Anni Moon & The Elemental Artifact: An Elemental Fantasy Adventure Series: Book For Kids Ages 9-12 (Anni Moon Series)

by Abed, Melanie

  Anni ignored her and headed toward the stairs.

  “What about your little weirdo friend? Will she take your job in the kitchen, or will they kick her to the curb, too?”

  Anni spun around, turned to Miranda, pointed her finger, and said, “Don’t you dare talk about Lexi! Get your facts straight; next time you lie about me to Finnegan—”

  “Did I hear my name?”

  Anni wheeled around. Finnegan was standing in the hall next to Brunhild, the school’s cook, whose greasy face rippled with fury.

  “Here she is,” said Finnegan, grinning wickedly. “Sneaking off from her chores.”

  “Who do you think you are, Cinderella?” said Brunhild, spittle flying out of her mouth with each word. She dragged Anni by the arm down the hall. “Just you wait; you’ll be the first to go. If I had the staff, I’d fire you myself. Dishes undone, trays upstairs, broken.”

  Enraged and unable to contain her temper, Brunhild yelled in incoherent German, none of which Anni could comprehend. That, coupled with Finnegan’s malicious smirk and Miranda’s fits of laughter, made Anni wish she could disappear. Once they got to the kitchen, she shoved earplugs into her ears and tried to tune out the world.

  The one o’clock school bell rang. Anni collected her things, ready to leave.

  “Oh, no you don’t.” Brunhild smiled.

  “I have a science test review.”

  Finnegan came into the kitchen, his arms folded, blocking the door. “Today, you’ll be skipping that test review. Get notes from someone, if you have any friends. As punishment for lying about this morning—”

  “I didn’t lie. Ask Viv—Miss Sugar. She’ll tell you.”

  “Don’t interrupt! I also don’t care. You will finish those piles of dishes by hand, and shine the copper pots until they gleam. When you are finished, wash that excuse of a uniform by hand, and you’re banned from Friday night privileges. One peep out of you, and Brunhild will find plenty of other things for you to do.”

  Anni fumed at the injustice of it all, but she remained quiet.

  Finnegan left. Brunhild watched Anni clean the rest of the dishes and pots from a comfortable chair as she read a book, The Seven Secrets of Highly Successful People.

  It took two hours to do all the dishes by hand and shine the pots, plus another hour to wash her uniform to Brunhild’s satisfaction. Anni had an extra pair of shorts and a shirt upstairs, but Brunhild wouldn’t let her get them and made her put on something from the lost and found bin. The choices were horrible: all she could find was a pair of neon red spandex pants and a bedazzled crop top in shocking pink. Anni despised pink.

  When Anni left the kitchen, she didn’t take out her earplugs, just in case Brunhild started yelling again. She had to pass through the dining hall to get to the service stairs, which she wanted to use while dressed in the ridiculous red and pink outfit. But when she opened the door, she was hit first by the sounds of the movie she’d been forbidden to watch. Right after that came the guffaws, washing over her like a tidal wave. It didn’t help that Miranda was in the front row.

  Anni felt her cheeks burn. She casually strolled through the dining hall, walked up the main staircase until she was sure no one was around, and ran the rest of the way. By the time she reached the tower’s common door, she was ready to lock herself inside and never come out again. She abandoned her selfish thoughts at the sight of Lexi slumped on the old, lumpy sea green sofa that Anni used as a bed. Lexi lifted her head from her hands when Anni shut the door. Something was very wrong because Anni had never seen her friend look this unraveled before, except maybe the last time she saw Teddy.

  “Hi,” Lexi mumbled. “I was locked out last night…” An unwrapped package rested on her lap, and she held a small card in her hand. “It came for me in the mail.” On the brink of tears, she said, “I’ll be in huge trouble for this if I get caught. The mailman just gave it to me. No one else was there. It’s from Teddy, I’m sure.”

  Anni rushed over. She pushed aside the parcel’s paper and saw an old patchwork doll with braided hair and dark skin like Lexi's. She checked the postmark. “It’s addressed to you. You’re not in trouble if it’s yours.”

  “But Anni,” said Lexi. “I’m supposed to report it straight to the Headmistress. She asked me months ago to do that if anything came from Teddy. She said any communication had to go through the office first. Even Egbert said—”

  “Ugh, forget that! Especially him. He’d take it in a second. You’d never see it again. Don’t show anyone that doll.”

  “I know, I know, but I’m too old for dolls. This has to be a message.” Lexi bit her lip. “I think it’s a clue, but I don’t understand the note.”

  “Just say you had it from before. Throw it on your bed. Where’s the card?”

  “It came tied to the doll’s necklace.” Lexi handed Anni a small piece of paper.

  No signature, no “Love, Uncle Teddy,” only a word—and an unusual one at that. Anni repeated it. “CUCLOCKEYBEE. Is that all?”

  “Yes! I’m never going to figure it out.”

  Anni paused, thought about it, and said, “Are you sure Teddy sent it?”

  “It’s his handwriting, but messy and rushed…” Lexi’s hand trembled as she pulled out an old postcard from Teddy and showed it as a comparison to the package’s inscription. “It’s exactly the same, right?”

  “Hmm, I’m not sure. It looks similar, but it doesn’t make sense. If he wanted you to have it, why can’t he come back and deliver it in person and stop the Murdrock takeover?”

  “He’s not coming back,” said Lexi pointedly as she looked away.

  “What?” A tinge of hurt rippled in her voice. Anni knew that averted glance all too well. She employed it herself whenever anyone asked her questions about Mabel. “But we don’t know anything yet. Not for sure anyway,” she said, desperately thinking that if what Lexi just said was true, both of their lives would change forever. She didn’t want to think about that reality, especially if it meant moving in with Egbert. So she forced herself to swallow her alarm and focus on Lexi. “Well, the clue is simple enough to figure out.”

  “Really?” Lexi’s eyes bulged behind her giant, round glasses.

  Even though she didn’t like to say her aunt’s name aloud, she needed to tell Lexi why she understood the clue. Like a rusted hinge on a door, the name passed through her lips with a squeak. “Mabel.”

  “Oh,” said Lexi.

  Anni was relieved she didn’t have to repeat herself. “She set up scavenger hunts around Waterstone and Edgewater. Those two weeks every summer when you and Teddy went away, she made clues for me with a bunch of words mashed together. Anyway, CUCLOCKEYBEE has four words: cu, clock, key, and bee.”

  Lexi stared intently at the letters, too, until she said, “But what’s CU?”

  “No thanks to Finnegan the Minion for trying to make me fail my test, but I know my Elements.”

  “What?” Lexi gasped as her mouth fell open.

  Anni wanted to give Lexi a little hope, but even she was beginning to doubt if this was possible. In a softer tone, she said, “Science class. The Periodic Table of Elements.”

  “Oh, right,” said Lexi between short breaths.

  “Cu means copper. And if I’m right, the first part of the clue is copper clock. That’s where we would start. Can you think of any copper clocks around here?”

  Lexi straightened up. “I think there’s one next to the Headmistress’s office.”

  “Behind the secretary’s desk. Let’s go check it out!”

  “Anni, what if someone sees us?”

  Anni grinned. “No one will, at midnight.”

  MABEL’S KEY

  After midnight, the girls made their way down one flight of stairs, but stopped halfway down the second. Rufous Finnegan was heading their way. They ducked behind a pillar on the third-floor corridor. Finnegan passed them on the way to their common room door.

  “We’re busted,” said Lexi, trembling.<
br />
  Finnegan stood on the landing with his head cocked to the side, listening. Slowly, he pulled out his keys and locked their door. Anni put a finger to her lips until they heard his keys clang farther and farther away.

  Lexi wrung her hands, her eyes brimming, “We have to go back.”

  “We can’t,” said Anni. “He locked our door.”

  Lexi chewed her lip, and then nodded. “What are we going to do? I think he did the same thing last night, and I almost got caught in the halls.”

  “Eggs!” said Anni. “Why’d he do that? Who told him to?”

  “I don’t know. Do you think he found out about the doll?”

  “If he knew, he’d take it. Anyway, stay here. I’ll go check the clock. You don’t have to come. It’s okay. I’ll meet you when I’m done.”

  “Um, no, no. I should go, too. We should go together.”

  Perhaps it was the hour, but an ominous presence surrounded them. Lexi flinched a dozen times as they made their way down the stairs. She acted as if the shadows were alive and ready to pounce. Anni shivered. The stone hall felt damp from the storm. She remembered a very different feeling back when Mabel was around, when everything seemed warmer, even at nighttime.

  “Look.” Lexi pointed at Headmistress Turnkey’s door. “Her light’s out.”

  Anni took Lexi’s hand and led the way. They inched past the secretary’s desk into the formal waiting room, decked out in golden beige hues, with upholstered chaises that matched the wallpaper. Shoved into the corner stood an antique copper clock, hidden behind the long fronds of a potted palm tree.

  Anni inched the pot aside. Lexi climbed onto a chaise and teetered on its armrest, inspecting the clock’s face. Anni searched the clock’s base with no luck, but when she stood, she caught sight of Lexi pushing a small decorative finial.

  Gears whirred, ending with a pop that echoed in the halls. A tiny compartment rolled open just under the number six, revealing something wrapped inside a cloth. Lexi took it, closed the lever, and jumped down to show Anni.

  Together, they unwrapped the item in the dim light. It seemed to be another clue. Lexi rolled her eyes. “Great,” she said. “Now where does this go?”

  Anni took the small object, turned it over and grinned. “I think I know exactly where this goes. This morning, I went to the clock tower to find you, but it was locked.”

  “Really? But it’s never locked.”

  “I know.” Anni spoke softly. “This key is the second clue of CUCLOCKEYBEE. So far we’ve found the copper clock, and this is a copper key. The word LOCK must be hidden in the word CLOCK, which has to be a third clue. The only place I saw a shiny new lock was on the door of the old clock tower.”

  Anni didn’t understand why Lexi didn’t look more excited.

  “Aside from today,” said Lexi with a furrowed brow. “when was the last time you went to the clock tower?”

  “A week ago.” Anni shrugged. “Could have been longer. Why?”

  “It’s weird, don’t you think?”

  “What’s weird?” asked Anni in a whisper.

  “What if someone is trying to trick us? Get us to go outside to…this might sound silly, but what if Finnegan’s actually protecting us?”

  “Finnegan!” Anni snorted. “The Minion’s no protector! Besides, who’d trick us? It’s okay if you don’t want to go to the clock tower. I’ll go. You can keep watch.”

  “No, no. I’m being silly, and I’m not letting you go alone.”

  Waterstone’s front doors were locked tight. So were the sunroom’s French windows. There was only one door left. The girls tiptoed through the corridors without incident. They reached the kitchen, when the sound of a bullhorn made them freeze.

  It was Brunhild; she was snoring. Unfortunately, that wasn’t all. The kitchen’s outside door butted right up against the Cook’s room, and both girls knew that it creaked every time it was opened. Anni had an idea and pointed to a jar of lard on the counter. Lexi grabbed it and together, they greased the door hinges.

  With slimy fingers, Anni took a deep breath and turned the door’s knob. The kitchen door opened without a squeak. Relieved, the girls carefully shut the door behind them. Across the grounds, Finnegan’s gatehouse light was still on. They decided to run around the back of the school in case he might be looking out his window.

  The wet grounds made it hard to run. By the time they reached the tower, they were thoroughly splattered with mud.

  “You were right,” said Lexi, surprised when she saw the copper lock binding the clock tower’s door.

  Anni took out the key from her shirt pocket. She tried to fit it into the lock, but it fell out of her wet hands onto the grass.

  “Eggs!”

  Lexi gasped. “Oo, Finnegan’s light went out. I sure hope he’s sleeping. If Egbert knew we were out here, he would be so mad at us.”

  “Why would you say his name now?”

  “I don’t know, but whenever you say Eggs, it’s like you’re cursing him,” said Lexi. “Never mind; did you find the key?”

  With a steady hand, Anni inserted the key into the copper lock and turned it.

  CLANG! THUMP!

  The lock and chains fell on a stone paver and the sound echoed across the grounds. The girls froze. They stared at the gatehouse, and waited for a light to flip on inside. It remained dark, and when they thought it was safe, they looked down.

  “Oh, no! It’s broken.” Lexi’s voice wobbled.

  The shiny new copper lock was broken into four separate pieces.

  “Wait,” said Lexi. “Is that…what I think it is?”

  Anni peered closer. Without thinking, she reached down to pick up the object Lexi pointed at.

  A long golden chain sat cold and wet in the palm of her hand. Dangling off the end of the chain was a dainty silver key that glittered like a diamond when lightning bursts illuminated the sky. The remarkable thing was that both Anni and Lexi had seen the chain before; it wasn’t just any old chain, or any old key, for that matter. However, there was one item missing—a small golden locket—that Anni had seen hundreds of times hang around her Aunt Mabel’s neck.

  In the dim light she raised the chain until the dangling key was hanging at eye level. Anni’s fingertip skimmed the key’s silvery edge, and she was zapped by a jolt of electricity. Then a low, crackling voice boomed across the sky. “My gratitude and acknowledgments, human! Notwithstanding, your lack of urgency is akin to that of a gastropod.”

  THE INVISIBLE SPEAKER

  All it took was one touch of the key, and he knew he had found her.

  At long last, hope had arrived; with the help of this girl he would be able to repay his blood debts. Despite the centuries waiting for this moment it had been a long time since he was expected to make a formal introduction, which previously cost him dearly. He was not in any mood to make another fatal mistake of offering his name to anyone, much less a human.

  Ancient creatures of his ilk knew better than to share the gift of their names. The mere offering of a name was tantamount to delivering your soul up on a platter, and thus granting another great power over your being. He had made the grave mistake of sharing his true name once before, and had been suffering for it ever since. His last hope was tethered irrevocably to that small iridescent key and the contract bonded within its metal.

  This unique key had been forged and bound with Elemental intent, and fashioned from his igneous scale, a potent configuration of iridium and crystalline-pure carbon. For centuries, Elemental Keepers guarded it, passing it down with every generation in hopes that one day a summoner would appear, though none arrived. The very last keeper of this key, Mabel Moon, revealed that a summoner would be born during her lifetime.

  He waited, and grew patient with each passing century, no matter his personal suffering. Yet, never in all that while had he imagined the summoner would be a mere child, much less a human girl. Nevertheless, Anni Moon was the one who summoned him, and she alone was capable of ending
his eternal imprisonment, eventually, but first there was other work to be done.

  The key itself was merely a tool, an invitation, if you will. It was crucial to his plans that the girl kept the key on her, since it allowed him access to her memories, thoughts, and mind. Once he had that, he would find a way to bind himself to her, and thus offer her a formal contract, one she couldn’t turn down. He knew very well that bindings were against Elemental Law, which strictly forbade the division of essence from one living being to be transferred to another, but being a creature of such primordial lineage, these insignificant Elemental Laws meant little to him, and, if anyone disagreed, he could always breathe fire on them.

  All he needed now was for the Child to seal the contract.

  There was plenty of time for plotting, manipulation, and the orchestrating of events—but for the moment, he’d decided to take a little nap, for there was much scheming to be done.

  M FOR MURDROCK

  Lexi had a strange feeling about Mabel’s key; it’s why she didn’t touch it.

  “Anni?” she asked, wondering why her friend looked so puzzled, and kept searching the sky. “What is it? Do you think someone saw us?”

  The clock tower’s door creaked open. Lexi jumped. She didn’t think she could take another surprise. It was bad enough that she was able to see the Funk in Miss Sugar’s office but, when they sneaked downstairs, the Funk was lurking in every dark corner of the school. What made it even worse was that she couldn’t come right out and tell Anni it was Funk, especially when she had so much more to say.

  “We better get inside,” said Anni.

  Lexi’s stomach was full of knots. Part of her wanted to go back inside the school, pretend these events weren’t happening, forget everything—the doll, the note—but another part of her needed answers. She was frozen with indecision.

  BOOM.