Falcon Quinn and the Crimson Vapor by Jennifer Finney Boylan

Author:Jennifer Finney Boylan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins US

Part III

GUARDIAN ISLAND

Chapter 12

Guardian Junior High

The towers of Paragon Castle were the first structures on Guardian Island to be struck by the rays of the sun rising up over the Sea of Dragons. The castle—an enormous collection of parapets and flying buttresses and elaborately constructed ramparts—stood on the shoulders of Paragon Mountain, upon which the Hidden City was built. Bright banners and flags fluttered from wires strung from the Tower of Rectitude to the Pinnacle of Virtues.

At the top of Paragon Mountain, above the Hidden City, was a large windmill. Its blue sails spun in the morning breeze.

Falcon opened his eyes in a white room. He was in a large brass bed. He was not entirely sure where he was, but the crisp sheets and the sparkling sunlight gave him the sense that, for the first time in days, he might be in no immediate danger. It was an odd feeling.

He sat up, stretched his wings, and yawned. Then he lowered his wings again and swung his feet out of the bed and placed them on the floor. Falcon walked across a thick Persian rug to a pair of balcony doors, slowly opened them, and stepped outside. Below him, in the Hidden City, he saw guardians in mail shirts and leather breastplates. There were children in the street playing a game with a bat and a ball. An older woman sold roses from a cart.

“Oh, you’re up,” said a voice, and Falcon turned to see a man standing in the doorway to his room holding a silver platter. “Sorry to intrude, young sir, but they thought you might be wanting breakfast.” The man, who wore a bow tie and white gloves, bowed slightly. “Is it all right for me to enter?”

“What?” said Falcon. “Where am I?”

“The castle, of course. We’ve got strawberries and cream, Belgian waffles with maple syrup, and a rasher of bacon. Fresh orange juice. A slice of melon. Will that be all right for you? Or—?”

“That’s fine,” said Falcon, although at that moment he was thinking about his first meal at the Academy for Monsters. Great big gobs of greasy, grimy gopher guts. Mutilated monkey meat. Little dirty birdies’ feet. “Uh, thanks.”

“No need to be thanking me, young sir,” said the man, lowering the tray. He looked at Falcon carefully, as if inspecting him for damage. “You’ve been asleep quite some time. Two days, I think.”

“Who are you?” said Falcon. “How did I get here? All I remember is talking to Jonny Frankenstein. We were surrounded by guardians. I remember the sound of the ocean—”

“I am Mr. Drudge,” said the man. “Your servant. As for Jonny, he himself was captured moments before you. They used him as bait, I believe. In order to give you the old dipsy-doodle, sir!”

“The dipsy-doodle—?”

“Poison dart,” said Mr. Drudge. “Blowgun.”

“So—you knocked me out,” said Falcon. “And hauled me back here.”

“Well, not me personally, sir. But yes, I’m afraid that’s the general outline.”

“You people never give up, do you?” said Falcon. “It’s just all blowguns and crossbows with you.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.