Behind the Canvas (33 page)

“Who says I haven't been trained?” Claudia said. She began to probe through the cavern with her mind, looking for threads that connected to something, anything.

“Well, for one thing, you drank my tea.”

“Okay. Maybe. But you're not the only Renaissance
Artisti
still around, you know.”

Nee Gezicht's smile flickered. “Renaissance
Artisti
? Don't tell me you've met one. Who would it be? Custos the hag? The lovesick Spaniard? Impotent fools who cower in houses without paintings. Come with me, Claudia, and I can teach you the real meaning of power. Power over lands. Power over people. Power over magic.”

Claudia felt a force moving toward her, groping and invisible. Nee Gezicht was reaching for the threads that connected to her. The witch would throw her against the wall like she did Pim, or drag her back through the tunnels.

The force lunged for her, and Claudia swung her arm and mentally batted it away. It backed off and then charged again. She swung again, almost feeling something tangible as her mind connected with it.

The invisible force retreated. Her focus frantically bounced around the cavern, searching for another attack. She found the staff in Nee Gezicht's hand, but doubtless the witch would sense her mental probing just as Claudia had. She needed something that Nee Gezicht wouldn't expect.

“Remarkable world, isn't it?” Nee Gezicht hissed. “Everything that enters succumbs to the synergy of paint and canvas. And that, in turn, succumbs to me.”

A low rumble emanated from the cavern ceiling. One of the enormous stalactites directly above Claudia cracked across the base that secured it. It plunged toward the ground and Claudia leaped forward, barely escaping the pointed tip that smashed just behind her. Stone shards scattered and dust surged into the air.

The rumble continued and, with another
crack
, a second stalactite fell from above. She tumbled forward and then again, aware that a third was already falling.

She's driving me toward her
. She quenched the panic rising in her throat and looked up as a series of
cracks
rang out. The remaining stalactites on this side of the cavern were now falling toward her. Behind them, the veins of crystal ran through the stone ceiling and down the walls, like ropes holding up the cavern.

Like ropes.

She ran and leaped.

The stalactites smashed into the ground behind her. The earsplitting noise still thundered on when she felt a force wrap around her midsection and lift her from the floor. She was only paces from the eager gaze and outstretched arms of Nee Gezicht.

Claudia didn't strike at the force that held her. Instead she reached out with her mind to the walls of the cavern, collecting all the threads she could find that attached to the veins of crystal.

Nee Gezicht's invisible grip tightened and she drew Claudia closer.

Claudia spread her arms and
pulled
. Pulled like she had with the nail polish horse, but this time without the hesitation, without the doubt. She was an
Artisti
, and while she didn't know everything that meant, in that moment it meant she was going to save Pim.

The veins of crystal sprang from the walls of the cave with a grinding
crunch
. They floated in the air like ribbons in the wind, one end still attached to the cavern wall.

At a pull from Claudia's thoughts, they shot from all directions toward Nee Gezicht. The Sightless One cried out in surprise as strands of crystal ribbons twirled themselves around one arm, then the other. They spun and looped, raveling into a mess that pulled tighter as Nee Gezicht struggled. Another ribbon twisted itself around Nee Gezicht's mouth, silencing her cries.

The force around Claudia's torso released and she dropped to her feet. She directed all her energy into the crystal ribbons. They continued to swirl and tighten, but Nee Gezicht was fighting back, trying to peel them away and untangle herself.

Sweat broke out across Claudia's forehead. She had to keep the ribbons in place. Nee Gezicht had overcome her surprise and was pushing back against the ribbons. The staff was still in her hand. Claudia didn't see how she could grab the staff without breaking her concentration.

And then someone was running past her toward Nee Gezicht.

Pim!

He flew by and wrested the staff from Nee Gezicht's hand. It left her grasp, but still Pim struggled to pull it away, as though it was drawn to her by a powerful magnet. Claudia forced the ribbons even tighter. The staff came away and Pim stumbled backward.

Stars danced in front of Claudia's vision as she strained to keep the ribbons tight. “Pim … bottle … backpack.”

Pim snatched up the backpack and rummaged inside, emerging with the yellow mustard bottle. He held it up and stepped over to Claudia.

“Other … bottle,” she murmured desperately.

His hand dived back in, drawing out the bottle of nail polish remover. He twisted off the lid and looked at Claudia, obviously confused.

Boys
.

Cinching down one last thrust on the ribbons, she dropped her concentration and spun to face Pim. The release was dizzying and she almost toppled over. Nee Gezicht thrashed violently against the ribbons.

Claudia snatched the nail polish remover from Pim's hand and grabbed one end of the staff, holding it out between the two of them. She looked into Pim's trusting eyes.

Then she emptied the bottle onto the staff.

Nee Gezicht freed one hand, which tore away the ribbons from her mouth. “No!”

The liquid splashed onto the staff in the dead center of its length. It glistened and trickled. It seeped and dripped. And the paint that looked like wood began to run.

The moan rose from the staff once more. It lifted and echoed off the walls of the cavern, higher and louder, rising in pitch and volume until it was so shrill that Claudia thought her eardrums would burst.

And then with a mighty
crack
the moaning cut off, leaving only piteous echoes on the stone walls. Silence reigned for a moment as everyone stared at the staff, cloven through the middle.

Break the staff. Break the curse. Break Nee Gezicht
.

Claudia looked up until her eyes locked with Pim's, which overflowed with hope. Together they tossed the pieces of the staff aside. Nee Gezicht howled and rushed toward the remains of the staff, but one hand was still tangled in the crystal ribbons. She struggled against them, tears plunging down her face.

Pim snatched up the mustard bottle and outlined Claudia's hand once again with paste. Then he passed the bottle to her, and she outlined his hand, squeezing until only air came from the nozzle. She hoped it would be enough. They rushed over to the window-painting of the three Dutchmen. Claudia snatched up her art history book as they passed over it.

She glanced back at Nee Gezicht, who had finally broken free from the ribbons. She cradled the remains of the staff in her arms, vainly attempting to force the broken ends back together.

Claudia looked at Pim and gestured to the painting. “Age before beauty.”

Pim shook his head. “You first.”

“No. I want to make sure you go through.”

Pim hesitated, an argument on his lips, but he turned and stared at the window-painting. Carefully lifting his hand, he placed it on the canvas-rough glass and was gone in an instant.

Claudia smiled brilliantly. She glanced back at the Sightless One, who was now rising to her feet, eyes fiery and wicked. She wished she had some witty rhyme of her own to retort in this moment of victory, but instead she simply said, “Good-bye.”

Then, hand extended, she left the world behind the canvas.

 

C
HAPTER
29

C
LAUDIA LANDED
next to Pim, her feet firmly set on the floor of the Florence Museum of Arts and Culture. Her museum.

Pim was studying his hands, rubbing them together, stretching his fingers. His face shone with wonder as if he noticed for the first time that he had hands.

Claudia had the sudden sense that they weren't alone. She spun to the painting of the three Dutchmen. There in the upper corner—the same place she had first seen Pim—was the face of Nee Gezicht. Her eyes were wide with fury, but also fear. Her fist banged against the window-painting like a child throwing a tantrum.

“I will find you, Claudia,” hissed Nee Gezicht. “You will never be out of my reach.”

“I already am,” Claudia said. She had the strong suspicion that Nee Gezicht had no way out—that the severed staff also broke her connection with magic. She was trapped in the same prison she had made for Pim. Claudia hoped it was true.

She grabbed Pim by the arm and pulled him from the room. Nee Gezicht shouted her name behind them, but soon the sound was lost in the depths of the galleries.

They came to a stop in the large atrium at the center of the museum. The wide skylight above them revealed a silver moon, full and round, in a bed of stars. Between the glow of the moon and the soft security lights along the walls, she could clearly see Pim, and she marveled at how real he looked. His face no longer held the shimmery gleam of paint, or the rough texture of canvas, but instead was soft and lifelike.

Pim placed his hands on her shoulders and smiled gently. “There is nothing I could ever say or do to show you how grateful I am.”

A thrill of delight and relief ran through Claudia and she couldn't help but giggle. “Anytime.” She took his hands and held them in hers. “I can't believe we did it, we actually did it! There in those tunnels I thought it was all over, but we did it. Did you see how I fought her—and how I pulled that crystal right out of the wall to tie her up? I really am an
Artisti
, aren't I?”

She let go of his hands and spun around, bubbling with excitement. “This is amazing. We made it out. You can come live with my family. We have a spare room and you could come with me to school and you can go to the supermarket any time you want. And we can come here to the museum together to—”

His sad eyes brought her to a halt.

Pim shook his head. “You have freed me from my prison, but you have freed me so that I can rest.” He took her hand again and squeezed it tightly. “Thank you.”

Something was wrong. There was too much sincerity and depth and finality to that
thank you
. Tears lined Claudia's eyes and she had no idea why. “I don't know what you're talking…”

Pim stepped back, eyes closed. And then she saw the change.

He was growing taller, so much taller than the twelve-year-old Pim. And there were subtle changes to his face, his hands, the hair on his arms. And then they weren't so subtle anymore, and in an instant a fully grown Pim stood before her, handsome and strong, and stretching out the clothes he wore.

The changes continued. His face began to wrinkle. His hair, now long, turned gray, then white. His back developed a rounded curve. His fingers became bent and gnarled.

And as quickly as Pim changed, Claudia understood. Pim was more than three hundred and sixty years old. His body had been suspended in paint and canvas for most of that time, but now that he had returned to a world where time mattered, his body was catching up.

A numbing cold replaced the excitement that had run through her veins just moments before. Tears ran freely down her face. She tried to speak but only choked out a strained, “No, Pim, no.”

She was losing him.

Before her stood the boy she knew, her first real and best friend, white beard descending toward the floor, skin wrinkled and sagging, so old that she ached to look at him. His back bent terribly and he had to crane his neck to look up at her. His eyes opened, bold and blue and unchanged, and locked with hers. Those eyes that had seen so much across hundreds of years. Those eyes that had had been filled with laughter, and longing, and remorse. Those eyes that had seen her as a friend, even when she doubted.

A smile spread across his ancient lips. Then Pim closed his eyes one last time, drew in one last mighty breath, and sighed.

As though a wind had blown across a sandy beach, the sigh scattered his body into millions of tiny particles. The particles swirled and twisted in the air like a long, thin strip of silk. They playfully twirled once around Claudia and then rose upward, higher and higher, until they reached the domed skylight, and she could no longer tell which was star and which was Pim.

 

C
HAPTER
30

I
T WAS
a week later when Claudia finally found the courage to return to the Florence Museum of Arts and Culture. She hesitated at the entryway, took a deep breath, and stepped inside.

The afternoon was warm, and the air-conditioned galleries felt welcoming and familiar. She meandered by the paintings in the first room. They were obscure, painted by artists who probably didn't even appear in her art encyclopedia (which had been dented and soaked and was a little worse for the wear). Had she seen any of those people on her journey through the other world? Had she walked in those particular fields?

And whether they were obscure or not, she understood those paintings better than she had. Not in a textbook kind of way. In an
Artisti
kind of way that she didn't have words for. There was a connection there, like there had been between her and the horse on the cave wall. It was real and it was strong and she didn't know what it meant—yet.

Open your mind. See differently.

She passed by the purple cushy bench she had slept on that night after Pim left. She didn't even remember lying down to sleep, but Mr. Custos had found her there the next morning when he turned on the museum lights.

“Good morning!” he said. “Looks like someone has been off adventuring.” He didn't ask any questions but brought her a cup of cocoa and some crackers. She was relieved to find they didn't taste like paint, and that they took the edge off her raging hunger.