The Lost Heir (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 1) (40 page)

“Whoa,” Dani uttered.

Jake sprinkled the cloud of shining dust all over Gladwin as she sat in Dani’s hands.

The wounded fairy was obscured in the sparkling cloud of dust. The children watched, holding their breath.

A moment passed, two, three…

All of a sudden, Gladwin shot up out of the sparkling cloud, zooming at top speed with a new and even more beautiful set of wings.

Dani gasped as the fairy spun skyward above them, leaving a trail of magic in her wake. They could hear her little, buzzy-tinkling voice yipping with glee.

“It worked, it worked! Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” She darted around in figure eights while Jake and Dani cheered.

Even the Gryphon looked pleased.

Elated, Gladwin zipped over to Red, as fast as a hummingbird, and kissed him on the top of his beak.

Red snuffled and Gladwin flew away over the treetops, but she was back again in a heartbeat. Her fairy trail of golden sparkles blazing brightly, she floated down to hover in front of Dani and Jake.

“Well, don’t just stand there, you marvelous giant children!” she said. “Hurry! We must go and see the Queen!”

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Her Majesty, the Queen

Derek dragged the groaning, whining Waldrick into the carriage with them and handed him over to the royal guards when they reached Buckingham Palace.

The soldiers clapped the former earl in manacles and leg-irons and dragged him away, ignoring his angry protests of innocence. Derek glared after him, but Gladwin hurried them along, flitting ahead into the marvelous royal home of Queen Victoria.

Jake and Dani were told to wait in a magnificent reception room while Derek and Gladwin went into Her Majesty’s private office to make their reports.

The two of them sat fidgeting in gilded chairs, nervously awaiting their turn. Then Dani glanced at Jake and said, “Criminy. You can’t go in to see the Queen of England lookin’ like that.”

“What?” he whispered back.

She pointed him impatiently to one of the grand mirrors on the wall, and Jake saw what she meant. He hurried to fix himself up a bit, but his hair was sticking out in all directions from flying around in the night sky.

Though the nymphs had splashed them, his clothes had nearly dried, but his tuxedo was tattered and dirty from his being thrown into a dungeon cell and nearly eaten by a Kraken. Excuses, excuses, he thought wryly.

Then the door opened and Derek poked his head out, beckoning to Jake. The carrot-head started to come, too, following him, as always, but Derek waved her back to her seat. “You wait here, Dani. This won’t take long.”

A strange look passed across her freckled face as she sank back obediently into her chair, but Jake barely noticed it.

His heart was pounding at the prospect of a royal audience. As he walked toward the door, he remembered joking around with Derek one afternoon in between their training sessions back at Bradford Park.

“Come on, everyone’s afraid of something,” he had goaded the warrior. “I know you can beat anyone in a fight and slay dragons in single combat—”

“I would never harm a dragon.”

“Isn’t there anything you’re afraid of? Tell me!”

Derek had harrumphed, though his eyes were smiling. “Well, one thing,” he had finally admitted.

“What?”

“Queen Victoria,” he had whispered.

Jake had burst out in laughter. “A little old lady?!”

Derek had shaken his head. “You wait. You’ll see.”

He wished he could convince himself that the Guardian was only jesting that day, but as Jake walked toward Derek, he noted his fierce friend’s cautious attitude, and realized the warrior never said anything he didn’t mean.

“Don’t forget to bow,” Derek whispered as he opened the door wider.

Jake gave him a look
. I’m not stupid
. Uncle Waldrick had taught him that much.

But when he stepped into the royal office and saw Her Majesty seated ahead, he understood what Derek meant.

At first glance, she wasn’t so impressive. A stout lady in her fifties, barely five feet tall, she was dressed from head to toe in black—a widow’s mourning clothes. She had lost her husband many years ago and, famously, had mourned him ever since…and this caused rather a problem for Jake the moment he stepped into the room.

Aw, not now
. He saw the royal ghost from the corner of his eye. Blazes, after everything else tonight, he did not need the distraction of a spirit when those shrewd eyes engraved on every farthing were fixed on him, proud and firm.

Queen Victoria’s mouth was a straight, unsmiling line. Her dark hair, mixed with gray, was very smooth, slicked down on both sides of a rigid center part and gathered in a bun. Instead of a crown, a black lack house-cap was pinned to the back part of her head.

“Is this Our godson?” she clipped out.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Derek answered.

“Come forward, Lord Griffon.”

Oh! She’s talking to me,
he realized with a jolt. Lord Griffon.
Right.
He’d never get used to that.

In
his
mind, he’d always be just Jake.

He executed a bow just like Uncle Waldrick had showed him, then stood up straight. With a slight gulp, he began marching toward Her Majesty in as stately a fashion as he could remember from his training with Henry and Helena.

The Queen inspected him as he approached. For his part, Jake was shocked to find himself in awe of her.

He had never been the most respectful lad, but Derek was right. The old lady had a very commanding presence.

No wonder
. She had become Queen when she was just nineteen. In all the years since then, she had wrangled Parliament, overseen various wars on far-flung continents, survived assassination attempts, commanded the largest Navy in the world, and ruled an Empire on which, as they said, “the sun never set.”

In her private life, she was no less formidable, having raised her nine children as a mother alone after her husband’s death. From her stiff upper lip to her steely spine, the little old Queen of England was not to be trifled with.

Jake halted before her, thankful for once that children were not to speak until they were spoken to.

He kept his mouth shut and waited.

And tried to ignore the ghost of her husband leaning by the wall.

“You certainly look like your father,” the Queen declared. “And you have inherited his powers?”

Jake stared blankly; Derek elbowed him.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Show Us.”

Derek gestured to a nearby side-table with a lamp and various knickknacks on it, including a photograph of the dead German prince with bushy sideburns who was in the room with them, unbeknownst to the others.

Prince Albert, Beloved Husband
was engraved on a silver plaque on the lower part of the frame.

Jake felt sad to realize how much the tough-as-nails old Queen missed her soul mate. But Derek gave him a nod, urging him to begin his demonstration of his telekinesis.

While Her Majesty looked on, Jake took a deep breath. His head still hurt from overusing his powers tonight. He ignored the pain, however, not about to ignore a royal command, especially from the honorary head of the Order of the Yew Tree.

Determined to impress her, he began levitating various objects off the table, including the picture frame, a small vase, and the paperweight that Gladwin was sitting on.

Gladwin giggled as her paperweight began to rise and float. Hands free, Jake made the objects circle gently in the air before setting them down on the lace-draped table.

He glanced at Derek in question; Derek nodded to him in approval.

“Very impressive,” the Queen conceded.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“Guardian Stone tells me you also possess your mother’s powers.” She eyed him keenly. “You can see ghosts?”

This instantly got the dead Prince’s attention.

The ghost was inches in front of him in a whoosh.

Jake leaned a little to the side, distracted at having to look through his whitish-blue spirit body. “Yes, Ma’am.”

“Boy! You zere! You can see me?” Prince Albert exclaimed. He still had his German accent.

Jake discreetly sent His Serene Highness a brief scowl, not wishing to look like a loony in front of the Queen, talking to invisible people.

“Tell her zat I am here!” the royal German ghost demanded.

“What is it, Jacob?” the Queen prompted.

“Jake, Ma’am,” he corrected her in his distraction.

Her eyebrows shot up high into her wrinkled brow.

He realized what he had just done. “Uh, sorry, Your Majesty. Call me whatever you like.”

“Well, thank you—Jake,” she answered in mild amusement. “You seem distracted.”

“Er, yes, Ma’am.” He cringed at having to tell the Queen of England that she was being haunted.

“What’s the matter?” Derek whispered.

Jake was trying to ignore the ghost of Prince Albert, who was now studying him up close through his monocle. He turned and mumbled to Derek, “There’s one here now.”

The warrior gave him a quick, startled stare.

“What does he say?” the Queen demanded.

“Er, Your Majesty, he, er—”

Seeing Derek flounder made Jake even more nervous.

“Hmm?” Her Majesty demanded.

“He’s here,” Jake blurted out.

“Come again?” she said.

“He’s here.” Ruefully, Jake pointed to the picture he had levitated. “Him.”

“Ah, good lad!” The Prince tried to clap him on the back, but his hand went right through Jake’s shoulder.

The Queen had the opposite reaction. She pinned a frozen glare on Jake that seemed to say,
How dare you?

He blanched. “I’m tellin’ the truth, Your Majesty! Prince Albert’s here right now!”

She eyed him in suspicion. “Can you prove this claim?”

Jake glanced at the ghost in question.

Prince Albert stroked his bushy sideburns in thought, trying to come up with something only his wife would know. Nearly everything about her life was reported in the newspapers, so he had to come up with something private, or she wouldn’t believe that he was really there.

Then the apparition smiled. “Say this.
Ich bin immer mit Ihnen, Meine Kleine Fraüchen.”

“What’s that mean?” Jake whispered while the others stared at him.

“She’ll know,” he said.

“Well?” the Queen demanded.

Jake swallowed hard. “He told me to say…” The ghost had to repeat the message in German bit by bit so Jake could spit it out. Then he shook his head. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty, I have no idea what that means.”

Queen Victoria had gone pale and now turned away.

Prince Albert floated over to his wife and bent down to comfort her, his hand resting on her shoulder. “I am always with you, My Little Wife,” the ghost breathed, as the Queen also whispered the words at the same time.

“Meine Kleine Fraüchen.
That’s what he always called me,” she admitted a moment later.

Derek looked at Jake; he shrugged slightly while the Queen stared poignantly into space, trying to see the ghost of her husband right in front of her.

As one who knew grief all too well, Jake felt awful for her.

“Oh, Albert,” the Queen whispered. But after a moment, she pushed aside emotion and quickly gathered herself, returning to her usual stern manner. “Guardian Stone,” she said firmly, “this boy is of untold value to the Realm. See that he is educated in a manner befitting his station and appropriate to his rare talents. Spare no expense. We have need of you, Jacob—Jake,” she corrected herself with the hint of a smile. “You have a great destiny ahead. Your parents were leaders in the Order of the Yew Tree, and We are very sure that one day, you will follow in their footsteps—if you work very hard for your teachers and resolve to prepare yourself well for your future service.”

“I will, Your Majesty!” Jake vowed, elated by her belief in him.

“Good. You can do things hardly anyone on earth can do, and We are certain you will use your gifts in service to the good of the Realm. This is your duty. One that perhaps you never asked for, but one you are well suited to, all the same. The gleam in those blue eyes would suggest you are a true adventurer. Guardian Stone says you enjoyed helping thwart those villains tonight. Is this true?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” he said, blushing slightly.

“Do future missions interest you? Righting wrongs, solving mysteries? Aiding those in distress among the magical folk of our Empire? Well, young man, speak up!”

Jake drew himself up tall and lifted his chin. “Your Majesty,” he declared, “it would be an honor.”

Derek looked at him in astonishment as Jake gave Queen Victoria a very noble bow.

“Excellent.” Her Majesty fought back a smile and nodded as though she had known Jake’s answer even before he did. “Thank you, Lord Griffon. That will do for now. You are dismissed. Gladwin, Guardian Stone. You may go.”

They bowed out, leaving the Queen almost smiling while her devoted Albert floated nearby, keeping watch over her from beyond the grave, just as he had apparently been doing for the past fourteen years.

Gladwin zipped ahead into the reception room. Jake breathed a sigh of relief as soon as Derek shut the door.

The Guardian tousled his hair. “You did well in there. You look a mess, but I think she liked you.”

Jake grinned. He glanced around the reception room, bursting to brag to the carrot-head about how he was going to do heroic things and be sent off on
missions
.

She wasn’t where he’d left her, but he was distracted by a sudden thought. Surely the Queen didn’t intend to make him wait ‘til he was grown up before he could start…

“Where’s Dani?” Derek asked, glancing around.

“Maybe one of the servants took her on a tour of the palace. I’ll go find her,” Gladwin offered.

As she buzzed away to find the girl, who should arrive just then but his cousins, Aunt Ramona, and the twins.

“Jake!” Archie came running toward him ahead of the others. Isabelle walked farther behind with Aunt Ramona.