Chapter 9 - Giovana
Pyro leaned forward expectantly but nothing happened. He felt the old feeling of unease bubble up inside him. Dolphindo shrugged and patted Pyro's arm.
'It's all right. I never expected that to work. She's being tricky and devious I see.' He said with a chuckle. 'She thinks she can outsmart us, pretend she's a normal dog. Sorry Giovana, you've left it too late. Or maybe you just didn't count on having a Human Mind Probe to contend with.' Dolphindo was chuckling still.
He's not taking this seriously Pyro thought indignantly. He's treating it like a joke.
But at that moment the man suddenly became serious. 'Or maybe you're just afraid. I think that would be a smart move, the only one you've made in this whole fiasco.' Pyro sucked in his breath at the look of utter fury on Dolphindo's handsome features. Dolphindo stretched out a glowing hand and laid it on Alicia's head. Pyro and Ehmber watched in fascination as the dog began to struggle and whine, caught in a net of bronze light. Pyro chanced a look at Dolphindo's face and shuddered at the unnatural bronze eyes. He was filled with wonder anew at the power Dolphindo must have to never have to use a wand.
The struggled continued, sweat started beading on Dolphindo's face and Alicia's whining turned to yelps and snarls. Dolphindo was still composed and looked totally in control. He was obviously winning. Ehmber scrambled over to sit next to Pyro, her face very white. Pyro gripped her hand tightly, surprised to find that his anger at her had totally disappeared.
After another ten minutes of battling, Pyro and Ehmber had to cover their ears to shut out the humming of magic that was reaching ear-splitting levels concentrated as it was in the small room. It was at about that time that Alicia really began to fight back in earnest.
Dolphindo had frozen her so all she could do was sit and snarl ferociously at him, but that didn't stop her using other means of attacking him. She used magic, which is when Pyro decided for sure that he had been right, and obviously Ehmber did too.
A shot of green burst out of her eyes and circled menacingly around Dolphindo's head with agonising slowness. Contrasting drastically with this awful creeping was the speed with which she shifted from a dog to a tall beautiful woman.
Dolphindo rose to face her, Pyro saw that they were almost exactly the same height. Both magicians were ignoring the two terrified people next to them. Dolphindo was battling doggedly with the green tendril wrapping around his head. Slowly, very slowly, he pushed it back. At the same time they were both obviously thinking other spells to do on each other, because at the very same time, a bird snapped into existence over Giovana's head and Dolphindo doubled up with a snake twined around his midriff squeezing the breath out of his lungs.
A prim smile lit the sorceress' beautiful face; she obviously didn't notice the bird hovering over her head. Dolphindo flicked a finger and the bird swooped and banked just above her head. Giovana was too busy holding her two spells together to see the poop dropping swiftly towards her glossy black hair. It contacted and hissed, spreading right over her head, becoming more the size of a cow pat than a bird poo. Giovana screamed and rolled her eyes upwards to see the bird hovering, obviously preparing another attack. Her eyes widened in terror and she seemed to lose her concentration enough to let Dolphindo demolish her spells. In fact, she appeared to have totally forgotten that there was anyone else in the room, all her attention was focused on the bird. While she was distracted, Dolphindo tied her up and she collapsed to sit on the floor. The bird settled on her knee and eyed her curiously.
Dolphindo called to Ehmber and Pyro who were still surprised to find it was all over so suddenly. 'Could you two just put a bit of magic into her bonds, so she can't escape?' They obeyed, shoving a bit of their violet and maroon magic into the chains that bound the woman's hands and legs. Pryo watched Ehmber's eyes fade slowly from violet back to dark blue and felt the beginnings of shame at the way he had treated her.
Diolphindo interrupted his thoughts, speaking to Giovana, who was still staring fearfully at the eagle-sized bird on her knee.
'I see you never conquered your fear of birds.' He rumbled, kindly pulling the bird to sit on the desk, where it fixed its prisoner with a beady eye. He perched next to it and fixed the woman with a similar stare.
'Giovana Vittorini.' He sighed with a pained look on his face, Pyro thought. 'Long time no see, huh?' Giovana's eyes flashed angrily and the bonds on her wrists flared green.
'It's no use. They're magic-proof.' Dolphindo's anger seemed to return. 'You have to do as I say, and if you're a good girl, I'll let you go.' Dolphindo smiled but his eyes remained cold. 'Explain yourself.'
Giovana remained silent and stared defiantly back at him. The two exchanged stares, much the same way they had when they were battling except this time there was no sign of magic. Pyro wondered why Dolphindo was so angry. He supposed it was because this lady had put one of his students in a coma.
'Very well,' Dolphindo snapped and stood to start pacing. 'I'll tell you what happened. You've met up with Kubiac, haven't you? You heard about his encounter with me and decided I was getting too dangerous, or perhaps just wandering too far from your own course and wandering too close to your own plans. You decided I had to go, and searched around for a less obtrusive way of entering the school, for of course you had to enter the school - I leave too rarely for you to do it any other way.' Dolphindo paused and glared at her, his jaw tightly clenched. 'You were lucky enough to encounter a student who was coming to this school. You changed yourself to a dog and coerced Angelo to think he'd always had a dog. Unfortunately for you, he had animal empathy and you quickly found yourself enthralled and unable to carry out your plans because of your lo-' Dolphindo coughed 'devotion to him. Am I correct so far?' his eyes began turning but she nodded without any prompting.
'Dolphindo, I am sorry. I don't know what came-' she began with a beguiling smile.
'Ah, GiGi, I do know what came over you: greed. Greed is a terrible thing is it not? It overcomes all other emotions, all other promises, all and everything.' Dolphindo stared at her sadly. 'So how did you proceed from there? I presume you put Angelo in a coma so that he would have no power over you? How?'
Giovana answered hesitantly. 'Kubiac sent a bolt to wake me up. I think he pushed me to do it.'
'Doubtless.' Dolphindo said dryly. 'So why didn't you act at once, when Angelo was out of the way?'
'I had to build my power up again. And Angelo's influence seemed to linger a long time afterwards, preventing me acting when I would have.' Giovana's voice was leeched of all emotion. 'It's sad state of things, Cair, when we fight like this.'
Dolphindo's face didn't change. 'Well, that's the way it is. It astonishes me how much you've changed, that you could have so callously and casually put an innocent into a coma, just so you can get your own way. You didn't even stop to consider the other people who would be affected by your thoughtless and selfish action. The boy's friends, parents. Ehmber here is a Laprix mistress and you can imagine what she had to go through. Pyro is his best-'
'I know who Pyro is.' She murmured in her throaty voice.
'And you messed with his head too, didn't you?' Dolphindo snapped. Pyro was amused to hear the familiar lecturing tone he used with students in trouble. He was also amazed to see Giovana flinch as though a whip had lashed out instead of just his words. A theory began to form in his mind.
'I'm sorry, Pyro. It was a desperate action. You had realised who I was.' He was surprised to hear her address him, humility written all over her face.
'And how would separating these two help your cause?' Dolphindo prompted patiently.
'I don't know,' Giovana confessed. 'Honestly, I don't Cair. It was Kubiac who told me to do it.' She added, looking desperately scared. Dolphindo's face softened. He knelt next to her.
'I know, Gi.' Everyone was silent, Ehmber and Pyro looked at each other uncomfortably.
A knock on the door shattered the mood. Lady Rosemaree poked her head around the door, her homely face lit up by a smile.
'Sir, the young Angelo's awake and asking for food!' she announced triumphantly. She couldn't see Giovana behind Dolphindo crouched on the floor.
'That's excellent news, Lady. I'll be there directly.' Dolphindo's cheerfulness was slightly forced. 'Meantime, feed him up.' Lady Rosemaree turned and left. Dolphindo looked at Ehmber and Pyro.
'Feel free to go and see him, I think we're finished here.' They rose silently and left. The two sorcerers didn't move.
'That was really really weird.' Ehmber said fervently. 'But didn't they make a gorgeous couple? Him all dark and flashing and her all tall and graceful, red lips and shiny black hair and big cat-like eyes.'
'What?' Pyro asked, confused.
'Didn't you think they were romantically involved?' she asked.
'Certainly not.' Pyro laughed. 'Well, not at the moment anyway.'
'Oh, I didn't mean that.' Ehmber laughed as well. 'It was a bit like a lovers' tiff though wasn't it? They were sort of . . .'
'I personally thought they were brother and sister. They looked enough alike.' Pyro said diffidently.
'Oh, I suppose.' Ehmber admitted. 'It could be either couldn't it?'
'And what ever the relationship between those two, it's none of our business.' Pyro said firmly.
'Oh, totally.' Ehmber agreed, her eyes twinkling. 'I agree.'
Pyro shifted uncomfortably. 'Look, Em. I'm sorry about being so mean-'
'That's fine.' She interrupted, 'Giovana explained that.'
They fell silent as they walked through the lounge room. Pyro was suddenly very eager to talk to his friend. He hurried ahead up the winding staircase as Ehmber went up the side staircase to get Miea and Callista. He ran up the stairs to the second floor.
He burst through the door to Angelo's room and saw the Italian propped up on pillows, looking a little worse for wear and surrounded by food.
'Good morning.' Angelo smiled.

To the rest of the school, Angelo's miraculous awakening was totally unexpected and coincidentally timed with the disappearance of his dog. Only Dolphindo, Pyro and his friends knew the truth. And they weren't about to tell anyone, especially after Dolphindo visited Angelo.
They had been sitting sharing stories about Pyro's entry into Angelo's mind. Angelo had felt and heard what Pyro had done in there but thought he was dreaming. The door swung open and closed with a soft click behind the headmaster.
'Nice to see you awake,' Dolphindo said cheerfully. 'How are you feeling?' He didn't wait for an answer and continued quickly.
'Ehmber, Pyro, I presume you have told the others what happened in my office.'
'We wish we were there.' Miea cut in resentfully.
'You wish you were there.' Callista corrected sternly.
'Ah, yes.' Dolphindo continued. 'Thing is, Giovana has a few things to figure out. I'd appreciate it if you didn't speak about what happened to anyone; she doesn't need any more bad publicity than she'd already had.' He smiled. 'Just another small secret for you guys to keep for me.'