“I wouldn’t let them kill you!” Julianna gasped.
Warren gestured urgently for Julianna to move through to the hidden room.
Julianna gave Corrine an anxious look, and said, “How do I know she won’t tell them I’m hiding in there?”
“Easy. We’ll be in there with you, so she won’t be able to tell them anything. I don’t feel up to lying to a bunch of soldiers at the moment, and,” he said with a glare at Corrine, “I don’t really trust my sister all that much either right now, so I think we’d better all just hide and sort this all out later.” He then pushed their bags and his banjo case through the hole.
“Well then, I want her to go in first,” Julianna said.
“Sounds good to me,” Warren agreed and they both looked at Corrine, while Dexter floated through the wall and into the hidden room.
Corrine was starting to feel self-conscious about her cowardly reaction in the face of adversity, and also was pretty distressed to see Warren’s obvious disappointment in her. “Okay, okay,” she said with a sigh. Perhaps she had been wrong to opt for self-preservation over honor, but she wasn’t too sure.
They heard the pounding of armored boots running down the stairs.
Corrine gasped, and scurried through the hole in the wall.
Julianna followed.
Warren had almost made it through when he remembered the door was locked. Once the soldiers broke down the door and saw that the room had no windows or other doors, they would know for sure that there must be a hiding spot somewhere. So, though footsteps were fast approaching from the other side of the door, he jumped up and unlocked the door.
He scampered back, tripping in his haste, and crawled through the hole with only seconds to spare.
Julianna and Corrine were waiting with their hands on the stone, ready to push it back into place the moment Warren was through.
He rolled out of their way.
They pushed the stone into place, then all hurried to the wall to see if they could make out any sounds. Had any of the soldiers seen the stone moving? Or had they closed it in time? Corrine dimmed the lantern so no light could be seen through the cracks around the stone.
They all held their breaths and waited. Seconds ticked by and became minutes. “If they’d seen the stone moving, they’d have tried to push on it by now, right?” asked Julianna.
“Probably,” Warren said cautiously.
After a while, they agreed that since they hadn’t heard any sounds from the adjoining room for ten minutes or so they would be safe to turn the lantern on low. Shedding a little light on the situation revealed a hammock hanging in the corner, a chamber pot, two spindly chairs, and some random boxes and bags all lined up against the walls. Corrine and Julianna took the chairs, Warren stretched out on the hammock since he was the invalid with the broken arm, and they began a whispered chat about what the heck they were going to do next. Dexter watched from a corner, not bothering to say anything since Julianna would only ignore him anyway.
It was while Corrine and Julianna talked about what to do come sunset that Warren’s head was suddenly filled with the raven’s voice. Hey bro, it said, just a quick FYI that Farland just left his apartment about ten minutes ago. He’s on the hunt for you.
Warren gasped, “Corrine!”
“What?” she asked sharply, hearing the panic in his voice.
“It’s starting. He’s back.”
“Did that raven thing tell you—” she started, then they both looked at Julianna uneasily. There was no conceivable way to explain the magical pool of raven blood to her.
Julianna was watching them with curiosity. It was clear to her that something was up. She gave a fraction of a glance at Dexter, but all he did was shrug again.
“Should we tell her?” Corrine asked.
“Er, um, it can’t hurt, right?” Warren said.
Julianna asked, “Is something wrong?”
Warren looked from his sister to Julianna and said, “So, we’re sort of… on the run.”
“On the run? Who from?”
“There’s this wizard guy,” he said. “We don’t know what it’s even about, really. We think it’s a case of mistaken identity or something. See, this dude shows up on our ship out of the blue a few days ago and says he’s been looking for me for years and he wants to kill me.”
“And you’d never seen him before that?”
“Nope. I guess maybe he saw me before if he was in the crowd at one of our performances, but I know I never met him before. It was really weird. He just said something about—” and here Warren froze, for he had just remembered that, when Farland had been explaining why he had come to the ship, he had mentioned something about a curse and the King’s firstborn child. Warren couldn’t for the life of him remember the particulars, because at the time he’d just written it all off as the raving of a lunatic, but he was almost certain that Farland had referred to him, Warren, as a… counter-curse… whatever that was. For the King’s firstborn child.
And here he was, talking to the King’s firstborn child.
Warren’s mouth had gone dry, so he swallowed, cleared his throat, and said, “Have you ever heard of a wizard named Farland Phelps?”
Julianna stared at him with mounting confusion, and whispered, “He’s the one who cursed me.”
Chapter Twenty-two
The journey to the Northwoods of Fritillary was not, ideally, to be attempted alone. However, Mortimer Perkins was in a hurry, and so he did not have the luxury of waiting around the city gates in hopes of finding a party going his direction who was willing to let him join their group. He instead figured it would be best just to get moving and hopefully meet up with a group on the road.
So, he set out on his own at first light. At least, though it was dumb to travel alone, first light was statistically the best time to do it—the criminal element was mostly all in bed, exhausted from a long night of mugging and thieving and sneaking and other such activities that worked best with the least possible sunlight.
Mortimer wished he was in bed too, for he was drained from a sleepless night of getting hit over the head, having a date with a thieving maid named Jennifer, and then having a Crazy 8’s marathon with a brother and sister who he was still sure had helped Jennifer escape. Mortimer gritted his teeth and cursed at the thought of her, the young lady who had stolen his box and, in so doing, singlehandedly set back his plans by at least a month.
Mortimer was nearly always a pretty great judge of character and had been so sure that Jennifer couldn’t be working with Galt and all his short-sighted, greedy, self-serving, idiot friends. He still couldn’t quite believe how wrong he’d been about her. Jennifer, if that was even her real name, had to be one devious lady.
He gave a stone in the road a savage kick and watched it soar through the air and hit the dirt. Then he looked behind him at the city, pleasantly surprise to see how much distance he’d already covered. If the weather and the criminals both cooperated, he’d make it all the way to his planned halfway point before nightfall. Once there, the plan was to meet up with some friends who were waiting for him. Then they’d all travel north to their village the next day.
Not that he was all that eager to get home, since once he was there, he’d have to break it to everyone that he’d gone and let the box get stolen. But he had two days ahead of him to try to think of a way to explain it that might cushion the blow.
Galt was starving. Just as he had been sitting down to his usual breakfast of ale with a side of ale, soldiers had burst through the door saying something about the Princess. He had no clue what they were talking about, and his head was too muddled to sort it out, but it hardly mattered because it wasn’t as though he could have stopped their search of the inn even if he’d wanted to. So, he just let them go about their business. But every time he tried to start in on his breakfast, some soldier or othe
r came up and complained about a locked door or stuck cupboard that needed his attention.
Finally, the soldiers had departed with no Princess (as Galt could have told them from the beginning and saved them some time) and he was at last sitting down to partake, when there was a loud popping sound, and a column of smoke appeared right in front of the fireplace.
Galt nearly fell out of his chair.
His old friend, Farland Phelps, stepped out of the dissipating column. He brushed aside the smoke and starting to talk before Galt had even fully comprehended what was going on.
Having no capacity to do anything else, Galt just sat and listened as Farland said in a rush, “Galt. I am making the rounds to all my contacts.” He waved his address book at Galt. “I started with the A’s and now I’m at the G’s. If my calculations are correct, I’ll reach all my contacts in two more hours, as long as I’m not waylaid. I have no time to waste, so don’t interrupt.”
Galt had the sense to nod mutely and try to muster up some focus. This looked pretty serious.
“I’m tracking down a family. A mother, a father, a sister, a brother. Mother and father in their 40s, kids in their late teens or young 20s. They’re running from me, so they’ll probably be in hiding. Send word if you hear of any leads. Spread the word among your contacts.”
Galt nodded. Farland was just about to disappear when something occurred to Galt and he said, “Hey, hold on!”
Farland paused with a look of perturbation on his visage. “Yes?”
“My wife’s hiding two kids down in the basement. Not a family, but maybe they separated so they wouldn’t look so much like the group you’re looking for?”
Farland narrowed his eyes and considered this. Yes, breaking up the family would be one of the first things they’d do if they really wanted to hide well. Which apparently, they were attempting to do. If this was them. If Galt’s wife was hiding them, that meant they had even somehow weaseled their way into the sphere of the bleeding-heart liberals who ran the old Underground Railroad for witches (though Fritillary had no railroads, above or below ground). Farland knew that the group still functioned to some degree, and that Galt’s wife was among their number.
Yes, Galt might be right. The kid might be hiding in this very building. “Lead the way,” Farland sleazed.
“Farland said what?” Julianna gasped.
“I’m almost certain he called me a counter-curse. For the King’s firstborn child. But I have no clue what that’s about. No clue at all.” Warren was as confused as she was, and his lowered eyebrows and frown testified to the fact.
She stared at the wall behind him, thinking hard. “Well, I am certainly cursed. But if there is a way to break the curse, I never heard about it.’’
Warren shrugged. “It’s weird though, that’s for sure. I mean, what are the odds of us bumping into each other? This is super strange.”
Corrine cut in, “And it’s not really the most pressing issue currently, is it? Shouldn’t we be caring a little less about how you two may be connected, and caring a little more about how to keep Warren alive and away from this crazy wizard?” (The crazy wizard who was, with Galt, at that very moment, on the other side of the wall they were hiding behind).
“That’s true,” Julianna said. “I’m sorry. I—”
Dexter floated through the wall at this point and looked around. “Hey kid, get this: I was just up in the bar and Farland Phelps materialized. He’s looking for those two,” he said and nodded toward the siblings. “Or more accurately, the brother. He’s in the other room right now, so shut your traps and turn off the light.”
Corrine and Warren watched as Julianna stopped talking mid-sentence and stared in horror at someone who wasn’t there.
Julianna said, “What—are you sure?” to nothing, and turned to them and whispered sharply, “Quiet! Turn off the light!” Then she hurried to listen at the wall.
Corrine and Warren exchanged puzzled looks.
Corrine dimmed the light.
Warren followed Julianna and stood beside her, also listening. No sound at all. “Wha—”
“Shh!!!”
“But—”
“SHH!!!”
Five minutes elapsed.
Since the siblings couldn’t see or hear Dexter, they were extremely confused. Occasionally, Corrine or Warren would try again to ask Julianna what was going on, but she just shushed them and kept listening at the wall.
At last, Dexter floated through and said, “All clear, Princess. But you should stay in here anyway. Farland seemed suspicious, but I don’t know why. There was no trace of any of you in that room. Must be some wizard sense telling him you guys are nearby.”
“You can turn the lantern on again. Low,” Julianna said.
Corrine complied.
“What was that all about? You heard something out there? Because I didn’t,” Warren said.
“You wouldn’t believe me,” Julianna said.
“Probably not,” agreed Corrine. “I can’t imagine a reason for all that crazy, unless your explanation is that you’re insane. Or that you can see ghosts.”
Julianna looked at her hopefully. “Do you believe in ghosts?” It hadn’t been a question asked out of idle curiosity, and the siblings didn’t take it as such. They had heard the hopefulness in her voice.
“You don’t mean that is your explanation?” Corrine said with astonishment. “Ghosts?” She laughed and looked at Warren, expecting him to laugh along with her.
He didn’t.
“Just one,” Julianna said weakly, wondering even as she spoke why she was admitting this to these people. But so what if they thought she was crazy?
Dexter shook his head wearily at her.
“His name is Dexter. He told me Farland was in the other room.”
“That’s crazy,” Corrine said. “You’re crazy.”
Julianna shrugged; Farland was out there, and because Julianna could see Dexter, she had saved them. That was all that mattered.
“Why would Farland be here?” Warren asked, but not in the accusatory manner of his sister.
Julianna looked at Dexter, who supplied the answer that Julianna then told Warren, “He was going through his address book A to Z checking with all his evil contacts to see if they’d heard of you guys. I’m sure the way he can disappear and reappear at will, he could visit a lot of people in a short amount of time. That’s how he found you so fast.”
“Except he didn’t find us,” Warren said with a smile. “Thanks to your ghost.”
Corrine sighed and sat down. “Seriously, Warren?”
Warren said apologetically to Julianna, “Is there any way you could prove this ghost thing?”
Julianna looked at Dexter for help. Dexter asked, “Have any of you looked in these boxes and bags along the wall?”
Julianna shook her head.
Dexter went over to one of the bigger boxes and stuck his head right in. “If you tell them the contents of a box they know you haven’t looked into, that should convince them, eh?”
Julianna shrugged and waited expectantly, very aware of how the siblings were watching her watch someone they couldn’t see.
Dexter took his head out of the box. “Tell them this is full of books. Some women’s rights thing called Five Easy Steps to get your Man to Stop Spending all the Money on Booze Instead of Household Necessities. Cumbersome title.”
Cumbersome indeed and depressing to learn that there were so many women in Fritillary who needed advice on this issue that a book had been published on the subject. Julianna stored that knowledge away to talk over with her mom22.
Julianna said, “Okay, here’s some proof. Dexter just looked in that box over there, and it is full of books called Five Easy Steps to get your Man to Stop Spending—” here she had to pause for Dexter to remind her because she’d forgotten the rest
of it, “all the Money on Booze Instead of Household Necessities.”
Corrine went over to the box and, with some trouble, pried the top off. She reached in and held up a book for Warren to see.
Warren and Corrine exchanged a look.
“Wow,” Corrine whispered. She put the book down and looked around warily. She was still doubtful, but how else could Julianna have known the title? Unless she had second sight, which was yet another thing Corrine didn’t believe in. Julianna had been in this room alone for a few hours, but there had been no lantern, and thus no way for her to read the title of the book. Plus, she probably couldn’t have pried the top off the box and then stuck it back on.
Warren shrugged and said lightly, “So I have a magical vial of raven blood that only I can hear, and she had a ghost that only she can see. You’re in the minority here, Corrine.”
“You have a what?” Julianna asked.
“A magical vial of raven blood that talks to me. Farland has a big cauldron of the stuff, and we took some when we broke into his place. You know, I don’t know why he needs that much because this little vial seems to work fine.” Warren thought for a moment. “Probably he just likes the ambiance of a big cauldron full… or maybe the big amount keeps it from coagulating…” he muttered, getting sidetracked as he pondered why on earth Farland required so much raven blood, and how many ravens’ worth of blood it was. He shook his head and said, “Anyway, Corrine can’t hear it, and apparently you can’t either, but I sure can. It’s bizarre, but it’s been helpful.”
Julianna nodded as though she understood, even though she didn’t.
There were all quiet for a while, feeling funny about the information they’d just revealed to each other; after all, they’d only just met, and seeing ghosts and hearing magic talking vials of raven blood are the sorts of secrets that one doesn’t usually divulge to people until they’ve been pals at least a few months and have built a good foundation of normalness.
How to Break an Evil Curse Page 21