by Amy C. Blake
Levi watched her go. When the door closed behind her, he turned back to his friends. Pity for Morgan and accusation for Levi shouted from each pair of eyes. With an angry headshake, he strode toward the exit. Time for another visit to Dr. Baldwin.
“Whoa, not so fast.” Trevor’s hand closed in a vise grip on his upper arm.
Levi glared at Trevor’s hand until he let go. “What?”
“She apologized and told Mr. Dominic the truth.” His hulking friend stood in his path, fists on hips. “I think it’s time to let her off the hook.”
Levi pinched his lips together.
“In fact—” Trevor glanced around the circle of faces. “—I think we ought to invite Morgan to partner with one of us in the Olympics for the canoe races.”
“We are a person short,” Sara said quietly. She looked at Levi then gestured toward his injured hand. “I’ll work with her until your hand is better, then we can go back to being partners like before.”
Levi released an irritable grunt. His hand was probably broken. Then Sara could just keep Morgan for a partner. Forever, for all he cared.
“We have been putting it off all summer,” Tommy said, “but we’ve got to find somebody. The Olympics are, like, a week away. May as well be Morgan.”
“She could probably use some extra kindness from us right now,” Monica said, and Lizzie and Steve nodded.
“It’s decided then. Right, Levi?” Trevor’s left eyebrow rose. “Or are you gonna hold a grudge against her for who her family is—like with Brock?”
Levi glowered at the stone roof between his wet sneakers. He knew what his friends were asking, but he didn’t want to let Morgan off the hook—or anybody else, for that matter. Why should he always be the one to give in?
Without a word, he took off down the stairs.
32
A Game of Chess
“I wondered if you’d forgotten me this summer.” Dr. Baldwin held open the infirmary door for Levi.
“Of course not. I’ve been . . . busy, you know.” Levi sat on the edge of a cot, shoulders slumped. “Sorry.”
“That’s all right, I understand. I was only teasing you anyway. You’re at camp to learn and make friends and grow strong, not hang around the infirmary playing chess with an old codger like me.” Dr. Baldwin thumped himself on the broad torso then crossed to where Levi sat. “What’s the trouble today?”
Levi held out his right hand.
“Oh, yes.” Dr. Baldwin adjusted his glasses, leaned in close, and peered at it a moment. He tugged open the heavy drapes he usually kept closed, mumbling. “Let’s have a little more light on the subject.” He took Levi’s hand and maneuvered it, pressing and prodding until Levi winced. “Mmm. I don’t think anything’s broken.” The doctor peered at him over his glasses. “Hurts like the dickens, though, doesn’t it?”
He nodded, afraid to open his mouth for fear the pain would make him squeal.
“No,” Dr. Baldwin pronounced after manipulating each of his fingers, “nothing’s broken. Just a very nasty bruise.” He released the hand and met Levi’s watering eyes. “How did this happen?”
Cradling his hand against his stomach, Levi launched into the whole sorry tale, glad for a sympathetic ear. The doctor listened in silence. The only sign of his attention was the tightening of his lips, barely visible beneath his bushy, salt-and-pepper beard and mustache.
When Levi finished, the doctor stood and crossed to a cabinet, pulled out a cold pack, broke the crystals, and returned to his side. After settling it on Levi’s hand, he sank onto the bed across from him. “That Hunter.” He shook his head. “He’ll be the death of you one day.”
“What can I do about it?” Levi couldn’t keep the piteous whine from his tone. “Morgan won’t turn him in. And besides, Hunter didn’t actually hit me. Martin did.” He huffed, his anger growing. “Not that Morgan saw that part. But we both know Hunter’s not gonna turn in Martin when he put him up to it. Nobody else saw a thing. Even you . . .” His shoulders jerked in a shrug, sending the ice pack toppling to the floor. “If you told Mr. Dominic what I said, it’d still be my word against Hunter’s. So, like I said, what can I do about it?”
The doctor picked up the pack and resettled it. “I don’t know. I’ll keep a closer eye on him when I can, but I’m usually here taking care of sick and injured campers.”
“I know.” Levi stared at the ice pack. He shouldn’t have snapped at the doctor. “I’m sorry. I’m just so frustrated, you know?”
“I understand.”
Levi sat in silence. After a while, a clattering sound told him the campers were going down the spiral staircase to supper. His stomach writhed at the thought of entering the dining hall, where Hunter and his gang were sure to laugh at him.
And where his friends would expect him to pity Morgan, as if her treachery had never happened, just because she got cold feet about getting him expelled. Just because her momma called her.
“Can I stay in here tonight?” The words tumbled from his lips without forethought, but he liked the idea. It would buy him a little time, a little space to think about how to deal with everybody. “I can go get my stuff now.” He gave the doctor a hopeful look. “Maybe we could play chess or something.”
“Well, now, I don’t know.” Dr. Baldwin’s eyes narrowed, though a twinkle lurked in them. “You’re not sick, are you?”
Levi shook his head.
“Then again, no one else is either.” He gestured to the row of empty beds, white sheets neat and clean. “I suppose a little rest wouldn’t hurt you. Probably shouldn’t use that hand too much today.”
Levi hopped to his feet, grinning. “I’ll move the pieces with my left hand, I promise.”
“Fine.” The doctor’s lips twitched. “Go get your things. I’ll have a supper tray sent up for us both.”
Levi studied his queen. Dr. Baldwin’s bishop was all set to swoop in and take her out if he didn’t move her. Then he’d be sunk. He took in the board, figuring out all possible plays for each piece, trying to decide which move to make.
“Got a problem there, boy?” Dr. Baldwin asked in a lazy tone.
Levi shot him a mock glare. “Just a small one.” He couldn’t afford to lose his queen. Where should he hide her? Stuff her under the mattress maybe? He gave an inward chuckle.
Then he froze with his queen pinched between his thumb and forefinger. Hidden . . . under the mattress . . .
He looked up at the doctor. “Last year you told me Hunter’s great-grandma or something was at camp with Mr. Dominic and my Papa Levi.”
Dr. Baldwin’s bushy left eyebrow shot up above his reading glasses. “What does that have to do with anything? Are you trying to divert me from the game?”
Levi was too busy thinking to explain. “What was her name? Do you remember?”
The doctor scratched his chin. “It would’ve been his great-great-aunt. Eva? Annie?” He squinted at the ceiling, the only sound the scritch-scritch of his fingers in his beard. After several long moments, his piercing beetle-black gaze returned to Levi’s. “Anna, that was it. Anna Morgan.”
Levi’s breath caught in his throat. He closed his eyes. Faded gold letters against washed-out purple fabric floated into his mind: Kristianna Fae Morgan. That was the name from Hunter’s diary, he was sure of it. Hunter was still hiding his great-great-aunt’s diary. And, according to Brock, poring over it when he thought nobody was watching.
So Hunter’s aunt Anna attended camp with Mr. Dominic and Papa Levi, which meant the reference to a Prince boy he’d seen when he flipped through the diary was actually a reference to Papa Levi. Too bad Levi couldn’t get hold of the diary again and see what it said about his dad’s favorite great-grandpa.
His eyes popped open. Morgan. If she was Hunter’s cousin, then she had to be related to this Anna person, too. Besides, didn’t Morgan say her name was Morgan Kristianna Little or something like that? She must be named for her great-great-aunt, like Levi was for his great-great-g
randpa.
He stared unseeing at the queen in his grasp. Hadn’t Hunter said something to Morgan that day in early June about a diary? He’d assumed he’d misunderstood, but what if she knew more than he thought? What if she . . .
“Do you plan to make a move tonight?”
The doctor’s growled question brought Levi back to the present. He mumbled an apology and moved his queen two spaces to the right. Out of harm’s way.
Levi sat up in bed with his heart thumping. What had awakened him? It wasn’t a nightmare this time.
Thunder boomed, the repercussion rattling the windows. He shoved away the covers and ran to move the heavy drapes. Outside a storm raged, one more violent even than the nor’easter that had driven them to the castle their first day last summer. Rain hacked at the glass like a mad knifeman. Screaming wind turned the tree just outside his window into a monster slashing at the panes with claw-like branches.
Fear flooded Levi’s veins with adrenaline. That hooded, manacled creature Mr. Austin and Dr. Baldwin led during the Camp Classic Rules and Regulations play . . . where was it now? And the she-monster from beyond the mountains . . . had Mr. Dominic found her? Shivering, he darted glances around the dark room behind him. A loud whiffling snore told him the doctor still slept in his adjacent bedroom. For a moment, Levi considered waking him, but that would be way too babyish.
Forcing his mind from monsters and murderers, Levi peered back out at the storm. Lightning flashed, followed instantly by another boom. The window quivered under the wind and rain’s increased assault. Could the squall shatter glass? Another flare, another reverberation, and he inched backward. With this storm, anything was possible.
He glanced at his rumpled cot. No way could he sleep now, not with the storm raging. Too bad he hadn’t brought anything with him for his overnight in the infirmary besides a change of clothes. Even Math or Latin homework would be better than sitting in the darkness waiting for the horrid weather to pass.
He wished he could visit the library for a good book. That would distract him from the shivers coursing up and down his spine. But last year’s middle-of-the-night trip had gotten him into way too much trouble. He couldn’t risk disappearing and having the staff hunt for him.
But what if he left a note telling Dr. Baldwin where he’d gone? Then he could run to the library, snag a book, and bring it back with him. Yeah, that should work.
Ignoring the near-constant flashes of lightning, he yanked a paper towel from the dispenser, jotted “Gone to library. Be right back” on it, and propped it against his pillow. Then he snagged a flashlight from the shelf by the door and hurried along the corridor to the library.
Once inside with the door closed, he hesitated. The darkness of the library was a near-physical thing. Though lightning and thunder rolled with such constancy, they somehow made the shadows feel more inky. What if something lurked behind the puffy chairs before the massive fireplace cube? Or between the bookshelves, as Miss Nydia had done on his visit last summer? What if—
“Stop it, Levi. You’re freaking yourself out.” His lips puckered in self-disgust. “There’s nothing here but a bunch of dusty old books, which is why you came. So quit being a baby and find the one you want.”
He strode to the shelves beside one of the massive windows, thinking he’d seen some nineteenth-century classic novels in that section. He flicked on his flashlight and shined the beam over the old covers. There, Robinson Crusoe. He loved that book. He tugged it out and flipped off his light.
He eased closer to the window for another glance at the light show going on outside. Was it storming on Castle Island? It was hard to tell, especially if the drawbridge wasn’t lowered. He rose on tiptoe and pressed his face to the glass, peering downward.
At that moment, a bomb went off. Ears ringing, Levi dropped to the floor and threw his arms over his head. After a few seconds of stillness, he peeked up. The window hadn’t shattered; the stone walls were still intact. Even the books hadn’t fallen. But what had happened?
He stood warily and peered outside, this time keeping his face well back from the glass. Then he understood. It wasn’t a bomb, at least not one made by humans. God had dropped a lightning bolt on the tree directly across the drawbridge. As though the deafening thunderclap had been a lumberjack shouting “Timber,” the massive trunk lay smoking no more than a foot from the bridge. Fire sputtered on its stump.
Levi could only stare. What if the tree had fallen on the drawbridge? Would they have been trapped in Terracaelum, unable to go home, ever? He hugged himself and rubbed at his arms, but the goose pimples wouldn’t subside.
Eventually, the rain and wind tapered, the lightning and thunder moved on, and the moon melted the clouds. A branch scratched feebly at the glass. Levi’s eyes grew wide as he peered down at the tree just outside, the one that reached well above the second story window. What if lightning had struck that tree while he was standing here at the window? What if the tree had shattered the window? Smashed him to bits?
He shuddered. “Thank you, God.”
Cradling his book in one arm and holding the lit flashlight before him, he scurried to the infirmary and climbed back into the safety of his bed.
33
Mjolnir
By the next morning, Levi had almost forgotten his midnight experience in the library. But a quick peek outside showed the downed tree lined up parallel with the drawbridge. And he knew it hadn’t been another bizarre dream.
He spent the morning on precalculus and lines for the play, and he was tired from his interrupted sleep. None of his friends were speaking to him, and throughout breakfast and classes, Hunter and his thugs called Levi an attempted murderer.
Landing in the laundry room for another sultry afternoon didn’t help.
He was careful, though, to do everything as Mrs. Forest instructed and managed to finish much quicker than before. Even with his sore right hand. By mid-afternoon, he folded his last towel and headed for the kitchen to report to one of the Forests. Maybe he’d make it outside in time to loll around in the shade awhile. He should probably try to make up with his friends, explain why Morgan couldn’t be trusted any more than Hunter. Although Sara seemed to trust Hunter plenty.
When he crossed the threshold, wiping sweat from his brow and longing for a cold drink, which he refused to get for fear of another hour-long mess to clean up, he again found the room empty. Ugh. Didn’t anybody ever work around here? If he didn’t check in with somebody, he couldn’t leave the laundry room.
Levi was about to stomp into the hallway in search of a staff member when the thumping started on the cellar door again. He whipped around, fists clenched. “Would you shut up and leave me alone, Regin? I’m not opening the door!”
He stalked across the room and halted dead. Mouth working like a guppy, Levi blinked at Morgan in the act of turning the doorknob. Unfreezing, he snatched her arm and yanked it backward. “Stop! You want to get yourself killed?”
Tears flooded her eyes. He let go of her wrist and felt horrible when she immediately rubbed it.
“Sorry.” Levi whooshed out a breath. “I didn’t mean to grab you so hard.”
“It’s okay,” she said softly, “I’d better get used to it.”
What was that supposed to mean? His aggravation rose, but he had to warn her. “You need to leave that door alone.” He hooked a thumb toward the rattling door. “He’s mean.”
“I think it’s somebody stuck down there after last night’s storm. You know, because of what Mr. Forest said that day.”
Levi shook his head. “I thought so too before, but it wasn’t. And I almost didn’t get out alive. Trust me, leave it alone.”
“If I open the door,” she said, reaching out a trembling hand toward the doorknob, “at least maybe I can help somebody. And if I don’t make it out . . .” She shrugged. “It’s better than what I’m going home to after camp.”
Was she playing him again? Like she’d done all summer? “What’re you sayi
ng, Morgan?” He grabbed her upper arms, more gently this time. “You’d rather die down there than go home?” He gave her a little shake. “That’s crazy.”
A tear coursed down her cheek. “You don’t know my momma. She—” Ear-splitting pounding cut her off.
Levi yelled at the door, “Shut up and go away, Regin!”
When the noise stopped, he turned back to Morgan. “Your momma can’t be that bad.” His words came out harsher than he intended. “I mean, what did she say when you talked to her?”
“She wants me to come live with her. She’s getting married. Says she’s gotten herself together and is ready to be a real mom.” Morgan’s eyes were dry now, her expression blank.
“Isn’t that good?” Scorn laced the words. He couldn’t bring himself to trust her.
“You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” Her voice was flat, dead. “Problem is she’s come back into my life a couple times since she dumped me in the street.” She hugged her arms to her chest as if freezing in the hot kitchen. “It’s never worked out before.”
He shifted his weight from foot to foot and softened his voice slightly. “Maybe it will this time.”
“Yeah, right.” She backed away from him a few paces, her eyes hard. “You don’t know what it’s like to be ripped from a place you feel safe.” She released a laugh that didn’t sound at all funny. “I know you don’t like Hunter, and his folks aren’t great, but they take care of me. They’ve never hit me or been so high they forgot to feed me or left me outside a crackhouse in the freezing cold with—” A shudder wracked her small frame.
Imagining his little sister in such situations, Levi winced. “Morgan, I—” He took a step toward her, reaching out his wrapped right hand.
“Forget it.” She turned away, sent him one last tortured look, and fled the kitchen.
Levi stood stunned, hand still outstretched. What was wrong with him, treating her like that? How could he not have forgiven her for being Hunter’s cousin?