Villain School (18 page)

“Wait,” I said. “What does any of this have to do with the prophecy? It's about twins.”

Morgana laughed, tossing her blond head back. I caught the sickening scent of her perfume and nearly gagged. Beside me Jezebel jerked suddenly.

“What's wrong?” asked Wolf.

“I don't know,” said Jezebel. “I thought I felt something on my head.” She bent forward. “Do I have a bug in my hair?”

Morgana didn't seem to notice that Jez and Wolf were talking. Instead, she went on with her embarrassing villain monologue.

“Oh, Rune, Rune, Rune. So many things you don't know. Well, I'm about to fulfill another part of the prophecy. A long-kept secret shall be revealed. Your father and I are twins. Full-villain twins, actually.”

“What?” Ileana and I both said. I was related to Morgana? Blond, stinky dragon-nails Morgana? Eww.

“Yes,” Morgana said. “It seems twins run in the family.” She looked back and forth meaningfully between Ileana and me.

“At first, when our little band of allies discovered the prophecy all those years ago, Veldin and I worried that it might be about us. We thought if anybody else discovered the words on the wall, they might use the prophecy against us, to steal our power. So, we
pretended not to be brother and sister. As the years went by, fewer and fewer people in the villain community even knew we were related, let alone full-villain twins. And my dear brother and I made a pact: that we would never try to steal each other's power. Was I convincing enough, Veldin? Did you really believe I would be content without your power?” Morgana held up the crystal ball as evidence of her victory.

“What about the rest of the prophecy, Morgana?” asked my dad.

“Yes,” said Queen Catalina, “it says the traitor twin shall be betrayed.”

“Veldin is the traitor!” Morgana shouted. “A traitor to his profession, with his soft-hearted ways, coddling these wayward villain children. Under my instruction they will become powerfully evil and loyal only to me!”

Wow. If the Dread Master was considered softhearted, I really didn't want to know what strict teaching looked like.

It was about this time that I noticed Ileana had her tongue between her teeth, the way she always did when she was concentrating hard. And she was doing something behind her back. Then I heard a voice in my ear and nearly jumped.

“It's me,” whispered Invis-a-boy. “I've given the
princess the vampire girl's hairpin. We have to keep the blond witch distracted until the princess can free you.”

I didn't think that would be a problem. Morgana was in a rage, telling my dad and the queen how awesome she was and how lame he was. I could see years of hidden sibling issues coming out into the open.

“To this day, Father still thinks it was me who burnt down the evil lair, Veldin! And tattling to Mother when I ran away to King Arthur's Court? You are such a mama's boy!”

Yeah. Morgana was definitely in a zone. I saw no reason to interrupt her ranting. Especially since the princess had freed herself and was quietly mumbling hexes at Morgana's beefy guards. The headsmen grew rigid with some kind of freezing spell. After dealing with the guards, the princess came up quietly and began working on the chains that held me, Wolf, and Jezebel.

We were collectively sneaking up behind Morgana, preparing to hex her, when suddenly she spun around and fired a spell. I was pulled out of the way, presumably by Invis-a-boy, but Ileana, Jez, and Wolf had been frozen by Morgana.

I fell behind an old desk, landing hard on my side and knocking my head against the floor. I had no clue where Invis-a-boy was. For all I knew, he'd been hit by
Morgana's spell and was invisibly frozen along with my other allies.

“Rune, get out of here!” Queen Catalina shouted. “Run!”

“Oh, hush!” Morgana said. The queen was silent. I assumed Morgana had hexed her, too. “He won't try that,” she continued. “Will you, Rune? For a villain, he's pathetically loyal to his allies and his parents.”

I could hear Morgana walking slowly toward my hiding place. Her high-heeled boots
click-click-click
ed on the cave floor. I chanced a peek around the side of the desk. A pair of the magical handcuffs was floating in midair behind Morgana's back. I knew I had to keep her distracted, and there was only one way to do that. I stood up.

“Oooh. Brave,” she said with a smile. “You've been hanging around heroes too much,
nephew
.”

“You're wrong, you know,” I said, trying very hard not to look at the manacles that were moving silently closer to Morgana.

“Oh?” asked Morgana. She didn't even try to hex me. She was a cat, and I was a mouse to be toyed with before she ate me alive.

“The prophecy. It isn't about you and Master Dreadthorn. It's about me and Ileana.”

If she could've moved, I'm sure Ileana would've given me a perplexed look. I was kind of glad my allies
couldn't move or react. It made it a little easier to make my bluff.

“What makes you say that?” she asked, narrowing her green eyes. I could hear a hint of doubt in her voice.

“Because Ileana has a secret power. And I've taken it from her.
We
are the twins of the prophecy.”

“What are you talking about?” Morgana said. “What power?” Her voice was greedy and she stepped closer to me. Behind her, Invis-a-boy was taking his sweet time getting those handcuffs in place. I suppose he didn't want to risk making a sound, but it still felt like forever.

I could feel everybody's eyes on me: my allies, the queen, my dad. Whether they were confused or saw my plan and were giving me silent encouragement, I had no idea. It didn't matter. I had to keep talking.

“You know the words of the prophecy,” I said. “
A long-kept secret is revealed.
Well, the queen was keeping Ileana's power secret. But I, uh, found out about it.”

“Oh? And how did you manage that?” Morgana asked.

“I, um, read her diary,” I said, which was totally true. It didn't really mention any secret power, but apparently the princess thinks this one Apprentice vampire is “totally dreamy.” Her words. Not mine. What is it with girls liking vampires?

“And what was this secret power?” Morgana asked.
She'd made her way to the desk and was digging her nails into the wood in anticipation. The screeching noise they made was excruciating.

“Um …”

I was totally out of ideas. It had taken all my brain power to come up with this pretend story, and now I had nothing. Then I heard a faint clicking sound.

“That's what I thought,” said Morgana, leaning forward over the desk until her face was just inches from mine. “Time to die.”

Morgana raised her hands to hex me. I winced, wondering if it would hurt very much. After a few seconds, when nothing happened, I cautiously opened one of my eyes.

“What—?” Morgana looked down to see one ring of the magical manacles around her right wrist, the other ring dangling from it.

“Help!” a disembodied voice squeaked as Morgana's hand shot out into the seemingly empty air and wrapped around an invisible neck.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

With his oxygen cut off, Invis-a-boy began to appear again. As his face came into focus, Morgana squeezed harder.

This was my chance. I launched across the desk and seized the dangling chains, intent on cuffing Morgana's
other wrist. She dropped Invis-a-boy, who fell to the floor coughing, and focused her hatred on me.

Red nails like razors slashed at my neck and face. And I nearly died from the wafting perfume. Still, I managed to keep hold of Morgana's cuffed wrist, while defending myself with my free hand. Behind her, Invis-a-boy got to his feet and threw all his weight on Morgana. The three of us tumbled to the cave floor. Morgana's hard leather boot struck me square in the face, then I lashed out with a wild punch, which accidentally hit Invis-a-boy in the mouth. A trickle of blood ran down his chin, but he didn't seem to notice. Instead, he threw himself on Morgana, pinning her down with her face to the floor.

“Guards! Guards!” Morgana shouted, but her headsmen were still frozen in place by Ileana's spell.

“Hurry!” Invis-a-boy yelled at me. Morgana struggled beneath us like a wild cat-a-bat.

I grappled with Morgana's other wrist, the razor claws ripping my skin. Finally, I managed to twist her arm back and click the final manacle into place. Invis-a-boy and I were out of breath and sweating like crazy, but we both managed to half smile at each other.

“Ahem,” a voice said. I looked up to see the Dread Master still dangling. “Please take your time, Rune. It's so much fun hanging here.”

“You're welcome,” I muttered under my breath.

“What was that?” Master Dreadthorn asked sharply.

“Coming,” I said.

I dragged myself to my feet and slid the cover back over the well. Once the danger of falling into the well was gone, Queen Catalina was able to pick the lock on her cuffs. My father removed the silencing spell Morgana had cast on the queen. With some more lock-picking and a few spells, Queen Catalina had everyone free. Except the guards and Morgana, of course. She was still facedown on the floor.

After I'd pretty much saved the school, there were still a lot of things to do. First, we had to make sure all the students were still alive. There were a few minor injuries, but it seemed that nobody was going to croak just yet.

Next, my dad needed a suitable place to keep Morgana until Count Dracula arrived. Apparently word had finally reached him of Morgana's ambitions, and he was coming to talk with my dad and sort things out. I thoughtfully offered the Detention Dungeon as a prison for Morgana until the count's arrival.

“Now think about what you did,” I said to her as she dangled upside down over a boiling cauldron, seething at us.

“This isn't over, Rune Drexler!” she said. “When I get out of here, I'm going to—”

Morgana's mouth continued to move, but no words came. Queen Catalina smiled at me and said, “When will you ever learn to stop with the monologues, Morgana?”

We left her dangling over the cauldron, shouting silently to the steamy room.

Then Invis-a-boy had to be returned to his own school. Since he couldn't fly, we lent him Fafnir to get him home.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked, eyeing the old dragon.

“Of course! Would I try to trick you?” Ileana asked, batting her royal eyelashes at Invis-a-boy and blowing him a kiss.

He gulped, smiled, stammered stupidly, and fell off Fafnir. Twice. Finally, with a rope to hang on to (and one tied around his waist just in case) we sent Invis-a-boy back to Doctor Do-Good's School for Superior Superheroes.

Just as the young hero disappeared into the evening sky, something else could be seen flying toward us.

“What's that?” asked Wolf, pointing his paw, his ears pricked alertly.

“Oh, no,” said Jezebel. She hastily straightened her back and rubbed nonexistent dust from her purple dress and dark cloak. “It's my dad.”

The inky form of a flying bat grew closer and closer until it was level with us. Then Dracula transformed into his not-quite-human self.

I'd seen him before, but as always, he was an imposing figure, a dark and fearful legend come to life. Imagine a really rich and powerful businessman with predator eyes, ashy skin, and pointy fangs. His clothes looked both ancient and timeless, but still flawlessly clean. His black shoes were shined to gleaming perfection. He nodded curtly to us. I couldn't help reaching up to cover my neck. Then his eyes landed on his daughter.

“Jezebel,” he said.

“Father,” she answered.

And that was as warm and fuzzy as things ever got in the Dracula family. He gestured for us to lead the way back into the school.

It wasn't long before we found my dad. He was in his study with Queen Catalina. Master Dreadthorn introduced her to the count, who smiled a cold, thin-lipped smile at my mother. Apparently, like his daughter, he didn't enjoy being outranked.

“Strange rumors have reached my ears, Drexler,” the count said to my dad. “Heroes and traitors and all sorts of odd things. What's the truth of it?”

I expected the Dread Master to dismiss me and my
allies, but he didn't. Maybe he needed us here to give our side of the story. Or maybe we'd finally earned a little respect from the old man. But probably not.

My dad told Dracula everything, how Morgana had plotted to take over his school using Deven Do-Good to kidnap him and steal his crystal ball. This, I could see, was back in its traditional place: the glass cabinet behind my father's desk.

He told Dracula how Morgana had also imprisoned us in the Detention Dungeon and threatened us.

“Well, it sounds like Morgana showed quite a bit of initiative,” Dracula said.

I wanted to scream at him. Initiative? Threatening students? Working with heroes? Stealing? Lying? Wow. She
had
shown some initiative, but I still hated her and was about to tell Dracula just what I thought. My dad seemed to sense my anger. He reached out one pale hand and held me silently back.

“But,” continued the count, “I can see she is a bit
overzealous
. Perhaps she needs some time away from her duties as a villain school Mistress. Let's have a talk with her, shall we?”

My thoughts turned to Morgana's school down the coast from us. I wondered how her students had been faring without her. They probably loved it. I could picture a giant bonfire with students of all ranks dancing and shouting and tossing their berets into the flames.

My father led our party down to the Detention Dungeon. Even though it was dark and thick clouds of steam rolled in front of our eyes, we could see the room was empty. Morgana had escaped.

“Well, Veldin,” said the count, “I'll take that as confirmation that Morgana wants some time off. I suppose you'll have to take over as Master of her school. Yes. Master Dreadthorn's School for Exemplary Villains. Nice ring to it, eh, Drexler? What do you say?”