Enchanted Ivy

CHAPTER Eleven

In the club cafeteria, Lily fetched a cup and filled it with Sprite. She watched the bubbles froth and tried not to think too hard about Grandpa upstairs hooked up to IVs and monitors. Jake approached her. He handed her a lid and straw.

"I heard," Jake said. "I'm sorry."

"He'll wake up," Lily said. "He's strong. He runs half marathons on weekends. For fun. With no one chasing him." She tried to fit the lid over her cup. It popped up, and soda spilled over her hand. She stared at it and suddenly felt like crying. She blinked hard. "He'll wake up, and he'll ask me why I didn't help my mother." She watched a tear drop into the soda. "The dryads could help her. They may have some kind of cure. But she won't go with me, even if it's what Grandpa would want...." She sucked in air and blinked faster, forcing herself to quit crying before she really started. It wouldn't help Grandpa for her to fall apart. She met Jake's eyes. "I can't force her to go. She's my mother. But I can't wait here while she gets worse and while Grandpa ... I can't do nothing."

Jake looked as if he was considering how to answer. Or how to flee. He probably hadn't expected her to unload when all he'd done was hand her a straw. "Does she need to go herself?" he asked. "I mean, if there's a cure, maybe it's something you can bring back to her?"

Lily gawked at him. Of course! That was perfect! "Brilliant," she said.

His cheeks tinted pink. "I could go with you," he said. "I ... owe you."

"You don't owe me," she said. "I understand. Your parents ..."

"... were heroes," he finished. "They fought the dragon when they could have run. They saved a woman and her baby when they could have saved themselves. Least I can do is behave like a knight."

She studied him for a moment. "Okay. Let's go."

He nodded and straightened his shoulders, looking like a soldier about to march. "Are you ready now, or do you want to tell your mother?"

"Fifty percent odds that she won't remember," Lily said. "And if she does, she'll only worry. Or hope. Better to go now, find the dryads, ask for their help, and then be back with whatever brain-hiccup cure they have before Grandpa opens his eyes."

Jake nodded.

Lily set the full soda on the table, and they walked out of the club cafeteria and through the main room. The Old Boys positioned on the couches watched them, but no one seemed interested in stopping them. They walked out the door and down the path to the sidewalk. Lily looked back at the second-floor windows. Mom and Grandpa were safe for now. Being with them wouldn't change anything; returning with a cure could change everything. And maybe it would make up for her idiocy at Forbes. I'll be right back, she thought.

Lily picked up her pace, and Jake matched her. By the third street lamp, her knees buckled. She grabbed Jake's elbow as the sidewalk undulated in front of her.

He propped her up. "Lily, are you all right?"

She knew this feeling. "I think ... I need the gate."

Jake wrapped an arm around her waist. "Lean on me," he instructed. Together, they walked to Nassau Hall. They stopped in front of FitzRandolph Gate. Looking up at the stone eagles, Jake said, "This will work, right?"

"Sure," she said. She had no idea. But they'd know in a few seconds.

"So many times I've walked past this gate. ... Now, to stand here, about to cross through ... Intellectually, I know what waits for us, but to actually experience it ..."

How nice, she thought. She felt like death warmed over, and he was having a special moment. She didn't let him finish rhapsodizing. Pulling him with her, she hobbled through the gate. White light flashed, and then she faced a forest instead of Nassau Street.

"Whoa," Jake breathed. He spun in a circle, looking in every direction. "Even the air feels different. Heavy, like it's about to rain."

She took a deep breath. The air tasted wonderful. As she continued to breathe in, she felt tingling on her skin like light fingernails dancing over goose bumps—the now familiar feel of magic.

"You bring a human here," a metallic voice said above them.

Jake tensed. "Run," he instructed Lily.

"You must see the council," the eagle said.

The second eagle pushed off his pillar and soared into the air. Jake yanked Lily toward the forest. "Go," Jake said. "I'll cover you." With a screech, the eagle dove straight toward them. Jake tensed, ready to lunge at the bird.

"Stop!" Lily said. "We want to see the council!"

The eagle veered away.

"We do?" Jake asked.

"Do you know how to find Mom's family?" she asked him.

"No, but ..."

"They're good guys too," Lily said. "Remember?" Taking Jake's hand, she led him through the side gate and across the yard. On his pillar, the first eagle preened his wings. His feathers clinked like metal.

Crossing the yard, she brushed her hand against the bark of an oak tree and was comforted by a faint, wordless whisper. She'd feel better soon; she'd already absorbed some magic. She wished she'd made sure that Mom had taken her dose.

She wondered how soon Jake would feel the effects of the magic.

Firmly she reminded herself that she'd be back at Vineyard before it was an issue for either of them. She'd talk to the council, find the dryads, and return to Mom. Quick errand.

As they approached, the double doors to Nassau Hall swung open, and the stone man filled the doorway. Beside her, Jake tensed again. Lily's mouth felt dry. She'd forgotten how very inhuman the stone creature looked. She tried (and failed) to find eyes in the mass of pebbles that rattled across his face. "I ... we'd like to talk to the council," she said.

"You return, and not alone," the stone man said. She shuddered at the sound of his voice, like bones being ground in a mixer. He beckoned to them, and Lily and Jake climbed the steps and walked into the marble-walled foyer of Nassau Hall.

He whispered in her ear, "Are you sure about this?"

Lily whispered back, "No."

Before Jake could reply, the rock man shifted, the stones in his body tumbling as if in an avalanche. A sharp rock pointed like an index finger at the marble floor. "You will leave your weapons here," he said.

"I don't have—," Lily began.

"Him," the rock man said.

Jake hesitated, but then he reached under his shirt and removed a knife.

"All of your weapons."

Out came two more knives. "I'll need them back," Jake said.

The stone man didn't answer. He led Lily and Jake into the sun-dappled council room. Only three council members were present: Tye's father, the elven woman, and the unicorn. Tye's father and the elf occupied two of the thronelike chairs, while the unicorn stood by the window in a shaft of sunlight. He shone with a soft glow.

Jake swore under his breath. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him touch his belt where a knife used to be. "Good guys," she said softly to him.

"So you say," he whispered back.

The tiger man curled his lips back as soon as he saw Jake. "Why are you here?" He turned to the other council members. "This is an insult—"

"He's with me," Lily said quickly.

Tye's father fixed his orange cat eyes on her.

She shrank back. "I didn't know I shouldn't bring him. I thought ... You guys are allies."

He snorted. "Have you come to drain our magic, ally? Go directly to the source?"

"Allow them to speak," the unicorn said. His voice was just as beautiful as Lily remembered, like listening to a waterfall. "Perhaps they have come to explain."

The elf raised her delicate eyebrows. "They are quite young for ambassadors. But please, do speak. I for one would love an explanation as to why the knights feel it is not morally reprehensible to murder for magic."

Jake bristled. "We're knights, not murderers."

"I see," the elf said. With her elbows on the chair's arms, the elf propped her chin on her hands. "So you deny that you drain magic from your prisoners of war?"

Lily winced. She hadn't thought about the fact that Tye had already come here with that bottle of magic. She jumped in. "This isn't why we're here."

"It should be," the tiger man growled. "You, Lily Carter—you survived by drinking this stolen magic. Like a Feeder."

Feeling her face flush bright red, she thought of the unicorn that Mr. Mayfair had drained. "I didn't know," she said.

"You were an 'innocent' Feeder," he mocked. "You had no idea of the cost of your survival. You were blithely living your days unaware of everything around you." He pointed a clawed hand at her. "Perhaps you have fooled my son, but whatever game you play will not fool me."

Jake's hands clenched into fists. "She is innocent."

"And you, my dear boy?" the elf said. "Have you never tasted magic drawn from the veins of a dying addict?"

"We do what we must," Jake said. "We're at war."

Sorrow in his beautiful voice, the unicorn said, "Then you admit it. You not only drain the magic but you consume it."

"Vile," the elf said.

The tiger man growled, "Instead of fighting the Feeders, you have chosen to become Feeders."

"We have not!" Jake said. "Grandfather was right about you. You'd rather see humanity suffer and die than harm a single monster. Feeders are the bane of humankind and must be stopped at all cost."

"Or perhaps it is the knights who should be stopped," the tiger man said.

Lily wanted to scream. "Please," she said. "I'm here for my mother. She's a dryad, and I need—"

The elf rose from her chair, cutting Lily off. "We do not condone Feeders of any kind. We must summon the full council, and we must declare the alliance void."

Jake and the tiger man paid no attention to her.

"You want to stop us?" Jake said to the tiger man. He crouched as if preparing to fight. "It's our duty to defend humanity from the likes of you."

"You'd challenge me, boy?"

"Just try me." Reaching behind his back, he drew a hidden knife.

Lily shouted, "No!" as the tiger man leaped off his throne and transformed midair. A massive Bengal tiger slammed into Jake's chest, knocked him backward, and then reared above Jake. Shielding his face with one arm, Jake stabbed up at the tiger's chest. The tiger batted the knife away, and it clattered across the marble floor.

Everyone stared at it in silence. Jake's breathing echoed, fast and ragged.

"Enough," the unicorn said. "You have better control than this. Attacking children in the council chambers. What has gotten into you? Release him."

The tiger shifted back to almost a man. His clawed hands continued to pin Jake to the floor. "You have your mother's eyes," he said. "It is a shame you do not possess her heart. Or her intellect." He released Jake.

"Child," the unicorn said to Lily. "Tell us why you have come."

"For my mother," Lily said. Quickly—before they could fight again—Lily told the council about her mother's brain hiccups and how her grandfather believed there was hope. She asked for their help in finding the dryads.

"Lies," the tiger man said. "Or truth mixed with lies. We don't know how deep the corruption runs. The knights could plot against us. These children could be pawns, sent to distract us before an invasion."

The unicorn tossed his mane. It reflected light in a spray of colors, like a burst of water droplets in sunlight. "We've heard nothing that suggests an invasion. You are letting your personal biases blind you," he said. "You look at this boy, and he reminds you—"

The tiger man roared. "We will not discuss this in front of them."

The elf nodded at the stone man. "Take them to a waiting room, please, and convene the council. We must vote on the future of our alliance with the knights. This evil cannot be ignored."

The stone man clamped his hand on Jake's shoulder. Jake tried to twist away, but the stone man dragged him toward the door. Jake shouted, "You can't do this! I'm a knight of Princeton!"

As the stone man passed Lily, he snagged her arm.

"Wait!" Lily said. "All I want is to help my mom. I'm not part of your battles."

Silent, the stone man pulled them both out of the council room.

As he dragged them downstairs, Lily clutched at the railing. Her feet slipped on the worn steps. "Please, you have to listen," she begged the stone man.

Jake punched the stone arm that held him. "I demand you release me!"

"If you won't help me find the dryads, at least help me go home," Lily said. "I can't stay here. My mother needs me."

Unimpressed with both of them, the rock man deposited them in a small, gray room and shut the door. Lily tugged on the door handle. "Please! Let us out!"

"Stand back," Jake said. He rammed his shoulder against the door. It didn't budge. He tried again. Nothing. A third time.

"Why did you attack Tye's father?" Lily asked. "What were you thinking? This wasn't supposed to be about your stupid war with Feeders; this was about my mother!"

Jake stopped and blinked at her. "I ... oh, whoa ... I just ..."

Lily sighed and let him off the hook. "You were baited. Tye's father went after you as soon as he saw you. I don't know why. He wasn't that unreasonable when I met him before. Scary, yes. Irrational, no." Changing the subject, Lily waved her hand at the cell. "I don't suppose you had a training exercise on this?" She tried to sound light, but her voice cracked.

"Several," Jake said. He picked up a chair and smashed it against the wall. He selected a chair leg out of the wreckage and brandished it like a sword.

"What—," Lily began.

The door clicked and opened. Jake lunged forward, swinging the chair leg at the figure in the doorway. The figure leaped backward and said in a mild voice, "I rather liked that chair."

Lily grabbed Jake's arm. "Jake, don't!"

Tye poked his head into the room. "Coast clear, or is Pretty Boy still playing baseball?"

Jake continued to hold the chair leg like a bat. "Stay behind me, Lily."

"It's okay, Jake," Lily said, squeezing past Jake. She threw her arms around Tye's neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist. "You found us! How did you find us?"

"He's a clever little tiger boy," Jake said behind her.

She released Tye's neck. He was slower to withdraw his arms. Lily felt a blush creep onto her cheeks and was glad that her back was to Jake. Maybe she shouldn't have jumped into Tye's arms quite so enthusiastically. She barely knew him, after all. The tingle she felt every time they touched—that was just the feel of magic or very enthusiastic static cling, not a sign of destiny.

Ignoring Jake, Tye answered Lily. "Father likes to stick me in here whenever the council debates whether or not I behaved appropriately on my latest trip to the human world. Not a fan of waiting, so I borrowed a spare key." He shrugged. "We Keys are supposed to open doors, after all."

"Your council's security is lax," Jake said disapprovingly.

"You're welcome to stay and lodge your complaint," Tye said. He nodded at the room. "This isn't a cell, though; it's just a waiting room. If the council believed you were a threat, then your lodgings would have been much more secure. Guess you were voted harmless, Pretty Boy. Congratulations."

"I could show you 'harmless.' ..."

Lily shot a look at the staircase. Any second, the stone man could thump down those steps and throw them into a real cell. "Guys, can we chat about this after we escape?"

Tye executed a courtly bow. "As my lady wishes." He crooked his arm and looped her hand through as if escorting her to a dance. He then strode down the hallway. She had to half jog to keep pace. His arm muscles, she noticed, were tense under her fingers. He wasn't nearly as cool and collected as he sounded.

Jake trailed behind them. "Why are you helping us?"

"I'm helping Lily," Tye clarified. "Who are you?"

"Her guard," Jake said.

"Nice job on that," Tye said.

"You can't trust him," Jake said to Lily. "He refused to swear allegiance to Vineyard. He hasn't been through our training. All the trainees are told to keep our distance. He's a wild card. For all we know, he could be leading us into a trap."

Considering they'd just come from what was essentially a cell, Lily found it hard to get worked up about that idea. "He's only lied to me once or twice," she said.

"That you know of," Tye added cheerfully. He shoved his shoulder against a door, and it popped open. He ducked through it.

"Tell us why you're switching sides," Jake said. He clamped his hand down on Lily's shoulder before she could follow. "Or we go no farther. I won't let you endanger Lily."

Lily stared at him, her wannabe knight in shining armor. He'd come a long way from calling her a monster.

"Your pretty boy seems to have some trust issues," Tye commented to Lily. To Jake, he said, "I'm a Key. We don't have sides. If we pick a side, we die. One of the many perks. Besides, aren't we supposed to be allies?"

"Please, Jake," Lily said. She touched his arm lightly. "I don't have a better plan. Do you?"

Jake opened and then shut his mouth. He released her shoulder.

She followed Tye through the door, and Jake followed her. He shut the door behind him, and the three of them hurried down a hall that looked like a stretch of basement: pipes on the ceiling, concrete floor, gray walls.

"So how did you piss off my esteemed paternal figure?" Tye asked.

She hesitated, not quite ready to admit that they might have nailed the coffin shut on a centuries-old alliance. "I'd guess it was Jake's knife."

Jake agreed with her. "He did take exception to the knife."

"You sneaked a weapon into council?" Tye whistled. "And they only put you in a waiting room? Wow, you must be really bad with a blade."

Lily winced.

"Nearly sliced open that monster you call Father," Jake said.

To her surprise, Tye laughed. "Wish I could've seen the look on his face."

"You dislike your father that much?" Lily asked.

"Pretty Boy never would have nicked his fur," Tye said. "But it's been a long time since anyone has done anything but cower in front of my father."

"Including you, I assume," Jake said, disgust dripping from his voice.

"Absolutely," Tye said. "I'm not suicidal."

They turned the corner and faced more corridor. The dull gray hall looked as if it stretched on for the length of a football field. It ended in shadows and a red EXIT sign.

When they reached the exit, Tye put his finger to his lips. He pushed open the door and led them into a carpeted hall. Office doors lined either side. At the end of the hall was a wooden door with a window. Daylight shone through—it was a door to the outside.

"Where are we?" Lily asked.

"Shh," Tye said.

Jake answered, "Stanhope Hall, next building over from Nassau."

Tye glared at him. "What part of 'shh' was unclear?" he hissed. He peered into one of the offices. "Lucky that no one is here," he said. "We should have been intercepted by now."

"You expected to get caught?" Jake asked.

Tye shrugged. "It was more than likely. Usually, these buildings don't empty out."

"You still trust him?" Jake said to Lily.

"Yes," she said simply.

Lily walked toward the sunlight that poured through the window in the door. Both boys blocked her before she could go farther.

"You scout; I'll guard," Jake said.

"Logical," Tye agreed. He darted out the door before Lily could even voice an opinion. In a few seconds, he was back. "Garden clear."

Lily stepped outside with Jake close behind her. She tilted her face up to the sun. Plants around her crooned and hummed. "Jake, how do you feel?"

He flashed his dazzling smile. "Ready for anything."

"Any headache? Spots in your vision? Trouble catching a full breath?"

He frowned. "I—"

Tye clapped him on the back. "He's a knight. Feels no pain."

Lily thought of Grandpa in the hospital bed and frowned. She felt Jake's eyes on her. "We'll be back before he wakes," Jake promised. He pointed to oak trees rising behind a brick wall. "That's the yard. Gate is there."

A green door led through the brick wall to the yard. Motioning for Jake and Lily to stay back, Tye crossed the garden, cracked open the door, and peeked through. Lily leaned against the brick. Moss tickled her shoulder. Absently, she petted it. It cooed back at her.

"Clear," Tye whispered as he tiptoed back to them. "But we'll want to run."

Jake nodded.

Lily stepped away from the wall, and the moss that had curled around her ripped as she moved. She heard it shriek as it tore. She looked at the moss and then at the door. "I can't leave yet," she said. "I have to find the dryads." She told Tye about her mother, the brain hiccups, and Grandpa's plan. "All my life, Grandpa and I have taken care of her.

And now I have to do this. I have to find out if the dryads can help her. Grandpa would never forgive me if ... Do you understand? There's no guarantee I'll ever get another chance at this."

Tye nodded. "Knew you were no fragile flower."

She exhaled a half snort, half laugh. "Really? Plant jokes? Now?"

"We can find the dryads in the forest," Tye said.

Jake snorted. "Brilliant deduction, Tiger Boy."

"You don't have to come," Tye said. "Gate's right there."

Jake merely glared at him. "Lead on, kitty cat."

Tye crossed the garden in the opposite direction from the gate, and Lily and Jake followed. Stepping onto a stump, Tye vaulted onto the brick wall and balanced catlike on the top. He held a hand down to Lily. She grabbed it and climbed up next to him. Hand in hand, she and Tye hopped down to the other side. They landed in a bed of ivy.

Tye didn't release her hand. "We'll make them help your mom. Don't worry."

She felt her throat close up. She nodded.

"You're not alone in this," he said. He leaned closer. His eyes bored into hers. His lips were so close that she could feel the flutter of his breath. "You never have to be alone again." She wondered if he was still talking about her.

Jake landed beside them, and Tye let go of her hand. She remembered how to breathe. "Everything all right?" Jake asked.

"Fine," Tye said.

Lily avoided Jake's eyes. "Let's go." She set off at a run. The boys followed her. Together, all three of them plunged into the woods beyond campus.