Page 11 of Malcroix Bones Academy (Bones and Shadow #1)

Magique And Magi

“But… but this is London.” I stared in confusion over the busy street. I gazed up and down sidewalks filled with bustling foot traffic, lined with shop fronts and government buildings, with familiar monuments and statues in the park up ahead.

I stared blankly at a view of the Thames, and of Parliament Square.

I glanced back over my shoulder, and realized with a start that the Houses of Parliament stood nearly at our backs. We were surrounded on all sides by government buildings, with Big Ben and the Thames to the west.

“Is that where we were all this time?” I asked, even more bewildered.

Ankha gave me an odd look, like she thought I might be suffering from a stroke.

Without a word, the maddening old witch turned on her heel and stalked off. When she continued to make her way along the river in the direction of the bridge, I hurried to catch up with her. That’s when I started to notice other things.

Like the lack of cars.

And the clothing.

Just like they had been inside the building, the clothes were all a bit off in some way.

Men wore hats and dated-looking suits, but the colors were off.

The tails were too long, the decorative patterns too visible, the jackets too short or too fitted, or they didn’t match with the pants or the style of hat.

Women wore things that looked sort of like things I recognized, but I saw too many corsets, along with what looked like jodhpurs and bustles, iridescent coats and furred hats matched with gloves and embroidered boots.

What my mind labeled “old-fashioned” inside that dimly-lit building, now, under direct sunlight, struck me as just… weird. I couldn’t say I didn’t like it, though. Truthfully, I thought the clothing styles here were a lot more interesting than the London I remembered.

It didn’t explain where I was, though.

Everyone still had one of those light animals perched on their shoulders, weaving around their legs and feet, or flying over their heads. It struck me that I hadn’t noticed them at first because I’d already grown accustomed to seeing them there.

The fact that my mind decided that was “normal” already, unnerved me a bit.

I looked up to the sky, which was shockingly blue, and a sun that appeared both too large and shockingly bright. A few small, puffy clouds scuttled there, but otherwise, it was astonishingly clear.

Other things began to jump out at me.

The arrows on the face of Big Ben curved strangely and aimed at odd symbols.

The Thames itself was shockingly blue, and filled with colorful boats.

The stone of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament gleamed with white marble run through with veins of gold.

Colorful umbrellas lined the riverbanks around kiosks selling everything from strange animals to books, foods that made my nose twitch, tea, decks of cards, crystal balls, scarves, antiques, umbrellas, and odd-looking paintings.

A woman held out her hand as we passed, and one of those little flame creatures with wings alighted on it.

I watched in astonishment as the woman appeared to whisper something into the creature’s ear, right before she held up the same hand and the tiny person took wing, flying back in the direction of Parliament.

Something much larger flew by a few seconds later, beating enormous, feathered wings and causing a number of curses and shouts from passersby who ducked to avoid it, and it almost looked like?

“Close your mouth,” Ankha snapped, giving me a stern look.

For some reason, I heeded her.

I fell in step beside her when she resumed walking.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“There,” Ankha said, and pointed.

I followed the direction of her bony finger.

On the other side of the river stood a black stone building I didn’t recognize at all from the London I knew.

Granted, I didn’t know any version of London well, but the castle-like structure would’ve been far too dramatic to miss, with its wide turrets, steep spires, climbing purple blossoms, and a drawbridge hanging open over a partial moat.

Banners hung from the parapets and the highest tower.

“It’s the Dragon’s Keep,” Ankha explained. “It’s where they’ve put us.”

“It’s a hotel,” I said, astonished.

We walked over the bridge, and I stared down at what looked like dolphins and fish in the shockingly clear water.

On the other side, we were basically right on the hotel’s doorstep.

Red, purple, and gold banners snapped in a high wind.

Everything about the structure appeared larger as I got nearer, from the massive iron doors to the wall of dark stone.

A fountain stood at the exact center of the drive, filled with marble dragons spouting water in high plumes.

I still hadn’t seen a single car.

I saw a lot of people walking in all directions, including in and out of the arched doorway to the hotel. Through the iron-framed windows past the drawbridge, I saw more people inside, standing in groups under enormous chandeliers lit with candles.

A man wearing a beefeater costume opened the door to let us in. As we entered the massive lobby, I glanced up and saw that it stretched up eight or nine stories.

Just then, a large, Persian-style carpet floated up from the stone floor, taking a group of five people with it, along with a bellhop and all of their luggage.

I continued to stare as the carpet stopped three stories up, and everyone on it walked off.

The bellhop unloaded the luggage onto the third-floor landing, then followed them to one of the blue-painted doors.

The carpet sank back down.

When it reached the bottom, two new bellhops began loading it with more luggage.

A family of two adults and two young children climbed on next.

The woman never stopped chatting to her husband as the rug began to rise.

She laughed at something he said, and a tiny animal that might have been a mole, or possibly a hedgehog, laughed with her from where it perched on the pink purse hanging from the woman’s arm.

Her other hand gripped the fingers of their youngest child, who looked maybe three.

I tore my eyes off them when Ankha pointedly cleared her throat.

I followed my aunt to a long counter, just like a check-in counter in a large hotel back home. When Ankha touched the bell, a man appeared, wearing an emerald-green uniform with gold accents and engraved gold buttons.

I had no idea where he’d come from.

“Can I help you?” he asked politely.

“Yes.” Ankha fished in her pocket. “We’ve been assigned a room for the night.” She handed over a card that looked to be made of metal. “Myself and my niece.”

The man bowed. “Of course, ma’am. Any preferences?”

“No. And the standard menu will do.”

“Excellent. You’re just in time for elevenses.”

The man in the emerald-green uniform walked the length of the counter, stuck the card into a slot in the wall, and waited. The wall glowed, then spit something into his hand. He walked it back, and handed it to my aunt.

It was a bronze key.

“They’ll take you right up, Ms. La Fey,” he smiled. “…Ms. La Fey,” he added to me with a polite nod. “Your meal should be waiting for you.”

“Thank you.”

Ankha ushered me back to the middle of the floor.

Looking down, realizing where we stood, I fought a twinge of panic. A bellhop in a red and gold uniform stepped onto the rug with us, and I started to step off, but Ankha gripped my arm in another of those talon-like holds, and yanked me back.

“Don’t be a little fool,” she warned.

The rug rose straight up.

My stomach lurched. I also snatched at my aunt’s arm.

“For the aether’s sake… calm down,” Ankha said, annoyed. She disentangled her arm, and brushed off her sleeve as we rose higher. “Didn’t I see you watching the other guests ride the lifts? None of them plunged to their deaths, did they?”

Glancing down over the edge of the rug, she sniffed.

“It would be splendid if you could go without embarrassing both of us for at least some portion of today,” she muttered between her teeth. “Even if only for a few minutes.”

I caught a half-hidden smile on the bellhop’s face, and my jaw tightened.

I forced myself to breathe. I stood perfectly still, feet frozen in place, and breathed like I learned when I was ten. I didn’t look down. I watched the floors flash by, not trusting myself to speak, particularly given the state of my stomach.

Luckily, it was over quickly.

At the eighth floor, the rug glided to a stop, and Ankha stepped promptly off the edge.

I quickly joined her, half-leaping through the opening in the stone bannister.

I was relieved to find myself on solid ground, on a gold and purple rug, on a landing decorated with winged cats.

The bellhop didn’t follow, which seemed strange until I remembered we had no luggage.

Ankha walked briskly down the hall, past a number of colorful doors, then stopped in front of one painted lavender. She inserted the bronze key into a bronze lock.

The door clicked open.

The room we entered had absurdly high ceilings and gold wallpaper decorated with purple flowers and birds.

Three tall windows took up one side of the main sitting area, framed with velvet curtains and gold paint.

Vases filled with flowers adorned round tables between each window and in the center of the room.

I didn’t see a bed, but two doors stood on opposite ends of the suite.

Another, much larger table stood out on the balcony just past open French doors. It was already covered with plates and pitchers, silverware and glasses, folded cloth serviettes and heaping platters of food.

A lit fireplace burned on the wall to my right. On the other side of the suite, I saw a small writing desk and two couches.

My eyes returned to the balcony, right before I walked in that direction. London, familiar but not, spread out before me as soon as I got close enough to see past the stone railing.

That time, the differences struck me at once.