Lucky Rabbit

A warm summer rain started after dinner, and Eleanor went to her room, pleading a headache. Isidor claimed he needed to study and followed less than a minute later. The two older girls decided to stay in the dining hall working on their homework – though it was more like Suzanne decided and Matilda reluctantly went along with the idea ‘so we can finish faster, not because I want to’.

This left Thaniel, Geraldine, Abbington, and their elemental companions to their own devices, and, as was becoming tradition, they immediately headed for the barn. Miss Cupcakes vanished somewhere between the dining hall and the door that led outside, but somehow reappeared in Brook’s stall, curled up in a pile of fresh straw and completely dry. Pandy was fairly certain she was the only one who noticed, and the look the kitten gave her said she should remain silent about it if she preferred her tail remain attached to her behind.

For the next hour, the three children went back and forth between playing in the rain and sitting in the warm stall and talking, while the raindrops beat their peaceful rhythm on the clay roof tiles. When it began to grow dark, and distant thunder joined the music of the skies, the trio stretched out in the straw as well, allowing their clothing to dry as they stared up at the shadowy ceiling.

“We had a swing on the porch,” Thaniel said, as tranquility stretched into melancholy. He spoke so softly that it was hard to hear him over the sound of thousands of tiny drums overhead, but Pandy was curled up between his arm and his side, and felt the gentle rumble of his speech.

“Mmm?” Geraldine said in drowsy encouragement. She had her eyes closed, and Miss Cupcakes had finally deigned to come close enough to the drenched girl to be petted.

“It was outside Mama and Daddy’s bedroom,” Thaniel went on, staring up at a memory only he could see. “Under the roof thing…the eaves? Mama loved thunderstorms, and whenever it’d rain like this, we’d go out to swing an’ watch the lightning.”

“Tha’sounds realnice,” Abbington said quietly. “M’ house’stooloud t’hear th’rain, mos’times.”

Thaniel rolled his head to the side. “Too loud?”

The Valley boy had removed his glasses when they began to fog up, and now he rubbed the lenses with the corner of his shirt and slid them back on his nose. Brook lay with her head on his stomach, making a soft grumbling noise as he spoke, and her pillow moved up and down.

When Abbington spoke again, it was obvious that he was making a real effort to speak as slowly and clearly as possible. He held up his hands, with three fingers extended on each. “Got six brothers don’ I? Three above, an’ three b’low. Always yellin’, or fightin’, or singin’. It rains, ‘n we all go inna house, an’ it’s twice’s loud.”

“Six?” Thaniel asked, rolling over to stare at his friend in astonishment, then envy. “I bet you always have someone to play with.”

Abbington chuckled, chest moving rapidly up and down, and Brook raised her head, giving him a Look of Great Disappointment before getting up and wandering back out into the rain. The abandoned boy rolled over, propping his head up on his fist.

“Not a lotta play,” Abbington said, giving a sort of lopsided shrug. “Gottawork. Gottaplant. Take care’a th’ critters. Fetch water, washup clothes, feed th’ l’il uns. Not got a lotta money, us.” He watched Thaniel closely, as if wondering how the smaller boy would react to this revelation.

Predictably, Thaniel didn’t seem to care. “I’d still rather have a big family than…. It’s just Lian an’ me, now. But you’ll always have someone, I bet.”

The other boy stared, then flopped backward into the hay again. “Iwilltha’. No’alone. Ever. But I wouldna give’m up.” He grimaced. “Mebbe th’ l’il uns.”

Thaniel laughed. “Tell me about them.”

Abbington did. His three older brothers were Thatcher, Hollis, and Quinlan, while the younger ones were Alderic, Tremaine, and Corwin. Alderic and Tremaine were twins who looked identical, but had completely different personalities and fought constantly. Corwin was the baby, born after Abbington’s mother and father had declared that they were done with babies, and gave away everything from old baby clothes to the crib. Corwin slept in a drawer for the first six months of his life, then with their parents, because their mother ‘was’na goin’ t’ rearrange th’ whole house again’ when she just made space for a sewing nook.

“Mama’d be puttin’ th’ l’il uns t’bed now,” Abbington said. Both boys jumped as thunder split the night. The storm was coming closer now, the cracks of air splitting apart both louder and more frequent. Pandy couldn’t see the flashes of lightning with the sodden blanket hanging heavy across the hole in the wall, but she would bet that the storm was almost directly overhead.

The sound woke Geraldine, who had drifted to sleep sometime while the boys were talking. She sat up with a shriek, and her hair lifted away from her head. Pandy glanced up, seeing that Thaniel’s hair was doing the same thing, and she felt a thrill of concern run through her. Wasn’t it a bad sign when someone’s hair stood up during a thunderstorm?

Something’s pulling on my magic! Make the boy move!

Pandy barely had time to read the words before a terrible boom came from directly overhead. Everyone looked up just in time to see the wooden beams in the ceiling turn black as flames licked at them. One beam began to sag, and Pandy turned, planting her big back feet against Thaniel’s side. She shoved, hard, just as a huge chunk of flaming wood hurtled down to crash into the spot the boy had occupied a moment before.

-27 LF

Thaniel yelped as he impacted the wall, and Pandy sent a Minor Heal in his direction, then her own, even as she tried to stamp out the fire. Why don’t I have any Water spells? she wondered frantically, as her feet began to burn. She had plenty of Corruption Points. She could get Dorian’s Frigid Favor, but all that did was make things colder, not get them wet. For that matter, shouldn’t water be pouring in through the big hole in the roof?

As if thinking had made it happen, a deluge splashed down on the thick chunk of wood that had nearly crushed Thaniel, and now seemed intent on burning or asphyxiating him with smoke. Steam billowed up, filling the space and overflowing into nearby stalls, where horses were already whinnying nervously. But the fire was out, and when Pandy looked up, there actually wasn’t a hole in the roof, just a blackened spot and the perfectly placed chunk missing from the beam.

All three children stared upwards, then, in unspoken agreement, headed for the stall door. As Abbington swung it open, the stable master and one of the hands urged the children out. Master Lawson was a small man, so the teenage boy with him actually stood a bit taller than he did, but when the stable master snapped an order for the boy to get the children back to the main building, the lad jerked upright as if pulled on a string and reached for Geraldine and Thaniel. He glanced at Abbington, uncertain.

Master Lawson crouched down beside the wet and smoking beam. Reaching out, he touched the blackened mess, then lifted his fingers and rubbed them together. He frowned, then seemed to realize that the children were still there, and stood, sending a brief glare at his subordinate before focusing on Abbington. “Bing, you’ll have to sleep in the tack room tonight, unless you want to come home with me,” he said, relaxing a bit as more people came running. “Mrs. Lawson’d be glad to have you.”

Abbington shook his head, reaching toward the gathering steam. Brook stepped out of it, entirely unperturbed by the fact that her feet were momentarily made of water. She came to Abbington, leaning heavily against his leg.

“Gottastay,” the boy said. “Brook’d be lonely.”

The stable master huffed a chuckle at the astonished expression on the face of the teenager who’d arrived with him. Shaking his head, he said, “Well, that’s that then, I guess.” Looking up, he pointed to one after another of the new arrivals. “Get that log out of there. Pren, fix that hole soon’s it’s safe. Jessup, replace the straw in here and scrub down the walls. And Drew, what’re you staring at? Get those kids back to school.”

Thaniel leaned down, picking up Pandy, and quickly checked her over. Once his concern for her was satisfied, he actually seemed excited, and Pandy realized that the events of the last few minutes had been just exciting enough to be thrilling, without having time to tip over into real alarm. That was probably for the best, but Pandy still had Questions.

she demanded silently, as Drew ushered the children through the faint drizzle that was all that remained of the downpour. No words filtered across her vision, so she said, Who else would have sensed a power draw right before what was very obviously another attempt on Thaniel’s life? This time, the answer was swift.

Don’t say that name!

…

Fine, I’ll explain.

Give me a minute, I was just finishing my reps.

The teenage stableboy pulled open the door to the hallways leading back to the dining room, and chivvied them through it. “Go to bed,” he told them sternly, as if he was an adult, and not a spotty lad about Lian’s age.

Thaniel and Geraldine looked at each other. The girl hadn’t spoken since waking so abruptly, and she had her arms wrapped tightly across her chest. Her curls hung limp around her pale face, draping over her front, and it was only when the mass of hair moved that Pandy realized the girl was cradling Miss Cupcakes. The kitten’s eyes were huge, and her ears lay flat against her head.

Quickly, Pandy thought, before remembering that she was actually talking to Keros, not the impersonal System. Wasn’t she? Apparently yes, because it was definitely a peevish Keros who answered.

The cat’s not hurt, and you made me lose count.

Now I have to start over again.

Do you know how long it takes to do five hundred burpees?

Thaniel hurried over to Geraldine, looking from her face to the kitten she held so tightly. “Is everything all right, Geri?”

Geraldine shook her head, then nodded, then swallowed hard. “I think,” she whispered, “that Miss Cupcakes caught on fire.”

“What?” Thaniel exclaimed, turning to look back down the hall. No one was there. Most people had probably finished for the day and gone back to their rooms, since the bell should ring at any time. He started to open his mouth as if to call for help, when Geraldine reached out and laid a hand over his mouth.

“No,” she hissed, releasing him and raising the kitten up so they could both examine her. The cat’s gray fur looked a little paler than usual, more like hot ash than its usual medium-gray color, but honestly, that could have been a trick of the light, which had already dimmed for the evening.

“She’s fine,” Geraldine said, stroking the kitten. “But I swear, Thaniel, when that log landed on the ground, it was like the flames jumped straight from it to her. She…glowed. You know, like ashes when there’s still a little bit of fire left in them and they’re really hot. And there were sparks.”

Rather than looking worried by this revelation, Thaniel actually started to look excited. “That just means they’re right, doesn’t it? She really is a Fire elemental!”

Geraldine stared at him, freckles stark against her suddenly white skin. Then spots of deep red color bloomed on her cheeks, and Pandy would have sworn sparks ignited among her soaked curls. A sudden surge of steam rose up around her. “You’re an idiot, Nathaniel Conroy!” the girl shouted, then ran off down the hall, leaving Thaniel and Pandy staring after her, utterly gobsmacked.