by Laurence Yep
Met G-G Caleb 2nite. Nice guy.
What would Mom make of that? I couldn’t help grinning as I pictured her face.
I thought the message to Mom marked the end of my adventure. But it was only the beginning.
—
Things seemed peaceful enough on Sunday. I had brunch with Miss Drake, finished my homework, left another message for Mom, and late that afternoon made gingerbread men with Vasilisa for the school’s bake sale.
Vasilisa, our housekeeper, did all the cooking. Since her family worked in other magical homes, she knew all sorts of funny, homey gossip. I learned, for instance, that Willamar loved tutti-frutti ice cream, so tubs of it filled a special freezer.
On the windowsill, looking well fed and content, was Vasilisa’s little wooden doll. Small Doll actually did all the cleaning in the house, and all she asked was that we share our meals with her—though she was crazy for chocolate and would wolf down any that came into the house.
Small Doll’s world was a lot simpler than mine…or Laura Ingalls Wilder’s. “Vasilisa,” I asked, “if you wanted to do something that counts, what would that be?”
Vasilisa was humming some slow tune with a lot of deep, bass notes while she sifted flour into a bowl. She stopped as she thought for a moment. “I wish I could come up with the recipe for the perfect cake. No one could resist it, and yet it would add no calories.” She sighed. “But some people are allergic to gluten. So there is no perfect cake, is there?”
“I guess not,” I said, disappointed.
Vasilisa glanced into a container. “Little Madame, we need more sugar. Would you get it for me?” She nodded to a cabinet. “It’s on the top shelf.”
The kitchen walls were eight feet high, and the cabinet’s top shelf was near the ceiling. So I dragged a chair over. Climbing it, I stretched my arm up. That was when I casually said, “I wish I had something to make me taller.”
Suddenly I heard a scratching sound like claws on a floor, and from the corner of my eye, I saw a tan blur. But when I blinked, I didn’t see or hear anything more. And then I was just too busy baking to wonder about it.
Later, when we had put all the cookies in cellophane bags and wrapped them tight with colored ribbon, I went up to my room.
I opened the door, and the moonlight showed a strange mound squatting in the middle of the floor. Something gleamed at me. I might have thought they were eyes, but these were square.
When I turned on the light, I saw it was a collection of junk, including a rusty old pogo stick, a broken pair of wooden stilts, a brand-new footstool, a rickety paint-splattered stepladder, and even some torn sheet music with the title “I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise.”
Had someone broken into our house? But what burglar leaves his garbage behind?
Then, on the very top of the pile, I saw what had been shining at me. It was two gold buckles on a familiar pair of high-heeled shoes.
How on earth did Sir Isaac’s shoes wind up on top of a pile of trash? And was he walking around barefoot at this very moment?
I hoped my teacher had some slippers handy as I put the shoes into my backpack. I’d return them to him tomorrow. Sir Isaac would like another strange puzzle to solve besides who stole the Heart of Kubera.
I didn’t realize it right then, but Miss Drake and I were being pulled into a real tangled mess.
CHAPTER TEN
You don’t want to know the ingredients for two things: sausages and wishes.
Winnie
Monday morning, when I went to school, I saw someone on the corner. Even if I hadn’t seen his face, I would have recognized Rowan from the way he stood even straighter than the streetlamp.
Were we in trouble for losing my charm after all?
“Did the High Council send you for me and Miss Drake?” I asked him.
He shook his head as he kept scanning the area, his eyes brilliant as a clear blue pool. “Don’t be stupid. After helping you cover up, I’d be in as much hot water as you.”
I frowned. “Just when I thought you were okay, you had to spoil everything by calling me stupid.”
He hesitated as if he were translating from one language into another. “I’m just being honest.” He fell into step beside me as I crossed the street.
“Oh, yeah?” I asked skeptically. “Since you’re being honest, what would you do if you wanted to do something that counted?”
“Hmm.” He looked thoughtful. “Is this a quiz?”
I refused to give up. “Come on. What would you wish for?”
“To make my father proud of me.” He shrugged. “Only he’s gone, so that’s impossible.”
I wasn’t having much luck with that question. So instead I asked, “Why were you waiting for me? This can’t be the usual way you go to Powell, or I would have seen you before.”
He dug my jacket from his backpack, dangling it in his strange, twisted fingers. “I couldn’t give this to you before when the club was all around us.”
So he’d found all the things I had left behind in 1915—my badge, my gloves, and the jacket with my crumpled hat tucked into one sleeve.
“Thanks.” Reaching over my shoulder, I crammed everything into my backpack. “But Lady Louhi could have returned it for you.”
He gave a hitch to his backpack. “Maybe I wanted to explore this part of the neighborhood.”
He might be great at helping people stranded in the past, but he was a terrible fibber. Mr. Tin Boy was up to something. “Your nose is growing.”
His head whipped around. “What do you mean by that?”
I shrugged as we reached the other side. “You know, the story of Pinocchio, the puppet who wanted to become a real boy but kept lying.”
“I know the story says that,” he said gruffly. “But why do people always accept that version? What if Pinocchio liked the way he already was?”
“Then you wouldn’t have had a story.” I poked a finger into his chest. “And don’t try to change the subject. I just called you a liar. So tell me the truth. Why are you walking with me? Did the High Council tell you to keep tabs on me?”
I didn’t like the idea of that, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to hang around him, even if he had helped us on Saturday.
He shoved his hands into his pockets and tried to slouch, but his stiff spine made the rest of him look like a coat hanging from a hook. “It’s a free country. I can walk where I like.”
“Okay,” I admitted, “and since it’s a free country, I don’t have to talk to you.”
“You’re the one who started the conversation,” he said defensively. His eyes flashed a gray-green like a stormy sea.
I stared at him. “I thought your eyes were—”
“They change color,” he said, but offered no explanation.
For the next block, he didn’t speak to me, and I didn’t speak to him. And I noticed something else. Powell lay a few blocks beyond the Spriggs Academy, so there were other Powell students walking by and passing us. But both they and Rowan ignored one another. If he was as rude to them as he was to me, I couldn’t blame them.
It was the opposite for me and the other Spriggs-ians. By now, they knew me enough to greet me or at least nod.
Then, about two blocks from the Academy, I saw my friend Mabli. She was in her human disguise, of course, but she was really a dwarf.
She had joined the drama club, so she had her head down while she memorized her lines from a paperback-size script. I ran and caught her shoulder in time to steer her away from a lamppost. “Careful.”
She looked at me startled, like I’d just woken her up from a dream—or more like I had snatched her from the world of her play. “Oh, hi.”
“How was your weekend?” I asked. I was dying to tell her about my trip through time, but that would have to wait until we were inside school, where regular humans couldn’t hear us. Magicals had an agreement to hide their existence from all but a few special humans.
“Fine. I visited my grandfather down in Po
rtola Valley and swam in his…pool.” She leaned forward and stared at something on my other side.
When I turned, I saw Rowan had caught up with me. I didn’t want Mabli jumping to the wrong conclusions. “This is Rowan. He’s Lady Louhi’s nephew.”
“Right,” Rowan said.
“Really?” Mabli asked. “I didn’t know she had family in San Francisco.”
“My nose isn’t growing, if that’s what you mean,” Rowan said sharply.
Mabli drew her eyebrows together. “What?”
I leaned toward her and pretended to whisper. “Never mind. He’s got such a weird sense of humor that Lady Louhi tries to keep him secret.”
Rowan shoved his hands into his pockets. “Now whose nose should be growing?”
Mabli looked at both of us, uncertain about what was going on. “Uh, ha-ha?”
When we reached the Academy’s block, we met Zaina. She was also disguised as a human, but once she was inside the school, she would be able to resume her real form as a djinn.
“Hello,” Mabli said, and waved a hand past me at Rowan. “This is Winnie’s friend Rowan.”
Almost at the same time, Rowan and I said, “We’re not friends.”
Mabli grinned knowingly at Zaina. “He’s also Lady Louhi’s nephew.”
Zaina nodded. “I’m pleased to meet you.” And then she winked at me.
I wanted to shout that they were both wrong if they thought there was anything between us. But Miss Drake and I had promised to keep secret Rowan’s job as a Shielder, so I couldn’t tell them why he was with me.
As soon as we reached the gates, though, I did a quick right turn and stormed through them without looking back.
Rowan just had to make more problems for me. “Good-bye!” he called loudly. “And thanks for Saturday. I had a lot of fun.”
Even Mortimer the gargoyle, the guardian on the iron gate, twisted his head to stare at me.
Mabli hurried up beside me. “Okay, so spill.”
Zaina came up on my other side. “Yeah.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” I said. I’d originally intended to tell them about my trip, but I kept my mouth shut now. What they really wanted to hear about was Rowan—a lot of which had to stay top secret.
From their whispers and grins, my not talking only made my friends jump to the wrong conclusions.
And it must have been Be-a-Frog Day because they weren’t the only ones whose minds hopped in the wrong direction.
Sir Isaac was in charge of the school bake sale, so when I got to science class, I added my cookies to the other contributions in the classroom cabinet. Then I went over to the blackboard where he was writing a formula. He didn’t need chalk, though. He just drew the letters with a finger.
I’d been expecting him to wear another pair of shoes, but instead, his stocking feet were in plastic flip-flops. I guess a genius wore what he liked.
Setting my bag down, I rummaged through it to find his shoes. “Excuse me, Sir Isaac.”
“Ah, Burton, have you come to warn me that you’ve left my realms of light to go over to the dark side with Einstein?” He finished writing the Greek letter delta and turned. “No, it seems you’ve come to present me with footwear instead. My own, to be precise.” And he took the shoes from me. “My thanks. I was wondering what had happened to them.”
“I don’t know how they got there, but they were on top of a pile of junk in my room,” I said.
He kicked his flip-flops into a corner. “And next you’ll be telling me that your canine ate your homework.”
I blinked. “Pardon?”
He frowned. “Five demerits for such a clumsy tale. A prankster’s wit must match the cleverness of her jape.” When he saw my blank look, he explained. “The jest you played on me.”
Oh, no! He thought I had played a trick on him. My stomach tightened. In the last three centuries, Sir Isaac had turned his brainpower to practical jokes as well as science. If kings weren’t safe from his stunts, what hope did I have? “But that’s the truth.”
Setting a hand on the desk for support, he put on his shoes and instantly grew a couple of inches taller. “However, the score will be settled if you tell me how you removed my shoes from my closet. Did Miss Drake help you?”
I didn’t think it was good to get her involved in a prank war with Sir Isaac. With her dragon pride, she might misinterpret a simple trick as an insult and retaliate with fire and fangs.
I shook my head quickly. “No, she had nothing to do with it.” When I saw the gleam in his eye, I realized that he had mistaken that as a confession from me. “And neither did I,” I added hastily.
But it was too little too late.
Sir Isaac saluted me with an imaginary sword. “Then a duel it shall be.”
That was the last thing I wanted. “No, wait.” I waved an invisible white flag. “You won.”
He clicked his tongue. “When a duelist takes the first shot, she must allow her opponent to fire his pistol in return. So you must allow me to play at least one trick on you. And I will take great pleasure in deciding when and where.”
I spent the rest of his class feeling like a condemned prisoner. I knew the wheels in his great mind were grinding out a plan for revenge because every now and then he would glance my way and smile slyly.
That made me desperate enough to ask Lady Louhi for help, and I rushed to her class.
She smiled at me. “You’re one of the two people I wanted to see. Nessie just sent a message that she’s used up all the bubble bath that you and Liri made and would like more.”
On a field trip to Loch Ness, we’d brought gifts for Nessie. I was glad that she liked ours, but that wasn’t my main concern right now.
“I’ll talk to Liri about making more,” I said, “but Sir Isaac’s mad at me.”
“Oh, dear,” Lady Louhi said.
I didn’t like the sound of that. “He thinks I played a trick on him by taking his favorite pair of shoes. You know, the ones with the gold buckles?”
“Oh, dear, dear, dear.” She sounded even more concerned.
I licked my lips. “They just appeared in my room Sunday night. I don’t know how. Honest. But Sir Isaac’s sure that me and Miss Drake pranked him. Can you talk to him?”
“Of course.” She patted my shoulder sympathetically. “But when it comes to feuds, well, Sir Isaac’s like a rocket. Once you light his fuse, there’s no stopping him.”
I sighed. “At least, he won’t try anything until he makes his report to the club.”
She shook her head. “I’m afraid he’s capable of juggling several projects at once.”
I would have to get into a war with a genius. “I wish I had something to protect myself,” I said with a groan, and thought I saw the same tan blur I had seen on Sunday in the kitchen, but it was gone in an instant. “Well,” I asked, trying to drop a hint to my teacher, “do you think I can buy a charm somewhere?”
Lady Louhi spread her hands. “Without knowing the what, when, where, and how, you would need a wheelbarrow full of them, and even then they might not be enough.”
I was doomed!
I turned to walk to my desk but stopped and dropped my voice low. “Well, could you help me with your nephew?”
“Did Rowan do or say something rude to you?” she asked.
“Not exactly,” I admitted. “He…uh…was waiting for me and then walked with me to Spriggs.”
“Oh, dear,” she said again, but this time, the corners of her mouth turned up.
“I’m grateful for what he did last Saturday.” The words rushed out of me. “But this is embarrassing.” I jerked my head toward my classmates. “My friends are getting the wrong idea.”
“Did you tell him how you felt?” she asked.
“Yeah, but he said he was just going to Powell,” I said.
“I’ll have a talk with him about making you uncomfortable.” Lady Louhi gave me a big smile. “But in my opinion, he hasn’t done anything horrible, and
he can be quite headstrong.”
—
I thought that at least lunch would cheer me up, but when I went to see what treats Vasilisa had packed for me, I saw my locker door was bulging. Had Sir Isaac struck already?
“Watch out,” I warned everyone near me.
“What’s wrong?” asked Liri, my naiad friend.
“Sir Isaac said he was going to get me,” I said. Instantly, the area cleared.
Then, standing as far to the side as I could, I leaned and started entering my combination to the lock. As the tumblers clicked, I thought I heard the metal door groaning as if it were under a lot of pressure. Had he put in a self-inflating rubber raft? Was it a dozen bowling balls?
The possibilities whirled through my mind, each crazier than the last. When I’d entered the last number, I took a deep breath and gripped the handle.
By now, my friends and classmates had gathered at a careful distance.
Sometimes, all you can do is jump from the airplane, Mom had told me.
I lifted the handle. Instantly, the door swung toward me, and a football helmet with the Powell mascot, a maroon octopus, bounced across the hallway floor. A small round wooden shield with an iron rim clattered after it, along with a baseball bat, a twirling umbrella hat, and then a can of extra-strength mosquito repellent.
“Getting ready for PE?” snickered Nanette, my sorceress frenemy. Her pal Lupe, a werewolf, laughed loudly, along with several others.
Liri picked up the can quickly. “I’ll help you put your stuff inside.”
I waved a hand at the junk. “But this isn’t mine.”
“Well, how did it get into your locker?” Mabli asked, and the next moment turned to Nanette.
She stopped giggling immediately. “Hey, don’t blame me. I’m still on thin ice with Ms. Griffin.”
Ms. Griffin was our principal, and Nanette had gotten into trouble with her after trying to hurt me at the Halloween Festival.
“Who else would have jammed this stuff into Winnie’s locker?” Saskia demanded. She was a centaur who was always ready for a fight.