The Door in the Alley
Page 12
“Oh, it’s really not worth talking about. It was very silly.”
“Fair enough,” said Evie, peeking around the dumpster. “Should we head back to your place?”
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
“And we’ll get ready for phase two!” said Evie with a grin.
“Yeah,” said Sebastian, smiling back in an attempt to show solidarity but just feeling exhausted and scared. “Phase two.”
Sure enough, it was relatively easy to get permission from Sebastian’s parents for them to go to Catherine’s lecture that night. They were all for it, and even suggested they come along too. But Sebastian had made it clear that he wanted to go on his own, and his parents were quite respectful of that request and dropped him and Evie off without lingering, taking only the briefest of moments to let them know they’d be back in two hours to pick them up. Evie had felt a pang in her gut, watching the three of them interact. How she longed for something similar. To have such support and trust. From someone.
Now, I’m not sure how many lecture halls you’ve been in,*1 but to say the lecture hall in which the world-famous explorer and animal activist Catherine Lind was to present that evening was underwhelming would be like saying getting socks on your birthday is underwhelming. It was so terribly underwhelming, you could have called it under-underwhelming.
The lecture was in the basement of a community center on the outskirts of town. A dozen chairs had been set up before a music stand, and as Evie and Sebastian sat down in the back row, which was also the second row, Evie was pretty offended on behalf of Catherine Lind.
Sebastian appeared to feel the same. “This isn’t right,” he whispered to her, though they were actually alone. “She should be talking on the main stage of the Royal Theatre, not here. I really wish we knew what happened to the team. They were so famous once, and now she’s talking in a place like this. It’s so…odd.”
“I agree,” replied Evie.
They waited patiently until seven more seats were filled. And then finally a little hunched man began the journey from a small door at the back of the room toward the music stand. There was silence as the audience watched him cross the room at a snail’s pace.*2 He finally arrived at the stand, and at a similarly intolerable pace he began to push down the top of the stand so that it collapsed into itself inch by inch. It made a high-pitched squeal that caused Evie’s entire body to tense up. Then, when it was no longer than the length of a cane, he picked it up, turned around, and began the arduous journey back to the door. And then he was gone.
“What…what just happened?” asked Evie, turning to look at Sebastian.
“I don’t know,” he replied. He looked just as confused as Evie felt.
The audience members got up and began shuffling toward the exit.
“Excuse me, ma’am,” said Evie to a passing woman wearing a bright red coat made entirely of fringe. “Why are you leaving?”
“The lecture has been canceled,” replied the woman with a sigh, and then continued on her way.
“No,” Sebastian said as Evie watched the woman leave. “That can’t be. Why?”
In a flash, Evie was up on her feet and heading to the small door through which the old man had disappeared.
“This isn’t a good idea,” she heard from behind her, but Sebastian was following her nonetheless.
She pushed open the door at the back of the room and walked right into what turned out to be a very messy office. The old man was pushing around some pieces of paper on a desk in what looked like an attempt to tidy it, but really he just sort of shifted the paper around into different and unique patterns.
“Sir,” said Evie as politely as she could manage, “do you know where Catherine Lind is?”
The man began turning his head, and Evie waited impatiently for him to look at her.
He finally did and blinked at her once, then again, from behind a pair of thick round glasses. He opened his mouth and licked his lips and then, eventually, said, “Yes.”
“Yes!” Evie was surprised at the answer. But it was good to hear. “And where is she?”
The old man looked down and then looked up. Then he very slowly scratched the top of his right ear. Then he blinked. Then he said, “The zoo.”
“The zoo? Are you sure?” asked Sebastian, taking a step so he was standing beside Evie.
“Well…,” said the old man. Then he squinted as if thinking hard. Then he closed his eyes. Then he started to snore.
“Sir?” said Evie. She looked at Sebastian, who shrugged back at her. She said it again a little louder. “Sir?”
The old man jolted awake and stared at her, seeming totally confused about what she wanted from him.
“Catherine Lind is at the zoo,” said Evie, trying to remind him of their very recent conversation. “My friend asked you if you were sure because it’s nighttime and normally the zoo is closed at this time. How do you know she’s at the zoo?” Evie found that in her effort to communicate with him, her words were starting to come out slowly as well.
The man nodded three times and then said, “She was invited five days ago. Sick lizard. She has not been back here or home.” He paused for too long a moment. Then he pointed to the desk. Evie looked at Sebastian and he went over to the desk.
“Piles of mail…,” said Sebastian. Evie watched as Sebastian riffled through the mountain of paper all the way down to the wood of the desk and grabbed a letter. He examined it and, looking at Evie, said, “Five days old.” He turned back to the old man. “Did you tell anyone? Have you been investigating her absence in any way?”
The old man exhaled slowly. He looked up at the ceiling, thinking long and hard. Then he looked back at Sebastian and nodded thoughtfully. “Was getting round to it.”
“Let’s go,” said Sebastian. Evie nodded.
“Thank you for your help!” Evie called as they rushed out of the room.
“You’re wel—”
They closed the door behind them and made their way across the basement, past the chairs, up the staircase, and finally out the front door of the center and into the deserted parking lot.
“So what do you think?” asked Sebastian.
“I think if the old man is right, then something suspicious is going on. I think Catherine is still at the zoo. And if she is, she’s in serious trouble.” Evie was starting to feel frightened again. She thought back to the university. At the time it had simply seemed fortunate that only one of the men had been there to chase them. Now she feared it was not fortune at all, but something far more sinister. The other man had been keeping watch over Catherine. “We should go to the zoo tomorrow, to find out for sure,” she said, trying to come across as brave and not terrified.
Sebastian nodded. He, on the other hand, didn’t look nearly as confident as she was pretending to be.
Once again, she felt pretty bad for the guy. “It’s okay, Sebastian, you don’t have to—”
“You need to stop saying that,” said Sebastian with a tight smile. “You know I’m going to help you. I might not have the constitution for adventures, but I still want to do this. I’m in it now and I need to see this through to the end. No convincing needed.”
“Okay. Thanks. Again. And hey, at least tomorrow’s Saturday. You won’t have to skip school,” said Evie, trying to find the bright side.
“Small miracles,” replied Sebastian. He looked like he might throw up.
“Small miracles,” she said.
Though, man, she could really do with a big one.
* * *
*1 I have been in twenty-three.
*2 Though it was even slower than that and a bit of an insult to snails.
After a much-needed sleep, Sebastian and Evie were ready in the morning for their next adventure. Sebastian was surprised how stiff and sore he felt; he had not ever considered the physical ramifications of adventuring. And as they made their way once again through the city by bus, he realized he also hadn’t considered just how costly it was either.
Bus fares did add up after a while.
The zoo had once housed some of the most exotic and rare animals that roamed the earth, or swam the seas, or flew the skies, or just kind of sat there blinking at you. In its glory days it had been a bustling place, filled with locals and tourists alike. Sebastian could only vaguely remember that time. But things change, and people began to realize that the cages for the animals seemed a little cramped, and the staff of the zoo not nearly large enough to take care of all the beasts properly. Some people thought this was wrong and began to say so, and eventually petitions were signed, and bit by bit various animals were taken away from the zoo to larger, more appropriate animal reserves. Though Sebastian and Evie didn’t know it then, Catherine herself had been one of the main crusaders of the movement to relocate the animals.
The few animals that had stayed at the zoo were nice in their way, but far less exotic than those that had been moved, and because it wasn’t nearly as exciting as it once had been, people began avoiding the zoo, and now the formerly fine institution had become almost deserted.
So it was that when Sebastian and Evie arrived the next morning, the place was far from welcoming. The wrought-iron gates were unlocked, but a chain still dangled from one, and while Sebastian supposed it was meant to indicate that the zoo was open for business, it looked more like an accident that the doors were open, as if people weren’t really supposed to step inside. Sebastian looked at Evie, hesitant to enter, but she was already walking through the gates, stepping through the wet dead leaves covering the ground.
The once-friendly cobblestone streets were cracked, and there were stagnant puddles where bricks were missing. Cages were empty and overgrown, the names of their former inhabitants eclipsed by dead overgrowth. It was an eerily quiet place. The absence of crowds and animal sounds made the quiet all the more palpable. There should be life here, thought Sebastian, a shiver passing over him. This was where you came to experience all kinds of living creatures. And now it seemed as if practically everything was dead.
“This isn’t creepy at all,” said Evie.
“You don’t think so? I find it all very unsettling,” replied Sebastian, stopping before a large faded map of the zoo. So faded, in fact, that all he could see was the little red dot with YOU ARE HERE written on it. You are here, floating in the middle of a large white space. You are nowhere.
“Uh, I wasn’t being serious. This place is seriously creepy. I can’t understand why the zoo hasn’t been shut down completely. Why they have any animals at all.”
Sebastian nodded. It was true—it didn’t really make much sense. None of it did. Even the fact that he was here in the first place. What was it about the Filipendulous Five that made him take so many risks? It freaked him out. He stared at the sign. A red dot. Like a red warning light. You shouldn’t be here.
“Okay, so should we split up, then?” asked Evie.
“No. No, we shouldn’t. Don’t you remember what happened last time?” replied Sebastian, shocked she would even think of such a thing after their experience the day before.
“But it’ll take longer if we don’t.”
Sebastian was adamant. “It’ll take even longer if one of us goes missing. No risks.”
“Well, not no risks. Some risks. Carefully calculated risks,” replied Evie.
You shouldn’t be here.
“Okay, fine. Carefully calculated risks. But that’s it.” Sebastian didn’t even really like the thought of a careful risk, but the fact was he was already taking a big one being here in the first place, so he couldn’t really disagree with her. He could feel his breath grow shallow once more at the thought, and he told himself it was just for today. That was all. Just today. Hopefully they’d find Catherine Lind, they’d find out where the key was, they’d figure out where Evie’s grandfather was, and then, tomorrow, Sebastian would be back to his regular routine.
The thought calmed him considerably.
“So, a sick lizard. I guess we should start at the Reptile Realm?” asked Sebastian.
“I think that makes the most sense,” agreed Evie.
The two of them made their way farther into the depths of the zoo. It was a good thing that Sebastian had his excellent memory from when he’d visited the zoo years ago, because so much of the place was like a maze. Finding the Reptile Realm could have been tricky if not for his remembering the path he’d once taken as a small child to find it.
“It really seems deserted,” commented Evie.
“Yeah.”
“Sad.”
Sebastian wasn’t sure why exactly it was a sad thing that there weren’t people around. There weren’t many animals to look at except the llamas they’d just passed, who’d chewed at them as they went by. Why would people be here? Wouldn’t the people be more sad and disappointed to come to a zoo with so few animals?
“There it is,” said Sebastian, pointing, and before he could feel any sense of pride at having brought them to the spot so successfully, he was suddenly pulled off the path and down into the brush and mud next to it. “What was that for?” he asked, staring at Evie.
“Shh!” she ordered, a finger to her lips as she pointed behind him. Sebastian peeked out through the plants and saw a man in a black leather jacket step out of a small side entrance to the Reptile Realm. There was a sign over the door that said STAFF ONLY. It was hard to tell exactly what was wrong with his face, but it kind of looked as if half of it was melted off, including his ear. They watched as he carefully locked the door behind him and pocketed the key.
“Wait, I recognize that zookeeper,” Sebastian whispered, his mind racing back to the man he’d run into at the university.
“That’s no zookeeper,” Evie whispered back, a slight tremble to her voice. “He’s the man who chased me into the clock tower and burned down the Andersons’ house.”
“Well, he could be a zookeeper also,” pointed out Sebastian, though even as he said it, he knew it was beside the point.
Evie shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what his job is; the point is this means we were right—Catherine is probably in real trouble.”
“So what should we do?”
“We have to find out if Catherine is even in there with the reptiles and what’s going on,” replied Evie. She sounded very sure of herself. “If we can get a look in through the main doors of the Reptile Realm and assess the situation, then we can make a real plan.”
Sebastian considered it and did agree that what she was suggesting was one of those well-calculated risks.
“Then let’s do it,” he said, and turned to look at her. “What?” She was looking back at him with one of her unreadable expressions.
“Uh, I think…” She stopped talking.
“Just say it,” he said, a growing sense of unease filling his body.
Evie sighed. She did that a lot. “Okay. I think you should be the one to go look and I should stay hidden.”
Sebastian stared at her, feeling a sudden wash of fear flood over him. “Oh.”
“I know, it’s not fair. You’re helping me—it should be me taking the risks. But…they know who I am. If you go and look you’ll be just some boy at the zoo.”
“B-but…,” stuttered Sebastian.
“What?” asked Evie.
“I met him yesterday. For a moment. He might remember me, too.” Panic was rising up inside him.
“ ‘Might’ is better than ‘will,’ ” replied Evie.
“Is it?” Sebastian’s voice was louder and higher in pitch than he’d expected, and he glanced at the melted man. The man didn’t seem to have heard him.
“Yes. Or—I don’t know. I don’t know what else to do! We can’t just hide here forever.” She looked at him with a desperate expression. “Do you think you can do this?”
Sebastian was pretty sure he had no thinking left on the subject. Just adrenaline coursing through his veins and a whooshing sound in his ears. He stared at Evie and took in a deep breath. He nodded. Yes. Yes, he could do
it. Further, he realized, buried deep within the panic was a small sense of excitement. He actually wanted to do it. Quietly, he pried himself out of the brush and stood up. He took a deep breath and then walked as calmly as he could pretend around the corner toward the front entrance of the Reptile Realm.
“Kid! Where do you think you’re going?” said a loud voice, and Sebastian turned to see the melted man striding toward him, hand on hip. Or no, rather, hand on holster, and Sebastian assumed that within the holster was some kind of gun or weapon. Sebastian swallowed. Or attempted to. Suddenly the inside of his mouth was very dry.
“Oh hi!” he said—well, kind of squeaked, actually. “I just wanted to see the lizards.”
The melted man loomed over him and Sebastian attempted to swallow again. Did he recognize him? Did he remember? Was this man the last person Sebastian was ever going to see on this earth? “Exhibit’s closed, kid,” said the man.
Sebastian was both relieved and terrified, but he couldn’t exactly turn away. He needed to see inside, to see if Catherine was there. He would have to do something unthinkable. He’d have to ignore an authority figure. He could feel his whole body shaking at the thought. “Really? I thought I saw someone inside.” His throat was so dry he was barely able to get the words out, and Sebastian turned and marched on trembling legs toward the glass front doors and opened one. Suddenly his feet were no longer touching the ground. The man had grabbed him under the armpits and turned him around to face him.
“I said it’s closed.”
“I don’t care!” said Sebastian defiantly, finding his voice. But he did care, he really did. “I think you’re lying and someone’s in there!”
“Oh, someone’s in there, all right.” The man squinted at him and Sebastian squinted back. “You want to see what happens to people who don’t follow the rules and sneak into dangerous reptile exhibits? Fine!”