Chapter Ten: Twelve Pairs of Gloves
Guardians of the Twilight Lands -- The Sixth Book of Unexpected Enlightenment
Thursday was Leap Day, and the next day would be Kalends. Classes ended at noon, and the afternoon was given to festivities and games, or would have been, were it not for the threat of rogue fey and the terrible weather lightning imps had been throwing at the island for four days—not to mention the danger of Dr. Mordeau seeking revenge, which still had not been announced. After talk of canceling the festivities, it was decided they could be held in the gym.
The Knights of Walpurgis meeting for that evening had also been canceled, to Rachel’s dismay. She did note that the next meeting would fall on March seventh, Gaius's birthday. They would finally hold the elections for second-in-command, the position they had nominated candidates for at the very first meeting she had attended, back during the first week of school.
She hoped Gaius would win. It would make a fitting present.
Freed from the need to run the Knights that evening, Vlad had invited his people to lunch in New York City and had obtained permission for them to go. Rachel, who had not been invited, ate with her classmates. The dining hall had been hung with laurel boughs in preparation for Kalends—technically, the Kalends of March. There were no Vestals and no Eternal Flame at Roanoke, but all the hearth fires would be extinguished and relit. A special holding pen had been prepared in the menagerie for the hearth salamanders, where they could cavort together. They would be gathered up from the dorms and taken to the pen tonight. Everyone was hoping the weather would remain on the warmer side for one more day.
If it fell below freezing, with no hearth fires and no salamanders, it would be one cold night.
In the morning, a real Vestal Virgin would come from Rome and rekindle the fires. If they were lucky, she would come very early, and the heat would only be off for a short time. If they were not lucky, it would be a very cold day.
The Die Horribly Debate Club discussed this over lunch, amidst the booms of thunder. Kalends was a sacred day, even among the Unwary; so even Sigfried and Valerie knew it marked the beginning of the nineteen-day pilgrimage of the monks of the god Mars. These monks might choose to join the Vestals and visit the school, or they might not. Every year, their travels were different.
Rachel returned to the kitchen for a second helping of French toast. On the way back, she stopped off to say hi to both Agent Standish and Mr. Fuentes, but neither of them had heard any news about what the Wisecraft intended to do about the failure of the Roanoke Covenant. She paused with the gentlemen for a few minutes, chatting with Carlos Fuentes about the final outcome of the recent Winter Olympics. She considered surprising them by revealing that she knew about Dr. Mordeau’s escape, in case she could finagle additional information out of them but decided against it. With a sigh, she returned to her friends.
Rachel, Siggy, and Valerie, by silent agreement, had not mentioned the escape of Dr. Mordeau to their friends. Rachel had shared the information with Gaius but had been a bit disappointed when he told her Dread already knew. Not only did she lose the pleasure of revealing this astonishing bit of news, but it smarted that Vlad had learned the information, most likely from his father, and neither he nor Gaius had seen fit to share it with her.
When she sat down again, her friends were still discussing Leap Day and Kalends.
“Isn’t it funny,” Joy asked the princess, “that all the big holidays whose names have to do with the calendar are in March? My sisters and I always laugh about that.”
“I’m not certain I perceive your meaning,” the princess replied amiably as she sipped her tea. “Can you elucidate?”
“If that means make more clear, yeah. If it means elude something, probably not,” Joy quipped back. Then, she grinned. “Just kidding. I know what elucidate means. Yes. Kalends is a holiday we celebrate on the first of March, but it really means “the first of.” In the old days, like Rome, every month had a kalends.”
“It’s also the origin of the word calendar,” interjected Rachel.
A bolt of lightning jagged by the tall windows, illuminating the dining hall, followed by a clap of thunder. When they could hear again, Joy nodded. “Then there’s Ides. Ides means the middle of the month, so every month also had an ides. But we only celebrate the Ides of March.”
“Ah, so true!” Nastasia said. “I believe you and your sisters are onto something.” She gave a sweet smile. “Perhaps it’s a plot.”
“A plot by March!” cried Joy, delighted.
“Is that Cain March?” asked Valerie. “If so, he may be a bit older than I thought.”
“Cain March, the Grand Inquisitor?” Zoë asked, sitting with her chair tilted back and her feet resting on the table. “The final authority for all law enforcement in the World of the Wise? Yeah, nah. I bet he’s secretly immortal. He’s certainly scary enough.”
“Now, now,” Nastasia admonished gently. “Mr. March is a family friend. I would prefer you not disparage him.”
“I doubt the Grand Inquisitor would think saying he was scary was disparaging,” countered Zoë. “He clearly works at it.”
“Works … as in standing before a mirror and practicing looking bone-chillingly terrifying?” asked Valerie, mimicking gazing into a mirror.
“Exactly,” replied Zoë with a decisive nod.
“I don’t think he’s so bad,” said Rachel. “He’s my father’s boss. And his wife is very nice. Remember, we met her in dreamland when we were escaping from the Veltdammerung cultists at Beaumont.”
“Oh, we did.” Zoë shuddered. “At the time, I didn’t really make the jump from Eve’s mom to ‘Wife of the Grand Inquisitor.’ I had other things on my mind—like that I might be dying.”
“Speaking of the Ides of March.” Valerie stood up and took a picture of them. Zoë caught sight of the camera and threw her hands up in front of her face. Her chair came down upon all four legs with a bang. “Isn’t that the first day of spring break?”
Rachel nodded. “Roanoke Academy Spring Equinox Break begins at sundown before the Ides and runs through Fey New Year, which is known to us mortals as April Fool’s Day.”
“Best day of the year,” quipped Siggy.
“It’s the boss’s birthday,” explained Lucky.
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