SENDAK HALL

Natalia had been looking forward to the final bell on Wednesday. She had to fight the urge to watch the clock during Strange’s Relic Hunting class, and when they were finally dismissed, she jumped out of her chair to pack her things.

Until she transferred to Iron Bridge she had never had a friend who was a girl. Now she had two, and she was hoping they would all get along.

“I’m a little nervous,” Natalia said as her heels clicked on the cobbled path that led to Sendak Hall.

“It’s strange, but I am, too,” Brooke said while Honeysuckle flew ahead. “I hope we don’t run into Dean Nipkin.”

“That makes three of us,” Raven said, “but I wouldn’t worry about it. She left for some kind of conference this morning. She’s not supposed to be back until Monday.”

Sendak Hall was never meant to be a prison, yet to the changelings at Iron Bridge Academy, that’s exactly what it had become. There were guards at the front entrance and watchful gargoyles on the rooftops. Changelings weren’t allowed to wander the campus without supervision. They weren’t even allowed to eat lunch with the other students, although other students could choose to sit with the changelings.

Dean Nipkin insisted the rules were in place to protect the changelings from further attacks. She also wanted to protect the other students from any potential accidents. After all, Iron Bridge Academy was once closed after a changeling lost control of her powers. The explosion was so devastating that most of the campus was destroyed, and it had taken nearly a century to reopen the school.

“I didn’t think you were allowed to have visitors,” Natalia said as the three girls closed in on Sendak Hall. The trees along the path kept most of the rain from reaching them. Natalia’s umbrella handled the rest.

“Technically, we’re not, but I took care of it,” Raven said. She walked up the front steps and right past the guard. He didn’t move. Neither did Natalia and Brooke. “Are you two coming or not?”

“We’re not going to get in trouble, are we?” Natalia asked as she eyed the guard.

Honeysuckle looked at Raven before whispering something into Brooke’s ear. Brooke whispered something back behind a cupped hand. Honeysuckle didn’t look happy, but when Brooke raised her eyebrow, the pixie flew away.

“Sorry,” Brooke said before she hurried up the steps.

Natalia followed, though slowly. Her eyes never left the guard. “How did you do that?”

“I didn’t,” Raven said. Then she pointed to a boy wearing a linen duster jacket with a tweed vest, black pants, boots, and brass goggles pulled on top of his driving cap. He waved to the girls as they walked by.

“Who’s that?” Natalia asked. Her voice was barely above a whisper.

“I’m not sure if anybody knows his real name, but we call him Geppetto,” Raven said.

“Why?”

“Because if he gets inside your head, he can control you like a puppet.”

Natalia and Brooke looked at each other with wide eyes.

“Don’t worry,” Raven said. “As long as you’re with me, he’ll leave you alone.”

The girls walked past a large room filled with clusters of sofas and chairs. The walls were covered in floral wallpaper, and paintings hung inside ornate frames. Three boys were playing Round Table. Natalia recognized Tejan from the tournament, but she hadn’t seen the other two before.

When they got to Raven’s room, it wasn’t anything like what Natalia had expected. The space was surprisingly large. Sheer curtains let in what little sunlight there was, her bedspread was covered in a floral pattern, and the walls were a soft yellow. She even had a painting of wildflowers.

“This is amazing,” Brooke said as she walked over to the window. “You can see the entire city. Look, there’s the Cathedral of St. Peter.”

“Yeah, it’s great,” Raven said. “It reminds me of all the amazing things in the world that I’ll never get to be a part of.”

“That’s not true,” Natalia said. “Besides, I thought that Annie found a way to override the inhibitors. You can go anywhere you want.”

“It’s not the same thing,” Raven said. “Why should we have to sneak around? Do you know what Dean Nipkin does if she catches one of us outside Sendak Hall?”

Brooke shook her head. Natalia just stood there.

“We get placed in solitary confinement,” Raven said. “It’s a room about as big as a broom closet. There aren’t any windows, and the only furniture is a toilet.”

“That’s terrible,” Brooke said. “Does my dad know about it?”

Raven shrugged. “Why wouldn’t he? He’s the director of the school, right?”

It looked as though Brooke was about to defend her father, but she must have thought better of it. Instead, she closed her mouth and turned back to the window.

“That’s what I thought,” Raven said loud enough for Brooke to hear. Then she walked over to a steamer trunk and opened it. She pulled out something wrapped in cloth and tied with a string. Inside was the mangled cover of a journal. “I’ll probably get expelled for showing you this.”

“Why?” Natalia asked.

“Because it belonged to Otto Von Strife.”

Natalia frowned.

“You know,” Raven said, “as in the guy who is kidnapping changelings to steal their souls?”

“Of course,” Natalia said, “but how did you get it?”

“Smoke left it in his dorm room,” Raven said. “The pages were missing, but I was still able to lift the memories. Von Strife is crazy, but now I understand why Smoke thinks the guy is trying to protect us.” Raven paused as she bit the inside of her cheek. “Well, at least his daughter, anyway.”

“She had leukemia, right?” Natalia asked.

Raven nodded. “It’s probably better if I just show you.”

“You can do that?” Natalia asked.

“I’ve never tried with two people before, but I suppose there’s a first time for everything. Are you game?”

“I am,” Natalia said, glancing at Brooke.

Brooke looked hesitant, but she nodded.

“Okay,” Raven said, leading the girls over to a small sofa. She set the cover of the journal on the table before sitting down in a chair next to the other two. “Now I can only see what an object wants to show me, but this journal doesn’t seem to hold much back.”

“How does it work?” Natalia asked.

“Just set your hand on top of mine, close your eyes, and if you feel like you have to barf… well, don’t.”