Chapter Seven

"Very good Fidelio, very good." Fidelio laid down his violin and smiled. His teacher, Mr. Rufino clapped his hands and instructed, "Now, play from the top." Fidelio positioned his violin and began playing. The music floated off of his violin and traveled around the room. Bow down, bow up, Fidelio continued to play until the door opened, stopping the flow of music.

"Dr. Saltweather," Fidelio said in surprise. He put his violin down and sat it on his thigh. Dr. Saltweather was the head of the music department and he had a special immunity to water. He was a in his early 40s and he had dark, burly brown hair. Though he liked to keep updated on the students' music progress, he rarely entered a lesson.

"Dr. Saltweather," Mr. Rufino said with irritation, "I am in the middle of a lesson here. Whatever you have to say can wait till the end of lesson."

"Sir," Fidelio ventured, "There's only about 5 minutes left. Clearly I can speak to him for the rest of class." He could see that Mr. Rufino definitely did not like that idea but he nodded his head. "Thanks sir!" Fidelio quickly picked up his case and laid his violin inside. As he followed Dr. Saltweather out the door Mr. Rufino called after him, "I'm only doing this because you are a good and talented student." Fidelio turned around and smiled, closing the door behind him.

Dr. Saltweather strode quickly down the hallway and Fidelio had to almost run just to keep up. Turning into a corner, Dr. Saltweather quickly ushered Fidelio into an empty room. Checking the hallway one last time, Dr. Saltweather closed the door. Fidelio looked around the room and found it must have been some kind of old, piano room for there was a piano in the bottom right corner. However, cobwebs hung from the piano and dust filled the ground. Fidelio had never seen this room and wondered why. However he was more interested in what Dr. Saltweather had to say. "What is it sir?" Fidelio asked. At the moment, Dr. Saltweather seemed extremely nervous.

"Do you know a girl by the name of Rhiannon, Fidelio?" Dr. Saltweather began.

"Yes," Fidelio said slowly.

"Well, Cook and I have been talking and I think she might be more powerful than she really seems."

"What makes you say that, sir?" Fidelio asked. Dr. Saltweather was good friends with Cook but Rhiannon wasn't in music. She was in art according to Emma, so how would Dr. Saltweather know anything about her?

"I am well aware that she is not in music, Fidelio," Dr. Saltweather said as if he read Fidelio's mind, "However I have seen her around the academy. I know how she looks."

"Really?" Fidelio asked, "Who showed you?"

"Who else?!" Dr. Saltweather asked chuckling. Fidelio merely shrugged.

"Cook of course." Dr. Saltweather said. He and Cook were good friends and much of his information usually did come from Cook.

"What else did she tell you?" Fidelio asked, "Charlie went to visit her with Billy and Gabriel last week and he said that she wasn't very reluctant to speak."

"Yes, she is." Dr. Saltweather agreed. "She won't even tell me what's bothering her. No worries though. She'll tough it out, whatever's bothering her. About that girl."

"Yeah, what about Rhiannon?" Fidelio asked. He held his breath wondering if this could be the start of another adventure here at Bloor's.

"Well, no one is really sure where she comes from or anything about her past but Cook did tell me one thing." Dr. Saltweather reached into his pocket and pulled out an old, folded paper. It looked stained and as if it came from a book. One edge was teared and imprinted on the page was a picture of a young girl.

"Does this picture remind you of anyone?"

"No," Fidelio immediately said. However, Dr. Saltweather merely shook his head and ordered, "Look closer." Fidelio squinted his eyes as he stared at the picture. However, he simply could not see anything familiar about the picture. He was about to say so but then something caught his eye. Glancing back, Fidelio saw that nothing had changed from the picture. Was it just his imagination then? Fidelio squinted his eyes again and stepped back surprised.

"Rhiannon," he breathed. He looked up at Dr. Saltweather expectantly. "Is that picture of Rhiannon?" Dr. Saltweather shook his head.

"This picture was taken a long time ago. Cook found it in a book. Apparently this book has all the family trees dating back to the Red King himself. They have a page for each family member and she found this picture under Lilith's family tree. So that means, whoever this girl is, she was related to Lilith and Count Harken Badlock."

"Wow," Fidelio breathed. "Do you know who this girl is sir?"

"Unfortunately no," Dr. Saltweather shook his head, "The book is ancient and much of the writing in the book has faded. This young girl's name had faded completely so I have no clue who she is. Cook doesn't know either."

"But sir," Fidelio said. "What does this have to do with Rhiannon. Sure it looks like her but, does that mean she's the ancestor?"

"It might, Fidelio," Dr. Saltweather said, "Or, have you ever heard of reincarnation?" Fidelio nodded his head. He remembered hearing it in history one time last year but he didn't see how this had to do with it.

"Now this is just an idea, we have no evidence to support this but, Cook and I believe that maybe, possibly, Rhiannon could be the reincarnation of this girl right here. After all, they look almost identical."

"Reincarnation." Fidelio said to himself, feeling the word over his tongue. "Why would she be a reincarnation though? Don't they have to be extra special or urgent or something to have a reincarnation?"

"That's correct. I'm thinking that maybe one of her ancestors wanted desperately to relive their life, for what possible reason, I do not know. Remember Fidelio, this is just a theory. She could just well be an ancestor of Lilith's. No one is certain." At this moment, the dreaded horn sounded and Dr. Saltweather stamped his foot in frustration. Obviously, he had a lot more to say to Fidelio.

"Sir," Fidelio said, "can I have that picture? Maybe I could show it to Charlie and the others."

"Yes, that may be a good idea." Dr. Saltweather handed the paper to Fidelio and he folded it into his pocket. "Now be careful with that picture, Fidelio." Dr. Saltweather warned. "You don't want it to get into the wrong hands."

"Yes sir," Fidelio said and he opened the door. The hallway was now filled with students leisurely walking, heading for their designated homework room. Fidelio hurried out the hallway and went to seek out Charlie before he went to the King's Room.

*****

"Are you ready Rhia?" Billy asked as he waited outside.

"Yeah," came the voice. Rhianon quickly slung her bag over her back and hurried outside. "I'm here," she smiled and swung herself around. Billy laughed and shook his head. Rhiannon have changed quite a bit after the past few weeks. Before she wouldn't even so much glance at Billy, now she was almost like his best friend.

"Come on let's hurry up." Billy cried. He ran down the hallway and down the stairs, leading to the main floor. He ran past the art rooms and turned the corner. Looking back over his shoulder he saw Rhiannon suddenly stop. Fear had swept over her face.

"What is it?" he asked. He stopped and walked back towards her.

"I thought I just heard…" Rhiannon looked around confused. She shook her head and said, "Never mind."

"Are you sure?" Billy asked. "You know if you hear something…"

"No no. It must have just been my imagination." Rhiannon said. She smiled but Billy saw that she was worried. He wanted to comfort her but decided against it. Gesturing to her, he continued his way to the King's Room. However, he did not feel as carefree as he had just felt. He kept looking back at Rhiannon and saw indeed that she was deeply disturbed, but by what? He did not know.

Stopping in front of the King's Room he turned to Rhiannon. "Here it is," he said. He pushed open the door and walked in. Slowly, Rhiannon followed. Billy took his seat next to Charlie and gestured for Rhiannon to follow. Slowly, Rhiannon obeyed and she carefully sat herself beside Billy. "Rhia, this is Charlie." Billy said. "Charlie, this is Rhia."

"Hi," Charlie said. Rhiannon just curtly nodded. Setting down her bag, she glanced around the rom. Behind her was an enormous picture of some man that Rhiannon did not know. She guessed that he was pretty famous since he had such a big picture in this room. Maybe he's the king. she thought, after all, this place is called the King's Room. Looking into the picture gave Rhiannon a sense of security.

"Hey Rhia," Rhiannon turned around and a shudder went down her back. Melanie. Rhiannon looked into Melanie's eyes and saw none of the compassion she had received a week ago. Looking away, Rhiannon felt Melanie's eyes still watching her. Look away. She willed her but it seemed like Melanie was planning to watch her the entire two hours. Chancing a glance, Rhiannon turned to Billy. Sensing her, Billy turned his head, "Is everything ok Rhia?" he whispered. Frantically nodding, Rhiannon turned away. She felt Billy watch her but could not bring herself to look at her.

As Billy stared at his work he realized he could not concentrate. Putting his pen down, he looked up and turned around. Catching Manfred's eyes he saw something strange. Manfred's eyes did not have that strange hypnotic stare as they usually did. Instead Billy saw that were blank or distance. It was as if Manfred was in his own world. Is he asleep or is he awake and just zoning out? Billy could not say after all, some people slept with their eyes open. Scanning the room, he realized that it was unusually quiet. No one was talking, not even the other endowed children. Ineth and Idith were not abusing their endowment as they normally did and Joshua and Dagbert were bent over their work, quietly. Looking over to his left, Billy saw Emma, Lysander, and Tancred. However neither one of them was talking. Billy also noticed that Emma and Tancred were avoiding eye contact.

What's going on? Billy thought to himself, everything's so quiet and everyone's acting so strange. Manfred, Emma, Rhia, Tancred… even the evil kids… they were acting all strange and Billy had no clue why. He felt extremely uncomfortable in this silence. He crossed his hands over his work and bent his head into them. Closing his eyes, Billy unconsciously drifted off to sleep.

*****

"Em," a call came from behind her. Emma bit her lip as she debated whether to turn or not. However, before she could make the decision she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"What do you want?" Emma asked turning around. Emma had left the King's Room in a hurry, in hopes of escaping Tancred. The less she saw of him the less tempted she would feel to be with him.

"I…" Tancred stuttered. Taking a deep breath he said, "Em, this is ridiculous. Can you just tell me what's going on? I'll tell you what's on my mind."

"What do you mean?" Emma asked. What could possibly be bothering him besides the fact that she was ignoring him?

"I think I know why you're acting this way, Em." Emma looked up into his eyes, her eyes filled with pain. She stood still, waiting for Tancred's answer. Tancred smiled and gently brought his hand up to face. Wiping a piece of hair out of her face he said, "The same thing happened to me. Someone told you that you couldn't hang out with me. Is that right?"

"How…how did you know?" Emma asked.

"Well, because someone said the same thing to me." Emma's eyes opened wide.

"When?" her voice came out a bit strained.

"Last Wednesday." Tancred said matter-of-factly. "It was the captain of the soccer team. He said you weren't the right 'type' of girl." Shrugging he continued, "I don't know what he's talking about but…"

"I do," Emma interrupted quietly. Tancred looked down at her surprised. "Remember when you went out with Tracy?" Tancred nodded, clearing hating those memories. "Well, those are the type of girls the captain means. The pretty, preppy, popular girls. They don't like girls like me because I'm too quiet and…"

"Yeah, that's what he said." Tancred said, "But just because he said that doesn't mean we can't still hang out. It's not like we're going out or anything like that, right?" Tancred's voice was so gentle, so different from his usual, feisty, self. Everyone is changing. Emma forced herself to nod, avoiding his eyes.

"So who told you?" Tancred asked.

"Melanie," Emma said without looking up. She felt Tancred's hand clench into a fist. She placed a hand over it and said, "It doesn't matter, Tanc."

"You're right," Tancred said. He unclenched his fist and said, "But she's going to be trouble Em. Melanie Wilson. What is her endowment?" When Emma shrugged Tancred added, "Speaking of endowment, did you notice how it was extra quiet today at the King's Room? Not even Joshua or the Dobinski twins did anything today."

"Yeah," Emma said, "I have a bad feeling Tanc." She looked up from the floor and stared into Tancred's eyes.

"What kind of bad feeling?" Tancred asked. He took a hold of Emma's hand and began walking. Emma shot a glance at him feeling his hand in hers, however he seemed not to notice. Smiling a shy smile to herself, Emma followed him as they headed for the dorms upstairs.

"I don't know," Emma said, "I just feel like… well something's bad going to happen. Like a premonition, you know?"

"Something bad always happens here at Bloor's. Bound to happen."

"I know. But I think this is going to be the worst."

"You worry too much, Em."

"I do not. I'm just telling you how I feel."

"Ok," Tancred and Emma stopped in front of the girl's dormitories. "You'd better head onto bed now. Matron will come and you know how she is." Emma nodded and reached for the doorknob.

"Good Night Em and don't worry about Melanie. As long as nothing happens, we'll be fine." Emma smiled as she listened to his voice. She opened the door and walked in. Tancred stood there watching her as the door closed behind her. Sighing, he turned around and headed for his own dorm, which he shared with Gabriel and Lysander. Walking in, he saw Lysander and Gabriel already there.

"Hey Tanc," Lysander and Gabriel were sitting on their beds already changed.

"Um… hi," Tancred said awkwardly, "What are you guys doing?"

"What does it look like?" Gabriel said grinning.

"Yeah Tanc. We saw you leaving with Emma. So…" Lysander said.

Tancred threw his bag onto the floor and bounced onto his bed. "So you want to know what we did?"

"'Course." Lysander said.

"We just talked about a little dilemma." Tancred said. He began to tell Gabriel and Lysander everything that he and Emma had discussed. He told them about Melanie and how he was not allowed to leave the soccer team. "What do you think?" he asked as he finished.

Lysander and Gabriel exchanged glances. "I wouldn't worry about it right now at the moment," Lysander began.

"But you don't want to forget about it completely," Gabriel said. "You don't know whether Melanie and Blaine are lying or not. They very well may be telling the truth. After all, Melanie is endowed and we don't know her endowment yet. As for Blaine,"

"He's not a guy to be messed with," Lysander said, "I know him. Actually for a long time and he means what he says."

"Great," Tancred said. He bent his head down in frustration and fell onto his pillow.

"But look on the bright side," Lysander said.

"What bright side?"

"At least you got some time with Emma."

"Yeah, and you held her hand." Gabriel said.

"Oh shut up!" Tancred cried. He threw a pillow at Gabriel and Lysander. Laughing, Lysander caught the pillow and threw it back at him.

"Don't you dare throw a pillow at us!" Lysander jokingly chided Tancred.

"Sure," Tancred mumbled rolling his eyes, "Whatever" He climbed off the bed and headed for the bathroom to prepare for bed.

While Lysander and Gabriel nonchalantly chatted, Fidelio and Billy were in another room, talking about Rhiannon. As soon as Fidelio entered the room, he immediately went over to Billy and asked him about Rhiannon. Sitting on their beds, Billy comfortably told him and Charlie everything he knew about Rhiannon.

"What bothers me though," Billy said more to himself then the two older boys, "is that she won't tell me anything that's bothering her and it's like she has split personalities. One second she's her, I guess, normal self, and then the next she's all miss cold, "I don't need anyone'. I just don't understand it." Billy shook his head in confusion. The two older boys exchanged worried looks.

"Well I think I found something interesting about her." Fidelio said taking out the folded piece of paper.

"What's that, Fido?" Charlie asked.

"I got this from Dr. Saltweather today and he said it might hold some important secrets about her past." Unfolding the picture, Fidelio showed it to Billy and Charlie.

"It does look a bit like her." Billy said. Charlie nodded in agreement. "Do you know where Dr. Saltweather found it Fido?

"He got it from Cook." Suddenly, Billy sat up straight. His face turned deadly pale and Charlie and Fidelio yet again exchanged worried looks. "Are you ok Billy?"

"Blessed!" Billy shouted. He jumped off the bed and rushed for the door.

"Billy!" Fidelio and Charlie jumped off the bed and ran after him. Billy opened the door and was met by Matron, towering over him.

"What is this racket Billy Raven?" Matron demanded.

"I've got to go see Blessed!" Billy said. He ducked underneath Matron and darted out the door. Fidelio and Charlie watched in amazement as Matron turned around demanding for Billy to return.

"You didn't see that coming?" Fidelio said. Charlie shook his head.

"I wonder what happened to Blessed. Billy never told us. Do you think he's in trouble or something?" Charlie asked worried. Even though Blessed was a very old and ugly dog, he was still part of Bloor's and Charlie enjoyed seeing him roam the halls of Bloor's. It reminded him that not all of Bloor's was evil.

"'Dunno," Fidelio shrugged. He sounded equally as worried. Heading back to his bed he said, "Come on, we must as well get some sleep. We can ask him in the morning and you don't want to be caught by Matron." Agreeing, Charlie crawled onto his bed, pulled up the covers and said good night. He laid there wondering whether this was only the beginning of a new adventure. As he drifted off to sleep he wondered, What is so special about that girl, Rhiannon?