Chase Tinker & The House of Magic (32 page)

"What's wrong?" asked Andy, frowning at his
brother. "What did you see?"

"Nothing. Let's look in the mayor's office."
He pulled Andy across the street and through a glass-paneled door
that said City Hall.

"Hello, boys," said the mayor's secretary.
"What can I do for you?"

"We're looking for Hiram Tinker," said
Chase.

"I'm sorry. We haven't seen Mr. Tinker
today," she answered.

Chase opened his mouth to ask something else
when he glanced out the window. Peering in at them was Doctor Dan,
his face squashed against the glass. For a split second, their eyes
met. The doctor's eyes widened at being spotted. In a heartbeat, he
was gone, his coattails flapping.

"Thanks for your help!" yelled Chase. He
grabbed Andy's arm and hauled him from the building.

Chase scanned the street and sidewalk. He ran
around the corner and onto the next intersecting street. Trees and
homes lined a quiet road with no one there except an older
gentleman walking his little brown and white beagle. "Where the
heck did he go?" muttered Chase.

"What's going on? You're dragging me like I
have wheels on my shoes or something!" said Andy, digging in his
heels. He stumbled to a stop and straightened his lopsided
glasses.

"Doctor Dan might be following us," said
Chase, checking behind some dented trash cans.

"Why would he do that?"

"I don't know! You know he's been acting
weird since we got here." Chase pulled his sunglasses from his
pocket and slipped them on. "And I'm getting to the bottom of this
once and for all.
Now I see it
."

Now able to see through the walls, he hurried
down the street, checking all the houses. Several homes down the
road, he spotted Doctor Dan. He was peeking through the shadowy
front window of a huge, three-story house. It was sky-blue with
white trim, a wrap-around porch, and two tall trees surrounded by
smooth emerald-green grass and colorful, well-tended flower
gardens. A sign next to the sidewalk said, Dr. Daniel R. Brown,
M.D.

"Here's his office," said Andy, pointing at
the sign.

"Yeah, I see him hiding in there."

"Should we barge in?" asked Andy. "He's
bigger and stronger than us. There's no way we can do anything to
him without using magic. Do you want to do magic in front of him,
Chase?"

Chase turned his back to the house. Across
the street a black cat stalked a brown sparrow pecking at the
grass. At the moment, he felt a lot like that poor bird, and he
didn't like it one bit. "I'm not sure, Andy. Grandfather never
covered anything like this. If the doctor is part of the Dark
Enemy, he'll know about our powers anyway, won't he? We have to do
something, don't we?"

"I'm ready if you are," said Andy, standing
straighter, but hiding his fidgety hands behind his back.
"It's—it's our job to stop the evil bad guys, isn't it?"

"Yeah it is." Chase removed his sunglasses
and tucked them into his pocket. "Let's go!"

They ran across the lawn and up the porch
stairs. As they reached the front door, it flew open. Doctor Dan
stood there, glaring at the two boys.

"What do you want?" he barked.

"Some answers!" growled Chase, shoving the
doctor against the wall with his mind before stomping down the
short hall and into a spacious waiting room. A framed sign reading
ALL PATIENTS MUST CHECK IN sat on a long reception desk. Chairs and
tables toppled out of Chase's way. He whirled to face the doctor,
who had followed Chase into the room and was now coming toward the
boy with clenched fists.

Doctor Dan surveyed the jumbled room. "I
don't know what games you're playing, but please leave!" he
snarled. His cold eyes watched Andy as he sidled into the room and
scampered to his brother's side.

"Not until you explain yourself," said
Chase.

"I don't have to explain anything to a kid,"
said the doctor.

Chase shook his head. "You know, I should
have known right away. Brown's such a common name. Isn't it…Doctor
Marlowe? That is your real name, isn't it?"

"Brown
is
my real name."

"Yeah. Uh-huh. So come on," taunted Chase,
"use some of your magic on us."

"Magic?" said Doctor Dan, frowning in
confusion. "I'm a doctor, not a magician."

"Where's our dad?" burst out Andy.

"Your dad? How should I know?" Dan waved his
hand at them, his eyes filled with annoyance. "I've never met the
man. You two kids are nuts!"

"You're part of the Dark Enemy! Admit it!"
yelled Chase, his face glowing red.

A rolled-up magazine sailed across the room
and thumped Doctor Dan on the top of his head. "Dark Enemy? I've
never heard of it!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms over his head
and ducking. "Stop! What's going on?"

"And what about your ugly friend with the
ponytail, where's he?"

The magazine whacked the doctor again.

"I told you, I have no idea what you're
talking about!" cried Dan, his eyes bugging out. "How are you doing
that?" He jumped behind the reception desk. "You're starting to
scare me!"

Chase and Andy looked at each other. Unless
he was a fantastic actor, it sounded as though the doctor might be
telling the truth. Was it possible he didn't know anything about
Benjamin or the Marlowes? Chase didn't want to believe he'd been
wrong all this time.

"Why were you following us today?" he asked.
"And why do you act like you hate us? We never did anything to
you!"

"I told you, I don't have to tell you
anything!"

"I'll tell Grandfather about you," threatened
Chase.

"All right! All right!" yelled the doctor. "I
saw you in town and I wanted to see what you were doing."

"What does it matter to you?"

Doctor Dan peeked at the boys from behind the
desk. He stared at them for a long, tense moment. "Okay. I'll tell
you a few things, but you have to tell me what I want to know. And
please don't hit me again!"

"I promise," said Chase. "You go first."

Dan took a deep breath and began, "Do you
know how I got this beautiful house and my medical practice
here?"

The boys shook their heads.

"It's all thanks to Hiram Tinker."

"Grandfather?" said Chase. "What did he
do?"

"Some years ago, while I was finishing with
medical school, I met Hiram," said Doctor Dan. "His wife had passed
away and he had no other family left."

"He has us!" yelled Andy.

"Yes, but at the time I didn't know that,"
said Dan. "And he never mentioned any of you. I didn't have any
family left either, so I hoped to become like a son to him. I've
been working on this for years now."

Chase stared at the doctor as he realized
something. "You wanted Grandfather to leave everything to you! You
saw this rich, lonely person and decided to trick him into making
you part of the family and leaving you his money. And our
house."

"No!" cried Doctor Dan. "Maybe a little, at
first…but not now! I only want us to be a family. I grew to care
for the old guy and he became the father I never had growing up. He
paid off my college loans and helped me buy this place and
everything I needed to start my own practice. I actually began to
feel like his son."

Chase found himself understanding why
Grandfather would want to help him; after all, he'd probably been
missing his own kids.

"But," continued Dan, "all of a sudden, his
long-lost family began crawling out of the woodwork. Now he has a
real son; a daughter;
grandchildren
. I saw all my plans
going straight down the drain." The doctor's voice filled with
anger. "I needed some way to get rid of you, but you don't scare
easily."

"That
wa
s you in the woods after the
fireworks show!" accused Andy. "You sure scared the heck out of
me."

"I don't know where you went," said Doctor
Dan. "One minute you were running down the road, and the next
minute, you were gone. I searched all through those woods. But I
really wasn't thinking straight because it wouldn't have helped
even if you had gone back home. You're his real family, not me. I
was jealous. I was frustrated! I went from feeling like a son, to
feeling like just the doctor." He gave a slow, deep sigh. "Anyway,
then beautiful Clair came along and I thought she could be my way
into the family."

"Aunt Clair is smarter than that," said
Chase, with a loud snort.

"Yes, she's pretty smart," said Dan. "Anyway,
when I saw you in town today, I thought I would change tactics and
try to make friends with you instead. So I followed you, waiting
for my chance. But when I saw you glaring at me through the window
with such dislike in your eyes, I knew it would take more than
buying you ice cream to become friends. So I ran. Stupid,
really."

"Yeah, well, we all do stupid things," said
Chase, remembering a couple of his own recent ones. "Why are you
telling us this? Aren't you worried we'll go tell Grandfather
everything?"

Doctor Dan rubbed his forehead wearily.
"Maybe…I don't know…I guess I thought it was time to come clean."
He shrugged. "I realize now that I just went about things the wrong
way."

Chase was surprised that he actually felt
sorry for the doctor. "You should go talk to Grandfather yourself.
I'm sure he'll understand. He's a reasonable guy. So—"

Everyone's attention was suddenly caught by a
thick, deep-purple fog oozing down the wall. Like a spiraling boa
constrictor it swirled and transformed. Within seconds, it had
turned into a tall, cold-eyed man dressed in dark jeans and a black
leather jacket.

Doctor Dan's eyes just about popped out of
his head. "What—who—?" he squeaked out.

Chase knew exactly what and who it was as he
stared once again into the face of one of their terrifying Dark
Enemy.

C
hills skittered up
and down Chase's spine. The coldness in this being's blue eyes made
Doctor Dan's look warm and inviting by comparison. Looking more
frightened than a rabbit about to be eaten by a wolf, Doctor Dan
dove beneath the desk.

"You know, I'd like to hear a few things
myself," said the man in his deep, raspy voice. He leaned casually
against the wall and smiled as he jerked his head toward the
doctor. "I can't believe you thought this pathetic little bug was
one of my people."

Chase glanced from the quivering Doctor Dan,
back to the tall, fearsome-looking man and found himself wondering
that very same thing.

Andy opened his mouth to yell, but nothing
came out except a tiny, horrified squeak. He grabbed Chase's arm
and yanked him down behind a toppled table.

"Sorry I didn't take the time to introduce
myself the last couple of times we met, Chase," said the man. "I'm
Roland Marlowe."

For a split second, Chase's heart
stopped.

"Did you enjoy your swim today? You do have
quite a knack for slipping out of tight situations."

Chase heard Andy's sharp intake of breath.
Their eyes met. How did Roland Marlowe know what happened with
James today? Was he secretly watching their every move? Chase
struggled not to panic. He needed to figure a way out of this. Then
he remembered his watch. He took a deep calming breath, sprang from
behind the table, pointed his fingers at Roland Marlowe and
shouted, "
Ropes!
"

Golden ropes shot through the air. The long
cords snaked around Roland, binding his arms to his sides. In a
flash, he rippled into smoke and the ropes fell to the floor. Chase
ducked behind the table again.
That plan sucked
, he thought,
totally disgusted with himself.

"Nice bit of magic, Chase, but you'll need
more than a few rope tricks to beat me," said Roland when he
reappeared in solid form. "I do have to say that it's bloody good
to see you out and about. I wanted to drop by the house again, but
Hiram has made it much harder to get in these days. But that's
quite all right; my family will soon possess it, anyway."

"How do you figure that?" snarled Chase.

Roland shook his head. "It's not time to
share our plans. It would ruin everything. Especially since my
sister, Maven and our cousin, Clive are rather looking forward to
meeting you. When your father escaped, I thought it would set us
back, but things are right on schedule once more."

"Let me freeze the big jerk!" whispered
Andy.

Chase didn't have time to agree or disagree
as Andy jumped from behind the table and flicked his hands at the
man. Roland was ready for him. Burning energy beams shot from
Roland's fingertips. They hit Andy in the stomach and knocked him
to the floor, surrounding him with a silvery-red, powerful glow
that lit up the whole room. Andy screamed and squirmed.

Chase stared at his brother, not sure what he
should do.

"Please—make it—stop," said Andy, his eyes
rolling back into his head.

Chase leaped to his feet. "Stop it! You're
killing him!"

Roland swung his other hand and hit Chase in
the chest with the driving energy force. Pain exploded inside him.
He felt as if flames were shooting through his body and out the top
of his head. His knees buckled and he tumbled to the floor. He
clenched his teeth as he tried not to scream.

"It's a shame your father didn't handle this
very well, either," said Roland. "You should've heard the fool
begging for mercy."

Chase lay twitching on the floor, glowering
at Roland. "My—dad—would—never—beg—you!" he snarled. "And
neither—will I!" He scrunched his eyes closed and curled into a
ball.

Then, without warning, Doctor Dan launched
himself across the floor. He slammed into Roland's knees, causing
him to lose his balance and crash into the wall behind him.

Chase and Andy gasped for breath as the
terrible pain stopped.