Free The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin (Books of Unexpected Enlightenment Book 1) by L. Jagi Lamplighter Page B

charming and friendly.
    The princess felt otherwise. “I do not care to look at so many rabbits.” Nastasia frowned fiercely at the walls. “The rabbit is the enemy of my people.”
    “Your enemies are rabbits?” Valerie Hunt lowered her glasses and staring at the princess over the rims. Valerie was with them in this class, though she had not been in Language. Her friend Salome was not with her.
    “We are overrun with them in Magical Australia. Somebody once enchanted a top hat so that a magician could pull a rabbit out of it, and they just kept coming.” The princess waved an admonishing finger. “Never pull a rabbit out of a hat! It goes badly!”
    “As a knight, I vow to defeat your enemy!” Siggy announced fiercely, eager to perform deeds of derring-do. “Lucky and I will rid you of these rabbits, won’t we, Lucky!”
    The dragon remembered not to speak in public, but his eyes glittered with eagerness as his head bobbed up and down.
    “Sigfried Smith,” the princess replied with regal graciousness, “I would be honored if you and Lucky came to Magical Australia to defeat our rabbits.”
    Siggy grinned and gave Lucky a thumbs-up.
    Heelis . Puddleduck . From the deep well of random information in Rachel’s memory, pieces clicked into place.
    “Beatrix Potter!” She jumped up and ran over to the tutor, who was feeding the animated duck imaginary corn. “You’re Beatrix Potter. You married a Mr. Heelis and disappeared from public view. All these pictures on the wall. You painted them.”
    “Yes I did,” Mrs. Heelis admitted with a kind smile.
    “You must be very old,” she blurted out and then blushed. It was not the kindest thing to say. The other students snickered.
    Mrs. Heelis did not seem offended. “Those of us with the blood of the immortals running through our veins are not as tightly bound by time as ordinary folk. I am well into my second century. Now, pencils ready. Let us begin by drawing the basic shapes: circle, triangle, square.”

Chapter Seven:
Encounter in a Nigh-Empty Hallway
    “Vladimir Von Dread! He’s eeevil!” Salome exclaimed, as she, Valerie, Siggy, the princess, and Rachel sat down to lunch together. Rachel had finally told the other girls the fate of the scarab brooch.
    Lunch was served in the dining room, in the center of Roanoke Hall. The chamber was shaped like a plus sign, with a fountain in the center of the four wings. To one side were the kitchens, where students went to choose their food. While the main cooking was done by human employees, the pastries and other baking were done by brownies, little fey creatures closely related to the bwbachs that cleaned the dorm rooms—if one filled the bowl beside one’s door with milk.
    Familiars who ate human food were welcome in the dining hall. Here and there a dog or a monkey ate beside its master or mistress. All others were fed in their rooms or at the menagerie, a large barn-like building toward the far end of the campus, west of the lily pond. Rachel suspected this was for the best. Watching a snake swallow a live mouse at lunch might not encourage hearty appetites.
    The dining room itself consisted of long tables that sat twelve. The central table, near the fountain, was occupied by Vladimir Von Dread and his companions. The rest of the tables were either color-coded, to indicate that they were assigned to students specializing in a specific Art, or open to anyone. Rachel and her friends currently sat at one of these free tables. She had had the option of sitting with her brother or her sister, both of whom had waved her over—Peter smiling calmly and Laurel bouncing with enthusiasm—but Rachel had spent the entire summer with them. She wanted to get to know her new friends.
    Their table was off to one side. It should have been out of the way, but a great many people kept staring at them. Rachel hated being the center of attention. She struggled to breathe. Her head felt light. Gripping the table hard, she was