They turned back to the man. “We’ll do it.”
He exhaled with relief, his shoulders sagging as if half the air in him had been released. “Gladstone has the caladrius secured inside a cage in his library. You need to—”
“If you were just at the house and saw the bird, why didn’t you rescue it yourself?” Devon asked.
The man smacked his hat over his face. When he lowered it again, he was smiling brightly. “Do I look like a hero to you? Really, we have no more time for questions. You need to sneak into Gladstone’s house, obtain the caladrius, then flee before any of the servants catch you. Make sure you don’t separate! This is vital! You must stay together. Er, safety in numbers and all that. Take the bird to London and meet us at…let’s see, a random place just off the top of my head…Kensington Gardens, behind the Albert Memorial on Albert Memorial Road, opposite the Royal Albert Hall. There’s a new public aviary just finished being built there: the Albert Aviary. Queen Victoria had it erected in memory of the prince. He loved birds, you know.”
“Loved to shoot them,” Devon said caustically.
“Why can’t we just bring the caladrius to you here, today?” Beth asked. “Since we’re in—”
“I saidno time for questions!” The man flapped his hat at them urgently. But Beth and Devon paused. Morning light fell through the oak foliage over them in soft, bright pieces, like the broken dream of tenure.
“If we bring you the caladrius, will you keep it safe?” Beth asked.
“Yes. It will be protected from all harm, or my name isn’t Feh—er…”
“Isn’t what?” Devon prompted, suspicion darkening his eyes.
“Feth-erlong-ham-skew!” The syllables tumbled from the man’s throat with increasing desperation. “Mr. Fetherlonghamsque, PRESS agent. Now hurry, in case Herr Oberhufter and Mrs. Quirm turn up at Gladstone’s house before you!”
That propelled them into action. Beth nodded a polite goodbye, and Devon held back branches so she could move easily through the gap in the hedge. As she reentered the road, she noticed Devon casting one more mistrustful look at the PRESS agent. Then he followed her, and they took off running toward the Eyrie.
—
“Uuughhh.” Mr. Fettickgroaned, collapsing back against the trunk of the oak tree. Taking the handkerchief from his jacket’s breast pocket, he applied it to his face and throat. It came away sodden.
“That was brilliant!” Mr. Flogg whispered excitedly, appearing from around the other side of the tree. His eyes shone with admiration. “Youare brilliant! I’ve never seen anyone think so fast on their feet. Your brain must have been in a flat spin!”
“I feel like I need a doctor,” Mr. Fettick said, wringing out his handkerchief. “They were so blastedly clever! I didn’t expect them to question me quite so much.”
“Professors,” Mr. Flogg murmured in a tone recognizable to anyone who has had an essay returned to them covered in red ink.
“At least we have control of the story again. And frankly, I think it’s going to be even more of a triumph than the originalcompetition idea. Heroic professors rescuing a bird from the clutches of a tyrant! Sacrificing their own dreams to keep it safe! Dangerous henchmen! Romance! A desperate race across the country! Children everywhere will want to be ornithologists after this.”
“And Gladstone will learn not to mess with publicists,” Mr. Flogg said with dark satisfaction.
Both men chuckled and rubbed their palms together in what anyone would call dastardly behavior—at least until the publicists talked them into a new perspective.
—
Slowing as theyspied the Eyrie ahead, Beth and Devon glanced back at the road behind them, hazy with sunlit dust. No one followed, and yet they felt a creepy sensation of being watched.
“Do you believe what that man said?” Beth asked.
“Ha! No,” Devon answered. “It sounded like complete nonsense. But I do think Gladstone has the caladrius. And if he’s training thaumaturgic birds, to exploit their powers…even beyond winning Birder of the Year, I want to get the caladrius away from him. Removing dangerous birds from the wild so they can be protected in aviaries and do no harm to people, that’s one thing; using the magic of those birds for your own gain, another thing altogether.”
“I agree. As for us remaining together…”
“You heard the man: it’svital.”
Beth nodded. “That part is absolutely believable.”
“Totally,” Devon agreed. Taking her hand, he hurried along a path at the edge of Gladstone’s property, and she smiled secretly to herself, letting him lead her.
Chapter Twenty
The wise ornithologist keeps her friends close and her enemies tied up somewhere they cannot trouble her.
