The Hidden Boy (10 page)

B
ea Flint awoke to the sound of birds chattering in the trees. Someone had put a blanket over her in the night. She was stiff from sleeping curled up in the chair, and when she tried to open her eyes they felt gummy. She caught a glimpse of Mrs. Miller, sitting in a chair at the balcony's edge and stitching something. Bea closed her eyes again quickly. The sun was already high, but still it felt too early for talking. She pictured Theo waiting for her where the thin wavy trees were, and felt the weight of his absence at once like a cold stone in the pit of her stomach.

She tried to distract herself by listening to the birdsong that surrounded her. There was a colony of small birds in the Millers' own tree. She could hear the
chip-chip-cheeep
of a hundred small chicks, their beaks open
to the sky as they yelled for their breakfast, and the chatter of their parents as they squabbled over who should provide it. There was another larger bird there too. He sang a longer song that ran out like a telephone wire toward a neighboring tree. He was answered by another, maybe a hundred paces away toward the falls. As her ears followed that sound, Bea became aware again of the network of bees that loosely tied the countryside together, and from the purposeful paths of the bees she learned that the line of villagers had gone and her mother was no longer in the clearing. She felt she was beginning to grasp the idea of Mumbo Jumbo, and she remembered what her grandmother had said:
You are the one who can find Theo.
She sat up at once and opened her eyes.

“I've made you both some sandwiches,” said Mrs. Miller quietly. She smiled at her. “Of course, you can have breakfast here if you like, but I expect you'll want to set off exploring as soon as you can.”

Bea rubbed her eyes with her knuckles. Mrs. Miller had resumed her sewing, and there was a pile of sandwiches on the table, neatly wrapped in waxed paper. “Have you been there all night?” asked Bea.

“I couldn't sleep,” said Mrs. Miller, “and you both
looked so comfortable there I didn't want to wake you.”

“Thank you,” said Bea. She looked at Phoebe on the chair beside hers, tucked up in another blanket and still fast asleep. She poked her with her toe.

Phoebe sprang to life like a jack-in-the-box. “Let's go!” she said.

They set off along the path, warmed by two mugs of steaming hot chocolate that Mrs. Miller had insisted on making for them. They had told her that they would return to the hills where they had been the previous day, but once they were out of sight of the house they doubled back to visit Arkadi. Phoebe trailed a stick on the ground and said thoughtfully, “He can't be the one Granny Delphine was talking about. He'd have to be a hundred and forty at least.”

“What age would you say he is?” asked Bea. She had made a small opening in the zipper of the backpack and was feeding almonds to Nails as they walked.

“It's hard to tell,” said Phoebe. “Forty? Sixty? He can't be a
hundred
and forty. Nobody's that old.”

“Maybe,” said Bea, “but how many…” She paused. She had heard something odd to her right. There were so many sounds among the trees that she could not
tell what it was. Some tiny sound, so faint that it was almost no sound at all. That was it! No sound at all. She resumed talking, but her ears tuned in like satellite dishes. She could almost feel them swiveling. “How many people do you know named Arkadi?”

“None,” said Phoebe. “I don't know any other Phoebes either, but that doesn't mean I'm a hundred and forty.”

Bea lowered her voice. “Don't look around,” she said, “but Granny Delphine was right. Someone is following us.”

“One of the Ledbetters?” whispered Phoebe.

“Must be.”

“Is it the same one who was spying on us when we went back to the falls?”

“I don't know,” said Bea. “I can't see him.”

“You heard him, right?” said Phoebe. She was starting to get used to her friend's unusual hearing.

“Sort of. It's more that I can't hear him.”

“Then how do you know he's there?”

“You know how sneaky the Ledbetters are,” said Bea quietly. “They're so good at creeping up on people that they don't make a sound.”

“Are you going to start making sense soon?” said Phoebe.

Bea laughed. “There are bees and crickets and shrews
and all sorts of creatures in the undergrowth,” she explained. “They're moving around all the time, but when a Ledbetter passes they freeze until he's gone. It's like a patch of silence moving through the trees.” She felt a wave of delight at her newfound skill. “It's a dead giveaway!” she whispered.

“We'll have to lose him,” said Phoebe. “Otherwise we'll lead him straight to Arkadi.”

“That won't be easy,” said Bea.

“We'll split up.”

“He'll still follow me,” said Bea. “Maize will have told him to stick with me.”

“Where is he now?” said Phoebe.

Bea tuned herself in to the silence. “About twenty feet to the right of the path, and ten paces behind us. What are you—”

“Meet you at the falls,” whispered Phoebe. She stopped in her tracks. “Was that a sausageberry tree back there?” she said in a loud voice, and in an instant she was gone, charging straight through the trees toward the sneaking silence. Bea caught a glimpse of the spy as he tried to slip out of Phoebe's path. It was a Ledbetter, all right; there was no mistaking that broad blank face. It looked like the boy who had fallen into the thornbush at the Millers' house, the boy whom Maize had
called Ike. Like all his clan he seemed to be wrapped for a blizzard.

Bea quickly stepped out of sight to the left of the path. She lost herself among the trees, keeping low for the protection of the ferns and bushes. When she judged she had gone far enough she stopped, crouched down, and listened. The sounds of the forest assembled themselves around her, but she could hear nothing out of place. She smiled. She could see the little hut among the trees, and she made her way toward it.

She moved as quietly as she could, trying to be as stealthy as their pursuer, but she soon learned just how difficult that was. The birds called her position cheerfully to one another. Small animals scurried through dried leaves to avoid her, and twigs snapped beneath her feet.
Just as they always do in stories
, she thought.
It must take a lifetime of sneaking around to be that good at it.

Arkadi sat with his back to her. He was peeling some sort of yellow fruit and humming to himself. Bea held her breath and tiptoed even more carefully.

“I finished the doggie,” said Arkadi. He put the fruit down carefully on a leaf and turned around. He produced the carving from his overalls pocket. “Do you like it?”

Bea let her breath out with a whoosh. “It's not a
doggie,” she said, slightly irritated. “It's a meerkat.” She looked closely at the carving. It was incredibly detailed. It stood with its nose in the air, and it was so lifelike that she could almost see it twitch. “It's very good!” she said.

Arkadi beamed. “I like making things,” he said. “Did you bring sandwiches?”

Bea put the backpack on the ground and unzipped the front pocket. She found it impossible to remain annoyed with Arkadi. “I don't know what's in them,” she said.

Arkadi unwrapped a sandwich and took an enormous bite. “Fwhere's your ffriend?” he said through stuffed cheeks.

“Someone was following us, so Phoebe went the other way to distract him.”

Arkadi nodded. “Big eyes, all wrapped up,” he said. “I've seen him.”

“Do you think he saw you?” asked Bea.

Arkadi shook his head. “I'm good at hiding.”

“Because of Mumbo Jumbo?” said Bea. She held her breath, waiting for his answer.

“Don't know about any of that stuff,” said Arkadi, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. “I'm always getting in trouble. That's why I'm good at hiding.”

“My granny says Mumbo Jumbo was founded by a man named Arkadi,” said Bea.

“I heard that too,” said Arkadi. “Are there any more sandwiches?”

Bea gave him another. She rushed her next question out before she could feel too foolish to ask it.

“Are you the same Arkadi?”

Arkadi did not laugh. His face remained as open as before.

“It was a popular name when I was little,” he said. “Every Tom, Dick and Harry was called Arkadi.”

Bea heard a sound behind her and turned quickly around. Phoebe was coming through the trees, scratched and smiling. “I lost him,” she said.

Bea turned back, but Arkadi had vanished. The meerkat carving stood on the log where he had sat a moment before, an inquisitive little figure in blond wood. The hut yawned open, as though it had been empty for years. Bea looked over Phoebe's shoulder. She could see no movement among the trees, but she shook her head. “I don't think you did,” she whispered.

“I
didn't really get a proper answer,” said Bea. “He just said that Arkadi was a popular name; then you turned up and he disappeared before I could ask him any more.” They sat on the mossy rock near Cambio Falls. Here in the water's roar they could talk without fear of being overheard, while Nails sniffed around in the grass, stopping now and then to tug a worm from the soft earth.

“Sorry,” said Phoebe. “Do you think he's gone like…like Theo?”

Bea shook her head. “He's just good at hiding. He must have known the Ledbetter spy was still behind you.”

“How can we go looking for Theo with that Ledbetter creep following us?” said Phoebe. “If we did
find Theo they would know straightaway.”

Bea scuffed the grass with her toe. “I don't see the point in going back to the copses to look for him anyway. We're never going to find him just by wandering around aimlessly.” She wanted more than anything to take out the Squeak Jar and speak to Theo, but she was afraid that the sight of the jar might provide some clue that their stalker could bring to Maize Ledbetter. They had eaten the remaining sandwiches sometime earlier, and waited around in the faint hope that the Ledbetter boy would get bored and leave. Bea pictured Maize Ledbetter's menacing stare, and she knew that it was not likely.

“Granny Delphine thinks you can find him,” said Phoebe.

“She means by using Mumbo Jumbo, but I'm not even sure what that is. It might take years to learn.”

“If Arkadi was the real Arkadi I bet he could help you,” said Phoebe.

“If he was the real Arkadi he wouldn't admit to it. Otherwise why would he be hiding? Besides, we can't even go back and find him. Not as long as we have the creep on our tail.”

“Is he still there?”

Bea nodded. Even in the roar of the falls she could still sense the odd patch of silence that betrayed the
Ledbetter boy's presence.

“Why do you think they wear all those scarves and gloves?” said Phoebe.

“I keep wondering that. Maybe they're always cold.”

Phoebe was quiet for a minute; then she said, “There must be someone we could ask about Arkadi.”

“I don't see how we can ask anyone without giving him away, and I don't really want to do that. What if he is just a harmless simpleton?”

“We could tell Bontoc. It was probably him who locked Arkadi into the Blue Moon Mobile in the first place.”

“I haven't seen Bontoc since the night we arrived.”

“We could try his office in the library. At least the Ledbetter spy won't be able to follow us in there without being seen.”

“I don't know what time the library…,” began Bea; then a sudden thought struck her. “Of course! Bell Hoot Library. They're sure to have a book on Arkadi, since he founded the place.” She jumped up and hastily packed the backpack. “We can look him up and see what he looked like.”

They walked quickly back in the direction of the library. Bea tried to ignore the uncomfortable patch of silence that followed them at a short distance, but they
spoke in whispers nonetheless. The library was cool inside. The floor was polished wood and the tall bookcases formed a bewildering maze. Just inside the door was a wooden desk, and on it a brass sign engraved with the word
Sssssssh!
The librarian was none other than Miss Hopkins, the typewriter lady from Captain Bontoc's office. She was rearranging cards in a dark green box.

“Hello,” said Phoebe. Miss Hopkins looked up and gave them a gap-toothed smile. She put her finger to her lips and pointed at the brass sign.

“We're looking for a book about Arkadi,” whispered Bea. “Do you have any?”

“Indeed we do,” Miss Hopkins whispered back. There was no sign of anyone else in the library. “Do you have a library card?”

Bea frowned. “We just got here,” she said.

“So you did,” said Miss Hopkins. She handed them two narrow forms and a pencil each. There was only one question at the top of each form. It said simply:

Well?

Bea thought for a moment; then she wrote:
I would like to join the library. My name is Bea Flint, and I'm staying with the Millers at the moment.

Phoebe licked her pencil, then wrote carefully on her own form:
We are looking for a book about Arkadi. My
name is an anagram of
blue hope.

Miss Hopkins took the two forms and read them. She produced two green cards from a drawer and wrote the girls' names, one on each. She wrote
Phoebe Lu
without hesitation, and stamped the reverse of the cards in slow motion so as not to make a sound.

“Where will we find it?” whispered Bea.

“Find what?” said Miss Hopkins. She spoke so quietly that it was easier to lip-read than to hear her.

“The book about Arkadi,” said Bea.

“It's on the top shelf at the back,” said Miss Hopkins.

Bea looked at the shelf that Miss Hopkins indicated. It was the highest shelf of a very tall bookcase that stretched up to the floor of Captain Bontoc's suspended office. “Could you get it for us, please?” she said.

Miss Hopkins shook her head. “I'm afraid not,” she said. “It's restricted. You'll need a note from the Quorum.”

“But the Quorum only meets once a week,” said Bea.

“Once a fortnight, dear,” said Miss Hopkins. “But we've got plenty of other books to keep you amused in the meantime. We've got ones on abseiling, animals, archery, baking, bees, cakes, clothes, crossbows, dams, dreams, eating, eggs—”

“Yes, thank you,” said Bea. “We'll take a look around.”

They wandered in among the bookshelves until they were out of sight of the librarian.

“We're still whispering,” muttered Phoebe, pulling a book from the nearest shelf. “I thought we came in here so we could talk.”

“Never mind that,” said Bea. “We have to get hold of that book.”

“I could climb up there,” said Phoebe. “But she'd see us.”

Miss Hopkins billowed around the corner of a bookcase. “We'll be closing in ten minutes,” she whispered. “I have to go upstairs to lock the filing cabinets. If you borrow any books just take the little cards out of the inside covers and drop them on my desk as you leave, like good girls.” She flipped open a book and mimed the act of removing the card in case they were in any doubt; then she replaced it on the shelf. Bea saw her glance up at the top shelf where the restricted books were kept; then she turned and trotted up the creaking stairs to Captain Bontoc's office.

“I could probably get up there and back down before she comes out again,” whispered Phoebe.

Bea shook her head. “She'd notice it was gone,” she
said. She frowned for a moment in concentration. The sound of metal drawers being closed rolled from the office above like distant thunder. “I've got a better idea,” said Bea. She took two books at random and quickly removed the little cards from inside. “Follow me,” she whispered, and she ran quietly to the front desk. She could hear Miss Hopkins's key turn in the lock of the filing cabinet upstairs. “Quickly,” she said. She dropped the two cards on the desk and pulled Phoebe after her as she ducked behind the nearest bookshelf.

The door of Captain Bontoc's office closed, and Miss Hopkins tripped lightly down the stairs. They listened to her bustling about quietly behind her desk for a while. She hummed to herself, a hum so faint that even Bea could barely detect it. Miss Hopkins allowed the tiniest jangle to escape from her keys as she removed them from her handbag and stepped out onto the porch. Just before she closed and locked the door, Bea caught sight of a boy sitting with his back against a tree on the far side of the clearing. It was unmistakably Ike Ledbetter, and his large pale eyes stared straight into hers for a moment before the library door closed softly and blocked him from view.