by E. G. Foley
But, from the moment Master Finnderool had ordered her to get Jake and the others out of there, Dani realized that it was up to her. So she had racked her brain to think of a good place to bring everyone.
A safe place.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t many to choose from. At this early stage of her Lightriding career, she had only memorized the coordinates of a few destinations.
No matter. Determined to carry out her orders, she had lifted her left arm, where she wore the leather training gauntlet affectionately known as the Bud of Life. It was full of clever gadgets and embedded with a communicating device so the Lightrider-in-training could check in with his or her teacher back at Merlin Hall.
With trembling fingers, Dani had dialed in the set of coordinates she was most sure of. The one place in all the world where no one would ever think to look for them.
Her favorite place, in truth. The first set of coordinates she’d ever bothered learning.
Confident in her choice, Dani had carefully entered each number into the Bud of Life. It had taken her a few tries, but she’d finally got the portal open.
Now, as the glowing circle of the terminus grew larger and larger ahead, she prayed she had not misremembered any of those tricky numbers. Otherwise, she had no idea where on the globe she and her friends might’ve ended up.
Then the tunnel spat her out the other side, and darkness engulfed her. She went stumbling forward onto the grass.
After the dazzling brilliance inside the tunnel, she had to blink rapidly a few times to force her vision to adjust to the night, and the first thing she did was glance down at herself to make sure she was all there.
Right. Good. Whew. Beneath her stood her feet in sturdy brown half-boots that laced up to her shins in black woolen stockings; the tidy dark blue skirts of her Lightrider uniform were hardly even wrinkled from the jump.
Her arms were fine. Her hands were there, too; she glanced at each. The Bud of Life on her wrist looked unscathed, thank goodness.
Briefly clutching her head, she found it firmly perched atop her neck and shoulders where it should be. That was a relief. Her heart was pounding, too, so it must’ve returned to its proper post inside her ribcage.
Then she quickly scanned her passengers by the bluish-white glow of the still-open portal.
Sure enough, there was Red, Jake’s magnificent scarlet-feathered Gryphon to her left, shaking his eagle head as if to clear it.
Jake stood a few feet beyond his lion-sized pet, looking a little queasy from the ruthless speeds of Grid travel. But the boy hero was on his feet, leaning forward, hands planted on his thighs as he strove to steady himself.
All his cute parts seemed to be in order. Whew again.
Dani looked to her right and saw Archie and Isabelle both intact, each recovering from the jump as best they could. Though both aristocratic siblings seemed a little speed-sick from their journey, Dani saw that they were safe.
Poor Izzy had to be feeling at least some relief being a hundred miles away now from all the hate and fury on the battlefield. But she would need assistance.
Straight ahead, the black-haired and ever-gothic Nixie Valentine sat on the ground with her hands planted behind her. Her delicate face looked even paler than usual as she strove to regain her equilibrium. But to Dani’s relief, the young witch had also reappeared with all her necessary parts.
Brian, likewise, was all in one piece, calm, sturdy, and good-natured as ever. The dark-haired American boy was already on his feet and scanning the area, looking ready to do all the usual things that Guardians did when they were on duty, protecting people.
He sent Dani a wordless nod, confirming that all of their conductees had made it safely through the portal.
Miracle! thought Dani. But there was one more traveler to check on.
While Brian took a few paces around the grassy area where they had landed, assessing their whereabouts, Dani set her satchel on the ground and opened the flap.
At once, Teddy scampered out and started running around to all the kids, checking on them in turn and giving each a reassuring lick.
When Dani saw her wee dog complete from his twitchy black nose to his waggy stump of a tail, only then did she nearly collapse with relief.
I did it! I can’t believe I did it.
Her first Grid jump as a Lightrider had been a total success. Her body didn’t care to celebrate her victory, though; her knees were still all wobbly, her stomach churned, and for a second, she thought she might either puke or burst out in hysterical tears after the fact like a cakehead.
Instead, a fleeting thought of Finnderool’s usual annoyed frown helped her claw back the necessary businesslike attitude.
Tamping down her emotions, Dani turned around and firmly pressed the Close button on her gauntlet.
Instantly, the bright, round portal winked shut. The kids were plunged into deep autumn darkness.
The first thing Dani noticed was the silence. The only sounds were the chirp of a few surviving summer crickets and the panting of all her friends striving to catch their breath.
“I-is everyone all right?” Jake finally asked. Even he still sounded slightly shaky.
By the moon-glow, Dani saw her bold young beau straighten up. She couldn’t believe what he had done back there, flying up on Red to battle the airship, armed with nothing but his telekinesis.
The boy was an utter loon. Brave, of course, but clearly quite mad. She didn’t know whether to hug him or slap him silly.
There were a few grumbles and groans in answer to Jake’s question, but everybody mumbled that they’d live.
Jake nodded, took a deep breath, then flipped his blond forelock out of his eyes. That was always a good sign.
“Right. Good job, carrot.” He turned expectantly to her. “Where are we, then?”
It was always oddly comforting when Jake seemed ready to take charge. Even if he was bluffing, he always seemed to know what to do.
Dani gazed at him, still a little in awe of him for how he’d performed back there. She couldn’t help hoping that she’d impressed him, too, with her Lightriding prowess.
“Where have you brought us to?” he asked, and waited for her answer.
Dani couldn’t help smiling a little. “Don’t you recognize it, Jake?”
By the moon’s silver shine, she saw him furrow his brow. He propped his hands on his waist and took a puzzled look around. His gaze followed the wide gravel path nearby. Though it was overgrown with weeds, the path stretched like a pale ribbon in both directions, winding off into the trees of a parklike setting.
“Hold on…” Jake lifted his head slightly and squinted toward the distance, where faded pastel turrets loomed above the black trees. They were shaped like scoops of ice cream. “I don’t believe it.” He pivoted to face her, an incredulous grin spreading across his handsome face. “You brought us here?”
“Yep.” Dani grinned back.
“You know this place, coz?” Archie asked, still sounding groggy.
“Oh, aye.” Jake began laughing.
Dani laughed too, glancing over at the bespectacled boy genius. “He certainly does.”
Then she and Jake exchanged a tender glance.
Elysian Springs Pleasure Gardens.
The old, abandoned amusement grounds had been Jake’s hideaway back in the days when he was an orphaned pickpocket, roaming the streets of London.
He had always been safe here, after all his escapades.
Not even the bobbies, like good ol’ Constable Flanagan, had ever managed to track Jake to Elysian Springs, Dani knew.
And neither would wicked Lord Wyvern.
CHAPTER 2
Safe Haven
“You clever, clever girl,” Jake murmured. Standing in the moonlit clearing by the waypoint, he could not stop smiling at Dani O’Dell.
She had picked the best place in the world for their refuge.
“I thought you’d be pleased, milord,” she said, and dropped a tea
sing curtsy.
Jake looked around at his friends with a broad smile. “Relax, you lot,” he said. “She’s done it. We’ll be safe here.”
“And where exactly is here, coz?” Archie asked.
Jake was glad to see that, finally, the rest of the gang was starting to recover from the portal jump—and the battle before it.
“Yes,” said Nixie, who had apparently arrived with her sarcasm intact. “It’s all ginger peaches that you two chuckaboos know where we are, but would you mind telling the rest of us?”
As the petite, black-haired witch started climbing slowly to her feet, new kid Brian hurried over to assist her. She did still look a bit wobbly after the jump.
But before the obliging Guardian could reach her, Archie shooed him away with an almost jealous look and stepped in to do the honors himself. “I daresay we’re in the middle of nowhere, Nix.”
“Hardly, coz,” Jake said, feeling unexpectedly roguish to find himself back in his old hideaway. “Miss Lightrider has brought us to the best hiding place any bloomin’ mumper could want.”
Dani giggled at Jake’s use of the old Cockney slang that had been their native tongue before Miss Helena and Master Henry—the shapeshifting governess and tutor to the Bradford family—had gotten hold of them.
The boy genius, however, did not speak Cockney. “How now?” Archie pushed his spectacles up higher onto his nose and squinted into the darkness. “Wherever we are, it looks deserted to me.”
“Aye, that’s what makes it perfect.” Jake glanced around with a wave of nostalgia while Dani knelt down next to Isabelle and patted the traumatized empath on the shoulder. “We’re at Elysian Springs Pleasure Gardens, everyone, the abandoned carnival grounds. Ages ago, they used to have music and shows here, games and food, fireworks and circus freaks. Jugglers and whatnot… Anyway, this is where I sort of used to live.”
“You lived here?” Nixie dusted bits of dried leaves off her black skirts after sitting in the grass.
Jake nodded, relieved to see she still had her wand in case they ran into any trouble. He was sure of her battle skills and his own, but the Bradfords and Dani were more limited in what they could do, and Maddox St. Trinian, their usual Guardian friend on their adventures, had deserted them to go racing off into the battle to fight alongside his Guardian mum, the fierce Ravyn Vambrace.
Of course, Jake could understand Maddox’s higher loyalty to his birth mother, but he would’ve felt better if the tough older boy were here right now. (Even though he was an unrelenting grump.)
As for the new Guardian, Jake had only just laid eyes on this Brian kid moments ago for the first time.
Dani had mentioned her American classmate before, however, and, in truth, Jake had been less than thrilled to hear his best girl chatting on about some other boy.
But that was beside the point. Jealousy was for idiots, anyway.
Like Maddox, who could not seem to manage his feelings for Isabelle like a rational human being. He was always growling about their vampire friend, Prince Janos, having a soft spot in his undead heart for the pretty blond empath.
Be that as it may, the only thing that mattered at the moment was whether this Brian chap was any good in a fight.
Which remained to be seen.
For his part, Jake was feeling rather drained after using his telekinesis so vigorously against the airship, but at least he had Risker, his magical dagger from Odin, sheathed on his hip.
It also helped considerably that Red was there to protect them, for only a suicidal fool would dare anger the Gryphon.
With that, Jake decided they’d be perfectly fine here, at least for a while. All they had to do was stay out of trouble and kill some time until the adults sent someone from Merlin Hall to fetch them once things calmed down back there.
Naturally, his chief concern was keeping his friends safe—and calm—in the ongoing crisis of this night.
“Elysian Springs used to be fashionable back when Queen Victoria was just a young princess,” Dani told the others, for she loved this place even more than Jake did. “I was shocked when I saw the map in Lightrider class and realized there was a waypoint here all along!”
Maybe that’s why this place always drew me, Jake mused, resting his hands on his waist. He gazed toward the Grand Pavilion in the distance, with its whimsical turrets. “I wonder if any of the carnies are still here,” he said.
“Carnies?” Archie echoed, furrowing his brow.
Dani nodded. “Some of the unusual folk from the carnival freakshow were allowed to keep on living here after it closed down. They were quite kind to us. Should we go and visit them, Jake?”
Jake shook his head with regret. “As much as I’d like to, it’s probably not a good idea. Best if no one knows we’re here. Plus, I wouldn’t want to risk putting them in danger because of us. Don’t worry,” he told the others. “The carnies won’t bother us. They’re good folk. They never ratted me out to the constables, anyway.”
“The bobbies were always after Jake back in his pickpocket days,” Dani said fondly. “But, for some reason, not even Constable Flanagan ever thought to check this old place.” She glanced around with a wistful sigh. “I used to love coming here.”
Teddy barked twice with excitement, clearly seconding that.
“I’m glad you brought us here, Dani,” Isabelle spoke up, finally beginning to recover, it seemed. The older girl was still sitting on the grass, Dani on her right and her solicitous younger brother on her left.
Ever the perfect English gentleman, Archie had given his sister his handkerchief from his waistcoat pocket. Thank heavens, Izzy’s nose and ear had stopped bleeding, Jake saw with relief.
He, too, had once experienced a nosebleed from overusing his powers—and the ear bit, as well. It wasn’t pretty, but it wasn’t fatal, as long as you stopped overstraining your abilities.
As relieved as he was to see his gentle cousin feeling better, he’d known deep down that she would be all right.
Isabelle Bradford might look like a sugar-spun angel, with her lovely face and long golden curls, but she was much tougher than most people ever dreamed. After all, the Order didn’t pick just any girl to become a Keeper of Unicorns.
Still blotting the blood away from the side of her neck where it had trickled out of her ear, Izzy glanced around at the parklike setting. “I’ve always wanted to see this place. You both spoke of it so fondly.”
“How are you feeling, Iz?” Nixie asked. “Need a healing spell?”
“No thanks.” Izzy gave her a wan smile. “I’ll be right as rain in a moment.”
“Well, as soon as we’re ready to go,” Jake said, “I’d be happy to give you all a tour of this old place. Might as well! We’ve got nothing else to do until we hear from Merlin Hall.”
“I wonder what’s happening back there,” Dani said uneasily, then scooped Teddy onto her lap and hugged him. “Do you think it’s over yet?”
No one answered for a moment.
“Probably not,” Jake admitted. “Soon, though, I should think.”
“Did you see Aunt Ramona back there?” Archie asked. “She was astonishing.”
“She’s even more formidable than I imagined,” Nixie, sole pupil of the Elder witch, agreed.
The others nodded.
They had never seen Great-Great Aunt Ramona in action before. The mighty white witch rarely made a display of her powers. Over time, she had come to mistrust magic in general…
Then everyone fell silent, each clearly pondering the disaster still in progress back at the palace. Their initial relief to find themselves safe gave way to gnawing fear over the outcome of the battle—and what the Dark Druids’ raid on Merlin Hall was going to mean for the entire magical world.
It seemed that the war the Order had long feared had finally begun.
Archie glanced with desperation at his sister. “Mother and Father are still back there.”
Nixie took his hand, but Izzy gave her brother a dazed no
d. “I know. And Miss Helena, and Henry. And Derek.”
“And Maddox,” Nixie murmured.
“And Janos,” Jake said.
Izzy sent him a soulful glance, her eyes full of fear.
The telepathic bond she shared with the vampire prince was something not even she understood.
Dani patted Izzy’s hand. “Yes, but don’t worry, Janos is immortal, more or less. I’m sure he’ll be perfectly fine. And Maddox is awfully strong. Smart, too.”
Izzy gazed at her uncertainly, but Archie clenched his fist and stood. “I cannot believe Lord Badgerton betrayed us! What a devil.”
Jake folded his arms across his chest and shook his head. “You know, I never liked him.”
“And he really didn’t like you,” Dani mumbled. “Especially after you flung mashed potatoes on him.”
Jake arched a brow. “That was an accident!”
“Aye, sure it was, Jake,” she teased, and the others chortled at the memory of the mishap in the dining hall.
“So, what’s the plan, Lightrider?” Brian asked, turning to Dani. “And where exactly is this place? In the world, I mean?”
“Oh—sorry. We’re in London,” Dani said absently. “On the south bank of the Thames, to be exact.”
“London?” Brian’s eyes widened. “Wow…”
Jake turned to the newcomer with a quizzical look. “What, you’ve never been?”
When Brian shook his head, Jake couldn’t help but scoff.
Teddy yipped, as though he, too, found it absurd that anyone could never have been to the capital of the entire British Empire before.
“Brian’s from America, Jake, remember?” Dani chided. “When they recruited him for the Guardian program, Tex brought him straight to Merlin Hall from a waypoint on top of an Indian mound near the small town in Indiana where he’s from.”
“It’s not that small,” Brian mumbled. “We have a train stop.”
Jake couldn’t help grinning. “Blimey, one whole train stop. Aren’t you a man of the world.”
Archie shot him a disapproving frown for his jest, then turned to Brian. “An Indian mound sounds fascinating, though.”