The Knights of the Vulture's Claw

Advanced Dueling

Ginevra woke up the extremely early next morning from an all too familiar dream of angular science labs. Not having the heart to go back to sleep, she sat with her sword in her hands, puzzling over the events of last night's detention with Lisha. By four o'clock she'd decided that Cygnus was mad and Rackham must've done something really terrible if everyone made such a fuss over it. She decided that it probably had something to do with the Ring, and turning it around in her fingers, decided it'd probably be better if Jaron got the Ring so she, Ginevra, wouldn't have to be in this ridiculous position.She was about to get back in bed when she heard loud footsteps pass outside her door, and heard a two people talking in hushed voices. She waited for them to pass, then silently crept out to follow them.

She saw Janet Lighter and Tobias Claverford walking hurriedly down the hall, making so much noise that easily masked Ginevra's footsteps. Their whispers became louder and more agitated until they reached a room marked Hunter's office—No entry unless you have access. Together they pulled key card-like devices from their pockets and rubbed them against the slot under the doorknob. The door slid open with a noise like robotic wheels on metal, and they slipped inside.

Looking both ways to be sure nobody was coming, Ginevra hesitated and put her ear to the slot and listened, hearing Claverford's voice.

"—So, I'm sure he knows nothing. The kidnapping was probably a caution, Hunter. You know how paranoid he is."

Ginevra realized they were talking about Jaron, and squished her head to the door to hear Hunter laugh tonelessly.

"Yes, Tobias, you're all too correct. I know more than anyone how paranoid he is. And that's what leads me to say it was not a mere stroke of paranoia. Anyway, let's change the subject. How are the classes? Michaela?"

"They're fine." said the brisk voice of Michaela Aberline. "Of course, our recent editions need polishing up. Zurichov especially, that's a wonder, Aranslov and Olivia both had a knack for numbers."

There was a round of laughter, and Ginevra backed off, disappointed. Whatever important Vulture news there had been, it'd been cleared before her arrival.

"Har har," Cygnus's voice laughed loudly. "Not always a chip off the old block, eh? Take Jaron. He—"

Ginevra smashed her head against the door so hard it hurt. Massaging her head, she breathlessly listened for more.

All the present members cleared their throats significantly, and to Ginevra's disappointment, changed the topic back to classes. Ginevra was about to leave when she heard something that made her nearly bash in her head again.

"—So, the war," laughed Cygnus, "Of course, as all raging battles go, it's more of a rage than a demonstration of age. All this swordplay and whatnot, not really focusing on the code."

"What was the code?" asked a deep voice with a British accent that Ginevra had never heard before.

"Ah, Harry, the code was complex. It told the members of whichever team to break it must come into class with pumpkins on their heads and marshmallows in a heptagon shape glued to the top of those pumpkins, arranged in a 3-D model of the hyperbolic plane."

The man called Harry laughed and clapped him on the back. "That's madder than the one from last time!"

"Thank you," said Cygnus mulishly while Ginevra stood up so quickly she banged her head hard on the doorframe.

"What was that?" asked Claverford and Ginevra heard all of them stand up.

"Relax, Tobias." said Michaela Aberline firmly. It was probably the central heating, remember when the Core Reactor went faulty a few weeks ago?"

"Yeah," said Cygnus. "I doubt this will ever come off my leg. I've got the Lowest Form believing I was the heroic survivor of some dreadful battle."

Ginevra grinned to herself and ran up to Lisha's room. When she opened the door, she felt herself being pulled into a stranglehold. As she fought for breath she caught a glimpse of a black sleeve around her neck.

"Who's there?" rasped a voice that was deep and scratchy, not at all like the exuberant, cheerful tone Lisha had.

"Gin—Ginevra—Ar—Ar—Artolius," Ginevra gasped, and at once the arm dropped away. Ginevra found herself face to face with Lisha Wolverine, who was wearing the same thing as the day before and grinning.

"Sorry, but I had to check. I get it from my dad, I guess. Once I woke up at midnight and found a rat on my head. I guess that might be one of the reasons. Anyway, what do you want to tell me this badly?"

"Cygnus's code. I have the answer. We need pumpkins on our heads with marshmallows, heptagon shaped, arranged in a model of the hyperbolic plane."

"Whoa!" whistled Lisha. "How do you figure that?"

Ginevra told her.

"Ginevra," said Lisha sternly, "Invite me next time, you hear?"

A few hours later at six, Ginevra and Lisha slipped down to breakfast, trying not to look like they'd been up since four. When they arrived, they weren't surprised to see Dragomir already there, eating a pile of pancakes a disgruntled Mrs. Black had set in front of him.

"Hey, Drago." said Lisha casually. "Orion come by yet?"

Dragomir almost spat out a mouthful. "Orion's on the Council?"

"Yup," said Lisha. "He's one of those special cases. He's fourteen, his mother's been in good with Hunter for three years. Big deal, my father's been in good with hunter for thirty five years."

"How?" whispered Dragomir to Ginevra. "You'd have to be as mad as Cygnus to be in good with Wolverine."

Ginevra was relieved of answering when the door opened and Orion burst in, yawning. He was very thin, with very thin blond hair (though he had a lot of it) and gray eyes. "Oy, Lisha. You're up early, yesterday you weren't up till eight!"

"Yeah," grinned Lisha. "Because Ginevra here cracked Cygnus's code!"

"She what?" cried Orion. "That's insane! I couldn't make heads or tails of it! I picked the smartest kids in the class, and Jack only got one sentence! How'd you do it?"

Ginevra was about to tell him, but saw Mrs. Black out of the corner of her eye. She was obviously listening very hard. Ginevra thought it might not be the best idea to tell her she'd been spying on a Council meeting.

"Oh, just luck." she said, winking at Lisha. "We need pumpkins and heptagon-shaped marshmallows. Get them, enough for everyone on our team, before Ciel and Jaleigh show their faces here!"

"Jaleigh's on the Council too?" asked Dragomir. "How many underage kids are on the Council?"

"You have to be at least twenty," Mrs. Black said suddenly, confirming Ginevra's thought she'd been listening. "So there are you, Ginevra, Lisha, Jack, Spike, Bella, Ciel, Orion, and Jaleigh. That's rather a lot, but very little compared to the seventy six adults on the Council."

"Hey!" a boy's voice sounded. "What're y'all doin', clustered up like that?" Ciel Black's white-blond head poked into the room. He was wearing a black baseball cap, black coat, and dark jeans. With his jagged scars, he looked like the leader of a rich-boy gang.

Orion jumped up and ran out of the room, and Ginevra was sure she knew where he was going.

Ciel had no time to comment on Orion's strange behavior, because Bella and Jaleigh had just walked in, whispering about something and both looking mischievously pleased. "Hey!" yelled Ciel. "Are you talking about me?"

"Yeah," said Bella. Before Ciel could say anything, the other two—Jack and Spike— walked in as well.

"Horrible morning, y'all." grinned Jack cheerily. "Orion was running like the wind back there, he looked like a flagpole blowing away—"

Spike, Ginevra, Lisha, and Dragomir gave him a look that said shut up.

They arrived at AMT with fifteen minutes to spare. Team Insane was standing outside the door, Orion was handing out pumpkins. Ginevra, Bella, and Dragomir each took one and put it on their head, fastening then with a length of string, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

Cygnus dropped his whole mug of coffee at the sight of them and his mouth fell open; he was so comical they all had to laugh. They took their seats and waited, as the members of team Ridiculous arrived, casting puzzled looks at the others.

Tim Rackham showed up five minutes late with Hiram Thornton and Wade Luthor. When he walked in, he did a double take and began to laugh so hard he was almost incoherent.

"What's the meaning of this getup, losers?" he guffawed. "Being pumpkin brained is a far cry from what you really are!"

"Actually, Timothy Cullen, they have won the war," said Cygnus slowly, a mad grin forming on his face. "I don't know how you did it, Orion, but the victory goes to team Insane!"

"But—What?" choked Rackham, whirling around to face Cygnus. "That was the code? What? But how—"

"How did you do it, Orion? asked Cygnus, his mad grin now the size of a small piano. Behind him, Ginevra and Lisha were shaking their heads, but to no avail. "It wasn't me, sir, it was Ginevra," said Orion. "She figured it out herself."

The whole class turned to stare at Ginevra. Rackham cursed under his breath, but Cygnus ignored him. "All degrades erased from team Insane!" he shouted, while team ridiculous, Ciel in particular, booed.

The rest of the class was like a forty-five minute break. Everyone talked and laughed while Cygnus put his feet on his desk and relaxed, burying his head in a newspaper. Ginevra noticed his injured leg had been rebandaged, and remembered last night's spying: I doubt this thing will ever come off my leg. Ginevra was on the verge of asking Cygnus how he had injured his leg when he dismissed class and they headed off to Algebra.

In Algebra, Michaela Aberline was stricter than ever. She handed them a paper with fifty equations, and announced that no answer would be the same as another.

"Psst—Bella!" hissed Dragomir over Ginevra for the second time in ten minutes, who felt like slapping him. "What's the answer to number six?"

"A billion," Bella replied, letting her hair fall over her head to make a curtain.

"Alright...thanks, Bella." Dragomir paused and looked back at the paper. "Wait...no! That can't be right, that's what you said number three was!"

Ginevra let out a snort of laughter and Dragomir glared at Bella, or Bella's hair. "Okay then, smarty. I'm guessing the rest of these."

"Do you like getting bad grades?" asked Bella. Ginevra and Dragomir ignored her.

When the time was over, Michaela took the papers and checked them. Finally, she looked up, and said "I can't believe it. Out of all of you, only one student got everything right."

Ginevra guessed it was Bella or Jack. Her best friend had always been smart, and Jack was some sort of kid genius.

"Dragomir Zurichov," said Michaela, raising her head from the papers.

"What?" gasped Bella.

Ginevra was equally shocked. Apart from Tim Rackham, who she didn't know about, Dragomir was probably the worst in the class. Him getting everything right on a guessed attempt? It had to be a trick.

"What?" demanded Jack.

"What?" Lisha exclaimed incredulously as the whole class also said "What?"

"Congratulations, Zurichov." said Michaela sarcastically. "Your parents both had a flair for numbers. I've double checked. You got fifty out of fifty correct. A hundred percent."

Dragomir was sitting with his mouth open. At these words he jerked up to stare at Michaela.

"What?" he asked.