Flunked (13 page)

Jax and I make our way into the dome-shaped room a few minutes later. Outside, the sun is setting and the sky is a smattering of red, yellow, and orange. The room feels cold and the torches are unlit, giving the open space an eerie feel. Telescopes are set up near the windows. Star charts and maps are rolled up on empty chairs, and astronomy constellation charts hang on the walls like paintings. Scaffolding lines a wall where someone is installing extra magical security measures.

“Kayla? Are you in here?” Jax tries. “Gilly and I want to talk to you.” Silence. Jax frowns.

I look up. A duct above us is missing a grate. I think of how Jax and I shimmied through one just like it that day we were caught by the gargoyles. “Maybe that's because she's up there.” Jax's mouth breaks into a smile, revealing a dimple I never noticed near his left cheek.

“I like the way you think, thief.” He rolls the scaffolding over to the hole in the ceiling and starts to climb. I follow. Within seconds we're at the top, peering inside the dark shaft. I can just make out a pair of loafers.

“Kayla?” I call. The shoes shift slightly. “We know you're here. Can we talk?”

“No.” Her voice is hoarse.

“We'll wait you out,” Jax tells her. “We have all night. We already locked the doorway where the duct lets out so that you can't become a flight risk.” He winks at me.

Quick thinking.

I hear Kayla sigh and then the sounds of knees moving along the ductwork. When she nears, I see that her golden locks are particularly ungolden and dark rings frame her amber eyes. She extends a quivering hand and Jax pulls her out. Her wings pop out and begin to flutter as the scaffolding shakes beneath us. She puts her hands out.

“Go ahead,” she says. “Turn me in.” Jax and I look at each other. “I know you've figured out what I'm up to.” She looks at me accusingly. “Why do you think I've been avoiding you?”

If Kayla thinks we know exactly what she's done, maybe we can work this conversation to our advantage. “I've been on to you since the day I got here,” I lie and hope Jax plays along. “We know you're behind the gargoyle attack and everything that went wrong on Royal Day.”

A single tear plops down her cheek. “I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt,” she surprises me by saying. “Gottie said she'd leave the kids alone.”

Gottie
. Jax glances at me. “If you 'fess up to us now, maybe we'll make sure Flora and the dwarf squad go easier on you.”

Kayla nods sadly. “I know the world sees Gottie as the monster who cursed Sleeping Beauty, but when I lost my family to Rumpelstiltskin, she was kind to me when no one else was. I'd been busted for flying without a license, illegal use of magic, and casting love spells on people who hate each other. People in my village didn't believe a word coming out of my mouth.”

I think of what would happen to me in the same situation. Father may not adore me, but he wouldn't leave me out in the cold and no one in our village would either. “Tell us the truth—do you know why Rumpelstiltskin took your family away?”

Kayla grips the scaffolding tightly. “Because I asked him to.” I'm momentarily stunned. “I didn't understand what I was doing, okay? I begged Rumpelstiltskin to get Mother to forget what I'd done so I wouldn't have to go to FTRS. I didn't know he'd wipe my family's memories clean so they couldn't even remember me.” She looks away. “I should have known his help would come at a price.”

“Rumpelstiltskin uses people to get what he wants,” Jax says grimly.

“That's why I went looking for Gottie.” Kayla wipes her nose with the sleeve of the gym shirt she's still wearing. “I knew someone with magic that powerful had to be able to break Rumpelstiltskin's curse.” Her wings flutter slightly. “When I found her, it was as if she was expecting me. She offered me shelter and a warm meal, and tried to help me.

“She said if I agreed to go to FTRS and act as her mole, then she'd find a way to break my contract with Rumpel. I've been trying to please her ever since.” Kayla looks at me mournfully. “I was only trying to get my family back,” she cries. “I didn't mean to hurt anyone. That's why I was always trying to help you escape, Jax. I thought I could get the people closest to me away before anything bad happened.”

“And I made a good cover,” I say, realizing it. “Flora was on to you. By taking the new girl around, you could show up more places without anyone noticing, right?”

“Yes,” Kayla admits, and her cheeks turn beet red. “But even if you were here when Gottie's plan went down, I wouldn't have let her hurt you. I swear!”

“Just like you didn't mean for her gargoyles to attack me and Jax or for all of us to almost get killed in the gym,” I point out.

“I knew you'd be okay. Gottie doesn't have the strength to cast a spell as big as the one she wants to do yet.” Kayla's wings flutter faster. “That's why she needs Harlow and the others to work with her. She's been trying to turn Harlow since I got here. I think she's succeeded. But the others, I don't know. She doesn't give me many details.”

“What do you mean she's not strong enough?” I ask.

“She wants to wipe everyone in Enchantasia's memories clean,” Kayla explains. “If she and whomever she's working with cast that spell, everyone will believe the villains rule the kingdom. The royals will disappear when she burns down the school,” she says hoarsely. “She wanted to do it on Royal Day, but Gilly screwed that up.” Kayla looks at me. “She knows who you are now.”

My family. My boot. Jax was right. I could run, but I couldn't hide for long if Gottie was really coming for us. I had to help. “How can we stop her?”

“Gottie's consumed with making the curse happen at the ball because the royal court will be together,” Kayla tells us. “She's not going to fail twice, which is why she's so desperate for inside help. She's already gotten to Harlow. Her hope is to turn Flora next. I don't know if she has, but she's met with Wolfington. If she turns him, Cleo will follow and then they'll have a team so powerful no one can stop them.”

“We can.”

I look down. Maxine and Ollie are standing at the bottom of the scaffolding.

“We've been trailing you since the vegetable patch,” Ollie calls up to us. “I did a card trick with one of the cafeteria fairies while Maxine stole her key to the hallway you guys went down that locked behind you.” He points to Jax. “Dude, why didn't you tell me you're royal? I've been dying to meet your sister!”

“You're royal?” Kayla freaks.

Jax narrows his eyes at Ollie and begins to climb down. “How'd you hear that?”

Maxine points to her oversized troll ears. “These babies are supersonic. How do you think I made coin selling gossip to
Happily
Ever
After
Scrolls
?” Her good eye looks down. “Well, until they caught on that I was making half the stuff up.”

So that's why Maxine's in this joint!

“We won't tell anyone.” Maxine smiles lopsidedly. “As long as you let us help.”

“Dude, I'm a genius at making weapons out of curtain rods.” Ollie bounces up and down. “Let me help you kick some gargoyle booty!”

Jax is way more serious. “This is not going to be easy. We're going up against the biggest baddie in Enchantasia and possibly all our teachers. Gottie won't care that we're just kids. If we screw this up, we're toast.”

Ollie is the first to put his tiny fist in the circle. “Then we'd better be ready to fight. Who's with me?” Jax throws his hand on top of Ollie's. Maxine and Kayla quickly follow. They look at me. Seeing Kayla's hand makes me hesitate for a moment.

But I have to remember: this is so much bigger than my feelings about Kayla. Finally, I join them. “As Harlow likes to say, keep your friends close. Keep your enemies even closer. Let's do this thing.”

At 1:00 p.m. sharp, I walk to the FTRS lobby to meet my parents. I've rehearsed what I'm going to say to them a thousand times, but I'm still nervous. If Professor Harlow or Headmistress Flora is there to escort me out, then my plea to stay will never work. Thankfully, when I get to the lobby, I don't see either of them. The place is bustling with the elf and fairy cleaning crew who are hanging anniversary banners with the school crest, dusting statues, and making everything sparkle. I can hear Miri issuing commands from a jeweled mirror over the fireplace. “You missed a spot on that clock! Fluff the rug again. Do I see dust flying? I shouldn't see dust flying at all.”

I nearly take out an elf lowering a banner that says “
Snow
Your Appreciation for the Princesses!” Maxine bragged about making it in art.

“Careful!” The elf swats at me with a feather duster.

“Sorry!” I walk hurriedly past him to avoid being seen by Miri and almost bump into my parents at the front doors.

“Gillian!” Mother throws her arms around me, and I drink in her familiar leather scent that I've actually begun to miss. “Are you okay?” She touches my head and examines my still-bandaged arms for signs that I'm not actually broken. “When we saw the
Happily
Ever
After
Scroll
about Royal Day, we were so worried.”

“I'm fine,” I say, feeling worse now that Mother is standing right in front of me. “How is everyone?” I'm afraid to say my siblings' names out loud because it will just make what I'm about to say even harder.
I'm not coming home.

Someone throws their hands over my eyes. “Surprise!”

“Anna?” I sputter. My sister uncovers my eyes, and I see she is standing in front of me in a cobbler uniform resembling my mother's. She looks taller than she did a few weeks ago (is that possible?), and I can smell her Rapunzel hair perfume. (“It sparkles and smells great! Just like me!” Rapunzel says in the ad.) Around her neck, Anna has the tiny locket I stole—I mean
got
—her for her last birthday. “What are you doing here?”

“Anna was so proud. She couldn't wait 'til you got home to see you!” Mother says as my sister dances around me. “The others are home planning a big hero's welcome at the boot. Felix, Hamish, and Han are already making signs, and Trixie…” Mother laughs. I can't recall the last time I heard her do that. “Trixie started to make you a cake even though we were out of eggs and….” She touches my cheeks with both hands. “You've only been here three weeks and already you're changing.”

I glance at Father. He puts a hand on my shoulder and gives it a squeeze. I can't remember the last time he did that. “We're proud of you, Gillian.”

Whoa.
I don't think Father's ever said those words to me in my entire life.

My cheeks color as I think of the words “hero,” “proud,” and “party” being used about me. Thieving got me riches, but I've never received praise like this before. I don't know what to say.

“Did you really save Sleeping Beauty?” Anna asks excitedly, her cocoa-colored eyes shining. “I've been telling all my friends at trade school! You're going to be practically royal in the village. Tell us exactly what happened and don't leave out a word.”

My family looks at me expectantly, but I can't lie to them like I have to others. “It wasn't really a big deal.”

Father is watching me closely.

“It's a
huge
deal!” Anna says, squeezing my hand. She hasn't let go since she got here. “Why don't you seem excited? You're coming home today!”

This is what I wanted. To get home to my siblings, to make Anna proud, to get some respect from Father. And yet none of this praise feels exactly right and that is why I know now, more than ever, that I'm doing the right thing.

Mother frowns. “Gillian, where is your suitcase? Didn't you pack? Your professor said we needed to leave the grounds immediately because they're doing final preparations for the ball tonight.”

I plant my feet firmly on the oriental rug under my feet and take a deep breath. This is much harder to say with Anna hanging on me. “I didn't pack because I'm not leaving today.”

Mother looks baffled. She shows me the release scroll. “But it says here we can take you home. Professor Harlow said—”

“I know what Professor Harlow said,” I say gently as Anna's face deflates, “but I can't go home just yet.” I eye Miri's glowing mirror in the corner. “I'm sorry you closed the shop and had to make the trip over here, but there are things I have to do before I'm released and they could take a while. Dark things are happening in Enchantasia,” I say quietly, “things I can't talk about now, but I'm trying to help stop them. Others are too. People in here are depending on me,” I say, being cryptic. “I wouldn't feel right if I left them now when they need me more than ever.”

Anna drops my hand. “We need you!” she yells, her voice full of disappointment. I feel a pang. I can't even look at Father. “Mother has papers that say you can go home! We don't have enough to eat, and I don't know how to pluck from royals like you do. My first attempt failed.”

“Anna!” Mother says in shock, and my heart sinks. What have I taught my sister?

“Anna, don't become a pickpocket like me,” I tell her. “Just because the royals are easy to steal from doesn't mean it's right.” Father looks at me with a note of pride.

Anna, however, is furious. “What has this place done to you? Now you think you can stop villains too? I don't know who you are. Mother, if she's not coming home, then I can't even look at her. I'm waiting outside.” She stomps out the front doors before I can stop her. I'm not sure I would reason with her even if I could.

Anna, please forgive me
, I think.
I'm doing this for you.

“Gillian, you're not making any sense,” Mother says, waving the scroll in her hand. “How can you stay when they want you to leave? I don't think I can just leave you here to help your little friends. We have an order.”

My heart sinks. I know she's right, but I can't bail now.

I hear a ripping sound and look up. Father has surprised Mother and me by tearing the scroll to pieces. “I don't see any release scroll,” Father says and Mother's jaw drops. “I say she stays right where she is.” Father touches my chin. “Staying here means a lot to you, doesn't it?”

“Yes, I'm trying to do something good, Father,” I say, my voice wavering.

“Then I think you should,” he says with a small smile. “You obviously have more work to do at Fairy Tale Reform School. Stay and make us proud.”

“I will.” I throw my arms around him and squeeze. I don't know when, if ever, I've hugged him, but he deserves a hug now. I'm not going to let my family or anyone inside these walls down.