“Good morning, Iolana,” said Radley Staff as he entered the library.
“Good morning, Father,” replied Iolana, turning to the next page of The Girl from Beneath the Earth.
“Still working your way through Inspector Colbshallow’s books?”
“Yes, Father,” she said, turning the page.
“I wouldn’t think you would find them all that interesting. They’re written for young men.”
“They just speak to me,” she said, turning the page.
“Are you actually reading that?”
“Yes, Father,” she said, turning the page.
“How can you read that fast? Do you skim through the words?”
Iolana stopped and took the sterling silver bookmark embossed with the Dechantagne family crest from the lamp table, placing it between pages 43-44 of the tattered paperback, which she set next to the unlit lamp.
“No, I don’t skim. It’s all about training one’s mind to recognize an entire sentence at a time instead of only a single word. People do it occasionally without even realizing it. It comes naturally. For instance, you may read the letters B A S S, but how do you know if that word rhymes with ace or ass? Your brain tells you because it sees ahead to the rest of the sentence. So you read ‘the bass is the largest instrument in the orchestra,” or “the bass fishing is best in the lakes of Booth.”
“I see.” He sat down in the other chair. “So what is this book about?”
“They’re all essentially the same. A plucky Brech hero must make his way through dangerous terrain, fight hordes of frightening monsters, and defeat evil masterminds in order to rescue an exotic princess. This particular princess comes from a hidden world beneath the surface where humans are enslaved by a race of intelligent but evil burrowing insects.”
Mr. Staff laughed. “And this speaks to you? Do you identify with the princess or the hero?”
Iolana shrugged. “All I can say is that I don’t see myself as a burrowing insect.”
“Glad to hear it. Remember, we are going hunting tomorrow.”
“I don’t think I will go this time. I have too much to do.”
“You have to go. I planned this trip weeks ago, and besides, it was your idea. What exactly is monopolizing your time lately? I feel like I hardly ever see you anymore.”
“I’ve been spending time with my friends.”
“It’s not a boy, is it? Do I have to start sending a chaperone with you everywhere you go?”
“I assure you Father, there is no boy interested in me. I’m either too young, or too smart, or too famous, or too stuck-up, or too ugly to be bothered with.”
“You aren’t ugly, Iolana,” he said. “But the rest of those are all true. So you will be ready to go tomorrow at 7:00 AM.
“As you say, Father,” she said, taking up her book again.
“You must help me see to Terra. I’m still not sure about taking her with us. I had the devil’s own time convincing her mother that she should be let out, so you will need to help me.” He stood up. “Still, she seemed more worried about Augie. I think she’s had a premonition that he will die young.”
“That’s silly.”
“Of course it is.”
“It’s far more likely that Augie will outlive Terra or me.”
“Why do you say that? Women usually live longer.”
“I wasn’t speaking of men and women, but of Dechantagnes,” Iolana explained. “Mother was the middle child and she outlived Uncle Terrence and Uncle Augie. Our grandfather was a middle child, the second of four. His older brother was killed in the Bordonian War, while his younger sister died of a fever and his younger brother was shot in a disagreement over a gambling debt. If one were to extrapolate from history, one would have to assume that Augie was destined to survive both his sister and me.”
“Don’t forget, you’re a Staff,” said her father, before he exited the room.
“At least according to my mother and Zurfina,” said Iolana quietly. “Two women, neither noted for their adherence to the truth.”
Sixteen minutes later, Iolana closed The Girl from Beneath the Earth and returned it to the crate sitting along the south wall. She skimmed through the container for the book she would read tomorrow, finally picking up Slave Girl Captive of the Pirates before tossing it back into the box with the realization that she wouldn’t have time for it the following day. The rest of her morning reading was cut short too.
“Kayden!” she shouted out the library door. “Where in Kafira’s name is my Gazette?”
The lizzie major-domo stepped close to her. “Khikhiino tacktotott.”
“No one is to get that paper before me. Khikhiino Iolana.”
“Tacktotott?”
“Not even my mother.”
“You whant I get?”
“No, there’s no sense you getting fired over my newspaper. If you see her set it aside, grab it and save it for me. I’ll read it tonight.”
“Yess Stahwasuwasu Zrant.”
“My name is Iolana. I know you can say it.”
“Lizzie name is Stahwasuwasu Zrant.”
“While I admit that ‘Child of the Sunrise’ has a certain ring to it, I’m only too aware that the same words also mean ‘Pest of the Sunrise.”
Avoiding both the dining room and the family at breakfast, Iolana cut through the kitchen from the back hallway, grabbing a crumpet on the way though. Once out the back door, she ordered a pair of lizzies to wheel the steam cabriolet out of the machine shed. Much smaller than the other cars, the cabriolet had come all the way from Mirsanna. With two large wheels just behind the driver, just in front of the engine, it had two very tiny wheels out in front and was steered not with a steering wheel but with a tiller. Though it officially belonged to her mother, Iolana was the only one who used it, and it was the only vehicle she was allowed to drive herself. The lizzies topped off the water, but Iolana started the coal fire.
“Going?”
The girl turned around to see Esther watching her with her yellow eyes.
“What’s the matter? Aren’t you playing with Terra this morning?”
Esther shook her head. It seemed quite unnatural. Lizzies often bobbed their heads up and down, though it didn’t mean agreement as it did with humans.
“You may come with me, if you wish,” said Iolana.
The lizzie climbed up into the passenger side. The cabriolet didn’t have a back seat. Once the fire was going and the whistle of steam had started, Iolana climbed up beside her. Releasing the brake with her right hand, she pressed down on the accelerator. The arrangement of three foot pedals was so much less complicated than on Brech vehicles. Minutes later, they were scooting down the brick road at close to the car’s top speed of 25 miles per hour. Soon they were pulling to a stop in front of the Result Mechanism’s building.
Iolana climbed down and went around to the back of the vehicle to set the relief cock. Then she walked to the building’s door, unlocking the new padlock that she had put there. She opened the door, but then turned around to look back toward the car.
“Aren’t you getting out?” she asked Esther.
The lizzie shook her head.
“I thought you wanted to come.”
“Not here.”
Iolana shrugged, and leaving the reptilian where she sat, stepped into the building. Walking around to the far side, she opened the coal bin and began shoveling the black rock into the giant firebox. The great machine moved slightly. The fire that had been burning constantly for two weeks flamed up larger with the added fuel. Closing the firebox door and returning the shovel to the coal bin, the girl wiped her hands on her hanky as she walked around to the front of the machine.
“That’s better.”
She had been visiting Professor Calliere’s workshop several times each week for almost a month now. She had managed to test out a number of mathematical equations from Derren’s Advanced Calculus. She’d also arranged a lorry full of coal to be deposited in the hopper that filled the bin. Dovie Likliter had come with her the first few times, but then had lost interest.
As it always did, the machine rumbled into operation. Gears turned. Springs were pulled tight by weights suspended from chains. Then suddenly the front of the machine seemed to split apart. Iolana jumped back as a large metal protrusion rolled out toward her. Like the rest of the device, it was made of a steel frame filled with gears and steam pipes. Then two green lights blazed to life. The girl inched back the way she had come, shuffling her feet sideways. The large protrusion leaned left and the two green lights followed her.
“Eyes,” she said to herself, stopping in her tracks. That made the new appendage a head. The machine had grown a head. How was that possible?
Then she heard the clacking of typing from the side of the machine. With one more look toward the green eyes, she stepped around to the spot just left of the firebox where the Result Mechanism’s printer was located. A single sheet hung from the slot. Though now loath to touch it, she reached out and pulled the paper free, reading the single line printed on it.
I require metal.
“Metal?” she said. “What would you need metal for, and how would I get it anyway?”
The printer began clacking again. It continued even after a sheet of paper, filled with printed words, dropped from the slot to the floor. A second sheet was halfway printed before Iolana reached down and picked up the first. A single word was printed over and over on the paper.
Metal. Metal. Metal. Metal. Metal. Metal. Metal. Metal. Metal. Metal. Metal. Metal.
The second sheet dropped and then a third began to poke out of the slot. The printing continued. Iolana dashed around the machine to the door through which she had entered. She heard the creaking grown of bending metal and looked back to see the entire front of the Result Mechanism turn until the two green lights were pointed in her direction. With a shudder, she slipped outside and shut the door behind her. She was in such a hurry to get back to the car that she almost forgot to padlock the door, but she managed with trembling fingers to get the shackle threaded through the hasp.
Iolana didn’t get in and drive away immediately. She waited until her hands stopped shaking, constantly looking toward the building in front of her. Realizing that she had the two sheets of paper still in her hands, she hurried around to the back of the carriage. She tossed both papers into the firebox, and then reset the relief cock. Plenty of steam still filled the pipes, so she climbed back in the car where Esther still waited and started back toward home, consciously taking Bainbridge Clark Street past the docks to leave as much space as possible between her and the Result Mechanism.
Back at the estate, Iolana went immediately to her room, letting the lizzies take care of the cabriolet. Esther followed her and took a position on the rug in front of the fireplace. The eleven-year-old girl spent several hours doing nothing but thinking. She couldn’t write and she certainly didn’t feel like reading. Uninterested in food, she let both lunch and tea pass her by.
“Iolana?”
“Yes… what?” She looked up, having not even noticed that her mother had entered her room.
“It’s time for dinner.”
“Oh.”
“You will be coming down?” It was really more of an order than a question.
“Yes, Mother,” said Iolana, forgetting to be disagreeable.
Esther got up from the floor long enough to help her into a red and white evening dress. She was the last to arrive in the dining room and found with the exception of her own chair, a full table. Iolana’s mother had moved to the head of the table, her father’s usual spot. He had moved to the seat at Iolana’s left. Likewise, Terra had moved from her usual spot to sit between her mother and Mr. Staff. This left the whole other side of the table available for their guests.
Iolana was surprised but not unhappy to see the Markham clan arrayed across from her. Benny Markham was a totally unremarkable young man, with brown hair and a slightly round face, who had nevertheless managed to land one of the most sought after young women— the former Hero Hertling. With large brown eyes, thick lips, and rich cascades of black hair, Hero was definitely most men’s ideal of beauty, though she had gained about twenty pounds with each of her three children. Between the two of them were three-year-old Senta and her two-year-old brother Benny Jr. In a portable crib at her mother’s side, the youngest Markham child, Hannabeth, slept quietly.
“Hello Iolana,” said Hero. “I was just telling your mother that your Accord Day party was one of my favorite memories. I really wish you had kept up the tradition.”
“What’s the matter, Benny?” asked Mr. Staff.
“I was just remembering that Hero took up with Marzell Lance that day, and I got stuck with Dutty Speel.”
“Marzell is a nice boy, but too young for me,” said Hero. “Besides, Dutty is one of my best friends and is a perfectly lovely girl.”
“She’s no Hero though, is she?” said Staff, winking at Hero’s husband.
The lizzies brought out a salad of nettles and pears. It was not one of Iolana’s favorites, but she was much hungrier than she realized. She tucked in, taking a large slice of pumpernickel when it was offered. She wasn’t paying much attention to the conversation until her mother asked Hero a question.
“Have you heard from the Drache Girl?”
“Yes. I just got a letter, as a matter of fact. It was mostly personal, but she did say she would be home soon. I can’t wait.”
“And how about you, Mr. Markham,” said Iolanthe. “How will you feel about your wife consorting with a sorceress?”
“I have no problem with it,” he said. “Senta’s a good friend. Besides, if Hero has to get out of the house every once in a while, maybe I’ll be able to convince her we need a lizzie.”
“How can you take care of all those kids without a lizzie?” asked Augie. “We’ve got about a hundred of them and the only baby we’ve got is Terra.”
“I’m not a baby anymore,” said his sister. “I’m seven and a half and I’m getting a machine gun and a puppy.”
“I’m three,” said Senta Markham from across the table, holding up three fingers. She was a tiny and slender combination of her parents—her mother’s big eyes and black hair and her fathers round face and ears that stuck out a bit.
“The Colbshallow’s daughter is three,” said Iolanthe. “Iolana is going to start tutoring her next week. Perhaps your daughter could join them.”
Iolana looked up, but didn’t say anything.
“No, no,” said Mr. Markham. “Senta’s too young for school. She needs to stay at home for a couple more years.”
Mr. Staff put a hand on his daughter’s shoulder.
“You haven’t forgotten about tomorrow, have you? I’m going to need your support.”
“No, Father. Um, in fact, I’m looking forward to it now. It will be good to get out of town for a while.”
“That’s the spirit,” he said. “Everyone loves a little adventure.”
Iolana winced at the word, but nobody seemed to notice.
“Will you be taking Esther?”
“I don’t think so. She could use a day resting, I think.”
“Very well. Tell Teska if you think of anything you need.”
The lizzies took away the salad plates and brought out the Beef Dechantagne. Previously known by the Mirsannan title of “filet de boeuf en croute,” the dish of filet of beef, truffles, mushrooms, fortified red wine, and pâté cooked in pastry had been renamed in honor of the Dechantagnes by restaurateur Aalwijn Finkler after a competing establishment had added a similar but inferior dish to its menu. Kayden, who was not normally part of the dinner service, sliced the beef and the other lizzies served the diners.
Iolana retired early, before the guests had left. After changing into her nightgown, she looked out of her front window toward the peninsula. She didn’t know what she was looking for—something ominous perhaps, but she couldn’t see anything but the many tall pine trees.
The next morning, Iolana was up and dressed in her khaki blouse and dress and her heavy boots well before 7:00. She carefully placed her pith helmet over her golden hair before hurrying downstairs to join the others. Terra had a tiny version of Iolana’s outfit, while Augie was dressed in a khaki shirt and dungarees.
The group piled into two of the family’s steam carriages. Mr. Staff drove the red Grayson model B, with Iolana sitting beside him. Augie and Terra shared the back seat with Teska, who had a great deal of difficulty even sitting with his tail in the way. Walworth Partridge drove the task lorry, which carried six lizzies on the two bench seats that faced one another behind the engine. Leaving the Dechantagne-Staff estate, they passed through Town Square and drove down Terrence Dechantagne Boulevard. But it was only when they passed the train station that Iolana realized that this would be a different hunting trip than the last one.
“We’re not taking the train,” her father replied to her query. “I have a different form of transportation planned.”
They continued driving long after the brick street had become a dirt road through the forest. At last, about ten miles past the last other human habitation, they came to a comfortable colonial style house tucked between the large trees. The two steam vehicles came to a stop. As the passengers piled out, the front door of the house opened and out stepped two young men, as alike as two humans could possibly be.
Iolana had known the Charmley twins as long as she could remember. Warden and Walter were nineteen years old and very handsome, with dark hair and steely grey eyes. Just after the war, the twins had literally stumbled onto a fortune when they had discovered a trove of rubies, which they parleyed into cash, first by selling the gems themselves and then finally by selling the secret of the location to a mining company. They had used their newfound wealth to build their dream—a dinosaur ranch. Behind their house was a large fence, which enclosed nearly two square miles of mostly open grassland, dotted here and there with small groups of large trees. Within this fence were iguanodons, polacanthus, ankylosaurs, triceratops, and even a saltasaurus, all in various stages of domestication.
“Well hello everybody,” said one of the twins.
Mr. Staff stepped forward and shook his hand.
“I hope everything is ready, Warden.”
“I’m not Warden, I’m Walter.”
“No, you’re not,” said Iolana, peering around her father. “You’re Warden.”
“Can’t pull one over on you, can we kid?” said the real Walter. “The mounts are ready out back.”
The young men led the group around the right side to the house to the back, where two almost mature iguanodons were waiting. Nearly three tons each and almost thirty feet long, both had large contraptions attached to their backs, each with three seats and a cargo area. The creatures looked up, unconcerned with either the houdas on their backs or newly arrived humans and lizzies, as they munched brush with their beak-like mouths.
“This is Sunny,” said Walter, stepping up to the closest dinosaur and rubbing its chin, “and that’s Kiwi.”
“You’re sure they’re up to the job?” asked Staff.
“Absolutely. These are the only two though. We’ve been working with them for years now.”
“And they’re not skittish around gunfire?”
“They’re calm enough, but don’t go testing them by firing from their backs.”
“All right, fair enough. I’ll ride with Augie, and Terra can ride with Iolana.”
“Then Iolana and Terra can take Kiwi with me,” said Warden. “I take it that Wally is staying with the cars?”
“I wouldn’t get on one of those things if you paid me,” said Walworth.
A voice command from their masters, as well as a tap of a riding crop across the front quarters, encouraged the iguanodons to lower themselves to their bellies. The saddles were still a long way from the ground and all three of the children needed help getting up into them. Mr. Staff managed to mount the beast as though he had been doing it all of his life. The Charmleys loaded the party’s gear and then climbed into the front of their respective dinosaurs. Then they started off, Walter, Mr. Staff, and Augie taking the lead, with Warden, Iolana, and Terra behind. The seven lizzies followed them on foot.
“This is so exciting,” said Iolana. “I’ve never been on a dinosaur before.”
“It’s pretty ace,” said Warden. “Our business is just getting off the ground, but we’ve already booked a dozen hunting trips.”
“I’m afraid,” said Terra. “I don’t want to get squished if he falls on me, like that boy.”
“Graham Dokkins,” said Iolana.
“Don’t worry,” the young man told them. “Walter and I designed these houdas so that it’s very difficult if not impossible for the iguanodon to roll over onto his back. That and we’ve spent a great deal of time working with them.”
They rode on in silence for several minutes. Then Warden turned half around to look at Iolana.
“How are the boys treating you?”
“I’m eleven. They don’t even notice me.”
“They will eventually. You’re too pretty to ignore.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Sure. Heck, I may just wait for you myself. You’ll be quite the beauty in three or four years. Plus it wouldn’t hurt to marry into such an important family.”
“So you just want me for my family connections, do you?” asked Iolana, smiling.
“I also promised myself that I would marry a noted author, so it’s either you or Mr. Wissinger.”
They both laughed.
“Do we have anything to eat?” asked Terra.
Warden pulled a small paper sack from his shirt pocket and passed it to her. She opened it and found it half full of Teddy Sweet Men.
“This should tide you over until we stop,” he said.
“Thanks,” said Terra. “How come you don’t have a girlfriend already. Mama says there’s something wrong with a young man who doesn’t have a girl in Birmisia.”
“Terra!” growled Iolana, but Warden just laughed.
“Maybe I’m just saving myself,” he said.
They traveled about fifteen miles, which by dinosaur took them scarcely more than an hour. At the edge of a great plain they stopped, and when the two iguanodons knelt down, they dismounted. Iolana knew roughly where they were. This plain was part of a stretch of open grassy meadows that broke up the forest from the south of Port Dechantagne and stretched to the northwest where they connected with Iguanodon Heath. Here as with all such open grassy savannahs in Birmisia, scores of huge beasts wandered.
“What are we hunting today, Uncle?” asked Augie.
“I have it on good authority that there are several therizinosaurs in the area. I would really like to have one of their heads mounted for the den.”
“I’ll be happy just to see one,” said Augie. “Ascan Tice says they’re the craziest creatures in Birmisia.”
“It sounds like you gentlemen have a plan,” said Warden. “May I suggest you have a quick breakfast before going off on foot? You have young ladies with you that aren’t used to privation.”
“I’m not so used to it anymore either,” said Mr. Staff. “What do we have to eat?”
The Charmley’s had packed a quite a breakfast, which they set up on a folding table, twenty feet away from where their mounts were munching brush. There was an assortment of cheese and fruit, some soft biscuits filled with grains and nuts, and scones with black currant jam. Nobody seemed to mind that there was only water to drink.
When breakfast was done, the four members of the Staff Dechantagnes started off, accompanied by their seven lizzies, leaving the two young men with the iguanodons. They didn’t go directly across the grasslands, but skirted to the east along the edge of the forest. Utahraptors and other predatory birds wandered in the forest. One had to be watchful since they could dash out and attack quickly, despite their tendency to steer away from lizardmen. On the other hand, tyrannosaurs stalked the grassland and while slower, were unlikely to be deterred by fewer than a hundred lizzies.
“Chessy, keep your eyes on the little ones,” said Mr. Staff, pointing at Augie and Terra.
“Yess,” replied the lizzie, and then muttered under his breath in his native tongue. “I would sooner lose my tail.”
Iolana shot him a sharp look and he hunkered down, chastened at having been overheard. With so few of the human adults understanding them, it was easy to forget that many of the young ones could. Though they didn’t understand it at first, the lizzies had soon learned humans placed a huge importance on their offspring. Even humans who paid little attention to their children would often kill or even die for them. And the yellow king, as they referred to Mr. Staff among themselves, had not only laid waste to entire lizzie villages, he was more affectionate toward the three children of his very large hut than any other human the lizzies had seen. There was no telling what he would do if one of them were eaten.
“You say you know where they are, Teska?” asked Mr. Staff.
“Not for sure,” Teska replied with a shrug. “Khikheto ssoto.”
“He knows where they might be, Father,” said Iolana. “There’s no way he could know whether they’re there now, is there?”
“Quite right.”
They walked for about a half hour before Teska called a halt.
“Wait,” he said, and then took off into the trees.
“I’m tired of walking,” said Terra. “Can’t we ride the dinosaurs some more?”
“We will, dear,” said Mr. Staff, not looking at her but scanning constantly around. “Don’t you want to shoot first?”
“I’m too tired. I want to go home.”
“We can’t go home just yet, but if you’re too tired then Chessy can carry you.”
Teska returned and hissed out an entire paragraph before remembering that Mr. Staff only understood one work in ten. The man looked to his daughter who translated.
“There are two therizinosaurs about a hundred yards ahead. They’re feeding on a tree that they like—I haven’t heard this particular tree’s name before. I suppose it doesn’t matter. We’ll need to move east a couple of hundred yards and then cut southwest so that we can come up on them from downwind. Teska thinks we can do it. Apparently their hearing and eyesight isn’t the best.”
“Excellent,” said her father. “Everyone stay together and keep your wits about you.”
The group trooped through the trees, following the circuitous route the lizzie guide had recommended. Finally Mr. Staff stopped and turned to look at the children. He waved them forward with one hand while placing a finger over his mouth with the other.
About forty yards ahead of them were the two largest feathered creatures that any of the humans present had ever seen. Half again as large as the iguanodons that had carried them, these beasts had long thin necks and small heads and very bird-like faces. Their tales were somewhat shorter, and though their overall body shape was similar to the paralatitans that roamed Iguanodon Heath, they stood on their hind legs. Their bodies were covered with feathers, one a sky blue with a darker blue tail, and the other with darker blue over its entire body. The most remarkable features of the therizinosaurs though were their forearms, each of which sported three claws, each three feet long.
One of the lizzies quickly placed a mat down on the ground and another set up the rifle, which featured a bipod at the end of the barrel. Mr. Staff picked up Terra and carefully arranged her on the mat, so that her shoulder was just behind the rifle stock. He got down next to her, his own body lying on the dark brown earth.
“Now Terra, this is no different than shooting targets. I want you to aim at the dark blue one; I think he’s the male. Aim right below his shoulder.”
The little girl closed one eye and squinted with the other.
“Leave your eyes open. Put your hand up here, so your finger can reach the trigger. There you go. Are you ready?”
The rifle’s report was his answer. The loud crack reverberated through the trees. Staff looked up toward the animals. The male, if he was correct about their gender, looked toward them and stretched out his clawed hands menacingly. His lighter colored companion was rushing away into the trees.
“Did anyone see where that hit?” he asked.
“High and to the right, about four feet,” said Iolana.
He turned back to the girl on the ground. “Try again, Terra. Aim a little lower and to the left.” He worked the action for her.
The rifle jolted the girl as the report rang out again.
“Ouch!”
Looking up again, Staff saw the light blue beast was nowhere to be seen and the other was now following its companion. It bent down close to the ground and was surprisingly fast.
“Did we hit it?” he asked Teska.
The lizzie shook his head from side to side.
“Can we follow it and catch it?”
The lizzie looked at the children and then shook his head again.
“Oh well,” said Staff climbing to his feet. “I’m sure there will be other days.” He bent down and lifted Terra up in his arms. “How’s your shoulder?”
“I think it’s broken.”
“I doubt that. Augie? I’ll bet we could find a few deinonychus. What do you say?”
“Aw! I should have been the one to shoot at those big blue ones! I can shoot deinonychus from the back porch!”
“As I said, lad. There will be other days.”
By the time the group returned to where they had left the Charmleys, they had shot a dozen deinonychus and a couple of velociraptors. At Augie’s request, the lizzies had harvested the sickle-shaped talon on the second toe of each hind foot of all the beasts. This terrible claw was over three inches long on the larger of the two species. Churron, one of the lizzies, promised the boy that he would clean them once they reached home.
The Charmleys had a snack of tea and chocolate biscuits ready for them. Though still full from breakfast, they ate a little and then remounted Sunny and Kiwi for the trip back to the dinosaur ranch. Once there, the Staff party dismounted and carried their gear around to the cars, while the twins took their dinosaurs back to the pen.
In addition to the two steam carriages that the Dechantagnes and Staffs had arrived in, a green car sat in front of the house. Sitting behind the steering wheel was a young man Iolana didn’t recognize, but the back seat was filled with Sherree Glieberman and Talli Archer. As soon as they saw her, they made to get up. The driver hurried down and then lifted them one after another to the ground.
“Well, Iolana,” cooed Sherree with feigned pleasure. “It’s so lovely to see you.”
“Yes, it’s lovely to see you,” said Talli.
“I’m just as happy to see you as are you are to see me,” said Iolana. “Who’s your date?”
“Don’t be silly,” said Sherree. “That’s Tanner. He’s our driver. He’s Zaeri, you know.”
“And you let him drive you?”
“Oh, he’s a very good driver,” she said, missing or unfazed by the sarcasm. “Walter is taking me to tea at Café Etta.”
“Don’t you think you’re too young to date? You’re only fifteen and Walter’s a grown man.”
“He’s almost twenty. When I’m sixteen, he’ll turn twenty-one at that will be perfect. We’ll get married and be the handsomest couple in Birmisia.”
“I guess you’ll have to divorce Talli first.”
“There’s my beautiful tea dates,” said a voice behind them.
Iolana turned to see the two Charmleys approaching.
“We’re ready to go, Walter,” said Sherree, blinking her enormous eyes.
“You’ll have to tell him,” said the twin she addressed, pointing to his brother. “I’m Warden.”
“You could go to tea with us,” Talli told him.
“Sorry. We’ve got chores around this place and I’m the one who has to do them today. Besides, I’m saving myself for a certain eleven-year-old.” He winked at Iolana, and then turned and started back toward his house.
Iolana saw that the others were all loaded, so she said a quick goodbye to Walter, though the two girls could have taken it as directed to them, and then climbed into the car next to her father.
“Are you done talking to your friends,” he asked. “We could have waited.”
“We already waited an hour,” said Augie from the back seat.
“Thank you for your patience,” said Iolana. “I’m done here, but if it’s not too much trouble, I would like to stop by Marigold Street on the way home. I’d like to invite Dovie over to lunch tomorrow.”
Dovie arrived at the Dechantagne Staff estate just after 11:00 the following morning. Iolana had found her not at home when she had stopped, but had jotted down a quick invitation, and then had sent a car for her at the appointed time. Quickly ushering the girl up to her bedroom, Iolana made sure that they were alone, with the exception of Esther, and locked the door. Then she told her all about her experience with the Result Mechanism two days earlier.
“You’re saying it’s growing? Growing and moving?” Dovie’s eyes were like saucers.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Well, it grew a head anyway.”
“You’ve got to tell somebody.”
“Who am I going to tell? My mother? I don’t think so. My father? I don’t think he would know what to do. If only I could tell Senta…”
“Which Senta? I know about a hundred of them.”
“The Drache Girl.”
“Oh. Well, you could tell one of the wizards from the police department.”
“I don’t know any of them and I wouldn’t trust a wizard anyway. I need someone who knows magic that I can trust and there isn’t anybody… except maybe…”
Dovie just looked at her, waiting.
“I do know somebody I could talk to,” said Iolana. “It will take me a while to get a message to him. In the meantime, we need to make sure that nobody goes in the professor’s workshop.”
A knock at the door summoned them to luncheon. Downstairs, they found the dining room once again full. In addition to Iolana, her father, Auntie Yuah, Augie, Terra, and Dovie, there was Auntie Yuah’s friend Honor McCoort, Mrs. Colbshallow and her granddaughter DeeDee. Iolana’s mother wasn’t present but Walworth had taken her spot. Iolana’s father was evidently rewarding him for waiting all yesterday morning with the cars while they hunted.
As they sat down, Augie was regaling his mother and their guests with the story of the previous day’s adventure, playing up in Iolana’s opinion, his own prowess with the rifle. But other conversation and the food soon took her mind off of it. As usual, there was food aplenty. In addition to sandwiches and salads, and of course great mounds of golden chips, there was delicious steamed fish that had come that morning from the fish market.
They were almost ready to begin dessert, when one of the lizzies handed Mr. Staff a small folded paper. As he looked at it, his face darkened.
“What is it?” Iolana asked.
“Not at the table.”
Thirty minutes later, Dovie in tow, Iolana found her father in the parlor. She looked at him, waiting. Mrs. Colbshallow, Yuah, and Honor stopped their conversation and watched. The younger children had all gone to play in the garden.
“Bad news, I’m afraid,” said Mr. Staff. “Warden Charmley is dead.”
Iolana felt the food in her stomach turn to stone.
“What happened?” asked Mrs. McCoort.
“He took one of his newer dinosaurs out yesterday and apparently it threw him. Maybe it wasn’t ready to be ridden. He may have broken his leg. In any case, he was quite a ways from home. His brother didn’t find him until late last night. By then a couple of utahraptors had taken him.”
Auntie Yuah gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.
“How horrible,” said Mrs. Colbshallow.
The room began to spin, and Iolana’s legs slipped out from under her as she dropped to the floor, smacking her head on the coffee table.