Chase Tinker & The House of Magic

by Malia Ann Haberman

  Chase glanced at her. He was happy she wasn't taking Janie's side, even though he was still kind of irritated with her for laughing at him.

  "Do you think these dark enemy guys are the ones who kidnapped Dad?" asked Andy.

  Chase looked into his brother's worried eyes. "Maybe. It sure sounds like they might be, huh?"

  "We need more information," grumbled Janie. She slouched and traced the swirly patterns in the carpet with her fingertip. "There has to be a way…" Her eyes brightened and she sat up straighter. "I have an idea!"

  "What is it?" asked Chase eagerly.

  "We need to break into the attic and ask the Relic."

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  More Trouble with Doors

  "Are you crazy?" yelled Chase. "You saw what happened when I tried to break into something in this place." He resisted the urge to rub his aching butt again.

  "I don't believe the attic painting will do that," said Janie. "When we knock on the correct door, it'll let us in. I'm surprised you'd let a little spanking stop you, Chase."

  His face turned bright-red. "Yeah…well…I'm surprised you want to break into anything. You remember what curiosity does, don't you?"

  She crossed her arms and glared at him. "I figure if Grandfather's not telling us things, then I don't care anymore."

  Chase shrugged. "Okay. Whatever. But how do we know the Relic can tell us anything it hasn't already?"

  "We don't," she answered. "The only way to find out is to get in there and ask it some questions."

  "Do you remember what door to knock on?" Chase asked, looking irritated. "I sure don't. And after you guys walked away, I looked back and saw them moving all around. There are so many, it'll be next to impossible to find the right one."

  "But we have to try," Janie insisted. "Grandfather isn't sharing some important things we should know too. He probably thinks we're too young."

  "I'm kinda young," said Andy, yawning. He stretched out on the floor and rested his head on his folded arms. "And I don't want Grandfather to be mad at me."

  "None of us want him to be mad at us," said Chase, "but we don't like being kept in the dark, either. It'd be nice to know what the heck is going on around here."

  "I wish I would've had my invisibility cap," said Andy, with another big yawn. "I could've snuck in there and heard everything."

  "That would have been great, but it doesn't do us any good to think about it now," said Janie, jumping to her feet. "Anyway, we can't do anything else tonight and Andy's ready to fall asleep right here in the hallway."

  Before leaving, Chase stood in front of the locked door again and glared at it. Drawing back his foot, he gave it a swift kick. "Crummy enchanted door!" he muttered as he limped down the hall after the other kids.

  The next morning the boys found Janie in the kitchen by herself yawning and buttering a bran muffin. Andy, looking as if he needed at least another three hours of sleep, crawled onto the stool next to her and helped himself to half of her muffin.

  "How's your mom?" asked Chase. "Do you think we can talk to her today?" He took a banana from the fruit bowl and peeled it. Looking out the window, he saw the sun shining from a clear, blue sky; for the moment, not a rain cloud was in sight.

  "I haven't checked," she muttered, picking at her muffin. "Maybe I'll just wait until she asks to see me. The whole thing is so frustrating!"

  "I'm sure Grandfather will say something today," said Chase. "He knows we're all waiting to hear about my dad too." Finishing his banana, he leaned over and whispered, "So, when should we do the break-in?"

  Janie glanced over her shoulder. "Mrs. Periwinkle told me Grandfather's meeting the mayor in town this afternoon," she whispered back. "We'll do it after he leaves."

  "You with us, Andy?" asked Chase. "Or are you going to be a big baby?"

  "I'm not a baby and of course I'm going with you," he said huffily. "I was sleepy last night, that's all."

  Time dragged by. Grandfather had everyone working to take down the 4th of July decorations, which Chase classified as the most boring chore ever. Grandfather wanted the kids to practice teleporting down to the beach too.

  "How do we know if we're going to the right place?" asked Chase, sitting on the edge of the claw-foot bathtub in Great-Uncle Thomas's bathroom.

  "You have to picture in your mind where you wish to be," explained Grandfather. "Concentrate, hold the image, say it out loud, and then in your mind when you become an expert teleporter like myself, and off you go."

  Chase stood straight, closed his eyes and thought about the sandy beach with its patches of grass and rocks and blue water lapping at the shore. "Grandfather's beach. Whoa!"

  He felt the tornado-like rush of wind, the floor falling away and the icky, compressed-in-a-box, stomach-in-his-throat sensations. But, instead of landing on solid ground, he ended up splashing waist deep into the ocean.

  "Crummy teleporting!" he muttered.

  He was wading back to shore when first Janie, Andy and then Persephone popped onto the beach.

  "Hey, Chase, what're you doing in the water?" called Janie.

  "Fishing," he retorted.

  "Look at us, we did it perfect," said Andy. He, Janie and Persephone congratulated each other on their fine teleporting abilities.

  "Show-offs," Chase mumbled as he stomped away.

  After a few more times of plopping into the ocean, and climbing out of trees, he finally landed where he wanted along with the other kids. And each time they teleported, they had to hike back to the house.

  "Um, Grandfather," said Chase, after the ninth time, "what if, like you, I accidentally teleport to some far off place? How do I get back home since I don't have all your magic?"

  Grandfather leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. "Good question, Chase. In order to make a round trip say 'Thomas's Room' and you'll teleport back."

  "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but why didn't you tell me this before I spent the last hundred times hiking back here?"

  "I'm sorry, Chase, I completely forgot. Please forgive an old man's memory." He turned back to his paperwork and waved his pen toward the door. "Will you please tell the other children for me?"

  "Sure," said Chase as studied his grandfather for a moment. It wasn't like the man to forget anything, but come to think of it, he had been acting preoccupied. He looked as if he had the weight of the magical world on his shoulders. Chase wished he could ask Grandfather if he was thinking about what Clair had told him last night. If he did that, though, Chase would have to admit they'd been eavesdropping. Janie was still mad that he hadn't yet said anything to them about her mom. It frustrated Chase too. Grandfather knew how much the boys wanted to hear about their dad.

  He jogged from the house and down the hill toward the beach. The other kids were walking up from there.

  "Hey!" he hollered, running to meet them. "I found out something that will make teleporting a whole lot more fun. When we say 'Thomas's Room', we'll zoom back to the bathroom."

  "Oh, my gosh! That's awesome," exclaimed Janie. "Now we can go longer distances."

  "Yeah!" said Andy. "But isn't it time for some food? I'm starving!"

  "It's also almost time to set our attic plan in motion," said Chase. "Come on."

  All through lunch, Chase tried not to fidget. If Grandfather suspects anything, he thought. Well, that will ruin everything.

  "Do you children have any plans for later?" asked Grandfather as he took a bite of potato salad.

  "Oh, nothing special," said Chase, with an innocent look. "Practice our magic, weed the garden, catch a few rays. The usual stuff."

  The others nodded in agreement.

  "We have to work on our suntans when it's not raining," said Janie. "And what are you up to?"

  "I have a meeting in town with the mayor," said Grandfather. "He wants to plan a fireworks display for New Year's Eve. They've become exceptionally popular."

  "That's because they're super good!" said Andy.

  "
Maybe we can come back at winter break," said Chase, while wishing he could just stay at the house forever. "I wouldn't mind seeing those fireworks again."

  "I would enjoy that, if your mother agrees." Grandfather glanced at his watch and stood. "I better be off. I'll see you when I get back."

  After he left, the kids leaped from their chairs and dashed through the house to the spiral staircase. They skidded to a stop and stared at the stairs.

  "Can anyone turn it into an escalator?" asked Andy, looking hopeful.

  "Not me," said Janie.

  "Me neither," said Chase.

  "It looks like we're walking," said Persephone as she started up the stairs.

  "We're probably wasting our time," said Chase, feeling dizzy from going round and round. "We don't know if the Relic will tell us anything. Or if we can even get in."

  "You've already said that!" wheezed Janie as she plodded along. "But we have to try."

  When the long, tiring climb was done, the four stood in front of the enormous painting of doors and stared at it in total bewilderment. Chase's eyes started to blur and cross as he gazed unblinking at the hundreds and hundreds of tiny doors.

  Mingled in with the regular doors of purple, orange, brown, red, blue and green, were barn doors, castle doors, outhouse doors with half-moons for windows, swinging saloon doors, garage doors, a jail cell door, a bank vault door, car doors, doors that said push and doors that said pull.

  "A chicken coop door?" said Janie. "Weird."

  "And a mouse house door," said Persephone, moving closer for a better look.

  "Hey, a revolving door," said Andy. "Like in the city." He stuck out his finger and touched it. It started to spin. Whoosh! He was sucked through the door and into the painting.

  "Andy!" yelled Chase, grabbing at the air.

  "Oh no!" cried Janie. "That wasn't supposed to happen."

  They looked uncertainly at each other for a few long moments. "Well we have to do something," said Persephone. "We can't just stand here—"

  Whoosh! Andy flew out, head first, flattening the other three kids.

  "What happened?" Andy asked as they clambered to their feet.

  "You went into the painting," said Chase. "Don't you remember?"

  "A little," he said, straightening his glasses and shivering. "It was all, like, dark and cold, and then I was back here."

  Standing a little farther away, they gazed at the huge picture again.

  "Oooh, a Dutch door," said Persephone. "Those are cool. Look, the top half is open and it's showing a snowy mountain." She leaned toward the door as if she planned on sticking her head through.

  "Be careful!" said Chase, catching her arm and pulling her back. "You might fly to the top of Mount Rainier."

  "This is gonna take forever," said Andy. "How does Grandfather remember which one to knock on?"

  "Don't worry. We'll find the right door," said Janie as she squinted at the painting. "There are quite a lot of them, aren't there? Someone knock on one."

  "No way. Not me!" Chase backed as far away as possible without falling back down the stairs. "This was your idea."

  Andy eyeballed the painting as he inched closer to his brother. "Do you remember the secret knock?"

  "Oh, yeah," said Janie. "I forgot about that."

  Persephone shrugged. "Don't look at me. I've never been up here."

  "It's two quick knocks," said Chase, "then two slow ones."

  Janie rubbed her sweaty palms on the front of her denim shorts and took a deep breath. "Okay, here goes." She tapped on a plain brown door. Pop! A small, dark-gray cloud appeared right above her head and poured rain on her. Poof, it was gone. Dripping and standing in a big puddle, Janie blinked in surprise as she wiped her sopping arm across her equally sopping face. "Um, that wasn't so bad," she said, glancing at Chase out of the corner of her eye.

  He stared back at her, not saying a word. Leaning coolly against the wall, he wondered if he should tell her "I told you so" at some point.

  She gave him a wide, brave smile and turned back to the painting. Straightening her shoulders, she pounded on another door—this time, a red one. Another pop sounded and her nose was six inches longer.

  "Oh my!" she cried, touching her new, pointy nose.

  "There goes your adorable nose," said Andy.

  Ignoring him, she rapped on a green door. Pop! Her earlobes stretched down past her knees. Without stopping, she went on to another, and another. Pop! Pop! She was covered in purple spots and had sprouted a bushy red tail.

  "That's not good," murmured Persephone.

  Now looking like someone who belonged in a three-ring circus, Janie cowered in front of the painting. Her hand twitched as she tapped on a bright-orange door.

  Nothing happened, at first. Janie was reaching out to knock on another brown door when the howling wind started. It ripped through the alcove like a hurricane. Whirling and swirling, it first tossed Janie, then Persephone, Andy and Chase, all yelling and screaming, into the air like limp rag dolls. It whisked them round and round down the stairs until it dropped them in a giant heap at the bottom, and then spun away into nothingness.

  Janie, squashed beneath the pile, shoved everyone aside and scrambled to her feet. Whimpering and sniffling, she stumbled and skidded across the floor and disappeared down a hallway. The last anyone saw of her was a bushy tail flicking out of sight.

  Chase lay flat on his back and stared at the ceiling far, far above. "That sucked."

  Disappointment welled up inside him. He knew they wouldn't be able to just stroll up to the painting and casually knock their way in, but deep down inside a flame of hope had burned.

  Meanwhile, Andy was crawling all around the floor, searching for his glasses.

  Mrs. Periwinkle rushed in. "What's all the ruckus in here? I heard yelling and screaming."

  "Um…we just thought we'd have some fun sliding down the stair rails," said Chase as he picked himself up off the floor.

  She tut-tutted and shook her head. "That was foolish. Someone might have been hurt."

  "You're right, Mom," said Persephone, finding Andy's glasses among the puffy checker pieces. "It won't happen again. We'll go pick some carrots and tomatoes for dinner for you."

  "Now that sounds like an excellent idea," said Mrs. Periwinkle before leaving the room.

  Andy slipped his glasses back on. "Thanks, Persephone. And boy, am I glad I'm not Janie right now."

  "I think we all are," she answered.

  "I'm just thankful I didn't touch any of those crazy doors," said Chase as the three kids wandered from the room. Besides that, he sure didn't want to tell Grandfather why Janie looked like a freak at the moment. So, when he arrived home, the kids told him Janie felt way too sick to come out of her room and had gone to bed early.

  "She had too much, fun, sun and magicking today," said Chase, shaking his head and keeping his fingers crossed that the guilt zipping through him wasn't showing on his face. "No need to worry, we'll check on her later."

  When they did, they found Janie hiding under her blankets, crying and sniffing. "I look hideous," she moaned, her voice muffled by the covers. "When will it go away?"

  "We can ask Grandfather to help," said Andy, patting the place where he thought her head might be. "I'm sure he has a magical antidote to fix these kinds of things."

  "No way!" she cried. "I don't want any help from him."

  Chase perched himself on the edge of the bed. "You can't stay hidden in here forever."

  "Oh, yes I can! And I know you're going to say 'I told you so,' Chase," she said in a puny voice. "Know-it-all-Janie strikes again."

  "I'd, uh, never say that." He shifted uncomfortably as the small lie rolled out of his mouth.

  "And you thought your spanking was awful," she whimpered. "This is the worst."

  "At least we didn't laugh at you," said Andy, looking at the other two for encouragement.

  Chase nodded. "Yeah."

  "We wouldn't dream of it," added Persepho
ne.

  "I hope you don't look weird for too long, though," said Andy. "When they paint your portrait for the Hall of Portraits you don't want people making fun of you, like they do Zelda and Fiona."

  "Oh no!" wailed Janie. "I never even thought of that."

  "That's because it won't happen," said Chase as he sent Andy an irritated look.

  Persephone set a covered plate on the bedside table. "By the way, we brought you some dinner, Janie. It's your favorite, chicken casserole."

  "I'm not hungry. But maybe I can eat it later," she said. "Thanks for thinking of me, Persephone." They heard another loud sniffle and several hiccups. "I'm s—so disappointed. I wanted to get into the attic more than—more than anything."

  "We're disappointed too," said Chase, trying to sound as comforting as possible. "Maybe we can go again later."

  "Then you'll look like me!"

  "We sure don't want that," whispered Andy to Chase, who elbowed him in the side.

  "Maybe we should go and leave you to recuperate," said Chase. He stood and sidled to the door, Andy and Persephone following right behind him.

  "We'll come see you tomorrow," said Persephone, gazing sympathetically at the shivering lump in the bed. "I'm sure things will look better in the morning."

  Chase shut the door, looking skeptical. "She'll be lucky if she's back to normal by the end of the week."

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Intruder

  That night, lying in bed, Chase racked his brains for any ideas that would help them get into the attic. He didn't relish the thought of looking anything like his unlucky cousin. Through the sliding-glass door, a bright, silvery moon was inching across the sky.

  There must be a way, he thought. His eyes closed and his mind drifted away…

  It was a long, dizzy climb to the top of the spiral staircase again. He wished he knew how to turn it into an escalator. When he reached the alcove, bright sunlight glimmered through the oval window. Feeling as if he were in slow motion, he strolled across the floor to stand in front of the painting of doors. His mind was crystal clear. "Door, show yourself," he said.