A Quill Ladder (24 page)

Sandy slid the key into the lock, and turned and opened the door.

Caleb flicked on the lights, and Mark, still mid-sentence, emitted a gasp of sheer horror.

The map was gone. Four pushpins remained on the wall where it had hung. Mark let out a sharp scream. There was a flutter of movement in the office, and then it was Abbey
’
s turn to scream as Sanome emerged from beneath the desk. The dog crawled over to Sandy, wagging her tail and crouching in some strange display.

“
What
’
s wrong with her?
”
Abbey said.

Sandy shook her head and bent to comfort the dog, who curled around her feet and whimpered.
“
She
’
s upset. Why is she even in here? My dad takes her with him wherever he goes. He was supposed to be meeting with some
…
colleagues today.
”

Abbey studied Sandy. She was sure the woman had been going to say
“
witches
”
instead of
“
colleagues.
”

Caleb had gone around to the other side of the desk.
“
Um, I hate to be the one to mention it, but there
’
s like
…
a lot of blood here on the floor.
”

Sandy sprang to her feet and hurried over to Caleb, tucking her blond hair behind her ears as she stared at the floor. Abbey followed at a more measured pace; she didn
’
t like blood. Mark continued to stare at the empty spot on the wall, holding his satchel to his chest, his mouth hanging open.

There
was
a lot of blood on the floor. More blood than Abbey would ever have liked to have seen at one time, in scattered drops and smeared patches, as if someone had knelt or stepped in it, or maybe been dragged through it. Abbey couldn
’
t tell. Her knees went a bit soft and she retreated back to the other side of the desk and sank into one of the chairs. This was a key reason why she had focused on physics and chemistry rather than biology. She lowered her head so that it was almost between her knees. Sanome pressed her hard little skull against Abbey
’
s thigh, and Abbey could feel the dog quivering.

“
It
’
s not enough blood for someone to have died,
”
Abbey said.

“
I need to call my dad,
”
said Sandy. She withdrew a pink iPhone from her pocket and tried to jab buttons on it.
“
Damn! I still can
’
t quite get this thing figured out. Oy. Sorry guys. I didn
’
t say that. I
’
m a big swearhead. Just don
’
t listen to me, or your mother will have a fit. Can you dial for me?
”
She handed the phone to Caleb.
“
I
’
m not going to panic. He could have just cut his finger or his knee or something.
”
Her voice sounded a bit strained. Caleb dialed and Sandy held the phone to her ear.

“
The map
…”
Mark said finally.

Abbey sighed.
“
Mark, there
’
s blood, and we don
’
t know where Dr. Ford is. I know the map is important to you, but you
’
re going to have to forget about it for a bit.
”

“
Hey, Dad.
”
Abbey wondered if Dr. Ford had picked up, but then realized Sandy was talking to voicemail. She spoke loudly, like someone who distrusted cell phones, or had never seen one before.
“
It
’
s Sandy. Just calling from your office. There
’
s some
…
odd things here. Call me back. Immediately.
”
She handed the phone back to Caleb, who pressed end.
“
Okay, now I
’
m worried. We need to look for him.
”

“
Maybe we could follow the trail of blood,
”
Caleb said, pointing to a single drop by the door.

Abbey, Sandy, and Caleb all piled into the hallway, scanning the floor for more drops.

“
Here
’
s one,
”
Caleb cried jubilantly from a few meters down the hallway.
“
He went this way.
”

“
Hold on for a second, Cale,
”
Abbey said, bending to look closer at the blood on the floor. At least droplets were less horrifying than smears.
“
The direction of movement of the person determines the nature of the blood droplet. We need to analyze the spines and satellite spatter.
”

“
Or we could just look for another droplet of blood,
”
Caleb said, farther down the hall.
“
There
’
s one here. He must have gone this way.
”

“
The spines and satellite spatter always point in the direction of travel,
”
Abbey said.
“
And in this case, it
’
s this way.
”
She pointed her thumb over her shoulder, in the opposite direction.

Caleb scowled.
“
Then why would there be blood here?
”

“
I don
’
t know.
”
Abbey stood and walked over to Caleb, expecting to correct him. But the spines on this drop of blood pointed the other direction. The direction Caleb had suggested. Abbey walked a few meters down the hall in the other direction. The direction
she
claimed Dr. Ford had gone, and there was another droplet, with the spines pointing the original direction.
“
He must have
…
turned around.
”

“
Then why is there another drop here?
”
Caleb had moved again, and now stood at the end of the hall.

“
It
’
s like he went two directions,
”
she said.

“
Or there were two people bleeding,
”
Caleb offered.
Or there are parallel universes
, Abbey thought grimly, and Dr. Ford went one direction in one universe, and the other direction in the other universe. This was terrible. She was starting to believe almost any half-baked suggestion that her mind tossed at her, with absolutely no scientific evidence.

“
We need to split up,
”
Sandy announced.

“
What? No,
”
Abbey said.
“
That always went badly in
Scooby Doo
.
”

Sandy lowered her eyebrows.
“
We don
’
t have time to talk about TV shows. Caleb and I will go this direction and you and Mark go that direction.
”

“
That
’
s exactly what I
’
m talking about,
”
Abbey muttered.
“
And Shaggy and Scooby always run into the bad guys.
”

“
The map
…”
Mark said again.

“
Call us if you see anything suspicious. Stay together, and do
not
talk to strangers,
”
Sandy said. She and Caleb had already made their way partway down the hall. Sanome trotted behind Sandy.

Abbey looked at Mark. He still held his satchel in front of him and stared at her with round saucer eyes.

“
I sure hope I
’
m Velma,
”
she said.
“
Let
’
s go this way, Mark.
”

The drops of blood led out of the building. They were spaced fairly well apart, so whoever was bleeding wasn
’
t losing blood profusely, unless they had already wrapped the wound up in something and this was just the excess. The smears in Dr. Ford
’
s office had been a little concerning.

“
The map,
”
Mark tried again.

Abbey continued searching for the next drop. They had come to a junction of the pebble cement paths, and the blood had seeped into the path, making it harder to spot.

“
Mark, we have other things we need to focus on right now.
”

Mark balled his fists.
“
The very very bad men and woman were interested in the map.
”

“
You think this is about the map?
”

“
The map is necessary to determine the location of the BP.
”

“
What? What is the BP? The Beaver Pond, right? You think they care about the Beaver Pond?
”

Mark glanced from side to side as if expecting ambush at any second, then withdrew the maps. Abbey could see that Mark had drawn a circle around the letters
“
BP
”
that he had sketched on the dot map previously. Then he pulled out the map with the cross on it and placed it over top of the first map.

“
Hmm, that
’
s interesting. The bottom part of the plus passes right through that BP circle you
’
ve drawn.
”

Mark nodded again.
“
I need to confirm the location of the BP.
”

“
But wasn
’
t the BP on the map of Coventry Hill that Sylvain had, not the map that Dr. Ford had?
”

Mark nodded.
“
Yes, but the contour lines on the very bad man
’
s map will help rule out some possibilities.
”

“
Couldn
’
t we look at the contours on a regular topo map?
”

Mark frowned and shook his head.
“
The contours have changed.
”

“
I don
’
t understand.
”
Abbey spied Caleb and Sandy in the distance, having emerged from another door of the Horton Building, heads together, bent over, staring at the walkway.

“
Erosion and scour change topography. Coventry Hill will experience a lot of erosion and scour. The contours
will
change.
”

“
Wait. Are you saying that the map Dr. Ford has is from the future? It
’
s a map of the future Coventry Hill?
”

“
One of them.
”

“
One of the maps, or one of the future Coventry Hills?
”

Mark fisted his large meaty hands and puffed a few breaths out his nose.
“
One of the future Coventry Hills.
”

Abbey had a lot of questions stemming from this, but she was conscious of the fact that Sandy and Caleb had moved on out of sight and that they were supposed to be looking for Dr. Ford.
“
We could probably just ask Sylvain if we can look at his map, maybe
…
if he
’
s back yet. I think we should keep moving.
”

It seemed that the two dogs came out of nowhere, although in reality they must have been approaching for several minutes. They were small, black, short-haired dogs with white and brown markings, big pointed ears, and curled tails. Both had their teeth fully bared and emitted dangerous, low growls as they closed in on Abbey and Mark. Abbey let out a yelp and clutched at Mark
’
s arm. Mark stood frozen, gripping the green folder. The dogs advanced until they were a meter from Abbey and Mark, heads low, lips curled back. Abbey swung her head around wildly, scanning for owners to call the dogs off, or someone to help them. But on a Saturday, the college campus was remarkably deserted, and there were no owners in sight.