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‘Just the young gentle their usual selves, ma’am,’ Irene answered ‘I think it’s one of the other Houses playing some sort of prank on theet myself cleaned up?’ She indicated the dirty ater stains on her grey unifor,’ the housekeeper said ‘You’ll be sweeping out the dorentlemen are in chapel’
Irene nodded humbly, and left the kitchen Still no alar house door, stepping outside
The boarding houses were in a row along thethe chapel, the assembly hall and – most importantly to her purposes – the school library Turquine House was the second along, which meant there was just one house to pass, preferably without drawing attention Not run She , it would only attract suspicion Just walk, nice and caled a whole ten yards
Aup behind her in Turquine House, and the master who’d spoken to her earlier leaned out He pointed at her ‘Thief! Thief!’
Irene picked up her skirts and ran Gravel crunched under her feet, and the first drops of rain slapped against her face She ca house, Bruce House, and for a ed escape plan and si into there in order to break her trail and slon pursuit But common sense pointed out that it wouldn’t work forscreech froround, throwing herself into a roll, as the gargoyle ca for her It s sawing at the air as it laboured to gain height Another one had swooped fro to reach a suitable angle of attack
This was one of those moments, Irene reflected bitterly, when it would be wonderful to be a necroical forces of the world and blast annoying gargoyles out of the sky She’d done her best to avoid attention, keep her cover, and not endanger bratty little boys who leftup their cloaks What had it got her? A swaroyles so far, but still – and probably a mass assault by pupils and masters within a few minutes So much for the rewards of virtue
She quickly reviehat she knew about the gargoyles There was one on the roof of each boarding house They were even listed in the boarding school prospectus as a guarantee of student safety – ANY KIDNAPPERS WILL BE TORN TO BLOODY RAGS BY OUR PROFESSIONALLY MAINTAINED HISTORICAL ARTEFACTS! Though after working here for several ht the pupils themselves were much more lethal to possible kidnappers
On the positive side (one oyles were extremely showy, but not actually that effective over a short space of ground On the negative side, running in a straight line to escape wouldback to the positives, the gargoyles were ly described in the prospectus, unlike anything else within earshot
This would need careful tient so they would be focused on capturing her, not on wondering why she was standing conveniently still
She took a deep breath
The first gargoyle reached suitable swooping altitude It called to the other gargoyle in a carrying screech, and then the two of thes spread in wide, dark traceries against the sky
Irene screamed, at the top of her voice, ‘Granite, be stone and lie still!’
The Language alorked hen it was instructing things to be what they naturally were, or to do what they naturally wanted to do Stone wanted to be inert and solid Her cos It was therefore the perfect antidote to the unnatural oyles stiffenedin place, and overshot her easily One thu out a crater for itself, while the other ca the nicely s with one of the stately li the avenue Leaves rained down on it
There was no ti, so she ran
Then the howling started It was either hellhounds or teenagers, and she suspected the former They’d been in the prospectus, too The prospectus had been very helpful about the school’s security precautions If she ever had to coain, perhaps she could sell her services as a security consultant Under a pseudonyht sent her shadow leaping down the avenue ahead of her, and proved the hellhound theory Right She’d planned for hellhounds She could plan for organized ic, even if she couldn’t perforet to the fire hydrant ahead before they caught up with her
A water and precautions against fire Whichthe main avenue The one that lay between her and the school library enty yards away
Ten yards She could hear pounding paws behind her, throwing up gravel in a rattle of ferocious speed She didn’t look