The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin (Books of Unexpected Enlightenment Book 1) (33 page)

The leak was another student—and not something supernatural, such as Siggy’s amulet! That was valuable information! Rachel replayed Cydney’s comment, hoping for a clue as to the name of the culprit, but Eunice pinched her before Cydney’s lips could start to form a word.

“Very well, then.” Rachel bowed slightly. “Mr. Valiant, would you do me the honor of being my second?”

“Of course.” Gaius sat calmly with one leg crossed over the other. He looked steadily across the table at Cydney.

A strange thing happened to Cydney’s face. It was as if she was tremendously angry and yet suddenly became concerned. Only she could not let go of the anger, so both emotions played tug-of-war for control of her features.

“I choose Eunice,” Cydney stated, sneering at both Rachel and Gaius.

Eunice did not look up. “I decline.”

In the war for Cydney’s features, anxiety gained the upper hand. She glared at Eunice, but Eunice refused to glance her way. She started to say her brother’s name, but Randall was four years older than Gaius, and therefore, according to the dueling rules of the Knights, she could not pick him. She then looked around the table at the other upper school students, but everyone else seemed to have found other things that were immensely interesting to look at.

No one met her eyes.

Rachel glanced around at all the averted gazes. She felt so sorry for Cydney. Should she back out and let the other girl do so as well? She glanced over at Gaius.

Gaius gazed directly at Rachel, his eyes very intent.

He rubbed his upper lip, speaking quietly beneath his hand. “Do not let her off the hook.”

He thought she could do it!

A great feeling of confidence bubbled up inside of Rachel. Her presence here reflected on Mr. Valiant, did it? Then, it was her duty to make a good impression!

Rachel looked up and down the table at the averted eyes. Turning to Cydney, she shrugged, “I would offer to be your second, but that would be just silly.”

Cydney stuck out her chin. “I don’t need a second. I’ll face you myself. Or I’ll face yours, if you are too scared to fight me.”

Rachel crossed her arms. “I will fight you.”

A boy with spiky hair, who had been sitting alone not speaking to anyone, stood up. Earlier in the evening, he had introduced himself as Michael Cameron from Marlowe Hall. “Well, if I don’t have to duel, I’ll second for you.”

A number of people snorted or laughed outright. Rachel felt a sense of relief. She was proud of this young man for volunteering. She thought all the worse of the others, who would not stand up for one of their fellow members, even if Cydney was making a cake of herself.

Michael Cameron was the kind of young man Rachel would like to have for a friend.

Cydney straightened up, but her face had flushed all crimson again.

Vladimir Von Dread held up his hand. “Silence. This is a not a light matter. Seconds, please take your young ladies to the third dueling strip.”

Michael Cameron walked to one of the dueling strips, a length of bare oak floor surrounded by mats. Cydney followed him. The closer she came to her side of the dueling mat, the more her courage visibly diminished. Her shoulders hunched, and her face grew paler.

Rachel, on the other hand, felt inexplicably confident. It was not an arrogant feeling, just a quiet certainty.
She could do this.

When they arrived at their designated starting mark on the dueling mat, Gaius lifted his sapphire-tipped wand and tapped her lightly on the chest. A mirror-like shimmer spread across her body and then faded from view.

He leaned close, whispering in her ear, “This spell acts like a mirror. It will bounce back any spell she has the skill to throw—once. Michael will protect her with a
bey-athe
shield. It will be weak. I am not saying this because I am plotting with him. I just know he’s a lousy sorcerer. Anything you cast will wipe out his shield. It might even break through and hit her.

“Remember, she’s going to be hit with whatever she casts at you first. I doubt that Michael knows that I can do this, so she’ll expect a shield as well. If you paralyze her, which I am sure you will, you can get off one last shot before Vlad ends the duel. Just keep that in mind.”

Gaius winked at her and stepped back. Thrills of delight traveled up and down Rachel’s body. Smiling a little mysterious smile, she took her place. Across from her, Michael raised his hands and performed a cantrip. A translucent shield glittered in mid-air and then faded. If she squinted, Rachel could see it—a large shield-shape, like a heat shimmer, hanging in front of Cydney.

The crown princes of Bavaria and Transylvania walked to either side of the mid-point. They both raised their weapons. Vladimir held the same sapphire-tipped ebony and gold wand he had used to destroy the scarab. Romulus favored a dueling ring—set with the Kadder Star. There was something mesmerizing about the Star. Once she glanced at it, Rachel found it hard to drag her eyes away. She averted her eyes just as both princes gestured with their casting weapons. Translucent walls of the same shimmer-like shield substance sprang up to either side of the dueling strip, separating the spectators from the contestants.

Everyone gathered around to watch. Von Dread stepped forward and spoke to Rachel and Cydney. “When I give the signal, you may start casting. If you cast before that, you will be disqualified. You are not allowed to use spells that cause permanent wounds. Do not break this rule, or you will answer to me.”

As he said this, he looked directly at Cydney. Her face had gone ashen. She held her flute with trembling fingers.

Looking across at Rachel, Cydney frowned.

“Aren’t you going to take out your instrument?” she taunted, her voice thin.

Around them, others nodded, as if they were asking the same question. Rachel just shook her head, a slight half-smile playing about her lips.

The combatants squared off. Rachel bounced a bit on the foam-covered canvas mats, setting her footing. She let her face become a mask, ready. To her left, Von Dread raised his wand arm, He stood like a statue for what seemed to Rachel to be at least half a millennium.

Then he dropped his arm. “Begin!”

Rachel whistled, twice. Blue sparkles swirled toward Cydney. Then, spinning two pointing fingers in a circle, she shouted, “
Tiathelu!
”

Cydney, meanwhile, played her flute with her shaking fingers. She managed a few notes. The thin stream of blue glitter swirled toward Rachel, eventually bouncing off Gaius’s mirror spell and swooshing back toward her.

Rachel’s first swirl of blue sparkles struck the shimmering shield protecting Cydney. The shield popped like a soap bubble. Rachel’s second spell hit her, even before Cydney’s own spell could rebound. Blue sparks danced up and down Cydney’s body. Her limbs froze.

Rachel’s
tiathelu
cantrip did lift the paralyzed Cydney from the mat—but only a few inches. Not enough to twirl her in a circle, as Rachel had hoped. Apparently, there was quite a difference between floating a large book and lifting something as heavy as a person.

“Match!” Von Dread’s voice echoed in the vast chamber. “Miss Griffin wins.”

Applause broke out. A huge grin split Gaius’s face, and Salome jumped up and down, cheering and clapping with wicked delight. Charmed, Rachel bowed to the gathered company.

This brought on a second wave of applause.

“Well done, Miss Griffin,” Gaius announced loudly, stepping in front of her and bowing, extremely pleased. Rachel did not say anything, but her eyes shone.

For an instant, she thought:
Hey, I’m good!

Not wanting to walk down the primrose path of vanity, she stuffed that notion into her mental Trunk of Dangerous Ideas, right next to the thought
Gaius Valiant is soooooooo cute!

Then, she imagined slamming the lid, determined to make sure that such hazardous thoughts did not escape again.

“Congratulations, Miss Griffin,” Von Dread stated gravely, and he winked at Rachel.

It happened so quickly that she had to recall the moment several times before she was certain. But, sure enough, he had actually winked.

Whoa
, Rachel thought, stunned,
Now, I’m in danger of thinking he’s cool
.

Students gathered to congratulate Rachel. Randall Graves shuffled over to Cydney, his cheeks pink with embarrassment. Standing before her, he moved his index finger in a horizontal line and murmured the Word of Ending: “
Obé.
”

Cydney stumbled, rubbing her arms. Then she glared at her brother, pushing on his chest to shove him away. His face went blank with surprise. Then, he shrugged and backed away.

Von Dread addressed Cydney. “Miss Graves, please collect your belongings and depart. If someone wishes it, you can be re-invited to the Knights next school year. Farewell.”

Cydney did not look at anyone. She just grabbed her things from the table and rushed out of the room. Rachel watched her, torn between feeling triumphant and sorrowful.

Vladimir Von Dread called them all back to the table. Rachel returned to her seat. As she sat down, Salome leaned over and whispered to her.

“That was fantastic. Please,
please
tell me you have more enemies.”

“Um…not at the moment. Sorry.”

Gaius had sat down beside her again. He was still grinning, tremendously pleased. Rachel noticed that Randall Graves was examining her and Gaius curiously. He did not look angry but he studied them both closely. He clearly regarded the two of them as a team.

This thought sent an unexpected thrill through her body.

Rachel gave Randall a sad, little “Sorry about your sister” smile. She felt for him; he clearly had no idea why it had happened. Whatever had Salome said to make Cydney so mad at him? Rachel would have assumed that it had something to do with dating—being a girl, she assumed everything had to do with dating—except that no one would believe a college junior would date a thirteen-year-old freshman. Randall Graves noted her sorrowful acknowledgement and shrugged, smiling back.

Next to Salome, Ethan Warhol called rather loudly, “Hey, Mike!”

Michael Cameron looked up from where he was again sitting by himself. “Yeah?”

Ethan sneered. “So, did you mean to help Griffin? Or did a freshman really blow your shield away and hit the person behind it?”

Around the table, people sniggered. Rachel blushed and looked down at her lap. She found his comment insulting. Thinking about it, she realized that while she knew she had been practicing hard, no one else did. To everyone else, it looked like a new student with no training at all had more skill than Mr. Cameron, an upper school junior.

Michael responded with a quirky half-smile. “Hey, I never said I was any good. Maybe Cydney should get friends who have enough backbone to stand up for her.”

He stared directly at Eunice.

Eunice blushed and looked away.

“Wait, I think I’m catching on here.” Rachel whispered to Salome, “Eunice invited Cydney, the same way Gaius invited me, right? Only Cydney just made Eunice look bad, the same way I made Gaius look good, right?”

Salome whispered back, “Exactly. You’ve really helped out Gaius by beating her. Especially, since he’s running for Urd’s position. Eunice won’t be able to bring Cydney back until next year. If she bothers. No one likes Cydney much, but she does have ‘friends.’” Salome made air quotes. “Just not how you and I think of them. More like people who grub up and have an agreement to not annoy each other as much as they annoy everyone else. Bitches.”

Salome’s analysis of Cydney’s friends made Rachel snicker.

Inwardly, however, she felt quite sad for the other girl.

“Well then,” Von Dread addressed the gathering, “shall we spend some time practicing?”

The students broke into small groups to practice spells. Many squared off in pairs and began dueling. When they practiced, the Knights did not hold back. The dueling pairs fought until one of them called quarter or could not continue. The other person automatically won. All the spells seemed to be of the kind that could be undone with the Word of Ending.

The force and vigor of their attacks amazed Rachel. She gained a new appreciation for padded mats on the floor and back wall. No one was badly hurt, but there were some sprains, bloody noses, and Michael Cameron’s shoulder ended up dislocated. He left to go to the nurse.

A flurry of spells shoot back and forth: sparkling blasts of wind, golden glowing Glepnir bonds, hexes that paralyzed or caused sleep or uncontrollable dancing, cantrips that threw the opponent hither and yon, spells that made the victim babble like a madman, or muted them so that they could not speak, or coated the ground with ice.

No wonder no one brought their familiars. Who would want to risk them with all the dangerous spells flying through the air?

Vladimir Von Dread dueled Romulus Starkadder. They both knew the art of catching their opponent’s spell and throwing it back at its caster. They volleyed a single sparkling enchantment back and forth a number of times before Romulus finally deflected it. Most of the contenders stood straight on, shooting and deflecting spells with their wands or rings. Von Dread and Romulus, however, stood sideways, like fencers. They deflected incoming spells with their free hand, leaving them free to attack and defend simultaneously.

Suddenly, the entire evening rearranged itself in Rachel’s head.

Oh!

No wonder none of the enchanters of Dare Hall had joined.

The Knights of Walpurgis was a
dueling
club.

Enchanters, who played long intricate pieces of music to accomplish the more complicated of their spells, seldom dueled. Their effects were more long term, more subtle. Raising a storm or changing a rainy day to a sunny one might take twenty minutes. Hardly, something one could do on a dueling strip.

Besides, dueling almost universally required thaumaturgy. There was an enmity between enchanters and thaumaturges. Rachel’s family—except perhaps her father, the Agent— favored enchantment. She glanced around her with a growing feeling of disdain.