A Tangle of Secrets

by R. G. Thomas

  When Dulindir finally spoke, it was in a very kind, quiet voice. “Like you, I believe that Fetter is still alive. And, since Lucian and Azzo Eberhard were the ones to take him, it would stand to reason that where they are, Fetter will be as well.”

  “That’s what I think too,” Teofil said, then sighed and took Thaddeus’s hand as he looked at him with a sad expression. “We all feel my brother’s absence, but Astrid and I especially.”

  “Astrid was really close with Fetter,” Thaddeus said, then made a face. “Or rather, Isadora disguised as Fetter.” The resulting heat of anger at Isadora’s awful betrayal burned to life inside him with surprising swiftness.

  “Right.” Teofil was quiet a moment before continuing. “As I first read through Leopold’s journal entries, I enjoyed reading his version of the memories he and I shared. Though I was away from my true family, Leopold treated me well. We did have fun together.”

  “He really cared for you,” Thaddeus said.

  “He did seem to feel more than a passing affection for you,” Dulindir added as he closed the distance between them.

  “Mixed in with those memories, I found some notes related to his search for Isadora and Lucian,” Teofil said.

  “How close was he?” Thaddeus asked.

  “Once he bought this house, he traveled a fair distance,” Teofil explained. “But all he had been able to figure out, mostly by guessing from what I could tell, was that Lucian and Isadora weren’t hiding out together.”

  Thaddeus shrugged. “We know that now. Isadora was living with your family.”

  “Right. But I’ve come across another set of entries about his search for Lucian and Azzo Eberhard, the man who helped them attack the village all those years ago.”

  “Wasn’t Azzo the one who grabbed Fetter off the trail that day?”

  Teofil nodded. “That’s right. He helped both Isadora and Lucian with their terrible plans.”

  “Azzo most likely took up residence here in Superstition once they discovered Leopold was living here,” Dulindir said. “Though I never saw him, I would expect he had disguised himself as Edgar Marcet and watched over the Bearagon.”

  Thaddeus was surprised but then realized what Dulindir suggested made sense. “Wow, and my dad and I worked for him. Why didn’t he grab us right away?”

  “I believe their true goal was to find your mother in dragon form,” Dulindir said. “They wanted to use her as a weapon.”

  “And Azzo, disguised as Edgar, was keeping an eye on us to see if we knew where Leopold had hidden her?” Thaddeus asked.

  “That is my assumption,” Dulindir said.

  “And the Bearagon was sniffing around for clues?” Teofil asked.

  “Again, that is what I would assume,” Dulindir said.

  “But it attacked me,” Thaddeus said. “More than once!”

  “The beast is driven by its instincts,” Dulindir said. “It cannot control itself when it finds prey it wants to bring down.”

  Thaddeus winced as his stomach knotted up. “That makes me feel a little sick to think about.”

  “You were very fortunate you escaped,” Dulindir said.

  “I think he was resourceful,” Teofil said and smiled at Thaddeus.

  “He had help,” Dulindir said. “From you, Teofil, when the Bearagon had him trapped in a tree behind this house. From Rudyard when the Bearagon clawed his leg. From Vivienne when the Bearagon was chasing him in the street outside the sporting goods store. And from his mother in dragon form when the Bearagon attacked right here inside this yard.”

  “Sheesh, Dulindir, you make me sound like I’m incompetent or something,” Thaddeus said. “And how do you know all of those details?”

  “I listened to you all talk around the fires at night on our way to Wraith Mountain,” Dulindir said.

  “Great,” Thaddeus mumbled.

  Teofil spoke up. “I think the point of all of this is that with Leopold’s journals available to me, I intend to continue where he left off in his search for Lucian and Azzo. And once I track them down, I’m really hoping I’ll find Fetter as well.”

  “What?”

  Thaddeus jumped at the sound of another voice in the dark. When they turned toward the house, Thaddeus saw Astrid peering at them over a mound of dirt by the edge of the hole.

  “You’ve taken to eavesdropping now?” Teofil asked, his anger and hurt evident in his tone.

  “I was down here trying to have some time to myself,” Astrid explained as she crawled up the side of the hole and over the mound of dirt, completely ignoring the gently sloping ramp that led toward the house. She hurried to them and grabbed Dulindir in a tight hug.

  “Where have you been?” Astrid asked.

  “All right, all right,” Teofil said, pulling her back a couple of steps to put room between the two of them. Thaddeus grinned at Teofil’s overprotectiveness.

  “Trying to get some information about Lucian and Azzo,” Dulindir replied. “But I’ve come away empty-handed.”

  “Maybe the journals, then?” Astrid asked as she turned to Teofil. “I can help you read through them. We could be a team again, like when we went to Wraith Mountain.”

  Teofil let out a long breath, then looked at Thaddeus. “How much did you like growing up without any brothers or sisters?”

  Astrid punched Teofil hard in the arm. “That’s not funny. We’ve grown up without our older brother because of Isadora.”

  Teofil glared at her as he rubbed his arm, then finally nodded. “You’re right. But stop being such a pesky sister.”

  “Then start being a brother who shares important information.” She motioned for him to go on. “Tell me what you know.”

  “It’s not much,” Teofil said. “I found a couple of entries yesterday, actually. But in those entries, Leopold mentions both Lucian and Azzo by name, along with a few people he talked with who gave him some information.”

  “Are there dates on his journal entries?” Thaddeus asked.

  “Not always.”

  “That’s going to make it more difficult to figure out how old some of this information really is,” Thaddeus said. “And he was trying to backtrack to the attack on the village, which happened about fifteen years ago.”

  “I know it’s not a lot to go on,” Teofil said.

  “But it’s something!” Astrid practically shouted, and as the fairies danced and spun above them, Teofil, Thaddeus, and Dulindir all shushed her.

  “Keep it down,” Teofil said, looking over his shoulder toward the back door of the house.

  “Sorry,” Astrid whispered. “But, Teofil, we have to keep working on this. If there’s even the smallest chance that we could find Fetter, we have to try.”

  “I know,” Teofil said. “And we will. But….”

  “But what?” Thaddeus and Astrid said together, then looked at each other and smiled.

  “But some of the places Leopold visited don’t seem to have been very safe.” Teofil looked again at the house before lowering his voice even more and leaning in closer. “We can’t let Mum or Dad know about this. I don’t think they’d like us poking around.”

  Astrid nodded. “Yeah, okay. I promise.”

  Teofil looked at Thaddeus. “And your parents can’t know either, otherwise they’ll tell our parents, and we’ll all get in trouble.”

  Thaddeus nodded. “I understand.”

  Teofil gave Dulindir a stern look. “Can you keep this secret?”

  “Of course he will,” Astrid said and gave Dulindir’s hand a quick squeeze.

  “I’d like him to tell me that himself,” Teofil said. “Well, Dulindir?”

  “I will not tell either of your parents about these plans,” Dulindir said.

  Teofil nodded. “All right. Good.”

  Thaddeus’s nervous excitement had returned, making his belly quiver. If they had beat Isadora and the ghouls at Iron Gulch, Thaddeus had no doubt they could take on not only Lucian and Azzo, but the Bearagon as well.


  “When do we start?” Astrid asked.

  “As soon as we can,” Teofil replied.

  Miriam stuck her head out the back door. “Teofil? Astrid? Time to come inside. Oh, hello, Thaddeus. And Dulindir, good to have you back with us. Will you be staying the night?”

  “If you have the room,” Dulindir replied.

  “It will be cramped, as you know, but you’re more than welcome,” Miriam said. “Now come on inside, you three. It’s time to start rounding up the little ones. You should head on home too, Thaddeus. No telling what’s lurking through the woods back there now that the sun’s gone down.”

  “Yeah, I will,” Thaddeus said with a wave. “Thanks!”

  Miriam disappeared back inside. Astrid looked at each of them in the glow of Dulindir’s hair and said, “I guess tomorrow, then?”

  Teofil nodded. “Yeah, let’s get inside and get the young ones ready for bed.”

  Astrid and Dulindir walked slowly toward the house side by side. Teofil took Thaddeus’s hands and pulled him close for a kiss.

  “I miss falling asleep beside you like when we were hiking toward the mountain,” Teofil said.

  Thaddeus smiled. “Me too.”

  They kissed again, and then Teofil asked the fairies to escort Thaddeus back to his house. Thaddeus slowly pulled his hands from Teofil’s before he turned for the gate, the fairies dipping and whirling around him to light his way.

  Chapter FIVE

  ON THE morning of his second day of school, Thaddeus woke before his alarm. He lay very still and listened to the silence of the house. There were no screams from his mother’s room, and no smell of smoke. With no dire circumstances detected, Thaddeus let his mind wander. He thought about Teofil seeing Leopold’s spirit, and he wondered if Leopold had tried to appear to any of the others in their group. Then he thought about the journals Leopold had left behind and if they’d be able to find clues in his writing to help them track down Lucian, Azzo, the Bearagon, and, he hoped, Fetter. He wondered what Fetter would be like now. He was the oldest of Miriam and Rudyard’s children, so he’d most likely be eighteen. He’d been taken from them when he was only three, so would he even remember his family? Thaddeus tried to recall anything about the time when he was three years old and was unable to come up with a single detail. He hoped that didn’t mean Fetter would have no memory of his family.

  The alarm began beeping, and Thaddeus hit the Snooze button. He lay in bed and sighed as he thought about going back to school. Superstition felt like a permanent place for them to settle, which meant Thaddeus was going to attend the same school for more than a single year. Just his luck to have already landed on the school bully’s radar. Dixon Praise was completely obnoxious, and Thaddeus hoped he was more bluster than action. As long as Thaddeus kept out of Dixon’s way, he hoped the jock would not prove to be too much of a problem.

  His alarm beeped again, and once he’d snoozed it a second time, his father called up the stairs, “Thaddeus, get up!”

  “I’m up!” Thaddeus shouted back. He slid out of bed and shuffled out his bedroom door to enter the bathroom across the hall, yawning as he went.

  Once he’d finished in the bathroom, Thaddeus quickly dressed in jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt, and the hoodie he’d worn on their quest to save his mother. It had a few snags and some spots where it was worn a little thin, but after several runs through the washer, it was clean and comfortable. He grabbed his backpack and pounded down the steps. His mother stood at the stove, tending to eggs in a skillet. The morning sunlight gleamed along the red-orange streak in her hair.

  “Hi,” Thaddeus said.

  She smiled at him. “Good morning, Thaddeus. Sleep well?”

  Thaddeus nodded. “I did, thanks. How about you? No bad dreams?”

  “Nothing to set the bed on fire about at least,” she replied with a nervous glance his way. Then she nodded toward the table. “Breakfast is ready. Sit down.”

  “I’m running late.” Thaddeus started to step past her, but his mother put out a hand chest high and he walked into it, stopping in his tracks. She was surprisingly strong, and Thaddeus found her smiling at him.

  “You’ve got enough time to eat some eggs and drink some juice. Sit down.”

  “It’s nice to not be the only sheriff in town,” his father said as he walked in the kitchen. He pulled out the chair beside Thaddeus and motioned to it. “You heard your mother. Sit down and eat. I’ll drive you to school.”

  “You really don’t have to do this,” Thaddeus grumbled as he dropped his backpack on the floor beside him and sat down.

  You could leave, that dark and whispery voice spoke up inside his mind. Get up and walk right out the door. What could they do to you?

  He frowned as a dark mood seemed to settle over him. Maybe he was hungrier than he thought, and some breakfast would help.

  “I missed out on a lot of mothering opportunities,” his mother said as she placed a plate before him. “I have a lot of lost time to make up.”

  Thaddeus looked at the two pieces of toast and sunny-side up egg. When his mother turned away, he glanced at his father, who gave a small shrug and nodded down to his plate. Thaddeus preferred his eggs scrambled, but he didn’t want to make his mother feel bad. He broke the yolk and worked hard to keep from making a face, but his mother noticed something.

  “Don’t you like it?” she asked.

  Her hurt expression sent a wave of guilt through him that intensified his darkening mood. He smiled and put a big forkful of egg into his mouth, swallowing it down and telling himself it was good and not gross.

  “I do,” he said. “I like it.”

  She looked across the table at his father. “How does he like his eggs?”

  His father hesitated before saying, “Scrambled. But you couldn’t know that, Claire.”

  She nodded and looked down at her own plate. Thaddeus hated that he had turned her simple joy of making him breakfast into something terrible.

  “It’s really good, Mom,” he said. “Seriously.”

  A flicker of a smile as she glanced at him, but she didn’t hold his gaze. “You’re very sweet, but it’s all right. Eat what you can, and leave the rest. You don’t want to be late on your second day.”

  Thaddeus looked at the clock and saw he had fifteen minutes to get to school and find his way to his first class. He grabbed a piece of toast and jumped to his feet. “I have to go.”

  “Come on, I’ll drive you,” his father said and pushed back from the table.

  With the toast in his mouth, Thaddeus picked up his backpack and headed for the side door. He stopped to turn back to his mother and removed the toast from his mouth. “Mom, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

  She shook her head and flashed a quick but sad smile. “You didn’t. I need to remember to ask about the simple things, like how you like your eggs, rather than assume you like them a certain way. Go on to school. It’s okay.”

  Thaddeus leaned down to kiss her cheek. “I’m really glad you’re here with us.”

  “I am too. Now go.”

  He followed his father out the side door and got into their beat-up Toyota Camry. Thaddeus’s legs bounced impatiently as the engine sputtered and died with each turn of the key. He looked at the clock and closed his eyes, mentally willing the car to start.

  Just get out of your father’s loser car and walk to school. What will everyone say when they see you in this heap of junk?

  “Isn’t there a spell you can use?” Thaddeus asked.

  “If there is, I haven’t found it yet,” his father replied. “Celeste needs a tune-up, but I haven’t had the money for it.”

  “It’s really late, Dad,” Thaddeus said, trying to keep the impatience and aggravation out of his voice.

  “Just give her a little time to warm up. She isn’t used to these early mornings.”

  “Celeste is ready for the junkyard,” Thaddeus grumbled.

  “Hey now, this car has been good to u
s for almost as long as you’ve been alive.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Thaddeus winced as he shot another look at the clock.

  After a few more turns of the key, the engine finally caught.

  “There, see?” his father said with a smile. “She’s fine. Here we go.”

  The closer his father got to Superstition High, the stronger Thaddeus’s embarrassment grew. Did he really want the kids at his new school to see him get out of this beater car driven by his unemployed father? It was only his second day, and it would give Dixon ammunition to use against him in the halls and at lunch. So much for keeping out of Dixon’s way.

  “You can drop me off at the corner,” Thaddeus said. “It might be faster because a lot of cars pull right up in front of the school, and there’s kind of a traffic jam.”

  “Looks pretty clear to me,” his father said. “Almost there.”

  The squeal of the brakes as his father eased up to the curb sounded like the wail of a banshee in Thaddeus’s ears. He shoved the door open before the car had come to a complete stop and jumped out. Kids standing on the steps leading up to the main doors of the school had stopped and turned to look in his direction. Some were grinning or laughing while others started talking excitedly at the sight of him. Thaddeus’s face burned with embarrassment as he ran to put as much distance between himself and that damn car as possible.

  His father honked a farewell, and Thaddeus waved without looking around. Before he stepped inside the main doors, Thaddeus glanced back and grimaced when he saw that one of the brake lights on his father’s car was out. With a sigh Thaddeus turned toward the school, adjusted his backpack on his shoulders, and went inside.

  The morning passed relatively well. His locker opened on the second try, and he only needed to refer to his map of the school twice to find his way to classes. As the day went on, the dark mood that had lingered on the edge of his emotions moved in closer but didn’t take over. Perhaps he had been able to fend it off because he didn’t see Dixon Praise until lunch. Thaddeus caught sight of him sitting at the jock table like a big hulk of muscle amid the other football team members and cheerleaders. His stomach tightened nervously, but then he saw Marty waving wildly to him from the table on the other side of the cafeteria, and a cool flush of relief went through him.