INTEGRATION (Bonfire Academy Book Two) (Bonfire Chronicles) (22 page)

A boyfriend missing

A lover must pay in blood

A princess must die

Why now? Everything had been static for months. Even Mason seemed to have settled into the routine of his Integration year. I turned over the note and looked at the back. The last one had had Faustine’s name scribbled on the back. Mine was blank. I wondered which princess the note referred to.

Was there any point in taking this note to The Smelt? She’d totally shut me out since London, refusing to share her plans to track down Quinn.

Plus, nothing had really come of the last note. Not yet, anyway. Neither of the notes specified a time frame for the promised massacres.

Still, the timing was unfortunate, with Faustine’s birthday celebration around the corner. We—well, Faustine’s dad—had already jumped through hoops to arrange a spectacular event for her birthday.

And this pathetic little haiku could bring it all crashing to a halt—probably for absolutely nothing. The poem was most likely another empty threat from a dastardly little cretin. Question was: Who was he…or she? I sniffed the envelope, wishing Faustine was still around, but she’d already left for class with Viola and Audrey.

That meant the note had been stuck on the door after she’d left my room. I considered just throwing the poem in the garbage, but then decided I had to share it with King Sebastian. I didn’t want him to overreact and cancel Faustine’s party—or worse, haul her out of the Academy. He was pretty fed up with The Smelt as it was—she’d even initially refused to let me help him with the birthday arrangements. I was glad he’d persevered and won.

Planning Faustine’s party had turned into my minor obsession. I had to make sure every detail was perfectly put in place, and in secret. It had been nice to spend time with someone from outside the Academy, even King Sebastian. Away from London and his royal responsibilities, he was just a nice guy and a really caring, awesome dad. He was all about making sure Faustine had the best birthday ever. I wondered if he did the same for all his children—he seemed to have rather a lot of them. He was particularly attentive in the short time I had seen him with Kismet. I hoped he’d introduce Faustine to her siblings eventually. I would bet she’d be stoked to learn that she wasn’t an only child.

Although we had hung out quite a bit while working on the birthday arrangements, King Sebastian had remained silent about his investigations into The Smelt’s possession. I gently inquired about it once, to which he’d curtly replied that he had it in hand, and he would let me know when he had any news that
concerned
me. I guessed he meant news about Quinn.

I read the poem again and decided that I had to show it to him because the princess reference could very well be pointed at Faustine. If it were, she’d be especially vulnerable during her birthday celebration, so we’d have to tighten security around her.

The question was, how did one provide security at an event that involved jumping out of small planes onto the icy slopes for a steep ski down the mountainside? This was going to be a nightmare on so many levels.

I got up and threw on my uniform—another part of my punishment. I was no longer allowed to wear my regular clothes. I was supposed to be at the labs doing an Initiation session with one of my new students, but I picked up the phone and called Henri.

“Hey, Cordelia. You’re late,” he muttered.

“Do you think you can cover for me? I have something urgent to take care of.”

He remained silent.

“Henri?”

“Is it to do with Quinn?”

“It might be.”

“Okay. I’ll cover. Let me know if you need my help with anything,” he offered quietly.

“I will, and thanks.”

Next, I called King Sebastian.

“Hello, Cordelia,” he said, yawning loudly.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”

“Yes. I’m in New York, but you wouldn’t have known that, so if it’s not urgent, can we talk later?”

“Well, I feel it might be.”

“Oh? Frau Schmelder didn’t mess up any of the party plans, did she?”

“No, nothing like that. I have all that under control. I’m calling because another note, a haiku, was left on my door. I’m not sure if it was left for me or Faustine, but I thought you should know.” I read him the verse.

“Can you read it again?” he asked.

I read slower, almost feeling the anger in each of the seventeen syllables. “A boyfriend missing, a lover must pay in blood, a princess must die.”

Faustine’s dad let out a long sigh. “Well, the first line of that silly poem may be redundant soon.”

“What do you mean?”

“The boyfriend—I take it that’s referring to Quinn? I’m in New York chasing down a tip that may take me to him.
May
,” he repeated.

“What kind of tip?” I was jumping with excitement.

“Calm down, Cordelia. It’s practically the middle of the night here. I don’t want to wake Annabel by chatting too long. I can’t tell you much more, just that I’ve had the demon and witch sovereigns of New York helping me investigate the matter. And it looks like we’re getting somewhere. Anyhow, all this is irrelevant if Faustine may be in danger. I’ll fly over and come and find you. Can you make sure that Ryker stays with Faustine? I’ll have Spencer send some backup to relieve Ryker when he needs it.”

“Okay.”

“And you may want to warn the
lover
, whoever that might be.”

I called Jagger.

“Hey!”

“Hi! Do you have time to meet me for breakfast?” I asked.

“I’d love to, but no. I’m taking Faustine skiing after her class, which will be over in ten minutes or so. Come with us. You’ll need the practice before the party.”

“Oh, I have no intention of doing any of those insane jumps. Besides, I’ll be too busy making sure that everything is running smoothly. Don’t let anything slip to our little princess.” I kept my tone as upbeat as I could.

“Cordelia, what’s up? I can feel your anxiety.”

“I found a haiku stuck to my door.”

“Stay where you are. I’m on my way.”

He hung up before I could protest the necessity of him rushing to my side. He arrived minutes later, with Faustine. He didn’t say anything, just held out his hand for the note.

“What’s that?” Faustine asked, peering at the note in Jagger’s hand. “Another one of those Japanese poems?”

I nodded. “You didn’t notice anything on the door when you left this morning, did you?”

She shook her head. “I wasn’t really paying any attention, but I’d probably have seen that. I can’t imagine it’s worth worrying about. It’s not like anything happened after the first one. Just some idiot who thinks he’s being funny. I’m guessing a troll, maybe Rea or Noella. They’re always up to mischief, aren’t they, Jagger?”

“Um, yeah. But this is too specific to be a random joke.”

I wanted to tell him about Quinn and my conversation with Faustine’s dad, but I couldn’t with her there. “You know, there’s not much we can do about it right now. I have my next student to test soon, so why don’t the two of you head off and ski, and I’ll see you later?”

Jagger shook his head, clenching his jaw.

“Oh, don’t be a spoilsport, Jagger. I was really looking forward to this. Please?” Faustine fluttered her eyelashes, giving him the full benefit of puppy eyes.

He didn’t even crack a smile, his gaze fixed on me.

“Jagger, Faustine is right,” I said. “I promise to hang out with you later, and we can talk about this some more then. In the meantime, just be careful, both of you. Promise?”

He walked over and kissed my forehead, and then moved his lips to my ear, sending shivers down my spine. “You be careful. And we’ll talk as soon as I get back from the slopes.”

I nodded and waved them off, locking the door behind them. I looked at my watch. It would be hours before King Sebastian arrived, so I decided to head over and help Henri with the next student. I carefully placed the note between two pages of my diary and stuffed the book into the back of my sock drawer. Then, I turned around…and walked right into King Sebastian. I stumbled back, trying to regain my footing.

He reached out to steady me. “My apologies, Cordelia. I had Spencer bring me over to save time. If you are willing, I’d like to take you back to London for a while.”

“London? Now? Did you find Quinn?”

“No, not exactly. However, if he’s somehow connected with the demon who possessed Frau Schmelder, we may be able to work that angle. I need you and Pascal to come with me to confirm the identity of the old woman.”

“You know who she is?”

“I’ve had some suspicions, but they were completely unfounded, and I still have no real reason to suspect her. More than anything, I want to eliminate her from my investigations.” He looked pensive.

“Why has it taken you so long?”

“Politics. Intercity politics is even more complicated than getting permission from Frau Schmelder to throw a party for my daughter.” He smiled. “I now have clearance from the New York sovereigns to bring you and Pascal to the city for this task. They had me seek your parents’ approval, as well. It took some time to convince them to allow both of you to assist me. However, they have relented on the condition that I stop by Paris on our way back, so they can confirm your safety in person. So, I’m cleared for our task. I just need you and Pascal to be on board.”

“Well, what did you have in mind?” Though I didn’t have any hesitation about going with him to New York to do whatever it took to find Quinn, there was no way I was placing Pascal in harm’s way. Not even for Quinn.

“Like I said, I’ve had suspicions about the identity of the old woman.”

“Who do you think she is?”

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

I scowled at him. “Why not?”

“Because I have no proof, just an intuition. Naming names is premature at this point.”

I wasn’t buying it, but I didn’t want to pry too much and have King Sebastian withdraw his offer to let me help. I’d find out anyway, when I saw her. I could wait. “What do you need me to do?” I asked.

“Listen. That’s all. I will place you in position where you can hear the suspect in question. All I need you to do is tell me if you recognize the voice. The woman is a confirmed guest at a benefit at the Waldorf. We can’t let her spot us; she’d know who we are. So, I suggest we possess the wait staff so we can mingle freely without being recognized.”

I nodded. “Good plan, but it won’t work for Pascal. He’s had his powers suspended after his mischief with Frau Schmelder.”

King Sebastian tipped his head back, running his hand through his hair. “That’s not good. I could find her and have her restore them, but we don’t have time for that.” He paused and walked to the window, staring out at the peaks. “Tell you what,” he said, turning around. “Let’s just go. If you confirm the voice, then I’ll arrange for Pascal to do his part at another time. Your part needs to be done first anyway. So, Cordelia, will you help?”

“Yes, sure.”

“May I have a look at the note before we go?”

I retrieved the note from my diary and showed it to him.

He studied it carefully before handing it back to me. “Any idea who’s writing these? Do you think it’s Mason?”

“No, I can’t see him writing poems. He just doesn’t seem the type.”

“How so?”

“I feel like I’ve gotten to know him a bit through his Initiation tests. He doesn’t seem particularly creative.”

“Are his male and female personas the same?”

That was a really good question. I had kind of assumed that they were; none of my research had suggested anything different. Paranormal gynandromorphism wasn’t a multiple personality issue; it was a physical phenomenon, as far as I knew. “I’ve really only explored his male side. His female side hasn’t manifested for months.”

“In front of you,” King Sebastian noted. “That’s not to say that it hasn’t at all. I don’t know much about his condition, but I wouldn’t rule him out as the author of the notes just yet.”

I nodded.

“And you don’t have any other suspects?”

“No. I can’t think of anyone. It’s been really quiet around here for months.”

He waved the note in the air. “Maybe, but this leaves me in a conundrum. Since Frau Schmelder hasn’t contacted me to cancel Faustine’s party, I take it you haven’t shown her the note?”

“That’s right. I was going to wait and let you make that decision.”

“The question is: What alternative would be safer? How about a party within the confines of the school? Faustine would probably be disappointed with that. I could bring her to London and have a celebration at my mansion.” He sat and pondered, looking as though he was weighing all the options in his head.

As far as I was concerned, if whoever wrote the note intended to try to turn Faustine’s birthday into a bloodbath, he’d do it no matter where we held the party. “To be honest, I like Faustine’s chances a lot more out in the mountains than in a confined space, where she’d be a sitting duck for a deranged killer. We’ve got her surrounded by the best of the ski team, including Jagger. She’s going to be skiing in her demon form, which is another plus. She still takes her sweet time transforming and would be more vulnerable in a formal setting, playing princess. Faustine on full-demon adrenaline would be nearly indestructible. I say we go ahead.”

“You have a good point. Plus, like you said, no action was taken after the last note. We can’t put her birthday on hold because of some veiled threat that will most likely come to nothing.” He stuffed the note in his pocket. “Ready to go? I have Spencer and his associate standing by to transport us.”

I nodded and closed my eyes, waiting for the wonderful feeling of wandering.