Cecil left class as soon as Talmage said the word, “Dismissed.”
He couldn’t wait to read his egg book and talk it over with Oakley. He may not want to raise the thing depending on what it was, but if it was a drake, he would figure out a way to make it live.
He turned into the door that led into the garden. The shift to sand colored paving stones always calmed him. Except the door had taken too long to close, and there was a slight repeat to his footsteps.
He turned and caught Eriss standing behind him, her hands up.
“Where are you going?”
“To the garden to study of course. Where are you going?”
She blinked her eyes innocently.
Cecil sighed, unable to refuse her.
“I’m here to study too.”
“Great! Then let’s study together.”
He shrugged. No use fighting it. Cecil walked on, and she followed beside him. There was no way he would reveal the secret hiding spot. But there was one interesting place along the way that might scare her off…
...
Eriss looked at him incredulously, “You like studying here?”
They both stood in the opening in the bushes that revealed the statue of knowledge. Which after ascertaining their lack of information, had leaned back to relax again.
In the splits.
With its hollow eyes aimed directly at the sun.
He shrugged, “Not a lot of people come here.”
She nodded, “I know. It’s peaceful here. I’m surprised that I haven’t seen you here before.” Eriss squinted at him.
He forced a laugh, “I like to change places a lot! Keeps the place… fresh.” he finished lamely.
She seemed to accept that, then picked a bench, and opened the book she had brought. Cecil slunk to the opposite bench and flopped down.
His ploy to scare her off with the creepy statue had backfired somehow. And now he was stuck with her for the rest of the day.
Cecil opened his book on eggs to continue the look for a match. He slipped his hand in his pocket and ran his thumb over the smooth surface. Oakley would have to wait until tomorrow.
…
That night Cecil made another trip towards the kitchens, but at the final turn, went left at the corridor. A shadow that somehow always knew where he was going to be before he got there. A strawberry blonde shadow that looked suspiciously like him.
When he went to the library, she was there. When he went outside, she came up with a reason to be going in the same direction. But today was different.
Cecil sat at the end of a large open space in the garden. It had been used for small gatherings and dances. It was surrounded by shrubbery on three sides and a large pond on the fourth.
There was only one in or out. She couldn’t come up with an excuse to get in here, because there was nothing here. Besides, it had a nice pavilion he could sit in.
Cecil got out his books to read. He had narrowed down what the egg could be to several options. It had the exact coloring and spots of the Lesser Mantid, but it was the wrong size.
He glanced at the opening to the courtyard, then back to his book.
It had the correct color and size of the Skake, but no spots. It also looked like the-
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He stood at a sound, “Ha! Why are you…”
It was a twig the wind had shaken out of the tree.
He sat down and rearranged his clothes.
Right.
Just a false alarm.
Back to egg identification.
The egg looked most like the Drake egg, which he hoped and prayed that it was. It would be so awesome to have one of the little things to play with. His family would disapprove, but they were so small he could hide it under his clothes or something. Maybe even paint it with gold and pretend it was jewelry!
He jumped at the sound of fabric in the breeze and glanced about.
But it was just some duck flapping its wings.
He sat down heavily, and frowned at his notes.
It would be great to need to worry about how to hide this from his parents. First he needed to successfully hatch the thing. His hand reached into his pocket to rub the small stone-like egg. It was warm from his body heat.
He’d kept the egg in his pocket, but did not know if that had killed it, or if movement was necessary. Some creatures had to keep their eggs still so that the baby inside didn’t end up scrambled. While other eggs needed constant shifting to make sure they did not fuse to the shell wall. Whichever it was, he hoped it was the latter.
“What are you studying?”
Cecil half fell out of his chair with a squeak.
“Lord Chambers?”
The man frowned slightly, his yellow gold robes were pressed into clean folds accented by the golden thread that had been used to make the garment.
“There's no one here, surely you can call me uncle.”
Cecil righted himself again and sighed, “Of course Uncle Chambers. What are you doing here if I may ask?”
The man sat down across from Cecil and leaned back with a chuckle, “I often come here between council sessions to unwind, or perhaps take very private meetings with people when I do not wish to be overheard. The real question is, why are you here?”
Cecil mumbled some sort of flimsy excuse about watching the ducks while studying eggs, when a third person walked it. It was a council member. Not Eriss.
He grumbled internally as he shoved his books into his bag, “Sorry to disturb your meeting place uncle. I shall take my leave before I interrupt your talk.”
The man smiled, “Of course. Not that I would object to your presence any other time. Feel free to seek me out if you need anything.”
“Of course.” Cecil said as he slowly inched away, “bye.”
He turned and nodded at the council member, Lord Everand, as he left. Cecil hadn’t noticed in the council chamber, but the man clinked when he walked due to the amount of jewelry he wore. It was a statement. He didn’t know what the man was trying to say, but it was a statement.
As Cecil exited the courtyard, he looked left, the right down the passage of bushes for any tell tale sign of his sister. But there was none.
He grinned and started towards the outer edge of the palace gardens where the haunted house was.
“Where are you going?”
Cecil turned and glared at her, “Why are you following me?”
She shrugged, “Is spending more time with my baby brother a crime?”
He rolled his eyes, “No. But don’t you have a life?”
“Of course.” she snapped, “Looks like you don’t though. You need to make some friends.”
“Maybe I enjoyed my solitude before you came.”
“I let you be alone in that courtyard. Isn’t that enough?”
He glared at her, “why are you following me?”
She glared back, “You’ve been acting weird and got injured. I’m just checking in on you.”
Ah. Turns out someone had noticed his odd comings and goings. And the trip to Mecine with injuries had evidently raised some red flags. “If I promise to not do dangerous stuff, will you leave me alone?”
Erris beamed, as if he had made the concession she had been waiting for.
“First, stay in the castle or the inner gardens till I say so.”
“Fine.”
“Promise?”
He rolled his eyes, “Promise.”
It wasn’t like she could enforce that or know… he squinted at her, “how do you keep finding me?”
She winked, “A girl has to keep some secrets.” Then as she started walking away she called over her shoulder, “And don’t forget your promise!”
Oh he was in deep drek now.
Stupid stupid stupid.
She always came out on top in conversations like these. And now he would have to table all of his projects until who knew when. No late night library, nor visits to Oakley.
Even IF he did go to the stable to hang out, Cecil had no legitimate reason to be there. And Oakley’s father would not let him slack on the job.
This did mean he had some time to spy on Madam Wyntrop to see if she and Talmage shared gossip. But it grated to put the thing at the bottom of his list of things to do, a mere curiosity in fact, and put it at the top due to circumstances out of his control. He could attempt to figure out how Eriss kept track of his comings and goings… But there were some things he just didn’t feel like tangling with.
And she was an enigma.
Sher and Arron would be sent off to training next year. It wasn’t ideal, but he could wait.
At least, he would find other things to fill his time with.
