“Okay,” she said, after several moments had passed. “Now that Andy’s gone, what’s up? You didn’t tell us everything, did you?”
He shook his head. As usual, she seemed to know when he was hiding something. “Grandfather told me some things I didn’t want Andy to hear.”
“Wow, must be pretty bad.”
“It is.”
“Am I ready to hear them?” she asked, frowning.
He leaned his head against the wall before rolling it to the side to look into her eyes. “My dad had an older brother,” he blurted out.
“What?” Persephone’s eyebrows almost shot off her forehead. “But—but where is he? What—wait a minute. Had?”
“His name was Sam. He was five years older than my dad.”
“So—what happened to him?”
Chase pulled his beanie off and scrunched it in his fists. “Like a lot of us Tinkers, Sam had a hard time learning to control his magic. He had the killing fireballs power. One day he, um, lost control and—and accidentally killed Grandmother and himself. Sam was only eleven when it happened.”
Chase ignored Persephone’s shocked gasp as he continued. “I guess those things were shooting out all over the place.”
He closed his eyes and pictured how it must have looked: fireballs blasting every which way, while the room and everything in it exploded into blazing, out-of-control flames, smoke and heat pouring from them. He shuddered and clamped his hands over his ears as he tried to block out the imagined screams of fear and pain flooding his mind. He also didn’t want to think of how Sam must have felt when the fireballs were shooting out of his hands, but no matter how hard he tried, he wasn’t able to stop it.
“And what about your dad and Clair?” Persephone choked out hoarsely.
Chase swallowed the lump in his throat. He hadn’t realized how hard it would be to actually tell someone this story. No wonder Grandfather had kept it to himself for so long. Chase’s stomach wouldn’t stop rolling. “Clair was only three. She was upstairs asleep. But my dad, he—he saw the whole thing. When Grandfather got there, he was too late to save Sam and Grandmother. He barely saved Dad. After that, Dad was so messed up, he didn’t ever want to have anything to do with magic again.”
“Can you blame him?” said Persephone. “He was six years old when he saw his mom and big brother burned to death. That would be terrible enough for an older person to see, but a little kid?” She shook her head. “I can’t even imagine…” She sniffed as tears dribbled down her face.
“Dad told Grandfather it was all Grandfather’s fault. That he should’ve helped Sam more to control his power.”
“I’m sure Mr. Hiram did everything possible,” said Persephone.
Chase shrugged. “Tell that to a kid who’s hurting. Grandfather went to the Relic and had it take Sam’s power and put it with all the other Forbidden Powers. He didn’t want it for himself. When my dad got his power, he wanted to do the same thing, but Grandfather wouldn’t let him. They had a lot of fights about it. Grandfather wanted him to realize that he had to accept his magical responsibilities, no matter what.”
“At least his power wasn’t dangerous.”
“But no wonder he hates magic so much. And here I am, treating him like crap for it.” Chase’s voice was filled with disgust for himself.
“Don’t beat yourself up over it,” said Persephone, grabbing his arm and giving him a hard shake. “You didn’t know. And anyway, even with that, it still doesn’t excuse his lying, and he should’ve seriously told you and Andy about all the magic.”
Chase bent forward and traced his fingertip around the edge of one of the floor patterns. “Yeah…”
They both sat silently, lost in their own thoughts.
“Come on, let’s go get some dinner,” Persephone said at last. She wiped her tear-stained cheeks on her shirt sleeve and climbed to her feet. “You know if we don’t show up soon, Andy will tell everyone we’re down here making out.”
Chase jumped up and avoided Persephone’s gaze while he dug in his pocket for his enchanted race car. “Where the heck does that kid get all those crazy ideas?” he mumbled.
Persephone smiled and shrugged as they whirled off like a couple of dark-blue tornados into darkness.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
How to be Sneaky
Chase slunk down the unfamiliar hallway, glancing back over his shoulder every few seconds. He squinted into the dimness. Some of the shadows seemed to shift and waver, as if they were going to peel themselves from the walls and pounce on him. He shook his head. Geez! What was wrong with him? Why did he always let his imagination go all out-of-control? After all, he grew up in New York City, for gosh sakes. He should be brave enough to handle a few dark, creepy hallways, shouldn’t he? Most definitely, he told himself. Squaring his shoulders, he continued on his way.
But several minutes later, when a strange noise came from the direction he’d just come from, his bravery completely deserted him. He jerked to a stop. Goosebumps danced across his skin as the hairs on the back of his neck popped up. It sounded as if quiet footsteps were brushing along the carpet behind him.
Flattening himself against the wall, he held his breath. Maxwell hissed in his ear. “Shh! Keep it down,” Chase whispered out of the side of his mouth. He listened closely for several tense moments. Nothing but silence greeted his ears. He took a deep breath and waited for his pounding heart to calm down to its normal pace.
Get a grip, dork! he scolded himself. You’re hearing things. Stay calm, or they’ll find you before you find them. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed since this whole thing started. His enemies might be far away, or just around the next corner.
Sliding along the wall, Chase paused next to an open doorway. Moving at a snail’s pace, he turned and peeked around the door frame. His one-eyed gaze darted around a room that was cluttered with strange furnishings. He saw chairs that looked as if they were made for giants, while others were child-sized; two blue sofas were much larger on one side than the other, while a red one had a huge hump in the middle, sort of like a camel. Several books and pillows looked almost as big as mini-vans.
Chase frowned. Weird. He hoped none of those oddly-shaped sofas was dear old Uncle Frederick. Ever since hearing the guy’s story, he grimaced every time he sat on one of the many sofas strewn about the house.
Because of all the furniture and other items jam-packed into the room, it was hard to tell if anyone was hidden in there. Well, you won’t find out anything standing here, he thought. So get going.
Crouching low, he dashed into the room and ducked behind what he thought was a trash can, before realizing it was actually a coffee mug that had “To Hiram, World’s Hottest Hubby” etched across it.
Chase gave a quiet snort of laughter. Grandfather? Now that’s weird.
Peering over the top of the mug, he checked for any movement before creeping out into the open. “Yikes!” he yelled as he nose-dived onto the hardwood floor. “Way to go, clumsy idiot,” he mumbled, rubbing his aching nose. “Maxwell, I said keep it down!” Maxwell hissed and chattered angrily while he bounced around on the floor. Chase glared at the ferret, like everything was his fault. So much for being Mr. Sneaky.
Flopping over, he tried to sit up, but something felt different. Groaning at the bizarre heaviness of his feet, he lifted them into the air and goggled at them. They were now as big as snowboards. “What the heck?” Then, powerful magic swirled through him.
“Hey! It worked! I got him!”
Chase swiveled his head to the side and gazed at the two people coming toward him: Andy and Persephone, both grinning gleefully.
“What’s going on?” he asked. He tried to move, but it was as though the rest of his body didn’t even exist. Raising his head, he stared at himself. He looked like a huge, helpless turtle stuck on its back. Geez! he thought. Why am I always in these humiliating situations whenever Persephone’s around to see it?
“We won!” crowed Andy. He a
nd Persephone high-fived each other.
“What did you do to me?” said Chase, bewildered.
“Well…the room’s magic did that to your feet—” said Persephone, pointing at his gigantic sneakers.
“—and I did that to your body,” said Andy.
“You froze me?” Chase waggled his eyebrows and shook his head. “But I can move my face and head, and I know what’s going on!”
“That’s the beauty of it,” said Andy, nodding and putting on a wise expression. “I’ve been going to the replicating room and secretly practicing to freeze and unfreeze not just the whole person, but different parts of them. Like eyeballs and fingers. And heads and bodies.”
“So fix me!” moaned Chase. Besides being embarrassed, he was feeling way too vulnerable at the moment. This sucks! he thought. Man, they better watch their backs when I can move again. Secretly practicing. Hmpf!
Andy flicked his finger and Chase’s body came back to life. At the same time Persephone said, “Shrink, Feet.”
Chase jumped to his now normal-sized feet. He skipped to the side, enjoying how light they felt.
Persephone and Andy both jerked up their hands. “Hold it! No retaliation from you. We won fair and square,” said Persephone.
Chase glanced from Persephone to Andy. He narrowed his eyes when he saw the guilty look flash across Andy’s face. His younger brother was rarely good at lying. “That was you guys lurking in the hall, wasn’t it? We already talked about this, and you both know one of the rules was: no invisibility.” No wonder he’d thought phantoms were following him, with these two on his tail.
“We weren’t invisible the whole time,” said Andy as he tugged down on the bill of his enchanted baseball cap.
“It’s still cheating,” said Chase.
Persephone snorted. “I doubt the Marlowes have any rules.”
Chase heaved a sigh of frustration. “I know. But when we’re actually there fighting them, we’ll need to keep an eye on each other, and we can’t do that if anyone’s invisible. It’s kind of hard to watch someone’s back when you can’t see it! So you didn’t win fair and square.”
“But we still—” Persephone’s angry answer was cut off when something smacked her on the back of her head. “Hey!” she cried, whirling to face her attacker.
Then something cold and wet hit Chase in the face. “Wh-what?” he sputtered as dozens of snowballs began to bombard them.
The three kids scrambled to get out of the way of the chilly missiles, bumping into each other and stumbling over chairs and footstools. Andy bounced off one of the huge pillows and flopped to the floor.
The air was so thick with snow, it was impossible to see much of anything. Besides that, the kids were so surprised by the attack, they didn’t have the wits to start an assault of their own.
Not knowing what else to do, Chase dropped to his stomach and threw his arms over his head. It wasn’t until he heard loud laughter that he dared to look up again. He blinked the snowflakes from his eyelashes and gazed around. The attack had ended and the floor was now blanketed in snow. Andy and Persephone were almost buried in the thick snowdrifts.
“Who’s the winner now?” asked an amused voice.
Chase pushed himself to his knees and stared across the room. His dad was sprawled across a huge couch, and he was grinning as if he’d just won the Super Bowl. The three kids had been so involved in their argument, they’d missed hearing his stealthy footsteps. Chase shook his head. Unbelievable! Beaten by the one person he didn’t want to be beaten by. And all because he was nice enough—or dumb enough—to loan his dad his watch, which was enchanted with the Shoot-anything-out-of-your-fingertips magic.
“If I’d’ve been a Marlowe,” Ben continued, “you kids would’ve been in huge trouble. You have to pay attention and be more alert.”
Even though Chase had sympathy for his dad after finding out the reasons why he hated magic so much, Chase forgot all about his good intentions to try to get along with him as anger rocketed through his body. Advice from Benjamin Tinker was the last thing he wanted. Grabbing a huge wad of snow, he jumped to his feet and flung it with all his might. It exploded against the couch, inches from Ben’s left ear.
“Whoa!” yelled Ben, lurching to the side. He rubbed the side of his face with his sleeve to dry the splattered snow drops that hadn’t missed him. “What was this for?”
Chase smirked. “Just making sure you’re paying attention and staying alert.”
“Well, I did get the drop on you,” growled Ben.
Chase raked his hand through his bedraggled hair and swiped away the watery snow dribbling down his neck. “Only because I was yelling at Andy and Persephone for cheating.”
Persephone pushed herself to her feet. “I d-don’t think it was ch-cheating,” she said between chattering teeth. She brushed icy clumps from her hair and clothes.
“Y-yeah,” agreed a shivering Andy.
“Fine!” said Chase. “Whatever! I’ve had enough of this practicing and training, anyway. I’m tired of waiting! I’m going to tell Grandfather I’m ready to go.” He slipped and slid through the slush. “Persephone’s right, it’s not as if the Marlowes will be playing by any rules, either,” he muttered as he disappeared out the doorway.
The other three stared at each other for a few seconds, then tromped after him. Maxwell hopped from the room, shook the snow from his fur and, and with his tail in the air, scampered off in the opposite direction.
The kids and Benjamin headed to the study, where they found Grandfather having tea and snickerdoodles, and playing a game of chess with the hat-stand. Grandfather’s favorite room was now completely back to normal. It had taken the Tidy Tornadoes three days to fix and repair all the destruction caused by James.
Grandfather looked up when he heard them entering the room, but before he had a chance to even say hello, Chase, Ben, Persephone, and Andy began talking and shouting at once.
“It’s time to go get Janie!”
“I don’t think we’re ready yet!”
“Chase is being completely unreasonable!”
“Can I have a cookie?”
Grandfather held up his hands and frowned. “Will you please calm down?” he said when he was finally able to cut in. “What in heaven’s name is going on now? Benjamin, will you please explain? And yes, Andy, you may have a cookie.”
“But—” began Chase. He clamped his lips together and crossed his arms when Grandfather sent him a stern look.
Benjamin shoved his hands into his pockets and shot Chase an annoyed glance. “We were practicing and working on training when Chase apparently didn’t agree with something Andy and Persephone did—”
“Cheating!” muttered Chase, ignoring Persephone’s angry snort.
“—and then when I arrived and caught them off guard, he blew up.” Benjamin shrugged. “So by the looks of things, we are not ready to go.”
“I think we are!” snapped Chase.
“I know you feel as if you’ve practiced enough, Chase, and you’re ready to take on the Marlowes,” said Grandfather, “but I have an important reason for waiting.”
“What could be more important than our rescue mission?”
Grandfather leaned forward and folded his hands on the table. “During the course of the year there are certain days and nights when magic is at its most powerful.”
“All magic?” said Andy, around his mouthful of cookie. “Even dark?”
Grandfather nodded. “Summer and Winter Solstices, and Spring and Autumn Equinoxes are four of these, but one more powerful night, which will be coming up at the end of this month, is All Hallows’ Eve, or Halloween, as most people know it around here.”
“But won’t the Marlowes be more powerful, too?” asked Chase. “If that’s the case, we won’t really have an advantage.”
“Besides your element of surprise, which will be a great asset for you,” said Grandfather, “I’m hoping they won’t realize why we have chosen this particul
ar day. That’s why I believe this will be the perfect time to make our move on them.”
“Make what move and on whom?”
Chase lost his balance and stumbled into Andy as everyone whirled around to face the one person they had hoped to keep in the dark about their rescue operation. At least until it was time to go. But apparently Anne had heard enough of their conversation to be suspicious, since she now stood in the doorway with crossed arms and a stormy expression.
When no one answered her question, she continued. “I’ve been wondering why all of you have been disappearing for hours for the last couple of weeks.” Her eyes narrowed to slits. “You’re planning on going to England to get Janie, aren’t you? Well, I forbid it!”
“I knew she’d sniff out the truth,” muttered Ben. “She’s like a bloodhound. Looks as if we won’t be going anywhere.”
Chase gulped. They couldn’t give up now, not after coming this far. His eyes met Persephone’s. She nodded her head and mouthed, “Say something.”
Chase nodded back then said, “But we have to go, Mom.”
“No you don’t have to!” she snapped. “And I can’t believe you included Andy in this, Ben. What in the world were you thinking?”
“Hey! I can take care of myself,” said Andy. “I’m getting super good at magic.”
“That’s not the point,” said Anne, swishing her hand at him. “I won’t have my family putting themselves in danger all the time. I don’t want to lose any of you again.”
Chase threw himself into Grandfather’s desk chair. “I’m not giving up,” he growled.
Anne stomped her foot. “Oooh! I want to lock the whole bunch of you in the Shrinking Room and leave you there until you come to your senses!”
“You can’t shrink us,” said Andy, crossing his arms and looking smug. “You don’t have any magic.”
“I’ll find a way, wiseguy!”
Looking at her determined face, Chase had no doubt in his mind that she would find a way. “Say something, Dad. You know we have to do this!”
Benjamin took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “He’s right, Anne. It’s something we have to do. You know, family loyalty, honor, and all. You have my deepest promise; I’ll take good care of all of us.”
Chase Tinker and the House of Secrets Page 13