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Chapter 15

Gwen and Indearie found Millie waiting for them when they walked out of the Tower. The maid smiled, and waved to them.

“How are you?” Millie asked. “Does anyone need a cup of tea, or coffee? A bit of dessert?”

The two girls looked to each other. They were exhausted, and couldn’t even put a brave face on it. The voices in the Tower hadn’t seemed to go on for a while, but it was the middle of the night. They had been floating for who knows how long, and in a place that decidedly despised their presence.

“Have the rest of the…” Gwen trailed off, and reddened. Children didn’t seem the right word. And neither did felons, even though that’s what the rest of the world thought of them.

“The students have all awaited your return, ladies,” Millie said. “They are currently adjourned to the library.”

Gwen blanched. Drake better not have gotten bored in her library. He might start taking books off of the shelves, or worse, reorganizing them. She quickened her pace towards the South Wing.

Luckily, Drake had not found the books interesting. Instead, he was found on top of the main table in the room, snoring loudly. Rosamund sat next to him, her nose in a book on fashion, while Doramont perused a book on horticulture.

Doramont sighed when he looked at them, and pulled out a few coins, laying them down on the table. Rosamund picked up the coins, placing one on Drake’s chest.

“What, did you bet we’d never make it back?” Gwen asked.

“Just that it would take you to daybreak to fully comprehend the magnificence of the edifice,” Doramont replied. “The odds were too good to pass up.”

Gwen considered. “After listening to that voice drone on about the wondrous Everwynn line, and the accursed heir…I’ll grant you.”

Doramont smirked. “My error. I failed to take into account your obstinance.”

Gwen leaned in close. “You should have told me the odds, you idiot,” she whispered. “I could have had that voice roll on for days.”

The smirk grew into a full smile. “Now that is a true Everwynn response.”

Indearie rolled her eyes. “So…that’s the big secret?” she asked. “That is what people don’t know about this house?”

“The shame and glory of the Everwynn line,” Drake said. He kept his eyes closed. “Don’t anybody tell about the greatest power in the world just a hundred yards that way.”

“We all had to find out,” Doramont said. “Though the Duke was there for all of us.”

“It’s just,” Indearie said, and trailed off. “It’s just, we are in this place that could be the most important part of all of Callgar. And nobody knows about it.”

“Deveren might,” Drake said. “Or he might just have the same idea that everyone else does about this place. That we’re hiding a super weapon, or a wand that controls everyone’s mind. An entire lake made of solid gold.”

Doramont nodded. “They are right, in a certain fashion. We do hold the power.”

“Until Deveren comes and tries to take it,” Drake said. “Then we’re all screwed royally.”

“Maybe not,” Gwen said.

“No, probably literally,” Drake said. “They might even invoke the king on this one. Do you know how rare that is, for someone to actually care enough to involve the royal family? We might get the guillotine. We might get hung!”

“No one’s getting hung!” Rosamund shouted. “Geez, Drake, stop being dramatic.”

“We’re going up against the nobility, Rosamund,” Drake said. “And we aren’t exactly armed to the teeth.”

“So let’s get some teeth,” Gwen said.

The students looked at her.

“When you are facing a fight, you have a lot of options, but they really boil down to three. You run, you talk, or you fight. We can’t run, because that’ll just give Deveren what he wants. And talking isn’t going to get anywhere either. Which just leaves fighting.”

“We’ve been over this,” Doramont said. “None of us are able to fight against some of the truly terrifying weapons that the nobility has in store.”

“We can’t get weapons?” Gwen asked. “We can’t get allies?”

“Doesn’t Everwynn have some sort of favor he can call in?” Indearie pressed.

Drake shrugged. “He’s friendly, but not friends with the other nobles. You know? Keeps everyone at arm’s length.”

Kind of like me, Gwen thought.

“He doesn’t have any enemies that I know of,” Doramont admitted. “But neither does he have friends.”

“Would you?” Indearie asked. She looked around the house. “I mean, I’ve looked around. And this mansion is great and wondrous. I could be lost in here forever, and never feel afraid.”

She shuddered. “But now that we know what’s just hidden, would you want anyone else near here?”

Gwen didn’t. She already was thinking about adding a few more walls to the estate. And a moat. A moat filled with lava that spat lightning every once in a while.

“We can’t trust anybody,” Indearie said glumly. “They’ll all want something from us.”

“No one does anything for free,” Drake agreed. “It’s either to get a shiny new toy, or to make sure no one else has what you want.”

Rosamund perked up. “That’s it!”

“What’s it?”

“What about Deveren’s enemies?”

Drake snorted. “Look, the dude’s a jerk, I’ll give you that. But he’s been a count all of five minutes. I don’t think he’s had enough time to let everyone know how terrible he is.”

“No, no!” Gwen said. “Not just him, but his family! The Deveren family has loads of enemies right now!”

Doramont frowned. “Come again?”

“Back when Indearie and I were being arraigned for allegedly stealing some dumb stuff…”

“We did steal some dumb stuff.” Indearie reminded her.

“Never proven.”

“We pled guilty!”

“We pled no contest.”

“Anyways!” Drake shouted.

“The point is,” Gwen said, shooting a triumphant glare at Indearie. “We didn’t have to deal with any real press, or anyone trying to make a point out of the new delinquents. That’s because Deveren’s father had been caught trying to muscle in on some other noble’s turf, and got caught.”

The others considered. “You’re thinking the other noble?” Drake asked. “The one who almost got his butt kicked by an old man on a need for power binge?”

“What was his name?” Indearie asked Gwen. “Malaprop, Lady? Lately?”

“Maladie,” Rosamund said. “Just east of here.”

Doramont snorted. “Maladie. I think Gwen could take him by herself, with or without her unusual magic.”

“He is a bit…understated,” Rosamund admitted. “Smaller holding, smaller lands, smaller man. But a rather large chip on his shoulder right now when it comes to the Deveren family, and he’s never once tried to pull anything on the Everwynns.”

“Which puts him in the plus category, right now,” Indearie said. “But how do we get in contact with him?”

“Millie,” Drake called. “Can we set up a communications spell with Baron Maladie?”

“Right now?”

“He’s probably asleep. How about right after breakfast?”

Drake looked around. “As long as that’s ok with you guys?”

Indearie nodded. “We’re doing this for the duke. Felton has to be ok with it.”

“If he isn’t, then he’d have to be here to overrule it,” Rosamund said.

Doramont grunted. “You four continue this debacle. I will be tending to the forest.”

“Talk about debacle,” Drake muttered. “His trees couldn’t keep out one bratty count.”

A tree branch thunked against the side of the building. Gwen instinctively reached out, steadying herself and a bookcase.

“Never, insult the foliage,” Doramont said.

He stormed out of the library.

The rest of the students looked at each other. Rosamund cleared her throat. “Yes, well, um…if Indearie could come with me, I think we could start setting up the communication over to Maladie?”

Indearie frowned. “Why me?”

“Because I don’t want to do it by myself, and our other options are…” she trailed off.

Gwen and Drake looked at each other. “Fair,” they both said.

Rosamund cocked an eyebrow. “Actually listening to a reasoned argument, and agreeing. You two are finally growing up.”

Drake made sure to tip over a glass of water on top of the woman as she left the library, Indearie in tow. Rosamund paused, and tried to think of something to say that hadn’t been said a million times before. She fumed, smoke coming out of her ears as she ran off.

The prankster sighed, and stretched. “I’m going to get some real shuteye. Try not to set the building on fire before the baron shows up.” He wandered off, giggling at a joke he just thought of.

Gwen stood there, leaning against the bookcase. She put the books away, trying to think of what she was supposed to do.

She didn’t trust Rosamund, but that had more to do with her own feelings rather than anything concrete. And instead of thinking Drake and Doramont were out to get her anymore. They seemed much more concerned with feuding with each other.

And strangely, she didn’t even fear that the plan wasn’t going to work out. Rosamund was charming enough, but tag teamed with Indearie? The baron was going to be here by midafternoon at the latest. Which meant that the plan was set. The solution fixed.

So why was she still having this nagging feeling?

“Is there anything I can get for you, milady?”

Gwen snorted, and stopped. She looked up, and saw Millie by the door. Millie the maid, still proper, with a warm smile. If she wanted a cup of tea, that would probably appear in seconds, thanks to some weird magic the staff had.

The staff…that’s what had been bugging her.

“Millie?”

“Yes?”

“Can the rest of the staff come here?”

“Anyone in particular?”

“Everyone.”

And they were there. Every cook, butler, waiter, page, waiting for her command. Gwen whipped her head around fast enough to make her neck ache, trying to keep up with them. They looked back at her, confused.

“Is there something you needed, miss?” Holkum asked.

They held the pose for a minute. And they were still, dead still. It was the stillness that tipped Gwen off, that made her truly understand what was going on.

She teared up, and nodded.

“It’s you in there,” she said. “That’s who we were with in that Tower. That Tower, those bones…they’re all you.”

They didn’t respond. Couldn’t deny it, but to say the words, to actually acknowledge the truth. The staff were ghosts, every single one of them. Souls tied to the bones that made up the Tower, now serving the Everwynns who had taken their lives.

Gwen tried to see them all, actually acknowledge who they were. The young child, armed with a brush and a cap tucked over his red hair. The woman who always made sure she had a slice of melon with breakfast, and made her envious because of how nice her makeup always was.

Gwen quickly tried to make a count of everyone, and stopped after fifty. There were others, poking their head through the library door. She couldn’t see all of them even if she tried, let alone count them.

“I didn’t even ask,” she breathed. “I didn’t even think to…”

“Most students,” Millie said. “They come to an understanding of who we are. The underwhelming current of innate knowledge. They know enough not to ask.”

“But…” Gwen trailed off, afraid to ask.

“Are we stuck here?” Millie asked. “Is Duke Everwynn holding us as slaves? Bound to his will, serving until the last of that wretched line has finally been thrown in the trash where it belongs?”

She smiled. “Not quite.”

“Then why stay?” Gwen blurted out.

“Why not leave? Take your ghostly selves and just go…elsewhere. Or wherever,” she finished lamely.

No one laughed at her. They smiled, but they didn’t seem to make fun of her.

“Of course,” she said. “You’re ghosts. You can’t really go. Or you can, and I’m just assuming and there’s something to do with your bodies and I really need to stop talking, can someone help me stop talking?”

“Girl, can you ever just stop!” Holkum thundered.

The rest of the room burst out laughing at the plumber. He glared around him, dumbfounded.

“Will the rest of you all just help the poor thing get her blasted mouth in gear? The brakes in this thing are nonexistent!”

Gwen held her head in her hands. This wasn’t happening. This could not be happening. She was not being laughed at by a bunch of ghosts, called a motormouth.

“Hush, you,” Millie chided Holkum. “Everybody give her some room. She’s had a rather trying evening.” She shooed the staff towards the door. “We’ll let you be, dear. It’s a lot to process.”

“No!”

The ghosts froze. Gwen stood up, frantic.

“No! Please don’t go, please!”

Millie turned, frowning. “What? What do you want from us?”

Her warm demeanor was gone. As was the rest of the room.

“What more could you take that we haven’t freely given you a thousandfold?”

Gwen cowered. “I just wanted to say thank you.”

She looked to the ground. “Back in Callgar, it was just me. And then it was me and Indearie, but that was it. You watched your own back, and made sure nobody messed with you and yours. That’s survival.

“Then we get here, we love Everwynn. And Felton is weird and charming. And even the students are nice. But you, you…” she grasped for the word. “You make us feel safe. You are the ones who make me feel like I’m home.”

“It’s our job to do so,” Millie said. Her words were soft, formal. Something that had to be said.

“Even if it is, I don’t know how to thank you.” She held her hands out wide. “I can sleep. I can sleep without a hand on a knife, or one eye open. You have given me sleep, and I can’t ever repay you. So please, just let me say how much it means to me.”

She walked up to the boy, and knelt down. “My name’s Gwen. What’s your name?”

The boy took off his cap, his dark skin glinting in the firelight. “Cottar.”

“Cottar. Thank you for all you do to help.”

“I just make sure the windows are clean.”

Gwen reddened. “Like the greenhouse ones?”

“Yup.”

Whoops. “Well, I’ll try to be nicer to the windows.”

“Thanks.”

Gwen extended a hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Cottar.”

The kid took the offered hand, smiling.

That’s what she could do. Every name, every person. She’d learn who everybody was, if she had to stay here a thousand days.

Millie smiled. “All right, Cottar. And everybody, we have a lot of work to do! There’s a baron coming to the mansion, and we are not going to be embarrassed with a messy house!”

The staff saluted, and ran off. The maid looked at Gwen hard. “That means that everyone here better have a good night’s sleep.”

Gwen nodded, and wandered off towards her room. Sleep. What a wonderful concept.

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Dead by the Book

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I didn't ask for a destiny.

Especially one that says that I'm supposed to destroy every god in existence.

It made the name William Creed a curse. Made me turn tail and run from the only home I knew. Left my friend, my favorite ghost, and hoped that the gods would just forget about me.

But now I'm back. Chasing the one good paycheck I've seen in years. Chasing some kid who's in way over his head, searching for a book that could break reality.

I'll have to take on dragons, the undead, a whole cosmos of deities, and my own mother.

Welcome to God Street. Where miracles become realities.

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