Enchanted Ivy (25 page)

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to contact criminals, former addicts, and anyone so unhappy with their lives that they'd be willing to leave their world and live in the human one, to feed. Once the fairy appeared, dozens were able to pass before anyone could react."

"You reacted," she said, lifting her head to look at him. Her knight in shining fur.

This time, he kissed her first. Her fingers wove up into his soft hair, and his arms held her against him. For an instant, she stopped thinking about her mother, about the Feeders, about the knights.

"Clearly, I should rescue you more often," he said when they broke apart.

"Clearly," she agreed.

He rested his forehead on hers. For an instant more, she tried to keep from thinking about everything that had gone wrong. But she couldn't. Fifty or so wannabe serial killers were spreading across campus and beyond, dispersing and vanishing into her world, and it was her fault. "How do we send the Feeders home?" she asked.

"We can't convince them to leave; they'll have to be stopped by force," he said. "This is what the knights are for."

"The knights ..." She told him about Mr. Mayfair.

He was silent for a moment, and then he said, "At least now I know why the knights never accepted me. Mr. Mayfair has been poisoning them against me from the start. Because of my mother. Because of his son. Because I'm a Key." He shook his head. "Jake won't take this well."

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Funny that Tye thought of Jake's feelings. That was a switch. "Is Jake okay?" She wondered what they'd talked about in the dryads' forest. She wondered what it felt like to discover a sibling, to suddenly be less alone than you thought you were. She thought of Mom's family and wished she'd gone straight to Vineyard Club.

Tye hesitated. "He's conscious. And he's an idiot. He should never have come when he knew he was already full of magic."

"Mr. Mayfair is willing to let Jake die to protect his secret," Lily said. "He'll never let us close enough to the knights to warn them about the new Feeders." If she could just tell someone what she'd learned about him! She'd uncovered the kind of secret that should be broadcast by CNN, shouted from the tops of towers across alpine mountains, taught to every child. ...

"The more time that passes, the harder it will be to find and catch the Feeders," Tye said. "We need someone the knights will listen to, someone they won't automatically skewer on sight."

Lily realized whom he meant. "The gargoyles."

Tye nodded and took her hand.

Together, they ran out of Prospect Gardens toward Dillon Gym.

On the street in front of Dillon Gym, orange-and-black-clad alumni cheered for P-rade. As the Class of 1985 marched

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by, the younger alums on either side of the street chanted, "Hip-hip, tiger-tiger-tiger, sis-sis-sis, boom-boom-boom, bah! Eighty-five! Eighty-five! Eighty-five!"

Lily clutched Tye's hand, determined not to be separated from him. "Excuse me, excuse me," she repeated as they wove among alums.

Breaking through, they darted into the street. A band bore down on them, and they dodged trumpeters and tuba players. Reaching the opposite sidewalk, they squeezed through the crowd and then ran hand in hand to the entrance of Dillon Gym.

"Professor Ape!" Tye called.

"Literate Ape, please, wake up! We need you!" Lily shouted.

Tye cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted over the trumpets, "It's an emergency!" Behind them, the crowd cheered as drummers marched past.

She turned to Tye. "Can you lift--"

Before she finished the sentence, Tye dropped to one knee, wrapped his arms around her legs, and hefted her up into the air. She reached up and knocked on the gargoyle's chin. "Feeders are here."

In a soft voice, the gargoyle said, "Feeders are always here. Call the knights."

"Can't," she said. Quickly, she explained about Mr. Mayfair and the fairy.

With the sound of shifting gravel, Professor Ape tilted his

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head to look down at Lily and Tye. "Grave accusations," he said disapprovingly. "You cannot be serious."

"Come to Vineyard Club." Tye said. "See how serious we are. Make them show you the hidden room. Ask Mr. Mayfair where his grandson is. But first, warn them about the Feeders."

Without altering a single stone feature, the ape looked appalled. "Leave my post?"

"If the knights don't rally fast, the Feeders will disappear into the world," Tye said. "You want to be responsible for that?"

"Joseph Mayfair cannot be a traitor," the ape said. "I trained him myself. He has passion, yes, but he would never--"

"Remember when you asked me to skip the I-can't-believe-it speech?" Lily said. "Can we skip it now? We have to warn the knights!"

"You can ride me," Tye said. "We'll blend in with all the P-rade costumes." He lowered Lily onto the sidewalk, and then he stepped back, shook out his shoulders and arms, and changed into a tiger. Lily could hear the crowd cheer as a new class marched past.

"Tye!" The ape's stone eyes bulged. Uttering a string of curses, only a third of which Lily recognized, he pried himself away from the wall. Legs, paws, and a tail emerged from the stone. He scurried down the arch. "Unprecedented," he muttered. "Rash." He grasped Tye's fur with his paws and clambered onto his back. "You had best be correct, prefrosh. If all you saw was a pack of squirrels--"

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"I wish they were squirrels," Lily said. She climbed onto the tiger's back behind the gargoyle and wrapped her arms around his stone waist. It felt like hugging a rock.

"Wave like you're in the parade," the ape instructed.

Plastering a smile on her face, Lily waved like Miss America. Tye bounded across the sidewalk and then joined the parade. The alumni clapped and cheered.

Tye broke through the crowds on the other side of the street. Lily continued to wave until they were safely up the hill and into the gardens. In seconds, they were on the other side of the garden and heading for 1879 Hall.

As they ran through the arch, the monkey gargoyles swiveled their heads to watch them pass. A few skittered down from their perches. But Tye didn't slow. He raced onto Prospect Avenue.

Professor Ape cried, "Hold! Fall back!"

"Oh, no," Lily breathed.

Emerging from behind one of the clubs, a troll crept along the stone wall in front of Vineyard Club. Lily spotted pixies perched on the telephone wire. A dead bird lay on the street beneath them. Goblins skittered across the roof of Vineyard Club.

The Feeders hadn't disappeared into the world.

The Feeders were here.

Tye pivoted and raced back toward 1879 Hall. Lily clung to the stone ape as they bounded up the steps. At the top, Lily looked back over her shoulder. Nothing had chased

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them. The Feeders were closing in on Vineyard Club.

"Hold here!" the ape instructed. He leaped off Tye's back and then scrambled up the brick wall to the campus security phone under the arch. As Lily slid off the tiger boy's back, Professor Ape stabbed the red emergency button with a stone finger. "Code forty-four. Prospect Avenue. Vineyard Club is focus."

Monkey gargoyles scurried over the bricks as Tye transformed back to human. The monkeys crawled over him and wrapped their stone arms around his neck, arms, and legs. He patted them.

"What's a code forty-four?" Lily asked.

"Lockdown," Tye said. "Campus security will blockade the street to protect civilians."

"It won't be enough," the Literate Ape said.

Now that she was looking for them, Lily could see Feeders everywhere: slipping between parked cars, slinking along the hedges, climbing over stone walls. She counted far more than fifty rogue magic creatures streaming toward the club.

"There must be hundreds," Tye said, staring at the street.

"She didn't want to be hunted anymore," Lily said. "
This
was her plan."

"Forbes ... they were testing the knights in preparation for this." He shook his head. "She must have gathered every Feeder for hundreds of miles. I didn't even know there were so many."

The Literate Ape was grim. "Over the years, criminals

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have sneaked into this world when Keys crossed, but most are simply the children and the children's children of all the magic creatures who were trapped here when the gate closed."

"But this is why the knights exist, right?" Lily said. "It's not like they're defenseless." She thought of the cabinets full of knives and swords.

"It won't be easy or quiet," Tye said.

"But they'll be okay," Lily insisted. She thought of Mom and Grandpa inside, helpless.

Tye looked pale. He stroked one of the monkeys that clung to his shirt. "If the battle isn't quick, campus security won't be able to contain it. It won't stay secret. Not with a campus full of alums."

"Gather all the gargoyles," Professor Ape said to the monkey gargoyles. "Tell them the unimaginable has happened. Tell them our secret is in jeopardy. Tell them war has come to the warriors."

Chittering, the monkeys scampered away. Lily watched them swarm over 1879 Hall. Stone tigers, goblins, and dwarves peeled away from the stone. Lions climbed down from their pedestals. As the gargoyles marched toward Prospect Avenue, the monkeys scattered and spread across campus to rouse more.

"Will it be enough?" Lily asked.

"I don't know," the ape said quietly.

Together, the three of them watched as the knights poured out the front door of Vineyard Club. Shrieking

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and screaming, the Feeders charged toward them.

There had to be something more they could do.
Think, Lily!
she ordered herself. "Tye, if we ask ...," she began.

"It won't work," Tye said.

"How do you know--"

He flashed her a lopsided grin, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. "Soul mates think alike." And then he shook his head. "The council will never agree to help. Not now."

Professor Ape drew himself up tall. "They must," he said. "Suit up in your fur, boy. It's time for me to go home."

Squeezing her eyes shut, Lily clung to the Literate Ape as Tye carried them across campus. He paid zero respect to paths or obstacles, barreling through bushes and leaping over bike racks. Lily felt her teeth bash together. She opened her eyes in time to see the gate speeding toward them, and then she saw the white flash as they crossed.

Tye skidded to a stop in front of the forest.

The Literate Ape leaped off the tiger boy's back. "We will speak to the council," he announced to the gold eagles. Lily noticed that the eagles were covered in scrapes and scratches. The ape didn't wait for their response. Leading the way, he marched to Nassau Hall.

The stone man had only an instant to throw open the door to the council chamber as the Literate Ape plowed forward without pause.

Inside, the council was in session. The tiger man, the

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unicorn, the centaur, the tiny man, and the elf all broke off conversation as the ape, Lily, and Tye barged in. Lily buried her fingers in Tye's tiger fur to hide how much they were shaking.

Rising to his feet, Tye's father bowed. "Welcome home, Ambassador."

Others echoed his welcome. Lily noticed that no one welcomed her or Tye.

With no preamble, Professor Ape said, "The Princeton knights are under attack. You must summon every available warrior, pass through the gate, and join the battle."

The unicorn spoke. "With all due respect, Ambassador, we will not."

The ape's eyes bulged.

Had he really expected them to leap to their feet, wave their swords in the air, and charge to the defense of the knights?
Yes,
Lily thought,
he had.
Beside her, Tye shifted from tiger to human. Like Lily, he stayed silent behind the ape.

"You cannot turn your backs on the knights." Professor Ape said. "They're your allies."

"Our alliance with the humans is void," the centaur said.

Professor Ape punched the air with his fists as if he wanted to knock sense into all of them. "This university was founded to promote understanding and cooperation between our worlds. It is the purpose of your existence here. You
cannot
turn your backs on the humans."

"Our responsibility is to our people," the elf said, rising to

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her feet, "as well as to our principles. We do not and will not condone Feeders of any kind."

"I know these knights. I know each man and each woman, and I know they are not Feeders." The ape thumped his chest for emphasis.

The tiger man snorted. "Oh? You know? With all due respect, Ambassador, you have been stone for most of your tenure."

Lily noticed that the ape's gray stone flesh had darkened to brown fur. His angular face had softened into more lifelike curves, and his eyes were now milky white, instead of stone. He was shedding his gargoyle traits, albeit slowly. Now he vibrated in very unstonelike fury.