Lucky Rabbit

Apparently, Isidor had no sense of curiosity whatsoever, because when Thaniel returned right before lights-out, all he did was say, “Glad you’re feeling better,” and roll over to go to sleep. Thaniel himself slept surprisingly well, given that he’d snoozed most of the day away, but he was probably still working through whatever the healers had dosed him with.

The next morning, however, both Thaniel and Pandy realized that someone must have cautioned the children to behave as normally as possible, at least in public. Geraldine chattered on about her classes, while Eleanor nodded along. Abbington listened with solemn consideration, speaking rarely. Isidor, of course, just ate, though he darted a few more looks in Thaniel’s direction than usual.

A few of the other students – mostly ones from Governance and Leadership – had noticed Thaniel’s absence, and the new Minister of Military Affairs filled him in on what had happened the day before. Thaniel was rather disappointed to find that his pony, Buttercup, seemed entirely unaware he’d been gone, but ultimately decided it was reasonable, since they’d only actually known each other for a day.

Pandy watched the boy carefully all day, staying close by, rather than hopping off to snack on sweet clover while he had his riding lesson and waved around his wooden sword. Never once did he pale, faint, or clutch at his chest, but she simply couldn’t shake the fear that he would, especially once she realized that the simplest way for Keros’ magic to kill him would be to just…make his heartstone stop doing whatever it did. But that had actually been true this whole time, hadn’t it? So why was the magic bothering with falling gargoyles and pointy sticks? Another question for Keros, the next time she got a chance to talk to him.

When time finally came for Small Groups, Pandy had to force herself to leave long enough to shift into Ms. Wellington, and then she only hid beneath a bush, which resulted in her having to emerge from said bush while several children who she would swear hadn’t been there a moment before giggled at her. She ignored them, hurrying back to Thaniel, only to find that he was running around, waving a stick at Geraldine, who was shrieking like a banshee. Obviously, Pandy herself was the only one who had been traumatized by their last class.

This idea was proven wrong almost as soon as Pandy sat down on the stone bench. Thaniel stopped his game without being told, and came to sit beside her, his head leaning against her arm, while the others all crowded close, questions in their eyes. They were doing an excellent job of hiding it, but all of them had been frightened, and were worried for their friend.

Pandy gave them a slightly wobbly smile, thinking fast. After a moment, she cleared her throat and said, “Have you ever heard the story of Pirate Pete and the, um, Magic Stone?” All of them shook their heads, including Thaniel, and even Isidor glanced in her direction.

“Well,” Pandy said, “This happened after Nettle Nell gave up pirating and went back home, and before Pete met First Mate Scrubs. Pete was sad, you see, because he missed Nettle Nell, and he didn’t have any other friends to go swashbuckling with. So Pete was lonely, and for a while, he thought he might go home, too. But then he heard about…”

Leaning forward, she whispered, “The Magic Stone. It was supposed to be on an island not far away, but while sometimes people stumbled across it accidentally, you couldn’t find it on purpose, no matter how hard you looked. So Pete thought and thought about that, and realized that if you could only get there by accident, then he would just have to get lost.”

To her surprise, five little heads nodded, not just four. Lord Winston was obviously paying attention too, his brown eyes fixed on Pandy, and while Miss Cupcakes was watching a bee on a nearby flower, her ears were swiveled toward Pandy as well. Even Brook had one eye partially open as she listened. Pandy smiled down at them all, feeling her heart melt a little more as she met each fascinated gaze.

“And it worked! Pete headed out on a cloudy day, without his trusty compass, and before he knew it, he was completely lost. After two and a half days of floating aimlessly, he spotted an island in the distance. He knew right away that it wasn’t any island he’d seen before, because there was a very tall, very crooked tower in the very middle of it, rising all the way up to the clouds.” Pandy raised her hands high over her head, and six sets of eyes widened. Even Miss Cupcakes was openly watching by now.

“When Pete came ashore and made his way to the tower, he found that it had no doors or windows at all. But it was held up with sticks and ropes, because it really was a very crooked tower, and of course, Pete was an excellent climber, being a pirate and all. So he climbed right up that tower, hand over hand, going from one rope to another, until he finally found a teeeeeeny, tiny hole. And when he peeked through that teeny, tiny hole, what do you think he saw?”

“A room?” Eleanor asked.

“The magic stone!” Thaniel cried.

“A dragon,” Geraldine shouted.

Pandy laughed. Making a circle of her fingers, she lifted it to her eye, and said, “He saw someone looking right back at him! And he was so surprised that he let go of the rope and fell all the way back to the ground.”

A chorus of groans answered her, and she nodded. “He was terribly hurt, but it was a mage who lived in that tower. The mage liked privacy while he was working, but he wasn’t a bad person at all. So he hurried right down that crooked tower, which creaked and groaned, and swayed like it might fall down on top of Pete.”

“Why’d’e livethere? Th’mage?” Abbington asked, and Pandy shrugged.

“I don’t suppose we’ll ever know, because Pete didn’t think to ask. In fact, he wasn’t thinking about much of anything, because when he fell, he hurt his heart.” Pandy touched her chest. “And the Not-At-All-Evil mage who just happened to like to live in that Very Tall Tower on an island you could only find by accident took one look, and brought out…the Magic Stone. And he put it right there, where Pete’s heart was hurt, and the magic fixed Pete right up.”

Happy oohs and aahs came from the children, and Pandy said, “And what do you suppose Pete did when he woke up?”

“Said thank you,” replied Thaniel promptly. “Because Pete…”

“Always said Please and Thank you and Ate his Vegetables,” they all said together, grinning.

“Exactly right,” Pandy told them. “But the mage had to let Pete keep that stone, because without it, Pete’s heart wouldn’t work right any more, no matter how many vegetables he ate. And after they sat down together and had tea and cupcakes, Pete sailed away again, and could never find his way back, even when he got lost.”

Now everyone looked at Thaniel, who turned a little red and refused to meet their eyes. Finally, Eleanor very timidly said, “Does the stone – the Magic Stone – hurt?”

Pandy glanced at Thaniel, who shook his head very slightly. “I think that stone just feels like any other part of his body, and most of the time, he probably just forgets about it,” she told the princess.

Geraldine was next. “Is it all right now? I mean, it won’t stop…working, will it?”

That was tricky. The truth was, Pandy had no idea, and she was pretty sure no one else did, either. Carefully, she said, “You know, Pete has First Mate Scrubs now, and Scrubs is really good at getting Pete out of pickles.”

They all giggled, no doubt remembering the Adventure of the Pickled Peppers, when Pete purloined a pot of the pickled peppers preferred by Pontiff Paisley and had to depart posthaste. It was only thanks to First Mate Scrubs’ quick-thinking that Pete was able to return the pickles and escape a very briny end.

Pandy leaned into Thaniel as she went on. “If anything were to happen, Scrubs would definitely make sure Pete was just fine. So nobody needs to worry about him.” None of the children looked entirely convinced, but Pandy hoped she had at least eased their minds. It was up to Thaniel if he wanted to tell them any more. In the meantime…

Pandy leaned back, looking up at the flickers of brilliant blue sky visible between the rich green leaves of the trees. Drawing in a long, deep breath, she smelled sunshine and grass, and, not nearly far enough away, the scent of sweaty horses and the natural byproducts of those horses. When she looked back down again, she said, “Do any of you know what a scavenger hunt is?”

Scraps of paper quickly became lists of things like yellow rocks, feathers, and a blade of grass longer than Abbington’s hand – that one took some negotiation, because Pandy first said ‘longer than your hand’, but of course all of their hands were different sizes – and the children ran off. The only rule was that they had to stay within sight of Pandy, and she watched Thaniel carefully as he examined rocks and plucked blades of grass.

“Is that true?” a quiet voice asked, and Pandy glanced to the side. Isidor was there, leaning against a tree, his eyes on Eleanor. He was the only one who hadn’t had anything to say in response to Pandy’s quickly-made-up story, and she probably should have expected him to have questions now.

“Close enough,” she told him. “Didn’t, um, your…friends explain?”

He huffed a frustrated sigh. “No, my friends didn’t. Which means they don’t think I need to know. But is he okay?”

Oh. He was worried. Of course he was. Isidor might be annoying – often with good reason, Pandy had to admit – but he liked Thaniel. And who wouldn’t? “Yes, he’s fine.” For a definition of fine that included having a magic rock for a heart. “And your friends are going to try to figure out how to make sure he stays that way.”

Isidor’s shoulders slumped, then straightened. “Good.”

A shriek pulled their attention back to the children, and Pandy shot to her feet. Somehow, Geraldine had ended up in the lower branches of a small oak, where a very angry bird was dive-bombing her as she waved a feather triumphantly overhead. Even as Pandy watched, the girl tottered on her branch, while Thaniel and Abbington held out their arms, and Miss Cupcakes – who was also in the tree – leaped toward the bird, yowling furiously.

Pandy and Isidor both launched themselves toward Geraldine, and to Pandy’s absolute shock, even though she didn’t even try to use Hop, not only did she outpace the agile boy, but she didn’t trip over her feet, her skirt, a tree root, an escaped hamster, or the air, any of which would normally have been perfectly viable options. When Geraldine finally tipped all the way over, Pandy was there, and the girl felt as light as the feather she held as Pandy caught her, then placed her feet onto the ground.

Geraldine barely even seemed to notice that she’d fallen, waving her prize beneath Thaniel’s nose and dancing away as he grabbed for it. Pandy, however, was left staring at her own hands, wondering what had just happened. She had caught Geraldine. She hadn’t panicked, hadn’t fallen herself, hadn’t been too slow. She’d been competent. More than competent, even.

Looking up, she met Isidor’s eyes. He looked as surprised and relieved as she felt, and when he nodded to her, she thought there might actually be something resembling respect in the very, very back of those dark eyes. Pandy swallowed hard. Someone else might have thought that their luck had finally turned, but Pandy knew better. If something had gone right, it was only because something much worse was waiting in the wings, ready to kick her in the gut when she was least expecting it. She just had to figure out what it was before it could connect.