Enchanted Ivy (15 page)

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"It appears to be a coordinated attack on Forbes, one of the undergraduate dorms," Jake said. She noticed he was avoiding meeting her eyes. She guessed he didn't know how to talk to her after what had happened by the chapel. Or it could be that he didn't want to talk to her because she was a half breed. Maybe he was simply hiding his revulsion. She wished she knew how to bring back that look he'd worn in the gardens. "Feeders never used to unite like this. Feeders are suspicious of each other. Their strategy typically involves avoiding discovery by either knights or other magic creatures. They prefer to spread out and blend in as much as possible." From his tone, she guessed he was quoting a teacher, maybe even Professor Ape.

"Have you fought Feeders before?" she asked.

His face turned red. "I've had training."

Before she could ask another question, Grandpa strode across the room toward them. "Lily," he said, "you need to stay here."

Mr. Mayfair joined them. "She needs to see the enemy, Richard."

"This is not a typical engagement," Grandpa objected. "She'll have plenty of opportunities in a more controlled situation."

"With her magic level, we cannot leave her here unguarded and uninitiated." Mr. Mayfair's voice was pitched low so only Grandpa and Lily could hear. "You know how some feel. Think how it would look."

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A vein pulsed in Grandpa's temple. "With her magic level, she'll be a tempting snack for any Feeder. If she must come, then I will guard her myself."

Mr. Mayfair shook his head. "I need my best on the front line." His voice was gentle, apologetic even. "You know that." To Jake, he said, "When we reach Forbes, you are to locate a safe vantage point for Miss Carter before you join the battle. She is to observe only."

"But Grandfather--," Jake began.

Mr. Mayfair raised his eyebrows.

"Yes, sir."

Mr. Mayfair laid a hand on his grandson's shoulder. "Good boy," he said. Lily wondered what Jake had intended to say, if he had been about to object to helping a monster. To Lily, Mr. Mayfair said, "Seek out Jake at Forbes. He'll ensure you're safe."

"Thank you, Joseph," Grandpa said. "She's the flower of my life."

Leaving them, Mr. Mayfair mounted the grand staircase. Bellowing to the Old Boys, Mr. Mayfair ordered, "Prep yourselves!"

On cue, all the knights, including Jake and Grandpa, withdrew flasks from their pockets. She heard soft pops as they were all unstopped at once. The flasks were raised up. In unison, everyone shouted, "To victory!"

All the knights drank.

Toast complete, Mr. Mayfair shouted again, "Move out,

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people! This is not a drill. And remember, the campus is flush with civilians. Containment is paramount."

Grandpa kissed Lily on the forehead. "Don't draw attention to yourself," he said. "Find a place to hide and stay there." He then waded into the crowd of knights. "You, you, and you with me," he said, pointing at select men and women. With military precision, the men and women of Vineyard Club filed out the door.

Lily was swept along with them.

As soon as the Princeton knights crossed the threshold of the club, they snapped into Reunions mode: chattering, laughing, hamming it up. She saw Jake joke and horse around with the other students. One of them stumbled down the walk as if drunk. Others strolled. Some sauntered. One group of knights jogged down the street as if they were exercising. A few speed-walked with cell phones to their ears as if they were businessmen on calls. Lily followed the knights to the end of Prospect Avenue and through the 1879 Hall arch.

After the arch, the pack splintered. Some headed for the Gothic classrooms, others veered toward the student center, and a third group walked straight ahead. She lost sight of Grandpa almost immediately. She trailed Jake and his friends into Prospect Gardens, and the radio static hum in her head increased with each step.

"What the hell is that?" she asked.

Ahead of her, Jake's friends were caught up in their fake

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chatter. She slowed, trying to pinpoint the source of the hum. It was almost like music.

As Lily entered the garden, the sound exploded into chimes that rang like a musical waterfall. She spun around in a circle, looking for the source. "Don't you hear that?" she asked. Not waiting for an answer, she followed the discordant music. It led her toward the flower beds.

Long shadows from the evergreens covered half the garden. The other half was bathed in low-angled light from the late afternoon sun. The tulips blazed. The music sounded as if it was rising up from the ground. Lily knelt beside a flower bed, and the chimes crescendoed.

It was the flowers. The tulips were
singing
.

"How very Disney," she murmured. She was proud that her voice only shook a little. After talking gargoyles, she wasn't going to let singing flowers freak her out, right? She reached her hands toward the tulips and brushed the petals with her palms. The blossoms leaned toward her as if her hands were the midday sun.

"They like you," a voice said behind her. She snatched her hands back, and the flowers lazily swung back to vertical. "They have good taste."

Lily jumped to her feet. "Tye! What are you doing here?"

"Stalking you, of course," Tye said with his lopsided grin. "And also, I noticed the knights in orange armor mobilizing and wanted to see what all the excitement was about."

Oh, no.
She spun to look for Jake and his friends, but
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they were gone. "Feeders are attacking Forbes," she said. "I'm supposed to follow and watch!"

Tye's grin vanished. He took her hand. She felt the tiny static shocks run up and down her arm. It felt as if her skin were carbonated. Now, after being in the other Princeton, she knew what it was: magic, his magic, touching her. "You shouldn't go," he said. "You could be hurt. Unless you have secret kung-fu skills in addition to the flowers-think-you're-swell vibe?"

"Plants have never acted like I'm a magnet before," Lily said. She tried to ignore the fact that he was holding her hand. "We own a flower shop; you'd think I'd have noticed."

"You must have never had enough magic in you," he said. He let go of her hand, and she instantly missed it. She resisted the urge to touch him and instead leaned over the flower bed and brushed the tulips again. And again, they danced under her touch.

"So weird," she said. On the scale of bizarre things she'd seen today, this wasn't overly high, but still ...

"At least we now know what you are," Tye said.

She looked up sharply at him.

"You're the one who woke those vines and caught our wrinkly green friend. You're a dryad." He corrected himself. "Half dryad."

The tulips hummed. "I'm ... what?"

"Tree spirit," he clarified.

She stared at him. "I'm part tree."

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"Pretty much, yes," he said happily.

"You turn into a tiger, and I'm part
tree
?" She tried to sound flippant, but the plants betrayed her. As her hand tightened on the stem of a tulip, the flower shot into the air, stretching to twice its height. The blossom swayed back and forth like a cobra poised to strike. "Whoa!" She released the plant and stumbled backward.

Tye caught her as she tripped on the flagstones. Arms around her waist, he steadied her. She breathed in his rain-forest scent.
Soul mates,
her memory whispered. The plants whispered, too, wordlessly murmuring in her head.

"Looks like plants respond to your emotions," he said. She looked up into his golden eyes. "Can you direct them?" he asked. For an instant, caught in his eyes, she had no idea what he was talking about. "The flowers," he clarified.

The tulip was still writhing like a snake.

Tentatively, she reached out her hand and touched the flower. Its petals curled around her fingers. "Shrink, please," she said. The flower quivered, and she heard a wobbly chime. She stroked its petals. "It's okay. I'm okay."

The tulip shrank.

Tye whistled. "Cool."

Kneeling in front of the flower bed again, she spread her fingers to touch several tulips. "Up," she said. Obediently, leaves lifted into the air. "Sideways," she said and tipped her hand to the right. All the flowers dipped their blossoms. "Other way." They reversed directions. "Braid." She twisted

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her fingers against the stems and imagined what she wanted them to do, and the flowers wrapped around one another.

Tye knelt next to her. "How do you feel?"

"Like I have a really lame superpower," Lily said, unbraiding the flower stems.

He laughed. "You did catch that goblin with the ivy."

"I guess so." She wasn't sure how. That had been
before
she'd crossed to the magic world and absorbed its magic. "What happened to him? Did he escape? Did you say 'goblin'?"

"I took him home," Tye said. "He's with his family now. He'll be all right, eventually."

She gawked at him. "You
helped
him? That monkey--goblin--thing gored you, remember?"

"He's a victim too," Tye said. He was watching her with an expression she couldn't read. "He's an addict, not a murderer. Deep down, he doesn't want to kill. I offered him a way to break his addiction."

Wow. That was ... rather heroic. "You save Feeders?"

"You can too," he said. "We can do it together; we can offer Feeders a way out, a way home."

"I ... I don't know." She'd just found out her father had been a tree spirit and she could hypnotize flowers. Now Tye wanted her to ... what? Become some kind of superhero who saved vampiric monsters?

"Lily, I can't reach them all by myself."

"Can't the knights help?" She bet they'd be all over the

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idea of returning Feeders to the magic world. It was a much better solution than knives and swords.

He flashed a wry grin, but the humor didn't touch his eyes. "The head knight and I ... we have some philosophical differences."

Lily raised her eyebrows.

"I think he's an idiot, and he thinks I'm evil demon spawn."

"Oh," she said. "Are you?"

He tilted his head back and let out a mock evil laugh. "Mwa-ha-ha!"

Grinning, she swatted his arm. "Very funny. I'm serious. Why aren't you the knights' Key?"

"Latest reason? I accused the knights of trying to invent something to drain magic from Feeders." He made a face. "Even the gargoyles wouldn't side with me on that one."

"But they've already invented that--they call it a drainer," Lily said. "They were going to use it to drain my excess magic. We were interrupted by the attack on Forbes."

Tye stared at her as if she'd sprouted leaves (which, all things considered, she thought, wasn't impossible). "Say that again?"

"It's in this hidden room. I can show you."

"You can?" His face lit up in a smile. He looked as though she'd just offered him a mountain of chocolate. His smile was almost (though not quite) as brilliant as Jake's smile.

Lily nodded. "I think the door is still open."

"I am absolutely in love with you," Tye said.

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CHAPTER Eight

One of the stone monkeys on the 1879 Hall arch scampered down the brick wall. Tye scooped him up, and the monkey wrapped its arms around his neck. He murmured to it, and then he replaced the monkey on the wall. It wormed itself back into the carving of monkeys and a lion. A second later, it was motionless stone again.

"Friend of yours?" Lily asked. She was pleased that her voice sounded light. A day ago, the sight of a monkey statue climbing off a wall would have sent her running for her medicine.

"I've known the professors my whole life," Tye said. He waved at them as he and Lily crossed through the arch toward Prospect Avenue. "After my mother died, the gargoyles pretty much adopted me."

"I'm sorry," she said. "I mean, about your mother."

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He shrugged but didn't meet her eyes. "It was a long time ago."

She wanted to reach out and take Tye's hand. She didn't quite dare. Instead she walked silently beside him down the sidewalk. Whispers danced in her head, and she brushed the hedges in front of the eating clubs with her fingertips. The whispers spiked into a croon.

"Used to sneak into the classrooms to sleep near the gargoyles," he said. "And I ate a lot of picnics on rooftops. Endured a lot of sunburns. And rain. When your family is gargoyles, you get rained on a lot."

"You slept in classrooms?" Lily asked. "Why didn't the Old Boys take you in? They had to know you were here."

"After the dragon attacked ... well, after that, the Old Boys had less enthusiasm for the magic world, yours truly included," Tye said. "As soon as I was old enough to understand, I kind of took it personally. And I did a few things I'm not proud of. Well, except for the time I nailed their shoes to the ceiling of Vineyard Club. That was rather awesome."

Lily slowed in front of the club. She'd never sneaked in anywhere, not even Grandpa's closet when she'd known it had held birthday presents. (Mom had peeked, reasoning that her brain hiccups would wipe out the memory anyway so it hardly counted.) This, however, was not like peeking at birthday presents, and Grandpa was likely to be much more pissed. "What if they didn't all go to Forbes?"