The Trojan Horse Traitor

by Amy C. Blake

  Levi narrowed his eyes. “You better not—”

  “Places, boys.” Mr. Sylvester stepped between them. “It’s time for your lesson.”

  “Yes, sir, of course,” Hunter said to the teacher. Once Mr. Sylvester moved away, he whispered to Levi, “You better learn your lesson, runt.”

  “After final exams at the end of August, we’ll hold the Camp Classic Olympics,” Mr. Dominic announced at breakfast a few days later. “You’ll be required to compete in at least three events. You must register by the last day of July or be assigned whatever is left.” He grinned at the campers’ groans. “Sign-up sheets are posted on the back wall. I’d suggest you spend any free time practicing for your events. We’ll give out medals at our farewell luncheon with your families. You’ll want to make the best showing you can.”

  Levi couldn’t think of a worse way to end camp.

  Later that day, he and Trevor stared at the blank sign-up pages. Fencing, archery, canoeing, running, wrestling, boxing. Even javelin throwing, which Mr. Austin promised to demonstrate the next day.

  He still didn’t understand what this camp had against soccer. Levi could handle that. Or flag football or basketball. At least he’d done those before. “What’re you signing up for?”

  “Don’t know.” Trevor pulled out a dining chair, turned it toward the back wall, and plopped down. “You?”

  Levi turned a chair and extended his pitifully short, scrawny legs next to Trevor’s long, muscular ones. He sighed. “I don’t know. Why can’t we just be spectators? I’m pretty good at that.”

  Trevor laughed.

  “What? I’m serious. Why not offer Armchair Olympics? I could win the gold in that one.”

  Trevor laughed harder, earning a glare from Levi. When Trevor collapsed in a giggling heap on the dining room floor, Levi couldn’t help but laugh with him.

  The next Sunday marked the fourth time the campers got to call home. Trevor decided not to go, claiming his dad wouldn’t want him to call and interrupt the Indians game. Both Monica’s and Steve’s families were on vacation. Sara and Tommy didn’t want to go either, so that left Levi to walk down with Dr. Baldwin and a handful of other kids.

  Nobody said much as they hiked to the cabins. Levi kept wiping sweat from his upper lip and wishing he could swim in the river with his friends. Skipping the phone call home wasn’t an option, though. His mom would freak if she didn’t hear from him weekly.

  When they got to the cabins, he called home and spoke to each member of his family, Abby last of all.

  “So how’s it going?” she asked, but rushed ahead before he could answer. “We just finished swim lessons, and I passed to Dolphin level. Zeke didn’t, so he’s kinda mad. Mom said she’d give him extra lessons when we’re at Grandma’s next week.” She barely paused for breath. “You’re gonna miss out. Grandpa’s taking us fishing. Then we’ve got Vacation Bible School after that.”

  Abby rattled on for five solid minutes before he cut her off to say he had to get off the phone. It sounded like his family was perfectly happy. Without him.

  Levi stomped up the trail, glaring at the dirt his boots kicked up. He didn’t want his family to be miserable, but it bothered him that even Abby didn’t sound teary when she’d said goodbye.

  A swooshing, splashing sound drew his head up. He’d reached the top of the hill where the castle usually waited with a smiling Mr. or Mrs. Dominic at the door. He’d grown so used to it being there he’d pretty much decided the cliff thing was a fantasy. But now, neither of the Dominics was here . . . no door . . . no drawbridge . . . no moat. Levi inched forward. Earth fell away to lake. Waves crashed into rocks a hundred feet below.

  “Somebody, come look!” Where was everybody? “Hello!” Panic skittered through his veins. He couldn’t look away or the cliff might disappear again. “Anybody?” No answer.

  He risked a quick glance around. Apparently, he’d left everyone else behind.

  Then Dr. Baldwin emerged from the trees, and his eyes widened at the sight before him. He met Levi’s gaze, and his lips twitched . . . into a grin?

  Before Levi could demand an explanation, light like a million rainbows shattered the air. He whipped around as the cliff disappeared and the castle reappeared. Mrs. Dominic stood in the doorway apologizing for the delay.

  Levi could only stand there, slapped speechless by the proof he’d worked so hard to deny.

  Levi was not in a good mood that night. He could no longer pretend Camp Classic was normal. In fact, it was the opposite of normal. It was downright freaky. Neither Dr. Baldwin nor Mrs. Dominic had said a word about the cliff incident that afternoon. None of the other campers had seen a thing, not that he’d asked. Levi faced—all alone—evidence he didn’t know how to handle. Between that and the ubiquitous ears, Levi’s fun, stress-free summer plans had been smashed to smithereens.

  When Levi exited the bathroom, furious that Trevor had used Levi’s towel (again) and thrown it on the floor (again), he stormed past Tommy’s bed, tripped over a pile of dirty clothes, and landed on his rump. Albert, sprawled across Levi’s bed eating Doritos and drinking Pepsi, snorted soda out of his nose all over Levi’s pillow. Tommy, Steve, and Trevor fell all over themselves laughing at Levi’s graceless landing on the stone floor.

  Not at all interested in a late-night party in his room—not to mention crumbs in his bed— Levi snapped, “Ha ha. Let’s all laugh at Levi falling over our junk. If you slobs would clean up after yourselves occasionally, people wouldn’t hurt themselves in here.”

  Trevor smirked. “Yeah, Tommy, can’t you pick up your stinky socks so Levi doesn’t fall on his poor bottom?”

  All but Tommy laughed.

  Levi’s blood pressure rose. “It’s not just Tommy, Trevor. I’m sick of you using my towel and leaving it wadded up on the bathroom floor. Use your own!”

  That stopped Trevor laughing and got Tommy going, but Levi wasn’t finished yet.

  “Steve, quit eating in here all the time! Your open packs of chips and Twinkies are just asking mice to move in.”

  That wiped the smile off Steve’s face.

  “And Albert—” Levi rounded on him— “for someone who moved upstairs to get a room alone, you spend an awful lot of time in here.” Levi stomped over to his bed and wiped chip crumbs from his comforter. “Get off my bed!”

  With a reproachful glare at Levi, Albert stood, muttered good night, and swept from the room. While his roommates cleaned up, Levi flopped onto his bed, heart drumming.

  “Hey, Levi,” Trevor called from the open bathroom doorway. “Happy?” He pointed at the neat row of towels.

  Levi faced the wall. “No.”

  Neither Albert nor any of Levi’s roommates were speaking to him the next day, so he sat with the girls at breakfast. Sara’s wide-eyed “What’s up with you guys?” didn’t help his mood. Especially when Tommy muttered something about bossy people being a pain in the neck.

  By the time Levi got to Logic class, he’d about had it with Camp Classic. Nothing made sense here, even his own attitude. He liked his roommates—Albert, too. He’d never before had friendships like he did here. But here he was, rabidly angry with the whole place and everyone in it, himself included.

  At the front of the classroom, Mr. Dominic cleared his throat. The campers quieted. Levi looked up from the desktop he’d nearly scorched with his glare.

  “Many of you have yawned your way through our previous classes.” The twinkle in the director’s eyes took the sting out of his words, but Levi didn’t care one way or the other. Why shouldn’t Mr. Dominic be rude? Everybody else was.

  “Most of you figure you have no intention of becoming lawyers or statesmen who need the ability to argue a case without fallacious reasoning,” Mr. Dominic went on. “Yet I’d like to explain why logic is important in other areas of life, areas that deeply affect you.”

  Despite his irritation, Levi felt his interest rising. Most teachers never bothered telling students how their subjects
would be useful in real life. Levi’s mom did sometimes, though usually she just told him to learn the material.

  “All of you were selected from classical school settings.” Mr. Dominic walked around his desk and leaned against it. “You are all learning according to a particular educational system—one that says the early years should be spent in memorization, the middle years in connecting the whys and wherefores of what you’ve memorized, and the final years in learning to interact with your knowledge and with the world around you.”

  Levi nodded. Yeah, he knew about the trivium.

  Mr. Dominic’s eyes roamed the campers’ faces. “You are all in those middle years—what we call the Logic Stage. That means you should be training your minds to make logical connections . . . to discover the reasons behind events. I’ve been teaching what faulty logic looks like so you’ll learn to see beyond your prejudices and preconceived notions, beyond appearances, to what is true. When you make those connections, you can learn from history to avoid making the same mistakes in the future.

  “You’ve all studied ancient civilizations in the Grammar Stage of your learning.” Mr. Dominic rested his arms across his stomach. “You learned about the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, and the medieval people. You read literature about them, studied their histories, learned some of their languages.” Eyebrows arched and chin tilted, he smiled. “It’s time to put your knowledge to use. What can you learn from mistakes the ancients made? What can you learn from what they did right? Why did they do what they did? And what does that have to do with you?”

  Mr. Dominic waited. Levi glanced at his silent classmates. Did the director expect one of them to answer? Levi didn’t know the reasons why the ancients did what they did, but he did know one thing. He wanted a logical explanation for Camp Classic and its staff.

  What was the deal with the disappearing cliff? What about Albert’s and Mr. Austin’s warnings about things being different here? And what about all the strange ears? None of it was logical, and it was really getting on his nerves.

  Levi’s jaw set. He was supposed to start asking why, huh? Well, maybe he’d do just that.

  Chapter 15

  Logic

  When class ended, Mr. Dominic asked Levi to stick around a few minutes.

  Levi slowly gathered his stuff as the others filtered from the room. Had he done something wrong? Despite his irritation, he hadn’t spoken one word in class, and he’d tried to keep his face blank.

  When the room emptied, he said, “You wanted to see me, sir?” His voice squeaked like Trevor’s still did sometimes.

  Mr. Dominic looked up from the papers on his desk and smiled, the twinkle again in his eyes. “Don’t worry, young man. You’re not in trouble.”

  Levi sighed.

  “I thought you might have something on your mind? You looked like it during class.” The director studied him, waiting.

  “Um . . .” Now that he had the chance to ask questions, Levi didn’t know what to say. His mom always said he’d argue with a tree, but this was different. Way different.

  “You seemed to want to voice a disagreement or ask a question. It’s okay to do both.” Mr. Dominic leaned nearer, voice low. “That’s actually what I want you to do, you know. That’s how you learn.” He winked as if sharing a funny secret, an act that reminded Levi of the time weeks before when Mr. Dominic winked at him from the castle door.

  The memory brought Levi’s agitation rushing back. He jammed his arms across his chest. Did Mr. Dominic really want to know what he thought? Levi knew from experience adults didn’t like it when kids came off as disrespectful.

  Careful to keep his voice level, he said, “Well, it’s just . . . I’m trying to understand some things about Camp Classic . . . I mean, things aren’t logical.” He hesitated. “This place is . . . well, it’s strange.”

  Mr. Dominic leaned back in his seat. “Okay. How so?”

  Levi watched the director’s face. He didn’t look mad. “Well, the castle itself for one thing. I know for sure it disappears, and what kind of place disappears? What’s the deal with the cliff? Where’s it go when you or your wife are at the door? How can this castle and the land to the north possibly fit on Castle Island? Who’s Deceptor? What’s the evil you’re trying to keep out by hiding this place?” He stopped and sucked in a much-needed breath. “And what’s the deal with all the strange ears?”

  Mr. Dominic surprised him by chuckling. “My, my, so many questions. You’re paying attention to what’s around you. No wonder you looked like you were about to burst during class.”

  Levi waited. “Are you going to answer?” He softened his tone. “Sir?”

  A frown crinkled the director’s forehead. “Yes, I will.”

  “You will?” Levi’s heart skipped a beat.

  “Yes, but what shall I answer first?” Mr. Dominic glanced at his wristwatch. “You have another class in about two minutes. Perhaps it would be best to meet together and discuss your questions when we have a reasonable amount of time in which to do so.”

  Eyes on his shoes, Levi nodded. He knew when he was getting the brush-off. He hefted his backpack and turned to go.

  “Leviticus.” The director’s firm tone drew Levi around.

  “I’m not ignoring your questions. Come to my office after supper this evening. Let’s say around eight.”

  Levi nodded again, this time with a smile.

  Mr. Dominic nodded back. “Good. We’ll seek answers together then.”

  At eight o’clock, Levi knocked hard on Mr. Dominic’s office door. He’d thought all afternoon about what answers the director might give. He’d entertained all sorts of ideas, ranging from crazy to semi-rational—everything from government conspiracies to UFO landing sites to geographical phenomena. Now, he couldn’t wait to find out the truth.

  Mrs. Dominic opened the door.

  “Hello, Levi.” Her face looked paler than usual, the lines around her eyes etched deeper. “I’m so sorry, but Mr. Dominic won’t be able to meet with you tonight as planned.”

  Levi’s jaw clenched. Obviously, the director didn’t think he was important enough to bother with.

  “He really wanted to keep your appointment.” She gave him an understanding smile. “Mr. Dominic was called away from the castle on important business but asked me to tell you he’d meet with you at the first opportunity.”

  Levi nodded. “It’s okay. I can wait.” And he could. Mr. Dominic hadn’t told him he was a lunatic or totally dismissed him. He’d get answers soon. He’d just have to be patient a little longer. After all, how long could this “important business” take?

  Mrs. Dominic’s eyes brightened nearly to their usual sapphire. “You’re a good boy.”

  His cheeks warmed. “Thanks.”

  “You’re so like your namesake.” Her expression turned dreamy, as if she’d gotten lost in a memory.

  “Huh?”

  Mrs. Dominic blinked. “Never mind, dear. Go enjoy your evening.” She fluttered her hand in dismissal. “My husband will let you know as soon as he can reschedule your meeting.” She closed the door before he could answer.

  Puzzling over her reference to his name, Levi turned away and headed to his room. How could she know anything about the person he was named for? He’d died a long time ago.

  When he opened the door to his room, all thoughts of his namesake fled as something whacked him square in the face.

  His hands flew up to cover his face. “Hey!” When nothing else hit him, he peeped through his fingers.

  From various points of the room, Trevor, Tommy, Steve, and Albert laughed, hugging pillows to their chests. He’d walked into a pillow fight. Perfect.

  “Sorry,” Tommy said through giggles that proved he wasn’t sorry at all. “You stepped right into the line of fire.”

  Fingering his bloody lip, Levi looked down at the pillow by his feet . . . his pillow. He looked toward his bed . . . a rumpled mess. Not his mess.

  He was going to explode at the
se guys like he did last night if he didn’t get out of here fast. He whirled and left without a word, careful not to slam the door. He stood in the corridor. Drew several deep breaths. Paced back and forth. Stalked to the nearest window.

  A few streaky patches of orange and purple colored the darkening sky. He glanced at his watch—nearly nine. He needed to get out of here, but where could he go? Room check was usually about nine thirty. That gave him half an hour.

  He strode to the nearest door, headed for the chapel. Maybe there he’d find a little peace.

  Yet when Levi opened the door to the chapel corridor, he heard voices, and the last thing he wanted was to see anyone. He veered around and started up the steps. He’d never gone upstairs before.

  The stairway was jet black. Too bad he hadn’t brought his flashlight.

  He started up. A strange smell hung in the tower, stale like a mix of old smoke, dust, and . . . something he couldn’t identify. Something that raised goose bumps on his arms.

  Teeth clenched against the irrational fear, Levi kept climbing. He wasn’t about to go back to his room, not now anyway, and the chapel wasn’t available. He would not let some odd smell dictate his steps. He hugged the rail, blind in the now-total darkness. The higher he climbed, the more a bunch of icy moths fluttered in his stomach.

  He glanced over his shoulder to the vague shadow of light on the landing below. He was really high now. Had he come to any more landings without realizing it? How high did these steps go? He hadn’t thought the castle was this tall.

  By the time he fumbled into a closed door, his hand ached from gripping the rail. He kept clinging to it with one hand, though, while he felt around with the other. He grasped a cold doorknob. Did he dare turn it? What would he find on the other side?

  Almost against his will, his hand twisted the knob. It let out a squeal. He winced. Then shoved. The heavy door opened with a banshee scream.

  Levi froze. Full-blown fear like hyper bats attacked his belly. He strained his ears. Who—or what—might he have disturbed?