The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin (Books of Unexpected Enlightenment Book 1)
crushed but also sadly amused. This last slight had missed its mark. True, she was not royalty; however, Rachel’s father was The Duke of Devon and her proper title was The Lady Rachel Griffin. Duke was the highest of noble ranks, second only to royalty, and the Griffins could trace their lineage back sixty-four generations, all the way back to Hyperborea, during the Roman Republic.
    Since the Wise lived much longer than mundane folk, sixty-four generations was a very long time indeed. Even the Dutch and Japanese royal families, the oldest royal lines in the world, could not trace their lineage back beyond the Middle Ages, much less the Starkadders of Transylvania or the Von Dreads of the Kingdom of Bavaria. She did not know who the Romanovs were, unless the girls meant the family of the long-deposed Russian Tsar.
    She considered explaining but thought better of it. Such claims smacked of boasting. One did not win friends by boasting—well, not the sort of friends she wanted anyway.
    Rachel looked at the three girls again, with their gold-flecked headbands and mother-of-pearl buttons. Realization dawned. These were American nouveau riche , famous for flaunting their wealth. Coming to riches so recently, they did not understand true elegance. Rachel’s family owned a town, but the Griffins did not parade around with jewels on their robes. They had far too much class for that.
    Not that Rachel disliked Americans. In fact, she much admired the spirit of bravery and independence they exhibited. But she was beginning to fear she might not like these particular Americans. She felt sorry for these girls. But the sorrow was tinged with a fear.
    Perhaps she was not going to find friends here after all.
    The four of them emerged from the forest and flew onto the emerald green lawns of the commons, the fields that stretched from the main building down the length of the campus to the lily pond. It was easy to remain unfazed while someone insulted her; that was part of her mother’s training. It was more difficult to keep up the brave front once the initial onslaught was over. Sometimes, it felt as if the emotions she had deflected swung around like a boomerang and hit her from behind, bruising her all the harder on the return.
    She bent low and gripped her handlebars more tightly.
    She suddenly felt very lonely.
    With the forest and the western dorms behind them, the main campus stretched out in either direction. To their left lay the reflecting lake with its small pleasure boats. The boats had eyes painted on them and could move of their own accord. On the far side of the lake rose the main building, great Roanoke Hall. The dining hall was in the center. The right side housed the upper school; the left side housed the college.
    Roanoke Hall resembled the Chateau de Chambord, which Rachel’s family had visited in France. Like Chambord, the hall had been designed by the great sorcerer Leonardo da Vinci. It was a massive castle with enormous round towers. Dozens of lesser spires and gables graced the roof. Six bell towers rose above the rest.
    It seemed to Rachel as if the towers and spires called to her, as if they were whispering, asking her to fly between them—preferably at high speed. She gripped her handlebars tightly, smiling, eager to accept the challenge.
    What a wonderful place to own a broom!
    The forest flanked the main chateau and the reflecting lake. Through the trees—birches and hemlocks—she could see the towers of the other dormitories, including Dee Hall, where she secretly had hoped to be assigned, even though generations of her family had all lived in Dare Hall. Each dorm was devoted to students studying one of the seven Sorcerous Arts and had its own character and nature.
    To the right, the commons stretched several hundred yards to a lily-covered pond. On the far side of the lawns were walled gardens, ivy-covered out-buildings such as tool sheds, the gymnasium upon which grew purple wisteria, and an Oriental

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