“I beg your pardon, he is not!” said Anna hotly.
“I don’t think he is,” said Chantel. “He’s the son of Karl the Bloody, you know.”
“Who’s Karl the Bloody?” said Holly.
“The leader of the Marau—the Sunbiters,” said Chantel.
“Then the boy clearly was a spy,” said Miss Flivvers. “Though I am still sorry that he was killed, as I know you girls had a sentimental fondness for him.”
“He wasn’t killed! I beg your pardon. I just said. I—The dragon and I rescued him.”
“I knew there was really a dragon,” said Holly, giving an extra-hard tug with the comb.
“Did you ride on it?” said Daisy.
“Yes,” said Chantel.
“Do not fill the children’s heads with foolishness,” said Miss Flivvers, warily.
“Where did the dragon come from?” said Anna.
“Inside my head,” said Chantel.
“Not just inside your head. We all imagined we saw a dragon,” said Miss Flivvers.
Chantel explained.
“Chantel, really—” Miss Flivvers looked stunned. “I have always known you to be an essentially honest girl—”
“The dragon came out of your mouth?” said Daisy.
“You went through the roof?” said Holly.
“Yes. And . . .” Chantel took a deep breath. This next part was going to be difficult. “And I’ve found the sorceresses.”
A gasp from all around the kitchen.
“Oh, marvelous! Why didn’t you say so at once!” Miss Flivvers jumped to her feet. “Is Euphonia—are Miss Ellicott and the others safe? Are they well? Where are they?”
Chantel told her.
“But this is excellent!” said Miss Flivvers. “If they are helping the king, then all is saved!”
“I’m not sure it is.” Chantel hurried on before Miss Flivvers could tell her to beg her pardon. “Really it’s the king fighting against the patriarchs, and meanwhile we’ve got those Marau—Sunbiters without the walls. The king tried to get me to help him—”
“Then it was your duty to do so,” said Miss Flivvers firmly.
Do your duty, Miss Ellicott had said.
“No, it was my duty to protect the city and the people,” said Chantel. “And it’s the king’s and the sorceresses’ duty too, but instead they’d rather fight for power. And they want me because I’ve got the dragon.”
Chantel expected Miss Flivvers to argue some more, but Miss Flivvers was silent.
“Then if they want you,” said Anna, “that explains why there was a man here looking for you yesterday.”
“What man?” said Chantel.
“He looked like death,” said Anna.
“Oh,” said Chantel.
It was very like Bowser’s description of the man who’d come for Miss Ellicott.
Just then there was a knock on the street door.
Everyone in the kitchen drew closer together.
“Oh dear, I suppose someone ought to answer it,” said Miss Flivvers.
“I will,” said Chantel, freeing herself from Holly’s and Daisy’s ministrations.
“I’ll come with you,” said Anna.
They started down the hall. Chantel heard Miss Flivvers following behind.
Anna opened the door. It was still pouring down rain outside. A skeletally thin man in a soggy black cowl stood on the doorstep, rivulets cascading off his cape.
Chantel saw what Anna had meant. The man did look like death.
“The king has sent for the girl, Chantel,” he said, in a cold, sepulchral voice.
“She’s not here,” said Anna, before Chantel could speak.
“Then the king wishes the girls in the school to come to him.” The man who looked like death shivered.
“Why?” said Anna.
“For safekeeping. The situation in the city may become difficult, especially should the Marauders without the walls gain entrance.”
Chantel, meanwhile, was making signs with her thumbs, strengthening the ward spell on the door.
“Thank you,” said Miss Flivvers, stepping forward. Chantel could tell Miss Flivvers was having a lot of trouble not inviting the soggy man in to dry off. “I am touched by His Majesty’s concern for my humble charges. Truly, he is a good king. If there should be any signs of danger, it is a comfort to know—”
“You fail to understand me,” said the man, his voice like an echo from a tomb. “His Majesty demands that the girls be sent to the castle now.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t do that without the approval of the headmistress,” said Miss Flivvers. “If she were to return and—”
“Miss Ellicott requires it,” said the man.
“Then she must come and tell me so herself,” said Miss Flivvers firmly. “Good evening.”
She closed the door on the rain and the man who looked like death.
“What if she does?” said Chantel quickly. “What will you do then, Miss Flivvers?”
“If Miss Ellicott comes here—” said Anna.
“She’ll be sent by the king,” said Chantel. “And she’ll be taking the girls hostage.”
“What a way to speak of Miss Ellicott!” said Miss Flivvers.
“Hostage for what?” said Anna.
“To make me cooperate,” said Chantel. “And no, Miss Flivvers, it is not my duty, and I won’t let the king use the dragon to fight the patriarchs when they all ought to be defending the city.”
“Can we make the wards strong enough to keep Miss Ellicott out?” said Anna.
“What a thing to say!” said Miss Flivvers.
“I kind of really doubt it,” said Chantel. “I think she’ll walk right through our wards.”
Chantel and Anna looked at each other hopelessly.
“I hardly think Miss Ellicott would—” Miss Flivvers began.
“We have to get the younger girls out of here,” said Chantel. “We’ll take them to the dragon’s lair.”
“Oh, they’ll love that!” said Anna.
“What a shocking idea,” said Miss Flivvers. “And I, for one, have no desire to—”
“We’ll leave you here, Miss Flivvers,” said Chantel. “That is, if you don’t mind. We’ll need you to talk to . . . anybody who comes knocking.”
20
IN SEARCH OF BOWSER
The rain had let up. Water still chuckled down the streets and gurgled in the gutters, on its way to the culverts and the sea.
Franklin was waiting for them at the entrance to the lair, inside the abnegation spell, in Bannister Square. He was still in a rotten mood, but the small girls were so delighted to see him that he had to cheer up, and was soon happily recounting how he’d nearly been executed.
One or two tiresome girls squealed in fright at the darkness of the underground passage. Most of them, though, were sensibly fascinated. Those who knew how did light-globe spells, and they began the long descent into the caves. The girls stopped to shine their lights on tall wedding-cake columns of glistening stalactites, and to press their hands into the soft moonmilk that coated the walls.
They arrived at last in the library, where the girls ran to climb the spiral staircases.
“Careful!” Anna commanded. “Don’t fall.”
Just then Holly let out a squawk and froze, staring.
Lightning’s golden dragon head came through the doorway, followed by a long sinuous stretch of dragon neck, and then the rest of the dragon.
One of the smaller girls buried her face in Anna’s robe. But the rest gazed, awestruck.
“It’s beautiful,” said Daisy.