Now that she is feeling a little better, Rachel Griffin wants to go home and see her father, who lost a year or so of his memory after their disastrous encounter at his office.
When her siblings are unwilling to violate the campus-wide lockdown due to dangerous fey on campus, Rachel turns to the one person whose movements the school dare not limit: The Crown Prince of Bavaria
Vlad and Rachel travel to England together, to Gryphon Park, an enormous manorhouse on Dartmoor. There, Rachel gives him the choice of waiting or meeting her parents.
Only introducing Vladimir Von Dread to her parents does not go as planned. Her mother knows about his courtship of Sandra—and is not pleased. When she begins to grill him on his intentions, Rachel finds herself terrified that Vlad will think she set him up, but when her father momentarily mistakenly thinks she is the one Vlad is courting—that’s when she truly turns red.
Later tonight, she will sum up the visit in a letter to her sister:
Dear Sandra,
I went to see Daddy today. He seems all right, but I didn’t get to talk to him very much, because both our parents spent most of my visit grilling Vlad (who had escorted me home). Vlad turned rather red but said afterward that Daddy was much nicer to him than he had expected. Mummy was very cold to him. She did not tell me why.
Anyway, Daddy seems to be doing well, but Mummy seemed sad and upset. You should visit her and try to cheer her. Maybe bring her a new hat, from both of us. New hats always cheer people.
Love,
Rachel