We were laughing together by the time we reached the, mostly deserted, Esplanade. It was still early enough that not even the early birds had made their appearances. Of the normal crowd, there were none. It seemed inordinately deserted for a Friday morning.
Below us, in front of the Main Office Building, Corwin was standing still and silent, legs apart, arms akimbo. Beside him, the shorter, bouncing blonde figure of Simon was waving and calling out to us.
"Yo! Connor, Nana!" Simon's voice rang out in the early morning air.
"Just in time for breakfast!"
"Good morning, Simon! Hello, Corwin!" I yelled, waving.
We swooped down and landed in a smooth arch in front of the two mages. Immediately, we were confronted with Corwin's displeasure.
"What's wrong, Corey?" Connor asked as he led me off his board with a gentle hand. "I brought her here, just like you told me to."
"Were you both having that much fun with each other that you forgot we were waiting? What took you so long?" He snarled.
My smile vanished. Connor choked and sputtered. "Man, you really are in a terrible mood. What in the world's gotten into you?"
Simon smirked. "He and the old short wizard had some 'words' with each other," he curled his fingers into quote symbols.
"They were strong words too. I wasn't there for all of it, but he's been like that ever since the old dwarf took off on his broomstick."
"Broomstick?" Connor asked, amused. "Are you for real, man?"
Simon cackled. "Maybe it wasn't a broomstick. It looked more like a vacuum cleaner, but I figured if I called it a broomstick, it would sound cooler than it looked. He is a mage, after all."
Connor laughed out loud, suddenly realizing what it was.
"I know exactly what it is. That old guy was always harping on about wanting to windsurf, but he never could get the knack of balancing on the board." He doubled up laughing.
"He probably rigged something up that had handle bars or some other such funky gear so he could join us."
"That's it!" Simon roared with hilarity. "He rigged up a—a scooter!"
And the both of them howled and hooted, laughing with wild abandonment.
Corwin scowled.
"Aw, come on, Corey!" Connor tapped his brother on the shoulder with a gentle fist once he regained composure.
"You gotta admit, that was funny!" He grinned devilishly.
"I'm not that easily amused," Corwin grumbled. "But at least she's here." He glanced at me with a dark scowl.
"Are you upset at me for some reason?" I glared back at him.
"Of course not." He looked away.
His mood was so terrible, I decided not to poke at the bear. Maybe if I changed the subject...
I looked around. "Dean Blackstone said he wanted to discuss something with me. Why did he leave without telling me what he needed to say?"
"He got called out on some emergency meeting," Simon responded with a yawn, "but no worries. I'll let you in on what's going on. I was up all night working with him, and I was supposed to brief all y'all about it today."
I raised my eyebrows in disbelief. "How in the world were you two able to work after all that cognac you drank?"
"Oh that." Simon waved a dismissive hand. "Blackstone never gave me anything real. I don't know what you guys drank but all I got was apple cider."
I laughed. "He probably knew you needed a clear head to work all night."
"Yeah. The rest of you were wasted." Simon guffawed.
Corwin glared at Simon. "Old Blackstone actually trusts a little fink like you to be able to relay important information accurately? The old man is starting to lose his marbles."
"Obviously, he trusts me far more than he trusts you!" Simon swaggered to his stance.
"Wait," Connor stepped in between them. "Does this have anything to do with the 'strong words' that he had with Corwin?"
"Yup! But I'm not saying anything more until he backs down and acts like a civilized person instead of a snarling dog." Simon snapped back.
"Oh, you are so messing with the wrong person today," Corwin growled, reaching out with his fingers outstretched in what I recognized to be a mage's fighting stance.
"Hold—hold—hooooold!" Connor jumped in between the two mages and pushed against Corwin's chest with an outstretched palm.
"You need to relax and back down, bro. You can't be picking on women and children just because you're stronger than they are."
He turned to Simon. "And you!" He pointed a finger in the younger mage's face.
"You need to tone down that attitude of yours or you will get thwacked on the head, and it won't be from him. This mission is too important to be sabotaged by a rude brat like you."
Simon scowled, looking away in grudging acquiescence. It was obvious who the alpha was in this fracas because no one met Connor's eyes.
"Well, he started it," Simon muttered, unable to keep that last word to himself.
Corwin lashed out with his hand. A ray of something bright launched out at Simon.
In the same split second, Connor responded with another bright ray, intercepting Corwin's shot, bumping it off trajectory. The bright ray pummeled into the ground, making a small divot on the cobblestone pavers.
I ogled at Corwin with incredulity.
Simon was cowering behind his arms, a half-formed protection bubble crystalizing around him in belated inefficacy.
"You fool! Stand down!" Connor yelled.
Corwin glared at his brother in a cold fury that gave me the chills.
"Don't you EVER come between me and my opponent again when we are attempting to settle a dispute!"
"What the hell is wrong with you, Corey? He's just a kid!"
"Yes, a clueless kid who has no manners and thinks he's a badass mofo. He needs to be taught a lesson about humility and grace or his attitude and behavior will be what kills us all in the heat of battle."
"And how are you going to teach humility and grace to a kid when you yourself have no manners and no grace? Why are you in such a funk all of a sudden?" Connor yelled back as threw up his arms in frustration.
"Well, maybe he's hungry!" I said to no one in particular, hoping to break the tension. "I don't know about you guys but I'm starving! How about some breakfast?"
Things were not going well, and we had barely just begun the mission.
Corwin was not easily mollified, but it seemed as if the altercation had dampened some of the heat from his anger.
He grunted his concession and pulled on my arm knocking me off balance. I yelped and reached out with my other arm to break the fall—but I never hit the ground.
Corwin caught me with a deft arm and levitated both of us onto his board, scowling all the while.
"Jeez, take it easy on her, bro!" Connor exclaimed.
"Sorry Nana." He mumbled to me. His arm held onto me in a steady reassuring grip. "Didn't mean to do that."
I struggled for a moment to catch my balance and then I stood on the board with one hand on Corwin's shoulder and the other on my bag.
"I'm ok. Really," I replied, smiling down at Connor to show that I was, in fact, okay, even though I was still trying to recover from the fright of a near-fall.
"Let's go," Corwin muttered to me. "I don't have time to be jaw-hammering with these two clowns." And he took off without waiting for his brother and Simon.
As we rose into the air, he turned his head to check on me. "Are you ok? I didn't mean to be that rough with you. My strength surprises even me sometimes."
"I'm—I'm fine. Accidents happen." I smiled trying to downplay everything. "Don't be too upset with Simon. He's just a little kid."
"It wasn't Simon I was mad at. It was Connor."
"Why?"
"It just looked like you and Connor were having so much fun together."
"He was just giving me a lift. "
"Yeah but you didn't have to be so giddy about it."
"Giddy about what? I was laughing with him because he was showing me how to do a stunt on the board."
"Stunt? He's supposed to be taking you to the school safely and he pulls stunts in the air to try to impress you?" Corwin sounded super mad.
"It's not that big of a deal. Conner actually surfs much more conservatively than you do."
"Are you saying you prefer to ride with him?"
"Oh my God. Why do you sound so jealous? I know how close the two of you are. I'm not trying to get between you and your brother, Corwin."
"Ugh!" Corwin swooped through a crowd of birds, scattering them in all directions. "Forget it. You are so clueless."
I sighed. It was impossible to talk to Corwin when he was in this kind of funk.
Whatever the discussion was between Corwin and old Blackstone, it must have been a tense stressful situation. I could feel his frustration by how tense the muscles in his back was.
The ride to the dinning hall was thankfully short.
By the time we landed in front of the dinning hall, his mood had improved somewhat. It was probably due to the fact that the morning was bright and the sky had that fresh blue look which promised a gorgeous day ahead.
Connor and Simon were not far behind us. They landed at about the time Corwin slipped the hoverboard back into his pants pocket.
Once we entered the dining area, we made a beeline for the buffet, grabbing whatever available food there was at that early time of the morning.
There wasn't much. It looked as if the kitchen staff had been relegated to a skeleton crew. Aside from some hot pots of coffee, there was no hot food anywhere. The kitchen staff had at least laid out trays of various donuts and eclairs along with the usual toast and bagels. There was also some cereal and milk, and an assortment of fruit in several baskets.
I managed to score a nice fat pink grapefruit, which the guys didn't want any way, and a huge cinnamon roll to go with my hot coffee.
At Simon's behest, we found a place to sit, away from the handful of early risers.
With a wink and a nudge at Connor, I grabbed a chair next to Simon while Connor strong-armed Corwin into sitting with him across the wide oak table from us.
It was a calculated move to keep the more ornery members of the group at a safe distance from each other, but it also had the unintended effect of making Connor think that there was something surreptitious and implicit between the two of us.
Whatever that was going on inside his mind was making him smile at me in a strange furtive manner which flustered and embarrassed me. Maybe this was what Corwin meant when he said I was clueless.
I attacked my grapefruit with a serrated spoon and ignored him with as much finesse as I could manage. The twins were starting to unnerve me and I didn't know how to handle this situation.
"So, Simon," Connor said in between bites of his donut, "what did the old man discuss with you that he couldn't share with the rest of us unworthy mages, eh?"
Simon stifled a snicker, with the result of it coming out almost like a half-sneeze, half-burp. "He says you guys are to drop everything and focus on being my bodyguards."