Lucky Rabbit

Not surprisingly, Suzanne and Matilda were nowhere to be found when Thaniel and Geraldine rejoined the others near the stable. This was particularly distressing for Pandy, who was stuck at two hundred and ninety-four Corruption Points, and had really hoped to get more. But it was what it was, and as long as Suzanne wasn’t too upset, Pandy could get more points at lunch and-or dinner.

As usual when the children had nothing in particular to do, they decided to head for Brook’s pasture, but Pandy tugged at Thaniel’s collar with her teeth. When the boy looked down at her, she tilted her head toward the school. Thaniel looked puzzled, then a little sad, but quickly covered it with a smile.

“You have somethin’ else to do?” he asked softly. Glancing at Miss Cupcakes, who was once again skulking along behind Geraldine, he said, “That’s okay. As long as you come back.”

Pandy reached up and pressed her nose against his neck, tickling him with her whiskers, and he giggled, then put her down. With a smile and a wave, he followed his friends around the side of the stable, since their usual path through Brook’s stall was still being repaired.

Truthfully, Pandy would like nothing more than to go with him. She would love to spend another day lounging in the sunshine, watching the children act out Pirate Pete’s adventures, idly munching on the sweet clover that grew in the shady patch beneath the tree. But she had a Mission, and the first step toward completing it was back in the school.

With the door to the classroom hall locked, the closest entrance to the school was at the end of the hall that led to the dining room, but that was all right, because that would take Pandy right where she needed to go. She darted inside when a pair of whispering girls exited the building, hopped past the kitchen – which was bustling as they prepared for lunch – and made her way up the stairs to the second floor. No one was in the hall, so Pandy reached Ms. Wellington’s office in record time, then shifted into the teacher’s form. Sadly, she was still naked when she did so, so Keros hadn’t worked that out yet, but a dress settled around her body even as she slipped into ‘her’ office.

As soon as the door closed behind her, Pandy paused, looking around at the apparently empty air. “Uh, hello, Zephra? Are you…back? I hope you’re, um, all right. Augustus-” Her cheeks heated as she said his name, and she didn’t even know why, until she realized that this was probably the first time she’d spoken it aloud. Should she use ‘the chancellor’ or ‘Mr. Blackwood’ when she was in public? But she wasn’t in public, was she? She was probably talking to herself, and Augustus had said it was all right for her to use his first name, so-

“He, um, said I could ask you to… That is, I have something I need to talk to him about. I mean, it’s not urgent, because I have three hours now, which is really nice, and I’m sure he’s busy, so really, you don’t have to bother him. But if he’s not too busy, maybe you could let him know that-” She broke off as a sharp rap sounded, and the office door jumped. She stared at it.

“Hello? Ms. Wellington?” It was Augustus, and before she could open the door, he did so, swinging it open until he could see her, standing there, probably still looking like a rabbit frozen in headlights, even though she wasn’t a rabbit at the moment. Was she?

Resisting the urge to glance down just to make sure, she stepped backwards, making room for him to come inside. He did so, gently closing the door behind him, before giving a little whistle. His hair shifted in a breeze Pandy couldn’t feel, and a tiny, humanoid shape took form on his shoulder. If this was Zephra, it looked a little smaller than it had the last time she saw it, but accepted a little chunk of some yellow substance happily enough, stuffing the small lump into its equally small mouth before vanishing again.

Seeing Pandy’s curiosity, Augustus smiled a little wryly. “Bee pollen. Whisperwinds adore it. They’ll accept honey or fresh flowers as well, but pollen is their favorite.”

“You give the other one sugar,” Pandy said, before she could think better of it. “Do all Air elementals like sweets?” This was one thing Gacha Love had skimmed over. Each elemental required some specific game item or event in order to accept a contract in the first place, but after that, they simply did what they were told, with no further payment necessary. Some of the in-game books and the wiki mentioned various items that made good gifts for the elementals, but it always seemed like an afterthought.

The chancellor hummed thoughtfully. “Not all of them. The more intelligent they are, the more they tend to have their own preferences, but sugar is generally a good place to start. Fire elementals tend to like flammable things…oil, alcohol, wood, even dried orange peels. Interestingly, Ice elementals prefer salt. Many types of elementals have a preference for various forms of alcohol, though as far as we can tell, they can’t actually drink it the same way we do.”

That…was a lot more than she’d expected. The method of forming a contract with certain elementals was often controlled by a particular family or industry, especially if that elemental was tier three or above. No one wanted the competition to catch up, after all.

With another crooked smile, the chancellor added, “This is information our students will naturally acquire over the course of the next few years. Every one of them will eventually have at least one tier-two elemental.”

“Oh,” Pandy said, feeling foolish. Of course these noble children would be taught the basics of all kinds of elementals, and of course Clara had missed out on that education in Gacha Love. When she entered school, she was the equivalent of a tenth grader. Everyone probably assumed she had learned all of this from a tutor or her parents. It was even possible that the real Clara would do exactly that, but because it hadn’t come up in Gacha Love, the information hadn’t been shared with the players, even on the wiki.

Augustus was watching her work through all of this with a conflicted expression on his face. Was he realizing that it was a mistake to put Pandy in charge of any portion of a child’s education? Obviously, she didn’t know enough to-

“You’re an interesting puzzle, Ms. Boxx,” he said softly, and suddenly it felt like he was leaning in, invading her space, even though she was almost certain he hadn’t actually moved. “You seem to know so much, and yet so little, all at once. It’s difficult to tell what you’ll say next, much less what you’ll do.”

Pandy blinked, and then, for no reason at all, hiccupped – a loud, squeaky sound that made her clap her hands over her mouth. The chancellor hesitated, and the spell was broken as he threw his head back and laughed. It was a rusty sound, as if it had been quite a while since it was used, and was protesting its sudden return to active duty.

Even when he managed to get himself under control, a smile lingered around the corners of Augustus’s mouth as he said, “I was just getting ready to go check on the library when Zephra said you needed me. Do you have a question, or is there a longer conversation in the offing?”

“A…longer conversation? I think?” she said. “I, ah, might be able to help you with, um,” for some reason, she lowered her voice, as if imparting a secret, “Ismara.”

Instantly, all humor fled his face. His gray eyes flicked around, like he was making sure no one else was present. “Then I believe we need to move elsewhere.” He held out his arms. “If you don’t mind?”

For an instant, she thought he wanted to hug her, and whatever served as Pandy’s internal organs all abruptly attempted to climb into her throat. Then his brows rose and he glanced at the floor, making her realize he wanted her to change back into Bunny so no one would see him with Ms. Wellington. That was a terribly good idea, and she definitely shouldn’t have felt such a crushing disappointment as she ducked out of his line of sight just long enough to return her clothing to her inventory, then cancelled Shifting Faces.

Once Pandy was firmly tucked beneath his arm once again – and she definitely didn’t sniff him this time, either – the chancellor carried her back to his office, which he passed straight through, taking the wide, curving stairs and thus bypassing the dining hall, which was probably filled with students studying and playing games together. A few children lurked in the foyer, as well, but most of them avoided looking at him, perhaps hoping that he, in turn, would politely pretend not to see them.

A familiar teacher sat in a chair by the closed door to the classrooms, eyes half-closed and a book propped open on his lap. Mr. Musgrave, the rarely-seen and astonishingly rodent-like boys’ hall supervisor, jumped to his feet when Augustus approached, dropping the book, whose plain paper cover slipped, revealing the image of a woman with Heaving Bosoms being rescued from a whirling firestorm by a gallant warrior.

Before Mr. Musgrave could retrieve his – probably not entirely appropriate – book, Augustus picked it up, carefully returning the cover to its rightful place before handing it back. “Ah, Chronomagical Compatibility and the Etiquette of Elemental Introductions. Truly a classic. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.”

The supervisor gave a ghastly sort of laugh, clearly unsure which book – the one he was actually reading, or the one the cover claimed it to be – the chancellor was referring to. Smiling awkwardly, he backed out of the way, clutching the book to his chest.

Without batting an eye, Augustus stepped up to the door, once more pressing his hand against a flat, invisible surface that hung about six inches in front of the door. The air rippled, and the chancellor’s hand passed through so he could grasp the doorknob, which turned easily, allowing him to slip through before firmly closing the door in Mr. Musgrave’s curious and pointy face.

The hall beyond was dimly lit with actual lanterns, no directionless magical light illuminating the darkness. Augustus began striding toward where the library should be, calling out, “El- Professor? Are you here?”

“Where else would I be?” the dragon snapped, looking up as they rounded the corner. He was crouching by the open door to what should have been the library, but revealed the dark, dusty space that was actually inside the school instead. He saw Pandy immediately, his strangely metallic eyes narrowing. He straightened, rolling his shoulders so his wings shifted, stretching just slightly. For the first time, Pandy could see that the scales covering them weren’t just silvery-blue, but were actually patterned with purples and pinks, rather like a butterfly’s wings, even though the shape of the wings more closely resembled those of a bat.

“I hear I have you to thank for the hole in my door,” he said to Pandy, but there was no real irritation in his voice. “I’m having to completely rebuild the spell now, not just lock it to the existing locations.”

“You probably should have done that in the first place,” Augustus said mildly. He set Pandy on the floor, and looked away politely as she shifted back into her human form and donned her clothes. Only when Pandy was done adjusting her skirts did she look up and realize that Professor Beeswick had simply watched the whole process, and a flush burned its way up her neck until even her ears felt like they were on fire.

Technically, Pandy knew her modesty was ridiculous at this point, and the body she was flashing wasn’t even her own, but she simply couldn’t help it, and the look in the dragon’s eyes told her he was well aware of her feelings on the matter, and found the whole thing extremely amusing. She glared back, which only increased the amusement, at which point she turned away from him and addressed the chancellor.

“I, um, remembered some things from the g- the book I read,” she said in a rush. “Some times when Ismara was mentioned, or when her power helped the main character. I thought that it might help if I go to those places, and do the same things that character did. Maybe Ismara will show up, or do something to let us know she’s,” alive, she didn’t quite say, “just busy, you know, elsewhere. Or something.”

The two men exchanged a look, and Augustus said, “Does that mean you’re now willing to give us a bit more information about exactly what this story was about, other than a ravening demon horde?”

Pandy bit her lip, but nodded. She still wasn’t willing to throw Lian under Truck-kun, but surely there couldn’t be any harm in telling them who the heroes of the game were? Especially Clara. It could only be a good thing if she received more training, so she wouldn’t have to work so hard later. Besides, they already had pictures of everyone, so Pandy would only be telling them who played what role.

“It all starts when Clara Reedsley, the heroine, begins school at Condor.” She looked at Augustus. “You’re the chancellor there by then, and you give a speech, during which each of the love- Um, male leads is introduced. There’s Prince Kaden, Edgar Ashford, Dorian Griffin, and Bastian Mossley…”