Bumblestook: Book 1, The Accidental Wizard (22 page)

All around them, a wall of wind whirled and wailed. Knickknacks and debris from the Bumblestook home flashed by; orbiting briefly, before disappearing into the maelstrom. Myrtle Bumblestook’s bedside clock (a plaster puppy dog with droopy ears and blinking eyes) passed directly in front of them; the timepiece (embedded in its tummy) still ticking.

“Five a.m. Apparently, time
does
fly!” Bartholeumous pitched his voice to be heard above the howling wind. The hooded figure (freed of the amber gem’s enchantment, but held fast by the Wizard’s chains) gave an involuntary grunt and shook its head.

“We have about a 30 minute flight. Perhaps you would like to pass the time by telling me who you are and what you did with the Bumblestooks,” Bartholeumous suggested.

“You’ll know soon enough,” the figure replied glumly, looking away and falling silent.

“Suit yourself,” Bartholeumous said and resumed watching the Bumblestook’s bric-a-brac fly by.

**********************************

Fiona sat up in bed, rubbing at eyes that weren’t quite ready to open. Something had awakened her; too early she knew, because the light peeking in through the window blinds, was pale and weak. She threw back the covers, slid out of bed and into her fluffy slippers. As she stood, her cat, Tom, appeared from under the bed.

“Morning kitty,” she said. “Did something wake you up too early, too?”

Suddenly, a powerful feeling of despair hit like an ocean wave; strong enough to cause her to sit back down on the bed! She knew, as sure as if he were standing beside her, Farley was in the house and something was causing him great distress!

Oddly, she did not panic. Almost immediately, she was flooded with an
equally
overwhelming sense of well-being. For a moment, she sat very still (breathing deeply, eyes closed, a nearly imperceptible crease smack-dab in the middle of her brows) as the two conflicting emotions ebbed and surged against each other.

Unbeknownst to Fiona, she had been born with
Foresight
; a unique ability that was rare, but not unknown, amongst The People. Foresight wasn’t specific. It didn’t provide
exact
information about the future, but it did give a sense of how a situation was going to end; in success or failure, abundance or devastation, happiness or sorrow. Children born with Foresight were taught, early-on, to channel it properly; thus avoiding internal conflicts. Unfortunately, Fiona’s parents (in accordance with their plan of postponing things of a magical nature) had, thus far, neglected to explain it.

Fortunately
, Fiona was a practical sort. She simply decided to choose one over the other and
that
was the end of
that
! Tossing her head, she walked calmly out of the bedroom and down the hallway to the kitchen.

Farley sat at the kitchen table, miserable as a wet kitten. Lance sat beside him, as Olivia bustled about, making hot cocoa. The boy looked up to see Fiona standing in the doorway, eyes grave, searching his face for answers. She walked slowly toward him and reached out to touch his shoulder.

“Whatever it is, Farley, it’s going to be okay. I know it is.”

“How do you know?” he whispered, hope flaring briefly in his big brown eyes.

“I just do, that’s all.”

Olivia placed a mug of hot cocoa in front of Farley and pulled out a chair for Fiona.

“There was a break-in at the Bumblestook house,” she told her daughter. “Farley escaped by running outside. We brought him here and called the police.”

“Are the police there now?” Fiona asked.

“Yes and so is your Uncle Bartholeumous,” her father answered. “He went in the house before the police got there, so I’m sure things will turn out alright.”

“Did he find Farley’s parents?” Fiona persisted.

“We don’t know yet. It seems a tornado touched down inside and the police are making sure it’s safe to go in. They told us to wait here,” her father explained.

Fiona shut her eyes and took a deep breath. “It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay,” she muttered to herself.

Olivia knelt by her side. “Your father and I think so too, honey,” she said, putting her arms about the little girl. “Your uncle is
very
resourceful. He can handle just about anything.”

“He’s a secret agent!” Farley blurted out. “Right, Mr. Faire?”

“We-e-ll, he
does
have special powers—”

“Like from the
President
?” the boy asked.

Lance rubbed his hand over his face and looked at the two children, gazing up at him with trusting eyes.

“Look,” he finally said. “I can’t tell you the details because it’s not my secret to tell, but Bartholeumous is no ordinary man. Believe me, I’ve seen him do the impossible! No matter how bad things look, if he’s on the case, everything will turn out fine.”

A knock at the front door gave them all a start.

“That’s the police!” Farley said, jumping to his feet, knocking over his chair
and
the mug of hot chocolate.

“Wait!” said Lance, grabbing Farley’s arm. “Before we talk to them, no matter what, you mustn’t tell them about Bartholeumous. It could endanger his mission! Promise me, you won’t say a word.”

“Cross my heart,” Farley said solemnly, sealing his promise with the traditional “x” over-the-heart. He dashed out of the kitchen, followed closely by Lance and Fiona.

Olivia rolled her eyes and grabbed a paper towel, to clean up what was sure to be the first of many messes.

Lance opened the front door and invited the officer into the house. His heart flip-flopped at the sympathetic look on the policewoman’s face as she entered, hat in hand.

“Lance Faire,” he said, introducing himself. “I’m the boy’s godfather.”

“Officer Sanchez. Mr. Faire, I wonder if we could have a word alone,” she said, raising her eyebrows and nodding toward the kids.

But Farley was not to be denied. He tugged on the officer’s sleeve and looked entreatingly into her face.

“Please, miss. Did you find my parents?”

Officer Sanchez looked to Lance, who nodded. “I’m sorry, kid. They weren’t in the house.”

Farley looked stricken. Fiona took his hand and pulled him away.

“It’s going to be okay.
Trust me
!” she whispered in his ear.

Lance drew the officer aside. “What about the intruder?’ he asked.

“No sign of forced entry at the front door. But beyond that, it’s hard to tell what happened, what with that freak tornado leaving such a mess.” She took a pad and pencil from her pocket and referred to her notes. “Is this the right description? About ten feet tall, covered head-to-toe in a long, black cloak, with a hood pulled down over his face?”

Lance nodded. “That’s what Farley said when we found him.”

The officer frowned. “Not much to go on. Sounds like the boy was a bit overexcited. By the way, what were you and your wife doing over there at four in the morning?”

Olivia joined them. “We heard Farley’s dog barking—it woke us up. We went over to make sure everything was alright.”

“So, let me get this straight. You got up at
four a.m.
, got dressed and went over to investigate, because you heard a dog barking?”

“We’re very good neighbors,” Olivia said coolly. “And of course, little Farley, here, is—”

She was interrupted by a noisy clatter, as the umbrella stand somehow tipped over, spilling its contents across the floor. Farley stood nearby, a sheepish look on his face and an umbrella caught on the sleeve of his pajamas.

“—our darling, precious godchild,” Olivia finished, through a tight-lipped smile. She set about righting the stand, as the policewoman turned to Lance.

“What did you see when you arrived at the Bumblestook home?” Officer Sanchez continued, pencil poised.

“Well, the door was open and the dog was still barking, so we went in. We saw Farley run down the hallway toward the kitchen and we followed him outside,” Lance said

“Any sign of the intruder?” the officer asked.

“Absolutely nothing,” said Olivia.

“It was quite dark in the hallway,” added Lance.

A loud crash from the kitchen caused Lance and Olivia to wince. Olivia looked about and saw that Farley and Fiona were missing.

“Kids!” she said by way of explanation and excused herself to go find them.

Officer Sanchez thanked Lance for his cooperation and took her leave, promising to stay in touch.

With a sigh of relief, Lance closed the door, then headed directly for the antique, cherry-wood secretary, set in a corner of the front room. He opened the fold-down desk and rummaged inside. Finally, he found what he was looking for.

“Aha!” he exclaimed, holding it up. “I knew this stuff would come in handy
some
day!” In his hand was Bartholeumous’ parting gift, the tube of Super-Duper Glue.

**********************************

The shadow being lurked in the bushes beside the Bumblestook home; drawing in on itself, as the sun rose slowly toward its zenith. It lay low, as booted Human feet tramped across the Bumblestook lawn in search of clues to the couple’s disappearance. Human hands parted the branches in search of evidence. Human voices discussed the possibility that they had been carried away by the mysterious tornado.

The shadow being could have told them the truth, had they but known of its existence
and
possessed the ability to force it to reveal its secrets. But only the Master had the means to do that. As if its very thoughts had alerted the dark Wizard, it sensed Malador’s call. The shadow being vibrated with fear. It was daylight and its nemesis, the sun, was slowly-but-surely banishing the shadows that afforded protection. The summons could not be ignored. Gathering itself up in a tight black ball, it launched out of the bushes, across a searing expanse of light and into a thin patch of shade, at the base of a nearby tree.

“What was that?”

“What was what?”

“I thought I saw something move.”

“Like what?”

“I dunno—a cat or something. Over by that tree.” The man strode over to the tree and closely examined its base.

“Well?” the other asked.

“Nothin’,” his partner replied, kicking at the patch of grass that lay in the shadow of the tree. “Probably just a cat.”

“Yeah, right. More likely you’re seein’ things, what with pullin’ the night shift and now
this
! Whadaya say we go get a cuppa joe. Chief just sent some over from the station.”

“That stuff ‘ll put hair on your eyeballs!”

“Got
that
right!”

The officer’s voices faded as they turned their attention to more important matters, but the shadow creature’s difficulties were far from over. The available shadows were few and far between, while the Master’s insistent summons pulsated through every fiber of its being.

There! In the corner of the front yard, next to the sidewalk, a pool of darkness still clung to the lee of a large grey rock. The patch of cool shade beckoned. The shadow being gathered its strength and leapt…

*****************************************

Earlier, when the Earth’s rotation carried Big Grey’s position closer to the influence of the sun (in Human terms, in the wee hours of the morning) it had sensed an unfamiliar being approaching the house. Although the electromagnetic signature matched that of a “Wizard”, it was not one familiar to the rock being. This unidentified Wizard had entered the Bumblestook’s home.

A while later, the Humans known as Lance and Olivia Faire had arrived and gone inside as well. Shortly thereafter, the rocks and pebbles in the back yard reported in; Farley and Yap had exited the house. Big Grey itself had detected the boy’s departure with the Faires. It had also picked up odd atmospheric disturbances around the structure.

As Big Grey followed the events, there was much it didn’t comprehend. This much activity, at this time of day, seemed unusual for Humans. The sudden convergence of many more Human beings, convinced it that something out of the ordinary was taking place. The electromagnetic signatures of so unidentified Humans was just too much for the rock being to process. Secure in the knowledge that Farley was in the company of familiar, trusted Humans, it began to divert its attention away from the alien hubbub; back to the familiar, unhurried flow of data to and from the Core. It sank into the minutiae regarding the state of the planet, in much the same way as a Human might sink into a whirlpool of warm, bubbly water, to soothe away the tensions of the day.

A sudden, unexplained drop in temperature along Big Grey’s side, arrested its thoughts; causing it to re-direct several units of attention to monitor surface events. It recognized the cold sensation as the signature of last night’s shadowy visitor. Then, Big Grey had not been able to pick up any electromagnetic activity. Now (with the being in such close proximity) it noticed a faint flicker; enough to identify the entity.

The rock being entered the data, alerting all Earthbound in the vicinity. From now on, it would be a simple matter to track its movements and discover its nature.

The shadow being, driven by its master’s imperative, could not stay long in the shade of the big, grey rock. It searched frantically for a safe way to travel through the ever-increasing day-light. A police car, pulling up to the curb in front of the Bumblestook home, created a rectangular pool of darkness in the space between its wheels; providing another safe haven. Once again, the shadow creature gathered its strength in a tight coil, and leapt…

Mighty Shooshskya, Ruler of the Winds, carried his passengers over the San Gabriel Mountains and hovered above the highest peak. Carefully, the Wind Spirit touched down upon a rocky ledge (making sure that Bartholeumous had his feet solidly on the ground) before slowly lifting the lower half of the wind tunnel. Once the tunnel cleared his passengers’ heads, he rose into the sky and swiftly disappeared.

Bartholeumous turned to the solid rock face and pressed the flat of one hand against it. It de-solidified with a shimmering ripple effect. He passed through, pulling the hooded figure along behind him. As the rock re-solidified, they found themselves on a path, leading down into the bowels of the mountain. Humongous pink and purple spotted snails (with shells the size of dinner plates) clung to the rock walls at regular intervals; dimly lighting the passage with trails of wet, glowing, slime.