The Raven, The Elf, and Rachel (A Book of Unexpected Enlightenment 2) Page 34

  “If you don’t want to set up a cat-fight between Miss Hunt and Miss O’Keefe,” he continued, “and you don’t want to solve the problem with magic, then we do nothing and wait for her to find a boyfriend on her own. She cannot have me because Miss Hunt has me.”

  The calling card in Rachel’s hand lit up. In it, the princess appeared with her finger pressed to her lips. She beckoned, indicating that Rachel should come to her. Rachel nodded.

  “Fine, Sigfried. You win.” Zoë crossed her arms. “No more crazy suggestions from me. So, what were we talking about before? Was it about saving the world?” She rose to her feet. “If not, I’m going to go study in my room, where there is distinctly less tuba.”

  “Let’s go, Zoë.” Rachel rose as well. “We can put off saving the world until after dinner.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight:

  Saving the World Before Dinner, After All

  Rachel and Zoë walked through the foyer that led to the theater and up the sweeping staircase to the girls’ dorms. Zoë invited Rachel to join her in the room she shared with Joy, Brunhilda, Wendy, and Sakura. Rachel assured her she would as soon as she was done in the loo.

  To her relief, Zoë did not offer to accompany her. Rachel ducked around the corner into the bathroom and pulled out her calling card. Nastasia’s face, framed by her golden curls, was still visible in its surface.

  “Yes?” Rachel whispered.

  Nastasia’s face was pale. “Rachel. I cannot abide this secrecy. I do not wish to take responsibility for slaying the elfin woman, but it is not right that we should have to deceive our friends. I am…quite distraught.”

  “I am ever so sorry, Princess!” Rachel said. “I completely agree. It’s maddening. I want to tell…” she paused, saddened at the thought that the princess would not sympathize with her desire to tell Gaius. “…to talk about this, too. I don’t know what to recommend.”

  “I wanted to tell you,” Nastasia whispered, “since I cannot tell the others: those lines? The ones that made me bleed? They also cut the Lightbringer when he pressed against them in his effort to trap me where he was. Though he seemed more amused by the injury than harmed.

  “Anyway, what I wished to tell you,” she continued, “was that these red lines were our Guardian’s doing. He was trying to keep me from becoming lost in other worlds. Now that I know how to control the effect, he has promised to stop.”

  “Really?” Rachel cried, intrigued. “How did you come to know this?”

  “The elf woman told me in one of our nightly dream sessions.”

  “So she has been teaching you!”

  The princess nodded. “I am sorry. I meant to tell you that. I’ve been…preoccupied.”

  “That’s okay.” Rachel smiled back at her. “We’ve all been a bit overwhelmed.”

  “I wanted to answer the question, but I couldn’t tell the others how I found out,” Nastasia sighed glumly. “I’m off now to practice with my siblings. Today we’re covering the history of dueling. I wish they’d just admit they’re babysitting me to keep me out of trouble.”

  “Good luck,” Rachel said wistfully.

  The history of dueling sounded fascinating. Rachel was delighted to hear that Ivan had taken up her suggestion that he and his other siblings train Nastasia, so that when the next disaster came, she would be ready.

  Nastasia passed her hand over her mirror. Rachel’s card turned green again.

  • • •

  As Rachel walked into the other girls’ room, Zoë was kicking off her sandals, which clattered to the floor. Zoë scooted back, picked up her language textbook, and started reading. Rachel sat down beside her, clutching her own textbooks. She pretended to look at one, but she had already glanced at all the early chapters. She held the book, but she read the memorized text in her head.

  Joy came into the room and plopped down on her own bed with an exaggerated sigh. Her gaggle of Witch Babies—brightly-colored, collectible, bobble-headed rag-dolls that were currently all the rage—bounced against her pillow. Witch Babies were strewn haphazardly across Wendy’s bed as well.

  From behind her book, Zoë muttered, “I changed my mind, Joy. He’s all yours.”

  “What? Who? Siggy?” cried Joy. “Aww! That’s no fun! I wanted to beat you fair and square. Not have you just give up!”

  Zoë, still behind the book, murmured, “No, you win. I even tried to cheat and get him to come up and talk to you about not liking you. He shot down the idea. Big time.”

  “As would have any sane being,” murmured Rachel.

  Joy jumped off her bed. She tried to feign rage but amusement fought to take over her features. She shouted, “Zoë! How could you?! That is dirty pool!”

  Still not glancing up from her textbook, Zoë responded mildly, “Well, that’s just the sort of girl I am—underhanded and evil.”

  Joy giggled. She dodged left and right, trying to look at Zoë around the other girl’s book. Zoë kept moving the book to block her. To Rachel’s surprise, as Zoë ducked to avoid Joy, Rachel saw that Zoë’s eyes were a bit shiny, as if she was in danger of crying.

  Rachel blinked, astonished. Zoë? Crushing on Sigfried…for real?

  Joy hopped into the bed and sat on Zoë’s other side. “You still like him, Forrest. I know you do. I still like him, even though he’s an impossible chore of a boy.”

  Zoë put down the book and leaned her head on Joy’s shoulder. “Yeah, he’s a jerk.”

  Joy smiled at Rachel around Zoë’s head. “So, Rachel, tell us. What is it like to like a boy who you actually have a chance with?”

  “Well,” Rachel laid her textbook on her stomach, “I don’t quite know what it’s like yet. I haven’t had much time with him. But…it feels nice. Safe and warm. So, don’t give up. There are lots of other cute guys out there.”

  “Other cute guys?” shouted Joy, waving her arms and nearly braining Zoë. “Other cute guys? Would you offer a starving dog a rubber bone? Cruel, Griffin, so cruel.”

  Rachel giggled, pressing her fingers over her mouth and nose.

  “Doesn’t matter how many there are,” quipped Zoë, “no cute boy is going to be interested in a doofus like O’Keefe.”

  “Yeah?” Joy shot back. “Boys don’t like pink-haired weirdos with big butts either.”

  Zoë looked as if she had been slapped. She laughed out loud, punching Joy on the arm. “Mean! No telling Rachel about my big butt issues!”

  “Come on,” said Joy, “Rachel won’t tell a soul. Right, Rach?”

  Rachel blinked at the two girls, baffled. This was a subject she had never contemplated. Without looking at either girl, she pulled up memories of what they looked like from the side or back. Zoë was a bit rounder in back than some. Joy looked normal, too. Neither girl looked unattractive to Rachel. She wanted to turn around and determine what kind of rear end she had, but she was too embarrassed.

  Considering the size of the rest of her, it was probably also tiny.

  Which kind did boys like, Rachel wondered, big or little? She did not know, but she had a vague notion that they liked girls to be curvy, both in front and in back. Zoë’s had certainly stood out in Sigfried’s memory.

  “Zoë doesn’t have a big bum,” Rachel said finally. “She’s really cute.”

  “See?” Zoë punched Joy’s arm again. “And Rachel can’t lie. It’s like a rule or something. Notice how she didn’t say you’re not a doofus?”

  Rachel thought of the hot sparks of the Spell of True Recitation and winced. The distance between her and truthfulness seemed to be steadily increasing.

  “So, Rachel,” Joy giggled. “We’re probably a huge disappointment right now. You guys, in the other room, talk about saving the world. Zoë and me? We talk about our butts. Or I do. Usually, it’s impossible to get her to say anything. She must actually like you!”

  Zoë blushed slightly.

  Rachel wished she and Nastasia spent their time discussing saving the world. More and more, it seemed as if
she spent her time feeling as if she should be apologizing for her strengths, while resisting the longing she felt for the princess’s unappreciated talents. True, Nastasia was having a hard time adjusting to school life. But the growing number of times that the princess seemed resentful—of her of all people—was baffling to Rachel.

  “Um…can I ask you a question?” she spoke in halting tones. “Is it my imagination…or, does the princess act as if she’s jealous of me? She has so many gifts and strengths. But, if I can do anything she can’t—such as see something, or cast a spell she didn’t learn first—she acts petulant.” Rachel appealed to the other two plaintively. “Am I imagining this?”

  Zoë shrugged. “I don’t think I’ve been around enough to notice.”

  Joy said, “No, Rachel is right. Nastasia gets all miffy any time Rachel does anything. It’s kinda weird. I bet she’s just too used to getting everything she wants.”

  “What should I do?” Rachel asked. “I don’t want to upset her. I try to hide what I know…but I’m not very good at that.”

  “Maybe the princess needs a boyfriend,” Joy giggled.

  “She wants her family to pick her husband,” Rachel sighed. “At first, I thought the princess and Vlad…er…Von Dread would be perfect for each other. They’re both regal and place a high value on law and order. But now that I know a bit more about romance, I’ve changed my mind.” Rachel told the other girls her theory about the princess and Von Dread being like two fortresses. She ended with, “For there to be love, someone has to put a fortress under siege.”

  Joy lay back, staring at the ceiling. Sighing happily, she said in a dreamy voice, “I wish Siggy would lay siege to my fortress.”

  Zoë almost choked. She rolled Joy out of her bed. Joy fell to the floor with a thump. All three girls started laughing.

  A tall Japanese girl with bells ringing in her long pigtails walked into the room. Sakura was dressed in the subfusc style: white blouse, black skirt, and black half cape. She looked at Joy, getting off the floor, but said nothing. Walking to her bed, she pulled the bells from her hair, and put them on her end table. Then she curled up on her bed with her back to the other girls.

  Rachel heard her take a deep breath and exhale. It was not a melodramatic sigh, but the sound someone made when breathing was painful. With a shock like a blow to her solar plexus, Rachel remembered that she had not saved everyone from Mordeau. According to the princess’s visions, Sakura Suzuki came from the same world as Siggy’s dead roommate, Enoch Smithwyck. Slipping off Zoë’s bed, Rachel went over and silently hugged her.

  “Get off me, Joy!” shouted Sakura. She spoke with a Japanese accent.

  Rachel jerked away, embarrassed.

  “Um, not me this time. But it can be.” Joy crossed to Sakura’s bed and climbed on. “And I am going to squeeze you twice as hard, since Zoë is too proud to come over and hug you.”

  Zoë got up off her bed, came over, and slipped in beside Joy, who looked deliriously happy. The four girls hugged one another. Rachel felt a bit squashed, since she was underneath, but the presence of the other warm bodies was comforting. She felt snug and happy, almost as if she were at home again. Even Sakura giggled a bit. Then she started to cry softly.

  Sakura whispered, “Can I tell you a secret?”

  “Of course,” replied Rachel.

  The other two nodded.

  “Enoch died saving my life,” Sakura said in a small voice. “That girl with the whip crashed through the door nearest to my lab station. Enoch jumped in front of me, pushing me out of the way. I ran away, and Mr. Fisher came forward. The girl went after him. Only Enoch jumped in front of him, too.” Sakura choked and cried a bit harder. “Then he was down. And that girl with the whip—she looked so blank. Like it didn’t mean anything to her. Enoch glanced at where I was hiding with that stupid little grin on his face, and he told me not to worry. It would be all right. But it wasn’t. Oh, Naoki!”

  Zoë mouthed, “Who’s Naoki?”

  “We should let the professors know,” Rachel said firmly. “A plaque should be put up in the Memorial Gardens in memory of his heroism.”

  Sakura said, “I told Mr. Gideon. He’s really upset. He’s friends with Enoch’s dad.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Rachel cried, “Sakura. I never even spoke to him. I know you knew him…better than you might remember.”

  Sakura pulled away from the others and studied Rachel. “W-why did you say that?”

  “Because someone told me that you and he used to know each other,” Rachel said seriously. “A spell cast by that horrid Mr. Egg led to you forgetting.” She left out that the spell had led the Raven to save Sakura, and that it was the Raven who had turned her into a child and made her forget her old life.

  It seemed better not to talk about the Raven.

  “No, I didn’t know him before my family was killed.” Sakura gazed across the room, her face haunted. “When I remembered seeing my parents die…it hurt so much. But when I met Misty. She saw her parents die, too—much more recently. I felt worse for her. Like my parents dying right in front of me wasn’t even real. Like I had just read about it.

  “But when Enoch died, it was so much worse. Like I had lost something, and I didn’t even know what it was. I loved him—more than my parents. But I had only spoken to him a few times! How that even possible?” she cried, her grasp on English slipping as she became more distraught. “What person feel that way?”

  The sight of Sakura suffering tore at Rachel’s heart. Knowing that Sakura and Enoch had known each other and not being able to say anything made her feel terrible. Rachel resolved to tell her only enough to bring comfort without doing harm.

  “No. I don’t mean before your parents died.” Rachel shook her head fiercely. “I mean you used to know Enoch, but after Mr. Egg’s spell, you forgot that you knew him.”

  Joy chewed nervously on her hair, but she did not interrupt. Sakura stared at Rachel. “Egg changed my memories? Why? How do you know this? How do I get them back? Will Enoch still be alive if I do? Who I was? Who Enoch was? Were we married?”

  “I don’t know,” said Rachel, “but I suspect his name was really Naoki.”

  “I want my memories back!” Sakura’s expression slowly transformed from sorrow to fury. Her body tensed. Her fists clenched. “It’s not fair!”

  A buzzing filled the room, like a mundane radio unable to get a signal, and her eyes began to shine with a golden light. Rachel realized that she was not hearing the buzzing, she was remembering it. Two parallel versions of the scene existed in her memory. One was being changed to remove the buzzing and the light in Sakura’s eyes. In the other, they remained.

  Sakura’s skin began to shine. The old memory chains, without the shining, lost ground. It failed and ended. Joy and Zoë hopped out of the bed and gawked at the glowing Sakura.

  Joy cried, “Sakura, what are you doing?”

  “Something is trying to change me,” Sakura’s voice rang out, fierce and commanding. “I won’t let it. I will not be forced to be someone else!”

  With a crackle, her body shifted. She grew taller and curvier. Her white blouse grew tight. She looked liked an adult.

  “Enkai did this!” Sakura cried fiercely. “He put us here, Naoki and me. Enkai must have rewritten history, turned the world into this ridiculous place. Oh God, Naoki really is dead! I wasn’t able to protect him!” She blanched, shocked.

  “I knew Mr. Gideon in my old life. I’ve got to speak to him. He’ll know what to do.” She turned to leave but paused, looking down at herself. “My clothes don’t fit anymore. Stupid spell turned me back into a fourteen year old. Being a teenager once was more than enough. Do any of you have anything bigger I could wear? Could I borrow…”

  Sakura froze mid-sentence and stopped moving. Zoë and Joy stopped moving, too. Startled, Rachel looked around. Her heart froze in terror.

  The gigantic, red-eyed Raven was flying directly at her.

  The Raven flew through
the closed window. It landed on the floor and hopped a few times. Then it transformed into a man. He was eight feet tall with enormous black wings and a blinding circle of light above his head. In this light, Rachel felt an impression of extraordinary diligence, as if her mind were focused upon completing the tasks set before her and nothing else. A determination to persevere took hold of her, a very familiar feeling. It was the feeling that possessed her when she was flying or pursuing knowledge. It felt…

  Just like her.

  The Raven reached up and pulled the ring of light off his head. It turned into a large gold hoop. Rachel’s personal determination to do her part remained, but the outside inspiration that had temporarily reinforced it vanished.

  The Raven in his man-form was wearing black slacks but no shirt or shoes. He looked at Rachel sadly. “So, little one, tell me what I should do.”

  “I’m so very sorry,” Rachel whispered. Now that the outside emotion imposed by the golden hoop was gone, she felt so frightened that her chest was resisting the order to breathe. “I thought I was helping. I thought I was being careful. Is there some way to move backwards and make it forgotten again?”

  “I cannot move time backwards. I can change the memories of these children. But I must also change the gift within this one,” he pointed at Sakura, “or it will happen again.”

  “Gift?”

  “When I rescued her from the darkness Outside, I tried to leave her as close to her original self as possible. This was hard because her essence is very orderly. Her gift is one which suppresses sudden changes and chaos. I did not realize it would also break carefully-constructed changes. It must be removed and remade so as not to interfere with what I do.”

  “You mean she interferes with magic, don’t you?” asked Rachel. “That’s why her spells have such odd results. And why the brooms would not work correctly for her?”

  He nodded solemnly.

  “Does it matter if she suddenly grows up? I mean, she’s just one person.”

  “Will she keep the matter quiet? Allow me to provide an explanation that is understandable by the laws of this world? Not try to find out more about her life Outside?” the Raven asked gravely. “The illusion that the world is safe is difficult to maintain. There are forces without battering at the Walls, trying to get in. They wish to rip apart this world and destroy everything within it. They will use any excuse to enter.”