by John Blaine
At Rick’s suggestion, Derek went back upstairs to tell the girls and David what had happened, then the boys began a search of the room for panels that might move, for loose knots or other latches. They tapped walls, and listened. A half hour later they went back upstairs, dejected, going by way of the visible legitimate stairs.
As they emerged into the main entrance hall, Scotty stopped short. “Hey! This is where that big guy came from last night. He came up the stairs and I saw him come out this door. I didn’t know there were stairs, so I didn’t know what part of the house he had come from.”
“Funny,” Rick said thoughtfully. “He wouldn’t have gone down the stairs from the office through the passage then come up these. There’s got to be another entrance to that downstairs room.”
“You speak true, ol ’ buddy. But we couldn’t find it.Now what?”
“I guess now we wait until the record office opens in the morning and try to find the house plans. Only I think the Infrared Indians ought to ride again tonight. We can at least keep track of the late night traffic.”
“I’m with you.”
Back in the office, they reported to the girls and the twins. “So, we’ve found one passageway that leads to nothing interesting,” Barby summed up for them. “But there must be others.”
“True, Sis.” Rick explained their plan to hunt for house plans in the morning.
“It was a good start,” Jan sympathized. “Sorry we didn’t find my friend. He’s still here somewhere.”
Barby added, “If you’ll put the mirror back now, I think we’d better go home for lunch.”
Rick and Scotty groaned in unison and got busy.
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CHAPTER XI
The Talisman
Jan joined Barby, Scotty, and Rick after an early dinner just as the boys were putting fresh batteries into their infrared gadgets.
“Only one thing to do.”Rick made the final connection to his battery packs. “We’ll have to keep watch again tonight and maybe even more nights until we get a better handle on this business.”
“With us,” Barby added.
“You never give up, do you?” Scotty shook his head. “We know you want to, and maybe if we took automatic weapons with us and were prepared to shoot, you could. But this is a peaceful operation and Rick and I only carry clubs in case we have to defend ourselves. So you’re not going with us, period.”
“We could carry clubs, too,” Barby pointed out.
Rick laughed. “I can picture you two warrior maids if we should get into a roughup in the darkness.
Without your own night vision gear, how would you know who to hit?”
“Well, it didn’t hurt to ask,” Jan said. “But if Barb and I aren’t going with you, we’re going to a movie.”
“We’ll have to borrow your car, because Jan’s folks have to use theirs, and Dad loaned his to Dr.
Shannon. Maybe you could borrow Jerry’s motorcycle.” Barby stared hopefully at her brother.
“Okay,” Rick agreed. “We’ll call Jerry. Only you’ll have to drive one of us to the estate with the bag of gear.”
Jerry agreed, and Barby and Jan drove the boys to Jerry’s where Scotty got the motorbike. They followed him to the all night gas station near the estate where Scotty left the bike and got in the car. The girls dropped them at the estate and went on to the movie. After the movie they would go to the Record office and wait until the boys showed up or phoned.
By advance arrangement with Derek, Rick and Scotty went to the recreation room at the foot of the secret passage, using the regular stairs. They carried clubs and flashlights as well as the infrared equipment.
As they sat in the darkness waiting, Rick’s thoughts went back for about the tenth time to Ah Boon and his prediction. He and Jan couldn’t make dreams come true together unless they were together. But she wouldn’t graduate until he had already been at the university for a year-unless he changed the schedule.
Only there was no point in doing that unless Jan wanted them to be together. The evidence was all against that assumption, he told himself sadly.
The thought put him right back at the starting point. What had Ah Boon seen that led him to make the prediction? Rick didn’t want to make the only logicalconclusion, that the phony monk had guessed wrong.
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After a seeming eternity, David looked in. He said softly, “You’re on your own. Call first thing in the morning, and for Pete’s sake if you run into anything yell first for the police and then for us. Okay?”
“Okay, we’ll call in the morning,” Scotty told him.
The boys had decided to stay together. As the Camerons left, they moved quietly up the stairs to the second floor and took up station by the men’s lounge where Rick had waited the previous night.
About fifteen minutes had elapsed when the thump-THUMP began, more felt than heard. It continued for nearly twenty minutes, then stopped. There was silence except for the normal sounds of a cooling house, the metallic plink of a radiator, or the creak of a floorboard.
A half hour passed, and they were getting restless when a muffled sound from the first floor alerted them.
Rick put a hand on the control knob, ready to cut down the intensity if someone passed. He felt Scotty’s hand on his arm, and a squeeze of warning.
Rick tensed. A bright figure came into sight up the stairs to the hallway and Rick turned the control down. The glowing figure resolved into an old man, moving slowly toward the office.
The boys didn’t hesitate. They stepped stealthily toward the doorway, intending to keep him in sight, but moving carefully so he would not be aware of their presence. They had the advantage of night vision while he was dependent on the faint light that makes indistinct shadows in dark houses. Nevertheless Rick saw that he moved like a man who knew his way. He must be Jan’s friend.
The old man opened the office door, which had been ajar, and they moved more rapidly, reaching the door just as it closed in their faces. Rick turned the knob and pushed. The blasted door stuck again!
As he turned to Scotty there was a sudden little scream from inside that brought them up short in horror.
Rick breathed, “Sis!”
Scotty yelled, “Barby!”
His powerful leg smashed into the stuck door and slammed it open. He catapulted into the room, Rick almost falling over him as he, too, threw himself into the office.
Rick felt the wind as the door into the hidden passage swung shut and saw Scotty cross his line of vision to the panel to open it again. Then he stopped at the sight before him.
In the pale greens of the radiometer he saw the figures of the girls. Barby was standing, one hand across her mouth. Jan was kneeling, her head bent forward in an attitude that was almost prayerful.
Jan held something that flared in the radiometer tube, something so bright that it had a halo like a bright ring around it.
Rick jumped for the light switch and flicked it, then pulled off his helmet, blinking in the sudden light. He husked, “Are you all right?”
“We’re all right,” Barby affirmed. “I was just startled for a moment. Was that Scotty who ran by after the first man who came in?”
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“Yes.” Rick’s eyes were on Jan. Now, with the lights on, the brilliant flare was gone, but she still held the object in her hands. Rick knew he would never forget the instant when Jan turned to him, her hands cupped as though holding something alive and precious, and the look on her face was one of pure delight.
Rick hurried to lift her to her feet as Scotty came through the secret panel, taking off his special glasses.
“Gone,” he said angrily. “He vanished. I got into the passageway too late.” Scotty turned to Barby.
“Well, Miss Dimwit, did you enjoy the show?”
Barby wasn’t in the least contrite. “I didn’t care much for the ending, but it was fun. We came in as soon as we could park the car at the service station and walk back. The gypsy let u
s in without any questions because she’s used to seeing us come in as friends of the Camerons. We came upstairs and hid in the closet. It was perfectly safe. After all, we knew you and Rick would be right outside the door.”
Rick wasn’t paying attention. His eyes were on the object Jan held so tenderly. It was a reddish stone, polished smooth, slightly smaller than an egg and about the same shape. In normal light it looked very ordinary. If he hadn’t seen it in infrared he would have thought little about it.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I don’t know. He dropped it. He came into the office, and I think he saw we were watching from the closet. He started toward us, then whirled suddenly and made a jump for the panel so fast it startled us, and Barby screamed. I heard him say, Take this,’ and he dropped it at my feet and went into the passage. I heard something crash against a passage wall from the inside, then you and Scotty came smashing through.”
Her expression was still one of surprised pleasure. He asked, “Why does it affect you so?”
“It’s the way it feels. It changes. A few seconds ago I felt excitement, then fear, and then a bit of anger.
Right now it feels nice and warm and friendly. And it helps me feel what you feel, like Scotty’s upset with us and you’re relieved. Touch it, Rick.”
She held it on her palm, and he put his own palm across the stone. Sensation enveloped him. He was literally enfolded in pure, loving warmth. He had never felt so intensely loved and wanted. It was an altogether remarkable sensation, different and far deeper and more pervading than Jan’s description. He sensed undertones of delight, and of concern, and somehow, behind the strong feelings, there seemed to be a lively, happy intelligence in deep communication with him. Rick thought that, maybe, with both of them holding the stone, more of its effect was brought out. Anyway, it was a terrific effect.
Jan had given a sudden gasp as their hands touched, and now she was looking at him with dark eyes opened wide, and lips parted in an expression of mixed awe and wonder.
Rick hadn’t wanted to take his hand away and lose the feeling, but he was uneasy, knowing they were within reach of unknowns, some of them possibly hostile, with no means of defending the girls and themselves except a pair of clubs.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said abruptly.“Right now.” He put his helmet on, turned on power, then took hold of Jan’s free hand. He motioned to Scotty to take hold of Barby.“Lights out and IR on. Whoever is in the house must know we’re here after all the racket, but we have an advantage in the darkness. Come on.” He flicked off the office lights.
On the way down the stairs he took it easy, so descending in the dark wouldn’t be too hard on the girls.
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When they reached bottom, walking was easier and there was faint light through the window draperies.
As they neared the entrance doors, Jan suddenly gave a little cry, like a cry of pain. She swayed and would have fallen, but Rick had an arm around her in time. She gasped, “Rick, I dropped the stone.”
The stone no longer glowed so brilliantly, but because it was warm from Jan’s hand, it showed up easily in the radiometer. Still holding to her, he bent his knees and scooped it up, dropping it into a pocket.
Scotty and Barby had the doors open now, and he and Jan went into the night.
Barby stopped as the doors closed behind them.“Oh, golly! Jan and I forgot our coats.”
“Never mind.You can take our jackets.” He turned to Jan. “Can you stand all right?”
“Yes...it was just a momentary shock. I’m all right now.”
He slipped off his jacket and put it around her shoulders, as Scotty held his for Barby. The boys, remembering the chill of the night before, had worn both sweaters and jackets, and though the night was cold, they’d be in the car with the heater on in a short time.
“What happened, Jan?”
“That, awful, vicious thing.It blasted me with almost physical force, I guess because I was holding the stone. When I dropped the stone it lessened, and then quit. It was terrible, Rick. But it’s gone now. I still feel a little shaky inside, that’s all.”
The infrared was useful as they walked toward the highway, until they reached the lighted zone of the gate house. Thaddeus and Kosciusko met them, apparently just about to make their rounds.
“Hi.” The guard greeted them. “The boss said the two of you would stay late, but he didn’t mention the ladies.”
“He didn’t know about them,” Scotty told him. “We’ll tell him when we phone in the morning.”
“Okay. I’ll note in the log that four of you left. Goodnight.”
They walked to the gas station without speaking. Scotty made arrangements for Jerry’s motorcycle to be put in the garage overnight, then the four got into the car and relaxed with a sigh of relief.
Scotty drove, with Barby beside him. In the rear seat, Jan turned to Rick. “May I have the stone, please?”
He took it from his pocket and held it for a moment before handing it to her. The warmth was still there, but fainter, and there were overtones he couldn’t identify. But clearly, there was now something like fear and worry.
When he held out the stone Jan took it and cupped it in both hands. So softly that Rick had to lean close to hear, she whispered, “He’s in real danger. We’ve got to help him.”
“How, Jan?”
“I don’t know.”
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There was no further conversation until they reached Whiteside Landing, and then the roar of the speedboat made conversation impossible.
The four young people went into the Brant library. Barby ran upstairs to call their folks, while Rick called the Winstons, remembering the promise to keep him informed. Jan called her parents, knowing they had returned home because the speedboat they used had been gone from Whiteside Landing.
Mrs. Brant and Barby hurried to make hot chocolate and set out cookies and doughnuts while the group gathered.
Jan handed Barby the stone while they waited. “What a nice feeling!” Barby exclaimed. “It’s warm and friendly.”
Scotty took it from her. “Hey, she’s right! It is a nice feeling.”
Those words were a hopelessly poor description of what Rick had felt when he touched the stone back at the Mirella estate.
“Toss it over, Scotty. I want to try it again.” He caught the stone and held it for a moment.“For the love of mike!” The intense, wonderful sensation was almost entirely reduced to what Barby and Scotty had described, warm, friendly, and nice. He gave it back to Jan. “I wonder if the stone has cooled or something.”
Jan smiled at him, but didn’t answer. Just then her parents and the Winstons arrived.
“All right, my children,” Hartson Brant said when everyone held a mug of chocolate. “It’s late, and this meeting-which shall be short-is called to order. Rick, what’s going on?”
“I yield the floor to my sister, dad. Come on, Barb. You and Jan were the stars of the performance. You can take turns.”
Barby’s chin went up. She moved to Jan’s side. “First, Jan and I are tired of over-protective males named Brant and Scott who never let us get in on any interesting action because of some real unlikely possibility that we might get hurt. True, Jan?”
Jan nodded. “Please don’t misunderstand. We’re really glad that they want to take care of us, and we appreciate it. But we think all four of us ought to decide rather than having the decisions made for us.
That’s why we did what we did tonight, and I’m glad we did it.”
“Exactly what was it you did, darling?” Dr. Miller asked.
Barby picked up the tale. “The boys decided to take the infrared equipment back to the Mirella estate tonight. When we asked to go with them, they said no. You know we found one secret passageway this morning, because we’ve kept you up to date. The whole idea of watching by night was to try to see where the mysterious people in the place came from and went.”
“I take it you didn�
�t agree with their decision not to take you with them.” Hartson Brant frowned. “But you decided to go to a movie instead, as I recall.”
“It was my fault,” Jan said quickly. “I pushed Barby into it. We knew exactly what the boys were going Page 70
to do because we heard them talking on the phone to David. They were going to wait in the basement recreation room until everyone was gone, and then go up to the second floor and wait by the men’s lounge where Rick waited last night. Anyway, I persuaded Barby...”
“She did not. I was just as eager as she was!”
Jan continued. “We persuaded each other, then, to forget the movie. Instead we parked the car at the gas station, walked to the House of Illusion and went in. The receptionist just said hello, because she knows we’re friends of the Camerons. We went upstairs to the ladies room and stayed there until all lights were out and then we went into the office and sat down in the closet and waited.”
“We knew Rick and Scotty would be right outside the door,” Barby reminded them. “Anyway, we were sure we weren’t in any danger. The old man Jan senses is friendly, and the hate she feels isn’t directed at us.”
Rick had put the girls on the spot, and they had turned the tables on him by using the spot to make what, he was thinking, was a valid point.
“We opened the closet door so we wouldn’t miss anything in the dark,” Jan continued the tale, “and we waited a long time. We felt the house’s heartbeat, too, just the way the Camerons and the boys described it.”
Mrs. Miller was shaking her head at the story, and Mrs. Brant had moved to the edge of her chair. The men were staring fixedly at the girls.
“Then the door opened,” Barby picked up the story. She paused dramatically. “Jan’s old man came in.
We couldn’t see well, but there was a little starlight through the French doors to the porch, so we knew it was an old man. We stood up and he moved toward us, then gave a sort of funny jump away from us.
The jump startled me, and I let out a scream. He rushed through the secret panel door to the passageway, and then Scotty and Rick came crashing in.”
“But first,” Jan said, “He spoke to me. He said, Take this,’ and he dropped it in front of me.”