The Mapmakers Union (The Doorknob Society Saga Book 3) (7 page)

“What is it, maybe I can help?” I nudged his shoulder and he glanced at me with a weak smile.

“Have you talked with Slade yet?”

I dropped my head back and I let out a long breathe. I knew I had forgotten to do something and that was it. I had told Val I would talk with Slade about us not being a couple and I’d gotten wrapped up with all the drama going on in my life that I had completely forgotten about it.

“Damn it.” I closed my eyes and wanted to stick my head in the sand and not think about anything anymore. I seemed that I was out to destroy all my relationships. Had I become that self-destructive? Gavin had even called me, angry about what everyone was referring to as my blow up at the Diesel Factories. I could have set off the war we were trying to prevent. I had no excuse; I apologized to him and told him it wouldn’t happen again.

“Don’t beat yourself up over, it’s not that big of a deal,” Edgar said “I think Val was more excited about trying to set Slade up than anything else. I think she’s worried I’ll embarrass her.” He ran his hand through his hair and nibbled at his lower lip.

“Are you okay?”

“No, not really. I mean what if she’s right. What if I don’t know how to act around regulars? I mean what do I even talk about to them; they all seem so strange to me?” His eyes darted back and forth from me to the map.

“Look it’s not that big of a deal, just let them do most of the talking and if you’re not sure what they’re talking about just fudge it.” I smiled and gave his shoulder a rub to try and reassure him.

“Thanks, Chloe, I don’t want to disappoint Val.”

“It’ll be fine.” I didn’t want him to spiral out on me so I grabbed the edge of his map and pulled it toward me. There was always one sure way of getting Edgar to focus and not worry. “What’re you working on?”

“I’m trying to recreate a map from an old story that supposedly led to the Tavern.” He leaned forward and pointed to the calculations he had written on it earlier. “This is the great expanse and I was able to attach it to the Infinity Library. Now according to the story there were four markers on the map that lead you to the Tavern. I figure if I can get the four and then use the Legend we could learn the location.” He nodded to himself as if it made perfect sense.

“What’s this story you’re talking about anyway?” I was hoping we weren’t pinning our hopes on an old wives tale.

“The Tale of the Darkwatch.”

I’d heard of the Darkwatch but for the life of me I couldn’t remember where. “Darkwatch?”

“Yeah.” He glanced at me and tilted his head when he saw the blank expression on my face. “I figured you would know the story by heart?”

“Why would I?” I shrugged not comprehending.

“Because the Darkwatch was a splinter group a hundred years ago and it was your ancestor Ichibod Masters who defeated them.”

That’s where I had heard of them, in the Doorknob Society Handbook. There was a story about Ichibod Masters defeating the Darkwatch. “You mean the story in the DS manual?” I asked relieved to have made the connection.

 Edgar leaned forward and gave my sleeve a yank.

“The story is in the handbook?” His grin was far too wide.

“Yeah, why?”

“The story has a description of the map. I’ve only heard about the story, I, never had the opportunity to read it myself. You, on the other hand, have read the whole story thereby giving us what we need to try and recreate the map.” Edgar beamed, spun his head to the side and started scribbling madly, recalculating his theories.

“That’s great so I bring you the Doorknob Society Handbook and we can get to the Tavern.”

“As long as we’re able to get our hands on the Legend,” Edgar reminded with a smile.

 I’d forgotten about that part. I had a hard time believing that with the truces falling apart that the Mapmakers would be magnanimous and let anyone that included a student Mapmaker have a look at one of their most sacred artifacts. This was not going to be easy.

“Hi, guys,” Slade called out and joined us. 

Edgar kept writing and I smiled. “Hi.”

“How’s it going?” he examined Edgar’s map in an effort to seem interested.

“I need another book on the Great Expanse,” Edgar exclaimed as if it was of the utmost importance, stood, and walked off leaving his maps.

 I shook my head and turned to Slade who was looking at me with those damn puppy dog eyes.

“Can we talk?”

I guess it was now or never so I nodded. “Sure, I think its past due.”

“I meant it when I told you that I would earn your trust again, but it’s hard to do when I can’t even get to see you. I know things are all messed up, but I need to know where we stand.” He rushed through a brief speech that I had a feeling he had been rehearsing for a while.

“I think we’re in different places in our lives, Slade.” I pushed at Edgar’s maps with my fingers trying to keep myself from fidgeting.

“What does that mean?” he asked pointedly.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Slade, but I can’t look at you without thinking you were more concerned about the Engineer artifact than me. You didn’t have to surrender your life for mine, but you could have at least made an effort to show that you cared. You rushed through the portal as soon as you could, while Nightshade remained with me.” I didn’t go further than that. I may have confessed the truth to Jess, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready to do that with Slade.

“I’m so sorry about that.” He dropped his head as he spoke. “It was stupid and selfish and I regret it every day. The funny thing is that I could never stand Nightshade and yet he stood there and faced down an army for you. All I did was run; I thought I was better than that.” He let out a slow breath and his shoulders sagged under the weight of his own revelation.

I hadn’t thought about it until now, but this had affected him too. I wanted to comfort him but I also had thought better of him. Anything I said now would ring hollow. Until you face the situation, you don’t know how you’ll react; heroically or cowardly. After losing Nightshade, I judged all against his reaction and Slade failed to measure up.

“Slade,” I sighed.

He raised his head. “We’re through, aren’t we?” He shrugged and frowned not needing me to answer.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered not so much that we were over but for having it end the way it did.

“It’s okay. I kind of figured that was the case, since I’ve barely seen you for months. I guess I was hoping that maybe by some miracle we could work it out.” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “I understand if you don’t want me around the Reliquary anymore.”

“No, it’s not like that. We may not be a couple but that doesn’t mean we’re not friends.” I extended my hand to him.

“Friends,” he confirmed and shook my hand.

 I smiled hoping that just maybe this could be a new start for us. As much as Slade had upset me, he had still been a friend to me in times that I needed one. And while we weren’t good when it came to a relationship, we weren’t bad when it came to being friends and I didn’t want to lose that, I’d lost too much already.

“Nice coat by the way.” He pointed to Nightshade’s leather jacket I wore.

“Thanks.”

He nodded as if approving. “I think he’d like that you were the one to have it.” Slade’s voice wavered a bit, but other than that it was the only emotion, other than anger, that I’d ever heard him display when it came to Nightshade.

“I found it.” Edgar came rushing back to the table holding a large leather bound book and dropped it on the table with a loud enough thump that every head in the library turned to look at us. Edgar paid no attention, flipping through the pages until he stopped on one and pointed. “This book shows different maps of the Great Expanse over the years. If you look at the notations in the margins you can see that one of the Mapmakers noted that this particular one was the most common in existence during the Darkwatch saga. I can use these calculations to make a more accurate map to get us to the Tavern.”

“Great.” Slade said, he and I both smiling at Edgar.

He beamed with utter excitement, and then startled a moment turning his head to look wide-eyed at Slade and then at me only to repeat his surprised reaction several times.

“Slade, have you been here the whole time?”

 I chuckled and so did Slade at Edgar’ revelation.

A librarian robot sped toward the table and skidded to a stop right beside us, the screen that acted as her head flickered. The image of a prim and proper woman popped onto the screen.

“Ms. Masters, you’ve been summoned to the Principal’s office,” the robot chirped as her mechanical arm lifted and pointed the way.

Status: What did I do now?

I’d been to Principal Tower’s office before. It was during my first year at Paladin Academy and after my fight with Jess in the library. But I didn’t think I’d done anything that warranted a new visit.

“He’s expecting you.” The secretary didn’t bother to look up from typing as she nodded toward his door. My fingers closed around the knob and I felt a rush of power as I turned it and entered.

The office was much as I remembered it with a large fireplace dominating one wall, though it sat cold and unlit. His massive mahogany desk was covered in neatly stacked papers.

Principal Tower stood beside one of the floor to ceiling windows looking out over the school grounds. He was dressed in a dark blue three piece suit. His glasses hung on the tip of his crooked nose, never failing to give the impression that he looked down on whoever he spoke to.

“Good afternoon, Ms. Masters.” He didn’t look in my direction; his attention remained firmly fixed beyond the window.

“Sir.”

“I heard you had a run in with Darla from the Skeleton Key Guild.” It was a statement not a question.

“Yes, at the Diesel Factories.” I purposely pointed out wanting to remind him that it hadn’t happened at the Paladin Academy.

“Yes, I heard all about it. It would seem you’ve made quite a few enemies in your time with the Old Kind.”

“Plenty of friends as well.”

“Yes, you do partner with a rather eclectic bunch.” He turned from the window and walked back to his desk. He slid a finger down over a sheet of paper “Michael Slade, Edgar Magnus and even your cousin Jessica Grimm. I’d thought you two didn’t get along.” He finally looked my way, his eyes burrowing into me with an intensity that actually disturbed me.

“Is there something wrong with having friends?”

“No, but it is unusual for Old Kind to almost exclusively be friends with people outside of their own Society.”

“I have friends from DS, but I don’t see how this is any of your business.” I was glad that I had remained standing. There was always a sense of power when you were on your feet face to face with another person rather than being seated and glancing up at someone. I crossed my arms over my chest. If he thought he was going to pry into my life, he was in for a surprise.

“Ms. Masters, as you well know I am not only the Principal of this school I am also the head of the Council. Even you must admit that your track record since joining the Old Kind has been rather impressive.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’ve not only brought down a sitting member of the Council, you’ve also fought against what could be a very difficult enemy. But since the death of young Nightshade, it seems things are heading in a bad direction for you.”

“Is that so?”

“As far as I see, yes. I will not tolerate fights at my school and I will not allow your personal issues to affect the Old Kind.” He leaned against his desk glaring at me.

I hadn’t dealt with Mr. Tower very often, though it was obvious that being the principal he was used to getting his way... but then again so was I.

“My personal issues are none of your damn business. If you called me down here to tell me to stop hanging out with my friends, you can forget it. And as for what path I’m on... well that’s none of your business either.” I spun on my heels and headed for the door.

“You remind me of your mother.” The words stopped me in my tracks.

“What did you say?” My voice trembled. I didn’t want to think about her let alone be compared to her.

“I knew your mother. I trained her and was her superior in the Guild.”

“Guess you knew her better than I did then.”

“I would say I did.” He walked past me and inserted a skeleton key into the doorknob twisting it. Energy crackled and he pushed the door open. “Come with me.”

I kept my mouth shut and did as he said. He might be a blowhard but he knew my mom and this was a chance for me to learn more about her. The more I knew the more it would help me to figure out a way to beat her and make her and all the First Kind pay for what they had done to Nightshade.

Tower waited on the other side of the portal as I stepped out to face a stone wall. A skull- shaped skeleton key hung on the wall from floor to ceiling. The large ominous shape stared at me, its empty black eyes making me shiver.

“This is the hall of the Skeleton Key Guild here at Paladin Academy. DS members are not allowed, but you are a unique case.”

One side of the room was top to bottom bookshelves, every shelf packed tightly with books. Along the other wall was a glass display case. It contained trophies, medals, awards, and photos of student teams.

He walked to the display case and pointed at one of the pictures. “That is your mother.”

I walked over to stand by his side and peered at the picture. It was framed in silver and showed a group of students holding up a trophy. Mom was on the right side, her hand wrapped around the trophy and a big smile on her face. Behind her loomed Mr. Tower looking exactly the same as he did now.

“So what, she was a kid once like me. It doesn’t change what she is now.” Not that it didn’t hurt seeing her as a normal kid, not that much different than me. I almost laughed. I suspected no one considered me normal so maybe I was more like my mother than I wanted to admit.
Bite your tongue
. I was nothing like her.

“When you first came here and activated the Skeleton Key trap that Ms. True had been demonstrating to your class, I assumed you would become a member of the Guild just like your mother. When you declared for DS, I was rather surprised.” He turned silent as if he was waiting for me to reply, but I kept my mouth shut. I could hear Gavin’s warning voice in my head reminding me that Old Kind were always suspicious of Polymorphs and I wasn’t going to give Mr. Tower anymore ammunition.