by Wendy Owens
“Is there anyone who could have had access to them before Dina and Raimie left, even for a moment?” Uri asked.
“I don’t see how,” Artis replied. “They would have been kept in our storage chambers until they left. It’s very secure. Only Mr. Beetlemeyer has a key and he lets very few in.”
“We need to talk to him then,” Gabe insisted.
“All right, but you can’t go around looking like that,” Artis said, walking over to a nearby burlap sack. Pulling out two cloaks that looked identical to hers, the boys just watched in silence, unsure what to make of this helpful stranger. “Put these on,” she said, tossing them in their direction.
As they caught the robes, Uri grinned at Artis with a mischievous delight. “I don’t think you were just coming to talk to us, were you?”
“That’s for me to know,” Artis flirted back with Uri as Gabe rolled his eyes at the sickening display between the two. Gabe thought there was a good chance he was going to be sick.
Gabe pulled the hood of the robe over his head, and looking at Artis said, in an almost growl, “Let’s do this.”
Uri busted out laughing as he pulled his hood into place as well, hitting Gabe lightly in the stomach with the back of his hand. “Whoa there tiger, slow down. Where will this Beetlemeyer be this time of night?”
“He sleeps in the storage chambers,” Artis replied.
“Seriously?” Gabe asked.
“I told you he takes his job seriously. That’s why I can’t see how someone could have made it past him to tamper with the stones,” Artis reaffirmed her earlier statement.
“Well then, I guess show us the way ma'lady,” Uri said, motioning Artis to lead the way. Gabe rolled his eyes again.
“Stay close to me and keep your heads down,” Artis whispered. “If anyone stops us don’t say a word, got it?”
The two boys just nodded, neither sure how to respond to this small creature demanding compliance. They simply moved in closer to her heels and did as she said.
Gabe couldn’t see much in the darkness around the edges of the robes that surrounded his face. He focused on the dusty ground in front of him. Even though he was thousands of miles from home, there was something familiar and safe about the earth under his feet.
He continued to follow as his thoughts trailed off into those of Sophie. He wondered if she still slumbered peacefully. Gabe couldn’t help his thoughts drifting to various horrors. He worried what might happen to her if they could not break the curse. He could feel the despair growing within him. It was as if an actual person’s hands were wrapped tight around his throat, trying to suffocate him. His gripping fear was interrupted when at last Artis spoke again.
“This way,” she said, rounding the corner of a moss covered stone wall. There were torches mounted every few feet at eye level along their path. Since the group was hovering so close to the wall, the torches required them to duck down one after the next.
The boys followed closely, unsure what they would find once they reached their destination. After the three cleared the stone wall, Artis crouched low and tiptoed across the clearing, concealing herself behind another building. Instinctively, Gabe and Uri mimicked her actions.
When they were hidden behind the safety of the small cottage, Artis turned to face her new friends and whispered. “This is it. Mr. Beetlemeyer should be inside.”
Artis crept quietly to the corner of the building, careful to stay concealed in the shadows. “Ready?” She asked, looking back at the boys one last time. The two boys nodded eagerly and Artis stood to exit into the torchlight.
Artis was about to take her first step when she heard voices. Quickly she extended her arm and pushed Gabe and Uri back against the wall, crouching low once again.
“Shhh,” Artis hushed them quickly. “Someone is coming.”
Gabe’s breath caught in his throat as he thrust his body back against the stone wall. Soon the voices were close enough that he could make out Patina’s assistant Alfred’s wheezing tone. “No, Madame, they’re still in their room. I checked with the guard and he said they have been quiet all evening. No one in or out.”
Gabe assumed Alfred must have been talking about Uri and himself. He thought how odd it was to be the focus of someone’s conversation in secret. Leaning slightly forward, Gabe was able to see Alfred as he rounded the corner and began to walk down the path towards the main door of the cottage. Following close behind were two short cloaked characters.
Gabe wondered who they might be just before he caught sight of an eerie figure who appeared to move as if it were floating. A moment later he heard the figure speak. It was Patina’s voice. “Well, be sure that they stay that way. The last thing we need is them snooping around.”
With her words Gabe’s heart sank. He heard a slight gasp from Artis as they all pressed back into the wall once again. The door to the cottage made a creaking noise as it opened. The group entered and Gabe heard the door close again.
“What the heck was that?” Gabe whispered, clearly frustrated by what he had just heard.
“Calm down, Gabe. We don’t know anything for sure,” Uri cautioned.
“I know that their leader is trying to keep us in the dark while our friends at home have to be kept in a deep sleep,” Gabe snapped back, trying his best to keep from raising his voice and exposing their location.
“Do you know what’s going on, Artis?” Uri questioned as he looked at the petite girl.
She looked confused and overwhelmed by the situation. “I don’t understand it,” she said shaking her head, clearly distraught.
“Well we’re about to get to the bottom of it,” Gabe hissed, hopping to his feet and running down the length of the wall. He came to a stop below a window.
“Uri, come here,” Gabe whispered, straining to be heard and waving his hands wildly.
Uri glanced at Artis, pausing for a moment before rushing to his friend’s side. “What is it?”
“Help me up,” Gabe insisted, motioning for Uri to offer his assistance in pushing Gabe up to the open window. Without a word, Uri quickly knelt on one knee and cupped his hands over the other. With a hop, Gabe pulled himself up and carefully peeked over the edge of the window.
The room was dimly lit. Boxes were stacked nearly to the ceiling, creating narrow pathways. Gabe caught sight of tables with tall stacks of paper all around, and the floors were littered with straw and dust. Gabe could hear voices. Looking far to his right, he saw the group he had previously seen outside the cottage gathered around a short, fat, balding man who was perched on a stool.
Leaning forward as far as his muscles would allow him to stretch, Gabe strained to hear what they were discussing.
“Believe me; you don’t want to make her mad, Beetlemeyer!” Alfred growled the warning to the seated man.
“Too late,” Patina hissed, walking forward and emerging between the two short robed men.
“I am not lying. There was nothing wrong with those artifacts when they left here,” Mr. Beetlemeyer insisted. “I mean it!”
“Fine!” Patina snapped in a cool tone. “If you won’t tell me of your own accord, then perhaps I will have to look inside your head for myself.” Gabe wondered what she meant by her statement. He assured himself the images flashing through his mind had to be much worse than the reality.
“No, please, I swear,” the man pleaded, almost in tears.
“Take him,” Patina said, turning her back.
“No, wait.” Beetlemeyer cried holding up his hands in a panic. “I really don’t know what happened to the stones. But …” Beetlemeyer looked down at the ground for a moment as if he were not only terrified, but also ashamed.
“What is it old man?” Alfred barked.
Beetlemeyer stood and hobbled along the wall, the group following close behind. He was now just feet away from the open window Gabe was peering in. He was so close that Gabe could see the age spots that freckled the man’s bald head as well as his red handlebar mustache. Bendin
g over, Beetlemeyer pulled an old pile of canvas from beneath a dust covered table. Gabe held his breath as he watched the man unfold the flaps of canvas, uncovering a pile of stones that were covered with intricate carvings.
“The Runes,” Patina snarled.
“But how?” Alfred asked, his voice conveying his confusion.
“I honestly do not know. I discovered them a few days after the Rampart kids left. Tucked away in a corner,” Beetlemeyer elaborated.
“And you just kept quiet?” Alfred badgered Beetlemeyer.
“What was I supposed to do?” Beetlemeyer protested. “I couldn’t explain it.”
“I can,” Patina said after a moment. “Decoys.”
“What?” Alfred asked. “Decoys?”
It was evident Patina’s patience was growing short as she explained. “The cursed stones were switched for these before Michael’s kids returned home.”
“So it was someone from Iron Gate? But who?” As Alfred asked the question, Uri could no longer hold Gabe’s weight. His leg gave out, sending Gabe tumbling to the ground with a thud.
“Who’s there?” Alfred demanded, looking up towards the open window.
Gabe, Uri, and Artis all jumped to their feet and without a word fled as quickly as they could into the nearby forest. When at last they were each secure behind large oak trees, Gabe peeked around the corner to see the two small cloaked figures searching the area around the cottage. His stomach ached and twisted at the idea of being captured by Patina and her henchmen.
“Follow me,” Artis whispered, taking off deeper into the woods. Gabe thought about what he had just seen inside the cottage. How can I possibly trust one of these people? Gabe heard the voices coming closer to their location. How can I not? He revised his thoughts.
Uri and Gabe struggled to keep up with Artis as they ran deeper into the woods. Each foot barely touched the earth as Gabe sprinted further and further. Just when he thought he couldn’t run any further an old, half crumbled fireplace came into sight. Artis was standing in front of it, waiting for the boys.
“What did you see?” she asked as Gabe approached.
Gabe gasped, trying to catch his breath as he came to a stop. He wondered how her tiny body could run so quickly. “How … did … you … get here … so fast?” Gabe asked panting.
Only slightly out of breath she replied, “I’m just quick I guess.” Then she repeated her question. “What did you see in the window?”
“Please. Let’s not act like you don’t have a clue. Come on, you said it yourself, you work with Beetlemeyer.”
“What are you talking about, Gabe?” Uri demanded, slightly less winded than Gabe. “What did you see in there?”
“Look, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but if you don’t get back into your room now they will know it was you tonight. I guess we can talk later,” Artis insisted, dismissing Gabe’s accusations.
“We’ll never beat them back. I’m sure they’re already halfway to our room,” Gabe argued.
“You have to transport!” Artis exclaimed.
“Oh yeah, that makes a ton of sense. You know that we’re too young to transport,” Gabe added.
“Look, it’s just across the courtyard, you can do it. It’s the only way,” Artis urged, panicked and looking around hurriedly.
“What choice do we have, Gabe?” Uri asked.
“You’re going to trust her?!” Gabe barked.
“Please,” Artis pleaded. “You can’t let Patina find out you were out of your room. I’ll be in deep trouble, too.”
“Look, I don’t trust you, but I don’t trust Patina more. Do you think you can do it, Uri?” Gabe relented.
“I can try. I’ve done short distances before but not carrying a person with me.”
“Can you just make sure all my body parts remain intact?” Gabe whimpered.
“I’ll do my best.” Uri’s nervous grin was not comforting to Gabe.
“I’ll find you both tomorrow, I promise, I’ll help you in any way I can,” Artis avowed.
Uri rushed over and the two boys gave one last look at Artis before they linked arms. Uri muttered “Onerarium.” With that word, Gabe’s world went black.
Gabe rubbed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair, releasing a huge huff as he yawned. The light in the room was bright and Gabe wondered if he had slept most of the morning away. He hoped Sophie wouldn’t be angry he had missed breakfast.
As soon as the thought came to mind, Gabe quickly remembered where he was. He also remembered where Sophie was and why they, in fact, were not together. Sitting up slowly, Gabe looked around and realized he was on an old, worn sofa. He recognized the paisley pattern as the one that had been on the sofa in the room assigned to him and Uri the day before.
Gabe looked over to the nearby bed where Uri still slept, occasionally snorting in his unconscious bliss. “Hey, wake up,” Gabe moaned.
Uri didn’t move.
Gabe searched the immediate area around himself for something to toss at his unsuspecting friend. His Converse sneaker peeking out from under the sofa seemed as good as anything. In an attempt not to injure Uri, Gabe gently tossed the shoe. Ricocheting off the wall next to the headboard, the thud caused Uri to hop up with a gasp.
“Huh? What’s going on?” Uri mumbled, still half asleep.
“I said wake up! What happened last night?” Gabe asked, the previous evening still fuzzy.
Uri looked around the room and stretched as the fogginess of sleep rolled away. “You don’t remember?” he inquired.
“If I remembered, would I ask?” Gabe replied in a snarky tone, not in the mood for Uri’s games.
“What crawled up your butt this morning?” Uri grimaced.
“Seriously, Uri, I don’t want to hear it,” Gabe retorted.
“Well I basically saved your life last night, so I guess you’re welcome.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?” Gabe asked, still clueless of the events.
“Well hmmm … let’s see if I can jog your memory on the events of the evening. You blew up and acted like a complete jerk to a very nice girl who was only trying to help us. Then … hmmm … what happened next. Oh yeah, I transported us back here just in the nick of time.”
Gabe felt a little bad for the way he had attacked Uri with questions, but he certainly was not about to feel any remorse for treating Artis poorly. In Gabe’s eyes she was part of this place and therefore part of the lies. Trying to remove the attitude for Uri’s sake he asked, “Just in time for what?”
“When we transported you passed out like the girl you are, but I managed to get you onto the couch and hop into bed just before the guards and Patina came bursting into our room. I put on a pretty good show if I do say so myself,” Uri explained, painting Gabe quite the vivid portrait of the scene.
As if a light bulb were going off above his head, Gabe remembered the cottage. He could recall everything he had seen through the window, as well. Without a word, Gabe quickly hopped up and ran over to retrieve the shoe he had previously chucked across the room.
“What are you doing?” Uri asked, confused by his friend’s sudden actions.
“I remember,” Gabe said returning to the sofa to slide his shoes on. “We can’t trust these people, Uri.”
“Whoa,” Uri said jumping out of bed and rushing over to Gabe just as he was standing back up. Uri thrust him back onto the sofa firmly and stood over him in an authoritative manor. “You’re not going anywhere until we talk about this. What in the world did you see last night?”
Gabe huffed, annoyed. All he could think of doing was running out the door and confronting Patina and all her foot soldiers. “Gabe, stop, we need to get our heads straight. If you want to help Sophie you need to tell me what happened.”
Gabe thought about what Uri was saying and no matter how much he hated to admit it, he knew his friend was right. So Gabe explained everything that had unfolded, not skipping a single detail. From the way Beetlemeyer
revealed the real stones, Patina seemed to figure things out a little too quickly. When Gabe described the decoy stones, Uri did not have the reaction Gabe had expected. In fact, he seemed to have no reaction at all.
“Did you hear what I said? They had decoy stones. Someone here swapped the stones on Dina and Raimie. They were in on it, Uri.”
“No wait, we don’t know who was in on it.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me, right?”
“Gabe, hear me out. Maybe it was just one or two people, not everyone at Iron Gate. Wouldn’t that seem like a more reasonable answer?”
“Well, either way, Patina knew about it.”
“Did she, though? You told me they were questioning Beetlemeyer,” Uri pointed out.
“Yeah, so?” Gabe dismissed.
“Well, brainiac, if she already knew what happened, why would they be questioning him?”
“Then why try and keep us in the dark?” Gabe argued.
“Well I don’t know, maybe she trusts us as little as we trust her,” Uri suggested.
“Fine, Uri, take her side.”
“Calm down, Gabe. Look, I know you’re upset about Sophie and I am too, but we’re not going to get anywhere jumping to conclusions.”
“So what are we supposed to do?” Gabe asked, Uri finally allowing him to stand. As he did, Gabe began to pace. “If they’re not going to tell us what’s going on or let us help with the investigation we may lose valuable time and what does that mean for Sophie and the others?”
“Will you hush and let me think?” Uri scolded, beginning to pace. “It seems to me that we do have an ally here. Perhaps we should be using that more to our benefit,” Uri finally suggested.
“What? Who?” Gabe asked, confused.
“Artis,” Uri replied.
“We don’t know her, Uri! We have no idea if we can really trust her. For all we know, she was a plant who switched the stones. You just think she’s hot.” Gabe was becoming more infuriated by each passing moment.
“Now listen, she could have ratted us out last night, but she didn’t. She stuck her neck out to help us and I think she deserves a little trust for that, don’t you?” Uri questioned.