Enchanted Ivy

the sinking feeling that she wasn't going to like the answer.

The stone vibrated again, and the voice said, 'I am your clue.'

She bent sideways to look underneath the gargoyle for a microphone and speaker. She didn't see anything. 'Mr. Ape,' Lily said in an even voice, 'are you talking?' She wasn't going to let the Old Boys rattle her this time. They'd rigged another gargoyle somehow.

'Professor Ape, if you please,' the gargoyle said in the same soft-as-sand voice. 'I have tenure.' He chuckled as if he'd made a joke.

'Nice to meet you, Professor Ape,' she said. 'So am I talking through a microphone to someone in Vineyard Club, or is this a recording? Are you interactive?'

The gargoyle sighed. 'I would appreciate it if we could dispense with all the 'you're joking' and 'this can't be true' and 'I must be dreaming' nonsense. Can we simply agree that I'm a magical being from a parallel world and pronounce this lesson done?'

She laughed. At least the voice's owner had a sense of humor.

He sighed again, and the stone beneath her shifted. She wondered how they achieved that effect. 'One of those. Very well. Please proceed with your speech about how I can't be real and how I must be an elaborate ruse involving puppetry and/or robotics. I'll hibernate until you're finished. I must conserve my magic.'

Someone in Vineyard Club liked fantasy novels a little too much. But she could play along. 'What do you mean, 'conserve your magic'?'

His voice brightened. 'Ah, you've decided to be sensible! Marvelous! Let's begin then.' He adopted a professorial voice as he began to lecture, 'First, you must understand that there are two worlds. Parallel worlds, if you will. In many ways, they are nearly identical, but the one primary difference is that your world is inhabited by humans and other related creatures, while my world is inhabited by, for lack of a more precise term, what you would call 'magic creatures.' Are you with me so far?'

'Parallel worlds,' she repeated. 'Magic creatures.' She tried to sound serious and failed. She wished she'd read more fantasy. Mom had stacks of Tolkien rip-offs tucked into every corner of the apartment, but Lily hadn't read a book like that since The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in fourth grade. She'd lost her taste for it the first time Mom's hallucinations involved an elf. Now she felt as if she were bluffing her way through a test she hadn't studied for. Oh, wait, she thought, I am bluffing my way through a test I haven't studied for.

'No need to sound so skeptical,' he said. 'You're talking to a gargoyle.'

Or, more accurately, she was talking to some guy in the basement of Vineyard Club. How gullible did they think she was? Lily glanced down at the sidewalk and wondered if Jake was in on the joke. He was too far away to hear the gargoyle's soft voice. She wondered if he knew about this whole parallel-world story.

'For the record, we academics do not approve of terms such as 'magic creatures.' It smacks of Tolkien and literary invention.'

'Gargoyles read Tolkien?'

'I am a literate ape,' he said modestly.

She laughed.

'Despite many similarities,' the gargoyle continued, 'the worlds are not compatible. There's a particular airborne element that exists only in the nonhuman world. Denizens of that world—my home world—have evolved to be dependent on that element, which we call 'magic' for the sake of convenience. We need a certain amount of magic in our bloodstream to survive, and we need a higher concentration of it in order to fuel our magical abilities.'

'Very interesting,' Lily said, trying her best to sound polite. Someone had clearly spent a lot of time crafting this whole scenario.

'Do you have any questions so far?' he asked.

Yes, she had a million: What did all of this have to do with college admission? Why had the Old Boys invested so much time in this role-playing game? How had her father been involved? Why had Mom drawn the Chained Dragon gargoyle? Where were Tye and the Feeder? And what breed of idiot thought that releasing an uncontrollable mutant monkey with claws, teeth, and a taste for blood on a crowded campus was a good idea? But she didn't dare ask any of those questions. She had to humor these people until her admission was secured. Lily stuck instead to a relevant question: 'If you're from the magic world and need magic to survive, how are you here talking with me right now?'

'Ah, an excellent question!' He sounded pleased. 'There are two ways for my kind to survive in your world. One: With significant training and the correct preparation of rituals, we can transform ourselves into stone. Essentially, we hibernate, slowing our breathing, our heart rate, and the decay of magic in our system. Many of the gargoyles on this campus, such as myself, are magic creatures who have chosen to undergo the elaborate rituals and physical inconveniences in order to remain in this world as ambassadors and teachers to those humans designated to interact with our world.' He paused as if waiting for her to say something.

'That's, uh, very nice of you,' she said.

'How kind of you to notice!' Again, he sounded very pleased. 'I think I like you.'

She hoped Grandpa was listening to this. In effect, this was her admissions interview. So far, she seemed to be acing it. She shot a look down at Jake. He was shooing away a curious tourist.

'The second way for a magic creature to survive in this world is to become a Feeder,' the gargoyle said. 'Feeders drain magic out of others in order to survive. Commonly, this is done via a bite since the magic inhabits the bloodstream.'

So the attack did tie into this whole fantasy game. She touched the puncture marks on her shoulder and winced as they stung. The fact that the Feeder had drawn blood highlighted how serious the Old Boys were about their fake scenario. She wondered how far they were willing to take it. She pictured Tye holding down the vine-wrapped creature. They'd already taken it far enough.

'Their prey is humans,' Professor Ape said. 'All humans have a trace of magic in them, but only a trace. Once it's gone ... the human does not survive. A single bite will kill a human.'

She'd been bitten and survived, so the Old Boys had already slipped up in their story. She guessed that the voice behind the Ape didn't know that. She wasn't going to point it out.

'Unfortunately, draining humans is addictive,' Professor Ape said. 'Once a Feeder has experienced it ...' He sighed, his stone body rippling.

'What does all this have to do with the Ivy Key?' she asked.

'I knew I liked you! No dithering about impossible versus possible. So refreshing! The knights did well to allow your candidacy,' he said. 'If you'll pardon the pun, you've 'keyed' into the correct question: What does a key have to do with parallel worlds?' He sounded exactly like her AP Chem teacher, waiting for an answer.

She considered it. If she were to invent parallel worlds, how would she involve a key? Keys opened doors. 'It's the key to a doorway between worlds,' she said.

'Right you are!' he exalted. 'In this case, substitute 'gate' for 'door,' and you have it!'

She wanted to cheer. She felt as if she'd nailed a pop quiz for a class she hadn't even been taking. She glanced down again at Jake, wondering if he could tell how well she was doing. He snapped a photo with his camera phone and then gave her a thumbs-up sign.

The ape continued. 'Once, our two worlds were separate, but three hundred years ago, a gate was opened between our worlds. A golden era began that lasted nearly a century. Hundreds traveled freely between the two worlds, exchanging knowledge and culture. Princeton University was founded to facilitate this exchange.' He paused as if picturing the shiny goldenness of this 'golden era,' and then he heaved a sigh that shuddered through his stone body. 'But then, due to fear and ignorance on both sides, the gate was suddenly and irrevocably closed with disastrous consequences. Humans, trapped in the magic world, weakened and died. Magic creatures trapped here either died, became gargoyles, or became Feeders. And so it was ... until the first Key was discovered.'

Beneath her, the stone stilled.

'So, where can I find this key?' Lily asked.

No answer.

'Professor Ape?'