Lucky Rabbit

When they stepped out of the door, they found themselves in a blessedly familiar hallway. Behind them was the library door, and the halls of Falconet surrounded them. At least, Pandy assumed it was Falconet, since that was how the library was supposed to work. Leaving it returned you to wherever you’d entered it, and while the dungeon definitely wasn’t the library, she’d hoped they wouldn’t have to hitchhike home from the actual dungeon exit.

A sniffle drew Pandy’s attention to Eleanor, and she looked up just as fresh tears began to fall onto her fur. She ignored the notifications about her rising Corruption Points in favor of snuggling against the little girl. A glance down told her that Lord Winston was pressed against his mistress’ legs, whimpering softly as he gazed up, clearly concerned. The chancellor and the librarian were murmuring quietly to each other, and Pandy cocked an ear toward them while the princess tried to gather herself.

“How did this happen?” Chancellor Blackwood asked, and Professor Beeswick shook his head.

“The door is designed to lead somewhere else,” the dragon said, sounding rather grim. “Someone changed its destination. I will find out who, and fix it so it can never happen again. In the meantime, we should probably…close the library.” He grimaced, looking like he’d just bitten into a particularly sour lemon.

The chancellor nodded. “I agree. Will the weekend be long enough? Or should I have the teachers adjust the curriculum?”

It was madness to Pandy that these two were calmly discussing whether or not they should create new lesson plans when one of their students had just been abducted. But another look told her that their eyes were saying things their mouths couldn’t, and they both watched Eleanor, Pandy, and even Isidor as much as each other.

“I will have it under control by Monday,” Professor Beeswick said, lips pressing into a flat line. Rather grudgingly, he added, “It may take a bit longer to find out who, but I believe the how is my own fault. I intentionally left the spell flexible, but I can lock it down to only a few specific locations. If I wish to add more in future, I shall have to recreate the entire spell from scratch, but upon my name, I guarantee that no one else will be able to hijack it.”

Chancellor Blackwood nodded. “I leave it in your hands, then. Now,” he turned to Eleanor, once again crouching to bring himself to her level. A gentle thumb stroked away a tear, and the princess gave him a watery smile. “Can you tell us anything else about the person who took you, Pr- Ellie?”

Eleanor scrubbed a fist against her eyes, much as Thaniel did. The girl was so polished and self-contained most of the time, and Pandy tended to forget that she, too, had lost a parent just a year or two ago, and was now living in a strange place, with strange people. Even now, she drew her shoulders back, straightening up and lifting her chin.

“It was a man,” she said. “He had on clothes kind of like my…like Aiden and Lian. A jacket, reddish-brown, with brown pants. It wasn’t a Kestrel uniform, though at first I thought it was.” She bit her lip. “I don’t really remember his face all that well. I wasn’t…wasn’t paying attention. I was getting ready to put the book away when he told me he wanted to show me something by the desk.” The circulation desk was only a few feet from the entrance to the library, which made sense. What didn’t make sense were her next words.

“He grabbed me,” Eleanor said, fresh tears welling up. “And carried me out into the hall. This hall.” Chancellor Blackwood’s expression went flat, and he glanced at Professor Beeswick before focusing on Eleanor again.

“It only took a moment. He closed the door, and when he opened it again, it led to that place. He carried me through all of these twisty halls, and I started screaming, but no one came!” More salty sorrow flowed into Pandy’s fur, and she rubbed her cheek against Eleanor’s chin, leaving a swipe of moist and slightly red-tinged fur behind.

“When we reached that last room, the man told me to wait, and he just…vanished.” She dropped one hand down to stroke Lord Winston’s long, silky ears. “Winston followed us, and I had the book. I remembered that you found us in the woods when Thaniel almost dropped his book, so I…I tore it. Just a little.” Her voice lowered to a whisper, and she looked at Beeswick with a pleading expression. “I’m awfully sorry! I hoped that…you would find us. And even if I got in trouble, it would be worth it, because you would save us.”

“You’re not in trouble at all,” the dragon said, with the kindest expression Pandy had yet seen on his face. “I’ll teach you to repair it, and it will be good as new. That was never one of my favorite books anyway. The author speaks down to his readers.” This was clearly a terrible insult, and Professor Beeswick looked quite disdainful as he uttered it.

Eleanor gave a small, damp giggle, seeming to take enough strength from this to allow her to continue. “Then the monster-thing showed up, and I thought it was g-going to…to eat m-me.” Her face crumpled again. “And Winston did something. He saved me.” She looked down at her furry companion with an expression of pure adoration, and said, “Then Bunny and someone – Isidor? – came, and you, too, and you killed the monster, and brought me back, and-”

She broke off as she gave a yawn that threatened to crack her face in half. Her cheeks grew pink as she unsuccessfully tried to cover it. “I’m sorry. I’m terribly tired.”

The chancellor gave her arm a small squeeze, then straightened. Looking to his left, he said, “Fetch Mistress Rose, please.” A flicker of a breeze lifted a few strands of his hair, and the air was still once again. Blackwood gave Eleanor one more reassuring smile before turning to Isidor.

“I’ll expect to see you tomorrow, at,” he made a soft, considering sound, “five o’clock. For now, return to your room, and get some rest. Or do you need to see Mistress Rose as well?” Isidor shook his head, and the chancellor nodded. In the distance, a door opened, and hasty footsteps heralded Mistress Rose’s arrival, with a surprisingly professional-looking Timon on her heels.

The healer took one look at them and shook her head, clicking her tongue with the sort of sharp disapproval reserved by medical professionals for those who Fail to Take Care of Themselves. Chancellor Blackwood, who had pushed his hair back into some semblance of order and found his glasses somewhere, gave her one of those lifted-brow looks in return.

“I would appreciate it if you could take Ellie up and check her over. She may need a sleeping draught, though not,” he smiled slightly, “one containing Drowseberries.”

Mistress Rose gave him a flat look, but reached for Eleanor, gently grasping the girl’s hand. Pandy saw the doctor’s fingers slide down, resting on the pulse point in the little wrist, and then much larger hands plucked Pandy from Eleanor’s grasp.

“I’ll return the rabbit to Thaniel, Ellie,” the chancellor said, when the princess began to protest. “Go ahead with Mistress Rose, if you would.”

Eleanor bit her lip, but nodded. Her feet were already dragging as Mistress Rose led her away, and Timon hovered behind, watching and ready to catch the girl if she tripped or fell. Pandy’s opinion of him went up at the sight. He clearly had his own priorities, but she was beginning to wonder if her initial impression of him as lazy and uncaring was accurate.

They all watched until Eleanor and the healers were out of sight, before Chancellor Blackwood lifted Pandy to eye level. “I assume your spell has run out,” he said.

Pandy nodded, and he sighed. “Well, I shall speak to you tomorrow morning, then. And,” he lifted a single brow, “don’t try to avoid me, or I’ll think you have something to hide.”

Beside him, Professor Beeswick, who was pointedly not looking at them, snorted softly and muttered something that might have been, “Not much.” Pandy’s ears grew hot, but she nodded again.

The chancellor placed Pandy into Isidor’s arms, and the boy accepted her with something that wasn’t quite reluctance. In fact, Pandy felt his hand start to move, as if he would pet her, and then he held her out, away from his body, and stared down at her, grimacing. “You’re filthy,” he told her, as if she hadn’t been aware.

“Then wash her,” Blackwood ordered, and there was no doubt that that was what it was. “Then take her back to your room and get some rest. Ellie will need her friends tomorrow.” He gave Isidor a meaningful look, and the boy looked down at his shoes, which were almost as disgusting as Pandy’s paws.

“Yes, sir,” Isidor said, his usual low-key insouciance entirely absent. Carefully holding Pandy away from his battered uniform, he strode down the hallway, across the foyer, and was climbing the stairs up to the boys’ hall before he spoke again. “It’s your fault I couldn’t help more, you know,” the boy mumbled, looking at Pandy. “If you hadn’t dragged me along on your ridiculous game, I would have had enough energy to find my way to the…to Ellie myself.”

Bunny lips were made for smiling, but Pandy would have frowned if she could. First off, while he hadn’t chosen to go, he’d gotten as much out of their visit to the third floor as she had. Well, almost as much, anyway. But he never would have made it through the maze without her. In fact, he’d probably still be walking the endless hall, because switching to the ceiling certainly wasn’t an obvious thing to do. Secondly, yes, Tempest had done quite a bit during the battle with the Apparition, but that was the tortoise, not Isidor. Isidor had done a bit of dodging and running, but for the most part he should have been fine. It wasn’t like he zapped the Apparition. Unless…. Pandy’s eyes widened.

In Gacha Love, Clara gained more Stamina in several ways, but by the end of the game, the best way was by forming contracts with more powerful elementals. She shared her Stamina with her active elementals, and the stronger they were, the stronger she was. It worked the other way, though, too, and if one of them exhausted itself, Clara also passed out. But surely that only worked with contracted elementals? Lord Winston, Miss Cupcakes, Brook, and Tempest were supposedly there simply because they wanted to be. Not because they were tied to the children.

But what if that wasn’t true for at least one of those children? Isidor wasn’t actually six, after all. He was almost fourteen, and by that age, students at Kestrel had already learned to form contracts with low-tier elementals. Tempest was obviously at least third-tier, but Isidor also wasn’t actually a student at one of the noble schools. No, he had a mysterious Master, and that Master had obviously taught him things that the others didn’t know – with the possible exception of Lian, who went out of his way to learn things he wasn’t supposed to find out about yet, if ever.

If Isidor and Tempest were actually contracted, today made so much more sense. Tempest probably used up all of their shared…what, energy? Or was that Energy, with a capital E, like Stamina with a capital S, or maybe Mana with a capital M? Whatever you called it, running out made both Tempest and Isidor pass out, only to recover just enough for Isidor to keep moving, while Tempest shut down. The elemental was out of Stamina. That would also be why Isidor had passed out again while fighting the Puffinx, even though he hadn’t actually been injured that badly.

And it really was all Pandy’s fault. Not that she’d known elementals could even get worn out in real life the way they could in the game, nor that Isidor would also end up unconscious and helpless. What had Isidor been thinking, going after Eleanor when he and Tempest were already out of power? What drove Isidor to even be here, since Pandy didn’t think it was either personal affection or loyalty to the little princess, or that he was actually a soldier, like the Royal Guards. Isidor didn’t think or act like a real soldier, no matter how much he saluted and yes-sirred the chancellor. No, there was still something mysterious about him, and she suspected it had to do with his mysterious Master.

Still. Isidor was right. If Pandy hadn’t brought him when she went to the third floor, he wouldn’t have run out of energy – or Energy – and that was on her. He was such a contradiction – an obnoxious teenager one minute, an intelligent and competent person the next, all with an undercurrent of vulnerability and genuine affection for Thaniel and the other children.

No, Pandy had messed up again. She’d known it, but she convinced herself that it was all right because Isidor got something out of it, too. Plus, exploring the third floor and fighting the Apparition was kind of fun, wasn’t it? But for Isidor, this wasn’t a game, and never had been. This was his life, and his job, for whatever reason he’d accepted it. And because Pandy had tricked him into doing something else, he hadn’t been able to do what he needed to do.

As Isidor opened the door to the bathroom closest to their room, Pandy realized that she couldn’t expect anyone else to help her, at least not without knowing the full possibilities and consequences. Unfortunately, she didn’t know what the consequences would be, since things had already changed so drastically from the game she’d played so many times. No, she would have to do this alone, and-

Isidor dropped her into the sink. Warm water rose up around her as he poured something viscous and cold onto her head, washing away the blood of the Puffinx. He reached beneath her, pulling the plug so the filthy water swirled away, before ruthlessly rubbing soap into her fur. She could have cried. All those Corruption Points, literally down the drain!

And that was it. She refused to feel guilty any more. She’d done the best she could, and it wasn’t good enough. Next time, she’d do better. That was the story of Pandy’s life after all – both of them. She never quite succeeded at anything, but she also never stopped trying. And someday, someday, better would actually be good enough.