Argentum (P.A.W.S. Book 2)

by Debbie Manber Kupfer

  Unsure, Danny walked into the room.

  “I, uh, was sent here by Jessamyn. She received an important message; she’ll be gone for a few days.” Danny started to leave the room.

  “Danny, wait.”

  He turned and looked at Quentin.

  “Maybe you could stay a little. We could talk.”

  “What is there to talk about?”

  “Well, you’re my son, Danny; I want to get to know you.”

  “Why?” replied Danny, outwardly calm, but inside Quentin could sense he was seething.

  Quentin looked at him and said nothing, and Danny walked out of the room.

  Quentin gazed down once more into his scrying bowl. The large, balding man was still sleeping on the kitchen floor. He wondered who he was.

  Danny and Miri sat in the Jewel Box. Miri, as always, could feel Danny’s emotions. Normally he was so calm, but today he was furious. It took all her mental restraint not to throw that fury back at him.

  “I hate both of them,” he said. “What right does he have to come here? And why in the world did she let him? My mother’s a fool. He left her before, and for what? Alistair.”

  Miri thought back to Nora. She had thought that her mother had abandoned her, only to discover much too late that she had actually been protecting her. Was there any chance that this was the same? After all, she knew Alistair used to have some terrible holds on people. Good people, like Josh and Andrew. All the feelings she’d sensed so far from Quentin had been benevolent and maybe a little embarrassed. She’d been told he was a magician of considerable power, yet the magic she’d seen him perform was modest. Mostly he kept himself to himself and sat in her chamber with his scrying bowl, and she was thankful for that. She knew what he was looking for, after all; he was searching for the lost charm.

  Only Miri wasn’t sure she really wanted it back. Her life had been so much lighter since its disappearance. No longer was she plagued by dreams of Alistair. But she understood that it was an item of extreme power, which could be dangerous in the wrong hands. Instinctively she felt for her own charm, her own cat; its warm glow felt reassuring by her heart, as if her omama was still watching over her. The other charm had once been her opapa’s; she was sure of that. She wished she had met him, wished at least her omama had told her more about him. Or maybe she had and she just hadn’t listened. She sighed and wondered if there was still a way to find these answers.

  “When can we leave, Danny?” she asked.

  Danny looked at her, confused.

  “You said you would come with me to New York in the summer. It’s almost summer now. Just a few more weeks of classes.”

  “That,” said Danny, brightening, “is a wonderful idea. Let’s get out of here. I’ll get Ainsworth to excuse you. Maybe you can take a few classes at the New York Institute with his brother, Herbert.”

  Chapter 29

  “Hey, where’re you going?” asked Lilith, watching Miri pack a small backpack. “School isn’t over yet. Did you flunk or something?” she added, with a smirk.

  “Nope, going on a trip to New York with Danny,” answered Miri, smiling.

  “New York, eh? I was there once. Say hi to . . . no, never mind.”

  Miri was sure that Lilith would be more than happy to regain the private room while she was away. Miri looked around the small room and realized she was going to miss it. Despite its size and modest furnishings, she was happy here, and she was nervous by what she might find in New York.

  She met Danny in the rec room. He was carrying a small backpack that mirrored her own. If they needed to change into their cat forms, they would be able to and still hold on to their possessions. The rec room was quiet. The only other occupant was Joey, sitting in a corner doing his homework. He looked up at them.

  “You guys going somewhere?”

  “Yes,” said Danny, with a smile, “off to the Big Apple to seek our fortunes.”

  “Can I come with you guys?”

  “Nope, not this time. Look after P.A.W.S. for us!”

  They made their way out into the corridor and up into Forest Park. They took the Metro downtown to the Greyhound station. Danny had money enough for bus tickets, and they picked up some slices of pizza to eat while they were waiting for their bus.

  “The pizza’s a hell of a lot better in New York,” said Danny.

  “I remember . . .” said Miri. Actually, since she’d decided to go, Miri had been remembering all sorts of things about New York. She may have only been ten when she left, but the smells and flavors of the city were indelibly etched into her memory. Mostly she remembered the Lower East Side and her omama’s calorie-packed treats, but she also remembered getting huge pizza slices with Jenny and her family once when she’d joined them on a family trip. Was there any chance they would still be there, still living in that apartment at the bottom of the stairs? And if they were, would they remember Miri? Would Jenny be angry that she’d left without saying goodbye?

  They boarded the Greyhound bus with a number of other weary-looking travelers. Danny let her take the window seat. He looked at her and stroked her hair. Gently he took her into his arms and kissed her. One sweet kiss before they began their next adventure. Miri felt the butterflies in her stomach flit this way and that.

  “I love you, Miri,” he whispered into her hair.

  As a reply, Miri reached into him and took the feelings behind the words, magnified them, and returned them to him. As the bus left St. Louis, Miri snuggled against Danny and gently drifted off to sleep.

  There were two cats in the room today—the grey cat with the green eyes and the tabby with the yellow eyes. They sat on the large king-sized bed and watched Miri as she approached. The tabby looked particularly sad. Miri didn’t like that look.

  “But I need to find answers,” she said.

  The grey cat put a paw on the tabby’s shoulder. A calming gesture. But the tabby wouldn’t relax. Its tail twitched, and the tabby lunged back at it as if its own tail was possessed. Try as he might, he couldn’t calm it.

  It physically hurt Miri to watch this. She looked down at her own black paws, feeling the tingle of communication in her whiskers.

  “I will help you,” she whispered, “I promise.”

  She awoke with a start, unsure for a moment where she was. The bus had stopped and it was dark outside. How long had she been sleeping?

  “Indianapolis!” hollered the driver. “Two-hour break, folks.”

  Miri groggily followed Danny off the bus. For the next two hours, they wandered around the sleeping city of Indianapolis. It seemed like a ghost town. Most of their fellow bus riders chose to stay at the station, filling themselves up on junk from the vending machines. Danny and Miri wandered hand and hand, gazing at the eerie floodlit buildings in the city center. Miri imagined how different this all must seem during the day time.

  On the corner of one street, she tripped over a large object on the sidewalk. As she regained her balance, she realized it wasn’t an object at all but a person covered in rough blankets who had been sleeping on the ground. He awoke and stared at Miri with frightened grey eyes. Somehow Miri had assumed that this vagrant would be old, a seasoned street person, possibly drunk or on drugs, but what she saw instead was a young boy, maybe eleven or twelve years old.

  “Can we help you?” said Danny.

  The boy got up quickly and started walking away.

  “Stop!” said Miri, and in that second she gazed into the boy’s frightened eyes. Wolf, she could feel it inside him, could feel the residue of Alistair. They should contact Josh, maybe he could bring this frightened boy into P.A.W.S. She wondered how many more like him were out there. Did this boy know that Alistair had died? They chased after him, changing into their feline forms to try to track him, but it seemed like he had disappeared without at a trace. Eventually they gave up, and made their way back to the Greyhound station.

  Back on the bus, Miri thought about the boy they had seen on the street. How many other lef
tovers had Alistair discarded? This boy had seemed frightened and unthreatening. But still, on the full moon, he would have to turn and he would have to eat . . .

  She looked over at Danny. He had fallen asleep with his head on her shoulder. She was glad he’d insisted on joining her on this journey. She was scared of what she might find in New York, but knew she needed to go there to try and seek some answers. It would be good to have Danny with her.

  She wondered if Quentin had had any luck yet, searching for the lost charm. She felt so light without it. She’d not dreamt of Alistair at all. It was as if she’d finally rid herself of his soul fragment deep within her. But Alistair had left his mark in many places: in Max’s charm, in Jenna, and now within this poor lost boy on the streets of Indianapolis. Her father, she was beginning to realize, was not so easily destroyed.

  Chapter 30

  Cynthia fumbled with her keys, unlocked her front door, and tiptoed into the hallway. Aldous had not wanted her to come, but she needed to get some clothes and in any case, she was curious, drawn back to the scene of the crime as it were. She’d sneaked out while Aldous was sleeping. She needed to do this alone. In her pocket, she grasped a canister of pepper spray; she hoped there would be no reason to use it.

  She felt herself magnetically drawn to the kitchen. She reached the entrance way, stopped still, and stared in astonishment. David appeared to be sleeping in the middle of the kitchen floor. There were spots of blood on his shirt, but otherwise he seemed to be peaceful, as if the tiles in front of the dishwasher were his normal place of repose.

  So she hadn’t dreamt it then? He had turned into a monster. But he was not a monster now, just her husband, overweight, disheveled, and snoring on the floor. She leaned forward and noticed something silver around his neck—a charm? Where had she seen that before? She knew it was important, but something was clouding her memory. It seemed like she had had a tiny glimpse last night, but now it was gone again. She shook her head, trying to clear out her mental fluff.

  Tentatively, she reached toward the silver amulet. It was in the shape of a tabby cat with amber eyes and it appeared to be staring at her. As she touched it, an electric shock coursed through her body and, for a microsecond, two images merged in her head. One was the impossible wolf-tiger monster she had seen her husband morph into the previous evening. The other was a real wolf, Alistair, an image that was etched somewhere at the back of her brain and seemed to be taunting her, willing her to remember. Then, just as rapidly as the images had arrived, they were gone.

  As Cynthia watched, David moaned and opened his eyes. They were bloodshot and a look of fear and self-loathing filled them.

  “Cynthia?”

  “I’m here, David.”

  “I don’t understand,” he said.

  “Neither do I,” admitted Cynthia, and she held out her hand to her husband. David grabbed it. Slowly he raised himself into a sitting position. His head ached as if it had been run over by a truck.

  “Aspirin . . . please.”

  Cynthia opened a kitchen cabinet and found a bottle. She filled a glass of water from the sink and handed the water and two aspirin to her husband, who was still sitting on the floor. He took them gratefully, but gagged as he tried to swallow them.

  “Slowly. Sip some water first.”

  David complied. After a few minutes, he rose from the kitchen floor and walked into the living room and sank down onto the sofa.

  The phone rang and Cynthia went to get it. It was Aldous.

  “Yes, I’m here. No, I don’t need you to come. He’s okay. I’ll call you later. Thank you.”

  “Who was that?” asked David.

  “No one. Not important,” said Cynthia, a little too quickly.

  David looked at her. His memories from the previous night were fuzzy. He looked down at the charm around his neck. Why was he wearing it? He didn’t understand. He remembered how he got it back from that boy in the park. Had paid good money for it. But he’d never intended to put it on. Rather, he wanted it back in the safe, away from that meddling niece of his.

  The boy had told him Alistair was dead. David didn’t believe it. He fully expected Alistair to appear at the front door and demand the charm. Better get it back in the safe. He stood up to walk upstairs to the bedroom to return it. Cynthia watched him, nervously perched on the edge of her chair. Why, why was she looking at him like that?

  In the bedroom, the large picture of the wolf was laid on the bed. The wolf seemed to stare up at him. Laying on top of it was the small silk pouch that had once been home to this cat charm. As David reached for the pouch, he saw his father’s eyes watching him, willing him to do the right thing. But what was that right now? He didn’t really know. Return the charm to Miri? That didn’t seem fair. She already had his mother’s charm.

  He reached behind the back of his neck, fumbling for the latch of the charm. Return it to the safe. That was the best thing. Cynthia appeared in the doorway.

  “May I help you?” she asked, walking toward him. She reached for the charm, but as she did so, rage filled his body. How dare she try and take it! He lashed out and Cynthia crumpled to the ground. He sat on the edge of the bed, panting.

  “Oh, Cynthia, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean . . .”

  Slowly, Cynthia got up.

  “Aldous was right,” she said. “I shouldn’t have come back.” Shaking, she made her way through the bedroom door and down the stairs. David walked after her in a haze.

  “Cynthia . . . I’m sorry! Come back, please.”

  At the front door, she picked up her pocketbook and glanced back at David, then she walked out the door and David heard the sounds of her sports car starting.

  He sat down in the kitchen and realized he was hungry. The beast inside him needed to eat. He got up from the table and walked over to the fridge and opened it. He grabbed anything that could be eaten without cooking: bread, salami, cheese. He didn’t even make it to the table. He just stood there by the open fridge, frantically jamming as much as possible into his mouth.

  Cynthia drove quickly, her heart racing, the side of her face pulsing with pain where David had hit her. He doesn’t understand his own strength, she thought. When she made it back to the clock shop, Aldous was waiting for her. He made an ice pack for her bruise and once more suggested they call the police.

  “No,” said Cynthia, shaking, “he doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

  Chapter 31

  The rest of the bus ride went without event. Mostly it was spent sleeping snuggled against Danny or sharing stories. It was good spending time like this together, and Miri felt this was the first time in their relationship that they were getting a chance to get to know each other properly. There was another brief stop in Pittsburgh. But this time they stayed in the bus station, eating appalling nachos with artificial cheese sauce.

  They arrived in New York just as the sun was rising. Miri took in the buildings of the city, glowing in the faint morning rays. A bubble of excitement built up in her stomach. Somewhere out there was the answer, she knew it.

  At Port Authority, they bid farewell to the bus driver and made their way through the tangle of passengers and hustlers, out onto the streets of the city. They walked a few blocks up Broadway and found a small diner where they ordered breakfast.

  Afterward, they continued walking uptown towards Central Park. The spring day was beautiful and they were in no hurry to reach P.A.W.S. They gazed in shop windows, laughing at the mannequins, and stopping in doorways to catch kisses.

  At the entrance to Central Park, they converted into their cat forms and Miri chased Danny through the park. Finally, out of breath, Danny stopped by a large oak tree and waited while Miri’s black cat joined his Maine Coon. They touched noses briefly, sending an electric current of love through Miri’s feline body all the way from her whiskers to the tip of her tail. Then together they changed back into human form, so that they could enter the P.A.W.S. Institute of New York.

  Danny took a
stick from the ground and traced the letters P, A, W, and S on the bark of an ancient oak tree. Slowly a doorway formed, and Danny and Miri entered. Miri expected a spiral staircase like that in the Midwest Institute, but instead they stepped into an elevator. There were just two buttons, UP and DOWN. Danny pressed the down button. The elevator creaked and began its laborious descent. Halfway down, Miri began to wish for stairs and she wondered if this elevator would even make it all the way down. Finally, after about ten minutes of slowly chugging downward, they reached the bottom with a jolt and the door creaked open.

  Standing in the doorway was a tall man dressed entirely in pink. He wore pink shoes, pink pants, a pink silk shirt, and a pink bowtie. On his head was a pink felt hat topped with a pink flamingo feather. He was holding a silver scepter, rather like the one Jessamyn used, except it had pink ribbons wrapped around it.

  “Welcome, welcome, welcome! I’m Oswald the Ostentatious! Welcome to the New York Institute of P.A.W.S.! Why Danny, you have grown. The last time I saw you were but a babe, and you must be the lovely Miriam Katz. I have heard a lot about you, young lady. Well, come along.”

  Stunned, they followed Oswald up the passageway, which, as in the St. Louis Institute, displayed carved pictures on the walls of various animals. Miri spotted the usual assortment of dogs and cats, along with some squirrels, rabbits, and an alligator. Nearest to the front door was a large flamingo, which Miri guessed must be Oswald’s animagus form.

  As they reached the end of the corridor, Oswald turned and recited the entrance charm and touched Miri and Danny with the tip of his scepter. A black cat and a Maine Coon joined the other animals on the wall closest to where they were standing. Then Oswald touched the door with his scepter and they entered the New York Institute.