Page 41 of Monster's Mystery

“Oh, that’s too bad.” I paused for a moment. “You know, one of my friends is in third year and her specialty is magical creatures. I could ask her to bring you out to their stables if you want?”

“Would you?” Valerie exclaimed excitedly. “Yes, please!”

“I can’t promise anything,” I cautioned her. “I’ll talk to her at dinner tonight. I’ll get a message to you and we’ll plan for the meeting to take place this Saturday. Does that sound good?”

“I’d be willing to go before sunrise if it means I get to meet a dragon!”

I chuckled. “You wouldn’t want to do that. They’re grumps if they don’t get their beauty sleep.”

“Right. Of course.” Valerie beamed at me, her hands clasped behind her back. “Thank you for asking your friend.”

“No problem. It’s not your fault you were kidnapped.”

Paige and I left the room silently.

“I’m not sure what to do next,” she admitted. “Beyond checking out the well.”

“We can ask the teachers if there’s a pond or something in the woods. Or maybe the townspeople?” I contemplated out loud.

“I suppose.”

We clattered down the stairs. At our floor, Paige headed for her dorm, and I continued downstairs to the library where my friends were waiting for me.

“Any luck?” Aiden asked, his head rising from his work the instant I entered the library.

I shook my head. “Afraid not. Her memory is completely gone. Rhiannon, your thesis is on magical creatures, isn’t it? Would you be willing to introduce her to one of the dragons?”

Rhiannon gaped at me. “I’m not involved with thedragons!”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense, since you would’ve mentioned them before. Can you talk to your professor and ask him to give Valerie a tour? She missed class today due to the kidnapping.”

“I can try,” she said dubiously. “But if that doesn’t work, I can give her a tour of the lab animals. They’re not as exciting as the dragons, but she’ll be allowed to pet them.”

“That might be a good compromise.” I smiled at her. “Thank you.”

“When? This weekend?”

“I suggested Saturday, but she’s willing to move that, especially for a dragon.”

Rhiannon rolled her eyes. “I’lltry.”

“We should get dinner before the pep rally,” I said, noting the time.

We all headed for the cafeteria, but I tapped Bruce and Aiden’s shoulders to get them to hang back with me. “Are you two willing to skip out tonight?”

“What’s the chatter?” Bruce asked, his eyebrows rising.

“You’re a goof,” I informed him. “There’s no gossip. We’re just going to track down a hunch we had.”

“We?” Aiden asked.

“Paige and I,” I clarified.

“She’s not so bad, huh?” Aiden grinned. “You’re getting along better now.”

“Now that she’s not hurling accusations at everyone, yeah.”

CHAPTER12

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