Lucky Rabbit

Thaniel wanted to go to the meeting himself. “Why can’t I?” he asked, batting his big blue eyes at Pandy, and she had no response. So far, Thaniel’s only involvement in the plan had been pretending to be Eurydice just long enough to get the kids to the library. Even this was little more than a thinly veiled attempt to give Thaniel something to do so he didn’t feel the need to find his own side-project. Pandy had acted as Thaniel whenever he wasn’t in class or protected by Geraldine and Abbington’s presence, and it had made sense that she would handle this as well.

Pandy glanced at Augustus. They were all in Professor Beeswick’s secret hideaway, and she was about to disappear into the curtained alcove in order to transform into Thaniel when the real Thaniel popped his question and locked up her brain. Augustus grimaced back at her, and she could practically read his mind. The truth was that they wanted the real Thaniel involved as little as possible, just in case something went wrong, but the independent boy definitely wouldn’t respond well to that answer.

“I… guess you can,” she said. Then, as his face lit up, she added, “But Bunny has to go with you. And you can’t go anywhere or do anything other than go to the dining hall, accept the invitation, and then come straight back here. Just… act natural.”

Those stipulations did exactly nothing to tone down his excitement, and less than three minutes later they were back out in the main area of the library, where Thaniel dramatically patted himself down and loudly declared, “I must have left my book in the dining hall! I will go and get it!” Pandy, who was hopping along at his heels, valiantly managed not to smack her face with her paw.

Geraldine bid her friend the kind of farewell one gives their bosom companion when said bosom companion was going off to war, possibly never to return, and Abbington waved stiffly, his cheeks turning red as the older students using the library as a study hall turned glares on the overly loud group. Thaniel then marched through the door and into the hall, turning corners like an automaton. Pandy barely managed to slip out of the door before he closed it on her rabbit rump, and Miss Cupcakes – who was apparently determined not to be left out – had to leap over Pandy’s head, her belly brushing bunny ears on the way.

By the time they reached the dining hall, Thaniel had relaxed a little, but Pandy could see him stiffen up again as they entered. A few students who were in his classes called out greetings as he passed, and he waved back with all the nonchalance of a politician on a fundraising tour. Crossing to the table where he’d sat during dinner, he proceeded to peer beneath it, then under each chair, all while making thoughtful, ‘I’m looking for something’ sounds. Pandy was forced to admit that if she was a bad actress, Thaniel somehow managed to be even worse.

Fortunately, it seemed that Matilda wasn’t put off by this extremely odd behavior, and as Thaniel pulled out each chair for the second time, she approached him, clutching a white envelope in her hands. Damp spots darkened the paper as she held it out to Thaniel, but her voice was steady as she said, “I was wondering if you’d like to have dinner at my house on Saturday. With my family.”

Thaniel straightened, his eyes widening in comical surprise. “That sounds really nice! Thank you!” He accepted the envelope, then seemed to process something, lapsing rather abruptly back into his normal self. “How’m I supposed to get there, though?”

Matilda blinked, opened her mouth, closed it, opened it, and said, “We’ll… send a carriage for you?”

“Oh. That makes sense,” Thaniel said, looking down at the sweat-stained envelope. “What time?”

Matilda shifted from one foot to the other while Pandy and Miss Cupcakes exchanged glances. Thaniel was just supposed to accept the envelope, agree to attend, and leave. They would figure everything else out later. It wasn’t like the real Thaniel was going to go anyway.

“Six?” Matilda asked. “I mean, it’s probably on the invitation. I haven’t-” Red filled her cheeks as she glanced around, seeming to realize that their antics had drawn the attention of several of the other students who had been hanging out in the dining hall. Lowering her voice, she admitted, “I haven’t ever invited anyone over before. Not like this.”

“Really?” Thaniel asked. “Not even Su-?”

“No,” Matilda said, her tone instantly shutting down that line of questioning. Someone nearby giggled, and her flush deepened to the color of an overripe tomato. Turning on her heel, she mumbled, “So, I’ll see you. Saturday,” and stomped off, straight out of the dining hall and probably directly back to the room she shared with Suzanne, where she would probably spend some time screaming into her pillow. That was what Pandy would have done in her place, anyway.

Thaniel scratched his head, clearly uncertain where he’d gone wrong, but aware that it had happened. Then he turned the envelope over in his hands, examining the red wax sealing it closed. His finger edged toward the seal, and he nearly jumped out of his skin when someone cleared their throat behind him.

“Do you think the chancellor will give you permission to go?” Matthias Winstanley asked, looking as cool and at ease as Thaniel very definitely wasn’t. The older boy raised a brow. “He doesn’t let you leave the school without him. Do you really think he’ll let you have dinner at a friend’s house?”

‘Have dinner at a friend’s house’. What an innocuous way to say something that Pandy was certain would be anything but innocent. And was Matthias deliberately stirring up the dissatisfaction Pandy had been trying so hard to portray for the last several days? Of course, Thaniel knew it had been Augustus’s idea to accept the invitation in the first place, but even he was aware he couldn’t say that, so what came out of his mouth was, “Um?”

Somehow taking this as encouragement, Matthias leaned closer to the smaller boy and murmured, “You know, Lord Forrest has as much right to tell you yes or no as Blackwood. You could write to him and ask. I’m certain he would encourage you to form stronger bonds with the families of the other students. After all, that’s more than half the reason we’re sent to these schools at all. It’s all about who you know.”

He said this last with the kind of certainty that comes from hearing it so many times it had become an unshakeable truth. Thaniel – who had no idea who Matthias was, and that was an oversight Pandy would beat herself up for later, but Thaniel wasn’t ever supposed to be alone so the older boy could corner him like this – frowned and shook his head. “I don’t think-”

Pandy put a paw on his foot and leaned hard, really hoping she could produce enough pressure with her three pound fluffball of a body that she didn’t have to bite Thaniel to make him stop talking, and thankfully it seemed to work. Thaniel glanced down at her, blinked, then looked back up at Matthias and said, “Write to him?”

Matthias flashed square white teeth. “Of course. All of the powerful noble houses have children in the school system, so if you send a letter to Lord Forrest, care of Forrest House, he’ll get it. Then if the chancellor says no, you can just tell him you already got permission. Queen Louisa is my father’s cousin, you remember? I overheard Father saying that she’s struggling to decide between Blackwood and Lord Forrest because even though Lord Forrest is obviously the better choice, she didn’t want to risk Blackwood getting angry and taking it out on you if she refuses him. But if you already have a good relationship with Lord Forrest, it’ll make the choice obvious, and then you can move to the Forrest estate and visit home whenever you want.”

Again, Thaniel looked down at Pandy, then over at Miss Cupcakes, who was watching this exchange with narrow yellow eyes. The very tip of her tail was twitching, and she definitely looked unhappy about something, though Pandy wasn’t sure what. How much did the feline fire elemental understand?

Taking a careful step away from the taller boy, Thaniel loudly said, “Geri’s cat is here, so I should… take her back. To the library. But, um, thank you for… talking to me.” With that he leaned down, and in the single bravest act Pandy had ever seen, picked Miss Cupcakes up and hurried out of the dining hall. Pandy hopped after them, though she cast a single glance backward as she did, seeing a satisfied smirk on Matthias’ face.

In what Pandy could only consider a miracle directly from the missing Ismara, Miss Cupcakes remained in Thaniel’s arms until they were out of sight of Matthias and the other occupants of the dining hall, all of whom seemed fascinated by whatever drama was going on between Thaniel and the other two children. That was kind of all right, because Pandy and Augustus had intentionally drawn as much notice to their recent ‘arguments’ as possible, but also it wasn’t, because this time they were all staring at the real Thaniel.

When Miss Cupcakes let out a low, rumbling growl, however, Thaniel came back to himself, staring down at the cat as an expression of surprise crossed his face. The feline would occasionally allow one of the other children to pet her, but mostly she enforced the ‘look, don’t touch’ policy of cats everywhere with sharp swats of her paws. No one but Geraldine was allowed to pick up Miss Cupcakes.

Thaniel dropped the cat with an alacrity that proved that his sense of self-preservation was still fully functional, and Miss Cupcakes landed with a yowl and a hiss, then sprinted for the library. Thaniel leaned down and picked Pandy up instead, burying his face in her fur as he drew in a long breath. For a moment she thought he was about to cry, but then he lifted his head and she saw the grin plastered across his face.

“That was amazing,” he whispered, glancing around as he started walking after the cat. “It was like getting a secret message from a spy. What do you think the letter says? Is it really just a dinner invitation? Who was that boy? I think I’ve seen him coming out of the same class as Suzanne before. Is he friends with Matilda? I don’t think I like him very much, so I hope not. Do you-?”

He broke off as they arrived at the library door, which Geraldine was holding open. A slightly-puffier-than-usual Miss Cupcakes all but sat on the girl’s feet, glaring from Thaniel to Pandy, as if it was somehow Pandy’s fault that the cat had been picked up by someone not on her very, very short list of approved people.

“Is everything all right?” Geraldine asked anxiously, looking behind Thaniel as if she expected a ravening horde of possessed spiders to sweep down the hall in a living carpet of legs and fangs.

Thaniel nodded, still grinning as he slipped through the door, finding Abbington waiting just behind Geraldine. Thaniel headed toward ‘their’ study room, but stopped abruptly, cleared his throat, and proclaimed, “I must have left my book in my room, not the dining hall! I will get it when I go to bed!” Only then did he proceed, with Geraldine, a very annoyed cat, and Abbington close behind him.

As soon as the door to the private room closed behind them, the far wall opened up, revealing Augustus. To Pandy’s surprise, he stepped through, joining them in the small room, rather than ushering them into Professor Beeswick’s personal space.

In theory, he could have had one of his elementals watch whatever took place in the dining hall, but because the Shadow Exchange had ways of detecting elementals, he was trying to use his elementals as little as possible. The risk of discovery should be minimal inside Falconet itself, but they’d thought Eleanor was safe here, too. Sir Bailey had been assigned to lurk nearby, but surely she hadn’t had time to report in yet, so why did Augustus look so grim?

Pandy started to wiggle as soon as they were alone, and when Thaniel put her down, she hopped over to an open area and shifted back to Eurydice. Thaniel was already telling the story by the time Pandy’s vision stabilized, though to hear him tell it, he had been as suave as Bames Jond, super spy.

When he reached the part where Matilda handed him the invitation, he removed the stiff envelope from his pocket and held it out. Instantly, Augustus moved, using a handkerchief to take the paper rectangle from the boy. At the same time, Professor Beeswick – who Pandy hadn’t even realized was absent – stepped through the magical doorway, holding open a box that was just the right size to receive the envelope. Augustus promptly dropped the invitation into the box, the Dragon snapped it shut, and then Beeswick and box vanished back into the hidden rooms, leaving everyone except Augustus staring after him, mouths agape.