Chase Tinker & The House of Magic (16 page)

Janie, squashed beneath the pile, shoved
everyone aside and scrambled to her feet. Whimpering and sniffling,
she stumbled and skidded across the floor and disappeared down a
hallway. The last anyone saw of her was a bushy tail flicking out
of sight.

Chase lay flat on his back and stared at the
ceiling far, far above. "That sucked."

Disappointment welled up inside him. He knew
they wouldn't be able to just stroll up to the painting and
casually knock their way in, but deep down inside a flame of hope
had burned.

Meanwhile, Andy was crawling all around the
floor, searching for his glasses.

Mrs. Periwinkle rushed in. "What's all the
ruckus in here? I heard yelling and screaming."

"Um…we just thought we'd have some fun
sliding down the stair rails," said Chase as he picked himself up
off the floor.

She tut-tutted and shook her head. "That was
foolish. Someone might have been hurt."

"You're right, Mom," said Persephone, finding
Andy's glasses among the puffy checker pieces. "It won't happen
again. We'll go pick some carrots and tomatoes for dinner for
you."

"Now that sounds like an excellent idea,"
said Mrs. Periwinkle before leaving the room.

Andy slipped his glasses back on. "Thanks,
Persephone. And boy, am I glad I'm not Janie right now."

"I think we all are," she answered.

"I'm just thankful
I
didn't touch any
of those crazy doors," said Chase as the three kids wandered from
the room. Besides that, he sure didn't want to tell Grandfather why
Janie looked like a freak at the moment. So, when he arrived home,
the kids told him Janie felt way too sick to come out of her room
and had gone to bed early.

"She had too much, fun, sun and magicking
today," said Chase, shaking his head and keeping his fingers
crossed that the guilt zipping through him wasn't showing on his
face. "No need to worry, we'll check on her later."

When they did, they found Janie hiding under
her blankets, crying and sniffing. "I look hideous," she moaned,
her voice muffled by the covers. "When will it go away?"

"We can ask Grandfather to help," said Andy,
patting the place where he thought her head might be. "I'm sure he
has a magical antidote to fix these kinds of things."

"No way!" she cried. "I don't want any help
from him."

Chase perched himself on the edge of the bed.
"You can't stay hidden in here forever."

"Oh, yes I can! And I know you're going to
say 'I told you so,' Chase," she said in a puny voice.
"Know-it-all-Janie strikes again."

"I'd, uh, never say that." He shifted
uncomfortably as the small lie rolled out of his mouth.

"And you thought your spanking was awful,"
she whimpered. "This is the worst."

"At least we didn't laugh at you," said Andy,
looking at the other two for encouragement.

Chase nodded. "Yeah."

"We wouldn't dream of it," added
Persephone.

"I hope you don't look weird for too long,
though," said Andy. "When they paint your portrait for the Hall of
Portraits you don't want people making fun of you, like they do
Zelda and Fiona."

"Oh no!" wailed Janie. "I never even thought
of that."

"That's because it won't happen," said Chase
as he sent Andy an irritated look.

Persephone set a covered plate on the bedside
table. "By the way, we brought you some dinner, Janie. It's your
favorite, chicken casserole."

"I'm not hungry. But maybe I can eat it
later," she said. "Thanks for thinking of me, Persephone." They
heard another loud sniffle and several hiccups. "I'm s—so
disappointed. I wanted to get into the attic more than—more than
anything."

"We're disappointed too," said Chase, trying
to sound as comforting as possible. "Maybe we can go again
later."

"Then you'll look like me!"

"We sure don't want that," whispered Andy to
Chase, who elbowed him in the side.

"Maybe we should go and leave you to
recuperate," said Chase. He stood and sidled to the door, Andy and
Persephone following right behind him.

"We'll come see you tomorrow," said
Persephone, gazing sympathetically at the shivering lump in the
bed. "I'm sure things will look better in the morning."

Chase shut the door, looking skeptical.
"She'll be lucky if she's back to normal by the end of the
week."

T
hat night, lying in
bed, Chase racked his brains for any ideas that would help them get
into the attic. He didn't relish the thought of looking anything
like his unlucky cousin. Through the sliding-glass door, a bright,
silvery moon was inching across the sky.

There must be a way,
he thought. His
eyes closed and his mind drifted away…

It was a long, dizzy climb to the top of the
spiral staircase again. He wished he knew how to turn it into an
escalator. When he reached the alcove, bright sunlight glimmered
through the oval window. Feeling as if he were in slow motion, he
strolled across the floor to stand in front of the painting of
doors. His mind was crystal clear. "
Door, show yourself
," he
said.

The two-inch door popped in front of him. It
was a shiny, lemon-yellow car door.

Chase was reaching out to pound on it when
something jerked him awake. His eyes flew open. It was hard to see
in the darkness at first, now that the moonlight was gone, but it
didn't take long for him to realize a man with cruel, light-blue
eyes stood over him. The man's eyes seemed to shimmer, as if tiny,
flickering blue fires were lit behind them.

"Argh!" shouted Chase. He tumbled to the
floor.

Andy lurched up in bed. "What—what's going
on? Who's yelling?"

"Quick! Get down here. Someone's in the
room," Chase whispered from where he crouched between the two
beds.

"What the heck!" Andy scrambled out of bed
and landed on his knees next to his brother. "Who is it?"

"I don't know," Chase answered, peering
around the bottom of his bed, his heart pounding like a jackhammer.
"I woke up and this scary guy was bent over me looking like he
wanted to strangle me."

"Was it Doctor Dan?" whispered Andy.

"No. It was somebody I've never seen."

Barely breathing, they listened for even the
slightest creak or sound.

"Sounds like no one's in here but us," said
Andy. "Are you sure you weren't dreaming?"

"It definitely wasn't a dream," said Chase.
He rose cautiously and stared around the room. His eyes had gotten
used to the darkness making it easier to see the outlines of the
walls and furniture. Andy was right. No one else was in the
room.

Andy peeked around the edge of the bed at
Chase as he tip-toed to the bathroom and checked inside. He yanked
back the shower curtain, but no one lurked in the tub. Everything
in the bathroom and the bedroom was exactly the same. Except, one
thing
was
different: the sliding door hung wide open and the
curtains billowed in the light breeze blowing into the room. They
looked like ghosts drifting back and forth.

Running to look out, they saw the walkway was
empty, and so were the yard and beach way below. "I don't see
anyone," said Andy. He squinted up at Chase. "It must've been your
imagination, or you had a nightmare."

"I didn't imagine it and I wasn't having a
nightmare!" Chase growled. "And if I was, how do you explain the
door being open? It was closed when we went to bed." He shut the
door and turned the lock.

"We have to tell Grandfather we had a
burglar," said Andy, fear in his voice. He pressed his face against
the glass to peer outside again.

"I'm not so sure he was a burglar," Chase
said, able to think more clearly now that his heart was no longer
thumping like mad. "I don't know where Grandfather's room is, but
Janie might. Come on."

When he was out in the hall, he changed his
mind. "On second thought, let's go to the attic instead," he said,
switching directions and hurrying off down the dim hallway.

"Wait, I don't understand!" hollered Andy.
"What about the burglar? And, anyway, you can't get in the
attic."

"I think I can now," answered Chase. "You can
stay here if you want."

Andy glanced back at their shadowy room,
which may or may not have been visited by a frightening intruder.
"No, I'll go with you," he said, scampering after Chase.

When the boys reached the top of the spiral
stairs, Chase stopped abruptly. Something wasn't right. Closing his
eyes, he tried to remember his premonition and the feelings and
images that were always way too real. Everything became crystal
clear. He knew what had changed. It was nighttime, so no sunlight
gleamed through the window. The only light was an eerie glow coming
from the painting itself. And, Andy was with him. In the
premonition, he'd been alone.

He wasn't sure what to think of this. Usually
what he foresaw was pretty much exact. Did this mean it wouldn't
work if something was different? He shuffled across the floor and
stood in front of the picture. Running his hand through his tousled
hair, he concentrated with all his might and thought, "
Door,
show yourself!
"

The two-inch door zipped in front of him; a
glowing, lemon-yellow car door.

Andy's eyes lit up and he jumped to Chase's
side when he saw the painting respond. "A car door!" he cried. "But
I don't remember walking through a car door the other day. Knock on
it quick, before it goes away."

Chase rapped the secret knock.

"Whew! You're okay," said Andy, looking Chase
up and down. "After what happened to Janie, I was worried you might
turn into something freaky, like a green blob with twelve eyes or a
slimy, three-headed slug. Hey! Wait a minute!" While he'd been
talking, the car door had transformed and grown into a tall, brown,
wooden door with a shiny brass knob. Andy propped his hands on his
hips and stared at the door. "It—it changed!"

Chase grinned. "This is ingenious! While
Janie knocked on regular doors, it was really one of the different
doors that turns into a regular door."

"Let's go inside," said Andy, reaching
eagerly for the handle.

Chase shook his head and stepped back. "Nope.
Not yet. Not without Janie. After what she went through today, she
deserves to be with us."

"Oh, all right," muttered Andy, his shoulders
slumping.

The boys watched the door shrink and then
change back into a car door. As they walked away, the doors
shuffled around until the one special one again blended in with the
rest.

What they didn't see, as they headed down the
stairs, was a shadowy face that appeared at the window, stared into
the house, and then moments later, disappeared.

"I need to talk to Janie," said Chase when
they reached their room. "It's late. You should probably go back to
bed."

"Okay." Andy sidled into the bedroom and
clicked on the light. "But I'll leave the light on for you. You
know, so you can find your way back."

Chase ducked his head to hide his smile.
"Sure, Andy, leave it on for me."

"And, uh, Chase?"

"Yeah, shrimp?"

"How did you know what door to knock on?"

"Good question," said Chase. "I promise I'll
tell you later. Now go to sleep."

Andy sped across the floor, hopped into bed
and threw the blankets over his head. "Just in case the intruder
comes back," he called to Chase, "I won't have to see his ugly
face."

Smiling and shaking his head, Chase headed to
Janie's bedroom down the hall. Hoping Janie wasn't sleeping, he
knocked softly on the door. He heard scrambling and a quiet, "Come
in."

He opened the door and slipped inside. He
thought he would find Janie still cowering in bed, but the room was
empty. "Janie?"

"Here I am," said Janie's voice next to
him.

He leaped back. "Sheesh! Don't scare me like
that! Um…are you invisible?"

"Yeah. This is the Invisibility Room. Now I
can talk to you without hiding under the blankets," she said, her
seemingly disembodied voice drifting about the room.

"Are things any better?" he asked.

"My nose shrunk to three inches and my
earrings aren't dangling on the floor anymore," said Janie. "And
the spots have faded to a lovely shade of lavender."

"That's great! You sound much better
too."

"If I wasn't invisible, you'd see I'm
shrugging and smiling," she said, with a joking lilt in her voice.
"So why the late visit? Can't sleep because you're too distraught
about poor little me?"

Chase plopped onto the bed. Squeaking and
chattering erupted from a small lump. "Oops! Sorry, Maxwell," he
said, shifting sideways and leaning against the bedpost. "Okay,
first, an intruder was in my room tonight."

"What!" yelped Janie, causing the mattress to
press down eerily as she sat on it. "An intruder? Are you sure? How
did he get in? What did you do?"

He told her about the open sliding door and
waking up with someone standing over him, but left out the part
where he fell out of bed onto his head.

"I leaped up and yanked Andy from his bed
because I knew I had to keep him safe," he went on, thinking a
little exaggeration wouldn't hurt. After all, he didn't want to
look like a big wimp. "I yelled, 'I've got a weapon!' By that time,
the guy was out the door. I ran after him, hoping to catch the
creep on the walkway, but he disappeared before I got there."

"What did he look like?"

"The room was pretty dark, but from what I
could tell, his face was all twisted as if he hated me or
something!" He sat forward and scrunched his face to imitate the
intruder's. "He had blue eyes and longish blond hair too. Though,
it's hard to say for sure. It happened so fast. But right before…I
was having another premonition dream."