Alexander Graham Bell: Master of Sound #7 (13 page)

“Maisie,” Aleck said, getting to his feet, too, now, “we’ll go there right now. Grandfather, will your driver bring us?”

“Of course, of course.”

“I just knew we’d find him,” Mrs. Duckberry said to Maisie.

“Harrumph,” Mrs. Peacock said. “Let’s just hope the boy is still alive. That’s all.”

At that, Maisie gasped. “He has to be!” she said.

This time when Aleck took her hand, she was too upset to swoon. But she didn’t let go either. That boy’s large, warm hand was the one thing that made her feel safe as together they left the dining room and walked hurriedly to the front door.

A
leck and Maisie sat quietly in the carriage as the driver moved through the fog and noise of London. Lost in her own thoughts and fears about Felix, Maisie didn’t consider what might be on Aleck’s mind until his soft voice said her name.

She looked toward him.

“Maisie,” he said again, “I have a strange feeling…”

His voice trailed off and Maisie could tell that he was trying to sort something out.

“That magnet you gave me,” Aleck said, and then once more his voice trailed off.

“Please,” Maisie said, suddenly afraid that Aleck might say the very thing to her that would send them
all hurtling back home. If Felix was injured, would he go with them? And if he did, what condition would he be in?

“Don’t say anything,” Maisie said urgently.

Bewildered, Aleck nodded. But an instant later he said, “I’m sorry, but I have to know something. Those coats and boots you were wearing, the…vinyl?”

It was Maisie’s turn to nod now.

“And the magnet and…and…well, everything!” Aleck said, flustered. “The way you showed up in the park and then at our house—”

Maisie chewed her bottom lip, trying to decide what to tell him.

“Maisie,” he said, his voice strong now, “are you from the future?”

Before she could answer, Aleck slapped his forehead.

“What an idiotic thing to say,” he groaned.

“I am,” Maisie said, surprising even herself. “All four of us are.”

Maisie and Aleck stared at each other. Around them, the fog swirled and seemed to wrap itself around the carriage, obscuring everything outside.

“But how in the world—?” Aleck began.

“I’ll try to explain it,” Maisie said. “But you have to promise me something first.”

“Anything,” he said, sitting up straighter.

“Until we find Felix, you cannot tell me anything. Don’t give me advice. Don’t share any insight or information with me. Just listen to what I have to say and save your reactions until later.”

“But how can I promise not to react?” Aleck said.

“That’s the deal,” Maisie told him firmly.

Aleck did not consider for long.

“All right,” he said. “I promise.”

Maisie told him about Elm Medona and Phinneas Pickworth, The Treasure Chest, and that first time they traveled and met Clara Barton. She told him about Great-Aunt Maisie and Great-Uncle Thorne, and
lame demon
, and the Ming vase shard. When she finished, she was breathless and Aleck’s eyes were opened wide with wonder.

“How marvelous,” he said quietly.

“I guess so,” Maisie said. “Except when things go wrong, which they almost always do.”

“Like now,” Aleck added.

Maisie nodded.

“But how does it work?” Aleck asked, almost more to himself than to Maisie.

Maisie shrugged. “It seems like we learn something new every time.”

“Like you’re putting together a puzzle,” Aleck said.

The carriage slowed and Maisie peered out the window into the foggy night.
Is Felix out there? Is he…
She squeezed her eyes shut, unable to imagine what was waiting for her in that hospital.

Aleck touched her shoulder.

“This is the East End,” he said. “Grandfather warned me it’s a tough part of the city, near the docks. Stay close to me, all right?”

The driver had walked around to open the carriage door, and as he did the smell of sewage and garbage filled the air.

Maisie’s hand shot up to her nose and covered it.

“Stinking city,” Aleck said. “Makes me homesick for Edinburgh.”

The driver offered his hand to Maisie, and she stepped out of the carriage.

“Careful, Miss,” the driver said. “I can’t get any closer to the place.”

For once, it wasn’t raining. But still the road was muddy. There were no gas lamps here, and the dark seemed to stretch out forever. A shiver ran up Maisie’s spine as she looked around and slowly followed Aleck toward the hospital

As soon as they were away from the carriage and halfway to the hospital, a gang of boys in various degrees of disarray—torn pants, torn shirts, bare feet, thin jackets, dirty faces and arms—surrounded them.

“Fancy,” one of them said, giving a low whistle.

“You lost?” another asked Aleck, standing too close to him and then shoving him just a little.

“We’re going in there,” Aleck said.

“The pauper’s hospital?” the boy said with a smirk.

“My brother’s in there,” Maisie said, hearing the desperation in her voice. “Please just let us go.”

“Come on, you,” a third boy said. He was the biggest of them all, and he towered above Maisie threateningly. “How would
your
brother be in there?”

“Yeah,” said the dirtiest boy of all. “What you take us for? Fools?”

Maisie realized that the boys had formed a tight circle around her and Aleck, leaving no room for
them to escape. The carriage and driver seemed to have vanished in the fog.

The boy who had shoved Aleck poked him in the chest.

“You sure don’t look ’ungry, mate,” he said.

“I don’t have any money or food or anything,” Aleck said. Maisie could tell he was struggling to keep calm.

“Sure you do,” the boy said, poking him harder still. “Your lot always ’as something.”

In a flash, the boys were on Aleck, knocking him to the ground and holding him there. He disappeared in a tangle of flying fists and bodies flung over him.

“Run!” Maisie heard him shout.

And run she did, calling “Help! Help!” as she did.

She thought she heard people laughing at her. Or was it just the wind? Lurching blindly forward, calling for help the whole way, Maisie moved toward a dull glow in the distance.

As she reached it, she could vaguely make out the image of a hulking gray building. Her foot smacked into something hard and she tripped, falling forward onto damp stone steps.

Hot tears sprung to her eyes as her shin hit the
edge. Instinctively, she reached down to touch it and felt a lump already forming.

Struggling to her feet, Maisie slowly felt her way up the stairs. The light there illuminated the double doors that led into the hospital. Through the glass, she could see nurses in long white uniforms with caps that looked like giant wings perched on their heads.

Maisie pounded on the door until one of them opened it.

At the sight of the nurse’s kind, pale face, Maisie burst into tears. Behind her, Aleck was getting beat up; somewhere in here Felix lay helpless. She didn’t know what to say first.

Through her muffled cries, she pointed behind her.

“Police,” she managed to sputter.

The nurse’s eyebrows shot upward and she reached for a long string, pulling it hard and sending a frantic bell ringing. Immediately, footsteps pounded down the corridor and two policemen appeared.

“My friend,” Maisie gasped. “He’s out there and these boys are beating him up—”

They didn’t wait for her to finish. Sticks raised,
they rushed past her and out the door, shouting.

“You’re bleeding,” the nurse said kindly, pointing to Maisie’s shin.

She took Maisie’s arm and led her into a room that looked very much like a doctor’s office.

“Let me clean that for you and bandage it,” the nurse said.

Now that her tears had stopped and Maisie could see more clearly, she realized the nurse wasn’t much older than she was.

“I’m Sally,” the girl said.

“Maisie,” Maisie said, through sniffles.

Sally took two steps backward.

“Maisie?” she repeated.

“Maisie Robbins,” Maisie said.

“Thank the Lord,” Sally said under her breath.

She began to clean Maisie’s cut.

“I’ll fix you up, and then I have something to show you,” she said.

In no time, Sally was leading Maisie down the cold corridor. At the far end, she opened a door into a room lined with beds, just like the one at the workhouse. Except this place was clean and sterile looking, and it smelled like the iodine Maisie’s
father used to put on their skinned knees.

In each bed lay a boy who looked broken in some way. One had an arm in a stiff cast; the next had bandages around his head; another had both legs in the air, bandaged and attached to a big metal rod. Their faces were ashen, and here and there Maisie saw dried blood on a cheek or a chin or a forehead.

At last, Sally stopped.

She leaned over the figure that lay there. The boy had two black eyes and one side of his face was swollen and bruised. Beneath the bandages that were wrapped around his head, Maisie could make out jagged stitches and some dried blood.

Sally whispered, “I thought you was making her up, but she’s here in the flesh. Your Maisie.”

The boy’s eyes fluttered open, and as soon as they did Maisie knew who this boy was.

“Felix,” she said, sinking to the bed beside him with such relief that she couldn’t say anything more.

“He’s a lucky one,” Sally was saying. “Two other climbing boys dropped today and they didn’t make it. This one’s been saying ‘Maisie, Maisie, Maisie’ every time he comes to. We thought he was
delirious, what with the cracked skull and banged-up face. But here you are—Maisie.”

Felix met Maisie’s eyes and smiled.

“I knew you’d find me,” he said. “I just knew it.”

A loud racket erupted out in the hallway, and Sally ran to see what was happening.

“You were inside a chimney?” Maisie said to Felix.

He nodded. “Worse than when you jammed me in the dumbwaiter.”

For the first time since she’d entered the room, Maisie became aware of all the groans and moans that filled it.

“Do you think you can leave here?” Maisie asked him.

His eyes filled with fear.

“I don’t want to go back to that workhouse,” he said.

“No, no,” Maisie said soothingly. “I have a feeling that we’ll be back home soon.”

“What about Rayne and Hadley?”

“They’re waiting for us,” Maisie said.

Felix lifted himself up on his elbows. “What are you wearing?” he asked Maisie.

“I was at a dinner party,” Maisie said, trying not to sound too braggy. After all, her poor brother had fallen down a chimney, cracked his head, broken his glasses, and lay here for hours and hours alone. She decided not to mention Charles Dickens. Yet.

Sally burst back into the room.

“Another boy saying ‘Maisie, Maisie, Maisie’!” Sally said. “You’ve got boys all over London asking for you, don’t you?”

Maisie jumped to her feet.

“Aleck!” she said. “I forgot all about him!”

“Stay put,” Sally told her. “He’s getting fixed up. Those hoodlums gave him some nasty scrapes and bruises.”

“Aleck got beat up?” Felix said.

Sally shook her head sadly. “It’s the East End,” she said, “with all of our toughs.”

When Aleck finally showed up, he looked even more shaken than Felix.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said.

“This boy needs rest,” Sally told them, pointing to Felix. She handed him his broken glasses. “And some new spectacles.”

Aleck and Maisie let Felix put an arm around each of their shoulders and they half-carried, half-walked him back outside to the carriage.

“Where were you?” Aleck asked the driver angrily. “We got attacked by a gang of boys.”

“It was the fog,” the driver said. “I was right over there but you couldn’t even see me.”

They all settled into the carriage, Maisie in the middle and the two boys each leaning on her ever so slightly.

Soon enough, Aleck spoke into the darkness.

“Do I do it?” he asked. “Do I find a way to make the deaf hear?”

Felix shot a look at Maisie, but she either ignored him or didn’t see it.

“You find a way,” Maisie said, “to let everyone hear.”

They were silent again, with just the noise of London outside, and their own careful breathing inside.

“I miss Edinburgh,” Aleck said finally. “I miss my parents and my brothers and even our old talking dog.”

“Yes,” Felix said, touching his sore cheek. “I’m ready to go home, too.”

“But we need to leave, don’t we?” Aleck said. “I believe this time away will change my life forever. I don’t know how. But I believe it to be true. Maybe we can’t appreciate the beauty of our hometown, or the love of our family, until we are thrust into a whole new world.”

Felix wanted to agree, but he didn’t have time.

In that instant, he was landing back in The Treasure Chest.

T
he four children lay in a tangled heap of arms and legs on the Oriental rug on The Treasure Chest floor.