The Copper Gauntlet (12 page)

Her gaze went to Havoc.

“No way,” said Tamara, moving to put her hand on the wolf’s side. “We’re not letting you do whatever it is you’re —”

“Do you promise he won’t get hurt?” Call asked quickly, interrupting her. He didn’t like to consider it, thinking of how his father had chained up Havoc, but he saw the covetous way Alma was looking at his wolf. He needed to agree, so he could stall for time until he found a way to get them all out of there, including his wolf.

“Call, you
can’t
,” Tamara protested, her fingers in Havoc’s fur.

“Of course he can,” said Jasper. “You think he’s going to be loyal to anyone or anything? Let’s just go back to the Magisterium.”

“
Shut up
,” said Aaron. “Call, are you sure —”

But Alma laughed. “You misunderstand. It’s not Havoc we want, although he’s very interesting. It’s Aaron.”

“Well, you
definitely
can’t have Aaron,” Tamara said.

“Without a Makar, we have so many theories, but no way to test them. We know you can’t stay right now, Aaron, but make me a promise that you’ll come back, and leave that wolf as collateral. When you return, all we need is a few hours of your time. And maybe when you see what you could do — how helpful to the world you could be as something other than a defense against an enemy with whom we’re no longer at war — then maybe you’ll decide to join us.”

None of them spoke.

“The wolf will be fine,” Alma said.

“Okay,” Aaron said after a long moment. “I’ll promise to come back, but you can’t keep Havoc. You don’t need collateral. You have my word.”

“We trust you, Makar, but not that much. Quickly, children. Decide. We can hide you or we can turn you over to the mages. But you must know they’ll trade Havoc to us in exchange for the four of you.”

Call didn’t doubt that — not at this point. “Fine. Same deal as before. But no experiments on him.”

Alma looked well satisfied. “Good. Agreed. All of you, follow me.” She led them out the back door of the cottage. They hustled across the green space between the buildings.

Call felt horribly exposed. He could see shadows moving through the trees circling the clearing and hear raised voices. The Masters, shouting their names. Hurrying after Tamara, he saw she had one hand clasped around Jasper’s wrist, keeping him from running in the opposite direction. Call thought he heard Master Rufus’s voice. He grabbed Havoc’s collar and pulled him along faster. The wolf looked up at him as though he suspected something bad was about to happen.

If they ran into the woods, they’d be caught. Their only choice was to follow Alma — who was totally scary, who had once worked with Constantine Madden and Master Joseph, who wanted to experiment on Havoc, who probably qualified to have a pretty long Evil Overlord list of her own — and hope that she’d make good on her promise to hide them.

With a sigh, Call kept on going. Alma took a key ring with several keys out of a pocket of her saffron dress and unlocked the door to the central building.

Immediately, they were startled by the sounds of barking and keening and crying. The building they went into was lined on all sides with cages of various sizes, and in them were Chaos-ridden animals. From brown bears with wild swirling eyes to gray foxes to a single bobcat that roared as Call came into the room.

“This is the worst zoo ever,” Jasper said.

Tamara’s hand came up to cover her mouth. “So this is where you keep them.”

Alma guided Call over to one of the cages. “Get your wolf inside. Quickly. I need to get you settled and then go deal with the mages.”

“How do we know you’re as good as your word?” asked Aaron, apparently pushed beyond the fear of offending.

“Makar, look at the creatures we have here,” she said. “They were dangerous to obtain. They are dangerous to keep. But you are more dangerous than any of them. We wouldn’t cross you lightly. We need your help.”

Outside, voices got louder. Master Lemuel was arguing with another mage.

Taking a deep breath, Call put Havoc in the cage and let Alma lock it. She took the key and tucked it into her pocket, then led them to another room. It was windowless and full of boxes.

“Stay in here until I come back for you. It won’t be long,” said Alma before she shut the door. They heard the lock turn and then her footsteps receding.

Tamara whirled on Call and Aaron. “How could you agree to letting them take Havoc? He’s our wolf!”

“He’s
my
wolf,” Call pointed out.

“Not anymore,” Jasper said, examining his fingernails.

“And
you
,” Tamara said to Aaron. “Agreeing to some stupid deal. Both of you are idiots.”

Call threw up his hands. “What else were we supposed to do? We needed them to hide us — and now they have. If we break out — and get Havoc out, too — while they’re talking to the Masters, we can sneak away without anyone knowing. And then Aaron doesn’t have to come back.”

Aaron opened his mouth to say something, but Call cut him off. “Don’t say anything about keeping your promise. That wasn’t a real promise.”

“Fine,” Aaron said.

“It’s not going to be easy to break out your wolf. There’s probably a magical lock on those cages,” Jasper said.

“He’s right,” said Tamara.

“I have a plan,” said Call, peering out through the keyhole in the door. “Aaron, can you get this door open?”

“If you are asking if I know how to pick locks,” Aaron said, “I don’t.”

“Yeah, but you’re a Makar,” said Call. Through the keyhole, he could see the stuffy room full of cages, and Havoc curled up, looking miserable. “Makar it open or something.”

Aaron looked at him as if he was talking nonsense. Then he spun around and kicked the door. It burst open, the hinges tearing.

“Or you could do that,” Call said. “That works, too.”

Jasper’s body tensed, like he was thinking about making a break for it.

Tamara turned toward him. “Please don’t leave. Just stay with us, okay? For a little while longer. I know this isn’t fun, but it really is important.”

Jasper looked at her, an odd expression on his face, as though she’d managed to say the one thing that could convince him not to run out of there and tell on them. Weirdly, that thing appeared to be
please
.

“Well, you’re right about it not being fun,” he said, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest.

Call went to the cages. As Jasper had predicted, the locks were inscribed with several interleaving circles of alchemical symbols he didn’t recognize. And three keyholes. “Tamara, what does this mean?” he asked.

She peered over his shoulder and squinted. “It’s warded against magic.”

“Oh,” he said. Back home, during the May Day Parade, he had liberated a naked mole rat and white mice, without magic, just ingenuity. After Aaron kicked open the door and got them into the main room, Call felt like he had to be the one to get the cages open. Somehow.

He grabbed hold of the bars, squinched up his eyes, and pulled as hard as he could.

“
That’s
your plan?” Jasper said, bursting out laughing. “Are you kidding me?”

“We need a key,” Aaron said, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Or, well, a lot of keys.”

One of the bears roared, sticking a paw through the bars of the cage and batting at the air. Its eyes were orange and burning, coruscating with chaos. Aaron looked at it with his mouth open. “I’ve never seen one of those before.”

Call wasn’t sure if he meant a bear or a Chaos-ridden bear, which he was willing to bet none of them had ever seen before.

“I have an idea,” Tamara said, with a quick worried glance in the bear’s direction. “We can’t use magic on the locks, but …”

Call whirled to look at her. “What?”

“Give me something metal. Anything.”

Call lifted a brass astrolabe off one of the desks and held it out to her.

In her hands, it started to melt. No, the more Call stared, the more he realized that the liquefying metal was floating
above
her hands. It formed into a red-hot roiling blob, blackening as it cooled in the open air and drifted toward the cage holding Havoc. When it got there, three tendrils of liquid metal snaked out into the keyholes.

“Send cold water at it,” Tamara said, her whole body straining with concentration.

Call pulled water from the animals’ dishes, forming it into a ball and using air magic to cool it.

“Quicker,” she said, gritting her teeth.

He sent the water at what was left of the astrolabe. The metal hissed and the water evaporated into a cloud. Call jumped back, falling awkwardly against one of the cages.

When the cloud cleared, Tamara was holding a three-part key.

Havoc whimpered. Tamara pressed the key into the lock and twisted it; there were three distinct clicks — one, two, and then a third that echoed all around the room. The cage popped open and Havoc bounded out, sending the door swinging. Then, more clicks rang out as all the cage doors popped open.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have unlocked
all three
locks,” Call said into the unnerving silence that followed.

As the animals burst free from their cages, Jasper started yelling. The bear heaved its way up and out. Foxes, dogs, wolves, and stoats all poured out of their prisons.

“Go!” Call shouted at them. “Go and attack — I mean, go and
distract
the Masters! Lead them away from here!”

“Yes, distract,” Tamara put in. “
Distract!
”

The Chaos-ridden animals rushed toward the door, barely paying attention to either of them. Aaron yanked the door open just in time for them to thunder through.

There were shouts from outside as well as growls and squawks. Call could hear people running and yelling.

Havoc danced up to Call, licking him vigorously. Call bent down to hug him. “Good wolf,” he muttered. “Good wolf.” Havoc nuzzled up against him, his eyes glowing yellow.

“Get
down
!” Tamara yelled, and reached up to yank at Jasper, who had climbed onto the desk and was trying to push open the window.

“I’m trying to help!” he protested.

Aaron leaned out the open door. “What if some of the Chaos-ridden attack one of the mages? What if someone gets hurt? Not all animals are like Havoc.”

“Don’t worry about the Masters,” Call said. “Those animals didn’t look in great shape. I bet most of them run for the forest the first chance they get.”

“Like we should be doing,” Tamara reminded him, heading for the door and pushing past Aaron. “Let’s get out of here.”

Keeping his head down and the fingers of one of his hands buried in Havoc’s ruff, Call followed her. Aaron brought up the rear, keeping Jasper in front of him.

They emerged into a clearing and froze. The small outpost was completely overrun. Masters were running back and forth, trying to capture the Chaos-ridden animals fleeing in every direction. Jets of fire and ice were shooting through the air. Call was pretty sure he saw Master Rockmaple being chased around a tree by a Chaos-ridden golden retriever. Master North whirled, a gleaming ball of fire beginning to rise from the palm of his hand.

Alma suddenly lunged out of the small wooden house where she had given them lemonade. A whirlwind of air was whipping around her. She threw out her hand, and a tendril of air shot free and knocked Master North off his feet. His bolt of fire went wide, catching the leaves and branches of the tree over his head. It started to burn as Tamara took firm hold of Call by the collar and hauled him out of the clearing, into the woods.

They were all running, Tamara, Aaron, Jasper, even Call, limping a little but gaining a pretty good speed. Just as the sounds of the fighting behind them died down, Call heard a voice.

“I told Alma you were troublemakers,” said Master Lemuel, standing ominously in their path. “She wouldn’t listen.”

Aaron stopped short, and the others nearly crashed into him. Master Lemuel raised his eyebrows.

“I’m going to tell you one thing,” he said, “and you can believe me or not. But I dislike the Masters of the Magisterium more than I dislike you. And I don’t want them to get what they want. Understand?”

They nodded in unison.

He pointed toward a narrow brook that ran through the trees. It was actually very pretty here, Call thought, which might have been something he would have appreciated under other circumstances.

“Follow that to the highway,” Lemuel said. “It’s the fastest way. From there, you’re on your own.”

There was a silence. Then Aaron said, “Thanks.”

Of course Aaron would say thanks
, Call thought, as they hurried toward the brook. If someone were hitting Aaron over the head, he would thank them for stopping.

They made their way along the brook for half an hour in silence before Jasper spoke up.

“So what’s your plan now? It’s not like we’re safe once we hit the highway,” Jasper said. “There’s no buses, and we don’t have a car —”

“I have a plan,” Tamara said.

Call turned toward her. “You do?”

“I
always
have a plan,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “Sometimes, even, a
scheme
. You should take lessons from me.”

“This better be a really good plan,” Aaron said, smirking. “Because you sure are talking it up.”

Tamara pulled her phone out of her bag, checked it, and then kept walking.

T
HE FIRST SIGHT
of the highway made Call shudder as he remembered the last time he’d crossed it, looking for Aaron. He recalled vividly the pain in his legs as he forced himself to hurry, the panic at the thought of Aaron in danger, and then the discovery that he wasn’t the person he’d always thought himself to be.

Jasper squatted and petted Havoc’s head when the wolf came up to him. For a moment, he didn’t seem like such a jerk.

Then he saw Call looking and glared.

Call sat down on the ground, watching the occasional car whir by. Tamara was typing things into her phone. He wasn’t sure if she was researching stuff for their quest or just e-mailing friends from home. Aaron frowned thoughtfully into the middle distance, the way heroes in comic books did. They could make a figurine of him looking like that.

Call wondered how Aaron would look when he found out that Call had lied to him — lied to him a lot.

He was still wondering about that when the sleek black town car pulled up.

The window rolled down and Tamara’s butler, Stebbins, pushed back his sunglasses to show his pale blue eyes. “Get in,” he said. “We’ve got to make this quick.”

Jasper scrambled into the backseat. “Oh, sweet hydration.” He grabbed a water bottle from one of the cup holders and guzzled the whole thing.

“That dog’s not coming in here,” Stebbins said. “He’ll track dirt all over the seats and his nails could scratch up the leather.”

“They’re not your seats,” Tamara reminded him, patting the cushion next to her. The wolf hopped into the car and then turned around, looking dubious.

Call got in next, pulling Havoc onto his lap. It was hard to believe that the wolf had once fit underneath his shirt. Now he was almost as big as Call himself.

Aaron got into the front.

“I assume this will be our usual deal,” Stebbins said to Tamara, turning in his seat. “What’s the address?”

Call told him, although he didn’t know the number, just the road. Stebbins punched the location into his apparently non-magical GPS.

Then they were off.

“What’s the usual deal?” Jasper asked Tamara under his breath.

“Stebbins drag races with my parents’ cars,” she told him, keeping her voice low. “I cover for him.”

“Really?” Jasper asked, frowning at the guy in the front seat with what appeared to be new respect.

As they drove on, Call found himself dozing against the window until his head started knocking against the glass. They were heading down a dirt road.

He blinked. He knew exactly where they were. “Just pull up here,” he said.

Stebbins stopped the car, squinting. “Here?” he asked, but Call was already opening the door. Havoc immediately ran around in circles, clearly relieved to be free.

The kids got out and Stebbins put the town car in reverse, probably glad to be rid of them.

“Are you kidding me?” Jasper said when they saw the landscape of cars. “This is a junkyard.”

Call glared, but Tamara shrugged. “He is kind of right, Call.”

Call tried to see the familiar area through her eyes. It was pretty bad. It looked like a parking lot, except that the vehicles weren’t in tidy lines. Cars were haphazardly grouped together. Some had been driven in, but most had been towed and dumped wherever they fit. Rust bloomed along their hoods and along their sides, pocking the once-shiny chrome trim. Long grass had grown up around them, a telltale sign of how long they’d been abandoned.

“He keeps most of these for parts,” Call said, feeling uncomfortable. He’d always thought of his dad as eccentric. But he had to admit that having a lot of corroding vehicles seemed a little bit worse than eccentric. Alastair could never use all the cars he’d collected, not even for parts since so many had rusted through, but he’d kept on collecting them anyway. “The good cars, the ones he’s planning on restoring, are in the barn.”

Tamara, Aaron, and even Jasper looked hopefully in the direction Call was pointing, but the ominous gray building didn’t seem to give any of them any comfort.

A cold wind cut across the parking lot. Jasper shivered ostentatiously and hunched down into his jacket. He made a big show of rubbing his hands together as if they were climbing Everest and he was afraid of frostbite.

“Shut up, Jasper,” said Call.

“I didn’t say anything!” Jasper protested.

Aaron waved a peacemaking hand. “You really think your dad might be hiding out here?”

“It’s not a place most people would look for him,” Call said, no longer sure of anything.

“That’s for certain,” Tamara said, putting a depth of feeling into those words. She looked over at the farmhouse near the tree line, a gray clapboard building with a tilting, patched roof. “I can’t believe someone lets him do this to their property.”

“She’s old,” Call said. “It’s not like her house is in great shape either. And he pays rent.”

“Do you think he might stay in there?” Aaron asked hopefully. The yellow glow of the windows seemed inviting. “I mean, maybe she let him crash in her spare room.”

Call shook his head. “No. When he comes here, he always stays in the loft of the barn. He keeps bedrolls up there and a camp stove. Cans of food, too. Maybe she would have seen him, though. He usually stops by.”

“Let’s go ask,” Aaron said. “Is she one of those old ladies who bakes a lot?”

“No,” Call said. He couldn’t remember Mrs. Tisdale ever cooking anything. Aaron looked disappointed. Jasper just kept looking angry and staring up at the sky as if hoping to be saved by a helicopter or an air elemental, or maybe an elemental driving a helicopter.

“Come on,” Call said, setting off toward the house. His leg wasn’t just aching anymore; it felt like spikes of fire were shooting up through the bones. He clenched his teeth as he made his way up the front steps. He didn’t want to make a sound of pain in front of Jasper, not one.

Aaron reached around him and knocked on the door. There were shuffling footsteps and the door opened a crack, revealing tangled gray hair and a pair of bright, pale green eyes. “Kind of short to be door-to-door salesmen, aren’t you?” cackled an old woman’s voice.

“Mrs. Tisdale,” said Call. “It’s me, Callum Hunt. I’m looking for my dad. Is he here?”

The door opened wider. Mrs. Tisdale was wearing a checked dress, old boots, and a gray shawl. “Why would he be here?” she demanded. “Think I decided to sell him for parts?”

As soon as she came into view, Havoc began to bark like mad. He barked like he wanted to rip Mrs. Tisdale’s arm right off.

“He hasn’t been home in days,” Call said, catching hold of Havoc’s collar and trying to pretend the wolf wasn’t slavering a little. “I thought maybe …”

“And the mages haven’t been able to find him,” said Tamara. “They’ve been looking.”

They all turned to her in shock. “
Tamara!
” Aaron said.

Tamara shrugged. “What? She’s a magician. You can see it on her! You can smell the magic in this house.”

“She’s right,” said Jasper.

“Quit sucking up, Jasper,” warned Call.

“I’m not sucking up; you’re just stupid,” Jasper replied. “And that pet of yours is a monster.”

Mrs. Tisdale looked from Havoc to Tamara to Call. “I suppose you all better come inside — all but the wolf.”

Call turned toward Havoc. “What’s wrong with you?”

The wolf whimpered but then caught sight of Mrs. Tisdale and began growling again.

“Okay,” Call said finally, pointing to a spot on the lawn. “Stay here and wait for us.”

Havoc sat grudgingly, still growling.

They shuffled into the house, which smelled like dust and cat, but not unpleasantly to Call. As much as it pained him that Jasper might have a point, it was good to be warm. She led them into the kitchen, where she put a kettle on the stove. “Now tell me why I shouldn’t contact the Magisterium and tell them to come pick up some truant students.”

Call wasn’t sure what to say. “Uh, because my dad wouldn’t want you to?”

“And because we’re on a mission,” Tamara said, although this time it didn’t sound as convincing.

“A mission? To find Alastair?” Mrs. Tisdale took out five mugs from her cupboard.

“He’s in danger,” Aaron said.

“You left the mages, didn’t you?” Jasper asked. “Like Call’s dad.”

“None of that matters.” Mrs. Tisdale turned to Call. “Your father’s in some kind of trouble?”

Call nodded vehemently. “We really need to find him. If there’s anything you know …”

He could see the moment she relented. “He came by last week. Stayed a few days out in the barn. Paid up a couple of months in advance, too, which isn’t like him. But I really don’t know where he is now. And I don’t like the idea of you four kids being out here by yourselves.” She gave Jasper a sharp look. “I might have left the mages, but that doesn’t mean I’m too proud to call the Magisterium.”

“How about we stay over in the barn and we promise we’ll go right back in the morning?” Call proposed.

Mrs. Tisdale sighed, clearly giving up. “If you promised not to cause any trouble …”

“Or the house,” Jasper said. “Maybe we could stay in the house. Where it’s warm and not creepy.”

“Come on, Jasper,” said Aaron, grabbing him by the arm. Jasper went quietly, as though he’d already decided that even Mrs. Tisdale was not on his side.

In the night air, the cars reminded Call eerily of skeletal creatures, like dinosaur bones jutting out of the earth.

Havoc padded behind them quietly. His pale eyes kept turning back toward the house and his tongue lolled as though he was hungry.

The others seemed to feel the same sense of foreboding. Tamara looked around with a shiver and summoned up a small ball of fire. It danced along the path to the barn in front of them, lighting up scattered license plates, tires, and cans full of bolts.

Call was glad when they reached the barn, with its red-painted door secured by a huge metal bar. Up close, it was easy to see that the metal had been oiled recently. Aaron set to work lifting aside the bar and sliding the door open.

The old post-and-beam barn was a familiar place to Call. It was where the good cars rested, each under oilskin tarps. It was where he and his dad had spent most of their time when they came down here. Call would bring a stack of books or his Game Boy and sit up in the loft while his father tinkered below.

They were good memories, but right then they felt as hollow as the skeletal landscape of cars outside.

“Upstairs,” he said, and started toward the ladder. He put his foot on the lower rung and almost collapsed as a jolt of pain shot up his leg. He bit down on the noise he wanted to make but caught Aaron’s sympathetic look anyway. He didn’t glance over at Jasper, just reached to pull himself up with his hands, keeping the weight off his leg as much as he could. The others followed.

It was dark in the hayloft and Call blinked around for a moment, blind until Tamara appeared with her ball of fire dancing just over her head like a lightbulb in a cartoon. The other two followed, spreading out in the narrow room. There wasn’t much to it — a desk, a camp stove, and two narrow beds with blankets folded at the bottoms. Everything was incredibly neat, and if Mrs. Tisdale hadn’t told them, Call wouldn’t have guessed that Alastair had been there recently at all.

Jasper flopped down on one of the beds. “Are we going to eat? You know, it’s got to be breaking some law to take me captive and not feed me.”

Tamara sighed, then looked over at Call hopefully. “There’s a stove. Is there any food?”

“Yeah, some. Mostly canned stuff.” Call reached under his dad’s bed for the baskets he kept there. Cans of Chef Boyardee Ravioli, bottles of water, beef jerky, a utility knife, forks, and two large Hershey’s bars.

Call sat on one of the beds with Tamara while Jasper glared from the other one. Aaron efficiently opened several of the cans of ravioli and heated them over the camp stove — kindled with magic — while Tamara spread out a map of the surrounding area she’d found among Alastair’s things and glared at it with her nose wrinkled up thoughtfully.

“Can you read that?” Call asked, peering over her shoulder. He reached for the map. “I think that’s a road.”

She swatted at his hand. “It’s not a road, it’s a river.”

“Actually, it’s a highway,” said Jasper. “Give me that.” He held his hand out. Tamara hesitated.

“Where are you trying to go, anyway?” Jasper asked.

“We were trying to get here,” said Call. “But now, I don’t know.”

“Well, if your dad isn’t here, he must have gone somewhere,” said Aaron, bringing over the heated cans of ravioli. They took them gingerly, wrapping cloth around their hands so as not to get burned. Call passed around forks and they started to eat.

Jasper made a face at the first bite, but then he started shoveling pasta into his mouth.

“Maybe we can get Mrs. Tisdale to tell us something,” Call said, but a cold feeling was settling into his stomach. Alastair was clearly on the run, but where would he go? He didn’t have close friends that Call knew of or any other secret hiding places.

Aaron and Tamara were talking in low voices, and Jasper had gotten hold of the map and was staring at it. Call put aside his half-eaten can of ravioli and got to his feet, heading over to Alastair’s desk. He jerked the main drawer open.