As much as I beg my teammates to come with me for an early look-see of the orphanage, they shoot down the idea, too worried Lapis Draca will smell us even hours later. I protest that a potion can render us without any trace of an odor, but the moment I say potion, they all avoid looking at me.
Damn Valentina. Damn that stupid potion.
Since we have to wait until nightfall to make a move, we head to the library for more research and studying and preparing. After a while, the ones more physically inclined opt to spar a few rounds to keep loose, so their muscles won't cramp up. Malak invites me to tag along, but I wave him, Vothos, Lucent, Nea, and Riran off. Now, I'm stuck here with the king and queen. They keep glancing at each other without saying a word, and it's kinda making me feel uncomfortable. Maybe Darius isn't as immune to girls after all. Miyako is pretty. Her hair is silver instead of an orange-red that I think most kitsunes have. It makes me wonder if her tail or tails are silver too. When she brushes her hand through her hair, I spy furry ears that I never noticed before.
“This isn’t going to be easy,” Darius says. “A gargoyle alone is hard enough, but a gargoyle dragon?”
“We’re third years,” Miyako reminds him. “We can handle this.”
He looks up at me before dropping his gaze to his book.
“We can, and we will,” I say, standing and slamming shut a book I’ve already read. “I’m going to go with the others after all.”
Darius grimaces. “You’re just going to leave all of the studying to us?”
“I’ve read all of this already.”
“Yes, but maybe there’s something you missed.”
“And you can see it with fresh eyes.”
I wave to them and hurry to the barracks. The others are all fighting each other, working up a sweat, and I feel out of place here too. It seemed like I was interrupting something between Darius and Miyako, and the others here are just going at it. No one has even noticed I’m here.
Instead of grabbing a sword and joining them, I leave the barracks and wander over to a tree. As I sit beneath it, I’m reminded of my favorite tree at the orphanage. I grab my phone and do something I haven’t done before.
I call the orphanage.
It rings and rings and rings. I’m just about to hang up when someone answers.
“Hello? Hi, this is Mirella. Is Valerie around? Can I talk to her?”
No response.
“Hello?”
“You don’t know where she is. We were hoping she ran off to see you.”
Goosebumps appear on my arms, and I shiver. "She ran off? You're sure?"
You’re sure she wasn’t taken… or worse?
“She was here last night. She was gone come the morning,” the worker says. I can’t recognize her voice over the line. “We searched the entire place for her. She’s gone.”
“Did she bring anything with her? Her clothes?”
“Not that we can tell.”
I hold the phone away as I mumble a curse and then bring it back to my ear. "Did she sleep in her bed last night?"
“Why wouldn’t she have?”
“Was her bed made?”
The worker doesn't answer right away. "Now that you mention it… She got in trouble yesterday because she, once again, didn't make her bed. She had to stay and fix it properly before she could eat."
“And it was just as proper this morning,” I say.
“Yes.”
I give her my number and beg her to call me the moment Valerie shows up, but I know that’s not going to happen.
Swiftly, I race back to the barracks. “We have to go to the orphanage now,” I demand.
“But what about the king and queen?” Riran asks.
“Arm up and get ready to go. I’ll get them.”
I dash out of there and head to the library. Darius and Miyako aren’t talking, aren’t reading, aren’t looking at each other. It’s weird.
I clear my throat loudly. Hata will forgive me.
The two jump. Darius glares at me.
“There’s been a development. Come on. The others are leaving the barracks.”
The fighters meet us halfway, and I launch into my explanation for why I think we have to move now.
“Lapis Draca has kidnapped my best friend.”
Murmurs and gasps ripple through the crowd.
“How do you know this?” Darius demands.
“I tried to get Valerie to promise that she would stay away from the kids’ rooms. The kids have been so scared of the monster that they refuse to sleep there, so the kids have been sleeping with the teens. Valerie didn’t see what the big deal was, and now she’s gone, missing, and I’m sure the gargoyle took her.”
Darius nods slowly. “That settles it.”
“Settles what?” I ask, confused.
“The roof idea isn’t the best of plans, but now we know an area of the orphanage that she’s been keeping an eye on so much that she kidnapped someone from it. You can get us in, right?” the king asks.
I shrug. “I-I think so.”
“So we’ll stay in that room. She’ll come to us. The rest of the plan stays the same.”
My gaze wanders over the crowd that includes a giant, a kitsune, and a minotaur. The rest of us can pass as humans, and if Miyako hides her ears, she can too, but the others… not so much.
"There are ways to hide in public," Riran says, sounding a little hurt.
I grimace. “I wish you didn’t have to hide.”
She frowns, a curious look on her bull face. "I do not want to be hunted down and have my head hung on someone's wall like a trophy."
“Of course not. I just meant that I wish the world at large could accept us for who we are.”
“A problem for another time and most likely not even in our generation,” Darius says. “Are we going to do this?”
I nod and glance past everyone to the barracks.
Malak winks. “I got you covered.” He hands me the sword I’ve been using.
“Thanks.” I glance down at my clothes. “Um, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m going to change into something less… academy.”
Malak chuckles as I dash off, but I don’t care. The dark green dress and black capelet will have the kids asking way too many questions. I hadn’t exactly been the kind of girl to wear a lot of dresses before, but Calli did give me a vest that almost looks like a corset but is for wearing around your stomach, not your chest that I love. I change into a simple top, the corset, jeans, and then a throw on a long trench coat for good measure. It’ll make hiding the sword so much easier.
Thankfully, the others have all changed to by the time we arrive, and even though the ones who don’t look human haven’t taken their potion yet, we head off. When I explain that the orphanage is only three and a half miles away, they vote to walk, and I guess we might as well. The gargoyle won’t make an appearance until nighttime, and we still have hours to kill.
Almost fifty minutes later, we arrive. The lights were long, and we took our time, watching the rooftops, looking for any out of place statues, or at least I was.
Malak opens the creaky gate, just as Arabella Favata bursts out of the orphanage. She’s on the brink of tears.
“What’s wrong?” I ask her.
She looks at me, blinks a few times, and then tilts her head to the side. “Mirella?”
“Yes. Of course.” Then I remember my hair. “What happened?”
“I’ve been fired.” Arabella sniffles. “Are you here because Valerie disappeared? I swear I had nothing to do with that, and nothing to do with the fires, and nothing to do with anything at all!”
“What else has happened?” I ask, but Arabella brushes by, taking short but fast steps.
I glance at the others and do a double take. Vothos is now only an inch taller than Lucent whereas before, he had been at least two feet taller. Riran’s face looks human, and there’s no sign of Miyako’s furry ears anywhere. They must’ve taken the potion sometime during the walk here.
“Do you think she knows anything that might be useful?” Miyako asks.
I shrug. “I just want to get inside.”
“Lead the way,” Darius says.
I march up to the door and knock. So strange. Normally, I would just open it and stroll inside, but this isn’t my home anymore.
It never was.
Mason Zimmerman opens the door and eyes me with disdain. “Mirella, why are you here?”
“I heard about Valerie.”
He harrumphs. “And they are?”
“My friends.”
“Why are they here?”
“Moral support,” I snap.
Mason narrows his eyes. He’s in his early forties and talks in a dry monotone. I’ve never liked him, and I’m sure the feeling is mutual.
“Ever since you left, things have been… unsettling.”
“Since I left?” That long ago? “What do you mean?”
“Strange noises, the children having nightmares… It wasn’t until more recently that they claimed they saw a monster, a monster they are now claiming spirited Valerie away. Can you imagine? Such terrible, wicked children to have such heinous thoughts.”
“Terrible indeed,” Darius says, moving to stand beside me. “May we come in?”
“I suppose.”
I shift to the side and allow everyone else to walk ahead of me. “Mason, have you called the police?”
“No. Why would we? We have no proof she was taken, especially not by some monster, and an orphan runaway… I’m sure the police are much too busy to worry about her.”
I grit my teeth and move on past him.
It's surreal to be back. The place hasn't changed much. I'm what's changed, and I feel just awful that so much evil has gone on here in my absence. I can almost sense the evil dripping off the walls as I head down the cramped hallway.
Most everyone ignores us, but one girl, Ella Stark, peeks out of the teenager’s room and then bull-rushes me. Instead of giving me a hug since we’ve bonded over the countless stories I’ve read to her, she kicks my ankle.
“It’s all your fault,” she shouts, and she rushes away before I can ask her what she means.
The others from the academy stare at me, and a feeling of dread washes over me. What if the gargoyle dragon chose this spot to have her egg because she sensed my magic, my power? What if she came here to ask me to heal her baby, save her egg? What if Ella is right? What if the fires, the frights, the kidnapping are all my fault?