The next morning, we gathered around the breakfast table under the watchful eyes of our sister maids. It was strained and quiet, and Ball’s continuing vow of silence made me more uncomfortable than I wanted to admit. But Ravyn fed him bits of fruits and toast from the table while watching Lynn with a deep frown and narrowed eyes.
Lynn either didn’t notice or was queen of keeping her calm. She smiled sweetly and asked, “Will you continue to stay with us?”
“Yeah. This place is a nice getaway from Ni. Right, guys?” I asked, spooning through my oatmeal without much of an appetite.
“Oh yeah. It’s great,” Keke replied with a smirk.
“Do you, um, have any suggestions on what we can do? Like in town?” Cannoli asked, stroking Buttons’ head and spooning him some applesauce. “It seems like a lot of places are closed.”
Lynn nodded her understanding. “This does tend to be a quieter time of year. You are the first visitors we have hosted in quite a while. Hmm, let’s see.” She gave the question a lot more thought than it deserved.
Wondering where we can go that we don’t see pregnant catgirls?
“Oh! I don’t suppose you like ice cream?” Lynn clapped her hands.
Cannoli gasped and slammed her hands against the table. Buttons jumped in surprise and rushed up her arm and behind her neck. “I love ice cream!”
I looked at Keke and Ravyn. “Is ice cream hard to come by?”
Keke nodded. “It’s expensive to make and expensive to store for long periods of time.”
“There’s been a sugar shortage lately,” Ravyn added.
Well, that’s a bummer.
Lynn continued, “There is a café just around the corner that specializes in many flavors of ice cream. Felsi would love to see new faces!”
Cannoli turned her pleading gaze and clasped hands on me. “Please, Matt! Can we go get ice cream?”
“I don’t see why not.” With that face? I’d agree to jump off a cliff.
“Yay! Oh my goodness! Ice cream!” Cannoli scooped a dazed Buttons into her palms and nuzzled her cheek to his. “You get to try ice cream, Buttons!”
Ravyn tossed a grape to Ball, and he caught it in his beak.
“He’s been oddly quiet,” Keke said, watching the display with mild interest.
“Mm,” Ravyn replied noncommittally.
Good talk.
“Ice cream! Ice cream!” Cannoli sang to Buttons.
Lynn giggled.
Never change, Cannoli.
We made our way to the ice cream shop with Cannoli making up new songs about the frozen dessert along the way. I was surprised that Ravyn remained silent—anyone singing usually grated on her nerves like sandpaper. She’d seemed distracted all morning and lulled behind us as we walked.
“Good morning!” A cheerful voice greeted from behind a narrow, oak counter. A catgirl with a wild mane of bubble-gum pink hair and shining grey eyes waved us in. Over her maid uniform was an apron with a tiny ice cream cone embroidered into the corner.
“Is this the ice cream shop?” Cannoli asked, sounding as if she was about to burst.
“There was ice cream painted on the window,” Keke teased.
“You noticed! I did that myself.” Pink-hair grinned and bowed.
“Are you Felsi?” I asked.
“The one and only!” Felsi skipped behind a row of tubs shielded by glass.
The set-up reminded me a lot of the ice cream stores from home. Uncomfortably so. In fact, I would have bet money that someone from my last world strongly influenced the whole shebang.
“This is pretty amazing,” Keke murmured, leaning over the glass and studying the still-frozen ice cream beneath. “How do you keep them all cold? I imagine that takes a lot of ice?”
Felsi giggled. “No. These bars here are infused with ice magic.”
“You’re a [Wizard]?” Ravyn raised an eyebrow. “And you’re serving ice cream?”
“Squaawk! What a hack! What a hack!”
I think all of us jumped except Ravyn at Ball’s proclamation.
Felsi blushed, but her smile remained. “Owning my own store was my dream. And ice cream makes people so happy!”
“Wow! There are thirty-one flavors!” Cannoli cried.
Alright. This is definitely a Baskin-Robbins knock-off.
A door behind Felsi swung open, and a tiny kittengirl with a mass of pink curls and green eyes cuddled a stuffed animal waddled to Felsie’s leg and tugged on her apron. The four of us watched in stunned silence.
“Oh! Solonie, honey, I’ll be there in just a moment, alright?”
“Mm,” the kittengirl hummed and nodded, looking up at the rest of us with wide eyes. “Stwangers?”
“Visitors, sweet. I won’t be but another minute.”
“Okie.” Solonie waddled back through the door, letting it swing shut behind her.
“That your kid?” Ravyn asked bluntly, crossing her arms.
Such tact. What a party face.
Felsi shrank beneath Ravyn’s gaze. I felt bad for her. Solonie was obviously something we weren’t meant to see.
“I’ll take pawmegranate chip, please!” Cannoli shouted, pointing enthusiastically to a tub of pink ice cream. “Two scoops!”
“Yeah, I’ll have that too,” Keke agreed.
“Of course, coming right up!” Felsi sighed with relief and rushed away from the weight of Ravyn’s gaze.
“Kuso. Why did they interrupt me?” Ravyn growled.
I shrugged. “It was a pretty rushed interrogation.”
“That would have won us an answer,” she snapped. “Whatever. I’ll be outside.”
I know, Ravyn. I hate this, too. I ordered the same ice cream as Keke and Cannoli, then paid for all of us before we joined Ravyn outside.
“This is so good!” Cannoli squealed, licking her spoon with delight.
Watching her tongue work was more than distracting. It didn’t help that Keke gave me a knowing glance with hers still in her mouth. You tease.
“Matt. Look.” Ravyn punched my arm and pointed off into the distance.
I cleared my throat and readjusted my legs, hoping to ward off Keke’s wandering gaze as I followed her finger.
At the entryway of a particularly large estate, a catgirl slid past the door, looked around her immediate surroundings, then marched down the stairs at a clip. Her outline disappeared over the horizon, but another catgirl came into view just as she did. With the same determined pace, she strode up the stairs and vanished behind the front door.
“Party at that house,” I murmured.
“That’s the third girl I’ve seen go in there,” Ravyn replied. “I think we’ve found him.”
“Time to check it out?”
“Yeah.”
We let Keke and Cannoli finish their ice cream, watching two more girls arrive and leave. Were they swapping him out that quickly? I had a hard time believing that. Regardless, the four of us made our way to the party house—‘mansion’ was a better word, I think—and took a precursory look around before stepping inside.
There were no maids to greet us, and the entryway was silent. Fine art, decorations, and trinkets from the other islands decorated almost every inch of the damn place. A grand marble staircase at the center of the front room, like the Titanic on steroids, led to multiple other floors of the estate. I heard a giggle from the back corner of the room and spied a catgirl passing between two carved pillars holding the next floor aloft.
“Do you see her?” I whispered.
“Yeah,” Ravyn replied.
“See who?” Keke murmured.
“She’s right there.” I pointed toward the dark-haired maid in the back. “In that hallway. It’s kind of off to the side.”
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“Matt, there’s nothing there,” Cannoli replied, tilting her head in confusion. “It’s just a wall.”
Ravyn and I exchanged looks, and a booming voice sounded behind the four of us.
“Dear visitors! What brings you to the Venicia School of Etiquette?” Celestia had a knack for making her questions sound like demands.
We turned to meet her piercing gaze. I could feel Cannoli shrink beside me, sidling closer to me as the fires of Celestia’s stare brushed her.
“We were curious. There seemed to be a lot of activity here,” Keke replied calmly.
Always the best under pressure. Good job, Keke.
“Of course there is activity! Each and every catgirl on Shi Island must attend the Venicia School of Etiquette. It is the highest honor to graduate from our establishment.” Celestia smiled; her glittering teeth looked like fangs. “Service, Grace, Urgency!”
“Uh-huh. And which part of ‘Service, Grace, Urgency’ covers fucking the man you’re hiding?” Ravyn said, staring Celestia down.
“Emergency! Squawk! Emergency!” Ball wailed.
Tact, Ravyn! Just a little tact?
Celestia’s smile only broadened, her eyes cold and hard. “I beg your pardon?”
“Apologies, Celestia, it’s been a long couple of days,” I interrupted, moving to intercept whatever blow may be headed Ravyn’s way.
Celestia clenched her hands, then rested them clasped in her lap. “Of course, Master. I completely understand. I do believe it is time for lunch. May I suggest swiftly returning to your quarters? It would be a shame to miss such a wonderful meal.”
“I agree. Let’s go,” I said.
Keke and Cannoli didn’t have to be told twice. They were out the door before I could say another word. Ravyn was a different story. I tugged on her arm, and she yanked it back, fury twisting her expression.
“What you’re doing is wrong,” Ravyn snarled at Celestia.
“Training ladies in the ways of etiquette?” Celestia politely laughed. “I shan’t think so. Though, I imagine a young woman of San Island would certainly have a difficult time understanding manners.”
Ravyn growled.
“This isn’t the time or the place, Ravyn.” I tugged again.
At last, Ravyn moved, joining me on the way out. Once we were out of Celestia’s earshot, I dropped her arm and my voice. “Hey, we’re gonna figure this out, okay?”
Ravyn’s anger was palpable. But she gave me a curt nod and stormed back to our lodgings.
I joined Keke and Cannoli, and we quietly followed in her wake.
Night fell. Accompanying us at the dinner table were the chirps and buzzings of grasshoppers and crickets. I watched as Ravyn glared at each of us under the candlelight like some tough-as-nails gumshoe.
She put a finger to her lips, and Keke, looking half-ashamed of herself, nodded and bowed her head. I moved to speak, but I received an immediate look of disapproval from Ravyn.
Keke, it’s okay. There’s no way you could’ve known.
Ravyn yanked a feather from Ball’s wing, and Ball twitched and squirmed. He never made a sound, but his squinted eyes and his refusal to keep his attention on anything for more than a couple of seconds said he had bigger worries than the pain of a single feather being plucked from him.
Ravyn dipped the makeshift blue quill into a small ink bottle at the center of the table, then started to scribble on a piece of paper in front of her. Despite the fact that we didn’t have a pair of, albeit cute, catgirls to dictate where we sat, we ended up in the same seats as usual when Lynn and Ara were awake.
Guess I’m a conformist.
Ravyn sure did take her time scrawling her missive. We sat there for at least a couple minutes. Keke remained slumped-shouldered and heavy-lidded, chewing on her lower lip with remorse. Cannoli played a game with Buttons on the table, trying to make him guess which fist she’d hidden a carrot in for him. There were a few times where I’d raise my hand and open my mouth, but either by my own realization, one of the other girls kindly reminding me with some sort of gesture, or even worse, getting that “I’ll fucking kill you” glare from Ravyn peeking up from her paper, not a peep came out of my mouth.
After some of the longest few minutes of my life, Ravyn nodded to herself, spun the paper around, then pushed it toward me. With a single finger, I slid the sheet of paper to the edge of the table, then began to read.
First of all, what fucking right does she have harnessing such impeccable penmanship? My half-assed scribbling would never come close to this. I cleared my throat and silently mouthed the words on the paper.
“As I expressed earlier, none of us are to speak while in this house. Please be sure it is common knowledge that you would be comfortable sharing with a stranger if you must speak. As far as Lynn and Ara are aware, we are resting at this moment. Finally, please complete your sentences on this page with ‘this is’ and your name. Is that understood? This is Ravyn.”
I frowned. Who the hell’s writing was I looking at? There were more ‘pleases’ on this paper than I’d ever heard her say aloud. And why did she take so long to write a single paragraph? I looked up at Ravyn.
She was leaning on her elbow, tapping a single finger against the table with impatience.
I have to admit. It was very difficult not to laugh.
Ravyn’s glare was growing in strength, so I gave Ravyn a simple thumbs-up, and I shifted the paper and pushed it to my left, toward Cannoli.
Cannoli looked at it with wide eyes, nodded, then reached out with her hand, opening and closing her fist. The carrot fell free, and Buttons scrambled to its location, munching away happily as Ravyn raised a brow and handed her the quill. Cannoli scratched her own note into the paper, and admittedly, it was a far cry from Ravyn’s aristocratic handwriting.
Cannoli pushed the paper toward Keke. Keke put a hand to her mouth as she accepted the quill from Cannoli.
Keke wrote her own response onto the sheet, then pushed it back over to Ravyn.
Ravyn received the paper, and I watched as Ravyn’s face gradually grew redder and redder. Her brow flattened, and she set the paper flat on the table, practically ripping the quill out of Keke’s hand.
Another couple of minutes passed, and Ravyn pushed the paper toward me. I picked it up and mouthed it off again.
“As I expressed earlier, none of us are to speak while in this house. If you must speak, please be sure it is along the lines of something you would share with a stranger. As far as Lynn and Ara are aware, we are resting at this moment. And please complete your sentences with ‘this is’ and please input your name. Is that understood? This is Ravyn.”
“I understand! I won’t say a word! By the way, Ravyn, your writing is so pretty! Did you learn that in Shulan? This is Cannoli!”
“Don’t worry, won’t say a word. So what’s the plan? This is Keke.”
“Look, you fucks. From this point on, do NOT touch the bells again. Keke, Cannoli, I know both of you have already touched them. However, please refrain from doing so from this point forward. There’s something wrong with them, and I need to investigate them further. This is Ravyn.”
I took the quill from Ravyn and wrote the words, “I understand. So let’s talk. What’s the plan? I think it’s pretty clear that the man is inside the etiquette school somewhere. This is Matt.” Afterward, I passed it to Cannoli.
Cannoli passed to Keke, then from her to Ravyn. Ravyn paused with her head resting on her palm, tapping at her cheekbone in thought. Another few minutes later, Ravyn passed the paper back to Keke. Keke scribbled a few short words, then after Ravyn did the same, Ravyn passed me the quill and paper next.
I twirled the quill in my hand as I read.
“I’m not sure. Should we try and sneak in during the daytime? Because there would be a lot of guards walking around during the night, right? Also, I’m really sorry about touching the bell. I had no idea :( - this is Cannoli.”
“I think we should go during the evening. Even if there are guards, I can see just fine in the dark. It would also help if we had the veil of darkness to hide us. I feel really bad about the bells. Do you know what kind of Enchantment it was? This is Keke.”
“Infiltration during the evening will be our best chance. I’m with Keke on this one. As far as the bells are concerned, please do not worry. They are smaller, weaker Enchantments. They may wear off if they’re not applied within a certain timeframe. So if we’re lucky, you girls might be better tomorrow. I know it’s an illusion Enchantment of some sort. That much was evident when neither of you could see the room. This is Ravyn.”
“Still, though. I’m sorry. This is Keke.”
“It’s okay. You could not have known. Let’s focus on the plan. This is Ravyn.”
I had to admit, it was a little spooky reading Ravyn’s writing. I swore I was reading someone else’s penmanship. She used very few contractions, and her vocabulary was a lot kinder—well, save for ‘You fucks.’ If only we could see this version of Ravyn more often.
I wrote my own response, and we circled the paper around once more.
“So this illusion magic. Can an Enchantment have more than one effect beyond the illusion? I'm worried that there's more to it than what we've seen. Getting further into the school is dangerous unless we know what all could happen. This is Matt.”
“It was just that wall, right? That you could see, but we can’t? This is Cannoli.”
“It might not be. The only reason the wall was so easy to identify was because it was something that stuck out. We wouldn’t question a gilded spoon or minor differences in color or appearance. This is Keke.”
“That’s a good point. As far as its power is concerned, it should be one of those set-it-and-forget-it types of spells. The Enchanter could be Lynn or Ara. Such a weak spell may require them to Enchant the bell on a daily basis. With that in mind, they should not be able to alter its effects after the victim has touched the bell. This is Ravyn.”
“So the entire place might be bug—” I scratched the word out. How would they know what ‘bugged’ meant? “So they might be listening, too? This is Matt.”
“I don’t like that. Then, what do me and Keke do?”
“You forgot to put your name down, Cannoli. I think we should scout out the manor and talk more tomorrow. Outside of the house. Worst case scenario, Cannoli and I can be distractions while Matt and Ravyn try to locate the man. This is Keke.”
“We have plenty of Bells to continue staying here, so let us bide our time and be patient. If at some point we could confirm the Enchantment has been dispelled, then all the better. That’s not something I can do in a day, though. I suggest we wake up a little earlier than normal, get a headstart. This is Ravyn.”
“Alright, I’m game. Let’s do it. This is Matt.”
I took a moment to look over and see what Cannoli was writing. I imagined her with a cellphone, and the thought of her emoji-ridden texts warmed my heart.
“Sorry! I forgot! Then it’s a plan! This is Cannoli :)”
Cannoli passed the paper to Keke, and without writing anything down, handed it to Ravyn. Ravyn took a minute to look over all the responses, then nodded to each of us.
Guess I’m about to see if my years of playing stealth games did anything for me.
