Lucky Rabbit

Thaniel stared around at the bored and frightened kids scattered around the library. There weren’t many left. Most had family members nearby who came to get them, even if their parents couldn’t. The news that a Bound had managed to enter the school was enough to send the noble families into a panic.

It must be nice.

He sighed and laid his head down on his crossed arms. His scars pulled as he did so, but he was so used to the feeling that he barely even noticed anymore. What did bother him was the uncomfortable heat in the center of his chest. It felt like the time he’d been bitten by a squirrel, and the bite made him sick. He’d felt the same kind of radiating heat and constant tiredness then, too.

Not that he planned to tell anyone about it. He knew even Bunny couldn’t help him this time, and if he complained, Mistress Rose might decide he needed to go somewhere else, maybe back to the hospital. He hadn’t liked it there at all. He had to take medicine that made him feel funny, and he couldn’t even get out of bed, so it was really boring.

“Do you think your parents will make you go home?”

That was Geri. She’d been really sad lately, though he thought helping with the Plan had made her feel a little better. But now she was stuck in here, with nothing to do but think about how her family didn’t want her. He knew how that felt, and if he wasn’t so tired, he’d definitely try to make her feel better. As it was, Bing could handle it.

“Ah don’ think’so,” Bing said, his words so fast that they sort of spilled over into each other. He’d been working on slowing down and e-nun-see-ateing, like the teachers told him to, but he tended to go back to the old way when he was alone with his friends. Thaniel kind of liked it. It meant that Bing knew they wouldn’t ignore him or make fun of him just because he didn’t talk like them. People here really liked it when everybody was the same, maybe because there were so many of them in such a small space, and it was hard to keep track if everyone was doing something different?

“M’famly won’even know ‘til it’s over,” Bing said, and Thaniel could feel the table shift as he shrugged. They were all sitting together at one of the small tables, and it tended to move whenever they did. Geri’s dress took up one side of it, so Thaniel and Bing were sitting across from her. Her kitten, Miss Cupcakes, was curled up beside Geri on the table, but Bing and Thaniel were alone. Though at least Brook was right outside, and Thaniel had a feeling that if she really thought Bing needed her, she’d be here. Well, Thaniel needed Bunny, and she wasn’t there.

He knew that wasn’t fair, because it was part of the Plan that his furry friend be gone for a little while, but she came back, and she’d brought his father, which was something that felt almost as uncomfortable as the heartstone. He’d missed his dad so much, but Bryan was supposed to be dead, just like Mama, which meant he couldn’t ever come back, but he had, which made Thaniel wonder if Mama could come back too, if she really wanted to. But that wasn’t fair either, because he knew Mama would be here if she could, and he remembered… he remembered….

“My parents don’t want me home,” Geri said, not for the first time. The table moved, and Thaniel opened one eye so he could see her gather Miss Cupcakes into her arms. The kitten glared at the two boys, as if daring them to comment. Even Thaniel wasn’t that dumb, and he wasn’t anywhere near as smart as the rest of his friends.

“They’do,” Bing said, his hand twitching as if he’d thought about patting her arm, but decided against it when he saw the slitted yellow eyes daring him to move. Lowering his voice even further, he said, “They’just want what’s best fer’ya. Keep y’safe.”

“I don’t want to be safe,” Geri almost hissed. “I want to be home.”

Thaniel knew what was coming after that. It always went the same way. The more they tried to reassure Geri, the madder she’d get, until she stormed off so she could cool down. But she couldn’t really leave right now, so they needed a distraction. Raising his head took far more effort than it should have, but Thaniel did it, trying to look unaware of the tension between his friends as he said, “Have they said anything else about Suzanne?”

This was instantly successful. Geri hadn’t been certain about Matilda, but she’d liked Suzanne from the beginning, and now she was almost as close to the older girl as she was to Thaniel and Bing and Ellie, and maybe a little closer than Izzy. Releasing Miss Cupcakes, she stood. “I’ll go check. Mistress Rose said she’d be fine in a few hours, but that was six hours ago.”

Mistress Rose also told them to stop asking about five hours ago, but Thaniel wasn’t going to mention that. He’d managed to cut off what Lady Arabelle called a ‘spiral’, and that was good enough. Besides, he wanted to know what was going on with Suzanne, too. He was the only one who hadn’t actually been in the dining hall when the Bound attacked – even though everyone thought he was, because Bunny was him at the time – so all he knew was that Suzanne had collapsed after the fight, and Mistress Rose was watching over her.

They all started toward the stairs up to the second level, where the teachers had set up a sort of temporary meeting area. There were always at least a few adults wandering around among the remaining students, but the rest of them clustered upstairs, speaking in low but urgent voices and casting worried glances at the door to the library, which hadn’t opened in hours.

But just then it did, and Professor Beeswick entered, holding hands with a woman Thaniel didn’t recognize. The professor was the only one who could use the door normally right now. Anyone else who wanted to enter or leave the library had to hold hands with the old librarian, which just felt kind of weird. Not that Thaniel disliked the professor. In fact, for someone who looked as old as the librarian did, he could be pretty funny. He could also be really scary, especially when he talked about what would happen to anyone who damaged a book, but Thaniel also had the feeling nothing could hurt them when Professor Beeswick was around. Which was probably why they were in the library.

The professor shuffled to the center of the floor, his soft slippers scuffing against the carpet. He wore the funniest clothes, but they did look very comfortable. Augustus said that was what every Head Librarian wore, so it was a kind of uniform, and Thaniel was still wondering if he could get away with wearing something similar and saying it was a uniform for him, too.

“Matilda?” the Head Librarian said, his voice quavering as he peered around. Tilly was upstairs with Suze, which wasn’t fair, but she’d thrown a fit when Mistress Rose said she couldn’t stay with Suzanne.

Matilda appeared at the top of the steps, her face pale. She had big dark circles under her eyes, just like Thaniel’s mother had had before… the last time he saw her. Thaniel had them sometimes now too, but they mostly went away when he splashed cold water on his face, so no one had noticed yet.

Throwing her head back, Tilly said, “I won’t go with-”

“Matilda?”

It was the mystery woman, who had been hanging back by the door. She was so small that Thaniel hadn’t been certain she was an adult until he saw her face, which looked too old to belong to a student. She had to be at least thirty, which was very old.

“Mother?” Tilly said, then practically threw herself down the steps and into the woman’s arms. Matilda was only a little shorter than the dark-haired woman, but somehow her mother didn’t stagger under the force of the blow. Her skirts did ripple in a very odd way, however, and out of the corner of his eye, Thaniel saw Miss Cupcakes’ rear go up as her ears went down. Her eyes narrowed, and the tip of her tail began to twitch as she eyed the shadows moving beneath the full skirt.

Matilda and her mother were speaking in low voices, with the woman gently stroking her daughter’s hair and face as pretty much every student in the room watched jealously. Tilly’s face went through a truly amazing series of emotions: joy, fear, anger, relief, and finally one that Thaniel recognized from the mirror – sad acceptance. That was the look of someone who knew that no matter what they did, they couldn’t change something bad, and Thaniel pressed a hand to his chest, his shoulders hunching as if one of the big kids in Combat Training just hit him with their shield.

A hand grasped his shoulder. “Y’allright?” Bing asked, and Thaniel looked around. Geri was halfway between them and the stairs, so it was just him and Bing for the moment. Lifting his gaze, Thaniel shook his head, unable to get any words past the lump in his throat. Bing’s bright eyes narrowed, and he grabbed Thaniel by the hand, pulling him up. “I’mma show y’somethin,” he said, and led the way toward the back of the library.

There was only one bathroom in the whole library, so it was really for emergencies only. Thaniel had used it once, after they had a weird fruit for lunch that made his stomach hurt, but it was really small, and you couldn’t take any books or your bag in with you, so there was nothing to do but what you went in there for.

Bing glanced around, then went in, tugging Thaniel in after him. Just like last time Thaniel used it, his bag got ‘stuck’ in the air at the doorway, and he had to drop it outside the door before he could go in. Bing didn’t even try, just set down his bag in a corner by a bookshelf like he did this all the time.

“We canna leave,” Bing said as he shut the door, “but we c’n see a bitta wha’s goin’on.” He stuffed his handkerchief in the sink drain and turned the handle. Tepid water poured from the faucet, soaking into the fabric before backing up to fill the sink. Bing let the water rise until it threatened to overflow, then turned the tap off again. The water level immediately started to fall, but it was slow, and Bing swirled his finger in the liquid as she concentrated. “Our eyes t’your’n, as water’s turn’n, show t’me, what m’fam’ly sees.”

The water in the basin changed, sky blue and deep gold and green gathering to turn the water to a scene like a moving painting. Hands swung, holding some kind of tool that cut through tall golden grass. It fell, and the hands withdrew, reaching up to pass across the water, turning it dark for a moment before revealing the broad sky and a field of grain that vanished into the distance.

“Harvest,” Bing said, swishing the water as it dropped too far to show anything. “Don’miss ‘at. Makes y’r hands’urt.” He raised his wet hand, showing the calluses on his palms. While a few of the students had calluses from sword training, none of those were as thick or in the same places as the ones on Bing’s hands. Thaniel was a little bit proud that his feet were almost as tough as his friend’s, though. Hardly any of the other noble children had ever been allowed to run around barefoot.

But Bing had shoved the handkerchief back into the drain and was filling the sink again, his expression the one he got just before he did something really smart. Hardly anybody guessed how intelligent Bing was. It had been hard to tell before he got his glasses and was able to see the board and read books without straining. Geri and Thaniel and Ellie had had to explain things to him then. Now it was Bing explaining to them.

Once the sink was full, Bing swirled it again, a little faster this time. “Our eyes t’your’n, as water’s turn’n, show t’un, what Than’s fam’ly’s done.” It was rough, but Thaniel didn’t care. One thing he’d learned since Bing started quietly teaching them ‘commoner’s spells’ was that you had to hold what you wanted very clearly in your mind. Thaniel still couldn’t do much, especially since even trying made his chest hurt, but Geri was getting really good at just making things warm without actually setting them on fire. By the time winter really arrived, she’d be the only one of them who didn’t have to bundle up against the cold.

Thaniel started to think about his father, because he really, really wanted to know where he was, but he couldn’t focus on a good picture. He wasn’t used to the way Father looked now, and besides, he’d just begun to let those memories fade to what Lady Arabelle called nostalgia. That was when you tried to remember the good things and learn lessons from the bad without letting it hurt you anymore.

No, Thaniel really needed to know where Lian was. Of course he knew that Kestrel and Condor had been locked down too, because the teachers told them, but Thaniel couldn’t shake the feeling that Lian would have found a way to come for him anyway. Even though he was certain all he’d see was the Kestrel version of the library, he pictured his brother, not his father.

It took longer for the picture to form this time, though whether that was because it was Bing casting the spell, and Bing didn’t know Lian very well, or something else, Thaniel wasn’t sure. But when the image did take shape, they very definitely weren’t looking at the school library.