The Book of Sight (13 page)

“This must have been an amazing place to play as a kid,” Alex said.

“Yeah.”

“Do you guys think there are places like this all over?” asked Eve. “I mean, not necessarily just like this…but, you know, places that no one notices…places that are like something from another world. Who knows what you’ll find around the next corner and all that?”

“I’m starting to think there are,” said Alex.

“Just look at all we’ve found since we first read the book, and it’s only been a couple of weeks,” Adam said.

“So even though it feels like we don’t know anything at all, we’re not totally in the dark. At least now we know how ignorant we were before,” said Eve.

Alex hadn’t thought of it that way, but she knew immediately that Eve was right. Whoever sent them those books wasn’t trying to keep secrets from them. They were trying to reveal secrets. Just maybe not all at once. 

“Hey guys, look at this,” said Logan. He was kneeling in front of one of the doorways in the embankment, peering inside. Alex knelt next to him. It was very dark inside, but a small patch of light from a window fell on what must have been the wooden front door, now lying on the floor inside. And carved into the middle of the door was a symbol that Alex recognized immediately: a circle within a circle within a circle.

“I think the next place we need to show Dominic is the Redoubt,” said Logan.

W
hen Logan woke the next morning, he had an instant feeling that something was wrong. In the first place, he wasn’t in his own bed. But that wasn’t anything unusual. Sam, his little brother, frequently had nightmares, and lying down next to him on his bed was the easiest way to calm him down.

So why did he have that nagging feeling of having left something important undone?

There was Sam next to him, fast asleep, and Darcy was snoring a little bit in the room she shared with their mom. Everything seemed exactly the way it always was.

He got up and shuffled down the cramped hall to the kitchen. The little clock on the microwave said 7:09. His mom would be coming home from work soon, tired out after another long graveyard shift. He’d better put on some water. She usually liked a cup of tea before falling into her bed.

Turning from the stove, his eyes fell on the door, and he realized that it was unlocked. Well, that explained the feeling of having forgotten something. How stupid could he be? He always locked that door, but he must have forgotten after his mom left last night. He had been a little off, getting home from the Redoubt just barely in time for her to leave. She’d been worried, and he had felt bad. Still, he thought he’d locked it, out of habit if nothing else.

Then an idea slammed into him like a freight train. He turned and stumbled back down to his bedroom. The pillow, he’d left it under the pillow. But it wasn’t there. Dropping the pillow on the floor, he rifled through the sheets and blankets. Nothing. In desperation, he pulled the bed out from the wall and looked behind and under it. No book.

He took one calming breath and tried to think. Yes, he had definitely put the book under his pillow when he went to bed last night. They’d all agreed that was the thing to do, to make sure it was right there with them at all times. But then he’d been awakened by Sam’s crying at 2:00 a.m. The book had been the furthest thing from his mind.

Still, in order to steal it, someone would have had to come right here into this room where both boys were sleeping and take it without either of them waking up. The thought of it made Logan turn cold. Someone, a stranger, opening the door, walking down the hall past a sleeping Darcy, entering the room, passing right next to him and Sam, maybe standing over them in the dark, feeling around in his bed and finding the book. And none of them had noticed anything. What if the thief had decided to do more than just steal the book? They’d all been sleeping and vulnerable.

Logan stopped himself. There was no point in imagining things after the fact. They were all fine. Only the book was missing. (Only the book, but already Logan was feeling its loss like an ache in his chest.)

He needed to be very sure. Slower this time, and methodically, Logan searched through his sheets and blankets and in and around the bed. He knew he wouldn’t find it, but he forced himself to be thorough.

A shrill whistling sound finally put an end to his search. He headed back to the kitchen to make tea and prepare himself to break the bad news to the others.

They took it just as hard as he knew they would. Sitting in a loose circle in the Redoubt again, the faces all looked back at him bleakly. He was a little surprised (and lot relieved) that none of them showed any blame.

“But it was in the same room with you?” repeated Eve for the third time.

“Yeah.”

“That is seriously disturbing.”

Logan nodded and continued picking at the grass in front of him.

“We have to do something!” burst out Adam. “Whoever is doing this knows who we are and where we live. And if Alex is right, they were listening to us right here the other day. Maybe they’re listening right now, and we wouldn’t know because we can’t see them.”

“What about your idea of trying to lure the thief and then trap him?” said Eve.

Alex looked uncomfortable. “I really don’t think we should be discussing this here. We are still being watched. I’m sure of it.”

“Well, it may not be very secure here,” said Adam. “But where are we going to go? I think we’ve already established that our houses aren’t safe either.”

“I know,” insisted Alex, “but that doesn’t mean we have to discuss secret strategies in a place where we know we’re being spied on.”

“Do we know it?” asked Dominic.

“Yes, we do,” snapped Adam and Alex at the same time. Everyone saw Alex give Adam a look of gratitude, but Logan thought he might have been the only one who noticed the satisfaction on Adam’s face when he received it.

“I’m just saying that feelings may or may not be accurate,” said Dominic.

“Alex’s are,” Adam said with finality.

Dominic didn’t respond, but his face said he wasn’t convinced.

“Let’s take another look around,” suggested Logan. “We didn’t see anything the last time, but I've heard that sometimes you can suddenly see things you didn’t notice before.”

The laughter at this broke the tension, and they all scattered around the circle, some studying the branches, some the ground.

After a minute, Eve gave a shrill whistle of excitement. “Hey, guys, look at this!” She was brushing away a tall stand of grass in the middle of the circle of trees, uncovering a small ring of flat stones embedded in the ground. But no one was looking at what she had found. Their attention had been attracted by something much more colorful.

As soon as Eve had whistled, something small and brilliantly pink had appeared in the branches over her head and then tumbled to the ground about two feet behind her. Adam and Logan remained frozen for a second, staring at the pink thing (Was it an animal?) on the ground. Alex stepped forward and opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Dominic had darted across the circle and snatched it up in both hands. They all closed in to see what he had caught.

It was a lizard, very much like a little gecko, but with an abnormally large head. It must have had similar qualities to a chameleon because the hot pink color was already fading, and it was taking on the even brown tones of Dominic’s hands. It wasn’t struggling at all, but its eyes were darting in every direction. Logan had no doubt that the moment it saw a chance to escape, it would take it.

“I think we’ve found our spy,” said Dominic.

“Unless it’s just a chameleon,” Adam suggested, raising his eyebrows.

“What do you think?” Dominic held the creature up to Alex.

“He was listening,” she said.

“You’re saying that a little lizard carried off our books?” laughed Adam.

“No, but he could have told someone else where they were,” she answered.

“We haven’t seen any evidence that it can talk,” Adam pointed out.

“So now you don’t believe in Alex’s feelings?” asked Dominic.

“So now you do?”

“Let’s just see,” said Dominic, and Logan could see that his hands had tightened. Now the creature did start to squirm.

“Don’t hurt it!” cried Eve.

“I won’t,” Dominic said, “as long as it tells us what it’s doing here and who it is reporting to.”

Adam snorted, and Logan was tempted to laugh at the idea of interrogating a gecko, but something about the way the little head tilted to the side as if it understood…

“All right! Stop! Please stop! You caught me. I was listening. Just stop, stop, stop.” The voice was louder and less shrill than you would have expected from something that small. “I’ll talk. Talking is good. I have no problem talking. There’s no need to squeeze. You win. You are very clever. You know all about me. You found me out. See, I’m talking. I’m cooperating. I’m a good little muxen.”

The little creature said all this in the two seconds it took for Dominic to release the pressure. In fact, for a second Logan thought Dominic was going to drop the thing out of surprise. Apparently he hadn’t been as confident that it would talk as he had seemed. They were all staring. Only Alex looked calm.

“What are you?” she asked.

“Of course that is the first question you would want to ask. Anyone would do the same I suppose. I’m not entirely sure that it’s best for you to know, but I did say I would answer all your questions. You were clever enough to find me and quick enough to trap me and strong enough to…yes, yes, well to show good faith I will answer your question. I am Sarten, though most people call me only Sarty. I suppose you will do as most people do. That seems to be the way people like to act. So you’ll call me Sarty. Though I hate that name. I should really much prefer Sarten. But that’s of no matter. My name is not so very important. I’m really no one. It’s not what you call me that matters. I’m just a little nobody, a little listener, so small, so insignificant. You really shouldn’t mind me at all.”

Now that he had started talking, he didn’t seem to want to stop. His speech was clear, but so fast that Logan could barely understand it.

“But what
are
you, Sarten?”

“A muxen, of course. Don’t tell me you don’t know what a muxen is. The finest traders in gossip and information. If you haven’t heard of us, you’ve been missing out. I have so much I could tell you. Just whatever you want to know.”

“Okay,” said Alex. “Why are you spying on us?”

“I wasn’t spying on you. How could you say such a thing? No, not spying. Spying is such a nasty little word. I was listening. Just listening. Listening is what I do. And it’s so harmless really. I just sit and bother no one and listen. And, oh, the things I learn. I know many things from just listening. Yes, there is always so much to listen to and so much to learn.” A gleam came into his eye. “I love to listen. Oh, yes, I do. I am a listener, that’s me. Just listening, listening, very small, very harmless, just a listener.”

“Yes, but you didn’t just listen,” Alex interrupted. “You talked. You, um, ‘traded’ information about us. Who did you tell about us?”

“Who says I talked? Who told you such things about little Sarten? I didn’t talk, oh no, not to anyone. I’d much rather listen and learn than talk. No, no, I most definitely didn’t talk, so you see, you can let me go.” It squealed as Dominic applied pressure again. “Okay, okay, I can see there is no fooling you. I said you were clever, and clever you are. You cannot be fooled. You can see that Sarten likes talking, too. Yes, half the fun of listening is telling what you’ve heard. And I’ve heard so many things in so many places. So much to tell, and he is a very interested listener. So I couldn’t really help myself. It’s the way I was made, you see. I listen and talk and talk and listen. And I have to talk to whoever will listen. And he is a very good listener. Oh yes, maybe not as good as Sarten, but a very good listener just the same.”

“Who is?” asked Dominic.

“Oh, that’s not important. You don’t need to know that. Just listen to this…”

“Who is a good listener?”

“Oh, well, just him, you know. The one who told me to come back. Okay, I admit it, he told me to listen some more. Not that I minded. I liked listening. And this is a nice place to listen. And- ouch! Ouch! No need to squeeze! No need to hurt me! I’m talking. I’m talking all you want.”

“Who did you talk to?” repeated Dominic over the little muxen’s protests. “Just give us a name.”

“I can’t say! I can’t see! I really can’t say! You are clever. You will know that I’m telling the truth. I don’t know his name. I don’t really see him. Just hear him. Just listen and he asks and I tell and he is a very good listener. But he doesn’t say much. No, he never said names. But I really think you worry too much about names. His name is not interesting. His name is not fun. I could tell you so many more interesting things, don’t you know. I listen. I listen all over and I hear things. Did you know the farmer’s creek is drying up? The creek, that lovely place, is all drying up, and the farmer says that it’s a bad sign. That there isn’t enough water. That there won’t be good crops. He is very upset about his dried up creek. I can see that doesn’t interest you. Okay, okay, I can understand that. The troubles of farmers aren’t the most exciting news. But listen to this. The Hendersons…you know the Hendersons? Such a lovely family and such a beautiful house surrounded by trees. (Perfect for listening, you know.) Well, the Hendersons have a lovely family, but their marriage is over. They yell all the time, you know. He yells and she yells, and she says she has seen a divorce lawyer and he says to go ahead. And little Tyler hides…”

“Enough!” said Alex. “We don’t want to hear about anyone or anything else. You can keep your gossip to yourself. We just want to know who you’ve been reporting to. Who did you tell about us…about the books?”

“I told you, I don’t know. I don’t know who he is. Oh, there are so many interesting things to tell. Why do you only keep asking about him?”