Chase Tinker & The House of Magic (6 page)

Chase and Andy stared down at the grassy,
dandelion-spotted ground. "What path?" asked Chase as he glanced
all around.

"We better hurry if we want to beat the
storm," said Grandfather, stepping forward. Out of nowhere, several
yards of smooth pathway appeared.

As the three of them tramped along, more of
the trail appeared in front, and behind them, it faded completely
away. It was as though they were strolling on a rolling magic
carpet. Chase rubbed his eyes several times to make sure he wasn't
hallucinating.

"Weird," muttered Andy.

Ten minutes later, they rounded a curve in
the path. The boys lurched to a stop and goggled at the most
magnificent, incredible house they had ever seen.

Perched on a low hill at the edge of a long
stretch of silvery beach and set against a backdrop of dark trees
and stormy sky, the house glowed with a life of its own. Six, seven
or eight stories tall in some places, nine or ten in others, it
looked as if builders were always adding something new and
different to it. The enormous house had at least twenty castle-like
turrets with pointed roofs, and the many sloping roofs had chimneys
poking out here and there. Black-railed walkways encircled the
outside of each floor and all the windows shimmered as if they were
made of millions of sparkling diamonds.

Whoa!
If the inside is anything
like the outside
, thought Chase,
this house must be filled
to the brim with magic!
His heart hammered with excitement as
he looked up at his grandfather. "Seriously?"

Grandfather smiled. "Seriously."

Andy took several stumbling steps back.
"Why—why's it glowing like that?"

"It's the magic," said Grandfather. "Come
along."

"Won't people see the house when they're
sailing by and wonder why it's glowing?" asked Andy as they walked
closer.

"No," said Grandfather. "It's been enchanted
to look like an ordinary beach house."

"Why can we see it all big and shiny?"

"Because we're Tinkers, of course."

Chase was too busy staring at the dazzling
house to ask any of his own questions buzzing around in his
head.

The magical pathway took them to the front
porch and up the steps, ending at an arched door. It was
reddish-brown with panels of colorful stained-glass bordering each
side. Chase ran his hand down the smooth, gray-stone wall. Warmth
and light seemed to pour right out it.

The front door swung open by itself.

C
hase couldn't stop
himself from gawking like a tourist as they stepped into a gigantic
foyer. Four towering trees, with glittering, gold and silver
leaves, stood on each side and two zigzagging staircases led to the
darkened upper floors. The foyer's marble flooring looked like
silvery-blue rippling water. It was as if they were walking on the
top of a flowing stream.

Taking a deep breath, Chase let it out
slowly. Some sort of strange, tantalizing energy tickled his nose
and sent tingling sensations all through his body. He took another
deep breath. It was the most incredible feeling he'd ever had and
he wanted to just stand there for a while and soak it all in.

Right then, a tall hat-stand hopped forward,
scooped Grandfather's cap off his head with a flourish and plopped
it onto one of its pegs.

"Holy moly!" exclaimed Andy.
"That’s—that's—"

"—magic," said Grandfather as the hat-stand
scurried back into the corner.

The boys' bags sat underneath one of the
trees, but something odd was going on with Chase's. It wiggled and
shook as if it were alive. Suddenly, a small head popped out the
partially unzipped top. It was a masked animal, and it had a pair
of Chase's socks clenched in its teeth.

"Hey!" he yelled. He dove for the creature,
but it was too quick for him. Leaping from the bag, it skidded
across the floor and disappeared around a corner, while dragging
the socks along with it. "Something stole my socks!" He took off
after it, slipping and nearly falling on the shiny floor.

Running down a long hallway, he darted
through an arched doorway into a formal sitting room with glossy
wood floors, old-fashioned high-backed chairs, sofas and throw
rugs. One whole wall was a brown-stone fireplace that had a
cheerful fire burning in it.

Chase blinked and shook his head when he saw
a feather-duster dusting the furnishings and a frisky broom
sweeping the floor. He dropped to his hands and knees and peered
under a sofa. "All right you, ah, whatever you are. I know you're
here somewhere. Give me back my socks!"

"Talking to yourself?" said a voice above
him.

Chase hurried to scramble to his feet and
whacked his head on the coffee table he was now halfway under.
Rubbing the spot he was sure would become a big lump, he turned to
face the newcomer. It was a girl around his own age. She had
shoulder-length, dark-brown hair and chocolate-colored eyes. Like
Chase, she wore blue-jeans and a baggy t-shirt. She was also
bare-foot and her toenails were painted bright-purple.

"Who the heck are you?" he demanded.

"Janie," said Grandfather, as he and Andy
came into the room. "I see you've met your cousin Chase. And this
is his brother, Andy. Janie Marler is Clair's daughter."

"Grandfather, I'm so happy you're home!"
exclaimed the girl. She ran across the room and hugged their
grandparent. "You're right on time for lunch. Mrs. Periwinkle has
everything ready. Hi, Andy and Chase. It's great to meet you."

"Hi, Janie," said Andy.

"What about my socks?" said Chase. "Some
crazy animal stole them!"

Janie giggled. "You must mean Maxwell. He
loves socks."

"Maxwell?"

"My pet ferret. He steals everyone's stuff.
Don't worry; we'll get them back for you. Now come on," she said,
pulling on Grandfather's hand. "Mrs. Periwinkle made the
yummiest-smelling chicken casserole and I'm starving."

"Shouldn't it be almost dinnertime instead?"
asked Andy.

"Remember, we're three hours earlier than New
York," said Grandfather, tapping his watch.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot."

Chase poked his brother's arm. "It's like
we've gone back in time," he whispered. "Weird, huh?"

"It's all way too weird," Andy said as he
watched the feather-duster and broom glide eerily from the
room.

"But really cool," said Chase as he and Andy
hurried after Grandfather and Janie.

They zigzagged down several more hallways,
through a pair of double doors and into a room that looked big
enough to fit the boys' whole apartment building. Chase had the
urge to throw back his head and yell just to see how long the
echoes would last.

Balconies encircled the room on all sides and
a spiraling staircase, which looked as if it went up forever, stood
in the middle. Plus, the room had so many doorways leading from it,
Chase wondered how anyone remembered which way to go.

Part of the white and black checkerboard
floor-tiling was dotted with soccer ball-size, red and black
checkers that looked like puffy marshmallows. The checker pieces
were busy bouncing across the floor, playing a game by
themselves.

In the next room, the tables, the sofas and
chairs, and even the rhinoceros-size, glowing candelabra were
drifting lazily around the room.

"Come along, everyone," said Grandfather.
"The best way to cross this room is to swim. I always look forward
to doing my superb backstroke. I was on the swim team back at
Oxford, you know."

They watched him dive into the room and
backstroke to a door on the far side. Janie leaped right in and
frog-stroked her way across. Chase jumped in next. He floated
straight to the ceiling and stuck there like a gigantic insect.

"Swim, Chase! You need to pretend as though
you're swimming!" called Grandfather. "And watch out for that
painting, it was your grandmother's favorite."

Chase shoved away from the ceiling and
careened across the room. "Yikes!" he yelled as he bounced off a
couch, flipped over a chair and almost burned his butt on the
candelabra. Flapping his arms and legs, he at last got himself
under control. "Come on, Andy! It's fun!"

Andy scrunched his face and hopped into the
room. Paddling and kicking, he quickly reached the other side and
dropped to the floor. Chase landed beside him.

"Quite invigorating, isn't it?" said
Grandfather.

"Yeah!" said Chase. "Let's do it again."

"It will have to be later, Chase," he
answered. "Lunch awaits us."

Andy peeked into the room again. "Furniture
isn't supposed to float," he grumbled.

Grandfather laughed as he led them down a
long hallway where they had to walk upside down on the ceiling,
which was actually the floor, through a room so tiny they had to
crawl on their hands and knees, past an enormous, floor-to-ceiling
aquarium filled with dozens of fish of all shapes and colors, and
strolled through a room made entirely of chocolate.

Chase knew they were getting closer to the
kitchen when he caught a whiff of the chicken casserole Janie had
raved about. His stomach gave a loud rumble.

"Here we are," said Grandfather as they
reached the dining room and gathered around the elegant dining
table. "Sit wherever you wish."

Chase gasped and Andy squeaked with surprise
when, before they even had a chance to pick a seat, they were
forced to topple back into chairs that unexpectedly whipped behind
them and shoved them up against the table.

A woman, who looked to be in her early
forties, bustled from the kitchen. Dressed in jeans, a yellow
sweater and a colorful, flowered apron, she had a round, friendly
face, and her wavy, light-brown hair was held back with silver
barrettes.

"Mr. Hiram, it's great to see you. It looks
like your trip to New York was successful," she said as she placed
a large platter on the table next to Grandfather.

"Indeed it was. Thank you, Miranda." he
answered as he began piling chicken and potatoes onto plates and
passing them to the kids. "Boys, this is Mrs. Periwinkle, our
excellent chef and housekeeper. If you need anything, she's the
lady to ask. Mmm. This looks and smells delicious."

Chase and Andy waved hello and had just dug
into the mouth-watering food when the kitchen door burst open and
out came a girl carrying a pitcher of lemonade. She had short,
dark-red hair with longish bangs brushed across her forehead and
hanging halfway over one eye. She wore a blue denim skirt and a
pink top, which accentuated her light-olive complexion. A small
nose-ring sparkled when she turned her head.

"Chase, Andy, this is my daughter,
Persephone," said Mrs. Periwinkle.

Persephone set the container onto the table.
She sent the boys a quick, impish smile then swung around and
flounced back the way she came.

"Call me if you need anything else," said
Mrs. Periwinkle before following her daughter.

Chase stared at the door, not noticing the
chicken gravy dribbling from his fork onto the gold tablecloth.

Janie grinned at the gaping Chase. "You can
put your eyeballs back in your head, Chase," she said, with a
teasing lilt in her voice. She leaned closer and whispered, "She's
an older woman."

"What? Older?" he said, blinking. "What do
you mean by that?"

"Persephone will be fourteen in September,
and you're what, twelve?"

"I'll be thirteen on July 8
^th
!"
snapped Chase. "Only a few more days. What about you?"

"I turned thirteen on April 13
^th
,"
she said, sticking her nose in the air. "So there."

Chase put his head down and shoved a chunk of
chicken into his mouth.
So what
, he thought scornfully. Not
wanting to give Janie another chance to tease him, he ignored
Persephone when she returned a minute later with a bowl of
asparagus.

As they ate, Janie regaled Grandfather with a
rundown on everything she had done in the last few days, from
planting tomatoes, to baking cookies, to knitting Maxwell a new red
sweater. Outside, the threat of rain had turned into a downpour.
Chase could hear the raindrops pinging against the windows, and
even though he had to listen to Janie's constant chatter, he was
happy he wasn't out in it. Feeling stuffed at last, he pushed away
from the table.

Janie pushed back her chair too. "Okay, if
you're done, let's go find your socks. You coming, Andy?"

"You bet!" he answered, jumping to his
feet.

Chase and Andy grabbed their plates. Their
mother's voice saying "clean up after yourselves" was still ringing
in their ears.

"You guys don't have to do that," said Janie.
"
Kitchen Sink.
" She flicked her hand and the plates
vanished. Looking at the boys' gaping faces, she understood what
was going on. "You didn't tell them, did you, Grandfather?" she
scolded, her fists on her hips.

He shook his head. "Not yet. Why don't you
bring them to the study after you've found Chase's purloined
belongings, Janie. I have a few things you need to hear also."

"Okay, Grandfather." She beckoned to the boys
to follow. "Let's go, guys."

This trip through the house was as cool as
the first had been. Janie led them down a long, dark hallway where
their bodies gleamed like neon lights and changed to whatever color
they wanted, through two hidden doorways, and up a winding,
S-shaped staircase that kept changing directions as if it were a
slithering snake.

"How long have you been living here?" asked
Chase, goggling at three potted-plants singing an off-key Elvis
Presley song. He was impressed by how easily she found her way
through the gigantic house.

"About five months," she said. "Grandfather
brought me here when my mom went to look for your dad."