“This is the Smithy,” said Miss Awolowo, pointing at a formidable-looking door of black iron. “As Apprentices, you will not yet take Devices, but during the school year you may have occasion to visit.”
Connor mouthed the word “Devices?” at Max with a quizzical look. Max shrugged with a smile as Rolf shot his hand in the air.
“Speaking of classes—when do we get our class schedules? My parents insisted that I’m to be enrolled in advanced math.”
Max saw Lucia roll her eyes.
“Class assignments will be distributed tomorrow, Rolf,” Miss Awolowo answered.
She continued their tour through the forest, pointing out notable trees and deflecting questions regarding the small side paths that veered off the main way to disappear into the thick undergrowth. There were several of these, and Max was curious about them. David paused so long at one that Max had to trot back to pull him along.
“Wait a minute,” said David, fishing in his pockets.
“C’mon,” said Max, watching the tour disappear beyond a bend in the path.
David retrieved a coin from his pocket. He scratched at the soil and buried the coin beneath the twisty root of a sagging elm. Apparently satisfied, he brushed the dirt from his hands and hurried with Max after the others.
“Why’d you do that?” asked Max.
David did not seem to hear him.
As they rounded the bend, Max heard the neighing of horses. Miss Awolowo and their classmates were circling around several long buildings and a fenced ring where a dozen unsaddled horses capered about. Beyond the buildings was a high, mossy wall with a heavy door. The wall continued out of sight; the hedge and trees behind it were very tall. Max wanted to go through the door, but Miss Awolowo kept them moving, calling out over her shoulder as she went.
“These are Rowan’s stables. Beyond that wall is the Sanctuary—you’ll be visiting it tomorrow. No time to stop now. Please keep up!”
The children hurried after her. She waited for them on a path that curved out of the forest and led back to the main campus. Emerging into the sunlight, Max gazed at the Manse and orchard far away to his right across the clipped lawns. The group continued along the forest’s edge and gathered at a rocky outcropping above the sea.
“Wow,” said Connor, reaching the edge before Max and looking down.
Max looked over his shoulder to see a large ship with three masts, creaking as it bobbed slightly in the waves. Well over a hundred feet long and looking very old, it was anchored to a long dock with a heavy chain. A rough stone staircase led down from where they stood to the narrow, rocky beach below. Max strained to hear Miss Awolowo’s voice over the wind.
“That, children, is the Kestrel. You’ll be hearing more about her tonight.”
She waved to a tall man stacking driftwood down on the beach and herded the class away from the water, back toward two imposing buildings. They were made of gray stone and faced south on the lawns between the Manse and the beach. The class approached along their long shadows cast by the sun sinking over the woods to the west.
Max found the buildings foreboding as he approached; they loomed high above him, and their many windows were still and dark. The farther one had a tall clock tower topped by a turret and a fluttering copper weathervane. The children jumped as the clock boomed six. Miss Awolowo waited for the chimes to cease.
“These are Maggie and Old Tom, our main academic buildings. You will have most of your classes here. Old Tom’s our timekeeper, too; his chimes will often tell you where you need to be. Right now, he’s telling us we’re expected at the kitchens. It’s been a busy afternoon and you all must be hungry. Please follow me.”
Max walked and chatted with David and Connor as the three trailed the group back to the Manse.
“It’s my first time out of Dublin, much less here in the States,” Connor said, taking long strides with his hands stuffed deep in his pockets. “I suppose the two of you live in mansions back home, eh?”
David Menlo laughed. “Yeah. My mansion’s got four wheels. My mom and I live in a trailer.”
Connor shrugged and turned to Max.
“How ’bout you, then? You live in a mansion?”
“No. My dad and I live in a regular house…. We’re not rich,” he added defensively.
“You got a computer?” asked Connor.
“Yeah.”
“You got a car?”
“My dad does.”
“You got a job?”
Max looked at him, confused. “No.”
“Congratulations, Max, you’re rich!”
Connor ran ahead to catch up with some girls. A moment later, they were all giggling. Max flushed and turned to David.
“What do you think he meant by all that ‘you’re rich’ stuff?”
David shrugged. “I don’t know—probably nothing. Connor’s weird. He tried to bet me that he’d get Lucia to kiss him before school starts.”
“Not a chance,” Max muttered as he watched Connor walking next to Lucia and gesturing wildly. Lucia looked bored.
As Max and David strolled past the fountain, Miss Awolowo was waiting in the Manse’s doorway. She tapped her watch.
“Please try to keep up, you two. Mum and Bob have been working very hard to prepare dinner for us, and your classmates are hungry. We might lose an orchard apple to Jesse if we’re not quick!”
She laughed and led them to join the others in a great hall off the foyer filled with glistening portraits. From there they descended some stone steps that curved down and down until they arrived at a large dining hall. The hall’s vaulted ceiling was hung with massive chandeliers, and the long room was furnished with many wooden tables and benches. Light, steam, and noise issued from a pair of swinging doors, at the far end.
“Now, children,” said Miss Awolowo, leading them to the swinging doors, “I want to warn you that Mum and Bob are not your typical chefs….”
Max and David glanced at each other.
“They can be a bit startling at first glance, but I promise you’ll grow to love them.”
As they got closer, Max heard another woman’s urgent whisper from beyond the doors.
“Quiet, Bob! Put that pot down! Shhh! I think they’re here! Ooh! I can practically taste them!”
“Shush yourself, Mum!” rumbled a deep voice with a strange accent. “I hear them, too. You remember to behave!”
The students froze as they heard a bloodcurdling giggle from just behind the door. A pear-shaped boy, who was closest, whimpered and edged away. Miss Awolowo stepped past him.
“Mum? Bob? It’s Ndidi. Could you come out, please, and meet the new class?”
The pear-shaped boy scurried to the back as the woman’s voice cackled and shrieked. “Oh, they’re here, they’re here! The darlings are here!”
The door flew open, flattening Miss Awolowo. The children screamed as a panting, gray-skinned woman as short and stout as a pot-bellied stove burst from the kitchen to envelop Jesse in a fierce embrace. Jesse’s legs buckled; he fainted into her arms. Her shiny face looked the children over, grinning hideously to reveal a mouthful of smooth crocodile teeth.
“Oh, Ndidi! You’ve outdone yourself. They’re wonderful! Oh, they’re so wonderful and plump!”
The panting woman crushed Jesse against her side and reached out with her free hand to squeeze Cynthia’s ample arm as if she were examining a tomato. The red-headed English girl buried her face in Lucia’s shoulder, and Lucia swatted furiously at the woman’s hand while Max looked on in horror.
Suddenly, a strong voice filled the hall.
“Mum! Release that poor boy and stop pinching that young lady!”
Immediately, the woman whipped her hands behind her back, shifting her weight from foot to foot. Jesse slid to the ground.
“I was only welcoming the children, Ms. Richter,” the woman mumbled.
Max turned to glimpse the unseen speaker, but several taller classmates blocked his view. Ms. Richter sounded important; she was a person accustomed to giving orders. A second later, the name came back to him—it was her name at the bottom of his letters.
His classmates parted as she came closer.