Chapter 1

Carter Drake sat in the campus union lunchroom regarding his laptop. “Hi, Carter.” He heard a girl’s voice and looked up.

“Hi, Valerie.” She was short, of medium build with a round face, upturned nose and short chestnut hair styled in a shaggy round bob with long bangs hanging over her eyebrows. Her hair gave her the appearance of wearing a helmet. Her large hazel eyes were wide-set and her broad mouth gave her an impish, pixie look. She wore a long-sleeved cotton blouse and tight-fitting jeans that accentuated her stocky legs.

“May I join you?” she asked.

Carter made a hand gesture that meant, go ahead. Valerie set down her tray.

“Carter — we’re throwing a floor party in our dorm this Saturday afternoon. We’ll have refreshments and one of the DJs from the campus radio station. You’d be welcome.”

“Will Margeaux be there?” he asked.

“You know she will be.”

“Then I’ll pass.”

“I thought you and Margeaux split on friendly terms.”

“Friendly enough,” he replied. “I just don’t see the need to rub salt into any wounds — hers or mine.” He glanced up at her. “This isn’t some half-assed scheme of yours to get us back together again, is it?”

“Not at all...” She picked open a carton of chocolate milk. “It’s just ... we all know you from when you were hanging around with Margeaux last term ... you’re sort of an honorary member of our unit.”

“I’m blocking out Saturday to do my report for Sorenson’s class,” he replied.

“Oh? What topic did you pick?”

“The Development of Armor in the Middle Ages. Why? What’s yours?”

“The Legend and Symbolism of the Dragon,” she replied. “I’m halfway done with mine. Haven’t you started, yet?”

“No — I’ve put it off long enough.” He pressed a button on his laptop to put it into hibernation and picked up his lunch detritus. “I have a class and a lab and then it’s to the library for material for Sorenson’s report.” Carter packed his laptop into his pack and carried his tray to the trash receptacle.

Scanning through the stacks Carter looked at the callout numbers on the books’ spines. He referred to a reference jotted on a slip. Not finding it he headed for the table where his notebook sat. A consultation with the library’s online catalog showed his title was checked out.

“Are you finding what you need?” Carter looked up and saw Valerie pushing a cart piled with books.

“I didn’t know you worked here.”

“Yeah — it’s called work-study.”

He showed her the slip. “I’m looking for Dane’s History of Medieval Warfare. The catalog says it’s checked out.” He began looking through the books on her cart. “Are you re-filing these? Is it in here?”

“It’s not here,” she replied. “I have it checked out.”

“YOU have it?”

“Yes — it’s on Sorenson’s bibliography. I thought it looked interesting and I thought it might help me with my report.”

“But — your report is on dragons.”

“There might be something in it I can use.”

“Valerie — are you trying to sabotage my report?”

“I’m not, Carter. I can go get it for you ... or...”

“Or, what?”

Valerie bit her lip and glanced toward the ceiling. “Let me think of something.”

“You go think of something,” he replied and turned to his keyboard.

“I’ll be back after filing these books and we can talk about it.”

“Fine...”

Valerie pushed the empty cart toward Carter’s table. She stood behind him, looking over his shoulder. “You know — Sorenson won’t let us use Wikipedia.”

“I know that. I also know that the articles — at least, the better written ones — all have bibliographies of their own. Sorenson’s isn’t the only source of reference material.”

“Carter — I can go get Dane’s book if...”

“If I come to your party on Saturday. Forget it, Valerie. I don’t need your stinkin’ copy. I found another one.”

“Really? Where?”

“State...”

“They have a copy at State?” she asked.

“Not State, here ... State at Victor has a copy. I just checked it out on intercampus loan.”

“Victor? That’s a hundred fifty-mile drive ... one way. Are they gonna mail it to you? Will you get it in time?”

“No need — it turns out their copy is an ebook. I just finished downloading it.” He turned the screen toward her. “See? This will be better yet — I can do screen grabs of the illustrations.” He picked up a card with some callouts. “And, our library has all of these. Have fun at your party, Valerie.”

Carter stepped into the stacks and took down titles. He switched off his laptop, carried the books to the checkout desk and then stuffed them into his backpack.

He hiked to his dorm, scanned his ID for entry into the building and climbed the stairs to his room. With his key he unlocked the door to his suite. One of his roommates was sitting at a table, studying chess moves. “Hi, Leon.”

“Hey, Carter.”

He stripped off his backpack. “The damnedest thing happened,” Carter remarked.

“What?

“I was at the library, getting material for that report for Sorenson’s class. I ran into Valerie Jessup. Did you know she works there?”

“I haven’t noticed her there.”

“Well — she asked me if I can find what I need. I told her I’m looking for Dane’s book on medieval warfare. She says, oh — I have it.”

“She had it checked out?”

“Yeah — This happened after she accosted me at lunch with an invite to a floor party. I figure Valerie is plotting with Margeaux to get me back in her good graces.”

“They are roommates,” Leon remarked.

“I can figure only two reasons for Valerie to have the book — THE book, Leon, the go-to source on medieval warfare.” He held up a finger “One — as a bargaining chip to get me to their lame party, or...”

“Or, what?”

“Or, two — a deliberate attempt to sabotage my grade in Sorenson’s course. If that’s the case, I’ll bet Margeaux put her up to it.”

“I thought you and Margeaux split on good terms,” Leon replied.

“I thought so, too — but you know what they say about a woman scorned. Anyway, I outsmarted her. I found a copy of Dane’s book at State Victor — as an ebook I could check out, electronically.”

“How does that work?”

“I check it out and their system lets me download a copy. It sets the DRM to expire in two weeks.” He powered up his laptop and showed his roommate the screen. “I had to download a reader client. If I finish with it early I can do an electronic return — which wipes the book on my end and clears it for someone else to check out. It’s pretty slick — if Valerie hadn’t tried her dumb-ass stunt I’d never have considered it.”

“Cool. How much you wanna bet if you check tomorrow, Dane’s book will be back on the shelf?”

“That’s not a bet I’ll take. Going to dinner?”

“Sure — let me get my wallet.”

Carter unhooked his laptop from the classroom’s projector. He powered it off and stuffed it into his backpack. The bell rang and he headed into the corridor. “Carter!”

He turned to see Valerie sprinting to catch up to him. “Valerie — what do you want?”

“I really enjoyed your report, Carter. I thought it was neat you went to the trouble to make a piece of chain mail to pass around.”

“Thanks, Valerie. For the record, it’s called mail. Chain mail refers to sending nuisance letters. If you’ll excuse me — I’m going to the union to get something to eat. The prospect of giving one of these powerpoints makes me sick to my stomach so I skipped breakfast. I need something to hold me ‘til lunch.”

“Do you mind if I walk with you?”

“It’s a free campus.” He headed down a flight of stairs to the sidewalk.

“I feel the same way,” she replied. “I’m terrified of giving presentations, too.”

“I thought you did a good job,” he replied.

“Thanks...”

“The curve-killer is going to be Ivan. His report on medieval music — I was in awe.”

“Yeah — me, too.”

“All that detail with modes and tunings ... polyphony ... That’s what you get from a musician.”

“Carter — I wanted to apologize for the business about Dane’s book...”

They reached the union. Carter opened the door and held it for her. She stepped inside and he regarded her — today she wore tight jeans and a short-sleeved, scoop-necked top.

Carter stood looking at the menu board. “Maybe nachos ... I know — soft pretzel.”

“That sounds good,” Valerie replied.

He stepped to the counter. “Two soft pretzels,” he said.

“Cheese?”

“Yes, please,” Valerie replied.

“Anything to drink?”

“I’ll have a medium Coke,” Valerie added.

“One cheese and water for me,” Carter stated.

“Seven eighty-four,” the attendant replied.

Valerie opened her bag. “I have two ones.”

Carter opened his wallet and withdrew a five and two singles. He took one of her singles, added it to his bills and handed it across the counter. “You can owe me the rest.”

Carter carried the tray to a table. Valerie sat across from him. She tore off a chunk of her pretzel, dipped it in the melted cheese sauce and bit off some. “Mmm ... This was a good idea.” She sipped her soda.

“You were saying...”

“Oh. I was trying to apologize for the book business, Carter. Believe me, I wasn’t trying to sabotage your grade and I’m really happy you found another copy of that book. It was a stupid idea on my part...”

“What was your idea?”

“I’m embarrassed to say it, now ... I’m happy your report turned out okay, Carter. It was interesting and it looked complete and well-done.”

“I was surprised at how thorough you were with your presentation,” he replied. “I mean — I see you sitting in class but I never see you participate.”

“That’s just my style — I like to sit and absorb.”

“Do you like Sorenson’s course?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I enrolled because I thought it would be an easy A. Turned out I was wrong. I’m working harder than ever for a stupid humanities elective.”

“If you want easy courses,” he said, “you need to get your hands on the list the athletic department keeps for the jocks.”

“Is there such a list?”

“If you ask they’ll deny it. But my freshman year I roomed with a guy on the Lacrosse team and he had the list. It was a photocopied sheet with course names and numbers.”

“Really? What courses?”

“I can’t remember ... some of the sociology courses I think. And, some of the applied arts classes.”

“I don’t think we can take those as electives,” she remarked. “I assumed that Life and Culture in the Middle Ages would be easy.”

“Don’t you find it interesting?” he asked.

“Yes, but there’s so much detail to remember.”

“I’ve always been fascinated with the middle ages,” he replied. “It comes easy for me.”

“So I gathered ... That was my stupid idea, Carter — that if I had the book you needed that maybe you’d agree we could work together on our projects and I could...”

“Pick my brain?”

“Of sorts. And, get to know you. I also thought maybe if that worked out then...”

“Then what?”

“Then maybe you’d ask me out.”

“You wanted me to ask you out?”

She drew in a deep breath and released it as a sigh. “Forget it, Carter. Is there something about me you don’t like? Something that turns you off?”

“No, Valerie. There’s nothing about you I dislike. It’s just...”

“Just what?”

“Well — I don’t know you. You were always lurking in the background when I’d come over to spend time with Margeaux. You’re an unknown quantity to me.”

“I thought you and Margeaux looked so good together,” she replied. “I was envious of her ... and surprised when she told me you broke up. Why did you?”

“It wasn’t working out,” he replied. “Margeaux needed more attention than I could give her, and I won’t say more. Maybe you should ask her why it didn’t work out.”

“Margeaux and I aren’t very friendly. In fact, she’s kinda frosty toward me.”

“I’m surprised. I thought you were buds. Besides, my grades were beginning to suffer and I can’t afford more than one B in a semester — otherwise I could lose my scholarship.”

“You’re lucky to have one. My parents earn just enough so I don’t qualify. So — I have loans and this semester I was forced to take work-study.”

“At the library?”

“Yeah — at least it’s not scrubbing toilets.”

“I have a President’s scholarship,” he added.

“That’s a merit scholarship isn’t it?” she replied. “I’m impressed, Carter.”

“Yeah, but I need to keep a 3.5 GPA or I lose it.”

“Is it a free ride?” she asked.

“No — it covers about two thirds. I have a small inheritance from my grandparents that covers the rest.”

“So — no loans. I envy you, Carter.”