The Curse of Arkady (35 page)

He didn't even dare think who. But he knew why. And if Gavan, Tomaz, Eleanora, and whoever else had gone after him had not yet come back, he had a lot of thinking to do about that, too.

He righted Gavan's leather chair, worn and cracked in places, and plopped down in it to wait.

After an hour, he stretched fretfully. Then, he
knew.
And knowing what he knew, he could wait all day. He scrounged around in his backpack and found the two nutritional bars he kept there for emergencies and energy. He also fished out the water bottle at the bottom and drank that, and then he napped. He got up when he woke, and left the office, wandering out of Lake Wannameecha Gathering Hall, then watched the sunset over the lake itself. It was incredibly beautiful.

An owl hooted and drifted silently over the pines. It was time. He went back to Gavan's office. Halloween Eve.

He palmed his crystal and sent for Trent, and then Bailey. Trent appeared, his jaw dropped, and then he gave a yelp as he saw where he was. He was half shrugged out of his sweatshirt and quickly pulled it back on. “What happened here?”

Bailey popped in next, blinking in astonishment, and then let out a snort. “Bachelors! Can't keep anything clean!” She put her hands on her hips. Lacey poked her head out as if to see what the commotion was about.

“Bailey!” both boys said in unison. She tossed her head. “Oh, all right, I see there's trouble and that starts with T and that rhymes with B and stands for Brennard.”

Jason's jaw joined Trent's in the down position. Trent slowly shut his mouth and shrugged. “She's right. It's gotta be Brennard's doing. This is not because someone didn't get the trick or treat they wanted.” He looked about at the shambles.

“And what was your final clue? The dead wolfjackal under the desk?”

Bailey's eyes got big as saucers as she looked, but Trent only frowned slightly. “What are you talking about?”

“Beast body on the floor.” Jason pointed.

Trent shook his head. “I don't see a thing.”

“But it's there!”

“Look. I've had enough of those things breathing down my neck! I see nothing. This one's invisible!” Bailey sidled over and put out her foot and nudged the still form with the toe of her sneaker. “Feels like a wolfjackal,” she observed. She crossed the room warily. “They can be killed, right?”

“Right. Although the bodies often don't stay here. They're not stable or something, I guess.” Jason considered it. It had been there all day, remarkably unchanging. “Poke it, Trent.”

“I can't even see it,” Trent protested. Grumbling, he picked up a cane in the stand by Gavan's doorway. He made a show of waving it and poking it through the space under the Magicker's desk.

A ripple ran through the body, distorting it, and then it . . . disappeared. Bailey, who obviously had been able to see it, let out a shriek and jumped back against the wall.

“Very interesting.” Jason took a deep breath. “Or as Alice would say, Curiouser, and curiouser.”

Trent surveyed what was left of Gavan Rainwater's office. “I'd say this was really serious or you wouldn't have yanked us here. Better be, 'cause I had plans for tonight.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “I know you did, 'cause they were with me!”

Bailey got in between them, her face pale under her freckles. “What happened?”

“I found it like this. They took Henry.”

“Poor Henry.” Bailey shuddered. “When?”

Leaving out his troubles with Statler Finch, Jason told the two of them about Henry and his probable disappearance, and what he knew of it, and his contacting Gavan. And then finding this when he hadn't heard.

Bailey whistled low. “I'd say our rescuers need a rescue.”

“She has a way with words.” Trent shifted uneasily.

“But she's right.”

“Okay. What'll we do? What can we do that Gavan and Tomaz and whoever else was here . . . couldn't?” Trent stared at Jason, not angrily, but his eyes locked on Jason's face. “And why have you waited all day?”

“I don't know what we're going to do.” Jason reached down and picked up Henry's backpack and looked at it briefly. “I don't think we're going to have any trouble finding him,” Jason replied at last. “I think Henry was bait, and I think the wrong people took it, the first time. The trap was meant for us, not the elders. Wherever he is, they are. And they're all still waiting for us. I had all the time in the world, so I took it to do a lot of thinking.”

Trent let his breath out with a hiss. “Then we can get in. But we might have a lot of trouble getting out.”

Bailey let out a worried sound. Then she put her shoulders back. “We might take the bait, but who says we have to go into the trap like mice?”

“Exactly. With a little planning, we can cause a lot of trouble, I think. And don't forget, if they're still alive,” and Jason swallowed hard at that thought. “If they are, Gavan and Tomaz probably only need a distraction or two to break loose.”

Bailey put up a second chair and set it down properly, and rested on it. “I can send Lacey in for a look around, wherever it is. She's little and she's fast.”

“You can do that?”

She nodded. “I've been training her. Sometimes,” and Bailey blushed at this, “sometimes I see what she does.” She looked at Trent. “Remember, I said I could follow her?”

“Okay,” said Trent. “That officially makes you weird, Bailey.”

“I know,” she huffed. “But helpful, too!”

He punched her shoulder. “Did I ever say you weren't?”

Bailey's face turned even redder.

Jason ran his hand over the backpack embroidered with Henry's name. There was a vibration, a faint path there, to be read, leading him onward. “I know where he is,” he said, in sudden realization. It seemed inevitable.

“Where?” Two heads turned to look at him.

He waved the backpack. “This is an invitation to the McHenry house.” And just as suddenly, just as inevitably, he desperately didn't want to have to go there.

“We're the cavalry, Jason,” Trent said quietly, as if reading his reluctance. “Let's get a game plan.”

So they huddled close, and made their plans and crossed their fingers. They linked arms and Jason took them to the doorstep of the McHenry house. Night had settled in, and it was dark, pitch-black with a moonless sky.

Trent looked up. “Figures,” he commented. He lit one of the old camp lanterns, and handed a second to Bailey. The house looked derelict and abandoned, as if it had never even been wired for electricity.

The front door was open the tiniest crack. Bailey leaned over, fetching Lacey from her pocket, and nuzzling her gently, whispering to her. She put the little pack rat down on the porch step and Lacey cautiously went inside, her long, black tufted tail disappearing in little jerks until suddenly it was gone.

They all stood, very quiet, keeping a sharp eye out for wolfish figures loping over the rolling front lawns of the estate . . . if any could be seen in the dark. After long moments, Bailey rubbed her temple.

“She's in,” she whispered. “Lots of people in the back. Gavan! Tomaz . . . long frilly skirts . . .” She let out a sigh. “They've even got Eleanora.”

“Alive?”

“Everyone, so far.”

“Okay, then. We know what we have to do.”

They all nodded, and Bailey started for the door.

Abruptly, Jason said, “Wait a minute.” He looked at Trent. “I think we'd better tell her.”

“J
ASON, this is not a good time.” Bailey put her hands on her hips, facing them. “Whatever it is you want to tell me, I think it can wait.”

Jason shifted. “Ummmm. No. I don't think it can.”

Trent nodded in agreement. “You're right. It can't wait.”

She tossed her head, eyes rolling. “All right! Hurry up, then. Lacey is all alone in there!” She stabbed a finger at the looming McHenry house.

“This is important.” Jason put a hand on each of Bailey's shoulders to still the impatient bounce. “Listen to me. Trent is a Magicker without Talent. Not an ounce of it.”

Trent nodded again, solemnly. “Not a Magickal bone in my body.”

She looked from one to the other. “Oh,” she said slowly. Then, “This is sooooo not funny. Look, I'm sorry I ragged on you, but this is NOT funny.”

“Bailey, I'm not joking, Trent isn't joking, we're not pulling your chain, this is not meant to be funny. He can't do anything you and I can.”

Her jaw dropped. “How . . . what . . . how . . . ?” She stared at Trent in total amazement.

Trent shrugged, his face getting slightly red. “I'm good at faking? I know all the moves? I've read all the magic books ever written? I know how it should go? I want it really badly? I dunno. But I'm not and Jason's been carrying me, and so have you, and . . . it might be really, really important inside there to know what we're dealing with.”

“You can't go in with us.”

“Oh, yes, I can. A wolfjackal can take a boot in the gut from anyone. And it's the three of us now, right? If I don't go in, who'll protect your backs while you're focusing on your crystals? You need me as much as I need you.” Trent inhaled. “I hope.”

Jason dropped his hands from Bailey, but not before he could feel how cold she seemed, and the slight shivers running through her. “I need you,” he said quietly. “We know this is a trap. First Henry was bait, now Gavan and Eleanora and the others are bait. We're the ones Brennard wants, and so they're expecting us with whatever they can throw at us. What I'm counting on.” And he halted, and looked into each of their faces. “What I'm counting on is that the traps will be aimed specifically at Magickers.”

“He hasn't a chance, Jason,” Bailey said earnestly, her face knotted in a frown. “I don't know if I can protect him.”

“Listen to Jason,” Trent pleaded. “Just listen. I belong here, if I belong anywhere!”

“I can protect him, and even more so, I think he can protect us. He won't be affected by Magicks aimed specifically at Talent. He might very well be able to get through what we can't.” Jason watched Bailey closely.

“Oh. Ohhhhhhh.” Bailey chewed on her lip. “Well, if he can't, it's a little late now!” She rubbed her temple as a faraway look came into her eyes and her attention was taken from them as if she was listening to something else. “Lacey says there are books everywhere, and people everywhere. She's found them! Eleanora and a round-headed boy, and Gavan and Tomaz and Dr. Patel.” She gave a shaky laugh. “That's Henry.”

“They're in the library, then. Figures. I've been in there before, they know I know the way. It's in the center of the house. We go in there, and we can be effectively surrounded.”

“Anything else?” Trent asked as Jason's voice trailed off in thought.

“Like what?” Bailey looked at Trent, puzzled.

“Anything. Anything could be important.”

Bailey got a distant look on her face again then, and again rubbed her temple slightly as if her very thoughts hurt. “Pretty things everywhere. Wax . . . cold.”

“Candles?”

“Maybe. Cold, though.” Bailey shrugged. “I'm not good at this yet.”

“Call her back to you,” Jason said. “Ask her to look at one on the way back. Soon as you scoop her up, we'll go in.” He touched his first crystal, and then his second.
Armed,
he thought,
to the teeth.

Long moments passed, and then a tiny furry creature shoved its way through the crack in the door, scampering up Bailey's jeans and into the palm of her hand. Bailey nuzzled the pack rat with her cheek before tucking Lacey away into her pocket. “Candles,” she said firmly. “Everywhere. In great boxes and on every table, chair, and ledge imaginable.”

“Strange.” Trent scratched at the back of his neck.

“Candles burn,” said Jason in an odd voice, before pulling the door open and stepping inside quickly. He didn't want to face the Fire Gate of his nightmares, yet it seemed inevitable. The itching, the nearness to a Gate waiting for him to discover and open it seemed unbearable. Not now! Not tonight, not without training. Not here. The other two tumbled after him.

At night, the old mansion seemed as cavernous and dark as any haunted house. Although electric lights burned through it in dim corners, their illumination seemed very pale and weak. Trent craned his head. “Low, low watts. Just barely enough to almost see by.” He stepped around a pile of crates, reading their labels. “Someone's buying fancy floor tile. Pretty, cold things. But definitely not wax.”

Jason paused at a nearby pallet of crates. “This is. Candles by the dozen. It's marked for a shop,” and he read aloud, “The Flickering Flame.”

“I know them!” Bailey's face brightened for an instant. “They've got the coolest shop in the county. More than candles, kind of New Age, with aromas, herbs, meditating music, that kind of thing. They said they were expanding. They must be putting a shop in here.”

“Could be. Place isn't even renovated yet, though. Moving stock here is kind of jumping the gun.”

“Maybe they needed storage room.” Trent looked around. “Watch out for spiders.”

“Spiders?” Bailey scooted to one side quickly.

He grabbed her by the sweatshirt. “Don't move.”

She stood in place, eyes getting bigger.

Jason froze and looked about, carefully. “What do you see?”