The Artifact Hunters

by Janet Fox

  “I’m thinking about Leo’s prediction,” Isaac said, as he exchanged a glance with Amelie. “Remember?”

  She nodded. “That a storm was coming. A storm to end all storms.” She hugged herself, then winced and reached into her pocket. “Oh, I meant to put this back.” She held up the Adder Stone cuff. “You should take it.”

  Isaac raised his hands. “But I . . .” and then he remembered his father’s words. They must be guarded at all times. He took the cuff and twisted it in his hand, examining it—the smooth variegated stone—then slipped it into his pocket with the watch. Was this his clue? Or was his clue still in the ledger—which he didn’t finish reading? He’d gotten as far as reading something about Rookskill, but what? “Amelie, I need help finding some information.”

  Amelie waited, watching him.

  “Rookskill holds answers. That is what I read in the ledger right before time was up. I need to find at least some of the remaining answers here. Maybe by finding another artifact like the snake or this cuff. Or maybe in a book.” He paused. “You seem to know the library, so I’m wondering if there’s a book—”

  “No, I don’t know the whole library, not really,” she interrupted. “I know about magical creatures. If you want to know what’s in the library—in fact, if you want to know anything about Rookskill, you need Leo.”

  “Leo?”

  She nodded. “I know he seems a little strange. But Leo’s spent hours in that library. Hours learning about Rookskill.”

  “Right, then. Let’s go find Leo.”

  Isaac glanced out the window once more, and then paused and leaned against the glass. Was that . . . ? It looked like . . . No, it couldn’t be. Isaac blinked. And when he looked again, it was gone.

  “What?” Amelie asked.

  “Nothing,” Isaac said. “For a second, I thought I saw, well. Just my imagination, for certain.” He laughed. “At the top of one of those trees, I thought I saw a dragon.”

  * * *

  * * *

  Amelie and Isaac found Leo in the library, reading.

  “Brilliant,” Amelie said. “Where’s everyone else?”

  Leo shook his head. “Dunno.”

  “Leo, I need help,” Isaac said.

  Leo gave an embarrassed half smile. “I’m not much of an adventurer.”

  Isaac said, “I need help finding something that may be in the library or somewhere else in the castle.”

  “Oh!” Leo brightened. “In that case . . .”

  “What do you know about a Vault that holds magical artifacts?”

  “Vault?” Leo echoed. He stared up at the ceiling. “Artifacts. Right.” He stood and walked to the other side of the library, mumbling to himself. He pulled the ladder along the wall until it came to rest in the far corner, and climbed it to the topmost shelves. “Here we are. Come. I’ll hand these down.”

  Amelie stood on a lower rung of the ladder, passing books from Leo to Isaac. Isaac took the first one and turned it in his hands.

  The title glittered gold. Secrets of the Vault: The Revised Oxford Translation.

  While Leo was handing down books, Isaac told him about the time travel he took with Amelie.

  At one point, Leo paused and said, “So there was another door that appeared and disappeared, like the one you saw in Alexandria? And you think the astrolabe was left in this Vault place by Hypatia way in the past? Interesting.”

  Soon there was a stack of books on the table, and Amelie and Leo joined Isaac to read the first one he opened.

  The title page read, The Artifact Hunters’ Diaries, Years 1753–1785. As Noted by Guardian Q. And below that, the symbol of the eternity knot.

  Isaac looked up and met the others’ eyes. “This is it,” he said. “Very nice, Leo.”

  Leo’s cheeks grew red, and he mumbled, “Oh, it’s nothing special. I’ve explored the books here pretty thoroughly, that’s all. The word Vault rang a bell.”

  Isaac turned the page and began to read, and as he did, he felt that familiar hum again.

  Foreword

  This set of diaries spans a fraught time in human history. The magical artifacts that have been gathered in the Vault in those years are particularly dangerous, as war enhances the power of such items. In addition, those who wish to win wars will stop at nothing to use magical artifacts for evil purposes . . .

  “This is amazing,” Isaac said. He leafed through the book. It was filled with images and references to magical artifacts, and notes about where they were found and by whom. “Listen to this. ‘The best teams are those whose members—also known as the Order—are strongly connected. Hunting for artifacts is a group endeavor. Although it is always the Guardian who carries the key, the entire cohort of AH is crucial to success.’” He looked up at the others again. “AH?”

  “I’m going to guess that stands for Artifact Hunters,” Leo said with a shrug.

  Isaac, lost in thought, stared at the swaying tree branches outside the library window.

  Vault. Guardian. Artifact Hunters.

  Isaac held the key. He pressed his hand to his chest, and the hum grew. The pendant. The eternity knot. He had been holding the pendant when he thought the door in the temple wall was closing, and he begged it to open.

  And the door had reappeared, opened, and dumped them into the Vault.

  “The key,” he said out loud. “I think my pendant is the key. But . . . where is the Vault? It seems to be everywhere.”

  “Or maybe it’s anywhere,” said Leo casually. “Anywhere you want it to be. Maybe it comes when whoever has the key calls it. I mean, we are talking about magic, aren’t we?”

  Amelie and Isaac both stared at Leo.

  “That’s good,” Isaac said.

  Leo turned bright red.

  “Leo,” Amelie said, “I know you can see the future. But have you ever thought about why?”

  “Um, no, not really.”

  “Well, I’m wondering whether you can see the future because you know so much about the past. Because you read so much. Study so much.”

  Leo’s eyes widened. “I like reading.”

  “Yes.” Isaac said, “Maybe, Leo, that is your magical power. You know things. You read, you study, and that makes you really, really smart.”

  Leo’s cheeks couldn’t get any redder. He said, “Well, maybe, but . . .”

  The door blew open and Kat raced into the room. “We’ve got a new problem,” she said.

  CHAPTER 39

  Isaac

  1942

  Kat led the others to the library window. The thorns pressing against the glass scratched at it with an agitating noise. Thick bruised clouds blanketed the sky. A low throb from the forest pushed against the castle.

  “The only reason she can’t get inside is because I’m still able to hold the wards within the walls themselves. But I don’t know how much longer they’ll work,” Kat said, her voice shaky. “And I don’t know if they’ll work if a door is open.”

  “Wait,” Amelie said. “She who?”

  Kat pointed.

  Amelie cried out, “We’ve got to go get her.” She began to run for the door when Kat grabbed her arm.

  “No,” Kat said. “Look at her. Look carefully!”

  Isaac pressed his face to the glass. Through the thorns and vines and shadows he saw a figure about fifty feet away, standing still, staring at the castle. Though she looked hazy through the glass and windblown brambles, Isaac knew her at once.

  “Miss Gumble,” he said. “What is she doing?”

  “She’s been spelled,” Amelie said with a sob.

  “Or worse,” Kat said in a low voice. “Look at her eyes. Look at her hands.”

  Isaac framed his face to see better. Unnatural was the word that came into his mind when he looked at her eyes. But her hands . . . He gasped.


  They were no longer human hands. They looked mechanical. He was reminded of the mouse, the poor little mouse from the kitchen.

  Amelie pulled away and began to weep. “She reminds me of her,” Amelie said. “She reminds me of the witch. Like she’s not Miss Gumble any longer. Poor, poor Miss Gumble.”

  “Yes,” said Kat, her voice flat. “We’d better keep every door to the castle closed tight. Another reason not to go for her.”

  The library door burst open again and Baines strode into the room. “There you are. Mr. Falstone, I need you to go to the village at once. Mail this for me while I finish my paperwork.”

  Leo shook his head, eyes wide. “I can’t.”

  “Sorry?” Baines said. “You what?”

  “It’s too dangerous now. The wards and all . . .”

  “What? It’s just a little rain outside. You children act like you’ve never seen rain before. Miss Bateson?”

  Kat and Amelie looked at each other.

  “Fine,” Baines said. “Then I shall go myself. I’m a busy man but work must be done.” He grumbled and turned away.

  “You’ve got to stop him,” Amelie said, grabbing Kat’s arm. “He might completely break the wards. Or get into serious trouble.”

  “Right,” said Kat. “Isaac, I may need your help enhancing this one.”

  Isaac nodded.

  Kat began to whisper, “Silence is golden. Silence is golden.”

  Isaac felt the hum again that emanated from Kat, and he concentrated, sending the spell toward Baines, the electric vibration humming through him, an invisible bolt between Kat and Baines.

  Ralph Baines opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

  He was wrapped in a pale golden light, frozen, a still, golden statue, completely solid, openmouthed and staring.

  Leo went to Baines and tapped his arm. “He clinks,” Leo whispered. “Like metal. I think he’s solid gold.”

  “Don’t worry, Leo,” Kat said. “I can break the spell later.” She paused and added in a low voice, “I hope.”

  “What can we do about Miss Gumble?” Amelie said. “Is there a spell you can use to help her?”

  Kat shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she said. “I think she’s too far gone.”

  “Where’s Colin?” Leo said. “Has anyone seen Colin?”

  “Not for a while,” Kat said. “Under the circumstances, between this storm and the wards and the changed Gumble, we all ought to stick together.”

  “Willow?” Amelie called.

  Willow appeared with a pop.

  “Can you find Colin?” Amelie paused. “And maybe check in with Lark?”

  Willow snorted. “She’s a flower. We’re a blob.”

  “But you’re a lovely blob,” Amelie said. “Please?”

  Willow sighed and said, “Only for you, Amelie,” and popped away.

  Isaac returned to Secrets of the Vault, turning the pages, and then paused as he looked across the library at the other three, who were conferring about poor Miss Gumble.

  Miss Gumble, who’d been transformed into a monster.

  * * *

  * * *

  Isaac’s grandfather had talked about the making of monsters on one warm summer afternoon after the Nazis had arrived. The two of them sat on a bench in the tiny park before the Old-New Synagogue, shooing summer bugs and watching birds flit from tree to tree.

  “You remember the story, Isaac, about the golem?” his grandfather had asked, staring into the distance with rheumy eyes.

  Isaac nodded.

  Isaac’s grandfather pointed to the topmost part of the Old-New Synagogue where the golem was rumored to be, albeit in pieces.

  “The good Rabbi Loew who made his creature out of clay, eh? Would that Rabbi Loew were here today. With his creature, his golem alive, yes?” Isaac’s grandfather shook his head. “That would take care of them, those Nazis.”

  “But wasn’t the golem a monster?” Isaac asked. “A creature without a soul?”

  “Of course. But the rabbi kept it from becoming wicked because he created it to protect the people of our ghetto. Such a thing we surely need today.” Isaac’s grandfather sighed, then stood and rubbed his hands together.

  “But, how did Rabbi Loew stop it from becoming wicked?”

  “Ah. Interesting question, Isaac. Very thoughtful.” His grandfather scratched his chin. “I think the rabbi might have had to make a choice at some point, yes? To keep the monster at bay by breaking it was right in the end, even if that was hard. Because the right thing is not always the easiest.” His grandfather stretched. “But it’s time to find something to eat.” He took Isaac’s hand and leaned close. “I think a strudel.”

  A few days later, alone in his rooms, while Isaac was at school, Isaac’s grandfather died suddenly and without a goodbye.

  * * *

  * * *

  Monsters. Frankenstein. The monsters chasing Isaac. And how he’d always felt about himself.

  Amelie came to where Isaac stared absently out the window, and she looked past him. “What is that?” she whispered, pointing upward. “What is that?” She turned to Isaac. “Didn’t you say upstairs that you thought you saw a dragon?”

  CHAPTER 40

  Moloch

  Moloch sits astride Wyvern as the dragon moves from treetop to treetop in this forest, his dragon wings stretched wide for balance. The trees sway with the storm that Moloch knows is not a natural storm but born out of primitive magic that resides inside the forest.

  Primitive magic. Moloch knows—all fae know—there are older and more mysterious magics than even the fae. Magics that come out of the earth, from the burns and rills, from the stones and sea, from lichen and moss, magics that are older than anything that breathes. These magics were born when the universe was nothing but fiery-hot gas spinning in the void. These ancient magics are greater than any magic he or any other fae can perform—with or without artifacts—and Moloch bows to their power.

  But he can use them, he thinks, and smiles his broken smile. He just has to find the right way.

  Wyvern spits fire into the sleet that pelts him as Moloch takes a survey of the crumbling castle.

  He feels the wards in the walls, but he’s sensing weakness in them. That primitive magic has breached the wards.

  Moloch leaves Wyvern and circles the castle, searching. He pushes through the thorny brambles and clinging vines until he finds what he’s looking for.

  There.

  A small door lies ajar. It creaks, and Moloch steps into a tight hallway.

  He waits for his eye to adjust to the darkness.

  For a human, it would be a ghastly sight. For Moloch of the Unseelie fae, it is of interest. A horrific mechanical creature that might have once been human has cornered a small, cowering boy and a dog that barks and bares its teeth. The creature turns her peculiar head to stare at Moloch. She’s soaked from being outside in the storm, and her hands are fearsome pincers. She’s accompanied by a dire wolf.

  She stretches the pincers toward Moloch, but with a simple wave of his hand, he freezes the creature and her dire wolf. The boy cries and calls out a name. Mumble. Or Crumble. The boy sees Moloch then and his eyes go wide and even more fearful, and he starts to back away. Moloch freezes him and his dog as well.

  Moloch can sense that neither this small boy nor this mechanical creature is the Guardian.

  What Moloch does next involves the simplest of the fae skills. Any faerie child could perform this trick. It is not entirely without risks, and it saps magic, making other ordinary tricks impossible. Still. Moloch can use this trick to spy.

  He unfreezes the dire wolf and calls it to come to his side—which it does without hesitation—then makes the transformation work for them both.

  Moloch and the dire wolf, now in disguise as boy and dog, find
their way deeper inside Rookskill Castle, searching. Moloch has no doubt that he’ll find his ages-long quarry.

  CHAPTER 41

  Isaac

  1942

  Kat, Amelie, Isaac, and Leo stood together at the window. It was very clear that a dragon was moving from one tree to the next. An occasional spit of flame lit up the storm, and its wide red wings were etched against the clouds as it balanced, its long neck and tail flexing.

  “We need Colin,” Kat said. “We need to figure out where the dragon came from.”

  “Do you think Colin can talk to dragons?” Amelie asked.

  “I hope so,” Kat replied.

  “It’s pretty amazing,” murmured Leo. “Big, scary, but amazing.”

  Kat said, “I’m going to revisit the wards. Make them stronger. Isaac, can you help me with that?”

  “Of course.” Isaac was glad he could help protect the castle.

  But he wasn’t sure how he’d finish his own mission. If the clue he was to find in his last time travel was in the ledger, then he’d missed it. If it was any of the artifacts, he couldn’t figure out which. Maybe he’d failed with this last time travel, as he had with the first, and even, if you counted his mistake with Hypatia, the second.

  Isaac swallowed hard. He still had one more time travel to make, one more chance to understand what he had to do with the Vault, its key, and the artifacts.

  One more important puzzle piece to find. But how could he deal with that, when there was a castle to protect?

  Kat closed her eyes, and Isaac took the jolt of magical energy from her and harnessed it, sending it through the walls in wave upon wave.

  Isaac said, “I sense that a door is open.”

  Kat opened her eyes. “I felt it, too.”

  Willow popped into view. “Can’t find Colin anywhere.”

  “Anywhere?” Amelie asked.