A Tale of Two Proms (Bard Academy) (27 page)

“You’re alive!” Lindsay jumped on me in a bone-crushing hug.

“What happened?” I asked, stumbling a little under the force of Lindsay.

Lindsay pulled back. “Unbelievable,” she said. Hana shook her head. Blade exclaimed, “that was
so
bad-A! Whoa! Do that again!”

“What was?” I asked, confused. I still didn’t know what had happened. My friends were looking at me like I’d just sprouted wings and flew.  “Don’t tell me I floated over here.”

“Not exactly,” Hana said.

 “You…uh…just disappeared for a second,” Samir explained. His eyes were as big as dinner plates.

“And Sydney tried to jump after you,” Lindsay said. Sydney was looking anywhere but at me. I didn’t even have time to think about why Sydney would do something like that. I was too busy trying to figure out how I had moved from one place to another in a blink of an eye. “Ryan caught him by the sleeve, though, and pulled him back.”

“But then, you just appeared here, next to us,” Samir said.

 “Poof! Just like that,” Lindsay said.

Then it hit me.
Imagination is a powerful force,
Coach H had said. I realized that I had just imagined myself out of harm’s way. I glanced up at Coach H, who was still struggling to keep the church together and he nodded at me. I was right. 

  The floor rumbled again and a big chunk of concrete fell down, crushing half a pew nearby.

“I hate to break up this moment,” Sydney said, “But might we
now
get out of here?”

“Can’t hold it,” Coach H grunted, under the strain of trying to keep what was left of the ceiling from crushing us. Headmaster B and Miss A didn’t look to be in any better shape. Their faces were red with the strain of keeping the chapel from collapsing in on itself.

“Now would be good,” Samir agreed, his voice shaky.

Sydney was already on the move. He tugged me along with him. Lindsay and my friends followed us.

No sooner had we’d gotten safely outside that the entire chapel crumbled to dust. It fell inward, almost as if there’d been strategically placed dynamite charges set by a demolition crew. In the end, there was nothing left but dust around the foundations where the building once stood.

The chapel was no more.

We all stared at the rubble in stunned silence. All around us, the other buildings of London were untouched by the tremors. Sydney was watching the rubble, too, his face thoughtful.

“That was
totally awesome
,” yelped Blade. She definitely would not be suffering any post-traumatic-stress. She was, through and through, an adrenaline junkie. I saw lots of bungee jumping and cliff diving in her future.

Hana just stared at the rubble dully.

I felt like someone had punched me in the side of my head. My ears were ringing a little. I didn’t know if that was because of the loud sound of crash of rubble or because I’d nearly died. That made at least three times in the last twenty-four hours. At least. This had to be a new record.

I couldn’t believe we survived. And what I really still couldn’t believe was that I had saved myself by simply wishing.  It made me wonder: what
else
could I wish into reality?

And then, suddenly, my vision blurred with stars and my knees gave out.

“Whoa,” Sydney exclaimed, catching me as I fainted.  

“Take deep breaths,” Miss A suggested as she materialized behind me. “The creative force you used in there takes a lot of energy. It’s best if used only in small intervals and only for emergencies.”

I could definitely see the wisdom to that.

 Coach H appeared next to me. “You’ll be okay, kid,” he said slapping me on the   shoulder. “Just don’t do that too often.”

“I won’t,” I said, even as a splitting headache rippling through my temple. I put my hand to my head. “Ow.”

“You should improve by and by,” Headmaster B added.

I felt a little more steady on my feet. Sydney released his grip slightly, but kept an arm around my shoulders.

“Was this what you guys meant about the dimensions being unstable?” Hana asked Coach H as she stared at the rubble of the chapel.

“Yep,” Coach H said, shaking his head. “It’s even worse than we thought.” All three teachers exchanged silent looks.

“So unless we find the vault and soon and bring it back to where it belongs…” Ryan began.

“Bits of Bard are going to go boom,” Blade finished.

“Or squish, more like,” Sydney added, looking at the flattened nature of the dust and bits of broken stone.

Samir turned pale. “Could…uh…
we
go squish, too?”

Coach H frowned. “Possibly.”

“Why don’t you guys just
imagine
us out of here?” Samir asked them.

Coach H shook his head. “It’s not that easy,” he said. Given how much energy it took me to wish myself out of danger, I believed him.

 “Where do we start looking?” Lindsay asked.

“I have an idea,” Sydney said, taking me and the rest of us by surprise. “Come on, this way.”

Since none of us had a better plan, we all followed Sydney.

C
HAPTER
E
IGHTEEN

Sydney led us down the narrow cobblestone streets of London as the sun set. The streets grew dark with only the flickering candles in lamps to light the way. It was too soon, evidently, for gas street lamps. There were, however, lanterns hanging from some balconies. The whole place seemed to me like one giant fire hazard.

After my brief fainting spell, I was back to normal, for the most part. My legs were tired, but they could bear my weight as I walked. It didn’t stop Sydney, however, from hovering nearby as if worried I might collapse again. He kept glancing over at me, a concerned look on his face.

The streets smelled like manure and worse. Horse hooves clomped on the cobblestones. The streets were emptying now that darkness was falling. I was suddenly
very
glad I was born in the twentieth century. Someone shouted above my head, which seemed a good enough reason to step aside. I was glad I did because a big bucket of something foul splashed a few feet away from me. I was so fixated on the slime quotient on the street that I nearly stepped in something worse. I lost my footing in something slippery, and Sydney was there, catching me by the elbow.

“Careful,” Sydney warned, steering me to safety. His hand lingered a beat too long on my elbow. When he did release me, Miss A was right by his side. She steered him ahead of me and talked to him for several minutes. They were just far enough away from me that I couldn’t hear what they were saying. They walked along together for a few minutes. Then, apparently, Sydney found what he was looking for.

“There,” Sydney said, making a beeline for a small grungy pub across the street. Above it was an old wooden sign bearing a picture of a dog’s head, teeth bared in a snarl.

“Now is not the time to have a drink,” I protested. Had Sydney led us to a
bar
? We were supposed to be looking for the vault, not a glass of beer.

“Now, is the
perfect
time to have a drink,” Sydney countered.

“Seriously?” Lindsay asked me, hands on her hips. Miss A saw us take the detour and followed. So did the rest of my friends.

“Trust me,” Sydney said and winked.

We all crowded into the small tavern, where a man bustling around the tables serving wine, stopped dead and frowned at Sydney.

“Mr. Carton!” The light of recognition on the innkeeper’s face was soon replaced by a scowl, as if he remembered he didn’t like Sydney. “You know very well that you are not welcome here. You broke your weight in glasses last time.” 

“Yes, but I bought twice that in port, I do believe,” Sydney said. “And I’ve brought friends with heavy pockets.”

The bartender considered this. Eventually, he seemed to be swayed by the idea of selling enough alcohol to Sydney to make up for the broken stemware.

“How many glasses did you break?” I asked Sydney.

“More than a few,” Sydney said. “I am afraid I’m a bit temperamental when I drink.”

“You don’t say,” Lindsay said, rolling her eyes.

“What are we doing in here?” hissed Ryan. “Seems like a waste of time.”

“Wait….” Sydney glanced around the bar, and seemed to find what he was looking for at the back. A man who was very drunk and very passed out, was sprawled across a table, candle wax dripping on his sleeve.

Sydney went to the back and sat down across from the man who was passed out. He took the man’s bottle of port, poured it into his glass and gulped it down in one swallow.

“Is he stealing that guy’s wine?” Blade asked.

“This is a colorful diversion we can’t afford,” Headmaster B exclaimed primly, her eyes roving the dark corners of the tavern. It was not an establishment up to her standards; I was pretty sure of that.

“You’ve got two minutes before I drag you out of here,” Coach H whispered to Sydney, who shook off the warning with a shrug of one shoulder.

“Wake up, Charles,” Sydney said and flicked the man once or twice in the head. It took quite a bit of shaking before Sydney’s friend woke up. “What? Who?”

The man opened a bleary eye and glared at Sydney. The man sat up straighter and then pounded Sydney on the shoulder.

“Carton, you devil,” he half-growled and then let out a very loud belch. “What the blazes have you been doing with yourself?”

“Drinking myself to death,” Sydney replied. He said it so seriously, it was impossible to tell if he were joking or not.

“A very admirable way to die,” the man agreed. For the first time, the man noticed the rest of us. “Cleaner company than I’m used to seeing you with, Carton.”

“They’re…clients,” Sydney managed. He’d implied he was our lawyer. Coach H snorted at the idea.

“They
all
can’t have run afoul of the law,” the grungy man said. He glanced at each one of our faces as if waiting for an introduction, but Sydney wasn’t going to make it. “You’re in good hands with this bloke,” the man told us all. “Saved me from a stint in debtor’s prison or worse.”

“We’re looking for a building, but we don’t have an address,” Sydney said, ignoring the man’s words. “Or even know what part of town it might be in. We know it’s new, however, and perhaps it appeared overnight.”

The man eyed Sydney as if he was trying to tell if the man were pulling a prank or if he were serious. 

“This is a waste of time.” Ryan’s voice carried over the din of the pub crowd.

The man slammed his glass of port so hard on the table the bottom of the glass cracked and leaked onto the wooden tabletop.

“I don’t know you,” the man said, oblivious to the dark liquid running out of his glass. “And you must not know me because I know every building in London. So, if you’re looking for one, you’ve come to the right place.”

“How do you know every building?” Lindsay asked.

“I build the roads, m’lady,” he said. “I know alleys you might never know even existed because I put them there.”

“The building we’re looking for is large, four stories, about a block wide,” Coach H said.

“It has lion statues sitting in front of it,” Ryan added.

“Lions?” That seemed to perk the man’s interest. “Yes, I think I know the building you mean. I believe I saw it down at St. Stephen’s.”

He had everyone’s attention now. He gave Sydney directions that meant nothing to me, but Sydney followed them easily. So did Miss A and Headmaster B. The two of them practically flew out of the bar. The rest of us had to struggle to keep up. Sydney stayed by my side.

“That was pretty nice work in there,” I said.  “I thought you were just going to have a drink.”

“Who said I didn’t?” Sydney asked me. He pulled out his silver flask and shook it. I could hear some kind of liquid sloshing around in there. I guess he’d filled it when I wasn’t looking. “Two birds, one stone.” He smiled at me.

By now, Miss A and Headmaster B were far ahead of us in the dark. They were moving so fast it seemed their feet were hardly touching the ground. But then, it was too dark to see exactly where the hems of their skirts met the ground.

With the faculty moving farther away, Sydney took advantage. He grabbed my hand.

“What are you doing?” I tried to pull my free.  He stopped and steered me to a nearby doorway.

“I want to know about Heathcliff.”

Instantly, I was on my guard.

“Why do you ask?” 

“Because….” Sydney paused and decided against finishing his sentence. He began a new one instead. “You love him, don’t you?”

“Why do you say that?” I felt flustered now and my face burned.

“The way you talk about him. What I’ve heard the others say.” Sydney nodded off into the dark, where our friends were now many paces ahead of us. 

“Yes, I love him.” I still felt the same about Heathcliff, even though I wasn’t sure if he felt the same way about me. Even if he was now in love with someone else. The truth was still the truth. I felt the way I felt, and nothing had changed that.

Sydney shook his head sadly. “Why do I always fall for women who are already in love with someone else?” 

The words echoed in my ears.

“I don’t understand.” Fall for me? The words bounced around my head like a small rubber ball. But that explained the way he’d been looking at me. I guess part of me knew he was developing feelings for me. I just wanted to ignore that fact.

He traced the outline of my neck with one finger.

I stood very still.

“Maybe you just like a girl who’s really hard to get,” I said at last. 

My words broke his brooding mood and a smile flashed across his face. “Maybe,” he said. “I always did like a challenge.”

“We’re falling behind,” I told him, and he moved his body and freed me from the doorway. I didn’t know what to do about his sudden declaration, except ignore it. There wasn’t anything I could do about it, anyway.

I jogged to catch up with the others and found myself moving in and out of dark alleyways, down main streets with people and horses, and even through a few narrow byways. The streets had grown very dark now. Candles flickered in windows as we darted past.