remains steady for several minutes.'
Gingerly, she sat down in the chair. 'You've done this before?' she asked.
Nurselike, he rolled up her sleeve. 'Many times.' He selected a plastic tube from a drawer and tied it tightly around her bicep. He tapped the veins in her arm, and then he swabbed them with alcohol. She wondered if he was going to offer her Hello Kitty stickers and a lollipop when he finished. She turned her head as he readied the needle.
Footsteps thumped down the stairs.
Jake burst into the taproom. 'Sir, Feeders are attacking Forbes!' He halted in the doorway to the hidden room. His eyes scanned the shelves, his grandfather, and Lily. 'Whoa, what's all this?'
Mr. Mayfair laid the needle down. 'Multiple Feeders?' he asked.
'At least a dozen,' Jake said. 'They never—'
'Has the area been secured?' Mr. Mayfair interrupted.
'Campus security is en route,' Jake reported crisply. 'Our alums are evacuating civilians.' Mr. Mayfair strode out of the room. Jake followed him without even glancing at Lily. 'Sir, it's a coordinated attack. No report of the new leader yet, but that's the only explanation for their behavior....' His voice faded as they went up the stairs.
Lily wasn't sure if she was supposed to follow or not. She untied the tourniquet around her arm and waited for a moment to see if Jake or Mr. Mayfair returned for her. No one came. She listened to footsteps thump overhead. She bet she was the only one down here ... in a hidden room ... in an electrocution chair. ...
She fled the room.
She halted at the top of the stairs. Wooden panels in the walls had been opened to reveal hidden compartments full of swords, knives, machetes, crossbows, vials of liquids, strings of garlic, packets of herbs ... As Mr. Mayfair barked orders, weapons were passed out and tucked into pockets and underneath Reunions jackets.
Across the room, Grandpa strapped a sheathed sword onto his back and then hid it beneath his psychedelic zebra coat. Lily felt her jaw drop open. She tried to imagine her grandfather swinging a sword. She'd seen him wield pruning shears, slice up a chicken breast, and peel an apple, but that didn't seem the same. One of the prim ladies tucked a dismantled crossbow into an oversize purse. Nearby, Jake was adding a knife to a holster attached to his ankle underneath his khakis.
'Knives? Swords?' she asked Jake. Her voice sounded shrill to her ears.
'Part of protecting civilians is preserving normalcy,' Jake said. He sounded as crisp and stiff as he had when he'd addressed his grandfather. 'Gunfire is too difficult to disguise. Plus too many magic creatures are impervious to modern weaponry.'
That wasn't what she'd meant to ask about. 'What's happening?'
'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.'
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, 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 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
'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.'
