Chapter Nineteen: Do You Know Him, Too?
Guardians of the Twilight Lands -- The Sixth Book of Unexpected Enlightenment
The Knights’ meeting came to an end. Rachel, Sigfried, and Nastasia walked back to Dare Hall together, passing proctors and Agents patrolling the commons with glowing lux balls hovering over their shoulders. The March night was chilly but no longer icy cold. Overhead, the stars shone crisp and bright. The night’s air smelled fresh with only the faintest hint of wood smoke. The gravel of the path crunched under their shoes.
The two girls hooked their arms and strolled together, with Sigfried circling around them, as he and Lucky pretended that his wand was an incoming missile.
As they walked, Rachel asked, “Nastasia, you mentioned Romulus was correct about the Six Musketeers having outside help. What did you mean?“
“I must say, I am embarrassed I did not tell you about this right away,” replied the princess. “I guess we were all tired after the ball, and you were in the infirmary. Really, you should have called us on the card to tell us where you were.”
“I was asleep much of the time.”
Nastasia nodded solemnly at that and then gave Rachel a kind smile. “I guess that’s only to be expected, under the circumstances.”
“What did Auriel say?” asked Rachel
“Oh, right.” The princess composed her thoughts. “Auriel helped the Six Musketeers directly. Wendy MacDannan had the Second Sight—visions similar to mine. Only she was also given specific weaknesses of the enemy and instructions on how to build weapons to stop them.”
“Ooooh!” Rachel breathed. “So they didn’t just do better research than other people.”
“No. That was a cover, though apparently, they were quite thorough and competent.”
“Wow. And Romulus figured it out. That was smart. Too bad he’s such an eejit.”
“You may repeat that as often as you like,” Nastasia replied, a smile crinkling around her eyes. “He behaved deplorably toward my sister.”
Rachel flashed a returning smile. Then, she grew serious as she thought about what she had just learned. “I wonder if Finn and Agent Darling ever told Mr. March or my father any of this, or if the Six Musketeers kept it a secret all this time?”
“Auriel did not say,” Nastasia replied.
“Who are we talking about?” asked Sigfried.
“Auriel,” said Nastasia, “the young man with very blue eyes I spoke with at the ball.” She looked thoughtful. “The other angel I spoke to back in September had very blue eyes, too.”
“Other angel?” Rachel cried. “In September? You never mentioned this!”
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