Please report to the gymnasium at three-thirty on Wednesday to assume your new position as my instructional assistant.

Woohoo! Work-study. Not that Lady Griffin needs money, but it is nice to be flying. Today Rachel spots a tiny Drake Hall student sporting a black eye. The mean girls from yesterday deliberately ruin her morning, right in front of Rachel’s long-time crush, James Darling. Her surprise from yesterday comes to the rescue and there goes breakfast.

Tuesday, Rachel, and her core classmates, have Language and Art again, then Math with the unsettling Doctor Mordreau. Science follows and turns out to be Alchemy: the magic of putting magic into physical objects. Elixirs and potions, yes, but also swords, grails, and amulets. It is fun how even in magical chemistry, students figure out how to side-track friendly profs with stories of his adventures fighting End of the World cultists.

At lunch everyone gets an invite to the Young Sorcerer’s league but Rachel and Nastasi has a moment of rebelliousness that she pays for with a trip to the infirmary. I do not think this is going to make our perfectly proper princess more willing to abet Rachel’s adventurous plans, do you? After dinner Rachel learns from a mysterious source that there is a new type of geas, like an induced absent seizure, except waaaay longer lasting. This is probably what was done to her second new friend, the intrepid girl-reporter Valerie Hunt, by the fake Agent. Rachel must get the news to her father, who is not just Lord Griffin, but a member of the Wisecraft himself. It is the kind of wonderful secret Rachel loves best because she knows just who to share it with, it is someone she adores, and is sure to earn respect and wonder for doing so.

Sadly, her day ended as it began with another run in with the Drake Hall snots, who cast a bunch of nasty spells that sent Rachel, you guessed it, back to the infirmary, horridly embarrassed. On the way she spots the giant blood-eyed Raven watching her, is rescued by the wonderful Mr. Fuentes, her flying instructor boss, and meets the Roanoke Head of Security.

Discussion

1. What do you think the black- and silver-haired Mordreau is going to get up to? Is she a baddy, or a red herring in disguise?
2. What do you think of the names: Terrible Five; Six Musketeers? Do you like them better or worse than ones like Veltdammerung or Morthbrood?
3. Betting pool: How many trips is Rachel going to make to the infirmary (for herself or to visit a friend) before the book is out: Count is now three!
4. Guess the story: Joy O’Keefe, Wendy and John Darling, and Jacinta Moth (hint: check out the author’s husband’s books)