Enchanted Ivy

Her throat raw from screaming, Lily lay panting on the walkway. Her skin still fizzled with magic, but behind her, she heard the whiz of cars mixed with the hum of trees. She turned her head to see the shops of Nassau Street.

One of the stone eagles spoke. 'Welcome home, little Key.'

'Thanks,' she said automatically. Looking up at the twin eagles, she asked, 'You see everything that happens here, don't you?'

'Of course,' the same eagle said.

Lily got to her feet. 'Do you remember my mother? Rose Carter? The last time she crossed through the gate ... did anything unusual happen?'

Both eagles were silent.

She started to think that they weren't going to answer her.

'You were a baby in her arms the last time she crossed,' the first eagle said. 'Your father was with you, as was Jake Mayfair's mother. Jake's father met them here. He was a surprise, I remember.'

'Yes,' the second eagle said. 'There had been animosity between him and his former wife, but he had come to reconcile.'

Lily remembered what Grandpa had said, that Jake's parents had been 'only beginning to find peace.' She felt her stomach clench. Half of her didn't want to hear what happened next; the other half was pretty sure she already knew. 'Then what?'

The stone eagles fell silent again.

'Please, I need the truth,' she said.

'Humans call it the FitzRandolph Gate Tragedy,' the first eagle said.

'It's not our place to tell you this,' the second eagle said.

The first eagle agreed. 'It is not. Ask your grandfather.'

'He's hurt,' Lily said. 'You have to tell me. Mom doesn't remember. And I have to know—why didn't she go back?'

But the eagles didn't speak again.

She hugged her arms. Even though it wasn't cold, she couldn't stop shaking. The dryad queen had been right about one thing: The last time Mom had walked through that gate, something had happened that changed everything. Lily had a very good guess about what that 'something' was. If she was right, then her parents, Jake's parents, and the eagles hadn't been the only ones at the gate that day.

Lily started walking without telling her feet to move. Around her, the oak trees whispered and hummed. She walked faster. As she passed through East Pyne, the ivy hissed and buzzed. She began to run.

Crossing the plaza, she fixed her eyes on the Chained Dragon, still swollen from their earlier encounter. The stone serpent dominated half of the arch. His tail curled among the carvings of grapes, leaves, birds, and foxes, and his stone face with the sad puppy eyes hung low, just above the door.

She halted underneath him. 'I'm back,' she called up to him. 'Wake up!'

Above, the stone tail flicked. It clattered against the stone leaves that surrounded the dragon. Bits of dust rose into the air and caught the sunlight.

'I want all the truth this time,' she said.

'Come closer,' the dragon said.

Lily snorted. 'Do you think I'm an idiot?'

'You returned. That means you are either foolish or desperate.' His voice slid around her, and despite expecting it, Lily shuddered. 'Do you not yet know what I am capable of?'

'I think I do,' she said. 'I think you killed my father.'

The Chained Dragon smiled. 'Oh, yes. Yes, I did.'

Lily rocked back on her heels. She couldn't speak. Sixteen years ago, her father hadn't died in a car accident. He'd been killed by a dragon.

So that was the event that had changed everything.

The dragon was not done speaking. 'Killing him was of course not my intent.'

'Oh?' So she was supposed to believe it had just been an accident after all? Oops, the dragon accidentally attacked? She'd lost her father. Jake had lost both his parents, including the woman who was both his and Tye's mother. ...

'My intent,' the dragon said, 'was to kill you.'

Unable to think, unable to breathe, Lily ran into the chapel. Her footsteps echoed on the stone floor. She ran between the pews. Blue light from the stained-glass windows tinted the shadows. The silence closed around her.

Inside, she couldn't hear the horrible laugh of the stone dragon. She couldn't hear the hum and buzz of the trees and ivy. Inside, she could breathe again. She sank down into one of the pews and dropped her face into her hands.

Behind her, Lily heard footsteps. She didn't turn. She didn't want to face some random alum who wanted to tour the chapel or a priest who didn't realize that his sacred church was a prison for a murderer.

A hand landed on her shoulder, and Lily jumped up and spun around.

'Calm,' Mr. Mayfair said. He spread his hands to show he meant no harm. 'I didn't intend to startle you.'

She wanted to leap up and hug him, but in his starched Brooks Brothers shirt, he wasn't the sort of man that one hugged. 'How did you ...'

'Know you were here?' he said. 'The eagles reported that you'd returned. I saw you outside the chapel on my way to the gate to meet you.'

In a whisper, she asked, 'Grandpa?'

Mr. Mayfair patted her shoulder. 'Same. Unresponsive but still stable.'

She sank her head into her hands again.

'You were talking to the dragon,' Mr. Mayfair said. 'He upset you.'

'Is it true?' she asked, looking up at him. 'Did he really kill ...' At his pained expression, Lily remembered that Jake's father was Mr. Mayfair's son. 'I'm sorry,' she said. 'The dragon said ... he said he was trying to kill me .'

Mr. Mayfair sighed. His shoulders dipped, and he suddenly looked old and tired, as if the weight of the cathedral roof had settled onto his back. 'I knew you would eventually discover that.'

'My mother ... she could have continued to carry me back and forth. She could have kept her memory, her sanity. But she didn't return to the magic world.'

'She thought you would be safest if you had a normal life, away from the gate,' Mr. Mayfair said. 'She convinced your grandfather that it was worth the cost to herself. She allowed her family to believe she was dead, and she let herself decline.'

For a minute, Lily was silent, digesting that. 'But ... but once the dragon was imprisoned again, why didn't she return then? Was I still in danger?'

Mr. Mayfair studied her. 'You are a bright thing, aren't you? It's little wonder that Richard is so proud of you.'

Lily felt a lump in her throat. Grandpa always told her how proud he was. She pictured his face after he'd met her at the gate. He'd been beaming. 'The Key guy ... he would have known better than to go too close to the dragon,' she said. 'How did the dragon catch him? He couldn't have done it alone.'

'Come,' Mr. Mayfair said. 'There's someone here who can answer your questions. She waits for us in the choir box.'

Lily twisted in her pew to look up at the choir box. She saw a balcony of pews beneath organ pipes and a stained-glass window shaped like a blue rose. The window shed a gentle light over the box. In the front, she saw a shimmer in the air like heat over hot pavement. She squinted at it and saw a figure. Someone knelt in one of the pews. 'Who is it?'

'Come upstairs with me,' he said. 'I will introduce you.'

He led the way back to the antechamber. At the white marble staircase, he unhooked the red velvet rope with the sign that read BALCONY CLOSED. He gestured for Lily to walk in front of him.

She climbed the stairs. At the top, Mr. Mayfair opened the door to the choir box. Six rows of wooden pews