A Quill Ladder (25 page)

She put her hands out flat in front of her.
“
Nice doggies
…
Hi, nice doggies.
”
The snarls took on a more aggressive pitch, and the dog closest to her lunged at her. Abbey snatched her hand away, but not before the dog
’
s teeth grazed her and sent a shot of pain through her forearm.

Suddenly one of the dogs leapt into the air at Mark. Its teeth closed on the green folder and it started to pull, while the other dog snapped at the air all around Abbey. Mark pulled his other hand back and landed a punch right on the dog
’
s jaw. The dog, stunned, let go of the folder for a second, and Mark snatched it back against his chest.

A white and black streak shot between Abbey and Mark and the dogs, and Abbey saw it was Sanome, her teeth bared. The three dogs circled each other, their fur standing in swales on their backs, their faces ugly. Abbey pointed at the door of the nearest building.

“
Run, Mark!
”

Abbey
’
s feet exploded into action and she ran for the door, her lungs splintering and burning with the effort. She heard Mark
’
s heavier footfalls behind her, but they were drowned out by the sound of dogs snarling and squealing and her own ragged breaths. She blinked against tears, expecting to feel teeth in her flesh at any second. She flung the door open and turned, expecting to see Mark, but she was alone. The banked green of the spaces between the pathways blocked her view of the spot from which she had just bolted, and the yelps and growls of the dogs continued to fill the air.

She fell inside the building and closed the glass door behind her, shuddering with tears. Where had Mark gone? Had one of the dogs gotten him? She peered out, but she could see nothing but the manicured green mounds and gardens of the college.

*****

Mark had tried to follow Abbey. But one of the dogs had seen them running and had pulled out of the fight, then had nipped at Mark
’
s right side and pushed him off course. It seemed to be trying to turn him back to where the other dog was, to where he could be cornered.

Mark tried to beat the dog off with his fist, and in a panic he veered to the left of the walkway that Abbey was hammering down. The dog lunged again for the green folder. Mark grabbed the three maps out of the folder and stuffed them in his shirt, then flung the folder as far away from his body as he could. The dog followed the folder, and Mark turned and ran as fast as he could. He had lost sight of Abbey but thundered toward the building he thought she had pointed at.

He was rounding the corner toward one of the entrances to the building when the other dog tore down one of the small green hills that separated the walkways, its blood-spattered white teeth glimmering in the sudden sunlight. Mark reversed direction and headed for the building that Dr. Ford
’
s office occupied.

The dog was faster, of course.

Mark felt the dog
’
s teeth closing in on the back of his coat. Then, just ahead of him, a small man in a tan hat emerged from the bushes beside the building, squatted, and held out his hand.

“
Shh, shh. Here, Seti. Here, Seti.
”

The dog diverted from Mark and approached the man, if not in a friendly manner, then at least not as if it was about to go for the man
’
s throat. The man continued to talk to the dog in a calm voice, and the dog sat and eventually lay down.
“
Good Seti,
”
said the man.

They were Egyptian dogs, Mark decided, like the dogs he had seen in paintings outside the pyramids of Egypt (but this was not of importance now). Mark continued running into the building and up the stairs to Dr. Ford
’
s office. The door remained ajar
—
they must have left it open in their haste
—
and he flung himself inside and slammed the door behind him.

*****

Abbey peered through the glass entryway and tried to control her racing heart. She snatched out her phone and dialed Caleb
’
s number. He didn
’
t answer. Caleb often had his ringer off. Or he could be in trouble too.

She texted him.

<
chased by dog
–
in building next to library
–
am ok
–
Mark and Sanome need help
>

Then she panicked, thinking that Caleb might approach the dangerous dogs.

<
Dogs extremely vicious
–
do not approach
–
get help
–
do not know where Mark is
>

A wide stairwell beside the entryway led to a broad landing, and Abbey wondered if she could get a better look at what was happening outside from the second floor. She hurried up the stairs and pressed her face against the window of the landing. Still nothing. She ascended the next set of stairs and looked out over the interlinked walkways and green space from which she had just come. The walkways were empty.

She decided to walk down the hall and see if she could see across the campus to where she had spotted Caleb and Sandy before. Surely they would have noticed that Sanome was missing. Surely they would have heard the dogs fighting. She checked her phone for a reply from Caleb, but there was only the photo of Farley as a puppy that she had as her phone wallpaper.

As she approached the end of the hall, she realized that the building opened into an atrium. The hallway she occupied became a balcony that overlooked a small indoor garden with a Madrona tree growing in the center.

Abbey blinked in surprise at the tree, and then froze as she heard voices rising up from the first floor.

“
I swear. I can
’
t feel anything.
”
Jake
’
s voice.

Abbey shrank to the ground and inched her way to the edge of the balcony, so she could look down without being seen. Jake stood with one of the two black-clad men and Selena, and nobody looked happy.

“
It
’
s another deek, Selena. We
’
re wasting our time. Marian
said
she
’
d plant them everywhere,
”
said the man Abbey had started calling Damian.

“
I hate that woman,
”
Selena said.
“
I
’
m going to chop every last one of them down. Go get the axe.
”

Damian looked over his shoulder.
“
We don
’
t have time for that today. I
’
m pretty sure we
’
re being followed.
”

Selena clenched her fists and smiled with gritted teeth.
“
Followed, schmollowed. I don
’
t care. What is the little elf going to do to us anyway? Zot us with his beret?
”

“
I wouldn
’
t underestimate Ian,
”
Damian said.
“
Let
’
s just move on to the next one. We can come back tonight with the axe if you insist.
”

“
Don
’
t talk to me like that. What we need are the files and the map.
”

“
I
’
m perfectly aware of that. You need to work on Peter.
”

Selena stomped one of her high-heeled boots on the tile floor.
“
I
am
working on Peter. We need to find Steinam. There has to be more information somewhere. Let
’
s go see if Nate was successful.
”

“
Can I go now?
”
Jake said.

Selena whirled.
“
No. We still have work to do.
”

“
I have homework.
”

“
And we have two more stops today. So get moving.
”

The three of them trooped down the first floor hall in the direction Abbey had come. Selena paused to cast a last look of loathing at the Madrona before leaving.

Jake. What was Jake doing helping Selena and Damian? Then again, he didn
’
t sound too happy about it. And Steinam. They must have meant Quentin Steinam, but who the heck was he? There were also the darn files again. And now a map. If it had been Dr. Ford
’
s map, wouldn
’
t they have just taken it, as clearly someone just had? And if the thief had been them, or even Nate, they would know who had stolen it. But if they hadn
’
t taken it
…
who had? Or was there another map? Was it one of Mark
’
s maps? Is that why the dogs had come after them? She was quite certain they weren
’
t random dogs.

Abbey pulled her jacket tighter around her. She had remained lying on the floor just above the atrium until the trio had been far enough down the hall not to hear her if she moved. Now she rolled over and rose to her feet. She pulled her phone back out to see if Caleb had texted her.

<
Taking Sanome to Sandy
’
s car. Hurt. No sign of Mark or Dr F. Will come and get you. Stay put.
>

Mark buried his face in his hands and tried one of the nose-breathing exercises his most recent counselor had taught him. Three deep puffs in through his nose, one long exhale out through his mouth.

This was not where he had hoped to be today
—
at all. He had hoped to go to the future and retrieve his now presumably photocopied map from the library and go see Kasey
’
s map. But it had occurred to him that his future may very well still be in Nowhere, or the forest, not the causeway future, and so he needed to be with someone who lived in the causeway future in order to access it (which added a whole host of complications to his planned trip).

His maps crunched against his skin where he had stuffed them into his shirt. This reminded him that he had not yet examined the third map as carefully as he had the other two. It hadn
’
t seemed to have any odd markings on it, but it was possible (quite possible) that he had overlooked something in his focus on the other two maps. He wondered if he should look now. But no, probably safest to wait until he was in his room at the Sinclairs
’
. He wished that he was there now. Unfortunately, he had no idea how to get there. Outside the office resided a whole host of potential dangers (particularly the dogs) and nobody knew where he was. He had already gotten up four times to make sure he had locked the office door. Not that it would help if someone had a key, or was intent on breaking in, but it gave him a small sliver of security.

He looked at the phone on the desk. Perhaps he could call Ms. Beckham or Mr. Sinclair and they would come and get him, and he would explain that he had gotten lost or something. But where would he say Abbey and Caleb had gone? (He was pretty sure he was not supposed to just abandon them.) Maybe he should report them missing.

He rose to grasp the phone and noted that all of the desk drawers were open. Papers were on the floor as if someone had tossed them there. They lay on top of the blood smears. Which meant someone had been here
after
they had. Someone who was looking for something.

Mark sat back down in the chair with a thud. He jerked his head around frantically, making sure the person hadn
’
t remained in the office and been standing behind Mark the whole time he had been here.

Then he heard it
—
a knocking sound coming from the standing cupboard that occupied the corner of Dr. Ford
’
s office by the coat rack.

Mark almost let out a howl of fear, but clamped hard down on his tongue to stop the sound from coming out.

The knocking continued, and now it was coupled with the sound of someone begging to be let out.
“
I know you
’
re out there. I can hear you breathing. Don
’
t you dare just leave this office. I
’
ll report you to the Council.
”

Mark approached the cupboard warily. The pounding on the door increased in volume. A stapler (a very nice silver Swingline 747 Business Manual stapler) had been shoved between the door handles and was holding the doors tightly closed.

“
I refuse to be treated his way,
”
the voice from the cupboard continued.
“
It
’
s preposterous that you believe you can come back from Nowhere and just take control. Some of us here have been busy
—
very
busy!
—
trying to move the Guild forward.
”