Secrets in the Dark (20 page)

Faith stared at him in
astonishment. “I’ll, uh, let you know.”

Olivia asked suddenly,
“What’s your middle name?”

“
My middle name?
Why?”

I was surprised when Olivia
insisted, “Just tell us!”

“
It’s Albert,” Brady said
in confusion, looking a little embarrassed.

“
Albert?” Faith asked,
like she’d never heard that name before. I’d heard it, but it was
really old. No one named their kid Albert now.

“
After Einstein, okay?
Geez.”

“
Brady Albert Truman?”
Olivia laughed. “I knew it!”

When he only stared at her,
puzzled, she explained how initials seemed to work with
familiars.

Brady’s frown was so deep,
his eyebrows looked like they were trying to tie themselves in a
knot in the middle of his forehead. “You described this situation,
and I thought I got it. But it’s rather extraordinary, isn’t it.
Maybe magic does exist.”

“
Um, bats like caves,
don’t they? Maybe it’ll help us at the cave.” I smiled, but I
really wanted to roll my eyes like Olivia.

Rather extraordinary? Note
to self — Don’t ever talk like a nerd!

“
Where’s
our
familiars?” Faith
asked, looking at Olivia.

As if they heard her, they
were suddenly there. The fox poked its head over the wall, nose
twitching. “Hey Foxy,” Faith called and moved slowly to avoid
startling the shy animal.

We all laughed when the owl
swooped over and landed on Olivia’s head, hooting
excitedly.

We each took a few minutes
to welcome them, while Brady looked on with wide eyes. “I didn’t
believe this, not really. They should not exist.” He shook his head
wildly, “What am I saying? This
place
should not exist.”

This time I did let myself
roll my eyes. “Come on, let’s go,” I said.

No one moved. “You’re
right.” Doug punched Brady’s shoulder. “Let’s go!”

I say let’s go and
everyone just stands there. Doug says let’s go and everyone starts
moving. What’s up with that?

Our familiars sometimes
followed and sometimes ranged out ahead. It was fun to watch
Brady’s face. He kept stopping to look at the strange plants and
rock formations. Even funnier, he kept muttering things like ‘not
empirically possible’, ‘breaks all known scientific principles’,
and ‘what would Einstein say’.

We all started pointing out
the strange features in the fields as we passed. The cabin was just
a little way ahead when we heard the Rejects. In front of
us.

“
They’re already here,” I
whispered, feeling my heartbeat accelerate. I’d been hoping they’d
give up when they didn’t see us.

“
Let’s listen to what
they’re planning,” Doug said. “We need to get close enough to hear
them.”

Faith grumbled under her
breath as we crept around the back of the cabin after Doug. We
leaned carefully against the wall, out of sight of the window. Ray
was talking. His voice carried to us clearly. “…don’t know if
they’re coming today.”

“
They come here every
fourth Saturday,” Carly was sulking. I wondered what Ray had said
to her.

I didn’t like Carly much,
but I felt sorry for her when Ray sneered, “I don’t know why I
listen to someone as stupid as
you.”

“
Just because you’re my
cousin doesn’t give you the right to be mean to me, Ray.” She
sounded like she was about to cry.

“
If you hang with me I get
to treat you however I want.” I was surprised — Ray didn’t sound
angry. He sounded…indifferent.

“
You know I wouldn’t be
here if Mom didn’t make me hang out with you!” Ray’d better be sure
Carly wasn’t near anything breakable.
She
sounded angry enough to break it
over his head.

Faith keeps saying Carly’s
nicer than the rest of the Rejects. Maybe she’s right.

“
Put up or shut-up,” Ray
said, and laughed. It was
a mean, ugly
sound — like you’d expect from something monstrous on TV, not a boy
you saw every day at school.

I risked a quick glance
through the window and saw Polly put her hand on Ray’s arm. “Come
on, Ray, stop arguing with Carly. I’m getting bored. Let’s go home
and play video games.”

“
You go,” he said.
“I’m
gonna make them
tell me what’s going on!”

“
What if they’re not
coming today?” Andrew looked frustrated. “I say who cares. We’re
here. Let’s look through this dump again, maybe we’ll find
something worth taking.”

Afraid of being caught
listening outside the window, I whispered to Doug, my voice
quavering a bit though I tried to stop it. “Should we try to sneak
by and go ‘you know where’?”

“
Not yet,” Doug murmured.
I wanted to argue. My jaw was clenched tight to hold back the words
that were scratching at my throat to get out. Only fear that Ray
would hear me kept me quiet.

Ray must have decided to
ignore Andrew. “I was
throwing rocks at
that stupid rat — the one that keeps bugging me. It finally ran
away. Maybe it’s learned its lesson.” Ray laughed and Andrew joined
in.

Then Ray said, “Why are you
such a wuss, Dandy Andy? When’re you gonna make that stupid donkey
leave us alone?”

“
Are you kidding? I’ve
yelled and I shook a branch in its face. It just keeps coming back.
I could try rocks next time.”

Ray laughed again. “Hey
Carly, no whining if we throw rocks at that stupid baby cow the
next time it comes around.”

“
Those animals aren’t
hurting either of you. Why can’t you just leave them
alone!”

“
Cause they bug me. That’s
why.” Ray sounded disgusted. “None of them come close enough for me
to hit anymore. I was hoping for some target practice
today.”

Doug and I looked at each
other and grinned. I felt like doing a happy dance, but was afraid
of being discovered. Ray and the others still didn’t understand how
familiars could help. And if they were throwing rocks to keep them
away, it didn’t sound like they’d get any help in the
future.

“
They’re all so stupid,”
Ray grumbled. “How’d they find this place? And how do they keep us
out most of the time? One of them is gonna tell me. Or
else.”

“
Someone must have told
them about it,” Polly said. “Cause Ray’s right, they’re
stupid.”

Olivia bristled and started
to straighten up. I caught her arm, afraid she’d go in and argue.
She scowled at me, then leaned back against the cabin with her arms
crossed over her chest, a sour look on her face.

All this time, Andrew had
been ransacking the cupboards in the kitchen. His search grew more
uncontrolled the longer it continued. I flinched as I listened to
the sounds of things being knocked over and thrown, punctuated by
the distinctive sounds of glass breaking and wood
splintering.

Guilt squirmed through my
stomach. How could we just stand here while they destroyed
Ghalynn’s house?

I felt even guiltier when
Faith, terrified as she was by Andrew, whispered, “Should we…I
mean, do you think that…you know…should we try to stop them? Or
something?”

“
No.” Doug’s voice barely
qualified as a whisper. “We need to find out what they’re going to
do next!” He was utterly determined.

I peeked inside when the
sounds stopped. Andrew was standing in the middle of what used to
be Ghalynn’s kitchen. The cupboards were empty, the contents strewn
over the floor. Andrew was looking around, obviously trying to find
something else to destroy. That’s when he noticed a small cupboard
nearly hidden at the far end of the kitchen.

Two quick steps brought
him to it, and he ran his hands over the surface, searching for a
handle. When he couldn’t find one, he grabbed the edges of the
cupboard door and pulled. There was
a
metallic shriek, and the hinges protested as he wrenched the door
open.

Andrew hefted a glass jar
filled with a deep turquoise liquid in his hand, and then threw it
to the wood floor. The glass shattered and the liquid spread,
gleaming in the light from the open window. He began heaving out
jars filled with different strangely colored fluids. They crashed
onto the dusty wood, shattering into pieces. The contents
splattered over the floor and walls. Odd smells rose from the mess.
What started as flowers and spices that didn’t go well together
quickly grew more and more disgusting.

I was glad I was outside
the cabin.

Some of the colorful
puddles began to change, turning repulsive brown or bilious green
where they touched. Some were developing a scummy black foam on
top. The cabin floor was filling with a nauseating brew that
steamed and bubbled with the stench of rot and mold and
sulphur.

As
the liquids mingled, swirling clouds of violently colored
vapor began to billow through the room. Where some colors mixed,
the vapor twisted into monstrous shapes.

Andrew and the others were
choking and coughing. Ray managed, “Forget this! They’re not
coming.” He turned and stumbled towards the exit, the others
following behind.

There was nowhere to hide.
I threw myself flat on the ground, and my friends pressed close
around me. We peered after the Rejects as they moved in the
direction of the fig tree.

That’s when Pyg took off
after them.

“
Oh no,” Olivia breathed.
They were far enough away that they couldn’t have seen where Pyg
came from. But this time, Andrew must have seen Pyg
coming.

Andrew stooped to get a
rock as Pyg flew overhead. None of the owl droppings hit Andrew,
but Ray’s head got really messed up. Ray shouted and Andrew heaved
the rock at the owl. Pyg shrieked in pain as the rock clipped his
wing.

Olivia had to clap her
hands over her mouth to hold back a scream, and made little
whimpers of distress as the owl flew awkwardly into the trees next
to the road.

“
Go get him,” Ray yelled.
“I’m going to kill it.”

“
No way! I’m not getting
off the road,” Andrew told him. “I hit it, what more do you
want?”

I couldn’t hear Ray’s
response as he turned to go. They headed for the tree and didn’t
turn back. As soon as they were out of sight, Olivia hurried to the
edge of the road where Pyg had disappeared. She called and we all
waited anxiously for a sight of the little owl. Olivia was
vibrating with tension.

When Pyg hooted mournfully
and flew onto Olivia’s shoulder, she gently grasped the tiny bird
and checked it carefully. “No blood. Thank goodness! Pyg, you
should never do that again. I don’t want anything bad to happen to
you.”

Olivia’s face was pale when
she glanced at me. “When that rock hit Pyg, I couldn’t breathe for
a second. It felt like that rock hit me, too.”

I’d’ve hugged her, but she
still had the now blissful owl clasped carefully in her hands. “I
hate Andrew!”

Brady sat down and cleared
his throat. “Can we discuss what just happened here?”

Chapter 24

When You Wish Upon
A…Map?

Brady cleared his throat.
“Ray’s focused on getting information from us. I believe he
necessitates extreme caution when we’re in here.”

“
Yeah, like I’ve been
saying,” Doug told him.

I said quickly, “I don’t
agree. We need to watch out for Carly.” When Brady started to
speak, I continued quickly, “Carly’s the one who figured out how
often we come here. She’s smart and she’s watching us.”

“
They’re all a problem,”
Olivia said. “We need to pay attention to each one of them. And to
any strange things in here. Who knows what’s important. Like that
smoke!”

We all looked back at the
cabin where vapor still poured from the door and window. It moved
slowly, writhing and coiling into grotesque, almost recognizable
shapes.

“
I don’t believe in
‘strange things’,” Brady told her. “I do math and computer science.
I do logic puzzles.” He ignored Olivia’s snort. “Logically there
must be rules to this place. Once we know the rules, we’ll know
what’s important.”

“
Okay, maybe there are
rules. But strange things can happen! Maybe not at home, but they
happen in here,” I said.

Brady shook his head in
frustration. “I do not have to believe in strange—“

Doug interrupted, “Brady’s
actually right about rules. Ronny told us there are rules
here.”

A slow smile lit Brady’s
face. “Rules are good! Rules make it a logic puzzle. We just need
to know the rules and how they work.” He thrust out his hand. “Let
me see the map, okay? Maybe it’ll make more sense to me
now.”

After digging in his
pocket, Doug pulled out a creased square of paper and tossed it to
him. Brady smoothed it out, grimacing at the jagged tear in the
middle of the page. He turned it around slowly, squinting in
concentration, then pointed to the upper right corner. “What are
these words?”