh, this is going to be so great,” Sir Lancelot said from beside me.
Madame Pimlish gave no indication she’d heard him beyond a smile that showed how pleased she was with herself.
Then she started uttering a spell. I hung on every single word.
Chapter 5
“Evil darkness, pumpkins and soot,” Madame Pimlish started in a voice that rivaled any showman’s. “You have no place here. You must uproot.”
The five firedrakes huddled in a close circle immediately in front of her, while the rest of the onlookers took several steps back. After what happened when Arianne intervened to dissolve the dark curse upon these firedrakes the first time, I wished I could be back at the manor, where any side effects of the dissolving transformation spell wouldn’t reach us.
But Madame Pimlish didn’t seem worried, and none of the other senior magicians did either, beyond the cautionary move backward. And who was I kidding? The more magic I experienced, the more of it I wanted to see.
The only other transformation I’d seen Madame Pimlish perform had been on herself, and her spell had seemed... well, ridiculous. The words barely made sense the way she strung them together, yet her transformation worked perfectly.
I was eager to learn her secret. If no one was teaching me basic spell casting in a class setting, then I’d learn however I might manage it. I leaned forward over my knees, clutching them to my chest, hanging on every one of her words.
“Pluck the flowers, but leave their powers. Take only that which is yours. Evil darkness, malicious intent, dissolve at once, it’s what is meant.”
A faint glow was building around the huddled firedrakes, as if they were backlit by an invisible light. Despite the spell not making much sense, it was clearer than her last one.
“Pull the string, and break it loose. Break the spell, remove the noose.”
Now the firedrakes were beginning to vibrate, almost as if they had a bad case of the shivers. They looked terrified, red eyes wide, appearing nearly human for the few moments they shared the human emotion.
“Rip away the façade.”
I grimaced. Maybe she shouldn’t say ‘rip’? The effect of her spell already seemed violent enough with the way the poor firedrakes were shaking.
“Tear away the glimmer.”
Glimmer? What is she talking about?
“Return these firedrakes to their original form. Whatever they were before, restore it.”
Now I was really getting worried about the firedrakes. The glow around them had increased so that I could hardly make out their features anymore, and they were shaking so intensely that even Arianne had begun to look concerned. She took a step forward, looking between them and Madame Pimlish.
She was considering intervening, I was sure of it. But I suspected it was dangerous to interfere with a spell before it was complete.
“What if she kills them?” Nando whispered to me so softly there was no chance he’d distract Madame Pimlish.
His question made my heart heavy, but I had no answer beyond waiting and hoping for the best. Surely none of the staff of the academy, all gathered here, would allow Madame Pimlish to kill the poor firedrakes, no matter how upset she might become at their interference.
The firedrakes’ scales began to drain of their color. Just like when Arianne had broken the dark spell that bound them to their transformation in the first place, and Elwin and the red firedrake next to him had become a pale, pasty color.
“Oh no,” I whispered to Nando. “That’s what happened before, when Elwin almost died. When I died.”
“What do we do?”
“What can we do?” I asked helplessly. “We can’t do anything. We could cause more harm than good.”
“True,” he said, resigned. “We don’t know what we’re doing.”
“Will we ever?” I muttered, but it wasn’t the time for my frustration. “Maybe we should tell Arianne?” But us telling any of the staff anything was ludicrous.
Nando and I took one final look at the firedrakes. They were barely holding on, shaking so hard that they clung to each other with fierce grips, their jaws banging together, pointed teeth clashing. Their previously brightly-colored scales were in the pastel-colored ranges. How long could they possibly hold on like this?
Arianne and Gustave shared a look as meaningful as the one Nando and I shared, and started moving toward Madame Pimlish, who didn’t seem to notice, enthralled as she was.
But Mordecai jutted a quick hand out to grab Arianne’s arm. When she turned to him, he silently shook his head. She hesitated, but then reached for Gustave, stopping him before he could reach Madame Pimlish.
Gustave, shoulders tense, exchanged a look with Mordecai. Whatever the old wizard said without speaking, Gustave received the message, because he nodded and stood to wait next to the rest of them.
“We have to trust that they know what they’re doing,” Nando said to me, so softly that not even Walt on my other side seemed distracted by his whisper.
My brother understood me so well. He’d guessed I was considering whether I should interfere since Arianne and Gustave wouldn’t.
“They look as if they’re about to... expl
ode or something.” This time Walt turned our way, looking surprised at my statement.
“They’ll be fine,” he said.
“How can you be so sure? They don’t look fine.”
“Looks can be deceiving where magic is concerned.”
I wasn’t convinced, so he added. “Madame Pimlish is truly the best at transformations.”
I crossed my arms and glared at Madame Pimlish. If things didn’t shift quickly, I didn’t care what anyone said, I was going to do something. Elwin and the red firedrake had almost died when they looked as pale as these—Elwin had confirmed it—and they hadn’t even been shaking in this manner.
The poor firedrakes had sunk down in a huddled crouch, holding on to each other for dear life. It was a horrendous sight. If they weren’t in severe pain, I’d be shocked.
Then the glow flared, expanding so quickly that I feared for a moment that it’d swallowed the firedrakes entirely. But then my eyes adjusted enough to make out their huddled bodies behind the light.
I clenched my jaw and narrowed my eyes at Madame Pimlish. That was the first time I picked up that she was trembling too, just not as violently. She also hadn’t spoken the rest of her spell—assuming there was any—for a while.
Something was wrong. Something had to be wrong for her to be shaking like this. But what worried me the most was that she wasn’t speaking. Everyone’s attention was on her. Her modus operandi would be to make the most of it through her theatrics.
As if Wizard Meedles read my mind, he started to advance. His steps were hesitant, making me think he was suffering from an internal debate similar to mine. When he stopped just a few feet from Madame Pimlish, his eight hellhounds were right behind him.
I squeezed Nando’s hand. This was good. Wizard Meedles was in position to stop her.
Then nothing was good at all.
The glow started whipping around the five firedrakes in a circle of light much like the one I’d broken—the intervention I’d paid for with my life.
And then it got worse.
The light, vibrating as wildly as the firedrakes, jumped to encompass Madame Pimlish.