Isadora Iree stood between her mother and her boyfriend. Her hair and dress were as wet as ever. Presently, she slapped Roderick on the shoulder. “You told me the final answer was ‘rutabaga’!”
“Hush, Isadora,” Roderick said, his face going just as red as his father’s.
“Isadora?” Madame Iree said. “You were cheating this whole time? I simply don’t believe it.”
Isadora’s mouth clamped shut, and she gazed up at her mother with large innocent eyes.
Adler, who was leaning on a nearby tree, gave a quick disbelieving laugh. “Ha! So those notes that Roderick was giving you … They weren’t love poems after all, were they, sister? They were the answers to the contest clues.”
Isadora scowled at Adler.
“So, that’s it, Roderick?” Sir Baltimore said through gritted teeth. He turned abruptly on his son, pointing his finger menacingly. “You were giving all the answers I gave to you to your girlfriend? And here I thought you were just incompetent, but apparently, I should change that to stupid.”
Roderick pulled himself up straight. “Chivalry! Chivalry! Chivalry!”
“Balderdash!” said Sir Baltimore. “Do you realize how much money you’ve lost me?”
Roderick sneered at his father. “Well, maybe I would have won after all, if that supposedly perfect memory of yours wasn’t so faulty. You couldn’t even remember what the plans said about the flying carpets and how to get them to work. And all those clocks yesterday. You forgot which ones were real and which were false. I had to figure that out myself!”
“Imagine that,” Oona said.
“We’re going home!” Sir Baltimore declared, before marching off in the direction of the park entrance. “Roderick! Penelope!”
“I want a story!” Penelope cried as she followed hurriedly after her father. “The one about the Punchbowl Oracle!”
Sir Baltimore cringed at the mention of the bowl and suddenly began to walk faster. Roderick bent to kiss Isadora’s hand, but Isadora jerked away and stalked off across the park toward the exit, Roderick following closely behind like a scolded puppy dog.
“But, my lady,” he tried to reason with her, “there was no way I could have known about the final question. I simply could not have …”
His voice trailed off as he moved out of earshot, and the rest of the crowd began to disperse.
The Wizard extended a hand to Oona. “May I see the wand, Oona?” he asked.
Oona handed over the wand and the box. The Wizard turned the wand in his long, wrinkled fingers. “Come, let us take this back to Pendulum House, for safekeeping … and of course, to celebrate.”
“Celebrate what?” Oona asked, feeling that Red Martin’s escape was no reason to rejoice.
“To celebrate your victory,” said Adler. The boy stepped forward, tipping his top hat back on his head. “After all, you are the first person ever to solve all the levels and every clue of the Magician’s Tower.”
“A party is in order,” said the Wizard, looking suddenly not like an old man, but like a child who had just received precisely what he wanted for a birthday present. “Samuligan, we have arrangements to make.”
Samuligan nodded, and the two of them turned in the direction of the park entrance. Oona saw the Wizard give a little skip as he and Samuligan crossed the park, and Samuligan began to whistle a tune so eerily sweet that several crows ventured from their nests to flutter about his cowboy hat.
Oona turn to Adler, meaning to ask if he would care to accompany them back to Pendulum House, when the boy leaned forward and kissed her. A wave of electricity shot through her, strong and fierce. It was her very first kiss.
Deacon squawked and flew from her shoulder, landing on a high branch.
“Oh,” she said as Adler straightened. “You startled Deacon.” She did not add that she herself had been startled, though in a very good way. She tilted her head coyly. “What was that for?”
Adler shrugged, grinning broadly. “ ’Cause I wanted to.”
Oona glanced quickly around to see if anyone was watching. Deacon was perched in a tree, high above, his back to them as if something enormously interesting were happening across the street.
The fact that the kiss had happened here, on the very spot where the accident had occurred so many years ago, was not lost on Oona. For the briefest of moments she felt the chilly fingers of guilt wrap around her insides, threatening to tug her downward, intent on spoiling the moment. But before the guilt could take hold completely, another thought sprang into her mind, and the uneasy feeling disappeared.
Abra-ord-ion-all, she thought.
Oona took Adler’s hand and squeezed. Her heart was racing, and all at once she felt incredibly daring. Before she could stop herself, she stood boldly on her tiptoes and kissed Adler on the cheek. Adler blushed, and the electric sensation shot through Oona once again. It was a familiar feeling, she realized, one she’d known her entire life.
It was just like magic.
The Magician's Tower Page 20