Lucky Rabbit

It took a second knock before Geraldine’s wan little face appeared in the cautiously cracked doorway. Her wariness vanished into astonishment before she swung the door wide, staring down the hall. “How did you get here?” she asked, looking both ways, as if Ms. Davenport might pop out of one of the nearby rooms and send them off to the Falconet version of detention. Miss Cupcakes sat between the girl’s bare feet, staring at them with inscrutable yellow eyes.

Thaniel looked around, too, then whispered, “I hadta talk to you. Can I come in?”

Geraldine barely hesitated before stepping to the side, allowing the boy to enter. He slipped in, and she closed the door with a soft click, leaving them alone in the dark, quiet room. It was nearly identical to the one Thaniel and Isidor occupied, but one bed was stripped bare, and while there were books and knick-knacks on the desk and shelf on the right side of the room, the left was achingly empty.

The girl noticed Thaniel taking in the glaring absence of any personal items other than her own, and she sniffled. Once. Twice. Then there were tears pouring down her face, and she was crying in deep, tearing sobs. Thaniel put his arms around her and held her, even when her knees gave way, and they knelt on the small carpet that occupied the space beside the bed.

Pandy fell from between them during this process, and, seeing that Thaniel had the comforting well in hand, she hopped around the room, drawn by a scent that she couldn’t identify, and couldn’t locate. Lifting her nose in the air, she drew in a deep sniff as Geraldine finally calmed down enough to speak. When Pandy turned her head, looking into the shadows, she caught the glint of reflected light from Miss Cupcakes’ eyes, watching her.

In ragged sentences, the girl explained that everyone kept insisting that her mother had fallen and struck her head, cutting her scalp and rendering her unconscious. But Geraldine knew what she’d seen, and she was quite certain Lady Reedsley had been dead, or close to it.

“She wouldn’t wake up,” she whimpered, scrubbing at her eyes with the sleeve of her nightgown. “And she was so… so limp. Even when you fainted in class, you didn’t look like that.”

Pandy couldn’t see Thaniel’s face, but he hesitated a long time before answering. “I’m sorry,” he said simply. “But she’s all right now?”

Geraldine sat back, unfolding her legs from beneath her so she could rub her feet, which were probably as deeply asleep as she should have been. “She says she is,” she said, doubt clear in her tone, “and then she says, ‘Well, Clara is with me,’ in this really strange way, and then we talk about something else.”

“I hate it when they do that,” Thaniel muttered, and Pandy made a mental note to avoid trying to change the subject as a way to avoid talking about something. Apparently eight and nine year olds were already old enough to figure out when adults were being sneaky.

The two children shifted, settling back against the side of the bed, while Pandy followed her nose beneath what used to be Eleanor’s bed. What was that smell? It was really, really nice, and Pandy Wanted It. Then Geraldine said something that made Pandy stop breathing mid-sniff.

“I asked Mama and Papa if I could go home,” Geraldine whispered, as if sharing a shameful secret.

Pandy heard Thaniel’s breath catch, but he said, “Guess I might wanna go home, too, if I thought my Mama was in trouble,” and there was a deep truth in it that said he understood in a way no one who hadn’t lost – or almost lost – a parent could. “What’d they say?”

“Maybe,” Geraldine said, but she actually sounded more uncertain, as if his reaction had thrown her off. “They keep talking about ‘great opportunities’ and ‘making friends’, but I really only care about you, and Ellie, and Izzy, and Bing, and Suzanne. But I…”

Leaving the tasty smell behind, Pandy edged back out, almost bumping into the kitten, who had apparently been stalking her. Thaniel and Geraldine were sitting side by side, holding hands, and Geraldine was leaning against Thaniel, though she was the taller of the two, so Thaniel had to lean into her as well in order to stay upright.

“If you haveta go, that’s all right,” Thaniel said finally. “I’ll be okay. Bing’s still here.”

No mention of Isidor, which was telling. Had Abbington told Thaniel that his roommate would be leaving soon? Why hadn’t Pandy been paying attention while the boys spoke in the kitchen?

Geraldine hiccupped suddenly, then again, making both children giggle and breaking the solemn moment. “Mama told me they’d talk about it, and decide by winter break,” she said. “So I’m probably not leaving till then, at least.”

The silence was more companionable this time, so Pandy turned her sniffer back on and started tracking the scent again. She felt a bit like a dog sniffing at a fire hydrant to find just the right spot to leave a personalized calling card, but couldn’t bring herself to care. Where was that smell coming from?

The children shifted to a more neutral topic, and Pandy zoned out, pacing up and down the floorboards. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear the scent was coming from underneath them. But then, she didn’t know better, did she? It wouldn’t be the first time she’d found something stashed under a loose board in this school.

Gingerly, she began to pick at the seam between one board and the next. She couldn’t quite wiggle her claws into the gap, and she didn’t want to use Scratch or Bite while Thaniel and Geraldine were having a Bonding Moment. But the board wiggled, and when she looked up, she saw that Miss Cupcakes had dug in her needle-like claws beside Pandy’s. The two of them lifted together, and the board came free, revealing a dark space underneath.

Another glance behind her told Pandy this was about as far from the edge of the bed as it was possible to get. Quickly, she cast Radiant Presence, and a soft light spilled down into the opening, gently illuminating a small doll, with real golden hair and bright silver buttons for eyes. It was wrapped in stiff white cloth, and it smelled delicious.

Pandy had it clenched between her teeth before she could process that it might not be a good idea to put the tasty hidden thing in her mouth. She didn’t get any notifications about poison, so that was good, but her tongue went numb almost instantly. She spat the object back out, and a little gray paw darted toward it, but Pandy blocked the motion with her body. Not intentionally. It just… didn’t seem like a good idea to let Miss Cupcakes touch it.

With a thought, Pandy sent the thing into her Inventory, where it took up the slot recently vacated by the flaming trash can. Then she opened her Inventory List to see if it would tell her anything.

Princess Doll - A doll that looks like Princess Eleanor. Smells delicious. It is wrapped in fabric with unknown properties.

Well, thank you, System. That was completely unhelpful. But she suspected Augustus could tell her more about it, and if not him, then Professor Beeswick. Honestly, she should probably go to the librarian dragon first, but she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing she thought he’d be more helpful than her… her… the chancellor.

Miss Cupcakes was, not unexpectedly, Unhappy with Pandy for taking away the item they’d worked together to uncover. Pandy wished she could explain, but she didn’t dare shift to Eurydice right now. For one thing, it really was tight under here, and for another, that would lead to a lot of questions and explanations about who the stranger under Eleanor’s bed was, and this was Geraldine’s moment.

Pandy focused on pushing the board back into place, casting glances at the kitten in hopes that she would help. Miss Cupcakes turned her back on Pandy, tail twitching in irritation, so Pandy sighed and applied her fluffy back feet to the problem. Fortunately, getting the chunk of wood to fall back into place was quite a bit easier than getting it out had been, and the only evidence was a few scratches on the end they’d pried up.

By the time Thaniel and Geraldine finally remembered their ‘pets’, both children were yawning so broadly that Pandy was certain she heard their jaws crack. They hugged again, and Thaniel was already moving toward the door, Pandy in his arms, when Geraldine remembered she had one more question for him.

“How did you get here?” she asked. “Ms. Davenport is like the Dragon of Dairy, protecting its cheese. You can’t so much as go to the bathroom at night without her there to stare and tell you to hurry and get back to bed.”

So Thaniel finally told her about the secret passage, and when Geraldine was appropriately shocked and demanded to know why he hadn’t told her sooner, his arms just tightened around Pandy and he said, “It wasn’t my secret.” Geraldine looked startled, then glanced at Pandy and just accepted it. Truly, children were amazing. Miss Cupcakes didn’t even bother to watch them leave, but Pandy was certain the kitten would give her little mistress plenty of snuggles once no one was there to see.

Thaniel crept back to the secret passage as quietly as he could, but Pandy finally remembered she had something to help with that, and cast Shield of Darkness. Thaniel jumped a bit as the faint ambient light dimmed even further, but, like Geraldine, he glanced at Pandy and just went with it. Really, these children were getting a little too accustomed to the strangeness that came with spending too much time around her.

It was a good thing Pandy did use her spell, though, because they had no warning before Ms. Davenport rounded the corner by Geraldine’s room. The woman held a small light-globe in her palm, and her sharp eyes swept up and down the hall, checking all of the doors. Thaniel dropped down and crawled beneath the nearest half-circle table, hiding as best he could in the tiny space created by its three slender legs.

The hall supervisor continued walking, her slippered feet not making enough noise to get through the sound-muffling effect of the shield, which made it seem like she was gliding down the hall. She stopped right in front of Thaniel’s table, staring around while the boy’s heart pounded against Pandy’s side. Then she went on, making her way to the end of the hall, where the little statue of Ismara still sat atop the table. Ms. Davenport vanished briefly into what Pandy assumed was the same kind of shared space the girls had in Gacha Love – and which the boys’ hall above did not have, for some reason – then emerged again.

Thaniel and Pandy remained in place, pinned to the wall, while the supervisor stalked back and passed them again. Her brows were drawn down, but she looked more confused than angry, and she shook her head as she disappeared back around the corner toward her rooms. Only then did Thaniel cautiously stand up, grimacing as he shook out one foot, then scurried the rest of the way to the secret passage. Hastily, he popped it open and ducked inside, only then releasing a huge lungful of air.

“What’d you do, Bunny?” he asked, but he definitely sounded more admiring than anything else. Great, now she was going to be his Sneaking-Aid as well as his nightlight. Speaking of which, another Radiant Presence illuminated the dusty steps and the dirty towel, and brought the spell up to level five. Thaniel gingerly picked up the towel, but abandoned it at the top of the steps, using it to wipe off his feet so he wouldn’t track dust bunnies out into the hall. Only when the panel clicked shut behind him did his body relax.

When they opened the door to their room, it was to find Isidor in his bed, unruly black hair staining his pillow, his back to the door. The boy usually slept with one hand beneath the pillow, facing the only entrance to the room, and Pandy was somehow certain that this change was intentional on his part. He didn’t want to have a conversation right now. Which was fair, because a glance at the clock told Pandy it was almost eleven. Where had the time gone?

Thaniel wasn’t exactly silent as he got his nightgown and changed into it, though he was clearly trying. Isidor never stirred though, even when Thaniel fumbled and let the door to his wardrobe close a little too firmly. If Tempest was in her box, the tortoise didn’t emerge to check things out, either. Now that Pandy knew why the turtle was perpetually cranky, she felt bad for her occasional uncharitable thoughts toward the reclusive reptile.

Thaniel placed Pandy into their bed, then crawled in himself, shivering slightly at the touch of the cool sheets. Once he was settled, Pandy curled up beside him and closed her eyes. She usually at least pretended to sleep when he did, so he wouldn’t wonder why she was always awake. Besides, the darkness behind her lids was restful, even if it didn’t bring her true unconsciousness. This time, however, the moment her lids closed, large, all-caps words scrawled across them.

IT’S ABOUT TIME.

WE NEED TO TALK.

Pandy sighed.