WORDS IN BLEEDING LETTERS
Wendy dropped the stack of sheets she was holding with a small yelp.
- "G-Günter!" she squeaked, casting a distraught glance towards the night sky. "You... did you come for whale watching, too?"
The team leader stared at her for a moment, eyes enigmatic behind his round glasses. Then his thick eyebrows softened and he grinned.
- "I'm not quite sure we can call observing what our young friend is doing at the moment", he said with a chuckle. "I reckon he's just playing with the whales."
Petrified, the girl watched him come in under the dome, his hands clasped behind his back. His worn-out robes swept over the notes scattered on the dark marble floor. The starlight was giving a silvery sheen to his messy gray hair.
- "Amazing, is not it? They don't seem frightened at all by his presence... Yet they are fish, so to speak, and he is very much a big cat."
Wendy wanted to say something, but her throat was dry, her tongue heavy like lead and in her empty mind flashed in loops "ohmygoshwhatarewegoingtodoheknows."
Far from there, over the blue walls of ice, the black furry dragon was racing with flying baby whales, in a haze of steam and snowflakes.
- "This report is going to be interesting to read", said Günter, eyes lost in the marvelous sight. "I always wondered how he could be this precise, come this close to creatures known for their shyness or extreme fierceness..."
He turned to Wendy.
- "Everything has an explanation in this world."
The girl winced and her frozen panicked state changed to feverish anxiety.
- "S-s-sir, please..."
He waved his hand, clearing his throat.
- "Sir? You're not in school anymore, my child."
Wendy stepped forward, her fists clenched, her voice trembling.
- "Günter, you can't... if anyone finds out... it'd be awful... this... please, we must continue to keep it a secret..."
He shot her a penetrating look.
- "How many people know about this?"
- "Four", she stammered, feeling her eyes fill with pleading tears. "Terrence, Scorpius, his father and me."
The man shook his head.
- "I don't think so", he corrected. "Probably twice as much. Calcifer knows - nothing is hidden from him, especially not something like that. What Calcifer is aware of, Pepper knows too and Euphrosine will soon guess…"
He smiled gently.
- "And then there's me too, now. I must say I am quite relieved I wasn't hallucinating when I saw this dragon wading in Sarcophagus Cove, this afternoon."
Wendy stifled a groan.
- "Everything will be fine", added Günter quietly, heading for the rectangle of light cut on the floor in front of the oak door. "I don't think it's necessary to tell anyone else for now. Be kind enough to tidy the observatory dome before one of our colleagues starts to believe a squall blew in here."
He stopped on the threshold. His eyes were twinkling behind his round glasses.
- "Ah. Wendy, when he's back from his outing... could you tell Albus I'd like to have a chat with him? There's no hurry. Tomorrow morning would be fine."
She nodded.
- "Then, good night", concluded the team leader.
He left the room, closing the door behind him, leaving the dome in a darkness studded with stars.
Wendy allowed herself to breath. Her throat had been so knotted it was hurting. She snorted ferociously, glancing at the whales that were disappearing in the distance like a handful of black sand thrown in the wind.
- "Oh, great", she muttered. "That's all we needed... clever, Al."
She liked the magician, although she was a bit afraid of her, and she doubted the old woman would betray such a serious secret. If Günter kept silent, so would do the house elf. But the problem was... she tried to drive out of her mind the two ember-like eyes that had probed her when she had arrived at Inlandsis Station.
Calcifer...
If he had known from the beginning, why had he not say a thing? What was he intending to do with this information? Would he be an ally or an enemy...?
Calcifer was unpredictable and dangerous, capricious and manipulating, a creature as old as the dragon, but his high-pitched voice put you at ill-at-ease, like a wayward child who would have had full power to destroy you...
Now that she thought about it, they had been naive to think Calcifer would not see through Albus.
She bit her lip a little too hard and nicked it. Sucking the bruised skin, she quickly finished tidying the room, then left the dome after a last glance through the Omnioculars. The whales and the dragon were no longer in sight.
She went down to her bedroom without meeting anyone, changed in her pajamas and crawled under her blankets. She fell asleep right away, despite the worried and angry questions storming in her mind.
It was the unpleasant plop-plop-plop of a not properly closed tap that woke her up a little after midnight.
She sat up and yawned, rubbed a hand over her face and opened an eye, pulling the warm and fluffy blankets on her.
- "Ha!"
It was not a tap.
It was from one of the stalactites hemming the giant round window of her room. The dragon was hovering on the other side of the glass and his breath was fogging the crystal.
Wendy sighed and took her wand on her nightstand.
- "Evanesco", she ordered for the second time that night, rolling her eyes.
Icy cold air, a huge mass of fur sprinkled with frozen drops and a swirl of snowflakes rushed into the room, then the glass rematerialized without a sound.
The dragon climbed on the bed that creaked horribly under his weight and started kneading the mattress.
- "If you set the bed on fire, I'll kick you out", Wendy warned sternly.
He answered with an indignant cooing, then settled down, taking all the space, his furry paws folded under his fluffy black ruff. He yawned widely, showing off pink gums, blinked once or twice.
- "Cozy?" Wendy grumbled. "Did you have fun? It was cool, but you forgot your keys?"
She chuckled even if the squatter was totally ignoring her, nestling his head under his wing.
She yanked out the crumpled blankets and dried them up with magic. Upon reflection, she began blowing heat on the wet black fur and the dragon, not even lifting an eyelid, started purring like an old engine.
- "You're welcome", Wendy scoffed, amused.
She put her wand on the bedside table and cuddled up in her blankets, next to him, in the tiny space left on the bed.
- "Sweet dreams, Toothless", she mumbled, giving a small punch to the plump belly of the dragon who was already completely oblivious to the world.
Moments later, she was deep asleep again.
The night was quiet, motionless as a painting in cold colors under the twinkling stars. Not a sound, not a breath. Then the wind rose up in a light whitish spiral and ran over the back of the old continent. The Antarctic sighed and settled more comfortably in the dark and icy waters.
Tiny sparkling bubbles were gathering under the surface in Moonrock Bay and a pale light was gleaming in the depths of the sea.
oOoOoOo
Dawn came slowly, crowning in gold the mountain crests of Crystal Tusks. It lay down in Shufflers of Light Valley like a veil of multiple shades of pink. Ice droplets on the window briefly sparkled with iridescent sheen, then a ray of sunshine began tickling Wendy's eyelid. She waved it off, turned to the other side with a grunt. Her face sank into the pillow. Drool was running down her chin.
- "Moo..."
She pulled an arm out of the blankets, groping blindly, and accidentally knocked her wand off the bedside table.
- "Axchio w'tch", she chewed, without any result of course.
The tower was filled with the delicious aroma of coffee and grilled sausages. Voices and porcelain noises came from the dining room. Someone was stumping down the winding stairs in a half-wake state.
Wendy cracked open an eye, unwilling to move, huddled in the pleasant warmth of her blankets.
- "Time to get up, Cheshire Cat", she yawned.
Except there was no more dragon in the room.
- "Ah!" she cried, sitting down so abruptly she nearly tore off the curtains of her four-poster bed.
Albus' long dark eyelashes did not even quivered. He was breathing softly, his lips a bit parted, stretched out full length next to her with a hand under his head. He was still wearing his black sweater from the day before and the same trousers, but he was missing shoes. His wooden foot disappeared into the folds of the blankets, the other was wearing a sock of questionable color.
Wendy smiled tenderly. She stroked the unruly curls of his friend and brushed his cheek with her fingertips.
- "It's morning, sleepy head."
He mumbled something unintelligible, curled up like a cat. There was something childlike in his irresistibly peaceful traits. She leaned over, put a furtive kiss at the corner of his mouth, then slipped out of bed quietly.
- "All right. You can sleep some more, champion. You'll have a busy day..."
She dressed quickly, gave a short brush to her short brown hair and shoved her wand in the back pocket of her jeans before leaving the room and gently closing the door.
In the hallway flooded in morning light, she met Günter and replied with a tight smile to his nod of greeting. They heard an angry shout two floors up above, then Koff, the mini ice monster that looked like a bundle of Yeti fur with two small horns, rushed down the stairs with an excited "rrr-trttr-pppr-anta-rrapan-rrrr" and almost knocked them down in the process. Five seconds later, Christopher Cadwallader was hurtling down the steps, his face still plastered with shaving cream and his hair spiking in all directions.
- "Come back here, you little pest!" he was yelling. "Give it back at once!"
He disappeared in chase of the thief around the corner of the ramp and Günter clasped his hands behind his back.
- "Mirror?", he offered with a chuckle.
- "Razor", Wendy suggested.
It was a very ordinary scene in the Observation Tower. Koff was like a magpie on the lookout of anything bright. He was able to swallow without blinking a knife or a ring or a candy wrapper. Muggle things had his preference, but he did not show picky in front of a magic spanner either, forcing Wendy to treat all her tools with the Antidigeste Varnish of Dr. Chompers.
The noise had woken up Scorpius and pulled Terrence off the stack of encyclopedias on which he had fallen asleep the night before. The apprentice healer put on a clean white coat and splashed his face with cold water, then jogged down to the dining room. He met on the way the government agent who was finishing buttoning his neatly pressed suit and greeted him with a morning breath smelling of Mexican chips.
Scorpius raised a delicate eyebrow. He was about to make a sarcastic remark about his former classmate's hair, when Wendy's bedroom opened.
- "Yo", Albus said, stifling a yawn. "What's with the racket? A new skit from Koff & Chris? Ter, that hair fork makes you look like an anglerfish."
He sat on the stairs to put on a pair of socks that were too small for him, which he stretched a few sizes bigger once he found the formula scribbled on the label.
He did not see the almost painful wince on Terrence's face nor the upset flash in Scorpius' eyes. When he looked up, his two friends were ready to make fun of the red nosed reindeer adorning his socks.
When they came in the dining room, it was chaos, like every morning.
Vivienne was drinking her tea in small sips, settled in a cushioned chair near the window, her beautiful legs crossed one over the other, her silk bathrobe artistically draped to give free rein to imagination. Matilda was perched on a stool at the long table and was munching crackers, her flabby black hair falling on her face, surrounded by crumbs and milk spills. Christopher had stuck Koff in between his knees and was trying to fish something out of the throat of the hairy creature with barbecue tongs. Wendy was whistling to the top of her lungs, two fingers in the mouth, to get the attention of the pancakes dish swirling insolently around the chandeliers. Günter held away his coffee cup, trying to convince the sugar jar he did not need an extra spoonful. A sponge was rubbing the sausages pan in the bubbling sink, the kettle was singing on the red zinc stove, toasts were jumping one after the other in the toaster then piled up on a plate making the Parthenon. A bewitched transistor was broadcasting a happy scramble of languages and songs from the different muggle stations located in Antarctica. Sometimes the voice of the presenter from Kerguelen Wizarding Radio emerged in the commotion and was thrilled to introduce umbrellas 'to make rain or sun shine' or waterproof tubes for mail by Gorfou Express.
Pepper was about to gobble down a portion of red beans nearly as big as his head, holding his spoon like a trowel, when the three boys entered. He looked up, his hand froze for a moment and then, as Terrence glimpsed a flash in the bulging eyes of the elf, he went back to wolfing down his breakfast with unsavory noises.
Albus took a bowl on the sideboard and sat next to Wendy on a basic kitchen chair, while Scorpius was getting a tea bag, not caring about the Empire chair that had pushed the other seats to come stand behind him.
- "Good morning, you three", said Günter who had finally gotten rid of the sugar jar. "Slept well?"
- "Yes, but not enough", yawned Terrence, dragging a pair of fried eggs on his plate. "I'd like to go back to Ogre Island, to get more samples from the Japanese and make new analyzes."
- "Fine by me", the team leader agreed after a thought. "Scorpius? Could you go with him?"
The young man with almost white hair nodded. He was twirling his spoon in his steaming porcelain cup, absently watching Koff who was spluttering out bits of glass. Christopher was half drowned in Yeti drool and seemed about to push his barbecue tongs at the bottom of the mini-monster's throat, more by vengeance than necessity.
- "Albus", Günter continued, "what are your plans for the day?"
Wendy stiffened, her mouth full of pancakes, but before her friend could answer, the door swung open and Euphrosine barged in.
- "Naughty bunch of mites!" she blurted. "Creepy crawling gremlins, little devil seeds!"
Without greeting anyone, she stomped to the stove, lit it furiously with an imperious flip of her wand and rolled up the sleeves of her blue dress. Her apron was mottled with soot and her crooked nose was smeared with charcoal.
- "Accio Eggs!" she barked, and the box of eggs swished from the fridge to her like a rocket. "Accio Bacon!"
Two slices whizzed up to her, soon followed by the butter which grazed the forehead of Matilda, who let out a strangled squeak.
- "Good morning, Euphrosine", Günter greeted pleasantly. "I see you're in a cheerful mood. Troubles down in the boiler den? Calcifer being a handful, perhaps? Or maybe you came across a riddle?"
He glanced at Wendy who did her best to ignore him.
- "Humpff", grunted the old woman who was beating the bacon sizzling in the pan with a wooden spoon. "Calcifer will be a dear when he's done laying eggs. It's the Shadows Nibblers who are a problem. Something woke up last night and they're all over their silly little heads with excitement."
She filled a chipped bowl with bitter black tea and turned off the stove.
- "You're missing the tip of your ear", pointed out Pepper, who had gotten up and was looking at something on the floor.
- "And I had to stun them twice before they would stop! Do you get how serious it is!" Euphrosine scolded, putting down her bowl on the table so brusquely some tea spilled on Scorpius' impeccable shirt. "These little pests will put anyone coming down to the boiler room in great danger! But we need to know what Calcifer will read in the egg! Otherwise..."
She shut up suddenly, as if her teeth were welded. Widening her eyes, she seemed to struggle a moment with words that did not want to come out of her mouth, then she dropped into a chair that creaked painfully and began to wolf down her eggs and bacon as if the fate of the world depended on it.
The others were looking at her in bewilderment, but Günter and Pepper shared a worried glance, then the elf disappeared in a snap of fingers.
- "Christopher, I reckon we're going to need your help", said the team leader, turning to Cadwallader who was staring, miserable, at his finally rescued watch that was half chewed and covered with slobber. "We won't be able to appease the Shadows Nibblers' hunger without a good amount of lava rocks. I heard you found an old mine?"
- "Yeah", groaned the geologist. "Near Whale Carcass. I'll go get some more."
- "Have breakfast first, though", Günter kindly advised. "Was this watch dear to you?"
- "Nah, it was just a trinket", the young man muttered, glaring at Koff who was happily panting beside his chair like a dog ready to play. "But he's only doing that to me. I hate it."
Terrence and Scorpius snickered. Albus was licking the marmalade's spoon. Wendy was wondering if anyone wanted the last scone.
- "Vivienne, Matilda, your plans for the day?" Günter asked, turning to the two women.
- "I'm going back to bed", announced Vivienne, throwing over her shoulder her thick crimson hair with a languid gesture. "The stars were capricious last night. Something felt wrong."
- "I-I 'm going to C-c-crystal T-tusks Crest", the biologist mumbled, pushing her thick glasses up her nose. "To... erm... well, to g-get… herbs."
She shut up and blushed violently.
- "Good", Günter said with a slight frown, but he did not push the issue. "Albus, I..."
He was interrupted by a big sneeze of the magizoologist before Wendy could intervene and excuse Albus out of the room.
Terrence handed a handkerchief to his friend to wipe his dripping nose.
- "Well", said the healer with a stern voice. "I believe Mr. Potter will have to make a stop at the sickbay before doing anything else."
Their team leader seemed about to protest, then thought better of it.
- "Well, I see everyone has enough to fill their day", he said. "I'll let you go about your business. One word, however. In three days, it'll be Christmas and on this occasion, the Ministry of Magic has allowed us to open a channel of communication with the B.A.T.S. headquarters in London. Our families will be invited and we'll have the opportunity to take turns to talk to- "
He was cut this time by a torrent of applause and enthusiastic exclamations. Matilda burst into tears, which made her pimples turn a deep purple. Vivienne started speaking of her complexion, of a curling iron and of the foul weather that was drying her mascara. Terrence danced a sort of jig with Koff who was sniffing the pens in his white coat pocket, Christopher's cheeks flushed up, Wendy and Albus were talking at the same time. Scorpius seemed even paler than usual and his eyes were terribly bright.
Only Euphrosine kept quiet, munching her toasted bread. Her wrinkled face, hermetic, reflected sadly in her tea bowl.
Günter looked at her but said nothing. He clapped his hands to bring back the calm and dispersed his troops to their respective tasks. Wendy dragged the boys out of the room before the team leader could remember Albus and when they were safely alone in the sickbay, she told them in a low voice what had happened on the roof.
Scorpius was the most shaken by the news. Albus, strangely, seemed almost relieved. Terrence began a sentence about a forgetting spell, but Wendy silenced him hastily. Finally, they came to the conclusion it was better to await for the outcome of the chat with Günter before making a decision.
- "I thought Pepper was giving us weird looks this morning", concluded Terrence. "Maybe he doesn't see things as clearly as Calcifer, but if the dragon showed up without warning last night, it must have troubled the... I don't know, the essence of magic? I'm sure elves can feel things we can't fathom."
Wendy shuddered.
- "Don't talk about things like that", she protested. "Don't you think there're enough mysteries in Antarctica?"
One arm crossed on his chest, Scorpius was rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
- "Your father is the highest authority of the wizarding world, so I think he can stifle leaks easily", he said finally, turning to Albus who was perched on the leather bed in the middle of the bright room. "What worries me is Calcifer. He is sneaky and clever, and I don't reckon he has any affection for anybody."
Scorpius had hated his encounter in the boiler den. He kept a stinging memory of the words the creature with glowing eyes had told him during their time alone.
- "Do you believe he…"
He paused and furrowed his eyebrows.
- "Al, you okay? You're really pale."
Albus shook his head with a smile.
- "I didn't sleep much, that's all", he said apologetically. "Last night was fun."
Wendy rolled her eyes tenderly, but the other two did not seem to appreciate. Terrence opened one of the white pine cupboards and took out his stethoscope, a small milky sphere and a bottle on which label was drawn a skull blowing steam through the ears.
- "Come on, off with your clothes", he ordered. "I bet you're coming down with a bad cold. Let's end this now."
Wendy muttered something about a broken freight elevator and slipped out while Albus was pulling his sweater over his head. Scorpius crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, next to the skeleton hanging from a hook.
The sickbay was a furnished with very sober way, with some closets, a dresser and stools, all in peach and lemon sorbet shades. Glass carboys filled with various substances were arranged on the pristine shelves: eels' eyes, porous sponges, powdered herbs, dried claws and bugs still quivering. Sheafs of sage and lavender were hanging from the ceiling with sparkling clean utensils that looked a bit disturbing. Several iron beds were lined up against a wall, separated by white curtains and bucolic countryside paintings in which were frolicking blissful lambs and smiling gargoyles. The floor was made of some rubbery material, warm and sweet, which washed perfectly. There was a frame turned face down on the desk, from which came muffled grunts - Terrence did not particularly get along with his tutor. Various posters were telling you how to survive without losing too many limbs by minus 80°Celsius. Candles were giving to the room a somewhat syrupy scent of eucalyptus and it always reigned there a pleasant temperature. In the middle of the sickbay stood the leather chair that easily transformed into an examination bed and sometimes gave its opinion on what was ailing the patients.
Albus tossed his sweater to Scorpius who caught it with an annoyed huff, then unbuckled his belt.
- "I'm fine, Ter", he snuffled. "It's just that chicken pie from yesterday supper; I think I had a few feathers stuck in my throat."
- "Chicken yourself", retorted his best friend who was washing his hands in a water bucket mounted on three legs. "We had rabbit."
He wiped his hands on a cloth then came to the bed, pulling his stethoscope from his white coat pocket. He began by listening to the back of Albus who complained it was cold and who squirmed.
- "Stop fidgeting", Terrence scolded. "I hear two hearts."
- "Either you've got wrackspurts in your ears or the stethoscope's not working", Albus giggled, taking off his trousers and letting them fall at his feet.
- "It's the one Wendy gave me when I passed my healer exams and she had bought it from your uncle Weasley's shop, in their new serious ward."
Terrence paused for a moment to contemplate the stethoscope thoughtfully.
- "Apparently it's developed from their Extendable Ears. You know, that old spy toy they were selling when we were kids?"
- "My mother says this stuff is only good for cats", Albus said. "I don't know. James always tried to use them to listen to Dad and Uncle Ron when they were working in the office upstairs, but we could never hear anything."
Scorpius snorted.
- "We've gone beyond the simple Muffliato since a long time at the ministry."
Albus chuckled. The candlelight was casting warm shadows on his slender shoulders and his feline body. Terrence rounded the leather bed and listened again to his friend's chest.
- "I think you're somewhat congested", he said, finally putting away the stethoscope and sticking a thermometer in his patient's mouth. "A bit feverish, too, I bet... I'll give you a potion to fix this, but... it's – weird."
- "What's weird?" Scorpius interjected curtly.
Terrence knelt down and unclipped the prosthesis. His fingers lightly felt the stump, then he attached again the wooden leg and stood up.
- "It's a little swollen", he said, preoccupied. "Does it hurt?"
Albus shrugged.
Scorpius bit his lips.
- "Don't play hero, Potter, tell the truth", he growled.
Terrence ran his hands on the young man's sides. He pressed his thumb under the armpits, palpated the stomach and then his fingers brushed the flower-shaped scar, smooth and pink on the sternum.
Albus could not hold in a cry of pain and the thermometer fell on the floor with a small sound of broken glass.
Terrence took a step back, very pale.
- "Do you hurt here?" he mouthed. "Since when?"
- "Since now", gasped his friend. His knuckles were white from squeezing the edge of the bed and his forehead was beaded with sweat. "When you… touched it..."
Scorpius had run to them, looking both anguished and furious.
- "What's happening, Swanson?" he scowled. "Did you..."
His breath was suddenly cut by a sharp pain piercing in his left arm, and he fell to his knees.
Terrence moaned and his hands vainly tried to get rid of the horrible burning throb at the base of his neck.
Albus was curled up, eyes half closed, to fight against the pain blossoming in his chest.
Then, as suddenly as it came, the feeling disappeared and the sickbay bathed in soft light became again a peaceful cocoon.
Panting, Scorpius straightened up. He unbuttoned feverishly the sleeve of his shirt, rolled it up and stared at what he saw with widened eyes.
- "What's that?" Terrence mumbled, rubbing the stinging spot at the back of his neck. He bent down, leaning on the bed. "Can you look at mine? Al. What is it?"
His best friend stayed silent for a moment, then swallowed hard.
- "You've got it too", he rasped.
The other two shared a worried glance, then turned to him.
Albus slowly took off his fingers clutched on the scar. He drew in a deep breath, looked down...
And, as he had feared, he found on his chest the same bleeding word that was engraved on Terrence's neck and Scorpius' left arm.
RENOUNCE.
In the library, Euphrosine was breathing heavily, holding close her right hand on which were blistering the same eight letters.
On the wet mat behind the airlock doors, his teeth still clenched, Christopher had removed his snow boot and was staring, stunned, at the painful sole of his foot.
Deep down the Tower, the house elf was chanting softly in front of the onyx stone hearth, his arms outstretched as in adoration and his lids closed on his bulging eyes.
A red rocky egg was standing among the crackling embers.
TBC
Next chapter: Calcifer's prophecy
References in this chapter:
Doctor Who ; Howl's Moving Castle ; Spirited Away.