River of Bones (19 page)

Wolfgang Bodine.

A sweat broke out across my neck. I suddenly couldn't breathe. I closed my eyes, trying to catch my breath. My hands shook, as I told myself it couldn't be real. It was all some kind of sick joke.

“Stop the truck!”

Wolf slammed on the breaks. “What's wrong?”

“Who are you? Or what are you?” I snapped.

Wolf put the truck in park. “What are you talking about?”

“You know very well what I mean. Look.” I shoved the paper in his face. “I thought your mother named you after a composer.”

Wolf frowned, his eyes scanning the document. He plowed a hand through his hair and slammed a fist into the steering wheel. “There's something I have to tell you. But you have to promise not to freak out at me.”

“Go on,” I said.

“Remember when I told you I wanted your mom to contact the spirit world about my father?”

“Yeah.”

“That was only part of it,” Wolf said. He leaned toward me, his dark eyes staring into mine. “My great-great-great grandfather was a traveling magician. He'd heard about Sabine's magical powers. But he thought it was just illusions and trickery. He had no clue it was black magic. He wanted to learn all he could from her. Legend says she fell deeply in love with him. But he only wanted her magical secrets. Scorned, she cursed all his male descendents. No one believes me, including my mom, but I know it was Sabine. Right before he died, he started having these weird dreams about her, and he started hearing this creepy humming song. I know my dad died because of her, I think she led him off course and caused his ship to go down.” Wolf's voice deepened. “The same thing happened to grandfather shortly before he died. Everyone thought he was nuts but he kept saying he was hearing a woman's voice singing to him, until one day he followed the voice into the swamp and was never seen again.” Wolf stared into my eyes, his features tight. “If I don't help you break this curse, I'll be her next victim. I'm the last of the male descendants.”

“So, is that why you took the caretaking job?” I asked. “So you could have access to the property?”

Wolf nodded. “But I had no clue about what I was doing so I went to Sassy. She told me if I could defeat Sabine by breaking the spell over the land, all other spells would be broken as well.”

My stomach dropped. It had all been too good to be true. Wolf wasn't hanging around because he liked me—he was hanging around because he had his own life to protect. I guess I couldn't really blame him.

“Please don't be mad,” Wolf said. “I want you to know something. I'm not just doing this for me—I care about what happens to you and Benny.”

I swallowed hard, choking back tears. Anger boiled inside me. “Why didn't you tell me this before? Why the big secret?”

“Because you already had enough worries. Your mom was gone, you had Benny to take care of, and you've been so sick. I didn't want to make things worse. It's my fault for not telling you. I'm sorry.”

I stared into his dark eyes, confusion and anger twisting inside me. He'd been the only human in the whole world I thought I could trust. The one who stayed with me when others would have bailed. The one who took care of me, helped me with Benny. But would he really have helped us if his own life hadn't been at stake?”

“I know I should have told you and I want you to know that I'm here for you, no matter what.” Wolf grabbed my hand, interlocking his thick fingers with mine, bonding me to him. “We're in this together. No matter what the reasons are for us being together, I'm glad I got the chance to know you. To help you.”

Every inch of me melted into his stable grasp. I couldn't help but believe him. He didn't have to help us. He could have tackled Sabine on his own, leaving me and Benny to fend for ourselves.

Whatever his motives were, I needed him. I'd swallow down my feelings and keep focused. After this was all done—if we survived—I would have to see if there could be more between us.

Wolf put the truck into drive, steering into the night, a cold silence thick between us. I squinted into the fog as we approached the house, once so grand and filled with life, now just a decaying shell. I couldn't let go of Wolf's hand. The joints of my fingers had frozen with fear and anticipation.

He parked near the front porch. The night carried a chill that overwhelmed my fever, forcing my grasp from Wolf's hand. I rubbed my arms and shivered.

“Take this.” Wolf tossed me his sweatshirt.

“Thanks.” I slipped it on, inhaling his now familiar woodsy scent and a hint of fabric softener.

We hurried inside, clamoring up two flights to the room with the dead birds. Even though every bone and muscle ached, I felt a surge of anxious energy.

Wolf pushed the door open. We stepped inside the moldering room. A wave of nausea curled into my gut and tightened my throat. The door slammed shut behind us. The lights flickered off and on. I reached for Wolf's arm as a rattling came from beneath the carpet of bones.

Wolf held me in an iron grip and aimed the flashlight to the floor. All at once the skeletal remains of the birds rose into the air, and hurled themselves at us like darts, screeching with unearthly cries. Talons raked across my head, winding into my hair, clawing and ripping at my tender flesh.

“Run!” Wolf yelled. “I'll hold them off.”

I bolted to the door leading to the ballroom as the skeletal flock rained down. I glanced over my shoulder. Wolf tried to wave them off, blood dripping from his head. He ducked, fighting his way toward the ballroom door, but they swarmed over him, covering him like a blanket of bones and feathers. I whipped off the sweatshirt and came to his side, swinging it in the air, knocking them away. They darted back, time and time again, clacking their bony beaks, striking with outstretched talons, and pinning us with glowing red sockets, where eyes had once been. We scrambled through the doorway and slammed it shut.

I switched on my flashlight and pointed it at Wolf.

He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed at the blood on his brow. “Is it bad?” he asked.

I took a look and shook my head.

Wolf jammed the handkerchief into this back pocket. “Good, let's get going.”

We climbed the steps to the dark ballroom. Wolf waved his flashlight around the room, the beam dancing over dusty objects. “I'll search this side,” he said, pointing to his right, “while you take the other side and the fireplace.”

“Deal.”

I felt along the hearth, searching for loose bricks or a secret hidden spot. I stuck my head inside the gaping mouth and peered in, shining the light into all the dark corners.

Wolf knocked on the walls, listening for hollow places. I searched the dining room table. Hidden beneath a layer of dust, I examined every plate, cup and saucer and looked underneath the placemats. Nothing.

I slumped into one of the old chairs and scanned the room. My gaze fell on the cake resting between two tall candles. It looked so gross and petrified but it was the only thing I hadn't searched. I picked up a tarnished fork and tapped the hard lump. It made a hollow thud. My breath hitched in my throat. It wasn't a cake at all, but a paper decoration, made of wire and paste.

I tore it apart. What lay inside made my heart leap.

“Wolf, I found something!”

He waved his flashlight in my direction. “Is it the mirror?”

“No, it's an envelope with a wax seal on the back.”

He rushed to my side. I slipped my finger under a brittle edge, opened the tiny package and pulled out a fragile slip of paper.

“What is it?” Wolf asked.

I could barely make out the faded script which angled gracefully across the page. “I think it's a child's party game, like a treasure hunt or something and this is the first clue.”

Wolf frowned. “Well, that's not much help, is it?”

“Wait a second. Let's think about this. Sabine knew the children wouldn't live to find the treasure and what a perfect way for her to hide a mirror, among a bunch of other shiny trinkets.”

Wolf peered over my shoulder. “What does it say?”

“My children, whom I hold so dear, here is your first clue to treasure near. Find the spinning doll, and you might find it all.”

I thought for a moment. “It must be a toy in the nursery.”

“No. It has to be something close—something in this room.”

“I haven't seen anything in here that even resembles a doll.” Before I could get the next sentence out I remembered something I'd seen near the fireplace. “There's a long metal poker with a woman on the handle, near the hearth. Could that be it?”

We raced to the fireplace. Wolf gripped the object and twisted the figurine until it came off in his hands.

“There's a piece of paper inside!” He pulled it out and read it aloud. “Bigger than a horseshoe, and full of splinters, too, is where you will find clue number two.” He smiled and pointed to the wood box. “That's easy.”

“Well, it was meant for children, so they couldn't make it too hard.”

Under a layer of dust we found the next clue. I unrolled it, squinting to make out the words. “I can't read it, but it says something about rhyming with an old man's shoe.”

Wolf rubbed his chin. “Old man's shoe. Shoe, who, boo hoo. I have no idea.”

“So far everything has been near the fireplace. The poker, the wood box.”

“How about fireplace flu,” Wolf said. “That rhymes with shoe, and if the general's birthday was in the summer there wouldn't be a fire.”

I nodded. “It's worth a try.”

My heart jumped as Wolf stuck his head inside the dark chimney. His flashlight beam flickered against the sooty rock walls.

“I think I see something,” Wolf said. “It's tucked into the side of a brick behind a bunch of spider webs.”

I shivered as he fought through the thick webbing. “Yuk, hope there's nothing alive in there.”

“Got it!” Wolf said. In his palm he held a rolled up piece of paper. He pulled off a tiny piece of ribbon and unrolled the clue.

“What does it say?” I asked.

“This is your last written line, directing you to old father time.”

“It has to be a clock,” I said. “That should be easy.”

Wolf nodded. “Let's split up again.” He hurried off to check the far side of the room, while I headed to the side with the table.

“Remember, it could be anything to do with time, even a picture or something,” he called over his shoulder.

Hunting with my flashlight, I was surprised at all the things I had missed in this room. Then slowly, a creepy feeling crawled over me. The place was more like a crypt than a ballroom. Fine portraits of people long dead peered from behind prisons of dust, their withered eyes following my every move. Pressed against a far wall, faded furniture rested, as if still waiting for the souls of weary dancers. A fancy punch bowl with delicate cups, blue with age, sat on a cherry wood table ready to provide refreshments for guests dead and buried centuries ago.

“Over here,” Wolf called, aiming his flashlight into a dark corner. We hurried to a marble statue of a Greek goddess with a bronze clock in the center. Its bold black Roman numerals glowed in the light.

“It has to open somehow,” I said. “There must be a latch.”

Wolf ran his hand across the base and then down the side. It made a loud click, and the belly of the statue swung open.

I dropped to my knees and stuck my hand inside, pulling out old coins and metal toys and prizes. Something else lay way in the back, crouched the shadows, covered in spider webs. I leaned forward, straining to reach it. My fingertips caught an edge of something metal and I pulled it free.

Wolf shined the light over the object in my hands. “What is it?”

“It looks like a jewelry box.” I ran my fingers over the dusty surface. It was made of silver, with cherubs and grapes engraved on its hinged lid.

“Open it!”

I gently pushed up on it. “It's locked.”

“Give it here and I'll pry it open.”

“No wait, let me try the key from the shack.” I took the key out of my pocket, inserted it into the hole and gave it a turn. The lid snapped open. Inside, a tiny ballerina danced in circles to the same ominous tune I had heard so many times before. I stared inside. Empty. My heart fell like a stone.

“You know what I think?” Wolf said. “I think Sabine meant to hide it here then changed her mind. Like she was in a huge panic and had second thoughts. I mean who'd want clues pointing out the very thing you're trying to hide?”

I snapped my fingers. “You're right! She would have been in a hurry and she knew they were getting ready to seal the room. It has to be here somewhere.”

Tension pinched my neck, stiffening my muscles. I drew my worry stone from my pocket. I rubbed it absent-mindedly, straining to think of where she could have possibly hidden the mirror.