by Shane Mason
‘Or,’ Melaleuca said, ‘it could be one of many reasons. These we will discover as we move forward, playing.’
Lexington placed her hands on her hips.
‘And I suppose you already knew this?’
‘It had occurred to me, yes.’
‘I won’t play. I will pretend instead.’
‘Good,’ Melaleuca said ignoring her dig. ‘One more thing though. We make contact with people only when I say so. Quixote? Is that clear?’
He nodded.
‘Rest and clear ourselves. We start tomorrow morning.’
‘But why not start now,’ Lexington said. ‘The note said to give regard to no others.’
‘I feel it,’ Melaleuca said. ‘Besides I think it wise to make our Aunt think we have calmed down.’
‘You know that whatever it is we have to do,’ Ari said, ‘will probably involve taking her on.’
Aunty Gertrude burst into the room, throwing the door open. A little freaked at the timing, they waited for the inevitable scolding. She shooed the boys out of the room, while Pemily gave the girls bowls of gruel. Petruce escorted the boys to their rooms, serving them with similar muck. Within minutes of her leaving, the boys climbed into the secret passage and wound their way to the girls’ room, finding them staring at the disgusting slop.
‘She said it would make us hard from the inside,’ Lexington said. ‘It smells like vomit.’
The door creaked open again, and Uncle Bear-Nard’s nervous head appeared around the edge checking who occupied the room. He beckoned them to follow him. Trundling behind, the cousins followed him through the wall-door and down the back stairs. Just before the bottom of the stairs he pushed on the wall and it flipped outwards, hinged on an angle.
‘Come through,’ he said.
They squeezed through into another staircase.
Before they could ask, Uncle Bear-Nard explained, ‘Some of the interior staircases have flip sides to them.’
‘Why?’ Lexington asked.
‘Not really sure.’
After walking up two flights of stairs, they came to a narrow corridor leading left and right.
‘Not all the floors have them,’ Uncle Bear-Nard further explained. ‘M..m..most puzzling. Corridors l..l..leading nowhere, but some rooms. Follow.’
They trotted off down the narrow corridor to a small door. Inside, a small table had been spread with a cloth, and dishes containing hot food, and sweet looking ale sat. Around it four, old, rickety chairs sat. Plain walls faced them with four small candles hanging off the wall, burning away and emitting a weak yellow light.
‘I do a..a.a.apologise. Your Aunt has a good heart, a strong heart though. I had Mrs Whibberry chuck t..t.t.this together.’
‘Yum,’ Quixote said
Both he and Ari tucked in without question.
‘Who is Mrs Whibberry?’ Lexington asked.
‘Our cook,’ Uncle Bear-Nard said back. ‘Best not m..m..mention this feast to anyone.’
He scurried out the door before any more questions could be asked.
The cousins did not hold back. They engorged themselves, stuffing food into their mouths and tasting its delectable sumptuousness; chomping and chewing until their bellies could fit no more. They ate so much that weariness came over them. Once finished, they clomped back to their respective rooms, a need to lie down befalling all of them.
***
Quixote flopped around on his bed feeling frustrated. After all he had a bracelet that could bring his imagination to life. He jumped up and looked out the smeary window. Like small dots, the rooftops of the town could be seen down on the valley floor. Maybe there were some children like him down there.
Ari lay on his bed, too full to worry about Quixote’s restlessness, though he too felt restless. Now that he lay still, the silent sensation he had dubbed the “Ethmare” called to him again, though every time he moved or focused on it, it disappeared. Only stillness of his mind and body brought it back. What was it? What around here could command such a feeling inside him?
Lexington’s mind felt too crammed with questions and possibilities to even contemplate trying to sort them out. Stuffed from eating too much, she lay on her bed. Without letting Melaleuca know, she took her advice; relaxed and tried to think of something fun and enjoyable.
As the food gurgled through her intestines, demanding more energy from her body to help digest it, her thoughts slowed down, helping her to relax. Smiling, she pictured herself in an archaeologist’s costume examining the statues in Hirad’s Forest. She thought of Argus videotaping them, the photaic wall, silverquick and Antavahni, and of course the odd creature Iam. She thought of the words that Aunty Gertrude spoke a few days before, about them being descended from Throughnight nobility and wondered if it was connected to what Jeeves said about them inheriting the Cathedral-Mansion. If it were true, then Aunty Gertrude would probably want to stop them. Was the end of age Antavahni spoke of, and the end Iam mentioned, one and the same thing?
As sleep tugged at her, she felt a pang of excitement, realising she would need many different costumes to solve all of these mysteries.
Melaleuca lay on her bed, looking up at the ceiling. In her grew two gardens of thoughts. One was heavily fertilized by the exhilaration of the bracelets and costumes. They had separated her from the earth’s gravity, giving her a great sense of lightness and freedom. Even now as she lay down, her body could still feel the sensation, like stepping off a boat on to flat land and still feeling it swaying.
Yet in the other garden of her thoughts, grew a sinking feeling; a feeling that what they had seen and experienced so far, was only a taste of events to come. She felt the edges of seriousness way off in the distance, held back for the time being. Shapeless and making little sense, she knew eventually they would have to face this thing, whatever it was. On her own instructions she tried not to think about it, but needed to find something to laugh about.
Keep moving forward and play.
As ever she resolved to steel herself to follow these instructions no matter what.
***
‘You have two weeks,’ Aunty Gertrude said in another rant. ‘Two weeks to prove to me I should let those brats stay. Or I will alert the high council that my plan to bring outside children to New Wakefield is starting.’
Uncle Bear-Nard looked as defiant as his meek, round face could muster. ‘They need more time to adjust. Children from the outside world are different.’
‘They are weak!’
‘They could be strong.’
‘They should be sent to the Southern Wasteland. I do not want them leaving here until they can act like they should. I forbid it. Hence forth they are house bound.’
‘But ─ ’
‘No BUTS! Do you realise how precarious this is? Do you? With the sighting of the Marauders and your sisters association with them last time, we will be lucky if these children do not finish this great house off.’
He went to speak, but she hushed him, and stormed out through the bedroom door, her hard soled shoes clattering down the corridor.
‘Two weeks,’ she yelled back.
Lost, Uncle Bear-Nard sat on the edge of the bed; the large castle-like room swallowing up his thoughts.
The small creature with changing skin colour appeared in the corridor, morphing into a dirty urchin boy, before stepping into the doorway.
‘What’s wrong?’ Scout asked.
‘That I should be the last of my forebears to witness how empty and forlorn this house has become.’
‘Every great civilisation falls,’ Scout said, offering cold comfort.
‘Perhaps, but if we fall, history shall never know us and any of our past greatness.’
Scout scratched its head, flaky skin falling from it like snow. ‘Is that why you let the children come here?’
‘Someone has to be left behind to remember us. I only hope it was not a mistake.’ He looked at Scout. ‘You have kept away from them, haven’t you?’
Scout nodded.
‘Good. Keep it that way until I say otherwise. And why are you dressed as a tramp?’
Scout darted its eyes left and right, looking guilty.
‘I think the Harbinger might have something to say about this,’ Uncle Bear-Nard said. ‘Didn’t the Harbinger tell you to stay out of the costume room?’
***
The Harbinger watched the cousins fall asleep. He felt bad. He had slipped sleeping potion into their food while no one watched. The cousins rapid discovery of the costumes and the ease at which they took to them both pleased and disturbed him. Pleased because the cousins were everything he had hoped for, but disturbed because events were moving faster than he could control.
***
That night Aunty Gertrude heard dogs barking and baying from a distance. At first she tried to ignore them, but then they got closer and closer. The last time she had heard them, the Inquisat had tracked some escaped children to one of the sheds at the back of the Cathedral-Mansion. That’s all she needed now, was another bothersome child.
Lamp in hand, she strode outside to investigate. From across the fields heading toward the Cathedral-Mansion she could see the yellow lights of lanterns and hear the din of tracking dogs. Within minutes Captain HeGood and ten of his Inquisat soldiers came rushing toward her, all on horseback.
Seeing her, he cried out, ‘Halt!’ and trotted over to her.
‘Matron Gertrude. My apologies for the disturbance.’
‘I see. What is your business? Escaped children?’
‘Not exactly. I came across two strange boys a day or so ago in the Northern Hills while tracking an escaped child. I think these boys were outsiders. Have you seen them?’
‘S...s...s..seen them? S...s...s..seen them?’ She bit her lip to hide the anger she felt rise toward Uncle Bear-Nard. Those damn children had got themselves spotted. Just as well she had forewarned the council behind his back.
‘Aye. Seen them. Two strange boys.’
‘Have you told the council of this?’ Aunty Gertrude asked.
‘Not yet.’
‘Pity. It might have saved you a trip. You see I have four children here under my care. The council knows of it. We are seeing if outside children can adapt to our ways.’
Captain HeGood stared back puzzled. ‘What would be the purpose of this?’
‘I bid you good night Captain HeGood and remind you of your rank. The children will be starting their disciplining in a few days. There will be no more incidences.’
‘I know my rank and I shall be checking with the council.’
He turned his steed and bade the others follow and rode off.
Chapter 20 - Experiments, Tests and Theories.
Lexington woke up first, determined to get a head start. In the attic, after conversing with her inner voice, she found sheets of white paper, and pinned them up. She wrote on them:
Costumes identified
Costumes tried
Costume principles
-Need to relax and enjoy
-Play (unconfirmed), perhaps only enthusiasm is needed. Or pretend.
Costumes strengths/weaknesses
- Can take the person over and control them
She pinned the last sheet of paper up and started writing out unanswered questions.
Who attacked us? Why? What were they after?
Where did the bracelets and costumes come from?
What powers them?
How does this land work? Magnetism?
Where are our parents?
Why only one photo of mother?
What’s so special about us?
Under this question, she jotted, We are from a noble bloodline and are to inherit this house. Are we being trained for something?
She carried on writing more questions down.
What is a cock-a-rock?
How old is this land?
What is the creature I keep seeing?
What is a Marauder?
Who is KARENA?
Gazing at her handiwork she realised she needed a pattern to glue it all together. She wrote up, “Myth and Legend,” paused then scrawled underneath it, “Hyper-thesis.”
She scrawled her original five hyper-theses under the heading, and lastly, after pinning up one more sheet, she wrote on it, “Leads,” then raised the pen to write more questions.
The others arrived, passing by the sheets and reading them.
‘I intend to gather all the facts we discover,’ Lexington said. ‘Write up what you find under the right heading. Each day I shall include them in my hyper-thesis.’
Lexington beamed.
‘Make sure you have fun,’ Melaleuca said.
Ari read over the sheets, while Quixote screwed his face up
‘That’s not fun,’
Melaleuca spoke before Lexington could answer back.
‘I’ll write up what he discovers….Happy?’
‘Yeeeaahh. I guess.’
‘Good. Lexington. What else are you doing today?’
‘You approve of this, then?’
‘Of course. It is clear you are enjoying it, having fun. So, today?’
Lexington cocked her head at Ari, asking, ‘Are you following your Ethmare feeling today?’
He nodded.
‘I may follow then.’
‘With the Indian costume, I’m going to sit on the roof and listen and look, just like Iam said.’
Melaleuca nodded her approval.
‘Oh,’ Lexington said. ‘In that case, I may...’
She produced a pair of khaki pants with a safari shirt and a tatty, leather bag with metal implements sticking out.
‘This is an archaeologist’s outfit. I am going to investigate the statue and then...’ She looked up and down, suddenly puzzled. ‘…though I really want to work out who Karena is. Was it our mums’ friend? Or even a nickname for one of them? And you know what? That bush creature Iam bugs me. I mean what is it?’
Melaleuca felt the fabric of the khaki shorts. Of course she confuses herself with her own questions. ‘Just follow one lead. Your heart or your head but have fun.’
‘Hey Lex, why not find a decision making outfit.’ Quixote said.
‘Perhaps I will.’
‘And Quixote,’ Melaleuca said tugging him away from Lexington, ‘you are going to do, what?’
He drummed his fingers on his chest and placed one under his bottom lip, humming away.
‘Ummm...mmmm, um, I want to try on lots of costumes. Find the most fun ones.’
‘And where are you going to do this?’
‘In the attic?’
Melaleuca lifted his chin up so he could see her face, saying, ‘Stay away from people, all people. Come and find one of us if the need arises.’
He nodded.
‘And what are you to do?’ Lexington asked Melaleuca.
‘Keep an eye on you all,’ she replied with a mysterious air, and then announced, ‘Now, treat this as a game. Play. Every five minutes take your bracelets off, to stop the costumes taking over. Are we clear?’
They all nodded in agreement.
***
From the rooftop Ari nearly saw to the sea down the valley. He tried using his telescopic vision to see into the township, discovering it had a limited range. The houses had strange roofs but he could not make them out fully. He swept his eyes across the landscape. A sense of vastness leaked off the southern dry hills, hinting at the thousands of miles that lay beyond. Relaxing into it, many sensations licked at his developing insight, though one stood out. The northern forested hills seethed with a lush, silent richness, reminiscent of the Ethmare.
He traced his way to the northern end of the Cathedral-Mansion, passing by many out-of-place odd towers, turrets and steeples. Sitting, he folded his legs and stared into the forest, closing his eyes. Iam had said it would take weeks, even months to hear the plants and animals. Perhaps with the costumes he could do it quicker; perhaps minutes, or hours, at best no more than
a day.
***
As Lexington stood, brush in hand, at the base of the strewn trees and dirt piles, she looked up at the statues and an impulse to begin with the doors struck her. She questioned why, and considered activating her inner voice to analyse it, though the impulse suddenly left.
Strange. That never happened with the detective costume.
Putting the brush down, she wrote, “why,” in the ground with her finger.
I don’t like being kept silent for too long.
‘Did you just observe what happened?’
Yesss!
‘Well?’
Well what!
‘Well what do you think?’
Melaleuca is right. Play. Stop thinking. That way you won’t need me.
‘Meaning?’
I am not made for play. I think, I analyse, I ─
‘I meant what do you mean, “Play, stop thinking.” It didn’t happen with the detective costume.’
Oh, I see how it is going to be. Very well then. The detective costume’s function was to think and analyse, something you do naturally. So it was not against your natural impulse.
‘So that means...’
Relax and pretend and you shall become as the costume. But I shouldn’t worry about it. You would have worked it out.
‘So to be an archaeologist, I just purely pretend, not think.’
Duhhh! That’s what I said.
‘What’s bugging you?’
When you stop analysing I switch off. It means I can’t be what you are pretending to be unless you are thinking and analysing.
‘You’re not a separate personality.’
I can’t help what I am, what I become, anymore than you can.
Hmmm, thought Lexington. That does not sound right.
Stop! It hurts and anyway I can hear what you feel.
Lexington bent down and scrawled, “that’s why,” in the dirt. Her inner voice seemed to be getting more and more unruly, something she would have to analyse later.