The Doorknob Society (The Doorknob Society Saga)

by Fletcher, MJ

  “I think that could work,” I said looking over the map and feeling confident.

  “There’s only one problem with that,” Jess said turning to face me.

  “What?” I asked my confidence fading fast.

  “The Guild was recently asked to create new locks for those doors. I don’t know if they’ve been replaced yet, but I heard other members talking about it.”

  “Why do they need new locks?” I asked.

  “Gremlins have been sneaking through them.”

  “Great, that’s all I need, to face off against another gremlin.” I shook my head; this was not going to be easy.

  Chapter 23

  Status: We break into school.

  Standing in the cold night air in a back alley by the Washington Street Mall, we all waited patiently for Slade to return. After leaving the Cape Beanery he went home to get some tools while we found a likely place for me to try and open a doorway into the Academy.

  I won’t lie, I was thankful for the time. I was nervous about trying to open a portal. I mean, yeah, I’ve done it before but only under stress. Now I had to do it on purpose. It would be Just my luck to get everyone on board with my plan and then blow it by not being able to open a doorway.

  My fingers circled around my doorknob, tingles rushing through my hand and up my arm. I almost sighed with relief, worried that the knob hadn’t fully recharged from earlier. Now I could open portals or could I?

  I jumped startled when Slade hurried into the alley, already being a bundle of nerves.

  “I got what I needed,” he said.

  “Then we’re ready,” Edgar said and turned to me.

  This was it, I was on and there was no turning back. I gripped the doorknob firmly and lifted it out of my bag. I concentrated on the pulse of energy letting it flow out of the knob and through my hand. A faint blue line appeared around it and I could feel a connection opening with other dimensions. I turned the knob just a fraction and it resisted me, almost as if it questioned my worthiness. I focused more strongly on the knob and tried again, it turned a bit more. Lines of energy shot out from the knob and formed a doorway on the empty wall in front of us.

  “Great, Chloe, now I just need room to input the map directions.” Edgar stood next to me, a proud smile on his face for my accomplishment.

  No point in letting him know that it felt like I had struggled to lift Mount Olympus. I kept my thoughts on the knob and the doorway imagining a pathway through dimensions. A small window formed in the doorway and Edgar quickly scratched numerical equations on his map. His fingers worked deftly over the symbols and they swirled together and then floated off the map and into the doorway. As soon as the two touched, the doorway pulsed with energy. It grew more substantial as it reached out between dimensions connecting to the Paladin Academy. I envisioned the portal that now existed and the knob turned easily for me and the doorway opened. The alleyway glowed from the light of the portal and I sighed with a deep sense of relief.

  “Let’s do this,” I said and we stepped into the portal and made our way to the Paladin Academy.

  I opened the doorway easily at the other end of the portal and we found ourselves standing in hallway D of the Paladin Academy. Slade moved swiftly along the corridor to the end and glanced around the corner.

  “It looks clear; we should move quickly,” he cautioned waving for us to join him.

  I swung the portal door closed and let the energy seep from me back into the doorknob collapsing the portal on itself. I slid my knob back into my bag and joined the others and Slade. I’d been to the Impossible Engineer section before but I had never gotten to it from this area of the school so Slade would have to lead the way.

  We were ready to go when a wave of heat rumbled across the hallway nearly knocking me over. I grabbed hold of Jess as we tried to steady ourselves, Edgar braced himself against the wall and Slade stood stock still like some marble statue.

  I turned to Slade. “What the hell was that?”

  “Oh no.” Edgar’s voice trembled with fear.

  I spun around and at the end of Hallway D a broken portal had opened like an ugly wound.

  “You don’t think they’ve found us that quickly do you?” Jess asked.

  I was thinking the same thing until I caught sight of the green clawed hand of a gremlin emerging from the tear between dimensions.

  “Run!” Slade yelled.

  None of us second guessed him. We took off down the corridor.

  “We shouldn’t just leave the monster to roam the corridors,” I said running alongside Edgar.

  “Paladin Academy has alarms, a cleanup crew should be on the way,” Edgar said through gulps of breath.

  The corridor became a blur as we hoofed it as fast as we could to the Impossible Engineer section. I dared a glance behind me as we took another turn and my breath caught.

  “We’ve got company!” I didn’t dare another glance. One view of the gremlin speeding full throttle at us was enough for me. My stomach roiled from the image of its mouth hanging open with a long line of drool flying out as it loped toward us with hunger in its eyes,.

  “We can’t outrun it,” Jess cried out.

  Her breathing was labored and her strength was diminishing rapidly. She couldn’t keep up this speed much longer.

  Slade was beside me and slowed up crossing behind me to the opposite wall. His hand reached over his shoulder and into his bag. He pulled out a shaft with two long curved hooks on the end. His thumb pushed a series of knobs and the device started to change shape. Before it transformed completely, he stopped abruptly, hurtling it with such force that it slammed through a locker like a hot knife through butter.

  I pulled up behind him. I had no intentions of leaving him or anyone behind. He grabbed the bar with both hands and yanked so hard that the muscles in his back contorted and strained under his shirt and then one more yank and the entire length of lockers unhinged and careened to the floor. The gremlin’s bulk and speed worked against him. He had no time to slow his speed and slammed with such force into the lockers that it sent him flying across the hall and crashing into the opposite wall, and then he slid to the floor in a heap. He gave a low rumble and struggled to get back up.

  “Let’s go, it’ll recover quickly,” Slade said grabbing my hand and running.

  I stayed close to him, glad he was here with me. We caught up with Edgar and Jess at the end of the hall and turned down the final corridor leading to the Engineers.

  The hall came to an end in front of a plain door with no handle. Slade let go of my hand to trace the framework, concentrating on the hinges and then stopped and stepped back.

  “Problem?” I asked.

  “They changed the doorway since last time.”

  “Great, can I use a knob on it?”

  “No, only an engineer can open it,” Slade said.

  “If only we had one of those,” Jess said, her familiar sarcasm returning.

  Slade responded with just as much sarcasm as he worked on the door. “Yeah, if only we did.”

  The mighty roar echoed down the corridor, reverberating off the walls and sending chills up my spine. Great the gremlin had awakened and he wasn’t happy.

  “Faster, faster would be good,” Edgar blathered as he flipped his goggles down and adjusted them. “It’s coming this way.”

  Slade opened his bag and took out wrenches that looked like they belonged in some weird sci-fi nightmare. He swung slamming them into the door hinges. Gears on each of the wrenches spun and locked onto the hinges. Slade’s arm muscles appeared ready to burst as he strained with all his strength, the door creaking under the pressure.

  Another roar ripped through the hall and I turned, the gremlin stood at the far end.

  Edgar stepped back yanking off his goggles and staring nervously at the beast. Jess stepped forward and pulled out her skeleton key. I immediately felt the rush of energy as she activated her powers. The key glowed fiery red and she raised it like a mighty weap
on at the gremlin, a ball of pulsing red energy shot from the key and spun in a direct path at the gremlin.

  The monster didn’t hesitate; he rushed forward and leapt right into the pulsing blast of energy. The ball instantly switched gears and formed massive chains that wrapped like an iron net around the beast capturing him in mid-jump. The gremlin roared as he slammed to the floor struggling futilely against the confining bonds, its massive body writhing and straining to break free.

  Jess’s hand trembled, as she gripped the key trying to hold the bonds in place. The beast was too strong, a guttural bellow ripped from its lungs and the bonds snapped as the monster exploded up from the ground screaming.

  Jess stumbled and with a quick hand I steadied her. With the other I wrapped my hand around hers that held the key.

  My fingertips grazed the cold metal and as soon as they did its energy began whispering over me. Its power was incredible, surging through me connecting me to all things. Everything else faded away and all I wanted—needed—was to immerse myself in the power. My chest tightened, my breath stopped and power flowed like an endless sea between myself and the Skeleton Key. Everything tinted red for a moment and another surge of strength rushed over me.

  My focus kicked back just in time since the gremlin ran full speed at us. A simple thought formed in my mind... No.

  Another blast of pulsing red energy shot from the key, more powerful than Jess’. It flew across the short distance, snatched the gremlin up and slammed him into the wall. The energy spread across him and tethered him in thick chains to the wall like some prisoner of old.

  “I got it!” Slade yelled from behind us.

  I shot a quick glance at him and was relieved to see that he had opened the door.

  He shook his head seeing the gremlin locked to the wall, then turned back to me. “How?”

  “Jess did it,” Edgar said as he helped me drag a groggy Jess through the doorway. “She was amazing.”

  Slade looked from Jess to me, his eyes lingering on my hand wrapped around Jess’ that gripped the key. He wasn’t buying it.

  We all hurried through the door and as I gave a hasty glance back at the gremlin, the hairs on my neck stood up. I knew it wasn’t Jess who had made the key work. And I wasn’t sure I liked what that meant for me.

  I stopped and let my hand hover over the doorknob. Its strong energy latched onto to mine and I didn’t stop it, actually I feed it. I squeezed the doorknob tightly, sending a small jolt straight through the entire door. It glowed blue for a moment, then faded.

  “What did you do?” Slade asked over my shoulder.

  “I put my fingerprint on the door that way if we ever need to get back in here I can open a portal right to it.”

  Slade swung the door closed and I found us standing in the back of the Impossible Engineers hallway. A series of drafting tables sat to one side covered in diagrams and bits and pieces of engineered technology. If you need something built the Engineers are the ones to go to. We moved to one of the desks and sat Jess down. She was still out of it from the fight with the gremlin.

  “Edgar, stay with her while we check this out.”

  “You got it,” he said with a smile.

  Slade and I walked back to Mr. Miller’s office and found the door open. I moved across the room to the wall where the full diagram hung.

  “Help me get it down.” I was holding up one end and Slade took hold of the other. Lifting it off the wall, we laid it down on Mr. Miller’s desk, then leaned in to take a closer look. Slade traced it out with his deft fingers going over every inch of the schematic.

  “So what is it?”

  “A bridge design.” He stepped back rubbing his hands together as he stared at the drawing.

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s an old theory that goes back to the First Kind. Supposedly a bridge could be built that would create a permanent and safe portal between multiple dimensions at once.”

  “Sounds helpful, why don’t we use them more often?”

  “All Old Kind need to work together to make a bridge work, even this design calls for a member of each group to make it possible. But the schematic isn’t that old and it looks like Mr. Miller’s writing.”

  “It’s his work.” I pointed to the bottom corner of the design where it was signed Levi Miller and several other names one of which caught my attention... Elijah Masters. “My dad worked on this with him.”

  “But how does this help us find the artifact?” Slade asked

  I pulled out my phone and snapped several pictures of the design and a close up shot of the names. “Let’s put this back, we don’t want anyone knowing what we were after.” We hoisted the frame and slid it back onto the wall. When we finished we headed back to the others.

  “Now what?” Edgar asked after we told him what we had found.

  “We need to find out about the other people that helped with the design,” I answered clicking the photo on my phone and showing Edgar and Jess the list of names.

  “The symbol besides the names denotes which group they belong to,” Edgar explained. “The mapmaker, Delmar Hogan I’ve heard of but he’s one the people who has gone missing. The other names I don’t know.”

  “What about the Skeleton Key Guild name?” I asked showing it to Jess.

  “I’m not familiar with it. But I know someone who would be.”

  “Who?”

  “You’re not going to like it.”

  “Oh no,” I groaned.

  “It better not be who I think it is,” Slade said annoyed.

  “Sorry,” Jess said with a shrug, “but James Nightshade is our best option.”

  I knew she was right but I didn’t like it not one bit.

  Chapter 24

  Status: I make a deal with the devil.

  “There has to be another option.” Slade said through gritted teeth.

  “There isn’t.” Jess rolled her eyes and looked to me for help.

  “She’s right nobody knows the Guild better then Nightshade and who else besides him and Jess could we even go to?” I’d already consigned myself to having to ask for Nightshade’s help. And due to Slade and Nightshade’s last meeting, I could understand why Slade wasn’t happy about the idea.

  “Chloe and I could go alone,” Jess offered thinking she was helping.

  “No,” Slade said quickly his jaw tightening.

  His whole body tensed and I reached out and placed my hand lightly on his arm. “We have to do this,” I said softly. His tight muscles beneath my hand relaxed.

  He leaned down close to me and smiled. “I know, but I don’t have to like it.”

  His smile as usual was contagious and I couldn’t help but smile back. Warmth spread through me like liquid honey settling in every nook and crevice until I felt deliciously satisfied. It wasn’t until he rested his hand on top of mine that I realized I’d left my hand on his arm longer then I had meant too. I pulled it back and turned away quickly, his smile fading along with mine.

  We made our way out of Paladin Academy through a doorway in the Impossible Engineers Hall that was exit only and found ourselves by the Arrowhead. It was the middle of the night, the street deserted. We were all bone-tired and more than a little sore from the run-in with the gremlin, but we had to make a choice about what we were going to do next.

  “We should head over to Nightshade’s now,” Jess said and didn’t wait for anyone to agree.

  Edgar fell in step beside her and Slade and I followed keeping step beside one another.

  “Is it far?” Slade asked.

  “No, he lives around the corner in the old church on Franklin.” That brought everyone to a dead stop to stare at me. Jess had raised her eyebrow, Edgar grinned and Slade’s lips drew together into a tight line of annoyance.

  “How do you know where he lives?” Jess accused more than asked.

  “He told me once that’s all. I’ve never been there.” I kept walking letting them know that was the end of it. There’d be n
o further discussion.

  We continued in silence and I wondered just what we were getting ourselves into by including Nightshade. He always had his own best interest at heart and sometimes it seemed he existed only to annoy me and make my life difficult.

  Not like Slade. I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. He stuck right beside me, always being there to help when I needed him. I felt bad for the way I’d treated him. But what could I do? It’s not like I’d had an easy year and he always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yet he kept coming back no matter how many times I pushed him away. He deserved better than me and all my problems, he deserved someone who wasn’t broken.

  The old church on the corner of Franklin had been converted into a house and rose up taller than most of the buildings around it. Massive arched windows dotted the sides of it and what had once been the bell tower was surrounded on all sides by windows.

  We stood outside the arched wooden door while Jess texted Nightshade that we were there. The cold night air was starting to take a toll and I wrapped my arms around myself rubbing my sides to keep warm. Slade stepped behind me, placed his hands on the sides of my arms and ran them up and down warming me up until I wanted to melt against him.

  The door creaked opened, Nightshade stood framed in the archway. He wore jeans with his ever present skeleton key belt buckle. He was shirtless; his chest was not as thick as Slade’s though well-defined with a natural cut of muscles and with a patch of hair running across it. He lifted his hand sliding it through his messed hair. He glanced lazily around to each of us until he rested on me —or more precisely— Slade’s hands on me and then he shifted his attention to my face and I could have sworn I saw annoyance in his eyes.